Worst Console Launch Ever: Google Stadia -

Almost 30 years ago, one of my coworkers thought that the internet would get so advanced that we would be able to stream videogames, and we wouldn't need consoles.  I didn't think that this was realistic.  I still don't.  There is a huge advantage to having local hardware.  For $400 or $500, you can get a pretty good gaming experience from a box in your home.  It is going to be significantly better in 2020 with the next generation of consoles which are predicted to have about the same cost.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m0OYCMkr-_Q

My 2017 iMac has slightly more powerful graphics than a Sony Playstation 4 Pro.  The latest tablets and phones are also powerful enough to make good gaming devices.

AMD has plans to introduce new APUs in 2020 and 2021.  This will make building a decent gaming computer cheaper, maybe costing $700 to $800.

I was WRONG about the iPhone 11 Pro Camera.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gjiqbl1N22o

The future is now. I could hardly believe my eyes! - Looking Glass Holographic Monitor

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EA2FQXs4dw

The best way to clean a keyboard is… the DISHWASHER?

I don't bother to clean my keyboards.  They are next to impossible to clean well.  Instead, I buy like $11 keyboards and just buy a new one every year or two.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pgnF42ZoRSw

My End-Game Gaming TV

If money is no object...

https://youtu.be/S6M85rboYy0

What Did Windows 10 1809 Do To Your USB Speeds? A Lesson That Everyone S...

https://youtu.be/au-niXiKYXo

Rampage

My $74 Rampage cabinet. Took us 2.5 hours to put together. There is nothing on here that I couldn't do on a SNES Classic. However, there is an advantage to having real joysticks. Three of them. I plan on modifying this using a Raspberry PI so that I can play Pac-Man, Donkey Kong and Mr. Do with real joysticks. These games are harder to play with joypads because they require quick and accurate movements. I've done most of the work on the Raspberry PI already.

On this table it is a bit too high. I plan on buying the riser which costs $45, but it is frequently available cheaper, so I'll be looking for a sale after Christmas.

I use the Walmart app to check the prices on Arcade1up products. The prices change frequently and items tend to be heavily discounted when Walmart decides to close them out at a particular store.

What’s New in Chrome 79, Arriving Today

https://www.howtogeek.com/450613/whats-new-in-chrome-79-arriving-today/

APPLE LAWSUIT MOVES FORWARD!

https://youtu.be/pfSkgizGd0A

I Bought A Used 99 Dollar Xbox One From GameStop. Does It Suck?

https://youtu.be/IjnjdHYekBQ

The Groundbreaking Immersion of Donkey Kong Country

https://youtu.be/6pOy3jX_pv4

Re: 2017 iMac freezes up

Multicore Benchmark on my laptop: ~3000

This is really good for a refurbished laptop that I paid $89 for.

Multicore Benchmark on my old iMac: ~5000

The latest $150 Amazon tablet also benchmarks at this. It is an amazing world we live in.

I still use this machine to analyze chess games and openings. Because the display tends to quit, I access the machine remotely.

Multicore Benchmark on my new iMac: ~8100

Ideally I would have built a new AMD machine and gotten up to 20000. However, I needed a Mac to do the work that I am now doing.

I am suspicious of the combo drive using an SSD as a buffer to the hard drive. If something went wrong there then it would definitely freeze the computer.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

2017 iMac freezes up

A few months ago I purchased a used 2017 iMac and installed Windows 10 on it. For the most part, this has been a great machine. However, there is now a problem. The computer will appear to run slow and then eventually freeze. This usually happens while using Google Chrome.

I am normally good at dealing with any kind of software problem that comes up, but this could be something going wrong with the hardware, like the RAM, the SSD, or some controller board. Hardware is mostly outside my area of expertise, although I did buy some new RAM chips that I have not yet installed. I could try taking out the old RAM chips and put in the new RAM chips and see if the problem persists.

On the software side maybe there is a virus, which seems unlikely because I have Norton which normally takes care of these things. It is possible there is a driver issue, but that also seems unlikely. I would not expect Google Chrome to be the problem, but I would not rule it out either. I could try a different web browser.

I need to reboot the computer into McIntosh mode and see if the problem happens again. If it does, then it is a hardware problem. However, if the problem goes away, then something is wrong in the Windows 10 world and I would consider erasing the Windows 10 partition and reinstalling the operating system, which is a time-consuming task.

