Information Technology

A Technical Introduction to USB 2.0

2011-03-22T21:22:00.000+08:00

This document introduces the features and benefits of USB 2.0 and

describes its impact to users, PC manufacturers and PC peripheral

manufacturers. Following a recap of USB 1.1, this paper overviews

the technical aspects of USB 2.0 whose details are in the

specification draft released in October.

USB 2.0 Executive Summary
A core team from Compaq, Hewlett Packard, Intel, Lucent, Microsoft, NEC and
Philips is leading the development of the USB Specification, version 2.0, that will
increase data throughput by a factor of 40. This backwards-compatible
extension of the USB 1.1 specification uses the same cables, connectors and
software interfaces so the user will see no change in the usage model. They will,
however, benefit from an additional range of higher performance peripherals,
such as video-conferencing cameras, next-generation scanners and printers, and
fast storage devices, with the same ease-of-use features as today’s USB
peripherals.

Impact to User
From a user’s perspective, USB 2.0 is just like USB, but with much higher
bandwidth. It will look the same and behave the same, but with a larger choice of
more interesting, higher performance devices available. Also, all of the USB
peripherals the user has already purchased will work in a USB 2.0-capable
system.

Impact to PC Manufacturer
USB 2.0 will provide system manufacturers the ability to connect to high
performance peripherals in the least expensive way. The additional performance
capabilities of USB 2.0 can be added with little impact to overall system cost.
Indeed, high-bandwidth interfaces such as SCSI adapters may no longer be
required in some systems, leading to a net saving of system cost. Simpler
construction will result since only USB connectors will be needed on many future
PCs. Today’s ubiquitous USB connectors will become USB 2.0, superceding
USB 1.1.

Impact to Peripheral Manufacturer
Today’s USB devices will operate with full compatibility in a USB 2.0 system.
The added capabilities of USB 2.0 will expand the market segment for USB
peripherals, while enabling retail products to transition with the installed base.
Support of USB 2.0 is recommended for hubs and higher bandwidth peripherals.
Designing a USB 2.0 peripheral will be a similar engineering effort to that of
designing a USB 1.1 peripheral. Some low-speed peripherals, such as HID
devices, may never be redesigned to support the USB 2.0 high-speed capability
in order to maintain the absolute lowest cost.
Historical Perspective – Universal Serial Bus
The Universal Serial Bus was originally developed in 1995 by many of the same
industry leading companies currently working on USB 2.0. The major goal of
USB was to define an external expansion bus which makes adding peripherals to
a PC as easy as hooking up a telephone to a wall-jack. The program’s driving
goals were ease-of-use and low cost. These were enabled with an external
expansion architecture, as shown in Figure 1, which highlights:
· PC host controller hardware and software,
· robust connectors and cable assemblies,
· peripheral friendly master-slave protocols,
· expandable through multi-port hubs.
Figure 1. Example USB 1.1 System Configuration
(available in full version)

Today, USB is enjoying tremendous success in the marketplace, with most
peripheral vendors around the globe developing products to this specification.
Virtually all new PCs come with one or more USB ports on the box. In fact, USB
has become a key enabler of the Easy PC Initiative, an industry initiative led by
Intel and Microsoft to make PCs easier to use. This effort sprung from the
recognition that users need simpler, easier to use PCs that don’t sacrifice
connectivity or expandability. USB is one of the key technologies used to provide
this.

Recap of USB 1.1 Operation
An understanding of the roles of each of the major elements within a USB 1.1
system will better show the evolutionary step that USB 2.0 provides.
Role of Host PC hardware and software.
The role of the system software is to provide a uniform view of IO system for all
applications software. It hides hardware implementation details so that
application software is more portable. For the USB IO subsystem in particular, it
manages the dynamic attach and detach of peripherals. This phase, called
enumeration, involves communicating with the peripheral to discover the identity
of a device driver that it should load, if not already loaded. A unique address is
assigned to each peripheral during enumeration to be used for run-time data
transfers. During run-time the host PC initiates transactions to specific
peripherals, and each peripheral accepts it’s transactions and responds
accordingly. Additionally the host PC software incorporates the peripheral into
the system power management scheme and can manage overall system power
without user interaction.

Role of the hub.
Besides the obvious role of providing additional connectivity for USB peripherals,
a hub provides managed power to attached peripherals. It recognizes dynamic
attachment of a peripheral and provides at least 0.5W of power per peripheral
during initialization. Under control of the host PC software, the hub may provide
more device power, up to a maximum of 2.5W, for peripheral operation. A newly
attached hub will be assigned its unique address, and hubs may be cascaded up
to five levels deep. During run-time a hub operates as a bi-directional repeater
and will repeat USB signals as required on upstream (towards the host) and
downstream (towards the device) cables. The hub also monitors these signals
and handles transactions addressed to itself. All other transactions are repeated
to attached devices. A hub supports both 12Mb/s (full-speed) and 1.5Mbs (lowspeed)
peripherals.

Role of the peripheral.
All USB peripherals are slaves that obey a defined protocol. They must react to
request transactions sent from the host PC. The peripheral responds to control
transactions that, for example, request detailed information about the device and
it’s configuration. The peripheral sends and receives data to/from the host using
a standard USB data format. This standardized data movement to/from the PC
host and interpretation by the peripheral gives USB it’s enormous flexibility with
little PC host software changes. USB 1.1 peripherals can operate at 12Mb/s or
1.5Mb/s.

What does USB 2.0 add?
USB 2.0 is an evolution of the USB 1.1 specification, providing a higher
performance interface. Today’s USB 1.1 connectors and full-speed cables will
support the higher speeds of USB 2.0 without any changes. Characterization
that has already been done on these cables confirms this compatibility. Analysis
that has been done by the electrical team suggests that a target of 480Mbs is
achievable on USB 2.0. USB 2.0 will specify a microframe, which will be 1/8th of
a 1msec frame. This will allow USB 2.0 devices to have small buffers even at
high data rates.

Support of higher speed USB 2.0 peripherals connected to a hub assumes USB
2.0 hubs as shown in Figure 2. The higher transmission speed is negotiated on a
device-by-device basis and if the higher speed is not supported by a peripheral,
then the link operates at a lower speed of 12Mb/s or 1.5Mb/s as determined by
the peripheral.

Figure 2. Example Future USB 2.0 System Configuration
(available in full version)

As shown in Figure 2, high-speed connections were negotiated between the root
hub and the external USB 2.0 hub and between the external USB 2.0 hub and
the video-conferencing camera (a USB 2.0 peripheral). All other connections are
at USB 1.1 data rates, i.e. 12Mb/s automatically downshifting to 1.5Mb/s for lowspeed
peripherals. Note that the external USB 2.0 hub has different signaling
rates on its ports. Using a 40x multiplier for USB 2.0, the USB 2.0 hub example
in Figure 2 has an input rate of 480Mb/s and output rates of 480Mb/s for attached
high speed USB 2.0 peripherals, and 12Mb/s or 1.5Mb/s for attached USB 1.1
peripherals. Any downstream port of a USB 2.0 hub can support attachment of
any speed USB device. The USB 2.0 hub must match the data rates sent out of
its downstream ports to the data rate appropriate to the attached device. This
increases the hub’s role in a USB 2.0 system as outlined below.

Overview of USB 2.0 Operation
The external view of a USB 2.0 system looks no different from a USB 1.1 system
as evidenced by comparing Figures 1 and 2. A casual observer will not be able
to discriminate between the two system versions – which is exactly the view the
user should have. However, the user will have to be able to distinguish between
USB 2.0 hubs and USB 1.1 hubs in order to optimize the placement of USB 2.0
high-speed devices. The roles of the components of the 2.0 system have minor
changes from the roles in a USB 1.1 system.

Role of Host PC software.
Current applications software on the PC continues to operate with USB 1.1
peripherals and is unchanged. The system software will comprehend the
increased capabilities of USB 2.0 peripherals so that it can optimize
performance. The system software will also detect sub-optimal configurations,
i.e. a USB 2.0 peripheral attached to a USB 1.1 hub, and will alert the user and
recommend a better configuration for attaching the peripherals. New
applications will be written to take advantage of the higher speed capabilities and
ease-of-use of USB 2.0 peripherals and drivers.

Role of the hub.
A USB 2.0 hub accepts high-speed transactions at the faster frame rate and
must deliver them to high-speed USB 2.0 peripherals and USB 1.1 peripherals.
This data rate matching responsibility will require some increased hub complexity
and temporary buffering of the incoming high-speed data. In the simplest case of
communicating with an attached USB 2.0 peripheral, the hub repeats the highspeed
signals on appropriate USB 2.0 upstream and downstream cables just as
a USB 1.1 hub repeats full and low-speed signals today on USB 1.1 devices.
This allows USB 2.0 peripherals to utilize the majority of USB 2.0 bandwidth.
To communicate with USB 1.1 peripherals, a USB 2.0 hub contains a mechanism
that supports the concept of matching the data rate with the capabilities of the
downstream device. In other words, the hub manages the transition of the data
rate from the high speed of the host controller to the lower speed of a USB 1.1
device. This feature of USB 2.0 hubs means that USB 1.1 devices can operate
along with USB 2.0 devices and not consume disproportionate amounts of USB
2.0 bandwidth. This new hub architecture is intended to be as simple and cost
effective as possible, and yet deliver the full capabilities of 1.1 connections.
The new USB 2.0 hub will be completely defined in the USB 2.0 specification
providing clear implementation guidelines for hub vendors and allowing a single
software driver to service USB 2.0 hub products from multiple vendors.

Role of the peripheral.
Current peripheral products do not require any changes to operate in a USB 2.0
system. Many Human Interface Devices, such as mice, keyboards and game
pads will not require the additional performance that USB 2.0 offers and will
remain as full or low speed peripherals as defined by USB 1.1.
The higher data rate of USB 2.0 will, however, open up the possibilities of
exciting new peripherals. Video-conferencing cameras will perform better with
access to higher bandwidth. Next-generation, higher-speed and higher
resolution printer and scanner devices will be enabled at the high-end. High
density storage devices such as R/W DVD, and high capacity CDROM jukeboxes
will also be enabled by USB 2.0. These devices require minor changes to the
peripheral interface, as defined in the USB 2.0 specification. Overall, the
additional cost to support USB 2.0 is expected to be minimal to the peripheral.
Both USB1.1 and USB 2.0 devices will inter-operate in a USB 2.0 system.

Summary
The USB Specification is currently at Version 1.1 and supports a wide range of
products. Many vendors are moving towards USB, drawn by its inclusion on
virtually all PC platforms and its ease-of-use. More and more types of innovative
new peripherals are taking advantage of USB, which further enhance the
available USB product portfolio.
The version 2.0 specification that is under development is an evolutionary step
that increases performance capabilities at low cost for USB peripherals in a
backwards compatible fashion. It is expected to broaden the market for new and
higher performance PC peripherals, and supercede USB 1.1 on future PCs.

RJ 45 Standard

2011-03-22T13:07:00.002+08:00

Color Codes

Pin color pair name

--- ----- ---- ---------

1 wh/or 2 TxData +

2 or 2 TxData -

3 wh/grn 3 RecvData+

4 blu 1

5 wh/blu 1

6 grn 3 RecvData-

7 wh/brn 4

Note that the odd pin numbers are always the white with stripe color.

Straight Through Cable	Color Code
Pin 1 Pin 2 Pin 3 Pin 4 Pin 5 Pin 6 Pin 7 Pin 8	white orange orange white green blue white blue green white brown brown

Cross Over Cable	Color Code
Pin 1 Pin 2 Pin 3 Pin 4 Pin 5 Pin 6 Pin 7 Pin 8	white green green white orange blue white blue orange white brown brown

Spyware Beware

2011-03-21T13:18:00.000+08:00

Spyware and Adware are not only an ever increasing nuisance for computer users everywhere, but also a booming industry. According to Webroot Software, Inc., the distribution of online advertisements through spyware and adware has become a $2 billion industry.

The aggressive advertising and spying tactics demonstrated by some of these programs, require an equally aggressive response from a seasoned eradicator. Sunbelt Software is such a company. A leader in Anti-Spyware, Anti-Spam, Network Security and System Management tools, they gave consistently remained on the cutting-edge of anti-spyware programming since 1994.

One of their more notable software applications is CounterSpy 1.5. CounterSpy is designed to detect and remove spyware that is already in your computer system. Additionally, it provides real-time protection while preventing browser hijacking and changes to your computer’s Registry.

Other notable features include:

• Detection and Removal of Tracking Cookies – while it is true that applications like Microsoft AntiSpyware Beta are free, they do not include the ability to detect and remove tracking cookies like CounterSpy does.
• History Cleaner - erases any traceable trails left on your computer as you surf the Internet.
• Secure File Eraser - a powerful deletion tool that can completely eliminate all files you want removed from your computer including images, music, movies and applications.
• PC Explorer - allows you a look into files and areas that are normally inconvenient to access, such as your startup programs, browser helper objects, and ActiveX programs that are being downloaded or used.
• Support for Older Operating Systems – includes Windows 98SE, Windows ME, and Windows NT.

Recommended by PC World, ConsumerSearch, and Dell, CounterSpy holds one of the highest effective ratings for spyware removal. It also received high marks from TopTenReviews (2006) for ease of use, customization/installation, and help/support. For only $19.95 per machine, users can receive a one year subscription with updates, upgrades, and technical support from real live humans. CounterSpy definitely provides ease of use and affordability for just about any computer user from the novice to the expert.

Understand of RAID

2011-03-20T21:27:00.029+08:00

RAID: A Comparison of Different Modes

RAID 0: Striping
Technically speaking, mode 0 doesn't adhere to the principles of a RAID, given the fact
that an important factor, data redundancy, does not exist. Hence RAID 0 offers no
advantages in terms of security - in fact, on the contrary. All of the data are evenly
distributed to all of the existing drives; this array is called a stripe set. This process can
best be described with the "zipper method." The benefits are clear: because the data
stream can be allocated to all the different drives, the data transfer rate is multiplied by
the number of drives. Here the upper limits are the maximum transfer rate per channel
Search Amazon.com for server(max. 100 MB/s for UltraATA/100), or the maximum bandwidth of the controller on the
PCI bus (266 MB/s at 66 MHz / 32-bit PCI). However, in reality this very drastic
performance boost comes at the price of higher fault vulnerability. Instead of one, now all
of the RAID drives must work error-free. If even one of those drive crashes, all of the
stored data will be lost.

RAID 1: Mirroring
Mode 1 is basically the complete opposite of RAID 0. The goal here is not to boost
performance, but to ensure data security. When reading or writing data, all drives of the
array are used simultaneously. Hence, data is written synchronously to two or more
drives, which is equivalent to a perfect backup copy - perfect because the data is always
100% up-to-date.

RAID 2: Striping
Striping is based on the same principle as RAID 0: the stripe set distributes the data to all
drives, though not in block form, but, rather, on a bit level. This is necessary because an
Error Correcting Code (ECC) is implemented in all transaction data. Additional hard
drives are necessary to store the resulting additional volume. If you wanted to guarantee
complete data security, you would have to deploy at least ten data disks and four ECC
disks. The next level would entail 32 data disks and seven ECC disks. This explains why
RAID 2 never caught on.
On top of that, performance is only mediocre as multiple access is not possible in bit
stripe sets. The higher the number of accesses, and the shorter they are, the more lethargic
RAID 2 gets.

RAID 3: Data Striping, Dedicated Parity
Level 3 incorporates prudent error correction. Data is allocated byte by byte to several
hard drives, while the parity data is stored in a separate drive. This is exactly the
disadvantage of RAID 3, as the parity drive has to be accessed with every access. So the
advantage of RAID, bundling the disk performance by distributing access, is partially
offset. RAID 3 needs a minimum of three drives.

This mode requires quite a complex controller, which is why RAID 3, similar to levels 4
and 5, never caught on in the mass market.

RAID 4: Data Striping, Dedicated Parity
The technology of RAID Level 4 is similar to that of level 3, except that the individual
stripes are not written in bytes, but in blocks. In theory, this should speed things up, but
the parity drive still remains the bottleneck.

RAID 5: Distributed Data, Distributed Parity
RAID Level 5 is generally considered the best compromise between data security and
performance. Not only the data, but also the parity information, is distributed to all the
existing drives. The resulting advantage is that RAID is really only a bit slower than
RAID 3. However, failure safety is limited, as only one hard drive can safely crash. At
least three hard drives are required in each case.

RAID 6: Distributed Data, Distributed Parity
With RAID 6, you're really only talking about RAID 5 - except that twice the amount of
parity information is stored. Though this cuts down on performance a bit, it allows up to
two hard drives to crash. It does require, however, a minimum of five drives.
RAID: Who with Whom?
So far, we've talked about several hard drives, but haven't gone into detail. You should
principally set up all RAID modes with similar hard drives, as only then will you get
maximum performance.

However, you can also combine different drives, with the smaller or slower drive being
the determinant drive for the entire array. For example, one 30 GB and two 40 GB hard
drives in RAID 0 will give you a total capacity of 90 GB, which is three times the
capacity of the smallest hard drive.
The same applies to the combination of an old 40 GB hard drive with 5,400 rpm with a
new model with 7,200 rpm. If you were to use two of the slower drives, the performance
level would be the same. Replacing the older disk with a second and faster one would
increase the performance.

If you want to use several different hard drives together, you have the option of creating
what is known as a span array. Another term is JBOD (just a bunch of drives). Here, the
hard drives are simply hooked up in series, which results in a useable total capacity, but
without, however, an increase in performance or data security.
Another unsettled point is the question of which drives should be hooked up to which
IDE channel. If possible, every drive should be connected to its own channel as a master.

On a dual channel controller card, you'd be able to hook up a mere two hard drives.
Though using four hard drives (master and slave per channel) drastically increases
performance, you'd get even more out of a four channel controller with four master drives.
Another important fact is that only a few of the currently available IDE RAID controllers
support the ATAPI protocol. CD-ROM or DVD-ROM drives will not necessarily work
with a RAID controller (don't even bother trying in RAID mode).
Disk Drive Crash! Now What?!
If you had opted for a RAID level before a disk crash, assigning highest priority to
security, then you're in good shape. If you're using RAID Level 1, 3, 4, 5 or 6, the crash
of a single hard drive will not affect your existing data. Depending on the controller
you're using, the procedure will vary.
Most RAID controllers today notify the user of a crash with a beep and by e-mail (of
course, this does not apply to the RAID levels with the system partition, which do not
offer any crash protection).

