MOV files are some of the most common video files on the internet and people have an irritating habit of giving you MOV files that you can’t use on your windows machine (even with QuickTime installed) because of the difference in encoding types. Luckily, through a ridiculous process of trial and error, I have figured out a way to get those MOV files from your mac to your PC in a usable format.

Unfortunately you are going to need some tools to pull this off:

• QuickTime Pro (this is essential if you don’t have a Mac – but if you don’t have a Mac it might not work)
• iMovie (if you don’t have QuickTime on your Mac)
• A Mac (if your QuickTime on Windows can’t view the video)

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As soon as i finish writing my article about how we need more government control, the man turns around and trys to take too much control.It looks like were going to work for a happy medium.

If you don’t know what I am talking about, please read this article:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33038143/ns/technology_and_science-security

As this article outlines, a Senate committee was exploring ways to give the power to the president to turn off the internet, during emergencies, attacks, or any other reason he sees. While there is no one point that will take down the internet, there are several main arteries that would cause a major crash. Their justification for this law is that we need to keep system critical devices online, and not having other traffic would make this an easier task. They compare this power to Bush ordering all plaines out of the sky after 9/11. But is it really the same?

While plaines is a vital form of transpiration in the untied states, it is not a critical mode. The internet is the basis for many companies. All the banking systems are through the internet, wal-mart controls its inventory through a mass network. There are companies that their entire client base are based online. Can the president have the power just to say no more?

While this article talked of a lot of government OVER CONTROL they also had a few points of interest. The last bullet point reads “The Senate Commerce< Science and Transportation Committee is working on a bill that promotes public awareness and technical education…”

This is important, this would insure that technology continues to grow, and there are more tech-know geeks.

Technology is a beautiful thing. Each person using technology can choose how it is developed, they can push for new advancements, they can make technology work for them. Technology is not reserved for geeks any more. It is something that belongs in the hands of everyday people, it is embedded in our daily lives. So why should big business be limiting this?

Internet Service providers (ISP’S) all want to  make more money, at our expense. They want to follow the same paths as internet giants such as Google, Facebook, Yahoo, and Twitter. To give them a competitive edge, they are creating a “Non Neutral Net”, which essentially means each separate ISP can only access their own servers within their domain. In Plain English, ISP’s are attempting to charge an access fee when a user accesses a website that is hosted by an ISP other than the one chosen by the user,. Additionally, ISP’s are prioritizing network traffic based on type of application. Imposing access fees takes away a critical quality of the internet- it was meant to be free. Likewise, prioritizing bandwidth by application could result in priory going to the highest bidder.

Originally when the internet was formed, the creator’s goal was to create ONE internet, and not have a serveral of segmented branches. They wanted to connect different locations, so they could share information without complicated algorithms. So essentially ISP’s are regressing, and effectively taking our technology BACK a step.

The government is not unaware of this. This article goes into better detail about what the FCC is doing.

http://tinyurl.com/mo3ep7

So what do you do about this? Contact your senators and tell them they MUST pass this as a long. It will protect innovation, web developers, and web hosts, as well as keep your internet prices down.

Note: If you are a Iowa citizen, and you use twitter please post this message “@ChuckGrassley We need to make Net-Neutrality a priority to the Senate. Please push to keep the Internet neutral! RT this if you agree!”.

Also, if you are a Iowa citizen, our senators websites are here:

Chuck Grassley-http://grassley.senate.gov/

Tom Harkin-http://harkin.senate.gov/

Note 2- If you would like to learn more about the beginings of the internet please watch this video-http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9hIQjrMHTv4

As many of you know, this is my final year as a high school student, and next year I will be moving on to college. You also may know that I am deeply involved with tech stuff at Kennedy, my church, work, free lance projects, and Venture crew. After all these are done, it leaves me with very little free time, to use as I please.

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