Tuesday, September 16, 2008
Apple 'Smart Garment' Patent To Perk Up Nike+iPod
Apple is moving to improve its althletic monitoring products with Nike by prepaing improved iPod-compatible footwear, according to p proposed U.S. patent revealed this week. A so-called smart garment listing on the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office Web site suggests the two companies are working on electronic sensors placed under the inner sole of Nike running shoes that would interoperate with Apple products like the iPod. The submission suggest that runners can figuratively listen to their shoes and learn how to improve thier running style and compare theier times with other runners based on various physical traits, including wieght, age, and gender. A user could gauge his or her own athletic prowess and abilities against an accepted reference and be able to determine, for example, the performance percentile he or she falls in particular cohort of runners, Apples said in the patent filling. " In addition, ith would be beneficial to be able to correlate a user's performance to tracking shoe characteristics such as wear over time or distance used.
Tuesday, September 9, 2008
Main Frame VS PC (Personal Computer)
Mainframe- are computers used mainly by large organizations for critical applications, typically bulk data processing such as census, industry and consumer statistics, ERP and financial transaction processing. The term probably originated from the early mainframes, as they were housed in enormous, room-sized metal boxes or frames. Later the term was used to distinguish high-end commercial machines from less powerful units. Some non-System/360 comptible systems derived from or compatible with older (pre-web) server techonlogy may also be considered mainframes. These include the Burroughs large systems, the UNIVAC 1100/2200 series systems, and the pre-system 360 IBM 700/700 series. Most large- scale computer system architectures were firmly established in the 1960s and most large computers were based on architecture established during that era up until the advent of Web servers in the 1990.
PC(Personal Computer)-is any computer whose original sales price, size, and capabilities make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end user with no intervening computer operator. Today a PC may be a desktop computer, a laptop computer or a tablet computer. The most common operating system are Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and Linux, while the most common microprocessors are x86-compatible CPUs. Software applications for personal computers include word processing, spreadsheets, database, games, and myraid of personal productivity and special-purpose software. Modern personal computers often have high-speed or dial-up connections to the internet, allowing access to the World Wide Web and a wide range of other resources. A PC may be a home computer or may be found in an office often connected to a local area network.
PC(Personal Computer)-is any computer whose original sales price, size, and capabilities make it useful for individuals, and which is intended to be operated directly by an end user with no intervening computer operator. Today a PC may be a desktop computer, a laptop computer or a tablet computer. The most common operating system are Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and Linux, while the most common microprocessors are x86-compatible CPUs. Software applications for personal computers include word processing, spreadsheets, database, games, and myraid of personal productivity and special-purpose software. Modern personal computers often have high-speed or dial-up connections to the internet, allowing access to the World Wide Web and a wide range of other resources. A PC may be a home computer or may be found in an office often connected to a local area network.
Monday, September 8, 2008
Compare and Contrast of ROM, RAM, VIRTUAL and Caching Memory September 8,2008 4pd
RAM- is best known form of computer memory. RAM is considered "random access" because you can access any memory cell directly if you know the row and column that intersect at that cell. It also comes from hardware components wired into or attached to the motherboard the main circuit board of your computer. RAM is used to run certain basic programs and functions that your computer needs to operate correctly and functions only while the computer is receiving power. Programs you're using are written in RAM temporarily while the computer is processing them. Think of RAM as a playing field a large open area where your programs function. Each program takes up a certain amount of space: the field can accommodate one or several different programs at one time, but its capacity is limited. When you shut down a program, it disappears from RAM and ideally the space it occupied can be reused.
ROM- Read only memory is an acronym for read only memory a type of unchangeable memory residing in chips on your motherboard. ROM contains the bare minimum of instructions needed to start you computer. Because it's used for critical functions, it can't be removed short of ripping it out of the motherboard; adding to it is just as difficult. Think of it as analogous to municipal utilities, such as gas and electricity. If you want a different configuration, you'll have to "move on" to a different motherboard of computer. Incidentally the term "ROM" is also used, not entirely correctly, when referring to some kinds of storage media that can't be modified, such as CD-Rom's.
