| T O P I C R E V I E W |
| 1029usr078198 |
Posted - January 29 2010 : 06:49:35
Listen now. or Download the archive.
Question: Kathy asks, "I logged into Windows and all my stuff was gone from my screen, but when I restarted the computer it all came back. What could have happened?"
Answer: Good question Kathy; and I mean that. It's anybody's guess. Windows does weird things sometimes, but what this sounds like to me is that for some, apparently temporary, reason your user profile wasn't able to load correctly. Now, your user profile is found in the Users or Documents and Settings folder, and it has your desktop, my documents, pictures, etc. Sometimes it happens that a profile gets corrupted, but those don't tend to come back by themselves. Because yours did, something must have been preventing you from opening it when you logged in the first time.
Cool Site: Science@NASA: One of NASA's websites is located at science.nasa.gov, and is a great resource if you're a homeschooling parent, or just a space buff, like me. The main topics you'll find there are Space Science, Astronomy, Living in Space, Earth Science, Physical and Bio Sciences, and Beyond Rocketry. You'll find headlines on their main page. Just a moment ago I was reading an article about the two Voyager spacecraft. If you remember, they were launched in 1977 and provided great amounts of valuable data about the outer planets. Did you know those two probes are still in operation? I didn't. Seems they're about to reach interstellar space and they've found evidence of another magnetic field that helps insulate our solar system from cosmic rays. The site itself has an email newsletter, and a podcast. You'll also find satellite tracking there as well as programs that can track the Space Shuttle if it's in orbit, or the Hubble, or any of several other satellites. These are downloadable applications you run on your own computer that use data, some of it real-time, from NASA's databanks.
Cool Gadget: Apple iPad: Well, the big announcement this week was the Apple iPad; but it's an announcement, not a shipping product, so you still can't buy it. But Apple says it will be available in March for the Wi-Fi models and April for the 3G-cellular-capable models. There's a video on their website that explains much of what it's about. This device is only a half-inch thick, but it has a 10 hour battery life; it's got an eBook reader, it can use almost all iPhone applications. It slices, it dices. Apple has put up in addition to their App store and iTunes store, an iBooks store where you can buy eBooks. It has multi-touch that allows you to pinch windows closed for instance. I'm not sure about that whole onscreen keyboard thing, though. It will come in a 16GB version for $499 up to a 64GB version with all the bells and whistles for $829.
It's All "Geek" To Me: Streaming: You've said this one, and maybe the listeners didn't know for sure what it meant. This week's word is streaming, as in streaming media. See, you can enjoy Internet media two ways: either by downloading the file to play, or by streaming it, and the difference lies in the immediacy of it. If you download a media file, you have to wait until the download finishes to listen to the song or watch the movie. For instance, podcasts are typically downloaded. On the other hand, with streaming, the show plays while it is being received. It's the only good way to enjoy live events as they are happening, because there’s no file to download.
Links
Science @ NASA:
http://science.nasa.gov
Science @ NASA Podcast:
http://science.nasa.gov/podcast.xml
Apple iPad:
http://www.apple.com/ipad
Apple iPad on GearLog:
http://www.gearlog.com/2010/01/apple_unveils_ipad_tablet.php
Streaming on TechTerms:
http://www.techterms.com/definition/streaming |
|
|
