Bits & Bytes

Bits and bytes are just methods of storing information. The capacity for storing information is quantified by the number of bits or bytes a computer has. However as they are both incredibly small (the smallest form of information is a bit(What's a Byte 2008; Wikipedia January 2008). For Computer Historians: Older computers were encoded in binary. This would give you 2 options, once chosen you would then progress to smaller and smaller “branches” each with an option of 2. A bit is basically one binary stage. It presents you with 2 options This is shown by a string of 0's and 1's(Guinness World Record 2003 150; Wikipedia January 2008). The very earliest computers used holes punched in card or film(Wikipedia June 2008; Kelly June 2008), however now everything is digital) we can use terms such as megabyte, gigabyte and now even terabyte. To avoid confusion later on I have a table illustrating the different relations between these terms at the back.

However most of the terms in the table are not useful, or even feasible, with most computer hard-drives operating in gigabytes and more recently Terabytes(What's a Byte 2008).

Hardware

To begin this section I have got to list the definitions of Hardware and Software and explain the differences.

According to sources 5 & 7 hardware is:

1. Computer Science. A computer and the associated physical equipment directly involved in the performance of data-processing or communications functions. (Answers 2008)
   1. Machines and other physical equipment directly involved in performing an industrial, technological, or military function.(Answers 2008)
   2. Computer Equipment.(Macmillan Dictionary 2002 640)

According to sources 6 & 8 software is:

1. The programs, routines, and symbolic languages that control the functioning of the hardware and direct its operation.(Answers 2008)
2. The programs used by computers for doing particular jobs(Macmillan Dictionary 2002 1337)

As you can see, there is a distinct difference between software and hardware. If you can't (and dictionary definitions are highly opaque) then it basically means that hardware is physical and software is digital. Now data can only be stored on hardware, and can be interpreted in different ways by software. Now basic data storing hardware is, of course, the computer. The computer is used, primarily to store data, and in general you will get the most data into a computer. This is not the only function of the computer but it is an essential one. Apart from the computer there is other hardware designed to hold information. The following list will name useful hardware and its functions.

Floppy disc: now practically obsolete, the largest floppy discs could hold approximately 200MB(Wikipedia June 2008). Although this was high at the time, USB's are no longer manufactured with such a small data capacity.

CD-ROM: Compact Disc- Read Only Memory is the computing version of a CD. Despite a relatively low storage space of roughly 650MB(Kelly June 2008) these are still in common use as there are still some older PC's that will not take DVD's. Cd's are also used for storing music which may be played on both a CD players and on a PC.

DVD: DVD stands for Digital Versatile Disc, although originally it stood for Digital Video Disc(Kelly June 2008). This was due to the fact that DVD's were originally designed for video only, but were adapted to Data storage mediums(Kelly June 2008). With an average of 4.7GB of storage space this device offers the option for high quality data storage, and lots of it.

USB: The Universal Serial Bus is a versatile and easy to carry medium of storage. Also known as Pen Drives, these have been around for a long time. Average USB storage capacity is about 1-2GB(Kelly June 2008) with a maximum of about 16GB(Kelly June 2008)

Blu-Ray: Blu-ray is so called due to the fact that it uses a wavelength of 405nm (Wikipedia June 2008) which produces a violet/blue light (Wikipedia June 2008; Photonic Products 2008) as opposed to the red light that is used to read and write normal DVD's. This allows more data to be stored, and a standard single sided Blu-Ray Disc will store 25GB (Wikipedia June 2008; Blu-ray.com 2008). As this is relatively new technology, it is still not mainstream, but probably will be within 10 years (Kelly June 2008).

External Hard Drive: To explain what this is and its function, I must tell you that in a computer, there are several hard drives. These all store the data. An external hard drive is simply a hard drive external to the computer (Kelly June 2008). These typically hold 150-500GB (Amazon 2008).

HVD: Holographic Versatile Discs are experimental technology. At the same size as a Blu-ray it holds 12 times more information. This technology is in its infant stages and while it currently holds 300GB (Wikipedia June 2008; How Stuff Works 2008) it could potentially hold 3.9TB (Wikipedia June 2008; How Stuff Works 2008).

As you can see HVD when perfected will completely revolutionize the data storage industry. However 3.9TB is so large that it is hard to put it into context.

