Apr 15 2009
JVC Japan have announced its new lineup of monitor – GD-463D10. It is a 46-inch LCD HDTV with a native 1,920 x 1080 resolution, a 2,000:1 contrast ratio, dual 10 watt speakers, support for 3D material and weighs 26.7 kg.
While the monitor supports 3D display, the content that is around the market is pretty much limited.
Feb 24 2009
Dell say good things come in threes. Following the Viewsonic VX2260WM and Iiyama ProLite E2208HDS, we therefore have high hopes for Dell’s S2209W, our third look at a 22-inch monitor with full 1080p HD capability.
Actually, our expectations are based on more than just arbitrary numerology. Dell may have lost the title of the world’s number one maker of PCs to its ancient enemy HP. But it still offers one of the biggest and best range of monitors on the market.In part that reflects Dell’s sheer purchasing power. It not only allows it to snaffle up some of the best LCD panels on the cheap, but also build them into relatively swanky enclosures while keeping prices down.
Consequently, Dell has apparently become the monitor vendor of choice when solid but stylish screens are needed in bulk. Whether it’s Heathrow Terminal 5 or Intel’s funky research facilities in Seattle, wherever we go of late we seem to be surrounded by a sea of Dell flat panels. 
Having said that, the S2209W is more of a budget monitor for home users than a corporate workhorse. For starters, its 16:9 aspect ratio and 1,920 x 1,080 pixel resolution marks it out as a member of the new generation of full HD monitors pitched as perfect for video, games and general multimedia malarkey. It also sports an LCD panel based on twisted nematic (TN) technology, making it an unambiguously budget-orientated device.
Anyway, the low to middling end of 22-inch sector probably represents the best big screen bang for your buck currently available and this new Dell is likely to be a major player within it.
Feb 03 2009
We all use personal computers and we all take them for granted in our everyday lives. It’s easy to forget that PCs have only been around for a couple of decades, and initially were nowhere near the powerhouses we have on our desks today.
For example, did you know that the first “portable” computer weighed 25 kg (55 lb) and cost close to $20,000, that the first laser printer was big enough to fill up most of a room, or that you basically had to build the first Apple computer yourself? This article takes a look at the time when the computer equipment we now take for granted was invented and what it looked like back then.
The first computer mouse
The first computer mouse was invented in 1963 by Douglas Engelbart at the Stanford Research Institute. (He is also one of the inventors of hypertext.) The first mouse used two wheels positioned at a 90-degree angle to each other to keep track of the movement (see picture below). The ball mouse wasn’t invented until 1972, and the optical mouse was invented circa 1980 although it didn’t come to popular use until much later.Douglas Engelbart never received any royalties for his invention and his patent had run out by the time the mouse became commonplace in the era of home PCs.
Above: The first mouse. To the right you can see the wheels it used for movement and positioning.
The first trackball
The trackball was actually invented 11 years BEFORE the mouse, in 1952. It was invented by Tom Cranston and Fred Longstaff as part of a computerized battlefield information system called DATAR, initiated by the Canadian Navy. It used a standard five-pin bowling ball as its trackball, which is smaller than the more common 10-pin bowling ball.
Above: The first trackball, bowling ball and all.
The first portable computer
Well, perhaps that should be “movable” computer… The IBM 5100 Portable Computer was introduced in 1975, weighed 25 kg (55 lb), was the size of a small suitcase and needed external power to operate. It held everything in the same unit, packing in a processor, ROM (several hundreds of KB) and RAM (16-64 KB), a five-inch CRT display, keyboard and a tape drive, which was an amazing feat at the time. It also came with built-in BASIC and/or APL. The different models of the IBM 5100 sold for $8,975 – $19,975.
Above: The IBM 5100 Portable Computer.
The first laptop computer
The first laptop computer (or notebook) was the Grid Compass 1100 (called the GRiD) and was designed in 1979 by a British industrial designer, Bill Moggridge. The computer didn’t start selling until 1982, then featuring a 320×200 screen, an Intel 8086 processor, 340 KB of magnetic bubble memory (a now obsolete, non-volatile memory type) and a 1200 bps modem. It weighed 5 kg (11 lb) and cost $8-10,000. The GRiD was mainly used by NASA and the US military.
Above left: Closeup of the Grid Compass 1100. Above right: NASA astronaut posing with the GRiD in space (that’s Spock on the screen.)
The first IBM PC
The IBM Personal Computer was introduced in 1981 as the IBM 5150. The platform became so pervasive in the 80s that although the term “personal computer” had been in use since the early 70s, a PC became synonymous with an IBM PC-compatible computer.
During its development, the IBM 5150 had been internally referred to as “Project Chess” and was created by a team of 12 people headed by Don Estridge and Larry Potter. To speed up development and cut costs, IBM had decided to use off-the-shelf parts, something that they normally wouldn’t do.
The first IBM PC had an Intel 8088 processor, 64 KB of RAM (extendible to 256 KB), a floppy disk drive (which could be used to boot the computer with a rebranded version of MS-DOS (PC-DOS)) and a CGA or monochrome video card. The machine also had a version of Microsoft BASIC in ROM. On the first IBM PC the optional 10 MB hard disk drive could only be installed if the original power supply was replaced (the original one was too weak).
Above: The first IBM Personal Computer, the IBM 5150.
The first Apple computer
The first Apple personal computers (Apple I) were designed and hand-built by Steve Wozniak. The Apple I went on sale in 1976 for the price of $666.66. Only about 200 units were produced. The Apple I was basically just a motherboard with a processor, a total of 8KB of RAM, a display interface and some additional functionality. To have a working computer, the buyer would have to add a power supply, a keyboard and a display (and a case to keep mount it all in).
