http://timesonline.typepad.com/technology/2009/04/ten-innovations-inspired-by-star-trek.html

G.E.’s Breakthrough Can Put 100 DVDs On A Disc

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/technology/business-computing/27disk.html?_r=1&partner=rss&emc=rss

Cablevision Goes For U.S. Broadband Speed Record

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/04/28/cablevision-goes-for-us-broadband-speed-record/

Computer Program To Take On ‘Jeopardy’

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/27/technology/27jeopardy.html

Apple Is Sued After Pressuring Open Source i-Tunes Project

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=9132183&intsrc=news_ts_head

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Ten Innovations Inspired By Star Trek

I think that this story is interesting because I believe that much of the technology that we see today has, in some way, been influenced by Star Trek.  I also find it very amusing that the author of that story said how easy it must have been for inventors at that time because they could easily get inspiration from watching Star Trek.  Maybe inventors nowadays can look at all the futuristic TV shows and movies going on right now and be inspired to invent something even more amazing.

G.E.’s Breakthrough Can Put 100 DVDs On A Disc

I think this story is interesting because holographic storage seems bloody brilliant.  Using holographic storage, one would be able to store so much more on a single disc.  Holographic storage has a much larger storage capacity that regular DVDs and can even store more than the recent Blu-Ray discs.  This would be an incredible consumer product if holographic storage goes under mass-production.

Windows XP is a line of operating systems produced by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, notebook computers, and media centers. The name “XP” is short for “experience”.[3] Windows XP is the successor to both Windows 2000 Professional and Windows Me, and is the first consumer-oriented operating system produced by Microsoft to be built on the Windows NT kernel and architecture. Windows XP was first released on 25 October 2001, and over 400 million copies were in use in January 2006, according to an estimate in that month by an IDC analyst.[4] It is succeeded by Windows Vista, which was released to volume license customers on 8 November 2006, and worldwide to the general public on 30 January 2007. Direct OEM and retail sales of Windows XP ceased on 30 June 2008, although it is still possible to obtain Windows XP from System Builders[5] (smaller OEMs who sell assembled computers) until 31 July 2009 or by purchasing Windows Vista Ultimate or Business and then downgrading to Windows XP.[6][7] The most common editions of the operating system are Windows XP Home Edition, which is targeted at home users, and Windows XP Professional, which offers additional features such as support for Windows Server domains and two physical processors, and is targeted at power users, business and enterprise clients. Windows XP Media Center Edition has additional multimedia features enhancing the ability to record and watch TV shows, view DVD movies, and listen to music. Windows XP Tablet PC Edition is designed to run ink-aware applications built using the Tablet PC platform. Two separate 64-bit versions of Windows XP were also released, Windows XP 64-bit Edition for IA-64 (Itanium) processors and Windows XP Professional x64 Edition for x86-64. There is also Windows XP Embedded, a componentized version of the Windows XP Professional, and editions for specific markets such as Windows XP Starter Edition. Windows XP is known for its improved stability and efficiency over the 9x versions of Microsoft Windows.[8][9] It presents a significantly redesigned graphical user interface, a change Microsoft promoted as more user-friendly than previous versions of Windows. A new software management facility called Side-by-Side Assembly was introduced to avoid the “DLL hell” that plagued older consumer-oriented 9x versions of Windows.[10][11] It is also the first version of Windows to use product activation to combat illegal copying, a restriction that did not sit well with some users and privacy advocates. Windows XP has also been criticized by some users for security vulnerabilities, tight integration of applications such as Internet Explorer 6 and Windows Media Player, and for aspects of its default user interface. Later versions with Service Pack 2, and Internet Explorer 7 addressed some of these concerns. During development, the project was codenamed “Whistler“, after Whistler, British Columbia, as many Microsoft employees skied at the Whistler-Blackcomb ski resort.[12] As of the end of November 2008, Windows XP is the most widely used operating system in the world with a 66.31% market share, having peaked at 85% in December 2006.[13]

Windows Vista:

