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Google, Motorola must capitalize on regulatory win to battle Apple's iPad

2012-02-13T22:55:00.000-08:00

The US Department of Justice and European Commission have okayed Google’s planned $12.5 billion acquisition of Motorola Mobility. Now the two have to work together — and fast — to being Android 4.0 to Motorola’s Xoom and XyBoard and whatever other Android tablet platform that can grab some share against Apple’s iPad.

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Governmental clearance of Google’s $12.5 billion purchase of Motorola Mobility — both here and across the pond — is no doubt a big win for the open source Android operating system. But it’s no slam dunk.

Google and its new hardware device arm must get more serious in the tablet wars. Unlike Motorola’s roster of Android-based smartphones, Motorola’s Xoom tablet has competed poorly against Apple’s iPad.

And iPad 3 is getting set to debut.

Motorola won’t say exactly when Xoom will get Google’s Android 4.0 update, also known as Ice Cream Sandwich. A spokesman for Verizon confirmed that all of these devices are expected to get the update — Droid Bionic, Droid Razr, HTC Rezound, Spectrum by LG, Droid Xyboard, Motorola Xoom and Droid 4 — but he doesn’t known when.

Motorola, for its part, has said it is working to deliver the ICS upgrade for DROID RAZR and Motorola RAZR in the first half of 2012.

The Xoom? Xyboard? So far, nada news on those releases.

This is all Motorola Mobility has said:

”We are planning to upgrade DROID RAZR™ by Motorola, Motorola RAZR™, Motorola XOOM™ (including MOTOROLA XOOM™ Family Edition) and DROID BIONIC™ by Motorola to Ice Cream Sandwich. We will provide more precise guidance on timing after post-public push of Ice Cream Sandwich by Google, as well as any possible additions to this list of devices.”

Now that the US Department of Justice and European Commission have okayed the deal, Google and Motorola need to act fast.

First, Google must be careful not to stifle tablet innovation by restricting or delaying access to ANY Android 4.0 code to Motorola Mobility’s rivals. Heck, Samsung beat everyone to the punch.

That being said, ICS is a big deal and Motorola — with Google’s supercharged backing — ought to get something out the door fast. Really fast.

Young generations of users — my four-year-old included – are already adept at the iPad in a Droid heavy home. Google could lose the tablet war — and the smartphone war, for that matter — if the resulting merger slows down the Android product delivery cycle.

“Ice Cream Sandwich brings an entirely new look and feel to Android. It has a redesigned user interface with improved multi-tasking, notifications, Wi-Fi hotspot, NFC support and a full web browsing experience. With Ice Cream Sandwich, Android has been rethought and redesigned to be simple, beautiful and useful,” noted David Rothschild, a senior vice president of software and services at Motorola Mobility, which spun off from Motorola last year. “ Ice Cream Sandwich introduces innovations such as Face Unlock to unlock your phone, a Data Manager to control your network data usage, and advanced multimedia and imaging features. Ice Cream Sandwich also provides developers with new APIs, unified U.I for phones and Tablets, and improved performance by enabling developers to leverage hardware graphic acceleration.”

Great. So let’s get moving, Google and Motorola. You’ve got the platform, the patents, the legal clearance and the innovation. But don’t let the bureaucracy and legalities of a merger blow your windows of opportunity. Time could be slipping on the tablet front.

Educators Deal with Relationship between the PowerPoint Teaching and Traditional Teaching

2012-02-11T06:08:00.000-08:00

PowerPoint courseware as an auxiliary teaching software, it should be used to reach teaching purpose for the purpose, should avoid the heavy form light content of unhealthy phenomenon. The form is for servicing content, should according to the teaching contents to design PPT courseware. In the application of multimedia courseware, should according to the teaching contents to optimize design, and on the performance forms the cognitive law with students. If the main energy in the form of teaching, and the result is a new class, and actual effect is go light. Only enrich the content and the form of perfect combination, can we truly achieve the instruction knowledge, to mobilize students' enthusiasm, improve the teaching environment purpose.

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Courseware design should notice the feedback. Scientific teaching design requires teachers to pay attention to how to teach, more emphasis on the students how to learn. Therefore, the teacher in the courseware design's process, should bring into full play the multimedia feedback accurate, timely characteristic, making courseware has the function of the students study tracking, so that teachers get effective feedback information, and thus more rationally adjust the teaching program.

PowerPoint multimedia is using a computer to text, images, graphics, animation, audio, video and so on many kinds of information of the integrated treatment of the computer application technology, using PPT PowerPoint multimedia work to the education, the more it is beneficial to the development of new modern education. Our education as a basis of education workers on a line, is also in constant exploration to the modern PowerPoint multimedia education role in promoting, and gradually improve the auxiliary PowerPoint multimedia teaching means, for the foundation education of modern development offer an own strength. The junior high school is combined with information technology to talk about my PowerPoint multimedia assisted teaching advantages to the understanding of the use of PowerPoint multimedia teaching, and the problems and countermeasures, but when use the PowerPoint for teaching, when making PPT slideshow, we can also convert PowerPoint to video files and play it automatically.

Using PowerPoint multimedia teaching can increase the capacity of teaching and improve teaching efficiency.

Use PPT, students still have to take notes, should understand that the benefits of lecture notes written, the teacher can also agreed with the students, each chapter PPT to made this chapter to copy homework to them. Be like again, combined PPT and blackboard writing, bring their own advantages; Use PPT the document "from the definition animation" change "click the button jumped out of a whole page" situation, so that the students don't scare, don't lose the confidence of the written down; Use "links" and the header and tip the context. Using PPT, understanding should guide students to make notes, a way will grope out.

The PowerPoint multimedia teaching can quickly put the curriculum resources appeared in front of the student, which can save a lot of time, teaching blackboard writing, and can make the teacher teach more knowledge, to a certain extent, increased the capacity of the class, and can obtain a better teaching effect. For example: teach the history of computers ", "the world's first computer", "four generation computer" and "super computer" three content with PowerPoint slides made both texts, class, the teacher in computers and projector and other PowerPoint multimedia equipment in the slides explain to the content of the projection screen timely, students directly from the screen for more comprehensive, intuitive knowledge, this increases the capacity of classroom teaching, improve teaching efficiency, also aroused the enthusiasm of student's study.

ppt teaching

In the PowerPoint multimedia assisted teaching, accurately grasp the use of PowerPoint multimedia of good opportunity, deal with a lot of media and blackboard, the chalk, ordinary teaching apparatus, language expression and the relationship between the traditional teaching method, want to have the appropriate lectures, blackboard writing, the teachers and students interact and reflection learning process. In the application of PowerPoint multimedia courseware, want to consider how to give full play to the comprehensive the combination of a variety of media function, the flexibility to call figure, words, sound, like with the teaching information, and to strengthen the man-machine interaction between function, stimulate students' thirst for knowledge, the students' attention to the teaching content come up, deepen understanding of knowledge and master, in order to get the best teaching effect.

PowerPoint multimedia teaching is the traditional teaching foundation increased the special tools of the PowerPoint multimedia teaching; it can't give up all of the traditional teaching method. Therefore, the use of PowerPoint multimedia teaching assistant first is to understand this class to use the PowerPoint multimedia purpose; The use of PowerPoint multimedia courseware can let the student teaching content more easy to understand and master; Still need to adopt what traditional teaching method combined. Then, according to the teaching contents and teaching aim, teaching object characteristics of elaborate design the PowerPoint multimedia teaching process. Why need to convert PDF to PowerPoint? Microsoft PowerPoint slides are frequently used in presentations as a reference point for the speaker. While pages in a PDF file may be relevant to use in a PPT presentation, the original source material might not be available. Now you can easily create PowerPoint to flash files with a PDF to PowerPoint Converter software's help.

PowerPoint multimedia applications in the basic education teaching, can make the effect of classroom teaching and the teaching quality be remarkably improved, but also make the main part of college students get a greater degree of the play, but when use PPT PowerPoint multimedia, there are also some undeniable problems. To recognize and timely paid attention to the problems in the teaching practice, and can play PPT PowerPoint multimedia huge advantage, make PowerPoint multimedia work better for teaching services.

Alcatel-Lucent reports rising profit on falling revenue

2012-02-10T12:14:00.000-08:00

Telecommunication equipment maker Alcatel-Lucent reported a profit for the fourth quarter, but revenue fell 12.9 percent year-on-year as the company continues to face a challenging market, it said on Friday.

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The company reported sales of a 4.15 billion euros (US$5.37 billion), and a net profit of a 868 million euros, compared to a net profit of a 340 million euros a year earlier.

Revenue was down across Alcatel-Lucent's different divisions; the wireless division fared the worst with a 22.8 percent drop. The only exception was the enterprise division, which grew its revenue 0.3 percent.

The company also reported a full-year net profit for the first time since the merger of Alcatel and Lucent Technologies in 2006. Cost-cutting has played a big role in helping Alcatel-Lucent return to profit, and next year the company plans to cut an additional a!500 million in costs.

Like many vendors, Alcatel-Lucent hopes patent licensing will help increase its revenues. On Friday, the company announced a patent syndication deal with patent licensing company RPX, which also counts technology companies Avaya, Ericsson and Nikon among its clients. Alcatel-Lucent will still retain the ownership of its 29,000 patents -- which cover areas such as wireless, semiconductors, optical, cloud computing and network security.

But just because Alcatel-Lucent is making a profit doesn't mean the company is out of the woods. Overall, the fourth quarter last year was a tough one for the telecommunication equipment makers.

In November, Nokia Siemens Networks said it is planning to cut 17,000 jobs worldwide as it aims to cut a!1 billion from its annual costs by the end of 2013, while Ericsson's profits dropped by 66 percent year-on-year.

Alcatel-Lucent's goal for 2012 is to achieve a higher operating margin that in 2011.

Bluetooth in Brief

2012-02-02T00:45:00.000-08:00

Bluetooth is a radio or wireless technology designed for short range data communications in the Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) band. The frequency range is from 2.402Ghz to 2.480Ghz, with the available frequency sprectrum being broken up into 79 x 1Mhz wide bands.
Bluetooth was designed by Ericsson as a short range wireless connectivity solution and is used to build Personal Area Networks, or PANs as they are known so that devices in close proximity can pass information. Typical examples being a mobile phone downloading data to a Personal Computer or a mobile phone earpiece communicating with the phone itself.

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The technology behind Bluetooth is known as FHSS (Frequency Hopped Spread Spectrum), where the datastream is broken up into small pieces, each containing several binary bits of data which are transmitted in a pseudo random sequence over a series of up to 79 frequency bands. As Bluetooth has developed and matured, a number of data modulation schemes have been used to modulate the data onto the radio carriers including GFSK (Gaussian Frequency Shift Keying), DQPSK (Differential Quadrature Phase Shift Keying) and 8DPSK (8-ary Differential Phase Shift Keying). The development and use of the different modulation schemes were an attempt to increase the data rates of the system.
So how does Bluetooth operate?
Two or more Bluetooth devices that establish a connection (and share a channel) form a small wireless network known as a Piconet, with up to eight devices, forming the piconet . One device becomes the Master station, can join a Bluetooth piconet. Normally the device which initiates the connection will be the Master and other devices joining the PAN will be slaves. The master passes a Frequency Hopping Synchronisation (FHS) packet to any slaves containing its address and clock. The address of the Master Bluetooth device is used to determine the hop sequence and all slaves use the Master Clock to determine which frequency to transmit or receive on at any given time.
A group of piconets are referred to as a Scatternet, with each individual piconet having a unique hopping sequence, determined by it’s Master’s address. If a collision occurs where two devices transmit on the same frequency, a device will just retransmit the data on the next frequency hop. Although this can ultimately affect the performance and data rate of the transmission, it is the accepted method, just like collisions are a way of life in a shared Ethernet network when a hub is in use.
Devices can be a member of multiple piconets by using each Master address to determine the hopping sequence for each network, but can only be the Master for one piconet. The access method used by Bluetooth devices is known as TDD (Time-Division Duplex) where each device (Master and Slave) share the same frequency and are allocated a timeslot during which to transmit. A master will normally use even-numbered time slots and the slave will use odd numbered timeslots.
There are two types of transmission links normally supported by Bluetooth, known as SCO (Synchronous Connection-Orientated) and ACL (Asynchronous Connectionless Link). General Bluetooth operation uses ACL, where the packet and payload length will determine how many timeslots are required. Because ACL is Connection-Orientated, packets that are not acknowledged will be automatically retransmitted, abeit on a different timeslot or timeslots. Forward error correction can be employed as an option and although the data delivery may be more reliable, the data rate will reduce accordingly depending on how error prone the environment is at the time.
Voice over Bluetooth normally used an SCO link, where the voice data is sent over a number of reserved timeslots within an already established ACL link. Retransmissions do not occur on an SCO link as this could cause a number of problems, least of all latency and jitter. However, forward error correction can be used to provide a degree of reliability. There is an Enhanced version of SCO that can employ retransmission in some circumstances.
The latest version of Bluetooth, version 4 and all previous versions of Bluetooth have been designed to be backward compatible with previous versions, so no worry about using older devices with the newer Bluetooth devices.
The Bluetooth technologies have allowed us to provide fast data communications between devices that are in close proximity (within a few metres) without the need for a cable running RS-232 protocol for example and so have provided us with mobility free from the constraints imposed with the use of copper wiring.

Microsoft sets Office 15 public beta for summer 2012

2012-01-31T05:41:00.000-08:00

Microsoft today announced it has kicked off a "technical preview" of the next version of its money-making Office suite and promised a public beta will ship this summer.

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The move is a repeat of the route Microsoft took with Office 2010, which was distributed to a select group of testers as a technical preview in July 2009.

Microsoft said little about "Office 15," the code name for the product, and nothing about its Word, Excel, Outlook and PowerPoint applications in a blog post Monday that announced the preview.

"I'm not able to share too much about Office 15, but I can tell you Office 15 is the most ambitious undertaking yet for the Office Division," wrote P.J. Hough, the executive who leads the Office division. "With Office 15, for the first time ever, we will simultaneously update our cloud services, servers, and mobile and PC clients for Office, Office 365, Exchange, SharePoint, Lync, Project, and Visio."

Hough said the Office 15 technical preview was "already full," but added that "everyone will have the opportunity to try the Office 15 public beta later this summer."

He did not specify a date or set a month for the beta's availability.

Three years ago, Microsoft began the technical preview of Office 2010 in July 2009, followed that with a public beta in mid-November and launched the final product in April 2010. The suite hit retail shelves in June 2010.

If Microsoft follows a similar pace, it will release an Office 15 beta in late May or early June, wrap up the final code in October or November, and start selling the suite in December 2012 or January 2013.

Unless Microsoft changes Office's naming convention for Office, it will be called "Office 2013," as the two previous editions of the suite -- Office 2007 and Office 2010 -- actually shipped in the year prior to the one used in their titles.

It's possible, of course, that Microsoft has a faster release cadence in mind, and will ship the next Office alongside Windows 8 -- which most experts expect to see in October -- to duplicate the simultaneous launch of Windows Vista and Office 2007 in November 2007.

Microsoft may have required the invitation-only testers to sign a nondisclosure agreement that bars them from sharing secrets about the new suite, but that may not stop the unfinished code from leaking to others: Copies of the Office 2010 preview appeared on file-sharing sites even before Microsoft officially opened the program.

The company has not pegged the system requirements for Office 15, but it's possible that the new suite will not run on the decade-old Windows XP because that operating system is slated for retirement in April 2014.

Office 15 refers to the numbering system Microsoft uses to identify each edition: Office 2010 on Windows and Office 2011 on the Mac, for instance, are both labeled as "Office 14." Microsoft skipped "Office 13," jumping from 12 (Office 2007) to 14 (Office 2010) to avoid the unlucky number.

Office is one of Microsoft's biggest sources of both revenue and profit: In the fourth quarter of 2011, the Business division, which is responsible for Office, accounted for 30% of all revenues and 52% of all operating income.

Apple iPod Touch Awesome Highlights Which Can Amaze You

2012-01-27T13:26:00.001-08:00

Should you take a glance all around, you will observe folks having their netbooks, mobile phones, and iPods. As a result, what is making use of these units which render it fundamental within the every day lifestyles of folks? Fundamentally, these devices generate items a lot easier. And, it's fun to experience and definitely will definitely entertain you wherever you go.

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Currently, the iPod Touch is often a fresh electronic device from Apple. This particular device produces a large amount of individuals need to have one of their own as this is dubbed to become the true computer system. Essentially, the Apple iPod Touch is a multimedia player. This kind of device will enable you to store and perform your favorite music and video lessons while you are out and about.

