Week 6: Clear/ Lossy vs. Lossless

Many files need to be compressed to store or send to another computer. There are so many ways to compress a file. Two in particular are lossy and lossless. Lossy compression is used for multimedia data, such as audio, video or still images. This type of compression is a data encoding method which discards some of the data. As viewers, we do not notice the difference. The second type of compression is lossless. Lossless compression allows the original data to be reconstructed from the compressed data to eliminate redundancy in the image. This type of compression is important for archiving and editing files. Lossless compression is used for text documents or source codes.

The diagram above shows how lossy and lossless compression, compress the files and then restore them. Lossless restores the original files, whereas lossy discards some of the data while it is being compressed and restores the data that has not been lost. 

Lossy and lossless compression are important to the business world. Having different types of compressions allows businesses to have more options and meet the needs of different tasks. These types of compressions work for different businesses as well.

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/file-compression3.htm  
The link above will explain lossy and lossless compression. It will also explain the pros and cons of each and what each compression is used for.

Week 5: Clear/ Formulas

Formulas in Excel can be confusing, but a very useful tool to use. Formulas let one perform calculations on data that is entered into the spreadsheet. Formulas can help with crunching numbers such as addition, subtraction, payroll deductions or averaging a student's test results. Even if one changes the data in the spread sheet it will automatically recalculate the answer without having to re-enter in the formula. 

This tool is especially important for the business world. Excel spreadsheets are used in a variety of ways for  many different businesses. Formulas allow businesses to perform calculations quickly and reduce the amount of error. One can also apply the formula to large amounts of data on a spreadsheet. 

http://www.dummies.com/how-to/content/how-to-enter-basic-formulas-in-excel-2007.html

The link above takes one through a step-by-step  process to create a formula and apply it to large amounts of data. The picture to the left shows what a formula looks like and where you place it in the tool bar. It is applied to the data below in the spreadsheet.

Week 4: Clear/ Application Software

Application software is very useful for many computer users. This type of software helps users perform tasks using the computer.  Some examples of application software are: Windows 7, TurboTax and Norton Antivirus. All these programs help the users to be more productive. There are many different application software programs out there, some in particular are: horizontal applications, vertical applications, software suites, standalone applications and functional categories.

Application Software is important to the business world. It helps companies succeed in their industry. For example, a graphic designer can now use photoshop to further their designs and create ads. This helps the advertising company express to consumers about a product they are advertising, which helps the company/ brand in making their product popular and more competitive. This software can help businesses run faster, becoming more efficient.

http://www.sciencedaily.com/articles/a/application_software.htm
The link is an article that explains application software. Application software makes it easier to use other programs such as spreadsheets and word processor. Without application software our world would not be as innovative and productive as it is today.

Week 3: Clear/ Motherboard

There are many pieces that make up a computer. One of the main and most important pieces that ties the whole computer together is the motherboard. The motherboard in a computer is like a circuit board. Every other component can be mounted onto the motherboard which allows them to receive power and communicate with one another.  Most motherboard systems have a microprocessor and main memory. Devices that are not already on the motherboard can be attached by plug-in cards or cables.

The motherboard is especially important to the business world. This allows businesses to add and take away devices on a computer. It is also very convenient if a piece breaks, you do not have to buy another computer you can just replace that piece on the motherboard.

Motherboard

http://computer.howstuffworks.com/motherboard.htm

The link above explains the motherboard and includes pictures of what a motherboard looks likes. The very first motherboard had only a processor and card slot. Many users only plugged in components such as a floppy drive controllers and memory into the slots. As you can see the motherboard has come a long way since then.

Week 2: Muddy/ Hard Drives

After finishing all the homework videos, I found that it was very difficult to follow all of the abbreviations for the terms. Another "muddy" concept that was hard for me to grasp was in homework 2, when we discussed Hard Drives. The makeup of the Hard Drive consisting of platter, track, and sector confused me. After researching these three concepts it became very clear to me.

A platter is a circular disk in the Hard Drive where the magnetic data is stored. The track is where all the information is recorded in the Hard Drive. They consist of concentric circles placed on top of the platter. For example, it is similar to the annual rings of a tree. The tracks are numbered, starting on the outside of the platter at zero and increasing as you move inside. A hard disk could have tens of thousands of tracks on the platter. The sector is a subdivision of a track that holds a certain amount of data. Together all these work together to make up the Hard Drive.

Platter

Track

Sector

Wikipedia helped me understand these concepts. For more information visit:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_drive_platter

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk_drive

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hard_disk_drive

Week 1: Clear/ Copyright

Although there is a fine line between what is legal and illegal regarding copyright laws, it is often not black and white for the average person. Before this lesson, I had a hard time differentiating between the laws myself. Users need to be careful using material directly from the World Wide Web since most is copyrighted, meaning that someone owns the form that the idea takes. To use this material the user must be the copyright owner or the owner must give the user permission to use their material or the material must be in the public domain.

Copyright can come in all shapes and sizes. Books, plays, music, dance, movies and pictures can all be copyrighted. These copyrighted materials can be owned for a lifetime, plus 70 years. For companies, it is over 100 years. Copyright is very important to the competitive business world. So many forms of ideas are being created to make each company stronger than its competitor. Copyright is very handy in the sense that it protects those forms of ideas, helping each company stand out to consumers.

This Web site lists different examples of copyright infringement: http://lawvibe.com/top-10-copyright-law-scandals-that-rocked-the-world-in-2009/. Example 1 discusses how Napster was shut down due to copyright issues. Copyright is still controversial among many people and companies. This article shows how people need to abide by certain conditions in order to use copyrighted material and to be extremely careful using ideas from the Web.