Question 1

What is Deep Web?

Accepted Answer

This video is designed to highlight the major differences between the normal web sites we see in search results and the databases, services and websites that are found in the Hidden or Deep Web. It teaches:

How deep web resources are different than public websites and search results
Why deep web resources often require special permissions or payment
Where to find free access to the deep web
How the deep web is used in research and everyday situations

Video Transcript:

When it comes time to do research, the first step is often search engines. Using a search term, we can find websites, images, videos, blog posts and more that are free to view and can be useful.

But in reality, search engines can only see a small amount of what’s out there. For the best research, we need to find information that doesn’t appear in normal search results.

Think about it like this… Search engines like Google are constantly scanning the web and organizing search results based on what they can see.

The problem is that search engines can’t log into websites or private databases, so all that valuable information remains hidden, just below the surface. This is the deep web and some say it’s up to 500 times bigger than the free web we see in search results.

The question is, how can researchers use the deep web to find information?

Often, using the deep web for research requires payment or special permissions for access.

Thankfully, many libraries and schools provide access to deep web resources for free. To see how this works, imagine that you’re a law student who needs to research legal cases that involve vehicle safety.

To start, you use a search engine to identify a few popular cases and opinions, but the information is not consistent or authoritative. To round out your research, you need the deep web.

Thankfully your university library offers access to a number of online databases that make legal research easier.

Or, imagine you want to rent your house. When someone applies, it’s your job to find out if they are trustworthy.

A search on the free web may show some interesting information. But it’s difficult to find reliable information on their credit or criminal history.

So, with their permission, you might pay a small fee to use a background check website to find the right information via the deep web.

The big idea is that normal search results can only go so far. When you need reliable, authoritative information for research, remember that the deep web is full of useful resources that may come with a fee or be accessed for free from your library or school.

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This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai. Eran is an online entrepreneur who is passionate about helping people find success building a profitable business online without the high ticket prices and without the marketing hype.

Eran has a tech support membership which you can learn more about here: DotComTruths.com

Eran helps people choose the best software for their business which you can find out more by visiting EranFunnels.com/software.

Question 2

What are Libraries in the Internet Age?

Accepted Answer

Libraries and librarians have evolved, and these days what they can do may surprise you. This video explains why libraries are more important than ever. It teaches:

Why information is the real focus of every library
How the Internet has impacted libraries
Why more information isn’t always better
How libraries and librarians help us navigate information
What you are likely to find in libraries today

Video Transcript:

When you think of libraries, you probably picture shelves of books, librarians and kids working on homework. But today, libraries and librarians are a doing a lot more than you might think.

You see, libraries are not only about books. The real focus of every library is information.

For most of their history, that information lived in books, magazines and periodicals. So libraries and librarians became experts at organizing and understanding how to get the right information out of these resources.

This is still the case today, but things are changing quickly. We now live in the information age and we have access to more information than ever before. Now huge amounts of information also live on the Internet, in databases, apps and more.

Unfortunately, more isn’t always better. Finding trustworthy information and high quality research can be a challenge. And search engines can only do so much.

That’s why libraries matter now more than ever. The same libraries and librarians who helped us organize and understand books have transitioned to helping us find information wherever it exists.

Today librarians are still amazing book-finders - but they are also teachers and technologists. They are expert navigators of information and focus on helping people build new, useful skills, like how to do online research or search job listings effectively.

Librarians work to help communities and students become more digitally literate. And libraries have changed too. Most provide free access to the Internet via on-site computers and/or wifi.

Today many libraries have comprehensive websites that allow you to access resources like research databases that would be difficult to access otherwise.

You may even be able to check-out books online, or borrow electronic books that display on your e-reader.

It’s easy to think that the Internet might have made libraries obsolete, but thankfully, it’s quite the opposite. The Internet has provided libraries a new, effective way to do what they do best - help students and the community find what they need to be productive, online and off.

The next time you need quality information, help with a project or to develop a new skill or hobby, go to your local library and ask a librarian. They’re happy to help and really good at what they do.

