Binary - ASCII

Today's lesson was about working binary numbers!..heres a table we madee :

Heres another link to the different types of codes for single characters/digits we were using throughout the lesson:

http://www.asciitable.com/

Databases

Access:
- not a database only a system for managing and creating a database (Database Management System)
- Empty software.
- Working on data

Microsoft Word:
- software to manage a word doc.

Google Voice

What is the system?
-Google Voice is a service that gives you one number for all your phones, voicemail that is easy as email, and many enhanced calling features like call blocking and screening, voicemail transcripts, call conferencing, international calls, and more.
-Can have calls to the google voice no. to any mobile or phone you want it directed to.
-Turns voice into text
-Improvement in Bandwidth allows to operate the voice.

If you want more information, they have their own blog site : )http://googlevoiceblog.blogspot.com/

It has many features:
A single Google number for all user's phones.
Free calls and SMS in the contiguous US and Canada.
Calling International phone numbers for as low as 0.01 USD per minute.
Call screening. Announce callers based on their number or by an automated identification request for blocked numbers.
Listen in on someone recording a voicemail before taking a call.
Block calls.
Send, receive, and store SMS online.
Answer an incoming call on any of your phones.
Phone routing. Choose which phones should ring based on who calls.
Forwarding phones. AND MANY MORE...

What benefits will it have for the users?
-Cheaper
-Google voice applications in smartphones can automatically forward outgoing calls via the user's Google Voice number instead of the device's phone number.
-It provides all users with the features mentioned above; One device, many features; thus less things to own.

Any negative consequences?
-->When a Google Voice user returns a call, the party being called sees the device's number as opposed to the Google Voice number which sometimes confuses the receiver.
-->To recognize calls from a Google Voice user, someone must store several different numbers in their phone.
-->The Google Voice applications for Android and BlackBerry smartphones can automatically forward outgoing calls via the user's Google Voice number instead of the device's phone number.
-->Phone lines in Hawaii and Alaska are only minimally supported, with no local area codes available and charges required for calls to those areas.
--> Google plans on implementing Google Voice in other countries, but a time frame has not been released. It continues to remain impossible for users in countries other than the United States to create a Google Voice account.
-->Google Voice still lacks the support given to other providers from services with mobile facilities, such as Facebook and Twitter.
-->If people make the switch to use VOIP services (google voice), normal phone companies may eventually come to end due to lack of payment from users. This is because more people will make a move towards the VOIP services and thus they will earn less money.
--> privacy issue.

There are many articles on Google Voice:
Sydney Morning Herald
New York Times- On how google voice could be a threat to AT&T. "revenues could take a serious hit"

Hardware invovled:
microphone
cell phone, home phone, and work phone

The Processes involved in Google Voice:
-collecting -information such as names of contacts and their number, collecting voice projections through the microphone,
-organising - organising numbers under contact names, organising sounds into words/identifying what sound is what letter and language (translation)
-displaying - on the screen who is calling, who you are calling and displaying the things that you say into letters and words on screen
-transmitting and receiving - sounds back and forth in calls, emails and voicemail. -storing and retrieving - messages/mail/voicemail in phone, phone numbers. Information stored online.

Tools for Processing

Hardware-

- CPU (Central processing unit)
--> Core 2 duo (intel), 2 cores allows you to do two processing things at once. potential exists if it is written particular for it.
GHz, unit measures how rapidly certain things are happening.
Clock cycle, how quickly things come in and out of it.
--> Quad core (intel), 4 cores operate at once if written to take advantage of.

- Processer only processes instructions. Instuction is more than a single bit of data. e.g. 32bit long. 64bit long means the instructions would be more complex (new operating system). Improves processing power. Depending on the instruction size you need instructions written for it.
- Arithematic logic units, handle mathematical parts of it.

What new processor is there now than the quad core?
Intel Core i7 Processor:
2.93 GHz and 2.66 GHz core speed
8 processing threads with Intel® HT technology
8 MB of Intel® Smart Cache
3 Channels of DDR3 1066 MHz memory

- Graphics Processing
--> graphic card turns the data that can be displayed on screen.
--> Graphics Proceesor: might take a long while depending if tis good or not. Virtual modelling, drawing etc, need a good graphics processor. Graphics card for information on the screen changing, would have a big RAM.

