1.
Microsoft
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Its best known software products are the Microsoft Windows line of operating systems, Microsoft Office office suite, and Internet Explorer and Edge web browsers. Its flagship hardware products are the Xbox video game consoles and the Microsoft Surface tablet lineup, as of 2016, it was the worlds largest software maker by revenue, and one of the worlds most valuable companies. Microsoft was founded by Paul Allen and Bill Gates on April 4,1975, to develop and it rose to dominate the personal computer operating system market with MS-DOS in the mid-1980s, followed by Microsoft Windows. The companys 1986 initial public offering, and subsequent rise in its share price, since the 1990s, it has increasingly diversified from the operating system market and has made a number of corporate acquisitions. In May 2011, Microsoft acquired Skype Technologies for $8.5 billion, in June 2012, Microsoft entered the personal computer production market for the first time, with the launch of the Microsoft Surface, a line of tablet computers. The word Microsoft is a portmanteau of microcomputer and software, Paul Allen and Bill Gates, childhood friends with a passion for computer programming, sought to make a successful business utilizing their shared skills. In 1972 they founded their first company, named Traf-O-Data, which offered a computer that tracked and analyzed automobile traffic data. Allen went on to pursue a degree in science at Washington State University. The January 1975 issue of Popular Electronics featured Micro Instrumentation and Telemetry Systemss Altair 8800 microcomputer, Allen suggested that they could program a BASIC interpreter for the device, after a call from Gates claiming to have a working interpreter, MITS requested a demonstration. Since they didnt actually have one, Allen worked on a simulator for the Altair while Gates developed the interpreter and they officially established Microsoft on April 4,1975, with Gates as the CEO. Allen came up with the name of Micro-Soft, as recounted in a 1995 Fortune magazine article. In August 1977 the company formed an agreement with ASCII Magazine in Japan, resulting in its first international office, the company moved to a new home in Bellevue, Washington in January 1979. Microsoft entered the OS business in 1980 with its own version of Unix, however, it was MS-DOS that solidified the companys dominance. For this deal, Microsoft purchased a CP/M clone called 86-DOS from Seattle Computer Products, branding it as MS-DOS, following the release of the IBM PC in August 1981, Microsoft retained ownership of MS-DOS. Since IBM copyrighted the IBM PC BIOS, other companies had to engineer it in order for non-IBM hardware to run as IBM PC compatibles. Due to various factors, such as MS-DOSs available software selection, the company expanded into new markets with the release of the Microsoft Mouse in 1983, as well as with a publishing division named Microsoft Press. Paul Allen resigned from Microsoft in 1983 after developing Hodgkins disease, while jointly developing a new OS with IBM in 1984, OS/2, Microsoft released Microsoft Windows, a graphical extension for MS-DOS, on November 20,1985. Once Microsoft informed IBM of NT, the OS/2 partnership deteriorated, in 1990, Microsoft introduced its office suite, Microsoft Office
2.
Microsoft Surface
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Microsoft Surface is a series of touchscreen Windows personal computers and interactive whiteboards designed and developed by Microsoft. The devices are manufactured by Pegatron and are designed to be devices that set examples to Windows OEMs. It comprises four generations of hybrid tablets, 2-in-1 detachable notebooks, a convertible desktop all-in-one, an interactive whiteboard, with the exception of the first-generation Surface and Surface 2, all Surface PCs use Intel processors and are compatible with Microsofts Windows 10 operating system. The Surface family features five lines of devices, The Surface line of hybrid tablets, with optional detachable keyboard accessories. The latest model, the Surface 3, uses an Intel Atom SoC processor, the Surface Pro line of professional hybrid tablets, use similar optional detachable keyboard accessories. The latest Surface Pro 4 uses a 6th generation Intel Core i Series processors, the Surface Book, a notebook with a detachable screen. The base is configurable with/without discrete graphics and an independently operable screen with support for the included stylus, the Surface Studio, a 28-inch all-in-one desktop that adjusts into a digital drafting table with stylus and on-screen Surface Dial support. The Surface Hub, a screen interactive whiteboard designed for collaboration. The 2012 Surface tablet launched alongside the general availability release of Windows 8 on October 26,2012, Surface Pro became available on February 9,2013. Surface devices were available only at Microsoft Stores and online. According to then Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, the spot for the bulk of the PC market was $300 to $800. On October 16, the pricing was revealed for the Surface, in November 2012, Steve Ballmer described the distribution approach to Surface as modest. On November 29,2012, Microsoft revealed the pricing for the two versions of Surface with Windows 8 Pro, the tablet would go on sale on February 9,2013, in the United States and Canada. A launch event was set to be held on February 8,2013, the 128GB version of the tablet sold out on the same day as its release. There was less demand for the 64GB version, because of the smaller available storage capacity. On September 23,2013, Microsoft announced the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2, the Surface 2 launched October 22,2013, alongside the Surface Pro 2, four days after the general availability of Windows 8.1. Later, Microsoft launched a variation of the Surface 2 with LTE connectivity for the AT&T network on March 18,2014, Microsoft then announced the redesigned Surface Pro 3 on May 20,2014, which went on sale on June 20,2014. The following year, on March 30,2015, it announced the Surface 3, a more compact version of the Surface Pro 3
3.
2-in-1 PC
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A 2-in-1 PC, also known as a 2-in-1 tablet, 2-in-1 laptop, 2-in-1 detachable, laplet, or simply 2-in-1, is a portable computer that shares characteristics of both tablets and laptops. Before the emergence of 2-in-1s, the convertible and hybrid were already in use by technology journalists. Both convertibles and hybrids are crossover devices, combining features of both a tablet and a laptop, 2-in-1 PCs, consisting of portable PC components within light and thin chassis, are examples of technological convergence. The devices are convenient for consumption and non-intensive tasks in tablet mode yet well-suited to content production in laptop mode. 2-in-1 convertibles are tablets with the ability to rotate, fold, on most devices, the hinge is situated at the display and keyboard junction. However, the Dell XPS Duo is unique in that the display sits in a frame that allows the screen to be spun, 2-in-1 detachables are devices with detachable keyboards. In most cases, the part provides few, if any. However, the keyboards of some detachables provide additional features similar to those of a station such as additional I/O-ports. For instance, the Surface Book can leverage the discrete GPU in the keyboard upon the keyboards connection, when connected to the keyboard, the display of the detachable can either be free-standing on the hinge or require external support, often in the form of a kickstand. Novel ways of providing support include the bending frame and locking mechanism of the HP Spectre x2. Though the keyboard is usually bundled with the purchase of a 2-in-1 detachable, in such cases the 2-in-1 detachable is often displayed with its complementary keyboard in advertisements and promotional materials. This is true for all devices of the Surface and Surface Pro lines, the most prominent element is the keyboard that allows the 2-in-1 to provide the ergonomic typing experience of a laptop. While 2-in-1s fall in a distinct from laptops, they loosely parallel the traits of the Ultrabook device category, having light and thin chassis, power-efficient CPUs. They are distinguished from traditional Ultrabooks by the inclusion of a touchscreen display, the earliest device that can be considered a 2-in-1 detachable is the Compaq TC1000 from 2002. It comes preinstalled with Windows XP Tablet PC Edition and features a 1 GHz Transmeta Crusoe CPU, Nvidia GeForce 2 Go GPU, detachable keyboard, and stylus. Microsoft started its own line of 2-in-1s with the introduction of the Surface Pro series and it had a 10. 6-inch display, Intel Core i5 CPU, and detachable keyboard that doubled as a protective screen cover. A number of prominent laptop manufacturers, such as Lenovo, Dell, Samsung, Acer, HP, Sony, Apple, although some Linux distributions do support some touch features of 2-in-1s, they are generally unsupported by hardware vendors
4.
Operating system
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An operating system is system software that manages computer hardware and software resources and provides common services for computer programs. All computer programs, excluding firmware, require a system to function. Operating systems are found on many devices that contain a computer – from cellular phones, the dominant desktop operating system is Microsoft Windows with a market share of around 83. 3%. MacOS by Apple Inc. is in place, and the varieties of Linux is in third position. Linux distributions are dominant in the server and supercomputing sectors, other specialized classes of operating systems, such as embedded and real-time systems, exist for many applications. A single-tasking system can run one program at a time. Multi-tasking may be characterized in preemptive and co-operative types, in preemptive multitasking, the operating system slices the CPU time and dedicates a slot to each of the programs. Unix-like operating systems, e. g. Solaris, Linux, cooperative multitasking is achieved by relying on each process to provide time to the other processes in a defined manner. 16-bit versions of Microsoft Windows used cooperative multi-tasking, 32-bit versions of both Windows NT and Win9x, used preemptive multi-tasking. Single-user operating systems have no facilities to distinguish users, but may allow multiple programs to run in tandem, a distributed operating system manages a group of distinct computers and makes them appear to be a single computer. The development of networked computers that could be linked and communicate with each other gave rise to distributed computing, distributed computations are carried out on more than one machine. When computers in a work in cooperation, they form a distributed system. The technique is used both in virtualization and cloud computing management, and is common in large server warehouses, embedded operating systems are designed to be used in embedded computer systems. They are designed to operate on small machines like PDAs with less autonomy and they are able to operate with a limited number of resources. They are very compact and extremely efficient by design, Windows CE and Minix 3 are some examples of embedded operating systems. A real-time operating system is a system that guarantees to process events or data by a specific moment in time. A real-time operating system may be single- or multi-tasking, but when multitasking, early computers were built to perform a series of single tasks, like a calculator. Basic operating system features were developed in the 1950s, such as resident monitor functions that could run different programs in succession to speed up processing
5.
Central processing unit
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The computer industry has used the term central processing unit at least since the early 1960s. The form, design and implementation of CPUs have changed over the course of their history, most modern CPUs are microprocessors, meaning they are contained on a single integrated circuit chip. An IC that contains a CPU may also contain memory, peripheral interfaces, some computers employ a multi-core processor, which is a single chip containing two or more CPUs called cores, in that context, one can speak of such single chips as sockets. Array processors or vector processors have multiple processors that operate in parallel, there also exists the concept of virtual CPUs which are an abstraction of dynamical aggregated computational resources. Early computers such as the ENIAC had to be rewired to perform different tasks. Since the term CPU is generally defined as a device for software execution, the idea of a stored-program computer was already present in the design of J. Presper Eckert and John William Mauchlys ENIAC, but was initially omitted so that it could be finished sooner. On June 30,1945, before ENIAC was made, mathematician John von Neumann distributed the paper entitled First Draft of a Report on the EDVAC and it was the outline of a stored-program computer that would eventually be completed in August 1949. EDVAC was designed to perform a number of instructions of various types. Significantly, the programs written for EDVAC were to be stored in high-speed computer memory rather than specified by the wiring of the computer. This overcame a severe limitation of ENIAC, which was the considerable time, with von Neumanns design, the program that EDVAC ran could be changed simply by changing the contents of the memory. Early CPUs were custom designs used as part of a larger, however, this method of designing custom CPUs for a particular application has largely given way to the development of multi-purpose processors produced in large quantities. This standardization began in the era of discrete transistor mainframes and minicomputers and has accelerated with the popularization of the integrated circuit. The IC has allowed increasingly complex CPUs to be designed and manufactured to tolerances on the order of nanometers, both the miniaturization and standardization of CPUs have increased the presence of digital devices in modern life far beyond the limited application of dedicated computing machines. Modern microprocessors appear in electronic devices ranging from automobiles to cellphones, the so-called Harvard architecture of the Harvard Mark I, which was completed before EDVAC, also utilized a stored-program design using punched paper tape rather than electronic memory. Relays and vacuum tubes were used as switching elements, a useful computer requires thousands or tens of thousands of switching devices. The overall speed of a system is dependent on the speed of the switches, tube computers like EDVAC tended to average eight hours between failures, whereas relay computers like the Harvard Mark I failed very rarely. In the end, tube-based CPUs became dominant because the significant speed advantages afforded generally outweighed the reliability problems, most of these early synchronous CPUs ran at low clock rates compared to modern microelectronic designs. Clock signal frequencies ranging from 100 kHz to 4 MHz were very common at this time, the design complexity of CPUs increased as various technologies facilitated building smaller and more reliable electronic devices
6.
