Tim Xu
As college students, our computing needs are often fairly simple. A laptop (either the PC or Mac variety) and perhaps some sort of external hard drive for back-up are usually sufficient. A laptop takes care of everything: we take it to class to take notes, then bring it back to our rooms for some quality […]
Sci-Tech
Tim Xu
How do you usually buy your technology? Today, the answer is increasingly becoming “online.” Online retailers such as Amazon.com have become some of the top vendors of consumer technology. From cell phones to TVs to video game consoles, today’s consumer is turning to the Internet for easy and comprehensive fact-gathering, for the convenience of staying […]
Sci-Tech
Tim Xu
When Apple introduced its iPhone in 2007, it revolutionized a handset market previously saturated with poorly designed and poorly implemented software. Its rapid sales woke up an industry to new consumer expectations and new demand for smartphones with a slick interface. For many smartphone customers, it is no longer acceptable for a phone to merely […]
Sci-Tech
Tim Xu
2008 was a year of change — and not just in politics. The computer industry is changing — the product of the end of one cycle of technologies and the changing market conditions. New technologies began appearing in 2008 that will continue to gain traction in 2009 — technologies that may change the face of […]
Sci-Tech
Tim Xu
There’s a version of the Internet telecommunications companies — the same ones that supply your connection — want you to adopt. This bold, new blueprint involves tiers, splitting the Internet into levels based on content. The most common model involves two tiers, a higher tier for high-speed content providers, such as YouTube, and a lower […]
Sci-Tech
Tim Xu
The pace of modern life has accelerated with time. As a society, we spend less time sitting down and more time moving from place to place. When we do sit down, it’s most likely in front of a computer. This is especially true for us students — the younger generation — who are now entering […]
Sci-Tech
Tim Xu
I can count the number of CDs I brought to college on my fingers. Photographs? None. Tapes of old vacations — you’re kidding, right? In this brave new world of digital everything, electronic cousins of these once important physical objects have rendered them relics. The sheer physical nonexistence of digital data, along with incomparable convenience, […]
Sci-Tech
Tim Xu
I download music illegally. I tried to be legal, to buy my CDs and use the online music stores legally. I want to support the bands whose music I enjoy. But the very thing the music companies use to protect themselves from piracy — Digital Rights Management — pushed me into the murky waters of […]
Sci-Tech
Tim Xu
T-Mobile G1 and Android The popularity of Apple’s iPhone has revolutionized the smart-phone market, forcing traditional powerhouses such as RIM — the maker of Blackberry — and Palm to rethink and redesign their mobile platforms. It has also drawn new players to this rapidly expanding market. On Tuesday, Google and T-Mobile unveiled their entry into […]
Sci-Tech