Consider questions like:
How have phone altered over time?
How has mobile phone usage changed over time?
How has phone design improved?
Why do some people keep using their first phone?
Why are phone companies keen to offer you a new phone every few years?

In the 1980s cellphones were reminiscent of bricks!


(Above is a prime example of a cellphone from the '80s)

The first cellphone that was widely used was the Motorola DynaTAC - a bulky phone that could barely fit in your pocket, hardly effective - but it was a product of its time and was used by American's and the English alike.

Phones have altered not only in looks but in functions: in the 1980s people couldn't even comprehend the prospect of playing games on your phones, now phones are like personal computers. It's insane really to think about how many durastic changes there has been in technology going back to the 1980s.

Phones were initially used for phonecalls - now phonecalls seem to be a rarity among teenage cellphone users.

Internet Safety & The Law

By definition a virus replicates itself and is capable of causing harm to the computer, or files and programs. Occasionally a data recovery software system is needed to retrieve any lost data. A virus can be as simple as a disruption of service or a program that causes an Internet connection to fail -- or as complicated as a spyware program designed to send personal information back to its creator. Viruses can attach themselves to virtually any file type used by any computer such as exe, doc, txt, ddl, inf, iso, and so many more. Most commonly the viruses attack the boot sector of the hard drive and the boot information. This allows the virus to replicate itself upon the booting of the computer and makes it more difficult to remove.
Computer viruses can be spread in one of three ways; email attachments, files downloaded, and from removable media. It should be noted that an individual is no more likely to get a virus form the Internet than they are from a piece of software or media file. Viruses cannot be spread in a plain text email and must be part of an attachment to be effective. Even then most attachments need to be opened in order for the virus to be released. Although not technically viruses, worms and trojans are constant threats as well. Instead of replicating themselves into another file or program they hide and wait for a trigger then attack and steal info or relay user preferences for the web and frequently visited sites for browser hijacking.
The first computer viruses were seen on the IBM 367/370 and Univac 1108 computers in the 1980s but the exact date of the first virus is up for debate. These viruses created havoc on early users by dropping letters from displays and changing saved files and documents at random. Literally dozens and even hundreds of viruses started to pop up disabling speakers, hard drives, and system files. The Brain virus marked the introduction of the virus to the boot sector and the start of antidotes and anti-virus software. At first these were virus specific; a sort of antibody for a specific infection. Soon, companies developed full blown anti-virus programs with the ability to clean multiple viruses in one software package.
Viruses present risks of losing personal information to identity theft, a redirection of the user's browser, the ability for the virus' author to place ads and links on a page the user uses most often, and a complete destruction of a computer or server. These could be very small hindrances to complete failures of security and hardware; some of the most damaging viruses are those that infect the boot sector and registry files of the computer which contain passwords and configuration settings for the computer. Virus protection comes in many forms today and most commonly used are anti-virus programs. These programs use a list of known viruses to check against as well as the ability, in some cases, to monitor for new threats based upon the architecture of the detected program or file. Spyware and malware protection are more specific and specialized anti-virus programs designed to seek out programs that steal or watch your information.

Copyright can protect:

• literary works, including novels, instruction manuals, computer programs, song lyrics, newspaper articles and some types of database
• dramatic works, including dance or mime
• musical works
• artistic works, including paintings, engravings, photographs, sculptures, collages, architecture, technical drawings, diagrams, maps and logos
• layouts or typographical arrangements used to publish a work, for a book for instance
• recordings of a work, including sound and film
• broadcasts of a work

You should only copy or use a work protected by copyright with the copyright owner's permission.
Copyright applies to any medium. This means that you must not reproduce copyright protected work in another medium without permission. This includes, publishing photographs on the internet, making a sound recording of a book, a painting of a photograph and so on.
Copyright does not protect ideas for a work. It is only when the work itself is fixed, for example in writing, that copyright automatically protects it. This means that you do not have to apply for copyright.
A copyright protected work can have more than one copyright, or another intellectual property (IP) right, connected to it. For example, an album of music can have separate copyrights for individual songs, sound recordings, artwork, and so on. Whilst copyright can protect the artwork of your logo, you could also register the logo as a trade mark.