Sophisticated Graphics Card?
NVIDIA Graphics card.

Software:

- Spreadsheets and Databases (access)
- Graphics based software specifically for processing digital images.
--> Photoshop, MovieMaker for proessing video (Video-editing software), Sound files.
--> Adobe Premiere: sophisticated software.
- Software that can take a spoken voice into command. By the process of sound into a accessible command. Improved quality of microphones. e.g. Dragon Voice

LED Displays

LED: Light-emitting diode

Here is the article we were discussing in class today! Very fascinating stuff! take a look. Click the title to see

LED Display Technology gets a twist.

By Julie Steenhuysen

CHICAGO (Reuters) - U.S. researchers said on Thursday they have found a way to make large-scale flexible display screens that can be stretched to fit the contours of a bus yet are transparent enough so riders can see out windows.

The thin, light screens might be used to make brake light indicators that follow the contours of a car, or health monitors or imaging devices that wrap around a patient like a blanket, said John Rogers of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, whose study appears in the journal Science.

He said the large display screens combine the scale and durability of light-emitting diodes, or LED technology, used to make flat, lighted billboards, with the flexibility of screens made using organic -- carbon-containing -- materials.

"If you look at these giant billboard displays along the road side, those are made out of inorganic light emitting diodes (LEDs). Our feeling is those systems are quite impressive," Rogers said in a telephone interview.

"The question became is it possible to take that technology and use it in a non-billboard format."
Rogers said current technology using inorganic materials produces chunky individual LED lights that need to be arranged piecemeal with a robotic arm. Screens made using organic materials can be sprayed or painted onto a film surface, but they are not as bright or durable, he said.

To solve this challenge, researchers built their LEDs on a thin layer of film later dissolved by a chemical and then affixed tiny plastic tabs on two corners to ensure the LEDs did not wash away in the chemical bath.

The team used a special stamping technology to deposit and assemble the inorganic LEDs onto glass, plastic or rubber surfaces. The system works much like a rubber stamp and ink pad, using the LEDs as ink.

"The new approach can lift large numbers of small, thin LEDs from the wafer in one step, and then print them onto a substrate in another step," Rogers said. The LEDs can be interconnected and wired with a conventional process used to wire computer chips, he added. And because LEDs can be placed far apart and still provide enough light, the panels and displays can be nearly transparent. "We can put them on a strip of plastic and make brake lights," said Rogers, who noted that the project was initially funded in part by Ford Motor Co, which was looking for a way to make brake lights that can follow the contour of a car.

The National Science Foundation and the U.S. Department of Energy also funded the project.

Hardware Components

Hey!
I and emily have made an easier verison for you to remember.

17.08.9 hardware components :)

hardware components would be suitable for a computer system that would be good for extreme multimedia based games.

explain why the hardware components are suitable to this type of use:
The computer gaming hardware section contains information and links on gaming hardware and accessories such as full PCs, game controllers such as game pads, flight sticks, plus sound cards, video cards and other miscellaneous accessories.

They are suitable for this type of use because they are able to help with the gaming experience. Also cost is not a consideration and therefore there could be a bigger variety in the gaming hardware used. They were (hopefully specially) designed for playing extreme multimedia based games, and if it was specifically designed for extreme multimedia based games it would be able to withstand crazy extreme multimedia based games, or more like the people that play them. Also helps with wear and tear.

Outline the components, their function in the system and why they would improve
the multimedia experience.
Full PCs or Processor: this make your computer process all software and program
Game Controllers such as game pads:
Flight Sticks:
Graphics, Sound and Video Cards: this make your computer process all software and program
Number pad:
Hard Disk: this is the storage of the computer of all programs you want to install
Motherboard: it is the main station of body of the computer were all parts are inserted on it
and other miscellaneous equipment.

awesome. :)
:]