Computer Modern
supercomputer is a computer that is at the frontline of current processing capacity, particularly speed of calculation. Supercomputers introduced in the 1960s were designed primarily by Seymour Cray at Control Data Corporation (CDC), and led the market into the 1970s until Cray left to form his own company, Cray Research. He then took over the supercomputer market with his new designs, holding the top spot in supercomputing for five years (1985–1990). In the 1980s a large number of smaller competitors entered the market, in parallel to the creation of the minicomputer market a decade earlier, but many of these disappeared in the mid-1990s "supercomputer market crash".
The era in which computing power doubles every two years is drawing to a close, according to the man behind Moore's Law Jonathan Richards For decades it has been the benchmark by which advancements in computing are measured. Now Moore's Law - the maxim which states that computers double in speed roughly every two years - has come under threat, from none other than the man who coined it. Gordon Moore, the retired co-founder of Intel, wrote an influential paper in 1965 called 'Cramming more components onto integrated circuits', in which he theorised that the number of transistors on a computer chip would double at a constant rate. Silicon Valley has kept up with his widely accepted maxim for more than 40 years, to the point where a new generation of chips, which Intel will begin to produce next year, will have transistors so tiny that four million of them could fit on the head of a pin. Related Links * IBM unveils nanotechnology chip advance * Intel chips away at AMD * Intel apologises for 'racist' ad In an interview yesterday, however, Mr Moore said by about 2020, his law would come up against a rather intractable stumbling block: the laws of physics. "Another decade, a decade and a half, I think we'll hit something fairly fundamental," Mr Moore said at Intel's twice-annual technology conference. Then Moore's Law will be no more. The current method of Silicon-based manufacturing is known as "bulk CMOS", which is essentially a 'top-down' approach, where the maker starts with a piece of Silicon and 'etches out' the parts that aren't needed. "It's all very well having multicore chips in desktop machines, but if the software does not take advantage of them, you gain no benefit." "We are hitting the software barrier before we hit the physical barrier," he said. Mr Moore, who is 78, pioneered the design of the integrated circuit, and went on to co-found Intel in 1968, where he served as chief executive between 1975 and 1987.
Apple Inc. (previously Apple Computer, Inc.) is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. Apple software includes the Mac OS X operating system; the iTunes media browser; the iLife suite of multimedia and creativity software; the iWork suite of productivity software; Aperture, a professional photography package; Final Cut Studio, a suite of professional audio and film-industry software products; and Logic Studio, a suite of audio tools. As of January 2010, the company operates 284 retail stores in ten countries,and an online store where hardware and software products are sold.
Established on April 1, 1976 in Cupertino, California, and incorporated January 3, 1977, the company was previously named Apple Computer, Inc. for its first 30 years, but removed the word "Computer" on January 9, 2007, to reflect the company's ongoing expansion into the consumer electronics market in addition to its traditional focus on personal computers. As of September 26, 2009, Apple had 34,300 full time employees and 2,500 temporary full time employees worldwide and had worldwide annual sales of $42.91 billion in its fiscal year ending September 26, 2009.
For reasons as various as its philosophy of comprehensive aesthetic design to its distinctive advertising campaigns, Apple has established a unique reputation in the consumer electronics industry. This includes a customer base that is devoted to the company and its brand, particularly in the United States. Fortune magazine named Apple the most admired company in the United States in 2008, and in the world in 2008, 2009, and 2010. In May 2010, Apple's market cap exceeded that of Microsoft for the first time since 1989
1998–2005: Return to profitabilityOn August 15, 1998, Apple introduced a new all-in-one computer reminiscent of the Macintosh 128K: the iMac. The iMac design team was led by Jonathan Ive, who would later design the iPod and the iPhone. The iMac featured modern technology and a unique design. It sold close to 800,000 units in its first five months.
Through this period, Apple purchased several companies to create a portfolio of professional and consumer-oriented digital production software. In 1998, Apple announced the purchase of Macromedia's Final Cut software, signaling its expansion into the digital video editing market. The following year, Apple released two video editing products: iMovie for consumers, and Final Cut Pro for professionals, the latter of which has gone on to be a significant video-editing program, with 800,000 registered users in early 2007. In 2002 Apple purchased Nothing Real for their advanced digital compositing application Shake, as well as Emagic for their music productivity application Logic, which led to the development of their consumer-level GarageBand application. iPhoto's release the same year completed the iLife suite.[Mac OS X, based on NeXT's OPENSTEP and BSD Unix was released on March 24, 2001, after several years of development. Aimed at consumers and professionals alike, Mac OS X aimed to combine the stability, reliability and security of Unix with the ease of use afforded by an overhauled user interface. To aid users in migrating from Mac OS 9, the new operating system allowed the use of OS 9 applications through Mac OS X's Classic environment.