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This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai. Eran is an online entrepreneur who is passionate about helping people find success in building a profitable business online without the high ticket prices and without the marketing hype.

Eran has a tech support membership which you can learn more about here: DotComTruths.com

Eran helps people choose the best software for their business which you can find out more by visiting EranFunnels.com/software.

Question 3

What are Apps?

Accepted Answer

Within the last few years, applications or “apps” have gone from being big software programs on computers to small and downloadable apps on mobile devices. This video explains what caused this evolution and how it is impacting our lives today. It teaches:

The big idea of applications and how they work with computers
The role of “platforms” and how they changed thanks to mobile devices
The evolution to smaller, cheaper apps that become collectible
The role of online marketplaces for marketing and distributing apps
How apps are now becoming a part of browsers, social networks and game systems

Video Transcript:

The chances are you’ve been using apps for years. Your home or work computer has apps like a spreadsheet program, calculator or photo editor. Recently these apps, or applications, evolved in a big way.

Let’s start with platforms. You know, a place to put things. A table, in a basic sense, is a platform. You plug in some plates, cups and flatware and it turns into a great place to eat.

Computers work the same way. They create platforms for software applications. A spreadsheet and an accounting app can turn a computer into a business tool. Music and video apps can make a computer a studio.

For most of their history, apps have seemed big and expensive. We often bought them at a store and loaded them onto a computer with a disk. And most of these apps didn’t connect to the Internet.

Recently platforms have changed in big ways. Our mobile phones and tablets became useful platforms just like our computers, and this enabled a different kind of app. Instead of big expensive programs, many apps became smaller and cheaper. Instead of coming in a box or taking hours to download, they could be purchased or downloaded for free from the Internet with a click, even on the go.

This made apps collectible. For little investment, we could collect apps on our devices that reflect our needs and interests. One person’s collection may focus on gaming, another, business, or both. Now apps may wake you up in the morning, give you a snapshot of the news, play the music you like, help you get to the airport, check you in and help you read your new book all from the palm of your hand.

To support all these new apps, we need online marketplaces that make them easy to purchase and download. This way, small teams and large organizations have a way to market, give away or sell thousands of new apps.

And these new apps have another advantage. Many are built to work with the Internet.

So apps aren’t really new. What have changed are platforms and marketplaces that make them easy to purchase and collect for whatever you need to do.

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This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai. Eran is an online entrepreneur who is passionate about helping people find success building a profitable business online without the high ticket prices and without the marketing hype.

Eran has a tech support membership which you can learn more about here: DotComTruths.com

Eran helps people choose the best software for their business which you can find out more by visiting EranFunnels.com/software.

Question 4

What is Big Data?

Accepted Answer

Incredible amounts of data are produced every day, so much that we can’t use it all. Big data is a term used to describe the tools and processes that seek to make this data useful and productive. This video uses the example of traffic data to teach:

Where big data comes from and how it’s collected
Why special tools are required to use it
The three big challenges: Volume, Variability and Velocity
The potential of big data across multiple industries

Video Transcript:

Imagine standing at an intersection. Every time the lights change, you count and record the number of cars that drive through. Over a day, you collect some basic data. Over a week, your data gets more useful and over a month, it becomes a potential resource for discovering ways to make the intersection more efficient.

It’s this idea, collecting data on a huge scale and analyzing them, that may help us see new opportunities to solve big problems.

Let’s say that instead of you recording cars at one intersection, we put sensors at every intersection in the U.S. and they all report data. Over a day, the sensors report millions of pieces of data, over a week, billions and in a month, over 100 billion pieces - and growing every day.

Hidden in this big pile of growing data are important clues that could help commuters save time.

That’s the goal of big data – turning all these data into useful information. But it’s not that easy.

Big Data is really huge and complex data. To make it useful information we need a few things in place. First, we need a place to put it - our normal computers and programs are too small and slow. Big Data needs serious computing power.

Second, we have to handle lots of incoming traffic data, which may come from multiple sources and in different formats. To be useful, it needs to be in a format that makes it similar and comparable.

