Columns

SCHULMAN | Quantum Computers Are Game Changing

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It’s okay if you don’t know the difference between quantum computer and a flux capacitor. Even if quantum computing seems complicated, its implications are easy to understand. Although they sound like something out of a sci-fi novel, these things are going to change the world. Quantum computers are going to revolutionize our ability to predict complicated phenomena. Quantum computers are good at modeling complicated things because they exploit quantum uncertainty, the principle that an electron can be in two states at once.

apple

MALPASS | Today’s Keynote and You

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Today is Apple’s Keynote Event, where they release all their new products, which means I get a whole new set of things to be angry about. Am I being a little preemptive considering that no specs have been officially announced? Probably, but it’s really either this or another political column people, and personally if I have to write one more line dedicated to this election I am going to vomit. Plus, it’s midterm time and I haven’t even gotten my Halloween costume in order, so just let me unwind with a little Apple bashing.  Just to prove that I’m not a total hack, I’ll stick to the rumors that have been all but officially confirmed.

Columns

DAVIES | Illusory Intelligence

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The technical possibilities of tomorrow are just as incredible as those of the 1950s because they are real. Simultaneously everything is within reach and nothing. We use new technologies but few people understand their function. Machines, programs and devices on the horizon, rushing towards us, will be far less widely understood than would those of the 20th century, had they come to pass. It is conceivable that most people, with a modicum of study, could understand the functioning of a color TV or a flying car depicted in a pulp science fiction book.

Columns

MALPASS | Save the Audio Jack!

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As long-time readers (i.e my parents) might know, I take music pretty seriously. Usually, this has alienated my friends who chalk it up to another one of my pretentious behaviors and usually that’s a fair assumption. Because, realistically speaking, it doesn’t matter if you’re listening to your favorite artist on CD or streaming it, at 320 kbps or lossless quality, with open-backed headphones or five-dollar earbuds. If you’re enjoying the music, then you’re enjoying the music, no two ways about it. However, you do have to be able to listen to the music to begin with.

Columns

SCHULMAN | Confessions of a Pokemon Master

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Happy Monday Cornell! If the semester’s first Monday has got you down, you can always think about your summer. Everyone has fun stories about their summer! I know I do; this summer I became a Pokemon master — a “Pokemon Go” master. If you haven’t heard of Pokemon Go, chances are you don’t have cell service under that rock you can’t play the game under.

apple

SCHULMAN | Emotion is Simple, Technology Isn’t

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It’s rare for technology to make front-page news. But this week, Apple has been making headlines. No, Apple’s quarterly earnings report isn’t being released. And no, the new iPhone isn’t coming out either. On the surface, the issue at hand is simple.

technology

SCHULMAN | Early Adopters vs. Luddites: Who’s Right in Hindsight?

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There is a word for people who oppose new technology: “Luddite.” Isn’t English amazing? There’s an even better story behind the word. Luddites were originally industrial workers who burned factories and assassinated factory owners to stop — or at least slow — industrialization in Northern England. Obviously, the odds were stacked against them, but I can’t help but imagine how different things would be if they’d succeeded Northern England’s textile mills arguably laid the groundwork for modern manufacturing. Manufacturing is pretty nice.

Columns

SCHULMAN | Hungry for Action on Inequality

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The democratic debate is probably old news by now, but I’ve been itching to talk about Bernie Sanders’ performance. If you watched the debate (and can remember what happened a week ago), you know he wouldn’t shut up about one issue — high rent prices. Just kidding, that’s Jimmy McMillan. Bernie’s issue is income inequality. I’ve been planning on writing about income inequality for a while.

Uncategorized

The Useless Keyboard

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Out of curiosity, has anyone actually heard of the Optimus Maximus keyboard?

No? Well that’s okay, I wouldn’t have expected you to hear about it. And if you HAD heard about it, I would be impressed.

Very impressed.

For those not in the know, the Optimus Maximus keyboard is an advanced keyboard with each key being an LED screen that allows you to customize your keyboard. No longer will you be bound by the QWERTY keyboard of the world, you can break free and create your own keyboard configuration as you wish.

Uncategorized

Cleaning Your Laptop

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According to a report (Warning: pdf) done in 2007, almost every college student owns a computer, and 73.7% own a laptop. If we were to transpose that result to Cornell, we’d get roughly 10,000 students with laptops, assuming the numbers (Warning: pdf) are accurate.

So with this many students potentially carrying laptops around, someone’s bound to know how to clean a laptop, right?

Well, yes and no. There are some very basic guidelines that need to be followed when considering physically cleaning your laptops. I’m not saying these are the exact kind of things you should do, but they’ve proven pretty effective for me.