Windows Vista is one member in a family of operating systems developed by Microsoft for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, Tablet PCs, and media center PCs. Prior to its announcement on July 22, 2005, Windows Vista was known by its codename “Longhorn.”[4] Development was completed on November 8, 2006; over the following three months it was released in stages to computer hardware and software manufacturers, business customers, and retail channels. On January 30, 2007, it was released worldwide,[5] and was made available for purchase and download from Microsoft’s website.[6] The release of Windows Vista came more than five years after the introduction of its predecessor, Windows XP, the longest time span between successive releases of Microsoft Windows desktop operating systems. windows vista Windows Vista contains many changes and new features, including an updated graphical user interface and visual style dubbed Windows Aero, improved searching features, new multimedia creation tools such as Windows DVD Maker, and redesigned networking, audio, print, and display sub-systems. Vista also aims to increase the level of communication between machines on a home network, using peer-to-peer technology to simplify sharing files and digital media between computers and devices. Windows Vista includes version 3.0 of the .NET Framework, which aims to make it significantly easier for software developers to write applications than with the traditional Windows API. Microsoft’s primary stated objective with Windows Vista, however, has been to improve the state of security in the Windows operating system.[7] One common criticism of Windows XP and its predecessors has been their commonly exploited security vulnerabilities and overall susceptibility to malware, viruses and buffer overflows. In light of this, Microsoft chairman Bill Gates announced in early 2002 a company-wide “Trustworthy Computing initiative” which aims to incorporate security work into every aspect of software development at the company. Microsoft stated that it prioritized improving the security of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 above finishing Windows Vista, thus delaying its completion.[8] While these new features and security improvements have garnered positive reviews, Vista has also been the target of much criticism and negative press. Criticism of Windows Vista has targeted its high system requirements, its more restrictive licensing terms, the inclusion of a number of new digital rights management technologies aimed at restricting the copying of protected digital media, lack of compatibility with some pre-Vista hardware and software, and the number of authorization prompts for User Account Control. As a result of these and other issues, Windows Vista had seen initial adoption and satisfaction rates lower than Windows XP.[9] However, as of January 2009, it has been announced that Vista usage had surpassed Microsoft’s pre-launch two-year-out expectations of achieving 200 million users by an estimated 150 million.

Linux:

Linux(commonly pronounced IPA: /ˈlɪnəks/ in English; variants exist[1]) is a generic term referring to Unix-like computer operating systems based on the Linux kernel. Their development is one of the most prominent examples of free and open source software collaboration; typically all the underlying source code can be used, freely modified, and redistributed by anyone under the terms of the GNU GPL[2] and other free licenses. Linux is predominantly known for its use in servers, although it is installed on a wide variety of computer hardware, ranging from embedded devices and mobile phones to supercomputers.[3] The popularity of Linux distributions as desktop and laptop operating system has been growing lately due to the rise of netbooks and the Ubuntu distribution of the operating system.[4][5] The name “Linux” comes from the Linux kernel, originally written in 1991 by Linus Torvalds. The rest of the system, including utilities and libraries, usually comes from the GNU operating system announced in 1983 by Richard Stallman. The GNU contribution is the basis for the alternative name GNU/Linux.[6]

BeOS:

BeOS was an operating system for personal computers which began development by Be Inc. in 1991. It was first written to run on BeBox hardware. BeOS was optimized for digital media work and was written to take advantage of modern hardware facilities such as symmetric multiprocessing by utilizing modular I/O bandwidth, pervasive multithreading, preemptive multitasking and a custom 64-bit journaling file system known as BFS. The BeOS GUI was developed on the principles of clarity and a clean, uncluttered design. The API was written in C++ for ease of programming. It has POSIX compatibility and access to a command line interface through Bash, although internally it is not a Unix-derived operating system. BeOS was positioned as a platform which could be used by a substantial population of desktop users and a competitor to Microsoft Windows and Linux. However, it was ultimately unable to achieve a significant market share and proved commercially unviable for Be Inc. The company was acquired by Palm Inc. and today BeOS is mainly used and developed by a small population of enthusiasts. Be Inc. sued [1] Microsoft claiming that Hitachi had been pressured to dissuade them from selling PCs loaded with BeOS, and that Compaq had been pressured not to market an Internet appliance in partnership with Be. BeOS also claimed that Microsoft acted to artificially depress Be Inc’s IPO. The case was eventually settled out of court[2] with no admission of liability on Microsoft’s part.

