Definite forecast is an oxymoron, and the analogy that Steve Jobs made in the interview with Walter Mossberg and Kara Swisher for Wall Street Journal’s All Things Digital conference on Tuesday is also an oxymoron. Steve Jobs suggested an analogy of how cars replace trucks to iPads replace PCs, and then he said something of sort — one out of many people will need a PC! Ain’t this an oxymoron as in a definite forecast? We all know there is no such a thing as a definite forecast, because forecast is what lies in the future — nothing is definitely definite unless it’s right here and right in front of us, where we can listen, stare, taste, smell, and touch it.
Is the sixth sense even real? Some geeky people may think Steve Jobs has the sixth sense which may make his forecast of how iPads replace PCs as a definite forecast. So what am I trying to aim at? Nothing really! I think Steve Jobs is dead on about how iPads may replace PCs as in cars replace trucks as in oxymoron. Oxymoron doesn’t have to be wrong! Trucks aren’t really being replaced by cars, people just think cars are more useful than trucks in certain situations (more fashionable, maybe), oxymoron suggests that trucks are still around; people drive them trucks that I see every other day.
Steve Jobs is dead on about iPads, but I think it’s only a short-lived forecast, because Apple’s competitors may think even further out such as creating wearable PCs. Wearable PCs are fashionable and wearable; when these are available, i think iPads might be just as outdated as PCs. Oxymoron again, iPads won’t be dead, just not that popular as before. What about those futuristic iPads? What I’m talking about are those have shown in many science fiction movies, with a spread of an index finger and a thumb, and out, comes a 3D glass looking hologram to allow the manipulations of applications. Ya, that is pretty far out there, but the pasts have shown us that what can be imagined, all can be invented, and then some can be commercialized.
It’s an oxymoron for one to say cars replace trucks, but trucks can still be seen everywhere, just not every time; it’s the same for iPads and PCs. Oxymoron doesn’t have to be wrong! In this case, oxymoron is a popularity gauge for cars and iPads. Nonetheless, I like to make a definite forecast that iPad is a fluke to us all, because we always want something better even though it’s apparently that we do have something that’s pretty darn good. What is left to be said is that it’s not that iPads will replace PCs, but it’s that the tablet devices from Apple’s competitors will come out in abundance and flood the market — one can say the tablets may replace the PCs, and this is also an oxymoron. Source.
A scary age has begun folks! Bad news for microchip makers? Good news for the biotechnology community? So what is the news? A claim from a Duke University engineer suggests that using DNA to replace microchips, and he has demonstrated with successful tests. Tiny DNA structures with added molecules that created by this unique biotechnology process are sensitive to light, and when these are under the influence of light, the DNA structures change accordingly to the wishes of the engineers. This shows the whole process can be programmable, and the possibility of making these tiny DNA structures behave like a microchip is high! This is a work of a man named Chris Dwyer!
Bad news for microchip makers? The microchip makers may have to let go their current technology as biotechnology gains ground. Yes, it may be years and years before biotechnology can replace the current technology, but microchip makers may see themselves in the losing battle of churning out goods if they’re not hurriedly with their biotechnology investigations; someone else may make to the finish line first and fast, and the whole industry will change! It’s not so clear which technology is cheaper to develop and produce. As long the current technology is cheaper to deploy and produce, biotechnology won’t be the preferable technology for microchip makers. I have my doubt in betting that the current technology will prevail, because times have been telling us again and again, somethings better have always been replacing what came before. Biotechnology may be the key to that next stone…
In this case, Chris Dwyer may have the ability to produce somethings like microchip but with biotechnology using DNA in massive scale in which microchip makers won’t be able to compete in terms of speedy production and quantity. How about the quality? As long the qualities of DNA made microchips are superb such as better performance, I think the days for traditional microchips are numbered. Then again, it may be years and years before anything good from biotechnology, comparable to current microchips, getting commercialized. Source.
Today post is a friendly reminder on how to play safe as you hop from one public location to another using the Internet. Recently, I have a friend who told me that he used a public computer, using his passwords to check his various accounts from different web services. I was shocked and gave him an advice to change all of his accounts’ passwords when he has the earliest chance. Also, he must change his email’s password right away!!! Why? When someone could guess or sniff your email’s password correctly, and by chance most of your Internet web services’ accounts are using that very email to retrieve lost passwords — the evil doers could basically use the lost password option from various web services such as Facebook and would be able to change your web services’ passwords. Strong password is a must!
Also my friend told me that he wants to use his flash drive on public computer. I also told him not to do that unless he has a spare flash drive with no important information and solely reserving that spare flash drive for public use, or else he risks of spreading computer viruses and worms onto his personal computers. So folks, do not use the same flash drive on everything! Use clean one on personal and work computers, and use the suspicious flash drive on public computers.
