Local Weather for Appleton, WI
60°
16°
°F | °C
Mostly Cloudy
Humidity: 61%
Wind: N at 12 mph
Wed
44 |
62
6 |
16
Thu
49 |
66
9 |
18
Fri
58 |
67
14 |
19
Sat
53 |
67
11 |
19
| Byte Me: The next best thing is now |
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Have you ever heard someone say that when you ask him or her why he or she does not buy a new computer? He or she will say, “It’s going to be outdated by the time I buy it anyway, so I’ll just wait.” With what I know of the computer industry, this is a very understandable and common response. It’s true that technology is changing very quickly. It is also nearly true that anything you purchase today will be outdone by something better almost immediately. This doesn’t mean you should wait for something better. It’s perpetual. You will never have the better something. There will always be something better coming out. Technology is advancing at an exponential rate. Some experts even say there’s an exponential growth rate to the exponential rate of advancement of technology. This means that it is possible artificial intelligence will surpass human intelligence. Depending on the expert you ask, this could mean anything from the demise of human existence to a heaven on Earth type scenario. Any way you look at it, things are advancing more quickly every second you wait around for something better. The only way to understand all of it better is to understand the technology you can get your hands on, which is only available in the present. So don’t wait for that something that will be better than whatever you think is going to be outdated the moment you purchase it. Just get it. Learn about it. Understand it. This way you’ll better understand why the something that is better than what you just bought is better than what you just bought. This is the very reason I recommend to my friends that they build their own computers. If you know what you are doing, you can have a custom computer built to your need. In addition, you can upgrade certain components of your computer when you feel it has reached its “end of life.” For instance, I recently purchased a computer game that is capable of some pretty cool graphics. My graphics card, however, isn’t the newest coolest, capable of displaying the very cool graphics that my new game is capable of. So I plan to upgrade it with one of my upcoming paychecks. Yes, you could likely do the same even if you haven’t built your own computer. You would also likely be able to replace many other components as you feel they’ve reached their end of life, but having built my own, I’m intimately aware of what is exactly in my computer. It also doesn’t have any proprietary components which would require me to purchase replacements through the manufacturer. I am the manufacturer! This spurs a tangent thought I’m going to allow myself to go on about. People often ask me how I learned everything I know about computers. They ask if I’ve gone to school for computers. While it’s true I am currently going to school and I am majoring in a computer-related field, this is not where I learned about computers. The best way to learn about a computer? Break it. Play with it until you break it, and then learn your way through fixing it. Don’t be afraid of these wonderful tools. It’s true that you could cause some pretty interesting damage to a computer if you tried, but on average you’re not going to cause irreparable harm to your computer. That is how I learned all I know about computers. Using them is how you learn; or at least it’s how I learn. I learn by doing. Books are great references, but there’s nothing like getting in there and actually using a computer to learn about it. So, don’t be afraid of technology. It’s always going to get more complex and harder to understand. That is exactly why you should get out there and get the latest (that you can afford anyway) and play with it. Don’t be afraid of breaking it, as long as you’re willing to sit down with it and fix it.
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