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50 Killer Apps for your USB

These free apps don't require any installation. With portable applications, all you have to do is plug in your USB and run the program without the hassle of installing the program or leaving traces behind. If you like these portable apps, many of them also have an installer allowing you to install the program on your computer for more speed and accessibility.

How to Choose a Computer

Buying a new computer can be an overwhelming task for anyone. But finding the computer that is right for you doesn't have to be hard. You just have to think about what you want the computer to do. Does it have to be portable? Is it just going to be used for homework? Are you a big gamer? This all factors into what type of computer suits you best.

Pirates In Space!

Recently, pirated software as well as the sites that host them have been receiving a lot of criticism for their "lack of morals." The entertainment industry is attempting to stop any and all of the countless torrent sites littering the internet, but to no avail. The most famous (or infamous) and well known website distributing pirated software is The Pirate Bay.

The entertainment industry has been chasing The Pirate Bay for a long time with little to show for their efforts. Although they have won numerous lawsuits opposing what the site is doing, the industry isn't even close to removing the site from existence. The Pirate Bay almost seems impervious to any attempts to get even close.

Tables != Layout

Tables exist in HTML for one reason and one reason only: To display tabular data. That's it. Then border="0" came along and made it possible to make a table to organize data without being able to see the table itself. Which then led to tables being used to lay everything out on all beginner websites and even some professional websites. The time has come for this to stop. Professional websites are now designed in a way that makes the website more flexible and more functional, not to mention the massive increase in the readability of the code. Still on the edge? Let me change that for you.

Qualities of Good Code

Although knowing how to program is obviously the most important quality of being a comptuer scientist, code architecture follows closely behind. The quality of underlying code will have a great impact on the reliability, scalability, security, extensibility, and maintainability of your program. Basically, without good code architecture, you will run into many problems down the road.

Self Repairing Solar Panels

With the goal of transferring the world's energy demands to renewable sources quickly becoming more and more essential to the existence of the human race, scientists at MIT are focusing on creating revolutionary, super-efficient solar panels to harness the sun's power. But there is something extraordinary about these solar panels. They have the uncanny ability to repair themselves.

Lingodroids

Its one thing for a robot to be programmed to understand Japanese or English or any other language that already exists. But it quite a feat for two robots to develop their own language and be able to communicate with each other like these two have.

Created by Ruth Shultz and her colleagues at the University of Queensland and Queensland University of Technology, each of these Lingodroids have developed a specialized language for the sole purpose of navigating their way around obstacles and recognizing where they are.

Less - CSS Preprocessor

Everyone who calls themselves a web designer has quite a bit of experience with Cascading Style Sheets. CSS is extremely simple, including only rulesets and declarations. The only reason CSS exists is to encapsulate the elements to style and how to style them. For the newcomer, it does everything it is supposed to do, but to an experienced developer managing a dynamic website, CSS is a massive limitation on how easily values can be changed and related to one another.

Why Linux (Still) Sucks

Over the past few months, there has been a great increase in the amount of interest in open source options and that isn't limited to software. It also applies to operating systems, specifically to Linux. To Linux activists, Linux is a gift from the gods, saving humanity from the evils of Bill Gates and his cursed Windows operating system. But to everyone else, it is just another attempt by less than 1% of the market to dethrone Windows as the most effective end user operating system currently available on the market.

Ninite: The Universal Installer

Getting a virus and having to reformat your computer wouldn't be so bad if you didn't lose all of your favorite programs. But it happens to everyone. Viruses and malware troll theinternet just waiting for some unexpecting user to come by. Then they attack and there isn't much you can do about it. The virus will ravage your computer until all hope is lost and your only hope of regaining use of your computer is to reformat the computer. And every program you ever installed is gone too.

Qualities of Good Code

How To Choose A Computer

By Daniel Taylor on June 13, 2011 03:36

Should I Get a Desktop, Laptop, or Netbook?

The first decision is also the most obvious. What type of computer are you looking for? What fits your lifestyle?

If you want your computer to be cost efficient and don't plan to travel a lot with your new computer, a desktop is for you. Desktops are bigger and more powerful in every way and you will get more for your money. The only sacrifice you will make is in portability. Desktops are common in offices and as static home computers.

If you travel often, a laptop is for you. A laptop offers a very portable alternative to the more cumbersome desktop computer. You will sacrifice some power and hard drive space, but in return, you will receive a computer with a much sleeker profile. Laptops also tend to cost slightly more in general compared to desktops.

