1.
Xbox One
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The Xbox One is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. It is the first Xbox game console to be released in China, Microsoft marketed the device as an all-in-one entertainment system. The Xbox One mainly competes against consoles such as Sonys PlayStation 4, the console optionally includes a redesigned Kinect sensor, marketed as the Kinect 2.0, providing improved motion tracking and voice recognition for use in its graphical user interface and games. The Xbox One offers the ability for users to record and share clips from gameplay or live-stream directly to Twitch, Ustream, the consoles controller was redesigned over the Xbox 360s, with a redesigned body, D-pad and triggers capable of delivering directional haptic feedback. The Xbox One received mostly positive reception for its refined design, multimedia features. Its original user interface was panned for being nonintuitive, although changes made to it and its Kinect received praise for its improved motion-tracking accuracy, its face recognition logins, and its voice commands. A redesigned model known as Xbox One S was released in August 2016, it has a design, native support for 4K video playback and upscaling. It was praised for its size, its on-screen visual improvements, and its lack of an external power supply. Xbox One is the successor to Xbox 360, Microsofts previous video game console, over the years, the 360 had received a number of small hardware revisions to reduce the units size and improve its reliability. Initial hardware for the 360s successor, commonly referred to by the industry as the Xbox 720, was reportedly under development as early as May 2011, the official developer kit was codenamed Durango, and appeared to be available to developers by mid-2012. The console was unveiled under the name Xbox One on May 21,2013 in a press conference designed to cover the units broad multimedia. A second press event for the console was held during E32013, at that time, Microsoft announced that the console would be released in 21 different markets on November 22,2013, but this was later amended down to 13. The change, which pushed the date for the other eight markets to 2014, was attributed to unforeseen complexity in localizing the devices voice recognition capabilities. Later, in September 2014, the Xbox One was released in 26 markets, including remaining markets in Europe, the Japanese market, from the first announcement to the actual launch of the product, Microsoft made some significant changes to the console. These policies were reversed in June 2013, at the time of the security breach, Microsoft was in the development stage for its next-generation gaming system. Between 2011 and 2013, the hackers spent hundreds of hours searching through Microsofts network copying log-in credentials, source code, technical specifications, Group members say they were driven by an immense curiosity about Microsofts then-unreleased Xbox One console and associated software. The original Xbox Ones exterior casing consists of a two-tone liquid black finish, with finished in a matte grey. The matte side of the top of the consists of a large air vent
2.
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
3.
Flextronics
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Flex Ltd. is an American multinational technological manufacturer. It is the second largest global electronics manufacturing services, original design manufacturer company by revenue, Flex is headquartered in Singapore and has manufacturing operations in over 40 countries, totaling approximately 200,000 employees. In 1969, the company was founded in Silicon Valley as Flextronics, in 1980, the company was sold to Bob Todd, Joe Sullivan and Jack Watts. In 1981, Flextronics became a publicly held company, in 1990, the company returned to being a private company in a leveraged buyout and was renamed as Flextronics International, Ltd. with Singapore as its new base. In 1993, the company received venture capital funding through Sequoia Capital, the company closed its contract electronic manufacturing plant in Richardson, Texas in 1996. The company acquired two companies in Hong Kong, Astron Group and FICO Plastics Ltd. and a Swedish-based company, in 2000, the company ranked third on 100 Best-Managed Companies by IndustryWeek. In 2005, the company purchased the division of Nortel Networks. In 2006 Flextronics took over a part of the production of Lego, on June 4,2007, Flextronics offered to purchase Solectron for US$3.6 billion and thus making Solectron a subsidiary of Flextronics. The acquisition of Solectron was completed by end of October 2007, on March 18,2009, Flextronics was invited to ring the NASDAQ stock market opening bell, signifying the day’s start of trading and celebrated 15-year NASDAQ-listed anniversary. Mike McNamara and a group of top executives represented the company at the ringing of the bell, on September 2,2009, Flextronics announced that Multek received Danaher Test and Measurements 2009 Outstanding Supplier Award. The award was based on quality, delivery performance, engineering support. In 2010, the signed an agreement with Lenovo to provide manufacturing for Europe. That same year, Flextronics also signed an agreement with Brammo to provide acquisition and manufacturing in North America, Asia, in 2012, Flextronics incubated Elementum, a start-up supply chain management company based in Mountain View, California. In 2014, Elementum was spun off from Flextronics as its own separate entity, in 2014, Flextronics was named as the manufacturer of the Fitbit Force by the U. S. Consumer Product Safety Commission in the context of a recall of the product due to rashes developing on the wrists of its users. In July 2015 the company announced that it change the company name from Flextronics to just Flex. In November 2015, Flex, acquired Wink smart home platform to bring the Intelligence of Things Home, the 17,000 square feet facility will employ 25 people and be located in a former military storehouse in the Seaport, now called the Innovation and Design Building. In 2013, Flextronics launched Lab IX, a program based out of Milpitas
4.
Xbox
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Xbox is a video gaming brand created and owned by Microsoft. It represents a series of game consoles developed by Microsoft. The brand also represents applications, streaming services, and a service by the name of Xbox Live. The brand was first introduced on November 15,2001 in the United States and that original device was the first video game console offered by an American company after the Atari Jaguar stopped sales in 1996. It reached over 24 million units sold as of May 10,2006, Microsofts second console, the Xbox 360, was released in 2005 and has sold over 77.2 million consoles worldwide as of April 18,2013. The successor to the Xbox 360 and Microsofts most recent console, the Xbox One has been released in 21 markets in total, with a Chinese release on September 29,2014. The head of Xbox is Phil Spencer, who succeeded former head Marc Whitten in late March 2014. The original Xbox was released on November 15,2001, in North America, February 22,2002, in Japan and it was Microsofts first foray into the gaming console market. As part of the sixth-generation of gaming, the Xbox competed with Sonys PlayStation 2, Segas Dreamcast, the Xbox was the first console offered by an American company after the Atari Jaguar stopped sales in 1996. The name Xbox was derived from a contraction of DirectX Box, the integrated Xbox Live service launched in November 2002 allowed players to play games online with or without a broadband connection. It first competed with Dreamcasts online service but later competed with PlayStation 2s online service. The Xbox 360 was released as the successor of the original Xbox in November 2005, competing with Sonys PlayStation 3, as of June 30,2013,78.2 million Xbox 360 consoles have been sold worldwide. The Xbox 360 was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12,2005, with detailed launch, the console sold out completely upon release in all regions except in Japan. Microsoft also released Kinect, a control system for the Xbox 360 which uses an advanced sensor system. At their E3 presentation on June 14,2010, Microsoft announced a redesigned Xbox 360 that would ship on the same day, older models of the Xbox 360 have since been discontinued. The first new console to be released features a 250 GB hard drive, the Xbox One was released on November 22,2013 in North America, as the successor of the Xbox 360. The Xbox One competes with Sonys PlayStation 4 and Nintendos Wii U as part of the generation of video game consoles. After an overwhelmingly negative response from critics and consumers, Microsoft announced that these restrictions would be dropped, as a gesture toward showing a commitment to user privacy, Microsoft decided to allow the console to function without Kinect
5.
Home video game console
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A home video game console or simply home console is a video game device that is primarily used for home gamers, as opposed to in arcades or some other commercial establishment. Below is a timeline of each generation with the top three home video consoles of each based on worldwide sales. For a complete list of video consoles released in each generation please see the respective article of each generation. Legend – Unit with the highest sales of its generation, – Unit with the second highest sales of its generation. – Unit with the third highest sales of its generation, – Manufacturer released a home video console during this generation but did not sell the most units. – – Manufacturer didnt release a video game console during this generation. † – Indicates the current generation consoles on the market, although the first video games appeared in the 1950s, they were played on massive computers connected to vector displays, not analog televisions. Ralph H. Baer conceived the idea of a video game in 1951. In the late 1960s while working for Sanders Associates he created a series of game console designs. In 1972 Magnavox released the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home game console which could be connected to a TV set. Magnavox replaced the switch design with separate cartridges for each game, by autumn 1975, Magnavox, bowing to the popularity of Pong, cancelled the Odyssey and released a scaled-down version that played only Pong and hockey, the Odyssey 100. A second, higher end console, the Odyssey 200, was released with the 100 and added on-screen scoring, up to four players, almost simultaneously released with Ataris own home Pong console through Sears, these consoles jump-started the consumer market. All three of the new consoles used simpler designs than the original Odyssey with no board game pieces or extra cartridges, in the years that followed, the market saw many companies rushing similar consoles to market. Most of the consoles from this era were dedicated consoles playing the games that came with the console. These video game consoles were often just called video games, because there was reason to distinguish the two yet. While a few companies like Atari, Magnavox, and newcomer Coleco pushed the envelope, Fairchild released the Fairchild Video Entertainment System in 1976. The VES, however, contained a programmable microprocessor so its cartridges only needed a single ROM chip to store microprocessor instructions, RCA and Atari soon released their own cartridge-based consoles, the RCA Studio II and the Atari 2600, respectively. Both Bally and Magnavox also brought their own programmable cartridge-based consoles to the market, however, it was not until Atari released a conversion of the golden age arcade hit Space Invaders in 1980 for the Atari 2600 that the home console industry took off
6.
Sixth generation of video game consoles
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Platforms of the sixth generation include the Sega Dreamcast, Sony PlayStation 2, Nintendo GameCube, and Microsoft Xbox. This era began on November 27,1998 with the Japanese release of the Dreamcast, and it was joined by the PlayStation 2 in March 2000, the Dreamcast was discontinued in 2001, the GameCube in 2007, Xbox in 2009 and PlayStation 2 in 2013. Bit ratings for consoles largely fell by the wayside during this era, with the exceptions being the Dreamcast. The number of bits cited in console names referred to the CPU word size and had used by hardware marketers as a show of power for many years. The last official Dreamcast games were released in 2002 and 2007, the last GameCube games were released in 2006 and 2007. The last Xbox games were released in 2007 and 2008, Pro Evolution Soccer 2014 was the last game released for PlayStation 2. Due to the lifespan of the PlayStation 2, which was available for 13 years. The Sony PlayStation 2 achieved sales dominance in this generation, becoming the best-selling console in history, the Microsoft Xbox had sold over 24 million units as of May 2006, and the Nintendo GameCube had sold 22 million units as of September 2010. The Sega Dreamcast, which arrived prior to all of the others and was discontinued in 2001, the sixth generation began to end when the Xbox was succeeded by the Xbox 360 in late 2005. GameCube hardware was still being produced when the Wii was released in late 2006, PlayStation 2 sales continued to be strong into November 2010, due to the systems large software library, continuing software support, and affordable price. In February 2008, the PlayStation 2 outsold both the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 in the United States, Games were still being produced for the PlayStation 2, Xbox, and Nintendo GameCube as of 2008, while Dreamcast games were officially discontinued in 2003. There were still a few games being produced for the Dreamcast in 2004, the PlayStation 2 was still being produced after the launch of Xbox 360, Wii and PlayStation 3, making the sixth generation the second longest generation of all time. Although consoles had these features before, the Dreamcast brought them to millions of homes and it was also the first home console to always display full SD resolution. The console helped to restore Segas reputation, which had been damaged by the failures of the Sega Saturn, Sega 32X. Despite this, the Dreamcast was discontinued due to numerous factors. Segas decision to implement a GD-ROM for storage medium did save costs, Sega was either unable or unwilling to spend the advertising money necessary to compete with Sony, which themselves took massive losses on the PlayStation 2 to gain market-share. With the announcements of the Xbox and GameCube in late 2000, Sega also announced it would shut down SegaNet, an online gaming community that supported online-capable Dreamcast titles. Due to user outcry over the decision, Sega delayed the closure by an additional 6 months
7.
