The final assignment. It is so bittersweet after such a great semester, but I am ready for Christmas break! This class has been awesome. I wasn’t even supposed to take it, I was supposed to take a computer class on how to use Powerpoint and Excel. Thank God for my mother who made that error! I have loved the many new discoveries this class has revealed to me, the knowledge of the past, the awe of the present, and dreams and insight into the future. The main three things that I have taken away from this class are the basics of programming, advancements in robotics and AI, and the immense power surrounding technological advances.

Before this class, I knew nothing at all about programming, I hardly even knew what binary code was. That has all changed. HTML, Scratch, and Alice have opened my eyes to both the complexity, yet subtle simplicity of programming. While HTML is probably where I did the best, Scratch was definitely my favorite. I really enjoyed playing with Scratch. The program was simple, easy, and fun, but still challenging enough to be a wonderful teaching tool that really set up Alice well, and in turn other methods of programming.

I had no idea the advances that have been made recently in robotics and artificial intelligence. While the autonomous cars that went across the desert were cool and impressive, it was the AI display put on by Assimo that really astonished me. Hoe the humanoid could see, recognize, and retain information was simply incredible. To think that these droids will likely be commonplace in the public eye within the decade is mind blowing. Hopefully we don’t go so far as a reproducing robot that will spawn an android race that overruns humanity.

Robotics and AI are just one of the many areas where there is potential for danger amidst the amazingly wonderful possibilities. Perhaps the most relevant example is on the cellular level. While microscopic robotic cells open up a door to astounding possibilities, self replicating robots that consume energy is a terrifying tool in the wrong hands. Another example of power for good or evil is demonstrated by the hacking group, Anonymous. I was very interested in Anonymous, so I researched the group. They have accomplished some very difficult and frankly scary tasks. They have hacked banks, credit card companies, and politicians. They have used zombie computers to manipulate voting outcomes such as in the Times Magazine Man of the Year competition, and at one point even shut down the Australian government. This power is immense. While Anonymous claims to be just, and uses their power only for furthering their causes and passionate crusades, the problem is that they are the ones who determine what is right and wrong. They choose what is just, and what causes are worthy for their intervention. Adolf Hitler thought that he was upholding a righteous cause by eliminating Jews and “weak links,” but his endeavors are recognized as one of the most wicked holocausts of all time. Anyway, with great power comes great responsibility. Part of the responsibility that we have to ourselves and to our fellow man, is to never let a select group have the power. As long as there is good, just men and women to defend justice, corrupt wielders of power will be stopped.

This class has been wonderful, and I am thankful for Dr. Brown making this class such a great experience and being a wonderful teacher. I have been enlightened and inspired by the advances we have made as a race, and I am so excited to see where we go in the future.

Davis

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I don’t really play many video games anymore. I do play Halo sometimes, but I only own an original Xbox, so I am stuck playing the older versions that are not as advanced as the new games such as Halo Reach. Even in the older games, such as Halo 2, the worlds are pretty impressive. The realms are very extensive, even past the paths of intended gameplay which makes exploring a very interesting and intriguing activity. I really like Call of Duty as well, but haven’t played it very often.

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My mind was occupied by Lego robots for the past two weeks, and sadly, AI was rather neglected. The Sims was really fun for a few weeks, but soon I got bored. The same happened with other virtual worlds through my childhood such as Webkinz World, and Yoville. I suppose I’m just not a fan of the online reality game. I would rather do something productive in real life to increase my usefullness and ability as a person rather than waste time earning points to buy a virtual lawnmower online. Second Life is more appealing to me, as you can earn real monetary rewards. I have not tried Second Life yet, but I do believe it has potential to be a revolutionary program that truly creates a second life.  The one danger I perceive pertains to human interaction over the program. While sure, the interaction is real, It is hardly as meaningful as in real life. Also, people are a lot more aggressive hiding behind a computer screen. Judging by the EXTREME reactions by those unfortunate people who had their WOW account hacked, or the results of cyber-bullying, I am unsure whether a “second life” is a good thing at all, especially when that second life in many ways replaced the real lives that we were created to live out, fulfilling a specific purpose. Anyways, I also like Halo =]

