http://www.telegraph.co.uk/scienceandtechnology/technology/3564435/Worlds-first-personal-supercomputer-unveiled.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Supercomputer (extra research)
The supercomputer is one thing that no one can have for a personal computer until now. The computer that is so awesome and so powerful and is fast and there is no other compared to it is now comes in a personal computer. This computer is 250 times faster than the average PC and it will cost you around £4,000. The Tesla supercomputer is beyond the reach of most consumers, but is expected to revolutionise the way scientists and medical professionals carry out their work. This computer will allow doctors to process the results of brain and body scans much more quicker then before resulting in letting know patients within hours instead of days if they have a tumor. Supercomputer were thought to be a massive system made of thousands of machines taking an entire room and costly millions of pounds to build and maintain. David Kirk, chief scientist at NVIDIA, the American company which has designed the new technology, said: "Pretty much anything that you do on your PC that takes a lot of time can be accelerated with this." "These supercomputers can improve the time it takes to process information by 1,000 times. These computers and its technology will make every home computer faster and better in the future but the computers went on sale to British customers yesterday and will initially be sold to universities and to the scientific and research community; so the rest of the public will have too wait. I think that is awesome for these computers to have so much technology that they are making personal supercomputers. I think this technology will catch on with the public and the demand for a faster computer will come up. So I believe that soon the supercomputer will show up in homes all over the world. It is also that these computers are already helping out in hospitals and for schools. This will have a huge impact and I want them it keep working on this to better the world.
Sunday, December 7, 2008
Wednesday, December 3, 2008
Journal #14, December 3
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20081201-for-drivers-passenger-and-phone-conversations-arent-equal.html
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060630-7176.html (extra research)
Everybody in America seems to have a cell phone and they are talking on them it non-stop. About everywhere you go someone is talking on one, but there has been one problem with people talking on the phone; it distracts themselves when they are driving and cause a wreck or put themselves or others in a tight situation. So it's no surprise that many studies have found that cell phone conversations have a serious impact on driving skills and can in some ways be comparable to alcohol. The article gave one of the studies and this one is how phone conversations distract the driver then if a passenger was talking to the driver. The introduction to the study describes a variety of previous work that describe at least three aspects of driving that appear to be negatively impacted by cell phone use. The first is basic control; drivers on cell phones have a pronounced tendency to drift around in (and potentially out of) the lane they're occupying. The second is tactical, which involves adjusting to the cars around you on the road through activities like maintaining a braking distance. Finally, studies have shown that drivers engaged in cell phone conversations are bad at strategic or task-focused processes, such as actually getting to their intended destination. The study also suggest that if another adult is in the car there is a lower chance of an accident and the driver drives better and pays more attention. If the driver has to talk on the phone the hands free phone comes in and there is products that allow the call to go through the speaker and the car radio unit. Today's technology is reducing the chance for a accident and allow the driver to stay full alert while driving. I think that it is dangerous for people to talk on the phone while driving, especially younger drives. There are a lot of bad drivers out in the world and they do not need talking on a phone to make them worst. So I am glad technology is making products to reduce people from getting to distracted and keeping there hands on the wheel. There are tons of people that drive up and down highways and go to work and if there are less wrecks the traffic will flow better and there will be less headache, so I am all for hands free phones.
http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20060630-7176.html (extra research)
Everybody in America seems to have a cell phone and they are talking on them it non-stop. About everywhere you go someone is talking on one, but there has been one problem with people talking on the phone; it distracts themselves when they are driving and cause a wreck or put themselves or others in a tight situation. So it's no surprise that many studies have found that cell phone conversations have a serious impact on driving skills and can in some ways be comparable to alcohol. The article gave one of the studies and this one is how phone conversations distract the driver then if a passenger was talking to the driver. The introduction to the study describes a variety of previous work that describe at least three aspects of driving that appear to be negatively impacted by cell phone use. The first is basic control; drivers on cell phones have a pronounced tendency to drift around in (and potentially out of) the lane they're occupying. The second is tactical, which involves adjusting to the cars around you on the road through activities like maintaining a braking distance. Finally, studies have shown that drivers engaged in cell phone conversations are bad at strategic or task-focused processes, such as actually getting to their intended destination. The study also suggest that if another adult is in the car there is a lower chance of an accident and the driver drives better and pays more attention. If the driver has to talk on the phone the hands free phone comes in and there is products that allow the call to go through the speaker and the car radio unit. Today's technology is reducing the chance for a accident and allow the driver to stay full alert while driving. I think that it is dangerous for people to talk on the phone while driving, especially younger drives. There are a lot of bad drivers out in the world and they do not need talking on a phone to make them worst. So I am glad technology is making products to reduce people from getting to distracted and keeping there hands on the wheel. There are tons of people that drive up and down highways and go to work and if there are less wrecks the traffic will flow better and there will be less headache, so I am all for hands free phones.
