Showing posts with label InfoTech. Show all posts
Showing posts with label InfoTech. Show all posts
Monday, July 4, 2011
On June 1, 1991, the first commercial calls over GSM were made in Finland and Sweden, Nokia Siemens and Ericsson noted Friday as they celebrated the anniversary by recollecting the early days of the technology.
In Finland, former prime minister Harri Holkeri called Kaarina Suonio, vice mayor of the city of Tampere, from Helsinki and spoke about how good the new technology was: "it is like speaking to a neighbor," Holkeri said.
On the other side of the Gulf of Bothnia a more low-key event took place. Late in the afternoon, Ericsson's Jan Wäreby -- who still works at the company and heads up sales and marketing -- and Yngve Zetterström, Televerket's (now TeliaSonera) GSM project manager called Tony Hagström, general director at Televerket, Wäreby recalls in the book Changing the World.
In Copenhagen, Ericsson also demonstrated GSM for the Danish telecom authority.
Like today, competition between vendors was cutthroat.
However, one thing all involved in the early days of GSM agree on is that they, back then, couldn't imagine the immense popularity the technology would eventually enjoy.
They knew GSM would be big, but not as big as it is today, according to Wäreby. Few even dared to dream about the future, Timo Ali-Vehmas, vice president of compatibility and industry collaboration Nokia, said.
Twenty years later, the technology covers 80% of the world's population, according to the GSM Association. Today's 838 GSM networks in 234 countries and independent territories around have more than 4.4 billion subscriptions, and another million subscriptions are added every day, according to industry organization Global mobile Suppliers Association.
Base stations and mobile phones have evolved enormously since the beginning of the nineties. The Nokia 1011, which arrived in 1992, weighed 475 grams, almost 4 times as much as the Samsung Galaxy S II, which comes in at 116 grams.
On the network side, base stations have increased their scalability from about 600 voice subscribers per site to 60,000 voice subscribers, according to Ericsson.
However, one thing that heavy users of today's smartphones can relate to was the need to constantly charge their phone. Though battery life is longer now, frequent mobile phone callers still must charge their devices every day.
Microsoft's Bing search engine will provide English-language search results for Baidu, China's largest search engine, the companies announced.
Further details of the deal, including its financial terms, weren't disclosed.
The move follows Google's decision last year to pull its search engine from China's mainland, following a high-profile dust-up over censorship of search results. The Google.cn page now redirects visitors to Google's Hong Kong search site when they attempt to enter terms into the search bar.
Baidu holds roughly 80% of the search engine market in China. Better English-language results through Bing may boost its share even higher.
The company has made other recent moves to expand its footprint. Last month, it announced a $306 million deal with Qunar, a Chinese travel search engine, that will see Baidu become Qunar's majority shareholder.
Meanwhile, Microsoft is no doubt eager to gain better access to China's roughly 480 million Internet users as it tries to chip away at Google's vast lead in the global search engine market.
So far this month, Google held 91.07% of the worldwide market compared to 3.21% for Bing, according to figures generated Monday by Statcounter's GlobalStats website.
Wednesday, May 11, 2011
The news came along with announcements of a beta online music service on Android and movie rentals on the Xoom tablet via the Android Market, with phones to follow soon.
The announcements came during a lightning round keynote talk at Google I/O in San Francisco, led by Hugo Barra, Google's director of Android product management.
The Android 3.1 update, which begins today to Android tablet devices, includes an Open Accessory API (application programming interface) to integrate Android apps with accessories for musical equipment, exercise equipment, robotics and more. It also supports a USB host mode to allow applications to manage USB peripherals such as stereos.
At the same time, Android 3.1 allows input from mice, joysticks and gamepads, and allows developers to create home-screen widgets that can be resized. A full list of new features can be found at the Android Developers site.
Starting this summer, Android 3.1 updates will also be available for Google TV, Google officials said.