Older or very simple RAID controllers require the computer to be shut down and the
defective drive to be replaced. After restarting the system, the user has to go into the
BIOS of the RAID controller to initiate the rebuild process.
Practically all of the RAID controllers on the market today - including the simple models
- now master the exchange of defective hard drives without a need to shut down the
system, a process called hot swapping. Rebuild takes place automatically, too - you really
don't have to do anything yourself anymore.
A clever feature is the hot-spare function. Many RAID controllers support an additional
drive, which is labeled as a hot spare. If one of the array drives refuse to work, it will be
removed from operation and the hot-spare drive will be connected automatically.
In the event that you were using RAID 0 or JBOD and have lost important data, you'll
probably never want to use this mode again. Though there's almost always a way to
restore your data, it is horrendously expensive. Companies dedicated to data recovery
(such as, for example, OnTrack) are able to take hard drives apart and restore most of the
data, even after a head crash, fire damage or other catastrophic events. But be warned:
restoring RAID arrays is disproportionately harder than the effort that goes into restoring
one single hard drive, which is enormous enough.

Conclusion: Only a Backup is Truly Safe!

Chart-Topping Capacity for a Song
It's not just aspects like performance and data security that should be considered; in many
cases, enormous amounts of data must be managed and stored - the right approach to
tackling this problem is a RAID array with large hard drives. Because expensive SCSI
RAID adapters and SCSI hard drives were the only available options just a few years ago,
high-capacity arrays were feasible only for very few individual users or companies.
Today, the prices for IDE hard drives with a capacity of 100 GB have dropped to a few
hundred dollars - a downright bargain. It takes only $500 to set up arrays with a capacity
of 300 to 400 gigabytes. The introduction of new hard drives with up to 200 GB will
make RAID arrays with up to 1 terabyte (5x 200GB) affordable for the first time ever.
Muddle Makes Trouble

No matter which RAID array you're using - for the operating system, it's ultimately a
drive just like any other, and therefore it needs to be maintained accordingly.
You should defragment it at least a few times a year; for more heavily frequented drives,
once a month. Ideally, you'll enter the defragmentation program in your task planner and
have this pesky operation performed during acceptable times.
If one of your drives ever begins to snarl (louder operating noise, reduced performance or
other conspicuities), don't hesitate. You should back up all of your important data,
especially if you're using RAID 0. If the operating system is on the RAID array as well,
you might want to try and mirror the drive in question on another computer with an
identical hard drive. Otherwise, you'll have no choice but to reinstall everything.

RAID Controllers: A Large Selection
When purchasing a RAID controller, you need to differentiate between two types. Simple
consumer models can be found everywhere, and they're often also integrated on
motherboards. They offer two channels and support RAID modes 0, 1 and 10 (striping
and mirroring), but most of the time they can also be used as simple ATA controllers.
More sophisticated models have their own RISC processors (e.g., i960) and can
additionally be outfitted with extra cache. Thanks to the processor, you can also run more
lavish RAID modes like Level 3 or 5 - assuming that you have enough hard drives.

Adaptec
Adaptec has the reputation of manufacturing high-quality SCSI hardware. But it has been
offering some products in the IDE sector for quite some time, too.

Two channel UltraATA/100: ATA RAID 1200A
RAID 0, 1, 10, JBOD, hot swap, e-mail notification

Four channel UltraATA/100: ATA RAID 2400A
RAID 0, 1, 3, 10, JBOD, hot swap, e-mail notification

HighPoint
You'll find HighPoint controllers less often in computer stores than on numerous

motherboards:
Two channel UltraATA/133: RocketRAID133
RAID 0, 1, 10, JBOD, hot swap, e-mail notification
Four channel UltraATA/133: RocketRAID404
RAID 0, 1, 10, JBOD, hot swap, e-mail notification

LSI Logic
Two channel UltraATA/100: Mega RAID IDE 100 (formerly AMI)
RAID 0, 1, 10, JBOD, hot swap, e-mail notification
Four channel UltraATA/100: Mega RAID i4
RAID 0, 1, 5, 10, JBOD, hot swap, e-mail notification
Hardly for home use: the SuperTrak SX6000 from Promise masters RAID 5 and supports
up to 128 MB cache.

Promise
Promise places equal focus on integration and retail sales:
Two channel UltraATA/133: FastTrak TX2000
RAID 0, 1, 10, JBOD, hot swap, e-mail notification
Five channel UltraATA/133: FastTrak TX2000
RAID 0, 1, 3, 5, 10, JBOD, hot swap, e-mail notification

RAID Without RAID
RAID modes 2 to 6 can be implemented only if the appropriate hardware RAID
controller is available. On the other hand, RAID 0 and 1 are offered directly by Windows
2000 or Windows XP - as long as there are several hard drives.
Under disk administration of the computer administration console, you can, among other
things, change partitions and drive letters. You can also connect two or more hard drives
to form a software RAID.

There Are Limits
RAID arrays are certainly an excellent approach to solving chronic performance deficits
and improving your sense of security. Let us mention, though, that they are not able to
perform miracles, and do not absolve the user or the administrator from backing up his or
her data periodically.
For example, a RAID controller cannot withstand short circuits or lightning, meaning that,
in the worst case scenario, your data could be toast. Therefore, an uninterruptible power
supply (UPS) is part of the required equipment in productive or otherwise critical systems.
Furthermore, a RAID array only offers protection from technical errors - the human
factor, however, should not be underestimated. Most users have had to live with lost data
because they carelessly deleted or hastily clobbered them - the same holds true with the
RAID.

The chapter on human-related causes also includes malicious attacks on the existing data,
or acts of the "powers that be." These involve attacks on software (deleting, formatting,
renaming, software bugs), as well as physical threats (theft, vandalism, arson, floods,
etc.).

Don't forget - only a backup is truly safe.

Setting Up a RAID Array
Setting up a RAID array usually doesn't take much time. Especially for modes 0 and 1, it
will suffice to select the drives to be included in the array in BIOS of the controller.
Lastly, after the system has rebooted, the new drive must be formatted (it may be
necessary to activate the RAID controller with its driver under Windows).
In RAID 3 or RAID 5 arrays, the controllers often run an initialization process that can
take up to several hours.
Though RAID Level 0 is the fastest option of all, it is also the most precarious by far. For
example, using four hard drives will push the data transfer rate far beyond 100 MB/s, but
fault tolerance will be virtually non-existent. A hard drive is a mechanical component that
will age and wear out after a while. Mechanically-induced defects are therefore really
only a question of time. But even an electronic error or a minor production error may
result in a catastrophe.

For this reason, RAID 0 is not recommended for long-term storage data, but primarily for
setting up fast drives with temporary data, such as file or database servers. And if the
system has to be mirrored on short notice, RAID 1 is your best choice. If you have a hot
swap cabinet, you can remove the hard drive while the system is running in order to
mirror it to a different drive of the same size on a different computer. Then the drive is
reinstalled in the computer, while the copy can be saved once again with a RAID 1 when
connecting it to a RAID controller.

RAID Level 1 does nothing other than mirror a hard drive's data (in special cases, also
those of any array) to another hard drive in real-time. People are inclined to believe the
misleading proposition that RAID 1 does not offer any improvement in performance.
Though write operations really aren't any faster than with only one hard drive, when
reading data, it is possible, in theory, to have a data transfer rate equivalent to that of an
analog RAID 0. This is only logical, since data can be read simultaneously from all the
drives in the array. In practice, however, there are differences, as the data to be read are
not available in cleanly split stripes as they are with RAID 0; instead, the controller has to
perform this division itself based on specific patterns.

Using RAID 1 makes sense if your main focus is on maximum data security and
minimum recovery efforts (e.g., simple servers). Most RAID controllers are able to
perform the recovery procedure independently after a hard drive has been exchanged.
You can do this on the fly only if the hard drives are housed in hot swap cabinets.
RAID Level 3 is losing more and more of its popularity because RAID 5 offers the same
advantages with fewer disadvantages. With RAID 3, parity data is written to one or
maybe even several hard drives. The big advantage is in the distribution of the actual data
stock to several drives, in the form of stripe sets, actually allowing a significantly higher
data rate - and at the same time protecting against a hard drive crash. Its disadvantage,
however, is the fact that the parity data is written to only one drive. This cuts down on
write performance considerably.

RAID 3 is usually deployed in servers with mostly static data or servers that require
better performance than RAID 0 can provide, without foregoing data security. This is a
simple way to keep the low write performance from carrying too much weight.
RAID Level 5 dominates in today's high-end server segment. If you're using four to
seven drives, such an array is a real performer and, if the drives are large, allows
accordingly large partitions. Unlike RAID 3, the parity data are integrated in the stripes on all drives and are distributed in a way that will have a positive impact on performance.
Consequently, RAID 5 offers a high level of performance for all kinds of applications.

The Sky's the Limit: Nested RAID
If the data transfer rate of an array with several drives is still not enough, you can
combine and nest RAID arrays any way you like. These configurations are called Nested
RAID (multiple RAID levels), but you'll encounter them very rarely - and no wonder,
because "conventional" arrays are generally fast enough.
As far as we know, controllers supporting Nested RAID are not yet available in the IDE
sector (with the exception of RAID 10). For SCSI, be prepared to quickly dish out several
hundred to some thousand dollars if you want to set up an elaborate RAID solution.

RAID Level 0+1
The most popular Nested Raid is probably 0+1. You'll need an even number of hard
drives for this, but at least four. Use half of the hard drives to create a stripe set (RAID 0),
while the resulting construct is simply mirrored (with RAID 1). You will then get almost
four times the read performance and about twice the write performance relative to a
single hard drive.

RAID Level 50 (5+0)
The performance of a RAID 5 with several drives is not good enough for you? Then
simply create a stripe set consisting of two identical RAID 5 arrays. Though data security
is no longer a given now (an array is to be considered a drive in this case), performance
can theoretically be doubled once more. In reality, you'll now be faced with the limits of
what PCI and network connections will allow.
Naming is an important factor in Multiple or Nested RAID configurations. While RAID
0+1 works on the lower level with stripe sets and mirrors only on the upper level, with
RAID 10 it's exactly the opposite. As the latter does not really make sense, the wrong
nomenclature would be less grave in this case.

Nested RAID and Security: It's All or Nothing
Now, a few words on the cascaded application of RAID arrays, even though most of you
will probably never be in a situation to have to worry about linked drives like this.
Combining several RAID arrays is efficient and prudent, but perfect data security can be
achieved only if each array is just as safe in and of itself. A RAID 5 consisting of
multiple RAID 0 arrays is not secure, because if one of the drives of a secondary array
crashes, its data cannot be recovered.

RAID Levels: Security and Performance at a Glance
RAID Number of drives Data security Availability Capacity Performance Cost
0 1+ unsatisfactory bad 100% very good very low
1 2 good good 50% satisfactory low
3 3+ satisfactory good (x-1) / x satisfactory medium
5 3+ satisfactory good (x-1) / x good medium
0+1 4,6,8... good good 50% good medium
The Key to Success: Block Size

In RAID arrays, the block size generally also determines the stripe size (not in RAID 1).
The principles concerning block size and wasted memory space apply equally to RAID
configurations: if, for example, the blocks have a size of 64 KB, then at least 64 KB are
written at all times - even if there's only a text file with 2 KB. So, the smaller the average
file size, the smaller the block size should be.

But block size is also significant in terms of the performance to be expected, as the
smallest unit also determines when a file can be distributed to two or more drives. This would mean that with a block size of 64 KB, files with less than 64 KB would be written to only one hard drive. This does not happen any faster in a RAID array than on a single hard drive.

On the other hand, a file with 150 KB would be distributed to three hard drives (if available): 64 + 64 + 22 KB. The controller is now able to read from all three drives simultaneously, which reduces the read operation immensely.

How to prolong lithium-based batteries

2011-03-19T21:14:00.000+08:00

Battery research is focusing heavily on lithium chemistries, so much so that one could
presume that all portable devices will be powered with lithium-ion batteries in the future.
In many ways, lithium-ion is superior to nickel and lead-based chemistries and the
applications for lithium-ion batteries are growing as a result.
Lithium-ion has not yet fully matured and is being improved continuously. New metal
and chemical combinations are being tried every six months to increase energy density
and prolong service life. The improvements in longevity after each change will not be
known for a few years.

A lithium-ion battery provides 300 to 500 discharge/charge cycles. The battery prefers a
partial rather than a full discharge. Frequent full discharges should be avoided when
possible. Instead, charge the battery more often or use a larger battery. There is no
concern of memory when applying unscheduled charges.
Although lithium-ion is memory-free in terms of performance deterioration, engineers
often refer to "digital memory" on batteries with fuel gauges. Short discharges with
subsequent recharges do not provide the periodic calibration needed to synchronize the
fuel gauge with the battery's state-of-charge. A deliberate full discharge and recharge
every 30 charges corrects this problem. Letting the battery run down to the cut-off point
in the equipment will do this. If ignored, the fuel gauge will become increasingly less
accurate.

Aging of lithium-ion is an issue that is often ignored. lithium-based batteries have a
lifetime of two to three years. The clock starts ticking as soon as the battery comes off the
manufacturing line. The capacity loss manifests itself in increased internal resistance
caused by oxidation. Eventually, the cell resistance will reach a point where the pack can
no longer deliver the stored energy, although the battery may still contain ample charge.

The speed by which lithium-ion ages is governed by temperature and state-of-charge.
Figure 1 illustrates the capacity loss as a function of these two parameters.
Figure 1: Permanent capacity loss of lithium-ion as a function of temperature and charge level.
High charge levels and elevated temperatures hasten permanent capacity loss. Improvements in chemistry
have increased the storage performance of lithium-ion batteries.
2
There are no remedies to restore lithium-ion once worn out. A momentarily improvement
in performance is noticeable when heating up the battery but the high internal resistance
will revert to its former state with normal temperature.

If possible, store the battery in a cool place at about a 40% state-of-charge. This reserve
charge is needed to keep the battery and its protection circuit operational during
prolonged storage. The most harmful combination is full charge at high temperature. This
is the case when placing a cell phone or spare battery in a hot car. Running a laptop
computer on the mains has a similar temperature problem. While the battery is kept fully
charged, the inside temperature during operation rises to 45•C (113•F).

In spite of the high operating temperature and the harm inflicted to the battery during the
use in a laptop, removing the battery when running on fixed power poses some risk to the
laptop and manufacturers caution against it. There are issues of dust and moisture
accumulating inside the battery casing that could cause damage to the unit. By not
removing the battery, a replacement may be needed a little sooner but the battery
manufacturers and dealers are happy to provide a new pack.

A large number of lithium-ion batteries for cell phones are being discarded under the
warranty return policy. Some failed batteries are sent to service centers or the
manufacturer, where they are refurbished. Studies show that 80%-90% of the returned
batteries can be repaired and returned to service.

Some lithium-ion batteries fail due to excessive low discharge. If discharged below 2.5
volts per cell, the internal safety circuit opens and the battery appears dead. A charge
with the original charger is no longer possible. The Cadex battery analyzers feature a
boost function that reactivates the protection circuit of a failed battery and enables a
recharge. However, if the cell voltage has fallen below 1.5V/cell and has remained in that
state for a few days, a recharge should be avoided because of safety concerns. To prevent
failure, never store the battery fully discharged. Apply some charge before storage, and
then charge fully before use.

Simple Guidelines
• Avoid full discharges; recharge lithium-ion more often. Repetitive random charge does
not harm the battery. There is no memory.
• Keep the lithium-ion battery cool but do not freeze. Avoid a hot car. For prolonged
storage, keep the battery at a 40% charge level.
• If your laptop runs without a battery and fixed power is used most of the time, remove
and store the battery in a cool place.
• Avoid purchasing spare lithium-ion batteries for later use. Observe manufacturing date.
Do not buy old stock, even if sold at clearance prices.

Bing Maps 3D

2010-12-26T21:56:00.000+08:00

Bing Maps 3D brings you another step closer to knowing "what it is like out there". You can search, browse, and organize local information viewed in three dimensions, just the way it exists in the real world.

System Requirements
Supported Operating Systems:Windows Vista;Windows XP
Microsoft Internet Explorer 6, Windows Internet Explorer 7 or later, or Firefox 2.0 or later
250 MB or more hard disk space
A 1 GHz processor (2.8 GHz or faster recommended)
256 MB of system memory (1 GB recommended)
32 MB video card (256 MB recommended) that supports Microsoft DirectX 9
A high speed or broadband Internet connection

Add realistic 3D capabilities

Multi pointer in one windows one machine

2009-03-04T18:54:00.002+08:00

Microsoft Windows MultiPoint Software Development Kit (SDK)

Fighting Spam

2008-02-01T20:05:00.000+08:00

How prevalent is Spam? According to Scott McAdams, OMA Public Affairs and Communications Department (www.oma.org):

“Studies show unsolicited or “junk” e-mail, known as spam, accounts for roughly half of all e-mail messages received. Although once regarded as little more than a nuisance, the prevalence of spam has increased to the point where many users have begun to express a general lack of confidence in the effectiveness of e-mail transmissions, and increased concern over the spread of computer viruses via unsolicited messages.”

In 2003, President Bush signed the “Can Spam” bill, in December of 2003 which is the first national standards around bulk unsolicited commercial e-mail. The bill, approved by the Senate by a vote of 97 to 0, prohibits senders of unsolicited commercial e-mail from using false return addresses to disguise their identity (spoofing) and the use of dictionaries to generate such mailers. In addition, it prohibits the use of misleading subject lines and requires that emails include and opt-out mechanism. The legislation also prohibits senders from harvesting addresses off Web sites. Violations constitute a misdemeanor crime subject to up to one year in jail.

One major point that needs to be discussed about this: spam is now coming from other countries in ever-greater numbers. These emails are harder to fight, because they come from outside our country’s laws and regulations. Because the Internet opens borders and thinks globally, these laws are fine and good, but do not stop the problem.

