The History Of Dolby Surround
The History Of Dolby Surround
With the explosion in popularity of home cinema, and the increasingly impressive technology that powers it, it’s perhaps easy to forget that Dolby Surround is still a relatively new technology. It may seem like it’s been around forever, and indeed at just over 30 years since it really came into its own making it no spring chicken, yet compared to other sound systems like mono and stereo, it’s a relative newcomer to the party.
With its availability on everything from televisions to hi-fi systems, videogames and even music
The Man Behind The Technology
Like many of the greatest inventions, Dolby Surround was the brainchild of just one person, and it’s actually named after him as well. Ray Dolby was a graduate of Stanford, as well as the recipient of the Marshall Fellowship at Cambridge University in England. Starting his own company in 1965 called Dolby Laboratories, he came up with an ingenious way to separate loud noise from softer noise, enabling him to offer a far greater range in sound.
Initially using the technology to improve audio recordings for the music industry, Dolby’s technology really took off with the release of ‘Star Wars’ in cinemas in the summer of 1977. As well as the audience being stunned by the visuals on the screen, the sound effects were just as important, and won an Oscar at the following year’s awards ceremony. Being able to hear a spaceship from behind your ears before it came onto the screen in front of you was an experience that blew moviegoers away, and Dolby Surround became the norm for subsequent films.
Current Dolby Technology
As the technology became embraced by more mediums, including the videogame arena as well as television shows and video and laserdiscs (and later DVD
Dolby Pro-Logic followed, and this helped separate the speech into a centre speaker, making for far clearer dialogue. Dolby Digital and Dolby 5.1 followed this, where a subwoofer was added into the mix for even more dynamic sound quality, especially on action films. Currently Dolby 9.1 is the latest incarnation, allowing for two subwoofers and seven satellite speakers for the best sound possible.
With Dolby Laboratories continuing to push the envelope, however, you can be sure that Dolby Surround will continue to evolve, and the next stage is the technology will be sure to be eagerly anticipated.
TimeBoxWidget TimeBoxing
This free Timeboxing widget I wrote can help you become more productive.
“Timeboxing” is a productivity strategy in which we set a commitment time for a task then we do our best to complete the task in the time we have allowed. For example, you may say to yourself, “I know I can finish writing these meeting minutes in 40 minutes, so I’ll assign myself 40 minutes to complete this task.” The Timebox Widget is a countdown timer that helps keep you keep your promise. Some people use egg timers to “box their time,” but the Timebox widget is better and easier.
It’s easy to use the FREE Timebox Widget to become more productive:
- Highlight your commitment time on any screen, then click the [Copy] button to start the countdown timer.
- Need to adjust the time? Click the plus or minus buttons.
- Need to pause? Click the big countdown timer button.
My Timebox Widget has no spyware you can download it for FREE in less than 1 minute from this link:
Apple iPod versus Microsoft Zune
Zune versus iPod
When Apple’s iPod first came out what seems an age ago, it was a breath of fresh air in an otherwise stagnant MP3
Newer versions offered video playback and games, with an impressive display screen to boot, and it seemed that Apple had the market sewn up. However, with the introduction of Microsoft’s Zune last year, things became a lot more competitive. With the financial clout that Microsoft has, not to mention the technical knowledge their engineers have, the Zune offered features that the older iPod didn’t have.
Now, however, Apple has released an updated version of their iPod technology, so is there a particular one you should go for? It all really depends on your needs, and how many of the features you’ll actually use:
Size. Due to the fact that the Zune has a larger screen than the iPod (3 inches compared to the 2.5 inches of the iPod), the Zune is a bigger piece of equipment, and this may work against it. Weighing 6 ounces compared to the iPod’s 4.8 ounces, it’s also heavier. However, this is offset by the extra features that the Zune has.
Storage. At the moment, the Zune is only available in a 30GB model (the comparisons here are with the equivalent iPod). This can hold up to 7,500 songs or 100 hours of video, as well as almost 25,000 digital pictures. Apple offers various versions of their iPod, so there is more choice when it comes to memory if you buy an iPod.
Interface. While both units use a scrolling wheel click system to navigate the various menus, the iPod can often be a pain, requiring you to come out of your chosen menu to reach another one. The Zune, on the other hand, allows multiple menus to be displayed, and is a lot easier to navigate due to the larger screen.
File sharing. If you have a laptop with wi-fi capabilities (wireless internet), then you’ll be right at home with a Zune. Transferring songs or files between two Zunes is relatively easy, and is an option that iPod currently doesn’t feature.
Software. This is an area where Microsoft still trails Apple by a large amount. One of the things that Apple have enjoyed major success with is their iTunes store, which allows users of both Macs and PC’s to download music
With similar features on both machines (with the exception of the file sharing), the Zune and the iPod have a lot going for them. However, the iPod probably just scrapes through overall as the better option, due to the compatibility with Macs and PC’s, as well as a far more impressive online store. For now, that is.
Virtual Reality
Whatever Happened To Virtual Reality?
Remember that scene in the movie ‘Tron’, where the little bikes were zipping about in a race to the death, leaving lines behind them that caused a bike to explode if it ran into it? And remember how everybody thought it’d be cool to take part in something like that, if the technology allowed it? That technology was VR, or Virtual Reality, and in the early 1990’s, it was THE buzzword everywhere you looked.
