Technol gic Summer 2013
Smartphones Getting Smarter Page 16
Looking at
Ubuntu Differently Page 12
Jailbreaking the iPhone Page 10
6
Browser Wars
8
5 Computer Misconceptions
18
Deep Blue: Chess Champion
NVIDIA GTX
TITAN
- SLI support
- Six gigabytes of VRAM - 2688 cuda cores
TABLE of CONTENTS ...............................................................................................................................................................................................
6 8
Browser Wars
The latest browsers go head-to-head in a battle for the top spot
5 Computer Misconceptions
Five things you may or may not have known about computers
Jailbreaking the iPhone
A comprehensive article about jailbreaking Apple products
Looking at Ubuntu Differently Shedding new light on Ubuntu
Smartphones Getting Smarter A look into the technology of tomorrow
18
Deep Blue: Chess Champion
10 10
12 14
16
How this supercomputer changed the world Ubuntu Logo courtesy of Peter McBaggins on DeviantArt Chrome Logo courtesy of “sayuru9� on DeviantArt
LETTER from the EDITORS
Our magazine is about technology in general but more specifically computers due to our mutual interest in technology as a whole. We worked very hard and drew inspiration from many places, which ultimately resulted in this magazine. Also, in designing our logo, we decided on including a power button in the name of the magazine because we felt that the power button really brings together and reinforces the theme that represents our magazine. The power button is a universally known symbol of computers and technology, and that really tells the reader what our magazine is about. We enjoyed putting this magazine together very much, and we hope you enjoy it. Sincerely,
Brandon Lee Anthony Clemens Abby Darrow
4
MEET the STAFF Photos taken by staff
Abby Darrow
Anthony Clemens
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Abby Darrow came to Austin at three years old. While not at school, she enjoys playing computer games and, like any other teenager, rarely cleans her room. Her only preparations for college are eating Ramen Noodles or cold pizza and staying up late--or more accurately, staying up early. She likes reading books like the Harry Potter series, The Edge Chronicles series, 1984, and The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. She also prefers Pepsi over Coca Cola, to the expressed dismay of her group members. Her grades are pretty good, and she does well in Biology and Geometry, but lacks in English. She prefers PC over Mac, but is just as fine working on either. In the future, she would like to travel to space, but probably won’t have enough moneys. Watching various animes and Youtube videos eats up much over her time. She worked on “Deep Blue: Chess Champion” and “Jailbreaking the iPhone.”
Born and raised in Austin, Anthony Clemens studies at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy as a freshman. He enjoys computers, video games and biking around town. Anthony likes watching movies like “The Hobbit” and “The Hunger Games.” He dreams of enrolling in UC Berkeley and majoring in computer science. Anthony would love to help the world through community service as much as possible. He is a cat person and has acquired multiple cats over the years. Academically, he doesn’t perform well in English. On full speed he types at nearly 90 words per minute. Cheddar goldfish is his staple food supply. Anthony is often found eating goldfish during class, lunch, passing period, dinner and breakfast. He would love to visit Australia and see all the amazing wildlife and environments there. Anthony is a PC while rockin’ the iPhone 4S and is extremely disappointed in Microsoft. He also wrote the stories “Browser Wars” and “Smartphones of the Future.”
Brandon Lee Like any ordinary 14 year-old,
Brandon Lee likes to play
video games and usually makes it through the day tired, but you can’t discern that from his grades. He attends the 9th grade at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy. He enjoys kayaking, watching action movies like Inception, and listening to alternative rock music like Linkin Park on Pandora or his iPod, but not at the same time. Brandon is a dog person and likes pets, but he hasn’t had any pets since the family dog passed away a few years ago. Also, Brandon is a Boy Scout and is a step (or two) away from the rank of Eagle. Academically, Brandon’s strength lies in the subject of math. In the future, he hopes to become enrolled in a major university and become an engineer. As part of the Technologic team, Brandon wrote “5 Computer Misconceptions” and “Looking at Ubuntu Differently” and contributed to the general health of the magazine.