Google also introduced a logo for the Ice Cream Sandwich version of Android showing the familiar Android Droid icon lying flat, like an ice cream sandwich, which drew laughs from the assembled 5,000 developers at the conference.
Ice Cream Sandwich will be Android's next major release for later in 2011, Google officials said, without offering many details. The main theme of the next version is that it will be "one OS that runs everywhere" -- on phones and tablets of all sizes and shapes, as well as tablets that transition into laptops, Google officials said. Google picked the name as it has before, from desserts, going in alphabetical order, with the last entry, versions 3.0 known as Honeycomb, preceded by Gingerbread.
Ice Cream Sandwich will bring "all the good stuff" from version 3.0, the tablet version of the OS, but will have it available to phones, including such features as holographic interfaces, richer widgets, advanced applications and new developer tools, Google officials said.
Google also announced movie rentals on computers and Android devices for $1.99 and an online music service in beta that is free but by invitation only. The cloud-based Music Beta allows has a capacity for up to 20,000 songs.
Tuesday, May 10, 2011
Have you ever wanted to know how much information is processed a year by all the computer servers in the world combined? Yeah, me neither, but apparently a few people did. That is why three scientists from UC San Diego have literally estimated the annual amount of business related information processed by the world's computer servers.
According to the scientists, the amount of processed information is equivalent to a 5.6-billion-mile-high stack of books that stretched from the Earth to Neptune and back, repeated about 20 times of course.
That's right, the roughly 27 million computer servers in the world processed 9.57 zettabytes of information in 2008 according to a paper presented at Storage Networking World's (SNWs) annual meeting in California. This estimate, which is the first of its kind, was generated with server-processing performance standards, server industry reports, interviews with information technology experts, sales figures from server manufacturers and a few other sources.
If you were like me and wondering what in the world a zettabyte is, then here is your answer. A zettabyte is 10 to the 21st power, or a million million gigabytes. The study estimated that server workloads are doubling about every two years , which means that by the year 2024 the world's enterprise servers will annually process the digital equivalent of a stack of books extending more than 4.37 light-years to Alpha Centauri, which is our closest neighboring star system in the Milky Way Galaxy.
That is a lot of information, and these scientists definitely had a lot of spare time on their hands in order to calculate something as monumental as this. Kudos to them because there is no way I would have the patience to calculate something like that.
Friday, May 6, 2011
GSM means Global System for Mobile Communications
In 1982 1G First Generation was introduced where network signals were analogue and used Frequency Division Multiple Access (FDMA)
2G Second Generation was launched in 1992 in which signals and speech channels were digitally encrypted. 2G used Time Division Multiple Access(TDMA)
2.5G Deployed in 2003 which implemented High Speed Circuit Switched Domain(HSCSD) Data rate 236.8kbps to 384kbps by using Enhanced Data Rate for GSM Evolution(EDGE)
3G has very different functions like it allows simultaneous use of speech and data services at higher rates and better spectral efficiency.
3G Standard
International Mobile Telecommunications IMT-2000 which is popularly known as 3G or 3rd Generation standard for mobile phones and telecommunications services to make 3G globally applicable.
3G UMTS Universal Mobile Telecommunications System uses W-CDMA WideBand-Code Division Multiple Access as main interface. Also known with other names. In Japan called FOMA Freedom Of Mobile Multimedia Access. In China known as TD-SCDMA Time Division-Synchronous Code Division Multiple Access. Basically all these are variants which uses different radio interface.
W-CDMA networks can give speed upto 384kbps maximum.
3.5G HSUPA upgrades the uplink for higher data transfer speed and capacity of 1.4 ,1.9 ,5.8 Mbps. HSUPA name is given by Nokia and used in its phones only but 3GPP does not support this name.
HSDPA High-Speed Downlink Packet Access having faster speed from 1.8 ,3.6 ,7.2 to 14 Mbps.
3.75G HSPA High Speed Packet Access is a combination of HSUPA and HSDPA that improves the performance of W-CDMA and can attain speed 21Mbps to 28Mbps.