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Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Intel Could Take YEARS to Catch Up… - Ryzen 9 3950X Review

Ryzen 9 3950X
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=stM2CPF9YAY

All-New Fire HD 10 Tablet “2019” Review - The New Budget King? - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cy-pCIRHxt4

I'm impressed with the benchmarks.  We are seeing a bunch of low-end devices with powerful processors.

Every other phone is dead to me.

I'm skeptical, but long term this might be the future of phones.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WGZh-xP-q7A

Crazy Black Friday 2019 Deals Leak! Cheap Nintendo Switch Lite? Is This ...

Nintendo Switch for $200? For me, that would be a must have. If true, it might mean that Nintendo is planning a new system.

https://youtu.be/lA1CchWCb3o

$0.01 Flexible Plastic ARM Processor by PragmatIC

https://youtu.be/01y6bR6ETpA

The $89 Gamestop Premium Refurbished Nintendo Wii U is a steal | Plus Gamestop Black Friday Deals.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F57nH6YAE8o  

This offer might be interesting for some gamers.  I'm don't particularly trust GameStop on their refurbished items.  They have a reputation for doing a bad job on some refurbished (repaired) items.  However, they do have a return policy.

However, in the last couple of years, Gamestop has had some killer deals on Black Friday or Gray Thursday, like a $60 XBOX 360 with a $60 rebate.  I got one of these.  (I had to wait in line for like an hour.)  However, I found out that the XBox 360 has a high failure rate, especially the ones from Gamestop, so I sold the system.  I was also not thrilled about how bulky the system was and the fan in it was a bit noisy.

I make this point because in another month we will be looking at Black Friday Gamestop deals.  I would enjoy some of the Mario games on the Wii U, so this might be a worthwhile purchase, especially if the system is heavily discounted for Black Friday.  In terms of power, The Wii U is about 50% more than the Xbox 360 and has the advantage of being able to run many Nintendo titles, which according to the video are cheap for the Wii U.  (However, the Wii U is only about 40% of the power of the Nintendo Switch, which itself is much less powerful than the current consoles from Microsoft and Sony.)

Last year Gamestop had a killer Black Friday deal on the Nintendo Switch, which is a system that I want.  Instead of charging $300 just for the console, you could get the system with a game for that price, plus a $50 or $60 credit that you could use to buy a 2nd game.   I would have taken advantage of this deal, except that I had heard rumors that Nintendo was going to come out with a new Switch this year.  Nintendo did come out with a new Switch this year, but the only difference was a doubling of battery life.  These new Switches sell in a red box.

I don't know what is going to happen for sure, but there could be some interesting Black Friday deals.

For anyone wondering, both Sony and Microsoft are coming out with killer game systems 3rd quarter next year using AMD chips that aren't even released yet.  These have been described as extremely powerful game systems rivaling the best gamer PC's.

This might be a reason to not buy a glass backed iPhone.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lj4Od9D4puc

Unboxing a SEALED iMac G3 with MKBHD!

I think that some people will assume that older machines have more value than they have.  They might have some value as a collector's item, but as a computer, my out of date Raspberry PI 3 exceeds it in every way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPktPBG4oMM&

With a speed of 350 MHZ, 64 megabytes of RAM and 6 gigs of storage, the iMac G3 would be capable of only the most basic web browsing.  Many, if not most, websites would not work.  If it comes with some useful software, like word processing, then it would have some value.

Twenty years ago I remember trying to get some value out of an old 400 MHZ PC.  It was useful for playing old games, but I seriously needed an upgrade, which I did.  I went through about a five-year upgrade cycle, first getting a 2.4 GHz computer, which at the time seemed very impressive, and then a dual-core 2.4 GHz computer, and then a quad-core 2.8 GHz iMac.  I still have the iMac, and I got a whopping 9 years of use out of it, but this year I have upgraded to a better iMac.

I have learned through experience that older computers have a high failure rate.  Stuff just breaks, and the old machines aren't just worth fixing.

John Coffey

Why do prime numbers make these spirals?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EK32jo7i5LQ

DVD-RAM: The Disc that Behaved like a Flash Drive - YouTube

I remember around 2001-2002 my company gave me a 1 GB flash drive and I felt privileged.  In the stores, these were around $100, which seemed like a lot of money at the time.

