Would you like to own a computer that comes with filtering software? Like it or not, the government of China insists that all computers be installed with this software, which is produced by a local firm, from July 1.

In spite of government officials clarifying that this is only meant to protect children from pornography and all other unhealthy content, there have been protests galore from various quarters.

According to Liu Zhengrong, deputy chief of the Internet Affairs Bureau, “The nationwise move is purely to protect the youngsters from Internet pornography and violence. The software has proved to be effective in trials in schools.”

Even the producer of this software, Jinhui Computer System Engineering Co. said the software only filters nude pictures and other pornography. Their official media quote says, “Our software is simply not capable of spying on Internet users, it is only a filter.” (more…)

Apple has decided to increase the power of the Mac OS X. Towards this end, significant improvements have been made in the software that has been developed for this edition of the Mac. This new version of the Mac OS X is named “Snow Leopard.”

This will use a new technology called Grand Central Dispatch (GCD) that can better use the multicore processors and graphic processors in chips. It takes complete advantage of optimizing the Mac OS X multicore for easy allocation of tasks across multiple cores and processors.

Previously, turning up the clock speed on the processor was the method used by chip makers to develop high speed systems. As the clock speed increased, software also ran faster. But the problem with doing that is the generation of more heat and consumption of more power. The chips are also idle most of the time, with the memory cycles not meeting the speed.

Because of these problems, the focus was shifted from increasing clock speed to making multicore processors, which means chips with multiple processor cores were put into a single CPU, and this consumes less power and provides better performance. (more…)

Time to get a new PC? Think again! Based on what you use your computer for, you may want to check out the new netbook.

If your use of the computer is limited to surfing the web and light application, you could easily make the transition from a PC to a netbook.

On the other hand, if you use your computer for playing high-end video games like Counter Strike, use Photo Shop or any of the heavy programs that need high resources, you are better off with your PC or laptop.

Although, a netbook is also a laptop, it is a “mini” version of the laptop. These machines are powered by Intel Atom processors, which means you cannot expect anything fancy from them. They have been specifically designed for tasks like surfing the internet, email, playing music, streaming video online, word processing and other programs that need low resources.

However, the advantage with a netbook is that it is cheaper than the regular laptop or PC, because it is fitted with smaller processors that are slower than the ones in a regular PC. The cost can be anywhere between $250 and $850. The low-end netbooks come with very small hard drives and are great for people looking to just surf and use the email. A good mid range netbook with plenty of features will cost around $400. In a high-end netbook, the processor speeds will be far better.

Netbooks are small, light and portable; have large hard drives to store movies, music and other files; streaming movies and internet games. (more…)