20 posts tagged “technology”
So after a really loong lull in posting (I really haven't posted seriously for about a year.) I've decided to rework the blog. Up until this point, I've been focusing on technology exclusively. Now, however, I've decided to include my second passion: History. I am, one of the biggest history geeks you'll find. I just love the stuff. Most people find it really boring, and while it may seem that way, I find it really intriguing the way that people have lived in the past. Ironic, since I also love to see what is comming in the future. So, you can expect more history related content in the near future as scavange around the web for history related news to suplement the tech tips and tricks. My first post in the next few days or so will be on Vista, as I've been running it for about 2 months now.
I hope this change is for the better and look forward to once again becoming more involved in the Vox community.
Over a million iPhones have been sold. Have you: bought one, considered it, or decided it's not for you?
I really, really really want one. But the fact is that the iPhone is not in Canada yet. And probably won't be for another few months or a year or so. So I don't know yet. And it depends on what the price in on A) The iPhone itself and B) The Data plans. So if they release the iPhone for $300 CAD but price the data plans at, like $100 a month, then I'm not getting it. If it where Vice Versa, maybe. So I don't know yet. It depends on what Rogers is going to do.
Technology has really come a long way in 2 years. In the past two years, we've moved away from power sucking hotter-then-five-alarm-chili Pentium series of processors to the cooler Core 2 Duo series of processors. We've also moved into the 65nm era of chips, with 45nm due out any day now. So what's in store for the next 5 years? Well first of all, eve
One of the most exciting technologies being developed is the the placement of a GPU on a CPU core. Being developed by AMD, the project is being codenamed Fusion Thsis, in effect eliminates the need for a GPU- at least that what they tell us. I somewhat doubt that Fusion will completely replace GPU's just yet. I have a feeling that they'll be around for at least another 5 years. Until you can get really, really complex graphics rendered through Fusion (like the graphics used in Bioshock and Company of Heroes) The architechture is due out in late 2008 or early 2009.
Finally, one of the biggest things that will go mainstream in the next few years, is HD. It's already somewhat mainstream, but you need to invest in a large TV with HD capabiltiy, as well an HD box and yadda yadda yadda. So it's a big hullabullu to get HD in your house. Most channels these days are HD capable, it's just that nobody is using HD for much of anything due to the large cost associciated with it. We have a pretty good Home Theatre here at home, and if we where to total it up, I think it would probalbly come to around 2500. So cost is definitly an issue.
All in all, Technology is going to quite exciting in the next five years. A lot's going to change, and it's going to make technology more accessible for consumers. And that's better for everyone.
The new iMacs where released just about 3 weeks ago, and I've some good and bad things about them. There's little doubt that it's a sharp looking machine, but some things are kind of disconcerting. Here are 5 things I don't like about the new iMacs.
5. No Dual Link DVI Currently, only two machines in Apple's lineup can power it's 30" display, the Mac Pro and the Macbook Pro. Now I can understand that, I really can, if your needing/wanting a 30" display, your probably a design pro that needs a professtional machine. However, the stupid thing is that if you where to go out and buy the consumer version of the HD 2600 Pro (which the 24" iMac uses as it's GPU) it would include one Dual Link DVI. Does it in the iMac? Nope. As I see it, Dual Link DVI is an essential part of a machine these days.
4. Underpowered GPU- Speaking of the GPU, it's kind of underpowered, don't you think? I used to be an ATI fanboy, but I recently went out and bought a 7600 GT (midrange card). It performed much better then it's competitor, the X1650 Pro. Now granted the X16xx series of GPU's performed pretty well under OS X, however the latest generation of hardware, the DX 10 stuff, performs dismally. The only "decent" cards are the 8800 GTX and the 8800 GTS. Everything is incredibly underpowered. Now granted, it's better then the intagrated crap they put into the Mac Mini and the Macbook, however not by much. And with Apple trying to pass the Mac off as a Gaming machine, there going to have a fun time with that, considering what there putting in there hardware.
3 No Removable Storage: I realize that Apple is all about keeping things elegant, but if I recall, when they announced the iMac G5 (Rev A) you could uncrew the back panel to add in things like more RAM, a bigger HDD and an Airport Card. What happened to that Apple? Granted you can invest in a NAS or an external VIA Firewire 400/800, however there are only 2 FW ports and 3 USB ports. So if you have a huge music collection or video collection, your stuck with an external solution and limited to the bandwith of FW/USB. Even the option of adding an eSATA port would be an improvement. But I really thing Apple should return to the model where you could do minor modications in the iMac.
2. No Upgrade to leopard- Not really a complaint, just an observation. First, Leopoard is supposedly due out soon, and these iMacs have been released It would be nice APPLE, if you give your customers a discoount on Leopard, like what Microsoft did when it released Vista. As of right now, that doesn't look likely, things could change, but I somewhat doubt it.
