Factors to consider when purchasing a Laptop/PC for college

When purchasing a new laptop or PC for our course the first things to consider are what you will need to use the laptop for. In my case price was a factor so I chose a Medion Akoya as it was excellent value & its specifications suited my needs. There are many factors you need to think about before purchasing and here are the most important ones.

Size

Laptops come in an array of sizes from 12” ultra-small to up to 20” desk-top replacements. Ideally if purchasing one for our course you should go with a 15” screen/lightweight design. This is simply for the convenience of carrying the laptop around with you. A 17” screen laptop may be too large to carry to & from college so if it’s important for you to be able to transport the laptop then size is the first factor to consider.

Operating System: Microsoft or Apple?

If you have the money then it may be worth considering purchasing an Apple Power Book or Net Book over a Windows laptop. This is because Apple are renowned for having the capacity to run RAM eating programs like Adobe Photoshop with ease. They are less prone to crashes and viruses compared to Windows operating systems.  

Battery Life

There is no point in having an ultra-portable laptop when the power only lasts for an hour before it needs to be plugged in. If you want to come to the college library & work, then a battery life of at least 3-5 hours would suffice. Battery life is usually co-related to the speed of the processor & the size of the monitor – so choosing a laptop with a smaller screen should usually mean a longer yield from the battery life. LV (Low Voltage) or ULV (Ultra Low Voltage) processors from Intel usually stretch a battery as far as it will go.

Wi-Fi

Again there’s no point purchasing a laptop that you intend on bringing to the library without the ability to connect to the internet. IADT has a Wi-Fi network & usually it is hard to find a free PC in the library so you should make sure your laptop has the ability to connect to the Wireless network.

Random Access Memory

Depending on whether you choose Windows or Apple, Random Access Memory or RAM as it’s more commonly known as, is the most important technical aspect of your choice. Basically RAM determines how fast your PC or Mac runs & how smoothly it runs. Since we use Photoshop, which uses a lot of RAM, then it would be advisable to choose a RAM speed of at least 2 Gigabytes to avoid mysterious freezes or frustratingly slow processing power. When using multiple programs, RAM determines if your PC or laptop is going to freeze or slow down to levels of frustration, so it is of utmost importance that you make sure it’s speedy.

Software

It might seem obvious but make sure your laptop comes equipped with Microsoft Office from the start. You will need to use Word, Excel & Powerpoint to do assignments so it is very important to make sure the Laptop comes equipped with them.

Harddrive

The size of the Harddrive may not seem too important initially but if you are to be using the same laptop for the duration of the four year degree then you’d want one with a generous amount of space. You can always buy external hard drives but you shouldn’t need one if you are buying the laptop just for the purposes of college work. However if you are storing your music and videos then hard drive space shouldn’t be at a premium and thankfully even modestly priced laptops come with between 250Gb to 500Gb of space.

Article 2 - Apple launches iTunes Match, can't handle demand

Article accessed @ http://www.digitaltrends.com/apple/apple-launches-itunes-match-cant-handle-demand/

This article is about Apples’ new cloud music access service called iTunes Match. It describes what the service is & how Apple is struggling with demand for its new service.

Only available in America for the time being, the basics of iTunes Match are simple. Your complete iTunes song library (well, up to 25,000 songs) will be scanned by this new service & copied onto Apples’ servers. This allows users to access their complete library on-line anywhere and at any time for an annual subscription fee of $25. All of the songs scanned are converted into Apple iTunes quality (256Kbps AAC DRM-free) regardless of whether or not the songs were purchased from iTunes, ripped from a CD or downloaded through another means like BitTorrent.

The unique selling point of iCloud is that you do not have to upload any of the songs yourself, instead Apple scans your machine for you & uploads your song library before converting to iTunes quality, but only if your songs are already available through the iTunes Store. If not then any obscure songs you have that are not available via iTunes music store will have to be synced the normal way between devices (such as connecting your iPod to your computer via USB or Firewire for example).

Originally set for an October launch, the service launch was delayed by a month & now new users may have to wait before they can sign up due to the phenomenal demand. The service is still in ‘Beta’ mode which may mean there are still a few bugs to be ironed out, but current users get an extra 3 months free. Additionally the service is currently only available in the USA due to an agreement with the Music Industry.

[End of Article Summary]

Apple’s new iCloud service sounds like it could be the next step in changing how we listen to music. Apple already revolutionised the MP3 sector with the iPod, and this in my opinion sounds like the natural next step. If iCloud is as user friendly and accessible as previous Apple products, then this will surely be a massive success too.