Digital Storage in Context:

3.9 terabytes is a lot of data. That's so big that it's hard to get your head around how much that is. Well I'll put it into context. If I were to say how many pages that was, it might be easier to picture. All of the pages are A4 sized and are filled with text. There is no formatting and every word is 5 letters long with spaces in-between. There would be 137 298 135 pages (to the nearest whole page). To the nearest million that is 137 000 000. If we take the thickness of a piece of paper to be 0.1mm (Hypertextbook 2001) then the pile would be 13.7km high. That is approximately 1.6 times the height of Mt Everest (Wikipedia June 2008; The Hutchinson Almanac 1998 361)

1 HVD disc could theoretically hold over 1 year of uninterrupted video if MPEG4 ASP encoding is used (Wikipedia June 2008).

Hopefully those two examples should have sufficiently described what a single HVD disc could store.

How it Works:

But how is it possible, for one disc, 12cm in diameter (Wikipedia June 2008) to store so much information? We need to understand the basics of holograms to find out.

Holograms:

To create a hologram, a laser beam is split into 2, known as reference beam and information beam (How stuff works 2008). The reference beam remains unchanged, and the information beam encounters an image. The composition of the light then changes. Then the two beams are superimposed and a 3D image is created.

HVD can store so much more because it is like it is storing 3d information that is overlapping (How stuff works 2008) whereas DVD and Blu-ray store the data side by side (How stuff works 2008). HVD is also more efficient as it stores using “the entire volume of the disc, not just a single layer” (How stuff works 2008).

HVD is not something that will automatically take over the market when it is perfected. Current HVD disc that hold 300GB cost several (6) times more than a double sided Blu-ray Disc to make and hold the same amount of data. In addition, to get a device that will actually play a HVD disc it costs an extra $1000 to make (How stuff works 2008). However with the current technological advances, and with technology prices decreasing, one day we may see HVD dominating the market. One day.

Glossary:

• Bit: Smallest form of computer information.
• Blu-ray: Information storage medium (25GB)
• Byte: 8 bits
• CD-ROM: Compact Disc- Read Only Medium. Information storage medium (650MB)
• DVD: Digital Versatile Disc. Information Storage Medium (4.7GB)
• External Hard Drive: Hard Drive external to computer. Information storage medium (150-500GB)
• Floppy Disc: Informationstorage medium (200MB)
• Hard Drive: Informationstorage medium inside PC. (150-500GB)
• Hardware: Computer Science. A computer and the associated physical equipment directly involved in the performance of data-processing or communications functions.(Answers 2008)
• Hologram: The pattern produced on a photosensitive medium that has been exposed by holography and then photographically developed. The photosensitive medium so exposed and so developed. Also called holograph. (Answers 2008)
• HVD: Holographic Versatile Disc. Informationstorage medium (300GB-3.9TB)
• PC: Personal Computer.
• Software: The programs, routines, and symbolic languages that control the functioning of the hardware and direct its operation. (Answers 2008)
• USB: Universal Serial Bus. Informationstorage medium (1-16GB)

Media used to be analog, an example being record players that read bumps and grooves, but that evolved into cassettes which in turn evolved into CDs and even those were replaced by DVDs, currently new blue ray DVDs are being produced and will most likely replace regular DVDs. binary codes are used in the newer devices, it consists of a series of ones and zeros.

Digital media is comprised of a huge number of components, the world wide web is the largest component. Other components include computers, PDAs CDs, DVDs, memory cards, and cell phones. Some software used in digital media includes word processors, movie makers, photo editors, and powerpoint.

Digital media is used by almost everyone now. Virtually everyone has a cell phone and cable services are mostly digital now. Computers also are an important part of our life, they are used for work, entertainment, running high tech machinery, and communication.

Digital media is the product of countless developers and society's evolution in general, it allows nations like America to function because hard copies of information are typically harder to sort through and a lot harder to store than digital ones. A good example of this is writing a research paper, if done on a computer the font is easy to read, and by typing a few words into a search engine can instantly produce all the information needed to begin writing the paper. But if one were to write the paper using sources from books finding the information could take many hours.

Digital media is important to our lives because we depend on it so much. How many times have you forgotten your cell phone and felt handicapped because you couldn't make a call when you wanted to? Digital media has changed the shopping industry also, now ordering groceries can be done form home, the same can be said for books, movies, and other forms of entertainment. It is used in both work and school, digital media is the programs used to interact which friends and family. Digital media has become the most important part of our society.

