I have definitely noticed that I can wait longer between computer upgrades these days, at least with PCs (I am not an apple gal/guy). Still, some of my pre-2010 computers, and even some post 2010, machines do need to be placed on the garbage heap. I have lots of computers and it really is a mixed bag as to what works well over the long haul and what does not. It seems to come down to the combo of motherboard/chip/graphics card as to what will or will not work well. The amount of RAM could play into this if it was really low but this is not a problem with any of my machines as I make sure to not begin to low in this regard.
The chip itself is not so much a big deal as much as how well it handles graphics. Some of the motherboard/chip combos I have work well, regardless of the absence or presence of a graphics card. Yet it is not entirely clear to me this is true. I have a relatively newer vintage crap laptop that seems to have lost something over successive software upgrades, e.g., win 8, 8.1, 10 and office flavors/years.
Fortunately I have access to a great source of cheap machines. A local computer store offers all kinds of open-box and otherwise discounted PCs that regularly offer fantastic deals. In fact, I’m off to the store this morning to check out what looks like an incredible steal……
by Dawn
on September 29, 2009
One of the things I am exploring here is the idea of online community and social networking. I am no expert, by a long shot, but I think few people really are. Let’s face it the field this encompasses is changing so rapidly that even thinking you may have an understanding today guarantees nothing for tomorrow. Who would have predicted facebook before it started? Or text messaging as a communication medium.
My sense of what is happening is that social tools are in such a state of flux that our common social portals are all temporary phenomenon. Most products, companies and even us have a limited shelf life. Things are born, may do well, jump the shark at some point, and then senesce . The timing and speed of this process is very quick in techology related areas today. Where will facebook, twitter and other popular portals be in five years? How about ten? I think they will become a minor part of things, if they do not disappear altogether.
by Dawn
on September 27, 2009
Lots and lots of people today use earbuds to listen to music. And while we all have known for sometime that sustained exposure to loud noises can cause permanent hearing loss, lots of people do not pay attention to this when they are younger. Clearly there are plenty of people listening to their music to loud. How many people do you pass on a busy city street where you can hear their music playing? This racket is subjecting their ears to this loud noise from right next to the eardrum!
How bad is this type of behavior? A Northwestern University professor, Dean Garstecki, thinks it is pretty bad. From his December 2005 study:
earbuds …are even more likely to cause hearing loss than ….older devices
We’re seeing the kind of hearing loss in younger people typically found in aging adults.
Measurements have shown that some young adults listen to music at 120 decibels, which is what you can expect at a rock concert. This level of sound can cause damage after slightly more than an hour of exposure.
Unfortunately sound frequencies produced by earbuds are not buffered like they were with older types of headphones that fit over the ears. When Walkman’s were all the craze, hearing loss was talked about even but the lower quality reproduction was somewhat safer. The digitally reproduced sounds today are also crisper and cleaner, with less distortion. The sound is higher quality but at high levels it is more harmful than regular headphones.
Another added hearing danger problem is that people often use earbuds to listen to sound reproduction devices while they are out and about. We have a tendency to raise the volume in order to drown out external noise. More volume equals more potential for hearing loss. One study showed that music listeners using headphones in a quiet indoor environment were fine with music levels of 69 decibels. In the outdoors with up to 65 decibels of ambient noise drove listeners to increase the sound from 82 to 95 decibels. This is clearly done to block out the sounds of the environment. This does have the desired effect but also is harming our hearing.
There are ways you can take action to keep yourself, and your hearing, safe. The only thing you really need to do is to not listen to your music so loud. Yet how to do this in a way that still allows you to enjoy whatever it is you are listening too is the trick.
If you are outdoors or in a noisy environment but want to lower the volume of your music it may do you well to have some noise cancelling or noise reduction earbuds. Noise cancelling will take away any constant high frequency sounds very well. With less of that noise in the background, you can lower the volume of your mp3 player and hear a lot better. Noise blocking earbuds are similar but work simply by blocking your ear canal from taking in sound from beyond the earbuds. Different way to get to the end result of you being able to lower the sound on your earbuds. So be careful, lower the sound on your music player and save your hearing!