1. Glossy- Alright, Apple, why, why WHY did you make the iMacs glossy without giving us a Matte option. You did it witth the Macbook Pro's, but why not with the iMacs? First of all, it leaves the photo nuts out in the cold as the Glossy throws off the colour of the photo's. If you even gave the option to get a Matte screen, it would be an improvement.
As I didn’t expect, I’m in PEI for the weekend with my Dad and little brother. There isn’t as much WiFi here as there is at home. The good news is that, I have a new job. I haven’t been getting very many hours at McDonalds, so I went job hunting. If you recall, I was at Staples last summer. However this summer it’s somewhat different. First of all, I’m at the store in Bayer’s Lake, which is much larger and goes through much more volume then the store in Sackville. Secondly, if I do a good job, I could be kept on as permanent staff. That’s if I stand out from the rest of the temps. So I intend to do a good job. And finally, Staples has changed they’re policy on the employee discount. Previously, you could have a 10% discount on office supplies at any time and a 10% discount on technology at certain times,typically every two months or so. However, apparently they’ve changed they’re policy on technology enabling employee’s to purchase technology without restriction. This is great for me, mostly because a lot of my friends are buying technology in the next little while. My mom wants to buy an all in one/scanner, my friend is getting a new Macbook Pro and I’m looking to buy a new camera. So I start Monday and I have the 8-5 shift. Fun fun. Tuesday should be better, as I only work 5-9:30.
Secondly, if anyone here watches Dl.tv, you know that Patrick Norton is leaving the show because he’s going to become a father shortly. He’s also getting a new gig, which he hasn’t announced yet. There’s much speculation that, like Jim Lounderback, he will move to Revision3 to either do Systm full time or start a new show. But then again who knows. It’s a sad day for dl.tv as I really enjoyed Patrick and I will miss him shaking and holding his head in his head in his hand as Robert becomes very antic. I’m sure that Robert will find a decent co-host to replace Patrick. Robert will no doubt do I good job, however, his cynicism is sometimes annoying.
It's that time of year again folks. The time of year when I get a sizeable infusion of cash and have to decide what to spend it on. This year, I'm pretty sure it's going to be on a new Power Supply, and a second Hard Drive. Why may you ask? Firstly, my power supply currently sounds like a jet engine taking off. It's a constant irraitant to my parents and siblings, so I think it's time to turn it down juuust a little bit. I'm taking a hit in terms of wattage, but I don't really care. Secondly, the Hard Drive. I mean, more storage is always better. I debating weather to put it into an enclosure or not. I think I will, just for portability's sake. And backup is always good. I'm hoping to get a decent desk/chair for christmas, because I'm kind of getting tired of using a dining room table as a desk. The main problem is that I don't have room for anything else, except for computer stuff, which is really a pain, especially when I'm doing homework, I have no place to put the stuff! It's very, very annoying and I hope to remedy the situation soon.
Soon I'll be starting a series of posts on the best deal on how to build your basic computer. Parts mostly, but I will touch briefly on how to put it together. I'll probably be starting that middle of next week. Just so you know......
Finally! These past few days have been amazing. Warm, sunny, almost July like. It was 19 (Celsius) yesterday and was 20. Much better than a few weeks ago when we had snow. It's bee absouletly beautiful and I'm enjoying every minute of it. It's times like these that I think I should have bought a laptop. Granted, I wouldn't have had the specs that I have in my destkop, but it would have been more convenient in terms of mobility. I also spent some time tonight laying out my long terms goals for the next 5 years. Mostly, it involves making sure that I make deadlines (scholarships and the like) as well putting in place a schedule for purchasing my Macbook and a upgrade cycle. The first phase will be next year with the replacement of the CPU and GPU and possibly some more RAM. This will be followed in late 2008 with the purchase of a Macbook. Finally, in 2009, I will invest in a completely new computer system, weather AMD or Intel, PC or Macintosh, I cannot tell yet. By that time, we should be moving to 6 cores per chip or whatever and software should have caught up. I do not intend to go more than 3 years without upgrading my system, since the technology changes so rapidly. And heck, I might even build my own system. I was a tad chicken this time. Anyway, other than that, my life has been pretty uneventful over the past few weeks, I hope all my friends and neighbours are doing well!
I've been thinking about this for the past few days. What 5 pieces of technology are absolutely essential for the home? Some of them you might nod your head and say "yep, most definitely." other pieces you might just scratch your head and say "HUH?" Keep in mind, this is just my opinion, if you think some different, please comment.
