Time to Focus

It's time for me to focus. I realized a few months back that I had not done a blog post in quite some time. I realized today that I realized a few months back that I had not done a blog post in quite some time. Now it's time to focus and try to be a bit more consistent with my posts.

It's wild that it has been nearly a year since I last posted. It doesn't seem like it was that long ago. So much has changed on the technology front since then. It seems as though technology changes faster with each passing year. Hek, I work in this field and it's hard to keep up! I was thinking about what this post should cover but so many things have changed it's hard to narrow it down. I'll do things headline style this go around and then cover something more specific in my next post.

So, in complete randomness, here are your headlines!

1) Apple hosted its annual WWDC (Worldwide Developers Conference) yesterday. This event draws lots of attention as Apple usually uses this time to make big announcements. This year was all about software. Apple has new operating systems (OS) coming out across all of its platforms. These new OSs are all about multi-touch and iCloud. Apples new iCloud service will sync all of your Apple gadgets. Saved a pic on your iPhone? It will automatically appear on any other Apple device you own (Macbook, iMac, iPod Touch, etc.). Windows based PCs will also work with iCloud but I would imagine there would need to be some software installed. All of this should launch late summer / early fall.

2) USB 3.0 is here! The USB 3.0 spec is a whole lot faster than USB 2.0. What does that mean? It means that with USB 3.0 you can achieve a theoretical transfer speed of 400MB/s. USB 2.0 is a measly 60MB/s. To put it another way, you could theoretically transfer your 10,000 music files in 1 min 40 seconds. If you were to use USB 2.0 to do that same transfer, you would need to wait over 11 minutes! The new USB 3.0 ports are a blue color.

3) Tablets galore! This year, especially the Fall months, will see about 23,042 tablet computers hitting the market. Okay, that's a bit over the top but if you're looking at getting a tablet, do your research first. Currently the iPad2 and Motorola Xoom are top choices. If you see a tablet this year for under $200 $300, there is a reason it's under $200 $300. Shop smart people!

4) Storage is getting cheap! It's amazing how much storage you can get for so little money these days. 1 terabyte external hard drives are regularly going for under $100. There are even a few 2 terabyte external hard drives going for under $100! What a great time to buy external storage and make that backup you've never done!!!  :)

5) Prediction! Well, it's not too much of a prediction because it's already happening. Desktop computers are a dying breed. While I do not have any hard numbers, I think the percentage of desktops being sold are going to feature a dramatic drop in the next 2 or 3 years (even more than what experts are saying). Everything is going mobile and that trend will only pick up speed as more companies offer Cloud services.

Speaking of Cloud services, that might be a good topic for the next post. Any thoughts?

Anyway, sorry it has been so long. I will put forth a better effort in posting more frequently. I will promise that I will post before this time next year! Have a great week and try to stay cool in this heat wave.

For the love of technology rant (Part 1)

NOTE: The below rant takes place on the campus of the University of Kentucky.

Over the past 6 or 7 months my eyes have been opened to a disturbing trend among young people, namely white and foreign college students. My observations have shown that the increasing love for technology is actually hurting interactions between people in public. The love for technology is becoming a way to hide so that you can avoid any and all human interaction, any eye contact with other people while out in public.

Let me give you an example. I believe that this took place about 3 months ago. I was walking to work one morning when I noticed one of Sarah's (my wife) students coming towards me. We will give this student the name of Margaret. Now, Margaret was approaching me from the opposite direction along the same sidewalk. As we approached, I made eye contact and said a simple "hello". Margaret simply looked straight ahead, listening to her iPod, and didn't even acknowledge me. I was quite offended to say the least. Now, I realize that she may have been having a bad morning or may have had other thoughts on her mind, but to not even acknowledge someone saying a simple hello?!  It seems like more times than not, students are hiding behind their multimedia devices. And it is a great hiding place really. But this need to hide is destroying the way humans were meant to live. We were not meant to hide and isolate ourselves.

INTERESTING FACT: One interesting fact that I have observed while on the University of Kentucky campus is that black students are far more likely to interact than white or foreign students. I rarely ever get blown off by a black student. I wonder why that is? I don't know that I have an answer.