Microsoft PixelSense
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Microsoft PixelSense is an interactive surface computing platform that allows one or more people to use and touch real-world objects, and share digital content at the same time. Microsoft Surface 1.0, the first version of PixelSense, was announced on May 29,2007 at the D5 Conference and it shipped to customers in 2008 as an end-to-end solution with Microsoft producing and selling the combined hardware/software platform. It is a 30-inch 4,3 rear projection display with integrated PC and five near-infrared cameras that can see fingers, the display is placed in a horizontal orientation, giving it a table-like appearance. The product and its applications are designed so that people can approach the display from all sides to simultaneously share. The cameras’ vision capabilities enable the product to see an image of what’s placed on the screen. The Surface platform processing identifies three types of objects touching the screen, fingers, tags, and blobs, raw vision data is also available and can be used in applications. The device is optimized to recognize 52 simultaneous multitouch points of contact, Microsoft Corporation produced the hardware and software for the Microsoft Surface 1.0 product. Sales of Microsoft Surface 1.0 were discontinued in 2011 in anticipation of the release of the Samsung SUR40 for Microsoft Surface, Microsoft and Samsung partnered to announce the current version of PixelSense, the Samsung SUR40 for Microsoft Surface, at the Consumer Electronics Show in 2011. Samsung began shipping the new SUR40 hardware with the Microsoft Surface 2.0 software platform to customers in early 2012, the Samsung SUR40 is a 40-inch 16,9 LED backlit LCD display with integrated PC and PixelSense technology, which replaces the cameras in the previous product. PixelSense technology enables Samsung and Microsoft to reduce the thickness of the product from 22 in to 4 in, Samsung produces the hardware and Microsoft produces the software platform for the SUR40. PixelSense is designed primarily for use by customers to use in public settings. People interact with the product using direct touch interactions and by placing objects on the screen, objects of a specific size and shape, or with tag patterns, can be uniquely identified to initiate a preprogrammed response by the computer. The device does not require the use of a traditional PC mouse or keyboard, additionally, the system is designed to interact with several people at the same time so that content can be shared without the limitations of a single-user device. Microsoft states that sales of PixelSense are targeted toward the following verticals, retail, media and entertainment, healthcare, financial services, education. The idea for the product was initially conceptualized in 2001 by Steven Bathiche of Microsoft Hardware, in October 2001, DJ Kurlander, Michael Kim, Joel Dehlin, Bathiche and Wilson formed a virtual team to bring the idea to the next stage of development. In 2003, the presented the idea to the Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates. Later, the team was expanded and a prototype nicknamed T1 was produced within a month. The prototype was based on an IKEA table with a cut in the top
7.
Surface Pro 3
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The Surface Pro 3 is the third-generation Surface-series 2-in-1 detachable, designed, developed, marketed, and produced by Microsoft, which runs the Windows 10 Pro operating system. The older, original Surface and Surface 2, with their ARM-based processors and Windows RT operating system, are pitched against the iPad and other tablets. The Surface Pro 3, with its Intel CPU and Windows 8 OS, is a full-fledged PC that competes against Ultrabooks, the Surface Pro 3 was launched in 25 additional markets on August 28. The Surface Pro 3 has a made of magnesium alloy giving a gray matted finish to the back of the device. The charging port is magnetized and connects securely to the charger and it comes with an improved continuous kickstand, allowing the device to be set at any angle between 22 and 150 degrees. The kickstand has a resistance which provides firmness and prevents accidental sliding. The Surface Pro 3 features a larger 12 inches display over its predecessor, the screen has a 3,2 aspect ratio which Microsoft claims allow the device to be used more comfortably in the portrait orientation. Because the touch screen digitizer and the pen digitizer are combined into a layer, the screen is physically thinner than one of earlier models. Although the Surface Pro 3 has a screen than its predecessor. Microsoft claims the Surface Pro 3 is capable of up to 9 hours of web browsing, the Surface Pro 3 is built on the 4th generation Intel Core processor with TPM chip for enterprise security. It includes a USB3.0 port and a Mini DisplayPort on the right, a jack on the left. The microSD slot supports cards up to 200 GB. The internal solid-state drive and system memory are not user upgradeable, like its predecessor, the Surface Pro 3 is capable of connecting up to three external displays. To connect a third display the 2-in-1s own screen should be turned off, the device itself has a single Mini DisplayPort output and in order to connect two external displays one can additionally use a secondary Mini DisplayPort on a docking station accessory. To attach three displays, an aftermarket DisplayPort Multi-Stream Transport hub can be used or a daisy chaining feature of compatible displays, one of external displays can be attached over-the-air utilizing Intel Wireless Display technology. In a single external display mode over DisplayPort, the i5 and i7-based models also support a resolution of 3840x2160 at 60 Hz, known as 4K Ultra HD. The Windows 10 upgrade, among other features, brings a Tablet mode, which can be useful when device is used as a tablet, the Surface Pro 3 is one of the first 64-bit Windows devices that features InstantGo, allowing for smartphone-type power management capabilities. This allows for Windows Store apps to update info while the device appears off, the Surface will enter hibernation state after four hours of no activity, to further conserve battery power
8.
Surface 2
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Surface 2 is a Surface-series Windows RT hybrid tablet computer created by Microsoft. It was unveiled on September 23,2013, and released on October 22,2013 and is the successor to the original Surface, as of January 2015, Microsoft no longer manufactures Surface 2, but will provide security updates for the device until 2023. Pre-orders for the Surface 2 were opened on September 24,2013, as value-added services, the Surface 2 includes 200 GB of additional OneDrive storage for 2 years, and 1 year of free Skype calls to landlines and access to Skype WiFi hotspots. In January 2015, after its stock sold out on Microsoft Store online, after Surface 2, the Nokia Lumia 2520 was the only remaining Windows RT device on the market, before that being discontinued too just a week later. Made of magnesium alloy and toughened glass, the shell of Surface 2 maintains a similar design to its predecessor. Surface 2 is also thinner and lighter than the previous model. Unlike the original Surface, the Surface 2 uses a 1080p display and this display is claimed to have almost 50% better color than the previous version, as well as the lowest reflectivity among competing tablets. The device also includes a full-size USB3.0 port,32 or 64 GB of internal storage, the Surface 2 ships with Windows RT8.1. The 4G LTE model of Surface 2 was launched on March 18,2014, AT&T is the Microsoft cellular partner and Surface 2 4G LTE comes with AT&T All Access app pre-installed but the device actually ships unlocked. The 4G models also come with GPS, Assisted GPS, the Surface 2 includes what Microsoft calls a silver-magnesium color that is more scratch resistant compared to the original Surface. The Surface 2 ships with Windows RT8.1 and Office 2013 RT, other bundled apps include Mail, Calendar, People, Bing apps including Food and Drink, Health and Fitness, Weather, Travel, Stocks, and Sports. These apps were renamed to be MSN apps. An interesting change from the Surface to the Surface 2 is the hiding of the tile from the Start Screen. The Touch Cover 2 has over 1,092 sensors on it compared to just 80 on the original Touch Cover, the keyswitch length of the Type Cover 2 have been reduced from 2. 5mm to 1. 5mm. A new Power Cover accessory was available to add 30 Wh additional battery capacity to the device. Accompanying the Touch Cover 2 and Type Cover 2 was an adapter that allows them to be connected up to 30 feet away via Bluetooth. An updated kickstand can now be tilted at a 55-degree angle alongside the original 22-degree angle, during its unveiling, Microsoft also showcased the Music Cover, a variation of the Touch Cover that serves as a DJ mixer with playback controls, a 16-button sampler, and three sliders. While mainstream public release has been announced, it will be distributed to musicians through the Surface Remix Project campaign, initial reviews of the Surface 2 have been mixed
9.
Surface 3
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Surface 3 is a 2-in-1 detachable from the Microsoft Surface series, unveiled by Microsoft on March 31,2015 and released on May 5,2015. The older, original Surface and Surface 2, with their ARM-based processors and Windows RT operating system, are pitched against the iPad, the first Surface was criticized for performance issues though this was rectified in the succeeding Surface 2. Released prior to Surface 3, the Surface Pro 3 became a business for Microsoft in late 2014. It has a price of $799, features a high-resolution ClearType display and competes with high-end ultraportable laptops like the Apple MacBook Air. With the introduction of the Surface 3, Microsoft aims to make the Surface more affordable for those who dont need the power of the Surface Pro 3, at the expense of some performance. Surface 3 can be considered a competitor to traditional tablets like Apple iPad. Microsoft plans to release unlocked GSM models of Surface 3 that supports 4G LTE and these models will also support GPS/GLONASS positioning. The Surface 3 share a design to the Surface Pro 3 with a body made of magnesium alloy giving a matte gray finish to the back of the device. It features a kickstand that can be set to three different angles,22,44, and 60 degrees, the Surface 3 does not have a fan, therefore lacking the ventilation holes seen on Surface Pro line. The Surface 3 weighs 620 grams features a 10.8 inches diagonal multi-touch display with a 3,2 aspect ratio, for a charger Surface 3 uses a standard Micro-USB, giving users a wider variety of charging options, including charging the device with a mobile phone charger. Surface 3 has the 14 nm quad-core Intel Atom x7-Z8700 SoC, the Atom x7-Z8700 is able to drive up to three external displays over Mini DisplayPort and support a resolution of up to 4K with a single external display. The 2-in-1s own display has a resolution of 1920x1280. The device ships with either a 64 or 128 GB solid-state drive and 2 or 4 GB of system memory, the devices storage capacity can be increased by installing a microSD memory card of up to 200 GB. Unlike its predecessors, the Surface 3 is the first device in the line to feature the full Windows desktop OS as opposed to Windows RT. This therefore puts the device into the category of 2-in-1 PC, which cannot be said for its predecessors, Surface 3s purchased before July 29,2015 come with Windows 8.1 but are upgradeable to Windows 10 for free from that date onwards. Since the Windows 10 release, consumer models of the Surface 3 now ship with Windows 10 Home, unlike the devices of the Surface Pro line, business models of the Surface 3, however, now ship with Windows 10 Pro. The Surface 3 is the first non-Pro Surface to feature a pen digitizer, unlike Surface Pro 3, however, it is not included in the box, but is available for purchase separately. Various aftermarket USB or Bluetooth peripheral devices, such as keyboards, Surface 3 received generally positive reviews from computer critics. They praised Microsofts shift from ARM architecture toward x86, and therefore from Windows RT to a regular Windows OS, most noted a well designed chassis and accessories produced of quality materials, and overall premium feeling of use
10.