But we also need to handle data about relevant and changing conditions, like weather or gas prices. With these systems in place, we can collect and analyze huge amounts of complex data in real time - data that can provide clues to solving traffic problems and a lot more.

Consider the enormous amount of data produced by the healthcare industry, weather organizations and social networks. These data could help with healthier lives, safer families and more successful businesses.

Today scientists, technologists, entrepreneurs and organizations of all types are focused on putting big data to work.

By understanding the challenges of working with Big Data, we can make it work for us.

While big data may not make the light change when we want, it may help us find ways to get around a little more efficiently.

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This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai. Eran is an online entrepreneur who is passionate about helping people find success building a profitable business online without the high ticket prices and without the marketing hype.

Eran has a tech support membership which you can learn more about here: DotComTruths.com

Eran helps people choose the best software for their business which you can find out more by visiting EranFunnels.com/software.

Question 5

What is a Computer Hardware?

Accepted Answer

What it teaches:

This video introduces three parts of computer hardware: hard drive, RAM, processor. The video uses a house metaphor to illustrate the role of each part, including:

The three common parts of all computers
Role of hardware to store information
Role of RAM to make some information easy to access
Role of the processor to keep them system working

**Video Transcript:

If you’re like most people, computers are becoming a part of your life, and it helps to know how they work. They seem complicated inside, but by understanding just a few parts, you can see a simpler side of computers.

You’ve seen them. They come in all shapes and sizes, but work pretty much in the same ways. In fact, if you could look inside these computers, they’d have the same basic parts. It’s these parts, the hardware, that do a lot of the work in computers.

To explain, let’s look at something you already know, a house. One of the great things about living in a house is that you have room for all of your stuff. In fact, many houses have basements that become the perfect place for storing things you want to use later. And the bigger the basement, the more you can store.

The same thing is true for computers. Instead of boxes and bicycles, we need a place to store things like photos, music, documents, and software. In a computer, it’s not the basement, but a hard drive. A computer’s hard drive is where you keep all the things you want to use later. And like basements, the bigger the hard drive, the more you can store.

But basements aren’t perfect. Going to the basement takes too much time whenever you need something. Closets on the main floor can help. They’re small, and make things easier to access when you need them. You don’t need to go all the way downstairs.

It’s the same with computers. Some of the information stored on computers is hard for the computer to open quickly because it needs to take the long way. To solve this problem computers use RAM or Random Access Memory. It makes information easier for the computer to access. This means RAM makes computers faster. Plus, this kind of closet gets cleaned out every time you restart your computer.

Of course, houses have all kinds of parts that need to work together. It would help to have someone like a butler in the house making sure the house is always in working order. If it’s too hot, maybe the air conditioning needs adjustment. When it’s dark, lights are needed.

Computers need this too. Something has to make sure all the parts run smoothly. In computers, this is called the processor. It’s a tiny part that’s like the butler of the computer. It sends and receives information, completes tasks and puts the software to work. And the faster it can complete tasks, the faster your computer will be.

So, let’s review. The hard drive is like a basement. It stores all the things you need for later. RAM is like a closet on the main floor. It makes some information quick and easy to access. And the processor is like having a butler around always completing tasks and making things work together.

The next time you use a computer, think about what’s happening under the hood. Computer hardware is working together to help you get things done.

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This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai. Eran is an online entrepreneur who is passionate about helping people find success building a profitable business online without the high ticket prices and without the marketing hype.

Eran has a tech support membership which you can learn more about here:https://www.dotcomtruths.com/

Eran helps people choose the best software for their business which you can find out more by visiting EranFunnels.com/software.

Question 6

What is Public Domain?

Accepted Answer

What it teaches:

Using an example of a song written three generations ago, this video shows why it makes sense that public domain exists and what it means when a song, photo, artwork, document or other creative work is in the public domain. This video teaches:

The basics of copyright law and how it gives creators control
Why copyrights expire over time
How public domain works are available for use without payment or permission
Why creators and organizations contribute to the public domain
How to find public domain resources

Video Transcript:

Imagine for a moment, you’ve written a song and people love it. Because you wrote it, you own it and can use it to earn a living and control if and how it is used by others.

