Sunday’s Summary

What was going on this week at CyberNet News and Learn Firefox? Here’s your chance to catch-up if you missed something!

• Monday: iCal vs. Windows Calendar
• Tuesday: Online Unit Converters
• Wednesday: Firefox 3 Review
• Thursday: Sticky Notes for your Windows Desktop
• Friday: Recreating Classics Using Legos
• Saturday: RepairPal Provides Honest Auto Repair Info

• Searchload Options – Allows you to tweak the Firefox searchbar’s behavior.

Copyright © 2009 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox
Your Week in Review with Sunday’s Summary

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How It All Began…

The image below is a clipping from a newspaper in 1976 when the original Apple-1 computer was being advertised. A few things really stood out, but one of them was the Apple logo (bottom of left column). Wow, good thing they changed that, huh? The next thing that stood out was the price – $666.66?

About the price… If you’re superstitious, you know that 666 is the number that has been symbolized as another name for the devil. I originally found this over at Digg, and some of the comments there are pretty funny. Comments like:

• “And they say Gates is the devil…”
• “Steve Jobs sold his soul to the devil, and that’s why he has to wear black sweaters all the time now.”
• “It’s a price not even the devil can refuse.”

It also appears that they didn’t have an editor back then. Take a look at the first sentence: “The Apple-1 System if a fully assembled, tested….” Wow, they sure have come a long ways, haven’t they?

Copyright © 2009 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox
CyberDays: Apple-1 Computer Cost $666.66

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How It All Began…

The Internet has evolved into a marvelous thing, but it all had to start somewhere. The first website was located here (now replaced with an informational page), and it was started to aid physicists in answering tough questions about the universe. Now, however, the web is practically its own universe and almost everyone has their own website(s).

There was a cache of the original site made one-year after it launched, and it can be found here (Note: If your browser can’t handle that website, you know it is time to upgrade). Anyone familiar with HTML coding will surely get a kick out of looking at the source code because of how simple it is.

And like most projects "The Web" had some bugs. At the time there was still a lot of work to be done as there was little formatting options available, oh yeah, and no search engines! They definitely had search engines as part of the plan though:

Now the web of data and indexes exists, some really smart intelligent algorithms ("knowbots?") could run on it. Recursive index and link tracing, Just think…

Looks like Google was exactly what they had in mind when they made that statement. A name like "knowbots" though? I guess the term "bot" has been heavily adapted, but I had never heard of a knowbot until I read that.

Now if we jump ahead a few years we land in 1994. What kind of progress was made since the first website was posted? Well, it was mostly just some added color and graphical support, but it was a lot better than the plain white background with black text and blue hyperlinks! Here’s a video from 1994 that demonstrates the capabilities of a website:

It’s amazing to see what started the thing we now call the Internet. The primitive days of text links and choppy layouts have come to an end as we push our way through the Web 2.0 era. One can only wonder what joys Web 3.0 will bring to us!

Video Source: Download Squad

Copyright © 2009 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox
CyberDays: The First Website and Early Internet

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How It All Began…

Founded in 1976, Apple has continued to change the face of computers as we know them to be today. Apple computers were originally hand-built out of a garage. It began with the Apple I, and has evolved into the Apple as we know it today; whether it’s the MacBook or the MacBookPro. Along with the computer evolving, so has their logo, and slogan. So, let’s take a look back at the beginning of the Apple Logo, and their first slogan!

The very first Apple logo is pictured to the right. It was designed by two of the founders, Steve Jobs and Ronald Wayne, and shows Sir Isaac Newton sitting under an apple tree. This logo was used for several years, until 1976, along with the slogan “Byte into an Apple.”