North America
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North America is a continent entirely within the Northern Hemisphere and almost all within the Western Hemisphere. It can also be considered a subcontinent of the Americas. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the west and south by the Pacific Ocean, and to the southeast by South America and the Caribbean Sea. North America covers an area of about 24,709,000 square kilometers, about 16. 5% of the land area. North America is the third largest continent by area, following Asia and Africa, and the fourth by population after Asia, Africa, and Europe. In 2013, its population was estimated at nearly 565 million people in 23 independent states, or about 7. 5% of the worlds population, North America was reached by its first human populations during the last glacial period, via crossing the Bering land bridge. The so-called Paleo-Indian period is taken to have lasted until about 10,000 years ago, the Classic stage spans roughly the 6th to 13th centuries. The Pre-Columbian era ended with the migrations and the arrival of European settlers during the Age of Discovery. Present-day cultural and ethnic patterns reflect different kind of interactions between European colonists, indigenous peoples, African slaves and their descendants, European influences are strongest in the northern parts of the continent while indigenous and African influences are relatively stronger in the south. Because of the history of colonialism, most North Americans speak English, Spanish or French, the Americas are usually accepted as having been named after the Italian explorer Amerigo Vespucci by the German cartographers Martin Waldseemüller and Matthias Ringmann. Vespucci, who explored South America between 1497 and 1502, was the first European to suggest that the Americas were not the East Indies, but a different landmass previously unknown by Europeans. In 1507, Waldseemüller produced a map, in which he placed the word America on the continent of South America. He explained the rationale for the name in the accompanying book Cosmographiae Introductio, for Waldseemüller, no one should object to the naming of the land after its discoverer. He used the Latinized version of Vespuccis name, but in its feminine form America, following the examples of Europa, Asia and Africa. Later, other mapmakers extended the name America to the continent, In 1538. Some argue that the convention is to use the surname for naming discoveries except in the case of royalty, a minutely explored belief that has been advanced is that America was named for a Spanish sailor bearing the ancient Visigothic name of Amairick. Another is that the name is rooted in a Native American language, the term North America maintains various definitions in accordance with location and context. In Canadian English, North America may be used to refer to the United States, alternatively, usage sometimes includes Greenland and Mexico, as well as offshore islands
8.
Japan
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Japan is a sovereign island nation in Eastern Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies off the eastern coast of the Asia Mainland and stretches from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea, the kanji that make up Japans name mean sun origin. 日 can be read as ni and means sun while 本 can be read as hon, or pon, Japan is often referred to by the famous epithet Land of the Rising Sun in reference to its Japanese name. Japan is an archipelago consisting of about 6,852 islands. The four largest are Honshu, Hokkaido, Kyushu and Shikoku, the country is divided into 47 prefectures in eight regions. Hokkaido being the northernmost prefecture and Okinawa being the southernmost one, the population of 127 million is the worlds tenth largest. Japanese people make up 98. 5% of Japans total population, approximately 9.1 million people live in the city of Tokyo, the capital of Japan. Archaeological research indicates that Japan was inhabited as early as the Upper Paleolithic period, the first written mention of Japan is in Chinese history texts from the 1st century AD. Influence from other regions, mainly China, followed by periods of isolation, from the 12th century until 1868, Japan was ruled by successive feudal military shoguns who ruled in the name of the Emperor. Japan entered into a period of isolation in the early 17th century. The Second Sino-Japanese War of 1937 expanded into part of World War II in 1941, which came to an end in 1945 following the bombings of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Japan is a member of the UN, the OECD, the G7, the G8, the country has the worlds third-largest economy by nominal GDP and the worlds fourth-largest economy by purchasing power parity. It is also the worlds fourth-largest exporter and fourth-largest importer, although Japan has officially renounced its right to declare war, it maintains a modern military with the worlds eighth-largest military budget, used for self-defense and peacekeeping roles. Japan is a country with a very high standard of living. Its population enjoys the highest life expectancy and the third lowest infant mortality rate in the world, in ancient China, Japan was called Wo 倭. It was mentioned in the third century Chinese historical text Records of the Three Kingdoms in the section for the Wei kingdom, Wa became disliked because it has the connotation of the character 矮, meaning dwarf. The 倭 kanji has been replaced with the homophone Wa, meaning harmony, the Japanese word for Japan is 日本, which is pronounced Nippon or Nihon and literally means the origin of the sun. The earliest record of the name Nihon appears in the Chinese historical records of the Tang dynasty, at the start of the seventh century, a delegation from Japan introduced their country as Nihon
9.
Australasia
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Australasia, a region of Oceania, comprises Australia, New Zealand, the island of New Guinea, and neighbouring islands in the Pacific Ocean. Charles de Brosses coined the term in Histoire des navigations aux terres australes and he derived it from the Latin for south of Asia and differentiated the area from Polynesia and the southeast Pacific. The bulk of Australasia sits on the Indo-Australian Plate, together with India, physiographically, Australasia includes New Zealand, Australia, and Melanesia, New Guinea and neighbouring islands north and east of Australia in the Pacific Ocean. The designation is applied to all the lands and islands of the Pacific Ocean lying between the equator and latitude 47° south. Most of Australasia lies on the portion of the Indo-Australian Plate, flanked by the Indian Ocean to the west. Sometimes the term encompasses the island of New Guinea. Many organisations whose names include the prefix Australasian Society of, limit their scope of operation to just Australia and New Zealand. In the past, Australasia has been used as a name for combined Australia/New Zealand sporting teams, examples include tennis between 1905 and 1915, when New Zealand and Australia combined to compete in the Davis Cup international tournament, and at the Olympic Games of 1908 and 1912. From an ecological perspective the Australasia ecozone forms a region with a common geologic and evolutionary history. In this context, Australasia is limited to Australia, New Guinea, New Zealand, New Caledonia, the Wallace Line marks the biological divide from the Indomalaya ecozone of tropical Asia – Borneo and Bali lie on the western, Asian side. These three land masses have been separated from other continents, and from one another, for millions of years, all of Australasia shares the Antarctic flora, although the northern, tropical islands also share many plants with Southeast Asia. Mainland Australia, New Guinea and Tasmania are separated from one another by shallow continental shelves and they share a similar fauna which includes marsupial and monotreme mammals and ratite birds. Eucalypts are the predominant trees in much of Australia and New Guinea, New Zealand has no extant native land mammals aside from bats, but also had ratite birds, including the kiwi and the extinct moa. Media related to Australasia at Wikimedia Commons
10.
Europe
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Europe is a continent that comprises the westernmost part of Eurasia. Europe is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, yet the non-oceanic borders of Europe—a concept dating back to classical antiquity—are arbitrary. Europe covers about 10,180,000 square kilometres, or 2% of the Earths surface, politically, Europe is divided into about fifty sovereign states of which the Russian Federation is the largest and most populous, spanning 39% of the continent and comprising 15% of its population. Europe had a population of about 740 million as of 2015. Further from the sea, seasonal differences are more noticeable than close to the coast, Europe, in particular ancient Greece, was the birthplace of Western civilization. The fall of the Western Roman Empire, during the period, marked the end of ancient history. Renaissance humanism, exploration, art, and science led to the modern era, from the Age of Discovery onwards, Europe played a predominant role in global affairs. Between the 16th and 20th centuries, European powers controlled at times the Americas, most of Africa, Oceania. The Industrial Revolution, which began in Great Britain at the end of the 18th century, gave rise to economic, cultural, and social change in Western Europe. During the Cold War, Europe was divided along the Iron Curtain between NATO in the west and the Warsaw Pact in the east, until the revolutions of 1989 and fall of the Berlin Wall. In 1955, the Council of Europe was formed following a speech by Sir Winston Churchill and it includes all states except for Belarus, Kazakhstan and Vatican City. Further European integration by some states led to the formation of the European Union, the EU originated in Western Europe but has been expanding eastward since the fall of the Soviet Union in 1991. The European Anthem is Ode to Joy and states celebrate peace, in classical Greek mythology, Europa is the name of either a Phoenician princess or of a queen of Crete. The name contains the elements εὐρύς, wide, broad and ὤψ eye, broad has been an epithet of Earth herself in the reconstructed Proto-Indo-European religion and the poetry devoted to it. For the second part also the divine attributes of grey-eyed Athena or ox-eyed Hera. The same naming motive according to cartographic convention appears in Greek Ανατολή, Martin Litchfield West stated that phonologically, the match between Europas name and any form of the Semitic word is very poor. Next to these there is also a Proto-Indo-European root *h1regʷos, meaning darkness. Most major world languages use words derived from Eurṓpē or Europa to refer to the continent, in some Turkic languages the originally Persian name Frangistan is used casually in referring to much of Europe, besides official names such as Avrupa or Evropa
11.
DVD
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DVD is a digital optical disc storage format invented and developed by Philips, Sony, Toshiba, and Panasonic in 1995. The medium can store any kind of data and is widely used for software. DVDs offer higher capacity than compact discs while having the same dimensions. Pre-recorded DVDs are mass-produced using molding machines that physically stamp data onto the DVD, such discs are a form of DVD-ROM because data can only be read and not written or erased. Blank recordable DVD discs can be recorded using a DVD recorder. Rewritable DVDs can be recorded and erased many times, DVDs containing other types of information may be referred to as DVD data discs. The OED also states that in 1995, The companies said the name of the format will simply be DVD. Toshiba had been using the name ‘digital video disk’, but that was switched to ‘digital versatile disk’ after computer companies complained that it left out their applications, Digital versatile disc is the explanation provided in a DVD Forum Primer from 2000 and in the DVD Forums mission statement. There were several formats developed for recording video on optical discs before the DVD, Optical recording technology was invented by David Paul Gregg and James Russell in 1958 and first patented in 1961. A consumer optical disc data format known as LaserDisc was developed in the United States and it used much larger discs than the later formats. CD Video used analog video encoding on optical discs matching the established standard 120 mm size of audio CDs, Video CD became one of the first formats for distributing digitally encoded films in this format, in 1993. In the same year, two new optical disc formats were being developed. By the time of the launches for both formats in January 1995, the MMCD nomenclature had been dropped, and Philips and Sony were referring to their format as Digital Video Disc. Representatives from the SD camp asked IBM for advice on the system to use for their disc. Alan E. Bell, a researcher from IBMs Almaden Research Center, got that request and this group was referred to as the Technical Working Group, or TWG. On August 14,1995, an ad hoc group formed from five computer companies issued a release stating that they would only accept a single format. The TWG voted to both formats unless the two camps agreed on a single, converged standard. They recruited Lou Gerstner, president of IBM, to pressure the executives of the warring factions, as a result, the DVD specification provided a storage capacity of 4.7 GB for a single-layered, single-sided disc and 8.5 GB for a dual-layered, single-sided disc
12.
Compact disc
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Compact disc is a digital optical disc data storage format released in 1982 and co-developed by Philips and Sony. The format was developed to store and play only sound recordings but was later adapted for storage of data. The first commercially available Audio CD player, the Sony CDP-101, was released October 1982 in Japan, standard CDs have a diameter of 120 millimetres and can hold up to about 80 minutes of uncompressed audio or about 700 MiB of data. The Mini CD has various diameters ranging from 60 to 80 millimetres, they are used for CD singles, storing up to 24 minutes of audio. At the time of the introduction in 1982, a CD could store much more data than a personal computer hard drive. By 2010, hard drives commonly offered as much space as a thousand CDs. In 2004, worldwide sales of audio CDs, CD-ROMs and CD-Rs reached about 30 billion discs, by 2007,200 billion CDs had been sold worldwide. In 2014, revenues from digital music services matched those from physical format sales for the first time. American inventor James T. Russell has been credited with inventing the first system to record information on an optical transparent foil that is lit from behind by a high-power halogen lamp. Russells patent application was first filed in 1966, and he was granted a patent in 1970, following litigation, Sony and Philips licensed Russells patents in the 1980s. The compact disc is an evolution of LaserDisc technology, where a laser beam is used that enables the high information density required for high-quality digital audio signals. Prototypes were developed by Philips and Sony independently in the late 1970s, although originally dismissed by Philips Research management as a trivial pursuit, the CD became the primary focus for Philips as the LaserDisc format struggled. In 1979, Sony and Philips set up a joint task force of engineers to design a new audio disc. After a year of experimentation and discussion, the Red Book CD-DA standard was published in 1980, after their commercial release in 1982, compact discs and their players were extremely popular. Despite costing up to $1,000, over 400,000 CD players were sold in the United States between 1983 and 1984, by 1988 CD sales in the United States surpassed those of vinyl LPs, and by 1992 CD sales surpassed those of prerecorded music cassette tapes. The success of the disc has been credited to the cooperation between Philips and Sony, who came together to agree upon and develop compatible hardware. The unified design of the disc allowed consumers to purchase any disc or player from any company. In 1974, L. However, due to the performance of the analog format
13.
