If you’ve been shopping for blank CDs or blank DVDs recently, you may have found yourself a bit confused by all of the choices – CD-R, CD-RW, DVD+R, DVD-R, DVD-RW, and DVD+RW.  Trying to figure out the abbreviations between them can be

a bit mind racking indeed.

To make matters worse for those who aren’t up on the lastest marvels of technology is the rate at which the industry of technology is evolving.Just when you think you’ve caught on to the concepts of MP3s and burning CD and DVD media, new twists on blank media hits the market and you found yourself confused more than you were to start with.

The “R” found in CD-R and DVD+/-R media stands for recordable.  It will tell consumers that these disks are blank recordable media.  You can record movies, data, music, and photos on the disc, but the discs cannot be erased.

The “RW” on CD-RW and DVD+/-RW media stands for rewritable.  This lets you know that media with RW on them can be recorded and erased several times.  Even though the prices for blank CD and DVD media is inexpensive, you can expect to pay a bit more for RW type media. (more…)

Controlling Your Computer with a Programming Language

In a previous article, we introduced automating some tasks with MS-DOS batch files. In this article, we’re going to introduce programming and describe how it can be used to control the way your computer works. Normally, computer novices aren’t interested in controlling the computer. New computer users are typically interested in learning more about how the thing works. However they may be surprised to learn that programming increases computer knowledge as a whole and it can help to diminish the fear associated with using a new computer.

Programming a computer is creating a sequence of instructions that enable the computer to do something.[1] The people who program computers (called programmers) use a programming language to communicate with a computer. You might have heard of some of these languages in the past such as Visual Basic, C++, or Fortran. There are hundreds of other programming language and neither one is better than the other. Most of them are capable of performing the same tasks and achieving the same goals. A programmer chooses one language by a simple preference. (more…)