How likely is it that in the next 2-3 years cloud computing (using for example google chrome OS with web apps running off thin clients) will be the norm and how should a non-profit organization with high tech needs (healthcare) but limited tech resources begin to position itself for the changes this might entail?
posted by dougiedd on Nov 19, 2009 - 17 answers

In the first half of the 20th century groups of scientists in United States created the first electronic computers, fitting big halls, they needed permanent assistance because of overheating and continuous repair. The price of the construction and the maintenance was probably huge. Having such a thing was expensive, it seemed to be probably a luxury what only very very few countries could afford at that time. BUT, there was a scientist who prognosed that at the end of the 20th century every country in the world will be able to afford such a machine. He was obviously true. Now every country has at least one computer. My question(s): Who was this person? Where and when did he told what he told? And the exact citation would be appreciated. I am very sure it was he, the club of computers was filled by gentlemen at this time I think. I don't know whether it was Neumann or someone else. Please help, I am very curious about this. I did not find the answer by myself, for sure you all now more. Thanks! [more inside]
posted by fifigyuri on Sep 9, 2009 - 6 answers

Help us get things electronic. My Dad has lot of forms (an example of one here) to fill out for his little electrician business. Lots of forms for each job. How can he fill them out on the computer, save it to a database and be able to print them out? [more inside]
posted by mooreeasyvibe on Jul 22, 2009 - 10 answers

How would you network your home if you had a blank slate? Wired or wireless? Our house is about to be almost entirely demolished and we have the opportunity to 'future-proof' our home. Given that the walls are down, should we take the chance to fill them full of wires? If so, what sort? [more inside]
posted by hydrophobic on Jul 21, 2009 - 22 answers

Netbook for a grad/med student: what should I get? (Long list of desired features inside) [more inside]
posted by The White Hat on Jul 12, 2009 - 13 answers

How many (available, i.e., plugged in) spare GHz are there in the world? [more inside]
posted by mpls2 on Jun 21, 2009 - 6 answers

Do you know of any more essays like Hackers, In the Beginning Was the Command Line, or the DadHacker Atari Articles?
posted by MotorNeuron on Mar 6, 2009 - 16 answers

My computer science department is debating replacing its in-house services with internet-based services (e.g. no mail server, but use Gmail instead; no local home pages but use gmail pages instead). Is this a good idea? Any hidden traps/cost with the approach? Does anyone have success or horror stories with this approach that I can share with my committee?
posted by media_itoku on Feb 24, 2009 - 17 answers

What are the libraries/techniques that are available for event synchronization in C++? More specifically, how would I go about learning the best strategies for synchronizing events (say, a graphical event with an sound, or one sound with another)? I'm looking to learn about the techniques that are used by complex games as well as audio software, like Ableton Live or Logic. [more inside]
posted by dubitable on Feb 7, 2009 - 10 answers

My wife has recently expressed an interest in moving from Australia to America to work for a year (possibly longer). Can anyone provide some advice on how to make this possible (visas, employment etc)? [more inside]
posted by ranglin on Jan 5, 2009 - 6 answers

YAEQ: How would I generate a chart in Excel 2007 that tracks, not towards a goal per se, but progress of a value over a length of time? [more inside]
posted by booticon on Dec 5, 2008 - 8 answers

How do I create a "custom file" in Windows XP? [more inside]
posted by Gyan on Nov 20, 2008 - 24 answers

Help me a choose a widescreen monitor. The more I look, the more confused I get. Tell me what to do. Please. [more inside]
posted by rhymer on Oct 9, 2008 - 21 answers

I'm helping out an elderly lady who is using a laptop with XP which is showing signs of unreliability. It is now permanently sat on a table so it doesn't get moved around. She is especially concerned about a failure leading to a loss of outlook express e-mails. This person is easily confused by all things computer related so it has to work with minimum intervention and be as simple as possible. I was thinking of using an external drive and Acronis true image 11 home. I would set up True image to mirror on to the external drive. I was also thinking of automatically forwarding all outlook express mails to a web mail account - yahoo mail - as she has a yahoo account already. Being able to read from a webmail account would allow uninteruped service should anything go wrong. Is there anything wrong with this?
posted by conrad101 on Aug 18, 2008 - 11 answers