Today you would have a hard time buying a 1 GB drive.  It is the kind of thing they would give away in promotional offers, assuming you could find any.  I would like to see them in cereal boxes, say for videogame promotions.

I was working for a company in 1992 when one of the programmers wanted to purchase a 2 GB HD for $2,000.  Our reaction was like, "A dollar per megabyte!  That's amazing!."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ecH3OU0R4ls

Another technology predicted by Star Trek

https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/PADD

Where Do Deleted Files Go?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G5s4-Kak49o

AppleTV+ is going to FAIL!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XnshU94aVec

Several years ago, analysts were predicting Apple would buy Disney.  Steve Jobs served on both boards of directors.  Not only could Apple afford to buy Disney, but this would allow Apple to own the entertainment market.

Samsung Galaxy A20 Review - Amazing Budget Android Phone $160-$200

Budget phones have gotten pretty powerful.  The CPU benchmark on this phone rivals my old desktop computer. When it comes to bencmarks, Apple is usually on top with their own custom CPU's, but Apple seems to want to soak their customers.  I think that I would be quite happy with this budget phone, which is plenty powerful.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N6c6Vyf3RE8&feature=push-u-sub&attr_tag=q49imeFrbiOIK46p%3A6

How did NASA Steer the Saturn V?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dI-JW2UIAG0

Old vs New Switch: What Nintendo didn't tell you

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dwHZ7Sz1-wY

The Fascinating Story Behind the First Commercially Successful Video Game

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9nTtGu6nkRE

Math problem.

This kind of thing causes huge arguments on the internet, but I think that engineer types should get easily get the answer...

Extreme computing. IT WORKS!!! - Six 8K Workstations, 1 CPU Finale

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yFQd4MaKK0

Robots | Michelob ULTRA Super Bowl 2019 - YouTube

What a fantastic ad!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nNfv9wsttKE&feature=share

Why do People Like Apple? - YouTube

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UBlnlv35b8M

GameStop Is Gonna Try Some Big Changes To Save Itself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwVpywoDM-c

The Cortana at 1:12 is the funniest thing I have seen in a while. It has happened to me before.

As a result of this, I just tried to see if I could get Contana (on Windows 10) and Siri (on the iPhone) to talk to each other. The result was surprising and amusing. The conversation went like this: Me: "Hey Cortana!" Cortana: Beep. Me: "Hey Siri." Siri: Beep. Cortana: "Shirley you are not Siri-us." (Exactly like that!)  

Siri: "I am always serious."

TOSLINK: That one consumer fiber optic standard

I think that this is interesting ...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ICcEOXVZ3F0

PassMark Intel vs AMD CPU Benchmarks - High End

The top line on this chart tells you everything you need to know as to why AMD is beating Intel.

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/high_end_cpus.html

How many computers do we own?

Around 1984 there was an article with a prediction that went like this: "Someday you will throw away computers. Your house will be littered with them. You will get computers in cereal boxes." Thirty-five years ago, that day seemed like it would be pretty far off.

How exactly has this prediction faired? Well, how many computers do I own? Here is the list...

1. One of the more powerful computers in my home is my iPhone 6s+. It is a powerful computer masquerading as a phone.

2. I have an iPhone 6+ that mostly works, except for the wi-fi, which is why I don't use it anymore.

3. I have an iPhone 5 that is becoming obsolete, but it would still be functional. It only uses the AT&T type radio bands, which means that it could also work with some discount companies.

4. If I were to look really hard in my junk pile, I could find my old iPhone 3GS. It might still function as a phone, but nobody would want to use it.

5. I have an iPad 4. The only reason I bought it was because my iPad 2, which I loved, was stolen. However, I don't really have much of a need for it. The iPads were originally touted as book readers to compete with the Amazon Fire tablets, but I don't think that reading books on a full-size iPad is a great experience. You can do all the normal internet stuff with them, but I have plenty of devices that can do that. I think that my iPad is best used to play audiobooks.

6. About eight years ago I bought a Microsoft Tablet on a Black Friday sale for $200 because this seemed like a fantastic deal at the time. At the time, it probably was. However, this has been the most useless piece of crap that I own. One could use it to browse the internet and read email, but it is way out of date, and it was never very useful to begin with. It is less pleasant to hold than an iPad. I doubt that I can get any software for it.

