AC and DC Current
Alternating Current (Click for larger image)
Nov 11, 2011
AC and DC current are two different types of electric current that are used in electronics. AC stands for Alternating Current and DC stands for Direct Current. The difference is that AC has an alternating current, as pictured to the left. Direct current is, appropriately enough, direct as pictured on lower right. These two currents are used for different things. These are these only two ways for electrons to carry across wires. They are both used for specific purposes.
AC current is used for transferring the electricity from the power plant to your home. This is because the AC current can travel farther than the DC current. DC current is used in batteries and other electronics storing devices. The DC current does travel faster, but cannot travel as far. The AC current is what you find coming in through your outlets at home. Many electronics that are plug in have AC to DC convertors, because lots of things require DC current. Computers and electronics with computer chips that perform computer-like functions, which includes everything from advanced computers to digital watches. There are still several things that use AC current, but more electronics require DC. They both have their uses as ways of transporting electricity to you, and your devices.
AC and DC current are two different types of electric current that are used in electronics. AC stands for Alternating Current and DC stands for Direct Current. The difference is that AC has an alternating current, as pictured to the left. Direct current is, appropriately enough, direct as pictured on lower right. These two currents are used for different things. These are these only two ways for electrons to carry across wires. They are both used for specific purposes.
AC current is used for transferring the electricity from the power plant to your home. This is because the AC current can travel farther than the DC current. DC current is used in batteries and other electronics storing devices. The DC current does travel faster, but cannot travel as far. The AC current is what you find coming in through your outlets at home. Many electronics that are plug in have AC to DC convertors, because lots of things require DC current. Computers and electronics with computer chips that perform computer-like functions, which includes everything from advanced computers to digital watches. There are still several things that use AC current, but more electronics require DC. They both have their uses as ways of transporting electricity to you, and your devices.
Rechargeable Battery
Nov 21, 2011
The battery is an electrical component that provides the user to store power. Depending on how portable the battery is, it can be transported easily. Before you can continue to learn about rechargeable batteries, however, you must first discover how electricity works. Electricity happens when electrons can flow on a circuit from the negative side of the battery, to an electrical device, then back to the positive side of the battery. This continues until the battery runs out of charge, so to speak. When the battery runs out of charge, what actually happens is the chemicals in the battery cannot force the electrons across the wire and through the circuit anymore. This means that the electrons do not wear out, as you may have originally thought. When the battery is low on charge, it just means the chemicals can no longer support the movement of the electrons throughout the circuit. The most common chemical in rechargeable batteries today is lithium. The recharge process is when you plug the battery in to a battery recharger, and the battery sends the electrons in the positive end to the negative end, and the battery is recharged after 15 minutes to an hour, depending on the charger. Rechargeable batteries are used in all sorts of devices, from cell phones to cars. You can even replace regular batteries with rechargeable batteries, as pictured. Rechargeable batteries are a useful and green way of transporting power.
The battery is an electrical component that provides the user to store power. Depending on how portable the battery is, it can be transported easily. Before you can continue to learn about rechargeable batteries, however, you must first discover how electricity works. Electricity happens when electrons can flow on a circuit from the negative side of the battery, to an electrical device, then back to the positive side of the battery. This continues until the battery runs out of charge, so to speak. When the battery runs out of charge, what actually happens is the chemicals in the battery cannot force the electrons across the wire and through the circuit anymore. This means that the electrons do not wear out, as you may have originally thought. When the battery is low on charge, it just means the chemicals can no longer support the movement of the electrons throughout the circuit. The most common chemical in rechargeable batteries today is lithium. The recharge process is when you plug the battery in to a battery recharger, and the battery sends the electrons in the positive end to the negative end, and the battery is recharged after 15 minutes to an hour, depending on the charger. Rechargeable batteries are used in all sorts of devices, from cell phones to cars. You can even replace regular batteries with rechargeable batteries, as pictured. Rechargeable batteries are a useful and green way of transporting power.
How Zip Files Work
Nov 7, 2011
When you download a folder off of the Internet, it is generallly in a .zip file format. This does not mean that it is zipped up, like a jacket, but that the files inside themselves are changed around to take up less disk space. This is usually done on the Internet to take up less room on the servers, and save download time. Before continuing to read this article, I would recommend reading my How Files are Stored article, because I will reference several of the topics that I covered in that article. At any rate, if you have read the article, then you know that all files are stored using lots and lots of ones and zeros.