Mac OS X:

Mac OS X (pronounced /mæk oʊ ɛs tɛn/)[3] is a line of computer operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc., and since 2002 has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems. Mac OS X is the successor to the original or “classic” Mac OS, which had been Apple’s primary operating system since 1984. Unlike its predecessors, Mac OS X is a Unix-based operating system,[4] built on technologies developed at NeXT between the second half of the 1980s and Apple’s purchase of the company in early 1996. Version 10.5, while running on Intel processors, is certified UNIX 03. The first version released was Mac OS X Server 1.0 in 1999, and a desktop-oriented version, Mac OS X version 10.0 followed in March 2001. As of 2009, five more distinct “end-user” and “server” versions have been released, the latest being Mac OS X v10.5 in October 2007. Releases of Mac OS X are named after big cats; for example, Mac OS X v10.5 is usually referred to by Apple and users as “Leopard” (10.4 was referred to as Tiger, 10.3 as Panther, etc). The server edition, Mac OS X Server, is architecturally very similar to its desktop counterpart. However, it also includes several additional administration software tools to facilitate workgroup management or provide simplified access to common network services. These tools include a mail transfer agent, a Samba server, an LDAP server, a domain name server, and others. It is pre-loaded on Apple’s Xserve server hardware, but can be run on most of Apple’s computer models. Apple also produces specialized versions of Mac OS X for use on three of its consumer devices; the iPhone OS for the iPhone, and the iPod Touch,[5] and an unnamed version for the Apple TV.[6

All binary numbers have equivalent decimal representations and vice versa. To convert binary and decimal numbers manually, you must apply the mathematical concept of positional values.

The positional value concept is simple: With both binary and decimal numbers, the actual value of each digit depends on its position (how “far to the left”) within the number.

For example, in the decimal number 124, the digit ’4′ represents the value “four,” but the digit ’2′ represents the value “twenty,” not “two.” The ’2′ represents a larger value than the ’4′ in this case because it lies further to the left in the number.

Likewise in the binary number 1111011, the rightmost ’1′ represents the value “one,” but the leftmost ’1′ represents a much higher value (“sixty-four” in this case).

In mathematics, the base of the numbering system determines how much to value digits by position. For base-ten decimal numbers, multiply each digit on the left by a progressive factor of 10 to calculate its value. For base-two binary numbers, multiply each digit on the left by a progressive factor of 2. Calculations always work from right to left.

In the above example, the decimal number 123 works out to:

3 + (10 * 2) + (10*10 * 1) = 123

and the binary number 1111011 converts to decimal as:

1 + (2 * 1) + (2*2 * 0) + (4*2 * 1) + (8*2 * 1)+ (16*2 * 1) + (32*2 * 1) = 123

Therefore, the binary number 1111011 is equal to the decimal number 123.

Converting From Decimal to Binary Numbers

To convert numbers in the opposite direction, from decimal to binary, requires successive division rather than progressive multiplication.

To manually convert from a decimal to a binary number, start with the decimal number and begin dividing by the binary number base (base “two”). For each step the division results in a remainder of 1, use ’1′ in that position of the binary number. When the division results in a remainder of 0 instead, use ’0′ in that position. Stop when the division results in a value of 0. The resulting binary numbers are ordered from right to left.

For example, the decimal number 109 converts to binary as follows:

109 / 2 = 54 remainder 1
54 / 2 = 27 remainder 0
27 / 2 = 13 remainder 1
13 / 2 = 6 remainder 1
6 / 2 = 3 remainder 0
3 / 2 = 1 remainder 1
1 / 2 = 0 remainder 1

Therefore the decimal number 109 equals the binary number 1101101.

