Megan OGrady

COAP 1010
9/5/2014
COAP 1010 ASSIGNMENT 2

1. What does HDD mean? What is the fastest HDD right now?
Hard Drive Device. SSD.
2. What is the fastest type of RAM available right now?
DDR4 (new August 2014). Before DDR4, DDR3 was used since 2007.
3. In general, what is the purpose of computer ports?
The purpose of computer ports is to transfer signals from device to device. We use ports to
charge our devices, move documents from device to device, and listen to music and watch
movies through separate speakers and screens.
4. Who invented USB, and why was it so revolutionary?
Ajay Bhatt was a co-creator of USB and worked with Intel. The Universal Serial Bus is the most
widely used port in the world and was revolutionary because of its open access standard.
5. Who invented Firewire, and why did it finally die?
Apple and Sony co-created Firewire. It was certified by the IEEE and called ilink by sony. Later
it was replaced with Thunderbolt, followed by Lightning (the newest port). The name Lightning
has been previously trademarked by Harley Davidson. It eventually died because they could no
longer make excuses for it being better than USB. As USB became more widely accepted and the
bugs were worked out, it became the dominant most widely used, AND the faster port. USB 1
and 2 were still not good enough but finally with the reveal of USB 3, apple caved and killed
Firewire because it couldnt offer the fast, accessible, open standard that the USB matched.
6. Why is HDMI better than DVI or VGA ports?
HDMI is not supported by the IEEEE and took a long time to gain acceptance from Apple mainly
because of the politics and compatibility debates that come with ports. Even though HDMI is
clearly better than DVI and VGA because it has Audio as well as video, apple continued to deny
it. DVI and VGA ports require 2 cables and 2 expensive adaptors, whereas HDMI cables are
cheap and open and can access video as well as audio.
7. Why did Apple take so long to support HDMI? USB 3.0?
For political reasons and advertisement strategy, Apple denied the use of HDMI and USB 3.0 for
longer than other companies. They claimed that because HDMI wasnt supported by the IEEE it
was not secure, but Firewall was also not backed by the IEEE, leaving that argument mute and
pointing to Apples agenda to keep access closed in the Apple world. They didnt support USB
because they already had Firewire and wanted to maintain control with that. HDMI is open and
carries 2 signals. This international open standard is something Apple is weary of because it
takes clients out of the apple world. However, resistance open access standards could
eventually weaken the company.
8. Who invented blu-Ray? What was the other standard that blu-Ray killed even though many
people said it was better?
The Blu-ray-disc-association invented Blu-ray and Sony released the first Blu-ray set in Japan. It
killed the HD DVD standard that many companies, especially Toshiba, considered better.
Eventually these companies caved, effectively killing HD DVDs.
9. What country is Samsung from? South Korea. LG? South Korea. Oppo? China. Asus? China.
Acer? Taiwan. HP? California. Intel? USA. Sony? Tokyo, Japan. Apple? USA. Google? USA
Facebook? USA. Twitter? USA.