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These Lego Mindstorms are pretty groovy! I asked for one this Christmas, we will see what happens. Although the bots are fun and really interesting, I was slightly disappointed with the programming application to control them. It seems like they could have made it simpler to achieve the desired result. My favorite thing was syncing the bot to my phone via Bluetooth, and controlling the movement of the robot by tilting my phone in different directions. One funny moment was when I decided to click on the other Bluetooth devices that appeared for pairing with my phone (which happens to be a Droid.) I managed to seize control of two other group’s robots, and drive them around. This was hilarious to see the looks on the other students faces when their bots started freaking out randomly! That may have been fitting for hacking week =]

Some of the advances in robotics are pretty creepy. Particularly such creations as the new sex android. Complete with fully anatomically correct parts, and seven downloadable personalities, this droid is kinda screwed up…no pun intended. As I was reading about this sex android, I found an article that talked of one man’s experience with the sexbot. Intrigued by the creep who felt the urge to make love with a machine, I read on to discover his hilarious downfall. Apparently, when it comes to the actual sex act, the anatomy is in fact not quite like the real thing. The man said that it was very painful, and needed major adjustments for the product to be a success. While surely the developers will try to improve their creation, I kinda hope they just give up and go get a girlfriend.

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I want a bluebox. Surely they don’t work anymore but seriously, that would be cool to have! Or at least a T-shirt with one or something. Nerdy? Yes. Worth it? Most definitely. Hacking seems really easy, I’m rather concerned. Luckily, I have no mortal enemies and am personally of no great significance so I should be safe from all but the pranks of buddies hacking my Facebook to change my status update. I for sure will be careful to keep my computer firewalls and security programs updated though, as annoying as the stupid PC “Accept or Deny” message may become. One thing that particularly stood out to me this week was the discussion over the Patriot Act. Several people seemed very upset about this invasion of privacy that includes listening to phone conversations and tracking your car. Many acted as if this “invasion of rights” was not worth it at all to prevent terrorist attacks. This distresses me. While I am not in agreement with much of the Patriot Act, especially that a suspect can be held indefinitely with no evidence, I feel as if these precautions that the government is taking are definitely worth the supervision of our lives that we likely will not even know about or be affected by. I feel like many of these viewpoints are rather selfish. If you aren’t breaking the law, you shouldn’t care if they listen to your phone calls, and frankly they aren’t gonna give a rip and listen very long to you talk about the weather or your Christmas plans. I personally have nothing to hide, so they can track my car or listen to my phone conversations if they want. It is sad to me how worked up people get over their “rights” that they don’t even consider the consequences. Just wonder what the children that now have to grow up without a daddy or a mother because of 9/11 would say about the worth of preventing a terrorist attack. I’m not trying to accuse anybody or be disrespectful, I just think that sometimes we can too easily become defensive without taking into account the full scheme of things. Anyway, that’s just my thoughts for the week.

Davis

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So Scratch is pretty groovy. I have really enjoyed playing around with Scratch these past weeks. I have learned a ton by experimenting myself, but my favorite thing is being able to see the programming on other peoples projects. Many projects with a very similar final product are immensely different in their scripting, especially in regards to how intricate it is. Scratch is just a simple intro to programming, but it is effective at least to me in making a person want to learn programming. If all that is possible with Scratch, imagine what must be possible with Java! Or any other programming language.

The last lecture is always great. I have read and watched it several times before, and love it. I even wrote about it in one of my college applications. My favorite parts are about how brick walls are not to keep us out, only to make us prove how bad we want something, and the comment:

“When you are doing something badly and no one’s bothering to tell you anymore, that’s a very bad place to be.  Your critics are the ones still telling you they love you and care.”

This is profound. After reading this for the first time, I forever am changed when it comes to criticism, especially from those that know me and love me. Randy Pausch was a cool guy with lots of wisdom, I am thankful for the legacy he left and how it has impacted my view of life.

