memory module

The type of board and connector used for RAM in desktop computers has evolved over the past few years. The first types were proprietary, meaning that different computer manufacturers developed memory boards that would only work with their specific systems. Then came SIMM, which stands for single in-line memory module. This memory board used a 30-pin connector and was about 3.5 x .75 inches in size (about 9 x 2 cm). In most computers, you had to install SIMMs in pairs of equal capacity and speed. This is because the width of the bus is more than a single SIMM. For example, you would install two 8-megabyte (MB) SIMMs to get 16 megabytes total RAM. Each SIMM could send 8 bits of data at one time, while the system bus could handle 16 bits at a time. Later SIMM boards, slightly larger at 4.25 x 1 inch (about 11 x 2.5 cm), used a 72-pin connector for increased bandwidth and allowed for up to 256 MB of RAM.

As processors grew in speed and bandwidth capability, the industry adopted a new standard in dual in-line memory module (DIMM). With a whopping 168-pin or 184-pin connector and a size of 5.4 x 1 inch (about 14 x 2.5 cm), DIMMs range in capacity from 8 MB to 1 GB per module and can be installed singly instead of in pairs. Most PC memory modules and the modules for the Mac G5 systems operate at 2.5 volts, while older Mac G4 systems typically use 3.3 volts. Another standard, Rambus in-line memory module (RIMM), is comparable in size and pin configuration to DIMM but uses a special memory bus to greatly increase speed.

Many brands of notebook computers use proprietary memory modules, but several manufacturers use RAM based on the small outline dual in-line memory module (SODIMM) configuration. SODIMM cards are small, about 2 x 1 inch (5 x 2.5 cm), and have 144 or 200 pins. Capacity ranges from 16 MB to 1 GB per module. To conserve space, the Apple iMac desktop computer uses SODIMMs instead of the traditional DIMMs. Sub-notebook computers use even smaller DIMMs, known as MicroDIMMs, which have either 144 pins or 172 pins.

Most memory available today is highly reliable. Most systems simply have the memory controller check for errors at start-up and rely on that. Memory chips with built-in error-checking typically use a method known as parity to check for errors. Parity chips have an extra bit for every 8 bits of data. The way parity works is simple. Let's look at even parity first.

When the 8 bits in a byte receive data, the chip adds up the total number of 1s. If the total number of 1s is odd, the parity bit is set to 1. If the total is even, the parity bit is set to 0. When the data is read back out of the bits, the total is added up again and compared to the parity bit. If the total is odd and the parity bit is 1, then the data is assumed to be valid and is sent to the CPU. But if the total is odd and the parity bit is 0, the chip knows that there is an error somewhere in the 8 bits and dumps the data. Odd parity works the same way, but the parity bit is set to 1 when the total number of 1s in the byte are even.
The problem with parity is that it discovers errors but does nothing to correct them. If a byte of data does not match its parity bit, then the data are discarded and the system tries again. Computers in critical positions need a higher level of fault tolerance. High-end servers often have a form of error-checking known as error-correction code (ECC). Like parity, ECC uses additional bits to monitor the data in each byte. The difference is that ECC uses several bits for error checking -- how many depends on the width of the bus -- instead of one. ECC memory uses a special algorithm not only to detect single bit errors, but actually correct them as well. ECC memory will also detect instances when more than one bit of data in a byte fails. Such failures are very rare, and they are not correctable, even with ECC.

The majority of computers sold today use nonparity memory chips. These chips do not provide any type of built-in error checking, but instead rely on the memory controller for error detection.

5 Mysterious Places Around The World

The Door to Hell

 

 

This place in Uzbekistan is called by locals “The Door to Hell”. It is situated near the small town of Darvaz
The story of this place lasts already for 35 years. Once the geologists were drilling for gas. Then suddenly during the drilling they have found an underground cavern, it was so big that all the drilling site with all the equipment and camps got deep deep under the ground. None dared to go down there because the cavern was filled with gas. So they ignited it so that no poisonous gas could come out of the hole, and since then, it’s burning, already for 35 years without any pause. Nobody knows how many tons of excellent gas has been burned for all those years but it just seems to be infinite there.

 

Mysterious Holes of Russia

From the end of 1980s a strange phenomena is happening in some Russian forests. People find strange, deep holes.
They appear in the dense forest, in the places you can’t get on the car or truck to bring any device to drill the ground. There is no any soil that should be taken from such deep holes is found.
People go down to one of such holes but it just finishes with nothing. There are no any reasonable ideas on how these holes appear and what they are being used for. 

The mouth of Hell

 

In 1962, a little fire in Centralia (Pennsylvania) migrated into an exposed vein of anthracite coal under the town. The flames on the surface were successfully extinguished, but the coal continued to burn underground for many years, so that in 1984 the fire was completely out of control and the city had to be evacuated.
Nowadays, Centralia is an abandoned and ghostly place. The fire still burns beneath the town and there is enough coal to feed the fire for up to 250 years.