7. I'm typing this on my late-2009 27" iMac. However, this computer has a number of problems, such as the display repeatedly shutting off. The computer has 4 major parts that have been identified by a technician as showing signs that they may fail in the near future, which makes the machine too costly to consider fixing. Even just dealing with the display problem is not really worth it.

8. Which is why, today, I bought a 2017 iMac, which is a significant upgrade from my old iMac. It will take at least a day for me to get all my software installed and working on the new machine.

9. A couple of years ago I was given a Raspberry PI 3, which is a very cheap small computer the size of a deck of cards. It can run Linux and do normal computer stuff, although it is not very powerful at all. However, I configured it to be a game emulation box that can be hooked up to my TV.

A new Raspberry PI 4 has just been released, and it is more powerful.

10. I own both a NES Classic Edition and a SNES Classic Edition. I used to sell these for profit because they are often hard to find. I plan on selling at least one of these. Both are game emulation boxes, and I have hacked one of them to play more games. I plan on hacking the other one as well.

I am also considering also getting a Sony PlayStation Classic. It is a more powerful system that has been discounted down to $30 and can also be hacked.

11. I bought an Arcade1up machine. This is a 3/4 scale arcade game that you assemble yourself. It is essentially an emulation box, and it comes with 12 classic arcade games.

12. Back in the early 2000s, I bought a joystick that can be hooked up to an old style TV and it plays 10 classic games. As a game system it is not particularly great, but I still occasionally use it because it does a great job with one game, which is Pole Position. I don't have anything else that can play this game.

13. I have an old Sega Genesis with some cartridges that I plan on selling. Thirty years ago the 68000 processor in the Genesis was considered a mainstream computer processor. I have seen really old mainframe computers that cost a fortune that used this processor. By the 1990s the 68000 processor was only really used in game systems.

14. I have a really old laptop that someone gave me. It is very slow, but I was able to use it to run chess tournaments. However, it recently stopped booting. It appears that the hard drive is corrupted. I thought that maybe I could fix it, but...

15. I was able to get a refurbished laptop very cheap that is vastly superior. This computer proved very helpful as a backup computer while my iMac was in the shop.

So technically my house is littered with computers, some of which I could easily throw away.

If you own a calculator, which I don't, it has either a 4-bit or an 8-bit processor inside. It is also a computer, although very limited.

As far as getting computers in cereal boxes, I saw a little handheld game that came in a 2007 cereal box. It was pretty primitive, probably using a 4-bit processor.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

iMac purchase/Forest Fair Village

I'm going to Cincinnati tomorrow to buy a used iMac.  I am driving 100 minutes and meeting a guy in a Starbucks north of Cincinnati.  I called the Starbucks store to ask if it is okay to do our transaction there.

It is out of my way, but I heavily researched the market and this appears to be one of the best deals I can get.  I'm paying $1150 for a 2017 27" iMac.   The same thing "refurbished" from Apple with a warranty is about $300 more.  I was originally looking at a 2015 model in Louisville that I negotiated $750 on, but I decided that the 2017 model was not only newer but a significant upgrade.

If I wanted a better processor and better graphics card, I'm looking at $1700 and 150-minute drive.  If money were no object I would consider this, but what I am getting is a big step up from what I already have.  (My current late-2009 iMac is dying rapidly and is too expensive to repair.)     So it is a compromise between price and performance.  I consider the model I'm getting "good enough".   

All the computers I looked at appear to be in good shape.  Almost everybody told me that the computer was low use.  Almost everybody wanted something else after buying an iMac.  The model I'm buying is one that the guy purchased for his "ex" last year and he wants to get rid of it.

I  would not buy a Mac at all except for my desire to write iPhone apps.  The following videos illustrate how horrible they are to repair.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdwDvz47lNw  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1LMIfdIDh7I 

What I would rather do is build a new computer using the powerful chips that AMD is releasing in July. 

I noticed a "classic" videogame arcade on the map in Cincinnati.  I was curious about what games they have and if they have Donkey Kong.  I play this game up to once a day on my PC using emulation, but I wanted to see if they had the real thing.  They don't.  I called them.

This arcade is in a mostly abandoned mall, which has an apocalyptic feel to it.  I am considering stopping by since it is on my way, but I'll probably skip it.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Forest_Fair_Village

3D Monster Maze (ZX81) + Trashman (Spectrum) - Malcolm Evans' Speccy Cla...