Surface Pro
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The Surface Pro is a first generation 2-in-1 detachable of the Microsoft Surface series, designed and manufactured by Microsoft. The device ran a 64-bit version of Windows 8 Pro operating system with a free upgrade possibility to Windows 8.1 Pro, and eventually also Windows 10. Initially announced as Surface for Windows 8 Pro on June 18,2012, at a Los Angeles event, Microsoft later renamed the device to Surface Pro, Microsoft did not take pre-orders for the Surface Pro. It was available for a purchase on February 9,2013, in the United States, Canada and China and was released on 23 May 2013, in the United Kingdom and a number of other countries. The Surface Pro shares a lot of its design traits with its lower cost counterpart, both have the dark VaporMg coating over the same magnesium body and a 10-point multi-touch enabled 10.6 inches screen with crack resistant Gorilla Glass. However, the resolution on the Surface Pro is higher and is 1920x1080, Surface Pro runs a dual-core 1.7 GHz Intel Core i5-3317U CPU, with a Turbo Boost frequency of up to 2.6 GHz with a built-in Intel HD Graphics 4000. It has 4 GB of memory and a 64 or 128 GB solid-state drive, unique to the Surface and Surface Pro is the kickstand which can be flipped out from the back, propping the device up. The kickstand comes out of the devices at a 22 degree angle, the same angle the edges of the device are angled at. Along the right side of the device, the Surface Pro has a card slot on top, followed by the power port, and near the bottom. The bottom of the device contains the port to attach a Touch Cover or Type Cover. In addition to the attachments, the cover port on the Surface Pro contains a pogo pin connector. Unique to the Surface Pro, compared to the Surface tablet, is the addition of power connectors for compatibility with the Surface Power Cover, the left side of the 2-in-1 contains a full-sized USB3 port, the volume rocker, and the audio jack. The power button is on the top of the device, on the front and back of the device are two 720p Lifecam cameras, and inside is a 42 Watt-hour battery. Other sensors include an ambient light sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, Surface Pro originally shipped with Windows 8 Pro, but was upgradeable to Windows 8.1 Pro. The Surface Pro is further capable of upgrading to Windows 10 Pro, the 2-in-1 features two types of detachable keyboards, Type Cover and Touch Cover, both with the integrated touchpad. The former have 5 millimetres width and moving keys for a more traditional typing feel, both accessories are also additionally a protective screen cover and are sold separately. Surface Pro is the first device in the Surface family to feature a pen input. Pro Pen is based on Wacom digitizer technology and it is integrated with OneNote software which is also included with the Surface Pro and used for note taking and sketches
11.
Surface Pro 2
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The Surface Pro 2 is a Surface-series 2-in-1 detachable produced by Microsoft. Unveiled at an event in New York City on September 23,2013 and released on October 22,2013, pre-orders for the Surface Pro 2 were opened on September 24,2013, and the device was released on October 22,2013. The Surface Pro 2 launched with the Surface 2, the Touch Cover 2, panos Panay, head of Surface at Microsoft was the sole speaker for the event and the advocate for the entire Surface Team and the Surface Remix Project. On May 20,2014, its successor, the Microsoft Surface Pro 3, was announced. It is bigger than its predecessor, with a 12-inch display, the Surface Pro 2 shares most of its design with its predecessor, the Surface Pro. The devices exterior is constructed from magnesium alloy. The Surface Pro 2 weighs 915 grams, the same as its predecessor, the Surface Pro 2 features a 10.6 inches display. The screen has a 16,9 aspect ratio, which is advantageous for video playback, unlike its predecessor, the Surface Pro 2 has a two-stage kickstand that can be set to two different angles,22 and 55 degrees. The new 55 degrees angle was added to make the more comfortable on the lap. As with the previous Surface Pro, it includes 10. 6-inch 10-point 1080p multi-touch digitizer LCD display with a Wacom stylus pen that supports 1024 different levels of pressure, Surface Pro 2 was shipped with the fourth generation Haswell Intel Core i5-4200U. In December 2013, Microsoft updated the CPU to a 1.9 GHz dual Core i5-4300U. The Surface Pro 2 was available with 64,128,256, or 512 GB of internal storage, the CPU includes the TPM, or trusted platform module, version 1.2. Like the Surface Pro, the Surface Pro 2 has a gyroscope, accelerometer, ambient light sensor, compass,2 720p Lifecam cameras, the Surface Pro 2 ships with Windows 8.1 Pro as its operating system. Microsoft shipped the Surface Pro 2 with a trial version of Office 2013. Since July 29, the Surface Pro 2 has been further upgradeable to Windows 10, which will be free for existing users. The Surface Pro comes with pre-installed apps that include, Fresh Paint, Xbox Video, Xbox Music, Internet Explorer, Photos, Mail, Maps, People, Skype, Calendar, Games, and OneNote. A suite of MSN apps that are included are, MSN Food and Drink, MSN Money, the Bing app, MSN Weather, MSN Travel, reader and Sound Recorder were added with the Windows 8.1 update, as well as an updated version of Fresh Paint. With Windows 10, Xbox Music app and service will be rebranded to Groove, the Touch Cover 2 has over 1,092 sensors on it compared to just 80 on the original Touch Cover
12.
Surface Hub
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The Surface Hub is a brand of interactive whiteboards developed and marketed by Microsoft, as part of the Microsoft Surface family. The devices are targeted for businesses to use while collaborating and videoconferencing, in 2012 Microsoft acquired Jeff Hans Perceptive Pixel, which had previously developed large screen multi-touch displays such as the CNN Magic Wall. Microsoft indicated in 2014 that it intended to mass-produce the devices as part of an effort to bring down cost. Microsoft first announced the Surface Hub at its Windows 10 Devices Event on January 21,2015, at which the device was hidden in plain sight and in use throughout the majority of the keynote. Microsoft began taking Surface Hub pre-orders on July 1,2015 for both the 55 inch model and the 84 inch model, stating that they would begin shipping in September 2015. Further details confirmed that Microsoft had delayed shipment until January 1,2016, instead, Microsoft announced that there were further delays and that they would be raising the price by $2,000, though they would still honor the previous price agreement with previous pre-orders. The Surface Hub began shipping to customers on March 25,2016. Both Surface Hub models are powered by the 4th generation Intel Core Haswell processors, the main differences between the two variants are screen size, resolution and its graphics adapter. Microsoft Surface Hub has dual cameras built into the device, when used for videoconferencing, the cameras can automatically change when the presenter moves from one side of the whiteboard to the other. The screen of both models has a high-quality display, though it is not meant to be used for movie or TV screening, the screen is able to get very bright, but its black levels, are quite low. As a communications device, the screen can be viewed clearly at any angle, the screen has a matte finish which allows it to be less susceptible to glare. There are wide-angle HD cameras on either side of the hub with a 100 degree field of view, the cameras produce pictures at 1080p and 30 fps and are enabled with a four-element microphone array. Inside the cameras are sensors for ambient light and infrared presence, the hub knows when to turn on or off based on the light level in the room, and can also turn on based on the presence of infrared, or when someone enters the room. According to Microsoft, the four-element microphone array can detect a whisper from 23 feet away, but from PC Magazine’s tests of the Hub, the Surface Hub runs Windows 10 Team, a customized version of Windows 10 Enterprise. JT2GO allows users of the Surface Hub to interact with a 3D model, the models can be viewed from any 360 angle view and be enlarged or reduced in size in real time. The application can be used on all Windows 10 devices but is useful on the Surface Hub. Skype for business video conferencing will be included with the Surface Hub, Microsoft OneNote allows users to draw on the screen. Files can be shared with anyone who uses OneNote, including users with smartphones, tablets or laptops on any operating system, including Windows 10 Mobile
13.
Random-access memory
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Random-access memory is a form of computer data storage which stores frequently used program instructions to increase the general speed of a system. A random-access memory device allows data items to be read or written in almost the same amount of time irrespective of the location of data inside the memory. RAM contains multiplexing and demultiplexing circuitry, to connect the lines to the addressed storage for reading or writing the entry. Usually more than one bit of storage is accessed by the same address, in todays technology, random-access memory takes the form of integrated circuits. RAM is normally associated with types of memory, where stored information is lost if power is removed. Other types of non-volatile memories exist that allow access for read operations. These include most types of ROM and a type of memory called NOR-Flash. Integrated-circuit RAM chips came into the market in the early 1970s, with the first commercially available DRAM chip, early computers used relays, mechanical counters or delay lines for main memory functions. Ultrasonic delay lines could only reproduce data in the order it was written, drum memory could be expanded at relatively low cost but efficient retrieval of memory items required knowledge of the physical layout of the drum to optimize speed. Latches built out of vacuum tube triodes, and later, out of transistors, were used for smaller and faster memories such as registers. Such registers were relatively large and too costly to use for large amounts of data, the first practical form of random-access memory was the Williams tube starting in 1947. It stored data as electrically charged spots on the face of a cathode ray tube, since the electron beam of the CRT could read and write the spots on the tube in any order, memory was random access. The capacity of the Williams tube was a few hundred to around a thousand bits, but it was smaller, faster. In fact, rather than the Williams tube memory being designed for the SSEM, magnetic-core memory was invented in 1947 and developed up until the mid-1970s. It became a form of random-access memory, relying on an array of magnetized rings. By changing the sense of each rings magnetization, data could be stored with one bit stored per ring, since every ring had a combination of address wires to select and read or write it, access to any memory location in any sequence was possible. Magnetic core memory was the form of memory system until displaced by solid-state memory in integrated circuits. Data was stored in the capacitance of each transistor, and had to be periodically refreshed every few milliseconds before the charge could leak away
14.