5
Browser Wars
T
he Internet browser lets you surf the web, view images, watch videos and connect with friends. All browsers provide the ability to view webpages, but not all perform equally. Speed and security have a large factor when considering an Internet browser. They also need to operate easily and have lots of features to help the Internet experience. Learning about the pros and cons of different browsers will help you pick the best browser for you in order to create the best internet experience. by Anthony Clemens
1.Google Chrome Ever since 2008 Google Chrome’s popularity has grown. Now it has become the most popular Internet browser in the world and that’s not just luck. Google has worked hard and created an amazing product. Chrome’s speed out scales most browsers of today with its leading html 5 technology, not to mention its site prediction and loading. Security holds its place as an important factor of any browser and Chrome does not disappoint. Its encrypted password protection keeps your passwords and credentials safe from unwanted viruses. Chrome’s user interface provides a clean,
Source: PCMAG.com
cut look making browsing more enjoyable. Unlike most browsers, Google Chrome features a web store which allows users to download games, themes, apps and plug-ins to increase the accessibility of websites and applications. Blowing out the competition and taking first place Google Chrome offers great speed, security and features.
2.Firefox
Chrome Firefox
Opera Internet Explorer
Safari Photos taken by staff
With its clean, sleek interface, Firefox really makes browsing the web look good. With the latest update, version 4.0, Firefox offers ipmroved protection against malware, viruses, spyware, phising and pop-ups. Firefox is also the only Windows native browser to have retina display support for Mac users. Its outdated html 5 support hinders Firefox’s performance, with the latest html 5 websites, but it still performs quickly. With all things considered Firefox offers great speed and security while creating a great browsing experience for any user.
Source: PCMAG.com 6
3.Opera Mouse gestures makes browsing easier with Opera
With one of the best user interfaces out there, Opera takes third. Its minalmist look give’s browsing the web a great feel and with everything underneath one button, it’s incredibly easy to navigate throughout the program. Opera has leading html 5 technology support and is available for download on Linux and Mac. Similar to Chrome’s webstore, Opera offers its own version, creating a highly customizable browser. With everything in consideration, Opera’s a great alternative to Chrome or Firefox with it’s great speed, look and array of features.
Source: w3schools.com Graph made my staff
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
Source: pcmag.com
Goog le Chro
Firef me
ox
Oper
a
Inter ne Explot r
4. Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer takes fourth place due to its large selection of security features. Unfortunately Internet Explorer does not offer any html 5 support and its speed suffers from it. Unlike Chrome, Firefox and Safari, Internet Explorer does not offer any support for any operating systems besides Windows. Sadly enough Internet Explorer’s user interface does not hold up against the competition. It has a lot of the same features other browsers have, but it doesn’t have the same look as Google Chrome, Firefox and Opera.
Safar
i
er
= Security = Ease of Use = Speed
5.Safari
Provides the Mac look and feel when browsing
Overall Safari remains an average browser. It doesn’t provide anything ground breaking or new, but it also doesn’t provide anything below par. Safari has limited windows support, and performs the best on its native operating system, Macintosh. Safari has a good user interface, with its sleek and professional design. It also provides lot’s of integrated features making browsing easier. Including a cover flow feature allowing the user to seemlessly switch through websites. Unfortunately Apple doesn’t provide many updates for this browser which will eventually make it outdated. But for now Safari is just an average web browser for Windows with nothing special.
Source:internet-browser-review.toptenreviews.com
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5 Computer Misconceptions Modern life would not exist without electronic devices. People use them everyday, and have come to know their technology very well, but many people see truth in myths, and cry “Myth!” to truth. Can you discern fact from fiction? “RAM” and “hard drive”
by Brandon Lee
equate to the same thing.