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
14.
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
15.
Pentium III
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The Pentium III brand refers to Intels 32-bit x86 desktop and mobile microprocessors based on the sixth-generation P6 microarchitecture introduced on February 26,1999. The brands initial processors were very similar to the earlier Pentium II-branded microprocessors, the most notable differences were the addition of the SSE instruction set, and the introduction of a controversial serial number embedded in the chip during the manufacturing process. Similarly to the Pentium II it superseded, the Pentium III was also accompanied by the Celeron brand for lower-end versions, and the Xeon for high-end derivatives. The Pentium III was eventually superseded by the Pentium 4, but its Tualatin core also served as the basis for the Pentium M CPUs, the first Pentium III variant was the Katmai. It was a development of the Deschutes Pentium II. The Pentium III saw an increase of 2 million transistors over the Pentium II and it was first released at speeds of 450 and 500 MHz in February 1999. Two more versions were released,550 MHz on May 17,1999 and 600 MHz on August 2,1999, on September 27,1999 Intel released the 533B and 600B running at 533 &600 MHz respectively. The B suffix indicated that it featured a 133 MHz FSB, the Katmai contains 9.5 million transistors, not including the 512 Kbytes L2 cache, and has dimensions of 12.3 mm by 10.4 mm. It is fabricated in Intels P856.5 process, a 0.25 micrometre CMOS process with five levels of aluminum interconnect, the Katmai used the same slot-based design as the Pentium II but with the newer SECC2 cartridge that allowed direct CPU core contact with the heat sink. There have been some early models of the Pentium III with 450 and 500 MHz packaged in an older SECC cartridge intended for OEMs, a notable stepping for enthusiasts was SL35D. This version of Katmai was officially rated for 450 MHz, but often contained cache chips for the 600 MHz model and thus usually was capable of running at 600 MHz. The second version, codenamed Coppermine, was released on October 25,1999, running at 500,533,550,600,650,667,700, and 733 MHz. From December 1999 to May 2000, Intel released Pentium IIIs running at speeds of 750,800,850,866,900,933 and 1000 MHz, both 100 MHz FSB and 133 MHz FSB models were made. An E was appended to the name to indicate cores using the new 0.18 μm fabrication process. An additional B was later appended to designate 133 MHz FSB models, however, AMD were able to clock the Athlon higher, reaching speeds of 1.2 GHz before the launch of the Pentium 4. The Coppermine core was unable to reach the 1.13 GHz speed without various tweaks to the processors microcode, effective cooling, additional voltage. Intel only officially supported the processor on its own VC820 i820-based motherboard, in benchmarks that were stable, performance was shown to be sub-par, with the 1.13 GHz CPU equalling a 1.0 GHz model. Toms Hardware attributed this performance deficit to relaxed tuning of the CPU, Intel needed at least six months to resolve the problems using a new cD0 stepping and re-released 1.1 GHz and 1.13 GHz versions in 2001
16.
DDR SDRAM
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Double data rate synchronous dynamic random-access memory is a class of memory integrated circuits used in computers. DDR SDRAM, also called DDR1 SDRAM, has been superseded by DDR2 SDRAM, DDR3 SDRAM, none of its successors are forward or backward compatible with DDR1 SDRAM, meaning DDR2, DDR3, and DDR4 memory modules will not work in DDR1-equipped motherboards, and vice versa. Compared to single data rate SDRAM, the DDR SDRAM interface makes higher transfer rates possible by more strict control of the timing of the electrical data, implementations often have to use schemes such as phase-locked loops and self-calibration to reach the required timing accuracy. The interface uses double pumping to double data bus bandwidth without an increase in clock frequency. One advantage of keeping the clock frequency down is that it reduces the signal integrity requirements on the circuit connecting the memory to the controller. With data being transferred 64 bits at a time, DDR SDRAM gives a rate of ×2 ×64 /8. Thus, with a bus frequency of 100 MHz, DDR SDRAM gives a transfer rate of 1600 MB/s. Beginning in 1996 and concluding in June 2000, JEDEC developed the DDR SDRAM specification, JEDEC has set standards for data rates of DDR SDRAM, divided into two parts. The first specification is for memory chips, and the second is for memory modules, note, All above listed are specified by JEDEC as JESD79F. All RAM data rates in-between or above these listed specifications are not standardized by JEDEC—often they are simply manufacturer optimizations using tighter-tolerance or overvolted chips, the package sizes in which DDR SDRAM is manufactured are also standardized by JEDEC. There is no difference between DDR SDRAM designed for different clock frequencies, for example, PC-1600, designed to run at 100 MHz. DDR SDRAM modules for desktop computers, commonly called DIMMs, have 184 pins, DDR SDRAM for notebook computers, SO-DIMMs, have 200 pins, which is the same number of pins as DDR2 SO-DIMMs. These two specifications are notched very similarly and care must be taken during insertion if unsure of a correct match, most DDR SDRAM operates at a voltage of 2.5 V, compared to 3.3 V for SDRAM. This can significantly reduce power consumption, chips and modules with DDR-400/PC-3200 standard have a nominal voltage of 2.6 V. JEDEC Standard No. 21–C defines three possible operating voltages for 184 pin DDR, as identified by the key notch position relative to its centreline. Page 4.5. 10-7 defines 2. 5V,1. 8V, TBD, the orientation of the module for determining the key notch position is with 52 contact positions to the left and 40 contact positions to the right. Increasing operating voltage slightly can increase speed, at the cost of higher power dissipation and heating. Many new chipsets use these types in multi-channel configurations
17.
Hard disk drive
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The platters are paired with magnetic heads, usually arranged on a moving actuator arm, which read and write data to the platter surfaces. Data is accessed in a manner, meaning that individual blocks of data can be stored or retrieved in any order. HDDs are a type of storage, retaining stored data even when powered off. Introduced by IBM in 1956, HDDs became the dominant secondary storage device for computers by the early 1960s. Continuously improved, HDDs have maintained this position into the era of servers. More than 200 companies have produced HDDs historically, though after extensive industry consolidation most current units are manufactured by Seagate, Toshiba, as of 2016, HDD production is growing, although unit shipments and sales revenues are declining. While SSDs have higher cost per bit, SSDs are replacing HDDs where speed, power consumption, small size, the primary characteristics of an HDD are its capacity and performance. Capacity is specified in unit prefixes corresponding to powers of 1000, the two most common form factors for modern HDDs are 3. 5-inch, for desktop computers, and 2. 5-inch, primarily for laptops. HDDs are connected to systems by standard interface cables such as PATA, SATA, Hard disk drives were introduced in 1956, as data storage for an IBM real-time transaction processing computer and were developed for use with general-purpose mainframe and minicomputers. The first IBM drive, the 350 RAMAC in 1956, was approximately the size of two medium-sized refrigerators and stored five million six-bit characters on a stack of 50 disks. In 1962 the IBM350 RAMAC disk storage unit was superseded by the IBM1301 disk storage unit, cylinder-mode read/write operations were supported, and the heads flew about 250 micro-inches above the platter surface. Motion of the head array depended upon a binary system of hydraulic actuators which assured repeatable positioning. The 1301 cabinet was about the size of three home refrigerators placed side by side, storing the equivalent of about 21 million eight-bit bytes, access time was about a quarter of a second. Also in 1962, IBM introduced the model 1311 disk drive, users could buy additional packs and interchange them as needed, much like reels of magnetic tape. Later models of removable pack drives, from IBM and others, became the norm in most computer installations, non-removable HDDs were called fixed disk drives. Some high-performance HDDs were manufactured with one head per track so that no time was lost physically moving the heads to a track, known as fixed-head or head-per-track disk drives they were very expensive and are no longer in production. In 1973, IBM introduced a new type of HDD code-named Winchester and its primary distinguishing feature was that the disk heads were not withdrawn completely from the stack of disk platters when the drive was powered down. Instead, the heads were allowed to land on an area of the disk surface upon spin-down
18.
Memory card
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A memory card, flash card or memory cartridge is an electronic flash memory data storage device used for storing digital information. PC Cards were the first commercial memory card formats to come out, since 1994, a number of memory card formats smaller than the PC Card arrived, the first one was CompactFlash later SmartMedia and Miniature Card. The desire for smaller cards for cell-phones, PDAs, and compact digital cameras drove a trend that left the previous generation of compact cards looking big, in digital cameras SmartMedia and CompactFlash had been very successful. In 2001, SM alone captured 50% of the camera market. By 2005 however, SD/MMC had nearly taken over SmartMedias spot, though not to the level and with stiff competition coming from Memory Stick variants. In industrial and embedded fields, even the venerable PC card memory cards still manage to maintain a niche, while in mobile phones and PDAs, since 2010, new products of Sony and Olympus have been offered with an additional SD-Card slot. Effectively the format war has turned in SD-Cards favor, PCMCIA ATA Type I Card PCMCIA Type II, Type III cards CompactFlash Card, CompactFlash High-Speed CompactFlash Type II, CF+, CF3. MU-Flash C-Flash SIM card Smart card UFC FISH Universal Transportable Memory Card Standard Intelligent Stick SxS memory card, SxS complies to the ExpressCard industry standard. Nexflash Winbond Serial Flash Module cards, size range 1 mb,2 mb and 4 mb, many older video game consoles used memory cards to hold saved game data. Cartridge-based systems primarily used battery-backed volatile RAM within each individual cartridge to hold saves for that game, cartridges without this RAM may have used a password system, or wouldnt save progress at all. The Neo Geo AES, released in 1990 by SNK, was the first video game console able to use a memory card, AES memory cards were also compatible with Neo-Geo MVS arcade cabinets, allowing players to migrate saves between home and arcade systems and vice versa. Memory cards became commonplace when home consoles moved to read-only optical discs for storing the game program, until the sixth generation of video game consoles, memory cards were based on proprietary formats, later systems have used established industry hardware formats for memory cards, such as FAT32. Comparison of memory cards Hot swapping
19.
Xbox (console)
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The Xbox is a home video game console and the first installment in the Xbox series of consoles manufactured by Microsoft. It was released on November 15,2001, in North America, followed by Australia, Europe and it was Microsofts first foray into the gaming console market. The sixth-generation console competed with Sonys PlayStation 2 and the Nintendo GameCube and it was also the first console produced by an American company since the Atari Jaguar ceased production in 1996. Announced in 2000, The Xbox, graphically powerful compared to its rivals and it was also noted for its PC-like size and weight, and was the first console to feature a built-in hard disk. In November 2002, Microsoft launched Xbox Live, an online gaming service that enabled subscribers to download new content. Unlike other online services from Sega and Sony, Xbox Live had support in the console design through an integrated Ethernet port. The service gave Microsoft an early foothold in online gaming and would help the Xbox become a relevant competitor to other sixth-generation consoles, the popularity of blockbuster titles such as Halo 2 contributed to the popularity of online console gaming, and in particular first-person shooters. Despite this and being in position, ahead of Nintendos GameCube. Xboxs successor, the Xbox 360, was launched in November 2005, the Xbox was soon discontinued beginning with Microsofts worst-performing market, Japan, in 2005. Other countries would follow suit in 2006, the last Xbox game in Europe was Xiaolin Showdown released in June 2007, and the last game in North America was Madden NFL09 released in August 2008. Support for out-of-warranty Xbox consoles was discontinued on March 2,2009, support for Xbox Live on the console ended on April 15,2010. The team hoped to create a console to compete with Sonys upcoming PlayStation 2, the team approached Ed Fries, the leader of Microsofts game publishing business at the time, and pitched their DirectX Box console based on the DirectX graphics technology developed by Berkes team. Fries decided to support the idea of creating a Windows DirectX based console. During development, the original DirectXbox name was shortened to Xbox, Microsofts marketing department did not like the Xbox name, and suggested many alternatives. During focus testing, the Xbox name was left on the list of names to demonstrate how unpopular the Xbox name would be with consumers. However, consumer testing revealed that Xbox was preferred by far over the suggested names. It was Microsofts first video game console after collaborating with Sega to port Windows CE to the Dreamcast console, Microsoft repeatedly delayed the console, which was first mentioned publicly in late 1999 during interviews with Microsofts then-CEO Bill Gates. Gates stated that “we want Xbox to be the platform of choice for the best and most creative game developers in the world. ”The Xbox was officially announced at the Game Developers Conference on March 10,2000, audiences were impressed by the consoles technology
20.
