Technology

Use Open Source Software on iPhone With These Apps

September 21, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

: Image by wellohorld via Flickr

Even though the most avid Linux fans will go out of their way to support open source software powered technology, sometimes others are just too darn cool. One such device is Apple’s iPhone. While competitors are starting to give iPhone a run for its money, it is still ahead of the game its load of apps, sleek design and smooth performance. But unlike the comparable Android, which runs an operating system off the Linux kernel, the iPhone’s operating system is closed. However, this fact doesn’t mean it is completely exempt from the reach of open source software. There are actually some pretty useful and fun open apps available for the iPhone.

The greatest attribute of smartphones like the iPhone is their ability to keep users connected over many different mediums. The open Internet Relay Chat Colloquy, which is popular on Mac computers, is also mobile. It keeps tracks of all conversations and alerts you when certain words are mentioned all while you’re on the go. While it isn’t free, it’s worth it to stay in the thick of things. Bloggers don’t have to be near a computer to keep the world informed of their latest exploits when they have the WordPress app. Users can publish posts and manage their pages from wherever the mood strikes them. And to keep all your connections together, there is Funambol that will sync your contacts with email clients and other systems.

There are also open software apps that let you have a lot of fun with your iPhone. Both useful and in some ways borderline comedic is the wikiHow app. Yes, finding out how to wrap a wound during an accident all with a touch of the screen is extremely helpful, but if you’re looking up how to survive a nuclear blast on your iPhone it just may be too late. The iPhone is also great for gaming with it’s touch sensitive screen, so have fun with legendary first-person shooters Doom and Wolfenstein.

And for the intrepid Linux lover, you can always just hack it on there.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: Android, iPhone, Linux

Droid vs iPhone vs the Computer

August 21, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

Have you got a smart phone yet? In the little “war” that has been going on with Droid vs iPhone, it would probably be hard not to succumb to the advertising of the two main smart phones and pick up the one that seems to glow the brightest. But have you forgotten about the fact that there are still computers that can do things that neither of these phones are all that good at doing? While you may be the opposite of spoiled (a state which there might not be a word to describe) because of using that one operating system, there are actually better options out there – if you think you’re ready to find out what your computer is really capable of.

You’ve no doubt heard about Linux, the operating system that Prometheus stole from the gods themselves. Well, that isn’t really true (it is just a myth, after all), but that is one way of interpreting how well Linux works. As a format for creating programs, you have a whole lot of flexibility with a PC running Linux that you won’t get from any kind of smart phone. With Linux, you can actually alter the entire operating system, just because a particular program might need you to do so.

You can’t get that kind of flexibility on a phone, with the technology that is currently available. The operating systems of smart phones are rigid because they have to be – and changing the code of the operating system could render the phone inoperable, or even potentially dangerous to your online presence. Consider what could happen if you’d accessed your bank records through your phone, and it accidentally sends a signal calling for a funds transfer or the change of your account’s password. It probably wouldn’t happen like that, but it isn’t worth taking the chance. Computers are still the best for programming.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: Droid, Linux, Operating system

Napster and the New Frontier

August 20, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

: Image via Wikipedia

Between 1999 and 2001 millions upon millions of songs were shared across the first peer-to-peer network of its kind. Napster, a free service which enabled users to share their music across the Internet, quickly became the most used online service from the moment it was launched.

Not only did Napster revolutionize the way people interact with one another over the Internet – it changed the music industry. Users ability to open their libraries for anyone else on the service and the ability to download directly from other’s libraries on the network caught fire. This open exchange of music lead to immense copyright infringement cases and the service was eventually shut down.

The spread of Napster was so quick and overwhelming that it was quickly noticed by the general public. Several major musicians such as Metallica and Dr. Dre filed lawsuits with Napster. Ultimately the Recording Industry Association of America filed a lawsuit in behalf of various record labels and Napster closed its doors in 2001. At its peak, Napster had over 26 million users.

Napster’s open community pioneered peer-to-peer file sharing programs. Many file sharing services followed. Limewire, Bittorrent and Pirate Bay all have similar services. These services ushered in the era of complete file sharing where users could choose to share any file from their computers not just music. Now users could share pictures, documents and movies with each other. These services have also faced many lawsuits. Pirate Bay met the similar fate as Napster.

Individuals wanting to exchange files across the Internet was done only person to person previous to Napster’s open community nature. It’s hard to imagine the Internet now without the ability to connect with strangers.