Virtual- Virtual memory is a software method of making a computer appear and act as though it has more RAM (Random Access Memory) than is actually present. By reallocating and using available disk space, the operating system of the machine transparently swaps chucks of data between a hard disk and physical memory. The advantage of doing this is that larger application programs can be loaded, more applications can be used simultaneously, and the programs have more space to store their data. A drawback of virtual memory is that it slows down system operation and is limited to the amount of disk space that is free on the system. Virtual memory is implemented on most major computer operating system including Unix, VMS, Macintosh System 7.x, Microsoft Windows, Windows NT, and OS/2
Caching- If you have been shopping for a computer then you have heard the word "cache". Modern computers have both L1 and L2 caches, and many now also have L3 cache. You may also have gotten advice on the topic from well-meaning friends, perhaps something like "Don't buy that Celeron chip, it doesn't have any cache in it!" It turns out that caching is an important computer -science process that appears on every computer in a variety of forms. There are memory caches, hardware and software disk caches, page caches and more. Virtual memory is even a form of caching.
Wednesday, September 3, 2008
Computer Timeline
COMPUTER TIME LINE
1939- Hewlett-Packard is Founded. David Packard and Bill Hewlett found Hewlett-Packard in a Palo Alto, California garage. Their first product was the HP 200A Audio Oscillator, which rapidly becomes a popular piece of test equipment for engineers. Walt Disney Pictures orderd eight of the 2008 model to use as sound effects generators for the 1940 movie "Fantasia".
1940- The Complex Number Calculator (CNC) is completed. In 1993, Bell Telephone Laboratories completed this calculator, designed by researcher George Stibitz. In 1940, Stibitz demonstrated the CNC at an American Mathematical Society conference held at Dartmouth College. Stibitz stunned the group by performing calculations remotely on the CNC (located in New York City) using a Teletype connected via special telephone lines. This is considered to be the first demonstration of remote access computing.
1941- The first Bombe is completed. Based partly on the design of the Polish "Bomba," a mechanical means of decrypting Nazi military communicatons during WWII, the British Bombe design was greatly influenced by the work of computer pioneer Alan Turing and others. Many bombes were built. Together they dramatically improved the intelligence gathering and processing capabilities of Allied forces.
1942- The Atanasoff-Berry Computer is completed. Built at Iowa State College (now University), the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) was designed and built by Professor John Vicent Atanasoff and graduate student Cliff Berry between 1939 and 1942. While the ABC was never fully-functional, it won a patent dispute relating to the invention of the computer when Atanasoff proved that ENIAC co-designer John Mauchly had come to see the ABC shortly after it was completed.
1943-Project Whirlwind begins. During World War II, the U.S. Navy approached the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) about building a flight simulator to train bomber crews. The team first built a large analog computer, but found it inaccurate and inflexible. After designers saw a demonstration of the ENIAC computer, they decided on building a digital computer. By the time the Whirlwind was completed in 1951, the Navy had lost interest in the project, though the U.S. Air Force would eventually support the project which would influence the design of the SAGE program.
1944-Harvard Mark-1 is completed. Conceived by Harvard professor Howard Aiken, and designed and built by IBM, the Harvard Mark-1 was a room-sized, relay based calculator. The machine had a fifty-foot long camshaft that synchronized the machine's thousands of component parts. The Mark-1 was used to produce mathematical tables but was soon superseded by stored program computers.
1945-Korad Zuse began work on Plankalkul (Plan Calculus), the first algorithmic programming language, with an aim of creating the theoretical preconditions for the formulation of the problems of a gerneral nature. Seven years earlier, Zuse had develped and built the world's firlst binary digital computer, the Z1. He completed the first fully functional program-controlled electromechanical digital computer, the Z3, in 1941. Only the Z4 the most sophisticated of his crations-survived World WarII.
1946-An inspiring summer school on computing at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electical Engineering stimulated construction of stored program computers at universities and reaserch institutions. This free, public ste of lectures inspired the EDSAC, BINAC, and later,IAS machine collones like AVIDAC. Here Warren Kelleher completes the wiring of the arithmetic unit components of the AVIDAC at Argonne National Laboratory. Robert Dennis installs the inter-unit wiring at James Woddy Jr. adjusts the deflection control circuits of the memory unit.
1947- The Williams tube won the race for a parctical random-access memory. Sir Frederick Williams of the Manchester Universtity modified a cathode-ray tube to paint dots and dashes fo phosphorescent electrical charge on the screen, representing binary ones and zeros, Vacuum tube machines such as the IBM 701, used the Williams tube as primary memory.
1948-Norbert Wiener published "Cybernetics," a major influence on later research into artificial intelligence. He drew on his World War II experiments with anit-aircraft systems thay anticipated the course of enemy planes by the interpreting radar images. Wiener coined the term"cybernetics" from the Greek word for "steersman".
http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1939
http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1940
http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1941
http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1942
http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1943
http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1944
http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1945
http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1946
http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1947
http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1948
1939- Hewlett-Packard is Founded. David Packard and Bill Hewlett found Hewlett-Packard in a Palo Alto, California garage. Their first product was the HP 200A Audio Oscillator, which rapidly becomes a popular piece of test equipment for engineers. Walt Disney Pictures orderd eight of the 2008 model to use as sound effects generators for the 1940 movie "Fantasia".
