My Blog

I’m sitting in front of the computer not quite sure how to start my final blog so I guess I’ll start way back at the beginning with A Bit About Me. The timing of the explosion of our digital world and the Internet coincides with the time that I made a personal decision to forego my career to stay home and raise my children. Needless to say, the way the technological world does business today no longer resembles the way we did business 15 years ago. I felt like my professional skills had diminished, hence the reason I decided to pursue a Business degree. I’ve managed to learn many things about the computer over the years (enough to be functional on a personal computer anyway), but in no way would consider myself computer savvy. The first few weeks of class were somewhat intimidating to me, but, as my confidence level increased the intimidation factor diminished. Computer Science was by far my favorite class this semester. Dr. Brown is a fantastic teacher and I must say that I learned a great deal over the semester. Personally, I think this should be a required class no matter what direction your career path may take you… computer technology is here to stay and is changing ever so rapidly.

Binary 1+1=10? – Here’s where I thought I might be in over my head by taking Computer Science. Binary is a term my husband introduced to me, one that made absolutely no sense to me, after all, how can 1+1=10? Never did in my mathematical world! Dr. Brown’s explanation of how to add in binary was much easier to grasp than the way my husband tried to explain it.

Building My Own Computer – I will have to admit, this project took me a significant amount of time to do. The concept of building a computer is quite simple, but when you begin to look at what you may want to purchase there are a lot of decisions that have to be made and you have to be mindful of purchasing compatible components, something I found somewhat challenging given my lack of computer knowledge. But, here again, it was a great hands on assignment that helped cement the concepts Dr. Brown covered in his lectures.

Working With the Assembly Language Simulator – This was probably my least favorite project, but in the end, l learned a lot. Based on the blog entries I read from last semester, I am thankful Dr. Brown did not make us develop a program in the Assembly Language Simulator.

Developing a Web Page Using HTML – This by far was my favorite project. Though I was hesitant about having to publish something on an Internet server to begin with, it was kind of neat to type in a web address and have something you have created pop up on the screen. Working in HTML demystified the end product of producing a webpage.

SQL & Databases – To begin with I had no idea what Dr. Brown was referring to when he used the term Structured Query Language… but, as the lecture progressed I found that it was a  concept most people should already be familiar with. Most people are probably quite familiar with the term databases, so grasping the material was quite easy.

Programming With Scratch – This was my second favorite assignment. I had a lot of fun learning the program language, and in the process, I learned a significant amount about working in Adobe Photoshop Elements 3. I did not like the cropping and resizing tools in Scratch because every time you made a change to the work you had done it reduced the quality of the end product. So, I decided to make good use of Adobe, a piece of software I purchased several years ago, but would have to admit, hadn’t taken the time to master.

Hackers, Viruses, and Security – This lecture segment was eye opening. I have always been mindful of the risks associated with being online, but now am even more skeptical of doing business online.

Robotics and Artificial Intelligence – We learned about some fascinating work being done in these two fields. Personally, I look forward to the day I can purchase a robot that can clean my house for me!

Virtual Worlds and Games – This is an area I just can’t get excited about. There are so many things vying for our attention these days and this is one area I have just avoided, mainly because of my addictive type personality. I enjoyed the work Dr. Brown had us do in Alice though. Since the Christmas season is upon us, my end program was quite simple… too many things to do and not enough time! I think I will play around with it some more and will introduce my kids to both Scratch and Alice over the Christmas holidays.

Twitter Page – This offered some interesting articles, one of which I used to write a paper on in another class. Thank you for providing this resource Dr. Brown. 

Interactions with fellow classmates and Dr. Brown – Dr. Brown has us work with our fellow classmates on the Robotics Lego Mindstorms project. I enjoyed that as it gave us an opportunity to interact with fellow classmates as well as observe each other’s Lego Mindstorms building/programming creations. And, Dr. Brown, he is an excellent teacher. He is excited about the field of computer technology; therefore, his enthusiasm makes for an interesting learning environment. His projects, even the ones you may not necessarily like, provide excellent tools for solidifying the concepts he covers in his comic books and lectures.