This kind of thing interests me. I used to be heavily into Sinclair computers.

https://youtu.be/Djxyw0KivwY

iMac

When I purchased a top of the line iMac in March 2010, I paid quite a lot of money for it, but my rationale was that it should last a long time, preferably till the end of the decade.

I tend to be a heavy user. I do tasks that are processor intensive. They used to say that computers were meant to be left on all the time, so I left mine on all the time. This is probably bad advice. The chickens have come home to roost. I recently paid to have the iMac cleaned out because it was full of dust and badly overheating. (This is a problem with all-in-one-computers, plus they tend to overheat anyway. Laptops can also have problems with overheating.) However, I have 4 major components either failing or about to fail, and the high cost of repair makes it look like it is time to get a different computer.

  

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Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

AMD is going MAD, and leaving Intel in the dust.

https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/amd-ryzen-threadripper-3000-cpu-64-core-2019/

The Fake Sounds Companies Add To Products

https://youtu.be/rZOpDve8ARA

This Robot is SO fun! New DJI Robomaster S1

https://youtu.be/mRWe5Kv745Y

iMacs and all-in-one-computers

The problem with all-in-one-computers is that if something goes wrong then you have to fix the entire computer.

My current problem is that the display shuts off.  If I had a standard desktop tower and the display was quitting on me, I would just buy a new monitor.

My previous problem was that the computer was overheating because it was clogged with 9 years of dust,  First of all, you aren't likely to have this problem on a regular tower computer, but if you did, it is far easier to get to the internals to clean them out.

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Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

Apple's New Mac Pro - My thoughts.

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

Tackling Enigma (Turing's Enigma Problem Part 2) - Computerphile

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kj_7Jc1mS9k

Dungeon Master - Clever Floppy Disk Anti-Piracy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VheNpiSZxf0

Incredible Retrobrighting Discovery

Old computers and videogames use a cheap type of plastic that yellows over time.  This is a problem for collectors.  I have seen videos where people go to very elaborate means to disassemble the devices and soak the plastics in hydrogen peroxide along with other chemicals, which is expensive.

However, this video claims that there is a much easier method.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8P1OVj0IcqY

Intel CPUs are in TROUBLE...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dWS_62In89A

Intel processors.

I have learned that every Intel microprocessor made in the last 15 years has another processor on it running its own operating system called Minix. This is quite surprising. The extra processor is responsible for managing the main processor, which seems very odd to me. This extra processor has also been the cause of security problems that they had to fix.  

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Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

How Intel and AMD are using 'chiplets' to build next-gen CPUs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f-4hxNKvEY0

Running a disk check from Windows 7. This thing could take hours.

Mario Kart 64 as You've Never Seen It Before

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8q1kn3UTuCo

Ryzen Threadripper - AMD - WikiChip

My 2009 iMac has a first-generation Core-i7 chip that has 42-nanometer circuits.  I just bought a refurbished laptop with a Core-I5 that has 35-nanometer circuits, and it performs 80% as well as the desktop even though it has half as many cores.

This is an interesting website about microprocessors.  I don't think that I would want to buy a processor with a 10 to 14-nanometer process when 7-nanometer processors are coming from AMD in August.  I find it interesting that Apple introduced 7-nanometer chips in their phones many months before either major processor company came out with 7-nanometer processors.  I also find it interesting that both the new Play Station and the new XBOX will have 7-nanometer processors from AMD.

In terms of the laws physics, it is almost impossible to get much smaller than this, although I have heard talk of a 5-nanometer chip.  I also heard about a possible 1-nanometer chip using different materials, but the technology is a long way off, and I have my doubts about how well it could work.

https://en.wikichip.org/wiki/amd/ryzen_threadripper

Flexplay: The Disposable DVD that Failed (Thankfully)

https://youtu.be/ccneE_gkSAs

Leaving Apple After 30 Years

https://youtu.be/ZILUQOT_5oE

Yes, You Can Still Clean Install Windows 10 with a Windows 7/8.x Key

https://www.thurrott.com/windows/windows-10/142616/yes-can-still-clean-install-windows-10-windows-78-x-key

