The Microprocessor

The most important component of a computer is its processor, or central processing unit. On most personalized computers it is housed on a single chip no bigger than your thumbnail. The processor is like the brain of your computer. It is where most of the calculations take place. The processor uses logic to execute computer programs.
There are two typical components of the processor: the arithmetic logic unit, which performs logical operations, and the control unit which retrieves instructions from memory to execute them. The processor interacts with the other hardware the same way all the other component of hardware do. It is plugged into a socket directly on the motherboard.
In 1970 microprocessors did not even exist, but by the end of the decade the market was saturated with them and many were already 16 bit. Three companies claimed to be the first to put a computer on a single chip: the Central Air Data Computer, the Intel 4004, and the Texas Instruments TMS 1000. The CADC and the TMS were not single chips but chip sets, the Intel 4004 was cited as the first. These companies were followed by RCA, IBM, Motorola, and many more. Chips in the 70's went from 4 to 8 to 16 bit capabilities. The 1980's ushered in the era of 32 bit capabilities. The 90's brought about the 64 bit processors in some markets and the 2000's started to introduce them to all markets and users.

Larry Page and Sergey Brin

Homework #3

Larry Page and Sergey Brin cofounded the monolithic search engine google. I am going to focus on Larry Page. Larry Page was born in Michigan in 1973. His father was a proffessor of computer science and artificial intelligence at the university of Michigan. Larry got his bachelor of Science from the University of Michigan and his masters at Stanford.
The concept of google was born while the two men were both students at Stanford getting their PHd's in computer science. Larry picked a dissertation theme that focused on the mathematical properties of the World Wide Web, which viewed the web as a huge graph. At this point he teamed up with Sergey Brin. Larry then took it further by finding out which web pages link to others, by considering the backlinks and their value to the page. The backlinks are incoming links to a webpage. The number of backlinks is one direct indication of the popularity of that page.
To convert the backlink data into a list of importance for a given page, Brin and Page developed the PageRank algorithm, and they realized that this could be used as a search engine far superior to anything out there. The first version of google was made available through the Stanford website in 1996.

New Xbox Experience

I want to write about the new Xbox experience. We have talked about it in class but I was intrigued to know more. Unfortunately, there is not too much information on the unreleased software. The most interesting thing about the new Xbox experience is that you do not have to go out and buy a new Xbox or buy the software. You can download it right to your existing Xbox. We saw the new menu format in class that offers many extra amenities such as Netflix, and online games featuring your own avatar. To accomodate this new revolution in home gaming systems, which are now home entertainment systems, expansion packs for your Xbox's hard drive will be offered. They come standard with 20 gigs but can now be upgraded to 120 or more. As we know memory will need to be vastly increased to store all the data that will now be directly downloadable to your Xbox.
*There will be no additional charge for the software update. You only need to be an Xbox live member to acquire the software.
*Xbox officials say that the new software will be available by this holiday season.