This Computer Science course presented a wealth of information and leaves you with many things to ponder. As Dr. Brown says, technology is neither good nor bad… it’s all dependent on how the person using the technology intends to use it. One thing I find myself wondering is, how long will it be, if ever, before robots could potentially take over the world!?!

I would say that the one question I have pondered the most is… how long will it take before all of our 4^th amendment rights are stripped away from us due to the ever changing world of technology? We have already lost so many of our God given rights… a reality that most Americans are oblivious to. We most definitely have “Big Brother” watching over us and I just pray that the “Sleeping Giant” awakens in the souls of the American people before we are left scratching our heads, wondering just how did we get here?

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Eleven years…. that’s how long it has been since I have played a video game. As I mentioned before, my only experience with video games was when we purchased PlayStation for my son’s birthday. So, unfortunately, I will not be able to elaborate much in this blog. I gave up video games after playing “Crash Bash” and “Crash Bandicoot Warped” with my son. I do not participate in a social virtual world, therefore, I do not have an avatar from a game or virtual world that I can show. I can’t share how I feel as to whether the virtual world experience is rewarding, nor can I intelligently discuss the pros and cons of gaming.

I do think video games are fun and entertaining, but, given the fact that I have an addictive type personality, I decided very early on that video games were something I should avoid… I can see how easily people spend hours upon hours playing games. I know because that is exactly what I did with the simple E rated PlayStation games I mentioned in the previous paragraph. Who knows though…. maybe when the kids are grown and I have more disposable time on my hands I will pick gaming up. Until then, I’ll just continue to watch my boys play every now and then.

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Gaming is number one in the entertainment industry in terms of dollars, which means that it has surpassed music and videos. I was not at all surprised when Dr. Brown made this statement as he introduced us to this week’s topic of artificial intelligence. My two teenage sons were out of school today and what do you suppose they have been doing all day? Yes, they have been on Playstation for about eight hours today. With today’s technology you don’t even have to leave the comfort of your own home to interact with friends. The boys have been playing Playstation online with another boy they spend time with and have communicated using the Internet and a computer screen (Skipe) instead of the telephone. In addition, since they had to use the television for Playstation, they used yet another computer to watch online television while playing Playstation.

I purchased our first Playstation for my son’s fourth birthday. One of the most popular games at the time which small children could play was a game called “Crash Bandicoot.” I spent a lot of time interacting with my kids during their formative years; so to begin with, I spent a significant amount of time playing the game with him. I have to admit that it was quite addicting! I found myself wanting to take over, and I just could not lay the controller down until I beat the next level, then the next, then the next, etc. After several months of play I decided it was time to lay the controller down. I gave up Playstation because it consumed so much of my time. For me, escaping to see a movie with girlfriends seemed like a much better choice of entertainment. Needless to say, since my boys are teenagers now all they want to play are war games and sports games; so even if I wanted to pick playing Playstation back up it surely would not be in the company of my sons because to them the type of games I like are quite boring to them.

I often have to call upon my husband, Siak, to help me when I experience problems with computer programs and such. His number one response to me is, “computers are stupid.” Now to me, often times, I wondered if maybe the computer was actually smarter than me. With this week’s discussion about expert systems, neural networks, genetic algorithms, language and the computer’s lack of common sense, I can concur with Siak’s statement. I guess the discussion about the Turing Test and the Chatbot attempt further demonstrate that man has a way to go before he creates a machine that passes the Turing Intelligence Test.

I have to admit that Ray Kurzweil looks pretty good for a 62 year old man, but I gotta ask, who in their right mind would want to live forever? Personally, unless you could make me look 30 again (and forever), I’d just assume let nature take its course… that is, assuming He allows me to grow old gracefully. At the end of my time on earth, I so look forward to hearing the words, “well done good and faithful servant” when I finally get to meet my savior face to face.