When my friend isn’t lazy, he likes to carry his small laptop around and use the public Internet connection for his various needs. As you all know how unsecured public Internet connection is since most public areas use wireless connection without a secured authentication protocol (public network that allows everyone to use the Internet without requiring a secret key). I’m unsure how hard for one to contrive and carry out the “man in the middle attack” in the old days, but nowadays, correct me if I’m wrong, I’m pretty sure there are tools out there for evil doers to download > click > click > boom > and he/she is now officially intercepting your wireless Internet connection (as if wiretapping for telephone). “Man in the middle attack” could allow evil doers to do more than just sniffing for plain texts packages (information in plain texts that got transfer from you to legit web services), because he or she could modify your packages in whatever way he or she wants. This is why my friend should also use some type of tunneling when accessing important data, but the best advice is not to access anything that is important while you’re out in the public (only on a secured network from home or at work).
Another easy one that you could easily overlook when using your computer in the public is to allow others to glance at your computer freely! I know, I’m pretty paranoid about security, but don’t you think that we should be safe than sorry? Prevention is always best! Allowing others to see what you’re doing freely in public when you’re on a computer is almost as good as being social engineered by a hacker, but in this case anyone could do it if he/she wishes without the social engineering skill of hackers (more like crackers). I advice you to get a monitor privacy filter for your specific laptop, and so only you who sits directly in front of your laptop’s monitor can see the information. Also, it’s best to sit in the corner where your back faces the walls so no one could sit behind you or spy on you from behind the clear glass which is a common setup for various coffee shops.
Those tips are on the top of my head today! I had to thank a friend of mine (he wants to be anonymous and so no name here to be listed) since his questions pose me to think greatly about how unsecured we are when we use computers in public places; this post sprung to life due to my friend’s curiosity. The next time you use your computer in public places, make sure to apply safety tips from here and from other well known security websites (ask yourself the tips have merits or not before applying such tips since you only have yourself to blame when walls cave in around you).
Multi-touchscreen is what we now have, simple gesture language to control machines has been done, but you ain’t see nothing yet! In fictional movie as in Tom Cruise’s “Minority Report,” we have seen how Tom used his fingers to manipulate sophisticated computing machines, and now there is something like that which has been under development might give us something similar to what Tom had depicted in his movie. It’s a more complex and grander way of manipulating computers and computational machines with intuitive gestures. You have to see the videos to get a better idea of what I’m talking about. Check the videos out after the jump! Source.
g-speak overview 1828121108 from john underkoffler on Vimeo.
oblong’s tamper system 1801011309 from john underkoffler on Vimeo.
There are times that your computer may act strangely! For an example, your computer may restart without prompting you. Sometimes problems could be a bug within Windows and other software, and sometimes it may very well be a part of your computer such as RAM went bad. One of the possible ways is to use Windows’ event logs to figure out the hidden errors and when such errors had happened. To view event logs, you need to click on start button, and type in the search field with the keyword event, a list should be appearing after what you just did, and make sure to highlight and click on view event logs.
Unfortunately, even event logs could be helpful to only some users, because average users may not understand the error messages. This is why you should do the obvious things even though to do all of these things could be time consuming. Supposedly, after viewing the event logs, and you still have not a clue of why your computer behaves so strangely, you may need to go on and try to narrow down if the problem is related to hardware or software — in special case it could also be a malware or a virus or a rootkit.
Sometimes when a computer gets overheated, weird problems occur. Make sure your computer has enough airflow, clean from dirt, and a working fan (or two); these should be enough to address the overheated problem. If a power supply goes bad, you may not notice since it’s hard to track down a specific problem that could be related to a power supply. For RAM, Windows 7 has a tool which allows you to do a diagnostic test to see if your computer’s RAM is working fine or not. To do a memory (RAM) diagnostic test, you need to click on start button, type in the keyword memory in the search box, and make sure to click on Windows Memory Diagnostic. You will get a prompt window to ask you to restart so your computer could do a RAM check, and so make sure you do just that.
Testing for software problems, it could be a real mess since you may have too many installations of different software on your computer. You may not know which software is the culprit. Sometimes cleaning up the registry may help solve the problems. To clean up the registry, you could use programs such as Norton Utilties or CCleaner (free). You could use anti-virus programs and anti-spyware programs to look for viruses and spyware and rootkits.
You should try to do the obvious things first before you pay a computer specialist to help fix your computer problems. Paying someone to remove a computer problem could be expensive, and so the alternative way is to reinstall Windows when you have no important file to be kept on your computer. When there are important files to be kept on your computer, you need to do a backup of those files before you go ahead and reinstall Windows. Windows 7 does have a backup option for you to implement, but I suggest you should only use Windows 7′s backup feature when you know that your computer is clean of viruses and other malicious stuffs. Instead, I suggest you to buy external hard drive as this is cheap nowadays, or you could also use a flash drive as this option is even cheaper, and use these external devices to backup only important files; Windows 7′s backup feature is more like creating a system image which mirrors your whole Windows system including all other files and folders.