Perhaps the true utility from the Internet is the ability to share ideas with everyone in the world. The closed world has grown increasingly open due to computers and the Internet. The free flow of information has created amazing innovations and at the same time challenges. Balancing the open nature of the Internet with security will always be a hot topic for debate.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: Copyright infringement, LimeWire

A Computer is More Important Than a Kids Backpack

August 19, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

You can probably remember back to a time when you or your kids were going to school and everything that needed to be learned was in a kids backpack. There were all the books, the notes, the exams, the pop quizzes and the supplies. There was a time when a kid had to lug their whole life around. But as the world advances, so does the quality and ease of access for a child’s education. Thanks to the world of advanced computer programming a kid’s life is on a jump drive and they no longer need anything but the password to an online web portal.

Teachers are finding that putting kids on computers is not only the best way to handle their ability to process information but it also stands as one of the cheaper ways to educate. Through an online portal, in a cloud computing format, kids are allowed to access text books, read chapters, take online tours through some of the better parts of the subject, answer quizzes, and participate in class discussions. These are all things that teachers would not have been able to do years ago. It makes education a lot easier.

It’s a practice long adopted by universities to cut out on classroom space, as well as give commuters a break, by making classes available online. Students each have their own schedule for the school year and can manage everything online. Grade schools see the cost effective nature of this type of learning and have done their best to institute this type of learning for the betterment of both the students and the bottom line of the school districts. It’s amazing what the world of computer programming can do for students and educators alike.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: Education, Educators, Elementary school, Technology

Moore’s Law: Technology’s Rapid Growth

June 28, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

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It is becoming increasingly difficult to stay on top of all the developments in the technology industry. Technology experts have to monitor developments on a daily basis to keep their edge. Moore’s law describes this, rapid growth, nature of technology. Moore’s law states that the number of transistors that can reside on a circuit doubles almost every two years. This trend has held true historically and many do not seeing it stopping in the near future.

The capabilities of electronic devices have increased at such an exponential rate that, what was once the “top of the line” or “cutting edge” is old news after only a year. The history of the Palm Pilot, which was one of the first handheld electronic devices, provides an excellent illustration of Moore’s law.

In 1996, Palm Computing released the Pilot. It had 128KB to 512KB of memory, a 160 x 160 pixel screen and could only display shades of gray. Just a year later Palm released the 2nd generation Pilot that had 1MB of memory. In 1998 the Palm 3 was released the supported memory cards and flash ROM which held 2MBs of memory. In 2000, Palm released a handheld with a color screen. By the early 2000s Palm had integrated Palm PDAs into phones. With this new phone integration the Palm Treo took off in popularity. The Treo had various iterations until 2009 when Palm released the Pre. The Pre was their answer to the Apple iPhone (a subject for another article). The Pre had a touch screen, ran on the fast 3G network, and had 8GBs of internal memory.

In just over 10 years Palm’s products exponentially increased in capabilities while decreasing its form factor. Memory went from 128KB to 8GB (1GB is equal to 1048576KBs), screens went from gray to full color and PDA functionality was integrated with phone and Internet. The devices of 1996 looked like technology from the stone ages just a few years later.

With Moore’s Law still going strong innovators need to work hard to keep up.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: Exponential growth, iPhone

Technology and Life

June 14, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

It is hard to imagine a world without computers. Today’s world just wouldn’t be the same without email and the Internet. It would be even more difficult to envision a world without television or radio. Technological advancements have changed the world and it will continue to do so for years to come.

Technology has defined different eras in history. The printing press helped define the Renaissance. This ushered in the Age of Enlightenment. The printing press helped enable the proliferation of knowledge to the masses, which was previously reserved only for the monarchy. Communities were better able to organize, politicians were able to spread their messages more broadly and the best selling book of all time began to enter the houses of the world: The Bible.

The steam engine ushered in the Industrial Revolution. This discovery revolutionized the worldwide economy. The Agrarian based societies made way for manufacturing and mining. Transportation helped broaden and improve trade. The locomotive connected the two coasts of the United States.

The discovery of electricity was monumental for modern technology. The light bulb, electric motor, telephone, television, computers and numberless other advancements came about because of the discovery of electricity.

The development of the Internet brought about the Information Age. Just about any piece of information is truly just a few clicks away. Each and everyday database upon database is made available to anyone with a computer and Internet access. The democratization of knowledge has flooded the earth.

What began as a communication tool has turned into a necessary business tool for today’s economy. Almost every business has a web presence and almost web business sells products on line. One could purchase or rent anything from groceries to movies on the World Wide Web. Internet commerce constitutes a large percentage of Internet traffic.

With technology playing such an integral part of our lives one can be certain that innovation will only lead to greater things. Technology will continue to develop and further change the way we live and with the rate things are getting developed – our lives will change fast.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: Industrial Revolution, Technology, World Wide Web

The Internet and Exaflood

May 5, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

: Image by Nimbuzz via Flickr

Students would have a hard time writing their term papers without it. Businesses would struggle without it. Families would have a more difficult time staying in touch with each other without it. We are talking about the Internet.