 

Hill of Crosses in Lithuania

It has more than 50,000 crosses on it, and no it is not a cemetery.
The reasons for the crosses to be there is that there is a story that each one who would put his own cross on this mountain would become a lucky guy, so thousands come here and install their custom crosses.
They say this tradition appeared before the Christianity came to Lithuania and Russia and is of pagan origin.

The ghost town buried in the sand

 

Kolmanskop is a ghost town in southern Namibia, a few kilometres inland from the port of Lüderitz. In 1908, Luederitz was plunged into diamond fever and people rushed into the Namib desert hoping to make an easy fortune. Within two years, a town, complete with a casino, school, hospital and exclusive residential buildings, was established in the barren sandy desert.
But shortly after the drop in diamond sales after the First World War, the beginning of the end started. During the 1950′s the town was deserted and the dunes began to reclaim what was always theirs.
Soon the metal screens collapsed and the pretty gardens and tidy streets were buried under the sand. Doors and windows creaked on their hinges, cracked window panes stared sightlessly across the desert. A new ghost town had been born. 

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The Creepiest Places Where You Spent the Night

Here’s some unforgettable places that blasted chills down my spine. Haunted, sinister, evil or just plain weird, for those that dream about traveling the world, welcome to your nightmare houses to let. It doesn’t matter whether or not you believe in ghosts, there are some places in which none of us would want to spend a night. Paranormal activity is an really a very international affair, and ghosts and apparitions intermingle with the living everywhere day and night.
Margam Castle  located near Port Talbot, South Wales

For over a hundred years, rumors of hauntings have plagued this ominous, uninhabited castle. Screams can often be heard from outside and sometimes a strange, cold mist seems to bleed through the walls. It is a disturbing chill that seeps to your very  bones. Many years ago, the beautiful woman who once owned the castle died suddenly and without explanation. Some people said it was a murder, yet others were convinced she ended her own life. Do you have the nerve to spend a night in this Haunted House?  Margam Castle is a Tudor Gothic castle that was built in the mid-1800’s. It has many spectacular features, such as the beautiful winding staircase and an old cistercian Abbey; the castle is located near Port Talbot, South Wales. Because of the history of this castle no one has inhabited this place for over a hundred years! Guests have the option to spend the night until 7AM. If guests wish to stay the whole night they will have to bring their own sleeping bags as there are no beds to sleep in. 


Lizzie Borden Bed and Breakfast    Fall River, Massachusetts 

The Lizzie Borden Bed & Breakfast is located in the home where murders occurred. Visitors can tour the home and murder scenes, and guests may spend the night in the house. In 1892, Andrew Borden and his wife, Abby, were brutally murdered by someone wielding an axe. Although ultimately acquitted of the crime, Borden’s youngest daughter, Lizzie, never regained her precrime innocence, and many folks in Fall River (and around the country) remained convinced that she got away with murder. Today, the house in which the Bordens lived and died is a city landmark, a museum, and a bed and breakfast. Although Lizzie Borden was acquitted, no one else was ever arrested or tried, and she has remained notorious in American folklore. Dispute over the identity of the killer or killers continues to this day.


Manchac Swamp       Louisiana

The Manchac Swamp, also known as the “haunted swamp,” near New Orleans is a Southern Gothic fan’s dream. An imprisoned voodoo queen is said to have cast a curse on these watery surroundings around the turn of the last century, resulting in the disappearance of three hamlets in a hurricane in 1915. This swamp is a wilderness jewel. Sims’s photographs and John Kemp’s text have made timeless the people and place of Manchac Swamp. The Manchac Swamp Bridge is a bridge in the US state of Louisiana. With a total length of 22.80 miles (36.69 km) it is the third longest bridge in the world by total length (see List of bridges by length). The bridge carries Interstate 55 over the Manchac Swamp in Louisiana, and represents one-third of the highway’s approximately 66 miles in Louisiana. Torchlit nighttime boat tours are offered by the Old River Plantation Adventure. But beware: As anyone who has spent a night in the wild can tell you, nature can be anything but gentle, and the staring red-eyed alligators can give you a real fright as they watch your boat cruise slowly by.

Monastery Ostrog   Montenegro

Monastery Ostrog, a miracle build by nature and human interactions, carved almost in its entirety in a vertical mountain cliff, is today the pearl of Montenegrin spiritualism that is annually visited by more then a hundred thousand pilgrims from around the world and of all religions. This destination which will take your breath away will fill your soul with elevated feelings of love towards God. It is open to all people at any time of day or night. Just the travel to the Upper monastery is a sacred journey. Believers are expected to walk barefooted from the Lower to the Upper monastery but many can be seen making the assent on their knees. From the monastery one must take holy water, oil, incense anaphora or a small package of icons, or a cross weaved of wheat. With the items, people that could not make the journey can be touched. In front of the relics of this saint many come for spiritual and physical healing, and cases of miracles are well documented even today. There is now the opportunity to spend the night at the monastery with an adjacent building that was created in the same style. Only a bed, blanket and pillow are available in the humble rooms, but the secret advice of the priest is also available.

