Cool Youtube Video

This video shows the the short term prospect of technology and civilization in general.

Fountain of Youth

This is my grandfather on his 110th Birthday

The fountain of youth has been developed. Scientists have found a way to shut off the aging process and actually reverse the process. It was a big discovery one hundred years ago. No the the world is overpopulated. As of now, there are over 160 billion people on this planet. The number only increases. With nuclear fusion energy, even the poorest of countries have developed industry and can offer this fountain of youth to anyone.

Free Energy!

I have this, in a can.

Nuclear fusion is finally hear. Scientists have finally been able to fuse hydrogen atoms together. This has created an unlimited, clean and renewable resource. The only problem, you can not make money off this invention. We'll keep this underwraps until we are completely out of fossil fuels.

Prediction for the Future

Mom, my head feels funny. It's also glowing.

Bold prediction for the future, in the next 20 years, we may have neural implants that connect us to the internet. I have no proof other than the large advances in technology. Advances such as nanotechnology, circuit minituarization, advances in display technology and the wide spread use of wireless internet. Combined, there may be enough to implant a chip in our brains that allows you to browse the internet on thoughts alone.

Are Home Computers Dead?

Home Computers are slowly becoming obsolete and I have proof.
Exhibit One: The Smart Phones
These gadgets are capable of doing just about anything a regular desktop can do. E-Mails, Internet, Directions, Communications, Music and a whole slew of other things.


Exhibit Two: Google Docs

Google Docs is an office suite, similar to Microsoft Office, that is based completely online. This includes storage of your files and it's all for free. There's no longer a point of having a central computer at home to store files when you can do everything you need from any computer in the world.

Exhibit Three: The iPad

Yes, even the iPad is against the home computer. It sits in between a smart phone and a computer but sits there pretty firmly. It has already sold out when it was released. The iPad will help usher in a new era of user interactions with computers.

Exhibit Four: Gmail/Online Storage

Storage is cheap. Google will offers gigabytes of storage just for signing up for an email account. There is no reason to store files locally when everything can be on the "cloud."

Living at the Speed of Light

Intel, one of the largest entities in technology, is currently developing a new method of data transfer. Utilizing fiber optic cabling, Light Peak is being heralded as a possible successor to the recently released USB 3.0 standard. However, Intel is planning to release Light Peak as a complimentary technology. Current chipsets in development are all backwards compatible with USB.
The primary cause for Light Peak's development is a need for faster storage. Light Peak's transfer rate is currently at 10 Gb/s, while USB 3.0 tops out at 5 Gb/s. Intel is planning to release Light Peak some time between late 2010, and early 2012.
(info from PCWorld, and Tom's Hardware, image from Tom's Hardware)

Holograms on a 2D disc?

Now that the HD war is over and the dust has settled people are looking towards next generation of optical storage. Holographic Versatile Disc are the future of optical storage. With current estimates the new HVD will be able to store 3.9 terabytes of data. That is 80 times the storage of current blu-ray discs.

Memristors...who wants 20 gigs on a Stamp?

There's a new storage design afoot, and it is called Memristor Technology. Memristors are being designed to replace the current NAND flash memory design, which has been in use since 1989. NAND memory is manufactured at rapidly decreasing scales, down to the nanometer level, and eventually may reach a break point where the memory cells are too unreliable.
This is where memristors come into the picture. Memristors have some stiff competition in PCM design, phase change memory. However, memristors have the upper hand with a switching speed that is much faster than PCM, which relies on rapidly heating and cooling memory cells. HP anticipates having a competing Memristor device with a density of 20Gb/cm3 by 2013. (information gleaned from TheRegister.Co.Uk , picture from here)

April Fools Day!

If you are a geek, here are some geeky practical jokes.

Windows 7 Is Catching On

"We barely knew ya"

2001 has called, it is looking for Windows XP. Five months after it's initial release, Microsoft Windows 7 operating system has over 10% of the market share. This compares favorably to it's older brother Windows Vista, which only has 16% after two years. Combined, both lag behind the behemoth of Windows XP which still corners over 65% of the market. It's like a dog that just wont die.


Source: http://www.techreport.com/discussions.x/18708

First-Gen Products = Gamble.. Apple First Gen Products = Instant Lose

A first generation Ipod. Enlarged to show texture.

