Malcolm Micallef's Blog » computer

Was that the last Computer/Console you will ever purchase?

Malcolm Micallef — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 11:50:35 +0000

Recently I have ran into a new technology being developed by Unlimited Detail which is such a great leap in technology it is hard to imagine. If this company has their way not only do they stand to make an unimaginable amount of money but they would have changed the game graphics forever.

Below are two videos which show case and explain the situation with computer graphics. In my opinion it’s a great demo and explanation of the pitfalls of polygons. If you have no understanding of how computer graphics work and you care how your games will look in the future you will still understand the video and get a good vision to the future.

I don’t think this technology can be over looked for long. Could you imagine a Nintendo Wii playing games which have better quality graphics than a PS3 or XBOX360. They solved the problem using search engine techniques. Humans have developed very powerful search techniques. The best example of these techniques would be Google. They are capable of going through a ridiculous amount of data in a very short time.

Only problem there is with this solution would be that if it had to be implemented on current technology it would mean that the console or gaming rig you just bought will be your last one. This obviously is not bad for us but bad for the hardware manufacturers who depend on the sales of these products.

The only thing that would improve the graphics of this system would be buying a monitor which can support a higher resolution (higher than FULL HD). Currently I believe that some hardware giant (might be Panasonic) released a television which supports 4000×2000 resolution. They developed techniques which receive full HD feeds and up scales them to the required size.

Putting off formatting your computer?

Malcolm Micallef — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 11:10:27 +0000

Let’s be honest a lot of computers need to be formatted but the people responsible for them wouldn’t feel like backing up all the critical data and also installing the software on the fresh computer would be a huge chore.

In a previous blog post I mentioned that an user should keep data backed up all the time and I mentioned tools to help the user to accomplish this regular back up. So the last part that needs to be addressed is the installing of software.

When formatting a computer the process is practically all automated. The user just has to start the process and then they can enjoy a nice cup of tea while the operating system formats and installs the new OS. Once complete the user needs to install the software they usually do. To accomplish this faster and easier there is a new service called Ninite.

This service allows you to select some software you wish to install. Once selected you download a small executable which will then download all the selected software and also install them for the user. During this process the computer is completely usable but feel free to get more tea.

The service contains software which I gurantee you would install on any system, such as Chrome, Firefox, Skype, Messenger, VLC, iTunes, Winamp, Adobe Reader, and many more.

For all you who have been putting off formatting your computer you now have one less excuse on why not to do it.

My Next Pet…

Malcolm Micallef — Thu, 04 Feb 2010 17:55:15 +0000

When I was young I only had two types of pets; fish and birds. The fish weren’t much fun. The birds were a bit more fun but still nothing like a dog. Today I was thinking if I had to a have a pet what would it have to be. I made a list of requirements that this pet must accomplish. The pet must be playful, loving and helpful.

When I say helpful I mean that for example if it’s a dog it must bring in the newspaper, scare off intruders and finally change my graphics card and optimize my computer. Most of you were thinking I wanted a dog. I wanted a dog before I found out what this monkey can do.

My pet will be this monkey. It would be a perfect relationship. I would buy him a small netbook, it would be like a normal laptop for humans. Maybe even start a new company which would compete with the Apple Geniuses. If Steve Jobs reads this he might get an idea of replacing all his geniuses.