Robotics Lab – I enjoyed the lab this week, even more so than actually building the robots. Playing around with the program to make the robot do specific things was fun as well as a bit challenging. I liked working with a lab partner, but don’t feel like I got a solid grasp on how to manipulate the program like I did with Scratch. I’m a hands on learner, so for me, learning computer skills comes much easier for me when I actually manipulate it myself from start to finish. We downloaded the Lego Mindstorms program onto my computer today though and I must say that Jeff was so kind and patient with me while I did the hands on programming myself.

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This week of Robotics was quite interesting. As Dr. Brown lectured and showed videos to the class, my mind wondered to the summer my children and I visited friends who moved to Huntsville, Alabama. My friend, Lori, took us to the U.S. Space and Rocket Center (see picture of all the kids to the right). While there, she pointed out several things her husband, a Boeing employee, had worked on.

One of the videos Dr. Brown showed us made me think about one of the robots Lori pointed out to me at the museum. I had to come home and look back at the pictures we took while visiting to remember the name of the robot. It’s an Unmanned Ground Vehicle called Matilda (see below). The display description says that its mission “meets numerous requirements for tactical, weapons of mass destruction, counter-terrorism, explosive ordnance disposal, and industrial security operations.” Matilda’s description says that it is ”lightweight, versatile,  easy to operate, can climb stairs and negotiate obstacles.” It also has “multiple uses and is capable of carrying many different payloads to support a varitey of missions.” Matilda weighs 40 pounds and has the following features:

I actually thought this was one of the projects Brad worked on at Boeing, but after referring back to pictures and searching the Internet, it turns out that AMRDEC developed Matilda. Below are pictures of two projects Lori’s husband did work on, however.

I really did find the discussion and hands on work with the Legos Mindstorm fascinating, and I have always been so amazed with the technology of robotics. It’s nice to know just a bit about how it all works now. Though I do have to admit, it’s somewhat frightening to me listening to Dr. Brown talk about the day when man will finally unleash the robot to make its own decision as to whether or not to destroy what it perceives to be its enemy. What if robots decide to turn on mankind!?!

The lab portion of class…. I will say that I was somewhat skeptical to begin with when Dr. Brown told us we would be using the Lego Mindstorms to build and program a robot. I’ve bought a lot of Legos over the years for my two boys, especially Bionicles. But, I have never had the least bit of interest in sitting down with the boys and putting the Bionicles together. Once Jeff and I got started putting the pieces together though, I actually enjoyed building the thing. Programming was more fun than actually putting the robot together though and I’m looking forward to next week’s class as we try to program it to follow a line. I decided that since I had so much fun with it, I think my two sons would probably have even more fun than me. Christmas is right around the corner and I believe I will pick one up for them… Since they are teenagers it’s probably the only surprise gift I will actually be able to pull off this year.

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It was interesting to learn about the history of computer hacking. I found it comical that John Draper was able to hack the phone system by simply using a toy whistle…a toy none the less provided to him free in a box of cereal. Thank goodness for the curious minds of all the young guys that have shaped our technological world as we know it today, even if it meant they used hacking to explore technology. Steve Wozniac’s fascination with the blue box no doubt added to his enthusiasm about computer technology. The person I am most impressed with though is Steve Jobs. The movie we watched in class revealed that Steve Jobs did not have anything much to do with the design of the personal computer… His entrepreneurial spirit allowed him to envision the potential financial success that Steve Wozniac’s personal computer could bring.

Computer virus problems have been a commonplace occurrence within our household. We have had more than our share of computer viruses that have attacked our systems… in large part due to our kids using the computer. They have been forbidden to use my computer since last year when they received their own laptops and I have not had any problems since then!