The Ipad has been released to Apple fanatics to much fan fare. Here is a warning. Don't buy it. Every first generation Apple product has been a flop. The Iphone was first release without 3G support. The Apple TV was first released with horrible software and no storage space. The new format Imacs have had screen issues. If you want one, wait for the next model. It will probably be released shortly after the first one.

Poof, No Playstion 3 Linux Support

Get off there you dirty penguin

It was nice to know you Linux. Here today, gone tomorrow. Sony recently gave an ultimatum to Playstation 3 owners. Option one, upgrade your Playstation 3 firmware now and lose support to install the operation system Linux. Option two, don't install the firmware and continue to use Linux but you can not play online or play the latest Blu-Ray movies. This seems to be an ongoing trend between ownership and Playstation owners. Some may of purchased the product based on the Linux support. Now Sony is removing this feature? Sounds like society vs. corporations, David vs. Goliath or a class-action lawsuit. We'll see what happens.

Intel's X25-V for $98 at Newegg

For you? $98 Dollars.

SSD Hard Drives are finally becoming mainstream. What are SSD Hard Drives you may ask. It's short for Solid State Drives. Conventional hard drives use a platter that spins at a couple thousand RPMs, similar to a CD-ROM, to write and read information. SSD's use solid memory like a flash card to read and write information. The result, less power draw and faster operation. They were and still are expensive and they can't hold a lot compared to conventional drives but they finally lowered below the psychologically tough barrier of $100.

I-RAM: storage at the speed of memory

The second version of solid state is ram based storage. The most notable is the I-RAM drive. This drive installs into a PCI slot to draw power. from there you insert up to 4 gigs of ddr1 ram onto the card and connect it to a sata port. This drives speed is only limited by the sata cable. One of the biggest downsides is that it requires constant power to keep the data in the memory. Also the drive is limited to only 4gb, but it makes a great drive to store your page file.

Flash Solid State: Its a thumb drive only bigger

With magnetic drives at their limit the question becomes whats next? The most likely the answer is solid state media. The main contender in solid state is Flash based. It uses nonvolatile memory circuit to store information. Unlike the memory used in RAM this is slower but does not need a constant electrical charge. with no moving parts these drive also generates less heat the your standard drive. Check out the flash solid state drive today.

25 to 200 how much more can they fit?

Like bored freshmen and an open phone booth, developers are finding new ways to fit more data into the same space. With current DVD limits pressed and the demand for High Definition video rising, Sony has helped created Blu-ray. This new format allows video to be displayed in 1080P High Definition. To do this the disc has the ability to store 25gb worth of data. But due to the fact that the slandered is open there is no current upper limit. Dual Layer discs can hold 50gb while there are custom discs that can store 100gb. If the end user wants to buy a modified blu-ray reader they can read disc up to 200gb. At this rate who knows what is in store for the blu-ray.

Helping Save the Planet One PC at a Time

RoHS is a logo often applied to products that are used by people building their own personal computers. This logo is a reference to a UK bill passed in 2006 entitled "The Restriction of Hazardous Substances Directive". The purpose for RoHS is to restrict manufacturers from using certain substances in the production of Electrical and Electronic Equipment.
Some of the materials that are measured when applying the standards of RoHS include: lead, hexavalent chromium, cadmium, and mercury, as well as some types of flame retardants. All of the standards and regulations in the RoHS directive are measured by the UK's National Measurement Office.
Granted, directives in other countries have no permanent effect in the US, but we reap the benefits here at home. The reason that so many of the products that can be purchased are emblazoned with the logo is the reality that most products are created for the world market, meaning we can help the environment, without having to pass the legislation locally.(for more information, go here.)

64 bits or bust

The evolution of PC hardware is ever changing. Currently, we are seeing larger and larger amounts of memory in computers, larger amounts of storage, and faster processors than ever before. It has never been uncommon to see this type of horsepower in big business server applications, but now you can walk into any PC retailer and purchase a computer with 8 gigabytes of memory and 1 terabyte of storage.
One adjustment that has been made to accommodate these new machines is the development of a seamless 64 bit operating system. The 64 bit design enables users to access up to 128 gigabytes of RAM memory, while 32 bit users have been limited to 3.5 gigabytes of usable memory. Also, multiple threaded applications function better in a 64 bit environment, having more available resources to spread across the workload.
Unfortunately, there are some requirements that need to be met to run 64 bit operating systems. PCs that will have a 64bit OS installed must have a minimum of 1 gb of memory, and must also have a 64 bit (x64) processor installed.
(information from mydigitallife.info, image from here)

DVD's: Can you really fit 4.3 GB on a disc?