Picture from corsair.com
False. Programs running on the computer temporarily store their files in the Random Access Memory, while files saved on the hard drive stay on the hard drive, CNET blog network author Topher Kessler explains. However, the retrieval of those files takes longer than from the RAM. Also, RAM and hard drive typically vary in memory size. RAM usually stores 4GB, and hard drives from 500GB to 1TB. Source: CNET.com
When rebooting, you should wait a few seconds after turning off the computer before turning it back on. True. In the hard drive, plates spin very quickly at speeds up to 10,000 revolutions per minute. Waiting allows them to slow down and stop, Geek Squad Deputy Field Marshal Ismael Matos says, and doing so benefits the plates’ health. Source: CNET.com
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Picture from Zzubnik from commons.wikimedia.org
Macs never get any computer viruses. False. This notion probably came from Apple’s marketing claim that a Mac “doesn’t get PC viruses,” as Huffington Post columnist Britney Fitzgerald reported, but last year, a trojan called “Flashback” infected 600,000 Mac users. That makes the claim look like a lie, but technically Macs don’t get PC viruses. They get Mac viruses. Source: HuffingtonPost.com Picture from amazon.com
Picture from everythingonlinesem.com
You need Wi-Fi to connect your iPad 4G to the Internet. False, PCWorld columnist Rick Broida says. Wi-Fi allows you to wirelessly connect to the Internet at home, through the router of your broadband connection. But if you leave your home, you can use your iPad’s 4G capabilities to connect to the Internet, which use the radio towers that provide cell service. If you’ve purchased a 4G plan and you stand within range of cell service, then you can connect to the Internet. Source: PCWorld.com
If you spill coffee on your keyboard, you can clean it in the dishwasher. True. Although it may sound like a big fat lie, you can actually do it, but some restrictions apply. Ismael Matos says that the keyboard cannot have wireless capabilities, and it cannot have a battery, nor can you wash it with warm or soapy water. To switch to cold water, switch the water input of your dishwasher to the cold water. If you meet all of these criteria, then you can clean your keyboard in the dishwasher. Source: CNET.com Picture from angrytechnician.wordpress.com
9
the
iPhone by Abby Darrow
Y
ou’ve
known
Cover picture “Apple Logo” courtesy of EragondieFehlersuche on DeviantArt
Jailbreaking
about
jailbreaking for a while. When the first iPhone hit the shelves in 2007, people wouldn’t stop talking about it. Improvements, hacks, tips and tricks flooded the media, and jailbreaking happened to be one of the ways you could change your device. You got your new iPhone from the Apple Store a few days ago, and even though the iPhone 5’s release in September of 2012 brought few changes, the store still teemed with people. A few of your friends have jailbroken their devices, and you wonder if you should, too. With all the mania and hassle you’ve heard about jailbreaking, you decide to leave it. You wonder if you will ever look back and decide otherwise.
small, but customers’ willingness to sacrifice reliability for the power to customize their device doesn’t sit well with Apple. The user decides whether jailbreaking proves beneficial or detrimental, but sometimes lack of reliable information may inhibit the decision-making process. Readily available, biased information permeates the media and may affect the way people view jailbreaking.
People talk about jailbreaking with an air of tentative interest, cautious jealousy, and ambitious inspiration. Pushing the envelope exhilarates people, even if accessing more apps on their smartphone gives them a rush. It’s that little break from the norm that people enjoy, however
Under the DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act), jailbreaking remains legal, but Apple greatly discourages it and will ignore the warranty if they find signs of jailbreaking. While Apple would rather the device not be jailbroken, as long as the factory settings are re-applied
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(or the vernacular term, unjailbroken), they will treat the device like nothing happened. When you unpack your brand new, shiny iPhone from its many layers of packaging, it comes with pre-installed and permanent applications like the App Store, iTunes and essentially all the apps that make up the first page. Jailbreaking changes the software so it can support apps that Apple originally did not intend for an iPhone to run. Once the device is jailbroken, an application similar to the App Store is automatically installed. Instead, this “App Store” goes by the name of Cydia. Cydia lets you download apps that you didn’t have access to before, essentially showing you “the other
Picture taken by staff
half of the moon”.
Most of the Apps that Apple didn’t want in the App Store end up going into Cydia, and while you do have to pay for some, most remain free. Like a well-off kid hanging around a candy shop, you don’t have the choice of “candy or no candy” you have the choice of “which ones and how many”. You have pretty great choices, but imagine you have braces and an overprotective mother. The braces don’t restrict anything major, except your ability to chew gum and Jawbreakers, but your mother won’t have you eating anything but Tic-Tacs. You really want that Jawbreaker. After a while, you decide to go ask that clerk putting away Twizzlers for a key to the storage room. The clerk agrees of course, hands over the key, and you find yourself sneaking into the back room to stuff your pockets with as much candy as they can fit. Cydia can be compared to the storage room full of candy. Unavailable to the public eye, it waits for the few children that will ask the clerk for the key. The storage room has all the other candy that the store didn’t want to display out front, but couldn’t get rid of completely. Jailbreaking is quite common, and the results usually satisfy people, but as with everything, opinions differ and everyone has different experiences. Jesus Martinez, the owner of a jailbroken phone and currently a freshman at the Liberal Arts and Science Academy in Austin,
Above: A jailbroken iPhone displays a lock screen modified using a popular Winterboard theme called “Unfold”.
