Project Idea's

[Swifty]

Yes I know this is a little odd to see on the windows 7 forums but I could use some help or some idea's on this project I have on Thursday in College,

I have to do a 10-20 minute presentation in front of the class, and the subject I had chosen was the "Latest tech toys or Gadgets" And I had discussed it over with my professor and he had said that he was looking for something that has progressed over the years, he said something about the Iphone but I'm not sure what he meant,

Also it is a group presentation and one of the members of my group had brought the return of the Commodore 64, it looked quite interesting, and I am considering it, I could add it to my presentation.

But I am looking for some more idea's and if the community of Seven forums could help out that would be fantastic thanks!

 

[DocBrown]

Here is the Commodore site :ar:

http://www.commodoreusa.net/systems.html

The C-64 is what I first learned on

 

[Swifty]

They are actually selling this right now? so what is the Commodore itself the computer?

 

[johnwillyums]

Yup.
Another idea would be to look at the development of recorded music. I don't know about wax cylinders but the vinyl record is far more hifi than a cd for example and a cd is better than an mp3.
It's the same with photography, old fashioned film is, and I think always will be, better than digital photography. There is just tons more "bits" on film than on a digital image. They actually look different.
It seems we develop technologies and always go for the lesser option because it's more convenient.
A good comparison would be a digital compact camera and a small, cheap, 35mm camera. The film camera wins hands down.
Just my thoughts

ps. some would say that an old Nokia is better at making actual 'phone calls than an iPhone

 

[Swifty]

True, but I think he wants us to talk about how it progressed not going backwards kind of deal?

 

[johnwillyums]

Yeah. So surprise him. Anyway progress is a balancing act between quality and convenience. CDs are a lot more convenient than vinyl albums. Much smaller and easier to store, carry around etc and, with the iPod etc mp3 opened up a whole new world of transportable music.
You could get a massive record collection that would take up loads of space in your home onto a device in your pocket. This is/was fantastic progress and made music accessible to many more people than previously. That's got to be a good thing and you could say the same about eBooks. The latest edition of the full Oxford English Dictionary is being released digitally only. The full edition is huge and would take up a whole room in your house. Also it would cost a fortune.
Actually I suppose that would be quite a good thing to look at. This is the first time they have gone digital only. The last edition was printed in 20 volumes. Having it digital means that people in third world countries etc can access it etc.
So that's progress without any loss of quality. Except if you don't have a computer or other device.
Here's a wikipedia on the OED; Oxford English Dictionary - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

 

[johnwillyums]

If you really want to look at the development of computing and computers it's quite a vast area of study.
Try here:History of Computers

and here: Computer History Museum - Timeline of Computer History

Good luck with the presentation whatever you decide to do

 

[whs]

I would think the "History of the CPU" would be an interesting project. And not only the PC models but all the models including those of large systems since the 1940's. If you think that the fastest CPUs (e.g. IBM Stretch - 7030) at the time when Armstrong flew to the moon had about the same power as a Pentium4 - which is old iron by todays standards.
For that project you would also find a lot of materials on the net.