Bits Vs Bytes Explained

Bits vs Bytes: What's the Difference?

If you’ve ever shopped for internet packages or tried to buy storage, you’ve run into the bit/byte issue before – and you may not even have known it. It’s a concept that everyone who uses computer should at least familiarize themselves with. After all, it’s like not knowing the difference between kilometers and miles!

When computer speed or storage is measured, it’s done using two units and their derivatives. The first unit is the bit, and the second is the byte.


This means that when you see an advertisement for internet service at a rate of 1 Mb/s down, it’s not quite what it seems. The K, M, G, or T before indicates kilo, mega, giga, or terra. Those are Latin prefixes for thousand, million, billion, or trillion, respectively. So here’s the math for a megabit: a megabit is actually 1,048,576 bits, which is 2 to the power of 20. Bit notation uses SI, which is based on factors of 2, instead of 10, like our normal system of counting does. What this ends up meaning is that the internet service can only provide a paltry 0.125 megabytes per second, which is an eighth of what it looks like it’s advertising.

You may have noticed that your hard drive, which you bought because it advertised 500GB of storage, is reading a different number under system properties. Because of the way storage is calculated, a 500GB hard drive actually has 536,870,912,000 Bytes, or 512,000 megabytes. Then some of that storage is taken for the drive’s internal functions.

Anyway, to cut a nerdy rant short, companies will sometimes try and rely on the fact that you don’t know these differences in order to sell you a sub-par service. To be fair, it’s not an easy subject to wrap your head around but if you keep in mind that a small b means 1/8^th speed, you can navigate your way around some of the issues that will come up.

What is Twitter: Microblogging 101

Asking "What is Twitter?" - Some Helpful Tips

What is Twitter? Well, when I think of Twitter, the first thing I think is: too much information. Do we really need to share the blow-by-blow of our lives with the world, or follow along on our friends’ every move? Yet with over 300 million users, it’s the second most popular social media outlet (following behind Facebook’s behemoth 850+ million users) – they can’t all be wrong, right? I set out to figure out what I’ve been missing, or rather, if I’m missing something about Twitter.

What makes Twitter different from other forms of social media? Facebook helps you stay connected with your circle of friends and family, but Twitter connects you with people all over the world. Search for subjects that interest you and join the conversation, even if it’s with someone you’d never connect with in real life, like your favorite celebrity or a politician. If you like to stay on top of what’s hot (i.e., “trending”) online, Twitter’s little "sound bites" from around the globe are a constant stream of instant information.


Every user has a unique username, or "Handle," used so people can follow you. People can link their tweets to you by "Mentioning" you, using the @ symbol in combination with your handle. For example, @CNN links to CNN News. Users are notified when their handle is mentioned, and it allows you to conduct discussions in a public forum. Lastly, "Hashtags" (#) are used to notate a topic of larger conversation, linking words together without spaces: say, #BatmanBegins or #BarackObama. It's used as a discovery tool that allows users to find tweets related to a particular subject as it allows you to see all the tweets that mention the topic in real time, even from people you're not currently following.
Ready to start tweeting? Signing up is simple. Visit www.twitter.com, create your account (name, password, email) and you're off and away. You start by building your Timeline, which looks a lot like your Facebook Wall (in Twitter-world it's called a "feed"), filled with the Tweets people have posted. You can choose to "follow" anything or anyone you're interested in, whether it's your favorite TV show or celebrity, or even your brother George if you can find him within the myriad of Georges. Twitter can suggest friends from your Facebook list, or you can search for people you know using Yahoo, Gmail, Hotmail or AOL accounts.

Once you're signed up you can begin tweeting right away, but the best way to get your voice heard is to reply to tweets you're following and use your @mention liberally. The power of Twitter is the one-on-one connection you can have with some very influential people. The more you interact, the more you'll be heard, and who knows? Maybe they'll even strike up a conversation with you! To see the power of Twitter in action, look no further than last year’s wave of political protests across the Arab world: Twitter is credited with having a large influence, as activists used social networking sites to publicize and mobilize the movements (http://www.thenational.ae/news/uae-news/facebook-and-twitter-key-to-arab-spring-uprisings-report).
Businesses are connecting with their customers through Twitter. With millions of active users and over 300 million tweets sent per day, it's likely your industry and competitors are already in the midst of the conversation. Use it to get the word out about your brand while gathering insights about what your customers want so you can deliver.

It's no surprise that Twitter applications are available for your Smartphone. The official Twitter application is free and will help you when you're starting out, but check out Tweetbot (http://tapbots.com/software/tweetbot/, iPhone, $2.99) when you're ready to get serious about your tweeting. It allows you to create lists of tweets you're following so you can easily separate your world news from your friends' with the tap of a finger. Its fun to use, too, with its cute sounds and animations and easy integration with other Twitter apps you're using. All other users should check out TweetCaster (http://tweetcaster.com/, all platforms: ad-supported is free, otherwise $4.99). The paid, pro version has extra features and no ads. Links are shared easily with a handy copy-paste feature and a simple-to-use interface.

Malware Primer: Deciphering the Digital Devils

Understanding Malware: Everything you need to know

You’ve probably heard the terms “virus,” “malware,” “spyware,” and others all used interchangeably. However, these are actually all different types of bad software. The blanket term for software that harms your computer is “malware.” If you paid attention in Latin class, you’ll know that “mal” is a prefix that means “bad” and “ware” simply refers to any type of computer program.

Now the second-most-popular term that gets thrown around is “virus.” A virus is pretty much the same as its biological counterpart, but on the computer. It attaches itself to files on your computer, replicates itself, and spreads itself out to as many computers as possible. It can attach itself to the hidden parts of your hard drive, system files, or even random files that contain data valuable to you. Quite often they spread through executable files. If you see a file that ends in “exe” where you didn’t expect it to, don’t open it! It’s probably a virus. Make sure to run a scan on it.


ScareWare is relatively new on the field of malware. It tricks you into downloading something that looks like an antivirus, and then tells you that you have hundreds of viruses which you have to pay to remove. Chances are however that the only virus is the program that is telling you that you have a virus! The best chances for removing this virus, if your other programs haven’t caught it, is simply to Google the name of the software and see how to remove it. Many security programs haven’t quite figured out how to deal with these yet. Your best defense is simply not to download any programs that you can’t verify are legitimate.

The final type of Malware that gets mentioned a lot is a Trojan Horse. This software allows your computer to be controlled remotely. It’s unlike a virus in that you have to be tricked into installing it, but once installed, you might never know. Hackers use PCs with Trojan Horses for their own ends – proxy servers, attacking websites, or even sending out spam. Make sure your antivirus is up-to-date and you should be able to stay safe from these.

There are of course many other types of viruses, but the methods for protection essentially remain the same: practice safe browsing, and keep your antivirus updated. If you have more questions about these or other computer repair related topics, contact me at http://www.callnerds.com/blog

Screenshot copyright Malwarebytes Corporation