I understand how most been confused about this issue; If they can make these "DVD's" that hold 4.7 Gigabytes of data, how come they gave us CD's all those years ago? The answer is simple, its a different laser. When CD's were created they could only create a red beam laser that small. Now they can make a infrared laser that writes to a smaller area. Because there is less space used to write information there is now more space available. Unfortunately due to the differences in the discs you will not be able to use your old CD-R's and will have to buy DVD-R's.

Breaking the Boundaries of a Single CPU

PC gaming has often enjoyed the luxury of having the latest technologies at its' disposal. Now, times are changing, and those same innovations are becoming relevant to other areas of computing. ATI Stream Technology and Nvidia CUDA are both software developments created by their respective companies to help take the load off of the CPU for processing, or to increase the amount of processing that a single PC can perform, using the Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) as a secondary CPU to perform calculations.
A popular usage for this type of technology is folding@home, a globally distributed program that is used to solve some of the health problems in society today. Folding@home uses mathematical calculations to discover ways that biological proteins combine, correctly and incorrectly, to see how this affects the human body. Incorrectly folded proteins have been linked to many diseases, such as Alzheimer's, Parkinson's, and multiple forms of Cancer. (Information gleaned from linked sites, image from folding@home.)

Hard drives expand to the limits of magnetic discs

Hard drives have come a long way since we reviewed IBM's first hard drive. today you can find hard drives that store 2 Terabytes of data, that's over 2 million times the amount of data the first dive could hold. With the amount of storage mediums growing it does look like we are seeing the end of magnetic disc in the near future. more information on the new Western Digital 2TB can be found here:

Is Eight Enough?

Intel has recently launched a reiteration of the Hyper Threading design, which was originally available on the Pentium 4 processor family and offered an early taste of multithreaded applications, and showed up as a dual core processor in the Windows operating system.
This current version of Hyper Threading is an integral part of the design of the Core i7 processor family. Every Core i7 processor is a quadruple core chip, with Hyper Threading active on all four cores, giving a total of 8 possible processing threads at one time. With speeds ranging from 2.53 GHz to 3.20 GHz, and 8 MB cache on die, the Core i7 heralds a new era for Intel's desktop and mobile processor families.
Some other innovations that are part of the i7's design include on chip memory control, a new 45 nm manufacturing process which produces less waste, with more chips per assembly line, and TurboBoost, an technology that enables greater efficiency from such a powerful chip. TurboBoost is used by the processor to "overclock" itself to get more work done at any time.
The Core i7 has been available since fall 2009, with new versions having been released in spring 2010. (Information and Image from Intel.com)

Professional Quality Printing in your Home

Arriving in 1988, Hewlett Packard will be the first company to bring professional print quality into the home of the common computer user. Introducing the "Deskjet", an ink based non impact printer. The Deskjet will be able to print in black and white, at a rate of two pages per minute, on plain 8 1/2" by 11" paper. Other features of this printer are a user replaceable cartridge that boasts a resoluton of 600 by 300 dots per inch, as well as a small enough footprint that the printer will actually fit on the user's desktop workspace, without dominating it. The Deskjet is scheduled to be released in Summer, at an MSRP of $1000.00. (Photo and Information from HP)

Lost on the internet?

The internet can be a confusing mish mash of information, especially if you don't know where to find what you are looking for. Well, with services like Prodigy, that is a thing of the past. With Interest groups.



AOL also includes interest groups and much more. They both will offer you soup to nuts, everything you could possibly need or want from an internet service provider.



With blazing fast speeds using the latest modems of 28.8kbps transfer rates, its fast and easy. 'Even a cave man could do it!'

When one floppy just isn't enough:

Have you ever ran out of storage on your floppy diskett? Have you ever tried to install Windows 3.1.1 from its 35 floppy diskettes? Well 3M has developed a product that allows you to store 120 floppies of data on one diskette. 3M calles it the LS-120.

The LS-120 is unique because its the size of the drive and the diskette is the same as a standard floppy, and stores 120 mb of data on a single diskette. Thats approximately 120 standard floppy diskettes. Saving space time and as programs become increasingly larger and larger, a lot more practical.

Fast and convenient, the LS-120 is the way of the future.......

Who Says Vacum tubes weren't fun?

