OLPC

One Laptop Per Child, or otherwise known as OLPC, is a non-profit organization. It is giving out laptops manufactured by Quanta Computer. These laptops can be given to children and schools in places that are in need of more modern technology for learning and every day use, for $199. Or for the price of $399, the person who made the purchase will, not only send one overseas to those in need, but receive one as well.

The latest laptop is the XO. It is a very capable laptop despite being only $199 each. They are made specially for children in remote locations and Third World countries, but recently, a large quantity has been given to the state of Alabama as well. It is only about the size of a small textbook, has a special screen that is just as visible even if it is directly in the sun. It is light, durable and self sufficient, meaning that battery can be stored through electrical outputs and if there are none available, energy can be produced manually through a handle that spins a rotator, storing energy inside the machine. Another neat feature is its wireless networking system. Say there are 15 of these laptops at a remote location. If even just one of these is connected to the internet, then the other 14 will be connected as well, as long as they are within range.

The laptop is a very interesting machine, with many features in which a normal computer bought at a much higher price doesnt even have. OLPC is clearly a great organization, not only helping others in places that need the attention, but for no profit as well.

Last week, we (the ict12 class) were introduced to the visual
basics program. We started off in the new language by creating a Hello World program that responds to clicks, unlike Turbo Pascal. VB appears to be a lot more fun as well.

Microsoft Announces New Operating Systems

Yesterday, (Oct 28, 2008) Microsoft unveiled details of two new operating systems. Currently the most commonly used Microsoft operating systems are Windows XP and Windows Vista. Although frequently criticized, often by those who have never used it, Vista is actually a very stable, rich environment in which to work. Particularly when used with up-to-date machines.

Nevertheless, Microsoft has decided to press ahead with successors for Vista. In late 2009, Windows 7 will be released. It wil be much like Vista. Around the same time, Microsoft will release Windows Azure, an operating system that lives on Microsoft servers and not on your computer. This is called "Cloud" computing. The "Cloud" being the internet. Basically this means that you won't need an operating system for programs: they will all live in the "Cloud."

Whether this works out or not, remains to be seen. However, many companies have already tried this, both with Microsoft and Google products.

"Cloud" computing is one of the most used technology buzz-words at present.

ICT 12 Student Blogs (2008-09) - UPDATED

Ava Balingit

Ryan Battistel

Sofia Busse

Nicole Ceralde

Nathan Chiu

Tomasz Cieslik

Jonathan De Maeseneer

Danila Di Giacinto

Sonia Di Palma

Lia Estrellado

Kimberly Francisco

Dilantha Geekiyanage

Nikko Henderson

Nikka Komisarski

Steffani Mastromonaco

Caitlin Nery

Conner Olenick

Andrea Strazzullo

Adam Troczynski

Nikko Tagle

Alannah Villella

Jason Wong

ICT 12 Student Blogs (2008-09)

Ava Balingit
Ryan Battistel
Sofia Busse
Nicole Ceralde
Nathan Chiu
Jonathan De Maeseneer
Danila Di Giacinto
Lia Estrellado
Kimberly Francisco
Dilantha Geekiyanage
Nikko Henderson
Nikka Komisarski
Steffani Mastromonaco
Caitlin Nery
Conner Olenick
Andrea Strazzullo
Adam Troczynski
Nikko Tagle
Alannah Villella
Jason Wong

These are the blog URL's for my ICT 12 class colleagues. This class is using Blogger throughout the year to record information about the various programs and techniques.
This will be updated to include other blog URL's for students currently not in the list.

iGoogle

I signed up for the iGoogle service and made a couple of minor custom changes. I added a custom widget to display IP address.

Binary

Computers operate with something called "binary operations". These binary operations have "bits" arranged together in groups called "bytes". The bits have values of 1 and 0. These values are powers of two; ones, twos, fours, eights, etc. This is read from right to left.

e.g.

1001= 8+0+0+1=9
1011=8+0+2+1=11
1111=8+4+2+1=15

In ICT 12 the computer that I use is number one, therefore the binary code is 0001. This will also be used in the footer for whatever paper I print out and hand in.