So what do you do about this? Her are the top 5 Rules to do to protect from spam.
Number 1: Do what you can to avoid having your email address out on the net.
There are products called “spam spiders” that search the Internet for email addresses to send email to. If you are interested, do a search on “spam spider” and you will be amazed at what you get back. Interestingly, there is a site, WebPoison.org, which is an open source project geared to fight Internet "spambots" and "spam spiders", by giving them bogus HTML web pages, which contain bogus email addresses

A couple suggestions for you:

a) use form emails, which can hide addresses or also b) use addresses like sales@company.com instead of your full address to help battle the problem.

c) There are also programs that encode your email, like jsGuard, which encodes your email address on web pages so that while spam spiders find it difficult or impossible to read your email address.

Number 2: Get spam blocking software. There are many programs out there for this. (go to www.cloudmark.com or www.mailwasher.net for example). You may also buy a professional version. Whatever you do, get the software. It will save you time. The software is not foolproof, but they really do help. You usually have to do some manual set up to block certain types of email.
Number 3: Use the multiple email address approach.
There are a lot of free email addresses to be had. If you must subscribe to newsletters, then have a “back-up” email address. It would be like giving your sell phone number to your best friends and the business number to everyone else.

Number 4: Attachments from people you don’t know are BAD, BAD, BAD.
A common problem with spam is that they have attachments and attachments can have viruses. Corporations often have filters that don’t let such things pass to you. Personal email is far more “open country” for spamers. General rule of thumb: if you do not know who is sending you something, DO NOT OPEN THE ATTACHMENT. Secondly, look for services that offer filtering. Firewall vendors offer this type of service as well.

Number 5: Email services now have “bulk-mail” baskets. If what you use currently does not support this, think about moving to a new vender. The concept is simple. If you know someone, they can send you emails. If you don’t know them, put them in the bulk email pile and then “choose” to allow them into your circle. Spam Blocking software has this concept as well, but having extra layers seems critical these days, so it is worth looking into.

Fighting off Viruses: Advancements in Antivirus Software Suites

2008-01-31T21:55:00.001+08:00

Protecting your computer from a virus is getting harder and harder each day. While it may border on the paranoid, it goes without saying that you can’t leave your guard down for one second. Even corporate giant Microsoft has found its own systems compromised on more than one occasion.

Remember the “good old days”, before the advent of the Internet and downloadable programs? Life was simple then in terms of computer viruses. With the primary way in which a virus could be transmitted being limited to floppy disks, the ability to catch and eradicate the virus was a lot easier. By today’s standards, it used to take quite a while before a virus was able to infect a computer and slow down the system. The antivirus software of that time was typically able to identify and eradicate viruses before they caused too much damage. Additionally, computer users were pretty savvy on how to protect themselves in terms of scanning all floppy disks before copying them to our desktop.

The Internet helped change all that. The Internet provided a conduit by which viruses could move from host to host with lightening speed. No longer could a computer user just worry about floppy disks as points of entry, but they now had to worry about email, email attachments, peer-to-peer file sharing, instant messaging, and software downloads. Today’s viruses can attack through multiple entry points, spread without human intervention, and take full advantage of vulnerabilities within a system or program. With technology advancing everyday, and the convergence of computers with other mobile devices, the potential of new types of threats also increase.

Protecting Your Computer
Luckily, the advancement of antivirus software has kept pace with current virus threats. Antivirus software is essential to a computer’s ability to fend off viruses and other malicious programs. These products are designed to protect against the ability of a virus to enter a computer through email, web browsers, file servers and desktops. Additionally, these programs offer a centralized control feature that handle deployment, configuration and updating.
A computer user should remain diligent and follow a few simple steps to protect against the threat of a virus:

1. Evaluate your current computer security system.
With the threat of a new generation of viruses able to attack in a multitude of ways, the approach of having just one antivirus software version has become outdated. You need to be confident that you have protected all aspects of your computer system from the desktop to the network, and from the gateway to the server. Consider a more comprehensive security system which includes several features including antivirus, firewall, content filtering, and intrusion detection. This type of system will make it more difficult for the virus to penetrate your system.
2. Only install antivirus software created by a well-known, reputable company.
Because new viruses erupt daily, it is important that you regularly update your antivirus software. Become familiar with the software’s real-time scan feature and configure it to start automatically each time you boot your computer. This will protect your system by automatically checking your computer each time it is powered up.
3. Make it a habit to always scan all new programs or files no matter from where they originate.
4. Exercise caution when opening binary, Word, or Excel documents of unknown sources especially if they were received during an online chat or as an attachment to an email.
5. Perform regular backups in case your system is corrupted. It may be the only way to recover your data if infected.

Recommended Antivirus Software

There are numerous applications available to consumers. With a little research, you can pick the program that is right for you. Many programs provide a trial version which allows you to download the program and test its abilities. However, be aware that some anti-virus programs can be difficult to uninstall. As a precaution make sure to set up a System Restore point before installing.

Here are a few programs which typically receive high marks in terms of cost, effectiveness, ease of use, and customer service.

The Shield Pro 2005™ provides virus protection and hacker security through ongoing support and updates. When a virus breaks out, The Shield Pro 2005™ promises to provide a patch within 2-3 hours and a fix for the virus within 5 hours. You can set your computer to update viruses weekly and run a complete virus scan.

BitDefender 9 Standard provides antivirus protection, as well as Peer-2-Peer Applications protection, full email protection, and heuristics in a virtual environment. This provides a new security layer that keeps the operating system safe from unknown viruses by detecting malicious pieces of code for which signatures have not been released yet.

Kaspersky Anti-Virus Personal 5.0 program is simple to install and use. The user only needs to choose from three levels of protection. It allows updates as frequently as every hour while promising not to disrupt your computer. The program also offers a two-tier email protection feature and round-the-clock technical support.

PC-cillin Internet Security combines antivirus security and a personal firewall—for comprehensive protection against viruses, worms, Trojans, and hackers. It also detects and removes spyware and blocks spam. It even guards against identity theft by blocking phishing and pharming attacks.

AVG Anti-Virus Free Edition is a free downloadable antivirus program that has received high marks for its reliability. In the past, free downloadable antivirus programs have been viewed skeptically because of issues relating to its reliability. However, AVG from Grisoft, remains one of the best-known free anti-virus programs available. While AVG can not be installed on a server operating system and there is no technical support, it still makes a good choice for many home computer users. The best part is that since it is free, you can try it with no further obligation necessary.

Department of Defense Crackdown on Security

2008-01-30T22:30:00.000+08:00

The top commander of the department of Defense network operations just ordered a crackdown on security. According to a recent article by NetworkWorld on January 16,2006, Lt. General Charles Croom is quoted as saying, “The attacks are coming from everywhere and they’re getting better.” His talk was the keynote address at the Department of Defense Cyber Crime Conference held on January 9 - 14, 2005 in Clearwater, Florida. The event is sponsored by the Defense Cyber Crime Center and the Joint Task Force. Over 500 computer crime specialists from the FBI and the military attended the event.

The crackdown was related to a recent arrest of a “Computer Virus Broker” named Jeanson James Ancheta. On further investigation, a Department of Justice press release from Nov 3rd, 2005 offered the following information on this incident, “In the first prosecution of its kind in the nation, a well-known member of the “botmaster underground” has been indicted on federal charges for profiting from the use of “botnets” – armies of computers that are under the control of the botmaster and are used to launch destructive attacks or to send huge quantities of spam across the Internet.

Jeanson James Ancheta, 20, of Downey, California, was arrested this morning by special agents with the Federal Bureau of Investigation. Ancheta was indicted yesterday in two separate conspiracies, as well as substantive charges of attempting to cause damage to protected computers, causing damage to computers used by the federal government in national defense, accessing protected computers without authorization to commit fraud and money laundering.”
The press release goes on to describe more details of this scheme that clearly show why the

Deparment of Defense is so concerned (for more information go to:

http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/anchetaArrest.htm )

“Ancheta had become an affiliate of several different advertising service companies, and those companies paid him a commission based upon the number of installations. To avoid detection by network administrators, security analysts and law enforcement, Ancheta would vary the download times and rates of the adware installations. When companies hosting Ancheta’s adware servers discovered the malicious activity, Ancheta redirected his botnet armies to a different server he controlled to pick up adware. To generate the roughly $60,000 he received in advertising affiliate proceeds, Ancheta caused the surreptitious installation of adware on approximately 400,000 compromised computers. Ancheta used the advertising affiliate proceeds he earned to pay for, among other things, the multiple servers used to conduct his schemes.

Ancheta used programs powerful enough to cause the infection of computers at the Weapons Division of the United States Naval Air Warfare Center in China Lake, as well as computers belonging to the Defense Information Systems Agency, a component of the United States Department of Defense. Both networks are used exclusively by the federal government in furtherance of national defense. After being arrested this morning at the FBI Field Office in Los Angeles, Ancheta was transported to United States District Court in Los Angeles. It is unclear if he will make his initial court appearance this afternoon or tomorrow. Ancheta is charged with two counts of conspiracy, two counts of attempted transmission of code to a protected computer, two counts of transmission of code to a government computer, five counts of accessing a protected computer to commit fraud and five counts of money laundering. Count 17 of the indictment seeks the forfeiture of more than $60,000 in cash, a BMW automobile and computer equipment that the indictment alleges are the proceeds and instrumentalities of Ancheta’s illegal activity.”

Some recent news. Ancheta pleaded guilty to charges of conspiring to violate anti-spam and computer misuse laws, and fraud and will serve from 4-6 years in prison, under the plea agreement - plus heavy fines.

Computer Viruses that Come a Callin’

2008-01-28T21:56:00.000+08:00

Every day new computer viruses are created to annoy us and to wreck havoc on our computer systems. Below are ten viruses currently cited as being the most prevalent in terms of being seen the most or in their ability to potentially cause damage. New viruses are created daily. This is by no means an all inclusive list. The best thing you can do is to remain vigilant, keep your anti-virus software updated, and stay aware of the current computer virus threats.
Virus: Trojan.LodearA Trojan horse that attempts to download remote files. It will inject a .dll file into the EXPLORER.EXE process causing system instability.

Virus: W32.Beagle.CO@mmA mass-mailing worm that lowers security settings.

It can delete security-related registry sub keys and may block access to security-related websites.

Virus: Backdoor.Zagaban

A Trojan horse that allows the compromised computer to be used as a covert proxy and which may degrade network performance.
Virus: W32/Netsky-PA mass-mailing worm which spreads by emailing itself to addresses produced from files on the local drives.

Virus: W32/Mytob-GHA mass-mailing worm and IRC backdoor Trojan for the Windows platform.

Messages sent by this worm will have the subject chosen randomly from a list including titles such as: Notice of account limitation, Email Account Suspension, Security measures, Members Support, Important Notification.

Virus: W32/Mytob-EXA mass-mailing worm and IRC backdoor Trojan similar in nature to W32-Mytob-GH.

W32/Mytob-EX runs continuously in the background, providing a backdoor server which allows a remote intruder to gain access and control over the computer via IRC channels. This virus spreads by sending itself to email attachments harvested from your email addresses.

Virus: W32/Mytob-AS, Mytob-BE, Mytob-C, and Mytob-ER

This family of worm variations possesses similar characteristics in terms of what they can do. They are mass-mailing worms with backdoor functionality that can be controlled through the Internet Relay Chat (IRC) network. Additionally, they can spread through email and through various operating system vulnerabilities such as the LSASS (MS04-011).

Virus: Zafi-DA mass mailing worm and a peer-to-peer worm which copies itself to the Windows system folder with the filename Norton Update.exe.

It can then create a number of files in the Windows system folder with filenames consisting of 8 random characters and a DLL extension. W32/Zafi-D copies itself to folders with names containing share, upload, or music as ICQ 2005a new!.exe or winamp 5.7 new!.exe. W32/Zafi-D will also display a fake error message box with the caption "CRC: 04F6Bh" and the text "Error in packed file!". Virus: W32/Netsky-DA mass-mailing worm with IRC backdoor functionality which can also infect computers vulnerable to the LSASS (MS04-011) exploit.

Virus: W32/Zafi-B

A peer-to-peer (P2P) and email worm that will copy itself to the Windows system folder as a randomly named EXE file. This worm will test for the presence of an internet connection by attempting to connect to www.google.com or www.microsoft.com. A bilingual, worm with an attached Hungarian political text message box which translates to “We demand that the government accommodates the homeless, tightens up the penal code and VOTES FOR THE DEATH PENALTY to cut down the increasing crime. Jun. 2004, Pécs (SNAF Team)”

Bluetooth And Apple

2008-01-26T11:07:00.000+08:00

The new Apple powerbook G4 are among the first computers to offer Bluetooth technology 2.0+EDR. The 2.0+EDR technology, which still backwards compatible with 1.0, is up to three times faster than previous versions, offering maximum data rate transfers of up to 3 MBps. Being the first company to certify a system with 2.0+EDR, Apple continues to make great use of the Bluetooth technology.

Full support

In addition to the powerbook G4 portables, there are other Bluetooth enabled computers available from Apple, including the iBook, iMac G5, eMac, and the Power Mac G5.

Making life easier
When you turn the Bluetooth feature on, your Mac can easily perform a file transfer or even a synchronization. From the Bluetooth selectionmenu, you can choose to either send a file or browse devices, quickly and easily. Or, you can click the sync button in iSync to update your cell phone or Palm OS handheld.

The Mac and GSM/GPRS mobile phone with Bluetooth work to make each other more useful. By using iSync, you can keep your phone updated without having to type any info, as you can keep the information in the more manageable address book on your Mac instead.

You can also use your Bluetooth enabled Mac to print documents and digital images to select a printer that also supports the technology of Bluetooth. Or, you can also use a headset to talk to your friends during an iChat session.

Your Mac also has the ability to use Bluetooth technology to communicate with your Palm OS handheld. This way, you can perform a HotSync operation without using any cables. You can also send your business card or calendar events directly to someone else's handheld usingthe technology of Bluetooth.

The implementation of Bluetooth by Apple is the latest in a series of moves that have caused great shift in the computer industry. Apple established USB as the standard interface with the launching of the first Mac back in 1998.

Since then, Apple established the 802.11 wireless standard of networking with the launch of the iBook and AirPort in 1999. During 2003, Apple launched AirPort Extreme, which was based onthe new 802.11g high speed technology of wireless.

Now, Bluetooth helps to further strengthen the dominant position of the Mac in wireless communications, helping to preserve Apple's reputation for being the first to market with innovative technology that integrates right into the operating system.

Just what is Intelligent Explorer? For your safety, you really need to know

2008-01-21T23:16:00.000+08:00

I recently hit, by mistake, what I thought was an Explorer upgrade option. It turned out to be a pop-up appearing legitimate but really was not. It uploaded a product called Intelligent Explorer on my machine. What a nightmare!

I did some research on the web and found messages like this one from a BullGuard Antivirus Forum,

"PLEASE HELP!!! I HAVE A SPYWARE, TROJAN AND HIJACKER ON MY COMPUTER. I HAVE RUN BULLGUARD, CWSHREDDER AND AD-AWARE. ALL HAVE PICKED UP THE VIRUSES AND SAID THAT THEY HAVE BEEN MOVED/REMOVED BUT WHEN I LOG ONTO THE INTERNET THAT DAMN INTELLIGENT EXPLORER TOOLBAR IS SHOWING"

Another message from spywareinfo Forum goes something like this:

"Hey I'm having issues with something called Internet explorer toolbar - Intelligent explorer. I can’t find a way to remove it from my comp and I really don’t want to reinstall windows. I've used spybot, ad-ware, and cw shredder but nothing seems to work."

It appears that Intelligent Explorer allows other software to be downloaded to your machine and this is where the problem occurs. What is even more remarkable is that by downloading Intelligent Explorer, their license grants them the right to install software add-ins on your computer at their will. Take a look at what the software license for Intelligent Explore says (go to http://www.ieplugin.com/terms.html to read it all):

"You grant to us the right, exercisable by us until you uninstall the Software or this agreement is otherwise terminated, to provide to you the Service of downloading and causing to be displayed advertising material on your computer, through ‘pop-up’ or other display while you use your browser. You acknowledge and agree that installation of the Software may automatically modify toolbars and other settings of your browser. By installing the Software you agree to such modifications."

The company, IBC incorporated, is incorporated in Belize. I really can't believe this license!

One end user found highly objectionable pop-up advertisements generated by this software bundled with Intelligent Explorer in the form of extreme pornography.

I have yet to break this.

Intelligent Explorer is a plug-in, which can create a new home page, as well as start up and endless loop of pop-ups. You can remove the view bar, but then starting up Internet Explorer will cause it to reappear. I asked some friends to help, and no one could tell me what to do.

This is what I did:

I bought a copy of a program called XoftSpy and it removed the software. It took two scans and a reboot to do it. This is not an advertisement for this product. They advertised it was free, which it was to run, but then I had to buy it to actually fix anything. It cost me $40 and I am sure that there are freeware products out there as well, but that is what ended the nightmare for me. Other spyware products I have seen out there include spybot, NoAdware, Spyware Eliminator, Pal Spyware Remover, and Spyware C.O.P.

UNDERWATER DIGITAL CAMERA: CAPTURING MOMENTS UNDERWATER

2008-01-20T19:25:00.000+08:00

Memories are created just about anywhere. And when I say anywhere, I mean that memories are even created underwater ?so the creation of underwater digital camera.

An underwater digital camera is not just used to capture underwater memories; some professional marine photographers also use underwater digital cameras in their business. Even marine biologists and scientists use underwater digital cameras to capture marine life and thus be able to study the life and properties of the marine life. But I think it is safe to assume that you, my reader, are neither a marine scientist nor a professional photographer. Like me, you are just some photo junkie who wants to capture underwater moments and just cant figure out how without ruining your cameras.

Please listen to me when I say that even waterproof cameras cannot withstand underwater photography. To be waterproof is to resist the water in certain levels, submerging in under the water to get the perfect shot is like throwing it out of the window expecting a pick-up truck to pass by and run over it.

