My very own podcast!

Well I have some good news, I'm going to be starting my
very own weekly podcast. Speaking of podcasts we saw a movie or a video
podcast by these people. Here are a few key things that I found out about
podcasts.

Want to know more about podcasts take a look at this article I dug up!It's from feedvurner wich explains all about Podcasting!

• You need good hardware


• You need programs like either Adobe Audition or Audacity to make your podcast all
  the more better

Well you can use stuff like sound recorder a tool that comes as default with
xp and other windows versions but it isn't as clear! So I guess other programs
aer the best way togo.

Some things that we should keep in mind while creating a mp3

• while converting the normal wav file to mp3 using codecs use something
  like a 64 bit, so that it doesn't distort!


• Always use the mono channel so that the sound is clear in all types of
  broadcasts


• Normalize the sound so that all the sound is of the same volume.


• Always convert it into mp3 because this way you have more compression
  level and you don't have huge file sizes. Big file sizes might result in no
  downloads of the podcast.

That's right I'm going to be starting my very own
podcast. Infact I've completed a preview podcast of what my podcast is going to
be of, but is going to be a while though until I release it though. So until
then keep checking back later. If you have any suggestion of what I could
include on my podcast then please e-mail me @ beyondteck@gmail.com

Will be adding more to this post later

Source: From Stuff that I remember from the movie!

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Podcasting and communications

There are a lot of thing you can do on the internet, it's not just for e-mail and browsing through sites. There is a lot more to it too. I have assembled a list of stuff that you can do on the internet here.

Here are some interesting facts for you!

for networking you need hubs and switches, lots of types of networks

• LAN-Stands for Local Area Network, the computers are connected either wirelessly or using category 5 cable or a RJ 45 cable. The computer can also be connected using 802.11 aor b or g.
  
  
  
  
• WAN-Wide Area Network the network that is more wider, consisting of more lan. The largest wide area network right now is the... you guessed it the internet. This is because it consists of a network.
  

Things that I learnt about RSS

• It stands for really simple syndication
• You get updated information all the time
• It comes to you you don't go to it
• All you need to do is suscribe to the feed

Things that I learnt about Podcast

• Podcast is like a radio show with no commercials
• Podcast is a thing that is like broadcasting on the internet
• You can subscribe to podcasts
• podcasts keep you updated

To manage podcasts a good software is i-Tunes.


I personally for podcasts like i-tunes a lot, mainly because of how it looks(only thing I don't like is the scroll bars looka a bit wierd). I find that anything that apple makes has a really cool look to it unlike other software. Somehow the preview of the i-tunes lured me into downloading it and why now. It's free and it's got the cool mac style styling(i love mac style!) I wish there was a default setting already installed in my computer that would enable me to dress up my windows like mac (you can do that but you need to download some software and patches and so on)

Because I like the mac styling soo much I use firefox in firefox you can dress up the browse to look like a mac browse(too bad you can change the buttons and all that just the elements of the browser can be changed)

Will be adding more to this post as soon as I finish seeing the video of how to create your own podcast. I have a feeling that I'm going to be making my very own pedcas and my audioblog pretty soon.

Source my notes, things that I already knew, webopedia.
(please note that this post is still incomplete)

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Cool Downloads

My list of cool downloads:

This is where I put things info about things that I've downloaded or have heard about, which could be useful.

Good Downloads

• Google web Accelerator

Have I tried it out myself?
Yes, even though I have high speed it worked! I found that a page that took 2 seconds to load now loads a coupe of milliseconds faster, but anyways it's worth it I think.

My review of this product: If you have any sort of connection this boosts your page loading speed. It makes your pages load seconds faster. If you have a slow internet connection and want to speed it up this is the way to go. Now you can get extensions like faster fox for firefox (even though it firefox is a bit faster than Microsoft Internet Explorer) but I didn't hear good reviews about it so I didn't venture into downloading that.

• Mozilla firefox

Have I tried it out myself?
Yes, I use the 1.5 beta version (but it is under testing stage still so it has a few bugs)

My review of this product:

Mozilla has come up with this cool product called Mozilla FireFox for windows and mac. Basically it is a web browser that is a better version of netscape navigator and internet explorer put together. But the good thing that I like in it are:

• Faster
• Customizable look so you can dress it up how you want it
• it has cool addons (mozilla calls it extensions)
  
• Most of all anybody can creat a component for Firefox so people come up with genious ideas of how to make a browser better and you can download that extension. Sort of like wikepedia it's always updated.
  

• Winamp Player

Have I tried it out myself?
Nope

My review of this product:
Well until I try it out all I can say is that it looks cooool!

• iTunes

Have I tried it out myself?
Yes, I use the latest windows version which is iTunes 5.0.1.4

My review of this product:
It is really good in the graphics area but not so good in the file managing area. You need to get the hang of it for a while until you can use it properly. If you have any other files like WMA or anything else it converts it to mpeg4. so it you want to keep it in it's original format you can't play it iTunes. But what its good in though is podcasts and all that kind of stuff, as it is easier to manage it.

• Google Talk
  

Have I tried it out myself?
Yes, I use the latest windows version.

My review of this product:
Simple yet good. Almost every thing that google makes is always simple. It has no adds. And tell you when you have an e-mail etc. The best thing about this is that you get to us the Internet Call feature. Google talk has the best call clarity which is better than any other internet messenger that I've used! It is also a really short download.
Cons: Yes unfortunately it does have some minus points. Biggest problem is that no one has it unlike msn messenger and all that. It does not have display pictures or avatars. It does not have e-moticons. Doesn't have custom skins. And you don't have a lot of customization. But I presume that pretty soon google is going to add this and Google talk is still in the beta stages.