Half of all Americans now have cell phones. Someday everyone will. But as use of these handy and sometimes life-saving devices spreads, so too will the incidence of people using their phones inappropriately in public spaces. I recently heard a lawyer in a public restroom stall negotiating the details of her client’s divorce. And as headsets get smaller and smaller I find it harder and harder to tell if someone is trying to strike up a conversation with me or simply calling home to their sweetie.
Except for speaker-phone conference calls and “Grab the upstairs extension, honey” situations, a phone call has traditionally been a between-two-people activity. But the boundaries between public and private have gotten blurry now that we can yak wirelessly on buses, trains and subways, and in restaurants, waiting rooms, theaters and as we roll our carts up and down the supermarket aisles.
This public blabbing is getting bothersome.
Wireless retailer Letstalk.com, which conducts an annual survey about cell phone etiquette, reports that over the past few years we’ve become less tolerant of others using cell phones on public transportation, in restaurants and theaters, and in bathrooms. Joni Blecher, Senior Manager, Content & Community for LetsTalk, doesn’t think those boundaries will “bend very much” when this year’s survey gets underway. If anything, she says, “We’ll see more people more opposed to using cell phones on public transportation.”
So Blecher joins me and travelers everywhere who’ve ever had to listen to someone else’s boring cell phone call in urging everyone to become cell-phone savvy.

No-one doubts, after Egypt, that you can organise a revolution on Facebook. The question for those of us not presently caught up in this kind of political activism is: can you truly socialise there?
Aaron Sorkin, creator of the West Wing and scriptwriter of The Social Network, was asked in a recent interview what he thought of the way Facebook is changing the nature of our relationships.

Buying Computer Systems

Planning a Computer Purchase

Today computer systems are consumer commodities much like appliances and automobiles. And like these consumer products, the potential purchaser is faced with a daunting assortment of brands, models, features, etc. Price, of course, is an important consideration and many of these choices may have a significant impact on the bottom line. Faced with so many choices, what should you do?

Computer systems, as you have learned, are composed of both hardware and software. The hardware components are the devices that make up the system: the CPU, main memory, peripherals such as the video monitor, keyboard, mouse, storage devices such as a hard drive, CD/DVD drive, and the like. Software is just as important. Without programs to direct its processing, the computer is about as interesting as spare parts. Software are sets of instructions that define what the computer hardware does. A computer requires both system software (i.e., an operating system) as well as applications software to be fully functional. Applications software are the programs that we use to perform specific tasks: word processing, browsing the Web, sending and receiving e-mail, doing numerical computations, etc. The point, then, is that computer purchase decisions should be based on a careful consideration of how both the hardware and software will be used to meet your needs.

Unfortunately, many consumers overlook the software and consider only the hardware when they purchase a computer system. After all, you must have a computer system first before you can install or use software applications. But, this may lead to eventual problems and unnecessary expense, if your software needs do not match your hardware purchase.

In the succeeding sections, we will suggest a simple strategy to use when planning for the purchase of a computer system.

Making an Inventory of Uses

A good starting point for planning your next computer purchase is to decide: how do you plan to use your computer? Make a list or inventory of the normal tasks that you plan for your computer. For example, a typical list might include

• writing and printing papers for courses
• sending and receiving electronic mail
• surfing the Web
• creating charts and graphs for coursework
• making computer art or drawings
• create and publish your own Web pages

These are common tasks; you may others that you would add to the list. The most important thing is to think about what your most common or everyday uses will be.

The next step is to consider what sort of applications software will you need to perform these everyday tasks. The table below identifies the type of application that you would normally use for the task identified.

Transferring Images Between Phones

When it comes to getting photos from your phone to your computer, there are a variety of options. There’s mounting the phone to the computer, sending an email, or syncing with a program like Dropbox or Google+ for a wireless solution. But Android’s greatest strength is choice, and bump has added another option.
Bump, already known for wirelessly transferring contact information and files between phones, now allows users to wirelessly bump photos from their phones to their computers. The way it works is that someone with bump visits bu.mp and enables location data. After launching the Android app, users select which photos they wish to send and then tap the space bar on their computer’s keyboard.
The photos start magically transferring into the browser window, where users have five options:

• Browse through the photos to see how they look on a larger screen, and remove those they find least desirable
• Save individual images to the desktop by clicking the download button
• Download all of the photos stored in a .zip archive file
• Get a link they can send to friends and family to share the images
• Share the photos to Facebook

All of these are features that can already been done in other ways, and in some cases more easily, so what’s the advantage of this new feature? I’d say instant access would probably be the most likely. At the moment, I don’t have a USB cable to mount for normal file transfer, so bump serves as a capable alternative. Should I need to open images in Photoshop or share on Facebook/Google+ using their desktop options, this is a better option than relying on mobile.

Different Types of Computers

Different Types of Computers
Computers have revolutionized all types of industries. They have proved to be a boon to mankind. What are the different types of computers? To know them all, read on.




A computer is one of the most brilliant inventions of mankind. Thanks to computer technology, we were able to achieve storage and processing of huge amounts of data; we could rest our brains by employing computer memory capacities for storage of information. Owing to computers, we have been able speed up daily work, carry out critical transactions and achieve accuracy and precision at work. Computers of the earlier times were of the size of a large room and were required to consume huge amounts of electric power. However, with the advancing technology, computers have shrunk to the size of a small watch. Depending on the processing power and size of computers, they have been classified under various types. Let us look at the classification of computers.