Now, when I do post, this blog is pretty much entirely dedicated to technology. I love technology. It is absolutely fascinating. However, I do not allow technology to control me; to distract me to the point of not even acknowledging someone's existence; to distract me to the point of not giving a simple smile to someone who may desperately need it; to distract me from keeping a door from slamming in someone's face. It appears to me, especially among younger people, that technology is doing this. When walking around on the University of Kentucky campus, I am amazed at how many people hide behind their iPods, or other music player and avoid eye contact by all means possible. Since when did interacting with people become so foreign? Since when did looking another human in the eye and saying "hello" become so foreign? Since when did holding the door open for that person who's arms are full of stuff become so foreign?

I feel as though I have to add my little "I'm not perfect" sentence because if it's not here someone is bound to become irate at my supposed pious attitude here. So here it is. I'm not perfect by any means. I make mistakes and may miss out on saying hi or giving someone a friendly smile. I may miss holding that door open for someone from time to time. But I feel that those times are few and far between because I'm not hiding behind my mp3 player, isolating myself from any human interaction.

As I close on the issue of hiding behind these music players, I have to say that I'm by no means against them. There are numerous times and places where they can be appropriate. Studying and exercising are great examples. I just don't believe they are appropriate when walking, or riding a bike, out and about in public. You never know when a great opportunity to interact with another person will come along. If you're hiding behind your music player, you will more than likely miss it. And what's even more sad, from my perspective, is that more and more young people are choosing isolation over human interaction.

Now, I'm not saying that all young people do this. This is not so. I personally know numerous students who have a great social life and love to interact with people. However, if any of the information in the previous paragraphs sound extreme, I encourage you to seek out a college campus and simply observe. You will be surprised at the percentage of students hiding behind their music players. And it seems that this percentage is getting larger every year. So, what are your thoughts on people isolating themselves with their music players? Agree? Disagree? I'd love to hear comments and feedback. But I must say, you'll have a hard time convincing me that putting on your headphones every time you walk out the door is OK. To me, that's just a 21st century way of isolating yourself. And humans are not mean to live life in isolation.

Closing note: I plan on having a Part 2 on "For the love of technology" but I want to do a bit more research first.

June Headlines

Wow, it's been over 2 months since my last post. Craziness! Here's a post.....headline style.

1) Intel's i3, i5, and i7 series are the latest and greatest processors. If you're purchasing a new desktop PC, a processor from one of the three lines is a must. If you can afford to spare a bit more cash, they're a must if you're looking into a new laptop.

2) DDR3 memory, or RAM, is hitting the mainstream. Unless you're getting a netbook or an ultraportable laptop, DDR3 memory is a must for a new computer. Hek, even netbooks and ultraportables are coming with DDR3 memory now.

3) SSDs (solid state drives) are going mainstream as well. Best Buy is now stocking Intel SSDs. Hopefully this will begin to drive prices down to more reasonable levels. The performance of SSDs are amazing. Grab one if you can afford it!

4) Starbucks will begin to start offering fee WiFi in July. A few years late don't ya think!!!

5) Droid X and the iPhone 4 are now out. If you can afford the extra for a data plan, these phones are a must.

6) Microsoft has sold 150 million copies of Windows 7. That's about 7 copies a second.

7) Take a look at the US debt. Now imagine that you had all of that money in the bank. That's a bunch of money right? Yes, that's a crazy amount of money. It's so much money, that you could buy every single living person in the world 9 iPhone 4s..........9 iPhone 4s..............for every single person in the whole entire world............craziness!

That's it for now! I hope I won't go 2 more months without another post! Life just gets busy.

What you need to know about buying a new laptop

So I'm always getting asked about what to look for in a new computer and what manufacturer to go with. This post is dedicated to help in answering some those questions. I will focus on laptops for now as this is what most people are looking for these days.


Choosing a manufacturer

I get asked this question more than any. What brand should I go with? I'm really not biased towards any manufacturer so it's hard for me to answer this question. I have found that the reasoning behind this question is almost always based on reliability concerns. Every major laptop manufacturer has a failure/return rate that falls between 3%-5%, within the first year. This includes Acer, Apple, Asus, Dell, HP, and Toshiba. So every brand is on even ground there. If you do get a lemon of a laptop, technical support is obviously important. I've found that Acer and Dell offer the quickest turnaround times and generally offer the best overall support. Keep in mind that in my field, we are always speaking with tech support reps of every manufacturer so this is my conclusion after working with countless tech support reps. Apple is by far the worst in tech support just because they don't make it easy for the end-user to get a quick fix and turn around times can be weeks.

Speaking of Apple, this is the next most common question. Should I go with Mac or Windows? Well, every manufacturer pretty much uses the exact same hardware now. So the real question is, do you prefer the Mac operating system or the Windows operating system? That's strictly a personal preference. Both are very user friendly. Windows still has an upper hand when it comes to broad compatibility.