Sunday, November 23, 2008
Journal #13, November 23
http://www.1up.com/do/newsStory?cId=3171419
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Computer (extra research)
It seems that since Nintendo has been around and producing video game system they have kind of followed the same model as the Apple Computer. Like the N64 it was an expensive proprietary format, relatively sparse releases, an insular corporate culture, but also offered the same ultimate benefit: powerful hardware and quality software. Here are some examples to show that; Apple makes computers and laptops that are translucent blue or orange with white accents and soon after that Nintendo comes out with games that are same thing. Then Apple comes out with a compact, cube-shaped computer that founders in the marketplace and Nintendo comes out with a compact, cube-shaped console that founders in the marketplace. So it seems where Apple leads, Nintendo seems to follow in lockstep. Well now Apple is now going to go into the video game system business. They suddenly felt like that video games are the future and that is a very different change of pace for that company. They also have very big ties with gaming developers, so it seems they have the right people for the job. Of course have made big news with the Ipod and recently the IPod touch and with that they had some games that was available. If they do use the IPod for gaming it will most likely be like the Nintendo DS and PSP consoles. I think that it would be cool if Apple decided to join some of the other companies and start making video games and consoles because that could help out the consumer. With another company that drives the prices down and there of course will give them more of a choice of games. I think that will be very successful in making games because everyone loves the IPod and Apple has got this development and selling of technology down pat.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Apple_Computer (extra research)
It seems that since Nintendo has been around and producing video game system they have kind of followed the same model as the Apple Computer. Like the N64 it was an expensive proprietary format, relatively sparse releases, an insular corporate culture, but also offered the same ultimate benefit: powerful hardware and quality software. Here are some examples to show that; Apple makes computers and laptops that are translucent blue or orange with white accents and soon after that Nintendo comes out with games that are same thing. Then Apple comes out with a compact, cube-shaped computer that founders in the marketplace and Nintendo comes out with a compact, cube-shaped console that founders in the marketplace. So it seems where Apple leads, Nintendo seems to follow in lockstep. Well now Apple is now going to go into the video game system business. They suddenly felt like that video games are the future and that is a very different change of pace for that company. They also have very big ties with gaming developers, so it seems they have the right people for the job. Of course have made big news with the Ipod and recently the IPod touch and with that they had some games that was available. If they do use the IPod for gaming it will most likely be like the Nintendo DS and PSP consoles. I think that it would be cool if Apple decided to join some of the other companies and start making video games and consoles because that could help out the consumer. With another company that drives the prices down and there of course will give them more of a choice of games. I think that will be very successful in making games because everyone loves the IPod and Apple has got this development and selling of technology down pat.
Sunday, November 16, 2008
Journal #12, November 16
http://resources.zdnet.co.uk/articles/features/0,1000002000,39549424,00.htm
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux (extra research)
Today it is almost everything is about computers and they have become very important, well since people need and use computers everyday well there are programs and computers that people use. Like Mac and Windows Vista and Linux, well this article is about many IT departments are considering a migration to Linux instead of Windows Vista and such. Well before you decide to pick a certain criteria that you should look at before switching. And this article gives the reader ten questions to ask and look at before you do something that might hurt you or your business. Number one, will that proprietary, mission-critical application run on the new platform? Number two, which desktop are you planning to use? Number three, is your IT department up to the task? Number four, does your corporate headquarters get a benefit from Microsoft? Number five, do your employees use a lot of removable media? Number six, is your hardware supported? Number seven, are you using Active Directory? Number eight, do you outsource your helpdesk support? Number nine, are you subject to licensing fees for software? Then lastly, do some of your employees fit the Linux user experience more than others? All of these question are important and should be ask or thought over. Some are more important and then there are some questions that do not apply to everyone, but I think that this article brings up very good questions, even though I do not understand some of the questions and some of the words or programs that they are referring to, but it seems that these questions would help. With people these type of questions, I could see the that company making a better decision, instead of just going with whatever everyone else is using. And like what the article said, ask these questions before going backwards and back to square one, cause we all know time is money.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linux (extra research)
Today it is almost everything is about computers and they have become very important, well since people need and use computers everyday well there are programs and computers that people use. Like Mac and Windows Vista and Linux, well this article is about many IT departments are considering a migration to Linux instead of Windows Vista and such. Well before you decide to pick a certain criteria that you should look at before switching. And this article gives the reader ten questions to ask and look at before you do something that might hurt you or your business. Number one, will that proprietary, mission-critical application run on the new platform? Number two, which desktop are you planning to use? Number three, is your IT department up to the task? Number four, does your corporate headquarters get a benefit from Microsoft? Number five, do your employees use a lot of removable media? Number six, is your hardware supported? Number seven, are you using Active Directory? Number eight, do you outsource your helpdesk support? Number nine, are you subject to licensing fees for software? Then lastly, do some of your employees fit the Linux user experience more than others? All of these question are important and should be ask or thought over. Some are more important and then there are some questions that do not apply to everyone, but I think that this article brings up very good questions, even though I do not understand some of the questions and some of the words or programs that they are referring to, but it seems that these questions would help. With people these type of questions, I could see the that company making a better decision, instead of just going with whatever everyone else is using. And like what the article said, ask these questions before going backwards and back to square one, cause we all know time is money.
Sunday, November 9, 2008
Journal #11, November 9
http://www.tgdaily.com/html_tmp/content-view-40085-128-1-1.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless (extra research)
Since Barrack Obama is going to be the next president, TG Daily revisited Obama's speeches and highlighted what they thought were the top five most important technology promises. During the presidential race Silicon Valley's cash was behind Obama, in total he collected 1.44 million in donations from employees at the 20 largest companies. A big donation came from Google, they donated almost half a million dollars. Obama seemed to have a greater understanding and use of technology, the Internet was a key role in his fundraising effort. His ads were in Facebook, MySpace and even in video games to try to connect to younger voters. Here are the top five choices. Net neutrality is one and that is to set rules and put laws in place to force service and telcos to allow all applications, services and devices access networks to perform on equal terms. Second broadband penetration and that is to have quicker speeds for the Internet because the US is very slow compared to Japan and South Korea. Third is wireless spectrum, today there is a lack of competition and fair usage rules in it are key obstacles that hold back new innovation. Fourth there is the outsourcing problem, and there are big problems for today because there is so many jobs are going over seas. Then lastly there is privacy and in today's society everyone wants that and our privacy legislation appears to be always one step behind when it comes to high tech and online scenarios. I think that all five of this issues are a big deal for today's society and needs to be looked at and something done about it. For the next four years we will see if these things are looked at and some attempt to fix or help is made. So Silicon is very much backing Obama, so maybe he will help out the technology problems and Internet problems and get the US back to top of technology and research.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless (extra research)
Since Barrack Obama is going to be the next president, TG Daily revisited Obama's speeches and highlighted what they thought were the top five most important technology promises. During the presidential race Silicon Valley's cash was behind Obama, in total he collected 1.44 million in donations from employees at the 20 largest companies. A big donation came from Google, they donated almost half a million dollars. Obama seemed to have a greater understanding and use of technology, the Internet was a key role in his fundraising effort. His ads were in Facebook, MySpace and even in video games to try to connect to younger voters. Here are the top five choices. Net neutrality is one and that is to set rules and put laws in place to force service and telcos to allow all applications, services and devices access networks to perform on equal terms. Second broadband penetration and that is to have quicker speeds for the Internet because the US is very slow compared to Japan and South Korea. Third is wireless spectrum, today there is a lack of competition and fair usage rules in it are key obstacles that hold back new innovation. Fourth there is the outsourcing problem, and there are big problems for today because there is so many jobs are going over seas. Then lastly there is privacy and in today's society everyone wants that and our privacy legislation appears to be always one step behind when it comes to high tech and online scenarios. I think that all five of this issues are a big deal for today's society and needs to be looked at and something done about it. For the next four years we will see if these things are looked at and some attempt to fix or help is made. So Silicon is very much backing Obama, so maybe he will help out the technology problems and Internet problems and get the US back to top of technology and research.
Sunday, November 2, 2008
Journal # 10, November 2
http://computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9118758&intsrc=hm_list
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_Inspiron_Mini_9 (extra research)
These days everyone either has a computer or uses one. Well now there are subnotebooks like the Asus Eee PC, the Dell Mini 9 and the HP 2133 Mini-Note that will soon cost as little as $99. But this might be a great deal there is a catch like always; the person would have to omit to a two-year mobile broadband contract. The low cost of the notebooks would come from the courtesy of a subsidy identical to the one you already get with your cell phone. There are reports that HP is already talking to carriers about such an arrangement, but it did not say what carriers. If HP is talking to carriers then you can be that Dell and Asus are too. People believe that they are talking to AT&T, which they already have a deal with Lenovo and Ericsson to sell full-size ThinkPads at $150, so they have a plan that HP is looking for. AT&T also announced a major strategic shift a couple of weeks ago that should result in AT&T stores selling nonphone gadgets that can take advantage of mobile broadband, including netbooks. I think that it would be great if HP or Dell or Asus would come out with these $99 notebooks. Like that I said at the beginning, almost everyone in the USA either has a computer or uses one. In today's' society a computer is essential and when they are that cheap people can buy them and not be in a lot of debt because of there prices. Since the technology is being made cheaper then the product is sold for cheaper, but the catch i do not like, but comes with the good price.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dell_Inspiron_Mini_9 (extra research)
These days everyone either has a computer or uses one. Well now there are subnotebooks like the Asus Eee PC, the Dell Mini 9 and the HP 2133 Mini-Note that will soon cost as little as $99. But this might be a great deal there is a catch like always; the person would have to omit to a two-year mobile broadband contract. The low cost of the notebooks would come from the courtesy of a subsidy identical to the one you already get with your cell phone. There are reports that HP is already talking to carriers about such an arrangement, but it did not say what carriers. If HP is talking to carriers then you can be that Dell and Asus are too. People believe that they are talking to AT&T, which they already have a deal with Lenovo and Ericsson to sell full-size ThinkPads at $150, so they have a plan that HP is looking for. AT&T also announced a major strategic shift a couple of weeks ago that should result in AT&T stores selling nonphone gadgets that can take advantage of mobile broadband, including netbooks. I think that it would be great if HP or Dell or Asus would come out with these $99 notebooks. Like that I said at the beginning, almost everyone in the USA either has a computer or uses one. In today's' society a computer is essential and when they are that cheap people can buy them and not be in a lot of debt because of there prices. Since the technology is being made cheaper then the product is sold for cheaper, but the catch i do not like, but comes with the good price.
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Journal #9, October 26
http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/10/24/19683-tech-layoffs-and-counting/
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B02E4DB1238F933A25752C1A963948260 (Extra Research)
This article is not really about new technology that is coming out or having problems, this is an article that looks at the people that is works at the business that create that technology. Since the economy is in a recession there is always jobs that have to do job cuts or move jobs around. According to Layoff Tracker it has been a brutal month for tech; there has been 19,683 job elimination since mid-September. But only five big companies make up more than 90 percent of the layoffs: Xerox (3,000), Dell (8,900), Yahoo (1,500), eBay (1,500), and German chipmaker Qimonda (3,000). The other 33 companies are mostly startups, and collectively account for 1,683 layoffs. The after some of the other layoffs there are the other numbers of layoff tech startups with 573. This comes to about 57 startups with ten people each. Some of the companies do not have a big staff, like Cake Financial has laid off 30 percent of its staff, or 6 people. Then Meraki was 20 percent, or 10 people. My thoughts on this is that this a horrible thing to go through, but when the economy is in a recession job cuts business have to go through this. The thing that i do not like when people get fired because the jobs are going over seas and that is the main thing that hurts the economy to an extend. I assume that the technology of today will be coming more over seas and there will be less jobs over here. I do wish that we could do stuff about this, but that is up to the government.
