.... and an in-depth look at how it works. A personal computer is a machine that lets you do do just about everything you could think of. You can do some basic word-processing and spreadsheets as well as 'Surf the Internet'. You can play the latest computer games by yourself as well as against someone from across the other side of the world. It can store databases which could contain information that is kept by police for easier records or you could just use it for your own family history. The basic structure of a computer is a keyboard, a moniter, a and case which holds all the componets to make a computer run like a Hard drive, a Motherboard, and a Video c .....

.... has not been greeted with admirable commentary. This one part is called the Communications Decency Act (CDA), and it has been challenged in court from the moment it was passed into law. Many of the opponents of the CDA have taken their messages to the Internet in order to gain support for their cause, and a small number of these organizations claim this fight as their only cause. Some of these organizations are broad based civil liberties groups, some fight for freedom of speech based on the first amendment, and other groups favor the lowering of laws involving the use of encrypted data on computers. All of these groups, however, speak out for free speec .....

.... director of research and development, Maurice Olley, created a sketch for the new sports car frame, showing the locations of the radiator, wheels, and the body mount points. All it really was was a shortened Chevy Sedan frame. In July, Chevrolet's chief engineer Ed Cole, and Harry Barr started to work on a all new Chevrolet V-8 engine. During a test run, the prototype fiberglass-bodied Chevrolet full sized convertible accidentally rolled. Since the body survived with minimal damage, they decided to keep the fiberglass for the body material for the upcoming Corvette. The year was almost over when they had to decide what name to give the new Chevr .....

.... electronically. In homes, tiny computers embedded in the electronic circuitry of most appliances control the indoor temperature, operate home security systems, tell the time, and turn videocassette recorders on and off. Computers in automobiles regulate the flow of fuel, thereby increasing gas mileage. Computers also entertain, creating digitized sound on stereo systems or computer-animated features from a digitally encoded laser disc. Computer programs, or applications, exist to aid every level of education, from programs that teach simple addition or sentence construction to advanced calculus. Educators use computers to track grades and prepare notes; with c .....

.... which Asimov describes in the book is that humans might become too dependent on computers. In one of the stories, Profession, Asimov writes about people being educated by computer programs designed to educate effortlessly a person. According to the Profession story people would no longer read books to learn and improve their knowledge. People would rely on the computers rather than "try to memorize enough to match someone else who knows" (Nine Tomorrows, Profession 55). People would not chose to study, they would only want to be educated by computer tapes. Putting in knowledge would take less time than reading books and memorizing something that would ta .....

.... applications that generate date dependent calculations will reach incorrect conclusions when using dates commencing with January 1, 2000 (01/01/00). For example, subtracting 06/30/98 from 06/30/00 in an amortization formula would yield negative 98 years, instead of two years. The negative answer would cause an incorrect calculation or even program failure. Typically, in scenarios of this nature, computers do one of two things: freeze up and/or shut down. Date computation functions are used on millions of software applications, thus affecting millions of computers world-wide. It not only affects calculations for interest rates, inventories, or insurance policie .....

.... the purpose of eavesdropping. Bugging an office is a relatively simple process if one follows a few basic steps. First, a person needs to select the bug. There are many different types of bugs ranging from the infinity bug with which you can listen in on a telephone conversation from over 200 miles away to an electaronic laser beam which can pick up the vibrations of a person's voice off a window pane. The infinity bug sells for $1,000 on the black market and the laser for $895. Both, however, are illegal. Second, one needs to know where to plant the bug. A bug can be hidden in a telphone handset, in the back of a desk drawer, etc. The importa .....

.... of copper allowed for the invention of a tool, the saw, that could fulfill this need. This saw was designed with a thin piece of copper stuck into a small piece of wood. The copper strip had teeth lined up along one end that allowed the tool to cut a kerf in a small piece of wood. They later replaced the copper with bronze, and the bronze with iron. This new saw was effective, but was not very specialized. It would react differently under different conditions. Eventually more complex designs were discovered. These new designs allowed for the precision cutting of hardwood, softwood, with the grain, against the grain, and even raked out the unwanted .....