Archive for the ‘Computers’ Category

There are a number of points of view when it comes to determining the future direction of how the average consumer will most commonly interact with a personal computing device, whether it be the next 5, 10 or 20 years. When Bill Gates revolutionized the PC industry with the development of software, or Windows operating system, designed to run over the already prevalent DOS, this heralded a new beginning in the way a vast majority of people interacted with computers.

Windows rearranged the interface of where man meets computer, although some controversy exists as to where this new template, or designed originated. Many claim Gates borrowed the idea for Windows from Steve Jobs, founder and developer of Apple’s operating system – also window-based. Nevertheless, Gates introduced the concept to an already established market of IBM / PC users. This brought Microsoft towards the forefront in personal computing innovation and near monopoly of what software ultimately made it and succeeded in the marketplace of Windows-based PC products. This includes the emergence of Internet Explorer web browser, a software that eventually eclipsed the original innovator and one-time market leader, Netscape. Another example is the MS Office Suite that also eventually too market control from Corel’s Wordperfect Suite.

Yet, as IBM and DOS gave way to Microsoft and a whole new generation of cost-efficient PC manufacturers, so now it seems that Microsoft is giving way to the next wave of innovation in PC computing. What may have started as the simple and even inconspicuous success of the Apple iPod in music players, has eventually morphed into a world-wide rush and huge market acceptance of similar Apple products such as the iPhone and iPad that once again have revolutionized how the general public interacts with personal computing devices. Only this time not so much in the manner of a desktop PC limited to productivity software, but by way of highly mobile, multimedia, productivity and internet search capable devices.

Computers have come a long way since they were first invented in the 1940’s. No longer do they occupy whole rooms or consume excessive amounts of energy. Computers were first developed as devices used to perform calculations and were not programmable. As science and technology advanced, computers became more flexible in their use and practicality. Today, computers are involved in everything we do, from sending a text messages and playing video games to building the cars we drive.

Select any industry and you will find technology by way of computers has made a lasting impact. Consider farming, for example, where crop rotations and crop harvesting were once calculated by hand and gathered by hand. Now huge fields of wheat or corn are planted and in some cases grown using biotechnology, where genetically engineered foods can now be grown at faster rates, for example. These same fields are also harvested using giant machines with many times the capability of man or animal and designed and built using computer technology.

How far will computer technology go and what new advances will our generation see, and multiple generations after that? Nobody knows for certain but many have tried to estimate its impact. From science fiction novels to industrialists and economists, computers, or any programmable device used to perform multiple calculations at lighting fast speeds are anticipated to continue to play a vastly important role in how we work, play, continue to develop as society. We are already in what some macro economists call the Information Age, an age post-Industrial where certain rules once applicable to the Industrial Age no longer apply. This is an age where individuals play a vastly more important and influential role than ever before in our recorded history. One man can now use a computer to start a business, run it and work from anywhere in the world. How far will we go and to what ends will we reach with faster and more efficient computer technology? Only time can truly tell.

It does not seem too long ago when communicating via a computer seemed outlandish – science fiction.  Back then, there was this notion called Telnet, where a computer user could log-in to a local internet hub, usually through that of a nearby university, for free.  That’s right.  And there weren’t cable or DSL lines connecting to the internet.  There were only phone lines and dial-up.
Telnet was a communications application used during the inception of internet use between universities and government agencies for communicating with another computer user at a remote location via what we now term as instant messaging.  Additionally, there weren’t web browsers or even windows application for internet connectivity.  There was only the DOS prompt.  It was through the infamous black screen that computer "experts" would type in DOS commands to dial into their universities internet hub, for example, access Telnet, then PING or "call" another internet user and hope they answer, assuming they too are logged-in to Telnet and waiting your call.
This was messaging at its origins.  Eventually, Netscape was developed, windows applications for internet browsing introduced and non-technical internet access was born.  You didn’t have to know DOS or wish to browse for internet data via a black screen and numbered listings.  Now there was point and click capabilities, images and intuitive design.  E-mail seemed to have been the first major technological break-through in terms of mass popularity for communications via computers.  Though messaging had already long ago been born, it wasn’t until much later that applications such as Microsoft’s Instant Messenger and AOL’s messaging capabilities slowly introduced this method of "instant email" to a broader audience.
Today, the most recent fad in terms of instant text messaging has come via mobile phones.   Even "dumb" phones are now capable of transmitting text messages from one mobile phone user to the next.