Choosing the right hardware

So after you have chosen the manufacturer, what should you look for in terms of hardware? I would say 95% of the population would get by just fine with the lowest priced laptop they can find. Noticed I mentioned laptop, not netbook. Studies have shown that most people browse the web and check email on their computers. That's it. Any $450 laptop out there can do that. However, if you must have some specs to look for, here is what I would suggest looking for.

Processor: Any dual-core processor will do
RAM: Minimum of 2Gb
Hard drive: Any current hard drive size will meet most peoples needs. However, if you have a bazillion photos, videos, and music, look for the biggest size that is in your budget.
Graphics processor: If you're into watching HD videos on your laptop, look for one that will play HD video smoothly. Otherwise, this is not an important spec to look at. Intel's 4500 series chipsets all support HD playback. Any of the current ATI Radeon chipsets will support HD.
Screen Size: LED 14" or bigger (LCD will drain the battery faster)

If you would rather have a netbook it's really important to check them out in person. They are very small and have different keyboard layouts and trackpad features. I would only recommend a netbook as a secondary computer. It should not serve as your primary computer. I generally suggest Asus when talking about netbooks. A couple of current models I would recommend are the Asus 1201N and the Asus 1000HE. The 1201N netbook supports HD playback and boasts a 12-inch screen. The 1000HE will get you about 7 hours of battery life!

Summary

So there you have it. I believe that what I have talked about in this post covers all of the major questions when looking at a new laptop. If you have other questions, just ask me in the comments section. You really can't go wrong with any computer manufacturer these days. I recommend looking for the best deals and try them out in-store before making the purchase.

I will try and have a Desktop Computer post up soon. I believe there is a huge shift coming in the Desktop market and I will discuss that in the post. Until then, God bless and take care.

Headlines

I think every now and then I'll do a headline style post. The headlines will be relatively short and to the point. This will be nice to read because it will not require much of your time. Covering a product or subject matter in depth can get lengthy! So, here are the headlines for this post.

1) Keep an eye on SSDs (solid state drives). This new type of storage medium has been slowly making it's way into laptops (mostly netbooks to this point). This year, especially towards the end, will see manufacturers ramping up SSD production which will drive costs down. This will lead to more laptops offering SSD as a storage medium. Lots of advantages to SSDs.

2) Multi-touch. Get used to it. It's the new thing for gadgets. This year will see a host of touch sensitive devices, from phones to laptops and desktops. Touch is the cool thing to do now. Mutli-touch devices have been around for a couple of years now but have been a bit buggy. This year will be the year that turnaround happens.

3) New strategies for cell phone companies are on the horizon. Cell phone companies are going to start changing the structure of their calling plans. Data plans will soon be a requirement and will have voice bundled for "free". It may not happen this year but it will be soon.

4) 3D TV is here whether you like it or not. Get used to it. NOTE: Most 3D enabled TVs have a switch built-in just in case you only want 2D viewing. Personally, I'm not a big fan of it right now. That could change later on but for now, not a fan.

5) TV as we know it today is rapidly changing. The future of the TV is web-based. It will also be going mobile.

6) Global warming is in full swing across the eastern US this year. Lexington, KY has already hit it's average yearly snowfall (around 15"). Lots of major east coast cities are blowing away previous snowfall records. Reagan Int airport has recorded 55" of snow!! Many cities across the US have broken record low temperatures as well.

And there you have it, headline style. Look for another post soon.

Apple iPad - first thoughts

So Apple has come out with a "new" product and they sure generated a whole lot of hype about it. I put "new" in parentheses because this product is simply a play off of the iPod Touch. The new product is called the iPad and it looks just like a large iPod Touch. The iPad is a tablet device that looks to be greared as a media tool. In other words, this is not going to replace your main computer.

The iPad will feature a 9.7" touchscreen LCD and comes in at about 1.5 lbs. It's very thin at just one-half inch. Storage doesn't look too bad for a device like this. Options will range from 16Gb - 64Gb flash memory. It will be powered by an Apple processor that runs at 1Ghz. Connectivity options are slim. There is a proprietary 30-pin Dock connector as well as a SD card reader, USB port, speaker, microphone, bluetooth, wireless, and optional 3G connectivity. Screen resolution comes in at 1024 x 768 which should give it a crisp image.

