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Teaching Compuuter Coding in Schools Could be Redundant

There is so much pressure on children to learn coding. Governments keep pumping money into new schemes. However, this could all be a waste of money. Remember when governments invested all that money into providing PCs to schools. Then the laptop came along and they had to change to making the new tech available. After this came tablets followed by large mobile phones. Chasing new technological developments is a fool's game.

Most parents don't want government money. They want to choose what their children "need" at at school. Years ago the Mac was pushed as the "must have" to do drawing work. It was encouraged for what is now called Graphics in school. It used to be called technical drawing or drafting. Schools adopted Autocad for Windows and Macs were redundant. Furthermore, PCs were the machine of choice in most schools for class work and at university

There are many kinds of computer languages. Specializing in one leaves you in a corridor with no way out. Software programs are out there that get rid of the need for coding knowledge. Once written developers are only needed for maintenance. Any Tom, Dick or Mary can use the "What You See Is What You Get" programs.

Personally, I believe that the future does not lie in creating a population of coders. Really good entrepreneurial managers will always be needed. Coders need to be employed by someone else. Probably in a business started by an entrepreneur. The real problem is the lack of understanding in Maths. Let this go too far and you will have no coders and no entrepreneurs.

✴ Science by Ty Buchanan ✴

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Australians Love Smart Phones but Still Use PCs

A survey on Australians has brought to light some very interesting results. While we are addicted to mobile phones the PC is not dead. Given a clear choice of having either a smart phone or PC, 61 per cent said they would prefer a mobile phone. This leaves a significant 39 per cent still choosing their PCs. The market for PCs is stable. With PCs lasting a long time and manufacturers selling new systems with old chip versions there is still profit in the long term.

Obviously, people would like to have their smart phones and computers. Significantly, 70 per cent of respondents said they would still choose their cars over smart phones. Car addiction is still paramount. In a choice between phones, desktops and tablets, 50 per cent said they preferred their smart phones while 34 per cent chose their computers. Tablets got 16 per cent.

Australians do take their mobile phones everywhere, and I mean everywhere. Going to bed with a mobile is common as is taking it to the loo. People would have their smart phones on board when leaving the house on any trip. The figure of 34 per cent of users having the mobile as their main phone is really not that high. Note that a broadband connection needs a landline and most Australians still leave their household phone connected.

To do shopping, the majority said the mobile was not good on the Internet. The PC was more efficient and faster. A whopping nine out of ten said they had purchased goods on a PC. The tablet was also quite handy with seven out of ten buying online.

Despite companies pushing personalization of ads, a third of those surveyed said that did not like personal ads on their mobile. This is a dream option as ads provide the funding for the Internet generally. Like with free apps the ads are a nuisance but necessary.

Technology by Ty Buchanan

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The Computer Market Has Changed for PCs, Phones and Tablets

IBM is leaving the hardware computer market. Maturity in the market has meant demand for PCs has levelled off. Businesses still need them, but the ordinary consumer already has an old version gathering dust.

When a person needs to search the Internet he/she uses his, now large, mobile phone or tablet. It should be noted that the tablet market has tapered off as well. Just about anyone who wants one already has it. Cheap clones on sale in supermarkets has reduced profit margins significantly. Even the giant mobile phone maker Samsung has announced that it has had a bad year.

Apple is losing out to Android and its days of premium pricing are coming to an end. Unless it comes out with useful new ideas its sales will fall. It definitely needs to look into the crystal ball. Unfortunately, a crystal ball cannot be found.

Giants of recent decades have been bought out by rivals and shut down. Making what was in demand in the past is a losers game. Let's face it - some of the ideas taken on by Google are utterly stupid. Drones to deliver pizzas is an example. How can drones be allowed to fly about in populated places. Google will have injuries and law suits from everywhere.

Cloud computing may help IBM in the short term. If they want to stay relevant they will need something else. There are too many free cloud offerings out there for server profits to stay high. It is not feasible for all companies to be in the large data market.