This is the basic idea of copyright law.

These laws make it possible for creative people to earn a living from their creations. But copyright has limits.

Let’s fast-forward to three generations from now. By this time in future, the song lives on and could be useful to others, but you’re not around to control ownership or make money from it.

The question becomes: If someone wants to use your song after so much time, should permission still be required?

Or, does it make more sense for the copyright to expire after a period of time and for the song to be open for use by everyone without permission or payment? This is one way to think about works that are not copyrighted and in the public domain.

In most countries, creative works can only be owned for a period of time. Once that time passes, the story, diagram, song, photograph or any other creative work becomes part of the public domain and is available for use without payment or permission.

This means a huge amount of older creative work is available for use. Want to use a song in your commercial? If the song is in the public domain you can use it for free and without permission!

Want to use an old image to create art? Public domain photos are available without a fee or permission. But the public domain contains much more than old articles, songs and art.

The owner of any creative work can choose to make it part of the public domain at any time.

Many creators contribute their work to the public domain to encourage use by others and contribute to a publicly shared resource.

Further, some organizations don’t use copyright for their publications, making them part of the public domain. For example, most works created by the U.S. government like reports and statistics are not copyrighted as a matter of policy and are free to use in the U.S.

The real beauty of the public domain is that it is a truly public resource that is not controlled by any government, organization or person.

You can find huge collections of public domain materials with a simple online search.

And unlike copyright, which requires permission from the creator, public domain works can modified, reproduced or distributed without payment or permission.

If you’re ready to get creative, works in the public domain may be a perfect place to start.

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This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai. Eran is an online entrepreneur who is passionate about helping people find success building a profitable business online without the high ticket prices and without the marketing hype.

Eran has a tech support membership which you can learn more about here:https://www.dotcomtruths.com/

Eran helps people choose the best software for their business which you can find out more by visiting EranFunnels.com/software.

Question 7

What is Gamification?

Accepted Answer

What it teaches:

Why data and measurements are not enough to motivate people
Why products, services and organizations are using gamification
How an internal team uses gamification to complete a project
Why gamification is becoming a part of everyday life
How gamification can be used by anyone

Video Transcript:

For many people, fun, exciting games are a reward for finishing the boring, monotonous tasks that make up our lives at home, school or work. Games and work often live in two separate worlds.

But what if it was different? What if completing tasks and routines felt more like playing games with points, achievements and competition? They would be more fun. That’s the big idea of gamification - to use game strategies to engage and motivate people to accomplish all kinds of tasks and achieve specific goals.

Think about it this way.

Finding the motivation to exercise and lose weight can be a challenge. When all we have is a scale to track our weight each week, it can be hard to feel excited.

Today, of course, we have fitness trackers that count the number of steps we take, distance and how many calories we burn. These basic features are useful, but alone, they’re still like a scale, with basic measurements.

That’s why many trackers also have features that turn exercise into a game with points, achievement levels and competition.

Now, let’s look at gamification in the workplace.

Blake was a project manager for a big new product. In the past, finishing a project came with a long list of assignments for his team.

But this time, Blake decided to do something different to test the new product. Instead of normal assignments, he made testing the product more like a game and used an internal website to make it happen. He added all the team members to the website, where they could see their progress on a leaderboard.

Rather than assigning testing tasks, he created challenges for team members with points for each challenge. Discovering problems and completing items earned the team members points and badges that everyone could see. When someone earned 50 points, they unlocked an award.

The project’s leaderboard became a way to rally team members. Along with points, each tester competed for bragging rights and put in extra time just to win. By making work tasks like a game, team motivation grew, the project became more fun and ultimately produced a better product.

Of course, this is just one example. When we collect points for travel, or even a free coffee, we’re involved in gamification. From household chores to work tasks, gamification can motivate people by making tasks fun and interesting - like a game.

