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Zach Hope's Articles

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  • 3 Of the Best Things about Apple Computers
    Different people have different likes and dislikes. When it comes to computers price often becomes of paramount importance – and there are some fantastic bargains available as a result. On the other end of the scale there is the Apple range. You pay over the odds for the specification, but you also get a little bit of magic.
  • 30 inch TFT monitors
    In London we have one of a handful of Apple stores that are dotted around the world. One of the most amazing products in the store is the massive flat panel monitors on display. These are 30 inch monitors and although they are incredibly pricy but I would seriously consider getting one if I had the cash.
  • A Guide to Green Computing
    Our computers have a negative effect on the environment in different ways, at different stages of its lifetime. During manufacture, computers require a certain amount of energy in order to come into existence. In other words the factory required electricity to run its machines – and a proportion of this can be attributed to each unit that is made. Then it had to be shipped to the retail outlet – requiring even more energy in the form of diesel to power the ship.
  • A Short History of Operating Systems
    Most youngsters today take for granted the mouse based operating systems that have been the norm since the 80s. The mouse is the biggest advance that I can think of in the evolution of the home computer.
  • An Essential Part of Sustainable Computing has to be Freecycle.org
    Imagine if all the items on eBay were being given away completely free. Sounds too good to be true? Well you can stop dreaming because this is actually a reality. The only catch is that you normally have to go and collect the item, but apart from that it is a fantastic way of getting your hands on second hand bits and bobs.
  • Apple’s Rise to the Top
    I am just starting to consider forgiving Apple for the worst nightmare I ever experienced in 20 years of working on computers. Having had a terrible experience with an iBook in 2004, I swore that I would never use one again. Since then a lot has changed and a recent visit to the Apple store greatly impressed me.
  • Are Humans the Biggest Bottleneck of Computer Systems?
    Often people optimize their PCs to make starting Windows a few seconds quicker, but they don’t consider the inefficiencies of typing. If you are not an amazingly quick typist, the QWERTY layout probably is not slowing you down. But then you could say that if you were to invest in some typing lessons, this would be a much wiser upgrade than buying the latest hardware.
  • Can You Draw the Windows XP Logo?
    The start up process needn’t be such a long drawn out process. There was a time, way back, when our computers were shiny and new, that booting up was as quick as maybe 10-15 seconds. So what happened?
  • Do Computers Baffle You?
    The other day I read an astounding news article that was in the Guardian newspaper. It revealed that PCs baffle 50% of adults in Britain. I thought that it was just my mum, but it turns out that it is in reality an epidemic. According to the survey carried out by Which? magazine, in January 2007, half of all adults “feel overwhelmed by new technology and struggle to understand the jargon”. That’s not the end of it, “56% of over-65s were ‘voluntarily excluding’ themselves.
  • E.T. - A Green Role Model?
    He was afraid.

    He was alone.

    He was 3 million light years from home.

