Malware

Malware is malicious software that usually takes the form of a virus or a worm. A Virus needs a host file, or website in order to exist, and then they send out copies of themselves to other computers. Worms do not need a host file and they can just travel through a network of computers doing what they are designed to do. I suspect that if the recipe ipod was infected with malware it would be a virus since there would be a lot sharing of files between users, and one of those is bound to have a virus. I would hope that most of the viruses would be harmless, and not delete files or anything like that, but I know that is just wishful thinking. Which means that someone will have to develop anti-virus software for both the recipe ipod and the program that goes along with it. Hopefully the recipe ipod will be an interesting target for the young men that write malware programs.

The secret ingredient is evol!

So this week we talked about computer security and how things can be hidden with cryptography or stenography (which im happy to say i spelled right the first try). Cryptography is when the message is encoded and can only be decoded with the proper key and stenography is when a message is hidden within something else, like a message in a picture. the recipe ipod would use cryptography to encrypt all of the recipes. Users would be able to give other users a limited time access, or life time access to recipes. I know on the Zune you could "lend" someone a song for three days, and the limited access would be like that. That way the recipes that you want to keep in the family can be protected. In addition to that all the recipes that users can buy off of the recipe ipod application would also be encrypt so that users can not just share the file with anyone.

Databases

Today we talked about database and the different kinds that exist, the goals of databases, and about queries. When i thought about it, the recipe ipod application is really a database at its core, since basically it will store recipes and present them when you ask for it. the recipe ipod itself does more than just that, but the application behaves as a database should. Think of using itunes, it stores a huge amount of information, users can do quick searches, and based on what the user searches for it can eliminate things from its search. Since the recipe ipod application is modeled after itunes, it too would be able to do all these things. It would be a relational database, since it would be organized by keys such as what the recipe makes, type of cuisine, and difficulty level.

In order to do queries efficiently there needs to be a primary key, this presents a challenge, since my immediate thought was to have the primary key be the what the recipe makes (ex: apple Pie) but you can have more than one apple pie recipe. So each recipe in the recipe ipod application will be assigned a number that helps to distinguish it from ever other recipe there is.

Network and sharing

Last week we talked about Networks and how information is passed from one computer to another. At first I was really confused as to how this topic would relate to the recipe ipod since i was originally thinking that they would not be able to share recipes with each other. But when i thought about it that made no sense, what is the point of having an amazing recipe if you can't share it with people? So they should be able to share "recipe cards" with each other. There would be two ways to share a "recipe card", the first would just be from the computer program where you could just copy and paste the recipe file into an e-mail attachment or chat window, in the same manner that people share songs today. That method would involve the standard network interactions, where the message is handed from computer to computer/server till it gets to its destination.

The second way would be from recipe ipod to recipe ipod. I don't really know the particulars of how it would be done, but the fact that it would share means that it would have to be able to connect to the internet, so it would have a built-in air port/wifi thingy (I don't know what its called). This also means that each recipe ipod would have to have its own individual identification code, like a phone number or pin. Then you could just send the "recipe card" like you send pictures between phones, you choose send to off of the option menu and then insert the pin # into the to box. This method probably takes the same steps as sending things through a computer. If it was really advanced it would send a recipe with just a bump of recipe ipods. It would be really cool if you could point and hold a recipe and then hold the recipe ipods close together and just drag the recipe from one to the other. In the mythical world where this is actually made that is how people would share recipes, when they are not at their computers. I bet chefs, and stay at home moms that love to cook would be the only ones that actually carry around their recipe ipods, so for everyone else there will be free sticky notes to write done peoples pin # and the recipes they want :).

Audio

A few weeks ago we talked about audio formats and how computers turn sound into digital data, and then back into understandable language. Which lead me to decided that people should be able to record recipes for the recipe ipod. So the same way that people make podcast that you can load on to any mp3 player, people can find their favorite recipe and record themselves reading the recipe. It would not be in the format that the recipe ipod would need to respond to the stop and continue commands but you would still be able to say pause and play, so that you can cook along with the recipe.

In order to speak the recipes the recipe ipod would need to have a digital(computer language) to analog (human language) converter so that it can translate the 0 and 1 of the stored recipes. Since i also want it to be able to respond to spoken commands it would need to have an analog to digital converter as well so that when the users says "pause" the recipe ipod can translate that into the command 010101010 (i have no idea what it would really be) and stop talking and hold its place in the recipe.

In class we have been talking about the inner workings of computers, including the parts and how the parts work. We discussed bits and bytes and how language was encoded, and how ASCII encoded the english language but as computers became more popular it was not a sufficient method of coding for all the worlds languages. So Unicode was invented and it uses 2 bytes to encoded every letter/character which allows for more letters and characters to be covered. The recipe ipod would have to be created using unicode because I would want the whole world to be able to use it. The program would have no idea how to read or understand a Chinese recipe if it did not know how to interoperate the characters. It would be interesting to see a translation program could be added to the recipe ipod, since i come across a lot of recipes that seem awesome but they are in another language. Right now when that happens, I have to use google translate but it would made the recipe ipod ten times more awesome if it could do it.

Last week in class we talked about the parts that make up a computer and I know that the recipe ipod would need quite a few of these things as well. It would need to have a motherboard and processor in order to run its program and allow users to connect the recipe ipod and their computers. It would need memory in order to store the recipes but I not know if it would need to be RAM memory or Hard Drive memory. I would like the recipe ipod to be touchscreen since that would make using it easier and it would eliminate key/buttons to get flour stuck in. It would need a mic and speakers in order to run the voice recognition software and to read the recipes out. Those are the basics, but I'm sure there would a lot more parts needed for the recipe ipod to work.

Software and eCommerce

This week we discussed hardware and software, and how hardware is the actual components of a computer but they are pretty useless without the software which tells the computer how to work. My recipe ipod would rely on software for sure. It would need an application in order to run at all. The application would probably be set up like itunes since that is what my idea is based on. It would probably need two programs actually, one for the computer so that the recipe ipod could hook up to it, and another for the recipe ipod itself. The recipe ipod would need software in order to tell it how to read the recipes, how to find the recipes, how to understand the verbal commands from the user, and how to save/ move recipes based on how they are tagged. The user would be able to assign recipes categories, so that if one night they want Italian they can just look though that folder (haha it would be cute to call those chapters instead of folders, just like they are playlist on the actual ipod). The computer would need to be able to do the same things, as well as knowing how to convert downloaded recipes into something that the recipe ipod can read.

Last week we discussed eCommerce and that got me thinking about selling recipes online. It would be hard since there are so many good ones out there that are free. But I was thinking that a celebrity chef could be asked to think of some exclusive ones that could be sold in the recipe store for maybe a $1. Demo videos could be added, you could have dictionaries for ingredients, and maybe there could be a way an app could be developed that could be sold telling people what wine parings went with certain dishes. A deal could even be made to let people buy episodes of cooking shows that would come with the recipes (which is like when you get a music video on itunes you get the song too. You don;t have to watch the video to listen to the song). I feel like there are a lot of ways to make money off of the recipe ipod besides selling the program and device.

Ok that's it for this week. Thanks for reading :)