The first computer was rooms full of vacum tubes and other large electronic gizmos. Manned by men and women wearing engineering smocks, pocket protectors and wide rimmed black glassess. Ok I exaggerate a little, there was one cool guy, and that man was A.S. Douglas. He wrote his PhD on Human-Computer interraction. He created tic-tac-toe that used cathode ray tubes for a display, and it was programmed on the EDSAC.

To think only a short time ago, 48 years ago, the computer game market was started. Because not to long after Douglas created the idea of tic-tac-toe someone created the first true video game. Sure it used an oscilloscope and not the beautiful LCD flat panels of today. And we owe it to William Higinbotham for "Tennis for Two" as it was called.

Computer games have evolved quite a bit since then, but didn't make the jump to a TV screen until Ralph Baer created "Chase" and was originally conceived while working for a television company, called Loral. Computer games on TV gave us the likes of Atari Computers, which in 1975 brought pong into the home. The precurser to such classics as 'Asteroids' and 'Lunar Lander' which turned out to be the first games to be copyrighted.

With computers getting cheaper and faster, and more portable, this gave computer game designers of the future to design games that are beyond anyone's imagination. Who knows what is next, holographic video games on a holodeck, Aka 'Star Trek'.

The fast, the friendly, the floppy disk

Need to transfer data from one computer to another? With the Floppy disk you will be able to take it anywhere you need to. The slim 3.5 inch disk can carry up to 1.44 megabytes, more then enough for several documents or even a couple of pictures. New programs can be installed by floppy disks allowing you to get more life out of your computer try one today.

Your data is here to stay

Need a place to store all your data? We found the product for you. The new IBM 305 disk storage unit. With this "Hard Drive" you will be able to store up to 5 million characters. That is over 4.4 Megabytes of data. enough storage to last you business for years. Drives can be leased from IBM for $3,200 a month.

Revolutionizing the world of Calculators

The Busicom 141 PF is expected to herald a new era in electronics. Scheduled to be released in 1971, the 141 PF will be the first device to utilize a custom programmable microprocessor. The microprocessor in question is the Intel 4004, and is intended to be able to be used in a wide variety of applications.
The 141 PF is a typical electronic printing calculator, but what matters is on the inside. Originally, the calculator was commissioned to use around a dozen different computer chips and integrated circuits, but a different design was proposed. This design would center around the 4004, a central processing unit, and would work in concert with three other chips, giving a much better efficiency, as using less parts means less cost. Intel expects to use the 4004 in wide array of products.

The Computer Mouse - What a Waste

The future? I don't think so.

International Business Machine has recently release a brand new computer, the Xerox 8010 Star. With this release a new user peripheral has been introduced. Labeled a computer "mouse," it allows a user to move an icon on the computer screen dynamically and select objects with the two buttons on it.

This is not the way for the future. To use this mouse is a cumbersome exercise. First, one must remove their hands from their keyboard, then they must locate the mouse. From there they need to find the cursor on the screen, drag the mouse to where they need it and click the button. This is a much longer process than just using the arrow keys on the keyboard. Also, over time, the accuracy of the mouse decreases as dirt begins to build up. The keyboard is here to stay, this new mouse is just a failure from IBM's engineering department.

Compact Disc - Read Only Memory

Kiss your floppies goodbye.

Reliable. Permanent. Faster. Your floppies are now outdated. With the recently released CD-ROM drive for the computer, your computers world has just been turned upside down. With storage space of 650 mb per CD, or enough space to hold over 400 floppy disks, an entire encyclopedia can fit on one CD-ROM. No longer do you have to worry about losing your information in a sporadic manner like on a floppy. As long as the CD doesn't get scratched or subjected to extreme temperatures, the information on it will be safe.

The CD-ROM also has another use. It can hold 74 minutes of crystal clear audio. This audio can include music, instructions, or speeches. The best part of this is the ability to skip through different audio tracks seamlessly. Never again will you have to worry about getting the tape jammed in player, there are no parts on a CD-ROM that can get wound up in the players gears. This will definitely become the future of storage.

Windows 95 Commercial

Microsoft has been heavily advertising their newest operation system, Microsoft Windows 95. Due to be released August 25th, 1995, Windows 95 will usher in a new era of Microsoft's Operating Systems. Microsoft will use the launch of Windows 95 to combine their currently separate MS-DOS product and Windows product. It will also usher in a new area of user experience with a brand new Graphic User Interface that will set it apart from all other Operating Systems. Expect a full review of this new OS in the coming weeks.

