My Relationship With Windows XP

I’ve only been a “computer guy” for a short time – maybe 4 or 5 years. The only time I looked at a computer more than twice was when I played video games on it. I’m a gamer before computer geek.

My computer story never started on something advanced like Windows Vista (pardon the joke). Instead, it started with Windows XP.

As a child, my parents bought a computer to help us in school (and to play video games). I can’t recall what the system was, but all I knew it was Windows XP. To me, it was beautiful. The blue taskbar with the green Start button. The green hills background known as Bliss graced my desktop. It didn’t change because I had no clue how to change it.

I was fond of the computer. I did not tweak it, play around with the settings or modified it for that matter. I just played video games and did my homework on it. That was it.

That’s where it all began. From an old computer to something ten times powerful like Hannah Patricia. I wouldn’t consider myself a “computer lover” back then, but I knew how to use a mouse. That counts, right?

In Tech class, I found this:

It reminded me a lot of my old setup. It was a PC, CRT monitor and a mechanical keyboard. All of them had the same colour! It was beautiful.

I wanted to write this because, for some who do not know, Microsoft will stop supporting XP and Office 2003 in 2014.

Lest We Forget Windows XP and Office 2003

Keep Chewing!

Bill Gates at the Harvard Campaign Launch

Bill gates is blaming IBM for the infamous yet loved Ctrl+Alt+Del keyboard combination. Typical Gates.

By the way, this was my idea.

Keep Chewing

`The Penguin' says...

Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates at the Harvard Campaign launch. If you look around the Internet, this video is highlighted for Bill Gates complaining about Ctrl+Alt+Del being a mistake (around 16 minutes into the video). There’s a lot more to the video than that; it’s quite amusing to listen to.

William H. Gates III COL ’77, LLD ’07 Q&A | The Harvard Campaign by Harvard [YouTube]

View original post

My Thoughts on Microsoft and Nokia

About a week ago, Microsoft purchased Nokia for $7.6 billion. This is their way of entering the smartphone competition. Now that they have such a prominent and well-known company under them, what’s next?

OpenOffice is Better Than MS Office

The open source world has largely increased. Through software, and potentially hardware (think of OUYA), it is slowly growing up from the young, child of the day, to the powerhouse that most of us, including me, love today.

Although I have little experience with open source, ever since I’ve used it (about 2 years ago), I fell in love with it. Sure, I wasn’t a programmer back then, but the fact that I can tamper, hack and play around with the source code, I knew two things: it will be heavily supported and it will probably have little to no bugs (I could be wrong though).

Let’s talk capabilities…

MS Office – What does it offer?

Currently, there are many distributions of MS Office. There’s MS Office 365, which gives the consumer a full year of subscription to use the whole office suite – MS Word, MS PowerPoint, MS Excel, MS OneNote, MS Publisher, MS Access and MS Outlook. It also offers full access to MS SkyDrive, Microsoft’s attempt at online storage that is accessible anywhere. This SkyDrive has 20 GB of storage. All of this, for $99 every year.

Then there is their typical packages. All of these are at full, meaning you will not need to pay a fee every year. The Home and Student package (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) for your everyday use at only $139. There’s also the Home and Business (Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook) at $249. Finally, there’s Office Professional (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher and Access) at $519.

Of course, if there are updates with the software, Microsoft will provide it for you. MS Office is pretty stable and if bugs are present, they are rarely found by the consumer.

OpenOffice (Apache) – What does it offer?

OpenOffice offers a word processor, a spreadsheet, a presentation maker, fully capable drawing software (think about Publisher), a database management software and formula software. Although it may not offer SkyDrive or an email program, there are always alternatives. What’s the price, you ask? Well, because it is an open source program, the price is approximately $0. Not too much, but I think it’s worth it.

Conclusion

I think we should all have the freedom of using office suite programs. They help with productivity and it just works. Simple as that. One thing that I like from Microsoft, is MS PowerPoint. It’s probably because I’ve used it for such a long time, that I think there would be no alternative better than it. If you do have time to learn all of the software (I only use Writer, Spreadsheet and Drawer), then use all of them. They will always have some kind of upper hand compared to MS Office.

Keep Chewing!

Playstation 4 Release Date Released!

