The First Single-Chip Microprocessor

National Semiconductor INS4004 (=i4004)

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November of 1971 the world witnessed the release of the first single chip microprocessor. This new electronic marvel was the Intel 4004, the brain child of Federico Faggin, Stan Mazor and Ted Hoff, engineers working for Intel at the time. With the breakthrough of integrated circuits changing the design of computers from that point forward the only way to improve the concept was to go smaller. This new single chip microprocessor accomplished that by taking all the parts that made up the complex circuitry of the computer (the parts that made it think) and put them all together onto a single tiny silicon chip. They had made it possible for the first time ever to place programmed intelligence into an object that could do the thinking for you.

Two engineers from the Fairchild Semiconductor Company left, as did many others in 1968, to start up their own company. These two geniuses were Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore. After putting together a one-page company plan that described what the company hoped to accomplish, Noyce forwarded this business outline to Art Rock, a venture capitalist living in San Francisco at the time. Rock was able to raise $2.5 million in short order to back their new business scheme.

A hotel corporation had already trademarked the name “Moore Noyce” which they wanted to use for their new company name. But with that off the table, the two entrepreneurs took the words “Integrated” and “Electronics” and put them together to come up with the name: “Intel.” That went on to become their new name. The first product they worked on that made money for the new startup company was the “3101 Schottky Bipolar 64-bit Static Random Access Memory,” better known as an SRAM chip.

After a request to create a multifunction chip by a Japanese company called Busicom, Ted Hoff of Intel figured they could built a single chip that would do the same thing as 12 chips combined. The result was that nine months later they created the 4004 chip, a general-purpose logic chip. This new chip had 2,300 transistors that fit on 1/8th of an inch by 1/6th of an inch of silicon yet had the same power as the old ENIAC computer which consisted of 18,000 vacuum tubes and took up three-thousand cubic feet of space.

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Contributions of Douglas Engelbart

If you’ve never heard the name Douglas Engelbart before, you have not followed the progress of the computer from an enigmatic specialized machine that only scientists had the knowledge to unravel, to the simple, user-friendly space-age tool almost everyone uses in their homes daily. Englebart either invented or was integrally a part of the creation of most of the user-friendly, interactive devices that help make computers something everyone could use. Even if you haven’t heard of Enbelbart, you have heard of the computer mouse, windows, teleconferencing, email, computer video, hypermedia and the Internet. Yes, if he didn’t invent it, he played a large role in its creation.

The first computer mouse prototype was made in 1964 in order to work in tandem with a graphical user interface (GUI) called “Windows.” Engelbart’s first mouse was a wooden shell with metal wheels designed to run an “X-Y position indicator for a display system,” as per his patent application, which he was granted by 1970. It picked up the nickname “mouse” because of the tail that came out of the end of the device. At that time when he attempted to patent his version of “Windows,” it wasn’t possible because the patent office wasn’t issuing them for software at that time. Nevertheless he now has over 45 patents that bare his name.

He worked on his inventions during the sixties and seventies in a lab he established at the Augmentation Research Center, Stanford Research Institute. He was determined to create a hypermedia groupware system which he “oNLine System” or NLS. Most of his innovations, including the mouse and windows, were an outgrowth of his NLS research.

Believe it or not in 1968 he held a 90-minute public demonstration of networked computer systems at the Augmentation Research Center. It was there that the world was first introduced to windows, the mouse, and hypermedia (including object linking), as well as video teleconferencing. By 1997 he was awarded the Lemelson-MIT prize for invention and innovation, receiving $500,000, the largest single prize awarded in the world for this kind of contribution. The following year, 1998, he was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame.

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Online College Classes: The Real Scoop

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Universities, technical schools and community colleges continue to increase the number of online classes and degree programs they offer.

Online classes appeal to a broad segment of the population – from working adults who need the flexibility, to military personnel who can take college classes even while deployed (depending on the region and internet access), to traditional students who save money by living at home with their parents and taking classes on their computer.

However, people often have misconceptions about online coursework.