Solid-state drive
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A solid-state drive is a solid-state storage device that uses integrated circuit assemblies as memory to store data persistently. SSD technology primarily uses electronic interfaces compatible with traditional block input/output hard disk drives, additionally, new I/O interfaces like SATA Express and M.2 have been designed to address specific requirements of the SSD technology. SSDs have no moving mechanical components and this distinguishes them from traditional electromechanical magnetic disks such as hard disk drives or floppy disks, which contain spinning disks and movable read/write heads. Compared with electromechanical disks, SSDs are typically resistant to physical shock, run silently. However, while the price of SSDs has continued to decline over time, as of 2015, most SSDs use MLC NAND-based flash memory, which is a type of non-volatile memory that retains data when power is lost. For applications requiring fast access but not necessarily data persistence after power loss, such devices may employ batteries as integrated power sources to retain data for a certain amount of time after external power is lost. SSDs had origins in the 1950s with two similar technologies, magnetic core memory and charged capacitor read-only storage and these auxiliary memory units emerged during the era of vacuum-tube computers, though their use ceased with the introduction of cheaper drum storage units. Later, in the 1970s and 1980s, SSDs were implemented in memory for early supercomputers of IBM, Amdahl, and Cray. In the late 1970s, General Instruments produced an electrically alterable ROM which operated somewhat like the later NAND flash memory, unfortunately, a ten-year life was not achievable and many companies abandoned the technology. In 1976, Dataram started selling a product called Bulk Core, in 1978, Texas Memory Systems introduced a 16 kilobyte RAM solid-state drive to be used by oil companies for seismic data acquisition. The following year, StorageTek developed the first RAM solid-state drive, the Sharp PC-5000, introduced in 1983, used 128-kilobyte solid-state storage cartridges containing bubble memory. In 1984, Tallgrass Technologies Corporation had a backup unit of 40 MB with a solid state 20 MB unit built in. The 20 MB unit could be used instead of a hard drive, in September 1986, Santa Clara Systems introduced BatRam, a 4 megabyte mass storage system expandable to 20 MB using 4 MB memory modules. The package included a battery to preserve the memory chip contents when the array was not powered. 1987 saw the entry of EMC Corporation into the SSD market, however, by 1993, EMC had exited the SSD market. Software-based RAM disks remain in use as of 2016 because they are an order of faster than other technology, though they consume CPU resources. In 1989, the Psion MC400 laptop included four slots for removable storage in the form of flash-based solid-state disk cards, in 1991, SanDisk Corporation created a 20 MB solid state drive which sold for around $1,000. In 1994, STEC, Inc. bought Cirrus Logics flash controller operation, in 1995, M-Systems introduced flash-based solid-state drives
15.
Pixel density
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Horizontal and vertical density are usually the same, as most devices have square pixels, but differ on devices that have non-square pixels. PPI can also describe the resolution, in pixels, of an image file, the unit is not square centimeters—a 100×100 pixel image printed in a 1 cm square has a resolution of 100 pixels per centimeter. Used this way, the measurement is meaningful when printing an image and it has become commonplace to refer to PPI as DPI, even though PPI refers to input resolution. Industry standard, good quality photographs usually require 330 pixels per inch, at 100% size and this delivers a quality factor of 2, which is optimum. The lowest acceptable quality factor is considered 1.5, which equates to printing a 225 ppi image using a 150 lpi screen onto coated paper, screen frequency is determined by the type of paper the image is printed on. An absorbent paper surface, uncoated recycled paper for instance, lets ink droplets spread —so requires a more open printing screen, input resolution can therefore be reduced to minimize file size without loss in quality, as long as the quality factor of 2 is maintained. This is easily determined by doubling the line frequency, for example, printing on an uncoated paper stock often limits printing screen frequency to no more than 120 lpi, therefore, a quality factor of 2 is achieved with images of 240 ppi. The PPI of a display is related to the size of the display in inches. This measurement is referred to as dots per inch, though that measurement more accurately refers to the resolution of a computer printer. This figure is determined by dividing the width of the area in pixels by the width of the display area in inches. It is possible for a display to have different horizontal and vertical PPI measurements, the dot pitch of a computer display determines the absolute limit of possible pixel density. In January 2008, Kopin Corporation announced a 0.44 inch SVGA LCD with a density of 2272 PPI. In 2011 they followed this up with a 3760 DPI0. 21” diagonal VGA colour display, the manufacturer says they designed the LCD to be optically magnified, as in high-resolution eyewear devices. Holography applications demand even greater density, as higher pixel density produces a larger image size. Spatial light modulators can reduce pixel pitch to 2.5 μm, some observations indicate that the unaided human generally cant differentiate detail beyond 300 PPI. However, this figure depends both on the distance between viewer and image, and the visual acuity. The human eye also responds in a different way to a bright, high pixel density display technologies would make supersampled antialiasing obsolete, enable true WYSIWYG graphics and, potentially enable a practical “paperless office” era. For perspective, such a device at 15 inch screen size would have to more than four Full HD screens
16.
Aspect ratio
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The aspect ratio of a geometric shape is the ratio of its sizes in different dimensions. For example, the ratio of a rectangle is the ratio of its longer side to its shorter side – the ratio of width to height. The aspect ratio is expressed as two separated by a colon. The values x and y do not represent actual widths and heights but, rather, as an example,8,5,16,10 and 1.6,1 are three ways of representing the same aspect ratio. In objects of more than two dimensions, such as hyperrectangles, the ratio can still be defined as the ratio of the longest side to the shortest side. The term is most commonly used reference to, Graphic / image Image aspect ratio Display aspect ratio. A square has the smallest possible ratio of 1,1. An ellipse with a ratio of 1,1 is a circle. A circle has the minimal DWAR which is 1, a square has a DWAR of sqrt. The Cube-Volume Aspect Ratio of a set is the d-th root of the ratio of the d-volume of the smallest enclosing axes-parallel d-cube. A square has the minimal CVAR which is 1, a circle has a CVAR of sqrt. An axis-parallel rectangle of width W and height H, where W>H, has a CVAR of sqrt = sqrt, if the dimension d is fixed, then all reasonable definitions of aspect ratio are equivalent to within constant factors. Aspect ratios are mathematically expressed as x, y, in digital images there is a subtle distinction between the Display Aspect Ratio and the Storage Aspect Ratio, see Distinctions. Ratio Equidimensional ratios in 3D List of film formats Squeeze mapping Vertical orientation
17.
Multi-touch
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In computing, multi-touch is technology that enables a surface to recognize the presence of more than one or more than two points of contact with the surface. The origins of multitouch began at CERN, MIT, University of Toronto, Carnegie Mellon University, the term multi-touch was popularized in 2007 by Apple, though it was in use as early as 1985. This plural-point awareness may be used to implement additional functionality, such as pinch to zoom or to activate certain subroutines attached to predefined gestures, the use of touchscreen technology to control electronic devices pre-dates multi-touch technology and the personal computer. Early synthesizer and electronic instrument builders like Hugh Le Caine and Robert Moog experimented with using touch-sensitive capacitance sensors to control the sounds made by their instruments, early touchscreens only registered one point of touch at a time. On-screen keyboards were thus awkward to use, because key-rollover and holding down a key while typing another were not possible. An exception was a multi-touch reconfigurable touchscreen keyboard/display developed at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the early 1970s and this technology was used to develop a new type of human machine interface for the control room of the Super Proton Synchrotron particle accelerator. In a handwritten note dated 11 March 1972, Stumpe presented his proposed solution – a capacitive touch screen with a number of programmable buttons presented on a display. The capacitors were to consist of fine lines etched in copper on a sheet of glass – fine enough, in the final device, a simple lacquer coating prevented the fingers from actually touching the capacitors. In 1976, MIT described a keyboard with variable graphics capable of multi-touch detection, in the early 1980s, The University of Torontos Input Research Group were among the earliest to explore the software side of multi-touch input systems. A1982 system at the University of Toronto used a panel with a camera placed behind the glass. When a finger or several fingers pressed on the glass, the camera would detect the action as one or more spots on an otherwise white background. Since the size of a dot was dependent on pressure, the system was somewhat pressure-sensitive as well, of note, this system was input only and not able to display graphics. In 1983, Bell Labs at Murray Hill published a discussion of touch-screen based interfaces. By 1984, both Bell Labs and Carnegie Mellon University had working multi-touch-screen prototypes – both input and graphics – that could respond interactively in response to multiple finger inputs, the Bell Labs system was based on capacitive coupling of fingers, whereas the CMU system was optical. In 1985, the canonical multitouch pinch-to-zoom gesture was demonstrated, with coordinated graphics, an advance occurred in 1991, when Pierre Wellner published a paper on his multi-touch Digital Desk, which supported multi-finger and pinching motions. Various companies expanded upon these inventions in the beginning of the twenty-first century, the company Fingerworks developed various multi-touch technologies between 1999 and 2005, including Touchstream keyboards and the iGesture Pad. Several studies of technology were published in the early 2000s by Alan Hedge, professor of human factors. Apple acquired Fingerworks and its technology in 2005
18.
Heat pipe
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A heat pipe is a heat-transfer device that combines the principles of both thermal conductivity and phase transition to efficiently manage the transfer of heat between two solid interfaces. At the hot interface of a pipe a liquid in contact with a thermally conductive solid surface turns into a vapor by absorbing heat from that surface. The vapor then travels along the pipe to the cold interface. The liquid then returns to the hot interface through either capillary action, centrifugal force, or gravity, due to the very high heat transfer coefficients for boiling and condensation, heat pipes are highly effective thermal conductors. The effective thermal conductivity varies with heat pipe length, and can approach 100 kW/ for long heat pipes, in comparison with approximately 0.4 kW/ for copper. A typical heat pipe consists of a pipe or tube made of a material that is compatible with the working fluid such as copper for water heat pipes. Typically, a pump is used to remove the air from the empty heat pipe. The heat pipe is filled with a working fluid and then sealed. The working fluid mass is chosen so that the heat pipe contains both vapor and liquid over the temperature range. Below the operating temperature, the liquid is too cold and cannot vaporize into a gas, above the operating temperature, all the liquid has turned to gas, and the environmental temperature is too high for any of the gas to condense. Whether too high or too low, thermal conduction is still possible through the walls of the heat pipe, the vast majority of heat pipes for room temperature applications use ammonia, alcohol or water as the working fluid. Copper/water heat pipes have an envelope, use water as the working fluid. Water heat pipes are sometimes filled by partially filling with water, heating until the water boils and displaces the air, for the heat pipe to transfer heat, it must contain saturated liquid and its vapor. The saturated liquid vaporizes and travels to the condenser, where it is cooled and turned back to a saturated liquid. In a standard heat pipe, the liquid is returned to the evaporator using a wick structure exerting a capillary action on the liquid phase of the working fluid. Wick structures used in heat pipes include sintered metal powder, screen, and grooved wicks, when the condenser is located above the evaporator in a gravitational field, gravity can return the liquid. In this case, the pipe is a thermosyphon. Finally, rotating heat pipes use centrifugal forces to return liquid from the condenser to the evaporator, the advantage of heat pipes over many other heat-dissipation mechanisms is their great efficiency in transferring heat
19.
