CMS Rock Star

I was browsing the Internet, looking for a variety of information about websites.  There is a lot to learn about creating and hosting a website.  One of the interesting things about the Internet is that it acts like a living organism; it is constantly adapting, changing, and evolving!  Someone is always developing a new technological breakthrough that makes the Internet even more dynamic! 

I found some informative articles like tips for choosing a domain and a webhost rating resource for determining which webhosting service is the best value at the webhostingrating.com website.  If you are looking for a new webhost service, check out their reviews.  Their list of the “top ten” best websites at the moment only has four web hosting services  listed, so those four must really be good!

I keep hearing on the news that today is the 45th anniversary of Martin Luther King’s famous “I have a dream” speech. I also keep hearing that today is the last day of the Democratic Convention, which will be featuring a speech by Barack Obama. I have to wonder if the timing of the convention happened to be planned to be corresponding to the anniversary of the Martin Luther King speech? If not I find it a very interesting coincidence in historical events!

The Polytechnic Institute of New York University (NYU-Poly) has a department called Information Systems and Internet Security (ISIS) Lab.  This Lab concentrates on the newest areas of information security.  Currently they are focusing on digital forensics, computer and network security, digital watermarking, steganography, and hardware for secure systems. 

The ISIS Lab is holding their fifth annual Cyber Security Awareness Week from now until October 14.  A very large part of the week is an information security competition run by students.  The competition will culminate with an awards ceremony and presentations by industry leaders.  The competition is open to students around the country, not just limited to NYU-Poly.  Interested students can register for the competition at isis.poly.edu/csaw/.

Cash prizes will be given to the winners of the competition.  There are seven categories of competition, and each category will have their own prizes.  The categories are Security Quiz, Research Poster, Forensics, AppSec Capture the Flag, Essay Contest, Security Awareness Posters, and Underhanded Hardware.

First prize is $500.  Second prize is $250, and third prize is $100.   There will also be door prizes, bonus prizes and raffles for high school and undergraduate participants.  A travel scholarship will be awarded to qualified finalists to attend the awards ceremony in New York City.

We’ve got the television on tonight, waiting to hear Hillary Clinton’s speech at the convention.  My parents and I were all hoping that Hillary would have been Obama’s VP choice, and are very disappointed that he picked Biden instead.  We think it will be very difficult for Hillary to make a good speech encouraging everyone to vote for Obama under the circumstances, and we want to see how well she does.

Over the past year I have looked for a different job by interviewing at about seven different companies.  I’d love to get better pay and benefits than what I am getting now.  Don’t get me wrong, I have a good job, but in today’s market, you always have to keep an ear to the ground to better yourself!  I just participated in a survey from the Development Dimensions International human resources consulting firm about my job interview experiences.  They are interested in hearing from people who have either been interviewed for a job, or have been interviewers.  As incentive to take the survey, participants are given the chance to win an Apple iPod touch (or $300).  If you would like to participate, and have a chance to win an Ipod, Click here to take the survey