USB
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It is currently developed by the USB Implementers Forum. USB was designed to standardize the connection of peripherals to personal computers. It has become commonplace on other devices, such as smartphones, PDAs, USB has effectively replaced a variety of earlier interfaces, such as serial ports and parallel ports, as well as separate power chargers for portable devices. Also, there are 5 modes of USB data transfer, in order of increasing bandwidth, Low Speed, Full Speed, High Speed, SuperSpeed, USB devices have some choice of implemented modes, and USB version is not a reliable statement of implemented modes. Modes are identified by their names and icons, and the specifications suggests that plugs, unlike other data buses, USB connections are directed, with both upstream and downstream ports emanating from a single host. This applies to power, with only downstream facing ports providing power. Thus, USB cables have different ends, A and B, therefore, in general, each different format requires four different connectors, a plug and receptacle for each of the A and B ends. USB cables have the plugs, and the corresponding receptacles are on the computers or electronic devices, in common practice, the A end is usually the standard format, and the B side varies over standard, mini, and micro. The mini and micro formats also provide for USB On-The-Go with a hermaphroditic AB receptacle, the micro format is the most durable from the point of view of designed insertion lifetime. The standard and mini connectors have a lifetime of 1,500 insertion-removal cycles. Likewise, the component of the retention mechanism, parts that provide required gripping force, were also moved into plugs on the cable side. A group of seven companies began the development of USB in 1994, Compaq, DEC, IBM, Intel, Microsoft, NEC, a team including Ajay Bhatt worked on the standard at Intel, the first integrated circuits supporting USB were produced by Intel in 1995. The original USB1.0 specification, which was introduced in January 1996, Microsoft Windows 95, OSR2.1 provided OEM support for the devices. The first widely used version of USB was 1.1, the 12 Mbit/s data rate was intended for higher-speed devices such as disk drives, and the lower 1.5 Mbit/s rate for low data rate devices such as joysticks. Apple Inc. s iMac was the first mainstream product with USB, following Apples design decision to remove all legacy ports from the iMac, many PC manufacturers began building legacy-free PCs, which led to the broader PC market using USB as a standard. The USB2.0 specification was released in April 2000 and was ratified by the USB Implementers Forum at the end of 2001.1 specification, the USB3.0 specification was published on 12 November 2008. Its main goals were to increase the transfer rate, decrease power consumption, increase power output. USB3.0 includes a new, higher speed bus called SuperSpeed in parallel with the USB2.0 bus, for this reason, the new version is also called SuperSpeed
21.
Fast Ethernet
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In computer networking, Fast Ethernet is a collective term for a number of Ethernet standards that carry traffic at the nominal rate of 100 Mbit/s. Of the Fast Ethernet standards, 100BASE-TX is by far the most common, Fast Ethernet was introduced in 1995 as the IEEE802. 3u standard and remained the fastest version of Ethernet for three years before the introduction of Gigabit Ethernet. The acronym GE/FE is sometimes used for supporting both standards. Fast Ethernet is an extension of the 10-megabit Ethernet standard and it runs on UTP data or optical fiber cable in a star wired bus topology, similar to 10BASE-T where all cables are attached to a hub. Fast Ethernet devices are backward compatible with existing 10BASE-T systems. Fast Ethernet is sometimes referred to as 100BASE-X, where X is a placeholder for the FX, the standard specifies the use of CSMA/CD for media access control. A full-duplex mode is also specified and in all modern networks use Ethernet switches. The 100 in the type designation refers to the transmission speed of 100 Mbit/s. The letter following the dash refers to the medium that carries the signal. A Fast Ethernet adapter can be divided into a media access controller, which deals with the higher-level issues of medium availability. The MAC may be linked to the PHY by a four-bit 25 MHz synchronous parallel interface known as a media-independent interface, in rare cases the MII may be an external connection but is usually a connection between ICs in a network adapter or even within a single IC. The specs are based on the assumption that the interface between MAC and PHY will be a MII but they do not require it. Repeaters may use the MII to connect to multiple PHYs for their different interfaces, the MII fixes the theoretical maximum data bit rate for all versions of Fast Ethernet to 100 Mbit/s. 100BASE-T is any of several Fast Ethernet standards for twisted pair cables, including, 100BASE-TX, 100BASE-T4, the segment length for a 100BASE-T cable is limited to 100 metres. All are or were standards under IEEE802.3, almost all 100BASE-T installations are 100BASE-TX. In the early days of Fast Ethernet, much vendor advertising centered on claims by competing standards that said vendors standards will work better with existing cables than other standards. Thus most networks had to be rewired for 100 Megabit speed whether or not there had supposedly been CAT3 or CAT5 cable runs, 100BASE-TX is the predominant form of Fast Ethernet, and runs over two wire-pairs inside a category 5 or above cable. Like 10BASE-T, the pairs in a standard connection are terminated on pins 1,2,3 and 6
22.
Xbox Live
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Xbox Live is an online multiplayer gaming and digital media delivery service created and operated by Microsoft. It was first made available to the Xbox system in November 2002, an updated version of the service became available for the Xbox 360 console at the systems launch in November 2005, and a further enhanced version was released in 2013 with the Xbox One. The service was extended in 2007 on the Windows platform, named Games for Windows – Live, Microsoft has announced plans to extend Live to other platforms such as handhelds and mobile phones as part of the Live Anywhere initiative. With Microsofts mobile operating system, Windows Phone, full Xbox Live functionality is integrated into new Windows Phones that launched since late 2010. The service shut down for the original Xbox on April 15,2010, as Microsoft developed the original Xbox console, online gaming was designated as one of the key pillars for the greater Xbox strategy. Downloadable content was available, though limited in size due to the narrowband connection, Microsoft, however, hoped that the Xbox would succeed where the Dreamcast had failed. Steve Ballmer and Bill Gates both had a vision of making premium download content and add-ons that would attract new customers. Critics scoffed at it, citing poor broadband adoption at the turn of the century, when the Xbox launched on November 15,2001, the as-yet unnamed online service was destined for a Summer 2002 deployment. Xbox Live was finally given a name at E32002 when the service was unveiled in its entirety, sound-dampened booths and broadband-connected Xbox consoles—featuring an early version of Unreal Championship—demonstrated the service on the show floor. The Epic title was one of the titles for the service. Microsoft announced that 50 Xbox Live titles would be available by the end of 2003, leading up to the launch, Microsoft enlisted several waves of beta testers to improve the service and receive feature feedback. The first wave of beta testers were given Revolt. and NFL Fever to beta test, once beta testing concluded, Microsoft sent these beta testers a translucent orange memory card, a headset carrying case, and a beta tester tshirt with the slogan I have great hands. Microsofts 5000th patent was Live-related and gave Xbox 360 users access to other gamers compete against each other over Xbox Live. The packaging for playable Xbox Live titles on the original Xbox console featured the trademark gold bar underneath the Xbox header, tom Clancys Splinter Cell and Brute Force sported a Live bubble design, as they only featured downloadable content. It was changed later, wherein all Xbox Live titles included the universal gold Live bar, by the time of the Xbox 360, all titles were required to provide at least a limited form of Xbox Live awareness. In July 2004, Xbox Live had reached 1 million online users, in July 2005, Xbox Live had reached 2 million online users. Increased demand from Xbox 360 purchasers was given as the reason for the downtime, on January 18,2008, Microsoft announced Undertow would be offered free to both Gold and Free members for the week starting January 23 through January 27 as compensation. On February 5,2010, Marc Whitten announced that Xbox Live had reached 23 million members, in August 2010, Microsoft announced an increase to the cost of Xbox Live Gold in several countries by 20%, for the first time since its inception
23.
Halo 2
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Halo 2 is a 2004 first-person shooter video game developed by Bungie Studios. Released for the Xbox video game console on November 9,2004, the game is the installment in the Halo franchise. A Microsoft Windows version of the game was released on May 31,2007, the game features a new game engine, as well as using the Havok physics engine, added weapons and vehicles, and new multiplayer maps. The player alternately assumes the roles of the human Master Chief, after the success of Combat Evolved, a sequel was expected and highly anticipated. Bungie found inspiration in plot points and gameplay elements that had left out of their first game. Time constraints forced a series of cutbacks in the size and scope of the game, among Halo 2s marketing efforts was an alternate reality game called I Love Bees that involved players solving real-world puzzles. On release, Halo 2 was the most popular game on Xbox Live. Halo 2 is the best-selling first-generation Xbox game with at least 6.3 million copies sold in the United States alone, the game received critical acclaim, with most publications lauding the strong multiplayer component. The campaign however, was the focus of criticism for its cliffhanger ending, a high-definition remake of Halo 2 was released as part of Halo, The Master Chief Collection on November 11,2014, for the Xbox One. Halo 2 is a game, with players predominantly experiencing gameplay from a first-person perspective. Players use a combination of human and alien weaponry and vehicles to progress through the games levels, the players health bar is not visible, but players are instead equipped with a damage-absorbing shield that regenerates when not taking fire. Certain weapons can be dual-wielded, allowing the player to trade accuracy, the player can carry two weapons at a time, with each weapon having advantages and disadvantages in different combat situations. For example, most Covenant weapons eschew disposable ammo clips for a contained battery, however, these weapons can overheat if fired continuously for prolonged periods. Human weapons are effective at penetrating shields and require reloading. The player can carry a total of eight grenades to dislodge, New in Halo 2 is the ability to board enemy vehicles that are near the player and traveling at low speeds. The player or AI latches onto the vehicle and forcibly ejects the other driver from the vehicle, the games Campaign mode offers options for both single-player and cooperative multiplayer participation. In campaign mode, the player must complete a series of levels that encompass Halo 2s storyline and these levels alternate between the Master Chief and a Covenant Elite called the Arbiter, who occupy diametrically opposed roles in the storys conflict. There are four levels of difficulty in campaign mode, Easy, Normal, Heroic, there is hidden content within the game, including Easter eggs, messages, hidden objects, and weapons
24.
Xbox 360
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The Xbox 360 is a home video game console developed by Microsoft. As the successor to the original Xbox, it is the console in the Xbox series. The Xbox 360 competed with Sonys PlayStation 3 and Nintendos Wii as part of the generation of video game consoles. The Xbox 360 was officially unveiled on MTV on May 12,2005, with detailed launch, the Xbox 360 features an online service, Xbox Live, which was expanded from its previous iteration on the original Xbox and received regular updates during the consoles lifetime. In addition to multimedia features, the Xbox 360 allows users to stream media from local PCs. Several peripherals have been released, including controllers, expanded hard drive storage. The release of additional services and peripherals helped the Xbox brand grow from gaming-only to encompassing all multimedia. Launched worldwide across 2005–2006, the Xbox 360 was initially in short supply in many regions, including North America, the earliest versions of the console suffered from a high failure rate, indicated by the so-called Red Ring of Death, necessitating an extension of the devices warranty period. Microsoft released two redesigned models of the console, the Xbox 360 S in 2010, and the Xbox 360 E in 2013. As of June 2014,84 million Xbox 360 consoles have sold worldwide, making it the sixth-highest-selling video game console in history. The Xbox 360s successor, the Xbox One, was released on November 22,2013, on April 20,2016, Microsoft announced that it would end the production of new Xbox 360 hardware, although the company will continue to support the platform. Known during development as Xbox Next, Xenon, Xbox 2, Xbox FS or NextBox, in February 2003, planning for the Xenon software platform began, and was headed by Microsofts Vice President J Allard. That month, Microsoft held an event for 400 developers in Bellevue, also that month, Peter Moore, former president of Sega of America, joined Microsoft. On August 12,2003, ATI signed on to produce the graphic processing unit for the new console, before the launch of the Xbox 360, several Alpha development kits were spotted using Apples Power Mac G5 hardware. This was because the systems PowerPC970 processor running the same PowerPC architecture that the Xbox 360 would eventually run under IBMs Xenon processor, the cores of the Xenon processor were developed using a slightly modified version of the PlayStation 3s Cell Processor PPE architecture. According to David Shippy and Mickie Phipps, the IBM employees were hiding their work from Sony and Toshiba, jeff Minter created the music visualization program Neon which is included with the Xbox 360. The Xbox 360 was released on November 22,2005, in the United States and Canada, December 2,2005, in Europe and December 10,2005, in Japan. It was later launched in Mexico, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Hong Kong, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, and Russia
25.