Then in 1976, Apple moved to the rainbow logo that everybody is familiar with today. Designed by Rob Janoff’, the rainbow stuck around for over two decades, and of course is the silhouette of an apple with a bite taken out of it.(A much improved logo in comparison to the original!) In 1999, the rainbow apple retired,  and a new logo came along. Some of the slogans during those 23 years included:

•  ”Soon there will be 2 kinds of people.  Those who use computers, and those who use Apples.” (Early 80’s)
• “Changing the world – one person at a time” (Mid 80’s)
• “The computer for the rest of us” (1984)
• “Leading the Way” (1984)
• “There’s no telling how far it can take you (1980’s)
• “The power to be your best” (1980’s-1990’s)

Moving on to the current logo, it was introduced in 1999 and has been around since then. Ever since 1999, Apple has  stuck with a monochrome logo which is just about the same shape as the rainbow version prior. You can find it on every MAC product, including the ever popular iPod, all over the world. The gray version pictured to the right isn’t the only color in use.  In Mac OS X, the default color is blue. You may have even seen it in red on some of the software packages, and on the iBook, PowerBook G4, MacBook, and MacBook Pro. Some of the slogans since 1999 include:

• “Think different” (1997-2002)
• “Switch” (2002-2003)
• “Get a Mac” (2006)

Apple has surely made a name for themselves. People all around the world can identify the logo of an Apple and associate it with Apple computers. And their commercials humorously depicting the advantages of Macs over PCs are everywhere, with their “Get a Mac” campaign. The look of a Mac has definitely changed, for the better, since their beginnings in a garage back in 1976.

Copyright © 2009 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox
CyberDays: Taking a Look Back at Apple’s Logos and Slogans

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Microsoft Windows is obviously the most used operating system and sometimes we may take for granted how far computers have come. Each time a new version of Windows is released we compare it to the previous version and with the upcoming release of Vista everyone likes to say “what’s different from XP?”

Maybe that isn’t the question that should be asked. Instead how about we take a look back at a few of Microsoft’s past operating systems to see how far things have really come! I am just going to cover a few of the different versions of Windows but if you would like to see more screenshots make sure you check them out InfoSattelite.

 –Windows 1.0–

What was wrong with Windows 1.0? It had everything and you can see that in the screenshot below: Calendar, Calculator, file explorer, and so much more! I don’t see anything different from Vista. I mean look at the killer drop-shadow on the calculator! That is some 3D eye-popping madness!

(more…)

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How It All Began…

Supercomputers can handle absolutely enormous processing tasks these days and some will be approaching 1 PFLOPS (1 Peta Floating Point Operations). It would be pretty sweet to play a game of Solitaire on that baby!

After a little research I found IBM’s Naval Ordnance Research Calculator (NORC) to be considered the first supercomputer. Of course, I am a little partial to considering the Atanasoff-Berry Computer (ABC) to be the first supercomputer because I am an Iowa State University student, which is where that was built. However, this article is taking a look at the IBM NORC…so let’s start with a quick video of it in action:

Here are some specs on the IBM NORC:

• Decimal integer and floating-point notation and operation.
• Word size: 16 decimal digits + check digit (64 + 2 bits).
• 64 three-address instructions.
• Clock: 1 µsec.
• 15,000 operations per second with automatic error checking.
• Two universal registers, one million digits per second.
• Three address/index registers.
• Add time: 15 µsec. Multiply: 31 µsec. Divide: 227 µsec.
• Random-access CRT memory: 3600 words, 8 sec access, provided by 264 Williams-type CRTs
• Magnetic tape: 8 units, 4-track, 510 char/inch, 71,500 char/sec.
• Printers: 2 units, 120 char/line, 150 lines/minute.
• Offline card/tape converter.
• Control console: Decimal display of register contents, manual controls, status lights.
• Swappable components.
• Cost: approximately $2.5 million (1950s dollars).

This bad boy could calculate PI in just 13 minutes to a precision of 3,089 digits! Wowsers!

To assemble this supercomputer it took 60 people and more than 9800 vacuum tubes. I find it very interesting to see how far computers have come and how small they have gotten. It makes me wonder how long it will be before the PDA’s will be at the same speeds as our current computers run at. I’m sure it will be a lot quicker than we think.

News Source: Columbia.edu

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CyberDays: IBM NORC Supercomputer

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All kinds of electronic devices from cameras, to video game systems have been getting wireless capabilities.  This made me wonder why portable televisions haven’t been improving. We have handheld TV’s that look like they haven’t been updated in 10-years! I thought maybe I was missing something, so I started to search around to see if I could find the latest portable television technology.