Haswell (microarchitecture)
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Haswell is the codename for a processor microarchitecture developed by Intel as the fourth-generation core successor to the Ivy Bridge microarchitecture. Intel officially announced CPUs based on this microarchitecture on June 4,2013 at Computex Taipei 2013, with Haswell, which uses a 22 nm process, Intel also introduced low-power processors designed for convertible or hybrid ultrabooks, designated by the Y suffix. Haswell CPUs are used in conjunction with the Intel 8 Series chipsets, Intel 9 Series chipsets, the Haswell architecture is specifically designed to optimize the power savings and performance benefits from the move to FinFET transistors on the improved 22 nm process node. Haswell has been launched in three forms, Desktop version, Haswell-DT Mobile/Laptop version, Haswell-MB BGA version,47 W and 57 W TDP classes. All other models have GT3, GT2 or GT1 integrated graphics, see also Intel HD and Iris Graphics for more details. Due to the low power requirements of tablet and UltraBook platforms, Haswell-ULT, native support for dual-channel DDR3 memory, with up to 32 GB of RAM on LGA1150 variants 64 KB L1 cache and 256 KB L2 cache per core A total of 16 PCI Express 3. The instruction decode queue, which holds instructions after they have been decoded, is no longer statically partitioned between the two threads that each core can service, new sockets and chipsets, LGA1150 for desktops, and rPGA947 and BGA1364 for the mobile market. Z97 and H97 chipsets for the Haswell Refresh and Broadwell, in Q22014, LGA 2011-v3 with X99 chipset for the enthusiast-class desktop platform Haswell-E. Intel Transactional Synchronization Extensions for the Haswell-EX variant, hardware graphics support for Direct3D11.1 and OpenGL4.3. Intel 10.18.14.4578 driver is the last planned release on Windows 7/8.1. DDR4 for the enthusiast and enterprise/server segments and for the Enthusiast-Class Desktop Platform Haswell-E Variable Base clock like LGA2011, four versions of the integrated GPU, GT1, GT2, GT3 and GT3e, where GT3 version has 40 execution units. Haswells predecessor, Ivy Bridge, has a maximum of 16 EUs, GT3e version with 40 EUs and on-package 128 MB of embedded DRAM, called Crystalwell, is available only in mobile H-SKUs and desktop R-SKUs. Effectively, this eDRAM is a Level 4 cache, it is shared dynamically between the on-die GPU and CPU, and serving as a cache to the CPUs Level 3 cache. Optional support for Thunderbolt technology and Thunderbolt 2.0 Fully integrated voltage regulator, new advanced power-saving system, due to Haswells new low-power C6 and C7 sleep states, not all power supply units are suitable for computers with Haswell CPUs. 37,47,57 W thermal design power mobile processors,35,45,65,84,88,95 and 130–140 W TDP desktop processors. 15 W TDP processors for the Ultrabook platform leading to reduced heat, which results in thinner as well as lighter Ultrabooks, shrink of the Platform Controller Hub, from 65 nm to 32 nm. Haswell-EP variant, released in September 2014, with up to 18 cores and marketed as the Xeon E5-1600 v3, Haswell-EX variant is expected to be released in 2015, with 18 cores and functioning TSX. Up to 35 MB total unified cache for Haswell-EP and up to 40 MB for Haswell-EX, LGA 2011-v3 socket replaces LGA2011 for the Haswell EP, the new socket has the same number of pins, but it is keyed differently due to electrical incompatibility
20.
Hertz
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The hertz is the unit of frequency in the International System of Units and is defined as one cycle per second. It is named for Heinrich Rudolf Hertz, the first person to provide proof of the existence of electromagnetic waves. Hertz are commonly expressed in SI multiples kilohertz, megahertz, gigahertz, kilo means thousand, mega meaning million, giga meaning billion and tera for trillion. Some of the units most common uses are in the description of waves and musical tones, particularly those used in radio-. It is also used to describe the speeds at which computers, the hertz is equivalent to cycles per second, i. e. 1/second or s −1. In English, hertz is also used as the plural form, as an SI unit, Hz can be prefixed, commonly used multiples are kHz, MHz, GHz and THz. One hertz simply means one cycle per second,100 Hz means one hundred cycles per second, and so on. The unit may be applied to any periodic event—for example, a clock might be said to tick at 1 Hz, the rate of aperiodic or stochastic events occur is expressed in reciprocal second or inverse second in general or, the specific case of radioactive decay, becquerels. Whereas 1 Hz is 1 cycle per second,1 Bq is 1 aperiodic radionuclide event per second, the conversion between a frequency f measured in hertz and an angular velocity ω measured in radians per second is ω =2 π f and f = ω2 π. This SI unit is named after Heinrich Hertz, as with every International System of Units unit named for a person, the first letter of its symbol is upper case. Note that degree Celsius conforms to this rule because the d is lowercase. — Based on The International System of Units, the hertz is named after the German physicist Heinrich Hertz, who made important scientific contributions to the study of electromagnetism. The name was established by the International Electrotechnical Commission in 1930, the term cycles per second was largely replaced by hertz by the 1970s. One hobby magazine, Electronics Illustrated, declared their intention to stick with the traditional kc. Mc. etc. units, sound is a traveling longitudinal wave which is an oscillation of pressure. Humans perceive frequency of waves as pitch. Each musical note corresponds to a frequency which can be measured in hertz. An infants ear is able to perceive frequencies ranging from 20 Hz to 20,000 Hz, the range of ultrasound, infrasound and other physical vibrations such as molecular and atomic vibrations extends from a few femtoHz into the terahertz range and beyond. Electromagnetic radiation is described by its frequency—the number of oscillations of the perpendicular electric and magnetic fields per second—expressed in hertz. Radio frequency radiation is measured in kilohertz, megahertz, or gigahertz
21.
Computer fan
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Generally these are found in axial and sometimes centrifugal forms. The former is called a muffin fan, after the Rotron Muffin line. These components need to be kept within a temperature range to prevent overheating, instability, malfunction. While in earlier personal computers it was possible to cool most components using natural convection, to cool these components, fans are used to move heated air away from the components and draw cooler air over them. Fans attached to components are used in combination with a heatsink to increase the area of heated surface in contact with the air. In the IBM compatible PC market, the power supply unit almost always uses an exhaust fan to expel warm air from the PSU. Active cooling on CPUs started to appear on the Intel 80486, a third vent fan in the side of the PC, often located over the CPU, is also common. The graphics processing unit on most modern graphics cards require a heatsink. In some cases, the chip on the motherboard has another heatsink. Other components such as the drives and RAM may also be actively cooled. It is not uncommon to find five or more fans in a modern PC, used to aerate the case of the computer. The components inside the case cannot dissipate heat efficiently if the air is too hot. Case fans move air through the case, usually drawing cooler air in through the front or bottom. Standard axial case fans are 80,92,120,140,200 and 230 mm in width and length, decorative fans and accessories are popular with case modders. Air filters are used over intake fans, to prevent dust from entering the case. Heatsinks are especially vulnerable to being clogged up, as the effect of the dust will rapidly degrade the heatsinks ability to dissipate heat. While the power supply contains a fan with few exceptions, it is not to be used for case ventilation, the hotter the PSUs intake air is, the hotter the PSU gets. As the PSU temperature rises, the conductivity of its internal components decrease, decreased conductivity means that the PSU will convert more of the input electric energy into thermal energy
22.
Wi-Fi
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Wi-Fi or WiFi is a technology for wireless local area networking with devices based on the IEEE802.11 standards. Wi-Fi is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance, which restricts the use of the term Wi-Fi Certified to products that successfully complete interoperability certification testing. Devices that can use Wi-Fi technology include personal computers, video-game consoles, smartphones, digital cameras, tablet computers, digital audio players, Wi-Fi compatible devices can connect to the Internet via a WLAN network and a wireless access point. Such an access point has a range of about 20 meters indoors, hotspot coverage can be as small as a single room with walls that block radio waves, or as large as many square kilometres achieved by using multiple overlapping access points. Wi-Fi most commonly uses the 2.4 gigahertz UHF and 5 gigahertz SHF ISM radio bands, having no physical connections, it is more vulnerable to attack than wired connections, such as Ethernet. In 1971, ALOHAnet connected the Hawaiian Islands with a UHF wireless packet network, ALOHAnet and the ALOHA protocol were early forerunners to Ethernet, and later the IEEE802.11 protocols, respectively. A1985 ruling by the U. S. Federal Communications Commission released the ISM band for unlicensed use and these frequency bands are the same ones used by equipment such as microwave ovens and are subject to interference. In 1991, NCR Corporation with AT&T Corporation invented the precursor to 802.11, the first wireless products were under the name WaveLAN. They are the credited with inventing Wi-Fi. In 1992 and 1996, CSIRO obtained patents for a method used in Wi-Fi to unsmear the signal. The first version of the 802.11 protocol was released in 1997 and this was updated in 1999 with 802. 11b to permit 11 Mbit/s link speeds, and this proved to be popular. In 1999, the Wi-Fi Alliance formed as an association to hold the Wi-Fi trademark under which most products are sold. Wi-Fi uses a number of patents held by many different organizations. In April 2009,14 technology companies agreed to pay CSIRO $1 billion for infringements on CSIRO patents and this led to Australia labeling Wi-Fi as an Australian invention, though this has been the subject of some controversy. In 2016, the local area network Test Bed was chosen as Australias contribution to the exhibition A History of the World in 100 Objects held in the National Museum of Australia. The name Wi-Fi, commercially used at least as early as August 1999, was coined by the brand-consulting firm Interbrand, the Wi-Fi Alliance had hired Interbrand to create a name that was a little catchier than IEEE802. 11b Direct Sequence. Phil Belanger, a member of the Wi-Fi Alliance who presided over the selection of the name Wi-Fi, has stated that Interbrand invented Wi-Fi as a pun upon the word hi-fi. Interbrand also created the Wi-Fi logo, the yin-yang Wi-Fi logo indicates the certification of a product for interoperability
23.
Bluetooth
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Bluetooth is a wireless technology standard for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, and building personal area networks. Invented by telecom vendor Ericsson in 1994, it was conceived as a wireless alternative to RS-232 data cables. It can connect up to seven devices, overcoming problems that older technologies had when attempting to connect to each other. Bluetooth is managed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group, which has more than 30,000 member companies in the areas of telecommunication, computing, networking, the IEEE standardized Bluetooth as IEEE802.15.1, but no longer maintains the standard. The Bluetooth SIG oversees development of the specification, manages the qualification program, a manufacturer must meet Bluetooth SIG standards to market it as a Bluetooth device. A network of patents apply to the technology, which are licensed to individual qualifying devices, the development of the short-link radio technology, later named Bluetooth, was initiated in 1989 by Nils Rydbeck, CTO at Ericsson Mobile in Lund, Sweden, and by Johan Ullman. The purpose was to develop wireless headsets, according to two inventions by Johan Ullman, SE 8902098-6, issued 1989-06-12 and SE9202239, issued 1992-07-24, Nils Rydbeck tasked Tord Wingren with specifying and Jaap Haartsen and Sven Mattisson with developing. Both were working for Ericsson in Lund, the specification is based on frequency-hopping spread spectrum technology. The idea of this name was proposed in 1997 by Jim Kardach who developed a system that would allow mobile phones to communicate with computers, at the time of this proposal he was reading Frans G. Bengtssons historical novel The Long Ships about Vikings and King Harald Bluetooth. The implication is that Bluetooth does the same with communications protocols, the Bluetooth logo is a bind rune merging the Younger Futhark runes and, Haralds initials. Bluetooth operates at frequencies between 2402 and 2480 MHz, or 2400 and 2483.5 MHz including guard bands 2 MHz wide at the end and 3.5 MHz wide at the top. This is in the globally unlicensed Industrial, Scientific and Medical 2.4 GHz short-range radio frequency band, Bluetooth uses a radio technology called frequency-hopping spread spectrum. Bluetooth divides transmitted data into packets, and transmits each packet on one of 79 designated Bluetooth channels, each channel has a bandwidth of 1 MHz. It usually performs 800 hops per second, with Adaptive Frequency-Hopping enabled, Bluetooth low energy uses 2 MHz spacing, which accommodates 40 channels. Originally, Gaussian frequency-shift keying modulation was the modulation scheme available. Since the introduction of Bluetooth 2. 0+EDR, π/4-DQPSK and 8DPSK modulation may also be used between compatible devices, devices functioning with GFSK are said to be operating in basic rate mode where an instantaneous data rate of 1 Mbit/s is possible. The term Enhanced Data Rate is used to describe π/4-DPSK and 8DPSK schemes, the combination of these modes in Bluetooth radio technology is classified as a BR/EDR radio. Bluetooth is a protocol with a master-slave structure
24.
