Monthly Archives: July 2009
Superfast Broadband
There is a new breed of superfast broadband approaching which will be welcome news to the majority of the British public that are currently stuck with a maximum top speed of 8Mbps.
It is undeniable that Broadband take-up in the UK has been huge; the majority of the public now access the Internet via a broadband connection rather than a conventional dial up modem. A few weeks back I talked about broadband packages which made Internet access either free or incredibly cheap meaning that even occasional Internet users would be financially better off with a broadband connection.
Although the prices have been tumbling, a ceiling limit on the speeds obtainable has been reached and this needs to be broken through; although 8Mbps is a comfortable speed which will suit the majority of users we are lagging well behind many other parts of the world. A limited number of users in … Read the rest
Image Resolution FAQ
A question I’m currently receiving on a weekly basis is ‘how many pictures will I be able to fit on this’ when a customer is referring to the size of memory card or USB Flash Drive. Understanding image resolution and size is important in this digital age and although the intricacies are incredibly complex, the basics are pretty easy to get to grip with.
What is Image Resolution?
A pixel is a unit of programmable colour on a computers display and by combining many of them together we are able to create an image; the term resolution typically refers to the number of pixels that are used in this process. On the whole, the quality of the image will increase with a greater number of pixels as we are able to store a greater amount of detail.
How is Resolution Measured?
Resolutions are generally expressed in two different formats – … Read the rest
Technology Failures
The world of technology is full of bright new ideas that promise to change the way we live; however, for every success there are numerous failures. Some technologies genuinely surprise us when they fall by the wayside, but others we realise were doomed to failure from the very beginning:
Doomsday Project – The BBC Doomsday Project was a partnership between Acorn Computers, Philips, Logica and the BBC and was designed to mark the 900th anniversary of the original doomsday book. It was compiled over a period of three years and was published in 1986 after having over one million people contribute to the project. The material included maps, colour photos, statistical data, videos, virtual reality tours of major landmarks and the entire 1981census.
This information was stored on specially adapted laserdiscs with the intention that future generations could then look back on the material in years to come, however … Read the rest
Google Chrome OS
The big news this morning was that Google is to release its own Operating System during the second half of 2010.
Initially targeted at Netbooks (incredibly small laptops with relatively low specifications), Google Chrome OS will be a lightweight, open source alternative to Windows. It will be designed primarily for online use, with the entire OS essentially consisting of the Google Chrome browser running on a Linux backend.
The vision is that in the future rather than a developer producing a software package that requires a download and installation they would instead create a web based application that could be run from any Internet browser. In many ways the idea makes a great deal of sense; you wouldn’t have to worry about updating your software, transporting files from one machine to another or indeed creating backups of your files. Everything would be stored online and as such none of these … Read the rest
Spotify
It’s not often it happens, but occasionally an application will come along that simply forces you to sit back and mutter ‘wow’ in sheer amazement. Google Earth was probably the last application that prompted this reaction from me until this week when I started playing with a free application called ‘Spotify’.
You’d be forgiven for not having heard of Spotify just yet but it has changed the way that I (and probably you) listen to music not only today but possibly forever. It has been in development since 2006 only recently have members of the public been allowed to open free accounts.
Essentially, you download and install a tiny 2.5mb application from www.spotify.com which will then give you immediate and free access to practically every piece of music ever released. Simply type the name of any artist and you will be presented with a list of every song and album … Read the rest