HSDPA High-Speed Downlink Packet Access having faster speed from 1.8 ,3.6 ,7.2 to 14 Mbps.
3.9G HSOPA Some networks dubbed it as 4G. This project is known as Long Term Evolution and uses OF-DMA Orthogonal Frequency-Division Multiplexing which will offer data rate at 170Mbps for up-link and 320Mbps for down-link.
4G Constitute of 4G has not been standardized yet.It is non-backward compatible with new higher frequencies bands. It is defined to be comprehensive and secure for the users. 4G will only be packet-based (all-IP) switched network. Facilities like IP-telephony (IP-based voice data), Ultra-broadband internet Access 1GBps (Gigabit speed) Support for IPV6 protocol, Gaming Services, High Definition HDTV, Streamed Multimedia and many more new services are added!!!
UMTS operates on frequencies of 850/900/1700/1900/2100 MHz. Most 3G phones support at least 2 frequencies. No 3G phone available which supports all 3G frequencies.
It depends on service provider what speed and frequency it adopts for its 3G network and what type of 3G compatible phone you have to fully exploit ,utilize and enjoy the services.
Wednesday, May 4, 2011
Its Jaguar’s 75th anniversary and to mark this momentous occasion, Jaguar design has decided to go completely out of the box to dazzle the people. Enter Jaguar C-X75 - One look at this futuristic concept and you know without the shadow of a doubt – Jag is back
The latest Jaguar electric super-car concept, which has been inspired by an airplane, is an aluminium-spaceframed, 780bhp, 1600Nm, torque vectored, jet powered, four-wheel drive, capable of doing a top speed of 328kph and 0-100kph in a mere 3.4 seconds; All this at just 28grams of CO2 per kilometer.
In the back of this Jaguar instead of finding the engine, we see two miniature 94 bhp torpedo gas turbines which power the four electric motors, one attached to each wheel of the car. Each of these electric motors produce about 195 bhp and are independently controlled for improved traction.
Theoretically, on a 6 hour charge, the C-X75 can run 109 kilometers solely on electricity. The turbines can be used thereafter to charge the lithium ion batteries and extend the range of the car by 901 kilometers. What is truly amazing though is that these turbines can be fed almost any fuel known to man from diesel and petrol to natural gas, LPG, etc.
The exteriors of the C-X75 incorporate 'vertical control surfaces' on the rear corners, which engage at high speeds to add substantially to the stability. Also the cooling vents are placed in the front grill and open only when necessary.
The resemblance of the interiors to an aircraft is uncanny. For instance the car starts by the flick of switches on the roof and the door opens by pulling an ejector handle placed between the driver’s legs!
To say that the C-X75 adds a new vertical in the futuristic, low emission, renewably-fueled, aero-modeled, jet aged transportation is an understatement. What makes this Jag special is the fact that the designers at Jaguar were given complete freedom to experiment and perfect - to dream and implement. The C-X75 is not just a design revolution, neither is it only a technology drift or a futuristic fantasy, it is frankly much, much more.
With the launch of Mercedes E63 at the New York Motor Show, the excitement surrounding the BMW M5 launch is at an all time high. Apparently BMW showcased the latest avatar of the M5 at a private function before a group of journalists from around the world sometime back. And it looks like the M5 is quite production ready in its concept form.
It is speculated that BMW’s sports saloon to come, could have the same 4.4 litre, twin-turbo V8 that the current generation has. It produces about 550 horses worth of power, and although the current generation V8 delivers 35 horses worth of power more than the standard Merc E63 (you need to pay extra for the 35 horses in the E63) and more power than the V10 which came with the previous generation M5 - an even better engine would make the M5 a sure winner between the two.
BMW had suggested that it may be using an All-Wheel drive for the M5 and they have confirmed the same - another feature that may give the M5, a much needed edge against Merc’s recently showcased E63, which is a Rear Wheel Drive.