However, the iPod touch can do in addition to that, which can be fundamentally why persons need to have one. Therefore, what's so specific in regards to the iPod Touch that anybody seems to want one?

For starters, itouch new generation iPod is included using the multi touch display expertise. Instead of the click wheel that many men and women are accustomed to using the previous versions of iPod, this type of iPod employs touch screen technology to help you to communicate with the unit. Right now, you will need to admit that your function alone is very desirable and is sufficient to enable you to want one of your personal.

Nonetheless, this is precisely the beginning of more features to come using the iPod Touch. In contrast to some other iPods, the iPod Touch will enable you to connect to the web while using the built-in WiFi mobile program. As long as you are in a very WiFi hotspot, which you can easily find nowadays, you'll be able gain access to the web on your iPod Touch. With this particular tool, it is possible to evaluate your own emails, browse the internet, examine your MySpace account, and you will even make your favorite videos on YouTube.

Consequently you no longer have to lose out on important emails as the iPod itouch allow for you go on the internet everywhere as long as you are inside WiFi hotspot.

With a 3.5 inch multi-touch screen LCD, you will see that looking at movies listed here is a lot more fun than earlier types of iPods that can be able to play videos. The improved electric battery system is furthermore another key come with of the iPod Touch. Able to long lasting up to 22 several hours for trying to play music and 5 hrs for playing video clips, you will notice that you will have lot of fun for a period of time before you need to recharge the batteries of your iPod Touch again.

Itouch new generation ipod is likewise designed with a large information storage space capacity. With variants amounting up to 32 gigabytes of safe-keeping, you can be certain that you will never run out of space when it comes to saving your favorite music and videos. Of course, on this kind of safe-keeping capacity, you may also store and play with a lot of iPod Touch games.

Weighing only roughly 120 grams and measuring at only 4.3 by 2.4 by 0.31 inch, transportability is unquestionably one of the key features of this device.

Therefore, if you prefer a real laptop or computer that can enable you to admittance online, play songs and films, play your preferred games, and one that will easily fit in your pocket, the iPod Touch certainly is the gadget for you personally.

Microsoft seeking open-source expert to help put Linux on Azure

2012-01-27T01:18:00.000-08:00

Microsoft is moving steadily ahead with its plan to enable Linux to run on its Windows Azure cloud platform.

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As I blogged earlier this month, Microsoft is preparing to enable Linux to run on its Windows Azure cloud platform. A test build of the coming Linux virtual-machine capability is slated for March, according to my contacts.

For those still doubting this is on the Microsoft roadmap, I’ve got a new piece of evidence. A contact of mine provided me with a link to a Microsoft job posting for a software development engineer at Microsoft that calls for some serious Linux credentials.

The job posting states quite plainly that the person the Server and Tools team is seeking will be charged with “Defin(ing) and scop(ing) open source projects designed to enable Linux on Microsoft’s virtualization and cloud platforms.” (Emphasis mine.)

Here is the pertinent part of the post:

SR Software Development Engineer (SDE) Job
Date: Jan 22, 2012
Location: Redmond, WA, US
Job Category: Software Engineering: Development
Location: Redmond, WA, US
Job ID: 764856-52821
Division: Server & Tools Business

Senior Software Development Engineer/Linux Virtualization

This position requires a proven track record in the open source community.

The Windows Interoperability Team at Microsoft has an immediate opening for a senior software development engineer. The purpose of this position is to become a key member of a highly specialized development team whose mission is to identify, define, scope, implement and drive to completion software projects that promote full, transparent interoperability between Windows and Linux in Microsoft virtual and cloud environments.

The primary responsibilities for this position are the following:

Define and scope open source projects designed to enable Linux on Microsoft’s virtualization and cloud platforms

Work directly with the Linux kernel community to develop Linux device drivers and kernel technology to support Linux on Microsoft platforms

Work with Microsoft product groups to help ensure the design and implementation of Microsoft virtualization and cloud technology will support Linux architectures and runtime paradigms.

The qualifications for this Microsoft job, according to the posting, include the ability to:

Create and implement plans that provide for the testing and quality assurance of software products
Write high-quality Linux kernel code in the C programming language and the associated unit tests.
Demonstrate an understanding of Linux virtualization methods, approaches and deployment. (Including but not limited to Hyper-V, Xen and KVM)
Demonstrate an understanding Linux device driver development and implementation
Demonstrate an understanding of the Linux kernel architecture, including kernel debugging and runtime libraries
Demonstrate an understanding of Linux networking and TCP/IP stack

I’ve also heard from another of my contacts Microsoft is holding an infrastructure-as-a-service workshop for partners in the next few weeks that will allow certain independent software vendors to test out a pre-release of the coming persistent virtual machine capability.

Microsoft to replace Mix with a new developer conference

2012-01-24T14:20:00.000-08:00

Microsoft is doing away with its annual Mix designer/developer event. This year, instead, the company is planning a developer conference likely to focus on Windows 8.

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The rumors were true: Microsoft is doing away with its annual Mix conference for designers and developers after a six-year run. Microsoft officials finally confirmed that there will be no Mix ‘12 — and no future Mix events — via a blog post on January 24.

There is, however, going to be some kind of Microsoft developer event in calendar 2012, though Microsoft officials said they haven’t yet decided on its name, date or location. I’d bet whatever it is will be anchored to the releases of Windows 8 and Visual Studio 2012. (It sounds like this mystery event isn’t happening any time soon, so don’t expect it to be timed with the delivery of the beta/”Consumer Preview” of Windows 8, which is expected by late February, 2012.)

Microsoft also will continue to hold smaller, local and Web-casted developer events throughout the year, as well, today’s blog post noted.

When Microsoft replaced its Professional Developers Conference with BUILD in September 2011, there were some rumblings that BUILD also might end up replacing Microsoft’s annual Mix conference.

“As we look ahead to 2012 and beyond, the goal is to ensure that global Microsoft developer events are of the caliber that many of you experienced at BUILD last September,” blogged Tim O’Brien, General Manager of Developer & Platform Evangelism (DPE).

Microsoft execs aren’t linking the death of Mix to anything to do with Silverlight, despite the fact that Mix got its start largely as a promotional vehicle for Windows Presentation Foundation and WPF/e (a k a Silverlight). Microsoft officials didn’t share today any new information about what’s next for Silverlight. (Yes, I asked again.)

Instead, the Softies are attributing the end of Mix to the fact that the company has largely addressed the shortcomings that Mix originally was created to fix. Internet Explorer is no longer a Web standards laggard. Microsoft’s Web platform and open-source tools/platforms outreach is on far more solid footing than it was back in 2006. And, as O’Brien acknowledges, Microsoft is trimming back on the number of major conferences it is sponsoring — and, I’d add, in some cases, attending, like the Consumer Electronics Show.

I think developers who’ve been starting to work on Windows 8 apps — and those who are raring to do so – will agree that more information, documentation and time meeting with Microsoft engineers will be welcome.

Let’s see if Microsoft times the coming dev event (DEVELOP? WRITE? BUILD 2.0?) with the Windows 8 Release Candidate, its RTM or its launch… And if we potential attendees get to vote on location/timing, I vote Seattle in September. Anyone else have guesses/suggestions for the timing/content/location of the coming devcon?

How IT storage systems have doubled the number of bone marrow transplants

2012-01-22T13:51:00.000-08:00

IT storage systems have been used to help double the number of marrow transplants by reducing the time needed to find the right donor.

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I recently saw an ad, which I thought was pretty cool. I clicked on a link that said, “For be the match, data is life.” I’d heard of the Be the Match registry before. They’re the nonprofit National Marrow Donor Program (NMDP).

The NMDP facilitates the collection of bone marrow. Well, that’s kind of the old-school name. What are really being collected are hematopoietic, or blood-forming cells. The confusion arises because many people aren’t aware that blood is actually born in the bones, in the marrow.

Hematopoietic cells are adult stem cells that originate from bone marrow, umbilical cord blood, and in the peripheral blood. Stems cells are important because they can multiply and differentiate, which means they can build new red blood cells, white blood cells, and platelets.

These cells are used to save lives by being transplanted to patients with life-threatening disorders. The recipients may suffer from diseases like leukemia, lymphoma, aplastic anemia, and other immune system and metabolic disorders.

Finding the right donor is really essential, and not so easy. A person who needs a hematopoietic cell transplant, and doesn’t have a family member who happens to be a suitable match, can search the Be The Match registry for a matched unrelated donor or umbilical cord blood unit.

Before I send you to the video, I just want to be clear that this is just something I found interesting. As far as I know, NetApp isn’t a sponsor or anything, I just find it heartwarming to see case study examples of how IT is helping important health efforts. If you want to geek out on it, go ahead and download the white paper.

If you’d like to check out the ad I saw, visit the Be the Match Story. You can watch a video about how IT storage systems have been used to help double the number of transplants that can be facilitated by reducing the time needed to find the right donor (when time is truly of the essence), and lean about the encouraging numbers the nonprofit projects for the future.

Mozilla slows pace of Firefox 9 upgrades

2012-01-17T11:07:00.000-08:00

Mozilla dramatically slowed the update pace of Firefox 9, the browser it shipped late last month.

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The company also said it may repeat the slow-down in the future.

Firefox 9, which Mozilla released Dec. 20, has yet to be completely "unthrottled," or offered as an update to all users, according to notes from a company meeting last week.

Like other software vendors, including Microsoft and Apple, Mozilla can offer upgrades to a fraction of its users rather than to everyone at once. The practice is designed to ensure that download servers aren't overwhelmed, and to prevent bugs -- if there are any in the update -- from reaching all users.

Firefox 8, the edition that launched Nov. 8, 2011, accounted for 40% of all versions of Mozilla's browser five days after its release, and broke the 50% mark 18 days after it shipped, according to usage statistics from Irish metrics firm StatCounter. Meanwhile, Firefox 9 accounted for just 7% of all editions of Firefox five days after its debut and required 24 days to reach 50%.

The slow-down was related to several bugs in Firefox 9 that Mozilla developers have investigated, including one mentioned last week in a status meeting that blocks some users running Mac OS X 10.6, aka Snow Leopard, from playing Netflix content.

While Mozilla issued Firefox 9.0.1 a day after shipping Firefox 9 -- the former removed code that caused some Mac, Linux and Windows browsers to crash -- it has not released a version 9.0.2 to patch any of the bugs that prompted it to throttle the upgrade process.

Firefox 9's slow upgrade appears to conflict with Mozilla's rapid-release schedule that ships a new version every six weeks. Mozilla, which debuted the speedier pace last summer, has touted it as a way to get new features into users' hands faster, and security updates to them on a regular timetable.

Mozilla said it may use a slower-upgrade process for future editions.

In notes for a meeting held Jan. 3, the company said, "Probably going to do something similar for releases in the future as well."

Mozilla did not answer questions about how the throttling seemed at odds with its rapid-release tempo -- and with plans to offer a silent updating mechanism later this year -- but a spokeswoman pointed out a line the company added to the release notes for Firefox 9. "We manage and monitor the rate of automatic updates to ensure a smooth release. Users can always manually check for updates from the About Firefox window to see whether they are up to date," the release notes stated.

Firefox 10 is slated to ship two weeks from today, on Jan. 31

Android is coming to everything ... everywhere

2012-01-14T13:50:00.000-08:00

Will Android will lead the way in a ’smart’ revolution?

We spend a lot of time talking about operating system market share and usage share, but could Android explode to the point where it make such data irrelevant?

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When we talk about Android market/usage share, we’re usually thinking about devices like smartphones and tablets. It seems that knowing how many people use a particular thing is important to some people (I’m not sure why, maybe it helps people think they’ve made the right choice or something). But Android isn’t confined to just smartphones and tablets. Chances are that if you have a gadget like a personal media player or an ebook reader or an in-car GPS receiver, it’s powered by Android. It might not say Android anywhere, and people might not know that it’s Android, but it’s there nontheless.

Android is already all around us, and pretty soon the OS is going to be in a whole lot more places. The next device that Android is set to invade is the TV set. Given the operating system’s heritage in media it seems like a good fit. It’s going to take a long time for people to replace their dumb TVs with Android-powered ‘Smart TV’ sets, but it will happen (people on the whole seem to keep their TV sets for a lot longer than they do cellphones, tablets and PCs).

The TV is just the start of things in my opinion, and it’s the beginning of an in-home Android revolution. As the price falls on low-power computers it becomes feasible to fit make things ’smart’ … smart oven, smart microwave, smart refrigerator, smart washing machine. smart thermostat. Heck, why not go the whole hog and have smart lights and smart doors too?

Smart devices are the next step in evolution for devices that have traditionally been dumb devices. And one of the keys to making dumb devices smart is the a flexible operating system.

Android offers just that.

Note: One company is going to absolutely love it if Android is everywhere … Microsoft. The Redmond giant already pulling in millions every year from patent deals struck with smartphones and tablets makers.

I can see Android in other places too … watches (now there’s something that needs revolutionizing), cars, binoculars, telescopes, home automation devices, remote controls and much more. Android’s power is its versatility, and it is that versatility that allows the platform to be customized and tweaked for a whole variety of applications. It’s because of this that I see an explosion in Android usage over the next few years.

IBM Research Determines Atomic Limits of Magnetic Memory

2012-01-13T06:17:00.000-08:00

Punctuating 30 years of nanotechnology research, scientists from IBM Research (NYSE: IBM) have successfully demonstrated the ability to store information in as few as 12 magnetic atoms. This is significantly less than today’s disk drives, which use about one million atoms to store a single bit of information. The ability to manipulate matter by its most basic components – atom by atom – could lead to the vital understanding necessary to build smaller, faster and more energy-efficient devices.

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While silicon transistor technology has become cheaper, denser and more efficient, fundamental physical limitations suggest this path of conventional scaling is unsustainable. Alternative approaches are needed to continue the rapid pace of computing innovation.

By taking a novel approach and beginning at the smallest unit of data storage, the atom, scientists demonstrated magnetic storage that is at least 100 times denser than today’s hard disk drives and solid state memory chips. Future applications of nanostructures built one atom at a time, and that apply an unconventional form of magnetism called antiferromagnetism, could allow people and businesses to store 100 times more information in the same space.

“The chip industry will continue its pursuit of incremental scaling in semiconductor technology but, as components continue to shrink, the march continues to the inevitable end point: the atom. We’re taking the opposite approach and starting with the smallest unit -- single atoms -- to build computing devices one atom at a time.” said Andreas Heinrich, the lead investigator into atomic storage at IBM Research

How it Works

The most basic piece of information that a computer understands is a bit. Much like a light that can be switched on or off, a bit can have only one of two values: "1" or "0". Until now, it was unknown how many atoms it would take to build a reliable magnetic memory bit.

With properties similar to those of magnets on a refrigerator, ferromagnets use a magnetic interaction between its constituent atoms that align all their spins – the origin of the atoms’ magnetism – in a single direction. Ferromagnets have worked well for magnetic data storage but a major obstacle for miniaturizing this down to atomic dimensions is the interaction of neighboring bits with each other. The magnetization of one magnetic bit can strongly affect that of its neighbor as a result of its magnetic field. Harnessing magnetic bits at the atomic scale to hold information or perform useful computing operations requires precise control of the interactions between the bits.

The scientists at IBM Research used a scanning tunneling microscope (STM) to atomically engineer a grouping of twelve antiferromagnetically coupled atoms that stored a bit of data for hours at low temperatures. Taking advantage of their inherent alternating magnetic spin directions, they demonstrated the ability to pack adjacent magnetic bits much closer together than was previously possible. This greatly increased the magnetic storage density without disrupting the state of neighboring bits.

Writing and reading a magnetic byte: this image shows a magnetic byte imaged 5 times in different magnetic states to store the ASCII code for each letter of the word THINK, a corporate mantra used by IBM since 1914. The team achieved this using 96 iron atoms − one bit was stored by 12 atoms and there are eight bits in each byte.

IBM and Nanotechnology Leadership

In the company's 100 year history, IBM has invested in scientific research to shape the future of computing. Today's announcement is a demonstration of the results garnered by IBM's world-leading scientists and the company's continual investment in and focus on exploratory research.

IBM Research has long been a leader in studying the properties of materials important to the information technology industry. For more than fifty years, scientists at IBM Research have laid the foundation of scientific knowledge that will be important for the future of IT and sought out discoveries that can advance existing technologies.

Critics accuse Google of unfairly promoting Google+ in search results

2012-01-11T15:05:00.000-08:00

The long-standing and persistent accusation that Google unfairly uses its search engine to promote its other online services is once again in the spotlight, triggered by new social search functionality the company is rolling out this week that more tightly links its search engine with its Google+ social networking site.