On May 19, 2001, Apple opened the first official Apple Retail Stores in Virginia and California. The same year, Apple introduced the iPod portable digital audio player. The product was phenomenally successful — over 100 million units were sold within six years. In 2003, Apple's iTunes Store was introduced, offering online music downloads for $0.99 a song and integration with the iPod. The service quickly became the market leader in online music services, with over 5 billion downloads by June 19, 2008Since 2001 Apple's design team has progressively abandoned the use of translucent colored plastics first used in the iMac G3. This began with the titanium PowerBook and was followed by the white polycarbonate iBook and the flat-panel iMac2005–2007: The Intel transition
At the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote address on June 6, 2005, Steve Jobs announced that Apple would begin producing Intel-based Mac computers in 2006. On January 10, 2006, the new MacBook Pro and iMac became the first Apple computers to use Intel's Core Duo CPU. By August 7, 2006 Apple had transitioned the entire Mac product line to Intel chips, over 1 year sooner than announced. The Power Mac, iBook, and PowerBook brands were retired during the transition; the Mac Pro, MacBook, and MacBook Pro became their respective successors. On April 29, 2009, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple was building its own team of engineers to design microchips.
The era in which computing power doubles every two years is drawing to a close, according to the man behind Moore's Law Jonathan Richards For decades it has been the benchmark by which advancements in computing are measured. Now Moore's Law - the maxim which states that computers double in speed roughly every two years - has come under threat, from none other than the man who coined it. Gordon Moore, the retired co-founder of Intel, wrote an influential paper in 1965 called 'Cramming more components onto integrated circuits', in which he theorised that the number of transistors on a computer chip would double at a constant rate. Silicon Valley has kept up with his widely accepted maxim for more than 40 years, to the point where a new generation of chips, which Intel will begin to produce next year, will have transistors so tiny that four million of them could fit on the head of a pin. Related Links * IBM unveils nanotechnology chip advance * Intel chips away at AMD * Intel apologises for 'racist' ad In an interview yesterday, however, Mr Moore said by about 2020, his law would come up against a rather intractable stumbling block: the laws of physics. "Another decade, a decade and a half, I think we'll hit something fairly fundamental," Mr Moore said at Intel's twice-annual technology conference. Then Moore's Law will be no more. The current method of Silicon-based manufacturing is known as "bulk CMOS", which is essentially a 'top-down' approach, where the maker starts with a piece of Silicon and 'etches out' the parts that aren't needed. "It's all very well having multicore chips in desktop machines, but if the software does not take advantage of them, you gain no benefit." "We are hitting the software barrier before we hit the physical barrier," he said. Mr Moore, who is 78, pioneered the design of the integrated circuit, and went on to co-found Intel in 1968, where he served as chief executive between 1975 and 1987.
Apple Inc. (previously Apple Computer, Inc.) is an American multinational corporation that designs and markets consumer electronics, computer software, and personal computers. The company's best-known hardware products include the Macintosh computers, the iPod, the iPhone and the iPad. Apple software includes the Mac OS X operating system; the iTunes media browser; the iLife suite of multimedia and creativity software; the iWork suite of productivity software; Aperture, a professional photography package; Final Cut Studio, a suite of professional audio and film-industry software products; and Logic Studio, a suite of audio tools. As of January 2010, the company operates 284 retail stores in ten countries,and an online store where hardware and software products are sold.
Established on April 1, 1976 in Cupertino, California, and incorporated January 3, 1977, the company was previously named Apple Computer, Inc. for its first 30 years, but removed the word "Computer" on January 9, 2007, to reflect the company's ongoing expansion into the consumer electronics market in addition to its traditional focus on personal computers. As of September 26, 2009, Apple had 34,300 full time employees and 2,500 temporary full time employees worldwide and had worldwide annual sales of $42.91 billion in its fiscal year ending September 26, 2009.