When you 'zip' up a file, so to speak, the program looks at all of the ones and zeros and finds all of the patterns and then takes those pattern spots and takes out the pattern, leaving instructions for when you 'unzip' the file to place the pattern back in that spot. This comes in very useful, especially because lots and lots of programs and files have very repetitive items in it. It may seem to be a pain to go through and unzip all of those folders downloaded, but it saves lots of time and space for you and the web server.
When you download a folder off of the Internet, it is generallly in a .zip file format. This does not mean that it is zipped up, like a jacket, but that the files inside themselves are changed around to take up less disk space. This is usually done on the Internet to take up less room on the servers, and save download time. Before continuing to read this article, I would recommend reading my How Files are Stored article, because I will reference several of the topics that I covered in that article. At any rate, if you have read the article, then you know that all files are stored using lots and lots of ones and zeros.
When you 'zip' up a file, so to speak, the program looks at all of the ones and zeros and finds all of the patterns and then takes those pattern spots and takes out the pattern, leaving instructions for when you 'unzip' the file to place the pattern back in that spot. This comes in very useful, especially because lots and lots of programs and files have very repetitive items in it. It may seem to be a pain to go through and unzip all of those folders downloaded, but it saves lots of time and space for you and the web server.
How a Computer Stores your Information
Ones and Zeros
Nov 6, 2011
When you save any file you are working on, you are storing the file on either a hard drive or a flash memory stick, or some other form of digital storage. When you store a Word document, the letters do not get just ‘written’ on the hard drive. They are stored as lots and lots of ones and zeros. These ones and zeros are used to represent letters, spaces, numbers and any other file stored on a computer. However, when you save the file, even if it is one letter, it will not look like 0110100. It would like more like 10010100111110111000101010101, except much, much longer. These ones and zeros are put in a special combination and order that can be uninterpreted only by the program that it was saved with or other programs designed to interpret the ones and zeros.
When you open the file that was saved, all of the ones and zeros are interpreted back to the format that you would recognize and then you can continue working or do whatever task you would perform with the file. When you would try to open the file with a program that is not designed to open the kind of file, the program would not understand the combination of ones and zeros, and it would either fail and entirely not open the program, or it would open the file but put complete gibberish on the screen.
All types of files are saved to this style of ones and zeros with computers. The whole system is based entirely on ones and zeros. From the most advanced desktop computer right down to a simple digital watch, everything that uses electronics that has some form of a program or programming uses ones and zeros to complete its tasks.
When you save any file you are working on, you are storing the file on either a hard drive or a flash memory stick, or some other form of digital storage. When you store a Word document, the letters do not get just ‘written’ on the hard drive. They are stored as lots and lots of ones and zeros. These ones and zeros are used to represent letters, spaces, numbers and any other file stored on a computer. However, when you save the file, even if it is one letter, it will not look like 0110100. It would like more like 10010100111110111000101010101, except much, much longer. These ones and zeros are put in a special combination and order that can be uninterpreted only by the program that it was saved with or other programs designed to interpret the ones and zeros.
When you open the file that was saved, all of the ones and zeros are interpreted back to the format that you would recognize and then you can continue working or do whatever task you would perform with the file. When you would try to open the file with a program that is not designed to open the kind of file, the program would not understand the combination of ones and zeros, and it would either fail and entirely not open the program, or it would open the file but put complete gibberish on the screen.
All types of files are saved to this style of ones and zeros with computers. The whole system is based entirely on ones and zeros. From the most advanced desktop computer right down to a simple digital watch, everything that uses electronics that has some form of a program or programming uses ones and zeros to complete its tasks.
GPS Technology
Nov 1, 2011
Many of you probably have or regularly use a GPS (Global Postitioning System). These tools are very useful for navigating your way around a town, on a long trip or just finding a good local movie. There are a ton of people who use this technology every day, and the way it works is really cool. First off, you have the device itself. This little gadget is often portable, mountable and probably has a built-in battery. The package also comes with a charger, and most likely a car charger as well. Depending on your GPS, it either uses a touchscreen or buttons. Most modern GPS products use a touchscreen. In the GPS it has maps all over the world stored inside of its memory. These maps consist of several different levels. A very basic GPS will only support street mode, and not let you zoom out. The others support zoom out and provide different images. You can update the images by visiting the manufacturer's website or the website address that is given by the producer. But probably the feature that makes this gadget unique is its ability to locate the device seemingly wherever it is. This is because of all the satellites rotating earth. There are a whole lot of satellites rotating earth twenty four seven. These satellites are constantly transmitting information back down on earth. This information is telling your GPS where the satellite is, and the time it transmits the information. Then the GPS guesses approximately how far away the satellite is. Because the information the satellites are sending out is traveling at a very high speed, this happens very, very rapidly. Once the GPS is able to receive signal from four different satellites in different locations orbiting the earth, it will be able to give you your location. When it gets your location, it is in an exact location using longitude and latitude. These lines are imaginary lines running all over the earth that are used for location, like GPS. The information, however is going to have a very lengthy decimal point on each. This information is then put on the map, and wala. Your location is right there. This then can help you navigate around by putting in a destination, the GPS finds the destination on its built-in map, finds you, and creates the fastest route that it can to lead to the programmed destination. GPS is a very interesting and useful technology.
