Week 8

System BIOS


Information

CPU Intel Celeron (R) M

CPU Speed 1860MHz

Product Aspire 3680

Manufacturer Acer



Main

System Memory 634KB

Extended Memory 1526MB

Video Memory 64MB



Terms to use…….

DMA (direct memory access) transfers data from between the hard drive and memory with out involving the CPU. It’s the same sense of a freeway that directly connects Reno to Carson, bypassing Washoe Valley.

Low level formatting is the outlining of the positions of the tracks and sectors on the hard disk. This is basically the physical format that defines where the data is stored on the disk. When it leaves the factory the disk platters (sectors and tracks) are empty.

SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Advancement) uses a serial data path instead of the parallel path. Basically the difference between SATA and ATA is the chord used, it’s like using an regular HD chord for your TV (ATA) or you can use the new HDMI chord (SATA) which gives you much better resolution. SATA is faster on how it interfaces.

ATA (Advanced Technology Advancement) is an interface(communication) used for controlling computer drives. Uses a parallel path.

IDE is a standard interface between the motherboard data paths and the disk storage devices, basically it is a connector.

Computer Memory Timeline

New Technology for Prosthetics

For people who have had a limb amputated there are many options to choose from in prosthetics. One of the most popular is electric prosthetics. Electric prosthetics is controlled by an electro-mechanical switch operated by body movement using cables and straps. However a new technology called myoelectric uses EMG signals from muscles selected therefore eliminating the use of cables and straps. Today, technology allows you to be able to create a combination of different kinds of prosthetic technology to best suite the amputee.
For more information on prosthetics technology click here:
http://www.fillauer.com/education/ED_myoelectric.html

Some new technology.....

In 2002 Roger Ebert was diagnosed with thyroid cancer. After numerous surgeries on his throat, he eventually lost his ability to speak. With the new technology by CereProc Roger Ebert has recently gained his ability to speak once again. The only way Roger Ebert was able to gain his own voice back was through prior commentaries he made for several films on DVD. This presented a challenge because CereProc was trying to stitch together his voice from audio that was limited in length and poor in quality. Regardless of this challenge CereProc was able to create his voice which was recently debuted on Oprah as a success.
How it works….
They take the audio data that they carefully recorded and send it off for transcription and then segment it into very small pieces. The technique is similar to the one used by AT&T's NaturalVoices of selecting different pieces, or phonemes, of the audio and stitching them back together in clever ways. The trick is stitching them back together so they don't sound like they came from different context and different words.
CereProc creates and sells a variety of different voices with various accents, dialects, and personalities. People use CereProc's voices and text-to-speech software for many things like to learn English or other languages and some, like Roger Ebert, that have lost their own ability to speak. Some people want to capture a local dialect before it dies out. Some people use TTS software as a proofreading and editing tool to listen aloud to your own writing.
Sources: http://news.cnet.com/8301-11386_3-10463023-76.html?part=rss&&subj=news&&tag=2547-1_3-0-20