expressed his jailbreaking,
opinion
on
“I didn’t really like it because [after I jailbroke my phone] it was really slow and the new features weren’t really that great,” Martinez said. When a device is jailbroken, it can run programs originally not intended for it, which can sometimes compromise performance. Different programs and modifications can cause different reactions, say for example, installing the Android Passcode Lock might prove more demanding than installing a
simple texting app. According Ellis Hamburger, of Business Insider, some interface changes can cause the device to crash more often and may eat up the battery, but not all apps require that amount of processing power. In essence, jailbreaking requests more varied, easy, and fast information, and sometimes jailbreaking without permission becomes an option. Even though big companies like Apple frown upon jailbreaking, their restrictions forced it to exist because if they let the users “roam free” in the first place, by allowing them to jailbreak the device (or even providing the users with an already jailbroken device) there would not be a reason for the users to take that extra step and open up their device to new software.
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Picture from juniorgustabo.deviantart.com
T
he Ubuntu operating
system boasts of its ease of use, ease of trial and installation, beauty, style, speed, and lack of viruses. In addition, Ubuntu is free and open-source, meaning that the public can edit, revise, and better its code. Ubuntu has many things to offer that other operating systems have as well and/or do not have. Namely, Ubuntu users do not have to pay anything for most of Ubuntu’s best features. However, users of other operating systems have to pay for pricey operating systems as well as office suites and other features that come free in Ubuntu.
Looking at Ubuntu Differently by Brandon Lee
These features sound like they could provide major competition to the two main operating systems, Windows and OS X. Yet, some people still use Windows or OS X after trying Ubuntu because their experiences with Ubuntu give them varying impressions of the operating system. Of course, other people do like and use Ubuntu, and they will continue to use Ubuntu for the rest of their life. However, other people use Ubuntu and receive a completely different experience. For some, Ubuntu fails to impress them enough and they continue to use their current operating system. For others, Ubuntu does not hold up against other kernels of Linux. So what features of Ubuntu convinced users to switch from their original operating system to Ubuntu but
for others did not provide enough of a reason to do exactly that? 9th grader Taiga Shirai switched to Ubuntu roughly three years ago, and still uses Ubuntu today due in part because of Ubuntu’s accessibility. “Ubuntu is so user friendly,” Shirai said. “Most issues can be fixed without a hassle.” Other reasons convinced Shirai to switch over to Ubuntu. “[Ubuntu is] free and open source,” Shirai said. Open source means that one can redistribute the code freely. The public can access Ubuntu’s source code, so anyone who wants to actively participate in the development of an open source software can easily do so. Programmers can continually improve the code and release it to the public, where more people can make more and more improvements to the code, and the community work together on improving the code. In addition, people find it easy to install Ubuntu. “Download and burn Ubuntu onto a CD, run it, and install. It’s that simple.” Shirai also likes the ability to find 95 percent of all software in the Ubuntu Software Center and have an office suite called OpenOffice for free. In addition, Shirai praises Ubuntu’s command line, where one can type commands to get things done much faster. Finally, Shirai could not stand the Windows updates that to him seemingly occurred every two days. However, with Ubuntu, users can use the Update Manager to control when they want to update their computer. Shirai found that Ubuntu fit well for him as an operating system. However, Technologic
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“Ubuntu was [okay] but I don’t really see the ... difference between Ubuntu ... and any other [operating system].” put his assertions to the test by interviewing Nathan Ploeger to see if he held the same views about Ubuntu as Shirai did. Ploeger, who has never used Ubuntu before, calls himself a Mac person. He enjoys using the Mac OS X Mountain Lion operating system that currently runs on his laptop; however, he has experience using Windows. Ploeger has agreed to provide his feedback on Ubuntu by trying Ubuntu for the first time. Before using Ubuntu, he admitted that the operating system somewhat intimidated him. “I am worried about switching,” he confessed. The operating system concerns Ploeger because it will provide a new experience to him and it may not cooperate with him. However, that did not show that Friday morning in early April, when Ploeger sat down with an Acer Aspire AO722-0825 laptop running the Ubuntu operating system. He completed a series of tasks that resembles what a typical user would probably do on a computer, perhaps frequently or on an everyday basis. Nathan first logged onto Ubuntu using a guest session, a temporary user account that allows guests to use the computer as a guest. Then, he opened a LibreOffice Writer document, the Ubuntu version
