Louwrentius

So I was just messing around on my work station, when suddenly I smelled the smell any person familiar with electronics fears. The smell of some electrical component burning.

The whole upper floor smelled like something was smoldering. So I shut down both my storage servers. After half an hour I still hadn't found the source of the smell, but it definitely was my 18 TB NAS.

So I switched it back on to see if I could determine the cause. The smell became stronger and within the strike light of my flash light, I saw small strands of grey smoke slowly twirling out of the Coolermaster Silent Pro M 600W power supply.

That was the moment I decided to turn the system off immediately. I know this kind of thing can happen. But it is still very bad for such a component to crap out on me like that.

Needless to say that I don't want a replacement of this model in my server. I will now try my luck with the Corsair CMPSU-750HX 750Watt PSU.

Based on a single experience it cannot be concluded that this Coolermaster PSU is a bad one that should be avoided. But the only moving part of a PSU is the (big) fan. What must be wrong with it that it decided to start smoking?

For reasons of availability, a redundant power supply should be used, but that is just too expensive for my taste ($500+).

There is one fundamental flaw with both the iPhone and the iPad. As a user, you do not have full control over your device. You can only install or run software that is approved by Apple.

This is something that is unprecedented. All major platforms, Windows, Linux, Mac OS X do provide the user with full control over what programs can be run or not.

Is this a bad thing? Are you trading your freedom for some luxurious gadget such as the iPhone or the iPad?

I say no. People are over reacting.

You would trade in your freedom and become 'owned' by Apple, if an iPhone or iPad is your sole computing device.

However, everybody also has a computer at home, that is still under your full control.Since the iPhone and iPad is just an auxiliary device (although quite powerful), you are still free.

Most importantly, I think it is about the content, not the device. Do you retain control over your own content, such as music, files and e-mail? I think so. I think that on this level, which is most crucial, Apple does not restrict people on iPhones or iPads in any way. And that is what matters most I think.

The fact is that computers aren't made for humans. Computers are just made, and humans have to adjust to them.

The problem is that most people that are not into technology just don't understand how computers work. Should I single click of double click? Click left or right?

The only people that can work with some ease on computers are people with a more than average interest in technology. Ordinary people often have to fight great battles to get the job done. The therm 'ordinary' does not justice to these people, because technologists seem to forget that they are the people that actually do something useful.

The iPad is the first personal computer that is actually made for humans that do not have a primary interest in computers. The entire computer is abstracted away to focus on the things you really want to do. People do not need the help of technologists anymore to do the things they want.

The iPhone was the first in this new kind of computers, but due to it's size it's still a bit of a gimmick. But it was a revolution within the world of smart phones. It was the first device that was actually usable for non- technologists. And the iPad will be the first 'regular' computer that (hopefully) won't be such a nuisance as current home computers are.