Computer security is a concern of mine. It’s frightening to think how easily someone can hijack a computer. I do use the Internet to make some purchases, but not much because I am so leery of what bad could happen.

It’s true that the events of September 11, 2001 forever changed our lives. President Bush’s enactment of the Patriot Act was a direct result of the terror attack of war. While it is true that terrorists were most likely captured due to the enactment of the Patriot Act, many Americans are oblivious to the civil liberties they lost when the Patriot Act was enacted. It opened the door for the Federal government to access our lives much more easily. It’s scary to think that an innocent law abiding citizen could potentially receive the same type punishment Kevin Mitnick received from the Federal government simply because the government says they suspect (without probable cause) an individual of terrorism.

If the Obama administration is successful in passing its mandate that forces a backdoor on encrypted software, it will only make it that much easier for hackers hacking for evil purposes to invade our personal lives and finances. It’s quite unsettling for the average law abiding American to think that a financial institution software developer could be forced to design his encrypted software so that it could be intercepted and unscrambled. It also seems to me that mandated backdoor encryption would have a huge negative impact within the business community given they have come to rely so much on the Internet. They would lose a sense of security knowing software developers were forced to design something that could compromise their business activities.

Computer technology  has greatly enhanced American society; but at the same time has caused American civil liberties to be compromised as the Federal government strives to keep America safe.  Hacking for good and evil will continue and computer security will always be an issue Americans will have to deal with.

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My first impression of Scratch…. I just find it all so fascinating! I really enjoyed programming in Scratch. The actual hands on experience helped me understand the process much better. The program was user friendly for the most part, but I must confess that there is one aspect of Scratch I did not like. It was the editing portion of the costumes I found to be frustrating. I became frustrated while I was trying to figure out how to make an imported image’s background transparent working in Adobe Photoshop Elements 3; out of frustration, I switched to the Scratch program to use its editing.

As I was learning how to make the sprites appear to be the same size and how to move them around on the stage, I realized that every time I minimized or maximized the sprite’s size I was losing pixels, therefore, reducing the quality of the image on the stage. So, being the perfectionist that I am, I switched back to Adobe to edit the sprites to make them transparent. I actually spent a large portion of my time trying to understand Adobe. After a significant amount of time working on it, I resorted to YouTube….how did we ever survive without all of the resources we have at our fingertips today!?! A YouTube video gave me all the training I needed to manipulate sprite size and transparency. The work done in Adobe and then imported into Scratch gave me a much better quality sprite.

The only other aspect I spent a larger amount of time on was looping and manipulating the x and y coordinates to get three of my sprites to appear on stage where I wanted them. Overall, it was quite an interesting experience moving from motion, looks, sound, control, sensing, operands, and variables. You really have to put some thought into what you are doing because every time you make a change you can affect the actions of your sprites elsewhere in the program.

Randy Pausch…. I referred to some past student blogs before class to see what we would be doing. I must say that student comments were right on the money. Randy’s lecture was indeed inspirational. I remain in awe of his sense of peace about dying. The part that touched me….he gave the lecture on his wife’s birthday and celebrated her life by acknowledging her birth during the lecture. For his kids… what an awesome opportunity he had to deliver a message to his three children via a lecture he was invited to give because of his life’s work. I imagine one could not even begin to count the number of times his family has watched his “last lecture.” Such an awesome gift to leave behind! It’s too bad his time on this earth was so short. Given his work on Alice and his teaching philosophy, it appears it is society’s loss that he is not still with us. It’s always a good thing when you can learn how to do something without realizing you are actually learning.

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I got started designing my web page last week…leaving the majority of it to complete this week. I think HTML is fascinating. Though, I do have to admit I spent a significant amount of time with it. In large part because I tend to be a perfectionist, and would not settle until I got the page looking just the way I wanted. I understood the basics of everything Dr. Brown taught last week, but there is always going to be some things that require some further thinking and figuring out.