USB 3.0
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USB3.0 is the third major version of the Universal Serial Bus standard for interfacing computers and electronic devices. Among other improvements, USB3.0 adds the new transfer rate referred to as SuperSpeed USB that can transfer data at up to 5 Gbit/s, which is about ten times as fast as the USB2.0 standard. Manufacturers are recommended to distinguish USB3.0 connectors from their USB2.0 counterparts by blue color-coding of the Standard-A receptacles and plugs, USB3.1, released in July 2013, is the successor standard that replaces the USB3.0 standard. The specification of USB3.0 is similar to that of USB2.0, but with many improvements, earlier USB concepts such as endpoints and the four transfer types are preserved but the protocol and electrical interface are different. The specification defines a separate channel to carry USB3.0 traffic. This gives USB3.0 a potential total bandwidth, if used both ways, of twenty times that of USB2.0. In USB3.0, dual-bus architecture is used to allow both USB2.0 and USB3.0 operations to take place simultaneously, thus providing backward compatibility. Connections are such that they also permit forward compatibility, that is, the structural topology is the same, consisting of a tiered star topology with a root hub at level 0 and hubs at lower levels to provide bus connectivity to devices. The SuperSpeed transaction is initiated by the host making a request followed by a response from the device, the device either accepts the request or rejects it, if accepted, the device sends data or accepts data from the host. If the endpoint is halted, the device shall respond with a STALL handshake, if there is lack of buffer space or data, it responds with a Not Ready signal to tell the host that it is not able to process the request. When the device is ready, it will send an Endpoint Ready to the host which will then reschedule the transaction, the SuperSpeed bus provides for a transfer mode at a nominal rate of 5.0 Gbit/s, in addition to the three existing transfer modes. Accounting for the overhead, the raw data throughput is 4 Gbit/s. Scrambling is implemented using a linear feedback shift register. The LFSR is reset whenever a COM symbol is sent or received, unlike previous standards, the USB3. As with earlier versions of USB, USB3.0 provides power at 5 volts nominal, the available current for low-power SuperSpeed devices is 150 mA, an increase from the 100 mA defined in USB2.0. For high-power SuperSpeed devices, the limit is six unit loads or 900 mA and this move effectively opened the specification to hardware developers for implementation in future products. Manufacturers of USB3.0 host controllers include, but are not limited to, Renesas Electronics, Fresco Logic, ASMedia Technology, Etron, VIA Technologies, Texas Instruments, NEC, as of November 2010, Renesas and Fresco Logic have passed USB-IF certification. Motherboards for Intels Sandy Bridge processors have been seen with Asmedia, on 28 October 2010, Hewlett-Packard released the HP Envy 17 3D featuring a Renesas USB3.0 host controller several months before some of their competitors
25.
Secure Digital
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Secure Digital is a non-volatile memory card format developed by the SD Card Association for use in portable devices. The standard was introduced in August 1999 by joint efforts between SanDisk, Panasonic and Toshiba as an improvement over MultiMediaCards, and has become the industry standard. The three companies formed SD-3C, LLC, a company that licenses and enforces intellectual property rights associated with SD memory cards and SD host, the companies also formed the SD Association, a non-profit organization, in January 2000 to promote and create SD Card standards. SDA today has about 1,000 member companies, the SDA uses several trademarked logos owned and licensed by SD-3C to enforce compliance with its specifications and assure users of compatibility. There are many combinations of factors and device families, although as of 2016. Secure Digital includes four card families available in three different sizes, the four families are the original Standard-Capacity, the High-Capacity, the eXtended-Capacity, and the SDIO, which combines input/output functions with data storage. The three form factors are the size, the mini size, and the micro size. Electrically passive adapters allow a card to fit and function in a device built for a larger card. The SD cards small footprint is a storage medium for smaller, thinner. The second-generation Secure Digital card was developed to improve on the MultiMediaCard standard, which continued to evolve, Secure Digital changed the MMC design in several ways, Asymmetrical slots in the sides of the SD card prevent inserting it upside down. Most SD cards are 2.1 mm thick, compared to 1.4 mm for MMCs. The SD specification defines a card called Thin SD with a thickness of 1.4 mm, the cards electrical contacts are recessed beneath the surface of the card, protecting them from contact with a users fingers. The SD specification envisioned capacities and transfer rates exceeding those of MMC, for a comparison table, see below. While MMC uses a pin for data transfers, the SD card added a four-wire bus mode for higher data rates. The SD card added Content Protection for Recordable Media security circuitry for digital rights management content-protection, full-size SD cards do not fit into the slimmer MMC slots, and other issues also affect the ability to use one format in a host device designed for the other. The Secure Digital High Capacity format, announced in January 2006 and defined in version 2.0 of the SD specification, the SDHC trademark is licensed to ensure compatibility. SDHC cards are physically and electrically identical to standard-capacity SD cards, Version 2.0 also introduces a High-speed bus mode for both SDSC and SDHC cards, which doubles the original Standard Speed clock to produce 25 MB/s. SDHC host devices are required to accept older SD cards, however, older host devices do not recognize SDHC or SDXC memory cards, although some devices can do so through a firmware upgrade
26.
Mini DisplayPort
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The Mini DisplayPort is a miniaturized version of the DisplayPort audio-visual digital interface. It was announced by Apple in October 2008, as of 2013, all new Apple Macintosh computers had the port, as did the LED Cinema Display. However in 2016 Apple began phasing out the port and replacing it with the new USB Type-C connector. The Mini DisplayPort is also fitted to some PC motherboards, and some PC notebooks from Asus, Microsoft, MSI, Lenovo, Toshiba, HP, Dell, with an adapter, the Mini DisplayPort can drive display devices with VGA, DVI, or HDMI interfaces. Apple offers a license for the Mini DisplayPort but they reserve the right to cancel the license should the licensee commence an action for patent infringement against Apple. Apple replaced the DVI port from the MacBook, MacBook Air, MacBook Pro, iMac, Mac Mini, and this includes some content from the iTunes Store which has no such restrictions if played on a Mac without Mini DisplayPort. Monitors connected to a Mini DisplayPort via these adaptors may have problems or not wake up from sleep. This can be a problem for users who want to connect their computers to HDTVs using a Mini DisplayPort to HDMI adapter, either option terminates with a single female HDMI connector, thus allowing both video and audio to be channeled over the single HDMI cable. In early 2009, VESA announced that Mini DisplayPort would be included in the upcoming DisplayPort 1.2 specification, in the fourth quarter of 2009, VESA announced that the Mini DisplayPort had been adopted. All devices using the Mini DisplayPort must comply with the 1. 1a standard, on 7 January 2010, Toshiba introduced Satellite Pro S500, Tecra M11, A11 and S11 notebooks featuring Mini DisplayPort. On 13 April 2010, Apple added support for audio out using Mini DisplayPort in their MacBook Pro product line and this allows users to easily connect their Macbook Pros to their HDTVs using a cable adapting Mini DisplayPort to HDMI with full audio and video functionality. On 5 May 2010, HP announced Envy 14 and Envy 17 notebooks with Mini DisplayPort, on 20 October 2010, Dell announced XPS14,15, and 17 notebooks with Mini DisplayPort. On 17 May 2011, Lenovo announced the ThinkPad X1 notebook with Mini DisplayPort, in May 2011, Dell released the XPS 15z notebook with Mini DisplayPort. On 15 May 2012, Lenovo announced the ThinkPad notebooks X1 Carbon, Helix, X230, L430, L530, T430s, T430, T530, W530 with Mini DisplayPort. In 2012, Intel shipped the second generation Intel NUC of which the top model with an i5 had a Mini DisplayPort, on 9 February 2013, Microsoft released the Surface Tablet, Surface Pro, equipped with Windows 8 Pro and Mini DisplayPort. In June 2013, Intel shipped the third-generation Intel NUC with both Mini HDMI and Mini DisplayPort, on 5 July 2013, Asus announced new N Series laptops N550 and N750 with both HDMI and Mini DisplayPort. On 25 July 2013, Dell announced the Precision M3800 mobile workstation with Mini DisplayPort, on 8 August 2013, Dell announced the Latitude E7240 and E7440 business notebooks with Mini DisplayPort. On 9 September 2013, Lenovo announced the ThinkPad X240s, L440, L540, T440, T440s, T440p, T540p, on 5 May 2015, Microsoft released the Surface 3 with Mini DisplayPort
27.
Windows 10
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Windows 10 is a personal computer operating system developed and released by Microsoft as part of the Windows NT family of operating systems. It was officially unveiled in September 2014 following a brief demo at Build 2014, privacy concerns were also voiced by critics and advocates, as the operating systems default settings and certain features require the transmission of user data to Microsoft or its partners. Up to August 2016, Windows 10 usage was increasing, with it then plateauing, the operating system is running on more than 400 million active devices and has an estimated usage share of 27. 72% on traditional PCs and 12. 53% across all platforms. We won’t have an ecosystem for PCs, and one for phones, in December 2013, technology writer Mary Jo Foley reported that Microsoft was working on an update to Windows 8 codenamed Threshold, after a planet in Microsofts Halo video game franchise. Similarly to Blue, Foley called Threshold a wave of operating systems across multiple Microsoft platforms and services, Foley reported that among the goals for Threshold was to create a unified application platform and development toolkit for Windows, Windows Phone and Xbox One. The new Start menu takes after Windows 7s design by using only a portion of the screen, the second column displays Windows 8-style app tiles. Myerson said that changes would occur in a future update. Windows Phone 8.1 would share nearly 90% of the common Windows Runtime APIs with Windows 8.1 on PCs, despite these concessions, Myerson noted that the touch-oriented interface would evolve as well on 10. He also joked that they could not call it Windows One because Windows 1.0 already existed.1, further details surrounding Windows 10s consumer-oriented features were presented during another media event held on January 21,2015, entitled Windows 10, The Next Chapter. Additional developer-oriented details surrounding the Universal Windows Platform concept were revealed and discussed during Microsofts developers conference Build, among them were the unveiling of Islandwood, which provides a middleware toolchain for compiling Objective-C based software to run as universal apps on Windows 10 and Windows 10 Mobile. On June 1,2015, Microsoft announced that Windows 10 would be released on July 29,2015. The commercials focused on the tagline A more human way to do, the campaign culminated with launch events in thirteen cities on July 29, which celebrated the unprecedented role our biggest fans played in the development of Windows 10. Windows 10 harmonizes the user experience and functionality between different classes of device, and addresses shortcomings in the interface that were introduced in Windows 8. Windows 10 Mobile, the successor to Windows Phone 8.1, shares some user interface elements, the Windows Runtime app ecosystem was revised into the Universal Windows Platform. These universal apps are made to run across platforms and device classes, including smartphones, tablets, Xbox One consoles. Developers can allow cross-buys, where purchased licenses for an app apply to all of the users compatible devices, on Windows 10, Windows Store serves as a unified storefront for apps, Groove Music, and Movies & TV. Windows 10 also allows web apps and desktop software to be packaged for distribution on the Windows Store, desktop software distributed through Windows Store is packaged using the App-V system to allow sandboxing. A new iteration of the Start menu is used on the Windows 10 desktop, with a list of places and other options on the left side, the menu can be resized, and expanded into a full-screen display, which is the default option in Tablet mode
28.