For a time, it seemed that there would be just three types of digital image memory cards. Unfortunately, there are now several systems all vying for pole position. For the photographer, the main consideration is compatibility between personal equipment: if you own only one camera, there is no problem, you can download images directly to your computer. But as soon as you have another camera or you want to use another device, you must ensure compatibility. In this respect, the most versatile memory card is the CompactFlash. But cards from other manufacturers promise higher transfer rates, or better capacity, economy or size.

All cards have to be slotted into the camera so that recorded images can be saved onto them. The first time you use one, it may have to be formatted by the camera. Unlike film, you can remove the card at any stage before it is full and slot it into a reader to transfer files to a computer. You can also erase images at any time to make room for more. However, do not try to remove the card while the camera or reader is accessing it. Wait for the lights indicating card activity to go out before removing the card.

Card Care:

 

• Keep memory cards well away from magnetic fields, such as magnets, television monitors, audio speakers, and so on.
• Keep cards cool, do not leave them in a car on a hot day or lying around in bright sunshine.
• Keep cards dry, do not take them out into warm, humid conditions, immediately after coming out of an air conditioned room.
• Insert memory cards into cameras or card readers gently. Too much force may damage the contacts.
• Keep memory cards dust free, the contacts are extremely fine and can easily be damaged by small particles of dirt or grit.
• Keep cards in protective cases when not in use.

 

Here's a simple way to rescue those images from the recycle bin:

• Open the image in Photoshop (this may also work in PS Elements).
  
• Hit CTRL-J to duplicate the layer.
  
• On an image that is too bright, change the layer's blending mode to “multiply”.
  
• On an image that is too dark, change the blending mode to “screen”.
• Then adjust the layer's opacity with the slider at the top of the layers palette until you get the desired level of brightness.

You have to be careful using this, because just like over-adjusting the levels on the image will introduce noise, this method will accentuate noise or compression artifacts.

While this method does not give you the same control over an image as the adjustments available with RAW format, it can help you when you've got a JPG or TIFF that is just too dark or too light.

A 17th century genius, 19 year old Blaise Pascal invented a mechanical calculator to help his Dad, who worked in the tax department of the local council. Blaise was a real whizz kid. He went on to invent the Syringe and

Hydraulic press and even had a hand in formulating the mathematical theory of probabilities, but that is another story.

Blaise's calculator did not generate much interest at the time, and was soon forgotten.

Nothing much happened to keep the technology alive until 1833. In that year, Lord Byron's daughter, Ada, Countess of Lovelace met Charles Babbage.

Forty-one year old Babbage was a mathematician and inventor. Lady Lovelace, at 18 years old, had money, a love of horse racing and a brilliant mind.

Mathematics was second nature to the lovely Ada, and she helped Charles Babbage develop his Analytical Engine.

This was the true beginning of the digital computer. The machine was designed to have a memory, read data from cards and perform arithmetical functions from a list of instructions.

Lady Lovelace, already employing her considerable mathematical talents along with those of her genius partner, for complex betting formula, could foresee the machine being used as an aid to her gambling.

She is regarded as the first computer programmer, and her partner Charles Babbage as the founder of the first digital computer.

Computer technology had taken a giant leap forward with the design of the Analytical Engine, but there was nowhere to land. Manufacturing skills at the time were not up to building the machine, and more to the point, even with Ada's money there were insufficient funds available.

The plans were put away and remained hidden for over 100 years.

It wasn't until 1958 when Jack Kilby fused a transistor, 3 resistors and a capacitor on to a substrate the size of a one-cent coin that the computer as we know it today took off.

In 1982, Jack, St Clair Kilby was inducted into the National Inventors Hall of Fame in Washington, alongside Henry Ford, Thomas Edison, and other great innovators.

Freeware

Freeware is a software that is distributed freely without charge. It may have a big brother program which you can upgrade to for a charge but mostly they are great little stand alone programs.

Professional

If you want top be like a professional with a complicated program then GIMPShop is for you. GIMPShop is an open source replacement for Adobe Photoshop. It does a pretty good job of imitating Adobe Photoshop. A friend of mine who was a regular user of Photoshop found he adapted to it quite quickly. It has good features and runs well so my friend has not gone back and won't even if Photoshop were available free.