Apple has to have a rethink and Microsoft has to wean users off Windows 7. Unless Threshold, Microsoft's version 9, offers something new and special users will remain stuck to the old system and profits will fall. Apple gives its operating system away for free. How much longer can Microsoft charge for their's?

Technology by Ty Buchanan

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New Technology Not for Everyone

Playing around with new tech devices and writing reviews full of praise is all well and good, but many people in all countries are still using dial-up modems. This brave new world is not available to them.

Even for users in built up areas where ADSL2 is available, 200GB is never going to be enough to watch streaming high-definition movies. Magic dongles are wonderful for those on the main line. However, some will never be connected to this line.

Netflix is being accused of using up to half of all bandwidth. This state of affairs cannot continue. The Internet will ultimately slow down. It is not a bottomless pit. There are limits.

Third world countries will never put fiber in for the majority. Capital cities in all countries will probably get very fast Internet. Even in suburbs though fast speeds will never be seen.

Technology by Ty Buchanan

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Telstra is a Ruthless Monopoly

Telstra is claiming to have boosted mobile network speed to 450Mbps over LTE. Technological improvement is a good thing, but it should get its house in order first. About every three days one cannot access account details notably broadband usage. Customer service is disgraceful.

One thing that stands out about Telstra is that sales and payment web pages are "never" down. Even a child can see its priorities are on making money not providing a decent service that customers overpay for. It is about to bring out new packages at higher prices. Its monopoly is all-consuming. Telstra can do what it likes.

Increasing mobile speed by three means increased charges for consumers. There is no doubt about this. Furthermore, faster broadband means allocated usage will be used up much sooner so Telstrs will gain there as well. With more users not using PCs multiple channel broadband data flow means greater profit.

The overall deal for Telstra is more money not customer benefit. Demand for mobile broadband is booming as people want to use the Internet on-the-go. Believing that Telstra is doing this improvement for consumers is rubbish. It is a profit making company with a monopoly. Like all monopolies it misuses that power.

Technology by Ty Buchanan

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AMD Concentrates on Australia

The Personal Computer is dead. We have seen this many times in the media. This, of course, is not true. businesses rely on PCs. Tablets and mobile phones just don't cut the mustard when it comes to high output data and Internet usage. Try typing a report on a tablet whether it has an attachable keyboard or not and you will be doing it all day. Those tiny keys are just not realistic for most people.

AMD is ratcheting up investment in the Australian commercial computer market. It sees boom times ahead with its new quadruple chip. The company sees Australia as a test market for "differentiation and better value." Australia is now known as a "channel" for AMD.

Many companies are selling AMD products including HP, Dell and Lenovo. AMD is becoming the server of choice in the market. India is a huge market for AMD particularly in education. Its main target is government contracts. The sheer range of offerings by AMD outranks all its rivals. Indeed, its first ARM 64-bit processor came out this year.

In 2013 sales in Australia and New Zealand more than doubled. Using Oceania as a test market makes sense. It costs less to see mistakes made. They can chose what is really successful and promote that in the rest of the world. At last, a company that is doing the job properly.

Computing by Ty Buchanan

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Energy Use Due to Mobile Phones Is Unstainable

There is an energy crisis slowly creeping up on us. We go about our daily business enjoying the benefits of computer advances while not realizing that massive amounts of energy are being consumed.

Mobile phones are designed with very little hard storage. Reliance on cloud services is increasing at a rapid pace. Many developing countries do not enjoy continuous energy supplies. When the electricity goes off so does cloud storage. In advanced countries aluminium producers were blamed for eating up too much power, now everyone is responsible.

A new study, The Power of Wireless Cloud, clearly shows that the continuing use of electricity is not sustainable. Energy use by cloud services will be equivalent to 4.9 million cars over the period 2012-2015. This is known by comparing energy from petrol to power station input.

It is not just the cloud. Wi-Fi will use more power than anything else. Computing networks are not "clean". Many do not consider that most electricity is still being produced with dirty energy inputs. Even nuclear is dirty - it contaminates.

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