http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B02E4DB1238F933A25752C1A963948260 (Extra Research)
This article is not really about new technology that is coming out or having problems, this is an article that looks at the people that is works at the business that create that technology. Since the economy is in a recession there is always jobs that have to do job cuts or move jobs around. According to Layoff Tracker it has been a brutal month for tech; there has been 19,683 job elimination since mid-September. But only five big companies make up more than 90 percent of the layoffs: Xerox (3,000), Dell (8,900), Yahoo (1,500), eBay (1,500), and German chipmaker Qimonda (3,000). The other 33 companies are mostly startups, and collectively account for 1,683 layoffs. The after some of the other layoffs there are the other numbers of layoff tech startups with 573. This comes to about 57 startups with ten people each. Some of the companies do not have a big staff, like Cake Financial has laid off 30 percent of its staff, or 6 people. Then Meraki was 20 percent, or 10 people. My thoughts on this is that this a horrible thing to go through, but when the economy is in a recession job cuts business have to go through this. The thing that i do not like when people get fired because the jobs are going over seas and that is the main thing that hurts the economy to an extend. I assume that the technology of today will be coming more over seas and there will be less jobs over here. I do wish that we could do stuff about this, but that is up to the government.
Sunday, October 19, 2008
Journal #8, October 19
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1078397/Disappearing-act-The-invisibility-cloak-ready-years.html
http://science.howstuffworks.com/invisibility-cloak.htm (extra research)
The invisibility cloak is what most of the world first learned about from Harry Potter that he used to creep out of Hogwarts, but really developing this invisibility cloak. Instead of using magic like Harry Potter researchers from Purdue University are using 'nanotechnology' and 'metamaterials' along with Einstein’s theory of general relativity. It now seems that this cloak is becoming a reality in five years. The way that the cloak will work it bends light around itself like the flow of water around a stone, which would make both the electromagnetic cloak and the object inside hidden. Professor Vladminr Shalaev is one of the researchers involve with the cloak and he said, " The whole idea behind metamaterials is to create materials designed and engineered out of artificial atoms, meta-atoms, which are smaller than the wavelengths of light itself." In the cloak they used an array of tiny needles radiating outward from a central spoke and that would bent the light around the object. With the light going around the object it pretty makes that object invisible to the naked eye. Also with this technology they can start developing super fast computer microchips and can allow DNA to be visible to the naked eye. I think that this is an awesome cloak. I think that everyone would want one, but if the researchers finish the cloak that it will probably be used only for the military. It is a very cool invention but if it got in the wrong hands it could be used for bad. I do like that with this development there are many other cool toys and other things that can use that technology.
http://science.howstuffworks.com/invisibility-cloak.htm (extra research)
The invisibility cloak is what most of the world first learned about from Harry Potter that he used to creep out of Hogwarts, but really developing this invisibility cloak. Instead of using magic like Harry Potter researchers from Purdue University are using 'nanotechnology' and 'metamaterials' along with Einstein’s theory of general relativity. It now seems that this cloak is becoming a reality in five years. The way that the cloak will work it bends light around itself like the flow of water around a stone, which would make both the electromagnetic cloak and the object inside hidden. Professor Vladminr Shalaev is one of the researchers involve with the cloak and he said, " The whole idea behind metamaterials is to create materials designed and engineered out of artificial atoms, meta-atoms, which are smaller than the wavelengths of light itself." In the cloak they used an array of tiny needles radiating outward from a central spoke and that would bent the light around the object. With the light going around the object it pretty makes that object invisible to the naked eye. Also with this technology they can start developing super fast computer microchips and can allow DNA to be visible to the naked eye. I think that this is an awesome cloak. I think that everyone would want one, but if the researchers finish the cloak that it will probably be used only for the military. It is a very cool invention but if it got in the wrong hands it could be used for bad. I do like that with this development there are many other cool toys and other things that can use that technology.
Sunday, October 12, 2008
Journal #7, October 12
http://www.pcworld.com/article/152173/.html?tk=rss_news
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DHL
On October 13, 2007 there was a train wreck near Duke, Texas that had 21,600 Xbox game consoles on it. Well since the train derailed all the Xboxes were lost and then Mirosoft is now suing the U.S. based cargo-delivery service DHL Express. In the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle a complaint was filed from Microsoft and is seeking 2 million dollars in damages from DHL for the damaged Xbox consoles after the derailment. The Xbox consoles were en route from a Microsoft office in McAllen, Texas to Long Beach, California then to Hong Kong. According to the court papers the Flextronics Industrial was suppose to receive the shipment of consoles. Also in the article it talked about controversy in Colorado, when a man was reselling Xbox consoles and returning inoperable consoles to retail and online. My thoughts are that I see the reasoning behind of suing DHL for their lost property. I do not know what the contact between the two companies, but it seems that DHL was liable for the accident. I the one thing I do not like that Microsoft is suing them for 2 million dollars, because that seems a little too much to "make-up" for their loses; I think that Microsoft has plenty of money for them to ask that much money.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DHL
On October 13, 2007 there was a train wreck near Duke, Texas that had 21,600 Xbox game consoles on it. Well since the train derailed all the Xboxes were lost and then Mirosoft is now suing the U.S. based cargo-delivery service DHL Express. In the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington in Seattle a complaint was filed from Microsoft and is seeking 2 million dollars in damages from DHL for the damaged Xbox consoles after the derailment. The Xbox consoles were en route from a Microsoft office in McAllen, Texas to Long Beach, California then to Hong Kong. According to the court papers the Flextronics Industrial was suppose to receive the shipment of consoles. Also in the article it talked about controversy in Colorado, when a man was reselling Xbox consoles and returning inoperable consoles to retail and online. My thoughts are that I see the reasoning behind of suing DHL for their lost property. I do not know what the contact between the two companies, but it seems that DHL was liable for the accident. I the one thing I do not like that Microsoft is suing them for 2 million dollars, because that seems a little too much to "make-up" for their loses; I think that Microsoft has plenty of money for them to ask that much money.