PlayStation 2
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The PlayStation 2 is a home video game console that was developed by Sony Computer Entertainment. It is the successor to the PlayStation, and is the installment in the PlayStation lineup of consoles. It was released on March 4,2000 in Japan, October 26,2000 in North America, November 24,2000 in Europe and it competed with Segas Dreamcast, Microsofts Xbox, and Nintendos GameCube in the sixth generation of video game consoles. Announced in 1999, the PlayStation 2 was the first PlayStation console to offer backwards compatibility for its predecessors DualShock controller, the PlayStation 2 is the best-selling video game console of all time, selling over 155 million units, with 150 million confirmed by Sony in 2011. More than 3,874 game titles have been released for the PS2 since launch, Sony later manufactured several smaller, lighter revisions of the console known as Slimline models in 2004 and well on, and in 2006, announced and launched its successor, the PlayStation 3. Sony unveiled the PlayStation 4 console the following month on February 20,2013, Sony announced the PlayStation 2 on March 1,1999. The Dreamcast itself launched very successfully in North America later that year, soon after the Dreamcasts North American launch, Sony unveiled the PlayStation 2 at the Tokyo Game Show on September 20,1999. Sony showed fully playable demos of upcoming PlayStation 2 games including Gran Turismo 2000 and Tekken Tag Tournament – which showed the consoles graphic abilities, the PS2 was launched in March 2000 in Japan, October in North America and November in Europe. Sales of the console, games and accessories pulled in $250 million on the first day, directly after its release, it was difficult to find PS2 units on retailer shelves due to manufacturing delays. Another option was purchasing the console online through websites such as eBay. This allowed the PS2 to tap the large install base established by the PlayStation – another major selling point over the competition, later, Sony added new development kits for game developers and more PS2 units for consumers. The PS2s built-in functionality also expanded its audience beyond the gamer and this made the console a low cost entry into the home theater market. The PS2 remained as the only active sixth generation console for over 6 months, before it would face competition from rivals, Nintendos GameCube and Microsofts Xbox. While the PlayStation 2 theoretically had the weakest specification of the three, it had a start due to its installed base plus strong developer commitment. Sony also countered the Xbox by temporarily securing PlayStation 2 exclusives for highly anticipated games such as the Grand Theft Auto series and Metal Gear Solid 2, Sons of Liberty. Sony cut the price of the console in May 2002 from US$299 to $199 in North America, making it the price as the GameCube. It also planned to cut the price in Japan around that time and it cut the price twice in Japan in 2003. In 2006, Sony cut the cost of the console in anticipation of the release of the PlayStation 3, Sony, unlike Sega with its Dreamcast, originally placed little emphasis on online gaming during its first few years, although that changed upon the launch of the online-capable Xbox
26.
GameCube
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The GameCube is a home video game console released by Nintendo in Japan on September 14,2001, in North America on November 18,2001, in Europe on May 3,2002, and in Australia on May 17,2002. The sixth-generation console is the successor to the Nintendo 64 and competed with Sony Computer Entertainments PlayStation 2, the GameCube is the first Nintendo console to use optical discs as its primary storage medium. The discs are similar to the format, as a result of their smaller size and the consoles small disc compartment. Contemporary reception of the GameCube was generally positive, the console was praised for its controller, extensive software library and high-quality games, but was criticized for its exterior design and lack of features. Nintendo sold 21.74 million GameCube units worldwide before it was discontinued in 2007 and its successor, the Wii, which is backwards-compatible with most GameCube software, was released in November 2006. In 1997, a hardware design company called ArtX was launched, staffed by twenty engineers who had previously worked at SGI on the design of the Nintendo 64s graphics hardware. The team was led by Dr. Wei Yen, who had been SGIs head of Nintendo Operations, at Nintendos press conference in May 1999, the console was first publicly announced as Project Dolphin, the successor to the Nintendo 64. At the conference, Nintendos Howard Lincoln said of ArtX, This company is headed up by Dr. Wei Yen, Dr. Yen has assembled at ArtX one of the best teams of 3D graphics engineers on the planet. Subsequently, Nintendo began providing development kits to game developers, Nintendo also formed a strategic partnership with IBM for the production of Dolphins CPU, code-named Gekko. ArtX was acquired by ATI in April 2000, whereupon the Flipper graphics processor design had already mostly completed by ArtX and was not overtly influenced by ATI. In total, ArtX team cofounder Greg Buchner recalled that their portion of the hardware design timeline had arced from inception in 1998 to completion in 2000. Of ATIs acquisition of ArtX, an ATI spokesperson said, ATI now becomes a major supplier to the console market via Nintendo. The Dolphin platform is reputed to be king of the hill in terms of graphics, the console was announced as the Nintendo GameCube at a press conference in Japan on August 24,2000, abbreviated as NGC in Japan and GCN in North America. Nintendo unveiled its software lineup for the console at E32001, focusing on fifteen launch titles, including Luigis Mansion and Star Wars Rogue Squadron II. Several titles that were scheduled to launch with the console were delayed. It is also the first console in the history not to accompany a Mario platform title at launch. Long prior to the launch, Nintendo had developed and patented an early prototype of motion controls for the GameCube. These motion control concepts would not be deployed to consumers for several years, prior to the Nintendo GameCubes release, Nintendo focused resources on the launch of the Game Boy Advance, a handheld game console and successor to the original Game Boy and Game Boy Color
27.
Atari Jaguar
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The Atari Jaguar is a home video game console that was developed by Atari Corporation. The console was the sixth and last programmable console to be developed under the Atari brand, controversially, Atari marketed the Jaguar as being the first 64-bit video game console, while competing with the existing 16-bit consoles and the 32-bit 3DO Interactive Multiplayer platform. With development of the Jaguar running ahead of schedule, the Panther was cancelled, and it was originally released to test markets in New York City and San Francisco in November 1993, and to the general public in 1994, with Cybermorph as the pack-in launch game. The consoles multi-chip architecture made game development for the console difficult and this, in addition to the lack of internal development at Atari, led to a limited games library, comprising only 67 licensed titles. With the release of the Sega Saturn and Sonys PlayStation in 1995, sales of the Jaguar continued to fall, the Jaguar was deemed a commercial failure, and prompted Atari to leave the home video game console market. After Hasbro Interactive bought out Atari in the late 1990s, the patents to the Jaguar were released into the public domain, since then, the Jaguar has gained a cult following, with a developer base that produces homebrew games for the console. The Jaguar was developed by the members of Flare Technology, a formed by Martin Brennan. The team had claimed that they could not only make a superior to the Genesis or the Super NES. Impressed by their work on the Konix Multisystem, Atari persuaded them to close Flare and form a new company called Flare II, Flare II initially set to work designing two consoles for Atari Corp. The Jaguar was unveiled in August 1993 at the Chicago Consumer Entertainment Show, the Jaguar was introduced in 1993 at a price of $249.99, under a $500 million manufacturing deal with IBM. The system was available only in the test markets of New York City and San Francisco, under the slogan Do the Math. A U. S. -wide release followed six months later, the Atari Jaguar struggled to attain a substantial user base. In 1993, Atari reported that it had shipped 17,000 units as part of the initial test market. By the end of 1994, Atari reported that it had sold approximately 100,000 systems and had reduced the price to improve the competitive nature of the console. By the end of 1995, Sony and Sega had entered the marketplace with competing consoles, the lack of titles was attributable to two main factors, the Jaguars questionable long-term prospects among third-party game-publishers and the problematic nature of developing games for the Jaguar. In addition, the Jaguars underlying hardware was crippled by a flaw in the CPUs memory controller, less severe defects included a buggy UART. The memory controller flaw could have been mitigated by a mature code-development environment, Jaguars development tools left much to the programmers own implementation, as documentation was incomplete. Writing game-code was often an exercise in the tedious assembler
28.
Personal computer
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A personal computer is a multi-purpose electronic computer whose size, capabilities, and price make it feasible for individual use. PCs are intended to be operated directly by a end-user, rather than by an expert or technician. In the 2010s, PCs are typically connected to the Internet, allowing access to the World Wide Web, personal computers may be connected to a local area network, either by a cable or a wireless connection. In the 2010s, a PC may be, a multi-component desktop computer, designed for use in a location a laptop computer, designed for easy portability or a tablet computer. In the 2010s, PCs run using a system, such as Microsoft Windows, Linux. The very earliest microcomputers, equipped with a front panel, required hand-loading of a program to load programs from external storage. Before long, automatic booting from permanent read-only memory became universal, in the 2010s, users have access to a wide range of commercial software, free software and free and open-source software, which are provided in ready-to-run or ready-to-compile form. Since the early 1990s, Microsoft operating systems and Intel hardware have dominated much of the computer market, first with MS-DOS. Alternatives to Microsofts Windows operating systems occupy a minority share of the industry and these include Apples OS X and free open-source Unix-like operating systems such as Linux and Berkeley Software Distribution. Advanced Micro Devices provides the alternative to Intels processors. PC is an initialism for personal computer, some PCs, including the OLPC XOs, are equipped with x86 or x64 processors but not designed to run Microsoft Windows. PC is used in contrast with Mac, an Apple Macintosh computer and this sense of the word is used in the Get a Mac advertisement campaign that ran between 2006 and 2009, as well as its rival, Im a PC campaign, that appeared in 2008. Since Apples transition to Intel processors starting 2005, all Macintosh computers are now PCs, the “brain” may one day come down to our level and help with our income-tax and book-keeping calculations. But this is speculation and there is no sign of it so far, in the history of computing there were many examples of computers designed to be used by one person, as opposed to terminals connected to mainframe computers. Using the narrow definition of operated by one person, the first personal computer was the ENIAC which became operational in 1946 and it did not meet further definitions of affordable or easy to use. An example of an early single-user computer was the LGP-30, created in 1956 by Stan Frankel and used for science and it came with a retail price of $47, 000—equivalent to about $414,000 today. Introduced at the 1965 New York Worlds Fair, the Programma 101 was a programmable calculator described in advertisements as a desktop computer. It was manufactured by the Italian company Olivetti and invented by the Italian engineer Pier Giorgio Perotto, the Soviet MIR series of computers was developed from 1965 to 1969 in a group headed by Victor Glushkov
29.