First, it isn’t like pressing the “easy button.” You still have to read your textbooks, participate in class discussions (albeit in chat rooms or posts), submit papers, take tests and meet deadlines. Although you normally don’t have to be in a classroom at a certain time, you do need to check in regularly.

Second, the student has to take more responsibility. You have to make sure you’re registered and in the system before you can gain access to the learning platform. You have to order your books and materials on time so they are shipped before class begins. You need to learn how to access electronic resources from the university’s online library. And you have to quickly learn the features and sections of the learning platform. The excuse, “I didn’t know where to find the class syllabus,” won’t fly.

Third, big brother is watching. Your instructor and the site administrator can track how much time you spend inside the learning system, how many times you’ve posted answers and replies on the discussion board, and if you’re meeting deadlines. In fact, your instructor can set up assignments so they lock students out after the due date – then you’ll have to plead for your teacher to reset it so you can submit a late project.

Fourth, even though you don’t see your teacher or classmates in person, a high level of respect and courtesy is expected in online communications.

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Online College Classes Offer Teaching Opportunities for Moonlighters, Retired Folks

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Online College Classes Offer Teaching Opportunities for Moonlighters, Retired Folks

As an increasing number colleges offer online classes and degree programs, opportunities are blooming for adjuncts.

Full time faculty, already maxed out with traditional classes, grading, advising and research activities, often are reluctant to take on the responsibility of designing and facilitating online college classes as well. Unless it is required, they may decide the extra money is not worth the time and effort to maintain classes in cyberspace.

That’s great news for freelancers, moonlighters and retired people interested in sideline income. For those with expert knowledge in their field, a master’s degree or Ph.D. and some computing savvy, they are welcomed with open arms by most universities to design and/or teach online classes.

Before this can happen, however, they must go through a rigorous application and review process. Adjuncts typically have to order official transcripts from their degree programs be sent to the school where they are applying. They submit an online application, cover letter and resume. They consent to undergo an extensive background and reference check.

If they are accepted, adjuncts then go through a training and certification program to ensure their competency with the university’s learning platform.

Now, on to the good stuff.

The first type of class is one already developed and loaded into the university’s online learning system. An adjunct faculty member customizes the class by adding calendar dates, their bio and virtual office hours, and, if needed, setting up different teams among the students. The teacher follows the syllabus, monitors student activity, grades assignments, gives feedback to the students, and submits grades to the university.

The second type of class involves creating and submitting a proposal, then waiting for approval from an online curriculum committee. When the proposal is accepted, the adjunct then creates the syllabus and course content. These are then either submitted to the university webmaster for uploading, or the teacher loads them into the learning system themselves.

Filed Under: Computers, Design Automation, Internet

Internet and Social Media Enhance Research Efforts

Internet and Social Media Enhance Research Efforts

These are boom times for those conducting demographic, market and opinion research. No more long, lonely hours in the library stacks. No more handing out surveys in the public square. No more dialing random numbers from the phone book. The internet and social media sites have changed all that.

A treasure trove of credible data now is available from easy-to-locate websites, most notably, the U.S. Census Bureau, the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other government sites. More localized information can be found on various chambers of commerce and state sites, as well as health and advocacy sites, like the American Heart Association.

If you’re affiliated with a university, you can tap into their vast electronic resources, which may include newspaper and magazine archives and the latest business, academic, legal and health science journals and studies.

Obtaining feedback and opinions is a simple process with free or low- cost web-based survey tools like surveymonkey.com or zoomerang.com. You don’t have to install software or learn complicated processes. The surveys are quick and easy to take, which boosts the likelihood of response. Target your audiences through emails, websites, Facebook, Twitter, blogs or banner ads and pop-up invitations. The surveyor specifies the number of responses desired and a cut off date. The program collects real time data through the cut off date, which can be organized into reports, charts and graphs. The data also can be downloaded into Excel spreadsheets.

You also can conduct surveys with LinkedIn. By joining various special interest groups or creating your own group, you then are entitled to pose a question to your fellow members. Another approach is to ask the question of your own first-degree connections or set it up to enable anyone else on LinkedIn to participate.

Today’s tools have opened up vast opportunities for collecting statistics and data, feedback, opinion and new insights.