Saturday, October 4, 2008
Journal #6, October 5, 2008
http://www.pcworld.com/businesscenter/article/151816/bad_things_happen_to_unlicensed_windows_users.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows (Extra Research)
Most likely everyone that owns a computer in America uses some sort of Windows program, well when we are using those programs ourselves they are mostly likely a licensed Windows program. There are Windows programs that are unlicensed that some companies rely on so they do not have to pay to use it. Well the Microsoft Corp. said that those unlicensed programs are more likely to experience system failures and lose certain type of data. According to the research done by the Microsoft Corp. they report that 43% of those that use the unlicensed one had a critical failure lasting more then 24 hours. Those companies were also 28% more likely to lose customers data and 73% more likely to lose their data. Also in their research they calculated that 56% of 1,600 companies are using the unlicensed Windows and that is a big risk for those companies to take. Whoever is sneaking the unlicensed can also be sneaking the risk for those companies, so Microsoft Corp. is saying that you are getting what they desire. But they are awaring companies about this risk to make the companies think before getting the unlicensed Windows. I think that Microsoft is doing a good job in awaring these companies about the risk. It is beneficial to them, because the companies now would buy the product instead of trying to be cheap and take a risk in downloading the unlicensed version. I know a couple people that have the unlicensed version so I do not know if they are risk of the same thing since they do not have a company. If it was me that owned a company and I was at risk I would go head and buy it legal and pay for it that way, then downloading it and paying for it buy losing important data. So this can have a very big impact to society according what companies have what.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Windows (Extra Research)
Most likely everyone that owns a computer in America uses some sort of Windows program, well when we are using those programs ourselves they are mostly likely a licensed Windows program. There are Windows programs that are unlicensed that some companies rely on so they do not have to pay to use it. Well the Microsoft Corp. said that those unlicensed programs are more likely to experience system failures and lose certain type of data. According to the research done by the Microsoft Corp. they report that 43% of those that use the unlicensed one had a critical failure lasting more then 24 hours. Those companies were also 28% more likely to lose customers data and 73% more likely to lose their data. Also in their research they calculated that 56% of 1,600 companies are using the unlicensed Windows and that is a big risk for those companies to take. Whoever is sneaking the unlicensed can also be sneaking the risk for those companies, so Microsoft Corp. is saying that you are getting what they desire. But they are awaring companies about this risk to make the companies think before getting the unlicensed Windows. I think that Microsoft is doing a good job in awaring these companies about the risk. It is beneficial to them, because the companies now would buy the product instead of trying to be cheap and take a risk in downloading the unlicensed version. I know a couple people that have the unlicensed version so I do not know if they are risk of the same thing since they do not have a company. If it was me that owned a company and I was at risk I would go head and buy it legal and pay for it that way, then downloading it and paying for it buy losing important data. So this can have a very big impact to society according what companies have what.
Friday, September 26, 2008
Journal #5, September 28
http://www.physorg.com/news141570427.html
http://www.eng.cam.ac.uk/news/stories/2008/gesture_control/ (extra research)
About every household in America has a TV in it and it is seems to be a necessity in today's society. Well the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge has developed the technology control your home entertainment center and TV with just a wave of the hand. The way Toshiba TV works is when the viewer is in front of the display screen the TV will recognize the movement and then the control the display with the raise of a hand. “The gesture-control research is extremely exciting and is opening an array of possibilities for consumers, such as new interfaces for TVs and interactive displays in shop windows and information kiosks,” explains Professor Roberto Cipolla. Professor Cipolla and Dr Bjorn Stenger at Toshiba and Tom Woodley at the Department of Engineering have been working on the computer vision in human-machine interaction since 1992. The way the system works is there is single camera mounted on top of the display and is started with that wave of the hand. After that the software then tracks the person hand for certain cues and it will react to them. The system can even track movement in different lightning and rapid movement. Now the team is researching on how to deal with multiple users and how to track finer control. I think that this is a very cool invention and I think Americans will love it, but there are a couple things that I thought about that can hurt the system. What if some comes in the room and throw hands up, it could change the channel even if you do not want to change it then. Then if the person that can't use their hands, that is a downfall for them. But I also do not see the advantage of the hand control of the system; it might be the reason that it is just something new. If it comes into the market it might become popular but I do not think that it have too big of an impact on society.