Born from the desire to interact within a real-life living world that was completely computer-generated, VR was meant to be the next big thing in home and entertainment technology. Whether it was to be used as a method of taking part in your favorite videogames, or racing a car at the Indy 500, here was a way that your wildest dreams could come true, without ever leaving your home.
Yet almost 20 years later, and we’re really no further forward with virtual reality or the experiences it could bring us. So whatever happened to virtual reality, and where do we stand now?
A Leap Too Far
Although the idea behind virtual reality was exciting, the actual reality – no pun intended – was far more complicated. The software needed to allow you to envisage a fully three-dimensional world was not only expensive, but also incredibly difficult to run properly. Since your eyes had to be fooled into thinking that you were in a 3-D world, you needed to wear a headset that projected images all around you.
This allowed you the freedom to move around, and the sensors that were inside the helmet moved the software with you. A simple example would be that you’re in the cockpit of a racing car – your headset is hooked up to a computer or video console that tracks the movement of all the cars, track and stadium around your car. If you turn your head to the right, whatever would be passing your car at that time is transmitted to your helmet, so it would look like you’re passing a rival car, or part of the stadium. Simple, yet highly effective.
Unfortunately, to get the required technology to work, the helmet had to be pretty bulky and heavy, and this caused neck strain and a lot of headaches on users of the early VR technology. Add to that the huge costs involved, and VR was never going to be a viable project for the home for a long time. Even the immensely popular Japanese videogame giant Nintendo couldn’t bring the technology into the home, and its Virtual Boy console suck without a trace.
Virtual Technology Today
With costs and the technology available at the time scuppering VR before it really even got off the ground, many believe that it has now passed into the history books. However, virtual reality is making a comeback, though perhaps not in the ways imagined.
NASA are using the core technology for its robots to be controlled by human users on its Mars probes, and a University in British Columbia in Canada has come up with technology that allows you to be suspended in a harness and use a head-mounted display to “virtually swim” in the ocean. Even the new Nintendo Wii offers some form of virtual technology, with its ability to use its controller as a fishing rod, or baseball bat, or golf club.
With technology advancing so quickly, and costs coming down, perhaps it won’t be too long until we’re sitting on these bikes in ‘Tron’, ready for our own death-or-glory race. Without the death, of course…
XO $100 OLPC – One Laptop Per Child
The $100 Laptop – Bringing Computers to the World.
When Microsoft owner Bill Gates stood up a couple of years back and said he wanted a computer in front of every child in the world, many put it down as fancy thinking on the part of the computer giant’s guru. The cost alone of implementing this would make it immediately unfeasible. However, thanks to the non-profit organization OLPC and its $100 laptop, this dream is closer to being a reality.
The OLPC Difference
Standing for One Laptop per Child, OLPC is the brainchild of members of the MIT Media Lab faculty, and has been steadily gaining momentum since it was first premiered in 2005 at the World Economic Forum in Switzerland. Sharing the vision that children deserve to have the best opportunities possible, founder of OLPC Nicholas Negroponte came up with the idea of the $100 laptop to “provide children around the world with new opportunities to explore, experiment and express themselves”.
Where the OLCP difference is really felt is that although the $100 laptop is essentially for benefiting children in third-world countries, it can also be used to help children in more affluent countries. This could be those living beneath or on the poverty line, and for whom their education is suffering because they can’t afford to have a computer in the home. This latter use for the $100 laptop has seen the unit receive strong interest from schools in North America.
The Laptop Design
Until recently, the final details of the laptop were still a point of discussion – however, in late September, Negroponte showed his design to the world’s press, and a prototype of the final machine should hopefully be seen at the World Summit on the Information Society in November 2007.
With the emphasis on getting the machine into third-world countries overtaking everything else, it’s perhaps not surprising that the design reflects this. With poorer countries such as Brazil, Thailand and South Africa amongst the early recipients, the unit comes complete with a hand crank attached. Much like the style seen on classic cars, this will be used when there isn’t an electrical power source.
To emphasize the sturdiness of the laptop, it will come in a rubber casing, ideal for the environments that Negroponte aims for them to be used in. A handy little design trick is to use the supplied AC adaptor as a carrying strap as well. Despite the price point that OCLP is aiming for, they’re still including some excellent features into the laptop itself.
For example, the machine will still come with at least four USB ports, so connection to normal accessories such as printers and phone or cable lines will be as easy as it is to do on a more standard arrangement. Additionally, it is hoped the laptops will come with a 500MHz processor, which although maybe not the fastest on the market is more than ideal for what the machine is needed for.
The display will also be able to switch between colour and mono, which is a far more sensible option for countries where bright sunlight is the norm. This display is also far more efficient cost-wise due to the fact that is uses the newer electronic ink technology, which saves on the power consumption and allows better use of the screen.
Although it’s yet to go into mass production, test versions of the $100 laptop have been met with almost universal acclaim. With a new program in place where you can buy a laptop and give one at the same time, and the costs coming down all the time, it may be sooner rather than later that the computers for all dream is a reality. For that reason alone, the $100 laptop deserves to succeed.
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