New Type of RAM – PRAM

Intel, along with some other companies are developing a new type of RAM.  RAM is one of the main parts of the computer that makes it go fast.  It is like a hard drive in that it stores data, but it is much faster (and smaller), but it requires power to store data.  It’s not used to store your files, it is for loading the programs into when they are running.  That way they can run faster then if they were running right off the hard drive.

This new RAM is called PRAM, or, phase-change RAM. From what I read it seems like it should be faster and cheaper, and it also will not require power.  This all sounds cool to me, but what really got my attention was the way it’s made.

PRAM is based on chalcogenide glass, which can be altered using the heat generated by an electric current. Heat changes the physical structure of the glass to either a crystalline or amorphous state. Each of these states has a distinct electrical resistance that is used to represent the ones and zeroes needed to represent stored data in binary terms.

- PC World

That’s awesome.  What kind of a goof ball would think they should try to heat a piece of glass into an amorphous state to represent binary.  You can call me a geek all you want with my programming and whatnot, but the guys who think this stuff up are the real geniuses.

Cannot Activate XP Professional/Explorer Doesn’t Work After Upgrade

I recently bought the Windows XP Professional Upgrade version, to upgrade my XP Home computer. The Upgrade went just fine, but then when I tried to activate it I had a problem.  I also could not enter an address into the address bar of Internet Explorer
I spent hours pulling my hair out trying to figure out why it would not activate, and possibly would have cast myself out the window. Then I stumbled upon this post in a Microsoft forum. It solved my problem and it looks like a lot of other people’s as well. I have the instructions here too, simplified a little bit.

If XP Pro will not activate (an error report box appears after you click Activate Windows) and you had Internet Explorer 7 installed before installing the upgrade, do the following -

1. Go to My Computer
2. Click Tools->Folder Options…
3. Click the View tab
4. Click “Show hidden files and folders”
5. Close My Computer
6. Click Start->Run
7. Enter the following command without the quotes “%windir%\ie7\spuninst\spuninst.exe”
8. Follow the steps to remove IE 7 and then restart your computer

You should now be able to activate Windows and Explorer will work.  The problem must be that XP Pro trys to install the old version of Internet Explorer and that goofs everything up.

Internship

I was up at the place I go for my computer classes (from here on to be referred to by its name – TechSkills) talking to my instructor. We were just kind of shootin the breeze when I asked him what he thought as far as me getting a job or internship somewhere. He got, what I thought to be a puzzled look on his face and it seemed like he was thinking for a few seconds. I wasn’t sure what he was thinking, but I sort of thought that he was going to say that I shouldn’t do anything like that just yet. Then he went on to say, that just the other day he had talked to a local software company that writes .NET code and uses SQL Server (precisely what I use), and that they were looking for an intern.

So I wrote up a little resume type thing, and he sent it to the company. So I’m just waiting to here back from him now. This was on Friday. Actually it was pretty late Friday, right around when he leaves work, so he might not have been able to send it until today.

I’m an MCAD

Microsoft Certified Application Developer, that is.  In addition to my normal school, I am also taking some computer courses.  My main focus is the .NET Framework, which I’m not even going to give a brief description of right now, but just know that it’s really cool for a programmer, and that its end product is software-consumer satisfaction.

When I am all done I will be an MCSD, Microsoft Certified Solution Developer.  I am planning on taking five courses (if I finish all of those in my 12 month time limit, I will take some more): SQL Server, VB.net, XML and Web Services, ASP.net, and Architecture.  I am finished with the first three (upon completion of the third is when I got my MCAD certification), and just started ASP.net about a week ago.

With what I know so far I’m pretty sure I can get a decent job somewhere (and I’ll be looking in the next month or so), and when I’m entirely done, I think I’ll be able to make some sweet do-ray-me.  Of course I need experience too, but that’s what the first job is for.

Laptop Power Saving Tips

The battery on the laptop that I use has been dead for couple years now, and just the other day I got a new one. I did some reading and testing to try and figure out the best ways to conserver the short and long term life of the battery.

1. Turn the screen brightness all the way down or at least as far down so you can still read the screen.
2. Unplug any external devices, headphones, wireless cards (if you’re laptop has a built in Wi-Fi connection, use that), mice, etc.
3. Have the screen shut off after one minute (the minimum).
4. Set it so that it goes into standby fairly quickly (a few minutes).
5. It makes sense to have the computer go into hibernate mode after it goes into standby. I can’t give any firsthand experience about hibernate mode because my computer does weird stuff when I put it in hibernate.
6. If you don’t need to be looking at the screen, don’t have it open. For example if you are listening to music and aren’t doing anything else, close the screen so it shuts off. The screen sucks a lot of juice.
7. Don’t have any superfluous applications running while you are on the battery. IMing is great, but when you really need to try to conserve the battery, I’d recommend closing everything that you don’t absolutely need.
8. Don’t leave the laptop plugged in when you aren’t using it. I don’t know all the science of batteries, but I have read that leaving it plugged in will drain it faster by keeping it in a constant charge/discharge state. When you go to sleep or aren’t going to be using the laptop for a while, shut it down and unplug it.
9. Calibrate (look around in your Control Panel to find this tool) your battery regularly. I have read that it should be done every few weeks, and I have also read that it should be done every couple months. I will be doing it every few weeks on my new battery.

Those seemed like the best ones I found on the web. If you search for “laptop battery tips” in Google, you’ll get tons of pages, but these seemed like all the best ones out there. If you have any questions, leave a comment. Oh and I’m going to write a post on the difference between standby and hibernate in a little bit.