Movie Review: Pirates of Silicon Valley April 15, 2011

I rate this movie with 4 out of 5 stars.

This movie was about how Apple and Microsoft began. It gave background on Steve Jobs and also on Bill Gates. It goes though the process on how both companies were originally formed and how they progressed. It also talks about the rivalry between Steve Jobs and Bill Gates. The movie also shows the different work environments in the two companies. In Apple, the workplace appears to be more hostile and competitive with Steve Jobs being a very volatile employer. While in Microsoft, Bill Gates seems to be a little scattered but nicer in the way his workplace runs.

History of the Computer I 1936-present April 12, 2011

The first photo on the top row is of the Scelbi computer. The next is of The Mark-8 and the photo on the far left is of the Altair. The photo on the right of the bottom row is of the IBM 5100 and the one on the left is the TRS-80. ENIAC was the first computer with dimensions of 8.5 feet by 3 feet by 80 feet.

History of Photography I 4th century-present March 31, 2011

This is an example of a Daguerreotype image. The process was invented by Louis Daguerre. This process is done by exposing a light sensitive metal sheet, creating a direct positive. He then would immerse it in salt. The downside of this process was that it was very expensive.

The second photo is an example of a Calotype image. This process was invented by William Fox Talbot. In this process the subject was exposed to light sensitive paper producing a paper negative. A positive about this process was that it was faster and less expensive, but since the images were printed on paper the quality of the image was not as good.

In the third photo is an example of the Wet Collodion Process. This process was invented by Archer. This process was done by coating glass plates in collodion, after they were coated they would be immediately exposed and developed while they were still wet. A positive about this process was that it was much faster than previously done and cost less money. The main downside to using this process was that only people who were skilled to use photography could use it, it was to complicated for the general public.

The Linotype Machine I 1884 March 30, 2011

On  the left is a picture of the Schole’s typewriter. In the middle is a picture of the Merganthaler’s Linotype machine and on the far right is a picture of a person operating it. The typewriter is an import part of our history because it was the machine that allowed us to quickly type and produce multiple copies in a portable way. Typesetting is composition of text material by means of types. The linotype was the greatest advance since the typewriter because it allowed newspapers to make more pages per pager and have less operators per machine. The linotype keyboard is arranged different in the way that the letters are arranged by their popularity in use not the QWERTY keyboard we use today.

The Gutenberg Press I 1450 March 23, 2011

To the left is a picture of the Gutenberg printing press. The press used the method of relief printing by rolling ink over the press  (raised surface) and then pressing a piece of paper over it. The press used a movable type which is a system of printing that uses movable components to reproduce a document (the letters). There are four main types of printing. Porous printing is when the image is transfered to the paper by pushing it through a porous mesh. re-printing the image. In a intaglio printing process you carve into an area, cover it ink, then press it to a surface to transfer the image. Another form of printing is lithography. This is where you carve around the area you want printed, ink the raised area, and then print it to the surface you want it on. Offset lithography is where the parts that are supposed to be white are covered with a water based film so they don’t get ink on them. So on the final product, only the parts that are supposed to be black or colored have the ink on them. The printing presses used today are similar to the ones used by Gutenberg, in the way that they both use the lithography process.  To the left is an example of offset lithography press. CYMK stands for cyan, yellow, magenta, and black. These colors make up he four process color printing which is where each color is individually printed but combined together on the same sheet after each color is added. 

The Codex and the Illuminated Manuscript March 11, 2011

The picture on the left is an example of a scroll. The one is the middle is an example of  a codex, and the one on the right is and example of a illuminated manuscript. The word codex is derived from the latin word meaning block of wood and the reason for this is that the papers are glue together and they are supported by wood, like a spine of a book. The codex evolved from a scroll. The reason they used a codex instead of a scroll was because with a scroll you only had sequential access, meaning you had to read the whole this to find what information you needed. But if you read a codex you can flip to any page and have random access.  After this the illuminated manuscript was developed. The difference between these two was a illuminated manuscript had many decorative pictures while in the codex it was mainly just words. The people who made these illuminated manuscripts were monks who took pride in what they did showing how good of a craftsman they were. This was important because that is what made these books so beautiful and a work of art. The format of a codex and illuminated manuscript is still used today because the availability of the material, it makes it easier to look something up, and they are sturdy and hard to break. Some examples of technology that mimic this format would be the iPad and the knidle.

Movie Review: Secrets of the Rosetta Stone March 4, 2011

I thought the video gave very good information on the history of the rosetta stone, and I didn’t find it too boring, so I give it a 4-5 stars for its informational value.

To the left is a picture of the Rosetta Stone. The movie was about how the rosetta stone was discovered and its importance. This stone proved to be so important because it was what allowed us to be able to read the hieroglyphs. The reason for this is because the stone had the same thing written on it in greek, egyptian hieroglyphics, and demotic. So after the historians read the greek they were eventually able to translate the other languages and could form an alphabet for the other two languages.