Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Blog 10 Microsoft Future Products
Microsoft has developed a video game programming software for XBOX 360 Live called Kodu. It is a new visual programming language for creating games. It is geared towards kids and allows them to create their very own video games using programs that are expressed in physical terms, using concepts like vision, hearing, and time to control character behavior. Kids use icon based tool menus to create worlds by actually building land masses, water, trees, bridges, paths, etc. The terrain editor allows them to create arbitrary worlds that are unique to each child's imagination. They then determine what characters they are going to use and what characteristics each character will have. The kids determine the rules and outcomes of the actions of each character. I think this will be a great tool to introduce kids to programming and it will pull the creativity out of their minds and make them think about what they want to create. Individualism and creative expression while learning a new skill is a good idea for products such as video games that many people consider idle wastes of time.
Monday, October 19, 2009
Blog 9 Cool Multimedia Software
Groovemaker Techno and Trance are software apps for the iphone and ipod touch that allow the user to create and share non-stop electronic, dance, multimedia and movie score songs on the go in real time. It is a music studio in the palm of your hand. You can mix music like a professional DJ or produce original songs and movie scores like a music producer from your hand held device. Check it out at http://ikmultimedia.com/
Sunday, October 11, 2009
Blog 8 Project 8.1 Researching Floppy Drives on the Internet
What is the price of an internal floppy drive?
Internal floppy drives are advertised from$2.99 to over $100.00 with $10.00 to $15.00 as the average.
What kind of connections do external floppy disk drives use? What is the price of an external floppy drive?
External floppy drives use a USB connection. The cost averages about $25.00.
Why do you think external drives cost more than internal drives? What are the advantages of external drives? Internal drives?
I think external drives cost more because USB is a newer technology and a separate power supply is needed for the external drive. External drives are easier to install, can be interchanged among different computers, and usually have better cooling. Internal drives are cheaper to replace and you can use the tray to swap hard disks in and out without opening the case.
DMA (Direct Memory Access Channel) is a number identifying a channel which allows a device to pass data to memory without going through the CPU. It is a shortcut for moving data to and from the device and memory. This frees up the CPU and allows better performance of the CPU.
Low Level Formatting is a process performed at the factory that electronically creates the hard drive tracks and sectors. It tests for bad spots on the disk surface. With older drives, technicians would use a utility program to do this formatting. Low level formatting at the factory takes care of this task and makes today's hard drives disposable. When the sectors fail and are no longer able to read, you salvage whatever data you can and throw the drive away and replace it with a new one.
SATA (Serial ATA) is an ATAPI cabling method that uses a narrower and more reliable cable the the 80 conductor cable. This allows for better internal cooling because the thinner cables do not block air flow like the thicker 80 conductor cable does. SATA was developed to replace the older ATA standard. Devices are able to communicate much faster using a serial cable over two conductors. The older ATA standard became known as parallel ATA after SATA was developed. Parallel ATA uses 16 data conductors and is much slower. SATA reduces cable bulk and cost because it only requires seven wires instead of eighty wires. It is faster and more efficient in data transfer and allows hot swapping. Hot swapping is replacing components without shutting down the system and rebooting.
ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) is an interface standard for the connection of storage devices such as hard disks, solid-state drives, and CD-ROM drives in computers. This evolved from the IDE interface. After SATA was developed this became known as Parallel ATA. It only allows for cable lengths up to eighteen inches. Because of this limitation, the technology normally appears as an internal computer storage interface. For many years, ATA provided the most common and least expensive interface for this application. At the beginning of 2007, ATA was largely replaced by serial ATA.
IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics or Integrated Device Electronics) is a hard drive whose disk controller is integrated into the drive which eliminates the need for a controller cable which increases speed and reduces price. IDE is the base for which technologies such as EIDE (Enhanced IDE) were developed. EIDE supports drives with over 250 GB of data and allows for data transfer rates that are over twice as fast as the original IDE. SCSI technology is faster but more expensive than EIDE but has been replaced with the newer SATA technology.
Internal floppy drives are advertised from$2.99 to over $100.00 with $10.00 to $15.00 as the average.
What kind of connections do external floppy disk drives use? What is the price of an external floppy drive?