Above left: An Apple I computer. Above right: This was the Apple I, essentially a motherboard.<
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The first RAM
Arguably the first (writable) random access memory was Magnetic Core Memory (also called Ferrite-Core Memory) and was invented in 1951 as a result of work done by An Wang at Harvard University’s Computation Lab and Jay Forrester at MIT.
Core memory was a family of related technologies that used the magnetic properties of materials to give them a similar functionality to transistors. They stored their information using the polarity of tiny, magnetic ceramic rings with wires threaded through them. Unlike today’s RAM, core memory could keep its information even after the power was turned off.
Core memory was common until it was replaced by integrated silicon RAM chips in the 1970s. The “core” in core memory is why a memory dump is called a “core dump” even today.
Above left: Closeup of core memory. Above right: The core memory plane in the picture is 16×16 cm (6.3×6.3 inches), holding 128×128 bits (2048 byte).
The first hard disk drive
The IBM Model 350 Disk File was the first hard disk drive and was part of the IBM 305 RAMAC computer that IBM started delivering in 1956 (mainly intended for business accounting). It had 50 24-inch discs that together could store about 4.4 MB of data. The Model 350 spun at 1200 rpm, had a data transfer rate of 8,800 characters per second and an access time of approximately one second.
Above: The first hard disk drive, IBM Model 350.
The first laser printer
The laser printer was invented by Gary Starkweather at XEROX in 1969. His initial prototype was a modified laser copier where he had disabled the imaging system and introduced a spinning drum with eight mirrored sides. The first commercial implementation of a laser printer didn’t happen until IBM released the IBM model 3800 in 1976. It could pretty much fill up a room on its own.
Above: The IBM 3800, the first commercial laser printer.
The first web server
And since the Web is such an integral part of today’s computer experience, we couldn’t help but include another first: The first web server was a NeXT workstation that Tim Berners-Lee used when he invented the World Wide Web at CERN. The first web page was put online on August 6, 1991.
The computer had a note on it that said, “This machine is a server. DO NOT POWER IT DOWN!!” Understandable, considering that if you had shut it down in the early days you would have shut down the entire WWW.
Above: The web server that powered the first web pages on the WWW. Note the sticker with the warning to not turn it off.It’s amazing how much has happened in the PC industry in just a few decades. Just imagine what things will be like 30-40 years from now…
Dec 25 2008
There are many times when I would like to share pictures, video, or games from my laptop or PC with my friends and family. The problem is that its quite hard to get everyone around a small computer screen let alone keep them interested for very long. Wouldn’t it be much better if you could connect your computer to your TV so everyone could view your media with ease and comfort?
It is indeed a much better solution and can be a lot of fun for everyone. So I will explain everything you need to do in order to connect your laptop or PC to your television.
There are a variety of different ways you can connect your computer to your TV. All will involve the use of different types of cables. Which cable you use will depend on a couple of different factors:
The following is a list of the different types of cables/connections you will have to choose from with picture quality ranging from highest to lowest:
1. “High Definition Multimedia Interface” or HDMI is the highest quality connection now. All HDTVs will have this connection though chances are your laptop or computer will not. If you do happen to have an HDMI connection on your computer then by all means, use this connection. If you do not have HDMI on your computer you can use an adapter to convert HDMI to DVI.
2. DVI stands for “Digital Video Interface” and has pretty much been the standard for connecting computer monitors since about 2003. Your computer will most likely have this connection. HDTVs should also have this connection. If you wish to use audio with a DVI connection you must use a seperate audio cable. A cable from phones output connected to red and white audio in on your TV will work great!
3. VGA or “Video Graphics Array” connections are the most common video connections found on laptops and PC’s. HDTVs may have a VGA connection which means you simply need to connect the cable between your computer and televsion. However, older televisions will not have a VGA connection and will require a PC to television converter. There are USB converters that allow you to use this method. Just like DVI, VGA does not carry a audio signal. Just use the same method from above for connecting audio from your phones output.
4. S-Video or “Super Video” has been around for quite some time now. Some laptops and computer graphics cards will have a S-Video connection. Most televisions will also have a S-Video connection. This isn’t the best quality connection but its also not the lowest quality. S-video has the same audio limitation as the above two examples. Again, just use your phones output and a phones to RCA cable or adapter.
5. Composite connections, sometimes referred to as RCA connections, are the yellow, red, and white connections that most people will be familiar with. Red is right analog audio, and white is left analog audio. Yellow is composite video. This will be the lowest quality connection to use. If your computer has no RCA connections, you can use an RCA to S-Video cable.
Connecting your laptop or PC to your television is pretty simple. Just check both your computer and television to find out what connections they have in common. If by some chance you have no connections matching up, you can always buy adapters to make your connection types match.
Once you’ve passed the stage of physically connecting your computer to your television you’ll have to select the correct input on your TV. Just like when using your DVD player, select the input that your computer is connected to using your remote. This input might be called something like AV1 or AV2. You should see this on the television screen.
If your picture seems distorted, play around with the pixel settings on your TV or change the resolution. New HDTVs will have a few different resolution settings. Older TVs may only have one resolution setting. In this case, adjust your computer resolution until the picture looks good.
Following the steps above will have you sharing media on your TV in no time. There’s nothing better than a 50″ plasma picture frame in the middle of your living room.
Nov 12 2008
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