of Microsoft Word, and typed his name and favorite color, and saved it in the “Home Folder”. He also opened a LibreOffice Impress presentation, the Ubuntu version of Microsoft PowerPoint, and wrote a few words on a few slides. Ploeger saved the presentation in the same location as where he saved the document, and then surfed the web using Firefox. Ploeger downloaded Google Chrome and unlocked Firefox from the Launcher, the equivalent of the taskbar in Windows and the Dock in OS X. Afterwards, he reopened the Writer document and Impress presentation he created and deleted them from the file location. Ploeger then found the Workspace Switcher, and switched workspaces. In the end, he switched from the Ubuntu operating system back to the Windows operating system. After completing these things and getting a feel for the Ubuntu operating system and how it works, Ploeger reflects on his experience. “Ubuntu was ok but I don’t really see the ... difference between Ubuntu [operating system] and any other [operating system] … Although I like trying [new things], I felt like a dummy at [computers] staring at Ubuntu.” In other words, Ubuntu did not stand out. However, Ploeger liked the ability to switch workspaces because one can have many more windows open at once without cluttering the computer. He also
“Ubuntu is so user friendly, most issues can be fixed without a hassle.”
liked the ability to switch between from Ubuntu to Windows and back. He moved on to the challenges, like downloading and running Google Chrome. “The package was not working,” Ploeger said. “It wouldn’t open although I [downloaded] it correctly.” Ploeger enjoyed some features of Ubuntu, but others frustrated him. In fact, he would only recommend Ubuntu to people well versed in the ways of the computer and didn’t like their current operating system. The bottom line for Ploeger: “I don’t think I would switch to Ubuntu .... I [didn’t] know what [was] going on.” However, Travis Shivers, fellow peer of both Ploeger and Shirai, moved on to Arch Linux after he decided that he did not click with Ubuntu. Shivers first switched from Windows to Ubuntu when he wanted to try something new and interesting to him. After using it for a while, he realized Ubuntu performed much quicker and provided more customization options than Windows and that he enjoyed using Ubuntu because of those reasons, in addition to others. “One of the main features or aspects that got me to start using Linux is that it is free. I mean free in both meanings of the word. It’s gratis and libre,” Shivers said. However, after using Ubuntu for several years, it began to annoy Shivers. At that time, Ubuntu switched to a different graphical user interface (GUI). Shivers used Ubuntu with the new GUI for a few weeks, but then decided to try different Linux kernels Ubuntu’s cousins in the world of
operating systems. He tried Linux Mint, Fedora, and OpenSUSE, but ultimately chose Arch Linux. “With Arch, I can build my system package by package. This power allows ultimate customization,” Shivers said (packages are specific bits of software that are installed individually). “I just have so much fun configuring every little thing about a system from the [initialization] system to the window manager and [Arch] let me do that. With Ubuntu, the entire operating system is pretty much set up for you right when you install it.” While Travis may have found the right operating system for him in other Linux distributions, Arthur Pachachura decided to remain with the Windows operating system. Compatibility issues provided the main barrier for Pachachura. Because Microsoft copyrighted the .exe format, programmers like Pachachura find difficulty in transferring Windows programs like Microsoft Office or Photoshop into the Ubuntu operating system. Windows, on the other hand, can run most programs including Ubuntu programs. Windows users only need to download a program or two to run Ubuntu programs on the Windows operating system. Not only does Pachachura find compatibility issues in Ubuntu, he also finds that it cannot compete with the other two main operating systems, Windows and OS X. “Ubuntu is a slow OS that requires more processing power than Windows 8 and Mac Lion,” Pachachura said. “[Ubuntu] OS is only suited for computer beginners that need an easy-touse interface.”