External floppy drives use a USB connection. The cost averages about $25.00.
Why do you think external drives cost more than internal drives? What are the advantages of external drives? Internal drives?
I think external drives cost more because USB is a newer technology and a separate power supply is needed for the external drive. External drives are easier to install, can be interchanged among different computers, and usually have better cooling. Internal drives are cheaper to replace and you can use the tray to swap hard disks in and out without opening the case.
DMA (Direct Memory Access Channel) is a number identifying a channel which allows a device to pass data to memory without going through the CPU. It is a shortcut for moving data to and from the device and memory. This frees up the CPU and allows better performance of the CPU.
Low Level Formatting is a process performed at the factory that electronically creates the hard drive tracks and sectors. It tests for bad spots on the disk surface. With older drives, technicians would use a utility program to do this formatting. Low level formatting at the factory takes care of this task and makes today's hard drives disposable. When the sectors fail and are no longer able to read, you salvage whatever data you can and throw the drive away and replace it with a new one.
SATA (Serial ATA) is an ATAPI cabling method that uses a narrower and more reliable cable the the 80 conductor cable. This allows for better internal cooling because the thinner cables do not block air flow like the thicker 80 conductor cable does. SATA was developed to replace the older ATA standard. Devices are able to communicate much faster using a serial cable over two conductors. The older ATA standard became known as parallel ATA after SATA was developed. Parallel ATA uses 16 data conductors and is much slower. SATA reduces cable bulk and cost because it only requires seven wires instead of eighty wires. It is faster and more efficient in data transfer and allows hot swapping. Hot swapping is replacing components without shutting down the system and rebooting.
ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) is an interface standard for the connection of storage devices such as hard disks, solid-state drives, and CD-ROM drives in computers. This evolved from the IDE interface. After SATA was developed this became known as Parallel ATA. It only allows for cable lengths up to eighteen inches. Because of this limitation, the technology normally appears as an internal computer storage interface. For many years, ATA provided the most common and least expensive interface for this application. At the beginning of 2007, ATA was largely replaced by serial ATA.
IDE (Integrated Drive Electronics or Integrated Device Electronics) is a hard drive whose disk controller is integrated into the drive which eliminates the need for a controller cable which increases speed and reduces price. IDE is the base for which technologies such as EIDE (Enhanced IDE) were developed. EIDE supports drives with over 250 GB of data and allows for data transfer rates that are over twice as fast as the original IDE. SCSI technology is faster but more expensive than EIDE but has been replaced with the newer SATA technology.
Saturday, October 3, 2009
Second Life
Second Life is a 3D virtual reality world where users can create an avatar and socialize, connect and create using free voice and text chat. Users can live a fantasy life through Second Life.
I think it could be a useful tool to help people who are introverted and shy to learn how to interact and lead a normal life by exploring and doing things they would not normally do in real life.
Businesses could use it by advertising, product placement or promoting certain lifestyles or fashion trends.
Education could use it as a tool to teach social skills, or to teach someone a skill or trade through a virtual classroom or on the job training.
I would explore Second Life to see how it functions and what it is all about out of curiosity. I think there is a major downside to a site like this. Many people give up their real life and spend way too much time on the computer in chat rooms, facebook, myspace, video games, etc. My belief is why not explore what life has to offer in real time instead of wasting your life in virtual reality. In moderation I think something like this could be good entertainment but some people might become hooked and spend all of their free time living the life of a cartoon.
I think it could be a useful tool to help people who are introverted and shy to learn how to interact and lead a normal life by exploring and doing things they would not normally do in real life.
Businesses could use it by advertising, product placement or promoting certain lifestyles or fashion trends.
Education could use it as a tool to teach social skills, or to teach someone a skill or trade through a virtual classroom or on the job training.
I would explore Second Life to see how it functions and what it is all about out of curiosity. I think there is a major downside to a site like this. Many people give up their real life and spend way too much time on the computer in chat rooms, facebook, myspace, video games, etc. My belief is why not explore what life has to offer in real time instead of wasting your life in virtual reality. In moderation I think something like this could be good entertainment but some people might become hooked and spend all of their free time living the life of a cartoon.
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