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The complaints have come from different quarters, including competitors and industry experts, and have focused on various arguments, but at bottom all charge Google with using its dominant search engine to deliberately boost Google+'s popularity, by giving Google+ pages and profiles an artificially prominent position in result pages.

One of the strongest arguments made so far comes from search engine expert Danny Sullivan, who described on Wednesday in his technology news site Search Engine Land how Google is now suggesting Google+ business pages that companies and public figures have set up on the site in a way that makes the Google+ pages much more prominent than similar pages these public figures and organizations have set up on competing social media sites.

Sullivan shows a variety of examples in which Google, via new query auto-complete suggestions for Google+ profiles and via the new Google+ People and Pages sidebar suggestions column, favors Google+ business pages over alternative ones that have more "fans" on Facebook and Twitter.

Sullivan ran his queries without being logged into his Google Account, and even using the Chrome browser's "incognito" mode, to make sure that the Google search engine treated his queries as coming from a fairly generic user, and not tailored to him specifically.

"Is there anyone out there who still wants to say that being on Google+ doesn't matter? Anyone? Because when being on Google+ means that you potentially can have your Google+ page leap to the top in those sidebar results, Google+ matters. It matters more than ever before," he wrote, adding that Google is clearly "taking its weight in search and leveraging it to boost Google+ in a big way."

Google, after many missteps in the social networking market, launched Google+ in mid-2011, and has made it clear, from CEO Larry Page on down, that Google+ will be a key, unifying product for the company, providing social sharing features and an identity layer across most Google online services.

However, there has been skepticism regarding the adoption and engagement level for Google+, especially when compared with social networking leader Facebook, which has more than 850 million active members who spend a lot of time on the site.

Google+ is also a rival to Twitter because Google+ can be used in similar ways as the microblogging phenomenon.

In fact, among the first to cry foul this week was Twitter. Its General Counsel Alex Macgillivray, who previously worked at Google, posted on his Twitter account that Tuesday was "a bad day for the Internet" after Google announced the new search functionality.

"Having been there, I can imagine the dissension @Google to search being warped this way," he wrote. Twitter later followed Macgillivray's post with a more formal statement, in which it reiterated and expanded on his complaint.

Meanwhile, Google answered back with a post on its main Google+ page, saying it was "a bit surprised by Twitter's comments" because Twitter "chose not to renew their agreement with us last summer," a reference to the now lapsed two-year deal which gave Google special access to Twitter's "firehose" of real-time tweets.

However, as Sullivan and others have pointed out, Google has continued indexing Twitter posts and has a massive collection of them in its index, including links to the official accounts of public figures, celebrities and organizations.

Throughout the two-day flap, Facebook officials have remained mum. Facebook has its own special search arrangement with its partner Microsoft, which gives the Bing search engine access to certain data that is out of Google's reach. While Facebook keeps most personal profile content off limits to search engines, its business profiles are public, as well as some other content, and thus available to Google. In fact, for a while Facebook has let individuals tag status updates as "public" and made those available to search engines -- a good example of this is the site Your OpenBook, devoted exclusively to this type of personal, public status update.

In its announcement on Tuesday of the new social search features, described by the company as "Search, Plus Your World," Google focused on new things its search users will be able to do when signed into their Google accounts: find Google+ posts and Picasa Web photos they and their contacts on those social media sites have shared not only publicly on the Web but also privately with each other.

This new functionality builds on the existing Google social search features, which let users logged into their Google Accounts see links in search results that their specific social media contacts tagged with the Google +1 button or shared publicly using a social media service.

Google didn't respond to a request for comment about the controversy surrounding the new social search functionality.

70-432 Q & A / Study Guide

2012-01-07T01:37:00.000-08:00

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QUESTION 4
You work as a database administrator at Certkingdom.com. Certkingdom.com is using a SQL Server 2008
instance. The SQL Server 2008 instance hosts quite a few applications. ABC also has a server
named ABC-SR43 that is used to store log files.
You have to set up a new job that stores log files on ABC-SR43. You create a new account
ABC\Log_Account. You set it up to be run by the SQL Server Agent Services.
However, your job fails to store any log files on ABC-SR43. After some investigation you notice
that the job does not have permissions to store files on ABC-SR43.
How should you remedy the situation? Select the best option.

A. You should set up ABC\Log_Accoun as a Remote Service account.
B. You should set up ABC\Log_Accoun as a Domain service account.
C. You should set up ABC\Log_Accoun as a Local Service account.
D. You should set up ABC\Log_Accoun as a Local System account.
E. You should set up ABC\Log_Accoun as a Network Service account.
F. You should set up ABC\Log_Account as a Domain account.

Answer: F

Explanation:
The service startup account defines the Microsoft Windows account in which SQL Server Agent
runs and its network permissions. SQL Server Agent runs as a specified user account. For
compatibility with earlier versions of SQL Server, SQL Server Agent can also run as the Local
System account.
In this scenario you should select a Domain account, which allows sufficient permissions and
improved security.

QUESTION 5
You work as a database administrator at Certkingdom.com. Certkingdom.com is using a SQL Server 2008
instance that has a table named ABC_Training. ABC_ Training contains a column named
ABC_Distance. A new Certkingdom.com training policy states that the training (ie. The ABC_Distance
column in the ABC_Training table) cannot be increased or decreased by more than 3%.
How should you implement the ABC Training Policy?

A. You should consider developing a view which rolls back non-compliant Certkingdom.com policy
changes to ABC_Distance.
B. You should consider developing a stored procedure which rolls back non-compliant Certkingdom.com
policy compliant changes to the ABC_Distance column.
C. You should consider developing a primary key constraint to the ABC_training table which only
contains valid values on ABC_Distance.
D. You should consider developing a create trigger which rolls back non-compliant Certkingdom.com
policy changes to the ABC_Distance column.
E. You should consider developing an update trigger which rolls back non-compliant Certkingdom.com
policy changes to the ABC_Distance column.
F. You should consider developing a delete trigger which rolls back non-compliant Certkingdom.com policy
changes to the ABC_Distance column.

Answer: E

Explanation:

QUESTION 6
You work as a database administrator at Certkingdom.com. Certkingdom.com is using a SQL Server 2008
instance that contains a database named ABC_DB. Certkingdom.com contains a lot of customer data
which is processed by the Web application. You need to keep the customer information safe since
it is confidential. This information includes files of data, backups, and log files.
How can this be achieved and still keep the performance and functionality of the web application?
Select one or two.

A. You should consider adding a transaction Log on ABC_DB, and set the information to be
encrypted for a fixed time.
B. Use BitLocker Drive Encryption on the hard drives on the SQL Server.
C. Use EFS (Encrypting File System) on the hard drives on the SQL Server.
D. You should consider enabling the Transparent Database Encryption on ABC_DB and back up
the transaction log.
E. You should consider enabling the Transparent Database Encryption on ABC_DB and enabling
the Transparent Database Encryption on master database.
F. Use cell-level encryption for the specific data that needs to be kept safe.

Answer: D

Explanation:
With the introduction of transparent data encryption (TDE) in SQL Server 2008, users now have
the choice between cell-level encryption as in SQL Server 2005, full database-level encryption by
using TDE, or the file-level encryption options provided by Windows. TDE is the optimal choice for
bulk encryption to meet regulatory compliance or corporate data security standards. TDE works at
the file level, which is similar to two Windows® features: the Encrypting File System (EFS) and
BitLocker™ Drive Encryption, the new volume-level encryption introduced in Windows Vista®,
both of which also encrypt data on the hard drive. TDE does not replace cell-level encryption,
EFS, or BitLocker.

QUESTION 7
You work as a database administrator at Certkingdom.com. Certkingdom.com is using two SQL Server 2008
sample named ABCSmp1 and ABCSmp2. Furthermore, ABCSmp1 contains a database named
ABC_DB. A Certkingdom.com user named Mia Hamm uses her logon MiaHamm to log on to the database
on ABCSmp1. During the week you have transferred ABC_DB to ABCSmp2. You manually
recreate the Mia Hamm login on ABCSmp2. However, when she tries to login on ABC_DB at
ABCSmp2, she received an error message stating that she is not allowed access. Mia Hamm
needs to access ABC_DB and you need to make it happen.
What T-SQL code should you use? (Each correct option is part of the answer. Choose TWO)

A. Use Certkingdom.com;
B. Use ABC_DB; *
C. Use ABCSmp1;
D. Use ABCSmp2;
E. ALTER LOGIN MiaHamm WITH DEFAULT_DATABASE = ABC_DB;
F. CHANGE LOGIN MiaHamm WITH DEFAULT_DATABASE = ABC_DB;
G. ALTER LOGIN MiaHamm WITH PASSWORD = 'pwd1234' UNLOCK;
H. CHANGE LOGIN MiaHamm WITH PASSWORD = 'pwd1234' UNLOCK;
I. CHANGE USER MiaHamm WITH LOGIN = MiaHamm;
J. ALTER USER MiaHamm WITH LOGIN = MiaHamm; *
K. ALTER LOGIN MiaHamm ENABLE;
L. CHANGE LOGIN MiaHamm ENABLE;

Answer: B,J

Explanation:

QUESTION 8
You work as a database administrator at Certkingdom.com. Certkingdom.com is using a SQL Server 2008 instance.
Your junior assistant is curious about on how to move a table, such as ABC_table, from its current
scheme (scheme1) to another scheme (scheme2)
How can you accomplish this in T-SQL?

A. You should consider using the following:
ALTER TABLE Schema1.ABC_Table SWITCH TO Schema2.ABC_table;

B. You should consider using the following:
ALTER AUTHORIZATION ON Schema1.ABC_Table TO Schema2;

C. You should consider using the following:
ALTER SCHEMA schema2 TRANSFER schema1.ABC_table;

D. You should consider using the following:
ALTER SCHEMA schema1 TRANSFER schema2.ABC_table;

E. You should consider using the following:
ALTER USER Schema1 WITH DEFAULT_SCHEMA = Schema2;

F. You should consider using the following:
MOVE ABC_Table FROM SCHEMA schema1 TO schema2

G. You should consider using the following:
MOVE ABC_Table FROM schema1 TO schema2

Answer: C

Explanation:
ALTER SCHEMA can only be used to move securables between schemas in the same database.
To change or drop a securable within a schema, use the ALTER or DROP statement specific to
that securable.

QUESTION 9
You work as a database administrator at Certkingdom.com. Certkingdom.com is using a SQL Server 2008
instance. You have received instructions from management to allow the users at Certkingdom.com on the
SQL Server sample to use the OPENROWSET() function to search remote information sources.
You study incomplete code in the exhibit carefully. (Line numbers are used for reference purposes only)
Exhibit:
01. sp_configure 'show advanced options', 1
02. RECONFIGURE
03.
04. RECONFIGURE
05. GO
06.
07. SELECT a.*
08. FROM OPENROWSET('SQLNCLI', 'Server=Madrid;Trusted_Connection=yes;',
09. 'SELECT GroupName, Name, DepartmentID
10. FROM AdventureWorks.HumanResources.Department
11. ORDER BY GroupName, Name') AS a;
12. GO
Which T-SQL statement should you insert at line 03 to make the batch meet the requirement in
this scenario?

A. sp_configure 'Router control', 1
B. sp_configure 'Router control', 0
C. sp_configure 'Transaction Logs', 1
D. sp_configure 'Transaction Logs', 0
E. sp_configure 'Ad Lib Distributed Queries ', 1
F. sp_configure 'Ad Lib Distributed Queries ', 0
G. sp_configure 'Ad Hoc Distributed Queries', 1
H. sp_configure 'Ad Hoc Distributed Queries', 0

Answer: G

Explanation:
By default, SQL Server does not allow ad hoc distributed queries using OPENROWSET and
OPENDATASOURCE. When this option is set to 1, SQL Server allows ad hoc access. When this
option is not set or is set to 0, SQL Server does not allow ad hoc access.
Ad hoc distributed queries use the OPENROWSET and OPENDATASOURCE functions to
connect to remote data sources that use OLE DB. OPENROWSET and OPENDATASOURCE
should be used only to reference OLE DB data sources that are accessed infrequently. For any
data sources that will be accessed more than several times, define a linked server.

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70-431 Q & A / Study Guide

2012-01-05T11:21:00.001-08:00

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QUESTION 1
You work as the database administrator at CertKingdom.com. The CertKingdom.com network consists of
a single Active Directory domain named CertKingdom.com. All servers on the CertKingdom.com network
run Windows 2000 Server. The CertKingdom.com network contains a SQL Server 2000 database
server named CERTKINGDOM-DB01 that runs on Windows 2000 Server. CERTKINGDOM-DB01
contains a database named CKD_Sales.
CertKingdom.com intends migrating CERTKINGDOM-DB01 to SQL Server 2005 in the near future. To
prepare for the migration, you decide to install SQL Server 2005 Express on a server named
CERTKINGDOM-SR31. You verify that CERTKINGDOM-SR31 exceeds the minimum recommended
hardware requirements for SQL Server 2005.
What should you do next?

A. Upgrade CERTKINGDOM-SR31 to Windows Sever 2003 and install Service Pack 1.
B. Install and run the SQL Server Upgrade Advisor on CERTKINGDOM-SR31.
C. Install SQL Server 2000 on CERTKINGDOM-SR31.
D. Download and install the .NET Framework 2.0.

Answer: D

Explanation:
SQL Server 2005 requires the.NET Framework 2.0. This is automatically installed when SQL
Server 2005 is installed but is not automatically installed when SQL Server 2005 Express is installed.

Incorrect Answers:
A: You do not need to upgrade CERTKINGDOM-SR31 to Windows Sever 2003 Service Pack 1 as
SQL Server 2005 Express can be installed on Windows 2000 Server. You will need to install
Service Pack 4 for Windows 2000 Server though.
B: You should run the SQL Server Upgrade Advisor when you want to upgrade an instance of a
SQL Server 2000 database to SQL Server 2005.
C: You do not need to install SQL Server 2000 before installing SQL Server 2005 Express.

Reference: Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Books Online (2006), Index: installing SQL Server
Express, before installing

QUESTION 2
You work as a database administrator at CertKingdom.com. The CertKingdom.com network consists of a
single Active Directory domain named CertKingdom.com. All servers on the CertKingdom.com network
run Windows Server 2003 with the latest Service Packs and Hotfixes, while the client computers
run Windows XP Professional, Windows 98 Second Edition, and Novell NetWare 6.5.
You install SQL Server 2005 on a member server named CERTKINGDOM-SR21. CERTKINGDOMSR21
will host a database named CKD_Sales. All CertKingdom.com users must be able to connect to
CERTKINGDOM-SR21 by computer name. A CertKingdom.com network administrator named Rory Allen
must ensure that the client computers will be able to connect to CERTKINGDOM-SR21.
Which protocols can CertKingdom.com users use to CERTKINGDOM-SR21?

A. TCP/IP and Named Pipes
B. TCP/IP and IPX/SPX
C. Virtual Interface Adapter (VIA)
D. Shared Memory

Answer: A

Explanation:
By default, clients have TCP and Named Pipes as available protocols. You can manipulate the
protocol ordering by using the SQL Server Client utility. The client application uses the protocols
in the order specified on the client computer. If you are using SQL Server 2005, the protocol order
is stored in the ProtocolOrder registry entry under the following registry subkey:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSSQLServer\Client\SNI9.0
Incorrect Answers:
B: SQL Server 2005 does not support IPX/SPX. The newer versions of NetWare, such as
NetWare 6.5, support TCP/IP which makes it the common protocol for all clients.
C: The Virtual Interface Adapter (VIA) can be used only by VIA hardware.
D: Shared Memory can only be used on the local computer and cannot be used as a network protocol.

Reference:Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Books Online (2006), Index: client connections
[SQL Server], about client network connections, choosing a network protocol

QUESTION 3
You work as the database administrator at CertKingdom.com. The CertKingdom.com network consists of
a single Active Directory domain named CertKingdom.com. All servers on the CertKingdom.com network
run Windows 2000 Server. The CertKingdom.com network contains a SQL Server 2000 database
server named CERTKINGDOM-DB01 that runs on Windows 2000 Server. CERTKINGDOM-DB01
contains a database named CKD_Sales.
CertKingdom.com intends migrating CERTKINGDOM-DB01 to SQL Server 2005 in the near future. To
prepare for the migration, you decide to install SQL Server 2005 Express on a server named
CERTKINGDOM-SR23. CERTKINGDOM-SR31 was used for previously used by application developer
and contains Microsoft Visual Studio 2003, .NET Framework 1.2 and Internet Explorer 5.5. You
verify that CERTKINGDOM-SR23 exceeds the minimum recommended hardware requirements for
SQL Server 2005.
What should you do next? (Each correct answer provides part of the solution. Choose THREE.)