http://www.eng.cam.ac.uk/news/stories/2008/gesture_control/ (extra research)
About every household in America has a TV in it and it is seems to be a necessity in today's society. Well the Department of Engineering at the University of Cambridge has developed the technology control your home entertainment center and TV with just a wave of the hand. The way Toshiba TV works is when the viewer is in front of the display screen the TV will recognize the movement and then the control the display with the raise of a hand. “The gesture-control research is extremely exciting and is opening an array of possibilities for consumers, such as new interfaces for TVs and interactive displays in shop windows and information kiosks,” explains Professor Roberto Cipolla. Professor Cipolla and Dr Bjorn Stenger at Toshiba and Tom Woodley at the Department of Engineering have been working on the computer vision in human-machine interaction since 1992. The way the system works is there is single camera mounted on top of the display and is started with that wave of the hand. After that the software then tracks the person hand for certain cues and it will react to them. The system can even track movement in different lightning and rapid movement. Now the team is researching on how to deal with multiple users and how to track finer control. I think that this is a very cool invention and I think Americans will love it, but there are a couple things that I thought about that can hurt the system. What if some comes in the room and throw hands up, it could change the channel even if you do not want to change it then. Then if the person that can't use their hands, that is a downfall for them. But I also do not see the advantage of the hand control of the system; it might be the reason that it is just something new. If it comes into the market it might become popular but I do not think that it have too big of an impact on society.
Sunday, September 21, 2008
Journal #4, September 21
http://web.mit.edu/newsoffice/2008/wheelchair-0919.html
http://web.mit.edu/kvogt/www/wheelchair.html (extra research)
There are millions of Americans that use a wheelchair everyday, well MIT researchers developed a new type of autonomous wheelchair that can learn about locations in a building and then take the person to a certain place in the building in response to a verbal command. The robot wheelchair has a map of the building in it's memory and if the person gave the command to take me to my room or go to the living room the wheelchair will use the map and will drive itself to the room. The robot wheelchair will allow the person in the chair to relax and free from controlling the chair. To gain the maps or the computer system of the chair the person would first give a tour of the place and during the tour the person would identify an important stop or room. The robot wheelchair can even work outside, but when it is outside the chair can use GPS receivers to figure out where it is at. GPS does not work very well inside of a building so that is why the tour is needed for the chair. Right now the wheelchair uses a WiFi system to make maps and navigate through them. Nicholas Roy, the developer, said that the robot wheelchair still has a lot more stuff to put on it. He said that he would like to add a collision avoidance system using detectors to prevent bumping into any obstacles and he like to add a mechanical arm to aid the person by picking up any objects or opening doors.
I really like the idea and the sound of what Nicholas Roy has created. It is what I like to say that is technology that really helps society in a whole. There is a lot of people that are disabled and uses a wheelchair everyday and moving in a building or home can be difficult at times. Sometimes the people using a wheelchair cannot use the arms and legs so to have it to be verbal is awesome, along with after the command the chair goes on it own, so no assistance from a nurse, so I think that will allow the person to free more independent when using the wheelchair. I hope the people at MIT continue working on this project and hopefully it will be out soon.
http://web.mit.edu/kvogt/www/wheelchair.html (extra research)
There are millions of Americans that use a wheelchair everyday, well MIT researchers developed a new type of autonomous wheelchair that can learn about locations in a building and then take the person to a certain place in the building in response to a verbal command. The robot wheelchair has a map of the building in it's memory and if the person gave the command to take me to my room or go to the living room the wheelchair will use the map and will drive itself to the room. The robot wheelchair will allow the person in the chair to relax and free from controlling the chair. To gain the maps or the computer system of the chair the person would first give a tour of the place and during the tour the person would identify an important stop or room. The robot wheelchair can even work outside, but when it is outside the chair can use GPS receivers to figure out where it is at. GPS does not work very well inside of a building so that is why the tour is needed for the chair. Right now the wheelchair uses a WiFi system to make maps and navigate through them. Nicholas Roy, the developer, said that the robot wheelchair still has a lot more stuff to put on it. He said that he would like to add a collision avoidance system using detectors to prevent bumping into any obstacles and he like to add a mechanical arm to aid the person by picking up any objects or opening doors.
I really like the idea and the sound of what Nicholas Roy has created. It is what I like to say that is technology that really helps society in a whole. There is a lot of people that are disabled and uses a wheelchair everyday and moving in a building or home can be difficult at times. Sometimes the people using a wheelchair cannot use the arms and legs so to have it to be verbal is awesome, along with after the command the chair goes on it own, so no assistance from a nurse, so I think that will allow the person to free more independent when using the wheelchair. I hope the people at MIT continue working on this project and hopefully it will be out soon.