Now if you're really serious about using an underwater digital camera to capture those wacky and funny moments underwater, I suggest that you buy specialty cameras.

There are rarely underwater digital cameras, as cameras are electronic and cannot withstand water and water pressure. The closest electronics has ever got to producing underwater digital cameras are producing underwater casings for digital cameras. These casing will turn your conventional digital camera into an underwater digital camera.

If you are shooting with your underwater digital camera, you need to take note of a few things to help you come up with the best images underwater.

Remember that as you farther under water, light diffuses. This means that your underwater digital camera will produce images darker than those images you took while on land ?this is because of the light diffusion the red spectrum seems darker. To avoid this, use white balance come up with natural colors. Also, pictures taken underwater will come up larger than pictures taken on land with the same zoom effect. Be sure to check your underwater digital camera viewfinder to check the right picture angle and size that you want.

An underwater digital camera with its built-in flash will produce marine show phenomenon. It is a phenomenon wherein your pictures come out as blurry and with white particles floating above it, to avoid this phenomenon it is advisable to use external flash for your underwater digital camera.

Before using your underwater digital camera, submerge the camera in the water first for several seconds then check if there are leaks through the case. Make sure that no grain of sand or piece of hair is stuck in between the seal to make sure that water will not permeate the case and thus wet your camera in the process. It is also advisable to put silica gel or two inside the case of your underwater digital camera as long as they don disturb the camera operation. (Silica gel will keep the moisture from forming inside your camera case.)

Most underwater digital cameras come with optional lenses. Don't be afraid to add these lenses to your underwater digital camera kit. Macro lenses will help you capture small things without getting too close and startling your subject.

Also, remember to always wash of salt when you're used it under salt water. If the salts are not washed off, in time they will crystallize; act as sands and cause leaks for your camera case. In cases when sands seem to get into the case, they are better washed off with streams of water.

Check out Sony, Nikon and Canon website for available underwater cases for your digital cameras.

SONY DIGITAL CAMERA: EMBRACING PERFECTION

2008-01-14T20:10:00.000+08:00

Known for producing quality electronics, Sony is also one of the pioneers and the best producers of digital camera. Truly using a Sony digital camera is embracing perfection with its many features exclusive to a Sony digital camera.

Indeed, one of the best ways to capture your memories forever is thru photos and what better to do it than with a Sony digital camera. Photos are used to remember or when we reminisce of the wonderful times of our lives. And only vivid and detailed photos can help us bring back all those memories. And quality photos are exactly what a Sony digital camera offers to its consumers.

Equipped with the best optics and imaging technology available, the Sony digital camera line ensures its consumers that a Sony digital camera will only capture more detail, more color and more brightness imaginable.

Every Sony digital camera has an exclusive Sony technology that enhances photo capturing experience. Armed with the Real Imaging Processor (RIMP), any Sony digital camera allows high digital processing that reduces picture noise and delivers smoother and more detailed images. The RIMP is an intelligent Sony digital camera technology that allows faster shooting time, swifter burst shooting and almost simultaneous processing of your images (enables immediate display of your image) for your Sony digital camera.

All Sony digital cameras are furnished with Carl Zeiss lens. Carl Zeiss lenses are world renowned for their quality brilliance, outstanding accuracy of colors and enhanced definition with almost zero distortion. With a Carl Zeiss lens, flawless imaging is truly embracing perfection with a Sony digital camera.

Sony has its own Cyber-shot line of digital camera for all photo fanatics out there. One of the lower ends of their Cyber-shot series of the Sony digital camera is the DSC-L1. The L1is a 4.1 mega pixel camera with a 3x optical zoom and plays MPEG Movie Vx. It is also supplied with a Vario Tessar lens from the Carl Zeiss line.

A higher version of the L1 is the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P200. Almost same in all respect with the L1 expect this baby is a 7.2 mega pixel Sony digital camera.

For those who are serious in their craft, the right Sony digital camera for you id the Cyber-shot DSC-F828. Designed for professional photographers, the F828 has a 28-200mm equivalent of a Carl Zeiss Vario Sonnar lens, which makes it excellent for action and low-light shots. An 6 mega pixel Sony digital camera, it is outfitted with 7x optical zoom and a 1.8 inch LCD screen where you can review the pictures that you just took. The DSC F828 has a four color system that includes RGB+emrald colors and enables night shot/night framing system. The F828 even allows manual exposure, zoom and manual focus controls for your customization needs.

For the younger and trendier generation, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-M1 is the right Sony digital camera for you. The M1 is a digital camera and a camcorder in one. It can record either up to five seconds MPEG 4 playback or unlimited video recording, depending on your preferred setting. Shooting with 30 frames per second, it is 5.1 mega pixel camera with a 640 x 480 maximum pixel resolution. It has 3x optical zoom and 2x digital zoom.

Very lightweight at only 6.5 oz. the M1 is very portable and is only 2x1.1x4.5 inches (dimensions). A USB 2.0 compatible and with PictBridge support, the M1 makes file transferring from your Sony digital camera to your computer as easy as taking pictures.

Available with accessories such as wrist strap, docking station and a 32MB memory Stick Duo, the M1 comes with an expansion slot that lets you upgrade up to 512MB of memory for further picture taking or video playback. It even has a built in features such as stereo surround, built-in mic and a 2.5inch TFT active matrix LCD display.

Check out Sony's website at www.sony.com to look for other available Sony digital camera models that will fit you and your lifestyle.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA: PROFESSIONAL CAMERAS GO DIGITAL

2008-01-13T19:35:00.001+08:00

Olympus has always been known to produce quality cameras, either point and shoot or professional cameras. However, these days Olympus has joined the digital scene by producing their own line of digital cameras.

Olympus digital cameras are best known for producing DSLR cameras. These digital cameras are the kind that professional photographers use in their craft. Although this is for a fact, this company has also produced their own line of point and shoot Olympus digital cameras.

First up is an Olympus digital camera called the MJU-mini. A 4.0 mega pixel Olympus digital camera, it is cute, portable and can capture great pictures. Also, a tough Olympus digital camera, it is made with a metal frame and known for its solid weight - this is great because hands get too shaky when a camera is too light. With 2x digital zoom, a 5.8-11.6mm Olympus lens, this baby is your best bet for your personal Olympus digital camera.

Another personal Olympus digital camera is the MJU 500, obviously the higher version of the MJU-mini. the MJU 500 is a 5.0 mega pixel Olympus digital camera that is easy to use and one favored by consumers who are looking for a digital camera within this particular price range. (The MJU 500 is around $400-$500). The first notable feature of the MJU 500 is its large 2.5-inch HyperCrystal LCD screen. With its 160-degree wide view range, this large LCD screen enables its users to view subjects at extreme angles (though it does not feature the flip or rotate like other LCD screens from other digital cameras). Made from durable lightweight metal with rubber gaskets in its interior and weighing only 3.0 lbs., the MJU 500 is also weatherproof. Meaning that this Olympus digital camera can withstand a few splashes here and there. (Note: it is weatherproof and not waterproof, there is a big difference between the two - splashes and not water). The MJU 500 of the Olympus digital camera line, introduces an alternative design apart from the curvy MJU series with its new flat surface and smooth and round edges. It is so compact, with its 3.9 x 2.2 x 1.2 inches dimension, it can easily fit in your handbag or the back pocket of your pants (just be careful not to sit on it). This Olympus digital camera also features 23 shooting modes, one of which will enable its users to shoot in consecutive sequences and just choose the best one later. Another one of its many features is its ability to record and playback those videos and sounds. It has an expandable memory card slot, but when you buy the package, you would have to settle with temporarily with the 32MB xD card that comes with the package. this fashionable Olympus digital camera comes in two colors - silver and blue.

for a professional Olympus digital camera, the Olympus 5300 is the right DSLR for you. it is the first 8-mega pixel camera out in the market. with a 7-14mm lens, it gives the equivalent of a 14-28mm lens. also, a first for this Olympus digital camera is its side-swing mirror that doesn't need a pentaprism, giving you a smaller and sleeker camera. another unique feature is the Super Sonic Wave Filter (SSWF) that shakes off the dusts in your sensor, this way dust can never accumulate in your camera. with features like four exposure modes and 14 scene modes, this USB 1.1 compatible Olympus digital camera is one of the best DSLR cameras in the market.

another Olympus digital camera is the Olympus CaMedia C-70. It is also a small and compact digital camera but equips a 7.0 mega pixel camera that gives you power and portability at the same time. Packed with 5x optical zoom and, it start up fast and auto focus even quicker than most digital cameras in the market. It has a 2.0-inch LCD screen, a xD picture card slot and furnished with a 7.9-39.5mm Olympus lens that has 5x optical zoom. The CaMedia C-70 is the perfect choice for high quality shots, good features, great build and excellent portability.

Visit Olympus' website at www.olympus.com to look for other Olympus digital cameras and other Olympus products available in the market.

Samsung cellular phone, a basic phone

2008-01-08T21:19:00.000+08:00

Cellular phones are now getting to be a necessity in this modern society. This is not how they foresee the cellular phone future some years back. Luckily, manufacturers are quick to recognize the booming cellular phone industry. Thus, they are able to answer the growing demands for this functional toy. Additionally, the introduction of various functional features for cellular phones by huge cellular phone companies makes cellular phones more a need to perform specialized tasks. Because of this, the use of a cellular phone is getting to be a requirement for business executives in going about their various tasks as they go about their business. However, not everybody needs these special functions, some only needs cellular phones for basic use like sending and receiving calls. If you do not require these high technology functions, buying a cellular phone for basic use may only be what is necessary. Some cellular phones are for basic use including Samsung cellular phones. It is more reasonable to buy basic cellular phone models if you do not need to play with your cellular phone and Samsung cellular phone may be what is the best for your.

Samsung cellular phones are generally of good design. They have wide and clear display, which is beneficial especially for sending and receiving text messages. Samsung cellular phones have good battery life compared to other cellular phone units. As already mentioned, these cellular phones are good cellular phones for basic use. Samsung cellular phones have beautiful designs; you may be pleased to choose one among the various models that will fit your need. You will not despair buying a cellular phone from Samsung if you only require the basic features; beauty of the product is thus a bonus. However, if you are looking for functional cellular phones more than the basic sending and receiving calls and text messages, Samsung cellular phone is not the one for you. People who want to play and require so many functions and features will not enjoy a the cellular phone from Samsung.

Some basic complaints encountered with Samsung cellular phone, which happens only to very few users, are choppy calls and scratchy and distorted volume generation. This only happens to very few users, and to ensure you will not experience this in a Samsung cellular phone, you may ask the recommendation of the friendly Samsung staff.

Some who endeavor to find functionality in a Samsung cellular phone give it a nickname ery good yet slightly bad phone. It is very good because the designs are superb and the battery life is good. Slightly bad because some high-tech features fail in Samsung cellular phone, precisely it is a cellular phone for basic use.

Do not expect Samsung cellular phone for other features rather than the basic ones, no picture transfer, no internet communication and some phone do not support blue tooth usage. Not a techy choice indeed. Some people who buy this phone feel that with the superb design, it should include additional feature and functionalities. The company is on its way to developing the phone you require, researches and product development are now on the drawing board.

For some who could not wait, buying Samsung cellular phone is still a neat choice because the designs are upbeat and beautiful. The added bonus is that the battery life is longer than other cellular phones. Enjoy the basic functions and beautiful designs with Samsung cellular phones.

Downloading a Free Podcast

2008-01-06T13:10:00.000+08:00

Its easy to find and download a free podcast. The best way to find free podcasts is probably to check a podcast directory. A podcast directory is a listing of many, sometimes thousands of different podcasts. The podcast directory will usually organize the podcasts by topic and genre, making it easy to find the type of podcast that is sought. In addition, podcast directories often allow the visitors to comment on the podcasts listed, and provide a list of the favorite podcasts on the site, making it easy for users to find the best podcasts available. These podcast directories can be used to browse through, introducing users to many different podcasts they otherwise would not have found.

Once a podcast has been found that interests the user, it is necessary to download the free podcast. The vast majority of podcasts will be free, but there will be a few that may cost a small amount of money. The process to subscribe to and download the podcasts is the same in either case. First, a podcast client needs to be found and installed. There are many free podast clients available, all providing a slightly different user interface and range of options. They come with many different names, such as Podscape, or Nimiq, and searching for 'free podcast client' or something like it will turn up many possibilities. When the podcast client has been installed, inputting the feed address will allow the podcast to be downloaded. The podcast client will check the address given for a small, machine readable file called an RSS file. This file will contain information about the podcasts, perhaps some text about the individual episodes, as well as the location of the episode file. Once the podcast client has been located the file referred to in the RSS feed, it will be downloaded and stored on the users computer until the want to view it.

Sometimes, of course, access to a personal computer is not available, but it is still necessary to check a certain podcast. Fortunately, many podcast directories offer built in podcast readers in the site. Not only do they often show each recent episode that is available, they may also offer a way to view or listen to those podcast episodes from within the site. By using the viewer contained within the site, it is no longer necessary to even download the podcast episodes. However, the ability to move and share the episodes after downloading is one of the wonderful things about podcasting. The files can be placed on almost and media player, ranging from iPods to the new Play Station Portable. This flexibility is one of the reasons podcasts have succeeded, despite other technologies like streaming music and video. The desire of consumers to have control over technology cannot be over estimated.

Bluetooth Technical Operations

2008-01-05T12:38:00.000+08:00

Bluetooth is a high speed, low powered wireless link technology that's designed to connect phones or other portable equipment together with little to no work required by the user. Unlike infrared, Bluetooth doesn't require line of site positioning to work.

Current prototype circuits are contained on a board that is 0.9 cm square, with a much smaller circuit board being developed.

When one Bluetooth device comes in contact with another, they will automatically exchange addresses and details of capability. Then, they can establish a 1 MB link with security that they will use as required. The protocols involved with handle both data and voice, with a very flexible topography.

The technology achieves its goal by embedding tiny,non expensive short range tranceivers into the devices available today. The radio operates on the 2.45 GHz frequency band, and supports up to 721 KBps, along with three voice channels.

Each devices offers a unique 48 bit address from the IEEE 802 standard, with the connections being point to point or multipoint. The max range is 10 meters, although it can be extended to 100 meters by increasing the power. The devices are also protected from radio interference by changing their frequencies, also known as frequency hopping.

What's important, is the fact that Bluetooth devices won't drain battery life. The specification targets power consumption of the device, limiting the drain on the battery. The radio chip will consume only 0.3mA in stand by mode, which is less than 5% of the power that standard phones use.

Bluetooth will also guarantee security at the bit level. The authentification is controlled by the user via a 128 bit key. The radio signals can be coded with anything up to 128 bit. With the frequency hopping, Bluetooth is already very hard to listen into.

The baseband protocol is a combination of both circuit and packet switches. Slots can be reserved for synchronous packets as well. Each packet will be transmitted in a different hop frequency. Normally, a packet covers a single slot although it can be extended to cover up to five slots.

Bluetooth can also support data channels of up to three simultaneous voice channels. Therefore, it's possible to transfer the data while you talk at the same time. Each individual voice channel will support 64 KB.

From a technical standpoint, Bluetooth is very different indeed. It's the best wireless method in the world, surpassing even infrared. For communication on the go, Bluetooth is indeed very hard to compete with.

NIKON DIGITAL CAMERA: DIGITAL SLR CAMERAS

2008-01-03T22:31:00.000+08:00

Nikon is a camera brand, best known for producing SLR camera. As with the boom of digital cameras all over the world, Nikon joined the bandwagon by producing what they make best, thus the new era of the Nikon digital camera was born - digital SLR.

One of the best in DSLR, the Nikon digital camera called Nikon D70 is 6-mega pixel Nikon digital camera. Coated with polycarbonate over its stainless steel chassis, this Nikon digital camera is furnished with a 50mm AF Nikkor lens that can combine with an 18-70mm kit lens and still be portable enough to be carried around. It has a 200-1600 ISO effective speed range, great for taking pictures both in the shade and under the sun. and why won't it be?! With its three frames per second continuous shooting rate and its 1/8000 second shutter speed, taking pictures is as easy as clicking away and having fun. this Nikon digital camera is supported with a Flash card.

Another SLR from Nikon is the Nikon Coolpix 8800. An 8-mega pixel Nikon digital camera, the Coolpix 8800 has a compact body. Furnished with a 1.8 inch flip-out and swivel LCD, this baby is surely first rate SLR. This Nikon digital camera features an image stabilizer system to reduce camera shakes particularly on long shots since this gadget can zoom up to 10x (optical zoom) and can focus to up to 3cm in macro mode with its 35-350mm lens. Key controls are very user-friendly, with modes such as sensitivity, image size/quality and white balance - found directly with the mode dial. The image output quality is the middle name of this Nikon digital camera, with great detail rendition, color fidelity and saturation. a rather exceptional feature of the 8800 is the continuous shooting modes, where users can choose 1.2 or 2.3 frames per second. A bit bulky to carry around, the 8800 is perfect for shooting action and sports shots. The 8800 works with a Compact Flash card for storing up your images.

Another digital SLR from Nikon is the Nikon D50. A 6.1 mega pixel Nikon digital camera, this gadget has 7 varied modes to shoot from using its AF-S DX Zoom Nikkor 18-55mm lens. These modes are Auto, Portrait, Landscape, Close Up, Sports, Night Portrait and Child. To see the images that you took, this Nikon digital camera is furnished with a 2.0 inch LCD screen. How fast can this camera shoot? It has 2.5 frames per second and with uninterrupted shooting of up to 137 frames per second. This Nikon digital camera is not too bad, especially for novice photographers. This package also includes a software for touching up, editing and sharing your pictures. The software even enables you to burn your images to VCD or DVD format.

One of the first point and shoot Nikon digital cameras is the Nikon Coolpix 4800. A four mega pixel Nikon digital camera, the old school designed 4800 is equipped with a 1.8 inch LCD screen for viewing your pictures. The 4800 is an 8.3x zoom Nikon digital camera with 6-50mm Nikkor Ed lens that zooms quickly and has continuous auto focusing (a feature where your lens is always trying to keep your pictures sharp). It also allows users to shoot, record and playback short movie clips with its assist and excellent scene modes - meaning that includes providing outlines for portraits (for tweaking purposes), exposure and sensitivity settings. These features are very helpful especially for novice photographers that want to try their hands at photography. Along with that, it comes with a 13.5MB SD card and the Li-on battery pack.