Microsoft Office
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Microsoft Office is an office suite of applications, servers, and services developed by Microsoft. It was first announced by Bill Gates on 1 August 1988, initially a marketing term for a bundled set of applications, the first version of Office contained Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint. Over the years, Office applications have grown substantially closer with shared features such as a spell checker, OLE data integration. Microsoft also positions Office as a development platform for software under the Office Business Applications brand. On 10 July 2012, Softpedia reported that Office is used by over a billion people worldwide, Office is produced in several versions targeted towards different end-users and computing environments. The original, and most widely used version, is the version, available for PCs running the Windows. The most current desktop version is Office 2016 for Windows and macOS, released on 22 September 2015 and 9 July 2015, more recently, Microsoft developed Office Mobile, which are free-to-use versions of Office applications for mobile devices. Microsoft also produces and runs Office Online, a version of core Office apps. Microsoft Word is a word processor available for Windows and macOS, Word is also included in some editions of the now discontinued Microsoft Works. The first version of Word, released in the autumn of 1983, was for the MS-DOS operating system and had the distinction of introducing the mouse to a broad population, Word 1.0 could be purchased with a bundled mouse, though none was required. Following the precedents of LisaWrite and MacWrite, Word for Macintosh attempted to add closer WYSIWYG features into its package, Word for Mac was released in 1985. Word for Mac was the first graphical version of Microsoft Word and its proprietary Doc format is a de facto standard, although Word 2007 deprecated this format in favor of Office Open XML, which was later standardized by Ecma International as an open format. Support for Portable Document Format and OpenDocument was first introduced in Word for Windows with Service Pack 2 for Word 2007, Microsoft Excel is a spreadsheet program that originally competed with the dominant Lotus 1-2-3, and eventually outsold it. It is available for the Windows and macOS platforms, Microsoft released the first version of Excel for the Mac OS in 1985, and the first Windows version in November 1987. Microsoft PowerPoint is a program for Windows and macOS. It is used to create slideshows, composed of text, graphics, and other objects, Microsoft Access is a database management system for Windows that combines the relational Microsoft Jet Database Engine with a graphical user interface and software-development tools. Microsoft Access stores data in its own based on the Access Jet Database Engine. It can also import or link directly to data stored in other applications, Microsoft Outlook is a personal information manager
29.
Gigabit Ethernet
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In computer networking, Gigabit Ethernet is a term describing various technologies for transmitting Ethernet frames at a rate of a gigabit per second, as defined by the IEEE802. 3-2008 standard. It came into use beginning in 1999, gradually supplanting Fast Ethernet in wired local networks, the cables and equipment are very similar to previous standards and have been very common and economical since 2010. Ethernet was the result of the research done at Xerox PARC in the early 1970s, Ethernet later evolved into a widely implemented physical and link layer protocol. Fast Ethernet increased speed from 10 to 100 megabits per second, Gigabit Ethernet was the next iteration, increasing the speed to 1000 Mbit/s. The initial standard for Gigabit Ethernet was produced by the IEEE in June 1998 as IEEE802. 3z,802. 3z is commonly referred to as 1000BASE-X, where -X refers to either -CX, -SX, -LX, or -ZX. For the history behind the X see Fast Ethernet, IEEE802. 3ab, ratified in 1999, defines Gigabit Ethernet transmission over unshielded twisted pair category 5, 5e or 6 cabling, and became known as 1000BASE-T. With the ratification of 802. 3ab, Gigabit Ethernet became a desktop technology as organizations could use their existing copper cabling infrastructure, IEEE802. 3ah, ratified in 2004 added two more gigabit fiber standards, 1000BASE-LX10 and 1000BASE-BX10. This was part of a group of protocols known as Ethernet in the First Mile. Initially, Gigabit Ethernet was deployed in high-capacity backbone network links, in 2000, Apples Power Mac G4 and PowerBook G4 were the first mass-produced personal computers featuring the 1000BASE-T connection. It quickly became a feature in many other computers. There are five physical layer standards for Gigabit Ethernet using optical fiber, twisted pair cable and these standards use 8b/10b encoding, which inflates the line rate by 25%, from 1000 Mbit/s to 1250 Mbit/s, to ensure a DC balanced signal. The symbols are sent using NRZ. Optical fiber transceivers are most often implemented as modules in SFP form or GBIC on older devices. IEEE802. 3ab, which defines the widely used 1000BASE-T interface type, uses a different encoding scheme in order to keep the rate as low as possible. IEEE802. 3ap defines Ethernet Operation over Electrical Backplanes at different speeds, Ethernet in the First Mile later added 1000BASE-LX10 and -BX10. 1000BASE-CX is a standard for Gigabit Ethernet connections with maximum distances of 25 meters using balanced shielded twisted pair. The short segment length is due to high signal transmission rate. 1000BASE-KX is part of the IEEE802. 3ap standard for Ethernet Operation over Electrical Backplanes and this standard defines one to four lanes of backplane links, one RX and one TX differential pair per lane, at link bandwidth ranging from 100Mbit to 10Gbit per second
30.
Fingerprint
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A fingerprint in its narrow sense is an impression left by the friction ridges of a human finger. The recovery of fingerprints from a scene is an important method of forensic science. Fingerprints are easily deposited on surfaces by the natural secretions of sweat from the eccrine glands that are present in epidermal ridges. These are sometimes referred to as Chanced Impressions, in a wider use of the term, fingerprints are the traces of an impression from the friction ridges of any part of a human or other primate hand. A print from the sole of the foot can also leave an impression of friction ridges, deliberate impressions of fingerprints may be formed by ink or other substances transferred from the peaks of friction ridges on the skin to a relatively smooth surface such as a fingerprint card. Fingerprint records normally contain impressions from the pad on the last joint of fingers and thumbs, human fingerprints are detailed, nearly unique, difficult to alter, and durable over the life of an individual, making them suitable as long-term markers of human identity. Fingerprint analysis, in use since the early 20th century, has led to many crimes being solved and this means that many criminals consider gloves essential. In 2015, the identification of sex by use of a fingerprint test has been reported. A friction ridge is a portion of the epidermis on the digits. These are sometimes known as epidermal ridges which are caused by the interface between the dermal papillae of the dermis and the interpapillary pegs of the epidermis. These ridges may also assist in gripping surfaces and may improve surface contact in wet conditions. Before computerisation, manual filing systems were used in large fingerprint repositories, manual classification systems were based on the general ridge patterns of several or all fingers. This allowed the filing and retrieval of paper records in large collections based on friction ridge patterns alone, the most popular systems used the pattern class of each finger to form a key to assist lookup in a filing system. Classification systems include the Roscher system, the Juan Vucetich system, in the Henry system of classification, there are three basic fingerprint patterns, loop, whorl, and arch, which constitute 60–65%, 30–35%, and 5% of all fingerprints respectively. Ulnar loops start on the pinky-side of the finger, the closer to the ulna. Radial loops start on the thumb-side of the finger, the closer to the radius. Whorls may also have sub-group classifications including plain whorls, accidental whorls, double loop whorls, peacocks eye, composite, other common fingerprint patterns include the tented arch, the plain arch, and the central pocket loop. The system used by most experts, although complex, is similar to the Henry System of Classification
31.
Touchpad
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Touchpads are a common feature of laptop computers, and are also used as a substitute for a mouse where desk space is scarce. Because they vary in size, they can also be found on personal digital assistants, wireless touchpads are also available as detached accessories. Touchpads operate in one of several ways, including capacitive sensing, the most common technology used as of 2010 entails sensing the capacitive virtual ground effect of a finger, or the capacitance between sensors. Capacitance-based touchpads will not sense the tip of a pencil or other similar implement, gloved fingers may also be problematic. While touchpads, like touchscreens, are able to sense absolute position, resolution is limited by their size, hardware buttons equivalent to a standard mouses left and right buttons are positioned below, above, or beside the touchpad. Some touchpads and associated device driver software may interpret tapping the pad as a click, Tactile touchpads allow for clicking and dragging by incorporating button functionality into the surface of the touchpad itself. To select, one presses down on the touchpad instead of a physical button, to drag, instead performing the click-and-a-half technique, one presses down while on the object, drags without releasing pressure and lets go when done. Touchpad drivers can also allow the use of fingers to facilitate the other mouse buttons. Some touchpads have hotspots, locations on the used for functionality beyond a mouse. Many touchpads use two-finger dragging for scrolling, also, some touchpad drivers support tap zones, regions where a tap will execute a function, for example, pausing a media player or launching an application. All of these functions are implemented in the device driver software. By 1982 Apollo desktop computers were equipped with a touchpad on the side of the keyboard. Introduced a year later, the Gavilan SC included a touchpad above its keyboard, a touchpad was first developed for Psions MC 200/400/600/WORD Series in 1989. Olivetti and Triumph-Adler introduced the first laptops with touchpad in 1992. Cirque introduced the first widely available touchpad, branded as GlidePoint, in 1994. Apple Inc introduced touchpads to the laptop in the PowerBook series in 1994, using Cirque’s GlidePoint technology. Another early adopter of the GlidePoint pointing device was Sharp, later, Synaptics introduced their touchpad into the marketplace, branded the TouchPad. Epson was an early adopter of this product, as touchpads began to be introduced in laptops in the 1990s, there was often confusion as to what the product should be called. No consistent term was used, and references varied, such as, glidepoint, touch sensitive input device, touchpad, trackpad, users were often presented the option to purchase a pointing stick, touchpad, or trackball
32.
Microsoft OneNote
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Microsoft OneNote is a computer program for free-form information gathering and multi-user collaboration. It gathers users notes, drawings, screen clippings and audio commentaries, notes can be shared with other OneNote users over the Internet or a network. OneNote is available as a part of Microsoft Office and Windows 10 and it is also available as a free standalone application for Windows, macOS, Windows RT, Windows Phone, iOS and Android. A web-based version of OneNote is provided as part of OneDrive or Office Online, in OneNote, users can enter typed text via keyboard, create tables, and insert pictures. However, unlike a word processor, users can write anywhere on a virtually unbounded document window by just clicking there, also, users do not need to explicitly save their work – OneNote saves data automatically as the user works. OneNote saves information in pages organized into sections within notebooks, the interface provides an electronic version of a tabbed ring-binder, into which the user can directly make notes and gather material from other applications. OneNote notebooks collect, organize, and share possibly unpolished materials – as compared to word processors and wikis, users may add embedded multimedia recordings and web links. OneNote integrates search features and indexing into a graphics and audio repository. It can search images for embedded text-content and it also searches electronic ink annotations as text, and phonetically searches audio recordings on a text key. It can replay audio concurrently with notes taken during the recording and its multi-user capability allows offline paragraph-level editing with later synchronization and merging. This facilitates collaboration among members who are not always online. More than one person can work on the page at the same time—using OneNote as a shared whiteboard environment. On March 17,2014, Microsoft released the OneNote cloud service API that enables third-party application developers to integrate the service into their apps, the API runs on Microsoft’s globally available cloud, and sends data from applications into the users OneDrive. While the service stores the data in the OneNote notebook, it can also do things like running Optical Character Recognition on images, the text in the screenshot is made searchable using Optical Character Recognition. Email to OneNote, It enables users to send emails to the address me@onenote. com from pre-specified email IDs to have the contents of the saved to OneNote. A OneNote Notebook is stored as a folder of section files that have the. one extension, Microsoft upgraded the file format twice after it introduced OneNote 2003—first in OneNote 2007, then again in OneNote 2010. OneNote 2003 files can be opened by both OneNote 2007 and OneNote 2010 in read-only mode, and subsequently upgraded to the versions of the file format. OneNote 2010 can read and write OneNote 2007 file formats and it can also convert back and forth between the 2010 and the 2007 formats
33.