1. iPhones

iPhones have already revolutionized the way we live by having the portable internet. Where internet can be accessed anywhere in the world on the iPhone. Also other various features like touch screen, gps, built in mp3 and video player. Check or send emails, text messages, video messages, plan events and play games. When you think about it, it’s more than everything a person would need in their briefcase or bag in just the palm of their hand.

2. Blu-Ray DVDs

Blu-ray dvds are the next piece of technology that will revoluionize the way we live. Not only is it now the only “Next-gen” dvd, it can hold up almost 50GBs of memory. With all this extra space, movies can be made in a much more life like quality. For video games. This means that gamers won’t have to go through the hassle of switching discs like on the older Final Fantasy games. Also with all the extra space, gamers won’t have to worry about lower quality or parts being cut out.

3. Xbox 360

The Xbox 360 has revolutionized the way we play video games. Not only is it able to play video games that feature some of the best graphics and sounds of today, it is also able to do so much that just an average game console. We are able to go online and play with friends, send video or audio messages to one another, rent movies, download demos, listen to music. We can even access our computer from our xbox, like if we wanted to watch a movie from our computer or view pictures. Also in the U.S. Netflix is featuring a new add-on where you can pay a certain subscription fee a month and rent and download movies instantly, unlike having them send you movies in the mail and returning them in the mail.

4. The Television

The fourth piece of technology that I think will revolutionize technology will be the television. This is a piece of technology that has been constantly been advancing since it’s creation. It started out as a soundless black and white screen, then came sound, and colour. Big screen tvs were made. Then flat screen plasma and LCD tvs started reducing the size of tvs but dramatically increasing the picture quality. Today we are even able to browse the internet through our tv’s and pick-up satellite shows from all over the world. We’ve gone from the regular bunny ear televions to satellite. I don’t see tvs stopping anytime soon with innovations. Who knows what will be there tomorrow.

5. Cars

These pieces of technology have been developed long time ago and still exist today. An example of how this will affect many people is the Smart Car. It is a good thing to look at a problem and try to fix or at least temporary fix it until a solution is found. The problem is the oil/ gasoline prices ( limited in the world ) . Because of these, the competition is not only for engine, comfort, design but also the least intake in oil. I am always impressed with this piece of technology( automobiles). This is because it continues to make our daily lives much more comfortable in the world we are in right now. It also is a great piece that makes me wonder such things like what each parts in the vehicle does, how fast it could run, how unique and cool it is to build your own.

Apple’s first product was the Apple 1was sold as an assembled circuit board.  They were hand built by Steve Wozniak.   They were priced at $666.66 and they produced about 200 units.  It was shown in April 1976 at the Homebrew Computer Club.  Mark Mukkala helped fund $250,000 for Apple.

Bill Gates first product was a version of programming language BASIC for the Altair 8800.  People began to copy Gate’s program’s and sell them to other people so he demanded that they pay him.  He made a liecense saying that if you buy a program from him it may only be used for one computer and is not to be shared.  With this, computer companies could make more money by selling more programs to each individual instead of one buying it and sharing it with everyone else.

The iPhone/iTouch is one amazing piece of technology and it utilizes it’s 3G capabilities to the fullest.  Unfortunately, the battery life isn’t quite long enough for today’s consumers.  Imagine you are on a 10 hour flight.  You quickly whip out your iPhone/iTouch once the plane hits cruising altitude and start to play super monkey ball or old school Mario.  Everything is going great when all of a sudden the battery dies out on you.  Six and half hours left in the flight, but your poor iPhone/iTouch is useless to you.

With Mophie’s new Juice Pack, your iPhone/iTouch is given a substancial boost of battery life.  250 hours of stanby time, up to 24 hours with audio playback, 8 hours on the phone, 7 hours of video streaming, and up to 6 hours of precious internet use.  With the Juice Pack, your iPhone/iTouch can last long hours of boredom and random application shopping.

