Computer Science Class

Cheese

2007-12-12T22:26:00.000-07:00

Cheese, otherwise known as "queso" in Spanish, is a solid dairy product made from milk using the method of coagulating. There are hundreds of different kinds of cheese worldwide, and the taste and style of the cheese depends on which kind of milk you use (cows, goats, sheep, etc.), what the butterfat content is, the diet of the animal the milk comes from, and much more. Just a few examples of types of cheese are Limburger, Picok, Danbo, Gubbeen, Mozzarella, Swiss, and Cheddar Cheese. To see even more types of cheese, visit this Wikipedia page.

What may surprise you is cheese is a VERY ancient food -- in fact, its origins predate recorded history. However, it has definitely changed over the years. The earliest cheeses are assumed to have been sour and salty.

Cheese has also affected the way we speak. The word "cheesy" is an English slang, used to describe something corny, cheap, or something of poor quality. Also, when you are getting your picture taken, it is not uncommon for the photographer to say "Say cheese!" because the word cheese allows your mouth to be stretched to make it seem like you are smiling.

In conclusion, cheese is awesome.

Aunt Lilli

2007-12-11T07:18:00.001-07:00

Processor
AMD Athlon 64 X2 Dual-Core 6000+ 3.0 GHz Processor - $159.99
Amazon
Case
Rosewill R6426-P BK ATX Mid Tower Computer Case - $19.99
Newegg.com
Memory
Crucial Ballistix 2GB (2 x 1GB) 240-Pin DDR2 SDRAM DDR2 800 (PC2 6400) Dual Channel Kit Desktop Memory - $74.99
Newegg.com
Hard Drive
Seagate Barracuda 7200.10 ST3250410AS 250GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s Hard Drive - OEM - $69.99
Newegg.com
Cooler/Heatsink
ZALMAN CNPS9500 LED 92mm 2 Ball Cooling Fan with Heatsink
Newegg.com
Motherboard
ASUS M2N-SLI Deluxe AM2 NVIDIA nForce 570 SLI MCP ATX AMD Motherboard
Newegg.com
Graphics Card
Newegg.com

On2 Technologies

2007-12-05T22:17:00.000-07:00

Previously known as The Duck Corporation, On2 Technologies is a company that designs proprietary and video codec technology. (A video codec is a software that allows you to compress or decompress videos.) It is headquartered in New York in the city of Tarrytown and it was established in 1992. There are offices worldwide, in countries such as Germany, Japan, China, Taiwan, UK, Korea, and many others. Their customers include Samsung, Sony, Adobe/Macromedia, Skype, AOL, Facebook, and much more. On2 Technologies offers video applications anywhere an excellent video experience.

Joost

2007-12-05T22:02:00.000-07:00

Joost is an upcoming system that allows the sharing of TV shows and other videos over the internet using peer-to-peer technology. The creators, Niklas Zennström and Janus Friis, are also the creators of Skype and Kazaa. The development of this system started in 2006 and it was developed under the name "The Venice Project". Teams of about 150 software developers from about six different cities were assembled by Zennström and Friis. Zennström reported in the July 25th, 2007 Skype press conference that over a million beta testers have signed up for Joost, and that it will be launched some time near the end of the year. The teams and FOX networks are currently negotiating about the system.

Silverlight

2007-11-13T21:41:00.000-07:00

Silverlight is a program developed by Microsoft, released on September 5th 2007. Before Silverlight, websites were restricted to GIFs and Flash when it came to animation. However, with this new release, graphical/animation display with multimedia and interactivity is provided. This program is compatible with both Windows and Mac OS X. The new version of Silverlight, Version 1.1, will be released in a few months.

Windows 7

2007-11-07T17:43:00.000-07:00

Windows 7 will be the next version of Microsoft Windows that is to come out in the year 2010. It will be Windows Vista's successor, which was the previous version that was released in July 2007. Though not many details have been released, Bill Gates has stated that the new operating system will be more "user-centric". He also said in an interview with Newsweek that "students won't need textbooks; they can just use these tablet devices". Though Vista improved greatly on digital ink and speech, Windows 7 sounds like it will be a much bigger bet.

Yuuguu

2007-10-31T20:31:00.001-07:00

Yuuguu is a program that is similar to the feature on the new operating system by Apple. It allows you to control computers from anywhere in the world if given permission. Also, if you want to share a picture that you took that is on your computer at home and you are at work, you can simply use this program to access that picture on your home computer. This is very convenient if your friends or family are having problems with their computers and you know how to fix it. Yuuguu makes many things convenient, and it is compatible with both Macs and PC's.

Exploring Sites

2007-10-30T06:15:00.000-07:00

Footnote.com - Footnote is a website with the purpose of letting people search and browse through various documents of the historic nature.