Tell me about Network Attached Storage ( NAS )? In particular what current manufactuers should I avoid for a typical 1 terabyte (or greater) RAID array? I'm also interested in general information and pitfalls for NAS devices and implementations. [more inside]
posted by loquacious on Aug 10, 2008 - 13 answers

Adobe Acrobat Professional (8.0): Is there any way to distribute stamps from one machine to another? How about simply sorting them? [more inside]
posted by wheat on Jun 30, 2008 - 2 answers

Can I extend the life of my aging Dell XPS desktop by means of a processor swap? Details within. [more inside]
posted by killdevil on Jun 5, 2008 - 13 answers

I'm looking for a free or really cheap inventory management system. [more inside]
posted by Raichle on Apr 11, 2008 - 2 answers

What kind of jobs can I get with a Bachelor of Science in Applied Computing from ASU? [more inside]
posted by stlboi on Mar 31, 2008 - 4 answers

Is there a simple program out there that you can drag a file onto that will automagically upload to a pre-configured FTP server and copy the URL to the clipboard? [more inside]
posted by booticon on Mar 27, 2008 - 6 answers

Trying to make a video in Ulead VideoStudio, but am stymied on a few things. Help? [more inside]
posted by divabat on Feb 19, 2008 - 6 answers

Can you help me decide between PDA's, Smartphones, Pocket PCs and the year 2008? I am looking most specifically for info on the Sony Clie PEG NX70V ... IPAQ 4350 ... and IPAQ 2215. But advice on any of this would be immensely helpful! I did search AskMeFi, but found only info for new equipment or old posts. I'm talking used equipment instead, older but able to keep up with current software stuff. (More inside) [more inside]
posted by thewhynotgirl on Jan 24, 2008 - 20 answers

How can I generate a "visual average" from a group of digital images?

A few years ago, I saw a BoingBoing post in which a guy had taken the pixel means of Playboy centerfolds for several decades. I'd like to use the same technique and am wondering if there's any off-the-shelf (preferably free) stuff that can do that.
posted by k7lim on Jan 22, 2008 - 5 answers

Why does my Windows XP machine freeze every half an hour? [more inside]
posted by chorltonmeateater on Jan 12, 2008 - 15 answers

In a modern CPU, how many individual electrons, approximately, are "let through" in each clock-cycle of, say, an individual transistor or logic gate? [more inside]
posted by Jimbob on Jan 8, 2008 - 7 answers

MediaWiki install: Apache, MySQL, & PHP already on my machine? [more inside]
posted by jjsonp on Jan 4, 2008 - 5 answers

Any one working in forensic computing here? Looking for career advice. [more inside]
posted by daveyt on Dec 11, 2007 - 7 answers

What are the computing capabilities of a generic cell phone? [more inside]
posted by ElfWord on Nov 27, 2007 - 15 answers

Does anyone have any recommendations for a quiet PC? [more inside]
posted by ascullion on Nov 19, 2007 - 17 answers

Since I transferred all my data to a new mother board, when I switch from writing emails to writing in Word the 'insert' function changes, that is, if I have been writing an email and something getrs overwritten and I press 'insert' to overcome that, all is good until I switch to Word and the stuff gets overwritten until I press 'insert' and so on, ad infinitum. Is it possible to set the same default for both? I use Windows XP, and am in South Australia.
posted by Nayano on Nov 10, 2007 - 3 answers

I need recommendations for a scanner that will scan documents into black-and-white PDF files in a quick, clear and crisp fashion. I am also interested in hearing of any brands to avoid. [more inside]
posted by invisible ink on Oct 19, 2007 - 8 answers

Windows to Mac: I can't stand Vista another minute. Should I go or should I stay? [more inside]
posted by jennydiski on Oct 6, 2007 - 33 answers