A netbook is a stripped down laptop. Netbooks have very little hard drive space and a limited amount of memory. A netbook is meant for checking email, surfing the web, and listening to music. Most netbooks cannot handle much else. Netbooks also have a significantly smaller screen than a laptop as well as a cramped keyboard. Netbooks are more of a supplement to a desktop or laptop than a replacement for them.

What Platform Should I Get?

For 99.9% of consumers, there are two options when choosing a platform: Mac or Windows. There are benefits to each as well as drawbacks.

Macs tend to be slimmer and have a much sleeker look to them. This trend also migrates its way into the user interface. Macs have more "flash" than a Windows computer. 90% of the programs that the average consumer uses on a Windows computer has an alternative the will run on Mac. Apple laptops have also been proven to have a longer lifespan than Windows laptops, but, in the age of technology, your computer will probably need to be replaced in 3-4 years anyways. This longevity does not extend into desktops. But all of this comes at a very high price. Macs cost anywhere from 50% to 200% more than a Windows computer with comparable hardware.

PCs will allow you to get more for your money. PCs are more customizable than their Apple counterparts. PCs are also much more popular than Apple computers, so it will be much easier to find technical support online if something does go wrong. Apple has had a poor reputation concerning tech support in recent years.

If your budget allows for a price incrase of 50% or more for the same power, I would recommend purchasing a Mac. If price is a big factor in your decision, I would stick with a Windows computer.

So What Should I Look For?

Well, it all depends on what you want to use your computer for. I will provide a generic overview of the most basic components of a computer.

Size and Weight: This only applies to laptops. Laptops range in size from 13 inches to 17 inches and weigh anywhere from 2.5 pounds to 8.5 pounds. Weight can be a significant factor in your decision if you know you will be lugging your computer around with you everywhere.
Screen Size: The size of the screen applies mostly to laptops. Desktop monitors can be bought separate from the computer itself. A laptop screen cannot be replaced so you are stuck with what you purchase. The first thing to remember is that bigger is not always better. Most screens provide the same readability and resolution relative to the size of the screen. The most important thing to consider here is the bigger the screen, the shorter the battery life.
Battery Life: The battery life can be a deal maker or a deal breaker for any laptop or netbook. Larger screens often decrease the life of the battery. Try to aim for a battery life of at least 4 hours. If your computer has a larger screen, 3 hours of battery life is about average.
Memory: Now we are getting to the heart of the computer. The stuff that makes your computer tick. The more memory, or RAM, your computer has, the more applications can be run simultaneously. If you are purchasing a laptop running Windows, you should aim for 3-4 GB of RAM. If you are purchasing a Mac, at least 4 GB of RAM is highly recommended. Netbooks will almost always have less than 3 GB of RAM, but that is okay. Netbooks aren't meant to handle any complex tasks so they don't need as much memory. As a general rule of thumb, buy as much RAM as you can afford. Any more than 8 GB for a Windows computer or 16GB for a Mac is probably more than most users would need.
Processor: The processor is the little guy inside your computer issuing instructions which tell the computer what to do. It controls the speed at which your computer processes instructions. The amount of RAM controls how many instructions can be processed simultaneously. Processor speeds are measured in gigahertz (GHz). You will find that an AMD processor or one of Intel's processors: Centrino, Pentium, or Core (ordered from slowest to fastest) powers nearly every computer. Processor speed has become less of a selling point because most processors are very close in speed. You shouldn't have to worry too much about the speed of the processor. The amount of RAM is the most important part.
Hard Drive: The hard drive stores all of the data on your computer. Every time you download an email attachment, create a document in Microsoft Word, or download music, a file is created and that file takes up space on the hard drive. For a laptop, you should find a computer with at least 320 GB of memory. Desktop compuuters are much more customizable, therefore, you will find computers with much more memory.
Graphics Card: The graphics card is what processes all of the information related to displaying pictures on the screen. If you are interested in playing complex video games on your computer, you definitely want to make sure you have a fast, reliable graphics card. If you don't plan on playing games, you don't have to worry about the graphics card. If you are a casual gamer, you might want to look into a $100 card with 256MB of memory. Hardcore gamers would need at least 512MB of memory on the graphics card, preferably 1GB.
Extra Hardware: Do you want to talk to people on Skype? You want to make sure your computer has an integrated camera. If it doesn't, you can pick up a decent external webcam for around $50. If you use a digital camera consistently, you want to make sure that your computer has a digital media slot for your camera's memory card.

Conclusion

Buying a computer can be a daunting task, but it is well worth the time spent making the correct decision. If you do not know exactly what you want as far as the computer specs go, I would recommend stopping by your local Best Buy or other electronics store for help. After you assess your needs, you will find it much easier to find a computer that fits your lifestyle.