Pentium II - Your Future Is Now

Magnetic Drums: rolling data to a new age

Tired of having your computer forget everything you just told it and having to reload old data. With the new magnetic drum data can be temporarily stored and accessed. While data is being processed it can be stored on the drum so it can be read back into the computer. This makes it perfect for calculations that have variables that are created from different parts of the equation. More information can be found here:

Thousands of feet of data right at your fingertips

With years of using dozens of old punch cards to store settings and data? Well with magnetic tape you can store hundreds if not thousands of punch cards on a single reel of tape. First commercial tape readers have only 128 bits of data, compared to the 90 bits of data per card. Our engineers predict that with the application of Mylar to replace the current steel tape will result in increase from 128 bits per inch to over 6000 bits per inch. For more information check out here:

Lisa, My New Girlfriend

The Apple Lisa with all her trimmings (photo courtesy of: wikipedia.org)

After five years of development, Apple's hard work has finally come to fruition. On January 19th, 1983, Apple has released the Apple Lisa. This is a computer the future will be based on. Apple has accomplished a revolutionary leap in user-computer interaction with it's Graphic User Interface (GUI). This is a first in personal computers. A GUI allows computer users to interact with the machine using images and graphical icons as opposed to text only commands. Though not a first, it is the first time a mass produced, personal machine includes this functionality. Prices start at $9,995.00, as much as a new car.

The Revolution Will Not Be Televised

Nintendo is working on the future of gaming and that future is fast approaching. Code named  "The Virtual Utopia Experience," Nintendo's latest game platform is a cross between futuristic virtual reality and the latest advances in computer hardware. Recently, Nintendo officially announced a name for this black-ops project, Virtual Boy.

Virtual Boy will be the first system to natively display true 3-D images directly out of the box. This system uses a dual LED display system that gives the user the perception of a 3rd dimension.  To implement this technology, only the color red could be used. Nintendo assured us at Culosaurus Erectus that future upgrades will allow the Virtual Boy to render multiple colors.

The controller that comes with Virtual Boy will also be revolutionary. This is the first mainstream game controller that will use two directional pads to move in game characters along the X- and Y- axes simultaneous.

The Nintendo Virtual Boy has an anticipated release date of August 14th, 1994 with a price tag of approximately $200.

Bring Personal Computing Home....

Introducing a revolutionary product that will change the way your home functions, the Tandy 1000. Available from your local Radio Shack store, the Tandy 1000 will bring the future to your family today. Building on the stepping stones of the TRS-80 and the IBM PCjr, the Tandy 1000 brings personal computing to the common man, and woman.
Utilizing an Intel Corp. 8088 central processing unit, at a blazing fast 4.77 megahertz, to perform all of your daily tasks, and storing your information on robust 5 1/4" floppy diskettes, your household will never be the same again. Enter the digital age, bring home a Tandy 1000 TODAY!!


(specifications culled from here, old-computers.com)

Store your Programs on brand new punch cards

With today's assembly programs having to be re-keyed each time programmers need to debug any errors, punch cards are they wave of the future. Each card can store 80 characters of code per card. With the installation of a punch card reader. coders can store parts of computer code that work correctly and don't need to be edited. And if you need to redo a part of a program that is on a punch card, just trash the card with the defective code and rewrite the new code. A punch cards come in convient boxes of 2000 for just $42.09. More information can be found here.

Cheaper, Faster Storage...Coming Soon!

Intel corporation, in partnership with Micron Technology have begun paving the way towards a better, cheaper, and more stable storage solution. On February 1, the partners announced production utilizing 25 nm process, meaning smaller and smaller memory chips, and a much greater efficiency during production. For example, detailed in this rss feed, a chip manufactured using 25 nm tech is smaller than the hole in the center of a cd, but is able to store 8 gigabytes. That chip is a simplified example of what could be achieved with this new technology.
Although the previously mentioned feed is from 02/01/2010, this news post from engadget gives further details as to how this will affect storage drives, specifically notebook, and smaller, solid state devices.
(image seen in engadget article)

Cultosaurus Erectus Bloggers!

Cultosaurus Erectus Bloggers!

Need a gmail e-mail address for all those who didn't give one up. So far it's me (Sam) and Craig who are signed up.

First!!

Welcome to the Cultosaurus Erectus Blog!

Testing the waters here. Don't know who's in our group now, apparently we lost a crew member. We still need to pick a common "theme" for all our posts.

So far we have auto technology which could be cool.

Lets vote!