1940- The Complex Number Calculator (CNC) is completed. In 1993, Bell Telephone Laboratories completed this calculator, designed by researcher George Stibitz. In 1940, Stibitz demonstrated the CNC at an American Mathematical Society conference held at Dartmouth College. Stibitz stunned the group by performing calculations remotely on the CNC (located in New York City) using a Teletype connected via special telephone lines. This is considered to be the first demonstration of remote access computing.
1941- The first Bombe is completed. Based partly on the design of the Polish "Bomba," a mechanical means of decrypting Nazi military communicatons during WWII, the British Bombe design was greatly influenced by the work of computer pioneer Alan Turing and others. Many bombes were built. Together they dramatically improved the intelligence gathering and processing capabilities of Allied forces.
1942- The Atanasoff-Berry Computer is completed. Built at Iowa State College (now University), the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) was designed and built by Professor John Vicent Atanasoff and graduate student Cliff Berry between 1939 and 1942. While the ABC was never fully-functional, it won a patent dispute relating to the invention of the computer when Atanasoff proved that ENIAC co-designer John Mauchly had come to see the ABC shortly after it was completed.
1943-Project Whirlwind begins. During World War II, the U.S. Navy approached the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) about building a flight simulator to train bomber crews. The team first built a large analog computer, but found it inaccurate and inflexible. After designers saw a demonstration of the ENIAC computer, they decided on building a digital computer. By the time the Whirlwind was completed in 1951, the Navy had lost interest in the project, though the U.S. Air Force would eventually support the project which would influence the design of the SAGE program.
1944-Harvard Mark-1 is completed. Conceived by Harvard professor Howard Aiken, and designed and built by IBM, the Harvard Mark-1 was a room-sized, relay based calculator. The machine had a fifty-foot long camshaft that synchronized the machine's thousands of component parts. The Mark-1 was used to produce mathematical tables but was soon superseded by stored program computers.
1945-Korad Zuse began work on Plankalkul (Plan Calculus), the first algorithmic programming language, with an aim of creating the theoretical preconditions for the formulation of the problems of a gerneral nature. Seven years earlier, Zuse had develped and built the world's firlst binary digital computer, the Z1. He completed the first fully functional program-controlled electromechanical digital computer, the Z3, in 1941. Only the Z4 the most sophisticated of his crations-survived World WarII.
1946-An inspiring summer school on computing at the University of Pennsylvania's Moore School of Electical Engineering stimulated construction of stored program computers at universities and reaserch institutions. This free, public ste of lectures inspired the EDSAC, BINAC, and later,IAS machine collones like AVIDAC. Here Warren Kelleher completes the wiring of the arithmetic unit components of the AVIDAC at Argonne National Laboratory. Robert Dennis installs the inter-unit wiring at James Woddy Jr. adjusts the deflection control circuits of the memory unit.
1947- The Williams tube won the race for a parctical random-access memory. Sir Frederick Williams of the Manchester Universtity modified a cathode-ray tube to paint dots and dashes fo phosphorescent electrical charge on the screen, representing binary ones and zeros, Vacuum tube machines such as the IBM 701, used the Williams tube as primary memory.
1948-Norbert Wiener published "Cybernetics," a major influence on later research into artificial intelligence. He drew on his World War II experiments with anit-aircraft systems thay anticipated the course of enemy planes by the interpreting radar images. Wiener coined the term"cybernetics" from the Greek word for "steersman".
http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1939
http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1940
http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1941
http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1942
http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1943
http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1944
http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1945
http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1946
http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1947
http://www.computerhistory.org/timeline/?year=1948
Tuesday, September 2, 2008
CoMpUtErS: Hard disks
The computer has the way to write data for safe keeping and also have a storage place for programs. Storage devices come in many shapes, sizes, formats and speeds. One of the earliest devices was the diskette drive. On most systems today this is a 3.5 inch diskette that holds 1.44 million bytes of information. Hard drives are an advanced form of diskette drive. They hold much more bytes and are faster and are about the same physical size. The hared drive is a fixed storage device in the computer. It consists of several disks called platters, that store data electronically. Saving data to the hard drive is like writing it down on a piece of paper. It won't change until you physically erase it.
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