- “Electrical Numerical Integrator and Computer“. ENIAC, was the first general purpose electronic computer. The ENIAC was big it was, 30 tons and took up 1800 square feet of floor space. The ENIAC contained 6000 manual switches. The ENIAC was designed and built to calculate artillery firing tables for the U.S Army’s Ballistic Research Laboratory.

Vacuum Tube Size :

- In electronics, a vacuum tube is a device used to amplify, switch, otherwise modify, or create an electrical signal by controlling the movement of electrons in a low-pressure space. Some special function vacuum tubes are filled with low-pressure gas: these are so-called soft valves (or tubes), as distinct from the hard vacuum type which have the internal gas pressure reduced as far as possible. Almost all depend on the thermal emission of electrons, hence thermionic.

- The first generation computers were huge, slow, expensive, and often undependable.

- In 1946two Americans, Presper Eckert, and John Mauchly built the ENIAC electronic computer which used vacuum tubes instead of the mechanical switches of the Mark I.

- The ENIAC used thousands of vacuum tubes, which took up a lot of space and gave off a great deal of heat just like light bulbs do.

- The ENIAC led to other vacuum tube type computers like the EDVAC (Electronic Discrete Variable Automatic Computer) and the UNIVAC I (UNIVersal Automatic Computer).

- The vacuum tube was an extremely important step in the advancement of computers. Vacuum tubes were invented the same time the light bulb was invented by Thomas Edison and worked very similar to light bulbs.

Transistors:

There were obvious differences between the transistor and the vacuum tube.  The transistor was faster, more reliable, smaller, and much cheaper to build than a vacuum tube.

- One transistor replaced the equivalent of 40 vacuum tubes.

- These transistors were made of solid material, some of which is silicon, an abundant element (second only to oxygen) found in beach sand and glass.  Therefore they were very cheap to produce.

- Transistors were found to conduct electricity faster and better than vacuum tubes.  They were also much smaller and gave off virtually no heat compared to vacuum tubes.

Integrated Circuit (IC):

- in electronics, an integrated circuit (also known as IC, microcircuit, microchip, silicon chip, or chip) is a miniaturized electronic circuit (consisting mainly of semiconductor devices, as well as passive components) that has been manufactured in the surface of a thin substrate of semiconductor material. Integrated circuits are used in almost all electronic equipment in use today and have revolutionized the world of electronics.

referred to as semiconductor chip, packs a huge number of transistors onto a single wafer of silicon. Robert Noyce of Fairchild Corporation and Jack Kilby of Texas Instruments independently discovered the amazing attributes of integrated circuits.

Timex Sinclair:

- The keyboard is a ‘touch sensitive membrane’, a flexible plastic surface with the actual switches under the surface. While easy to clean and water resistant, it is very difficult and slow to type on, because you have to press hard and very deliberately to use the tiny, closely-spaced keys. Touch-typing is impossible. Resourceful users hacked into their system and added their own ‘real’ keyboard, external to the system.

This school year, i’m mainly focusing on completing all my assigned homework.  In the past, there have been some assignments that i’ve missed and i’m tired of having incomplete work.  I also want to improve or at least maintain my current honour roll percent.  All this means is that i just have to put more effort and try harder this year.

What types of technology are you interested in? Why?

I’m more interested in computers, video game consoles, cameras, and mp3′s.  I tend to take an interest in the devices i use regularly.  I like any form of technology that let’s me talk to friends, listen to music, or play games.

What piece of technology could you not live without? Why?

I think i wouldn’t be able to live without my cell phone.  I could live without a computer or my PS3 but if i didn’t have my phone i’m not sure what would happen.  I use it every day to contact my family and friends, as a watch, and even to take random pictures on the fly.

What would you like to learn about this year in this course?

I’d like to learn a lot more about computers and the way they function.  I use a computer almost everyday but i would be a lot more comfortable using it if i knew how things worked.