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                In the era of technology, we have to deal with a huge bunch of data every day. That makes the data storage become more significant. Optical disc is the most widely use storage. Among the optical disc storages VCD and DVD are the most popular. These two have the same shape and the same size but, of course, there are some differences. This article will discuss about three differences of VCD and DVD, which are price, capacity, and quality.

            The price is a major concern for people who want to buy the disc storage. The price of VCD and DVD is according to the brand of the disc, the place you buy and the amount of discs you buy at a time. VCD or DVD of Sony or Phillips may have ten times higher price when compared to the local brand like Princo or EasyWrite. Besides, if you buy them at a department store, they are more expensive than buying at an IT shop such as Pantip Plaza. Moreover, buying a bunch of discs at a time is cheaper than buying two or three discs. The shops provide a box of fifty discs for selling and if you preferred just a disc, no box, they will give you some discount! However, those are the similarities of the price of VCD and DVD, but if we compare between VCD and DVD which have the same brand and sold at the same shop, the price per disc of VCD is much lower. In Thailand, Princo VCD’s price is about 4 baht per disc but the Princo DVD’s price is 9 baht per disc. Even though 9 baht is not expensive at all but if you buy DVDs a lot, it can be a big amount of money.

            Capacity is another difference between VCD and DVD. At the beginning, VCD can store up to 800 MB of data per disc while DVD can store up to 4.7 GB of data per disc (1 GB is about 1000 MB). As time goes by VCD still has only one type which capacity is about 800 MB as I mentioned, by contrast, DVD has developed up to three types, single-sided single-layer, single-sided double-layer, and double-sided double-layer. These three types of DVDs can store up to 4.7 GB, 8.5 GB, and 17 GB of data respectively. Anyway, in term of capacity, DVD has bigger space to store the data.

            Furthermore, another difference to be considered is quality. If we compare a media disc such as song or movie disc, DVD has much better quality. Physically, it has clearer pictures and better sound because DVD has more bit rate than VCD. Moreover, DVD seems to have a longer life and more difficult to break. On the other hand, if we focus on just a data file such as a document file or power point, VCD and DVD represent an equal quality. However, the movie that is on VCD and DVD is not so differ, not many people realize that difference.

            In conclusion, even though VCD has lower price, it has a smaller market share while DVD has the biggest market share of optical disc storage. That is because the price of DVD is not so high and it has much higher quality and capacity. Anyway, in my opinion, it is okay if you use VCD for a data file or anything except media data like songs or video clips. In the case of media data, I prefer DVD.

            First, the audio file that has the highest quality is the uncompressed file. It keeps almost every details of the sound and it is nearest to real sound. The sounds in the CD also use this format. This uncompressed audio file contains every signal of sound wave even the sound that humans cannot hear. The example of this kind of file is WAV file, which is compatible with Windows, for Macintosh is AIFF. Anyway, to keep every detail of the sound, it needs a huge space. The uncompressed audio file is the biggest audio file, a file of three to four minutes can be more than 30 Mb.

            Second, the medium quality audio file is the lossless compression file. The lossless compression allows the exact original data to be reconstructed from the compressed data. This technique also used with other applications such as ZIP file and PNG image. This kind of audio file is not different so much from the uncompressed file. If we compare by hearing directly, it is so hard to distinguish between these two files. The example of the lossless file is Apple Lossless or ALAC. The Apple Lossless was introduced on April 28, 2004 as a feature of iTunes 4.5 and QuickTime 6.5.1. However, the lossless file is very difficult to implement, so it is not so popular in Windows. Nevertheless, we usually use the lossless compression technique with the text file more than the audio file or media file.

            Third is the lossy compression file. It is the lowest quality of the audio file but it is the most popular format. The lossy compression audio files discard the range of signal that humans cannot hear even the vague range of signal. In fact, this technique discards all details that humans cannot perceive. MP3 is the example of this type of audio file. It is the most popular audio format today because its size is quite small, three to four minutes song is just about 5 Mb. Anyway, even though the lossy audio file has the lowest quality and we can see or hear the differences between lossy file and uncompressed file clearly, that low quality is acceptable. Moreover, this type of file is commonly used in streaming media because its size is small; it is convenient to transfer the file.

