Archive for March, 2007
Quick format vs. regular format
Sometimes we have to bite the bullet and reformat a hard drive. There are two choices for formatting, quick and regular, and I am often asked what the difference is. As the name suggests, quick format gets done in a considerably shorter time. Regular format includes a check for bad sectors on the drive and [...]
What’s ahead for CPUs
After a period in which CPU design and performance remained fairly static, we are now in a stage where multi-core processors and other developments are ramping up performance. Anyone contemplating buying a new computer in the next few months might well wonder if there are features that they should wait for. To get an idea [...]
Is software in a box on the way out?
It’s becoming more and more prevalent for software to be distributed by an Internet download rather than on a CD. But once you have it, the software still involves the conventional type of license. A bigger departure from past practices is “software as a service”, which has become a buzzword phrase. This can mean software [...]
Don’t touch that mouse
I hope Jack Teems at Neat Net Tricks will forgive me for stealing the Windows error message shown below from his newsletter but I couldn’t resist showing it here.
Ballmer bad-mouths Google
Steve Ballmer, the CEO of Microsoft, really seems to be obsessed about Google. Instead of tending to the running of Microsoft, he keeps spending time making nasty comments about Google. I guess it’s competition by bad-mouth. Actually, it’s more like schoolyard bullying, which is a method of dealing with competitors that Ballmer (and others at [...]
Choosing between 64-bit and 32-bit systems
As computing has evolved, the size of the basic unit of information has gotten longer. Both Windows and CPUs now have 64-bit as well as 32-bit versions. Home PC users may wonder if they need to look ahead and consider the 64-bit version of Vista when buying a new computer. Although future home computing will [...]
Microsoft buys more speech recognition technology
I mentioned Vista’s speech recognition feature in a previous post and it seems that Microsoft is quite serious in this area. They just bought privately held Tellme Networks Inc., which makes Web-based voice technology. The amount paid is rumored to be as much as $800 million according to the Wall Street Journal. It seems that [...]
Site about USB smart drives
As often mentioned in these pages, USB drives are now used for all sorts of purposes. My SeniorNet colleague, Sol Libes, has prepared a presentation and Web site on smart USB drives at this link. The site has a lot of nice information and a list of useful links.
MIT puts its entire curriculum online for free
One of the Internet’s great educational resources is going to get even better. InformationWeek reports that MIT is going to make its entire curriculum available:
On Tuesday, school officials revealed plans to make available the university’s entire 1,800-course curriculum by year’s end. Currently, some 1.5 million online independent learners log on the MIT OpenCourseWare [...]
Firefox extensions galore
One of the nice features of the Firefox browser is the ease of creating and adding functions through what are called extensions. At various times I have mentioned several. Adrian Kingsley-Hughes asked his readers to send him the names of their “must have” extensions and he has compiled a list of 90. Most people will [...]
Windows XP and Vista advertising comparison
Over in Australia, a bright young man named Long Zhen has a blog where he often posts things with an original slant. Recently, he compared the advertising campaign that launched Windows XP with the corresponding one for Vista. He notes the following interesting differences:
The Windows XP “Soar†advertisement shows 8 different scenarios with practical examples [...]