Sega
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Nonetheless, Sega remains the worlds most prolific arcade producer, with over 500 games in over 70 franchises on more than 20 different arcade system boards since 1981. Sega, along with their sub-studios, are known for their multi-million selling game franchises, such as Sonic the Hedgehog, Virtua Fighter, Phantasy Star, Yakuza, Segas head offices are located in Tokyo. Segas North American division, Sega of America, is headquartered in Irvine, California, Segas European division, Sega Europe, is headquartered in London. After the war, the founders sold that company and established a new distributor called Service Games and this company provided coin-operated slot machines to U. S. bases in Japan and changed its name again to Service Games of Japan by 1953. David Rosen, an American officer in the United States Air Force stationed in Japan and this company eventually became Rosen Enterprises, and in 1957, began importing coin-operated games to Japan. On May 31,1960, Service Games Japan was closed, Three days later, two new companies were established to take over its business activities, Nihon Goraku Bussan and Nihon Kikai Seizo. By 1965, Rosen Enterprises grew to a chain of over 200 arcades, Rosen then orchestrated a merger between Rosen Enterprises and Nihon Goraku Bussan, becoming chief executive of the new company, Sega Enterprises, which derived its name from Service Games. Within a year, Sega began the transition from importer to manufacturer, with the release of the submarine simulator game, the game sported light and sound effects considered innovative for that time, eventually becoming quite successful in Japan. It was soon exported to both Europe and the United States, becoming the first arcade game in the US to cost 25 cents per play, in 1969, Rosen sold Sega to American conglomerate Gulf and Western Industries, although he remained as CEO following the sale. Under Rosens leadership, Sega continued to grow and prosper, and in 1974, Gulf and Western made Sega Enterprises, a subsidiary of an American company renamed Sega Enterprises, Inc. allowing them to take the companys stock public. Sega prospered heavily from the gaming boom of the late 1970s. In 1982, Segas revenues surpassed $214 million and that year they introduced the first game with isometric graphics, Zaxxon, the industrys first stereoscopic 3D game, SubRoc 3D, and the first laserdisc video game, Astron Belt. Astron Belt wasnt released in the U. S. until 1983, other notable games from Sega during this period are Head On, Monaco GP, Carnival, Turbo, Space Fury, Astro Blaster, and Pengo. In 1983-4, Sega published Atari 2600 versions of some of its arcade games, Carnival, Space Fury, Turbo, and Zaxxon were licensed to Coleco as launch titles for the ColecoVision console in 1982. Some of these and other titles were licensed to different companies for 8-bit computer versions, the Atari 8-bit computer port of Zaxxon is from Datasoft, for example, while the Commodore 64 port is from Synapse. An overabundance of games in 1983 led to the game crash. Seeking an alternate source of revenue from the arcade market, Sega designed and released its first home video game console. G&W sold the U. S. assets of Sega Enterprises that same year to pinball manufacturer Bally Manufacturing, nakayama became the new CEO of Sega, Robert Deith chairman of the board, and Rosen became head of its subsidiary in the United States
30.
Sony
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Sony Corporation is a Japanese multinational conglomerate corporation that is headquartered in Kōnan, Minato, Tokyo. Its diversified business includes consumer and professional electronics, gaming, entertainment, the company is one of the leading manufacturers of electronic products for the consumer and professional markets. Sony was ranked 116th on the 2015 list of Fortune Global 500 and these make Sony one of the most comprehensive entertainment companies in the world. The group consists of Sony Corporation, Sony Pictures Entertainment, Sony Interactive Entertainment, Sony Music Entertainment, Sony Financial Holdings and others. Sony is among the Semiconductor sales leaders by year and as of 2013, the companys current slogan is BE MOVED. Their former slogans were make. believe, like. no. other, Sony has a weak tie to the SMFG keiretsu, the successor to the Mitsui keiretsu. Sony began in the wake of World War II, in 1946, Masaru Ibuka started an electronics shop in a department store building in Tokyo. The company had $530 in capital and a total of eight employees, in the following year he was joined by his colleague, Akio Morita, and they founded a company called Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo 東京通信工業. The company built Japans first tape recorder, called the Type-G, in 1958 the company changed its name to Sony. When Tokyo Tsushin Kogyo was looking for a name to use to market themselves, they strongly considered using their initials. The primary reason they did not is that the railway company Tokyo Kyuko was known as TTK, the company occasionally used the acronym Totsuko in Japan, but during his visit to the United States, Morita discovered that Americans had trouble pronouncing that name. Another early name that was tried out for a while was Tokyo Teletech until Akio Morita discovered that there was an American company already using Teletech as a brand name, the name Sony was chosen for the brand as a mix of two words. One was the Latin word sonus, which is the root of sonic and sound, and the other was sonny, a common slang term used in 1950s America to call a boy. In the 1950s Japan sonny boys, was a word into Japanese which connoted smart and presentable young men. The first Sony-branded product, the TR-55 transistor radio, appeared in 1955, at the time of the change, it was extremely unusual for a Japanese company to use Roman letters to spell its name instead of writing it in kanji. The move was not without opposition, TTKs principal bank at the time and they pushed for a name such as Sony Electronic Industries, or Sony Teletech. Akio Morita was firm, however, as he did not want the company tied to any particular industry. Eventually, both Ibuka and Mitsui Banks chairman gave their approval, according to Schiffer, Sonys TR-63 radio cracked open the U. S. market and launched the new industry of consumer microelectronics
31.
Ethernet
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Ethernet /ˈiːθərnɛt/ is a family of computer networking technologies commonly used in local area networks, metropolitan area networks and wide area networks. It was commercially introduced in 1980 and first standardized in 1983 as IEEE802.3, over time, Ethernet has largely replaced competing wired LAN technologies such as token ring, FDDI and ARCNET. The original 10BASE5 Ethernet uses coaxial cable as a medium, while the newer Ethernet variants use twisted pair. Over the course of its history, Ethernet data transfer rates have increased from the original 2.94 megabits per second to the latest 100 gigabits per second. The Ethernet standards comprise several wiring and signaling variants of the OSI physical layer in use with Ethernet, systems communicating over Ethernet divide a stream of data into shorter pieces called frames. As per the OSI model, Ethernet provides services up to, since its commercial release, Ethernet has retained a good degree of backward compatibility. Features such as the 48-bit MAC address and Ethernet frame format have influenced other networking protocols, the primary alternative for some uses of contemporary LANs is Wi-Fi, a wireless protocol standardized as IEEE802.11. Ethernet was developed at Xerox PARC between 1973 and 1974 and it was inspired by ALOHAnet, which Robert Metcalfe had studied as part of his PhD dissertation. In 1975, Xerox filed a patent application listing Metcalfe, David Boggs, Chuck Thacker, in 1976, after the system was deployed at PARC, Metcalfe and Boggs published a seminal paper. Metcalfe left Xerox in June 1979 to form 3Com and he convinced Digital Equipment Corporation, Intel, and Xerox to work together to promote Ethernet as a standard. The so-called DIX standard, for Digital/Intel/Xerox, specified 10 Mbit/s Ethernet, with 48-bit destination and source addresses and it was published on September 30,1980 as The Ethernet, A Local Area Network. Data Link Layer and Physical Layer Specifications, version 2 was published in November,1982 and defines what has become known as Ethernet II. Formal standardization efforts proceeded at the time and resulted in the publication of IEEE802.3 on June 23,1983. Ethernet initially competed with two largely proprietary systems, Token Ring and Token Bus, in the process, 3Com became a major company. 3Com shipped its first 10 Mbit/s Ethernet 3C100 NIC in March 1981, an Ethernet adapter card for the IBM PC was released in 1982, and, by 1985, 3Com had sold 100,000. Parallel port based Ethernet adapters were produced for a time, with drivers for DOS, by the early 1990s, Ethernet became so prevalent that it was a must-have feature for modern computers, and Ethernet ports began to appear on some PCs and most workstations. This process was sped up with the introduction of 10BASE-T and its relatively small modular connector. Since then, Ethernet technology has evolved to meet new bandwidth, in addition to computers, Ethernet is now used to interconnect appliances and other personal devices
32.
First-person shooter
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The first-person shooter shares common traits with other shooter games, which in turn fall under the heading action game. From the genres inception, advanced 3D or pseudo-3D graphics have challenged hardware development, the first-person shooter has since been traced as far back as Maze War, development of which began in 1973, and 1974s Spasim. 1998s Half-Life—along with its 2004 sequel Half-Life 2—enhanced the narrative and puzzle elements, in 1999, Half-Lifes mod Counter-Strike was released and, together with Doom, is perhaps one of the most influential first-person shooters. GoldenEye 007 was a landmark first-person shooter for home consoles, while the Halo series heightened the consoles commercial and critical appeal as a platform for first-person shooter titles. In the 21st century, the shooter is the most commercially viable video game genre. Several first-person shooters have been popular games for eSports and competitive gaming competitions as well, first-person shooters are a type of three-dimensional shooter game, featuring a first-person point of view with which the player sees the action through the eyes of the player character. They are unlike third-person shooters, in which the player can see the character they are controlling, the primary design element is combat, mainly involving firearms. A more important key difference is that first-person light-gun shooters like Virtua Cop often feature on-rails movement, the first-person shooter may be considered a distinct genre in itself, or a type of shooter game, in turn a subgenre of the wider action game genre. Following the release of Doom in 1993, games in this style were commonly termed Doom clones, in time this term has largely been replaced by first-person shooter. Wolfenstein 3D, released in 1992, the year before Doom, has credited with inventing the genre. There are occasional disagreements regarding the design elements which constitute a first-person shooter. For example, Deus Ex or BioShock may be considered as first-person shooters, some commentators extend the definition to include combat flight simulators where the cockpit or vehicle takes place of the hands and weapons. Like most shooter games, first-person shooters involve an avatar, one or more ranged weapons, and a varying number of enemies. Because they take place in a 3D environment, these tend to be somewhat more realistic than 2D shooter games. First-person shooters played on computers are most often controlled with a combination of a keyboard. This system has claimed as superior to that found in console games. It is common to display the characters hands and weaponry in the view, with a head-up display showing health. Often, it is possible to overlay a map of the surrounding area, first-person shooters often focus on action gameplay, with fast-paced and bloody firefights, though some place a greater emphasis on narrative, problem-solving and logic puzzles
33.
Dreamcast
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The Dreamcast is a home video game console released by Sega on November 27,1998 in Japan, September 9,1999 in North America, and October 14,1999 in Europe. It was the first in the generation of video game consoles, preceding Sonys PlayStation 2, Nintendos GameCube. The Dreamcast was Segas final home console, marking the end of the companys 18 years in the console market. In contrast to the hardware of the unsuccessful Sega Saturn, the Dreamcast was designed to reduce costs with off-the-shelf components, including a Hitachi SH-4 CPU. Sales did not meet Segas expectations despite several price cuts, after a change in leadership, Sega discontinued the Dreamcast on March 31,2001, withdrawing from the console business and restructuring itself as a third-party publisher. 9.13 million Dreamcast units were sold worldwide, although the Dreamcast had a short lifespan and limited third-party support, reviewers have considered the console ahead of its time. Its library contains many games considered creative and innovative, including Crazy Taxi, Jet Set Radio and Shenmue, the Dreamcast was also the first console to include a built-in modem for Internet support and online play. Released in 1988, the Sega Genesis was Segas entry into the generation of video game consoles. Selling 30.75 million units worldwide, the Genesis was the most successful console Sega ever released, the successor to the Genesis, the Sega Saturn, was released in Japan in 1994. Moreover, Segas early release was undermined by Sonys simultaneous announcement that the PlayStation would retail for US$299—compared to the Saturns initial price of $399. Nintendos long delay in releasing a competing 3D console and the damage done to Segas reputation by poorly supported add-ons for the Genesis allowed Sony to establish a foothold in the market. Losses on the Saturn hardware contributed to Segas financial problems, which saw the companys revenue decline between 1992 and 1995 as part of an industry-wide slowdown, furthermore, Segas focus on the Saturn over the Genesis prevented it from fully capitalizing on the continued strength of the 16-bit market. Due to long-standing disagreements with Sega of Japan, Sega of America CEO Tom Kalinske became less interested in his position. On July 16,1996, Sega announced that Shoichiro Irimajiri had been appointed chairman and CEO of Sega of America, bernie Stolar, a former executive at Sony Computer Entertainment of America, was named Sega of Americas executive vice president in charge of product development and third-party relations. Stolar did not support the Saturn due to his belief that the hardware was poorly designed, after the launch of the Nintendo 64, sales of the Saturn and Segas 32-bit software were sharply reduced. As of August 1997, Sony controlled 47 percent of the market, Nintendo controlled 40 percent. Neither price cuts nor high-profile games were proving helpful to the Saturns success, due to the Saturns poor performance in North America, Sega of America laid off 60 of its 200 employees in the fall of 1997. As a result of the deteriorating financial situation, Nakayama resigned as president of Sega in January 1998 in favor of Irimajiri
34.