Music is my first love & my first iPod I purchased was the first iPod Mini. The battery life was exceptionally poor, but it introduced me to the first version of iTunes and also to the possibilities of digital music. Being able to sort, copy & create playlists of all your music collection with ease on iTunes was revolutionary. Then a simple plug & play to sync everything on your computer to your iPod was brilliant. But to have the ability to access all of your music anywhere at any time has the potential to be even more incredible. I’ve always had a relatively small memory on my iPod (my current iPod Nano is 2GB), so I’ve never been able to carry my entire library of songs. So if I’m at a party and I happen to have my iPod on me, I would still only have a couple of thousand songs from my collection. I would also need a dock/speaker to mount the iPod on to play the songs. This new service cuts out the need for a speaker dock but more impressively gives you access to your whole collection while on the go (in high quality too)… as long as you have an internet connection. As the service works by streaming songs, ideally a high bandwidth connection with low contention would be ideal but despite Ireland being comparatively behind in the Broadband stakes we are finally starting to see high quality internet being rolled out countrywide. If iTunes Match ever comes to Ireland, I would most certainly subscribe to the service. The premise of having your entire music collection only a click away is very endearing to me and I’m sure would be another huge success for Apple.

Article 1 - EU must act to halt Facebook addiction

Article accessed @ http://www.independent.ie/national-news/eu-must-act-to-halt-facebook-addiction-says-mep-2201181.html

In this article Irish MEP Nessa Childers states the need for stronger regulation from the EU regarding the use of Facebook. She believes that using Facebook poses a "clear and present threat to the mental health of millions of European citizens".

The MEP, who has a background in psychology as she trained as a psychotherapist, was elected from the Leinster constituency to the European parliament in June 2009. She also states that, for many, escaping to the "virtual world" of Facebook offers a way of escaping the "banalities" of real life. Many people log into their Facebook accounts once or twice a week she states, but for others it has turned into a compulsion. She concludes that "action is needed at international level from the EU to properly take on the disturbing trend of addiction to sites such as Facebook, which are responsible for all sorts of problematic behaviour."

[End of Article Summary]

F.A.D. or Facebook Addiction Disorder as it is known is something that really fascinates me. I completely agree with the point of view Nessa Childers has on this, that Facebook does indeed pose a risk to people’s mental health. I’ve seen it first hand with some of my own friends. I hear drama stories frequently relating to something that happened on Facebook, or what someone said on their status update. While Nessa seems to be of the opinion that we make virtual connections on Facebook that contribute to an inevitable emptiness within our own internal worlds, on which I agree; it does not state in this article the impact behaviour on Facebook can have on real life & real life relationships.

I know a common report on a Facebook user’s negative feelings is of ‘the grass is greener on the other side’ variety. Many users report feelings & thoughts that suggest they are in some way inadequate themselves, and their lives are not filled up with as much perceived fun that is filling up their newsfeeds. ‘Everyone has a better life than me’ is reportedly what many people think while flicking through their friend’s photos or peering on their walls. These thoughts are not only negative but completely unreasonable. If someone is already prone to negative thinking, then the use of Facebook may well reinforce this negative pattern. But Facebook also causes real tangible problems that transfer & manifest from the offline to the real world. I’ve heard many stories of a Facebook defriending, or indeed a Facebook connection made (that caused a Facebook defriending) and the friction that followed. Real life friction between people that initially had no issues before the activity on Facebook.

With nearly 800 million active users of Facebook worldwide, I do think the time is right to assess how much of a risk Facebook is to susceptible users. Only recently a woman from the United States was charged with arson over a Facebook ‘unfriending’. What began as something trivial regarding a house party, the following chain of events on Facebook ultimately led to a woman setting her ex-friend’s house on fire. While this is obviously an extreme example, it nonetheless illustrates the potential dangers Facebook usage has on the thoughts and behaviour of vulnerable individuals. 

Useful Links for Psychology Students

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What We Study

The Future of Mobile Phones

While I still think the i-phone & Android devices are already ahead of their time, I was pretty impressed by what may lie ahead.

Click on the link below to see for yourself.

Possible Future Mobile Phone Designs

Mobile Phone Usage Deemed Safe?

You may have heard recently in the news that there is no link between brain tumours & mobile phone usage. The largest study to date determined mobile phones posed no link to cancer, yet the results do not establish the devices are 'safe'.

According to a Danish study published in the British Medical Journal that monitored more than 350,000 mobile phone users in Denmark over a period of 18 years, there is no link between the devices and increased risks of tumors of the central nervous system.

However, organizations like MobileWise, who sustain that cell phones pose cancer and genetic health damage, criticised the study as "seriously flawed" and said it offered "false reassurance."

