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Vol. 8, No. 21
6-12-08
1 Processor mumbo jumbo
2 Chips?
3 iPhone apps, Usenet killer,
Windows updates, RIAA nightmare
4 Explorer replacement
5
Cookies
PC architecture changes constantly and keeping up with current hardware is all but impossible, but at least back in the day the measurements were fairly easy to comprehend. Just two or three years ago everything involved speed and size.
Processors were measured by
speed in Hz (or GHz since the late ‘90s) and hard drives by size. Memory got both, the physical size of the
memory available as well as the operating speed.
Currently, with processors
more than anything, those numbers are out the window. Today processor names are about as easy to
understand as a technical manual written in Taiwan and translated into English
by a company in Botswana.
Weird alphanumeric
combination, 64 bits, dual core, quad core, what the heck does all that
gobbledy gook mean?
Before we begin lets go over
some basic description of the terms involved.
A bit is the smallest amount of data used by computers and consists of a
value of either a 1 or a 0. It generally
takes eight bits to make a byte, 1024 bytes to make a kilobytes, 1024 kilobytes
to make a megabyte and so on.
Hertz when it comes to
processors is a measurement of processing cycles. The more cycles per second, the faster data
gets processed, and at today’s GHz speeds we’re talking billions of cycles per
second.
A core is basically the
processor itself. This is the silicon
wafer that actually does the number crunching and spell checking and gaming
that we all know and love.
That out of the way, these
processor names start to make more sense.
Until recently all cores were
32 bit, meaning each clock cycle could crunch 32 bits of data. On an ancient 800 MHz that would be one
25,600 bit process per second. A single
core 3 GHz 32 bit chip would crunch 98,304 bits per second.
So a 64 bit core digests
twice as many bits per cycle, so processes are carried out faster. That also means more processes can be run per
second so multi-taskers get a performance increase.
Now to the cores. Since a dual core processor has two actual
chips on one die each one can carry out that number of processes per second
resulting in a lot more power. Notice I
did not say speed.
Since each chip crunches 64
bits of data per cycle you will get a speed boost but these are different
processes, not the same one twice as fast.
Multi-core processor power is misunderstood much the same as horsepower
in automobiles. Massive horsepower alone
can’t make a car faster, it just gives it more torque, or ability to pull more
weight or move a given weight more efficiently.
If you think about the
origins of the term you’ll understand that four horses will pull wagon farther
carrying more weight than two horses, but they won’t do it faster. In a car the horsepower has to be coupled
with smaller gear ratios, higher injector capacities, more aerodynamic
undercarriages and so on.
In a computer the power needs
to be coupled with wider pipes for the data to move through, faster memory to
respond to requests and a larger cache (memory built onto the processor die to
squirt waiting data in at the same clock rate).
Now that you know what the
terms mean, you’ll need to understand how to take advantage of these
capabilities. Next week I’ll go over
programs that will utilize all that power.
Until then, play with what
you have ;)
Kevin Mefford, Editor
Terry Wise
Tech News of the Week
If
a survey of developers attending Apple's Worldwide Developers
Conference this week is of any indication, the average cost of a
third-party iPhone application will fall well below $3.00, with the
vast majority being made available at no cost at all. To quote
philosopher Joe P., free is good:
http://tinyurl.com/52h3qv
Three major Internet service providers
have reached an agreement with
New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo to purge their servers of child
pornography Web sites and newsgroups, Cuomo's office announced
Tuesday. Just a thought: why did it take government action for this
to happen? Maybe no one is minding the store:
http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2319649,00.asp
Microsoft issued seven updates this week
for Windows Vista and XP.
Three of them are considered critical:
http://www.itjungle.com/two/two061108-story02.html
SanDisk Corp. has agreed to buy wireless
MP3 player pioneer
MusicGremlin for an undisclosed sum. That means many SanDisk
customers may soon be able to share music, just like on the MS Zune.
The head of the RIAA is just now wondering why he has a splitting
headache:
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121312979030261733.html?mod=googlenews_wsj
Copy us on the good stuff
Matthew Dattilo
Download of the Week
Anyone frustrated with the
single-pane interface of Windows Explorer will welcome Q-Dir with open arms.
This fantastic and free file management program uses four panes to make it easy
to copy and move files among directories and folders, and even across your
network. Run the program, and then use each individual pane for navigation,
including navigating your networks. You can copy and move files and directories
among them. No more opening multiple instances of Windows Explorer.
You can drag and drop files
to move them, not only among the panes, but also to or from another program
such as Windows Explorer. You can customize the views in each pane, such as by
changing the size of the icons. There are also a lot of extras, such as file
filters and the use of color to highlight different kinds of files. In short,
if you want a file management program, this is a great one--and it's free as
well. Get it here: http://tinyurl.com/6ekyud
Carlita Lupino
Email Question of the Week
Q: I dislike the idea of a web site being able
to place "something"
within my computer to prevent me from "doing" another activity. A
case
in point: when I download a coupon, the next time I attempt to
download another copy they tell me I can't. I realize they have a
right to place limits BUT I feel they should not have the right to
seize my computer. Is there a way to eliminate their "take-over " of
MY property?
A: You can set your browser to not accept
cookies, however, that is going
to change the way you experience the World Wide Web. Cookies are the
way the we can keep the Web free. One per household, one per
computer……it's the law.
Art Maley
Contact
info and legal stuff
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