What are the Different Types of Computers?

Based on the operational principle of computers, they are categorized as analog, digital and hybrid computers.Operational Principle
Analog
Digital
Hybrid




Analog Computers: These are almost extinct today. These are different from a digital computer because an analog computer can perform several mathematical operations simultaneously. It uses continuous variables for mathematical operations and utilizes mechanical or electrical energy.

Digital Computers: They use digital circuits and are designed to operate on two states, namely bits 0 and 1. They are analogous to states ON and OFF. Data on these computers is represented as a series of 0s and 1s. Digital computers are suitable for complex computation and have higher processing speeds. They are programmable. Digital computers are either general purpose computers or special purpose ones. General purpose computers, as their name suggests, are designed for specific types of data processing while general purpose computers are meant for general use.

Hybrid Computers: These computers are a combination of both digital and analog computers. In this type of computers, the digital segments perform process control by conversion of analog signals to digital ones.

This was the classification of computers based on their style of functioning. Following is a classification of the different types of computers based on their sizes and processing powers.
Processing Power
Mainframe
Microcomputers




Mainframe Computers: Large organizations use mainframes for highly critical applications such as bulk data processing and ERP. Most of the mainframe computers have capacities to host multiple operating systems and operate as a number of virtual machines. They can substitute for several small servers.

Microcomputers: A computer with a microprocessor and its central processing unit is known as a microcomputer. They do not occupy space as much as mainframes do. When supplemented with a keyboard and a mouse, microcomputers can be called personal computers. A monitor, a keyboard and other similar input-output devices, computer memory in the form of RAM and a power supply unit come packaged in a microcomputer. These computers can fit on desks or tables and prove to be the best choice for single-user tasks.

Personal computers come in different forms such as desktops, laptops and personal digital assistants. Let us look at each of these types of computers.
Personal Computers
Desktop
Laptop
Netbook
PDA
Minicomputer
Server
Supercomputer
Wearable Computer
Tablet




Desktops: A desktop is intended to be used on a single location. The spare parts of a desktop computer are readily available at relatively lower costs. Power consumption is not as critical as that in laptops. Desktops are widely popular for daily use in the workplace and households.

Laptops: Similar in operation to desktops, laptop computers are miniaturized and optimized for mobile use. Laptops run on a single battery or an external adapter that charges the computer batteries. They are enabled with an inbuilt keyboard, touch pad acting as a mouse and a liquid crystal display. Their portability and capacity to operate on battery power have proven to be of great help to mobile users.

Netbooks: They fall in the category of laptops, but are inexpensive and relatively smaller in size. They had a smaller feature set and lesser capacities in comparison to regular laptops, at the time they came into the market. But with passing time, netbooks too began featuring almost everything that notebooks had. By the end of 2008, netbooks had begun to overtake notebooks in terms of market share and sales.

Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs): It is a handheld computer and popularly known as a palmtop. It has a touch screen and a memory card for storage of data. PDAs can also be used as portable audio players, web browsers and smartphones. Most of them can access the Internet by means of Bluetooth or Wi-Fi communication.

Minicomputers: In terms of size and processing capacity, minicomputers lie in between mainframes and microcomputers. Minicomputers are also called mid-range systems or workstations. The term began to be popularly used in the 1960s to refer to relatively smaller third generation computers. They took up the space that would be needed for a refrigerator or two and used transistor and core memory technologies. The 12-bit PDP-8 minicomputer of the Digital Equipment Corporation was the first successful minicomputer.

Servers: They are computers designed to provide services to client machines in a computer network. They have larger storage capacities and powerful processors. Running on them are programs that serve client requests and allocate resources like memory and time to client machines. Usually they are very large in size, as they have large processors and many hard drives. They are designed to be fail-safe and resistant to crash.

Supercomputers: The highly calculation-intensive tasks can be effectively performed by means of supercomputers. Quantum physics, mechanics, weather forecasting, molecular theory are best studied by means of supercomputers. Their ability of parallel processing and their well-designed memory hierarchy give the supercomputers, large transaction processing powers.

Wearable Computers: A record-setting step in the evolution of computers was the creation of wearable computers. These computers can be worn on the body and are often used in the study of behavior modeling and human health. Military and health professionals have incorporated wearable computers into their daily routine, as a part of such studies. When the users' hands and sensory organs are engaged in other activities, wearable computers are of great help in tracking human actions. Wearable computers do not have to be turned on and off and remain in operation without user intervention.

Tablet Computers: Tablets are mobile computers that are very handy to use. They use the touch screen technology. Tablets come with an onscreen keyboard or use a stylus or a digital pen. Apple's iPad redefined the class of tablet computers.

These were some of the different types of computers used today. Looking at the rate of advancement in technology, we can definitely look forward to many more in the near future.
(Source:) http://www.buzzle.com/articles/different-types-of-computers.html