Remember to check out Nikon's website at www.nikon.com.sg or www.nikonusa.com to see the latest Nikon digital cameras.

Nokia cellular phones, most wanted cellular phones

2008-01-02T19:32:00.000+08:00

Nokia being a finish firm is surprisingly gaining 20% cellular phone penetration in the United States. This success is due to the two major business concentration of the company. The two business concentrations are Nokia cellular phones and cellular phone network infrastructure. Those two make up 90% of Nokia's revenue. The company gains this success because of their commitment to quality, and their quest to provide consumers with innovative design Nokia cellular phones.

Nokia is narrowly focusing on Nokia cellular phone and cellular phone infrastructure because the company sees significant growth potential in the mobile telephone industry. Nokia is poised on giving landline telephony greater challenge in the coming years. It has started and is fast becoming a threat. Although admittedly, among the three major players in the United States mobile phone industry, Nokia, with its Nokia cellular phones and cellular phone infrastructure抯, can fulfill this goal because of their strong commitment to revolutionize the bile phone industry. Bigger may be the other players but Nokia's focus on cutting edge technology to help developing countries do without land-base communications and gain speedy communication the mobile phone usage, may be possible. However, Nokia cellular phones and its exceptional technological design are facing greater challenge with respect to the fast-paced developments in the cellular phone industry. Nokia is also facing pricing challenge, more specifically, because of the downward global economic condition.

These challenges, however, the company continues to focus on superior technology for its Nokia cellular phones and cellular phone infrastructure. These business areas brought their company to the stock market map and Nokia is committed to continue providing innovative technology for as long as possible. Although, they believe the economic assessments that the economic condition may not require the superior technology of their Nokia cellular phone to help them secure profitable business in the coming years, they continue to refine the technological advantages of their products because it is a commitment they stand for. This assurance will surely please consumers who love the functional features of Nokia cellular phones.

This endeavor of the company to ensure technological advancement for their Nokia cellular phones and cellular phone infrastructure ensures the consumers that even with the proliferation of cellular phone in the market; one will always find the most functional and technologically advanced products in Nokia. One may actually get all the benefits of effective and speedy communication with Nokia cellular phones and its cellular phone infrastructure.

Choose the best and most efficient when you need mobile cellular phones, if you know Nokia抯 promise of great technological developments, you will get all the benefits and more. This is because aside from the functional features, beautiful designs are coming out of Nokia plants to suit everybody's needs for Nokia cellular phones.

Finally, Nokia cellular phones recommend users to follow telephone etiquette. This will help ensure the even while using cellular phone, keeping in mind telephone etiquette keeps you respectable. You will not bother churchgoers by turning off your phone in a place of worship. Avoid talking aloud in public in order to avoid creating nuisance and annoying people around. This is a good recommendation for cellular phone users. You do not need to flaunt your cellular phone, because Nokia cellular phones have their own personality, high-tech and functional, no need for you to brag about it.

A Dream Home That’s No Longer a Dream

2008-01-01T11:14:00.000+08:00

Who hasn’t dreamed of redesigning their current home or building their dream home? Unfortunately, for many of us, the cost of hiring an architect just isn’t in our budget. Now with the help of Home Designer Pro 7.0, we can easily do it ourselves.

Chief Architect, Inc. is a leading developer of 3D architectural home design software for consumers, home enthusiasts, builders, designers, and architects. In January 2006, they were recognized as the fastest growing publisher in the home design and gardening software category for 2005, making it the number one growing home design and gardening software publisher.

Better Homes and Gardens software product reviewers give it two thumbs up for ease of use. You can quickly jump-in and begin by using their pre-designed room feature or start from scratch and define your own rooms. When you are finished outside, take a quick spin outside and try your hand at either landscaping or deck design.

If you are thinking about designing your dream home from the ground up, the project-cost estimator budgeting tools provides you with a realistic idea of what you can expect to pay and the materials you will need to do the job. Then, you can easily add-in or change features with a simple click of the mouse.

The software suite is loaded with additional features including the ability:

• to create a virtual walk-through of your house
• to design and visualize using 3-D models
• to use a complete set of CAD tools to detail your designs
• to choose from a library of more than 4,300 design items
• to select 1,500 sample home plans
• to review 30 training videos with "how to" information

Not sure which of the BHG products are right for your needs? No problem. BHG provides a comprehensive comparison matrix on their website at http://www.homedesignersoftware.com/pdf/Land-vs-Base-vs-Suite-vs-Deluxe-Pro.pdf. Now, you can easily locate which of their six home design products are right for you. Depending on your needs, you can expect to pay between $59 and $149.

Life's good with LG cellular phones

2007-12-30T20:25:00.000+08:00

The cellular phone industry is already able to stand as a functional gadget and not merely luxurious toy. Because of this, manufacturer quickly jump into the cellular phone bandwagon, this includes the electronics companies and telephone companies. On the electronics side, LG Electronics is getting to be a figure to watch out for in the future.

LG Electronics is now focusing all its effort in making LG cellular phone an excellent and premium brand. This is a commitment made by the LG Electronics CEO during his speech at the 2004 International Consumer Electronic Show. To show how committed LG Electronics is to their promise, the company is poised on investing three hundred million dollars for the marketing activities of LG Cellular phone. LG Electronics likewise set-up a brand management team that will uphold the new LG slogan that life's Good?for all its marketing efforts that will promote the premium LG cellular phone brand in the North American market.

Because of this strong commitment to develop cellular phone units as a premium and superb brand of cellular phones, consumers are sure that the company will soon introduce to the market cellular phone units that will give some major manufacturers a run for their money. This endeavor will surely benefit consumers who will find more premium brand cellular phones including LG cellular phones available in the market. The endeavor will further alleviate the company抯 vision of sitting as one of the top three global firms by the year 2010. This may prove to be an easy task for the company coming from its success in achieving top brand image in India, Middle East and Africa. This endeavor of making premium brand LG cellular phones is not only a mission for it North American market but the plan includes Europe as well. I hope that in the future, for the world, this is a vision that LG Electronics is focusing on.

The campaign following the theme Life's good?offers superior lifestyle for LG cellular phone users. The company keeps this promise by putting together a product development team that will focus on making premium LG cellular phones that will compete in the marketplace, functionality and beauty is a huge consideration.

The company is seeking to achieve an ambitious sales growth of 20% by boosting its marketing efforts for the globally competitive and premium LG cellular phone brand. To achieve all these, product development for the cellular phones units is the most important step. Organizational restructuring and improved distribution for LG cellular phone might also be a neat strategy for the company if they are serious in wanting to achieve a hefty 20% growth from its cellular phone business.

An increasing number of satisfied LG cellular phone users recognize the development as an effective way to get superior benefits from the increasing number of premium quality cellular phones with the introduction of the newly developed and innovatively designed cellular phones from LG Electronics. They foresee this development and the company抯 endeavor to be beneficial and thus may work well to the mutual benefit of the company and its consumers.

LG cellular phones are poised on competing in the functional and beautifully designed cellular phone industry, their experience in the electronics industry give them the edge against competition. Await the development and the new LG cellular phone models to get the benefit from the company抯 commitment to quality.

Ericsson cellular phones, top choice for those who require high performance gadgets

2007-12-29T13:38:00.000+08:00

One of the top three market leaders in the United States cellular phone industry is the Swedish firm, Ericsson. Their entry to the top slot is due to the growing number of people requiring high performance and technologically advanced cellular phones. Although, Ericsson is in a broad-based spectrum of business units, and on the communications sector, they focus their business son the fixed-line operation and not much on the cellular phone unit developments, this notion change very recently. Of late, Ericsson is slowly realizing the greater need for technological advancement of Ericsson cellular phones because of the growing demand for this advanced design cellular phone. They are also doing this move because they can foresee the potential of profitable business in the cellular phone unit industry. Because of the wonderful and functional designs of the Ericsson cellular phones, the requirement for them is booming like a speed rocket.

Ericsson cellular phones support various cellular phone plans; in fact, they are the most suited for the various functional offers of big network companies. However, if you want a pre-paid cellular phone plan, very few Ericsson cellular phone units support pre-paid cellular phones plans. It is not advisable to purchase a cellular phone from Ericsson if you do not want a traditional cellular phone plan. Ericsson cellular phone is a popular choice of people who want high performance and functional cellular phones. This is because almost all cellular phone models include features like VGA camera with video capabilities and it support high-speed edge data networking. Receiving and sending internet messages are thus possible in a cellular phone from Ericsson. Ericsson cellular phones also include color LCD and superb imaging, which includes picture editor, if you want to play along with your pictures, cellular phones from Ericsson, has the capacity for this. Additionally, almost all models of cellular phone in Ericsson support blue tooth usage, thus easy navigation.

Ericsson cellular phones also support multimedia messaging and e-mail services. Technologically advanced Ericsson cellular phones are the best choice especially for corporate executives because of its functional features. This has accounted for the success of the cellular phone business of Ericsson. This is also the culprit for the high demand for cellular phones from Ericsson, thus the company endeavor to develop more advanced cellular phone units.

This ensures the public that other superb and high technology features development may continue to add to the strong benefits of Ericsson cellular phones. For this reason, it is worthy for consumers to await every development and new cellular phone models coming out of Ericsson manufacturing plants.

The information you get from this article may help you understand the best features of Ericsson cellular phones. This information will also help you analyze if Ericsson cellular phone is what you need. Ericsson cellular phones are getting to be the top choice because of its beauty and wonderful functional features.

With or without these functional features, buying a cellular phone need intelligent assessment, knowing what you need and how you need your cellular phone will help you buy the most suited cellular phone.

It may also help in the proper usage of your cellular phone if you can follow telephone etiquette. Because Ericsson cellular phones are popular to business executives, exhibiting telephone etiquette account for the respectable user. This will show how effective this modern day gadget can help in an executive's life.

Improve Usability of Your Website

2007-12-26T22:54:00.000+08:00

No matter how brilliant your website design is, if it is hard to reach the content of your site then your site is as useful as an empty shell. Here are some tips to improve the usability of your website to ensure it serves its functions optimally.

The first method is to make sure the typography of your content is suitable. If you have large blocks of text, make sure to use CSS to space out the lines accordingly. The longer a single line of text is, the greater the line-height of each line should be. Also, make sure the font size of your text is big enough to read easily. Some sites have 10-pixel-tall text in Verdana font; while that may look neat and tidy, you have to really strain your eyes to read the actual text.

Make it easy for visitors to find content that they want on your site. If you have thousands of articles on your site and a certain visitor wants to find one single article from that pile, you have to provide a feasible means to enable visitors to do that without hassle. Be it an SQL-driven database search engine or just a glossary or index of articles that you have, providing such a feature will make sure your visitors can use your site with ease.

Ensure that your site loads fast if you do not want to lose visitors. Most internet users will leave a website if it doesn't load completely within 15 seconds, so make sure the craede la create of your website is delivered to the visitors as soon as possible to retain their attention.

Last of all, test each and every link on your site before it goes online. There is nothing more effective in tarnishing your professional image than broken links, so be very careful about that.

SHARE SMILES WITH KODAK DIGITAL CAMERA

2007-12-25T12:39:00.000+08:00

Ever since, Kodak has always been associated with photographs. Kodak is primarily known for producing quality films and photograph that capture our smiles and tender moments, so it no big surprise that Kodak ventured with camera business. Starting out with analog or conventional cameras, they finally followed suit with their line of Kodak digital cameras.

One of the best and handiest Kodak digital cameras is the Kodak easy Share one. Only about $600 the Kodak easy Share one is one of the first new series of Kodak digital cameras supports wireless sharing of your photos. This new technology from the Kodak digital camera is a super-intelligent wireless (think Wi-Fi) snapper that allows users to instantly share and print photos without the hassle of using and putting up cable connections. This Kodak digital camera supports Kodak Wi-Fi card. The Wi-Fi card will enable the owner of the camera to instantly use basic web browser in sending images directly to Kodak online storage and printing service. And of course, the Wi-Fi card will also enable you to beam your images straight to a Wi-Fi printer. This amazing Kodak digital camera includes a 3x optical zoom from its C. Variogon 38-108mm equivalent lens, an extra SD card slot and a three inch fold out touch screen display.

The fold out touch screen display comes with menu buttons that helps users customize their camera settings or edit their images. This Kodak digital camera also supports Video out USB and 3volts DC in adapter, just in case you want to just view through your photos while your batteries are recharging.

As with all Kodak digital cameras, the easy Share one comes with a Kodak Easy Share program that further makes it easier for file transferring and editing of your images.

Personally, I would recommend the Kodak dx7590. This is my ultimate dream Kodak digital camera. This is a Kodak digital camera for those who are just starting out with photography as a hobby or those who wish to pursue one as a craft. This baby is perfect for your practice shots. It is a 5 mega pixel Kodak digital camera with 10x optical zoom of a professional quality Schneider-Kreuznach Variogon lens. The dx7590 is one of the Kodak digital cameras that have the exclusive Kodak color science Image processing chip. And to check out all those amazing photos youe captured, this Kodak digital camera is furnished with a 2.2 inch high resolution indoor/outdoor display. As Ie mentioned, if youe been wanting to learn the tricks of the trade, there is a manual and custom controls that you could always experiment with. It high speed, low light auto-focus with continuous shooting and bracketing modes, so you could always get your sister, girlfriend or just about anyone to model laughing, changing poses as you click away. The dx7590 has 22 modes and color scenes, so you could always mess the images you took using your computer, making the picture come out as older or earlier that day. This amazing Kodak digital camera lets you store pictures up to 128 MB, using an SD card (that you have to buy separately). This dx 7590 comes with the Kodak easy share camera dock 6000, for recharging your batteries or transferring your photos to and from your computer. The best thing about the Kodak dx7590, this Kodak digital camera is only around $500. Now, is that a bargain or what!? An almost professional camera for the price of a lower end digital camera.

Be sure to check out Kodak website at www.kodak.com to check out their latest releases of digital cameras. The Kodak website also offers basic information regarding their products and its prices.

2006 Security Watch - What is this year going to have in store for us?

2007-12-24T22:56:00.000+08:00

There is a lot going on in the information security space. 2006 looks to be an interesting year in these regards. Below are some things to watch for in 2006, some of them are good and, unfortunately, some aren’t.

First the good news:

- We are getting a lot more serious about our security. This has a lot of reasons behind it. For example, new privacy laws are mandating organizations to tighten their security. Look to see more consumer privacy laws passed in the coming year and more tightening of security systems.

- Authentication requirements are increasing. This is closing in large security holes. Corporations are requiring a great deal more of authentication to get into secure systems (this also is on the bad news side)

- There is a plethora of sophisticated programs to help us be more secure and they will continue to get better. Competition right now is strong in the security industry sparking a lot of innovation.

- ISPs are now taking on the responsibility to help us with our security. Take AOL's recent commercials as a good sign that others will follow the trend.

Now the bad news:

- Securing our networks is costing us. Most companies are globalizing their organizations and making them secure costs a lot of money. It will get worse before it gets better.

- Authentication requirements are increasing. This is getting claustrophobic. Corporations are requiring a great deal more authentication to get into secure systems (This is also on the good news side) Unfortunately, for the end user, it is one more thing to be unhappy about, not unlike airport security lines.

- Hackers are getting more sophisticated. For example, Botnets are becoming more complex and harder and harder to catch and stop. Do a search on botnets on the Internet. They really are causing a whole lot of problems, but it does not stop there. The number of viruses and malware out there is staggering.

- Spammers keep finding more creative ways to fill our email boxes. Don't look for this trend to stop anytime soon.

The Importance of a Sitemap

2007-12-23T17:58:00.000+08:00

A sitemap is often considered redundant in the process of building a website, and that is indeed the fact if you made a sitemap for the sake of having one. By highlighting the importance of having a well constructed sitemap, you will be able to tailor your own sitemap to suit your own needs.

1) Navigation purposes

A sitemap literally acts as a map of your site. If your visitors browses your site and gets lost between the thousands of pages on your site, they can always refer to your sitemap to see where they are, and navigate through your pages with the utmost ease.

2) Conveying your site's theme

When your visitors load up your sitemap, they will get the gist of your site within a very short amount of time. There is no need to get the "big picture" of your site by reading through each page, and by doing that you will be saving your visitors' time.

3) Site optimization purposes

When you create a sitemap, you are actually creating a single page which contains links to every single page on your site. Imagine what happens when search engine robots hit this page -- they will follow the links on the sitemap and naturally every single page of your site gets indexed by search engines! It is also for this purpose that a link to the sitemap has to be placed prominently on the front page of your website.

4) Organization and relevance

A sitemap enables you to have a complete bird's eye view of your site structure, and whenever you need to add new content or new sections, you will be able to take the existing hierarchy into consideration just by glancing at the sitemap. As a result, you will have a perfectly organized site with everything sorted according to their relevance.

From the above reasons, it is most important to implement a sitemap for website projects with a considerable size. Through this way, you will be able to keep your website easily accesible and neatly organized for everyone.

Blackberry Mp3 Ringtones

2007-12-22T21:00:00.002+08:00

Tired of the plain, drab monophonic (xylophone) ringtones? One of the best features of the Blackberry series phones is the ability to customize the phone to your taste. And full customization means just that.. to give YOU the choice of which ringtones you want to hear for any caller. Why limit yourself to a predetermined selection of ringtones?

Phones that are supported:

Blackberry 8800 Series/Blackberry Pearl/Blackberry 7100 Series/Blackberry 8700/Blackberry 7130 series

Turn as many of your own MP3's or iTunes into blackberry ringtones for your Blackberry 8800/8700/7130/7100 and Blackberry Pearl series phone. The 7100i can NOT play MP3's. This is not a fault of the product, but of Nextel's unwillingness to allow its customers mp3 ringtones.

Who/What?