Well that's all the reviews I have for now but I'll make sure I update this list regularly. Another thing is that don't take my word for it this is just what I think but I know other people who have faced serious problems and don't like this product. This post is only to inform you about the latest stuff!

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Nothing to say today!

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All about networking

Today we talked a lot about networking so I have postd all my notes over here.

802.11g is fater than 802.11b

b has a shorter range but is good if you don't want anybody to steal your wireless signals.
g is faster and has more range and is good if you want better info.

Problem with routers is that anybody ca view information that is sent even though it is encrypted. The good thing is that a router is a good firewall because hackers cant clearly reach our computer because the connection is though the router.

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Networking , devices and memory!

Networking , devices and memory!

Memory is volatile (temporary).
Bios: Short for Basic Input Output System. This stores the program of what it has to do, previous processes and processes it has to do. When we boot the computer( startup the computer) we see the bios part. Interisting tip, my teacher says that if you press delete when you boot the computer it takes you to the set up.

Now to the memory part.
There are many kinds of RAM available like:
SIMM (the older one): Single In-line Memory Module

(will be writing more on this later)

Picture of SIMM RAM ( taken from answers.com) click on link to access it.
DIMM: Dual In-Line Memory Module
Picture of SIMM RAM ( taken from answers.com) click on link to access it.

(will be writing more on this later)


Hard drive parts :
Actuator Arm this is the part that reads the magnetic code.
Disk platter: The metal disk that revolves around
So what a hard drive does is ti spins around at high speeds and that's when tha actuator arm reads information, writes info etc.

How a cd (compact disk) works:
A cd has what is called pits and lands. If you look at shiny side of the cd you are going to realize that there are sort of lines on the cd (tip look near the edges) that stand out. These are the pits and lands. The pits are the parts that are burned(a cd burner creats pits and lands and puts infor in cd) and the lands are the parts that are flat. So when that laser in the cd drive (yes there is apparently a laser in the cd drive) goes over the spninning cd it can see reflictive parts and non reflective parts. Again we have two stages that the computer can recognize just like the binary code.

How a cd-rw (compact disk re-writable) works:
Well it works the same as the cd but just that the material that is used to create the cd can be melted again into a flat piece and you can use it again and again and again.

Interesing about cd's: If you have ever heard that never touch the shiny part of the disk then well, it's right. But did you know that touching or scratching the top side of the disk is also equally bad. Because this is the side that contains the thing that is like foil so if you damage it the cd is useless. Why is this? Because it ruins the reflictive quality of the cd. This means that no info can be stored. So you can harm cd's by scratching them or leaving finger prints. But you can't damage them using magnets unlike floppys.
CD's also contain more info usually 700MB. DVD's or digital videos, Blue Ray disks etc are the same as cd's but the have their pits and land closer.

Keyboard:
Even wonder how the information gets sent to the cpu?
Actually what happens is this:
There are two milar films with a circuit embidded into them. When we press a key the two milar films touch each other at one point, thus connecting the circuit and sending the signal to the cpu.

Mouse:
A mouse with a ball:
When a mouse turns there is a gear near the notch when the ball moves the gear moves and turns. This movement is detected by a a optical beam.
Laser mouses. More expensive and uses laser to move the cursor. (I will be adding more on this post later on.)

Networking!

Networking is a way of connecting computers. Usually a category 5 cable is used. RJ45 or the ethernet cable is used commonly. This cable looks just like a phone cable but is more thick and the plug is bigger. It has 8 wires in it twisted together in pairs. The telephone wire is called RJ11.
We also use 802.11 technology more commonly known as WI-FI (the short form of Wireless Fidility). This is a networking technology that connects computers using radio waves.

Interesting facts of today:

did you ever know that a previous processors work at 3 volts. I don't know about processors today though I'll have to look that up.
Did you know that AMD stood for Advanced Micro Devices. This is the company that produces microchips, justl like Intel.

More on this post later!

Source http://answers.com

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Bits and Bites!

This post talks about well...Bits and Bites (well bytes actually), which I actually find quite interesting. It's fascinating to know how much numbers your computer is processing, and how cool it is because it is made up of such complex parts and how smart it is. Then again, we invented the computer (yes they didn't pop out of the sky) so I guess humans are smarter than computers...

So to review the three basic things on a computer are input, output, storage and processing.
Magnetic media is usually used for the storage devices. But cd's use pits and lands to send data. And another thing to remember is computers have only two stages on and off. You can't have a light bulb half off so there are only two stages.
Now to the bits and bytes part.
To store data the computer uses patterns. Also to process data actually the computer uses patterns. These paterns are ofcourse made of 1 and 0 because that's the only thing a computer can understand.
In binary something like 0 is a bit. A single digit is always a bit, if the code is just single then it would be a single digit code. If the code is two digits like 01 then it is a two digit code.
In binary language there are 8 digit codes all made up of 1 and 0.
8 bits make up a byte. So we can say 8 bits = 1 byte.
1026 bytes makes a kilobyte.


Interesting facts
Floppy disk id made up of milar. In floppy disks because it is magnetic media S=1 and N=0 because a magnet too has only two states. So if you want to ruin a floppy disk what is reccomended is take a magnet and bring it over the floppy disk. What this does it changes the polariity of the magnets which causes the code to get all mixed up so the computer cannot read it.. Even if the floppy is locked (you can lock a floppy so that yuo cannot erase any files until you unlock it) this is going to work. Hard disk is made up of metal.

How to write the code!

Just like we use a number system the code also uses a number system. We (humans, hehe) use the base 10 number system but a computer uses the binary system. so here is how we do it in binary.

3 2 1
0
1 0

Incomplete post will complete it later on!
Sources: My notes!

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