Thursday, July 7, 2011

ATTENTION ALL NATE'S BLOG FANS! THIS IS TO INFORM YOU ABOUT MY PERMANENT SWITCH TO WORDPRESS. AFTER MUCH CONSIDERATION, I DECIDED THAT WORDPRESS WOULD BE A BETTER PLACE TO HOST MY BLOG AS IT OFFERS BETTER FEATURES AND CUSTOMIZATION.

LINK: http://www.nathannitz.wordpress.com

Thursday, March 17, 2011

My computer and gadget collection

History is an important and fascination topic to know and learn about. I personally enjoy History class at school the most, but that's just me. I think it's cool to learn about events from the past.

There are many kinds of history. There's history like government and history about a country or a person, but there's also computer history. There have been huge events in the history of computers since they were invented. There isn't a "1st computer", and it is really hard to call any computing device the 1st computer. There are computers though that include new technology or are 1st's in the computing category, such as Konrad Zuse's Z3, the world's first working programmable, fully automatic computing machine.

There is one company though that has a lot of history in it though : Apple Inc. Apple was formed back in April of 1976. Originally called Apple Computer Inc, the company later removed the word Computer in 2007 so they could focus more on their portable devices, such as the iPhone, iPod, and iPad.

There really is a lot to learn about Apple's history, so I won't explain much of it, but I do have some cool computers from Apple's history, and a cool portable gadget from the PC market as well.

The coolest gadget I probably have is the Apple Newton - eMate 300. The Newton line was Apple's 1st line of PDAs (portable digital assistants). Apple introduced the newton line in 1993, and the eMate was introduced in 1997. The eMate was designed for school markets, hence the letter "e", which apple uses for their education products. The eMac was also made for schools, but has been discontinued.

The eMate could be considered apple's "netbook of the 90's." It runs the Newton OS. It has a touchscreen, grayscale backlit screen. It has a keyboard, and a PC-Card slot for expansion. It also has a headphone jack and 2 connection ports to an old Mac system. This is pretty much obsolete nowadays. I have only played around typing and using its drawing program. It comes in a blue sturdy case, and the hinge feels very durable. The keyboard is designed to be spill-proof. It has a carrying handle built-in to the top of the case as well.

I purchased this item mainly for the collector's purpose, and I thought it looked really cool. And hey, it was only $30.00 for both the eMate and Power Adapter (usually more expensive), so I used the opportunity to get a piece of cool apple history.


Pics of this and more on my computer collection soon.

-Nathan :-)

Sunday, January 23, 2011

Congrats Packers!

Congratulations to the Green Bay Packers in their NFC Championship victory over the Chicago Bears, which leads them to Super Bowl XLV!


Wednesday, January 19, 2011

iMac G4, Apple History, and Other Tech Stuff

Today, January 19, 2011, I received my iMac G4! I also received the Apple Pro Speakers that go along with the iMac. Before I talk about my G4, lets get some background info about the G4 iMac. At Macworld in 2002, Apple introduced the iMac G4 to the world. The iMac G4 was revolutionary, incorporating technologies never seen in Apple's desktop line. It featured a 15" LCD, 700 or 800Mhz G4 processor, NVIDIA GeForce 2MX 32MB graphics, a 40GB Hard Drive, all in a half-spherical shaped case. The screen with its adjustable arm was probably the most unique part of the whole computer. The screen is attached to an arm, which is attached to the base. It can be rotated 90° in either direction from the center position (180° total). The arm could also be moved up or down, while keeping the screen in the same position as it was put in. In certain positions, it would appear as if the screen were floating in midair. Through the iMac G4's 2 1/2 year run, it was upgraded with many new features and enhancements. A 20" screen model was added in 2003. USB 2.0 was introduced. Faster CPU speeds were added, while the older speeds were phased out. Speeds up to 1.25Ghz were used in the iMac G4. Higher RAM amounts were added. Overall, this was a shaky ground that Apple was treading on, but they had created a perfect computer. One that "would be the end to CRTs", as stated by Steve Jobs.

Now to my iMac G4. My iMac is in the last "set" of iMacs, from September 2003-August 2004. It has a 1.0Ghz processor, 768MB RAM (up to 1gb officially), 80GB hard drive, and Mac OS X 10.4 Tiger. It came with an Apple Keyboard, and a white Apple Pro Mouse. I installed iLife '06 on it, and I plan on putting some more software on it in the future. I purchased the Apple Pro Speakers that go along with it, and they sound beautiful. I don't think I have ever heard sound that good coming from a 2.0 sound configuration. The 2nd place would be my Klipsch Promedia speakers. They were designed to go with a subwoofer, but that broke. The bass is really good on them, even without the sub. That's for another post though. Back to the iMac. Like I said, the speakers sound really good. The 15" LCD is really clear and bright, and it would be great for photo or video editing. I have iLife, which includes iMovie HD, iPhoto, iWeb, and iDVD on it. The iDVD won't work without a SuperDrive, or a compatible external DVD-RW drive. The mac has a combo drive in it, which will work fine. This computer is noticeably faster than my 10-year old iMac G3. I love this computer, and I will be creating a review video for it soon. There will also be more tech-related articles and videos coming soon, so stay tuned!

Saturday, January 1, 2011

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year to everyone on the web! I plan on posting more during the 2011 year, and hope to start and work on some new projects this year also, so check back soon!

-Nate

Tuesday, December 14, 2010

Microsoft DreamSpark: Free Student Software

The other day I was browsing the web and I came across a Microsoft site called DreamSpark. It is a website where students and teachers can get Microsoft software for FREE. This is legal. The website belongs to Microsoft. To get some of the software you need a Windows Live account (hotmail, msn, live ID). You login on the site using it, then you have to verify that you are a student or teacher. You go through the process of doing that, and once that is completed, you are able to download software that you normally have to pay a lot for FREE! I had to contact Microsoft to get verified because my school wasn't listed, but they sent me an activation code, and I was able to verify. To download software in the future, you have to use the same Live ID that you verified with, otherwise you can't download certain software. There is a large list of stuff to choose from, and each software is easily identifiable by its logo. You just click it and then you can download.

Thursday, July 29, 2010

My Laptop: Compaq Presario M2000

On Thursday, July 22 I got my new laptop, a Compaq Presario M2000. This laptop is from 2004-2005 and was made by HP (Compaq was aquired by HP). There were different models to this laptop. I know that there were Pentium/Centrino models and models with a card reader built-in. Mine doesn't have a Pentium CPU but I can add a card reader using the PC-Card Slot. Here are the Specs:
-CPU: Intel Celeron Mobile 1.4 GHz
-RAM: 1GB
-Hard Drive: 40GB
-DVD/CD-RW Drive
-15" LCD screen
-2 USB 2.0 Slots
-Mini 1394 (FireWire) Port
-VGA-Out
-PC Card/PCMCIA Slot
-Headphone/Mic ports
-JBL Pro Speakers
-No built-in Webcam or Microphone


Installed Software:
-Windows XP Professional
-McAfee Total Protection 2010
-Microsoft Office 2007 Enterprise
-Microsoft Works 8
-Sonic RecordNow!
-InterVideo WinDVD 5
-CCleaner
-The Logo Creator
-ACID Xpress 7
-Paint.NET
-KRISTAL Audio Engine (Digital Audio Workstation)


                                 note: picture is stock photo, not my laptop
 
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