    ....but when it came to the crunch, our favourite alien from the 80’s, E.T., knuckled down and phoned home using an old coat hanger, a Speak & Spell, and a record player. That’s what I call ingenuity.
  • Everyday Life with PCs and Macs
    In my flat there are both Macs and PCs. I use the PCs and my flatmate uses his Mac. Over the last three years I have been noticing the problems that each system encounters on a daily basis. Neither platform is perfect but each has its own personality which he should think about if you are buying a new computer.
  • Five Ways to Speedup Your Slow Computer
    In 2005 I finally purchased my first Windows PC. In the 15 years before I had used an Apple Macintosh computer for my school and university work. Of course I had to use Windows machines from time to time but I never owned one: the university and school supplied these machines and it wasn’t my responsibility to maintain them. Since then I have learned by trial and error the best ways to keep and a Windows PC from becoming frustratingly slow.
  • Getting Started With Digital Photography on a Budget
    Although no one has specifically said this to me, I think there is a common misconception with digital photography. It seems like people treat new digital photography technologies as if they were magic – expecting much better results from traditional cameras with no added effort.
  • High Performance Computing on a Shoestring
    The latest computers can cost a lot of money, but here is some information that will allow anyone to have a fast PC without breaking the bank.
  • How to Clean a TFT Screen
    In the good old days, cleaning a computer screen was dead easy. The glass front of your monitor could just be wiped over with a bit of window cleaner and an old rag. You could give it a bit of elbow grease if there where any persistent finger prints, and in a couple of minutes it was as good as new.
  • How to Make Your Laptop Last Longer
    Apple computer have recently introduced a magnetic power connector to their range of MacBooks and MacBook Pros. The idea is that if your power cable gets yanked, it just pops out and doesn’t pull your laptop off the table. This is a great invention that surely should have been invented at least 10 years ago – I can’t believe no one thought of such an obvious idea sooner.
  • How to Quickly and Easily Add a Hard Disk to Your Computer
    Adding extra storage space can be done with either an external or internal drive. The internal drive sits on your desktop and plugs in via a Firewire or USB cord. USB hard drives are particularly easy to install; all you do is just plug it in and Windows will automatically install the drivers. I like external drives as a way of backing up files. If you keep your hard drive in a different room from your PC, you will be less at risk from thieves stealing your backup files.
  • How to Stop Your Computer Wasting Electricity
    I regularly use Skype to keep in touch with my friends and family. Recently I noticed that almost all of my contacts never pickup Skype calls, but then if I ring their phone they answer. This means that their computers are being left on, even though they are not using them. When you consider that most computers use typically 70-200 Watts of power across the nation the accumulative waste of electricity must be monumental.
  • If Think You Think Computers are Complicated Now… Just Wait
    Despite its massively successful integration into the average home, a huge number of adults are still baffled by the home computer. Looking into the future, the problem doesn’t seem like it’s going to have a solution on the horizon anytime soon.
  • Introducing the Indestructible Laptop
    One of the major weaknesses of the common notebook computer is its fragility. Whilst the name ‘notebook’ is an accurate analogy to describe its size, in terms of robustness a better name might be ‘vase’. Manufacturers seem to have finally recognised this shortcoming of the traditional laptop, because Panasonic has launched a new ultra sturdy ‘ToughBook’.
  • iPhone - A New Breed of Mobile Phone
    The iPhone I believe be seen in the future to be the turning of the tide and trigger the beginning of the end for poor user interfaces. Apple’s place in the history books my read... “Before the iPhone we had to contort to cell phones, after the iPhone the phone was adapted to us.”
  • Is it the Beginning of the End for Microsoft?
    I personally haven’t made the switch from XP to Vista. From what I’ve heard and read there isn’t much reason to do so. It’s not that computer journalist are saying that Vista is terrible, it just that it doesn’t live up to all the hype. Vista was in development for around 5 years which is a long wait for what some have nicknamed “XP Service Pack 4”. This is the tech community’s way of saying, “It’s evolutionary, not revolutionary”.
  • ITV’s “Addicted to the Internet” Current Affairs Programme
    Last night I watched a TV show called “Addicted to the Internet”. There was a bloke on the show who apparently never went out of his home and just spent all of his time in front of his computers. They challenged him, as part of the show, to go for 72 hours without using his computers. It was a real ordeal for him and he made a video diary of the process. He was obviously being tortured and was in an almost docile state of mind – he was bored out of his brains.
  • Laptops or PCs - Which Are Best?
    I have the luxury of having both a desktop and a laptop, and I would like to share with you the advantages of each. Choosing the right machine for you will depend on what you want the computer for, how many and what kind of applications you will run, and how much you have to spend.
  • Making the Transition to Digital TV
    I was speaking to a friend of mine the other day about the ending of analogue TV broadcasting. Over the next couple of years each region in the UK will start to switch off its analogue transmissions permanently. Televisions bought in recent years will have no problem, as they have a digital tuner built in. Otherwise an additional digibox will be needed to be bought.