            In addition, uncompressed, lossless compressing, and lossy compressing are the techniques that are used to handle the data, not only the audio but also all of types of the data. These three techniques give different qualities. You can choose which good quality you like when you save the file by adding the file extension after a filename.    

            The first example is CAT 009 which is the VoIP service for landline telephone provided by CAT Telecom, a Thai telecommunication company. In Thailand, CAT telecom has the biggest market share of international telecommunication because of the implementation of VoIP technology. CAT 009 has 44 percent of international telecommunication generated from Thailand.  If we focus on the international VoIP service, CAT 009 has up to 77 percent of market share (Sewu-cat.com). Moreover, I interviewed some friends about their experiences of international call; they said that the international VoIP is better than using the traditional telephone. International VoIP cause less delay and less losing of voices during the communication. That is why CAT 009 is so popular in Thailand.

            Another example is 0033 international Mobile-Plan, the VoIP service for mobile phone offered by Nippon Telegraph and Telephone Corporation or NTT. It is a Japanese company, which dominates the telecommunication market in Japan. NTT is the largest telecommunication company in Asia and the second largest in the world (Wikipedia.com). For the international call, the differences of time cause a lot of inconvenience especially the delay and the additional charge. Anyway, 0033 allows you to make an international call from your mobile phone at a flat rate regardless when you call at night or in the morning (506506.ntt.com). However, I really do not know how effective it is because I have never tried it yet and I do not know anyone who ever try 0033 of NTT.

             The third example is an application that helps users communicate via the internet by using their computers known as Skype. Skype allow users to make a call over the internet, not necessarily an international call, and it is free! There are a few people who know that Skype implement the VoIP technique because it looks very similar to an instant message application. Nevertheless, Skype is quite popular among teenagers and middle age people because it is free. Besides, Skype has some interesting additional features such as file transfer and video conferencing. Lastly, Skype is very easy to use if you just want to try!

            In conclusion, VoIP is a new technology that makes telecommunication more effective. Today, there are many VoIP services and applications. CAT 009, 0033 Mobile-Plan, and Skype are the examples of VoIP services and applications which we are quite familiar with. Up to this point, I hope this article has made you more interested in this new technology. The more you know about it, the more effective it will be!

            The internet is a system of networks that connect computers around the world together (Thefreedictionary.com). The computers that connected to the internet can transfer an email or any files among them. However, there are some similar terms that we usually confuse, the Intranet and the Ethernet, which I will describe later. Anyway, the internet was introduced about several ten years ago, now it becomes the significant thing for communication around the world. In this article, I will show you the origin of the internet and then talk about why people use the internet.

            The idea of the internet came from a comic science-fiction story in 1946 named ‘A Logic Named Joe’ by Murray Leinster. Ten years after the comic published, the scientist studied about the network. In this case, the term network refers to a computer network. It is a group of computers connected to each other and each of them can share data and information (Wikipedia.com). Next, in 1969, the scientist succeeded in develops the connection between two networks, UCLA and SRI International. That is the first prototype of today’s internet called ARPANET. After that, the scientist improved a protocol to control the communication in the internet. It is a convention that controls the connection, communication, and data transfer in the internet (Wikipedia.com). Since the protocol was used, we can say that it is today’s internet, but we cannot see it! Until the web browser was developed in 1989 that is the first time we saw a face of the internet.

            According to the Internet World Star website there are approximately 1,463,632,361 people worldwide use the internet. There are some reasons why so many people use the internet. The first reason is we can communicate with other people around the world in real-time and low price. It is much cheaper than using telephone and much faster than using airmail. The second reason is it easy to do the business on the internet. We can sell or buy any products we want on the internet without leaving home at all. Moreover, many e-commerce companies develop their website as their online retailer such as Amazon.com, and eBay.com. And we can pay for product by using money transfer service. For example, PayPal.com allows users to pay or transfer money through the internet. We can search everything we want to know on the internet is the third reason. Most of students search the information for their research on the internet. A story about almost everything are public provide on the internet because everyone are free to add the new information all the time and it’s automatically share through the internet. It is more convenience and easier than seeking for a particular book in the library. Next, the internet is another way to find and make a new friend is the fourth reason. Many people have friends via the chat application such as ICQ, Yahoo Messenger, or MSN. Lastly, the internet is very easy to use; we need only a computer and a telephone wire and then we can use the internet!