A. Upgrade CERTKINGDOM-SR23 to Windows Sever 2003 and install Service Pack 1 for Windows Sever 2003.
B. Install Service Pack 4 for Windows 2000 Sever on CERTKINGDOM-SR23.
C. Upgrade the .NET Framework 1.2 to .NET Framework 2.0 on CERTKINGDOM-SR23.
D. Uninstall the .NET Framework 1.2 and install the .NET Framework 2.0 on CERTKINGDOM-SR23.
E. Upgrade Internet Explorer 5.5 to Internet Explorer 6.0 and install Service Pack 1 for Internet
Explorer 6.0 on CERTKINGDOM-SR23.
F. Upgrade Microsoft Visual Studio 2003 to Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 and install Service Pack
1 for Microsoft Visual Studio 2005 on CERTKINGDOM-SR23.

Answer: B,D,E

Explanation:
SQL Server 2005 requires Service Pack 4 for Windows 2000 Sever, Internet Explorer 6.0 with
Service Pack 1 and the .NET Framework 2.0. The .NET Framework 2.0 is automatically installed
with other versions of SQL Server 2005 but is not automatically installed with SQL Server 2005
Express. You can upgrade .NET Framework 1.0 and upgrade .NET Framework 1.1 to .NET
Framework 2.0 but .NET Framework 1.2 must be uninstalled first.
Incorrect Answers:
A: You do not need to upgrade CERTKINGDOM-SR31 to Windows Sever 2003 Service Pack 1 as
SQL Server 2005 Express can be installed on a Windows 2000 Server once you install Service
Pack 4 for Windows 2000 Server.
C: You can upgrade .NET Framework 1.0 and upgrade .NET Framework 1.1 to .NET Framework
2.0 but .NET Framework 1.2 must be uninstalled first.
F: SQL Server 2005 Express does not require any version of Microsoft Visual Studio.
Reference:Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Books Online (2006), Index: installing SQL Server
Express, before installing

QUESTION 4
You work as a database administrator at CertKingdom.com. The CertKingdom.com network consists of a
single Active Directory domain named CertKingdom.com.
You have received instruction from the CIO to prepare a new installation of SQL Server 2005. The
new SQL Server 2005 database server is named CERTKINGDOM-DB01. A CertKingdom.com user
named Mia Hamm is a member of the Marketing department. You instruct her to identify the
protocols that the client computers might use to connect to the server. Mia Hamm needs to identify
the protocols that are needed to accomplish this goal.
What should she identify? (Choose all that apply)

A. She should use the Multiprotocol.
B. Mia Hamm should use the Named Pipes.
C. She should use the Shared Memory.
D. She should use the TCP/IP
E. Mia Hamm should use the Virtual Interface Adapter (VIA).

Answer: B,D

Explanation:
The clients have by default TCP and Named Pipes as available protocols. You can make use of
the SQL Server Client utility to manipulate the protocol ordering. The client application uses the
protocols in the order specified on the client computer. When you make use of the SQL Server
2005, the protocol order is stored in the ProtocolOrder registry entry under the following registry
subkey: HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\MSSQLServer\Client\SNI9.0
Incorrect Answers:
C: Shared Memory can only be used on the local computer and cannot be used as a network
protocol.
E: The Virtual Interface Adapter (VIA) can be used only by VIA hardware.Reference:Microsoft SQL
Server 2005 Books Online (2006), Index: client connections [SQL Server], about client network
connections, choosing a network protocol

QUESTION 5
You work as the database administrator at CertKingdom.com. The CertKingdom.com network consists of
a single Active Directory domain named CertKingdom.com. All servers on the CertKingdom.com network
run Windows 2000 Server. The CertKingdom.com network contains a SQL Server 2000 database
server named CERTKINGDOM-DB01 that runs on Windows 2000 Server Service Pack 4.
CERTKINGDOM-DB01 contains a database named CKD_Trading.
CertKingdom.com wants to migrate CERTKINGDOM-DB01 to SQL Server 2005 but wants to retain the
CKD_Trading database with the same instance name. You decide to perform an in-place upgrade to
SQL Server 2005. You verify that CERTKINGDOM-DB01 exceeds the minimum recommended
hardware requirements for SQL Server 2005.
What should you do next?

A. Upgrade CERTKINGDOM-DB01 to Windows Sever 2003 Service Pack 1.
B. Run the SQL Server Upgrade Advisor on CERTKINGDOM-DB01.
C. Detach the CKD_Trading database on CERTKINGDOM-DB01.
D. Run the SQL Server 2005 Setup utility.

Answer: B

Explanation:
Before you perform an in-place upgrade of an existing database, you should run the SQL Server
Upgrade Advisor. The SQL Server Upgrade Advisor produces a list of items that must be
addressed before and after performing the upgrade. This list of items is specific to the existing
installation.
Incorrect Answers:
A: You do not need to upgrade CERTKINGDOM-DB01 to Windows Sever 2003 Service Pack 1 as
SQL Server 2005 can be installed on Windows 2000 Server with Service Pack 4.
C: You need to detach a database when you need to move the database to another database
instance or another database server. You do not need to detach the database before performing
an in-place upgrade.
D: You should run the SQL Server Upgrade Advisor before you run the SQL Server 2005 Setup
utility. The SQL Server Upgrade Advisor produces a list of items that must be addressed before
and after performing the upgrade. This list of items is specific to the existing
installation.Reference:Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Books Online (2006), Index: updating
databases, detaching and attaching databases

QUESTION 6
You work as the database administrator at CertKingdom.com. The CertKingdom.com network consists of
a single Active Directory domain named CertKingdom.com. All servers on the CertKingdom.com network
run Windows 2000 Server. The CertKingdom.com network contains a SQL Server 7.0 database server
named CERTKINGDOM-DB01 that runs on Windows 2000 Server. Service Pack 4 for Windows 2000
Server id installed on CERTKINGDOM-DB01.
CertKingdom.com wants to migrate CERTKINGDOM-DB01 to SQL Server 2005. You decide to perform
an in-place upgrade to SQL Server 2005. You verify that CERTKINGDOM-DB01 exceeds the
recommended hardware requirements for SQL Server 2005.
What should you do next?

A. Upgrade CERTKINGDOM-DB01 to Windows Sever 2003.
B. Install Service Pack 4 for SQL Server 7.0 on CERTKINGDOM-DB01.
C. Upgrade SQL Server 7.0 on CERTKINGDOM-DB01 to SQL Server 2000.
D. Run the SQL Server 2005 Setup utility on CERTKINGDOM-DB01 and upgrade directly to SQL
Server 2005.

Answer: B

Explanation:
You can upgrade from SQL Server 7.0 with Service Pack 4 directly to SQL Server 2005. Thus you
need only install Service Pack 4 for SQL Server 7.0.
Incorrect Answers:
A: You do not need to upgrade CERTKINGDOM-DB01 to Windows Sever 2003 as SQL Server 2005
can be installed on Windows 2000 Server with Service Pack 4.
C: You do not need to upgrade CERTKINGDOM-DB01 to SQL Server 200 as SQL Server 7.0 with
Service Pack 4 can be upgraded directly to SQL Server 2005. Besides, you will need to install
Service Pack 3 for SQL Server 2000 before you can upgrade it to SQL Server 2005.
D: You need to install Service Pack 4 for SQL Server 7.0 before you can upgrade it directly to SQL
Server 2005.Reference:Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Books Online (2006), Index: upgrading SQL
Server, upgrading to SQL Server 2005

QUESTION 7
You work as the database administrator at CertKingdom.com. The CertKingdom.com network consists of
a single Active Directory domain named CertKingdom.com. All servers on the CertKingdom.com network
run Windows Server 2003 and all client computers run Windows XP Professional. The
CertKingdom.com network contains two SQL Server 2000 database servers named CERTKINGDOMDB01
and CERTKINGDOM-DB02 that are configured for log shipping. CERTKINGDOM-DB01 is the
primary server and hosts a database named CKD_Trading. Both CERTKINGDOM-DB01 and
CERTKINGDOM-DB02 have Service Pack 3 for SQL Server 2000 installed.
CertKingdom.com wants to upgrade CERTKINGDOM-DB01 and CERTKINGDOM-DB02 to SQL Server
2005 Enterprise Edition but the CKD_Trading database must remain available during the upgrade
process. You verify that both CERTKINGDOM-DB01 and CERTKINGDOM-DB02 exceed the
recommended hardware requirements for SQL Server 2005 Enterprise Edition. You then install
Service Pack 1 for Windows Server 2003 on CERTKINGDOM-DB01 and CERTKINGDOM-DB02.
What should you do next?

A. Install Service Pack 4 for SQL Server 2000 on both database servers.
B. Enable failover in the SQL Server 2000 log shipping configuration and upgrade CERTKINGDOMDB02
to SQL Server 2005.
C. Run the Database Maintenance Plan Wizard on CERTKINGDOM-DB01 to upgrade it to SQL
Server 2005.
D. Upgrade CERTKINGDOM-DB02 to SQL Server 2005 and then upgrade CERTKINGDOM-DB01 to
SQL Server 2005.

Answer: B

Explanation:
SQL Server 2005 does not support the Database Maintenance Plan Wizard which was integral to
log shipping in SQL Server 2000. Hence, log shipping stops functioning when you upgrade a SQL
Server 2000 log shipping configuration directly to SQL Server 2005. To upgrade log shipping to
SQL Server 2005, you must migrate the database servers to SQL Server 2005. If you want the
database to remain available during the migration process, you must migrate with failover. To
migrate with failover you must enable failover and upgrade CERTKINGDOM-DB02. Then you need
to failover to CERTKINGDOM-DB02 and upgrade CERTKINGDOM-DB01. Then configure log shipping
with the CERTKINGDOM-DB02 becoming the primary server and CERTKINGDOM-DB01 becoming the
secondary server.
Incorrect Answers:
A: You do not need to install Service Pack 4 for SQL Server 2000 on the database servers as SQL
Server 2000 with Service Pack 3 can be upgraded to SQL Server 2005. However, SQL Server
2005 does not support the Database Maintenance Plan Wizard which was integral to log shipping
in SQL Server 2000. Hence, log shipping stops functioning when you upgrade a SQL Server 2000
log shipping configuration directly to SQL Server 2005.
C: SQL Server 2005 does not support the Database Maintenance Plan Wizard which was integral
to log shipping in SQL Server 2000. Hence, log shipping stops functioning when you upgrade a
SQL Server 2000 log shipping configuration directly to SQL Server 2005.
D: Removing log shipping from CERTKINGDOM-DB02 and upgrading CERTKINGDOM-DB01 to SQL
Server 2005 will not ensure that the CKD_Trading database remains available. Reference:Microsoft
SQL Server 2005 Books Online (2006), Index: log shipping [SQL Server], upgrading

QUESTION 8
You work as the database administrator at CertKingdom.com. The CertKingdom.com network consists of
a single Active Directory domain named CertKingdom.com. All servers on the CertKingdom.com network
run Windows Server 2003. The CertKingdom.com network contains a Domain Controller named
CERTKINGDOM-DC01 and a member server named CERTKINGDOM-SR21.
CertKingdom.com wants to implement a SQL Server 2005 database that will store sales data. All
CertKingdom.com users will require access to the Sales_DB database. You have been instructed to
install SQL Server 2005 on CERTKINGDOM-SR21 and to create a database named Sales_DB. You
need to ensure that CertKingdom.com users and applications can connect to the database instance by
using only the computer name.
What should you do during the installation of SQL Server 2005 on CERTKINGDOM-SR21?

A. Select the Named Instance and use MSSQLSERVER as the instance name.
B. Select the Named Instance and use CERTKINGDOM-DC01 as the instance name.
C. Select the Default Instance and accept the default instance name.
D. Select the Named Instance and use CERTKINGDOM-SR21 as the instance name.

Answer: C

Explanation:
To ensure that users and applications can connect to the instance using the computer name, you
should select the Default Instance and accept the default instance name, MSSQLSERVER.
Incorrect Answers:
A: You cannot use a Named Instance as users and applications will need to specify the server
name and the instance name when connection to the database.
B: You cannot use a Named Instance as users and applications will need to specify the server
name and the instance name when connection to the database.
D: You cannot use a Named Instance as users and applications will need to specify the server
name and the instance name when connection to the database.

QUESTION 9
You work as the database administrator at CertKingdom.com. The CertKingdom.com network consists of
a single Active Directory domain named CertKingdom.com. All servers on the CertKingdom.com network
run on Windows Server2003 while the client computers run Windows XP Professional, Windows
98 Second Edition, and Novell NetWare 6.5. All computers are members of the CertKingdom.com
Active Directory domain. The CertKingdom.com network contains a SQL Server 2005 database server
named CERTKINGDOM-DB01 that hosts a database instance named MSSQLSERVR.
CertKingdom.com wants to implement another SQL Server 2005 instance for a database named
Sales_DB. Sales_DB will store sales data for the company. All CertKingdom.com users will require
access to the Sales_DB database. You have been instructed to create the SQL Server 2005
instance for the Sales_DB database. You need to ensure that all users will be able to connect to
the Sales_DB database. You cannot make configuration changes to the client computers. Your
solution must optimize network traffic.
What should you do?

A. Install the instance as a Named Instance and configure it to support Mixed Mode
Authentication. The enable TCP/IP for the instance.
B. Install the instance as a Default Instance and configure it to support Windows Authentication.
The enable TCP/IP for the instance.
C. Install the instance as a Named Instance and configure it to support SQL Authentication. The
enable IPX/SPX for the instance.
D. Install the instance as a Default Instance and configure it to support Windows Authentication.
The enable IPX/SPX for the instance.

Answer: A

Explanation:
The default instance is named MSSQLSERVER. This instance name is already in use; therefore
you should use a Named Instance. You should use Mixed Mode Authentication to support
NetWare users.
Incorrect Answers:
B: You cannot use the Default Instance as the default instance is named MSSQLSERVER and is
already in use. Furthermore, you need to use Mixed Mode Authentication as Windows
Authentication does not support NetWare users.
C: You can use SQL Authentication, but this will require that you create SQL Logins for all users
and groups. It would be easier to use Windows Authentication for clients that user Windows XP
Professional and Windows 98 SE, and create SQL Logins for the NetWare 6.5 users. Also, SQL
Server 2005 does not support IPX/SPX. The newer versions of NetWare, such as NetWare 6.5,
support TCP/IP which makes it the common protocol for all clients.
D: You cannot use the Default Instance as the default instance is named MSSQLSERVER and is
already in use. Furthermore, you need to use Mixed Mode Authentication as Windows
Authentication does not support NetWare users. Also, SQL Server 2005 does not support
IPX/SPX. The newer versions of NetWare, such as NetWare 6.5, support TCP/IP which makes it
the common protocol for all clients.

QUESTION 10
You work as the database administrator at CertKingdom.com. The CertKingdom.com network consists of
a single Active Directory domain named CertKingdom.com. All servers on the CertKingdom.com network
run on Windows Server2003 and all client computers run Windows XP Professional. The
CertKingdom.com network contains two SQL Server 2005 database servers that are configured in a
cluster with two nodes named NodeA and NodeB. NodeA hosts a default database instance
named MSSQLSERVR.
CertKingdom.com wants to implement another SQL Server 2005 instance for a database named
Sales_DB. Sales_DB will store sales data for the company. All CertKingdom.com users will require
access to the Sales_DB database. You have been instructed to create the SQL Server 2005
instance for the Sales_DB database on Node
A. You need to ensure that all users will be able to
connect to the Sales_DB database.
What should you do?

A. Run the SQL Server 2005 Setup utility on NodeA and select a Named Instance for the
Sales_DB database.
B. Run the SQL Server 2005 Setup utility on NodeA and select the Default Instance for the
Sales_DB database.
C. Move the existing instance from NodeA to NodeB. Run the SQL Server 2005 Setup utility on
Node
A. Select the Default Instance and accept the default instance name
D. Run the SQL Server 2005 Setup utility on NodeB and select a Named Instance for the
Sales_DB database.

Answer: A

Explanation:
The default instance is named MSSQLSERVER. This instance name is already in use on NodeA;
therefore you should use a Named Instance.
Incorrect Answers:
B: You cannot use the Default Instance as the default instance is named MSSQLSERVER and is
already in use.
C: You do not need to move the existing instance as you can install up to 50 instances on a SQL
Server 2005 database server.
D: You need to install the instance on NodeA not NodeB. You can install a new instance on
NodeA if you use a Named Instance.

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70-431 Q & A / Study Guide

2012-01-05T11:21:00.000-08:00

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Easy Methods to Abolish Computer Viruses

2012-01-04T09:35:00.000-08:00

May possibly not be considered a fun activity scanning and removing a virus from your PC. Malicious programs can infect a PC through various mediums, the most prominent which are emails, removable media and wireless networks. Once you know how to get rid of viruses, measures can be taken to make sure that such viruses are identified and removed the moment they infiltrate.