Bran Castle, Bran, Romania

Bran Castle situated near Bran and in the immediate vicinity of Brasov, is a national monument and landmark in Romania. The fortress is situated on the border between Transylvania and Wallachia, on DN73. Commonly known as “Dracula’s Castle” (although it is one among several locations linked to the Dracula legend, including Poienari Castle and Hunyad Castle), it is marketed as the home of the titular character in Bram Stoker’s Dracula. In 1897 Bram Stoker wrote a terrifying story about Count Dracula. A century after, there are still people who believe in it. Even researchers are trying to find out the truth about Dracula. All are trying to clear the mystery: was there or wasn’t there a vampire in Transylvania? How many of these fabulous stories are legends and how many say the truth? Here is the legend about Dracula. His castle is supposed to be Bran’s Castle since its narrow corridors constitute a mysterious labyrinth of ghostly nooks and secret chambers easy to hide a “vampire”. According to an official of the Bran Castle administration, there will be made certain changes in the castle. A projection hall with the images of the National Film Archives about the history of the royal family and the castle will be arranged. Also, a room dedicated to the costumes of the royal families and a dining-room will be arranged. Further more, in the Round Tower of the castle a luxurious apartment will be made for the tourists that want to spend the night over Bran Castle.    

MICROSOFT AND GOOGLE IN FUTURE

It's likely that Google and Microsoft will compete even more in the future. Both companies are expanding their core businesses. Microsoft is trying to gain ground online while Google creates services that fulfill the same functions as traditional desktop software. Both companies are on the lookout for potential acquisitions and partnerships to bolster their position in the market.
Neither company is in a bad position. Both have suffered losses from the global economic decline. Both had to make sacrifices and cut jobs for the first time in their respective histories. But both are still worth several billion dollars, have recovered well from their financial setbacks and continue to develop new products and services.
Google seems to have a great deal of momentum. The company has a reputation for innovation. It's famous for giving employees 20 percent of their work week to pursue special projects. Many of these special projects end up in Google Labs, a special section on Google that allows users to experiment with new services. Eventually, these services may graduate into fully-realized products from Google.
On the other hand, many Google services seem to be stuck in beta. Beta is the industry term for products that are in a testing phase -- they aren't yet in a finalized format and users may encounter bugs or other problems while testing the product. As an example, Google introduced Gmail in 2004. It wasn't until five years later that the service finally lost its beta tag. And despite multiple attempts at diversification, Google's search engine is its only breakout financial success. According to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, 97 percent of Google's revenue comes from online ads
The public and corporate reaction to Windows Vista was a blow to Microsoft, though the positive response to Windows 7 has helped turn the tide. The Windows operating system is a core Microsoft product. As more people learn about cloud computing and question the value of powerful personal computers, the company must adapt to the new market environment. Products like Office Live Workspaces are a start, and Microsoft has other initiatives designed to capitalize on cloud computing, too. Microsoft is regrouping for the big comeback, and it has the resources to make it happen.
Competition continues to heat up on some fronts, but both sides are still strong, and it looks like Google won't be dealing the death blow to Microsoft any time soon.

"OLED" CHANGES THE WORLD OF LIGHTING

 White OLED Combining High Efficiency With Long Life

In June 2006 Konica Minolta announced its development of an OLED lighting device with the light emission efficiency and long life equivalent to that of a fluorescent lamp. Here we take a look at the features of the device.

Phosphorescent material with 100% light emission efficiency

Currently, OLED is being developed in a variety of fields. There are two types of material in the luminous part. One is fluorescent material, already being utilized in mobile phone displays and so forth. The other is phosphorescent material, which Konica Minolta is employing in its OLED illumination devices.

These two materials differ significantly in terms of light emission efficiency. Whereas the rate for fluorescent materials is a mere 25%, phosphorescent materials allow 100% light emission efficiency (both are theoretical values). A device with high light emission efficiency offers the dual benefits of low heat generation and energy saving. In actual fact, therefore, phosphorescent material is ideal for use in illumination and displays.
Succeeded in developing blue phosphorescent material.

Succeeded in developing blue phosphorescent material

So why is it that until now applications have favored the use of fluorescent materials? The fact is that long-life phosphorescent material was considered harder to develop, with the development of short-wave blue phosphorescent material regarded as extremely difficult. Blue, one of the three primary colors of light, is indispensable for the development of illumination that emits white-colored light.