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Wow. Okay so I feel like a loser because I’m so new to all this technological jive I’m just always astonished at how intense everything is. Coupled with my sophomoric level of knowledge thus far, I feel rather silly. All I do is gawk at how crazy everything is. I don’t know what else to say. Anyway, everything else is cool with SQL. I’ve always wondered how search engines and stuff like that functioned which especially uses SQL from a consumer perspective. Honestly, I haven’t focused much on SQL this week due to my focuson HTML. HTML was brand new to me but I love it! It’s really cool and once again I’m amazed at how the millions or more webpages out there are formatted with this code. Also, how professional most sites look when my first site looked so…amatuer to say the least. I look forward to experimenting with style sheets to get my HTML stuff looking better but so far it’s just a sweet tool in the ol’ toolbox. CSS seems to be a pretty sweet tool. It appears to cover everything I wish HTML could do (or wish I knew how to program in HTML) so all the bases seem to be covered there. I’m still trying not to get overwhelmed with all this techy programming stuff but hey it’s going pretty good so far, and I’m definately learning a lot and broadening my horizons!

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HTML is a very useful tool. Since I am a musician, I have experimented with promotional websites such as myspace music. The difficult thing in the past of doing this, is that it is all in HTML! So I was basically helpless in creating any custom layout. If only I had known how easy it was. Html is a sweet thing to know, because it is useful, yet simple… and it sounds impressive. The hardest part is memorizing all the different tags, but a simple cheat sheet takes care of that. Another interesting thing that I didn’t know about before this week was that you could open a saved html file with the web browser. Very interesting….anyways, I am thankful for this new knowledge about HTML, and am looking forward to applying this new found ability throughout other aspects of life, career, and advancement of myself as a person!

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Okay so upon my first view of the ALS I freaked out. I am not a software savvy man. I successfully maneuvered the four programs, not really understanding but getting the right answers. When Dr. Brown showed the demonstration of the ALS operation in class, it clicked. And it is incredible! How can technology do all of those steps so fast!? Wow. The ALS tied together the covered subject matter well. The binary especially helped my understanding of the system. If I learn anything from this class it is how amazing modern technology really is. And after seeing all that goes on, I’m never complaining about my computer being slow again!

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First of all, I wrote this in Microsoft Word and then copied and pasted into this blog. The text didn’t all transfer right so there is very noticeable variations in the font size and bolding. Sorry about the inconvenience.

The goal of my hypothetical computer build was to build a professional quality audio recording PC at a practical price. As a disclaimer out of brutal honesty, I received significant help from my father. He did not do this for me, we did it together, but he did provide immense help, and it was both fun father/son time and I was able to learn a lot from his experience as I am very new to all this. Anyway…There are three main things to consider in building an audio-centric PC:

1)      It is meant for recording which is a single-thread application

2)      It needs to be fast and powerful for flawless tracking in real-time. This speed is critical in the processor, memory management, and storage

3)      It must be silent. This requires extra care towards fans/cooling, and vibration from the hard drive

With these factors in mind, I began to take the steps in choosing parts for my audio recording PC.

Step 1: The Processor

In choosing a processor, I went for a dual core processor which is sufficient for the single thread recording app, fast clock speed, and large cache for best real time processing. I chose:

Intel Core i5-680 Clarkdale 3.6GHz 4MB L3 Cache LGA 1156 Dual-Core Desktop Processor

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16819115227

It is a very fast CPU, has specific turbo boost capabilities for single threaded apps like recording, and it has built-in graphics support which are sufficient for the low requirements of recording.  This saves money, power, and heat which helps keep it quiet.

Step 2: The Motherboard

Since my processor dictates a LGA 1156 socket motherboard, I chose:

ASUS P7P55D-E Pro LGA 1156 Intel P55 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16813131621

It supports the processor, has large selection of PCIe/PCI slots, and supports external SATA hard drives which allow fast back-up of large recording project data.

Step 3: Memory (RAM)

Due to the motherboard, it must be 240pin/DDR3 type memory, and of course I want the fastest practical. I chose:

Mushkin Enhanced Ridgeback 4GB (2 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Desktop Memory Model 996826

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820226123

Mushkin is a very reputable brand, this model had a large number of positive feedbacks from customers, and it had the fastest processor timings of all the models from Mushkin.

Step 4: CPU Cooling

Since silence is one of my goals, I chose to replace the stock CPU cooler with one designed for silence. I chose:

Tuniq CR-PRO120-BK-RV1 120mm Magnetic Fluid Dynamic Bearing Propeller 120 CPU Cooler

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16835154013&cm_re=cpu_cooler_1156-_-35-154-013-_-Product

Step 5: Power Supply

I want “more than enough” power so the power supply cooling fan never needs to come on. Also, manufacturer reputation is important as is the energy efficiency. I chose:

Seasonic SS-560KM Active PFC F3, 560W ATX12V V2.3/EPS 12V V2.91, 80Plus Gold Certified, Modular Power Supply

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16817151098

Seasonic is a leading manufacturer and this model uses modular connectors which really helps keep wire clutter to a minimum inside the case which helps with cooling and silence.

