Internship? Or Slave Labor?

July 30, 2008 at 6:02 pm (Something Interesting, Uncategorized)

What is the definition of an “internship?” According to Mariam-Webster, it’s “an advanced student or graduate usually in a professional field (as medicine or teaching) gaining supervised practical experience (as in a hospital or classroom).” However, in the corporate world, they’re basically redefining it as “free labor for out of work college graduates.” Not every internship tries to “cheat” you out of unpaid work, of course; some of them might offer you a very “generous” weekly or monthly stipend that ranges from $100-$300 on average. Weekly or monthly? It can be either.

Experience is one of the most valuable assets you can have before you finally land a job that pays, so sometimes sacrifices must be made. Accept an internship only if you know for a fact that you’ll learn something from it. Unless you want to be someone’s assistant for the rest of your life, don’t bother considering anything labeled “personal assistant.” Fetching coffee, stuffing envelopes, and going on mail runs for free? Sorry, not gonna happen.

I finished my internship this past Monday. It paid $250 dollars a month, but the experience was invaluable. Not only did I get to practice writing in the field of marketing, I picked up Dreamweaver and FileZilla. I also learned to build a website from scratch. Keep in mind that the original description of the job said I wouldn’t have to deal with any HTML. However, there was also the possibility of full-time employment. Did I get it? No. After three months of going above and beyond the parameters of my job, all I have to show for it is three months of experience on my resume and $750. Where does that leave me now? On square 1, looking for another job. With less than a year’s experience, guess what my options are now? Internships. I’m just wondering to myself, “who should I sell my soul to now?” but that wouldn’t even be accurate. Selling my soul suggests I would be getting some kind of monetary compensation, but lord knows that’s never going to happen with internships today.

Furthermore, there are ridiculous ads asking for prospective “interns” with 2+ years of experience! A company called “FullTurn Media” recently put out an ad on Mediabistro asking for a “lead writer” who’s willing to come in and work full-time for a weekly stipend of $150. That works out to about $3.75/hr. And get this:

“I believe that this is a fantastic opportunity for a young writer. You would be the lead writer on a website that should be one of the 10 biggest sources for health news by year’s end.”

You “will” be the lead writer? Sorry to burst your bubble, FullTurn Media, but according your ad, anyone who applies might be the lead writer. Remember the definition of an “internship” where the person applying is supposed to be learning something from the experience? A writer with 2+ years of experience probably knows how the trade works already, so FullTurn Media is basically flaunting its own inflated ego by dangling its reputation around and hoping some idiot will take the bait.

So there you have it, young, prospective writers hoping to make it in today’s industry and economy: when you have 2+ years of experience, don’t bother applying for mid-level jobs and asking for 40-50K a year for your work. Go for a “full-time internship” with a major company instead who’s willing to pay you $150 dollars a week with the possibility of offering you a “full-time paying position” after three months.

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CherryPal Q&A Update

July 21, 2008 at 3:46 pm (Computer News)

There were many questions posed by CherryPal’s target audience that demanded solid answers, and some of those answers have arrived. Here are some updates on this Green PC (The website is up now, by the way, so check it out at CherryPal.com):

  • Each CherryPal comes with a pre-installed OpenOffice.org office productivity suite, iTunes, and a CherryPal-brand media player and instant messenger program. The media player supports all common file formats, and the IM supports all common IM programs.
  • There is no CD/DVD Player in this compact PC. You can, however, connect it to an external drive or use streaming video via the internet.*
  • As expected, the local memory is the 4GB flash drive that comes included with each CherryPal purchase.
  • You will receive 50Gb of storage space on the Cloud network. This storage space is FREE. At this time, you cannot purchase more space.*
  • Any keyboard and mouse that uses a USB connection is supported by the CherryPal PC. Anyone using a PS/2 mouse will need a USB adapter. Any VGA monitor is supported.
  • The default programs, OpenOffice, iTunes, media player, and IM program are locally stored as part of the CherryPal system.
  • CherryPal uses Firefox, so all plug-ins and flash programs are supported via that browser.
  • External hard drives are supported via USB ports.*
  • Your photos can be edited using an online photo editor: Picnik. It fully integrates online photo galleries on Flickr, Picasa, Facebook, Photobucket, Myspace, and Webshots.
  • Full automated software updates means the CherryPal will be virus-free and maintainance-free.*

These are all updates provided by the official CherryPal site. The bullets that end with an asterisk(*) will be questions I will delve farther into via an interview I have prepared. Most of the questions I’ve had were already answered, but there are still some issues that need to be addressed. I will post any news I hear, see, or read. Stay tuned, and thanks for reading.

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Warning to Businesses

July 14, 2008 at 5:40 pm (Computer News)

A recent SQL Injection virus is currently being tracked and discovered by many different users and web companies that may be a danger to sensitive information. Not much is known about what the virus actually does, but web companies should urge their tech staff to check the html scripts for ALL their web pages. So far, from what I’ve been able to gather on Google, this is a derivative of something called the “Net-Worm.js” program. If your site has been infected, you will see, in the script of each page on your site, a series of implanted URL addresses being repeated. Again, I don’t know what this virus actually does yet, but as soon as I find out more, I’ll post an update here.