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Vook Review: An Enhanced Multimedia Experience

Vook Review: An Enhanced Multimedia Experience

Have you read a vook yet? Vook  a company (vook.com), and a product.

The company was created and self-funded by entrepreneur Brad Inman. The product is a hybrid between a digital book, a movie and online interfaces. It’s a new phenomenon taking the publishing world and readers by storm.

Vook first rolled out in October 2009 with four titles. A year later, the company had forged partnerships with 25 publishing houses and lists more than a hundred multimedia selections in 18 different fiction and non-fiction categories. Some of the offerings are available for purchase no less than five different ways: as an iPhone or iPod mobile app, as a Kindle or an iPad book, or as an online version for a notebook, net-book or desktop computer. Other titles have more limited versions for sale.

Vook is to a standard ebook what a pen and paper are to a word processor a gigantic leap forward.

Like an ebook, the new product enables the reader to enlarge text, scroll up and down, turn pages, place bookmarks and skip to different chapters. The books are offered in full color and can include high-resolution photos.

However, these multimedia publications stray from the standard formula to include embedded videos, hyperlinks of key words and the ability to send comments about the book to the author, publisher and your Facebook and Twitter friends, as well as to connect with other readers of the book. While you’re engaged in clicking and linking, new windows open for exploration while your vook waits on your screen for your return to reading. Select an icon on the top right of the page to make the video full screen. Or click a different icon to minimize the video window and see more text on the page. By choosing the mixed view, the video window is smaller and you can watch while still browsing the text on the page.

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The Skinny on SD Cards

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The Skinny on SD Cards

For nearly every electronic device you purchase, you’ll need to spend a few more bucks on another essential component that’s not included a SD memory card. You may be tempted to grab one based on which one costs the least; that would be a huge mistake. The cards are made in a variety of sizes, capacities and speeds to meet different demands and performance outcomes, so select one that’s compatible with your gadget. Here’s a primer on those little plastic rectangles.

The SD card hit the market in 2000, and today it’s the most widely used removable media storage device in the world. The card not only affects how many shots you can take on your digital camera, it also affects the speed at which the image is transferred onto the card so you can take your next photo, or your ability to shoot continuous, high quality videos.

  • Standard SD cards have up to 2GB of memory.
  • SDHC (High Capacity) cards range from 2GB to 32GB of storage.
  • SDXC (Extreme Capacity) cards offer from 32GB up to 2TB of storage capacity.
  • SDHC and SDXC cards with UHS (Ultra High Speed) provide consistent high writing speeds necessary for recording video. This category is sub-divided by class. For example, Class 2 is fine for standard definition videotaping. However, for high definition recording, you’ll need Class 4, 6 or 10. Live broadcasts and professional-quality high definition footage requires Class UHS-1.
  • MiniSD and microSD cards (also available in miniSDHC, microSDHC and microSDXC) are smaller versions of the SD card that fit into tinier devices, such as mobile phones.

Most digital cameras perform well with 4- to 8GB SDHC cards. High performance cameras require 16- to 32GB cards. High definition video cameras need cards 32GB or higher.

Look up the recommended memory card specifications in the literature that came with your device. The SD Card Association (sdcard.org) also provides helpful guidelines and information.

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Become a Better Filmmaker

For budding photographers and cinematographers (as well as experienced ones), there’s an online community where you can hone your skills, ask questions and critique the work of others. Vimeo.com, a video-sharing site, now offers a free video school.  And there are loads of free tools for playing and editing videos as well like open source software like vlc media player and xvid codec.

The school includes brief but information-packed lessons in eight different categories:

  • Behind the Scenes  storyboarding, shot design, directing, etc.
  • Do-It-Yourself  a hodge-podge of helpful lessons
  • DSLR Cameras  all about digital single lens reflex cameras
  • Gear
  • Lighting
  • Shooting
  • Software
  • Sound

In the Video 101 tab for beginning filmmakers you’ll find lessons on choosing a camera, shooting and editing basics, and making movies with a Mac or PC.