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Getting Rid Of Viruses - Better Safe Than Sorry

One thing to know is what viruses are and what you can perform. Having knowledge about common infections allows the consumer to identify the virus by its symptoms on the PC. It is very important to know how Trojans, worms, spyware and adware infiltrate and infect the operating system. This step will help you prepare to get rid of virus infections quickly considering that the user will then be acquainted with the best way viruses work.

Be armed and ready while using latest available anti-virus. There are hundreds otherwise a large number of anti-virus software that now come in bundles and supply multiple services to your user. A good antivirus program comes full of firewalls, network monitors, file system scanner, anti-spyware, anti-adware, email scanners and internet stealth protection add-ons. Having the latest antivirus program trims the prospect of malicious activity occurring on any PC.

Having excellent anti-virus software will only be lucrative when you are updating it regularly. Automatic updates are readily available with whatever software you are using. Update the virus database weekly and if threat of infection is high, updating daily is suggested. Constant updates will ensure you will get rid of latest virus threats when they infiltrate the system.

Caution need to be taken when surfing websites, with there being some sites that demand installing certain add-ons and plug-ins. Other websites offer free software and screen savers when they're visited. Ensure you don’t download and run software that is certainly either not trusted or even the internet monitor cautions you to download. This usually gets rid of virus threats before they infect the operating system.

Email protection becomes necessary with the frequency of email viruses being greater than any other kind of virus type. Some emails tend to be pretty obvious, being a friendly invitation from a girl or a gift offer from Microsoft. Such emails mustn't be opened or nothing must bedownloaded from them. Viruses might also infiltrate a PC through emails from personal contacts, as a result it is criticalon an email monitor together with youranti-virus software.

Our recommendation is that all email activity should be carried outin rich text format and not inside the HTML format that email services are presently deploying. Viruses can attach themselves easily to HTML emails instead of text emails that are purely text and contain no items whichallow a virus to add itself to the email.

Yet another way viruses descend onto a PC is P2P software. It is highly recommended that software like Limewire, Gnutella, Bearshare and Torrents usually are not used. But if you must, at the very least have your firewall ready and burning to its most. P2P engines are only able to download information in chunks (this means you don’t know very well what is on its way in), hence enhancing the chance of an infiltration. So keep the firewall up rather than disable it, and always scan you’re completed downloads before opening them.

Freeware vs. Commercial

This all talk about having updated anti-virus programs and firewalls sounds a bit geeky, but it’s safer to be safe than allowing a virus epidemic on your PC. It is better to possess a commercial (i.e. paid) anti-virus when compared to a free one. Freeware anti-virus will usually identify viruses, but will lack the ability to clean the virus and can quarantine the files and not delete them, allowing the threat to escalate. Commercial software will always have complete features along with a well-organized virus database to combat the prevailing threats to escalate.

70-642 Study Guide

2012-01-03T04:51:00.000-08:00

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Table of Contents

Table of Contents................................................................................................................ 1

Course Overview ................................................................................................................ 3

Section 0.1: Introduction..................................................................................................... 5

Section 0.2: Server Management ........................................................................................ 6

Section 0.3: Remote Management ...................................................................................... 7

Section 0.4: Mathematical Foundations.............................................................................. 8

Section 1.1: IPv4 Addressing.............................................................................................. 9

Section 1.2: IPv4 Subnetting............................................................................................. 10

Section 1.3: IPv4 Host Configuration............................................................................... 11

Section 2.1: IPv6............................................................................................................... 12

Section 2.2: IPv6 Addressing............................................................................................ 13

Section 2.3: IPv6 Configuration ....................................................................................... 14

Section 2.4: IPv6 Implementation..................................................................................... 15

Section 3.1: DHCP Configuration .................................................................................... 16

Section 3.2: DHCP Options .............................................................................................. 17

Section 3.3: Advanced DHCPv4 Settings......................................................................... 18

Section 3.4: Server Placement .......................................................................................... 19

Section 3.5: Superscopes and Split Scopes....................................................................... 20

Section 3.6: DHCPv6........................................................................................................ 21

Section 4.1: DNS Concepts............................................................................................... 22

Section 4.2: Name Resolution........................................................................................... 23

Section 4.3: Zone Configuration....................................................................................... 24

Section 4.4: Active Directory-integrated Zones ............................................................... 25

Section 4.5: Resource Records ......................................................................................... 26

Section 4.6: Client Configuration ..................................................................................... 27

Section 4.7: Dynamic DNS............................................................................................... 28

Section 4.8: Stub Zones and Forwarding.......................................................................... 29

Section 4.9: Root Hints and Root Zone ............................................................................ 30

Section 4.10: Zone Delegation.......................................................................................... 31

Section 4.11: WINS and GlobalNames ............................................................................ 32

Section 4.12: DNS Features.............................................................................................. 33

Section 4.13: DNS Design ................................................................................................ 34

Section 5.1: Routing.......................................................................................................... 35

Section 5.2: RIP ................................................................................................................ 36

Section 5.3: Demand-dial Routing.................................................................................... 37

Section 5.4: ICS and NAT ................................................................................................ 38

Section 6.1: Remote Access Concepts.............................................................................. 39

Section 6.2: Dial-up and VPN .......................................................................................... 40

Section 6.3: SSTP ............................................................................................................. 41

Section 6.4: CMAK .......................................................................................................... 42

Section 7.1: Network Location Profiles............................................................................ 43

Section 7.2: Wireless ........................................................................................................ 44

Section 7.3: RADIUS........................................................................................................ 45

Section 7.4: Network Access Protection (NAP) ............................................................... 46

Section 7.5: Network Authentication................................................................................ 47

Section 7.6: Firewall ......................................................................................................... 48

Section 7.7: IPsec.............................................................................................................. 49

Section 8.1: File Services.................................................................................................. 50

Section 8.2: File Shares..................................................................................................... 51

Section 8.3: Offline Files .................................................................................................. 52

Section 8.4: NTFS Permissions ........................................................................................ 53

Section 8.5: Share and NTFS Permissions ....................................................................... 54

Section 8.6: EFS................................................................................................................ 55

Section 8.7: Distributed File System (DFS) ..................................................................... 56

Section 8.8: Shadow Copy................................................................................................ 57

Section 8.9: Backup and Restore ...................................................................................... 58

Section 8.10: Disk Quotas................................................................................................. 59

Section 8.11: FSRM Features ........................................................................................... 60

Section 8.12: Print Services .............................................................................................. 61

Section 9.1: WSUS ........................................................................................................... 62

Section 9.2: Client Configuration ..................................................................................... 63

Section 9.3: MBSA ........................................................................................................... 64

Section 10.1: Reliability and Performance Monitor ......................................................... 65

Section 10.2: Event Viewer .............................................................................................. 66

Section 10.3: Network Monitor ........................................................................................ 67

Section 10.4: SNMP.......................................................................................................... 68

Practice Exams.................................................................................................................. 69

Course Overview

This course prepares students for the 70-642 Technology Specialist exam: Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure, Configuring. It focuses on the details of configuring the infrastructure of a network.

Module 0 – Introduction
This module introduces Microsoft’s recommendations of the technical experience a candidate should have before attempting the certification test. Students will become familiar with server and remote management tools. This module provides the mathematical calculations of how to convert numbers from binary to decimal and hexadecimal. This mathematical foundation is necessary for students to understand the IPv4 and IPv6 addresses they will be studying in the course.

Module 1 – IPv4
This module discusses the details of configuring IPv4 addressing and subnetting. This includes topics of converting IPv4 addresses from binary to decimal, converting subnet masks to slant notation, identifying Ipv4 classes and ranges of IP addresses, and determining local and non-local hosts. Students will learn how to customize the number of subnets and hosts allowed on each subnet.

Module 2 – IPv6
In this module students will learn why it will become necessary to migrate to IPv6. They will learn the basic format of IPv6 addresses, identifying IPv6 address types, and configuring IPv6 addresses using the GUI and command line. Interoperability strategies for implementing IPv4 and IPv6 are explored.

Module 3 – DHCP
This module covers DHCP configuration, customization options, and advanced settings. Students will learn proper server placement to assure client communication with the DHCP server, the rationale for creating superscopes and split scopes, and DHCPv6 options.

Module 4 – DNS
In Module 4 students will learn the details of how DNS translates host names to IP addresses and the process of DNS name resolution for both the client and server. Topics will also include; creating zone and zone transfers, creating or converting an Active Directory-integrated zone, creating and editing resource records, configuring client registration, automatically updating DNS using Dynamic DNS, resolving queries using stub zones and forwarding, using root hints and a root zone, managing zones through zone delegation, creating WINS-integrated zones and GlobalNames zones support, and implementing strategies and goals when designing a DNS solution.

Module 5 – Routing
Module 5 teaches the students the basics of routing and how to manage routing table entries. Students will become familiar with installing RRAS components, and configuring RIP, demand-dial routing, and NAT solutions.

Module 6 – Remote Access
Module 6 discusses the details of configuring remote access and network authentication. Topics include; configuring a Remote Access server to use Dial-up and VPN connections, configuring client connections, configuring a VPN using SSTP, and using CMAK to manage remote access.

Module 7 – Network Access and Security
In Module 7 students will learn several strategies for controlling network access and enhancing network security. These will include: controlling network location profiles, configuring wireless connection, configuring a RADIUS client, server and proxy, configuring a DHCP server as an enforcement point, enforcing network authentication using Kerberos and NTLM, configuring a firewall, and configuring IPsec to protect IP packets during transmission.

Module 8 – File and Print
This module discusses managing network files and printing. Topics include: managing network file sharing and shared folders, controlling access using NTFS and share permissions, encrypting files and folders, protecting integrity of data through shadow copy, and backup and restore, restricting disk space using disk quotas and FSRM, and managing print services.

Module 9 – WSUS
In this module students will learn how to configure a WSUS server and client to manage the updating of software. They will also learn how to use MBSA to scan for security compliance.

Module 10 – Performance and Reliability
This module covers tools that are used to collect and monitor network data for performance and reliability. The Reliability and Performance Monitor provides network performance statistics. Event Viewer is used to monitor event logs. Network Monitor is used to gather information about network traffic. SNMP is used to manage networkattached devices.

Practice Exams In Practice Exams students will have the opportunity to test themselves and verify that they understand the concepts and are ready to take the certification test.

Section 0.1: Introduction

Preparation
This course prepares students for the 70-642 Technology Specialist exam: Windows Server 2008 Network Infrastructure, Configuring. Microsoft recommends at least one year experience in the following underlying technologies:
• IP addressing and services
• Names resolution
• File and print services
• Network access and remote access
• Monitoring network services

This section introduces the instructor and the concepts that will be covered in this course.

Time

About 2 minutes

Section 0.2: Server Management

Preparation
This section discusses a new management console, Server Manager, used to install and manage server components. Server Manager uses the following elements:
• Role
• Role services
• Feature

Server Core, a scaled-down version of Server 2008, provides a reduced foot print, reduced maintenance, less crashes and downtimes, and uses less disk space. To provide these benefits a limited set of server roles are supported. Student will learn how to configure and manage a server using Server Manager. They will also learn how to install roles on a Server Core server.

Configuring Server 2008 Network Infrastructure Objectives
• 102. Configure Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP)
• 201. Configure a Domain Name System (DNS) server.

Lecture Focus Questions:
• What are the differences among roles, role services, and features?
• How are dependencies handled during role installation?
• How does the server core installation differ from a standard server installation?
• What are the limitations of a server core installation? What are the advantages?

Time
About 20 minutes

Section 0.3: Remote Management

Preparation

This section examines remote management options. Students will learn how to enable Remote Desktop on a Server Core, enable remote management of the firewall, and open firewall ports to allow remote use of MMC snap-ins.

Lecture Focus Questions:
• How do firewall ports affect your ability to remotely manage a server?
• What firewall port must be opened for Remote Desktop connections?
• What advantage does using TS Gateway have over using Remote

Desktop?
• What is the effect of enabling the Remote Administration exception in the firewall?
• What are the operating system requirements for RSAT?
• Which remote administration tools could you use if the firewall had only ports 80 and 443 open?

Time
About 25 minutes

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70-294 Q & A / Study Guide

2012-01-02T01:29:00.000-08:00

Best Microsoft MCTS Certification, Microsoft MCITP Training at certkingdom.com

QUESTION 1
You work as the IT Admin at Certkingdom.com. The Certkingdom.com network has a forest that operates at the
forest functional level of Windows Server 2003. The forest has a root domain named Certkingdom.com,
and two child domains named north.Certkingdom.com and south.Certkingdom.com. Each domain has a security
group named Research which holds the user accounts for that domain.
Two domain controllers are situated in each of these domains. One domain controller in each
domain hosts a copy of the global catalog.
The global catalog server in the Certkingdom.com domain holds the domain naming and the schema
master roles. The global catalog server in north.Certkingdom.com and south.Certkingdom.com holds the relative
ID (RID), infrastructure, and PDC emulator master roles.
A Certkingdom.com user named Ally Wagner, in the south.Certkingdom.com domain, was recently married. When
Ally Wagner got back, she asked you to change her surname in her user account. After changing
Ally Wagner’s user account to Ally Hamm, you notice that her user account is still incorrectly
specified as Ally Wagner in the Research group.
Which of the following master roles should you move to the domain controller that does not have
the Global Catalog in each domain?

A. The domain naming master role.
B. The infrastructure master role.
C. The RID master role.
D. The schema master role.
E. The PDC emulator master role.

Answer: B

Explanation: Problems like this can occur when the Infrastructure master role is on the same
domain controller as the Global Catalog. The infrastructure master updates the group-to-user
reference whenever group memberships change and replicates these changes across the domain.
The infrastructure master compares its data with that of a global catalog. Global catalogs receive
regular updates for objects in all domains through replication, so the global catalog data will
always be up to date. If the infrastructure master finds that its data is out of date, it requests the
updated data from a global catalog. The infrastructure master then replicates that updated data to
the other domain controllers in the domain.
Unless there is only one domain controller in the domain, the infrastructure master role should not
be assigned to the domain controller that is hosting the global catalog. If the infrastructure master
and global catalog are on the same domain controller, the infrastructure master will not function.
The infrastructure master will never find data that is out of date, so it will never replicate any
changes to the other domain controllers in the domain. Transferring the Infrastructure master role
to a different computer would resolve this problem. There is no reason to transfer any other master
roles.
Reference:
Michael Cross, Jeffery
A. Martin, Todd
A. Walls, Martin Grasdal, Debra Littlejohn Shinder & Dr.
Thomas W. Shinder, MCSE: Exam 70-294: Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining a Windows
Server 2003 Active Directory Infrastructure Study Guide & DVD Training System, Syngress
Publishing, Rockland, MA, 2003, pp. 505-509.

QUESTION 2
You work as the IT Network Admin at Certkingdom.com. The Certkingdom.com network has a forest with two child
domains named us.Certkingdom.com and uk.Certkingdom.com. All servers and domain controllers on the
Certkingdom.com network have Windows 2000 Server installed.
You have been given the task to uABCrade the domain controllers in uk.Certkingdom.com to Windows
Server 2003. You therefore need to take the appropriate steps that are required to prepare the
forest for the impending deployment.
Which of the following actions should you take?
Answer by selecting the appropriate steps from the column on the left and place it in the correct
order in the column on the left.

Answer:

QUESTION 3
You work as the IT Admin at Certkingdom.com. The Certkingdom.com network has a domain named Certkingdom.com.
Certkingdom.com has offices in London and Berlin, which are configured as separate sites.
A Backup of Certkingdom.com’s Ntds.dit file is performed outside of business hours, seven days a week.
The domain has an OU named Research that currently holds no Active Directory objects. During
the course of the business day an administrator in Berlin removes the Research OU, while an
administrator in London simultaneously places existing Active Directory objects in it. The London
administrator is later informed of the removal, and now realizes that the objects that were placed
into the Research OU are missing.
The CIO has subsequently instructed you to make sure that a Research OU and the missing
Active Directory objects are available to the London administrator. The CIO also informs you that
your solution should have no impact on network connectivity and resources. You have already
created a new OU, and named it Research.
Which of the following actions should you take NEXT?

A. You should transfer the objects from the LostAndFound container to the new Research OU
B. You should recreate the objects and then place the replicas in a Domain Group Policy that
should be linked to all OUs.
C. You should restore the objects to the new Research OU nonauthoritatively.
D. You should restore the objects to the new Research OU authoritatively.