“Ubuntu is a slow OS that requires more processing power than Windows 8 and Mac [Mountain] Lion.” However, Pachachura does admit one thing about Ubuntu. “I can recommend Ubuntu ... to those that are just learning computers or simply want a nice, free desktop on a higher-end computer. Ubuntu, after all, has the nicest GUI of any Linux.” That GUI probably plays a major role in Ubuntu, attracting many users with the interface Ubuntu users use to interact with the computer. However, competing operating systems Windows and OS X Mountain Lion also have respectable GUIs, and some people do not find that Ubuntu’s GUI particularly stands out. Also, Ubuntu’s rigid framework prevent some people from customizing Ubuntu and molding the operating system into their own, and this factor has deterred several users in the past. But, some users have looked past these things and have found a free, open source operating system. They found that what other operating systems couldn’t do for them, Ubuntu could. But, “if people are comfortable on one platform and don’t have a reason to change, then they shouldn’t,” Shivers said. “However, if someone is having trouble with their current operating system, I would recommend that they look at other options.
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Smart Phones Getting Smarter by Anthony Clemens
E
ver since the smartphone’s first release in 1992, its popularity has increased exponentially. With over one billion users worldwide and over 500 million units sold just last year, it seems obvious that smartphones are the way of the future. Smartphones have a major impact on the way we live our lives. Before the age of the smartphone, it was impossible to send an email, upload a picture to the internet or even check your stocks on the go. But now that’s all changed, we now live a mobile life moving away from the less portable laptop and even farther away from the desktop. Future smartphone features may have a larger impact on our lives than the features of today. A new technology that involves taking a real world environment,
picture or video and overlaying computer generated graphical elements such as sound or video on top of the image or video has recently come into the picture. They call it “augmented reality” and it has made its biggest spotlight in the recently announced Google Glasses. Nintendo has also implemented augmented reality games into their latest game console, the 3DS.
“So far, these altered reality games seem buggy to me, normally needing AR cards or a flat surface to play.”
A glimpse of augmented reality and how it will be used in the function of a map
Picture from www.earld.org
Some of the games requiring AR cards which allow the player to view 3D representations of famous Nintendo characters on specific cards sold by Nintendo. Similar to Google Glasses the 3DS uses a small camera to take pictures and videos to be used for augmented reality. Besides portable game consoles and augmented reality glasses we may find augmented reality software integrated into many of our smartphones. “So far, these altered reality games seem buggy to me, normally needing AR cards or a flat surface to play.” Drace Pantalion, iPhone owner and 9th grader, said. AR cards and buggy apps have become the face of augmented reality due to many failed attempts. Smartphone apps and games using augmented reality tend to generate a lot of buzz, but never go anywhere. The World Lens app created for the iPhone demonstrated this exactly. The app allowed the user to take a picture of some text in another language and then the app would display the text translated on your phone. The demonstration of this app got nearly 3.2 million views on YouTube and had a lot of people excited for its release and the new
An augmented reality app allowing the user to manipulate animated objects in a real world space Picture from http://multivu.prnewswire.com
At CES 2013 (Consumer Electronic Show), Samsung announced their flexible OLED display. This screen is generating a lot of buzz due to the fact the user can bend the screen back and forth as desired. Flexible screens produce many opportunities for pocket gadgets and technology we haven’t even thought of yet. Made from thin organic materials, flexible screens won’t be covered in glass, making them virtually shatter-proof. With plastic construction these screens will be able to take a hard beating and will have trouble getting scratched. “I think that it would make phones more durable, so it would be cool to see that technology integrated into my smartphone.” smartphone user, Nathan Humphreys Lucas said. Voice control has become a major selling point of the smartphones of today. Apple’s Siri, Samsung’s S-voice and Google Talk all have had a lot of buzz, but have never been more than a gimmick, never practical due to the limited amount of commands they can understand. Although voice control technology gets better with time, what can we expect with voice control in the future? “I like the idea of voice control and how it works, but right now
Picture from Foxnews.com
technology of “augmented reality,” but the app wasn’t executed properly and left a bad impression on the technology. Google goes for a different approach, instead of starting small they go for the big picture. They wanted to create a new face for augmented reality and further advance augmented reality technology. Augmented reality should have a big role in smartphones in the near future.