The Internet has grown from simple research programs in the 1980s to an integral part of daily life. The Internet’s utility continues to grow as more and more of the world’s population gains access to it and begins to contribute to the immense library of knowledge. This exponential growth, although great in concept, could end tragically if infrastructure does not continue to develop systems to support it.

The Internet began as interest in networking multiple computers together between each other gained popularity. Research conducted at MIT and UCLA led to packet switching technology and new protocols for communications between physically separated computers.

The global introduction of the Internet began in 1982 and quickly spread. Internet service providers quickly commercialized access to the Internet and catalyzed its growth.

Uses for the Internet have morphed from a communication tool to a business and social tool. With this, increased usage data rates communicated across the internet has grown exponentially. Increased email volume along with photos, music and video is flooding the Internet. Websites such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube and Flickr receive millions upon millions of rich media each and every day.

This incredible communication of data has come to be referred to as an “exaflood” of information. As of 2010, it is estimated that over 21 exabytes of information is transferred over the Internet. One exabyte is equal to one quintillion bytes! This startling statistic is cause for concern for some industry analysts as the rate of growth is quicker than the rate of growth for storage availability. In other words – the Internet will run out of space.

As technology advances, so will the amount of information transferred of the Internet increase. Innovation will have to keep pace with this exaflood of information. Companies would do well should they find the solution to ongoing issue.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: Business, Internet service provider, YouTube

The iPod Revolution

April 13, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

: Image via CrunchBase

In October of 2001, Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, introduced the world to the iPod. Little did we know that that small electronic device would soon dominate the portable electronics market and forever change the music industry. The impact that the iPod had on the technology industry has been profound. It’s difficult to go through a day without seeing an iPod.

The history of the iPod truly began in the 1950s when the first portable audio player was developed. Philips introduced the first battery operated cassette tape recorder in the 1960s. These early devices were hardly “portable” as they were often large and bulky.

Most recognize the introduction of the Sony Walkman as the “first” portable audio player. Released in 1979, the Sony Walkman was small enough to carry in a pocket and had the capability to plug in headphones. The Walkman had such a large impact that most other portable audio players were referred to as “Walkman.”

The digitization of audio ushered in the next generation of portable music players. Cassette tapes made way for compact discs (CDs) and manufacturers quickly produced portable CD players, which could play audio CDs. Development of CD players that could play mp3 files allowed individuals to listen to a much larger amount of music from their CDs as opposed to audio CDs. These mp3 capable CD players were a precursor for digital audio players.

Before the iPod there were many digital audio players on the market. All contained flash memory or hard disks that could store hundreds of songs. The features found on these early mp3 players did not differ much from what the iPod offered. So what made the iPod so popular?

The iPod has turned into more than just a portable music player, it became a cultural phenomena. Everyone “had” to have an iPod. The iPod has grown into much more than just a music player. Features, such as video playback and web browser have turned it into more of a personal entertainment device. It will be interesting to see how Apple builds off of the iPod’s success.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: Apple, iPod, Portable audio player

Synaptic: It’s Not Just for Your Brain Anymore!

February 6, 2010 By admin Leave a Comment

A synapse is a neural connection inside your brain. Considering the vast power of the human mind, the speed at which it works, and the possibilities that it presents, it’s an ideal root word for the Linux operating system application program. Linux shows its colors in every step of the process for application download and installation, and this “Synaptics” process functions as the motor to the rest of the Linux framework. So, you may be asking, what are the differences between Windows and Mac applications and Linux Synaptics applications?

We begin with security. Unlike Windows and Macintosh, which have an essentially unlimited number of application, a large portion of which carry viruses, Linux has a large number of applications which are all stable, functional, and virus free. While you may not be able to download the wallpaper diagram developer or the cat poster creator, you also won’t be able to download the video codec that is actually a world eating virus in disguise.

Then we have diversity. Don’t assume for one second that the fact that these executables are tried and true means that there aren’t a lot of them. Linux has many great applications, including major applications like Firefox and Thunderbird, programs that take on the functionality of Outlook, programs that allow you to IM your friends from all your different platforms, sound editing software, and more.

Let’s also note findability. While you can surf the net for hours, sometimes days, trying to hunt down an application file that works for you, is up to date, and isn’t trying to eat your computer, Linux software can all be found through an installation browser. You can browse through all the approved apps through the Synaptics program itself.

Cost should also be pointed at here. Just like a celebrity getting dinner in a small town diner, you aren’t going to pay a thing for what you receive. All of these applications are open source, frequently updated, and as gentle as is physically possible on your bank statement without actually writing you a check.

Filed Under: Technology Tagged With: Linux, Open source, Operating system