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This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai. Eran is an online entrepreneur who is passionate about helping people find success building a profitable business online without the high ticket prices and without the marketing hype.

Eran has a tech support membership which you can learn more about here:https://www.dotcomtruths.com/

Eran helps people choose the best software for their business which you can find out more by visiting EranFunnels.com/software.

Question 8

What is Copyright and Creative Commons?

Accepted Answer

This video helps to explain the basics of copyright law and creative commons licensing and the role each can play in helping creators protect and share their work. It teaches:

Why copyright law exists
How to copyright a creative work
Creative Commons licensing basics
How both copyright and Creative Commons licensing can help creators
Rules of thumb for using licensed work

Video Transcript:

Julia’s dream is to make a living as a photographer. In this dream, she takes amazing photos, people buy them, and their purchases fund her future work.

But it’s not that simple. Julia wants to publish some of her photos to help spread the word, but she’s concerned because photos are easy to copy. She could lose control and not be able to make a living from her talent.

So she does some research and learns that in the U.S., as with other countries, we have laws that give creators of materials like books, images, movies, artwork and music a way to own and protect their creations. It’s called copyright law. Owning the copyright means having the exclusive right to manage and sell the material.

And she’s surprised to find that when she creates photos, she owns the copyright to them automatically, without taking any other action. Though she can always register them with the U.S. Copyright office for good measure.

She likes being covered by copyright law, but it limits her exposure, because her permission is required for sharing a photo. She needs a way to make some of her photos more sharable.

Her research leads her to Creative Commons, which is a set of licenses that she can use to make her copyrighted photos free for sharing.

By licensing specific photos with a Creative Commons license, she doesn’t have to approve each person’s request for sharing, as long as a few simple rules are followed. She chooses a license that requires the user to provide attribution, or credit for her work, and to be non-commercially.

Using Creative Commons means she retains some rights while her photos and name have the potential to be seen by many more people because they can be shared for free.

After considering the options, Julia decides to license a few photos with Creative Commons, and use copyright with “all rights reserved” for the rest of her portfolio because it will be important for her goals. So she adds copyright information, which includes the year the photo was first taken and her name, wherever those photos appear.

Across the country, Kelly needs a travel photo for his magazine article. He searches, and finds a nice one online and notes a Creative Commons license and Julia’s name. His use is commercial, so he visits her site and finds more photos that fit his needs.

The one he wants is marked “all right reserved”, so to avoid copyright infringement and potential legal issues, he contacts Julia who gives him permission to use the photo in exchange for a license fee. This way, Kelly can use the photo in his magazine and Julia can build her career.

Both Kelly and Julia understand that ownership and proper use of materials can be difficult to navigate, especially because the Web is global and copyright laws can vary by country.

So here are a few things they always consider...

When they see a copyright symbol or notice, they ask the creator about proper use. And they still ask even if they don’t see a symbol.

When they see Creative Commons licenses like these, they know they can share the material for free, as long as they follow the rules of the license, found at creativecommons.org.

Both copyright and Creative Commons are important parts of a system that come with a responsibility to follow rules, rules that support the future work of people and organizations who can make our world a better place.

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This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai. Eran is an online entrepreneur who is passionate about helping people find success building a profitable business online without the high ticket prices and without the marketing hype.

Eran has a tech support membership which you can learn more about here:https://www.dotcomtruths.com/

Eran helps people choose the best software for their business which you can find out more by visiting EranFunnels.com/software.

Question 9

What is Augmented Reality?

Accepted Answer

What it teaches:

A high level introduction to augmented reality
Using it to find a restaurant
Using it to compare products, be entertained
A look at future possibilities of augmented reality

Video Transcript:

I think we can all agree that reality is pretty great. It’s what we experience through our senses like our eyes, and phones with cameras. The Internet is awesome too, but the Internet and reality have a hard time working together.

Thankfully this is changing quickly. New tools mean that the world around you can now be seen with a layer of new information from the Internet. Let's start with an example.

