We all know that the computer was designed originally to work with numbers, but it has evolved into an important tool for text processing.

The main steps involved in word-processing are entering text, editing text, formatting, proofreading, and saving the document, and then printing the document. The great thing about using word-processing software that most users take for granted is that the writer  can use commands to edit what’s on the screen. The user can control the typefaces justification, spacing, margins, headers, footers, and other visual aspects of a given document. To make life easier, most programs offer automated footnoting, hyphenation, and other otherwise cumbersome processes. There is also usually an option of bulleting, numbering, and outlining which can be a tremendously useful organizational tool. Proofreading is simplified by spelling and grammar checkers, which in collaboration with online tesauruses, dictionaries, and other references act as helpful tools in editing - although some of the work still must be left to humans.

Word processors are increasing in power, and they are incorporating many features that used to be found only in desktop-publishing software. Desktop publishers have revolutionized the publishing process by allowing people to produce professional-quality documents such as books, magazines, and other publications, at a reasonable cost, they have created source documents for input for page-layout programs with the help of word processors and grapics programs. Desktop-publishing technology is used by amateur and professional publishers everywhere to produce pretty much all text-and-graphics documents, from picture books to flyers to reference books.

More later! Thanks for reading

http://inventors.about.com/library/blcoindex.htm

http://www.maxmon.com/history.htm

Microcomputers are computers with microprocessor chips as their CPUs. Often called Personal Computers (PCs), they are used for word processing, emailing, music, photo and video editing, database management, and thousands of other uses. The two major kinds of PCs are desktops and laptops.

Desktop computers include a case that holds the computer’s insides (the motherboard, drives, cards, etc.), a monitor, a keyboard, and a mouse. Desktop computers are generally – as it sounds – set up at a desk or workspace permanently, and plugged into a wall outlet for power.

Laptop computers are portable notebooks small and light enough to be carried around. They have a built-in screen, keyboard, and mouse-device (sometimes a touchpad, sometimes otherwise), they generally fold to close. Laptops use a battery but also have a power charger cord that plugs into a wall.

Next we have workstations, which are very powerful microcomputers used for applications that require more power than regular PCs. Workstations are used generally for one person, but they can also be used as server computers - supplying files to client computers over a network. These high-end workstations are able to process much more than average microcomputers.

Another kind of computer is a PDA, or Personal Digital Assistant. It is a handheld microcomputer with a touch-sensitive LCD screen. They often can communicate with desktop computers or with each other (by cable connection, IR beam, or radio waves). They are generally used as personal planners, as calendars, to do lists, address books, etc. There are also palmtop or handheld PCs which are small microcomputers, similar to a mini laptop with a small keyboard and screen.

 This is an example of a PDA.

Aside from microcomputers, there are mainframes, supercomputers, and minicomputers.  

Mainframe computers are powerful enough to process up to several hundred users simultaneously. Users submit taks to the mainframe through terminals, which are devices with screens and keyboards but but cannot process data. Mainframes generally cost several hundred thousand dollars, and are used by large companies who need processing power and information storage in a central location. They are also used as server computers for very large networks.

Supercomputers are mainframe computer that have updated speed and processing power. They are used for extremely calculation-intensive tasks (such as aerodynamic flows, global weather patterns, etc.) and are typically several million dollars.

 This is a supercomputer, a Cray-2 from the 1980′s.

Minicomputers are cheaper, less powerful versions of mainframes. They generally cost $100,000. However, these multi-user computers have been mostly taken over by high-end multiple-user microcomputer workstations.

The site won the SXSW 2006 awards for Best Technical Achievement, and was nominated in 2006 for other awards – but was beat by sites like Flikr and Google.

Lately Technorati has become less popular, due to issues with its founder and former CEO, Dave Sifry, as well as criticism regarding the sites many technical issues – spam, messy experimental features, etc.

I am interested to see how useful having student email will be, if it is used for daily assignments and stuff for classes or if it is just an extra email account for students. We’ll see!

Tags, as I explained in my previous post (Social Bookmarking – Del.icio.us) are keywords or labels that are related to the given topic. They are used for identifying the topic for things like search engines or favorites lists. Many people contribute to the construction of a tag cloud, and the more common tags are shown in a larger font. This is called weighting tags. A tag cloud is a visual of the tags on a website, showing those more common in a larger font, and those less prominent or smaller details in a smaller font (see above image.) The larger words are usually more general, and the smaller words are more specific. Tag Clouds are becoming more popular, with the help of sites like Del.icio.us and Technorati, and Flikr which uses tags for pictures.

Here’s a clear and understandable video tutorial on how and why to use Social Bookmarking: