Introducing the credit card sized Cardputer!!

https://youtube.com/shorts/bx4Mef6K23o?si=T0pCZ5QHuVPZLbyo

Our phones could be powerful computers. We just need easier ways to wirelessly access peripherals and cast to a screen. Or to another computer. Then your computer could be portable.

Testing a $100 Mini PC: The Bmax B1 Plus

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UGcWLgAk5kA

Computer Intelligence

I have been making the same prediction for a couple of decades. We have seen big advances in computer intelligence, but not as quickly as I thought:

"Given current trends, it would seem pretty likely that within 10 years we could have robots that could perform just about any task you would want them to. They might not be affordable to the average person, but businesses could use them for things like mining, construction, etc. 10 years ago I was predicting that eventually robots would be able to build houses.

The technology is so close already. There have been some great advances in android type robots especially by the Japanese. They are already using robots to care for old people in nursing homes. (Something to look forward to?)

When this will happen is mostly a question of cost effectiveness. We all know that the cost of technology goes down over time.

Within 10 years it is likely that they could hold a conversation with you. Already there are robots have full facial expression.

This is probably true of your PC as well. Imagine a "conversation wizard" on your computer that asks "Where would you like to go today?" (Microsoft's old slogan.) What affect will this have on human interaction?

If you were to call up your bank, you might not know if you are talking to a real person.

Computer driven cars seem likely to me. There are already have cars that can parallel park themselves. I want one of those. :-)

We already have computer controlled airplanes that require no human intervention such as the Global Hawk. Newer commercial planes have an autopilot that if needed can completely take over and land the plane. Compared to driving a car, landing a plane is pretty mundane.

Consider the following: As computers get smarter, we will be gradually relinquishing more control to them. It will happen so slowly that we won't notice it. For example, maybe a computer would do all your investing. That seems realistic as computer controlled investing has happened on Wall Street for at least a decade.. I hope that somewhere along the way that we don't lose complete control. :-)"

One day, a computer will fit on a desk (1974)

I may have posted this before.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sTdWQAKzESA

Phase change using 1 billionth the power

https://interestingengineering.com/science/data-storage-phase-change-memory-advances

Evolution of Microsoft Flight Simulator

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G1LT4Zlz0Mk&t=3s

NEVER install these programs on your PC... EVER!!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JxLjz8gpF3o&t=274s

Font Choice is Key | Don McMillan Comedy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l6NkgMqN42E

History Brought to Life with Ai Magic Vol.1

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s_A5wwX52EY

First of all, it is astonishing what can be accomplished with AI.

At three minutes we see the future queen of England.  She earned my respect by being a truck driver and auto mechanic during World War II.

NEVER install these programs on your PC... EVER!!!

The time Steve Jobs got it wrong

https://youtube.com/shorts/EjMEPLe1NC8?si=GZi9LWmZBV-T3-HM

The Computer Chronicles - Hard Disk Storage (1985)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PBsKakmW0fs&t=578s

Amazon.com: MINISFORUM Venus UM790 Pro Mini PC AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS up to 5.2 GHz 32 GB DDR5 1TB SSD with AMD Radeon 780M, 4X USB3.2, 2X USB4, 2xHDMI 2.1, 2X PCIe4.0, Wi-Fi 6E/BT5.3, RJ45 2.5 G : Electronics

I just happened to see this on Amazon.  This is the same computer I bought on sale a year ago.  I normally see it listed at $700.  Now it is $70 cheaper than what I paid for it.  (I don't know if an Amazon Prime membership is required.)

I can attest that this little computer is a beast.  It is about twice as fast as the Apple M chips unless you get the Pro or Max versions.  I wanted a powerful computer for chess analysis.  It can also play games.

https://www.amazon.com/MINISFORUM-7940HS-Radeon-USB3-2-PCIe4-0/dp/B0C7V29HBQ/ref=sw_ttl_d_wl_crc_4?_encoding=UTF8&pd_rd_i=B0C7V29HBQ&pd_rd_w=BAbtU&content-id=amzn1.sym.54f8919a-5929-48c6-8ece-4250c4138aca&pf_rd_p=54f8919a-5929-48c6-8ece-4250c4138aca&pf_rd_r=EVKW2S2ZYK5T8FX2F871&pd_rd_wg=rpV6v&pd_rd_r=eba6a46c-7f30-41ee-a717-b966d998c1fa&th=1

it is slightly cheaper on their website:

https://store.minisforum.com/products/minisforum-um790-pro?variant=43865372786933&currency=USD&utm_medium=product_sync&utm_source=google&utm_content=sag_organic&utm_campaign=sag_organic&gad_source=1&gclid=CjwKCAjwgfm3BhBeEiwAFfxrG720hHXx1hSgvwF5iTJvL_hCEmhZErFeKYKu3DF28H6zL_O1Wpj-WxoCeQcQAvD_BwE

If it ships from China, it can take five weeks.

How the Modern Computer Was Really Invented

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PvLeYb2b0xw

The Jetsons - 1950s Super Panavision 70

What you can generate with AI these days, is just astonishing.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QZOnC8hdX8k

@frankpoperowitzmusic   2 days ago
I could watch two straight hours of Jane just strolling around the apartment.