If you've ever seen a movie with a fighter pilot, you've seen the pilot’s view from the cockpit – but something’s missing. The pilot needs a layer of information that adds useful items to his view of reality. Recently, this kind of layer started working on your smartphone. But instead of flight data, you have data about the world around you. It’s Augmented Reality.

Let’s say you're hungry and at a busy intersection. There are multiple restaurants around you, but you don't know where they are or which one is the best. You could look up each one on a computer, or just take your chances. But now, thanks to new software on mobile phones, you can simply point your phone's camera at buildings around you and voila! Restaurants are magically highlighted and a layer of information about the restaurant appears on the screen.

Another example is shopping. You can point your camera at a product and see a layer of information about it, like prices of the same product at other stores in the area or on the Internet. And this functionality only requires a few things.

First, a smartphone with a camera to capture reality.

Second, a connection to the Internet for receiving the layer of information.

Third, software on your phone to bring it all together.

It also helps to have a phone with GPS and a compass so it knows which direction you're facing. Augmented reality can also work with a camera attached to your computer. You can hold products in front of the camera and see a layer of information on your screen that makes reality more interesting and even fun.

These examples are just the beginning. In the future, you may wear glasses that have a tiny display that you can see while walking. As you walk by stores, buildings, people and products, this screen displays information from sites like Wikipedia or Google. Suddenly your reality is richer and more interesting.

It's coming, but augmented reality has a long way to go. Keep your eye out for ways that augmented reality adds layers of information to your reality.

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This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai. Eran is an online entrepreneur who is passionate about helping people find success building a profitable business online without the high ticket prices and without the marketing hype.

Eran has a tech support membership which you can learn more about here:https://www.dotcomtruths.com/

Eran helps people choose the best software for their business which you can find out more by visiting EranFunnels.com/software.

Question 10

What are Algorithms?

Accepted Answer

This video is an introduction to the basic ideas of algorithms. It explains how computers, websites and digital products need instructions that answer the question “what should I do next?” in order to complete tasks, serve customers and gather information. It teaches:

Why algorithms are similar to offline customer service
How to think about and visualize an algorithm
Why algorithms run our favorite websites
How a popular music website might use algorithms

Video Transcript:

When you visit your local coffee shop, it’s a nice feeling when they recognize you.

You don’t see it, but you can imagine the barista following a set of simple instructions in their mind when you walk in.

It may go like this: A new person arrived. Do I recognize them? If no, say “Hi!” If yes, go to the next step. Do I remember their name? If no, say “Welcome back.” If yes, address them by name.

Every day, this process repeats and customers experience great service. For a coffee shop, it works well because the baristas remember dozens of regular customers.

When we use things like websites and computers, a similar process happens. These technologies rely on instructions that are programmed to make decisions like the barista in our coffee shop.

These sets of instructions are called algorithms and they are a part of nearly everything we do in the digital world.

For example, when we take a digital photo, move a mouse, or type a word in the real world,

But on the web is where you’re likely to see the magic of algorithms in action. Whether it’s search results, your news feed, or your favorite app, algorithms are working behind the scenes to figure out what to show you next.

For example, a popular website may have algorithms that, in a blink of an eye, go through thousands of steps for millions of visitors every day.

Consider a music website that must always account for new music, changing user tastes and their business. Designing better algorithms can be a big way that they make their website better.

Here, algorithms help them understand who their visitors are,

It’s going through steps like these and thousands of others that are the building blocks of algorithms on popular websites. And they matter. Teams of people are constantly designing and updating algorithms to reflect changes over time.

When they’re working as designed, they can make your favorite websites feel more personal and useful.

You may even start to feel like the website knows you better than your local barista.

This FAQ library was created by Eran Bucai as a free resource to help beginners understand the online world.

Eran is the founder of Dot Com Truths, a membership that helps entrepreneurs solve every day problems without the marketing hype or high ticket prices.

Eran lives off passive income thanks to affiliate marketing, his membership and freelance business where helps course creators and membership site owners with their software and technology challenges through 1:1 done-with-you services and information products.

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