BlackberryTunes enables you to place your favorite songs onto your Blackberry 8800/8700/7130/7100 and Blackberry Pearl series phone. We have been the peoples choice for ringtones for Skytel 2-way pagers, Nextel/Sprint phones and now Blackberry. We realize there is a sea of mono/poly ringtones websites, so we decided to separate ourselves from the pack by offering something unique. BlackberryTunes, give you the ability to determine which ringtones you want to hear (and we understand that doesn't always mean what the radio plays). From the sound of a family members voice to Jazz, Opera, Pop, Hip-Hop, R&B, a quote from your favorite movie (Pulp Fiction leads that category every year), a quote from a certain cartoon character named Bart, .... the list goes on, because it doesn't have to end!! If you own the song, then you already know you'll love the ringtone! If you would like a sample email sample@blackberrytunes.com or continue reading below. You send us a sample of your MP3 (We do not provide MP3's) and we recreate the song into a ringtone for your blackberry. There is no limitation on the amount of songs you can send, and you can cancel at any time. We accept any song in any format.... and are the only company to allow you to play your iTunes or your Windows Media files on your blackberry!! As soon as you place your order you can begin. No need for USB cables or worrying about browser configurations, the ringtone goes directly to your blackberry. BlackberryTunes is compatible with all operating systems.

Why we're the best:

To say we're the best is a little misleading..... we don't have any competition! No other company provides this service or quality of ringtones. Sure you can find websites that offer ringtones that sound like they were produced on a xylophone, but is that really what you want? We realize that our taste in music may be different that your taste, so why should you be stuck listening to our selections? We only work with real tones, (MP3 quality), so you're never surprised at how the ringtone sounds. If you like the song, then you'll love the ringtone!

Click here to get it now!

2007-12-22T21:00:00.000+08:00

TRUSTING DIGITAL CAMERA REVIEWS

2007-12-22T18:55:00.000+08:00

Digital camera reviews are abundant not just online but also in the newspapers, magazines and even TV shows. We often wonder why most digital camera reviews always praise all the digital camera out in the market, that why we end up getting confused on which product to buy or get our loved ones. ]

Here's one thing you should never trust regarding digital camera reviews - never trust press releases or reviews that are directly from the manufacturer or advertising office that is directly connected with producer of the digital camera. Why?! Well because these digital camera reviews are never too truthful, or they just give out the good points about their products. I mean, what would you expect, supposing you own your own line of digital cameras and to boost your sales, you release digital camera reviews about your products. Of course you wouldn point out the bad things or the glitches of your product in your digital camera reviews, because that way you will never be able to shoot up your sales. Press releases or digital camera reviews from manufacturer are always half-truths. Haven you had any experience with that?! I mean, that just doesn't go for digital camera, remember that brush-blower thingy that you bought over the internet that says it would work tremendously for your hair, but ended not working for your hair after all. Press releases are press releases, meaning that they are aimed to get people to buy the product or to give the product a better name.

On more thing that you can never fully trust are home shopping networks and advertisements. As much as press releases, they pretty much pose the same claims about their products. But hey, don trust me, you can always get them and return them after proving to yourself that it doesn work. Never mind the time and effort that youe wasted, you chose to listen to a half-truth digital camera review, that what you get for that.

The best digital camera reviews available are those found in specialty magazines (computer based and technical magazines), special websites catering to techie stuff and unofficial digital camera reviews. Why?! Well because! Because these digital camera reviews are always truthful. These reviewers and critics are never afraid to list down the good as much as the bad points of digital cameras. These digital camera reviews usually points out the difference between the products that a certain manufacturer has released and how it is worse or better than the previous one. These reviewers and critics are also knowledgeable in their craft, so its say to safe to say that they know what they are talking about when it comes to digital camera reviews. One more thing, most of the time, these digital camera reviews are actual first hand experience with the product itself and not just some advertising agent asked to come up with flowery words to capture you and your wallet.

Another best source for a digital camera review is one that you can write yourself. And how can you do that?! Of course, you first need to buy your own digital camera, try it out and compare everything that you do with it to the things that it claims to be. (be careful to read the specs, options and features that you need to try out, be on the lookout for words such as weatherproof, meaning that they are splash resistant as to waterproof that are water resistant. You don want to get your newly bought weatherproof camera wet, just to prove to yourself that the things they claim are not true). After doing so, then you can write your own digital camera review or reviews, depending on how many things youe learned from your digital camera. Be sure to indicate that your review is an on-hand experience with the product and not just some wild guess.

The most honest digital camera reviews are the best reviews you can look for and trust. Anyway, you can always call customer center or return your digital camera if they don live up to their claims.

Sony Ericsson P990i Chinese Font

2007-12-22T12:32:00.000+08:00

Intend to view Chinese SMS/character in your lovely P990i English version mobile phone? Here are the resources of this solution!

Installation:

Download it from our website
Unzip the downloaded file
Copy the unzip file into your memorystick to the location of \Resource\Fonts
Restart your mobile
Finished!

You can now read Chinese inside your mobile phone!

Comedy Podcasts

2007-12-21T21:29:00.000+08:00

Many podcasts are available to subscribe to and watch in a variety of genres, and one of these is the comedy podcast. Every small scale wannabe writer has a chance to become a comedian through podcasting, since the low entry cost allows people to start podcasting with minimum effort and money. To find some of these comedy podcasters, check a podcast directory. A podcast directory is a listing of many, sometimes several thousands, of podcasts submitted and divided into categories. A podcast directory will probably have a large number of comedy podcasts available to subscribe to.

These comedy podcasts are usually created by a small team of people who do the work in their free time, as a hobby, not as a source of income. Because it is a hobby, they're more willing to give the work away for free, for nothing more than recognition, probably in the hopes they can parlay that recognition into a more mainstream job. Some more corporate groups also put together comedy podcasts, however. The satirical comedy web site TheOnion.com puts out a regular comedy podcast, featuring readings from their fake news site.

Placing a comedy podcast on the Internet has several advantages for the creators. They get to showcase their work, easily distributing their art to many people. This following is likely to be be unusually passionate, following the artist with more enthusiasm than the artist's average audience. The comedian has a chance to be more open with the audience, engaging in a sort of dialogue with them. The comedian broadcasts the files, which enter the computer of the user, already a more personal level than simply hearing the jokester on the radio or on television. Compedy podcast subscribers will often then write back to the podcaster, or leave comments on the blog which often accompanies a podcast site. This can give them a degree of input and connection with the writers of the comedy podcast that is far removed from other styles of comedy distribution.

The writers and producers of a comedy podcast thus benefit from several advantages of the podcast form. It is cheap and easy to set up, and uses a distribution mechanism that is also easy to use. The way the podcast form is designed, as well, creates greater connection between the producer and the subscribers. The comedy writer has a greater ability to interact with the subscribers and to find out what they appreciate or do not. Because podcasting is so simple to get involved in, requiring only a small investment to get started, many amateur comedy writers have begun starting their own shows and distributing the feed. It is likely, because of the unique connection podcasting offers between writer and listener, that we will see at least some of these amateur comedians make the leap to the professional stage.

CANON DIGITAL CAMERA: EXPRESS, SHOOT AND SHARE

2007-12-19T19:55:00.000+08:00

Canon is well known across the country as an imaging equipment and information systems. Their many products include copiers, printers, lenses, camcorders, semiconductors among others, and of course Canon digital cameras.

The latest high end canon digital camera is the PowerShot S2 IS. This is a 5.0 mega pixel Canon digital camera that features a 12x optical zoom and a 4x digital zoom. This baby is furnished with Optical Image Stabilizer (that is what the IS in S2 IS stands for) that eliminates camera shakes for people who have shaky hands or for taking camera shots. The UD lens found in this canon digital camera provide amazing color accuracy throughout the whole zoom area.

As with many digital cameras nowadays, this certain canon digital camera can record moving pictures. Now with another first, the S2 allows you to record moving pictures, and there no use for missing a perfect image incorporated with that moving picture. With the Movie Snap feature, just snap away when you see that perfect image, and it will be saved in your canon digital camera along with the recorded video.

This canon digital camera is also equipped with the DIGIC II Image processor that is designed to increase processing speed and image quality. It instantly says that with the DIGIC II, your canon digital camera has faster start-up time, playback and auto focus while giving your images the absolute brilliance.

The S2 also support USB 2.0 Hi-speed standard, so you will always have the easiest time transferring your files to and from your computer. With the USB 2.0, you can take advantage of your super hi-speed SD card.

This canon digital camera is also supplied with a 1.8 inch LCD power saving and fold out screen that's 115,000 pixel resolution. S2 shoots at 30 frames per second; this shooting rate can be reduced when taking pictures in night display, to give you the brightness that you need when taking pictures.

On the other hand, the latest point and shoot canon digital camera is the PowerShot SD500 and the PowerShot SD400.

The SD500 is the first 7.1 mega pixel canon digital camera that gives amazing images and absolutely to die for details. It has a 3x optical zoom that enables close up shooting with a 37-111mm equivalent with a 35mm film camera. This is one of the new perpetual curve design for a canon digital camera that fits the hands perfectly.

Sporting a very slim design, you would marvel at its 2.0 inch LCD that gives easier frame and play back use.

This baby is also equipped with the same DIGIC II Image Processor found in canon digital cameras that gives you amazing features. Also USB 2.0 compatible and works with the same high-speed SD card.

Even better than most digital cameras out there, this gadget can shoot moving images to up to 60 frames per second- perfect for moving objects (especially in sports) and a 30 frames per second for shooting still images. Furnished with scene modes like portrait (blurs the background and focuses on your subject), foliage (perfect for foliage, greenery or blossoms), beach (sunny shots without the dark faces), underwater (reduced background scatter. Tip: you can always buy waterproof case for shooting underwater images), fireworks, night snapshot, kids and pets, indoor, snow and digital macro (larger than life images).

This canon digital camera even enables you to customize and correct as you shoot. With modes like lightening skin tones, positive film, darker skin tones and others, you can never go wrong with using a canon digital camera.

These are just some of the many features of the SD500. There are more to the SD500 that has yet to be discussed. Check canon website at www.usa.canon.com for a full profile of the SD500 and to other latest releases and products.

Advantages And Disadvantages

2007-12-18T21:02:00.000+08:00

Bluetooth has a lot to offer with an increasingly difficult market place. Bluetooth helps to bring with it the promise of freedom from the cables and simplicity in networking that has yet to be matched by LAN (Local Area Network).

In the key marketplace, of wireless and handheld devices, the closest competitor to Bluetooth is infrared. Infrared holds many key features, although the line of sight it provides doesn't go through walls or through obstacles like that of the Bluetooth technology.

Unlike infrared, Bluetooth isn't a line of sight and it provides ranges of up to 100 meters. Bluetooth is also low power and low processing with an overhead protocol. What this means, is that it's ideal for integration into small battery powered devices. To put it short, the applications with Bluetooth are virtually endless.

Disadvantages

Bluetooth has several positive features and one would be extremely hard pressed to find downsides when given the current competition. The only real downsides are the data rate and security. Infrared can have data rates of up to 4 MBps, which provides very fast rates for data transfer, while Bluetooth only offers 1 MBps.

For this very reason, infrared has yet to be dispensed with completely and is considered by many to be the complimentary technology to that of Bluetooth. Infrared has inherent security due to its line of sight.

The greater range and radio frequency (RF) of Bluetooth make it much more open to interception and attack. For this reason, security is a very key aspect to the Bluetooth specification.

Although there are very few disadvantages, Bluetooth still remains the best for short range wireless technology. Those who have tried it love it, and they know for a fact that Bluetooth will be around for years to come.

About Encryption and Making Your System Secure

2007-12-17T21:04:00.000+08:00

What does encryption do for me?

Encryption and cryptographic software has been used in many different ways to make systems more secure. This article discusses only a few ways that such software can make your system more secure, including:

1) Encrypting your email

2) Encrypting your files

To programs are mentioned that will help encrypt information. There are many more programs out there that will help, but these programs are good and a good place to start as any. They have the added benefit of both being free with source code available.

Will encryption stop people from accessing my information?

Encryption simply makes it harder for people to gain access to important information, like passwords or sensitive information in a file. The first thing you should know about encryption is that the algorithm that is used to encrypt can be simple or more complex and that affects how securely what you have encrypted is protected. Encryption systems have been broken when the method of encryption is understood by hackers and is easy to break.

Why bother to encrypt my email?

It should be noted that email is far less secure than paper mail for two very good reasons: first, electronic data can be accessed easily over an Internet and secondly, electronic data is really simple to copy. There is a very good chance that someone has snooped around in your email despite your best intentions to stop it.

How do I go about encrypting my email?

There are many programs out there that can help you encrypt your email. A very popular one is PGP (Pretty Good Privacy) or its Gnu offshoot GPG.

PGP (http://www.pgpi.org/) self-describes itself this way: This "is a program that gives your electronic mail something that it otherwise doesn't have: Privacy. It does this by encrypting your mail so that nobody but the intended person can read it. When encrypted, the message looks like a meaningless jumble of random characters. PGP has proven itself quite capable of resisting even the most sophisticated forms of analysis aimed at reading the encrypted text."

Why bother to encrypt my files?

The answer to this boils down to what you store on your computer. If you have financial data with important information like social security numbers, email addresses, account numbers and passwords, then you open yourself up to losing very valuable information. Most corporate Internet security employees will attest to the widespread theft of very valuable information. As long as you are connected to the Internet you are vulnerable.

How do I go about encrypting my files?

AxCrypt File Encryption Software (http://axcrypt.sourceforge.net/) Self-described as "Free Personal Privacy and Security for Windows 98/ME/NT/2K/XP with AES-128 File Encryption, Compression and transparent Decrypt and Open in the original application."

A Podcast Client

2007-12-16T12:28:00.000+08:00

A podcast client is the software used to access and download podcasts. Podcast clients are also known as media aggregators, programs designed to automatically access an online file, or feed, and download the audio or video file associated with it. Hundreds of these programs exist, with names like IpodderX, Juice, Nimiq, and PodSpider. These podcast clients are easy to find, and because there are so many available for free, it is easy to find one that suits an individuals needs and style. These programs run on the users computer, periodically downloading a small RSS file from sites that it has been told to monitor. The file tells the program about an audio or video file stored on the server, and the podcast client then downloads that file for the user to view or listen to.

The podcast client thus allows the user to view information on a wide range of topics from their computer, without even using a web browser. Just like blogs let people find writers they enjoyed for any niche topic they were interested in, podcasts let people do them same for audio and video. Its as if a thousands of radio and television channels were created to serve every possible interest, and more were made every day. Using the podcast client to access and download the files makes it as easy to keep up with the sites one likes as it is to publish the feed.

10 Benefits Of Bluetooth

2007-12-15T20:42:00.000+08:00

Below, are 10 benefits and reasons to use Bluetooth
technology.

1. Wireless
As you probably already know, there are many benefits and advantages to using wireless devices. Along with improving safety as a result of eliminating wires you don't need, wireless also offers you plenty ofother advantages. When traveling with your laptop or other wireless devices, you'll no longer have to worry about bringing connection cables.

2. Bluetooth is actually inexpensive
The technology of Bluetooth is cheap for companies to implement, which results in lower costs for the company. These savings are then passed from the company on to you.

3. Bluetooth is automatic
Bluetooth doesn't have you set up a connection or push any buttons. When two or more devices enter a range of up to 30 feet of each other, they will automatically begin to communicate without you having to do anything.

4. Standardized protocol
Bluetooth is standardized wireless, meaning that a high level of compatibility among devices is guaranteed. Bluetooth will connect devices to each other, even if they aren't the same model.

5. Low interference
Bluetooth devices almost always avoid interference from other wireless devices. Bluetooth uses a technique known as frequency hopping, and also low power wireless signals.

6. Low energy consumption
As a result of Bluetooth using low power signals, the technology requires very little energy and will use less battery or electrical power as a result. This is an excellent benefit for mobile devices, as Bluetooth won't drain the battery.

7. Sharing voice and data
The standard for Bluetooth will allow compatible devices to share data and voice communications. This is great for mobile phones and headsets, as Bluetooth simplifies driving and talking on your cell phone.

8. Instant PAN (Personal Area Network)
You can connect up to seven Bluetooth devices to each other within a range of up to 30 feet, forming a piconet or PAN. For a single room, you can also set up multiple piconets.

9. Upgradeable
Upgradeable is the standard for Bluetooth. There are newer versions of Bluetooth in the works, which offer many new advantages and backward compatible with older versions.

10. The technology stays
Bluetooth technology is a world wide, universal wireless standard. With it being as popular as it is, you can count on it being around for years to come. As more and more devices start to use Bluetooth technology, more manufacturers will be eager to make their products compatible. A chain reaction will occur, making Bluetooth the standard for cutting edge wireless.

Things You Need to Know Before You Buy Digital Camera

2007-12-15T11:16:00.000+08:00

Digital cameras come in many sizes, colors, brands, zooms, resolutions, playbacks, etc. There are so many features and qualities that are being placed in the devices that buyers especially first timers become overwhelmed and dizzy with these outstanding arrays of gadgets. This is even without including the various advertisements and different ratings that are used to promote these products.

So what are the things to look for if you want to buy digital camera? To be able to answer these, there are 2 sets of information you have to know before you can decide. The first type of information is defining what YOU need and want in a digital camera. To do this, you can ask yourself the following questions:

- What do you want to take with your digital camera? Before you buy digital camera, it is important to determine what kind of pictures you want to take with it. If you are a digital photography enthusiast, any digital camera will not just do. You have to look for features that can support the zooming you need, the resolution, etc.

- How much is your budget? This is a very important question any person who intends to buy digital camera should ask. Because no matter what your needs and wants are for the device, your financial resource will play a huge part in dictating the type of digital camera you will buy.

- What are you resources? When you buy digital camera, sometimes the spending does not end there. You also have to consider the capacity and the power of the computer and the printer you will be hooking your camera with for your editing and printing needs. Editing software are already included when you buy digital camera but other devices aren't. Aside from a printer, ink and paper for printing, you might also need additional memory cards for your camera and a more powerful computer to support image editing and image storage and retrieval.

After answering these 3 questions, the second set of information you need to know before you buy digital camera are the features that you need in the device. These are:

- Resolution. Before you buy digital camera, check first its capacity to produce high quality photo images. The number of pixels indicated determines resolution. The more number of pixels, the higher the resolution which can make photos to be enlarged without losing image quality.