Disney Plus: You paying more for less is their brilliant business strategy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DppIlEH3GaU

Good video!

A Google search shows that Disney+ is offering three months for $1.99 per month.  This is the version with ads.

Last year on Black Friday I got a combination of Disney+ and Hulu for a year for $3 per month.  

There was a similar offer on HBO Max, now just called Max.  It is my favorite streaming service.

Years ago, I got the Disney+ pre-start discount where I was paying around $4 per month by paying for three years in advance. The problem is that I didn't see a ton of new content that I wanted to watch. I had already seen most of the stuff worth watching.

The Untold TRUTH Of Nintendo

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DoQnniM4MSg

How do Video Game Graphics Work?

I knew the basics, but most of this is quite advanced.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C8YtdC8mxTU

The computational power required is enormous.  Graphics cards use hundreds of watts of power.  (My mini-computer has a processor with a TDP of only 55 watts.)

In the 1980s, I tried to do simple 3D graphics on 8-bit and 16-bit computers.   Since I had at most 16 colors to work with, no advanced shading was possible.

On the Timex Sinclair 1000, which was an 8-bit 16K back-and-white computer, I managed to create a low-res black-and-white 3D rotating object stored in the computer's memory.  I then could display the rotating object.  It was an impressive effect for such a simple machine.  

I accomplished similar effects on the more advanced Timex Sinclair 2068 color computer.  I also did some simple 3D effects on the Atari ST computer.

The 8-bit machines were capable of about 500 floating point calculations per second.  The Xbox Series X console is capable of 12 trillion per second.  The advanced graphics card featured in the video is capable of 33 trillion.

Ranking Every Game Cartridge!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BmnQ-uiex2E

Why Don't We Have 128 Bit CPUs?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MKbNOmysJQo

This is something I wondered about.  

The fact is that 64 bits is large enough to hold almost any number we would need.  Even 32 bits is adequate. There might be special cases in science where a higher level of precision is required, for example, if you need to calculate a flight path to Pluto.  Still, current 64-bit computers can do 128-bit computations if needed but less efficiently than a 128-bit processor.

With the extra circuitry required for a 128-bit processor, the space on the CPU die is better spent having more processors.  So there is no reason for general-purpose CPUs to ever be 128-bit.

Graphics cards, which do a massive number of calculations every millisecond,  can have processors that use more than 64 bits so that they can move data to and from memory in larger chunks.  This is a special case.

Where Did SOUND CARDS Go?

https://youtu.be/D5kGXI8vUKg?si=qnrpnE0vkc_GVPgh

Beyond The Mind's Eye (Complete Film)

Back in the early 1990s, a series of films called "Beyond the Mind's Eye" featured the latest in stunning computer graphics.  Although it is dated today, I was impressed enough to buy the videotape.  The sequence from 13:55  to 15:49 impressed the hell out of me.

This New Super Nintendo Game Changes EVERYTHING For Retro Games...

They have taken a 30 year old Super Nintendo game that I did some work on, and added a more powerful coprocessor to the cartridge to make it play better. The original version used Nintendo's SFX Chip on the cartridge to create 3D graphics, but it wasn't powerful enough to do the game well.

https://youtu.be/8lor1zFo6e4?si=AwGtaneNHGsx7kIw

This New Super Nintendo Game Changes EVERYTHING For Retro Games...

https://youtu.be/8lor1zFo6e4?si=AwGtaneNHGsx7kIw

I found an iMac in the TRASH... can we fix it?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZmLJlXALJuc&t=289s

Should We Be Worried About This?

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/PrpN7JIpYJI

This guy has a running joke where he mispronounces words.

Flow claims it can 100x any CPU's power with its companion chip and some elbow grease | TechCrunch

https://techcrunch.com/2024/06/11/flow-claims-it-can-100x-any-cpus-power-with-its-companion-chip-and-some-elbow-grease/

20 Things Only Nerds Will Remember About The 1980s

Wisdom From the Best Characters in TV Comedy

https://www.inspiringquotes.com/wisdom-from-the-best-tv-comedy-characters/YFNrILQR2wAGlA9V

The FREE ‘Never Obsolete’ PC from 2000! eMachines eTower 566ir

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qQo0yOqOb_4

My mother had an E Machines computer.  I wasn't impressed by it, but at the time it was adequate for accessing the Internet.  However, if a person still has one of these old machines, there are many old video games that can be played on it.

The state of computers around the year 2000 was interesting.  People were buying their first computers to access the Internet.  Before this, I had abandoned my Frankenstein computer I had built up a piece at a time and purchased a 400 Mhz computer, which quickly became obsolete.  In the early 2000's I purchased a roughly 2 GHz single-core computer which seemed amazingly powerful at the time.  In 2005, I upgraded to a dual-core computer 2.4 GHz computer which also seemed like a big step up.

I purchased an i7 iMac in 2010 for around $2,000.  This was one of the more powerful computers on the market but it would seem sluggish by today's standards.  It had only slightly better performance than my old outdated laptop.   A couple of years ago I gave the almost dead computer to a repair shop for parts.