Answer: A

Explanation: You moved the objects to an OU that had just been deleted. When you move
objects to an object that is no longer there, the objects get moved to the LostAndFound container.
This means that we haven’t lost the objects, so we can just re-create the Research OU and move
the users from the LostAndFound container to the new OU.
Reference:
Michael Cross, Jeffery
A. Martin, Todd
A. Walls, Martin Grasdal, Debra Littlejohn Shinder & Dr.
Thomas W. Shinder, MCSE: Exam 70-294: Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining a Windows
Server 2003 Active Directory Infrastructure Study Guide & DVD Training System, Syngress
Publishing, Rockland, MA, 2003, pp. 38-39, 99-101

QUESTION 4
You work as a IT Admin at Certkingdom.com. Certkingdom.com has its headquarters located in Dallas and branch
division in Miami. The Dallas and Miami division represent separate sites. The Dallas and Miami
divisions are linked to each other via a WAN link.
You have added a domain controller named ABC-SR01 to the Miami division and configured it as
a global catalog server. You have just completed configuring the site link between the Dallas and
Miami divisions.
The CIO at Certkingdom.com has instructed you to make sure that Miami workstations authenticate to the
network via ABC-SR01. The CIO also informs you that the replication of domain changes has to
happen instantaneously.
Which of the following actions should you take?

A. You should reduce the site link interval.
B. You should reduce the site link cost.
C. You should combine the Dallas and Miami sites into a single site
D. You should increase the site link cost.

Answer: A

Explanation:

QUESTION 5
You work as the IT Admin at Certkingdom.com. The Certkingdom.com network has a domain named Certkingdom.com. All
servers on the Certkingdom.com network have Windows Server 2003 installed and all workstations have
Windows XP Professional installed.
Certkingdom.com is made up of four divisions named Sales, Marketing, Finance and Research. The
Certkingdom.com network has an organizational unit (OU) named after each division that holds the user
accounts of all employees working in that specific division.
You need to install a new application for all employees in the Marketing division. You start by
creating an installation package and a Group Policy object (GPO). You plan to make use of the
new GPO to deploy the package to the workstations in the Marketing division. You therefore
connect the GPO to the Marketing OU. However, the application does not install.
The CIO informs you that the application must be installed and that you should make sure that
marketing application is not installed on workstations in the other Certkingdom.com divisions.
How will you accomplish the task?

A. Advise the Marketing users to reboot their workstations.
B. Edit the GPO and assign the application to user accounts with Marketing OU membership.
C. Connect the GPO to the Certkingdom.com domain.
D. Connect the GPO to the OU that contains computer accounts and not the Marketing OU.

Answer: B

Explanation: It is likely that the application was assigned to the computer accounts, rather than
the user accounts.
Reference:
Jill Spealman, Kurt Hudson & Melissa Craft, MCSE Self-Paced Training Kit (Exam 70-294);
Planning, Implementing, and Maintaining a Microsoft Windows Server 2003 Active Directory
Infrastructure, Microsoft Press, Redmond, Washington, 2004, pp. 12-3 to 12-10, 12-13 to 12-28,
12-34 to 12-39

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70-272 Q & A / Study Guide

2011-12-30T01:21:00.000-08:00

Best Microsoft MCTS Certification, Microsoft MCITP Training at certkingdom.com

QUESTION 1
You work as the network administrator at Certkingdom.com. Certkingdom.com has a domain named Certkingdom.com. All
servers on the Certkingdom.com network run Windows Server 2003 and all client computers run Microsoft
Windows XP Professional SP2.
Certkingdom.com has a Marketing and Finance division which requires using Microsoft Office XP to
perform their daily duties.
How would you instruct the Marketing and Finance user’s to run the Microsoft Office XP setup if
the setup fails and rolls backup without changing the user’s currently assigned privileges?

A. By adding the Marketing and Finance division to the Network Configuration Operators group
and accessing Microsoft Office Product Updates to scan the computer for updates.
B. By adding the Marketing and Finance division to the Power Users group and using Add or
Remove Programs in Control Panel to remove Office and re-install Microsoft Office XP.
C. By creating a remote connection to the Marketing and Finance group client computers and reinstalling
Microsoft Office XP using a network-based installation point with the required .msi file.
D. By adding the Marketing and Finance division to the local Administrators group and restarting
the browser and Workstation services before re-installing Microsoft Office XP from the Windows
Installer command-line utility.

Answer: C

Explanation: To try to recreate the error you have to run the installation in the users’ privileges so
running the installation on your computer with your privileges will not help you to solve the problem
(answer B and D). Visiting the Microsoft Office Product Updates Web site will not help the user in
any way as long as he doesn’t have Microsoft Office installed on his computer.

QUESTION 2
You work as the desktop support technician at Certkingdom.com. Certkingdom.com has a domain named
Certkingdom.com. All servers on the Certkingdom.com network run Windows 2000 Server and all client computers
run Microsoft Windows XP Professional SP2.
Certkingdom.com has a Marketing division which uses Microsoft Office 2003 for their daily duties. During
the course of the day Marketing division users reported that certain files of theirs have been deleted.
How would you configure the Marketing division client computers to track any attempts by
malicious users to alter or delete files on their computers?

A. By running the secedit /analyze command on the client computers.
B. By running the secedit /configure command on the client computers.
C. By configuring security access control lists for their disk drives by auditing the Everyone group
on the client computers.
D. By running the secedit /validate command on the client computers.

Answer: C

Explanation: You must track unauthorized attempts to modify or delete the files so auditing the
Everyone group is the correct choice.

QUESTION 3
You work as a desktop adminsitrator at Certkingdom.com. Certkingdom.com has a domain named Certkingdom.com. All
servers run Microsoft Windows 2000 server and the client computers run Microsoft Windows XP Professional.
Certkingdom.com has a Marketing division which makes online purchases during work hours.
How would you configure the network firewall to stop these activities whilst allowing the Marketing
division to access the Internet?

A. By having port 110 blocked on the firewall.
B. By having port 443 blocked on the firewall.
C. By having port 143 blocked on the firewall.
D. By having port 21 blocked on the firewall.

Answer: B

Explanation: Port 443 is used for Secure Sockets Layer connections to Secure HTTP Web sites.
This port should be blocked.

QUESTION 4
You work as the network administrator at Certkingdom.com. Certkingdom.com has a domain named Certkingdom.com. All
servers on the Certkingdom.com network run Windows Server 2003 and all client computers run Windows XP Professional.
Certkingdom.com has a Finance division which uses Microsoft Office XP to perform their daily tasks.
How would you configure Microsoft Office XP to ensure opened documents display’s a toolbar
containing the Balloons button?

A. By accessing the Help menu and selecting the Detect and Repair… option.
B. By right-clicking the toolbar and selecting the Reviewing toolbar from the context menu.
C. By re-installing Microsoft Office XP and copying a Normal.dot file from the administrator’s
computer to the My Documents folder.
D. By accessing the tools menu from another user’s document and accessing the Tools menu to
select Shared Workspace.

Answer: B

Explanation: The Balloons button appears on the Reviewing Toolbar. Simply enabling this toolbar
will show this button. To enable the toolbar, right click any open spot in the toolbar area. From the
dropdown list, click Reviewing.

QUESTION 5
You work as a network administrator at Certkingdom.com. Certkingdom.com has a domain named Certkingdom.com. All
servers on the Certkingdom.com network run Windows 2000 Server and all client computers run Windows
XP Professional SP2.
Certkingdom.com has a Finance division that has a client computer named ABC-WS272. The Finance
division requires the use of a printer. You attach a printer to ABC-WS272 and enable Print Shared.
You then print a test page. However, other users in the Finance division cannot find the printer on the network.
How would you configure ABC-WS272?

A. By using a Group Policy Object GPO which deploys the printer software to the Finance division.
B. By opening Windows Firewall and configuring ICMP options.
C. By enabling the File and Printer Sharing option on the Exception tab of the Windows Firewall.
D. By configuring Windows Firewall to have the Don’t allow exceptions option enabled.

Answer: C

Explanation: If the File and Printer Sharing is not enabled, the incoming request will be blocked
by the Windows Firewall.

QUESTION 6
You work as the network administrator at Certkingdom.com. Certkingdom.com has a domain named Certkingdom.com. All
servers on the Certkingdom.com network run Windows Server 2003 and all client computers run Windows
XP Professional SP2. Certkingdom.com has a client computer named ABC-WS272 configured with
Microsoft Outlook Express.
Certkingdom.com has a Marketing division which uses Microsoft Outlook Express to send e-mail.
How would you configure Microsoft Outlook Express to ensure the users are able to open saved email
messages when opening Microsoft Outlook Express?

A. By disabling AutoArchive.
B. By importing .zip files.
C. By importing .pst files.
D. By importing .bdx files.

Answer: D

Explanation: The probable cause for this problem is that the user is not loading his dbx files when
Outlook Express launches. This is usually due to the user moving the dbx files, and Outlook
Express can no longer find them.

QUESTION 7
You work as the network administrator at Certkingdom.com. Certkingdom.com has a domain named Certkingdom.com. All
servers on the Certkingdom.com network run Windows Server 2003 and all client computers run Windows
XP Professional. Certkingdom.com has a client computer named ABC-WS272 configured with Microsoft Internet Explorer.
Certkingdom.com has a Finance division with several employees who use ABC-WS272 to perform their daily tasks.
How would you configure ABC-WS272’s Internet Explorer to make sure that each user has their
own Favorites list?

A. By having a user profile created for each Finance division member using the computer.
B. By having a Microsoft Outlook Express identity created for Finance division members using the computer.
C. By having an Internet Explorer Address book identity created for Finance division members using the computer.
D. By having separate Favorites folder created under the My Documents folder for Finance division members using the computer.

Answer: A

Explanation: The user favorites list keeps changing. You must make sure for the user. Creating a
user profile for each family member will stop this change from happening.

QUESTION 8
You work as the network administrator at Certkingdom.com. Certkingdom.com has a domain named Certkingdom.com. All
servers run Windows Server 2003 and all client computers run Windows XP Professional.
Certkingdom.com has its headquarters in Chicago and a Marketing and Finance division in Boston. You
are in Chicago and use a client computer named ABC-WS272. The Marketing and Finance
division has a client computer named ABC-WS274. Both ABC-WS272 and ABC-WS274 utilizes
manual IP address configuration and ISDN lines to access the Internet.
How can you utilize ABC-WS272 to control ABC-WS274 using Remote Desktop without disrupting
Internet connectivity?

A. By having ABC-WS272 configured with an Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) enabled after
placing ABC-WS272’s domain user account to Remote Desktop Users group on ABC-WS274.
B. By having ABC-WS272 configured with an Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) enabled with
Remote Desktop option in the Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) services enabled on ABCWS274.
C. By having ABC-WS272 configured with an Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) enabled and
enabling Internet Connection Firewall (ICF) on ABC-WS274.
D. By having ABC-WS274 configured with an Internet Connection Sharing (ICS) enabled after
placing ABC-WS274’s domain user account to Remote Desktop Users group on ABC-WS272.

Answer: B

Explanation: To keep the home computer secure you should start by enabling the ICF. By default
if you're running Windows XP Service Pack 2 (SP2) and you enable Remote Desktop, Windows
Firewall will be automatically configured to allow Remote Desktop connections to your computer. If
you or someone else has removed the Remote Desktop exception then you’ll have to manually
add it by open the Security Center, click Windows Firewall and click the Exceptions tab, and select
Remote Desktop.

QUESTION 9
You work as the network administrator at Certkingdom.com. Certkingdom.com has a domain named Certkingdom.com. All
servers on the Certkingdom.com network run Windows Server 2003 and all client computers run Windows
XP Professional. Certkingdom.com has a client computer named ABC-WS272 configured with Microsoft
Outlook Express.
Certkingdom.com has a Marketing division which needs to sends e-mail to Arabic clients.
How would you configure ABC-WS272 to ensure the Marketing division members are able to
compose an e-mail message in the Arabic character set?

A. By downloading the foreign language version of Microsoft Outlook Express and install the software.
B. By having the Windows XP language pack for the foreign language required downloaded and installed.
C. By accessing Regional and Language option in Control Panel and select the foreign character set required.
D. By accessing the Microsoft Outlook Express View menu to select Auto Encoding.

Answer: B

Explanation: From Start menu, select Settings then Control Panel, Start Regional Options, Click
on Languages tab, In Supplemental language support box, check the checkboxes of desired
language collection(s) and click OK, Additional files will be copied to your machine. You may need
to provide the Windows XP CD or the network share name, After reboot, support for new
languages will become available.

QUESTION 10
You work as the network administrator at Certkingdom.com. Certkingdom.com has a domain named Certkingdom.com. All
servers on the Certkingdom.com network run Windows Server 2003 and all client computers run Windows
XP Professional. Certkingdom.com has a computer named ABC-SR01 configured as the VPN server using
IPSec connections.
Certkingdom.com has a Marketing division which uses ABC-SR01 using a L2TP connection. During the
course of the day the Marketing division state the L2TP connection has failed.
How would you configure the connection used to ensure that the Marketing division is able to
access ABC-SR01?

A. By configuring the connection type to PPTP VPN.
B. By configuring the connection to use the Public Key Infrastructure (PKI).
C. By configuring ABC-SR01 to use additional PPTP ports.
D. By configuring the connection type to SSTP VPN.

Answer: A

Explanation: IPSec is not used, so L2TP connections should not be used either. Instead
reconfigure to use PPTP VPN.

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70-271 Exam Q & A / Study Guide

2011-12-28T01:50:00.000-08:00

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QUESTION 1
You work as a technician at ABC.com. The ABC.com network only has workgroups. All client
computers are configured to run Windows XP Professional. All ABC.com employees have
administrative privileges on their own computer. ABC.com does not want file encryption to be
used.
You use a computer named ABC-WS25. You are promoted to a new position and have been
replaced by a new employee named Mia Hamm. You are worried that Mia Hamm will be able to
open your files.
How can you prevent Mia Hamm from opening your files and folders on ABC-WS25?

A. The data should be compressed in a folder.
B. The user should be removed from the ACL of the folder.
C. The operating system should be reinstalled with Windows XP Professional.
D. Your user account should be deleted from ABC-WS25.

Answer: D

Explanation: Your best option in this scenario would be to delete your user account from ABCWS25.

QUESTION 2
You are the newly appointed technician at ABC.com. The ABC.com network has a domain named
ABC.com. The client computers are configured to run Windows XP Professional.
Employees search the Web using Internet Explorer. To accomplish their tasks employees log onto
the ABC.com Web site. You implement a digital certificate to enhance the security of the ABC.com
Web site. The next day an employee of ABC.com, Ally Wagner, informs you that she is having
problems connecting to the Web site when she enters the URL for ABC.com in her browser.
Which action should you execute to resolve this problem?

A. Ally Wagner should add the www.ABC.com Web site to the approved Web sites in Content
Advisor.
B. Ally Wagner should access the Web site using the HTTPS for opening the URL..
C. Ally Wagner should set the Privacy setting to Medium in the Internet Option in the Control
Panel.
D. Ally Wagner should add the Web site URL to the trusted sites in the security zone.

Answer: B

Explanation: Your best option would be to select Option B. The scenario states that digital
certificates are used by ABC.com to secure the information on the website and in order to
establish a secure communication channel you have to use https instead of http. Https is http over
SSL.

QUESTION 3
You work as a graphics designer at ABC.com. The ABC.com network has a domain named
ABC.com. The client computers on the corporate network are configured to run Windows XP
Professional. You use a computer named ABC-WS271.
You want to increase the display size of your screen. However, you get an error message stating
that the Display menu on the control panel has been disabled.
How can you have the resolution of your screen increased?

A. You should set the hardware acceleration to full.
B. You should enable Advanced Configuration and Power Interface (ACPI) support in the system
BIOS on the computer.
C. You should configure the display settings to work in dual-monitor mode.
D. You should request that the Remove Display option in Control Panel be disabled.

Answer: D

Explanation: Your best option in this scenario would be to select Option D. The Deny Access to
the Display Settings option will disable the display settings control panel icon as well as stopping
users from accessing any display settings. This setting can be applied either by a GPO or by
modifying the registry.

QUESTION 4
You work as a technician at ABC.com. The ABC.com network has a domain named ABC.com. All
client computers on the network are configured to run Windows XP Professional.
You bring your personal laptop computer to work and attempts to logon to the domain from your
laptop. However, you are not able to log on. Your laptop computer is configured to run Windows
XP Home Edition.
How do you ensure access to the domain using your laptop? (Choose TWO. Each answer forms
part of the solution.)

A. By joining your laptop to the domain.
B. By installing Service Pack 3 on your laptop.
C. By logging on as a member of the Power Users group.
D. by changing the Custom settings in the Setup Wizard.
E. By uABCrading to Windows XP Professional.