Samsungs Flexible Screen showcased at CES 2013
it is too hard to use easily because you have to enunciate everything perfectly and be in a noise-free environment. I would really like voice control to be able to hear you over white noise and if I could write easily with voice control,” Nathan Humphreys Lucas said. “I think that voice control is very interesting and at times can be very convenient. However, voice control has large room for error. Being in loud places or not speaking clear enough can frustrate those trying to use it. So, in my mind, I think that voice control does not have a productive future. Although, as an optional feature, I think it would be great to incorporate different accents and dialects so that the phone will understand everyone on the first try.” Drace Pantalion said. Faster processors and more powerful cloud services are the driving force behind advancing voice control technology. These advancements will make voice control much faster, and eventually will create no delay
from when you say something and when it is executed. Future voice control technology software will be able to differentiate the users voice from background noise, effectively allowing the phone to be used in any environment, loud or quiet. Voice control will also become conversational and be able to ask more sophisticated follow up questions. The voice control assistants will be able to remember what you say and adapt to their environment. Smartphone technology gets better and better. From advanced voice control to flexible screens smartphones will become a lot more versatile. With improved hardware smartphones will also be able to run more complicated software. There will come a point in which the smartphone can run Windows just as well as a desktop or laptop computer.
17
Deep Blue:
Chess Champion W
hat is life without the pursuit of knowledge? Since the beginning of recorded history, humankind has discovered, learned, made mistakes, changed things, and made progress in this world. It’s what we do, and definitely what we’re best at. The pursuit of knowledge has made progress, but not enough to fulfill a geek’s ambition of shaking hands with a new, artificially intelligent machine. We know so much, but yet so little. Our exploration in the field of discovery has lead to advanced computers and attempts at artificial intelligence, but we’re a long way away from androids and humans living in harmony. Here’s the next best thing. By Abby Darrow
Deep Blue: IBM’s supercomputer, in fact, one of the most famous in the world. If you’re reading this magazine, you’ve probably heard of it. History was made that fateful day in 1996, when Garry Kasparov, the world’s greatest chess player, lost a six-game match of chess to Deep Blue. It was a wonderful day for computer scientists, and a mark in the history books for the advancement of technology. It definitely helped the world to better understand the science of high-powered computing. Even though Deep Blue only beat
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Kasparov by one game, it was still an enormous milestone for not only IBM, but for earthlings in general. The Deep Blue vs. Kasparov games are pretty outdated, but the faster and smarter computers that we have today, wouldn’t exist without them. Computers like Watson are able to form hypotheses, which help choose answers for the game “Jeopardy!” and process natural human language all because of the data gathered while IBM developed and tested Deep Blue.
The website, ComputerHistory, posted a video in 2008 about Deep Blue, stating that, “Today, inexpensive computers with their large memories and sophisticated software can play chess as well as Deep Blue did with its massively parallel processors.” This quote backs up the point that computers are extremely sophisticated now, and beautifully advancing. Deep Blue was the most sophisticated computer of its time, and has helped tremendously in the field of science.
Who After creating ChipTest, Feng Hsiung Hsu and Murray Campbell joined the IBM research team that would create Deep Blue.
What Specifically programmed to play chess, Deep Blue analyzed potential moves and positions in order to beat the opponent in the fastest and most efficient way possible.
When Deep Blue won the first match against Garry Kasparov on February 10, 1996, and after Kasparov demanded a rematch, Deep Blue beat Kasparov for the second time on May 11, 1997.
Picture licenced “some rights reserved� from Wikipedia
Where Deep Blue was created at Carnegie Mellon University, a private research university in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.
Why IBM wanted to create a machine that would be able to analyze large amounts of data in such a small amount of time, that it might be able to beat a human in a game of chess.
How Deep Blue analyzed 200 million possible chess moves per second, and around 50 billion positions, all in the three minutes allowed for a single move in a game of chess.
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For when Internet Explorer just doesn’t cut it.
Introducing the brand new Chromebook Pixel Sleek and simplistic design
Retina display like nothing you’ve seen before Equipped with the newest and fastest OS out there Picture courtesy of Logan Drake from Clickege Media Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial Share-Alike 3.0 Unported License