Sony has confirmed the release date of their next generation console, the Playstation 4.

The PS4 will be competing with Microsoft’s next-gen console, the XBOX One, which does not have a release date yet. However, considering the PS4 will come into retail in November, it’s almost positive that the XBOX One will come out in November.

To be quite honest, I have no plans to buy the PS4, rather, I plan to save money and build my PC this coming summer. Hopefully, I’ll be able to show you, my fellow computer lovers, my first build!

Also, according to recent reports, Minecraft will be coming to the PS4, PSVita and PS3! I cannot wait for that day to come!

Keep Chewing!

Lenovo IdeaPad Z500

NCIX, a computer company that sells computers, parts, PC games and other gadgets, let me demo and review this laptop.

Lenovo IdeaPad Z500

Lenovo is one of the awesome companies that actually sell some darn good computers. Their laptops have true accessibility, performance and power. Although Windows 8 is completely unusable, I’m sure, as a geek, you’ll figure something out. If you’re not a geek, go get a geek. They’re not that hard to find.

The IdeaPad Z500 is a great starter laptop. For those who want something cheap, but has a bang for their buck, this one is a great choice.

SPECIFICATIONS:

• Intel i5-3230M @ 2.6 GHz (Dual-core) with 3 MB Cache
• Intel HD 4000 GPU (shared RAM)
• 6 GB DDR3 SDRAM (2 slots)
• 1 TB HDD @ 5400 RPM
• 15.6″ (1366 x 768)
• 4 cell 5 hour battery

From my personal experience, it holds out. It’s very fluid and smooth when it comes to processing. I gamed on it for a bit (Minecraft) and find it fine on run. Considering Windows 8, I still felt a bit locked out. Other than that, the performance is good, the graphics are great and the sound is fine.

I’m sure the 6 GB RAM can be upgraded to 8 GB, but that’s my only preference. Oh, and install something like Windows 7 (it should be worth it) and get rid of that lousy Windows 8 operating system. After installing Windows 7, you may commence ULTIMATE TWEAKING! Play around with the settings, install all the necessary proprietary drivers, install your own personal theme, the whole nine yards! Then after that, you can finally sleep soundly at night.

Unless, you actually like Windows 8. If so, go to the doctor and get yourself checked out.

In conclusion, the Lenovo IdeaPad Z500 is a laptop that’s doing what it’s supposed to do: work. It’s your typical home, browsing, word processing and gaming laptop. I don’t think it can handle bigger multimedia power (like a heavy session of League of Legends), but it can certainly give what the user wants.

Priced around $700, it’s a great buy!

Lenovo IdeaPad Z500

Keep Chewing!

Why I Didn’t Install Ubuntu

Ubuntu is a popular Linux distribution. It’s the most user friendly and a very heavily supported open source operating system. It’s what Linux newbies (like myself) install.

I definitely liked it when I worked with it in school, but the OS is terrible for laptops. Here’s why:

1. It’s a battery hog. It’ll eat all of the battery power it can take. Jupiter, the famous power management application, is no longer supported and so it was taken off the Ubuntu market.
2. It overheats my laptop. Like I said, Jupiter is no longer supported, so that’s never going to get fixed.
3. For some reason, my settings don’t stay the same. Each time I reboot my laptop, everything is there: my account, background and customization, but my power settings, brightness settings and other things such as my Unity Tweak settings do not stay the same.
4. It looks a lot like the Mac OS X user interface. I just don’t like it. Period.

I am hoping for some more apps similar to Jupiter that can help my battery life. Get this: when I had Ubuntu on my laptop, it only ran approximately one (1) hour on a 96% battery percentage. Usually, on my Windows 7, I’d be using my laptop for at least five to six hours.

At some point, when Hannah Patricia doesn’t perform her abilities (I’d say that would be five years from now), I’ll be getting a System 76 or something like Lenovo or ASUS.

If you have any suggestions for a battery friendly distro, comment below!

Keep Chewing!

Universally Known as the USB

The Universal Serial Bus is one of the most well known and most universal device in the computing world. Almost all of our gadgets have some kind of a USB built in, whether it be the charger we have on our smartphones or our own portable flash drive.

