Since I “work with computers” I tend to get asked to do fair amount of unofficial technical support for family and neighbours. I’ve noticed that the same confusions about IT crop up again and again. Here’s my top ten.
(Note that due to my background this is going to be Windows-centric. Please don’t take this to mean that I think Windows PCs are unfriendly – it’s just I don’t know enough about other systems to be able to comment. I also don’t want to come across as elitist – if non-IT people don’t understand something, that’s not because they’re dumb – it’s because we haven’t made computer systems obvious enough.) Read more of this article »
Firefox. Internet Explorer. Chrome. Safari. Opera. We’ve pretty much all heard of them by now. They’ve been fighting for market share for the past few years (Internet Explorer has been fighting for it for a lot longer than that), and it’s unlikely any of them will ever come out the absolute winner. They try to be all things to all people. And that’s great.
Except…
What if you’re looking for a browser that does just the things you want to do online? What if you’re sick of all the browser-war hubub and want something that’s truly unique and different (and, maybe, works better than the mainstream options)? What then? Read more of this article »
Recently a build of Google’s Chrome OS was released for testing. Though it’s not ready for prime time, you might want to test it out in a virtual machine. Today we take a look at how to setup and run it in VirtualBox.
Note: In this example we are using VirtualBox 3.0.12 running on a 32-bit version of Windows 7 Ultimate.
Imagine a world where the PC you buy today, will last 10 or 15 years.
And… It will NEVER need upgrading. Or even fixing.
Ridiculous?
Here’s how it works:
Your computer would be connected via the internet to a computer cluster.
(This “computer cluster” is just a data center full of servers)
And… Instead of doing any processing work, your computer would instead just act as a midway point between you and the cluster.
All fetching, filing and retrieving (all the hard work a computer does)… Would instead be done by a super-fast computer cluster.
Computing resources would then be a metered service, similar to public utilities like electricity, water or the telephone.
What would this mean?
Your computer would never need to be upgraded. As all the processing work your computer does, would be done by the computing cluster.
What’s more… There would be far less technical problems, as any problems can be fixed by expert on-site technicians at the computer cluster.
The result is a cheaper and much faster home PC.
You may think this sounds like a dream.
But…
The technology I’ve described above is already fully functional, and the company is already bringing in substantial revenue from Japanese companies.
Now you know what “cloud computing ” is google up to find more …
From its birth in the labs of Tim Berners-Lee back in 1992, to its interaction with the Napster in 1999, and its 2004 induction of Wikipedia: the Internet as we know it, has evolved drastically, been around the world literally, and changed the way humans live permanently.
Nothing can replace it, nothing is like it, and it has no alternative. The internet is like a diamond mine for the people who wish to acquire wealth, a profound lake of information for those who have an insatiable appetite for knowledge, and an eternal form of entertainment for those wish to amuse themselves.
With the passage of time, people from amongst us have emerged with the craziest of ideas to test and enhance the potential of this God’s gift to mankind. And it is due to the efforts of these noble souls, that we have the entire world at the simple tap of our fingers.
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