As seen from some early tests, and in the live show, the device looks to be very fast and responsive. However some are reporting that the onboard keyboard could be better. The interface runs off of the iPhone 3.2 operating system so those that own an iPhone will be very familiar with everything. There is no phone support for this device and there is no integrated camera. There is not multitasking either, meaning you can't listen to music while browsing the web. This device will also not support Flash so if you visit Hulu often you're out of luck here. These are some pretty big cons for the device and most in the tech industry were disappointed that these features were left out.

As far as the software goes, it will be able to sync up with your iTunes. It will also include an e-reader function and you will be able to purchase books directly from the iPad. You'll also have support for loading pictures and videos. Apple has also re-done iWork and optimized it for the iPad. There is also a calendar feature as well as a Mail program.

This device is not revolutionary by any means. It just looks like another toy to have. Some, including myself, question the need for yet another device to carry around. Between our laptops and smartphones we can do everything this device can do and more. Because of the iPad's limitations, we cannot dump our laptop and/or smartphone in favor of the iPad.

My conclusions? The iPad is a slick toy to have. In its current form, it will not serve as a replacement for any device we currently carry around. The price isn't bad, but it's not great either. Apple is doing pretty good right now with hyping up their products. They are riding the Apple fad hard and doing a great job at it. This device is sure to sell very well in the beginning. I will be interested to see how it is faring a year from now. For the iPad to really be a success, Apple needs some pretty significant changes to this device. Until then, my advice would be do hold off on the iPad. Pictures and video of the iPad are below (courtesy of Engadget). Check them out and I will try to have another post up sometime soon.

Zeroes and Ones

So, zeroes and ones. As you can see that's the title of my blog, or at least part of it. The first part is zeon. I simply grabbed 'ze' from zero, and 'on' from one to get the word zeon. Interestingly enough, zeon is actually a religious term as well. In a religious sense, it is the hot water added to the chalice by the priest during the Byzantine Rite Eucharist to commemorate the water that flowed from the crucified Christ's side when pierced by the spear. But for this blog, zeon is for zeroes and ones.

Why zeroes and ones? Well, that's how computers work. From the GPS device to the laptop to the mp3 player. From the mouse cursor you see on the screen to your favorite youtube video. They all work on zeroes and ones. Zeroes and ones, also known as binary code, are simply a system to represent computer processor instructions. These instructions are actually electrical signals that go on and off. We use zero to represent an off signal and one to represent an on signal. Computers process these signals extremely fast and after those signals are processed we get the output, or results, from those signals.

So there you have it, a very simple rundown of how technology works. So the next time you turn on your desktop or laptop, or power up that GPS, remember, it's just a bunch of electrical signals.....zeroes and ones.

So now you know the origin of my blog title. Most future posts will focus on technology. Of course, I'll throw in updates of my life and family as well. If you have any questions or suggested topics you want me to cover, just let me know in the comments section or shoot me an email or Facebook message. My goal is to add a new post once per week, maybe more if time allows!

Sarah and Tempie

My first official post is actually going to be about my wife and daughter. I married an amazing woman 5 1/2 years ago. Her name is Sarah Mae. She's way up there on the list for greatest people to ever live. I love our life together and I'm looking forward to the many years to come!

We had our first baby on September 19, 2009. Her name is Temperance Grace, or Tempie. She's a beautiful little baby and has brought us a whole heaping of joy. I love her a bunch and it's so much fun to see her grow and learn things. A couple of new things that have happened over the last couple of weeks. First, she's finding the range in her voice.....that's a whole lot of fun...I think! Second, she's got her first tooth coming in!

I've got a few pictures below and I hope you enjoy them. I'm sure there will be many more to come. Check out our Facebook pages for more pictures!

 

 

About this blog

Hello everyone and welcome to my blog! It seems as though everyone is getting into the blog world these days so I thought I would be unique and start one myself. If you're wondering what's up with the name, it comes from the way computers process things. I'll go more in depth on my first official post.

So, what will this blog be about? Mostly about technology. I'll talk about what's new, what's up and coming, what's phasing out. I plan to keep it simple too. That way, if you're not tech savvy, you won't feel lost when reading what I have to say. I'll also share some things about me, my ridiculously awesome wife, and my beautiful daughter.

What that said, please bear with me for a bit while I figure out Blogger. I hope to have this thing up and going soon. I also ask that you forgive any typos or grammer issues that may come up. Just let me know and I'll correct those things. I feel like I'm pretty close to genius, but English can trip me up sometimes. I plan to add new posts 3-4 times a month so stay tuned for the first relevant post.