The development of the USB started in the early 90s when the USB 1.0 was released. There were two types, the low speed (1.5 Mbps) or the high speed (12 Mbps). Respectively, these were powerful speeds at the time but were not enough. So, the collective group of computing powerhouses that were developing this next generation standard – IBM, DEC, Microsoft, Intel, NEC and Nortel – went back to work to finish the USB 1.1 Full Speed. The only difference this version had was support and compatibility. Microsoft was very friendly with the current technology and continued to work with it.

By the end of 2001, a group called USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) released the USB 2.0 which is 40x faster than the previous version, the USB 1.1 Full Speed (12 Mbps -> 480 Mbps). It was originally named as the High Speed USB but later was renamed to Hi-Speed USB. The Mini-A and Mini-B connectors are introduced and expanded the abilities of the USB. Many features were created to truly improve the use of the USB such as On-The-Go USB and our useful Battery Charging Spec. which lets your device to be charged into a power plug. Cellphone companies took advantage of this because with such a smal form factor, it definitely helped them decrease the size of their phones (and for some reason, phones are just getting bigger nowadays).  From then on, the USB just took over. Eventually, the USB will become so universal (my last joke, I promise) that the CDs that we have will be obsolete. Imagine buying a video game that’s on a USB! USB 2.0 is still used today in almost 10 billion products and that doesn’t count a billion of smartphones and USB flash drives that almost everyone owns.

Now, the USB 3.0 has entered the game. At approximately 5 Gbps, this is at its finest! One noticeable difference between the USB 2.0 and 3.0 is the port colour. It is blue, which differentiates your USB version (go ahead, take a look at your USB drives). It began on September 2007 when Intel, Hewlett-Packard, NEC, NXP, Texas Instruments and Semiconductors started working on the next-gen USB. By November 2008, they released the 1.0 version. By then, the USB-IF took care of the other business. In 2012, processor companies (Intel and AMD) fully integrated their support for the SuperSpeed USB. Right now, the USB-IF is planning to finish the job by increasing its power to 10 Gbps! 

The USB is universally known. It will surely continue to improve from its older versions. All we need to do now is wait for it.

Keep Chewing!

The Personal Computer

The personal computer is one of the greatest, most prominent advancements in human history. Great inventions such as the car, airplanes and cup holders are no match to your everyday PC. Almost everyone in the entire North American grid owns a computing device, whether it be a home computer, laptop, smartphone, tablet – the list goes on. It is also the fastest growing technology. Almost everyday, there is something new for the PC. It could be hardware or software – most of which help enhance the use of the PC.

One question that has never been considered answered is why is it a Personal Computer called a Personal Computer?

Personally speaking (pun intended), I think it is because of how we use it. Almost everything we do is on a computer. We talk to people using the video chatting application called Skype, which continues to grow as a service for people who would like to communicate with friends and family all over the world. Social networking has exploded, with the popular use of Facebook and Twitter. Writing became easy to share with the blogging sites like Blogger, WordPress and Weebly. Video sharing has also popularized with YouTube and the new website called Vine. The Internet truly became a community and a hub for people all over the world.

The computer is personal because of our daily needs. Because of the PC and its strengths (back then), we are able to create documents for work (Word), presentations to show off ideas (PowerPoint), spreadsheets to keep important data, numbers and information (Excel) and publish flyers or brochures to further increase sales for your small business (Publisher).

Everyone seems to love video editing. Photo editing too! I’m sure you know someone who would love to make some funny videos, action scenes, edited CGI or animations as a hobby. Or even someone who wants to touch up pictures for a certain online dating site. For video, Windows usually comes with their infamous Windows Movie Maker, which allows PC users to edit videos. The only problem with this was its limitations. It was only a drag and drop program with minimum options for editing. For someone to professionally edit videos, they have to purchase software or find freeware/open source software that can handle all the rendering, file management and high quality videos. Photo editing was a big deal for Microsoft. Instead, Adobe took the stage and created Adobe Photoshop. It is widely used for editing photos. Animations also became popular in the Internet. Blender usually takes the cake for animations. It’s a great freeware!

Music has always played an important role in human history. It defined eras and even created its own history. In the computer, users can create, listen and play music without hassle. It allowed many hidden musicians (excluding Justin Bieber) to shine. With music tools and applications, making and recording music is as easy as pressing a button, literally!