The main thing I had to figure out on my own (actually with the help of Siak) was how to downsize my jpg image. My camera takes 10 megapixel pictures, so even when I downsized the image, it was quite large…taking a significant amount of room on my web page. Down-sizing was accomplished by using width=”200” height=”150.” It was a little confusing trying to figure out how to do the tables and rows as well, but with a little persistence, I figured it out as well.

How has my view of the web changed? Not quite as intimidating as beforehand. It really is fascinating how a web page is designed using the mark-up language of HTML. Even though I did not want to actually download anything about myself onto the web, I have to say, it was kind of neat having something I actually designed pop up on the computer monitor after typing in a web address.

SQL (Structured Query Language)? The first time I heard the term SQL, which was several weeks ago, I had absolutely no idea what Dr. Brown was referring to. But, once he lectured on it, I realized it was something I had a grasp on what he was referring to. I understood the one-to-one, one-to-many concepts….he was referring to. Truthfully though, I just hope I don’t have to figure out how to write up a command or anything like that on the exam.

All in all, most of the information presented was new to me, but the concepts of databases, data manipulation, and relational databases are things we deal with quite frequently.

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I’ll have to admit, it was quite nice not having any new information to digest the week of exam 1. Studying for the exam gave me some additional time to let all this new information about computers sink in…I digested something new every time I read through Dr. Brown’s lecture notes.

But, it’s time to move forward once again. It’s sad to admit, but most everything covered this week was completely new to me…topology of the network, internet protocol, packet switching, TCP/IP, HTTP, HTML, and the list goes on. Since we did not have class Monday, I spent a significant amount of time visiting the links that were provided, so I had somewhat of a grasp of the material Dr. Brown was going to cover on Wednesday.

Moving onto the subject matter of today’s blog, HTML… It really is quite fascinating. Truthfully, while surfing the internet and clicking on various links provided, I had no idea that was HTML, or that I could possibly create something like it myself. All I knew was that if you clicked on the link you were sent to another website.

Since our blog is supposed to be about writing in HTML, I went ahead and got started on the assignment so I could share a bit of my experience. But since we are going to learn some additional information next week, I won’t spend a significant amount of time with it until next week.

Okay, I know you get tired of hearing about my lack of knowledge, but it’s true. Honestly, until yesterday, I had never even used Notepad. So, I recruited the help of Siak to guide me through the best steps to take in saving the file. Normally, I save things in My Documents, but today, I learned how to save something directly to the C drive. All I knew about Internet Explorer was that I had to click on it to get into the internet…no knowledge that it was a client server, much less that I could work in Notepad and view my work in Internet Explorer. Pretty cool!!! So, I got into it and dabbled a bit. I managed to get one paragraph with ordered numbering done. If time permits, I may spend some time developing my three paragraphs to go along with it, but most likely, I will wait until next week to dive into the assignment to make my first Web Page in HTML.

95% of the material covered so far in this class is completely new information for me, so I do have to spend a significant amount of time actually learning how to do what I need to know. Here again, the Web assignment is another great learning experience even if you have no plans to go any further in Information Technology. It’s an applicable assignment for those going into Business as well as those with an entrepreneurial spirit. It’s also applicable for people’s everyday community interests and involvement that might require them to create a Web Page. I could have used this class a year ago when it was suggested that our neighborhood create a Web Page. Now that I know there is no reason to be intimidated, I’m excited about writing in HTML. Great practice for future endeavors!!!

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Well, I understood most everything Dr. Brown was explaining during Monday’s class, everything except the “Step” button process to step through the execution of the program code. I understood how to assemble, reset, and load, but was lost with how to work through the execution part that pertained to the “Step” button.

I had worked through the homework assignment by stepping through the process and gave up after a few minutes since he was going to be covering it again on Wednesday. During that part of the lecture….it went right over my head again. So, I decided I’d better stick around for awhile during lab and have him step through the process with me one on one.