- Built-in memory. Digital cameras need memory cards for picture storage. When you buy digital camera, make sure that the gadget that you buy does not only have a "built-in" memory but should also have a card slot for external and additional memory. This allows you to change full memory cards conveniently while shooting your pictures.

- Look and feel. It is essential for you to feel comfortable holding your digital camera while shooting. So, before you buy digital camera, it good to test and check if you are comfortable holding it and using it. Consider where the buttons are located and how they are spaced out and see also if you feel comfortable using the viewfinder.

- Battery life. Digital cameras use up batteries fast and batteries are expensive. Before you buy digital camera, consider if the camera's batteries are rechargeable. This way you can recharge them. Take also into consideration an AC adapter when you buy digital camera. You can attach this to the camera when you are viewing your pictures or uploading them

- LCD. The LCD is a special consideration you have to look into when you buy a digital camera. This is a small screen located at the back of a digital camera that allows you to preview the pictures you took. This has to be considered when you buy digital camera because it uses up a lot of battery power.

- Special features. Special features that will suit your needs should be thought about, too before you buy digital camera. If you want your camera to have good zooming, you can opt for those with optical zoom lenses. A diopter adjustment on the digital camera's viewfinder will also be beneficial to those who regularly wear glasses and wish to buy digital camera. Other features such as remote control, tripods, etc. can also be considered when you buy a digital camera.

With these information, you can now figure out what you really need and want before you buy digital camera. If you want to see ratings and rankings of these devices based on price, resolution or other features, check out various websites that have these in the Internet.

How To Have Websites Built For You The Cheap Way

2007-12-14T21:27:00.000+08:00

Normally, if you want to have professional designers custom build your site, you must be prepared to dish out at least a few hundred dollars. All this can change if you know where to find the best deals, the best designs for the lowest price. Here's a rough guide:

First, you must understand that it is a rip off to get companies to design websites for you. Have you ever seen those advertisements in newspaper classified ad sections that offer a 5-page website at $500? These companies are established companies with physical locations, therefore they have to increase the amount they charge to pay off some overheads: office rent, designer's wages, advertising costs and so on.

Therefore, it would be wise to find freelance designers who work from home. These people are often working from home so they do not have a high operation cost like that of a company. On the other hand, they will be able to design images with quality similar to those of designers from big companies, so it's a "no-brainer" choice.

However, choose freelancers with care. The best way to do this would be to go to elance.com. There, you can post the abstract of your project and get thousands of freelancers to bid on your project, so you will surely get the best deal. On top of that, you will be able to choose the designers based on their experience, past transactions and ratings, so your value for money is secured.

Another route you can take is to design your website yourself. Think about it, if you only need 5 simple pages to present some simple information, why waste hundreds of dollars for it? Just spend a little time to sit down and do it yourself. You'll be able to design your own sites even if you do not know a single line of HTML code with the help of WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) programs such as Microsoft Frontpage, Macromedia Dreamweaver and so on.

Good Design Practices

2007-12-13T21:35:00.000+08:00

Your website is where your business resides -- it's like the headquarter of an offline company. Hence, it is important to practise good design principles to make sure your site reaches out to the maximum number of visitors and sells to as many people as possible.

Make sure you have clear directions on the navigation of your website. The navigation menu should be uncluttered and concise so that visitors know how to navigate around your website without confusion.

Reduce the number of images on your website. They make your site load very slowly and more often than not they are very unnecessary. If you think any image is essential on your site, make sure you optimize them using image editing programs so that they have a minimum file size.

Keep your text paragraphs at a reasonable length. If a paragraph is too long, you should split it into seperate paragraphs so that the text blocks will not be too big. This is important because a block of text that is too large will deter visitors from reading your content.

Make sure your website complies to web standards at www.w3.org and make sure they are cross-browser compatible. If your website looks great in Internet Explorer but breaks horribly in Firefox and Opera, you will lose out on a lot of prospective visitors.

Avoid using scripting languages on your site unless it is absolutely necessary. Use scripting languages to handle or manipulate data, not to create visual effects on your website. Heavy scripts will slow down the loading time of your site and even crash some browsers. Also, scripts are not supported across all browsers, so some visitors might miss important information because of that.

Use CSS to style your page content because they save alot of work by styling all elements on your website in one go.

ZONEALARM FORCEFIELD BETA

2007-12-11T22:44:00.000+08:00

ZoneAlarm ForceField is now available as a beta product. Be one of the first to try the product for free and give us valuable feedback.

http://download.zonealarm.com/bin/free/beta/forcefield/index.html

ForceField is a new kind of security product built entirely around the browsing experience. There is no other product like ForceField. Key features include:

Virtualized surfing
Keylogger jamming
Phishing and fraudulent Web site warning and protection
Dangerous download scanning and protection
Private browsing to completely erase your surfing tracks from your PC

Generating Revenue With Good Planning

2007-12-11T21:14:00.001+08:00

For anything to work well, care must be taken to make firm, workable plans to execute it and the same goes for website designs. With a well thought out website design, you will be able to create a site that generates multiple streams of revenue for you. In fact, may websites turn into online wasteland because they are not well planned and do not get a single visitor. Gradually, the webmaster will not be motivated to update it anymore and it turns into wasted cyberspace.

The crucial point of planning your site is optimizing it for revenue if you want to gain any income from the site. Divide your site into major blocks, ordered by themes, and start building new pages and subsections in those blocks. For example, you might have a "food" section, an "accomodation" section and an "entertainment" section for a tourism site. You can then write and publish relevant articles in the respective sections to attract a stream of traffic that comes looking for further information.

When you have a broader, better-defined scope of themes for your website, you can sell space on your pages to people interested in advertising on your page. You can also earn from programs like Google's Adsense and Yahoo! Search Marketing if people surf to those themed pages and click on the ads. For this very reason, the advertisement blocks on your pages need to be relevant to the content, so a themed page fits that criteria perfectly.

As Internet becomes more widespread, advertising on the Internet will bear more results than on magazines or offline media. Hence, start tapping in on this lucrative stream of profit right away!

Cheap cellular phone, only an alternative

2007-12-10T20:48:00.000+08:00

The old concept that cellular phones are merely luxurious toys is now dismissed by the growing need for it. Cellular phones now became a very essential tool for everyone including parents who want to know where their kids are on a real time basis. Business executives do business more effectively with a multi-functional cellular phone. Eve teenagers need cellular phones. Gone are the days when cellular phones are toys to show off, now cellular phones evolve to be a necessity. Thus, cellular phones of various models and designs now flood the market. There are those cellular phones that can perform many different functions but there are also those basic telephones that come in cheap.

Because of this great need and want for cellular phones, manufacturers flood the market from cheap cellular phones to high-tech cellular phones. If you are one of those who are lucky and that you can afford high-tech cellular phones, then that is good for you, however, if you want or need a cellular phone but cannot afford high-tech cellular phones, then you may acquire a cheap cellular phone. Knowing what you need and how you need it may help you find a cellular phone with reasonable and useful features. If you are to buy a cheap cellular phone, you should never expect it to perform tasks a high tech cellular phone can give. Merely being able to send and receive calls may be enough for you to expect from your cheap cellular phone. Because you cannot afford the high definition performance of high tech cellular phone, having reasonable expectation may help you avoid throwing your cellular phone out of your window. Cellular phones especially cheap cellular phones may only give you basic communication capabilities. Having to send and receive call which is the basic function of a cellular phone may be the only functions if can offer. Thus, you need to check the reception of your cheap cellular phone, since this is the only thing it is good for, it has to perform well enough for this basic function. Sending and receiving text messages may be available for cheap cellular phone however, only on a limited basis. If your can find a cheap cellular phone that has text messaging capacity, it will be better for you. Sending and receiving internet communication may not be available for cheap cellular phone; you do not need it as much anyway. However, if you do need to be able to send and receive message in your cellular phone from internet sites, cheap cellular phone is not going to be any good.

Cheap cellular phones notwithstanding, if you can afford cellular phone plan that provide free cellular phones, you may choose a cellular phone plan that will provide free cellular phone with reasonable and advanced features. Not the high-tech cellular phone but definitely not very limited features like what you will find in cheap cellular phones. Various network companies offer this wonderful promotion and thus you may take advantage of owning a good quality cellular phone. If you can find a neat deal from a cellular phone plan, you may not need to content yourself with cheap cellular phones.

Even a simple as buying a cellular phone, one need to research a bit in order to get enough and reasonable benefit even form a meager budget, thus you may not need to settle for a cheap cellular phone.

Cellular phone wallpapers, give your phone personality

2007-12-09T23:41:00.001+08:00

In the modern society we live in, cellular phone is already a necessity; no longer valid is the notion that this is merely a luxurious toy. For minors, however, cellular phone usage is very popular as a dress up gadget. Although, the parents think of it is a necessary communication for them to be able to check their children wherever there are. Although they never foresee this boom some years back, manufacturers are quick to flood the marketplace with functional and high-tech cellular phones. Various beneficial features of cellular phones are not available in a landline telephone; this is what can make cellular phones outpace landline telephony. For those who want to dress up their cellular phones, you may also find cellular phone useful. Manufacturers and computer experts introduce the possibility of giving your phone personality by introducing cellular phone wallpapers.

If you want cellular phone wallpapers, getting one from the internet is very easy. You may also transfer images as cellular phone wallpaper from Cellular phone to another cellular phone. Even the pictures shot from your own cellular phone can be your cellular phone wallpaper. Additionally, this modern technology also allows a picture taken from a digital camera to function as your cellular wallpaper you may just need to upload the image to your phone. You may even add texts to the pictures to add distinctness to your cellular phone wallpaper. Cellular phone wallpapers are merely to add beauty and personality to your cellular phone. However, if your cellular phone does not support uploading cellular phone wallpapers, do not despair, this does not mean you will not get the benefits of owning a cellular phone. Additionally, cellular phones even without cellular phone wallpapers may have its own personality; personalized ring tones may do the job of giving your phone personality as well. Having no cellular phone wallpaper does not say you have an inferior cellular phone. Anyway, the basic features of cellular phone like sending and receiving calls do not require personality or cellular phone wallpapers. Even sending and receiving text messages do not require cellular phone wallpapers. Functionality does not necessitate cellular phone wallpapers; their use is only to dress up your phone and for the purpose of flaunting your cellular phones high technology features, nothing more.

Finally, keep in mind that intelligent cellular phone usage include keeping in mind cellular phone etiquette. Cellular phone etiquette do not just give your cellular phone personality, cellular phone etiquette exhibits your personality, the users personality is more important that your phone having personality. Even if your phone do not include such high technology and innovative features, if you can turn off your phone during meetings and avoid having to annoy the other person in front of you, you are exhibiting a personally that is intrinsic in you.

If you exhibit cellular phone etiquette, even without cellular phone wallpapers, you will get all the benefits of this modern day gadget. You may even get the respect from other users, if you respect them they will not use their phone unethically that may annoy you. It is a two-way traffic, if you exhibit telephone etiquette, the people around you will do the same. Moreover, you do not need cellular phone wallpapers to gain respect from exhibiting telephone etiquette.

5 Ways to Keep Visitors Coming Back

2007-12-09T11:25:00.000+08:00

A lot of successful websites depend on returning visitors to account for a major part of their traffic. Returning visitors are easier to convert into paying customers because the more often they return to a site, the more trust they have in that site. The credibility issue just melts away. Hence, keep your visitors coming back to your site with the following methods:

1) Start a forum, chatroom or shoutbox

When you start a forum, chatroom or shoutbox, you are providing your visitors a place to voice their opinions and interact with their peers -- all of them are visitors of your site. As conversations build up, a sense of community will also follow and your visitors will come back to your site almost religiously every day.

2) Start a web log (blog)

Keep an online journal, or more commonly known as a blog, on your site and keep it updated with latest news about yourself. Human beings are curious creatures and they will keep their eyes glued to the monitor if you post fresh news frequently. You will also build up your credibility as you are proving to them that there is also a real life person behind the website.

3) Carry out polls or surveys

Polls and surveys are other forms of interaction that you should definitely consider adding to your site. They provide a quick way for visitors to voice their opinions and to get involved in your website. Be sure to publish polls or surveys that are strongly relevant to the target market of your website to keep them interested to find out about the results.

4) Hold puzzles, quizzes and games

Just imagine how many office workers procrastinate at work every day, and you will be able to gauge how many people will keep visiting your site if you provide a very interesting or addicting way of entertainment. You can also hold competitions to award the high score winner to keep people trying continuously to earn the prize.

5) Update frequently with fresh content

Update your site frequently with fresh content so that every time your visitors come back, they will have something to read on your site. This is the most widely known and most effective method of attracting returning visitors, but this is also the least carried out one because of the laziness of webmasters. No one will want to browse a site that looks the same over ten years, so keep your site updated with fresh bites!

Entertain yourself with cellular phone ring tones

2007-12-08T12:26:00.000+08:00

To sustain the profitable state of your business in this fastpaced cellular phone industry, creating useful and functional cellular phone may be necessary. Various accessories for your cellular phone may also add to your chances of being ahead of the competition. The competition does not stop from designing functional cellular phones and accessories, they also create the need for ring tones and wallpapers. Cellular phone ring tones and cellular phone wallpapers add to the growing number of dress up paraphernalia for your cellular phone. Ring tones and wallpapers give personality to your cellular phone, thus you can flaunt his high-tech gadget to the world.

Because of the entertaining effect and beauty of cellular phone ring tones and cellular phone wallpapers, computer experts and cellular phone manufacturers are quick to design software and gadgets that will help in the easy installation of ring tones and wallpapers. This gave birth to a ring tone converter. The cellular phone ring tone converter will help to transfer ring tones from one cellular phone to another. This ring tone converters also help in downloading ring tones from computers and internet sites. These are also cellular phones, which supports manual input of cellular phone ring tones. Ring tones transfer via SMS is also possible. A cellular phone ring tone converter may also function when transferring a ring tone from other cellular phone brands. Although there are cellular phone models that does not support ring tone converters, it is however possible that the cellular phone has a built in cellular phone ring tone which will help create a dignified personality for your cellular phone.

Availability of ring tone converters, which does not require cables and infrared connections, proves to be easy to use if you need to download cellular phone ring tones. If you are serious in personalizing your cellular phone ring tone, you may try to find a cellular phone with fully functional ring tone composer. Then you may now create and edit cellular phone ring tones when you have this composer in your cellular phone. Editing ring tones and converting your favorite song into a cellular phone ring tone is easy with the modern ring tone converter. The ring tone composer of your cellular phone may also do this job as well as your converter.

Additionally there are available websites where you can acquire cellular phone ring tones. There are those websites that use SMS format from where you can download ring tones using a converter, but there are those that merely require the downloading capacity of your phone and nothing more. You will now have a cellular phone ring tones that may provide the personality you want.

Knowing that there are cellular phone ring tone converter and built-in composers, it may further enhance your cellular phone ring tone if you know the software that is best used with your converter. This information will now help you create that personality you want for your high-tech gadget.

Having all these information, you may go to various internet sites and look for the best monophonic or polyphonic ring tone, which you may feel is a suited ring tone for your cellular phone. Having a cellular phone ring tone and cellular phone wallpaper is good; however, you may first check your phone before you even think of ring tones, because editing and downloading ring tones may require a support from your own cellular phone model. Do not despair however if your phone do not support editing and downloading cellular phone ring tones because manufacturers have built-in ring tones, although it may not be the music you want but just the same you have the ring tone.

Cell phone plans, choose the best deal.

2007-12-06T21:46:00.001+08:00

Cell phone has evolved to be one of the most important part of life. Most businesses require their officers to have a cell phone. Even individuals need cell phones in going about their daily lives. This is why acquiring this important gadget require intelligence to avoid inappropriate expense. Finding the most reasonable cell phone plan is one requirement in choosing cell phones intelligently. Because of the very large number of network services in this country, it may help you to research and assess their offers before deciding on a cell phone plan.

Before you decide to buy a cell phone, you may want to decide first whether you want a prepaid cell phone service or a traditional cell phone plan. If you decide on a prepaid cell phone service, then no problem, no credit check, you just need to pay outright and immediately you have your phone. Some cell phone companies even offer free cellular phone unit when you acquire a prepaid cell phone service from them. However, when you want a cell phone plan, you may need to choose from a by minute charging or by the second charging. Both charging process have positive and negative points. You need to assess your usage frequency and requirements before you decide on a cell phone plan. You may research on the performance like if they have enough towers to reach you wherever you are. There are different cell phone plans for family and national use. There are also cell phone plans for regional use. All of these have their own benefits although there are also their disadvantages. For prepaid cell phone plans, there are cell phone units that may not have the capability for this connection.

Other cell phone plans like family plans, this is advantageous for family use and small businesses. There is free access for emergencies. In addition, for family plans, it is cheaper to call the other cell phones included in one billing. There are also discounts for the airtime usage of family members using this cell phone plan. For national plans, this cell phone plan includes free long-distance charges. There are no roaming charges for this cell phone plan and it is another advantage. For regional use, this cell phone plan may require you to pay long-distance charges but the airtime rates may be cheaper.

Cell phone plans may be beneficial is you can acquire the once that have the benefits you need. The manner of usage is an essential requirement, if you do not need it as much and just for emergencies, prepaid cell phone plan could suit you well than traditional plans where you need to sign a contract with the service provider.

Prepaid cell phone plans are often preferred; however, for travelers the traditional plan with no roaming charges and no long-distance charges might be best.

All of this notwithstanding, in order to make full and effective use of your cell phone, you may want to set some guidelines in your usage. If you want your cell phone for your business, you may need to make sure you turn it off when you need privacy. Being available every time may not do well for you. Reserve sometime for yourself and never allow people to disturb you during this time. If your business partners know they could reach you even late at night and on weekends, they will be annoyed if you suddenly change this behavior. Having a cell phone and being available all the time may not be healthy, thus, you have to be wary not to allow people disturb you when you need to be alone with or without your cell phone.