There was first the internet, then there was email, instant messaging and even internet based
phone calls.  All of these have been centered around leveraging the availability and usability of
the internet as a mass communications outlet for a world of people, some more remotely based than
others.
Suddenly, all that might be required to send a note to a friend in Tunisia if you’re based out of
London would be a phone line and computer.   Of course, as internet bandwidth has improved, so has
the appeal and acceptance of internet based communications such as voice and even video.
Originally, voice communications via a dial-up connection on the internet were choppy, at best.
You might be talking to someone in another country, or even down the street, but would only be
able to talk one at a time, similar to voice communication via two-way radios.  This was mostly
due to slower internet connections and inability of some voice communications software to relay
voice data quickly enough from one party to another.
As internet speeds improved, so did voice communications.  The faster the internet connection, the
clearer and crisper the voice data could be transfered from one person to another.  And as
internet connectivity improved, so did the applications offering internet communications
capabilities.  Video conferencing or calling was soon the result of improved internet connectivity
and PC processing speeds.  With broader bandwidths for internet data transfer and greater memory
and processor speeds for processing this data on computers, soon internet users could more
reliably communicate via video calls similarly to voice-only or phone calls from anywhere in the
world.
Most laptops are now sold with built-in cameras for this purpose.  No longer are PC users forced
to purchase a webcam or video capture device separately from their laptop or even monitor, as
webcams are in many cases now built into the frame of monitors.

There can be any number of times when one might require computer support of one form or another. When you consider that more and more people around the world are now either owners of personal computers or have obtained greater ease of access to a personal computer – the reality is that the need for relevant education and support has only increased in direct if not greater proportion, as well.

Computer support is not only limited to the PC hardware, where a monitor, hard-drive or motherboard may be in question. Computer support also includes the operating system and all additional software. You need only browse the internet for available PC applications to get a glimpse at the enormous market for software support. If, for example, your accounting software requires an upgrade and you are told that the upgrade will only function under warranty if the operating system is of a certain version, then you can quickly understand how easily maintaining your computer functioning properly can get beyond the capability of the average, novice computer user.

Now, should the worst happen, and your computer is out of warranty and your hard drive crash – then you are looking at needed support in accessing all the trapped, or otherwise lost data in your hard drive, transferring it to your replacement computer and loading all the necessary and current software onto your replacement computer in order to access the data from your original, or previous computer. The importance and increasing need for adequate computer support is not a component of our growing dependence on computers that should be overlooked.

Computer users are thereby encouraged to carefully research their options when buying or upgrading their computer. This involves a careful study of the costs involved between the various options for computer support should help be required. Each computer user must also asses his ability to personally troubleshoot, should a problem arise.

The days when computer usage was limited to scientists and wealthy individuals are long gone. There have been more than one billion personal computers in use around the world since 2008 and it is believed that the number will reach two billion by the middle of this decade.
Each day more people are learning how to perform basic computer operations. Some are adults who’ve finally succumbed to the fact that computers are here to stay, and others are the current generation of America’s youth. Many grade school students know how to type up homework assignments in Microsoft Word, research a word’s spelling in online dictionaries, and send emails to their grandparents who spend six months each year living in a retirement community in Florida.
While many people are learning these simple computer functions, many of these same people are unaware of or don’t acknowledge what the basic parts of a computer are.
The first important point to make is that the physical parts of a computer – the components that you can actually feel and see – are grouped together in one category and referred to as hardware. In general, a computer, namely a desktop setup, has the following hardware components:
- A screen/monitor, the part of the computer where the user can see what he or she is typing or reading. It is the output visual display.
- A speaker system, the part of the computer that outputs sound to the user. The speakers can be built within the monitor or can be a separate attachment.
- A mouse, which has two buttons and is a means for the user to navigate around and interact with the computer.
- A keyboard, which is only utilized when the user needs to input text into the computer. Using a keyboard, like a mouse, is second-nature for most computer users.
- A system unit, which consists of a floppy disk drive, a CD drive, and a hard disk drive that is stored inside the actual unit. Of the basic hardware components, this is the one most users know the least about.

Knowing for when and how long to program your computer and other accessories in power management is an important consideration for regular computer users. Too often people leave their computers running, usually with the monitors turned on, and have a screen saver on their screens for several hours, if not days, without powering their systems off.

However powering the average flat screen monitor off will save 25 watts of power per hour. Multiply this by the number of hours your monitor lies awake, even in screen saver mode, and it adds up. As a matter of fact, the U.S. Department of Energy has noted that approximately 75% of the electricity used to operate home electronics is actually consumed when these devices are "turned off." This means that more than half, three quarters of the energy consumed by home electronics is wasted.