Simpler Version

I prefer a simpler program myself and have found the French program Photofiltre to be excellent. The free version does all I want and more and has many extras and add ons or plug ins that extend the effects available. (For 30 euros you can get a registered version with even more features called photofiltrestudio but the free version and free plug ins do everything I want.)

Organizing Images

Organizing photos is a breeze with the free IrfanView. IrfanView is a very fast, small, compact and innovative FREEWARE (for non-commercial use) graphic viewer for Windows 9x/ME/NT/2000/XP/2003/Vista. It is simple for beginners and powerful for professionals. This program has a useful plug in for editing exif data with your jpeg images. It also has a free plug in for lossless rotation of jpegs. If you don't understand these then you don't need them!

Filtering Noise

Finally noise is something that makes photos less perfect than they can be. Noise isn't something you hear but speckles in what should be areas of pure color and they are common with the less expensive cameras and when taking pictures in poor light without flash. JPEG (.jpg) image compression doesn't save all the information in an image. It compresses images so consume only a small amount of disk space (e.g. compared with .bmp), but also damages them with a "blotchy look" and "JPEG artifacts". Most graphics editors have JPEG as a default format. And almost all digital photo cameras save images in JPEG format.

JpegEnhancer is a simple and extremely powerful program that lets you restore the images damaged by low-quality JPEG compression. It also is a free download.

Do It All For Free

So that is what I use - try it and see how you get on. And remember although I have safely downloaded and used all these programs it is VERY IMPORTANT to have good, up to date anti-virus software on your computer if you are going to download programs from the Internet.

set dateihandle = fs.GetFile("Backup Digicam.vbs")
with this we can get the path from the scriptfile to get the path where the Pictures should be taken

Set WshShell = CreateObject("WScript.Shell")
this is needed to execute dos commands and to end the scrip

b = Date & "_" & Time
this variable is the foldername for the pictures

b = replace(b,":",".")
because : isn't allowed in a path but behind a driveletter we need to get rid of the : from the time

c = dateihandle.Path
with this the scriptpath is copied to the variable c

c = left(c,len(c) - len("Backup Digicam.vbs") -1)
now we need to remove the filename from the variable

d = c & "" & b
now we merge the scriptpath with the new date and time based foldername

for x = 0 to 25
now we start checking every drive for the most used Digicam-Foldername: DCIM

y = chr(asc("A") + x) & „:“
to get from letter to letter we take the ASCII Code from A and add 0 up to 25 to get to Z, chr() makes a letter from the ASCII Code

If (fs.FolderExists(y & "DCIM")) Then
check for the foldername

select case msgbox("Autodetected Digicam = " & Y,3)
ask the user if the driveletter is the one from the digicam

case 6:
in case of 'Yes' proceed

a = y
exit for
exit the for-next loop

case 7:
in case of 'No' try longer

case 2: a = "":exit for
in case of 'Abort' exit

end select
end if
next
when the script lands here, it proceeds to the next number

if a = "" then msgbox "No Digicam found. Program is shutting down":WScript.Quit
if all letters where checked and no folder found, notify the user and exit

if right(a,1) <> ":" then
if a is not empty and has a letter but no : add a :

if len(a) = 1 then a = a & ":"
end if

fs.createfolder d
create the folder for the pictures

Wshshell.run "xcopy /s " & a & " """ & d & """"
start the copy progress
/s for subfolders

De resolution limitation for HD-video on 32-bit systems has nothing to do with the performances of the 32-systems, but is exclusively been installed under pressure of the big movie production companies. The 32-bit version of Windows Vista will accept not-signed drivers and film producers fear for 'hacked' drivers from which the duplication-security can be removed from the HD-video content. The 64-bit version of Windows Vista will exclusively support drivers with a digital certificate, this way it is theoretically not possible to install 'illegal' drivers. Microsoft spokesmen affirmed that with the limitation it is not possible to play HD-DVD- and Blu-ray-media on a 32-bit Vista-system.

According to Microsoft, at this moment there are not many people that play HD-video on their pc, so that the impact of this measure is limited. 'By the time HD-video is mainstream, everybody has already turned to the 64-bit Vista', according to Microsoft. If this is true is yet to be seen. Intel nowadays sells different fast processors that don’t contain 64-bit extensions but offer enough performance to play HD-video.