1. Students use a search engine to find information about who invented the microprocessor.

           Intel was founded on July 18, 1968 by Robert Noyce, Gordon Moore, and Andrew Grove.   At the time the trio had a very specific goal of making semiconductor memory practical and affordable.

 

           See silicon chip memory was literally around 100 times more expensive than the more common magnetic memory used at the time. Robert Noyce felt that all they had to pull off to capture the market was to reduce the cost by nearly a factor of one hundred.  Well that is exactly what they set out to do. 

2. Students investigate the computer’s power management settings and create a report on what they discover.

3. Create a list of components and features that the student should consider when purchasing a computer. They then explain why they made these selections.

   

List of component;

• graphics controller that produces the output for the monitor
• the hard disk, floppy disk and other drives for mass storage
• interface controllers (parallel, serial, USB, Firewire) to connect the computer to external peripheral devices such as printers or scanners

            

4. Students are  to prepare a report on solid-state storage and how it works. 

     solid-state storage a nonvolatile, removable storage medium that employs integrated circuits (ICs) rather than magnetic or optical media.

  

 5. Students are to investigate teleconferencing technology. 

           A teleconference is a telephone or video meeting between participants in two or more locations. Teleconferences are similar to telephone calls, but they can expand discussion to more than two people. Using teleconferencing in a planning process, members of a group can all participate in a conference with agency staff people.

          Teleconferencing uses communications network technology to connect participants’ voices. In many cases, speaker telephones are used for conference calls among the participants. A two-way radio system can also be used. In some remote areas, satellite enhancement of connections is desirable.


         Video conferencing can transmit pictures as well as voices through video cameras and computer modems. Video conferencing technology is developing rapidly, capitalizing on the increas ingly powerful capabilities of computers and telecommunications networks. Video conferencing centers and equipment are available for rent in many locations. 

6. Students are to compare solid-state storage to magnetic and optical storage media. They are to express an opinion indicating whether they think solid-state storage will replace the other types of storage.

           solid-state storage a nonvolatile, removable storage medium that employs integrated circuits (ICs) rather than magnetic or optical media.

Magnetic and optical disks both represent alternatives to tape, and solid-state memory has recently become affordable in the gigabytes needed for video applications. Magnetic disks — the computer hard drives — are now well-established as the heart of video servers and the nonlinear editor and have become the mainstay of the production workflow. However, servers are not viewed as the most appropriate storage medium for acquisition, distribution and archiving.

Very recently, we have seen the emergence of optical and solid-state storage as cost-effective alternatives to videotape, especially for image capture, where they offer several advantages for fast-paced workflows. Both optical and solid-state storage have been enthusiastically adopted for consumer products. Such volume manufacture promises to lower costs for the highly specified products designed for the more demanding broadcast applications.