It is not a small percentage of electricity that is consumed as a result of not powering off our electronic devices. It is actually a majority of the energy used that is wasted. So what can the average person do in order to be less wasteful and more conscientious about energy consumption when it comes to home gadgets? For starters, instead of walking away from your computer, put it on suspend or stand-by mode. This will lower energy consumption on a laptop computer from 60 watts when being used to 25 w when it is idle, down to 1.6 w when in standby mode! A simple click of the mouse will conserve nearly 20 times the energy used versus doing nothing at all.

Another way to conserve on energy is to have all of your electronic devices connected to a power-strip, and at the end of the day simply flip the switch on the power strip, versus turning each device off. There are also programmable power-strips available that will turn themselves off.

Owning and operating a computer involves much more than the size of the screen, number of components or even the size and speed of the processor. While these are important and often the most marketed features of any computer, there or other considerations a prospective buyer should include when making a final decision on what computer to buy.

One particular component that a computer user should never overlook is the keyboard. This crucial input device is what most of us will spend 80 – 90% of our time physically interacting with. The mouse being the other device most often used. There are some uses that might require a number key pad for example,where numbers 0-9 are organized in a three row by three column fashion for quick inputing of number data. Thereby purchasing a laptop with a more compact keyboard that excludes this feature might not be the best choice.

Another feature often overlooked is ergonomics when deciding on a keyboard. Ergonomics here refers to the fashion in which this device fits, or molds to the natural angles of your body when interacting with the device from you computer desk, for example. Certain adjustments are often made from a desk such as the chair height or height / availability of a keyboard tray. These are done in order to place the keyboard at the proper angle in order to ensure that the wrists access it properly and thereby decrease the likelihood of carpal tunnel syndrome.

Certain keyboard manufacturers have even taken the shape and design of keyboards a step further for purposes of ergonomics by altering the location and angle of the keys. Some ergonomic keyboards are raised in the middle and changed the angle of the keys in order to present them to the hand in a way that allows for a more natural angle of access.

Computers and the Internet have revolutionized the way people go about their daily business. More information is available at faster speeds than ever before.
However, there is much debate as to whether the Internet had a bigger impact than another device that was invented centuries earlier when a 30 year old German native began experimenting with the art of metal typography. The inventor was Johannes Gutenberg and his printing press, like the Internet, immediately affected people’s daily lives.
So which invention had the greater affect on the society of its time?
First we must look into their similarities, of which there are many.
The major similarity is that both inventions directly led to a plethora of changes, especially in the fields of communication and literacy. As a result of the printing press, thoughts, novels and whole texts could be mass produced in a much shorter duration of time compared to the popular wood-block printing method of the time. Similarly, the Internet provides all of its users with access to millions of websites, each of which has content and opinions waiting to be read.
In both circumstances, these inventions brought about major cultural revolutions that were spearheaded by a greater access to knowledge.
While it is undeniable that the Internet and the printing press have helped reshape human society, there is one fact that separates the two inventions and makes one stand out above the other. This distinction is the magnitude and the scope of the inventions.
The information and knowledge that was disseminated by the printing press was available to only a small fraction of the world’s population in the 1450s. In the 15th century, a person in London had no way of getting his ideas heard by people in Beijing. However in the 21st century, virtually anyone who has access to a computer can register for a free blog and share his ideas with the entire world.
Due to this broad scope, it can be determined that the Internet has had a more profound effect on the societies of its time than that of the printing press.

It doesn’t seem that long ago that laptops were first introduced. The portable equivalent of a desktop computer, laptops revolutionized computing on the go. Business people requiring to take their work with them could now do so, working remotely, without having to carry files of portable storage media. Simply unplugging and packing their laptop computers, work could be done on the same system from anywhere in the world.

Of course, this would always run the risk of damage to your computer, so adequate back-ups of critical information would often be required in order to prevent data loss that could easily jeopardize your primary computer terminal. Nonetheless, portable computing is here to stay and has only evolved into a number of other electronic gadgets with equal processing capabilities of the laptops of yester-year.

Laptops have become lighter, more powerful and efficient. Batteries have also become smaller and more capable of keeping their charge for longer periods of time. It is now common for people to own both a desktop and laptop computers of equal processing and RAM memory capabilities. Most laptops now ship with built-in web cameras for capturing video feeds and video conferencing over the internet.

The next step in mobile computing has become most evident within the smartphone sector, where mobile phones are now sold with applications capable of managing multiple email accounts, texting, surfing the internet, and running thousands of applications capable of performing many of the functions that we commonly rely our computers to handle. Another portable computing device growing in popularity is the tablet PC or pad computer. These seem to be growing in popularity among users interested in a less bulky device with the similar display size of a comparable laptop computer. In many cases, there is no keyboard attached and are thereby equipped with a touchscreen to operate.