For reasons as various as its philosophy of comprehensive aesthetic design to its distinctive advertising campaigns, Apple has established a unique reputation in the consumer electronics industry. This includes a customer base that is devoted to the company and its brand, particularly in the United States. Fortune magazine named Apple the most admired company in the United States in 2008, and in the world in 2008, 2009, and 2010. In May 2010, Apple's market cap exceeded that of Microsoft for the first time since 1989
1998–2005: Return to profitabilityOn August 15, 1998, Apple introduced a new all-in-one computer reminiscent of the Macintosh 128K: the iMac. The iMac design team was led by Jonathan Ive, who would later design the iPod and the iPhone. The iMac featured modern technology and a unique design. It sold close to 800,000 units in its first five months.
Through this period, Apple purchased several companies to create a portfolio of professional and consumer-oriented digital production software. In 1998, Apple announced the purchase of Macromedia's Final Cut software, signaling its expansion into the digital video editing market. The following year, Apple released two video editing products: iMovie for consumers, and Final Cut Pro for professionals, the latter of which has gone on to be a significant video-editing program, with 800,000 registered users in early 2007. In 2002 Apple purchased Nothing Real for their advanced digital compositing application Shake, as well as Emagic for their music productivity application Logic, which led to the development of their consumer-level GarageBand application. iPhoto's release the same year completed the iLife suite.[Mac OS X, based on NeXT's OPENSTEP and BSD Unix was released on March 24, 2001, after several years of development. Aimed at consumers and professionals alike, Mac OS X aimed to combine the stability, reliability and security of Unix with the ease of use afforded by an overhauled user interface. To aid users in migrating from Mac OS 9, the new operating system allowed the use of OS 9 applications through Mac OS X's Classic environment.
On May 19, 2001, Apple opened the first official Apple Retail Stores in Virginia and California. The same year, Apple introduced the iPod portable digital audio player. The product was phenomenally successful — over 100 million units were sold within six years. In 2003, Apple's iTunes Store was introduced, offering online music downloads for $0.99 a song and integration with the iPod. The service quickly became the market leader in online music services, with over 5 billion downloads by June 19, 2008Since 2001 Apple's design team has progressively abandoned the use of translucent colored plastics first used in the iMac G3. This began with the titanium PowerBook and was followed by the white polycarbonate iBook and the flat-panel iMac2005–2007: The Intel transition
At the Worldwide Developers Conference keynote address on June 6, 2005, Steve Jobs announced that Apple would begin producing Intel-based Mac computers in 2006. On January 10, 2006, the new MacBook Pro and iMac became the first Apple computers to use Intel's Core Duo CPU. By August 7, 2006 Apple had transitioned the entire Mac product line to Intel chips, over 1 year sooner than announced. The Power Mac, iBook, and PowerBook brands were retired during the transition; the Mac Pro, MacBook, and MacBook Pro became their respective successors. On April 29, 2009, The Wall Street Journal reported that Apple was building its own team of engineers to design microchips.
Apple also introduced Boot Camp to help users install Windows XP or Windows Vista on their Intel Macs alongside Mac OS X.
Apple's success during this period was evident in its stock price. Between early 2003 and 2006, the price of Apple's stock increased more than tenfold, from around $6 per share (split-adjusted) to over $80. In January 2006, Apple's market cap surpassed that of Dell. Nine years prior, Dell's CEO Michael Dell said that if he ran Apple he would "shut it down and give the money back to the shareholders."
Although Apple's market share in computers has grown, it remains far behind competitors using Microsoft Windows, with only about 8 percent of desktops and laptops in the U.S.
2007–present: Mobile Consumer Electronics EraDelivering his keynote at the Macworld Expo on January 9, 2007, Jobs announced that Apple Computer, Inc. would from that point on be known as Apple Inc. because computers are just one part of the company now. This change reflects the company's focus to mobile electronic devices from personal computers. The event also saw the announcement of the iPhone and the Apple TV.The following day, Apple shares hit $97.80, an all-time high at that point. In May, Apple's share price passed the $100 mark.
In an article posted on Apple's website on February 6, 2007, Steve Jobs wrote that Apple would be willing to sell music on the iTunes Store without DRM (which would allow tracks to be played on third-party players) if record labels would agree to drop the technology. On April 2, 2007, Apple and EMI jointly announced the removal of DRM technology from EMI's catalog in the iTunes Store, effective in May. Other record labels followed suit later that year.
In July of the following year, Apple launched the App Store to sell third-party applications for the iPhone and iPod Touch. Within a month, the store sold 60 million applications and brought in $1 million daily on average, with Jobs speculating that the App Store could become a billion-dollar business for Apple. Three months later, it was announced that Apple had become the third-largest mobile handset supplier in the world due to the popularity of the iPhone.