Hardtofine800numbers.com - This is a website that you can go to if you need to find resources or information dealing with numbers (mailbox numbers, phone numbers, etc.).

Ninjawords.com - This is an AMAZINGLY fast (fast like a ninja) dictionary. What an excellent way to save trees!

Uncyclopedia.org - This website mocks wikipedia and contains articles that are not serious in nature, but very comical. Rated R for language and inappropriate content.

Wikisky.org - Wikisky is a website that allows you to locate things in the night sky.

Wink.com - Wink allows you to search for people using online communities such as MySpace, Friendster, FaceBook, etc. by name, location, school, work, interests, and more.

Skeptic.com - This site is dedicated to skeptics around the world and the promotion of science. People can find clarification and viewpoints on controversial ideas and claims.

Slacker.com - This site allows you to listen to radio stations on the internet as well as make your own internet radio for the music you like.

Expn.com - Uncyclopedia.org : Wikipedia.org :: Expn.com : Espn.com

Avsforum.com - This site helps you to get the best audio and video quality for your home theatre and it was established in 1995.

Distrowatch - This is a website for Linux users. Linux is an operating system.

Extremetech.com - Extremetech provides lots of technical content about new products, advances in technology, etc.

Instructables.com - This site has many, many tutorials, and claims to be the world's biggest show & tell. They have anything from bike painting tips to how to make a witch for halloween.

Lifehacker.com - This site recommends downloads, websites, and shortcuts and gives tips to computer users with problems.

Processlibrary.com - This online resource site provides the latest information about spywares, adwares, trojans, viruses, and so on.

Versiontracker.com - Here is your source for Mac OS X software, freeware, shareware, downloads, and the latest updates and reviews.

Inviteshare.com -

Majorgeeks.com - This site is dedicated to geeks so that they can download freeware, shareware, software utilities, and more. They help to tweak, repair, protect, and enhance your computer.

Websitegrader.com - If you have a website and you want to know how good it is and how well it is doing compared to competitors, just fill in the information at this site.

1up.com - A videogame addict's heaven, complete with news from the gaming world, information, videos, cheats, and lots more.

Ign.com - Ign is also like 1up with the latest award winning coverage of video games, cheats, movies, music, and more.

Kotaku.com - This is where gamers can find gossip, news, and leaks. A lot of the content has to do with Japan.

Armorgames.com - This is where you can play flash games on the internet. There is anything from online action, arcade, adventure, sports, puzzles, and much more.

TO BE CONTINUED

Windows Media Server

2007-10-24T21:50:00.000-07:00

Windows media consists of several applications made by Microsoft Windows. Some examples are Windows Media Player (which you are most likely familiar with), Windows Media Encoder, and Windows Media Services. Windows Media Player is, as the name suggestions, playing media such as music and videos. Windows Media Encoder is a tool that is designated for helping you with coding. Windows Media Services is a streaming media server.

3:2 Pulldown

2007-10-17T19:49:00.001-07:00

3:2 Pulldown is a common pulldown pattern. The word "pulldown" comes from the process of pulling down film to advance to the next frame. The 3:2 pulldown is when you change material with 24 frames to material with 29.97 frames. There's two steps to this process. The first is to slow down the material by 1/1.001. The change is so small that the audience doesn't notice, but it increases the number of frames to 23.976. The second step is done by first understanding that there are now four frames of film for every five frames of the NTSC video. The four frames are then changed into five.

MPEG - 4

2007-10-15T09:01:00.000-07:00

MPEG-4 is a standard that is mainly used for compressing video and audio files that was introduced in 1988. MPEG stands for the Moving Picture Experts Group, which is designated for setting standards for video and audio coding. MPEG-4 is different from MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 because it includes new features. For example, extended VRML support for 3D rendering has been added as well as object-oriented composite files, externally-specified Digital Rights Management support, and others. These benefits increase the quality of digital television, animated graphics, World Wide Web, and others.

MPEG-4 also helps fight against copyright violation. Just as an example, iTunes uses this standard which makes file sharing harder. You may notice this if you are trying to share something you bought from iTunes with your friend and get very frustrated (I know I have).

ISO

2007-10-02T06:35:00.001-07:00

ISO, also known as the Internation Organization of Stadardization, is an organization that maintains standards for internet users all around the world. They are a standards organization that was founded on February 23rd, 1947 that is headquarted in Geneva, Switzerland. They claim to be a non-governmental organization, but they are so powerful that the standards they set often become law. This is possible through treaties or national standards, which makes it much more powerful that other non-government organizations.

Also, the name 'ISO' is in fact NOT an acronym for their name. It originated from the greek word 'isos' which means 'equal' in English. Not only does this make it easier to have the same acronym for all languages, it represents the equality of the standardization of all cultures.

So don't mess with them.