For more information on this, visit this site: Bloombit

Update:

This “malware” is particularly virulent and seems to be managed not only by bots, but by humans who create new domain names nearly every day to try and spread the SQL Injection attack even farther. As seen in the list at Bloombit, the list is still growing. I have not been able to find any “quick fix” solution to this problem yet, but if you do experience some stray or anomalous script in your source codes, try to delete it as soon as possible and check your servers for any breaches. As always, keep a backup of all your major files, pages, and what-have-yous in case you find yourself completely and utterly infected. Help prevent the theft of sensitive information. Be vigilante, and be on the look out for suspicious activity on your sites.

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Day Words, Night Words

July 10, 2008 at 5:40 pm (Word of the Day)
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Everyone’s familiar with many sites’ “word of the day” generators, and this won’t be much different. The key difference is that my words of the day are randomly chosen every morning, usually the first word that pops in my head. I try to stay away from common words and choose only the ones that most people wouldn’t bother to use in their everyday vocabulary. Like “superfluous.” That’s one of my favorite words, actually. When was the last time you heard it used? I also like “hyperbole,” and incidentally, these two words can be used in conjunction, as in “superfluous hyperbole.”

Why do I bother doing this? In truth, I find it extremely sad how much our vocabulary skills have degraded in the fast few decades. Kids are failing to make it to the next grade (which is called “deferred success now, if you didn’t know), words are constantly misused by adults, and have you seen how poorly people spell nowadays? I blame the internet. Not that I don’t enjoy using the internet, but every good thing has its down side, and vocabulary? That’s taken a major hit. “Tounge” has now replaced “Tongue,” and “physco” or other variations of the word thereof has become the common spelling for “psycho.” I think it’s an important matter that should be addressed.

I’d be lying if I said I understood every word that comes my way, or even the words I present in my “Word of the Day” section. More often than not, it’s a word I know how to use but don’t know the explicit definition of. And here’s the important lesson of the day: Look it up. It takes a less than a minute on dictionary.com, and you would’ve expanded your vocabulary base. That said, the section on the bar to your left will have a “Word of the Day” link. Click it have a categorized list of entries of my daily words from latest to earliest. As always, thanks for reading.

-Felix

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CherryPal’s Green PC: Q’s with Few A’s

July 9, 2008 at 3:40 pm (Computer News)

A buzz has been going around the internet about a new kind of computer scheduled to come out next month: the CherryPal PC, a “Green PC.” It’s the latest addition to the world of “green living.” Their work-in-progress site claims CherryPal to be the first company to create a low energy computer.

The first thing you’d notice is its diminutive appearance. A full PC that’s the size of a book and weighs less than one pound? That’s because most of the components found in a traditional computer weren’t a part of CherryPal’s grand design, which is why this little PC is so lightweight. In-depth detail about the CherryPal PC has been kept secret, though the specs have been released to the public. There have been many different responses to this green PC, some positive, some negative. The general public appeared to be very receptive to the idea of a low energy computer; it’s a part of our daily lives, after all, and the “green living” trend is growing more and more popular nowadays. The negative responses were aimed at the specs. Gigabyte for gigabyte, megahertz for megahertz, the CherryPal PC just didn’t measure up to the latest high end computers, and that’s what people were worried about the most. A 400Mhz processor doesn’t seem like very much in today’s market, and the 256Mb of RAM isn’t much to show off either, but CherryPal has another trick up its sleeve: Cloud Computing. CherryPal will be the first consumer-based computer to use cloud computing to supplement its minimalist hardware design. Most of the data and processing the CherryPal experiences will be run on separate servers located “in the clouds,” reducing computing necessities, and by extension, power consumption. This allows the Green PC to run as quickly and efficiently as the market’s top computers, even on just a 400Mhz processor. And hard drive space? It looks like the CherryPal users will have to store their data on flash drives (it comes with a 4Gb flash drive standard). Will the processors and RAM be upgradeable? We’ll have to wait for more news and information to be released.

The use of cloud computing has been met with quite of a bit of skepticism, especially in regards to data storage and privacy. Are your files safe? How much privacy can you expect if your files and software aren’t on the PC itself? What’s to stop people from downloading illegal files into these servers, and who would be held responsible for illegal information shared through these remote servers? What if the servers crash? What precautions are taken in order to prevent valuable or irreplaceable files from vanishing into the ether? What about cost? How much will the average consumer expect to pay for a green PC? The actual price is still a secret, but CherryPal CEO Max Seybold says it is very affordable and will be under $400. There’s also the question of service. Buying the CherryPal PC is one thing, but what about monthly fees? Cloud Computing requires you to be connected to the internet, so will the purchase of a CherryPal come with internet access standard?

These are only a few questions that demand answers. In the meantime, we’ll just have to wait for a satisfactory response.

As for the “green” aspect of the CherryPal PC, people want to know how much energy will be used to maintain the servers. It has to be green everywhere to be green, right? Stay tuned for more details.

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