In the Featured Lessons tab you’ll find beginning and advanced classes on capturing good sound, creating a holiday video, a glossary of video terminology and slow motion effects.

The software section provides tips on using and maximizing various programs, such as Windows Live Movie Maker, Apple Final Cut Pro and Adobe After Affects.

Users are encouraged to do a challenge project after watching a lesson to demonstrate their mastery of the topic.

In addition, the school posts tutorials that were created by other members. You can create and submit your own tutorial for consideration. If accepted, your tutorial will be included in the school, with your byline.

You don’t have to register to watch the lessons, but if you sign up you can join in on conversations, get advice or help, comment on others  work and post your own creations. Members can interact in the forum section of the site, where they participate in general discussions, swap stories, organize projects with other members, and share information about contests and festivals. The Wanted and Offered section includes requests for talent and products as well as promoting one’s expertise and ability.

Vimeo has strict codes of conduct for members, and only accepts original, noncommercial work created by members  no commercial work allowed.

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A Tron Tribute

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A Tron Tribute

Many people of a certain age were greatly impacted by the original Tron movie, which was released in July 1982 by Disney. Conceived, written and directed by Steven Lisberger, it was one of the first movies to use computer animation along with live action, and it took audiences on an improbable but fascinating journey inside a computer game. This film pushed the envelope of special effects and asked us to suspend disbelief as the hero is teleported inside a mainframe computer and interacts with the strange characters that live there.

Tron (from the word electronic) opened up the world of computers and video games to the masses. Audiences learned such terms as user, hacker, programmer, program, and master control program.  It showed us imagery we had never seen before, and inspired designers, programmers, artists, musicians and animators.

Amazingly, the special effects were created with one computer that had only 2MB of memory, and the storage disk had a 330MB capacity. The movie didn’t receive an Oscar for technical achievement until 1996; apparently, in the year it was released academy members thought the use of computers was cheating.

The movie developed a loyal following, and continued to live on in pop culture when it became an arcade game, a video game, a comic book, and was released as a VHS tape and later a DVD. Tron now has its own wiki site with more than 3,000 pages.

Tron started a conversation about the role of machines in our lives, artificial intelligence, and of course, the little guy standing up to the system/powers that be.

The sequel movie, Tron Legacy, released Dec. 17, 2010, evoked buzz among ardent fans, as well as interest from new generations. The new movie benefits from all the technological and cinematic advances that have occurred since 1982, and brings back original cast members Jeff Bridges and Bruce Boxleitner.

Some originals deserve a sequel: Tron certainly does.

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Net Neutrality Possibly At Risk

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Net Neutrality Possibly At Risk

Turn on your PC, click your browser, type in your destination, and boom there you are.

Unobstructed internet access enables ordinary people to connect quickly and directly to their chosen websites, view online video programs, listen to music and use voice over IP devices and mediums like Skype to talk to others all around the world. The current internet environment also provides an even playing field for small start up companies to compete in the global marketplace, attract customers and grow their businesses.

What we take for granted, however, is being challenged. The Federal Communications Commission is stepping in to regulate how the internet operates. And giant telecommunication companies are pushing for a legal regulatory structure for the internet.

What are the implications? Should the government decide what’s appropriate for its citizens to see and do online? Will internet service providers act as gatekeepers, limiting access or charging extra fees for certain premium sites and activities, or provide faster connections for their preferred sites? Will there be fast lanes and slow lanes? Will regulations be different for plugged-in devices than for mobile devices?

On December 21, 2010, the FCC approved net neutrality rules to prevent providers from blocking or slowing down the delivery of competitive content or charging more for faster connections to certain sites. Sounds good, right?

The FCC chairman has said there currently are no policies about internet freedom and a framework is needed to create rules of the road.

However, net neutrality advocates say the language in the new rules isn’t clear enough, allowing too much room for interpretation. Politicians against the rules plan to overthrow them, saying the government has no right to meddle with online business practices and questioning whether the FCC has the authority to enforce the new rules.

Savetheinternet.com is a nonpartisan coalition of people and organizations committed to educating others and standing up for a free and open internet. Visit savetheinternet.com for loads of up-to-date information.

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