Xiaolin Showdown
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Xiaolin Showdown is an American animated television series that aired on Kids WB and was created by Christy Hui. Set in a world where martial arts battles and Eastern magic are commonplace and they do this by protecting Shen Gong Wu from villains that would use them to conquer the world. Typical episodes revolve around a specific Shen Gong Wu being revealed which results in both sides racing to find it, episodes usually reach a head when one good and one evil character must challenge each other to a magical duel called a Xiaolin Showdown for possession of the artifact. Originally airing on the Kids WB block of programming on WB Network from 2003 to 2006, reruns also aired on Cartoon Network from 2006 to 2007. Xiaolin Chronicles, a sequel of the series was previewed on August 26,2013 on Disney XD. It began its run on September 14 the same year. The first episode of Xiaolin Showdown was developed three years following its conception, and premiered November 1,2003. Series creator Christy Hui has stated that despite the popularity of anime in the United States. Xiaolin Showdown shows subtle influences of Eastern art, action, and philosophy, following the success of its first season, a second twenty-six episode season was ordered, and a third after that, resulting in 3 seasons and 52 episodes. The series was followed by Xiaolin Chronicles, which premiered on August 26,2013. and by series creator Christy Hui, in her Facebook account. Four young monks – Omi, Kimiko, Raimundo, and Clay – are forced into cooperation at the Xiaolin Temple after learning they are chosen to become Xiaolin Dragons. They become friends and work together traveling the world in search for Shen Gong Wu, mystical objects with powers that balance the forces of good and evil. Through thievery, Spicer ultimately possesses enough Shen Gong Wu to form Mala Mala Jong, Raimundo defies orders and fights the monster, causing the remaining monks to fight and defend the remaining Shen Gong Wu in the Temples possession. All the monks, except for Raimundo because of his reckless disobedience, are promoted to Xiaolin Apprentices due to their bravery, angered, Raimundo joins the Heylin side and helps Wuya regain her human form. Omi travels back in time and receives a puzzle box from Grand Master Dashi. But with no way back to the future, he freezes himself using the Orb of Tornami, in the present time, Omi breaks free of the ice with the puzzle box in hand. Raimundo decides that his rightful place belongs in the Xiaolin Temple with his friends, after returning to the Temple, the monks continue their search for the Shen Gong Wu. Eventually, Master Fung promotes Raimundo to Xiaolin Apprentice, afterwards, the monks are introduced to Xiaolin monk-turned-evil villain Chase Young
35.
Madden NFL 09
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Madden NFL09 is an American football video game based on the NFL that was published by EA Sports and developed by EA Tiburon. It is the 20th annual installment in the Madden NFL video game franchise, the game was released for the Nintendo DS, PlayStation 2, PlayStation 3, PlayStation Portable, Wii, Xbox, Xbox 360, and Mobile phone. It was also the last video game for the Xbox produced and released in North America, a GameCube version was cancelled due to the systems discontinuation in 2007. Unlike previous versions, the game was not released for the PC, EA Sports has said that they are retooling the PC version after not making 09. Despite these claims of retooling, PC users were again ignored the following year as no Windows version of Madden NFL10 were released. In June 2009, EA Sports announced that for the year 2010, the Madden NFL, NCAA Football, NASCAR, NHL, NBA Live, a demo of the game was released on Xbox Live Marketplace and PlayStation Network. The standard version and the package were released on August 12,2008. The game was the last title released for the original Xbox, a Spanish-language version of the game was released on September 17,2008 for the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360 platforms. On April 23,2008, David Letterman revealed that former Green Bay Packers quarterback Brett Favre would be the cover athlete of Madden NFL09 on the Late Show with David Letterman. Instead of reissuing the packaging, On August 12,2008, EA made available an alternative cover of Favre in a Jets uniform from their website that players were able to download. At first the new covers were available for all the consoles except the Xbox, Nintendo DS, and Wii, on September 15,2008, EA made available a cover shot specifically for the Wii that had Brett Favre as a Jet. Favre was a character in every version of Madden NFL09. Although disputed, Favre was available on the Nintendo DS version, on the Wii, PSP, and PS2 editions, he was not on the Jets roster, but available on a historic team, the 2007 Packers. Players could transfer Favre to the free agent roster pool, a roster update on August 12,2008 placed Favre on the New York Jets roster as their starting quarterback. The Anniversary Collectors Edition does not feature a cover athlete - it has a version of the Roman numeral XX logo shown in the top-left corner of the games standard cover. This edition of the game is not available outside North America. Roberto Garza, a guard for the Chicago Bears, is the athlete for the Spanish version. Play-by-play and color commentary is provided by Tom Hammond and Cris Collinsworth, al Michaels and John Madden are still the play-by-play and color commentary for the Wii, PS2, Xbox, and PSP versions
36.
DirectX
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Microsoft DirectX is a collection of application programming interfaces for handling tasks related to multimedia, especially game programming and video, on Microsoft platforms. Originally, the names of these APIs all began with Direct, such as Direct3D, DirectDraw, DirectMusic, DirectPlay, DirectSound, the name DirectX was coined as a shorthand term for all of these APIs and soon became the name of the collection. When Microsoft later set out to develop a gaming console, the X was used as the basis of the name Xbox to indicate that the console was based on DirectX technology. Direct3D is widely used in the development of games for Microsoft Windows. Direct3D is also used by software applications for visualization and graphics tasks such as CAD/CAM engineering. As Direct3D is the most widely publicized component of DirectX, it is common to see the names DirectX, the DirectX software development kit consists of runtime libraries in redistributable binary form, along with accompanying documentation and headers for use in coding. Originally, the runtimes were only installed by games or explicitly by the user, Windows 95 did not launch with DirectX, but DirectX was included with Windows 95 OEM Service Release 2. Windows 98 and Windows NT4.0 both shipped with DirectX, as has every version of Windows released since, the SDK is available as a free download. While the runtimes are proprietary, closed-source software, source code is provided for most of the SDK samples, starting with the release of Windows 8 Developer Preview, DirectX SDK has been integrated into Windows SDK. In late 1994, Microsoft was ready to release Windows 95, an important factor in the value consumers would place on it was the programs that would be able to run on it. Three Microsoft employees—Craig Eisler, Alex St and this was compounded by negative reception surrounding the Windows port of The Lion King. Microsoft needed a solution for programmers, the operating system was only months away from being released. Eisler, St. John, and Engstrom worked together to fix this problem, the first version of DirectX was released in September 1995 as the Windows Games SDK. It was the Win32 replacement for the DCI and WinG APIs for Windows 3.1, DirectX allowed all versions of Microsoft Windows, starting with Windows 95, to incorporate high-performance multimedia. Eisler wrote about the frenzy to build DirectX1 through 5 in his blog, DirectX2.0 became a component of Windows itself with the releases of Windows 95 OSR2 and Windows NT4.0 in mid-1996. It was at this event that Microsoft first introduced Direct3D and DirectPlay, the DirectX team faced the challenging task of testing each DirectX release against an array of computer hardware and software. A variety of different graphics cards, audio cards, motherboards, CPUs, input devices, games, the DirectX team also built and distributed tests that allowed the hardware industry to confirm that new hardware designs and driver releases would be compatible with DirectX. Prior to DirectX, Microsoft had included OpenGL on their Windows NT platform, at the time, OpenGL required high-end hardware and was focused on engineering and CAD uses
37.
Seamus Blackley
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Jonathan Seamus Blackley is an American video game designer and former agent with Creative Artists Agency representing video game creators. After entering Tufts University to study engineering, Blackley switched to study physics and graduated in 1990. As a sophomore, he published his first paper in the Journal of Magnetic Resonance, after college, he studied High Energy Physics at the Fermi National Accelerator Laboratory, until the Superconducting Supercollider project was cancelled in 1993. Blackley then went to work at Blue Sky Productions, later called Looking Glass Studios, in addition to his work on Ultima Underworld and System Shock, Blackley helped to create the sophisticated physics system in Flight Unlimited. However, a new manager at Looking Glass Studios demanded that Blackley instead design a sequel to Flight Unlimited. Blackley refused and was fired, leaving the company in late 1995, after Looking Glass, Blackley worked at DreamWorks Interactive as executive producer of Jurassic Park, Trespasser, a physics-rich game published in 1998. In February 1999, Blackley joined Microsoft, originally hired to work on DirectX, he co-wrote the initial Xbox proposal, and helped assemble the team that designed and built the device. He then promoted the Xbox to game developers around the world, Blackley left Microsoft in 2002 to co-found Capital Entertainment Group with former Microsoft co-worker Kevin Bachus after his time developing the Xbox. CEG was unable to complete a game before folding in 2003, in 2007, Blackley received the P. T. Barnum Award from Tufts University for his exceptional work in the field of media and entertainment. From 2003 through May 2011, Blackley represented video game developers at the Creative Artists Agency, as of February 2012, Blackley is president of Innovative Leisure, a startup founded with partner Van Burnham. The company is developing games for iOS devices
38.
Dell
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Dell Inc. is a multinational computer technology company based in Round Rock, Texas, United States, that develops, sells, repairs, and supports computers and related products and services. The company is a subsidiary of Dell Technologies, which was formed by the 2016 merger of Dell Inc. eponymously named after its founder, Michael Dell, the company is one of the largest technological corporations in the world, employing more than 103,300 people worldwide. Dell sells personal computers, servers, data storage devices, network switches, software, computer peripherals, HDTVs, cameras, printers, MP3 players, and electronics built by other manufacturers. Dell was a pure hardware vendor for much of its existence, Dell was listed at number 51 in the Fortune 500 list, until 2014. After going private in 2013, the confidential nature of its financial information prevents the company from being ranked by Fortune. In 2015, it was the third largest PC vendor in the world after Lenovo, Dell is currently the #1 shipper of PC monitors in the world. Dell is the sixth largest company in Texas by total revenue and it is the second largest non-oil company in Texas – behind AT&T – and the largest company in the Greater Austin area. It was a traded company, as well as a component of the NASDAQ-100 and S&P500. On September 7,2016, Dell Inc. acquired EMC Corporation to form Dell Technologies, Michael Dell founded PCs Limited while a student of the University of Texas at Austin. The dorm-room headquartered company sold IBM PC-compatible computers built from stock components, Dell dropped out of school to focus full-time on his fledgling business, after getting $1,000 in expansion-capital from his family. In 1985, the company produced the first computer of its own design, the Turbo PC, Dell appeared in PCs Limited advertisements in national magazines, asking readers to give us a chance to show you what can do. Selling directly to consumers custom-assembled computers according to a selection of options, in 1986, Michael Dell brought in Lee Walker, a 51-year-old venture capitalist, as president and chief operating officer, to serve as mentor and to implement Dells ideas for growing the company. Walker was also instrumental in recruiting members to the board of directors when the company went public in 1988, the company dropped the PC’s Limited name in 1987 to become Dell Computer Corporation and began expanding globally. In June 1988, Dells market capitalization grew by $30 million to $80 million from its June 22 initial public offering of 3.5 million shares at $8.50 a share. In 1992, Fortune magazine included Dell Computer Corporation in its list of the worlds 500 largest companies, making Michael Dell the youngest CEO of a Fortune 500 company ever. In 1993, to complement its own direct sales channel, Dell planned to sell PCs at big-box retail outlets such as Wal-Mart, bain consultant Kevin Rollins persuaded Michael Dell to pull out of these deals, believing they would be money losers in the long run. Margins at retail were thin at best and Dell left the channel in 1994. Rollins would soon join Dell full-time and eventually become the company President, Dell found an opportunity among PC-savvy individuals who liked the convenience of buying direct, customizing their PC to their means, and having it delivered in days
39.