The gaming industry has recently exploded. The gaming community is ten times stronger than ever! PC gamers are proud. They either take pride of their prized possession – their own, personally built PC, or are happy to play some League of Legends with some actual players! No, seriously, the gamer can be a console gamer or a PC gamer. I’d say, in my opinion (although I am a console guy), PC gamers are cooler. Tons of games are free to play, there is more hardware power on a PC right now compared to the upcoming next gen consoles and the PC gaming community is growing in numbers! The PC is truly the core of gaming.

And then, there was development. The computing world would not consistently progress without programmers, software developers and code writers. These are the wizards of the world. They are the ones who should be considered the rock stars of this generation. Without them, the computer would be a throwaway. It is those who know how to write C++, C, C#, Java, JavaScript, HTML, etc that revolutionized our daily lives. As an aspiring programmer (game developer and future CEO of Blizzard or Google), I believe that credit should be given where it is due.

Now, it seems that we still have not answered the question correctly, why is it a Personal Computer called a Personal Computer?

The answer is: it is because we make it personal.

Follow @DR34DNOUGHT!

Keep Chewing!

XBOX One vs. PS4 – Games

This is a three part series on the XBOX One and PS4. Part 1 will be Specifications, Part 2 will be Features and Part 3 will be Games.

After looking at specifications and features, we finally enter the final stage of the battle: GAMES

Let’s talk games. Both consoles and companies seem to have a good grasp at their main focus: games. But the real question is who will have the best?

The XBOX 360 and PS3 have amazing games to choose from. Although most games are cross-platform (meaning each console gets the game), we’re actually here to talk about EXCLUSIVES.

XBOX have their HALO series to thank for putting them on the market. HALO, being an exclusive only to XBOX, is one of the most popular first-person shooter games in this generation. Usually, when someone thinks XBOX, they begin to think about HALO.

Then, Call of Duty comes to mind. Activision signed a contract with Microsoft so that all the DLC (downloadable content) would come out first on the XBOX consoles. This was also confirmed for their next-gen console (XBOX One). Call of Duty, being a loved and hated franchise, is also very popular with the gaming community. It is, however, a cross-platform game.

XBOX also offers XBOX Arcade. It has not yet been confirmed with the Microsoft whether or not XBOX Arcade will be featured on XBOX One (at least according to my research). In the arcade, oldies are offered for players who just want to game for the fun of it.

Other than that, XBOX offers great exclusives, such as:

• HALO series
• Alan Wake
• Gears of War series
• Fable series
• Forza series

Playstation offer an HUGE amount of exclusives (far greater than XBOX exclusives). Probably the most popular (currently) would be the Uncharted series.

Uncharted follows the adventure of Drake. It is, by far, one of the most popular video games on the market. But, recently it has been topped by another PS3 exclusive, Last of Us. Last of Us is “post apocalyptic” game where a dangerous virus infected many civilians, causing them to turn into hideous, disgusting, scary, filthy zombies. Yes, it is another zombie game, but who cares? It truly highlights how human emotion can get the best of us. The characters are very easy to connect to. Last of Us will surely take GOTY for 2013.

Then, there are those that are not exclusives, but have connections with Playstation. Games such as the Battlefield series (CoD’s opponent) are not exclusives, but offer DLC earlier to PS3 gamers. Ubisoft also signed a contract with Sony to assure PS3 gamers that they will get extra content for the Assassin’s Creed series. This will also more likely happen with Watch Dogs, where DLC will be offered earlier or extra content will be given.

The PS3 (and surely, the PS4) offer a large amount of exclusives, like:

• Infamous series
• God of War series
• Uncharted series
• Last of Us
• Little Big Planet series
• Ratchet and Clank series

Overall, I think it’s a tie. Both consoles offer different games. Some may like FPS on the XBOX while others love murder dash (AC3 joke) on the PS3. In other words, there is no clear winner. Games will always be games and cannot change under the situation of differing consoles.

Thank you very much for reading the series XBOX One vs. PS4. I appreciate the support!

Follow me on Twitter: @DR34DNOUGHT.

Keep Chewing!