[RANT] The DUMBEST Thing About USB

https://youtu.be/gShRBsahzXg

Exploring the World of E-Ink

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dhRgw0HfrYU

What Happens When Windows 7 DIES?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RFHBBN0CqXk

Gaming on a 25 YEAR OLD Laptop!!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5Jp9kZNlb-Q

iPhone or Galaxy S10 | Should You Switch?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=17ndCMtxAFE

The future of humanity

I see a danger to the future existence of the human race, and it is the kind of thing that people should think about and prepare for now. Sometime in the next 50 years machines will be smarter than people. There are major technical hurdles to overcome, such as the inevitable end of Moore's Law, which probably mean that it is not right around the corner or even within the next couple of decades, but it will happen, and easily within this century. And if for some reason it does happen within the next couple of decades then that means the results will be upon us that much sooner.

We can predict what will happen next and follow it to its logical conclusion, which is a future without people.

As machines become smarter, people will become increasingly reliant on technology. We can see that already with smartphones, which only have been with us for barely over a decade. Eventually machines will do all the heavy mental work, which will make our lives easier, but also make us more dependent.

And since we will be so dependent on the machines, we will start incorporating them into us. This will evolve over time until we are no longer purely human, but human machine hybrids. Perhaps when your biological brain dies, the machine part of you will be able to continue with all your memories intact. Maybe it would have an artificial body or maybe it will exist in a virtual world. It is likely that some would prefer to live in a virtual world where they can do more things than they could in the real world. Taken to the eventual extreme, our descendants would no longer bother with biological bodies and prefer to exist as machine intelligences either in the real world or in virtual ones.

The evolutionary pressure will be against purely biological people. Having machines incorporated into you will make you more productive, competitive, and increase your quality of life.

The future I describe might be long distant, but if it is not the future we want for the human race then we should start thinking about it now. Maybe we could have a Pure Human movement that would prohibit the merging of machine intelligence with human intelligence? This could be roughly analogous to the current legal ban on human cloning, because we very likely have the technology right now to clone humans, but countries ban it because they are uneasy about the implications of where that might take us.

However, we might not be able to prevent it. Linking machines with human intelligence is likely to happen in such small steps that we will easily adjust to it. It is sort of happening already with our dependence on computers. It could also start as a series of military applications where having the most effective soldiers determines who wins the wars. And once the genie is out of the bottle, we will never get it back in.

Best wishes,

John Coffey

Fwd: The Verge: Apple is reportedly closing two stores in a Texas district to avoid patent trolls

Apple is reportedly closing two stores in a Texas district to avoid patent trolls

The Verge

The Eastern District of Texas is notorious for patent cases, and Apple wants out Read the full story

Shared from Apple News

Bubble blast II

Great fun puzzle game on the iPhone. Might be on Android.

MicroLED is the first new screen tech in a decade. Can it beat OLED? - CNET

https://www.cnet.com/news/microled-oled-screen-technology-samsung-the-wall/?ftag=CAD-03-10aaj8j

How did the Apollo flight computers get men to the moon and back ?

This is pretty cool....

AMD APU's

I have some interest in getting an APU at some future date with the idea of building a lower cost computer. An APU is a chip that has the processor and graphics "card" on one chip, and this can save quite a bit of money over buying a seperate graphics card. For the moment, if you want the best performance, you need a separate graphics card, because you can get both better processors and better graphics cards that way.

The AMD APU that comes with the XBOX One X is fairly impressive. The processor is not fantastic, but the graphics are really good. However, you can't buy this APU and put it in a computer. The APU's that AMD released for computers in 2018 were just for low end gaming. However, I have read that AMD is going to release new APU's in 2019 and 2020.

Both Microsoft and Sony are planning on releasing next generation consoles either this year or next. Reportedly, these both will have higher performance AMD APU's, but not necessarily the same processor. I don't like the idea of buying a console that has PC hardware that you can't use as a computer. It would seem better to have the same performance in a computer, but so far AMD has not been releasing those chips to the general public.

This video gives an interesting history about how the technology has been evolving:

 

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Best wishes,

John Coffey

http://www.entertainmentjourney.com

RIGHT TO REMAIN PRIVATE

This is an important video with profound implications for personal privacy in the age of smart devices.

The PROBLEM with the Foldable Phone

I want to see what Apple does with this.  They are not likely to try this until the technology is nearly perfect.