Answer: A,E

Explanation: Your best option in this scenario would be to have ABC-WS25 uABCraded to
Windows XP Professional and join it to the domain. Microsoft has crippled the Home version of
Windows XP and made it impossible to join it to domains. It thus forced the majority of companies
to invest in the slightly more expensive Windows XP Pro.

QUESTION 5
You work as a help desk support technician at ABC.com. The ABC.com network consists of a
single Active Directory domain named ABC.com. The servers on the ABC.com network are
configured to run Windows Server 2003 and all client computers Windows XP Professional.
You have administrative privileges on a client computer named ABC-WS10. ABC-WS10 has a
hard disk that is formatted as a single partition. You realize the next day that you failed to backup
the Boot.ini file on ABC-WS10 and now get a message stating that the boot disk is unable to be
read and as a result Windows will not be started. You thus decide to run the Recovery Console
and reboot ABC-WS10.
You advise Rory Allen to reboot his computer with the Windows XP Professional CD-ROM and
make use of the Recovery Console.
Which of the following is the task that Rory Allen should complete next?

A. Rory Allen should reinstall Windows XP professional.
B. Rory Allen should execute a system restore on ABC-WS10.
C. Rory Allen should execute the bootcfg command with the /rebuild parameter.
D. Rory Allen should execute the diskpart command.

Answer: C

Explanation: Your best option in this scenario would be to select Option C. The bootcfg command
is a Microsoft Windows XP Recovery Console command that manipulates the Boot.ini file. This
command has a function that can scan your hard disks for Microsoft Windows NT 4.0, Microsoft
Windows 2000, and Windows XP installations, and then add them to an existing Boot.ini file. The
function can also rebuild a new Boot.ini file if one does not exist.

QUESTION 6
You work as a network administrator at ABC.com. The ABC.com network has a domain named
ABC.com. All servers on the ABC.com network run Windows Server 2003 and all client computers
run Windows XP Professional.
A ABC.com employee named Clive Wilson is a member of the Marketing department. Clive Wilson
is due to present a report to top management. The conference facility has a projector as well as a
laptop computer named ABC-WS25 that contains the latest graphics card. During the course of
the morning Clive Wilson informs you that he is having difficulty displaying complains that, during a
sales presentation to senior management he encountered a problem with ABC-WS25.
He informs you that the cables were connected properly and that ABC-WS25 was configured to
display to the projector. However, the message projected by the projector stated that it could not
project the image. You thus decide configure ABC-WS25 to show on the LCD but is unsuccessful
as you are presented with a ‘No signal’ message.
Which of the following actions should you take to rectify this problem?

A. The current video resolution on ABC-WS25 should be changed.
B. The projector should be checked to see whether it supports the IEEE 1394 standard.
C. The Video Graphics Array for ABC-WS25 should be listed in Device Manager.
D. The projector should be checked to see whether it supports the USB 2.0 standard.

Answer: A

Explanation: The error has occurred due to the fact that laptop computers often use a high
resolution while projectors have a much lower resolution. It is therefore needed that employees
assigned laptop computers make the necessary changed to the resolution settings prior to
connecting to the projector, unless the computer hardware takes care of this itself.

QUESTION 7
You work as a network administrator at ABC.com. The ABC.com network consists of a single
Active Directory domain named ABC.com. All servers on the ABC.com network run Windows
Server 2003 and all client computers run Windows XP Professional. The ABC.com network has a
file server named ABC-SR04 that is accessed by network users.
A ABC.com employee named Ally Wagner was assigned a computer named ABC-WS10. Ally
Wagner says that she cannot access ABC-SR04. No other employees are experiencing the same
problem. You confirm that the ABC-WS10 network cable connection is correct.
Which actions should you take to make sure that ABC-WS10 can make a connection to ABCSR04?

A. ABC-WS10 should be configured to make use of mnode for NetBIOS name resolution.
B. ABC-WS10 should be configured to automatically obtain an IP address.
C. ABC-WS10 should be configured with the correct DNS server IP address.
D. ABC-WS10 should be configured with the correct IP address of the default gateway.

Answer: C

Explanation: The scenario states that the cable is connected and other users are able to
communicate on the network. It is therefore not a physical network problem. It is likely to be a
configuration problem on ABC-WS10.

QUESTION 8
You work as a network administrator at ABC.com. The ABC.com network consists of a single
Active Directory domain named ABC.com. All servers on the ABC.com network run Windows
Server 2003 and all client computers run Windows 98.
ABC.com wants to uABCrade the client computers to Windows XP Professional. You are
concerned that performance might be slow after the uABCrade. You are particularly concerned
about response times when opening windows and menus.
Which of the following is a task that you would perform to address this issue?

A. Set the screen refresh rate to a lower value in Display settings.
B. Access the Performance Options dialog box and choose the Adjust for best performance
option.
C. Modify the Advanced Display settings to configure the display DPI setting to 120 dots per inch
in the Display Properties dialog box.
D. Access the Performance Options dialog box and modify the System applet.

Answer: B

Explanation: In this scenario you need to select the Adjust for best appearance option in the
Performance Option dialog box. The graphical nature of Windows XP Professional has progressed
as they are more extensive in their use of colors and shading, and they drain more system
resources. Trimming back the level of graphical representation in your Windows XP desktop can
save system resources and boost overall application and network performance.

QUESTION 9
You work as a network administrator at ABC.com. The ABC.com network has a workgroup named
ABC. All client computers either run Windows 2000 Professional or Windows XP Professional.
A ABC.com user named Kara Lang is assigned a new Windows XP Professional computer named
ABC-WS25. Kara Lang is assigned the permission to create a file for her department. The file will
be used by four other users. Each user is responsible for a specific task and permission has to be
assigned in accordance to the duties they will perform on the file.
Which of the following is an option that would enable Kara Lang to perform the functions
mentioned in the scenario?

A. On ABC-WS25 you need to have the option of simple file sharing deselected.
B. On ABC-WS25 the Full Control permission should be assigned to Kara Lang.
C. On ABC-WS25 the NTFS permissions was reset after the uABCrade.
D. On ABC-WS25 a link should be configured in My Computer to the shared folder.

Answer: A

Explanation: Your best option would be to have simple file sharing disabled as it is enabled on a
Microsoft Windows XP-based computer if the computer is not a member of a domain. Simple file
sharing allows you to share folders with everyone on your workgroup or network and make folders
in your user profile private. However, if simple file sharing is enabled, you cannot prevent specific
users and groups from accessing your shared folders. If you turn off simple file sharing, you can
permit specific users and groups to access a shared folder.

QUESTION 10
You are employed as an administrator at ABC.com. The client computers on the ABC.com
network are configured to run Windows XP Professional.
The ABC.com Sales department manager, Rory Allen is assigned a client computer named ABCWS25.
During the course of the day Rory Allen make use of the Windows XP Professional driver
to install a Canon MP250 color printer on ABC-WS25. The Canon MP250 color printer will be
shared with another manager in the department.
After the installation you receive complaints from the two managers informing that they are only
able to print monotone graphs. You receive an instruction from the CIO to ensure that they are
able print the graphs in color from the printer. You thus decide to install a printer driver on ABCWS25
from the CD-ROM provided by the manufacturing company but find that the problem
persists.
Which of the following should be your next option?

A. You should configure the appropriate printer option in the BIOS.
B. You should have a signed printer driver installed on ABC-WS25 that was obtained from the
company.
C. You should run use the Add Printer Wizard to connect to the printer.
D. You should reconfigure the properties of the print server in Printer and Faxes.

Answer: B

Explanation: You should install the correct printer driver on ABC-WS25. The computer of the
other manager will then receive the correct driver from ABC-WS25 when he attempts to print.

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Top 5 Ed Tech predictions for 2012

2011-12-26T16:52:00.000-08:00

Here’s hoping I’m more accurate than I was last year.

Earlier this week I wrote about five major technologies that should have had real impacts in education this year, but which never amounted to much. I called more than one of them out a year ago, when all signs pointed to their potential for disruption and transformation in 2011. I can’t resist giving it another shot this year, though. Here are my top 5 predictions for the state of the art in Ed Tech in the coming year.

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Analytics and BI will go mainstream
In a former life, I was a SAS programmer doing data management and statistical analysis for clinical trials. SAS is still going strong in large-scale, mission critical statistical programming, but much of its business focus is now on analytics and business intelligence (BI). IBM just launched an initiative to promote education, training, and research at the university level in the fields. For those not familiar with them, BI and BA apply complex business rules and enable decision-making based on the analysis of very large data stores.

Both companies (and many others, although SAS and IBM are arguably the market leaders) have products geared towards making these tools available, relevant, and usable in the education space, where the amount of data we now collect on our students is growing exponentially, both because of federal and state requirements and because most educators realize that data-driven instruction is a powerful tool for improving outcomes. In education, these tools can pick out at-risk students based on wide-ranging data before they ever hit the radar of a guidance counselor.

The data are in place, the technologies are in place, and NCLB and RTTP have conditioned educators to think about data (no matter what else, good or bad, you may think of them). 2012 will see an explosion in the real use of analytics to assist schools and districts in improving quality and outcomes. I’m not talking about reviewing yearly standardized test scores here. I’m talking about the confluence of formative and summative assessments, demographic data, and many other bits of information, all of which are now available electronically and ready to be mined. It’s worth noting that EDUCAUSE was filled with vendors holding up the latest and greatest tools for data mining, aggregation, management, and analysis and Oracle resorted to showgirls standing next to geeks demoing software at both BBWorld and EDUCAUSE.

Google’s tablet will NOT be the holy grail of 1:1
A reader emailed me the other day and asked me if I thought that Google’s tablet, expected for release before fall 2012, would finally make tablet-based 1:1 initiatives a reality. The answer was no. Although I’m sure the tablets will be great pieces of hardware and software and I’m sure that I’ll get one, the predicted $500 price point is just too high. Sure, Google Apps integration will be very strong, as will the management features that go with it, but at that price, you could have an iPad.

While I’m not saying that iPads are better for education than other tablets, I am saying that they have a major foothold in the growing market. Even iPads, though, are only making it into well-funded districts at scale. The only thing that could disrupt the current market and current trends in 1:1 would be a very inexpensive tablet (<$300) with all the management features and a content ecosystem that would finally make the ideal of a "tablet in every backpack" a reality.

Google's move to drop the price of Chromebooks this year and provide enterprise, web-based management consoles for the slick little laptops suggests, as well as innovative rental models for schools and businesses, however, suggests that they may have a few tricks up their sleeves. The Google tablet won't be the holy grail of 1:1, but I'm hopeful that it will be a step in the right direction.

BYOD will make 1:1 possible in a big way
In the face of miserable budgets and no end in sight to a stagnating economy, school/state-funded 1:1 will not be sustainable in the majority of school districts. Worldwide sales of Classmate PCs to education ministries remain strong, but this relies on a very different educational model than that employed here in the States. At the college level, where a computer is a necessity for students, only a tiny fraction of schools supply a laptop as part of a student’s tuition. Instead, students bring their own, often selecting from specially negotiated prices with major OEMs. It’s time K12 schools followed suit.

Again, there is a confluence of factors that will make BYOD the 1:1 model of choice for 2012 (a model, by the way, that will get devices onto a lot more desks and into a lot more student hands in the classroom this year). The emergence of inexpensive devices like the Kindle Fire, despite its lack of manageability, means that tabets will become increasingly commonplace for for students, making instant access to the Internet and a variety of content easily achieved. AMD is promising inexpensive alternatives to Intel’s ultrabooks and prices continue to fall on remarkably usable laptops.

Similarly, great platforms for e-learning, ranging from Moodle 2.3 to the new and improved Google Apps, to a growing ecosystem of tablet apps mean that schools have more reason than ever to leverage all of those devices that are sitting in student bedrooms but often aren’t allowed in classrooms. Finally, robust security and filtering solutions (including tablet integration) from companies like LightSpeed mean that the risks formerly posed by outside devices are increasingly being mitigated both on- off-campus.

Khan Academy, et al, will give publishers and mainstream educators a run for their money
Many teachers and students have leapt at the opportunities provided by Khan Academy, MIT OpenCourseWare, and other free and open educational tool available online, assigning them as homework, using them for flipped classes, suggesting them as resources for study and remediation, and even integrating them into their curricula just as they would multimedia tools that come with their textbooks. Others struggle with the idea that Khan and others represent competition. For the latter group, rest easy…no video can replace an awesome teacher in class. Awesome teachers, though, use whatever resources they can find to ensure that their students “get it”, whatever “it” might be. The teachers who should be worried are those who aren’t, for lack of a better word, awesome. Awesome teachers are engaged mentors to whom students will look for guidance as they navigate the muddy waters of information on the Internet, among other places.

The real moral of this story, though, is that enough teachers are turning to the Internet and open resources (including great open source texts available from organizations like CK12.org) that traditional publishers have no choice but to stand up and take notice. This will be a battle of Darwinian proportions (i.e., survival of the fittest); open resources will no doubt coexist for years to come with proprietary resources from mainstream publishers. But we’re talking about a multibillion dollar industry here. It doesn’t take much of a dent to start shaving millions off of profit margins.

We will say goodbye to a lot more libraries and hello to a lot more information
A local prep school dumped its library about two years ago in favor of a media center replete with computers, Kindles, and an espresso bar (yes, an espresso bar - it’s a prestigious school). Administration took a lot of flack, not because the library was well-used (it wasn’t) but because a lot of people didn’t like the idea that the notion of a library was changing. Now, with far less controversy, Johns Hopkins University is closing its historic medical library in a few short days. Library staff had already transitioned from traditional librarian roles to that of so-called “informationists.” Modern library science degree programs are far more concerned with accessing information than the Dewey Decimal System.

Add to that growing space constraints, emerging 1:1 programs that are far easier to justify if they can reduce reliance on dead trees, and nearly ubiquitous availability of journals and books in electronic formats and you have a recipe for converting libraries as we know them now to anachronisms. This isn’t a bad thing as long as the misson of school libraries can be to make students discerning seekers and users of information. In fact, moving to information-based rather than book-based models could cause a renaissance for libraries. This renaissance simply doesn’t need to involve acquiring larger expensive collections of paper; it needs to involve drastically increasing the amount of time students spend in libraries developing their critical thinking and information access skills.

Must have Iphone 4S Apps with SIRI

2011-12-25T05:33:00.000-08:00

In the recent time, the development in smart phone apps has affected the design community to a huge extent. This new development has provided the mobile technology with a new outlook which makes the mobile more than just a communication figure. It's anticipated that over 350,000 mobile apps have been developed in the past three years and have been downloaded massively 10.9 million times. It’s also estimated that popularity and demand of mobile apps will reach to its peak in 2013. These facts and figures show why businesses are banking more on mobile application development.

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Iphone mobile application development provides a user with different kinds of dimensions. With the proper use of iphone mobile applications you can find a right pathway towards development. The mobile application developers and experts have switched to this new era of technology. There are numerous iPhone apps that functions in organizing tasks and linking the space between conventional techniques for managing business and the novel and inventive technology of today. Let’s have a look at some of the useful iPhone apps that you must possess:

• Siri:

Siri is not new in the field of mobile applications but since its launch in April 2010, it has come a long way and is one of the best apps developed. Apple has decided to slot in Siri into its new iphone 4S and therefore, is not accessible elsewhere. Siri on iPhone 4S permits your voice to set reminders, send messages, checking weather, schedule meetings and many more. Siri is very comfortable to use as it understands what you say, knows what you mean and helps you do things you do everyday. If you have any work to do, just ask Siri to assist you in doing it. In fact, Siri talks with you. Siri utilizes nearly all the integrated apps on iPhone 4S. Its assimilation into iPhone 4S iOS5 will make it more accurate that it has ever been. Siri still requires some more improvements as its hearing ability in a crowdie environment isn’t good enough but its accuracy is perfect in a quite environment. All in all it will be fun to use as you will get exciting experience of talking with your phone.

• Doodle Jump:
It is the all-time top selling paid iPhone app. Even users say that be careful about it as it is insanely addictive. Doodle Jump is the WINNER of 2010 APPLE DESIGN AWARD for brilliance in design, user skill, novelty, presentation, expertise and superiority. Doodle Jump is an enjoyable and addictive dais skipping game with a charming, hand-scribbled artistic and a smartly incorporated leader board. Roll your iPhone to channel the endearingly long muzzled Doodler as he scrambles a part of graph paper, all the while evading black holes, killing giants, and collecting goodies. As you budge forward on an infinitely spooling, twisted vertical screen, you jump onto an progressively more exigent array of platforms consist of stirring blue platforms, dissolution brown platforms, white platforms that fade away after one jump and also possesses platforms with jump up surging springs and jet packs. Doodle Jump is tough to quit and you will surely love this App.