Many of you probably have or regularly use a GPS (Global Postitioning System). These tools are very useful for navigating your way around a town, on a long trip or just finding a good local movie. There are a ton of people who use this technology every day, and the way it works is really cool. First off, you have the device itself. This little gadget is often portable, mountable and probably has a built-in battery. The package also comes with a charger, and most likely a car charger as well. Depending on your GPS, it either uses a touchscreen or buttons. Most modern GPS products use a touchscreen. In the GPS it has maps all over the world stored inside of its memory. These maps consist of several different levels. A very basic GPS will only support street mode, and not let you zoom out. The others support zoom out and provide different images. You can update the images by visiting the manufacturer's website or the website address that is given by the producer. But probably the feature that makes this gadget unique is its ability to locate the device seemingly wherever it is. This is because of all the satellites rotating earth. There are a whole lot of satellites rotating earth twenty four seven. These satellites are constantly transmitting information back down on earth. This information is telling your GPS where the satellite is, and the time it transmits the information. Then the GPS guesses approximately how far away the satellite is. Because the information the satellites are sending out is traveling at a very high speed, this happens very, very rapidly. Once the GPS is able to receive signal from four different satellites in different locations orbiting the earth, it will be able to give you your location. When it gets your location, it is in an exact location using longitude and latitude. These lines are imaginary lines running all over the earth that are used for location, like GPS. The information, however is going to have a very lengthy decimal point on each. This information is then put on the map, and wala. Your location is right there. This then can help you navigate around by putting in a destination, the GPS finds the destination on its built-in map, finds you, and creates the fastest route that it can to lead to the programmed destination. GPS is a very interesting and useful technology.
Going Tablet
Oct 30, 2011
As you have probably noticed in the technology world that everything seems to be slowly moving more and more toward tablet computer format and cell phones. We are slowly drifting away from the laptop format and becoming more mobile. The reason behind this is that Tablets are steadily becoming easier and more efficent to use. They are faster and can boot up in less than thirty seconds, and often a better user interface. A while ago, before the tablet, people were thinking that the desktop computer would be gone completely and the laptop would rule. In fact, the Desktop computer may be coming back. Think about it, if a Tablet can do all of your work, like emailing, video calling, note-taking, and a whole lot of other things that don't require too much processing power. Why use a laptop when you can use a tablet computer that boots faster, is more portable, easier interface and can do everything just as well? That is why the tablet is replacing the laptop. However, you still need more power for some high-process games, programming and other tasks with more requirements. This is where the desktop comes back.
It can offer much more than a laptop powerwise, storage and speed. The desktop could be sitting at home and have one provided at work, then you have everything and more you need on your desktop, and almost everything on your tablet, then that leaves no room or requirement for the laptop. Of course, some jobs will still require laptops, however the tablet is definitley the good choice currently for your average current job.
Some tablets are definitley going to be a better choice than others. If you want a powerful tablet that has almost all the capabilities of a laptop, I would choose the Windows tablet. This provides practically all of the abilities of a windows laptop, and in a more portable way. If you want a cheaper, low power tablet that can do notes, video calling, word processing, emailing, fast web browsing, and a little more with apps, it is between the Apple iPad and the Google Android. This is where it can get tricky. If you are going for a cheap deal, go with the Android. The deal with that is Android is an operating system, not a tablet computer. It is a operating system designed for phones and tablets. You can get tablets ranging from $1,000 to $100. The more expensive the tablet, the better it is. There are a ton of companies producing tablets for Android, and the trick is to pick the right one. The Apple iPad is probably the safest offer, because it is always garaunteed to work. However, it is more of a media device than a buisness tool. The tablet is more often than not used for entertainment purposes over business. The apps determine a lot of this.
The Apple App Store has many business tools, however a whole lot of games and entertainment. It is true that the buisness tools are very effective and useful, however Android has a whole lot more apps available, with the numerous app stores available providing people with Android with more business and media applications than Apple. Android therefore has more business tools and capabilities then the iPad.
