In the future Computers will be able to take care of themselves… I would really love to see this happen to many people that have abused the god given right of abusing battery operated devices.
Virtual Worlds Belong in A Library?
January 16, 2008 By - Leave a Comment
Reading through the daily grind I came across a less then noted article on New Scientist blog about how the Library of Congress has a project that will be archiving and preserving early computer games, online novels and Virtual Worlds. This to me is an interesting task since I’ve worked with the delima of preserving digital media. Ten years ago a lot of things were on media like Zip drives that don’t exist anymore. At the same time books and news articles have been around for hundreds of years in the form of paper.
So, how would the future look back on our virtual worlds like Second Life and World of War Craft? Would it be possible for someone thirty or fifty years in the future to login and see what they looked like the same way I can read the New York Times online from 1958? As we build our computer systems and new technologies we forget the importance of writing about it, and keeping that writing available for generations to come. The only way the future will know how we lived fifty, a hundred or five hundred years is by what we did with our time. As the TV guys archive and preserve the latest episodes of Grey’s Anatomy and CSI we should keep in mind of preserving our virtual worlds and online addictions for the generations to come.
Blue Screen of Fruit!
January 15, 2008 By - Leave a Comment
Microsoft, most notably the number one reason for increase spending on System Administrators and Help Desk staff is entering your supper market. They will be providing software that will have a Smart Shopping Cart with ads that will ‘help’ a consumer to ‘buy’ more things. This technology will use up-links from home PC, RFID technology and coupons. While this is an interesting concept, it is a prototype and just the tip of the ice-berg of things to come. As we get more wireless and screens get smaller the computer will invade every square inch of our everyday mundane life.
“Blue Screen of Death in Isle 5,” I can here over the loudspeaker as a service technician is called out from behind the freezers.
About ten years ago there was a company giving scanners to people to do self check-out, they were attached to carts and as the customer put the item in the cart they would scan it. Today we have self-check out in many stores fixed at the exit. These first prototypes help our direction towards the future where, ads are displayed on carts and a customer can easily access information about the store, a product and maybe one day have Britney Spears tell them how much she loves Eggo’s and don’t fogert to buy her new Album so she can pay alimony.
However we are stuck in the year 2008 where these silly things of computerized shopping carts are the wave of the future, we’ll have to stick with our talking GPS’s and wireless digital cameras. Who knows, by the time Microsoft gets out of the Beta for the product we will have an Apple Driod doing our grocery shopping for us.
Microsoft Smart Shopping Carts – VIA: Information Week
Who needs to pay for recovery disks if you got a MAC?
August 31, 2007 By - 2 Comments
It seems the PC world has another scam up there sleeves. To save them money they have the consumer make recovery disks. This just means the Manufacture is trying everything these days not to do their job. I always hated the concept of having a recovery partition and having to make your own disks, why can’t the machine work right out of the box? What this means is you have a choice of making the disks (an hour of your time before using the computer) or actually paying the computer company that you just bought the computer from for a CD. This of course doesn’t happen on a the Apple’s MAC computers. I also find that Dell doesn’t seem to charge anymore for the media, but I could be wrong. Are the computer companies trying to make things more difficult then they have to be? They seem to be able to package the AOL disks pretty well. This article in PC World really pissed me off — http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136496/article.html — Where it seems the large retails stores are profiting from the apparent Recovery Disk issues by forcing customers to buy the retails stores recovery disks, claiming it is the only way to recover your computer if something goes wrong.
Now I have dealt with both Apple and many PC vendors. Dell has been the only company that I haven’t seen the recovery disk issue come up with, but you have to check a box to get the disks. Why don’t do they give you the disks like Apple has for years? Why is Apple the only one that has stayed constant and gives a proper and simple restoration procces if things go wrong. For example I had two computers that the hard drives failed. An iMac and a Dell. The iMac took less then two hours to format, install the OS from recovery 1 disk and be back online with updates and all. The Dell took half the day and I had to put different disks in, plus find updates online. If I wasn’t as technical as I am, I would of given up and paid someone to figure it out.
It seems to me that the Microsoft Windows world maybe the basis of the Chaos for the recovery disk and getting back up and running quickly without spending a huge amount of money. Issues happen with computers, whether its a PC or a Mac, however what counts is how long it takes to recover and of course how much extra in time and money it takes to have those recovery disks available when that time comes. Always backup your data and if your on a Mac keep those original recovery disks in a safe place.
Soda Can Plus Beer Bottle Equals new iMac! Recycled?
August 8, 2007 By - 3 Comments
The new iMac is out and well every tech site has had a take on it. They will point you to the Apple iMac page and tell you about all the bells and whistles on this beauty. However something struck me while Steve Jobs strutted on stage in his designer blue jeans and black shirt, ‘is the new iMac green?’ Now Apple has gotten a lot of heat being placed bottom on the list of green tech companies and building products that are based on some of the most recycled material out there makes me wonder if this isn’t Apple’s take on recycling. Now I couldn’t find anywhere on there site that mentioned beer bottles or soda can’s being the previous incarnation of your MacBook Pro or your new iMac. This of course would have to be investigated abroad where the machines are usually made, in plants that may not have caught on to this green and recycle approach. The truth is it would just be Apple enough to Recycle and not tell since I’m sure some rumor site will be posting all the details about this soon enough. However since glass and aluminum are two very popular recycled materials, next time you clean up the tin cans and beer bottles from your party just think of how many iMacs you could make! Till then cheers.
Do computers have souls?
June 21, 2007 By - 2 Comments
A computer that I have used for a long time died, deceased, pushing up the daisies, kicked its case, gone to the other side (no its not a mac now!!) — it now is in a scrap pile outside waiting for a dumpster. What a terrible way to go. We had our time together, the past year and a half. Like dog years, computer years are calculate by nine years but that is nine years for every month it’s first post passes boot inspection. So, I shed a tear for my P4 friend who for prosperity I will name P4.
As his mother board fried due to an accidental close encounter with Mr. Starbucks I lay back in my swirly chair and wonder if computers have souls. I mean we have souls. I believe we have a spirit inside us, a unique and powerful energy that if you put your two pointer fingers slightly together but not touching and focus on the empty part you will see your own unique energy. Whatever you call it, a spirit, soul, aura it is there and its still somewhat of a mystery. Animals have souls, you can sense there energy when they are near you.
Death in all cultures is the time when that spirit leaves its vestal and journeys to some far away world. Will we see our electronic devices in heaven in some big shopping mall? Do they meet there maker? And who would that be the guy who made the designs or the union worker who screwed the motherboard to the casing. It won’t be Bill Gates since he most likely won’t be joining P4 in heaven. I believe P4 has a soul and is in computer heaven soaking up a futuristic virus free OS, and has a full upgrade with 24TB of ram and Petabyte hard drive. I can dream that he is having a good life making someone happy as they fight a battles in WOW with Einstein, Edison and Tesla.
With the passing of P4 I have learned that true lessons of technology; Moore’s law. A dual-core processor blows the slow poke out of the water! I salute P4 and all the processing he has done for me, I raise Mr. Starbucks, lay back in my swirly chair and listen to Pandora.com. Rest in peace my old friend, thanks for the memories, you won’t be missed since Dual-Core got a sister I’ve been eying and she’s called Quad-Core.