Cortana
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Cortana is an intelligent personal assistant created by Microsoft for Windows 10, Windows 10 Mobile, Windows Phone 8.1, Microsoft Band, Xbox One, iOS and Android. Cortana can set reminders, recognize natural voice without the requirement for keyboard input, Cortana is currently available in English, Portuguese, French, German, Italian, Spanish, Chinese, and Japanese language editions, depending on the software platform and region in which it is used. Cortana mainly competes against assistants such as Apples Siri, Googles Google Assistant, Samsungs Bixby, Cortana was demonstrated for the first time at the Microsoft BUILD Developer Conference in San Francisco. It has been launched as a key ingredient of Microsofts planned makeover of the operating systems for Windows Phone. The development of Cortana started in 2009 in the Microsoft Speech products team with general manager Zig Serafin, Heck and Serafin established the vision, mission, and long-range plan for Microsofts digital-personal-assistant and they built a team with the expertise to create the initial prototypes for Cortana. To develop the Cortana digital assistant, the team interviewed human personal assistants and these interviews inspired a number of unique features in Cortana, including the assistants notebook feature. Originally Cortana was only meant to be a codename, but a petition on Windows Phones UserVoice site that proved to be made the codename official. In January 2015, Microsoft announced the availability of Cortana for Windows 10 desktops, on May 26,2015, Microsoft announced that Cortana would also be available on other mobile platforms. An Android release was set for July 2015, but an Android APK file containing Cortana was leaked ahead of its release and it was officially released, along with an iOS version, in December 2015. During E32015, Microsoft announced that Cortana would come to the Xbox One as part of a universally designed Windows 10 update for the console, Microsoft has integrated Cortana into numerous products such as Microsoft Edge, the browser bundled with Windows 10. Microsofts Cortana assistant is deeply integrated into its Edge browser, Cortana can find opening-hours when on restaurant sites, show retail coupons for websites, or show weather information in the address bar. At the Worldwide Partners Conference 2015 Microsoft demonstrated Cortana integration with upcoming products such as GigJam, Microsofts Windows in the car concept includes Cortana. The concept makes it possible for drivers to make restaurant reservations, as of 2016, Cortana can underline certain words and phrases in Skype conversations that relate to contacts and corporations. Cortana can set reminders, recognize natural voice without the requirement for keyboard input, Windows 8. 1s universal Bing SmartSearch features are incorporated into Cortana, which replaces the previous Bing Search app which was activated when a user presses the Search button on their device. Cortana includes a music recognition service, Cortana can simulate rolling dice and flipping a coin. Cortanas Concert Watch monitors Bing searches to determine which bands or musicians the user is interested in and it integrates with the Microsoft Band watch band for Windows Phone devices if connected via Bluetooth, it can make reminders and phone notifications. Since the Lumia Denim mobile phone series, launched in October 2014, active listening was added to Cortana, enabling it to be invoked with the phrase, Hey Cortana, it can then be controlled as usual. Some devices from the United Kingdom by O2 have received the Lumia Denim update without the feature but this was clarified as a bug
34.
Surface Pro 4
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The Surface Pro 4 is the fourth-generation Surface-series 2-in-1 detachable, designed, developed, marketed, and produced by Microsoft. The Surface Pro 4 was announced on October 6,2015 alongside the Surface Book, in the U. S. and Canada, the Surface Pro 4 was released on October 26,2015. The Surface Pro 4 is an update over its predecessor, featuring Skylake CPUs, more RAM and SSD options, at the same time, the device is compatible with most of its predecessors accessories. The Surface Pro 4 was announced on October 6,2015 alongside the Surface Book, both devices were available for pre-order the following day and available for customers beginning on October 26,2015. The device initially exhibited failure to sleep properly, which drained the battery very quickly, Microsoft subsequently developed a fix that was made available on February 17,2016. The Surface Pro 4 is the size as the Surface Pro 3. The screen resolution is greater than the Surface Pro 3s, at 2736x1824 at 267 PPI, with the same aspect ratio of 3,2. The chassis is 0.03 inches thinner and 0.03 pounds lighter than the Surface Pro 3, the cooling system of the 2-in-1 has been redesigned and dubbed hybrid liquid cooling system. It includes heat pipes with a liquid, which is meant to avoid the use of the internal fan when the device is used for less demanding tasks such as web browsing. The maximum clock rate of the most powerful CPU option is also greater at 2.2 GHz, the m3-powered model is completely fanless. All Surface Pro 4 models come with a 64-bit version of Windows 10 Pro, Windows 10 comes pre-installed with Mail, Calendar, People, Xbox, Photos, Movies and TV, Groove, and Microsoft Edge. With Windows 10 the Tablet mode is available when the Type Cover is detached from the device, in this mode, all windows are opened full-screen and the interface becomes more touch-centric. The device also has a Windows Hello-compatible camera and it combines the use of a regular and infrared cameras to authenticate the user. The Surface Pro 4 is backward compatible with all accessories of its predecessor, at the Windows 10 Devices Event on 6 October,2015, alongside new Surface 2-in-1s, new accessories were announced. The Surface Dock is a redesigned docking accessory in a form factor. It is compatible with all past and future Surface models with a SurfaceConnect side port, previously used to connect a wall charger or Docking Station accessory, Surface Pro 3,4 and Surface Book. The Surface Dock will have 2 Mini DisplayPorts,1 Gigabit Ethernet,4 USB3.0, and 1 audio out ports. The new Type Cover is thinner and lighter than its predecessor, has improved stability for lap use
35.
Microsoft Windows
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Microsoft Windows is a metafamily of graphical operating systems developed, marketed, and sold by Microsoft. It consists of families of operating systems, each of which cater to a certain sector of the computing industry with the OS typically associated with IBM PC compatible architecture. Active Windows families include Windows NT, Windows Embedded and Windows Phone, defunct Windows families include Windows 9x, Windows 10 Mobile is an active product, unrelated to the defunct family Windows Mobile. Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20,1985, Microsoft Windows came to dominate the worlds personal computer market with over 90% market share, overtaking Mac OS, which had been introduced in 1984. Apple came to see Windows as an encroachment on their innovation in GUI development as implemented on products such as the Lisa. On PCs, Windows is still the most popular operating system, however, in 2014, Microsoft admitted losing the majority of the overall operating system market to Android, because of the massive growth in sales of Android smartphones. In 2014, the number of Windows devices sold was less than 25% that of Android devices sold and this comparison however may not be fully relevant, as the two operating systems traditionally target different platforms. As of September 2016, the most recent version of Windows for PCs, tablets, smartphones, the most recent versions for server computers is Windows Server 2016. A specialized version of Windows runs on the Xbox One game console, Microsoft, the developer of Windows, has registered several trademarks each of which denote a family of Windows operating systems that target a specific sector of the computing industry. It now consists of three operating system subfamilies that are released almost at the time and share the same kernel. Windows, The operating system for personal computers, tablets. The latest version is Windows 10, the main competitor of this family is macOS by Apple Inc. for personal computers and Android for mobile devices. Windows Server, The operating system for server computers, the latest version is Windows Server 2016. Unlike its clients sibling, it has adopted a strong naming scheme, the main competitor of this family is Linux. Windows PE, A lightweight version of its Windows sibling meant to operate as an operating system, used for installing Windows on bare-metal computers. The latest version is Windows PE10.0.10586.0, Windows Embedded, Initially, Microsoft developed Windows CE as a general-purpose operating system for every device that was too resource-limited to be called a full-fledged computer. The following Windows families are no longer being developed, Windows 9x, Microsoft now caters to the consumers market with Windows NT. Windows Mobile, The predecessor to Windows Phone, it was a mobile operating system
36.
Tablet computer
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Tablets often come equipped with sensors, including digital cameras, a microphone, and an accelerometer so images on screens are always displayed upright. The touchscreen display uses the recognition of finger or stylus gestures to replace the mouse, trackpad, tablets are typically larger than smartphones or personal digital assistants with screens 7 inches or larger, measured diagonally. However much of a tablets functionality resembles that of a modern smartphone, tablets can be classified according to the presence and physical appearance of keyboards. Slates and booklets do not have a keyboard, and usually accept text. Hybrids, convertibles, and 2-in-1s do have physical keyboards, yet they also make use of virtual keyboards. Some 2-in-1s have processors and operating systems like a full laptop, most tablets can use separate keyboards connected using Bluetooth. The format was conceptualized in the century and prototyped and developed in the last two decades of that century. In April 2010, Apple released the iPad, the first mass-market tablet to achieve widespread popularity, thereafter in the 2010s, tablets rapidly rose in ubiquity and became a large product category used for both personal and workplace applications. The tablet computer and its operating system began with the development of pen computing. Throughout the 20th century devices with these characteristics have been imagined and created whether as blueprints, prototypes, a device more powerful than todays tablets appeared briefly in Jerry Pournelle and Larry Nivens The Mote in Gods Eye. Adults could also use a Dynabook, but the audience was children. In 1992, Atari showed developers the Stylus, later renamed ST-Pad, the ST-Pad was based on the TOS/GEM Atari ST Platform and prototyped early handwriting recognition. Shiraz Shivjis company Momentus demonstrated in the time a failed x86 MS-DOS based Pen Computer with its own GUI. In 1994, the European Union initiated the NewsPad project, inspired by Clarke, Acorn Computers developed and delivered an ARM-based touch screen tablet computer for this program, branding it the NewsPad, the project ended in 1997. During the November 2000 COMDEX, Microsoft used the term Tablet PC to describe a prototype handheld device they were demonstrating, all three products were based on extended versions of the MS-DOS operating system. In 1992, IBM announced and shipped to developers the 2521 ThinkPad, also based on PenPoint was AT&Ts EO Personal Communicator from 1993, which ran on AT&Ts own hardware, including their own AT&T Hobbit CPU. Apple Computer launched the Apple Newton personal digital assistant in 1993 and it utilised Apples own new Newton OS, initially running on hardware manufactured by Motorola and incorporating an ARM CPU, that Apple had specifically co-developed with Acorn Computers. The operating system and platform design were later licensed to Sharp and Digital Ocean, in 1996, Palm, Inc. released the first of the Palm OS based PalmPilot touch and stylus based PDA, the touch based devices initially incorporating a Motorola Dragonball CPU