The tablet seems to be slowly eliminating laptops, and bringing back the desktop computer. It all depends on what the companies decide to do with laptops, tablets and desktop computers.
As you have probably noticed in the technology world that everything seems to be slowly moving more and more toward tablet computer format and cell phones. We are slowly drifting away from the laptop format and becoming more mobile. The reason behind this is that Tablets are steadily becoming easier and more efficent to use. They are faster and can boot up in less than thirty seconds, and often a better user interface. A while ago, before the tablet, people were thinking that the desktop computer would be gone completely and the laptop would rule. In fact, the Desktop computer may be coming back. Think about it, if a Tablet can do all of your work, like emailing, video calling, note-taking, and a whole lot of other things that don't require too much processing power. Why use a laptop when you can use a tablet computer that boots faster, is more portable, easier interface and can do everything just as well? That is why the tablet is replacing the laptop. However, you still need more power for some high-process games, programming and other tasks with more requirements. This is where the desktop comes back.
It can offer much more than a laptop powerwise, storage and speed. The desktop could be sitting at home and have one provided at work, then you have everything and more you need on your desktop, and almost everything on your tablet, then that leaves no room or requirement for the laptop. Of course, some jobs will still require laptops, however the tablet is definitley the good choice currently for your average current job.
Some tablets are definitley going to be a better choice than others. If you want a powerful tablet that has almost all the capabilities of a laptop, I would choose the Windows tablet. This provides practically all of the abilities of a windows laptop, and in a more portable way. If you want a cheaper, low power tablet that can do notes, video calling, word processing, emailing, fast web browsing, and a little more with apps, it is between the Apple iPad and the Google Android. This is where it can get tricky. If you are going for a cheap deal, go with the Android. The deal with that is Android is an operating system, not a tablet computer. It is a operating system designed for phones and tablets. You can get tablets ranging from $1,000 to $100. The more expensive the tablet, the better it is. There are a ton of companies producing tablets for Android, and the trick is to pick the right one. The Apple iPad is probably the safest offer, because it is always garaunteed to work. However, it is more of a media device than a buisness tool. The tablet is more often than not used for entertainment purposes over business. The apps determine a lot of this.
The Apple App Store has many business tools, however a whole lot of games and entertainment. It is true that the buisness tools are very effective and useful, however Android has a whole lot more apps available, with the numerous app stores available providing people with Android with more business and media applications than Apple. Android therefore has more business tools and capabilities then the iPad.
The tablet seems to be slowly eliminating laptops, and bringing back the desktop computer. It all depends on what the companies decide to do with laptops, tablets and desktop computers.
iOS 5.0
Oct 29, 2011
I have recently installed iOS 5 on my iPod Touch and so far am very impressed with all of the new features. The first noticeable change I noticed was the two new applications, Reminder, Messages and Newsstand. Reminder is an application that is, true to its name, a reminder application. It is a notebook style little text format that you can create little text notes for yourself, and then check them off when you are complete. The Messages application is like Apple's Facetime. It is an iOS 5 only application that allows you to message others with iOS 5 and an Apple I.D. with the email associated with their Apple I.D., however you can add a different email. The Newsstand application is a special application in which you can download certain magazines in their digital format. Most of them you have to pay for the subscription for digital, however the New York Times allows you to view the top stories for free. This I find to be a little frustrating because I find it very difficult to read off of such a small screen on the iPod Touches and iPhones. The iPad seems like a much better format for this. This is just my opinion, and not true for everyone. They also integrated iCloud, Twitter and several other minor things. So far, I really like it and think of it as pretty cool. Apple has done a very nice job on iOS 5.
I have recently installed iOS 5 on my iPod Touch and so far am very impressed with all of the new features. The first noticeable change I noticed was the two new applications, Reminder, Messages and Newsstand. Reminder is an application that is, true to its name, a reminder application. It is a notebook style little text format that you can create little text notes for yourself, and then check them off when you are complete. The Messages application is like Apple's Facetime. It is an iOS 5 only application that allows you to message others with iOS 5 and an Apple I.D. with the email associated with their Apple I.D., however you can add a different email. The Newsstand application is a special application in which you can download certain magazines in their digital format. Most of them you have to pay for the subscription for digital, however the New York Times allows you to view the top stories for free. This I find to be a little frustrating because I find it very difficult to read off of such a small screen on the iPod Touches and iPhones. The iPad seems like a much better format for this. This is just my opinion, and not true for everyone. They also integrated iCloud, Twitter and several other minor things. So far, I really like it and think of it as pretty cool. Apple has done a very nice job on iOS 5.