5. MP3 Player with at least 512 MB of Memory- Music wasn't a huge part of my life until the Digital revolution. My iPod Nano changed my life. No longer was I confined to carrying a limited number of songs on a CD and having to carry around a bunch of CD's. Now I had a player the size of a few business cards that held up to 500 songs. I had my collection in my pocket. And that's only with 2 GB. It used to be 128 or 256 was the norm. Those sizes no longer suffice. You need at least 512 MB of memory, even if you have a small collection. If you only listen to a lot of bands and are constantly discovering new music, I'd go for the 4 or 8 GB Nano or if you have the cash a 30 GB iPod. Let me be clear though. It doesn't have to be an iPod. It can be any brand. Creative, Archos, Sandisk, the world of Mp3 is large and full of different styles of players, one of which is sure to suit every individual personality. If your even more adventurous, go for an Mp3 player that does video or photo's as well. Again, the iPod is the king there, but that doesn't mean that there isn't competition. Creative, Archos ,
4. External Hardrive OR a DVD Burner- The reason I saw or on this one is that not everyone can put down the money for a second hard drive and an enclosure. If your on a Budget, go for a DVD Burner. Max, there about 40 bucks. Then get spindle of DVD-R's every so often and backup your critical data (Music, Bank Stuff, Pictures that kind of thing.) Then store them in a very safe place.
If you can afford an external, find a neighbor who has one and swap every month or so. That way if your house burns down or something, all your Data is safe.
3. Flash Drive- With the Floppy's grave freshly dug, it's clear that we need a replacement for it. The Flash drive is that answser. Not only can you fill it up with files, you can also boot programs from it. I personally boot Firefox, and Open Office from mine. It's very handy to have when you away from your main rig and you need Firefox or some other app. A must for people who use multiple computers.
2. Router (Wired or Wireless)- An essential piece of technology that every home should have. Even if you don't have a second computer, you can use it with a game console to play online. And if you don't have that, it's useful to have around if your friend brings over there computer to work or to play. It also serves as a security device. An essential piece of equipment for every home and office.
1. Broadband Internet Connection- If you don't get anything else get this. An Internet connection is absolutely essential to a home. Without, you have no email, no google, no wikipedia. Myself, I can live without the instant access to information. Without an internet connection ,a computer is essentially a glorified calculator. And Dial-Up is a definite no-no. High Speed is the way to go. For those of you who don't have it, I pitty you, I really do. Hopefully Dial-Up will go the way of the do-do bird in a short time.
Well that's my list of the essential pieces of technology that everyone needs. If you don't agree, please, feel free to comment or PM me.
If we look back 10 years ago in 1997 it was the beging in of the Rivival of Apple, the introduction of the Pentium II, the release of Windows 98.... Fast forward 10 years, you have Steve Jobs having begun the second golden age of Apple, Linux is more prominent then ever, and the Pentium architecture has been superseded by the new Core Architecture. Windows 98 has been surpassed by Windows ME, 2000 and XP and now where on to Vista. Chips are smaller and faster, computers are prettier (no longer Biege Boxes) etc.
But my question is this: What will the the world be like in 10 years? Intel promises to have an 80 cores on a chip by 2011, but will the keyboard and mouse survive that long? As we see in the books that predict the future, voice recognition is the medium of choice for the future. But what about going farther? Computers are getting smaller and smaller and biotech is getting more and more advanced? Can you imagine cybernetics? Without any sensory input you can control a computer with your brain. Can you imagine that? You go your giant computer screen and think "Turn On". The computer turns on. You think "Let's check Email" The email client pop's up. Can you imagine that? It's like the Borg. Except not. Now we have computers that go up to a maximim of 3 Ghz. What in 10 years? 20 Ghz? 40 Ghz? A Teraflop? I can see the monikor now "A supercomputer in every home". Robots have become a commodity. They shop for you, clean for you, do all the nasty stuff you don't want to do. Artificial intelligence is now a reality. And that's just in 10 years. What about in 20,30, 40 even 50 years?
Just my thoughts on the future?
So today a f
Another piece of news in the tech world was that Intel demoed it's 80 core processor. I mean where just getting into quad core right now but 80 cores?!? Who needs that many? I imagine that if Intel does release this thing it's going to mean a complete redesign of computer architechture. Will they need to design whole new chipsets and socket? Probably. And how much L2 will be on this thing? If Quad Core is extreme I don't know what to call an 80 core processor. To say the least, I think that within the next few years, technology is about to make leaps and bounds beyond what anyone has ever seen before. I can see it now.....A Supercomputer in Every living room. Can we imagine what the world will be like in a year, 5 years, 10 years? If you asked me last July who to base your system around I would have said AMD. As Jerry Pournelle said famously "Intel had boxes you could bake Pizza in" which was true because the Pentium D was hog in terms of power consumption. And then there was the fact that you could use your box as a space heater as well as your computer. If you would have told me 9 months ago that Intel would be top dog again I wouldn't have believed you. I would have said that AMD is still king and that Intel is a sinking ship. But AMD is going to counter in the next few months and this time next year AMD could be king once again. That's the thing about tech: It never stands still
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