For my readers, if you’re a computer expert, please help make this post even better by posting insightful comments so everyone else could benefit from such a thoughtful task.
Here is a cool video that shows you how to build a computer. This video is a quick introduction to how hooking up the computer components together to form a whole computer. It’s not advising you on the quality of the hardware and where to get the hardware. It’s like a quick glance at how one putting together a computer.
Certainly, to build a computer, you need to know more than just hooking up parts together; otherwise you won’t get the high performance computer that you are aiming for. For an example, to build a gaming computer, you definitely need a very powerful (expensive) GPU (graphic card), and usually a powerful GPU needs a powerful power supply (a metal box that convert AC current to DC current) that has high watt. It certainly be helpful to yourself if you know what power supply’s watt you need when getting a power supply.
The most important part that you need to know to build just about any computer is a motherboard. Getting a right motherboard which allowing you to determine all other compatible components that go into your computer (e.g., graphic card, RAM, CPU). It certainly be easier for one to go out and buy a computer in whole, but building it is a lot more fun. Also, building a computer allows true customization to one’s needs and demands with specific goals from a computer.
Sometimes, building a computer can also save you huge amount of money, and there is a term for this which is “the best bang for your buck!” — Still, you have to figure the price out on your own, and no one could help you since it is depending on who you know. Check out the video after the jump.
At the moment, Quad-Core computers are available in many computer stores for purchases, but a concept chip with 48 cores which proves to be feasible is not too far away from being available for the computer market. 48 core computer, when it comes out will probably going to dwarf a Quad-Core computer in term of multi-tasking. You’ll be surprised if I told you that this 48 core chip uses the same amount of electricity as a single Intel processor. You can bet on that big companies with huge data centers are going to love 48 core chip, because they can save huge amount of money by not wasting space and electricity. It’s going to be a challenge for programmers to program software that take full advantage of a chip with that many cores. Source.
Black Friday came, and it was time for me to shop for a new PC. Yep, you heard me right, a PC and not a laptop. I have quite a few laptops, but my old PC was decommissioned two years back; I figured that I need a new PC that should be affordable and with strong horsepower. I went to BestBuy and saw HP P6210Y, with some investigation among other few models nearby, I grabbed the P6210Y. Plus tax, the total price was summed up to $600. It turned out to be a good buy, so far!
This mean machine has 2.60GHz AMD Athlon™ II X4 620 Quad-Core Processor, Genuine Windows® 7 Home Premium 64-bit, 6GB PC2-6400 DDR2 RAM (although I hope it could be DDR3), 640GB (7200RPM) SATA, DVD Burner With LightScribe Technology, NVIDIA GeForce 9100 Shared video memory 512MB, High Definition Audio, USB 2.0, mouse and keyboard included, and 1 year service and support warranty. Brought home, booted it up, and Windows 7 was beautiful (still is). Afterward, I was able to install virtual machines onto P6210Y with ease, and the virtual machines worked as if it was on the real dual core machines (I configured virtual machines with 2 processors). So far, everything is running very fast and stable, the fan is very quiet, and the temperature of the machine is at 60° C. Too bad, I only had this machine for 2 days, and so I cannot review it as if I have had it for couple months or more. This is why this review can only be taken as a grain of salt.
For I had made a purchase of this machine with BestBuy, a drawback was that out of the box, it got no restore CD. A sale representative at BestBuy told me they could make one for me, but they told me to wait for 4 hours to get my restore CD and the PC, because they needed the PC for making a restore CD. Fortunately, I know something about computer and software, I said no thank you as I could make a restore CD using Windows 7. My suggestion to you, before you do anything to a brand new PC, make a system image and a repair disc using Windows 7 in case something might go wrong with your PC at a later date; you will have an option to restore your system to the brand new state. Another drawback is this machine doesn’t have a TV tuner card, but I have always wanted one. The machine doesn’t come with speakers, and so don’t forget to grab the speakers if you need them. Hopefully, you already have a monitor for your PC, or else you have to buy one. One more thing about the restoration, you can call HP’s tech support to have a restore CD to be sent to you, but you need to pay a hefty shipping price (range from $21 to $30).
I’m very happy with the purchase so far, and I’m surprised that the price for this machine in store has the same price with the one over on the web minus the shipping cost. Hopefully, I will be able to say good things about this machine six months down the road. I have found another machine online that is very much like the one I purchased from BestBuy, but this one is a different model although it’s a 6210 series. For your information, if you click on the link and purchase this PC, Amazon will have to pay me a commission.
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