I worked through the assignment several more times today (Friday) before attempting the quiz. Program 4 was the only one I had a hard time following, but after going through it 3 to 4 times it finally clicked. I got it! I think one reason it went slowly thinking through the process was trying to watch the changes take place in binary language. Unlike whole numbers, the 1′s and 0′s can be hard to follow and convert back to whole numbers.

Last week’s assignment was helpful in giving me a better understanding of the individual components that make up the computer. And, this week’s assignment of working with programs in the Assembly Language Simulator gave me a much better understanding of how the computer’s CPU works.

I must admit that all this computer hardware stuff is somewhat foreign to me, but thank you Dr. Brown for assigning applicable assignments that help computer illiterates such as myself! I don’t really think there are too many missing pieces at this p0int. The process of thinking through it is a bit slow for me, so hopefully, having a review day along with studying for the first exam will bring it all together for me by next Wednesday, exam day.

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I have to confess that this week’s assignment to build a computer was somewhat intimidating to me, especially since I am just now starting to get the gist of what each component does. I was somewhat unsure of what I was doing simply because I did not know all the interchangeable terminology and lingo for components; for example, that Max LAN Speed is actually Ethernet. Therefore, I decided to recruit my husband to help me choose the components since he knows a lot about computers. Siak double checked all the components I was going to purchase and confirmed that they were indeed compatible with each other. The write-up and component assembly explanations were, however, done on my own.

Since we could build any type of computer we wanted, I simply chose to build a high performance computer. I enjoy digital photography and downloading ten megapixel pictures onto the computer tends to take up quite a bit of hard disk space so storage and speed is important. 

I started the process by choosing which motherboard I would buy. I chose the ASUS Sabertooth X58 LGA 1366 Intel X58 SATA 6Gb/s USB 3.0 ATX Intel Motherboard because it supports the latest Intel Core i7-930 processor. The Sound Card and the Ethernet were included with the motherboard so the only thing I had to purchase separately was the video card. I’m not a gamer or anything, so just a good quality video card would suffice. I chose the Palit NE39800TFHD02 GeForce 9800 GT 1GB 256-bit GDDR3 PCI Express 2.0 x16 HDCP Ready Video Card. My reasons for choosing both of these were because of speed capability and customer reviews of 5/5. These two component parts can be found at the following websites: 

• Motherboard at a cost of $199.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=13-131-665.
• Video Card at a cost of $105.99 http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16814261045.

The next decision I made was to purchase the CPU for $284.99; the Intel Core i7-930 Bloomfield 2.8GHz 4 x 256KB L2 Cache 8MB L3 Cache LGA 1366 130W Quad-Core Desktop Processor BX80601930. Here again, high performance and customer reviews was the driving force behind my purchasing decision with 92% of the reviews rating the product 5/5. The link to purchase this product can be found at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=19-115-225.  

Next, I moved on to RAM which cost $134.99. I chose the G.SKILL 6GB (3 x 2GB) 240-Pin DDR3 SDRAM DDR3 1600 (PC3 12800) Triple Channel Kit Desktop Memory Model F3-12800CL9T-6GBNQ. I chose this RAM memory system for speed and amount of memory. Again, customer reviews of the product were considered. The link to purchase this product can found at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=20-231-225.

From there I made the purchasing decision concerning the hard drive, which cost $89.99. I chose the Western Digital Caviar Black WD1002FAEX 1TB 7200 RPM 64MB Cache SATA 6.0Gb/s 3.5″ Internal Hard Drive -Bare Drive. I chose a terabyte because digital picture storage takes up a lot of space. Customer reviews averaged out to a 4/5, but overall 63% rated it 5/5 so I feel good about that choice. The link for the hard drive is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=22-136-533.