Well, I didn’t exactly find what I was looking for but I did come across something that was pretty cool and astonishing in more ways than one. What I found was Seiko’s TV Watch which they manufactured back in 1983. In order to use it you needed to connect the watch to a bulky 7oz. receiver that would pick up the television frequency and send it to the watch to be displayed.

The receiver was designed to be placed inside of a jacket and you would then run the wires down your sleeve. That way you would be able to hide the true geek inside of you.

Here are some specs on the watch:

• The display (w/o background lighting) has 31,920 pixels, 10 shades of grey, and is blue/white.
• 5 hours running time on one set of batteries.
• External tuner for VHF & UHF and FM stereo radio reception.
• The watch in its original function can be used as a stop watch (resolution 1/100 seconds) and as alarm-clock.

One of these bad boys would set you back $495 back in 1983 and according to the inflation calculator I used that would be about $945 today. If you still want one it isn’t too late. You can find just about anything on eBay and this is no exception. One of these watches just sold for $500 a few days ago in mint condition.

I guess the real question is how many people have actually see someone wearing one of these?

Copyright © 2009 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox
CyberDays: Seiko’s TV Watch

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How It All Began…

In the early 90’s, 1990 to be exact, Apple released the “Mac Classic” that was meant to be priced for those on a budget at $1500.00. It ended up being a disappointment for many,  with some models only coming with 1 MB of RAM and no hard drive. The specifications should put a smile on your face and make you thankful that the computer industry has taken some giant leaps forward!

The Mac Classic had a Motorola 6800 processor running at 8 MHz, and of course It wouldn’t be a classic without the 1.44 MB floppy drive.  It ran on Mac OS 6.07 and had a 9 inch diagonal screen.

Apple’s advertising brochure for this machine read something like:

 ” The new Macintosh Classic is ideal for anyone with basic computing needs.  It’s particularly suitable for people who work at home, for college students, and for grade school and high school students.  The Macintosh Classic offers you everything that people expect from Macintosh. And it fits as comfortably into your budget as it does into your life.”

When I was in elementary school, these were the computers we had in the classroom. Unfortunately, they were probably more beneficial as a paper weight because they seldomly got used.  It was Apple’s first attempt at making an economical computer, and because of it  I think many people took the plunge and made this their first computer purchase. This clip of the Mac Classic booting  should bring back a few memories.

News Source: TUAW

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How It All Began…

Every now and then it is fun to take a look back at what Web sites looked like when they first started. This is made possible thanks to the Way Back Machine. So why don’t we take a stroll back to 1996 and take a look at what Dell looked like.

When I first saw the homepage the first thing that I remembered was the low monitor resolutions that were available. The site was obviously optimized to fit a 640×480 resolution so that the user wouldn’t have to scroll horizontally.

I chose to checkout those “Dependable notebooks with superior battery life” next. Man, this Latitude is really decked out with the 133MHz Pentium Processor, 12X CD-ROM, and best of all it has 64K colors:

(more…)

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How It All Began…

Computers do so much more than play solitaire which is contrary to what most people think. Okay, just because I mentioned solitaire doesn’t mean you have to open it and start playing…come on, focus!

So what is the computer pictured above? It is the Commodore 64 (C-64) computer that was released back in 1982 and became extremely popular. This puts it into perspective a little:

More C-64’s have been sold than any other single computer system, even to this day. That’s about 17 million systems, according to the Commodore 1993 Annual Report. In a 1989 interview, Sam Tramiel, then-president of Commodore, said that “When I was at Commodore we were building 400,000 C64s a month for a couple of years.”

This was an awesome gaming machine which had 3-channels for sound a high-resolution graphics mode. If I remember my stats right that means it is right up there with the Xbox 360!

The manufacturer eventually got costs down to about $25 for all costs which meant consumers only had to pay $200 to own what is now a piece of history. Heck, they are still getting around $60 on eBay which is a pretty slow depreciation compared to most electronics.

If you want to see more computers from back in the day you should head on over to OldComputers.net. There you’ll find a huge amount of information on some of the most ancient computers. While you are there you should read through some of the old computer ads that they have…ahh the good old days.

Copyright © 2009 CyberNet | CyberNet Forum | Learn Firefox
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