Audiovox cellular phone accessory, for the most functional accessory

2007-12-05T21:57:00.001+08:00

Cellular phones have become one of the most functional modern day gadgets. It has evolved from being a luxurious toy for young professional into a necessity for the multi dimensional life of these young professionals. However, cellular phones have different use for different people. Now, minors sport a cellular phone as a functional display, they consider it part of their wardrobe and flaunt having this modern day gadget in there complete get up. However, this is not the function of cellular phone to the business world. They are necessities and not for dressing up. Because of the varied usefulness of cellular phones and the increasing need and want for easy communication, manufacturers are quick to take advantage of this booming industry. Cellular phones and cellular phone accessories now flood the marketplace with different designs and different functionalities. Various cellular phone models and accessories including Audiovox cellular phone accessory comes in beautiful and functional designs.

Audiovox cellular phones and Audiovox cellular phone accessory can be such functional and comes with models that are lightweight and of beautiful designs. Audiovox cellular phone accessory such as premium power cord is a versatile power cord comes with cellular phone conditioning capacity. Audiovox cellular phone accessory also include a hip clip holder that can be functional even when your cellular phone is not Audiovox. In addition, Audiovox cellular phone accessory such as headsets and ear glove produce a hands-free cellular phone function that will help you keep your hands on the wheels. This will avoid accidents due to one hand driving and decreased attention on the road. Additionally, the over ear portable hands-free kit from the wide array of Audiovox cellular phone accessory line also functions to provide hands free telephony and had a built in feature that reduces background noise. You will hear clearly the person on the other line, even while driving or doing other stuff. There is also that Jabra model of Audiovox cellular phone accessory, which is a headset that provides hands-free telephoning. Jabra is small, lighter that other headsets and stylish; it also functions as a speakerphone and thus is a more functional gadget for your cellular phone.

All these prove that Audivox cellular phone and Audiovox cellular phone accessory line are functional and technologically advance. Audiovox cellular phone accessory is a multi-functional accessory, it can function well with Audiovox cellular phone but it can also perform its functionality with other cellular phone brands.

There is also that Audiovox cellular phone accessory like the multi-functional antennae, this is attached to your car while you travel, and it functions well when you talk to another person on the other line while the car is in motion. There are other antennas that limits their functions when you are mobile, not the antennae from the Audiovox cellular phone accessory line. This Audiovox cellular phone accessory design of antennae is very useful for travelers and corporate executives. If you are looking for functionality in your cellular phone, try to find an Audiovox cellular phone and the matching Audiovox cellular earphone accessory for your communication requirements. They are very good for young professional who endeavor doing many things are the same time. Your Audiovox cellular phone and Audiovox cellular phone accessory line can compliment your highly active lifestyle.

HOW TO FIND THE BEST DIGITAL CAMERA

2007-12-04T20:16:00.001+08:00

It seems that every month, if not every week, different manufacturers are coming up with the latest digital cameras to entice potential clients. And it's just not working for us!

After spending sizeable amount of time at the mall figuring out which is the best digital camera for us, we finally have enough money to buy for that eye-popping, 7 mega pixel, 10x digital zoom, potable, candy colored, up to 512MB expandable memory of super hi-speed SD memory card and not to mention very portable, (that will be the envy of almost everyone we know). We march to the mall armed with our life savings and lotsa pride in ourselves, when we pass by a new display - an eight mega pixel, up to 1G expandable memory, with built it mic and stereo surround, video playback capable, with 22 scenic modes kind-of-camera. And we sigh because the producer of this amazing gadget claims that this is the best digital camera yet out in the market. And so as we always want to have the best, armed with our life savings and a few credit cards, we buy the "best digital camera." But then again, that doesn't last too long, after two months or so, there's another "best digital camera."

And so it confuses us. What makes a digital camera, the best digital camera?

Well, there are certain factors to consider when looking for the "best digital camera" for us.

MEGAPIXELS. One of the most important features of digital camera to make it into the best digital camera category is its mega pixel property. The higher the mega pixels the better the actual photograph will come out. A mega pixel is equivalent to one million pixels. The resolution of your image is based upon the mega pixel property of your camera. This means that as you enlarge the picture, you would get more detail and less blurry colors.

LCD SIZE. The best digital camera will always have a large LCD to help you frame your subject without having to squint to the viewfinder. This is also helpful when reviewing your images, some cameras enable touch up and editing features with its LCD. A 1.5-inch display is average, a 2-inch LCD display is good, but the best LCD size would be 2.5 inches or higher.

ZOOM. Most digital cameras have both digital and optical zoom. A higher optical zoom is always better than a higher digital zoom. Digital cameras are usually furnished with optical of between 3x to 10x. The better the optical zoom, the higher it climbs up to the best digital camera category.

MEMORY CARD. Always make sure that your memory card is the right one for your digital camera. There are different types of memory card like the xD, SD, Flash card and the likes. And these types of memory cards go with certain types of digital cameras. of course memory storage is also up there in choosing the best digital cameras. Choose the size of memory that you need, if you're a photo junkie, you might need more than 32MB. Memory cards can go up to 1G.

The key point to find the best digital camera is to find one that will best fit you and your lifestyle. Don't just buy the latest or the one that claims they are the best digital cameras out in the market. You wouldn't want to buy a DSLR and use it with your home activities or family outing and have to lug it around?! Or you don't want to buy the latest point and shoot camera when you're serious about being a professional photographer. (Of course, you can use this for starters, but if you're not a novice photographer anymore, you wouldn't want to get this kind of camera.)

Actually, the best digital camera is the one that you will enjoy and use. Not the type that you'll just leave rotting in its box or after a few weeks of usage or so, up there in the attic.

5 Important Rules in Website Design

2007-12-03T19:56:00.000+08:00

When it comes to your website, extra attention should be paid to every minute detail to make sure it performs optimally to serve its purpose. Here are seven important rules of thumb to observe to make sure your website performs well.

1) Do not use splash pages

Splash pages are the first pages you see when you arrive at a website. They normally have a very beautiful image with words like "welcome" or "click here to enter". In fact, they are just that -- pretty vases with no real purpose. Do not let your visitors have a reason to click on the "back" button! Give them the value of your site up front without the splash page.

2) Do not use excessive banner advertisements

Even the least net savvy people have trained themselves to ignore banner advertisements so you will be wasting valuable website real estate. Instead, provide more valueable content and weave relevant affiliate links into your content, and let your visitors feel that they want to buy instead of being pushed to buy.

3) Have a simple and clear navigation

You have to provide a simple and very straightforward navigation menu so that even a young child will know how to use it. Stay away from complicated Flash based menus or multi-tiered dropdown menus. If your visitors don't know how to navigate, they will leave your site.

4) Have a clear indication of where the user is

When visitors are deeply engrossed in browsing your site, you will want to make sure they know which part of the site they are in at that moment. That way, they will be able to browse relevant information or navigate to any section of the site easily. Don't confuse your visitors because confusion means "abandon ship"!

5) Avoid using audio on your site

If your visitor is going to stay a long time at your site, reading your content, you will want to make sure they're not annoyed by some audio looping on and on on your website. If you insist on adding audio, make sure they have some control over it -- volume or muting controls would work fine.

What is a Podcast Feed?

2007-12-02T18:47:00.000+08:00

A podcast feed is a way of sharing files over the internet. It involves the use of a small, machine readable file that is regularily updated to reflect changes in the files available for downloading. The internet addresses of these files are embedded into the feed file and can be automatically downloaded when wished. At this time, podcasting tends to refer to the use of feeds to share only media files. Podcasting originally occured as a way to share audio mp3 files, and has only recently begun incorporating video into podcasts. However, the technology that allows the files to be shared is not limited to such media files and there is not reason that other files may be shared via podcast in the future.

Today, however, a podcast feed tends to refer to the use of a feed to share media files. Most podcasts are done with audio files, and the individual files that are created and shared are called episodes. These audio files may contain a variety of things; there are music, comedy, news, technology, even podcasts about wine. Podcasting, because of the low entry cost, especially for audio podcasting allows nearly anyone who believes they have something to say to broadcast it over the internet. Even more established groups have found that audio podcasting works well. Some radio stations podcast portions of their content, sharing it over the internet to allow listeners who missed a specific show to catch up on it later. NPR now does this with its news breaks, and the NPR show "This American Life" offers a podcast of its shows to subscribers who pay a small fee.

One of the newer innovations in podcast feeds is the vlog, or videoblog. These blogs usually contain a feed that distributes a video, rather than an audio file to feed subscribers. Although that would not have been feasible a few years ago, growing numbers of broadband internet subscribers has meant that most users are able to download large files, even video files, relatively quickly. These video podcasts have been readily accepted by mainstream news organizations. They have found that podcasting portions of their content is a way to share their tape and reach a wider audience. The BBC currently does this with parts of its news content. Pieces of the news show that is played over the airwaves is taken and placed online, along with a link to the content placed inside the RSS feed. Those who subscribe to the BBC feed can download the news clip and watch in from the comfort of their home computer.

In the future, podcast feeds may be used for a number of purposes besides simply sharing media files. Some analysts predict that the feed system could also be used to share software updates, or any of a myriad of other file types. For now, however, podcasting is dominated by small audio and video files.

Cell phones, do you really want to be available all the time?

2007-12-02T00:50:00.001+08:00

Do you really want to be available for anyone and everyone on a 24/7 basis? What do I mean? A famous person once said that the more available you make yourself; the more available everyone will expect you to be. People will actually be annoyed if you are not instantly and constantly available rather than being pleased when you do call. People expecting you to be available all the time may be annoying. Cell phone calls follow you everywhere you are including your bathroom. Even during nighttime when you want to rest, cell phones continue to ring and annoy you. If it is important, no problem but if it is very menial, why you need to be bothered so late.

Today in this modern society, we live in and the proliferation of cell phones we see people talking anywhere and everywhere. If used for business, this may prove to be very effective and worthy. However, for very menial issues being bothered in your sleep and even during your bathroom time may be quite annoying if not outright disgusting. However, if you make yourself available all the time, you created your own nightmare.

Cell phone etiquette is getting to be a forgotten concept. You will see people talking on the phone loudly and disturbs people nearby in restaurants and even in offices. I am sure by now, once or twice in a meeting you will notice that when a cell phone rings, almost everyone around will immediately look for their cell phones. If you were the one talking, and then the person in front of you talks on his phone, how would you feel? I am sure you will feel belittled and ignored. Rude practice, and should be changed.

It may help people who use cell phones to follow certain degree of etiquette with respect to the use of cell phones specially in places where you may seem rude if you use or even when your cell phone rings.

When you are in a place of worship, it may be necessary to leave your cell phone in the house or at least turn it off if you do not want to be away with it. This is because ringing cell phone will not just disturb you while you pray it will also disturb others. You do not need to show off your expensive gadget in a place of worship.

During meetings, please turn off your cell phone; it is rude to have your phone ringing while somebody speaks. Disruption may cause problems especially when the meeting tackles extremely important issues. However, if you are waiting for terribly important call, you may use the vibrate mode of your cell phone to alert you when a call is in-coming and leave the meeting if you need to answer the call. You may also inform the possible caller that you are in a meeting and that you cannot be disturbed.

When traveling and if you are on-board an aircraft, you will be required to turn off your phone. This is because electronics devices may interfere with the aircraft avionics. Thus, it is a requirement to turn of your phone for safety reasons. However, for extremely long flights, airline companies allow cell phone usage at a certain time, if you really need to make a phone call, use this time allotted if necessary.

Cell phone have become to be a necessity nowadays, that is why most people use it and cell phone manufacturers have continuously develop different usage and functions for this very small gadget. Be globally competitive, but you should understand that being rude is not part of modernity. Follow certain degree of etiquette; this will be very helpful to you and your business.

DIGITAL CAMERA: THE FUTURE OF CAMERAS

2007-12-01T20:11:00.000+08:00

Basically a digital camera is a deice use to capture pictures without the use of films. Unlike the conventional camera, the digital camera does not rely on mechanical and chemical processes. It has a built in computer and records the images it captures in an electronic form. Having and operating one does not even require the use of electricity.

Since the images that a digital camera captures is in electronic form, it is a language recognized by computers. This language is called pixels, tiny colored dots represented by ones and zeros that make up the picture that you just took. Just like any conventional cameras, a digital camera is furnished with a series of lenses that focus the light and creates the image that you want to capture. The difference here is then; a conventional camera focuses its light on a film while a digital camera focuses the light into a semiconductor device that electronically records the light. Remember the built in computer, it comes in here and breaks this information to digital data resulting to all the features of the digital camera.

Another feature of the digital camera is that it has a sensor that converts light into electrical charges. A charge coupled device or CCD is an image sensor that is found in a digital camera. While other low-end digital camera use complementary metal oxide semiconductor or CMOS as an image device, it can still become better and more famous in the future but most engineers are do not believe that it can replace the CCD for higher-end digital cameras.

A collection of tiny diodes, the CCD gathers electrons when they are struck by photons or the light particles. Each diode or photosite is sensitive to light, meaning that the brighter the light, the number of the electrons gathering will be larger

The price of a digital camera nowadays have been depreciating, one of the main reasons of this is because of the introduction of CMOS image sensors, this is because CMOS sensors are less expensive and are easier to manufacture than CCD sensors. A CCD and CMOS sensor works the same way at first, by converting the light electrical charges into photosites. Simply putting it, is to think that a digital camera works in such a way as thinking that the millions of tiny solar cells, each of which forms a part of the whole image. Both CCD and CMOS do this task using different methods.

When shopping for the best digital camera, take note of these key features.

Image quality. Check the resolution of the camera. The higher the resolution, the more thou will be able to enlarge your picture without the grainy or the out-of-focus effect that we all want to avoid.

Lens. Choose a digital camera with better digital zoom. The digital zoom of the camera will enable you take the pixels from the image sensor and incorporate them to make an image.
Power. Always opt for rechargeable batteries, they can always come in handy, plus you don waste as much money on the disposable ones.

Options. So you can brag to your friends how good a photographer or artist you are. Or choose the one that gives options that best cater to your lifestyle, so you won ever whine how you never get the right pictures.

Memory. If youe a photo freak, be sure that you have enough memory in your camera to take all the wacky, freaky, funny and just about any photo you can. Think 512MB if youe a photo junkie and takes pictures of just about anything.

Computer Interface. Always make sure that it is compatible with your PC, laptop, palmtop or whatever your local picture printer software is, you don want to go running around the whole state or the country looking for a computer that compatible with your digital camera, wont you?!

Physical. If you are going to be bringing it everywhere, choose a handy and portable digital camera. This way, it won always feel as heavy and bulky as those cameras that you see professional photographers are always dragging on their neck. Don they ever get tired of that?!

These are just the basic things you have to look for in a digital camera when you buy one. A digital camera is so great that it is quickly replacing all conventional cameras in the market, with all its technology and portability, truly the digital camera is the future of cameras.

Introduction To Bluetooth

2007-12-01T19:57:00.000+08:00

Bluetooth was designed to allow low bandwidth wireless connections to become easy to use so even those who are new to wireless can use them. Version 1.1 of Bluetooth describes a low power, short range wireless networking technology that uses radio waves to send data at rates up to 720 kilobits a second.

The specification for Bluetooth provides for different classes of radio that allow transmission ranges of up to 100 meters by boosting the radio power. The technology of Bluetooth isn't limited to line of sight transmission since it uses directional waves that are capable of transmitting through many obstructions.

Bluetooth is an industry standard communication of wireless, meaning that it enables the connection of other devices as well, such as cell phones, computers, digital cameras, and other types of electronic devices. The specification of Bluetooth defines a radio system and a "stack" of protocol layers and profiles. The highest layer is the application layer, while the lowest layer is the radio.

The wireless technology of Bluetooth is positioned to revolutionize the personal connectivity market by providing freedom from inconvenient fixed type lines.

The specification for Bluetooth eliminates the need for cables by providing a small form factor, low cost wireless solution that will link computers, cell phones, and other electronics. Bluetooth also allows users to connect many ranges of devices quickly and easily and expands communications capabilities as well.

The size of the Bluetooth radio is amazing, as a Bluetooth radio can be built into one or two very small microchips then integrated into any electronic device where wireless operations would be an advantage.

Bluetooth also offers a robust link, which ensures that normal operating circumstances are not interrupted by interference from other signals that are operating in the same frequency band.

Also known for its worldwide operation, Bluetooth radio operates in the 2.4 GHz frequency band, which is license free and available to any type of radio system in the world. No matter where you are in the world, you count on Bluetooth to work.

Security is also important. Offering advanced security mechanisms, Bluetooth ensures a high level of security. Therefore, authentification will prevent unauthorized acess to important data and make it very difficult to listen in.

Bluetooth also boasts power optimization. The radio is power friendly and the software for Bluetooth is very configurable, limiting the power consumption of equipment. The radio itself only consumes a small amount of power from a cellular phone.

2006 Security Watch - What is this year going to have in store for us?

2007-12-01T17:21:00.000+08:00

We are getting a lot more serious about our security. This has a lot of reasons behind it. For example, new privacy laws are mandating organizations to tighten their security. Look to see more consumer privacy laws passed in the coming year and more tightening of security systems.

Authentication requirements are increasing. This is closing in large security holes. Corporations are requiring a great deal more of authentication to get into secure systems (this also is on the bad news side)

There is a plethora of sophisticated programs to help us be more secure and they will continue to get better. Competition right now is strong in the security industry sparking a lot of innovation.

ISPs are now taking on the responsibility to help us with our security. Take AOL's recent commercials as a good sign that others will follow the trend.

Now the bad news:

Securing our networks is costing us. Most companies are globalizing their organizations and making them secure costs a lot of money. It will get worse before it gets better.

Authentication requirements are increasing. This is getting claustrophobic. Corporations are requiring a great deal more authentication to get into secure systems (This is also on the good news side) Unfortunately, for the end user, it is one more thing to be unhappy about, not unlike airport security lines.

Hackers are getting more sophisticated. For example, Botnets are becoming more complex and harder and harder to catch and stop. Do a search on botnets on the Internet. They really are causing a whole lot of problems, but it does not stop there. The number of viruses and malware out there is staggering.

Spammers keep finding more creative ways to fill our email boxes. Don't look for this trend to stop anytime soon.