The half year mark. Half a year more and freedom shall return. This has been a rather busy month, but there has been interesting developments in the tech field. Windows 10 is rumored arriving July 29! I have used Windows 95, XP, Vista and 7, with a little hands on with 8.1. Vista was a horror to use, while 7 made things better. 8.1 had a little performance improvement for day to day usage, but the hassle of having to start all over with a new fresh OS install killed it.
Things are different now,my Win 7 install has gathered quite a bit of junk and cold boot has slowed from 40+ seconds to 2 minutes and counting. Responsiveness and performance has dropped too. Its partly the antivirus fault, but you cannot be too cautious in this age of digital spying etc.
First Solid State Drive
SSD prices are falling, thanks to 3D nand from Samsung and Toshiba, as well as increasing products utilizing TLC nand which pushes prices down in exchange for a little performance and endurance penalty. SSD capacities and prices are rumored to reach parity with current hard disk within two years, which is kind of exciting. Imagine a 8/10TB SSD at current HDD prices when prices were so exorbitantly high when I purchased one last year. I plan on purchasing a 256/512GB within a year, and dump windows 10 on it to give a new life to my ageing setup. Samsung leads the market with their 850 evo series, not just in features, but also in value for money.
Hopefully, crucial or Intel could come up with competitive products to spice up the battle. TLC SSDs are a curious case. They sacrifice read/write performance and reliability for lower costs. Power consumption increases too, which is not a good thing for laptop users like me (shorter battery life and higher operating temperatures which in turn throttles performance). The new Silicon Motion SM2256 TLC controller does not amaze either. However, if a 512GB SSD utilizing tlc nand could reach prices of S$100 and still offer a three year warranty, I will probably buy it, seeing how a MLC 256GB now sells for ~$180 when purchased last year.
Getting Better at the Wheel
27 June 2015. The first driving session where I had zero engine stalls. Its a bummer to drive on the roads and then get a engine stall. In my three months of driving, I average four engine stalls per a 1.5hr session, which is really really bad. Good times rarely last though, as just 24 hours later, I had not just one, but two engine stalls. First one was a genuine mistake, driving off with the engine in gear two. And I was still wondering what went wrong. The second incident was a over release of the clutch when moving off on a slope. With a little luck and skill, I could get my drivers license in three months!
Atomic Awakening
As a physics student, I have studied basic quantum physics and nuclear physics. All the long boring equations never fail to shut off my brain. I never really understood the brilliance or applications behind these theories, until I read “Atomic Awakening“. The author provided a easy to understand history behind modern physics which the school lectures should have been. Back then, I never understood what quantum physic was about, like how an electron could just disappear and reappear somewhere else, until I watched a youtube video that explained everything with the help of virtual cats.
Reading really broadens the mind and makes one realise just how insignificant one is compared to these geniuses. With people who could speak 14 languages, invent things across multiple unrelated fields, and come up with new theories explaining mysterious phenomenons, one really pales in comparison. Well, if they can do it, so can everybody else right? Food for thought.