franks blog

Sunday, November 28, 2010

Factors to consider when buying a laptop

When buying any computer the primary thing to consider is what you will be using it for. This post will look at buying a computer for an applied psychology course and will consider the key factors of RAM (random access memory), hard drive, battery life, programs and operating system supplied with the computer. This may seem like an excessive amount of jargon, however it is important to understand these components as many people end up purchasing a computer which is not suitable to their needs.

RAM

Firstly let’s consider RAM. This stands for random access memory, it is measured in gigabytes and is an indicator of how fast a computer is. For example a computer with one gigabyte of RAM would not be as fast as a computer with three gigabytes of RAM. In the case of buying a laptop for an applied psychology course, the latter would be preferred. This is because during the course you would be using multiple programs at the same time as well as large programs such as photoshop which require a large amount of RAM to run efficiently.

The next thing to consider when buying a laptop is its hard drive. The size of the hard drive determines the memory capacity of a computer. This means how many documents, images videos etc. which you can save to your computer. For an applied psychology as well as most college courses a large hard drive is a necessity, as it would be a disaster to find in your final year that your hard drive has reached full capacity. This would leave you in a situation in which you have a slow computer and also need to buy expensive external storage.

Hard Drive

Another important factor when buying a laptop for your applied psychology course is its battery life. This is more of a convenience then an absolute necessity, however there is nothing more annoying then spending a lot of time on a document only to have your computer run out of battery before saving it. In order to avoid this situation, as well as forever looking for a plug socket, I would recommend buying a laptop with at least six hours of battery life.

The final factor I would consider is the programs and operating system supplied with the computer. Programs such as Microsoft Office and Adobe Photoshop are essential for assignments on an applied psychology course. The operating system is a set of programs which control hard ware, software, file management and provide a user interface. Luckily most modern computers come with high quality concurrent operating systems, so it is ultimately a matter of preference between Macintosh, Microsoft and if you’re completely insane Linux.

To conclude, although the task of purchasing an appropriate laptop for an applied psychology course may seem daunting. With a basic knowledge of computing an informed decision can be made.

Driverless Car

My second article was about a car in Germany which had been named the “Spirit of Berlin”. Although it is quite an old article written in december of 2007. The lack of automated cars today would still suggest that it is at the forefront of technology. Today cars exist with sensors and cameras for parking, however this car is in a league of its own.

The “Spirit of Berlin” uses a combination of video cameras, laser sensors and a GPS navigation system in order to sense obsticles and read road signs. The car surpasses the abilitys of a human driver in that it is capable of constant three hundred and sixty degree observation, picking up one million points per second which are then processed by four computers in order to decide the cars actions. So far the car has had no accidents.

The Spirit of Berlin

However unlike human drivers the computers are not capable of using reason. An example in the article is of a pedestrian at the side of the road. A human driver would observe the pedestrian and try to anticipate their actions. However the computerised car would perceive the pedestrian as a stationary object, which could potentially cause an accident. Although this could be considered as a major flaw in the cars design, the “Spirit of Berlin” is still a work in progress and scientists are still working on future innovations such as reading traffic lights.

I thought this was an extremely interesting article as a flying car is a common stereotype associated with the future, however this article made me consider a future of automated cars instead. A future in which human drivers would be no longer be necessacery and road traffic accidents may even become extinct.

If you are interested in reading this article it can be found in the link below.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/videos/2007/1205-driverless_car.htm

Saturday, November 27, 2010

Scientists worry machines may outsmart man

This is an article which I found online and thought was very interesting. It looks at the possibility of artificial intelligence surpassing human intelligence. This is a concept which occurs in many films such as “Terminator” or “2001: Space Odyssey”. However this article sheds a new light of reality upon this concept. Through use of real world examples such as computer viruses which cannot be stopped, a robot which can open doors and recharge itself and predator drones it removes this idea from sci-fi and makes the reader consider the actual possibility of machines capable of outsmarting people.

Predator Drone

This article focuses on a group of scientists who are currently debating limiting artificial intelligence. They believe that with the speed at which technology is advancing it is inevitable that a machine of equal or superior intelligence to humans will be created. This has raised concern among these scientists as they have observed existing computer viruses which cannot be exterminated, this suggests that it is possible for man made technology to avoid being destroyed by people. The article asks what if a machine more intelligent then people could avoid its own destruction. It uses the predator drone, a remotely controlled bomber plane, as an example in which a machine if granted artificial intelligence could kill humans.

Helper Robot recharging itself

However this article not only raises concern over the ethical and social issues which artificial intelligence would create. It questions how people would interact with a machine of equal intelligence, would they consider it as an equal? It asks what would be the effect of an increase of human jobs being replaced by machines? What would happen if these machines fell into the hands of criminals? And ultimately will we have to learn to live with machines which increasingly copy the behaviour of humans?

Personally I believe that the rapid progress of technology is a mixed blessing. Although it helps us in our everyday lives and is a great source of convenience. Measures must be taken to avoid creating a machine capable of building others, autonomously taking lives or carrying out any other form of threatening behaviour.

If you are interested in reading this article the link is here.

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/07/26/science/26robot.html?_r=1