History likes to repeat itself.

This week we are going to talk technology.

Overview

Very recently(today) I read an article about the shift in the sector size on the hard drives from 512 bytes to 4kb. 

As it is nicely explained here, the sector is a fixed size storage unit on the hard drive (or optical media) that can store data. The sector size has an effect on the HDD transfer speed and latency (speed) at which the disc can access data. It also affects how much data we can store on the hard drive.

Little bit of history

What happens is that when we write files to the disc, they occupy at least one sector (given that the files are smaller than the sector size). The more small files we have (lets say 2-3kb in size) the more we save by converting from 4kb to 512bytes.  This was the case when the HDD industry was converting from FAT16 to FAT32 (circa 1998). And I remember how everybody was talking about saving space (about 10% more free space after conversion), how much bigger drives we will be able to have now (due to FAT16 not being able to address more clusters, etc.
So today we have another push, to move back to 4kb sectors... As explained here and actually compared here those drives are being slightly faster. Also now they can address more clusters, perform more writes/reads per second, etc. The explanation is that 4kb sector size today is more appropriate as almost no file is less than 4kb and each one of the 512b sectors had ECC (Error Correction Code) which obviously also took up space.

Conclusion

The interesting thing is that the whole recent switch went almost unnoticed, where move from Fat16 to Fat32 was all over the professional magazines.
How come 10-12 years ago we didn't know how to make 4kb sectors work to our advantage and we got bombarded with marketing campaigns about how good  the 512bytes sectors are, and now it just goes under the radar that we are going back to what it was 12 years ago?

Where is technology going

 

New Release

Recently Apple released its newest MacBook Air, saying it is the smallest and lightest laptop in the market.The very nice and easy to read article with basic information about this machine can be found here. I totally think it is a truly amazing achievement to get the laptop to be only twice the height of the USB port. The laptop uses Solid State memory, fairly slow CPU, and a good video card. While the price was lowered to actually appeal to everyone, I still dont see any use for this laptop. All you can do on it, is actually browse the web, a thing that iPad can do no problem for less money. You cant do any graphic design on it, as its only 10 or 13 inches...

My question is, why would you buy it then??

Cutting Edge

 Another thought that I have about this machine is how close it got to the iPad, iPhone, and iPod. My former boss predicted that in 10 years all we are going to have are going to be smartphones. I agree with him, the technology is so advanced that we see the barriers between product categories starting to blend. Now a days you can do almost everything on a smartphone as you could do only on a proper PC a few years ago.
All we really need is a projector in a phone being able to project a full size keyboard, and you've got a PC in front of you. That is a really cool idea, and I cant wait till this day comes.Until then if you want to have the most cutting edge piece of technology MacBook Air might be a good choice.

Top freebies while on the job

Three extra perks to be aware of when traveling

When working as consultant you realize that the job comes with a few more perks than just the advertised benefits. That is especially true if you travel a lot. In all cases you will be getting miles, car rentals, and hotel points. If you are lucky you will be also getting points on your credit card that you use to pay for the travel. There are a few rules to stick with in order to maximize profits.

BRAND LOYALTY - points and status

Always stick with the same brand and book it under all circumstances. If you start with Hilton, stay with Hilton, even if it means driving a bit more. Once you reach your Diamond Status, you get extra 50% of points for each stay. Same happens for airlines and car rentals.

PROMOTIONS - double points, free nights

It is a great idea to look around what promotions are currently available, as well as some insider tips on what upcoming promotions are on the radar. Sometimes there are targeted promotions, but if you do find out about it through lets say message board, you can call the customer service and many people reported luck in getting those promotions applied to their accounts.

PER DIEMS - food reimbursement

Nobody ever talks about it during interview, and its an important aspect of travel. In some places you get $50+/ day for food only... I don't think there is a real need to spent 50 bucks a day on food. At the end of the month it adds up to a nice chunk of change, and its all cash after all.

There are other ways to get more perks such as signing up for the credit cards that offer points and miles. In the end it is possible to save up enough points through out the year to go for a very nice vacation for free anywhere in the world, and still have extra cash left from per diems for the expenses during the vacation. Think about extra $3-4k a year, and that is all after taxes.