Sunday, September 14, 2008
Journal #3, September 14
http://ap.google.com/article/ALeqM5g5nGPtmoUVIJDgehVJ_snD6vDA6gD9342FUG0
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particle_accelerator (extra research)\
Massive particle collider passes its first key tests, that rights. The particle colliders that you see in movies and in video games has been made and is being tested. It is the world's largest and its first test was last Wednesday in a 17- mile underground ring near Geneva, Switzerland. Scientists fired the Large Hadron Collider around 10:30 a.m. and it did a complete lap. The collider cost around $3.8 billion and it was described as the biggest physics experiment in history and the purpose of this collider is to try to recreate the conditions just after the so-called Big Bang. The project leader Lyn Evans has been working on this project since its inception in 1984 and his team's work has final paid off. Now since they know that it works they will start experimenting with the collider to recreate the Big Bang in a few months. The collider is designed to sent a protons beam to the speed of light, which is close to 11,000 times a second around the 17 mile tunnel. The article said the project organized by the 20 European member nations of CERN has attracted researchers from 80 nations. Some 1,200 are from the United States, an observer country that contributed $531 million. Japan is also an observer and it is a major contributor. There are also a couple concerns about the collider when they do the main experiment, when the particles do collide there is a possible that it can create a thing we know as a black hole. A black hole sucks particles into it and its' gravity is so strong that it can pull in planets and stars or another possibility is that it makes a gateway to another dimension. This is an unknown experiment that they will be conducting and the possibilities of things that could go wrong are a lot, but they are trying to approach every step of the experiments very carefully. My thoughts on the article are they that crazy or that smart to do so. I have heard some things about particle accelerator but that has been in fiction stories and games. I would never have thought that scientist has actually created it. If they do pull the collider off, I believe that it will have a very big impact on society and science itself. The things that they are trying to pull off is in a feat itself, trying to recreate conditions from the Big Bang. But because of my beliefs I do not believe in the Big Bang, so I do not think that it will work the way they want it to. I am still curious to see what well happen when they do attempt the experiment and hopefully it does not create a black hole and probably not another dimension.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Particle_accelerator (extra research)\
Massive particle collider passes its first key tests, that rights. The particle colliders that you see in movies and in video games has been made and is being tested. It is the world's largest and its first test was last Wednesday in a 17- mile underground ring near Geneva, Switzerland. Scientists fired the Large Hadron Collider around 10:30 a.m. and it did a complete lap. The collider cost around $3.8 billion and it was described as the biggest physics experiment in history and the purpose of this collider is to try to recreate the conditions just after the so-called Big Bang. The project leader Lyn Evans has been working on this project since its inception in 1984 and his team's work has final paid off. Now since they know that it works they will start experimenting with the collider to recreate the Big Bang in a few months. The collider is designed to sent a protons beam to the speed of light, which is close to 11,000 times a second around the 17 mile tunnel. The article said the project organized by the 20 European member nations of CERN has attracted researchers from 80 nations. Some 1,200 are from the United States, an observer country that contributed $531 million. Japan is also an observer and it is a major contributor. There are also a couple concerns about the collider when they do the main experiment, when the particles do collide there is a possible that it can create a thing we know as a black hole. A black hole sucks particles into it and its' gravity is so strong that it can pull in planets and stars or another possibility is that it makes a gateway to another dimension. This is an unknown experiment that they will be conducting and the possibilities of things that could go wrong are a lot, but they are trying to approach every step of the experiments very carefully. My thoughts on the article are they that crazy or that smart to do so. I have heard some things about particle accelerator but that has been in fiction stories and games. I would never have thought that scientist has actually created it. If they do pull the collider off, I believe that it will have a very big impact on society and science itself. The things that they are trying to pull off is in a feat itself, trying to recreate conditions from the Big Bang. But because of my beliefs I do not believe in the Big Bang, so I do not think that it will work the way they want it to. I am still curious to see what well happen when they do attempt the experiment and hopefully it does not create a black hole and probably not another dimension.
Sunday, September 7, 2008
Journal #2, September 7
http://profy.com/2008/09/07/is-chrome-all-about-advertising/
Google brings out a new faster and more powerful web browser called Chrome and since it has been out for about a week, now its time to really look at it and its core. So what is Google, it is an advertising company and its' main field is business; the money that they got from ads from other companies they will use that money to make things such as Chrome. Since Google is an advertising company Chrome will probably turn in a advertising product for Google. The author gave a couple of reasons why he thinks that Chrome will influence the advertising industry. The first one is that everyone has some sort of pop up blocker and people are used to not having these ads pop up when searching for whatever they desire. With Chrome there is no pop up blocker and you would have no control to have one. Many people are content with the browsers that are out there now, so they will not change to Chrome just to search faster and more powerful, but would have to deal with all the pop ups. Google could make life a lot more easier when people are on Chrome and get rid of all those ads, but they will not; they will not make money advertising if they do not allow ads to pop up on their website. Another issue that people might have if they use Chrome is invasion of privacy. When someone searchs for something, Chrome will start sending every character that you type in to Google servers, the dangerous thing about that is Google is planning to keep 2% of that information you search for. The advertisers will notice what you have been looking for and then ads for those products will pop up and they will be trying to sell you that product, even if you do not need it. My thoughts on this is wow I can not believe you cannot block pop ups with Chrome. I cannot imagine me browsing the internet and pop ups come up about every page or more and more advertisements show up on the screen. I remember back in the day when a couple pop ups ads came up and I hated that, all they were to me was just a distraction to what I was doing; it did not push me into buying their product. It is a complete turn off to me if I do not have that option for a pop up blocker, so I would not install it. I understand that if Google also took away all the ads from their website then advertisers could lose their jobs, but I believe they can afford giving an opption for a pop up blocker for Chrome. I think that Google has enough money and probably will not suffer if they don't make money off the pop ups, in doing so they will most likely obtain more customers. The other issue about using what you type in for search and advertisers using that to help you find easier sounds good at first; but when I thought about it, they are just saving information about you that you might not want them to know even if Chrome is trying to help your search. I mean I like using Google and I use it about everyday, but what I have read from this article Chrome does not seem that appealing to me, so I think I will stick with what I have now.