            Anyway, as I mentioned above, there are some similar terms people usually confuse, the Intranet and the Ethernet. The Intranet is a private network that uses the internet technologies to share the data safely. We can say that it is a private limited area internet, allow only people who have the right to access, share, and download the data. The Intranet usually use in a company or office or school. In contrast, the Ethernet is not a kind of the internet or communication network. It is a technology for build the network. The name comes from the physical concept of the ether. It defines a number of wiring and signaling standards for the Physical Layer of the OSI networking model (Wikipedia.com).

            In conclusion, from one computer to a small network, and many small networks connected to a huge network known as the internet. The internet makes the world smaller and makes life easier. We can find almost everything on the internet even buying product or finding girl friend or boy friend!

                PC monitor is a significant device of a computer even though the computer was invented without the monitor. The monitor display images generated from the output of computers, which make more convenience for users to communicate with the computer. Until today, the monitor evolves slowly from CRT to LCD and the newer one, Plasma. The old style monitor, CRT, becomes extinct and replaced by LCD and Plasma. However, who knows the LCD was first studied almost ten years before the CRT. According to the article of Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia website, in 1888 Friedrich Reinitzer discovers the liquid crystalline nature of cholesterol extracted from carrots and published his findings at a meeting of the Vienna Chemical Society on May 3, 1888. On the other hand, the German physicist, Ferdinand Braun, invented the CRT in 1897.

                A liquid crystal display (LCD) is an electro-optical amplitude modulator realized as a thin, flat display device made up of any number of color or monochrome p

ixels arrayed in front of a light source or reflector. It is often utilized in battery-powered electronic devices because it uses very small amounts of electric power. Nevertheless, the LCD was studied first time in 1888 as the liquid crystalline of cholesterol. It was studied continually until the year 1964, George H. Heilmeier, working on the effect discovered by Williams realized the switching of colors by field-induced realignment of dichroic dyes in a homeotropically oriented liquid crystal. Practical problems with this new electro-optical effect made Heilmeier to continue work on scattering effects in liquid crystals and finally the realization of the first operational liquid crystal display based on what he called the dynamic scattering mode (DSM). Then the UK’s Royal Radar Establishment at Malvern undertook pioneering work on liquid crystals in the late 1960s. Next, on December 4, 1970, the twisted nematic field effect in liquid crystals was filed for patent by Hoffmann-LaRoche in Switzerland. Hoffmann-La Roche then licensed the invention to the Swiss manufacturer Brown, Boveri & Cie who produced displays for wristwatches during the 1970s and also to Japanese electronics industry which soon produced the first digital quartz wristwatches with TN-LCDs and numerous other products. In 1971, the company of Fergason ILIXCO produced the first LCDs based on the TN-effect, which soon superseded the poor-quality DSM types due to improvements of lower operating voltages and lower power consumption. After that, the first active-matrix LCD panel was produced in 1972, United States.

                The LCD evolved slowly when compared with the CRT. The CRT was studied after about ten years the LCD, but the CRT was available on sale before fifty years the LCD. The cathode ray tube (CRT) is a vacuum tube containing an electron gun (a source of electrons) and a fluorescent screen, with internal or external means to accelerate and deflect the electron beam, used to form images in the form of light emitted from the fluorescent screen. The image may represent electrical waveforms (oscilloscope), pictures (television, computer monitor), radar targets, and others. The earliest version of the CRT was invented by the German physicist Ferdinand Braun in 1897 and is known as the 'Braun tube'. It was a

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cold-cathode diode, a modification of the Crookes tube with a phosphor-coated screen. The first version to use a hot cathode was developed by John B. Johnson (who gave his name to the term Johnson noise) and Harry Weiner Weinhart of Western Electric, and became a commercial product in 1922.