Apart from the M5 being a 4X4, BMW has not revealed any other details. A long wheel base version was mentioned and was denied BMW officials. The LWB version is originally incorporated in BMW vehicles for the Chinese market and would’ve been a welcome change to the M5.
The BMW M5 will be launched sometime in 2012 and will feature BMW’s much hyped technology - Efficient Dynamics and other energy saving features that are common in this class of vehicles like the engine start-stop and brake energy regeneration functions. This will also decrease the fuel consumption of the M5 by 25 percent.
All we can say is that if BMW can do with the upcoming M5 what they it did for the current version of the car when it was launched - we are looking at one helluva of a vehicle coming our way.
Saturday, April 30, 2011
Launched in United States in 2003 and later acquired by Google in 2005, Android has become a household name in the India.Android, one of the most popular operating systems in the world now, was developed by Andy Rubin and Rich Miner. It was launched in California, United States, in 2003 by the Android Inc. Later it was acquired by Google in 2005 which announced it as a software platform for mobile device in 2007.
Since then Android has witnessed a phenomenal journey. The Android based smartphones has a huge following all over the world.
What makes it so popular?
According to some, it is the most popular operating systems in the world today. Few attributed this to the 'open source' nature of the Android. This means any third party can develop applications for this OS.
Android has huge community of developers, writing application programs, which broadens the device functionality. Currently, there are more than 15,000 apps available for Android with various versions.
Versions of Android
Android has a number of versions such as the Android 1.1, 1.5 or the Cupcake, 1.6 or the Donut.In November 2009, the Android 2.0 version was released which is also known as Éclair. It offers attractive built-in applications features for users and developers such as alarm clock, browser, email, music, camera, and dialer.
There are various popular mobile phones, which have Éclair operating system, such as Samsung i5503 Galaxy 5, Samsung i5801 Galaxy 3, and HTC wildfire.Another version of the popular operating system is the Android 2.2 or the Froyo. Its 'Automatic Apps Update' downloads applications automatically absolving the users to do so manually.
The Android 2.3 (Gingerbread) was released in the fag end of 2010. It added a new on screen keyboard for faster input and more intuitive typing. The cut-and-paste feature was also given a face-lift.Gingerbread has also a streamlined user interface with many new colour schemes. The download management is better in this versions, where all downloads from browser, email other apps can be seen and operated from one place. Sony Ericsson ZEUS is based on this version of Android.
Google brought the Android 3.0 (Honeycomb) version in February this year. Though it was designed for tablet PCs but is also used on smartphones.It has attractive features like System clipboard, where a user can copy and paste any data to and from the system wide clipboard. The option of drag and drop is also useful for users, where a user can drag any data and drop anywhere within the system.Samsung Galaxy S2 is based on this operating system.A new version of the Android, the Ice-cream sandwich, which is blend of Gingerbread and Honeycomb, is expected to be released later this year.
Google launched the chrome OS ,it is Google's new operating system, currently available to readers only in beta and only on Google's specially designed, limited-edition prototype notebook called the Cr-48, is all Chrome, all the time. If you absolutely look at the the Chrome browser, it's highly unlikely that you'll enjoy this operating system. On the other hand, if you love Chrome, then Chrome OS is a big heaping helping of Chrome with some extra Chrome on the side and Chrome for dessert.
What we mean is that the best things about the operating system have been long-telegraphed by the browser, and its shortcomings appear to be related more to hardware issues than anything else.
Chrome OS is not available to the general public at the time of writing, with an anticipated release date sometime in the middle of 2011. Adventurous types can download and install Chrome OS' open-source parent, Chromium OS, on some laptops or desktops. However, it's important to note that Google created the Cr-48 laptop, named after the unstable chromium isotope that has a half-life of 21 hours, with some important alterations that differentiate it from other laptops and tie directly into Chrome OS. We'll address those specifics in this review.