Next, I chose an optical drive which cost $119.99. I chose the PLEXTOR Black 8X BD-ROM 16X DVD-ROM 48X CD-ROM SATA Internal BD Combo Model PX-B320SA LightScribe Support – OEM. I chose a blu-ray optical drive in part because of the monitor I would like to go along with the unit. Blu-ray technology would be nice to have so blu-ray movies can be watched on the computer. The link for this product can be found at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16827249055.

Finally, I made a case decision which cost $79.99. I chose the COOLER MASTER Centurion 534 RC-534-KKRK-GP Black Aluminum & Mesh bezel / SECC Chassis ATX Mid Tower Computer Case 460W Power Supply for several reasons. I like black, it came with the power supply and has the 2 x USB2.0 , 2 x Audio, and 1 x IEEE1394 on the front panel. It’s nice to have these easily accessible on the front panel when using the computer for photography/video purposes. To find the link follow http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16811119208.

Putting all the components together:  

• Put the CPU on the motherboard by lifting the lever and putting it into place.
• Install RAM onto the motherboard by dropping it into the slot and pushing down until the arms click into place.
• Install the Video Card into the PCI express 2.0 X 16 slot.
• Put the Motherboard in the case by securing it with screws and connect the power supply to the motherboard.
• Install the hard drive into the case and connect the power supply to the hard drive. Then connect the SATA cable (6.0gb/s) between the motherboard and hard drive.
• Install the optical drive and connect the power supply to the optical drive. Then connect the SATA cable between the optical drive and mother board.
• Plug any remaining connections to the motherboard for the USB, audio, and IEEE1394 on the front panel to work.

There are several additional items that are needed to operate the system. I made additional purchasing decisions to buy a monitor, keyboard, mouse, speakers, and a HDMI cord.

Monitor at a cost of $289.99 - I have had both a Sony and a Dell monitor, but chose a VewSonic monitor upon Siak’s recommendation. I chose the ViewSonic VP2365wb Black 23″IPS LCD Monitor w/4-port USB hub,height&pivot adjustment 300 cd/m2 1000:1. I chose the 23 inch screen because it would be nice to have a large working area for when multiple files are open, allowing me to see several files at a time. It will also serve well for watching high definition, blu-ray movies on the computer screen. The link to follow is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16824116421.

Keyboard at a cost of $41.99 - I chose the Microsoft Natural Ergonomic Keyboard 4000, mainly because of the ergonomic design style. Thought it would be a good time to try this type of keyboard out. The link can be followed by going to  http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=23-109-148&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&PageSize=10&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&IsFeedbackTab=true#scrollFullInfo.

Mouse at a cost of $38.99 - I chose the steelseries Kinzu Black 3 Buttons USB Wired Optical Mouse mainly because 72% of customers rated it at 5/5. The link is http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=26-249-038&SortField=0&SummaryType=0&PageSize=10&SelectedRating=-1&VideoOnlyMark=False&IsFeedbackTab=true#scrollFullInfo.

Speakers at a cost of $38.99 - I chose the Cyber Acoustics CA3550RB 68 watts 2.1 Black Speakers. I like the way they look and the reviews say that you get good quality sound for a cheap price. The link can be followed at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836150044.

HDMI Cord at a cost of $5.99 - I chose Link Depot 10 ft. HDMI TO HDMI A/V Cable Model HDMI-3-HDMI – OEM, mainly because there were 214 customer reviews with a rating of 5/5. Out of that, 87% of the reviews reflected a 5/5 rating. Follow the link at http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16812189054.

Total cost for this computer is $1431.88.

Once the additional items are properly connected to the case the system will be ready to install the operating system and software, something we get to learn about in week four.

This assignment took a significant amount of time for me to do, but, an assignment well worth doing. Actually having to go online and choose products to assemble a computer helped me to better grasp what each component’s function is. In addition, Siak’s input into my purchase decisions gave me a greater knowledge of the component parts and how they work. It is an exercise that I believe has given me a better knowledge of component parts and their functions.

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