Google brings out a new faster and more powerful web browser called Chrome and since it has been out for about a week, now its time to really look at it and its core. So what is Google, it is an advertising company and its' main field is business; the money that they got from ads from other companies they will use that money to make things such as Chrome. Since Google is an advertising company Chrome will probably turn in a advertising product for Google. The author gave a couple of reasons why he thinks that Chrome will influence the advertising industry. The first one is that everyone has some sort of pop up blocker and people are used to not having these ads pop up when searching for whatever they desire. With Chrome there is no pop up blocker and you would have no control to have one. Many people are content with the browsers that are out there now, so they will not change to Chrome just to search faster and more powerful, but would have to deal with all the pop ups. Google could make life a lot more easier when people are on Chrome and get rid of all those ads, but they will not; they will not make money advertising if they do not allow ads to pop up on their website. Another issue that people might have if they use Chrome is invasion of privacy. When someone searchs for something, Chrome will start sending every character that you type in to Google servers, the dangerous thing about that is Google is planning to keep 2% of that information you search for. The advertisers will notice what you have been looking for and then ads for those products will pop up and they will be trying to sell you that product, even if you do not need it. My thoughts on this is wow I can not believe you cannot block pop ups with Chrome. I cannot imagine me browsing the internet and pop ups come up about every page or more and more advertisements show up on the screen. I remember back in the day when a couple pop ups ads came up and I hated that, all they were to me was just a distraction to what I was doing; it did not push me into buying their product. It is a complete turn off to me if I do not have that option for a pop up blocker, so I would not install it. I understand that if Google also took away all the ads from their website then advertisers could lose their jobs, but I believe they can afford giving an opption for a pop up blocker for Chrome. I think that Google has enough money and probably will not suffer if they don't make money off the pop ups, in doing so they will most likely obtain more customers. The other issue about using what you type in for search and advertisers using that to help you find easier sounds good at first; but when I thought about it, they are just saving information about you that you might not want them to know even if Chrome is trying to help your search. I mean I like using Google and I use it about everyday, but what I have read from this article Chrome does not seem that appealing to me, so I think I will stick with what I have now.
Sunday, August 31, 2008
Journal #1, August 31
http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/headline/nation/5972867.html
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS (extra research)
The development of GPS is truly one of those modern marvels of the late twenty century; it was first developed and used only for the military until President Ronald Reagan made it available to the public in 1983. The Global Positioning System (GPS) today has many uses, mostly used to aid navigation worldwide and a great tool for land surveying, map making, and other scientific uses. Now millions of motorists use GPS everyday in their cars, the Consumer Electronics Association estimates 20 percent of Americans have them; they are becoming cheaper and so showing up in more cars. Well for a few years the government and other law enforcement departments have been using it to help in cases to win convictions. Recently GPS was used to help convict Eric Hanson for killing four family members when they used his GPS unit in his Chevy TrailBlazer to help the prosecutor. Prosecutors analyzed the data from the Garmin GPS device to find out where Hanson had been on the morning when his four family members were fatally shot in 2005 and he was convicted this year for the killings. This is not the only time courts have used GPS to help is these type of cases; in recent cases it has helped convict a man charged to rape when it showed him "prowling" the street looking for a victim and also convicted a man who was charged with setting fire to his own house when his car was only 100 yards away during the fire. This is just a another way GPS is changing and helping our lives and there is no telling what is next. Alan Brill, a Minnesota-based computer forensics expert said, "What we're dealing with here is a use of the technology that I don't think the good people at Magellan or Garmin or TomTom really thought about when they were developing it." I believe what Mr. Brill is saying is true, for just being developed for the military to surveying land to helping solve criminal cases. I think that the author does a good job showing the advantages of GPS in these cases, but I also think that it can impose on the 4th amendment also. There is a thin line were it can impose, not many people like that the government can use a device to know where someone is, so it is an invation of privacy,but if they can get a warrent to convict the defendant, I say go head. Now since GPS is used in court maybe it will make criminals think twice before they commit a crime because there is GPS in more and more phones and cars, so it is a great deterrent. I have never been a big fan of some of the new technology that has came out, but I must say that GPS is a great and very useful tool to have.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GPS (extra research)
The development of GPS is truly one of those modern marvels of the late twenty century; it was first developed and used only for the military until President Ronald Reagan made it available to the public in 1983. The Global Positioning System (GPS) today has many uses, mostly used to aid navigation worldwide and a great tool for land surveying, map making, and other scientific uses. Now millions of motorists use GPS everyday in their cars, the Consumer Electronics Association estimates 20 percent of Americans have them; they are becoming cheaper and so showing up in more cars. Well for a few years the government and other law enforcement departments have been using it to help in cases to win convictions. Recently GPS was used to help convict Eric Hanson for killing four family members when they used his GPS unit in his Chevy TrailBlazer to help the prosecutor. Prosecutors analyzed the data from the Garmin GPS device to find out where Hanson had been on the morning when his four family members were fatally shot in 2005 and he was convicted this year for the killings. This is not the only time courts have used GPS to help is these type of cases; in recent cases it has helped convict a man charged to rape when it showed him "prowling" the street looking for a victim and also convicted a man who was charged with setting fire to his own house when his car was only 100 yards away during the fire. This is just a another way GPS is changing and helping our lives and there is no telling what is next. Alan Brill, a Minnesota-based computer forensics expert said, "What we're dealing with here is a use of the technology that I don't think the good people at Magellan or Garmin or TomTom really thought about when they were developing it." I believe what Mr. Brill is saying is true, for just being developed for the military to surveying land to helping solve criminal cases. I think that the author does a good job showing the advantages of GPS in these cases, but I also think that it can impose on the 4th amendment also. There is a thin line were it can impose, not many people like that the government can use a device to know where someone is, so it is an invation of privacy,but if they can get a warrent to convict the defendant, I say go head. Now since GPS is used in court maybe it will make criminals think twice before they commit a crime because there is GPS in more and more phones and cars, so it is a great deterrent. I have never been a big fan of some of the new technology that has came out, but I must say that GPS is a great and very useful tool to have.
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