Konica Minolta carried out research into blue phosphorescent material and succeeded in developing the best blue phosphorescent material in the world combining high light emission efficiency with long life. This was made possible by utilizing its expertise in synthesis technology acquired during the process of developing photoreceptors for color copiers and photographic film.

Focus on illumination, aim to find practical application

Illumination is the most effective way of combining this newly developed blue phosphorescent material with Konica Minolta’s expertise in design and production techniques. Until now, OLED lighting was inferior to fluorescent lamps in terms of light emission efficiency and durability. However, in laboratory experiments OLED lighting developed by Konica Minolta has achieved light emission efficiency of 64 lumens per watt and approximately 10,000 hours of life, which compares favorably with fluorescent lamps.

OLED lighting possesses many advantages not offered by fluorescent lamps – ability to emit light from a surface, thin and flexible, low heat generation, and environmentally sound – and its development by Konica Minolta has brought it much closer to practical application.
Comparison of light emission efficiency and light emission life between OLED and existing forms of illumination OLED white-colored light device (Konica Minolta) *2 Incandescent light bulb Fluorescent lamp LED
Light emission efficiency
(lm/W)*1 64 10 - 20 60 - 100 50 - 70
Light emission life
(hours) 10,000 Up to 3,000 5,000 - 10,000 Up to 40,000

*1 Lamp efficiency　*2 Evaluated at initial luminance of 1000cd/m2, life means 50% lumen maintenance

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The Brain
What can I tell you about the human brain? Not much. It is a fairly complicated organ. I am doing my best to understand more about the brain, as it is central to future issues like privacy, transhumanism and The Singulariy.

Here as some general facts about the brain

Center of the human nervous system
Most complex organ on earth
Weighs on average about 3 lb (1.5 kg)
Consistency similar to jelly
Estimated 50–100 billion neurons
The Mind

I find current philosophies of the mind to be as foggy as a morning hangover. How does the brain's processes generate the stream of consciousness we call the mind? I'm not sure that the science community can adequately answer this question. That may change, thanks to merging technologies like artificial intelligence, imaging, nanotechnology and supercomputers.

Brain Matters

Future breakthroughs in neuroscience could have a great effect on society. What will the world be like when technology can tell us without a doubt that the accused is guilty of a crime, a spouse has cheated, or an employee would likely steal? How about uploading your memories for posterity or downloading the skills you need for that new job? Record your dreams for later viewing or control your computer (or any device), just by thinking about it. Many of these futuristic technologies are already in development.

Some of the most controversial issues to face society in the future will come from cognitive breakthroughs. In my mind it comes down to this, the more we understand about the human brain, the more we know about ourselves, and that can be a bit unnerving.

Brain Frees

This image is not an actual lie detection scanPowerful lie detection tools may someday surpass the accuracy of the polygraph and permanently change how suspects are convicted -- and freed.

Imagine, a suspect is read words related to a crime while their brain is being scanned. A computer analyzes the data and informs the examiner if the suspect's memory holds information about the crime that only the perpetrator could know. The guilty could be clearly identified and the innocent would be set free.

Lie Detection

Brain-Machine Interface

Brain machine interfaces (BMIs), allow for activity in the brain to be sent to, or received from, a computer.

Some BMIs use sensors mounted in a removable cap or MRI technology to read signals from the brain. Others connect directly to the surface of the brain, through tiny wires and an array of micro-electrodes. BMIs can also be entirely implanted in the brain.

Brain Machine Interfaces
Neuroscience

Neuroscience is the field that is devoted to the scientific study of the nervous system. Neuroscience is at the frontier of investigation of the brain and mind. The study of the brain is becoming the cornerstone in understanding how we perceive and interact with the external world and, in particular, how human experience and human biology influence each other.

Smart Drugs

Researchers are studying ways to improve memory, learning and other mental abilities by using substances called cognitive enhancers or smart drugs.

Brain-Enhancing Drugs: Legalize ‘Em, Scientists Say

Smart Drugs

Drugs may boost your brain power

Brain-boost drugs 'to be common'

Neuroenhancement
Brain Backup

Some experts predict that by the year 2050, computers will have the capacity to store all of the information contained in the human brain. For those that can afford immortality, their brains could be scanned and downloaded to machines, perhaps to be uploaded to a new brain.

Brain downloads 'possible by 2050'

Immortal avatars: Back up your brain, never die
Computers That Work Like Your Brain




A new NASA-developed computing device allows machines to work much like the brain. This technology may allow fast-thinking machines to make decisions based on what they see.

IBM plans 'brain-like' computers

The Blue Brain Project

Brain on a chip?
Robot Brain

An international team of researchers have developed a system that combines a brain-computer interface with eye tracking glasses to control the movement of a robotic arm.

Brain2Robot

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