Although it's not germane to the review, Google has gone to great lengths to make the Chrome OS appealing to both developers and to those who want a dedicated Web machine. Besides giving away thousands of laptops, the company has included a "jailbreak" switch. Remove the battery and behind a piece of tape next to the battery contacts reveals a switch to toggle. Flip it, and you can then load on a different operating system. Flip it back to restore the default Chrome OS. It's a minor thing, but an important nod to the open-source community that helped develop Chromium and Chromium OS.
Thursday, April 28, 2011
Daimler AG and Robert Bosch GmbH announces outlining of a new joint-venture which will enable Mercedes Benz and smart to begin mass production of their electric vehicles in 2012.
This new partnership details will be finalized by mid-2011and will enable co-operation between Daimler and Bosch on the development and production of electric motors for all-electric vehicles from their bases in Stuttgart and Hildesheim, Germany.
The first to benefit from this partnership is most likely the Smart Fortwo, which currently happens to be under the final stage of the pre-production tests.
Aston Martin racing today announced another derby ace. The Vantage GT3, based on the V12 Vantage race car. The new Vantage is expected to be ready for competition in 2012.
The Vantage GT3 will replace the legend DBRS9, launched in 2006 at Le Mans, and which has since seen 26 chassis built and raced to multiple victories in national and international series across the world most recently winning in the Australian GT at Mount Panorama in October last year and achieving a podium finish at Zolder last week.
'The new Vantage GT3 joins the Vantage GT2, GT4, DBR9 GT1 and the AMR-One LMP1 to create the largest and most comprehensive range of Aston Martin race cars to date.' says Aston Martin in a posted release.
John Gaw, Aston Martin Racing Managing Director added: “The DBRS9 has been a very successful GT3 racing car and, despite being more than six years old, is still competitive today.
“However, the competition has moved on and we needed to create a new car that combines our six years’ experience in this category with the latest race technology to continue Aston Martin’s success in GT3 for many years to come.”
Indians, we are a frugal lot in general aren’t we? No wonder then that Volvo’s efficient, economical not to mention powerful D5 common rail has been Volvo’s cash cow in India, be it the XC60, S80 or the recently introduced S60. Volvos have been known for their obsession with safety and by the looks of it efficient technology is next.
A month after the S60’s launch in India, Volvo has revealed plans to make their bestselling D5 more powerful, more efficient and cleaner! Yes you read it right cleaner. For those of you that may not know, diesel engines can be easily tweaked for more power, the trade off comes in terms of increased emissions. Volvo’s claim about a cleaner and a better engine means no corners have been cut and the newer engine will be better in true sense of the word.The new D5 shall now be a Twin Turbo Diesel and will see a complete overhaul of its internals, including weight optimized camshafts and connecting rods, low friction piston rings, chain driven oil pump, better optimized vacuum pump and piston cooling valves that will cool the engine on demand.This means a power increment of 10 horses and increase in torque production by 20 Nm. Combine this with the increased fuel efficiency of 8% and substantially decreased emissions and we have a true winner on our hands.India is no longer treated as a second rate market. That and the fact that Volvos in India are CBUs imported directly from Sweden; chances are that we may get to see the newer D5s in India sooner than we think.
Saturday, April 23, 2011
Viruses, worms and Trojan Horses are all malicious programs that can cause damage to your computer, but there are differences among the three.
What Is a Virus?
A computer virus attaches itself to a program or file enabling it to spread from one computer to another, leaving infections as it travels. Like a human virus, a computer virus can range in severity: some may cause only mildly annoying effects while others can damage your hardware,software or files. Almost all viruses are attached to an executable file, which means the virus may exist on your computer but it actually cannot infect your computer unless you run or open the malicious program. It is important to note that a virus cannot be spread without a human action, (such as running an infected program) to keep it going. Because a virus is spread by human action people will unknowingly continue the spread of a computer virus by sharing infecting files or sending emails with viruses as attachments in the email.
What Is a Worm?
The biggest danger with a worm is its capability to replicate itself on your system, so rather than your computer sending out a single worm, it could send out hundreds or thousands of copies of itself, creating a huge devastating effect. One example would be for a worm to send a copy of itself to everyone listed in your e-mail address book. Then, the worm replicates and sends itself out to everyone listed in each of the receiver's address book, and the manifest continues on down the line. 