Where's my mobile phone brush? Cell phone, yo -- how 'come there don't seem to be any such apps, even on the so-called smartphones. I know the Palm One units have available apps and I would imagine so would the Windows Mobile ones, but what about java-based phones? Am I missing some huge repository of apps or something? [more inside]
posted by Ogre Lawless on Sep 27, 2007 - 6 answers

MYSQL question: I want to develop simple input form for our internal office MYSQL. We need to attach files to our product information. I'm using OO, but it doesn't deal with BLOBs what other software could I use to create forms to our database? [more inside]
posted by Yavsy on Aug 20, 2007 - 6 answers

Soundblaster problem: WinXP. The device, even after reinstall, does not appear [more inside]
posted by Goofyy on Jun 27, 2007 - 8 answers

CareerFilter: Should I become a magazine / new media journalist? [UK based] - LONG POST WARNING! [more inside]
posted by dcbarker on Feb 7, 2007 - 10 answers

I regularly use ffmpeg to encode videos (from mpeg2 to mpeg4) for my ipod. I've been doing this for nearly a year with no problems. Now, every time I start an encode, my system is suddenly under a lot of pressure - I can't use any other application. If I go into the windows task manager and set the priority to 'below normal', all is fine again. Anyone have any idea why this change might have occured, or any idea how I can get around it (preferably without using task manager)? [more inside]
posted by ascullion on Jan 31, 2007 - 5 answers

Help me help my father: My father is elderly and has problems with his short-term memory. He wants to use a word processor to write about things that interest him, but he forgets fairly basic application techniques, such as how to save, open and create new documents. [more inside]
posted by planetthoughtful on Nov 15, 2006 - 27 answers

consider: - manufacturing costs of very small and powerful memory storage and processing capabilities falling at a fast rate - the convergence of many technologies (cellular, mobile music, cameras, internet, etc...) into devices with capabilities for each -how when you go to a coffee shop and everyone in the whole room is on a laptop could one infer from these premises (however truthful you find them to be) that the age of home computing is coming to an end? could one infer that desktops will fade out of use by the general public, preserved only by lonely programmers and developers that create the digital media landscape we consume?
posted by localhuman on Oct 2, 2006 - 18 answers

Help me to be a better photo editor. [more inside]
posted by ColdChef on Sep 6, 2006 - 17 answers

I'm looking for additional information related to Ambient Networking and Contextual Awareness, especially as it relates to wireless networking systems. [more inside]
posted by forforf on Aug 14, 2006 - 12 answers

How does virus scanning work? [more inside]
posted by Gyan on Dec 31, 2005 - 6 answers

Problems uploading via FTP in Windows XP (SP2). [more inside]
posted by KevinSkomsvold on Dec 8, 2005 - 12 answers

OpenSourceFilter: What open source software rocks your world? [more inside]
posted by mikewas on Oct 19, 2005 - 37 answers

Are there any good independent computer support organisations in the U.S. who can help/support/fix problems with home computers and networks, for example spyware removal or hardware replacement? [more inside]
posted by grahamwell on Sep 20, 2005 - 7 answers

Help me hack my PC's DVD player. [more inside]
posted by londonmark on Aug 25, 2005 - 12 answers

Does anyone know of any (preferably freeware) programs for Mac OS 9.1 that can fix disk errors? [more inside]
posted by kenchie on Aug 7, 2005 - 1 answer

What is the absolute minimum number of states required in a Turing Machine (that uses binary tape) for it to be able to serve as a Universal Turing Machine? [more inside]
posted by -harlequin- on May 1, 2005 - 3 answers

What are the best general purpose computing/tech-related forums? Though people here have been remarkably enlightening when faced with tech type questions I don't want to constantly use up my one question per week asking about such banalities as browser problems and php CMSes and suchlike. [more inside]
posted by uk_giffo on Mar 28, 2005 - 10 answers

What's the coolest thing I can buy to keep my kids entertained on a 15 hour road trip to Oregon, for $200? I will probably try to find a decent portable dvd player but it occured to me that there might be a portable gaming system or something that would improve the bang/buck ratio. [more inside]
posted by craniac on Mar 26, 2005 - 30 answers