October 9, 2012
Water is a great coolant. It’s plentiful, cheap and can be easily moved via pumps. The need for specialized hardware has often made this solution too expensive and too complex for mainstream users, however. That has finally changed. Several companies now offer retail water cooling options that are no more difficult to install than any PC air cooler.
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October 4, 2012
We live in a wireless world. Except we don’t. Sure, we can send huge amounts of information across the airwaves, but the devices capable of sending and receiving it are tied down to power cords. Batteries allow some freedom but, eventually, we all have to come back around to the familiar face of the power outlet. What if we didn’t? What if we could charge anywhere, at any time?
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October 3, 2012
The two terms "Internet" and "World Wide Web" have been used interchangeably ever since the Internet itself became a household "utility" as common as electricity or cable TV. People talk about "surfing the web" and "searching the Internet" like the two terms are one and the same. Are you one of those people? It may be surprising for a lot of people to learn that the basic foundation of the two terms are very distinct.
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October 1, 2012
Ever heard of dual SIM phones? My guess is you probably have. I can also guess you know what dual SIM phones are; after all, it’s not very hard to understand that a dual SIM phone has two SIMs. If you’re anything like me, though, this is about as far as you got. Have you ever seen a phone with two SIM cards? What are they even good for? Could they be useful for you? And if so, when, and why?
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September 21, 2012
If you’ve shopped for computer parts of software online you’ve likely come across a three-letter acronym. OEM. This stands for Original Equipment Manufacturer, and it’s usually tagged on to hardware or software that’s less expensive than normal retail products. Which may make you wonder - should you buy an OEM product, or is there a catch that’s setting you up for trouble?
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September 14, 2012
We all know computers need power. Their use of electricity is obvious. They turn it into heat, noise and light – almost like magic. But how much power does a PC need, exactly? This can be hard to guess. Most people with a computer have at least a few appliances in their home, and they likely came with some sort of power guide or rating slapped on them. Computers usually don’t, and the power they use depends on their components and the tasks asked of them. Let’s take a closer look.
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August 24, 2012
There has always been a dark side to the Internet, and from the earliest days piracy was rampant. It began with message boards even before the traditional “internet” as we know it was even born, progressing to warez sites and private FTPs hosted on home computers. Finding pirate software and files used to be a slow and arduous task; it was more common to get the music or software from a friend as a physical copy (a so-called the “sneakernet”). P2P filesharing technology changed all that.
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August 17, 2012
Renewable resources. It’s a problem that we face every day whether we realize it or not. With every pump of a gas handle, with every press of a car’s accelerator, with every plug of our smartphone chargers, we’re consuming fuel. And one day, that fuel’s going to run out. So why don’t we use the one energy source that won’t run out - the sun? The sun is a magnificent entity. It provides the world with enough energy to power all of civilization.
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August 17, 2012
This subject is complex because it’s simple. The differences between LCD and LED are subtle, which can make it difficult to understand the difference. It’s an important distinction, however, because it can significantly impact image quality as well as price. I’m also going to explain the differences between LED displays - not all of them are built the same.
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August 15, 2012
If you have ever set up an email client or app, you will have certainly come across the terms POP and IMAP. Do you remember which one you chose and why? If you are not quite sure what these terms stand for and how each affects your email account, this article will shed some light. The article explains how POP and IMAP work and will help you decide which one best fits your needs.
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August 14, 2012
It’s easy to see that 500 gigabytes is more than 100 gigabytes. It’s also easy to see that 1 terabyte is larger than 1 gigabyte and that is larger than 1 megabyte. But these are all abstract terms and names. We can visualize 1 inch or 1 meter or 1 mile, but how can we visualize 1 gigabyte? 1 terabyte? 1 petabyte? Our technology has progressed very far in the last decade or so, and with so much memory space available, it’s hard to really appreciate how much data capacity we have.
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July 20, 2012
Over the past few decades, there has been a considerable amount of work in the field of computer hardware. While computer technology is constantly improving and evolving, rarely do we experience moments where we simply sit back and say "wow, that’s amazing". It’s been a while since I felt that way, but the introduction of solid-state drive (SSD) technology managed to get that reaction out of me.
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July 19, 2012
It might not fully register, but we all know there are two types of touchscreens. There are those we find on expensive smartphones and tablets, which respond to the slightest touch, allow multi-touch and are generally highly responsive (unless you’re wearing gloves); and then there are those that have slightly longer response time, that require some pressure or a stylus, that don’t have multi-touch abilities but work no matter what you touch them with.
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July 19, 2012
Television manufacturers can be a tricky bunch. Just when you think you’ve figured out their acronyms and slang, things change again. In the early days of HDTV people were scrambling to figure out the difference between 1080i and 1080p and manufacturers were playing sly with acronyms by sticking the EDTV (Enhanced Definition Television) acronym on sets without explaining how it differed from HD.
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July 16, 2012
We just absolutely love acronyms, don't we? So much so that we use them literally everywhere to have a shorter way to name something. Whether it's an official acronym such as USB or something unofficial like FB, there's simply way too many for us to remember. Additionally, there are a good number of acronyms which have multiple meanings, all depending on the context you're using them in.
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