A Trojan Horse is full of as much trickery as the mythological Trojan Horse it was named after. The Trojan Horse, at first glance will appear to be useful software but will actually do damage once installed or run on your computer. Those on the receiving end of a Trojan Horse are usually tricked into opening them because they appear to be receiving legitimate software or files from a legitimate source. When a Trojan is activated on your computer, the results can vary. Some Trojans are designed to be more annoying than malicious (like changing your desktop, adding silly active desktop icons) or they can cause serious damage by deleting files and destroying information on your system. Trojans are also known to create a backdoor on your computer that gives malicious users access to your system, possibly allowing confidential or personal information to be compromised. Unlike viruses and worms, Trojans do not reproduce by infecting other files nor do they self-replicate.
What Is a Virus?
A computer virus attaches itself to a program or file enabling it to spread from one computer to another, leaving infections as it travels. Like a human virus, a computer virus can range in severity: some may cause only mildly annoying effects while others can damage your hardware,software or files. Almost all viruses are attached to an executable file, which means the virus may exist on your computer but it actually cannot infect your computer unless you run or open the malicious program. It is important to note that a virus cannot be spread without a human action, (such as running an infected program) to keep it going. Because a virus is spread by human action people will unknowingly continue the spread of a computer virus by sharing infecting files or sending emails with viruses as attachments in the email.What Is a Worm?
A worm is similar to a virus by design and is considered to be a sub-class of a virus. Worms spread from computer to computer, but unlike a virus, it has the capability to travel without any human action. A worm takes advantage of file or information transport features on your system, which is what allows it to travel unaided.
The biggest danger with a worm is its capability to replicate itself on your system, so rather than your computer sending out a single worm, it could send out hundreds or thousands of copies of itself, creating a huge devastating effect. One example would be for a worm to send a copy of itself to everyone listed in your e-mail address book. Then, the worm replicates and sends itself out to everyone listed in each of the receiver's address book, and the manifest continues on down the line. Due to the copying nature of a worm and its capability to travel across networks the end result in most cases is that the worm consumes too much system memory (or network bandwidth), causing Web servers, network servers and individual computers to stop responding. In recent worm attacks such as the much-talked-about Blaster Worm, the worm has been designed to tunnel into your system and allow malicious users to control your computer remotely.
What Is a Trojan horse?
A Trojan Horse is full of as much trickery as the mythological Trojan Horse it was named after. The Trojan Horse, at first glance will appear to be useful software but will actually do damage once installed or run on your computer. Those on the receiving end of a Trojan Horse are usually tricked into opening them because they appear to be receiving legitimate software or files from a legitimate source. When a Trojan is activated on your computer, the results can vary. Some Trojans are designed to be more annoying than malicious (like changing your desktop, adding silly active desktop icons) or they can cause serious damage by deleting files and destroying information on your system. Trojans are also known to create a backdoor on your computer that gives malicious users access to your system, possibly allowing confidential or personal information to be compromised. Unlike viruses and worms, Trojans do not reproduce by infecting other files nor do they self-replicate.Tuesday, April 19, 2011
Core i3:* Entry level processor.
* 2-4 Cores
* 4 Threads
* Hyper-Threading (efficient use of processor resources)
* 3-4 MB Catche
* 32 nm Silicon (less heat and energy)
Core i5:* Mid range processor.
* 2-4 Cores
* 4 Threads
* Turbo Mode (turn off core if not used)
* Hyper-Threading (efficient use of processor resources)
* 3-8 MB Catche
* 32-45 nm Silicon (less heat and energy)
Core i7:* High end processor.
* 4 Cores
* 8 Threads
* Turbo Mode (turn off core if not used)
* Hyper-Threading (efficient use of processor resources)
* 4-8 MB Catche
* 32-45 nm Silicon (less heat and energy
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