Step 6: Operating System Hard Drive

Given desire for silence, I opted for the now practical solid state drives which make no noise and run cool, and are affordable in smaller sizes for the operating system. I chose the most dependable SSD manufacturer, Intel:

Intel X25-V SSDSA2MP040G2R5 2.5″ 40GB SATA II MLC Internal Solid State Drive (SSD)

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820167025

Step 7: Recording Data Hard Drive

I am using separate drives for the operating system, and data which is standard practice with recording PCs. I went for a very reputable manufacturer and a very quiet model with sufficient speed:

Western Digital Caviar SE16 WD3200KSRTL 320GB 7200 RPM 16MB Cache SATA 3.0Gb/s 3.5″ Hard Drive

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16822136039

Step 8: Optical Drive CD/DVD Combo

Plextor is well known and I chose one with high customer satisfaction ratings:

PLEXTOR Black 24X DVD+R 8X DVD+RW 12X DVD+R DL 24X DVD-R 6X DVD-RW 12X DVD-RAM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-R 32X CD-RW 48X CD-ROM 2MB Cache SATA 24X DVD/CD Writer LightScribe Support

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827249051

Step 9: Firewire Interface Card

Because I want to use outboard audio hardware for analog to digital and digital to analog (AD/DA) conversion in recording, and because that hardware of choice uses the Firewire protocol instead of USB, I want a high quality Firewire card which uses the Texas Instruments chipset which is known to be of high quality:

SIIG FireWire 800 3-Port PCI Model

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16800998060&cm_re=firewire_card-_-00-998-060-_-Product

Step 10: Audio Card…or not…

AD/DA Hardware:  This hardware replaces a normal audio card for the PC.  It is specialty hardware for multiple track recording. I am choosing the RME Fireface 800 with 8 channels of AD/DA conversion.

RME Fireface 800 FireWire Audio Interface/MIDI Interface with 24-Bit/192kHz Audio, ADAT and S/PDIF I/O

http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/Fireface800/?gclid=CIPPooP-lKQCFZRa2godIkQVHA

Since this is an additional piece of expensive hardware, I am leaving it out of the price tally on the computer itself. The price for this hardware is $1,700

Step 11: Case

I want to choose a manufacturer and model which targets the silent pc builder specifically with room for cable management and special mounting accessories which minimize vibration from hard drives.  I chose:

Antec Twelve Hundred Black Steel ATX Full Tower Computer Case

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811129043

This case also includes case fans for cooling.

Step 12: Monitor

I want a large screen for multi-track mixing.  The graphics are not demanding but size makes a difference.  I chose a Walmart Vizio 37” HDTV:

Vizio 37″ Class Eco 1080p 60Hz LCD HDTV, VO370M

http://www.walmart.com/ip/Vizio-37-LCD-TV/10993795

This too I am leaving out of my computer price. The price tag on this monitor is $448

Step 13: Keyboard/Mouse

I chose to keep it simple and go with a simple Microsoft combo set:

http://www.newegg.com/Product/ComboDealDetails.aspx?ItemList=Combo.492687

The total price of my computer parts came out to:

$1,265.88

With the added prices for the audio interface and the monitor, the project total comes to:

$3414.88

Obviously that’s a big difference. Some money could be saved here with a cheaper audio interface and a regular monitor rather than a flat screen TV, but that wouldn’t be nearly as cool.

Assembly

So for assembly, everything just kindof clips in where necessary. It is important to remember grounding yourself during the assembly process. First, we attach all components to the motherboard. This includes: the CPU, RAM, both hard drives, the cooling system, and the optical drive. The motherboard and optical drive connect to the power supply which is mounted in the case. The motherboard, hard drives, and cooling system can be mounted as well. The Firewire card goes into the PCI slot on the motherboard, and the audio interface is connected through the card. Finally, the monitor, keyboard, and mouse are attached via the I/O panel on the back of the motherboard.

So now everything should be assembled and ready to go. Hooray for my new hypothetical recording computer!

Davis

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