                The newer technology became another competitor in the monitor market known as Plasma display. The Plasma display panel (PDP) is a type of flat panel display. Many tiny cells located between two panels of glass hold an inert mixture of noble gases. The gas in the cells is electrically turned into a plasma which then excites phosphors to emit light. In the late-1960's graduate student, Larry F. Weber became interested in plasma displays and completed his PhD studies in this area at the University of Illinois. After his graduation in 1975, he joined the university as a research professor and began a period of 15 years of intensive research into plasma displays, filing 15 patents and eventually developing the sustainer power-saving circuit and color plasma panels. In 1983, IBM introduced a 19-inch (48 cm) orange-on-black monochrome display (model 3290 'information panel') which was able to show up to four simultaneous IBM 3270 terminal session. Then in 1992, Fujitsu introduced the world's first 21-inch (53 cm) full-color display. Two years later, the Plasma display panel facing certain death from an onslaught of color LCD displays, Weber demonstrated color plasma technology on the last day of an industry convention in San Jose. Panasonic was interested, and began a joint development project with Plasmaco, which led in 1996 to the purchase of Plasmaco, its color AC technology, and its American factory. In the next year, 1997, Fujitsu introduced the first 42-inch (107 cm) plasma display; it had 852x480 resolution and was progressively scanned. Also in 1997, Pioneer started selling the first plasma television to the public.

                In addition, we used the CRT monitor to communicate with the computer in the first age, and then we changed to LCD. Today, we have the Plasma display as another choice for PC monitor. From the information above, the CRT and Plasma have developed in a short period. The market of the CRT and Plasma grow very fast and drop down very fast as well. Conversely, the LCD is the first monitor that has been studied, the developer develop them step by step. Moreover, the market of the LCD grows slowly but stable and threatens the CRT’s and Plasma’s market until the CRT monitor becomes extinct today. Anyway, the Plasma display still holds the big part of market share even though the LCD holds the biggest share. They are in the tight competition. However, the future of the LCD and Plasma display depend on the users and other equipment, they usually chose the one that is compatible with other device they used or maybe they just chose the one they like more. 

          Google is one of the most popular websites. Anyone who serves the internet knows Google and most of them use some services of Google. There are so many interesting services provided for visitors and all of them are free! Besides, Google always develops new services and the new interesting one is Google Translate.

          Google Translate is a service for visitors to translate the language of sentences, websites, or search results. To go to Google Translate, when you are at the home page of Google, click ‘more’ at the top menu bar. Then it will show the drop down menu, click ‘even more’. Next, the page will change to ‘more Google product’ and you will see ‘Translate’ in the section of ‘communicate, show & share’. It is in the center of the right column of the page, you just click it, and it will bring you to Google Translate. Or just click to ‘http://translate.google.com’.

          The first page of Google Translate shows the part of text and website translation. You will see a top menu bar for choosing other services of Google Translate, which consists of text and web, translated search, dictionary, and tools. Under the menu is a part of text translation. There is a text box for user to enter the sentences or words. Below the text box are three buttons. The first button is the button for choosing the original language that should be the same as the language of the sentence in the text box. The center button is the button for choosing the target language. The last button is the submit button, which represents as ‘translate’. Once you click a translate button, the result will show in the right of the text box in your target language. Another part of this page is website translation that shows under the part of text translation. In this part, they provide a text field for users to enter the URL of the website that they want to translate. Under the text field, there are three buttons, which are the same with the text translation part, original language, target language, and translate button. To use website translation is also easy; you just type the URL of the website in the text field. Next, choose an original language (choose the language of that website) and target language, and then click ‘translate’. The page will change to the website that you entered and it is translated to your target language. These two parts are easy to use and are very efficient.

          Now, let me show you something more advance, ‘Translated search’. In general, when we use a search engine, the results will show only in the same language of the keyword that we entered. Nevertheless, Google Translate helps you find more results by letting you search your keyword in other language. For example, your keyword is ‘cat’ and you want to find information from a Spanish website, you just type the keyword ‘cat’, and then select your language as ‘English’ and choose a search page language as ‘Spanish’. Google translate will search a ‘cat’ in a Spanish website and show the result in ‘English’. In fact, it translates ‘cat’ into Spanish, gato, and then search the word ‘gato’. In the end, it will translate the result’s website into English and shows the results to you. Anyway, when you go into this page, you will see a text field for type the keyword. Below the keyword text field is the drop down menu of your language and search page language. In the third line, there is a search button. The results show under the search button, it looks similar to normal Google search but there are two columns of results. The left column is the results that are already translated to your language and the right column is the original website.

          Moreover, Google Translate provides dictionary service for visitors to search for a definitions and related words. In the dictionary, you can choose the original and target language as well. Using this dictionary is very easy in just three steps. Firstly, choose the dictionary, such as English to Spanish dictionary. Secondly, type the keyword in the text field. Lastly, click ‘search dictionary’, and then the results will show below.