On December 16, 2008, Apple announced that after over 20 years of attending Macworld, 2009 would be the last year Apple would be attending the Macworld Expo, and that Phil Schiller would deliver the 2009 keynote in lieu of the expected Jobs. Almost exactly one month later, on January 14, 2009, an internal Apple memo from Jobs announced that he would be taking a six-month leave of absence, until the end of June 2009, to allow him to better focus on his health and to allow the company to better focus on its products with out having the rampant media speculating about his health.[89] Despite Jobs' absence, Apple recorded its best non-holiday quarter (Q1 FY 2009) during the recession with a revenue of $8.16 billion and a profit of $1.21 billion.
After years of speculation and multiple rumored "leaks" Apple announced a large screen, tablet-like media device known as the iPad on January 27, 2010. The iPad runs the same touch based operating system that the iPhone uses and many of the same iPhone apps are compatible with the iPad. This gave the iPad a large app catalog on launch even with very little development time before the release. Later that year on April 3, 2010, the iPad was launched in the US and sold more than 300,000 units on that day and reaching 500,000 by the end of the first week
Current productsMac mini, consumer sub-desktop computer and server introduced in January 2005. iMac, consumer all-in-one desktop computer that was first introduced by Apple in 1998. Its popularity helped revive the company's fortunes. Mac Pro, workstation-class desktop computer introduced in August 2006. It replaced the Power Macintosh. MacBook, consumer notebook introduced in 2006. It replaced the iBook. MacBook Air, ultra-thin, ultra-portable notebook, introduced in January 2008. MacBook Pro, professional portable computer alternative to the MacBook, available in 13, 15, and 17-inch variants, introduced in January 2006. It replaced the PowerBook. Xserve, rack mounted, dual or quad core, dual processor 1U server. Apple sells a variety of computer accessories for Mac computers including the AirPort wireless networking products, Time Capsule, Cinema Display, Magic Mouse, the Apple Wireless Keyboard computer keyboard, and the Apple USB Modem.
iPadOn January 27, 2010, Apple introduced their much-anticipated media tablet, the iPad running a modified version of iOS. It offers multitouch interaction with multimedia formats including newspapers, magazines, ebooks, textbooks, photos, movies, TV shows videos, music, word processing documents, spreadsheets, video games, and all existing iPhone apps.[92] It also includes a mobile version of Safari for internet browsing, as well as access to the App Store, iTunes Library, iBooks store, contacts, and notepad. Content is downloadable via WIFI and optional 3G service or synced through the user's computer. AT&T is currently the sole US provider of 3G wireless access for the iPad.
Computer Modern is the family of typefaces used by default by the typesetting program TeX. It was created by Donald Knuth with his METAFONT program, and was most recently updated in 1992. However, the family font was superseded by CM-Super (Computer Modern-super), the latest release dating 2002. The latter was complemented by CM-LGC, which provides support for Latin, Greek and Cyrillic, with the latest release dating 2005. Both CM-Super and CM-LGC are included in TeXLive, a modern TeX distribution.
The Computer Modern typefaces are described in great detail (including full source code) in the book Computer Modern Typefaces, volume E in the Computers and Typesetting series, which is unique in the history of font design: in Knuth's words, they "belong to the class of sets of books that describe precisely their own appearance."
As implied by the name, Computer Modern is a modern font. Modern, or "Didone", fonts have high contrast between thick and thin elements, and their axis of "stress" or thickening is perfectly vertical. Computer Modern, specifically, is based on Monotype Modern 8a, and like its immediate model it has a large x-height relative to the length of ascenders and descenders.
The most unusual characteristic of Computer Modern, however, is the fact that it is a complete type family designed with the METAFONT system. The Computer Modern source files are governed by 62 distinct parameters, controlling the widths and heights of various elements, the presence of serifs or old-style numerals, whether dots such as the dot on the "i" are square or rounded, and the degree of "superness" in the bowls of lowercase letters such as "g" and "o". Computer Modern is by no means the only METAFONT-designed typeface, but it is by far the most mature and widely used.
The advance of printer technology has reduced the need for software rasterizers like METAFONT. Outline fonts (to be rendered by the printer or display system) are now generally preferred. As a result, many users have now migrated to Postscript-based replacements, mostly Type 1 implementation of Computer Modern, maintained by the American Mathematical Society, or Latin Modern, instead of the original METAFONT-based Computer Modern. The Latin Modern implementation, now standard in the TeX community, was made through a METAFONT/MetaPost derivative called METATYPE1.
