Articles by Iain Macdonald

In the computer industry, major paradigm shifts occur when new technology appears which outperforms old technology at a similar cost. One of these technology shifts may take place very soon, as the flooding in Thailand has caused the price of rotational hard disk drives to skyrocket in the past few[Read More…]

Last week Google+ was made available to the general public after months of restricted access, which led to some calling the network Google-. On the same day, Facebook unveiled big changes to its News Feed, among other things. The two social networks are now competing for the public’s attention. Which[Read More…]

If you’ve used the Gawker media service in the last year or so, you’re probably aware of the massive account information leak that occurred in late 2010. In this security breach, the user database, containing 1.3 million users, was leaked. This breach shows that even huge sites with millions of[Read More…]

Last Thursday marked a significant event in the history of the Internet. While many people didn’t notice it, and it wasn’t nearly as publicized as Y2K, something happened that necessitates a major shift in the way the Internet functions: the Internet stopped growing. Internet protocol addresses, or IP addresses, are[Read More…]

mcgill.ca The faculty of Management at McGill is most well known for three things: having the best cafeteria, their new tuition model for graduate students, and not having class on Fridays. You won’t hear too much about their library, though. Situated on the corner of Sherbrooke and McTavish, the Bronfman[Read More…]

A wise man once told me “A Bixi is like a prostitute. It’s only five bucks, and everyone gets a ride.” I countered that a Bixi can’t contract venereal diseases, a safety feature that has certainly helped the Bixi system attract millions of riders since its introduction to Montreal’s streets[Read More…]

flickr.com Redpath isn’t so much a library as a hallway with some desks set up in it. The main study space in Redpath lies in the high-traffic connection between McLennan and the  cafeteria/Cybertheque. The library houses some of the more technology-based parts of the library system, such as computer labs,[Read More…]

commons.wikimedia.org   Cybertheque (correctly pronounced Si-Ber-THECK) is one of the newer additions to the McGill library system. Below Redpath, the library is adjacent to the Redpath-Leacock tunnel. It’s best known for its vibrant colours, group study areas, electronic resources, and overuse of glass in its design. As far as I[Read More…]

library.mcgill.ca Schulich is best known as the building in which Ernest Rutherford, of Rutherford Physics Building fame, conducted the research which led to his Nobel prize in chemistry. It officially serves as the science and engineering library, holding books on subjects from aeronautics to zoology. One of Schulich’s more popular[Read More…]

www.library.mcgill.ca Everyone has a favorite study spot on campus, from the Schulich Stacks to the Trottier Terminals. What makes that spot their favorite varies from person to person. Some people like a comfortable chair to curl up in and read, and others like a place to go when nothing else is open[Read More…]

These nasty little bastards can smell fruit and alcohol from a mile away, and they breed faster than bunnies. Drosophila live for a month, and their favourite activities are eating and reproducing, both of which are possible in a fruit bowl. A single fruit fly from an unsanitary grocery shelf[Read More…]

1. Clocky Clocky is one of the most irritating devices ever made, surpassing even cell phones with Ludacris ringtones. While it’s not a new gadget, it’s a sound investment for heavy sleepers. Hitting the snooze button twice cues Clocky to wheel itself off the nightstand and cruise around the bedroom floor, beeping like R2D2 on methamphetamines.

As midterms finish up and with finals looming on the horizon, it’s your last chance to procrastinate. Many college students are hooked on video games, but most games aren’t friendly to a student budget. With the recession, however, the market is changing, and there are hundreds of high quality games available free of charge.

You’ve probably noticed that as your computer gets older, it seems to slow down. While it is true that newer computers are faster, this is no reason for your older computer to be any slower than the first day you got it. Here are a number of steps that can keep your computer functioning like it’s brand new.

When the Internet was invented in the mid-nineties, it presented numerous new challenges to the engineering and computer science world. Never before had so many people been connected through so many links simultaneously. Today, approximately 100 terabytes of information are transferred on the Internet every second, and transmission can be complicated to understand.

Last week, Google was the victim of intellectual property theft at the hands of a group of sophisticated Chinese hackers. It is unclear who was responsible for the malicious attack, but Google is now considering exiting the Chinese market. Following the attack, the governments of Germany and France issued warnings to citizens to stop using Microsoft’s Internet Explorer web browser.

1 USB 3.0 Ever since they were first invented in 2000, USB ports have always been basically the same. That is, until USB 3.0 drives were released. Early models include the Seagate BlackArmor PS110, which transfers data to your computer three times faster than the USB 2.