Computer Applications - Week 01
Media articles - the current state of the
computing and design
Current
news
Will you have a job?
US no
longer tops in computers, Internet|
- One third of US houses NOT connected to
Internet - and don't want to connect, ever!
http://www.bizreport.com/2007/03/a_third_of_us_households_have_no_net_connection.html
- Why the Web is hitting a wall
"...Despite its popularity among teens and techies, and
its use in most offices, the Internet is far from ubiquitous. In fact, 39
million American households still do not have Internet access. That means only
64% of households are connected, according to a recent survey of 1,000 people by
Dallas researcher Parks Associates. An even bigger surprise is that the growth
of the Internet in the U.S. has stalled. Despite cheaper prices and faster
speeds, analysts expect uptake to creep just one percentage point this year,
to 65%, and to only 67% by 2009..."
Perm link
- Online sales lose steam
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/17/technology/17ecom.html
- US lag in Internet relative to other
countries "killing startups"
http://www.redherring.com/Home/22880
- US getting lost on slow lane of
Internet
"...According to the Information
Technology and Innovation Foundation, French broadband connections are, on
average, more than three times as fast as ours. Japanese connections are a
dozen times faster. Oh, and access is much cheaper in both countries than it
is here..."
http://www.localret.net/localretnews/politicaieconomia/num1/docs/num21.pdf
- China outstrips US in telecom and computer
equipment
"...The OECD said that Chinese exports of
information and communications technology -- mobile phones, lap tops and
digital cameras, for example -- totaled 180 billion dollars (214 billion
euros) in 2004, while US exports were valued at 149 billion dollars..."
http://www.terradaily.com/news/industry-05zy.html
- 610 Mobile subscribers in China by
2009 (the US has 300 million people)
http://blogs.zdnet.com/ITFacts/?p=10194
End of
"they always get faster" - Personal computers end their regular growth
in speed
|
|
 |
| Moore's Law through the 20th century |
Moore's Law
comes
to an end over the next decade |
- Pentium 4 reaches speed limit - no 4GHz CPUs!
"The Pentium 4 570 processor at 3.8GHz will have
the fastest clock speed of any Intel processor available from Intel
for an indefinite period."
http://www.pcworld.com/news/article/0,aid,118603,00.asp
- Implications of no increase in CPU speed in
near future
http://neowin.net/comments.php?category=main&id=25637
-
CPU speed slowdown (from Tom's Hardware guide")
- What "dual core" and "multicore" processors
can and can't do
Good for specialized operations (e.g. rendering)
but DO NOT increase speed of computer in normal use.
http://www.wired.com/news/infostructure/0,1377,67795,00.html
- Limitations of multicore computers
http://compreviews.about.com/od/cpus/a/dualcore.htm
- AMD Dual-cores give only 5% speed
increase in some games, slower for others
http://hardware.gamespot.com/Story-ST-17478-1945-x-x-x?tag=txt&body_pagenum=3
- What "64-bit" computers can and can't
do
Good for servers, scientific apps, little value to
consumers
http://compreviews.about.com/cs/cpus/a/aapr64bit.htm
- Shortages of rare metals may curtail
computer innovation
"...Supplies of indium, used in liquid-crystal displays, and of
hafnium, a critical element for next-generation semiconductors, could be
exhausted by 2017, according to a new report..."
http://www.informationweek.com/news/showArticle.jhtml?articleID=199703110
- Technology isn't always faster and better
Farther, faster? Not anymore. The morning train ride from Chestnut
Hill to Center City takes 34 minutes today. Fifty years ago, it took 28
minutes. Today, a United Airlines flight from Philadelphia to Los Angeles takes 6
hours, 1 minute. Forty years ago, the trip took 5 hours, 5 minutes. In 1990, the
average travel time to work for a Chester County resident was 23.1 minutes; a
decade later, it was 27.5 minutes. In Burlington County, the travel time went
from 23.6 minutes to 28.2 minutes. After centuries of ever-faster travel, the
triumph of technology over time seems to have stalled. The expectation that each
generation will be not only more upwardly mobile, but also more rapidly mobile,
has died, apparently of congestion of the arteries.
http://www.philly.com/inquirer/home_top_left_story/20070423_Farther__faster__Not_anymore.html
The
Computer "energy-heat crisis" - what's limiting computer power
Consequences of computer technology
- Information technology energy use harmful to
environment
"...“IT's age of innocence is nearing an end,” said
Steve Prentice, distinguished analyst and chief of research at Gartner.
“Technology's clean and friendly ‘weightless economy’ image is being
challenged by its growing environmental footprint..."
http://continuitycentral.com/news02813.htm
- Apple attacked for exporting toxic computer parts
to China
"...In a new survey of 14
major companies, the manufacturer of the Mac, the Powerbook and the iPod was
put bottom of the list for its policies on the elimination of toxic
substances and recycling. ...When the guide was first published, last
September, Apple was ranked 10th; now it is ranked 14th out of 14. In a
surprise first place on the list was the Chinese PC maker Lenovo, which
displaced Nokia..."
http://www.commondreams.org/archive/2007/04/04/300/
- The global path of computer pollution
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/5323258.stm
- Poisons in computers and gaming consoles
 |
1: Lead in cathode ray tube and solder
2: Arsenic in older cathode ray tubes
5: Antimony trioxide as flame retardant
4: Polybrominated flame retardants in plastic casings, cables and
circuit boards
3: Selenium in circuit boards as power supply rectifier
6: Cadmium in circuit boards and semiconductors
7: Chromium in steel as corrosion protection
8: Cobalt in steel for structure and magnetivity
9: Mercury in switches and housing
|
Computers
are not "brains" - (good-bye to all your machine-take-over-world fantasies)
Cornell study demonstrates that the brain
is NOT a computer (no "artificial intelligence")
"...The theory that the mind works like a computer, in a series of
distinct stages, was an important steppingstone in cognitive science, but it has
outlived its usefulness..."
http://www.news.cornell.edu/stories/June05/new.mind.model.ssl.html
Computers
become nostalgia, rather than a glamour job...
No more
Mr. Nice Guy - Hackers turn criminal - and they're using your computer to do it
-
Commercial ("spyware")
- Organized crime
- International
Technology can be used in both directions
You don't
know your audience
History of Computing
Engines of our Ingenuity - technology webcasts
They
weren't so "primitive" back then
Our "futuristic" ideas
aren't so new - check Jules Verne in his (1889) novel
http://www.technovelgy.com/ct/AuthorSpecAlphaList.asp?BkNum=182
Another "futuristic" world from 1909 - "The
Machine Stops" (extra credit project)
Click here for the short story
Forrester's 1908 novel "The Machine Stops"
- note how right he got about online communities!
http://emforster.de/hypertext/template.php3?t=tms
Da Vinci's top ten high-tech inventions
http://www.livescience.com/history/davinci_bestideas_top10-10.html
Technovelgy - Inventions and ideas from science
fiction
http://www.technovelgy.com/index.htm?NewsNum=490
Devices from the ancient world
 |
| Coin-operated water vending machine (slot is at top) |
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/HeronAlexandria.htm
Roman-era fire truck
http://patentpending.blogs.com/photos/uncategorized/capture68200575532_am.jpg
Heron's "automatic theater" (precursor to
media presentations, scroll to bottom)
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/HeronAlexandria2.htm
How science was born in 300BC - and why it
had to be reborn 1800 years later (lots of pictures)
http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/HeroAndLoon.htm
LINK TO COMPUTER
HISTORY IMAGES
CLICK HERE