  • New Eco Friendly PC Components
    I just bought a new Samsung DVD burner – an optical drive that is completely lead free. As far as I know, lead is used in as the soldering material when manufacturing printed circuit boards. There are so many poisonous substances in consumer electronics, but at least the first steps have been taken towards making computers for sustainable living.
  • PC Repair and Proverbs
    “A stitch in time saves nine”. This is a common quote that says that if you take a precautionary measure today you will reap the rewards from it in the future. Although this phrase was coined many years ago (probably hundreds of years but I’m not sure), it can be applied to the latest computer technology. This is the measure of a good proverb, and something that applies to all types of industry and can stand the test of time.
  • PC vs. Mac: A Juvenile Discussion?
    PC Pro magazine recently debated whether PCs are better than Macs. This article analyses why this debate has run for so long and why it will go on for years to come.
  • Skype Headsets – A Buyer’s Guide
    Skype has to be one of my favourite applications of the last 5 years. Millions of computer users regularly connect to Skype to enjoy pan global conversations in broadcast quality without paying a penny. No wonder so many people choose to use Skype instead of a regular phone. Instead of saying “I’ll phone you later” I hear people saying “I’ll Skype you later” – this is a sign of just how important Skype has become.
  • The Best Way to Get Rid of an Old CRT Monitor
    LCD monitors are rapidly replacing the old cathode ray tube (CRT) type monitors. LCD displays (a.k.a. TFT, or flat panel) use substantially less electricity; a typical CRT uses more energy whilst on standby than a LCD does when switched on. Other advantages are that LCDs have a fraction of the weight of CRTs, and they require a lot less desk space. These are the factors that are driving the heavy, clunky CRTs out of the market.
  • The Best Way to Record a Skype Conversation
    The sound quality of Skype telephony is one of the most amazing aspects of the technology. Skype offer a paid subscription service which allows you to record your conversations. This is not the only way to create an mp3 file of your phone call.
  • The Coolest Way to Launch Applications
    When it comes to launching applications Windows XP is not the most efficient tool ever devised. Mac OS X has an infinitely better looking solution – the Dock is one of the most beautifully illustrated and nicely animated tool bars to grace computer screens.
  • The Next Generation of Super Hero Hard Drives
    In the summer of 2007, Custom PC magazine published a feature on solid state drives (SSDs). Also known as flash drives – this technology has already reached the mainstream in the form of USB memory sticks and the iPod nano. However, according to the article these drives will one day replace the conventional hard drive.
  • The Ticking Time Bomb that is Your PC
    Most people who own a computer have it in the back of their mind that they need to backup there important document. What most people are less aware of is why they need to do this. In my experience most would say that it in case your computer gets stolen, a file gets mistakenly deleted, or the PC just breaks down. This is a bit of a broad reason as far as I’m concerned. The biggest reason why I backup is because the average hard disk fails when it is 3-5 years old.
  • The Ultimate Ultraportable
    It just occurred to me that with the ever-increasing speed of memory cards, surely this is going to be the way people carry their data around with them in the future. This might not sound too groundbreaking to most people but let me explain some of the implications.
  • Two Computers are Better than One - Diagnosing PC Problems
    If something went wrong with your computer what would you do? Look up the manufacturer’s website, ask a question on a forum, or perhaps download a user guide? All these things involve using the internet, so if you can’t get online it could leave you a bit stuck. In this situation, having a second computer can save you so much hassle.
  • USB Trip Wires – How to Avoid Smashing Your Camera, Cell Phone, or iPod
    I have lots of devices that I regularly plug into the USB slots of my PC. There must be millions of people who use USB cables to transfer data to all sorts of portable devices. Although most people don’t realise, they are setting themselves a trap when they plug into the front of their tower PCs.
  • Vista vs. OSX
    The battle between Microsoft and Apple began a new chapter in the summer of 2007 with the launch of Windows Vista. I personally am currently sticking with Windows XP. Why am I doing this? Well, I think it is wise to be patient for service pack 1, just to be certain that all the major glitches have been ironed out.
  • What will PCs be like in 20 Years Time?
    As far as I’m concerned, today’s PC user falls into two camps; the savvy user and the non-savvy user. Whereas the savvy user might browse the internet with the Firefox browser and search using Google, the non-savvy would consider Internet Explorer was the internet and search using the default 'Live Search'.
  • Why PCs of the Future Could be Even Faster Than Anyone Ever Imagined
    As up and coming generations reach adult hood, operating systems will have to start catering for their needs. Tweaking the operating system to optimally suit the individual user may just be a feature that the adults of tomorrow would be looking for as a priority.
  • “Warming Up” your PC
    We take it for granted nowadays that TV sets are ready to go at the touch of a button and with a mere second or two we have a picture with sound.

    This improvement has been made possible due to the fundamental changes in the way that your TV works. Sets used to have so called “valves” that needed to be warmed up in order to work properly. The modern boxes use different technologies that don’t need to warm up.
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