Laptop
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Laptops are folded shut for transportation, and thus are suitable for mobile use. Although originally there was a distinction between laptops and notebooks, the former being bigger and heavier than the latter, as of 2014, there is often no longer any difference. Laptops are commonly used in a variety of settings, such as at work, in education, Internet surfing using sites such as YouTube and for personal multimedia, most 2016-era laptops also have integrated webcams and built-in microphones. Laptops can be powered either from a battery or by an external power supply from an AC adapter. Hardware specifications, such as the speed and memory capacity. Design elements, form factor, and construction can also vary significantly between models depending on intended use, as portable computers evolved into the modern laptop, they became widely used for a variety of purposes. The terms laptop and notebook are used interchangeably to describe a computer in English. Regardless of the etymology, by the late 1990s, the terms were interchangeable, as the personal computer became feasible in 1971, the idea of a portable personal computer soon followed. A personal, portable information manipulator was imagined by Alan Kay at Xerox PARC in 1968, the IBM Special Computer APL Machine Portable was demonstrated in 1973. This prototype was based on the IBM PALM processor, the IBM5100, the first commercially available portable computer, appeared in September 1975, and was based on the SCAMP prototype. As 8-bit CPU machines became widely accepted, the number of portables increased rapidly, the Osborne 1, released in 1981, used the Zilog Z80 and weighed 23.6 pounds. It had no battery, a 5 in CRT screen, in the same year the first laptop-sized portable computer, the Epson HX-20, was announced. The Epson had an LCD screen, a battery. Both Tandy/RadioShack and HP also produced portable computers of varying designs during this period, the first laptops using the flip form factor appeared in the early 1980s. The Dulmont Magnum was released in Australia in 1981–82, but was not marketed internationally until 1984–85, the US$8,150 GRiD Compass 1101, released in 1982, was used at NASA and by the military, among others. The Sharp PC-5000, Ampere and Gavilan SC released in 1983, the Gavilan SC was the first computer described as a laptop by its manufacturer, while the Ampere had a modern clamshell design. The Toshiba T1100 won acceptance not only among PC experts but the market as a way to have PC portability. From 1983 onward, several new techniques were developed and included in laptops, including the touchpad, the pointing stick
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Prototype
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A prototype is an early sample, model, or release of a product built to test a concept or process or to act as a thing to be replicated or learned from. It is a used in a variety of contexts, including semantics, design, electronics. A prototype is used to evaluate a new design to enhance precision by system analysts. Prototyping serves to provide specifications for a real, working system rather than a theoretical one, in some design workflow models, creating a prototype is the step between the formalization and the evaluation of an idea. The word prototype derives from the Greek πρωτότυπον prototypon, primitive form, neutral of πρωτότυπος prototypos, original, primitive, from πρῶτος protos, first and τύπος typos, a Working Prototype represents all or nearly all of the functionality of the final product. A Visual Prototype represents the size and appearance, but not the functionality, a User Experience Prototype represents enough of the appearance and function of the product that it can be used for user research. A Functional Prototype captures both function and appearance of the design, though it may be created with different techniques. A Paper Prototype is a printed or hand-drawn representation of the interface of a software product. In some cases, the final production materials may still be undergoing development themselves, process - Mass-production processes are often unsuitable for making a small number of parts, so prototypes may be made using different fabrication processes than the final product. Differences in fabrication process may lead to differences in the appearance of the prototype as compared to the final product, verification - The final product may be subject to a number of quality assurance tests to verify conformance with drawings or specifications. These tests may involve custom inspection fixtures, statistical sampling methods, prototypes are generally made with much closer individual inspection and the assumption that some adjustment or rework will be part of the fabrication process. Prototypes may also be exempted from some requirements that apply to the final product. Engineers and prototype specialists will attempt to minimize the impact of these differences on the role for the prototype. Engineers and prototyping specialists seek to understand the limitations of prototypes to exactly simulate the characteristics of their intended design and it is important to realize that by their very definition, prototypes will represent some compromise from the final production design. Due to differences in materials, processes and design fidelity, it is possible that a prototype may fail to perform acceptably whereas the design may have been sound. In general, it can be expected that individual prototype costs will be greater than the final production costs due to inefficiencies in materials. Prototypes are also used to revise the design for the purposes of reducing costs through optimization and it is possible to use prototype testing to reduce the risk that a design may not perform as intended, however prototypes generally cannot eliminate all risk. As an alternative, rapid prototyping or rapid application development techniques are used for the prototypes, which implement part
41.
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
42.
Video game console
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A video game console is an electronic, digital or computer device that outputs a video signal or visual image to display a video game that one or more people can play. The term video game console is used to distinguish a console machine primarily designed for consumers to use for playing video games. An arcade machine consists of a video game computer, display, game controller, a home computer is a personal computer designed for home use for a variety of purposes, such as bookkeeping, accessing the Internet and playing video games. There are various types of game consoles, including home video game consoles, handheld game consoles, microconsoles. Although Ralph Baer had built working game consoles by 1966, it was nearly a decade before the Pong game made them commonplace in regular peoples living rooms. Through evolution over the 1990s and 2000s, game consoles have expanded to additional functions such as CD players, DVD players, Blu-ray disc players, web browsers, set-top boxes. The first video appeared in the 1960s. They were played on massive computers connected to vector displays, not analog televisions, Ralph H. Baer conceived the idea of a home video game in 1951. In the late 1960s, while working for Sanders Associates, Baer created a series of game console designs. In 1972, Magnavox released the Magnavox Odyssey, the first home game console which could be connected to a TV set. Magnavox replaced the switch design with separate cartridges for each game, by autumn 1975, Magnavox, bowing to the popularity of Pong, cancelled the Odyssey and released a scaled-down version that played only Pong and hockey, the Odyssey 100. A second, higher end console, the Odyssey 200, was released with the 100 and added on-screen scoring, up to four players, almost simultaneously released with Ataris own home Pong console through Sears, these consoles jump-started the consumer market. All three of the new consoles used simpler designs than the original Odyssey did with no board game pieces or extra cartridges, in the years that followed, the market saw many companies rushing similar consoles to market. Most of the consoles from this era were dedicated consoles playing only the games came with the console. These video game consoles were often just called video games, because there was reason to distinguish the two yet. While a few companies like Atari, Magnavox, and newcomer Coleco pushed the envelope, Fairchild released the Fairchild Video Entertainment System in 1976. The VES, however, contained a programmable microprocessor so its cartridges only needed a single ROM chip to store microprocessor instructions, RCA and Atari soon released their own cartridge-based consoles, the RCA Studio II and the Atari 2600, respectively. The first handheld console with interchangeable cartridges was the Microvision designed by Smith Engineering
43.
Computing platform
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Computing platform means in general sense, where any piece of software is executed. It may be the hardware or the system, even a web browser or other application. The term computing platform can refer to different abstraction levels, including a hardware architecture, an operating system. In total it can be said to be the stage on which programs can run. For example, an OS may be a platform that abstracts the underlying differences in hardware, platforms may also include, Hardware alone, in the case of small embedded systems. Embedded systems can access hardware directly, without an OS, this is referred to as running on bare metal, a browser in the case of web-based software. The browser itself runs on a platform, but this is not relevant to software running within the browser. An application, such as a spreadsheet or word processor, which hosts software written in a scripting language. This can be extended to writing fully-fledged applications with the Microsoft Office suite as a platform, software frameworks that provide ready-made functionality. Cloud computing and Platform as a Service, the social networking sites Twitter and facebook are also considered development platforms. A virtual machine such as the Java virtual machine, applications are compiled into a format similar to machine code, known as bytecode, which is then executed by the VM. A virtualized version of a system, including virtualized hardware, OS, software. These allow, for instance, a typical Windows program to run on what is physically a Mac, some architectures have multiple layers, with each layer acting as a platform to the one above it. In general, a component only has to be adapted to the layer immediately beneath it, however, the JVM, the layer beneath the application, does have to be built separately for each OS
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Windows Embedded Compact
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Windows Embedded Compact, formerly Windows Embedded CE and Windows CE, is an operating system subfamily developed by Microsoft as part of its Windows Embedded family of products. Unlike Windows Embedded Standard, which is based on Windows NT, Microsoft licenses Windows CE to original equipment manufacturers, who can modify and create their own user interfaces and experiences, with Windows CE providing the technical foundation to do so. The current version of Windows Embedded Compact supports x86 and ARM processors with board support package directly, the MIPS and SHx architectures had support prior to version 7.0. Windows CE is optimized for devices that have memory, a Windows CE kernel may run with one megabyte of memory. Devices are often configured without disk storage, and may be configured as a system that does not allow for end-user extension. Windows CE conforms to the definition of a operating system. From Version 3 and onward, the system supports 256 priority levels, the fundamental unit of execution is the thread. This helps to simplify the interface and improve execution time, since then, Windows CE has evolved into a component-based, embedded, real-time operating system. It is no longer targeted solely at hand-held computers, Windows CE even powered select games for the Dreamcast, was the operating system of the Gizmondo handheld, and can partially run on modified Xbox game consoles. A distinctive feature of Windows CE compared to other Microsoft operating systems is that parts of it are offered in source code form. First, source code was offered to several vendors, so they could adjust it to their hardware, then products like Platform Builder offered several components in source code form to the general public. However, a number of components that do not need adaptation to specific hardware environments are still distributed in binary only form. Windows Embedded Compact was formerly known as Windows CE, the name changed once in 2006, with the release of Windows Embedded CE6.0, and again in 2011, with the release of Windows Embedded Compact 7. Windows CE was originally announced by Microsoft at the COMDEX expo in 1996 and was demonstrated on stage by Bill Gates, Microsoft had been testing Pegasus in early 1995 and released a strict reference platform to several hardware partners. Each window took over the full display, navigation was done by tapping or double tapping on an item. A contextual menu was available by the user pressing the ALT key. Windows CE1.0 did not include a cascading Start menu unlike Windows 95, Microsoft released the Windows CE1.0 Power Toys that included a cascading menu icon that appeared in the system tray. The release of Windows CE2.0 was well received, Microsoft learned its lessons from consumer feedback of Windows CE1.0 and made many improvements to the operating system
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Bill Gates
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William Henry Bill Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, author, and philanthropist. In 1975, Gates and Paul Allen co-founded Microsoft, which became the worlds largest PC software company, during his career at Microsoft, Gates held the positions of chairman, CEO and chief software architect, and was the largest individual shareholder until May 2014. Gates has authored and co-authored several books, since 1987, Gates has been included in the Forbes list of the worlds wealthiest people and was the wealthiest from 1995 to 2007, again in 2009, and has been since 2014. Between 2009 and 2014, his wealth doubled from US$40 billion to more than US$82 billion, between 2013 and 2014, his wealth increased by US$15 billion. Gates is currently the richest person in the world, with a net worth of US$85.6 billion as of February 2017. Gates is one of the entrepreneurs of the personal computer revolution. He has been criticized for his business tactics, which have been considered anti-competitive, Gates stepped down as chief executive officer of Microsoft in January 2000. He remained as chairman and created the position of chief architect for himself. In June 2006, Gates announced that he would be transitioning from full-time work at Microsoft to part-time work and he gradually transferred his duties to Ray Ozzie and Craig Mundie. He stepped down as chairman of Microsoft in February 2014, taking on a new post as adviser to support the then newly appointed CEO Satya Nadella. Gates was born in Seattle, Washington on October 28,1955 and he is the son of William H. Gates Sr. and Mary Maxwell Gates. His ancestry includes English, German, Irish, and Scots-Irish and his father was a prominent lawyer, and his mother served on the board of directors for First Interstate BancSystem and the United Way. Gates maternal grandfather was JW Maxwell, a bank president. Gates has one sister, Kristi, and one younger sister. He is the fourth of his name in his family, but is known as William Gates III or Trey because his father had the II suffix, early on in his life, Gates parents had a law career in mind for him. When Gates was young, his family attended a church of the Congregational Christian Churches. The family encouraged competition, one reported that it didnt matter whether it was hearts or pickleball or swimming to the dock. There was always a reward for winning and there was always a penalty for losing, at 13, he enrolled in the Lakeside School, a private preparatory school