"The report itself states that a limitation of the study is potential misclassification of exposure…Subscription holders who are not using their phone will erroneously be classified as exposed and people without a subscription but still using a mobile phone will erroneously be classified as unexposed,” the group said.

So effectively the research group was primarily bill payers, with pre-pay users not even considered. I know people who are on bill pay, but may only use their phone a couple of times a month (my mother for example). I am also aware that many of my pre-pay friends use thier phone far more than I do (I am also on bill-pay). Many of the network providers offer free call time on pre-pay bundles, such as free O2 to O2 calls if you top up by at least 20euro a month.

So imagine someone who is based in Dublin but is in a relationship with someone in Galway, they are both O2 customers, so as long as they top up by 20euro a month they can talk away for as long as they want and for as often as they want. From what I understand they would not be considered as 'exposed' in the massive research undertaken.

Epidemiologist Dr Devra Davis of the Environmental Health Trust in the US says the ‘new’ study is only an extension of one already published by the Danish team two years ago. Not only was it widely criticised at the time, but it was rejected by the World Health Organization as unreliable when they did a review of studies in May, she added.

The WHO panel voted almost unanimously to classify mobile radiation as “possibly carcinogenic.”

Google Buzz (Killington)

The last time I logged into my gmail account, which was yesterday, I noticed a little message stating Google Buzz was going away. I never onced used it, because I actually had no idea of what it was. When I clicked on Buzz, it appeared like it had some similar features to Twitter, mainly the following feature. But that was it. I had no idea what other functions it had. I didn't even know what it was: a social network? a real-time chat room?

I had no idea where any input from me, like a photo or a comment was going to appear. I didn't know who I was connecting with, was it just my gmail contacts? Or did it connect to other accounts?

Evidently, neither did any of my friends. Or their friends. And now Google are scraping it altogether. Some commentators are saying it was the 'biggest flop of 2010'.

Why is this? Is it we don't trust Google with our social networking but are willing to let preying eyes view our life story on Facebook?

In my opinion at least, it's not that we didn't trust Google Buzz - it was just a confusing & completely unintuitive design that ultimately made it no fun to even try.

Just like the Buzz Killington character in Family Guy, it had zilch to offer.

Have Google learned from their mistakes with Google Plus? Or will Facebook remain the no.1 choice for social networking ?

Internet Addiction

We recently completed an Internet Addiction test in our cyber-psychology lab. I scored very low, which meant I showed very little signs of being addicted to the internet. I would tend to agree with the score & evaluation, but I don't think the questions barely touched the surface of what it means to be addicted (to the internet anyway). They seemed to focus on extreme addiction, i.e. if your mood changes for the worst when you are away from your PC or Laptop. I don't believe people would suffer withdrawals if they leave the PC in their room alone while they watch TV in the living room. However, if the question had specified that all your internet access would be cut off for a week, how would you feel then?

In comparison to someone who is addicted to hard drugs, they may be unable to 'take or leave it'. If the drugs were there, they would probably take them, regardless of the consequences. Someone who is addicted to the internet can take it or leave it, knowing that it is always there for them to access, be it on their phone or PC. But take that access away for a specified period of time, and I believe this would be a more fair representation of how much we rely on the internet, which of course is different from an addiction. I believe many of us rely on the internet, or are dependent on the internet to various levels.

Maybe this is just the way things will always be & how technology is evolving with our lifestyles but is there anything we can't do in real life that we can do on the internet?

Facebook Deactivation

I recently deactivated my Facebook account. A number of reasons contributed to my decision, mainly the latest newsfeed & the fact I was becoming less aware of what I was sharing. Plus, I'm a student & this month we have assignments due :-)

Anyone who is a frequent user of Facebook knows how much time you can actually waste using it - and that applies to 'creepers' too, those who spend time browsing & absorbing information while not actively contributing. So many people carry Facebook around with them now, whether it's on their smartphones or they use it in work or in college, so even if you're not actively posting comments or clicking on the like button; you are still more than likely to browse a couple of times a day. At least this is what all my 'creeper' friends do. So while I wasn't active on Facebook in the sense of posting & liking stuff etc, I was still wasting plenty of time 'creeping'. It was like any habit, it just became part of my routine.

So I decided it was time to go, for now at least.

Ironically, I had a terrible urge in the first week after I deactivated it to update my status telling everyone how much more time I've had since deactivating my account.

I guess I'll be back soon.

Introduction

Hello! Welcome to my blog.

The purpose of this blog is to research & publish various articles, opinions & suggestions within the world of technology.

As I am a psychology student I will aim to incorporate the technology news within a psychology context. I will post comments, video clips & links to other relevant sites & blogs as deemed fit.

Please feel free to comment as all feedback is welcome! 

Regards
Ken