• Facebook:
Facebook have proclaimed that, out of 4 million daily mobile users of facebook, 1.64 million users possess iPhone and rests have other smart phones. The latest version of the Facebook as an iPhone app implies that there is a lot to offer on further apps for the iPhone platform. This new version is much faster and adds a bonus point to the iPhone users as it’s extremely easy to move back and forth between your personal and business accounts. If you want to interact with the facebook on the daily basis, then you must acquire this app. Videos are not yet playable and push notifications also need assimilation but developers are working on this and may be you will get it in the next version. Once you start with it, you will surely get passionate to it.

• SPY Mouse:
This game from Electronic Arts is a paid app and has topped the most downloaded app recently. The game was launched on August 30, 2011 and unexpectedly, has recently exceeded the popularity of Angry Birds and Angry Birds and the season. In this game, you command a secret agent mouse that is ordered to eat more cheese and evade every teasing cat along the way. You can skulk, run around and bite your way throughout 70 levels of twist and turn difficulty, with six exclusive worlds of jam-packed adventures, each with their own wicked and evil Hench-cat to get around. SPY Mouse is also launched and available in other languages like Chinese, Dutch, French, German, Italian, Japanese, Korean and Spanish.

• WhatsApp Messenger:
WhatsApp Messenger is a crusty-platform messaging mobile application which enables you to barter messages and saving a considerable amount of money. The main thing you require is that the person to whom you text most often also download this app. This mobile app is presently accessible for the iPhone, Android phones, Blackberry and Nokia and these phones can message each other. WhatsApp Messenger also allows you adjust your background, reports you when a passage has been viewed by your recipient and facilitates you to channelize your GPS position on an interactional map. There are not many advantages of this app but the best one is the money which you save. If you are fond of texting, then you must have this app for unlimited text experience while others worry about extra charges.

The only thing a mobile application developer requires is to recognize their potential customers and their basic needs. For small as well as large sized mobile application company, there is not any advantageous field or area of development other than the mobile application development.

Kindle Fire Tablet Review - New Product from Amazon

2011-12-21T06:28:00.000-08:00

On Wednesday Amazon on officially introduced not one, not two, but four new Kindle devices. And of the Main is full color Kindle Fire. This new Tablet is very reasonable, will cost you only $199! This is a killer price for any color tablet. It's cheaper than the iPad

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Amazon's color tablet has a 7-inch 16-million color display same like the iPad. It has wide viewing angle and great color saturation. It is made of Gorilla Glass with multi-touch display screen and a resolution of 1024x600 pixels. This resolution is pretty dense: 169 pixels per inch. The display is chemically strengthened to be 20 times stiffer and 30 times harder than plastic, making it extra durable and resistant to accidental bumps and scrapes. It has its own unique Android interface. It has Android 2.x. Amazon Kindle Fire is powered by a dual core CPU. Dual-core processor gives fast, powerful performance

Highlights of the Kindle Fire :
• 18 million movies, TV shows, songs, magazines, and books
• Amazon Appstore - thousands of popular apps and games

• Ultra-fast web browsing - Amazon Silk
• Free cloud storage for all your Amazon content
• Vibrant color touchscreen with extra-wide viewing angle
• Fast, powerful dual-core processor
• Amazon Prime members enjoy unlimited, instant streaming of over 10,000 popular movies and TV shows

Kindle has Wi-Fi connectivity. All synchronization of Data is invisible, on wireless and in the background. It doesn't have cameras or microphone. So there is no videoconferencing available and there is no option of 3G connectivity also. There's only 8GB of storage on the device available.

The Drawback I can see is the device does not feature any Home button and instead of that you have multi-touch capabilities option to help you navigate the tablet's applications and features.

Amazon Kindle Fire's battery life also very good, provides you with eight hours of continuous reading and seven-and-a-half hours of continuous video playback as long as the wireless connection has been turned off. The tablet also has one USB 2.0 port which can be used as both purpose, charger when plugged into your computer and USB. It only weighs 14.6 ounces.

You can enjoy movies, magazines and children's books come alive on a 7" vibrant color touchscreen with high resolution. Kindle Fire uses IPS technology same technology is that used by Apple on the iPad - for an extra-wide viewing angle, perfect for sharing your screen with others. Enjoy your favorite magazines with glossy, full-color layouts, photographs and illustrations.

Android Platform gives you Top game applications like Angry Birds, Plants vs. Zombies, The Weather Channel and more, plus a great paid app for free every day. Amazon digital content is available on the Amazon Cloud. There is free Amazon Cloud Storage So that means you'll be able to start a movie on Kindle Fire and transfer it to your TV. Your books, movies, music and apps are available instantly to stream or download for free, at a touch of your finger. You can enjoy your social life with facebook and twitter and many more apps and also stay in touch using built-in email app that gets your webmail (Gmail, Yahoo!, Hotmail, AOL etc.) into a single inbox. The Kindle Fire can access all the content offered by Amazon (includes MP3 and video streaming)

The main advantage of buying kindle fire that it has all Kindle books, Android apps, and movies and TV shows... Full Entertainment Tablet...

Kindle Fire is best tablet with killer price. If you want to buy Kindle Fire Visit us at Technoeshop.com. At Technoeshop you can find many deals and special offers related all Tablet PCs in different brands.

We also offer deals in Laptops, Gaming Consoles, Digital Camera, Camcorders, Mobile You can find many I.T related products and Consumer products on Technoeshop.com. Technoeshop.com is consumer ecommerce website providing wide range of IT, Consumer Electronics & Office products at best price.

The future according to Big Blue

2011-12-19T21:37:00.000-08:00

IBM unveils its annual list of five emerging technologies that will supposedly change our lives in the next five years.

As so many look back at where we’ve been in 2011, IBM is looking forward at where we’ll likely be in the not-so-distant future.

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Today, the company releases the sixth annual “IBM 5 in 5” list of the five innovations “that have the potential to change the way people work, live, and interact during the next five years.”

According to IBM’s own research, “people power will come to life” as kinetic energy created by everything from human activity to heat from your computer is harnessed as renewable energy for homes, businesses, and even entire cities.

12345 may soon be out as the most popular password of all time because “you will never need a password again” but will instead rely on biometrics, or unique biological features such as eyes and fingerprints, to unlock doors, access computers, and even withdraw money.

Jokes about mainlining information or computer mind-melds may also become a thing of the past as IBM scientists in the field of bioinformatics look for new ways to link your brain to your devices so that “mind reading is no longer science fiction.”

Also, advances in mobile technology will lead to much more than an increase photo and status updates as better, faster, and cheaper mobile technologies lead to a brighter future where “the digital divide will cease to exist” for the planet’s 7 billion people.

And finally, turns out that “junk mail will become priority mail” when advertisements become so personalized and spam filters so effective that every offer is relevant to the individual user and no offer will ever really be unwanted.

True life will soon be at least as interesting as science fiction according to IBM which claims that some parts of each of these innovations already exist in its labs in some form of reality or another.

Steve Jobs, Google+ and iPhone top Google's 2011 search list

2011-12-17T04:47:00.000-08:00

What technology and technologists most interested the online world this year?

Based on the most popular 2011 Google search terms, people were most interested in getting information on Apple founder Steve Jobs, the iPhone 5, the iPad 2, and Google+.

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Out of the billions of searches that people conducted on Google this year, these were the top tech topics in the company's annual list of top searches.

"This year marks our 11th annual look back at the searches that compose the year's Zeitgeist -- the spirit of the time," wrote Amit Singhal, a Google Fellow, in a blog post. "With Zeitgeist, we look at the most popular and the fastest rising terms -- the terms with the highest growth in 2011 -- in many categories across many countries around the world."

On the list of fastest-growing search terms, Google's new social networking site, Google+, came in at a strong second, while the release of Battlefield 3, a first-person shooter video game, came in at number five, and the anticipated release of the iPhone5 was number six.

Non-technology-related searches in the Top 10 list of fastest-growing searches. Rebecca Black, a teen whose song "Friday" made a huge online splash, was on top of the list, which also included Casey Anthony, the mother charged with killing her young daughter, singer Adele and the earthquake/tsunami disaster in Japan.

Google today also released a list of the fastest growing searches for consumer electronics.

Amazon's Kindle Fire topped that list, followed by Apple's iPhone 4s, the Sidekick 4g Android phone, the HP Touchpad and the Android app Spb Shell 3D.

The list of fastest-falling Google searches -- search terms whose popularity plummeted in 2011 -- was topped by Myspace, a social networking pioneer that has been eclipsed by the likes of Facebook and Google+. The fastest-falling list also included Hi5, another social networking site and Baidu, a Chinese search engine.

CAREER LIFE STAGES

2011-12-13T00:20:00.000-08:00

Once I was listening to a group of children trying to deal with
a member who was being quite obstinate about not permitting _
anyone else to play with his toys. As the hostility level was increas-
ing, peace was restored by a wise old 10-year—oId who said, "l—le’s
not usually like this; it’s just a phrase he’s going through."
lf she was a bit off in her jargon, our young neighborhood
sage was correct in her understanding of human development.
People do go through phases and stages when they experience
changes in their mood, needs, aspirations, values, skills, motiva-
tions, and other important human characteristics. We have all
heard comments like, "l—Ie’s a new man since he started working,"
and "She isn't the same person I married twenty years ago."
People do change over the course of their lives and work careers,
and in some fairly predictable ways. In this chapter we will examine
some of these stages. `

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We may see a person’s life cycle as a series of stages charac-
terized by changing patterns of developmental tasks, career con-
cerns, activities, values, and needs, which emerge as he ages
and passes through various age ranges.
But we should re-
member, as Cain observes,
In spite of the observed ambiguity of age status and of the abundance of
descriptive data on the subject, supplied by historians, anthropologists, demog-
raphers, researchers in social welfare, and others, sociologists have yet

to devote more than passing attention to these data and to their implications
for the total social structure.
(This is as applicable to psychologists as well as sociologists.)
_UnIike the life stages of childhood and youth, which are well-
defined by age and institutional role transitions (e.g., the start
of grade school, high school graduation, driving age, university
graduation, legal age, marriage, etc.) the important changes in
the adult years are harder to delineate . Marriage and
parenthood are often the last institutionalized status passages expe-
rienced until retirement; thus a person tends to pace his own life
cycle in terms of the life cycle of his children and the total family
unit. In fact, a person’s social behavior is probably related more
to his stage in the family life cycle than to his age.
Cain has said, "To be the father of a teen—age daugh-
ter elicits certain behavior patterns, whether the father be 30 or
70 years of age"
The person’s stage in his or her work career is another factor
that can strongly affect (and is likewise affected by) social behavior
and attitudes; this variable may not be closely tied to age either.
A lawyer or manager who is on the first permanent job following
professional training (law school or business school) will probably
be concerned about advancement and establishing a reputation
among colleagues, whether he or she is 25 or 45. (However, the
45-year-old who started a career in that occupation at 25 will
probably have quite a different set of concerns, which we will
describe later.)*

Erikson’s Theory of Life Stages

From clinical psychology, part of Erik Erikson’s theory ofthe eight
stages of the life cycle can be logically applied to the study of
working careers. (The first four of these stages—oraI, anal, genital,
and latency—describe childhood and therefore are not relevant
here.) Erlkson believes that each stage is characterized by a partic-
ular developmental task which the person must work through be-
fore advancing fully into the following stage.
ln the first stage of youth, adolescence, the central develop-
mental task is achieving a sense of ego identity

The main danger at this stage is role confusion, the opposite of
a clear identity. Although the person may experience confusion
about his sexual identity, "in most instances, however, it is the
inability to settle on an occupational identity which disturbs young
people". It is a time of searching for values and
role models and testing various possible identities, a time of think-
ing about one’s own ideology and purpose in life.
The next stage is young adulthood, during which the develop-
mental task is to develop intimacy and involvements. This includes,
but is not limited to, interpersonal intimacy; it entails learning how
to let oneself become ego—involved with another person, group,
organization, or cause.
Thus, the young adult, emerging from the search for and the insistence on
identity, is eager and willing to fuse his identity with that of others. He is
ready for intimacy, that is, the capacity to commit himself to concrete affilia-
tions and partnerships and to develop the ethical strength to abide by such
commitments, even though they may call for significant sacrifices and com-
promises
The danger at this stage is that the person may be so afraid of
losing or compromising his new-found sense of identity and au-
tonomy that he shuns involvements and develops a deep sense
of isolation and self-absorption. To describe these issues further,
Erikson referred to Freud’s famous reply when asked what he
thought a normal person should be able to do well: "L/eben und
arbelten " (love and work).
lt pays to ponder on this simple formula; it gets deeper as you think about
it. For . . . when he [Freud] said love and work, he meant a general work-
productiveness which would not preoccupy the individual to the extent that
he loses his right or capacity to be a genital and a loving being
One of the behaviors that occurs in this stage as a sign of
intimacy is finding and committing oneself to a mate. Also, close,
lifelong friendships areestablished with those with whom one
interacts intensively during young adulthood—college chums,
roommates, army buddies, co-workers, etc. This is also a time
when young people test out their occupational identities and go
to work, creating involvements in and commitments to work orga-
nizations, bosses, and co-workers.
The seventh stage described by Erikson is adulthood, during

which the person deals with issues concerned with the generation
of that which is of lasting value to other people—his contributions
to following generations, and thus in a sense his antidote to
mortality.
Generativity, then, is primarily the concern in establishing and guiding the
next generation, although there are individuals who, through misfortune or
because of special and genuine gifts in other directions, do not apply this
drive to their own offspring. And, indeed, the concept of generativity is meant
to include such more popular synonyms as productivity and creativity, which,
however, cannot replace it
In the work setting, generativity may be achieved through such
things as building organizations; developing creative theories, dis-
coveries, or products that will endure; coaching and sponsoring
the development of younger colleagues; and teaching and guiding
students. Generativity is really an outgrowth of the preceding
stages (as is the case for any other stage): once the person has
developed a sense of identity and has committed it to a cause,
person, or organization, the next stage is to accomplish or pro-
duce something as a result of that commitment. The opposite of
generativity is what Erikson calls stagnation, which means stand-
ing still, producing nothing. Stagnation also carries the connota-
tion of decay, not just the absence of growth.
The eighth and final stage of development is maturity, during
which the fully developed person acquires a sense of ego integrity
(versus despair). This is the feeling that the person is satisfied
with his life, with his choices and actions. He sees it as meaningful,
and is willing to leave it as it is.
[Ego integrity] is the ego's accrued assurance oi its proclivity for order and
meaning. It is a post-narcissistic love of the human ego—not of the seIf—as
‘ an experience which conveys some world order and spiritual sense, no matter
how dearly paid for. It is the acceptance of one's one and only life cycle
as something that had to be and that, by necessity, permitted of no substitu-
tions .... In such final consolidation, death loses its sting.
The lack or loss of this accrued ego integration is signified by fear of
death: the one and only life cycle is not accepted as the ultimate of life.
Despair expresses the feeling that the time is now short, too short for the
attempt to start another life and to try out alternate roads to integrity
One characteristic of a cycle is that it has no beginning or
end, in a sense; the completion of one cycle feeds into the begin-
ning ofthe next.T Erikson ends his discussion of the eight stages
by showing strikingly the connection between the end and the
beginning of lite:

Webster's Dictionary is kind enough to help us complete this outline in a
circular fashion, Trust (the first of our ego values) is here defined as "the
assured reliance on another’s integrity," the last of our values. I suspect
that Webster had business in mind rather than babies, credit rather than
faith, But, the formulation stands, And, it seems possible to further paraphrase
i the relation of adult integrity and infantile trust by saying that healthy children
i will not fear life if their elders have integrity enough not to fear death

A person must achieve a satisfactory resolution of the issues
in one stage before he can deal competently with the issues at
the next stage. Thus, it is possible for a person’s development
to become arrested, in a sense, at any given stage. lf a person
were "hung up" at the identity level, for example, he may remain
plagued with doubts about his career choice, shifting from job
to job and perhaps career to career, long after his contemporaries,
who had settled on a career and an employer, were advancing
within their firms. According to this theory, a person cannot
achieve a full, deep commitment (intimacy) to an organization,
person, or cause until his identity is pretty well-defined; similarly,
he cannot attain higher-stage experience such as creative produc-
tion (generativity) or ego fulfillment (integrity).
The work of Erikson is based upon his clinical, anthro-
pological, and historical observations, and has not really been
tested with experimental and statistical methods. However, the
theory has received considerable support from clinicians and has
a great deal of face validity. It has been extremely useful in under-
standing specific developmental problems, such as identity confu-
sion and mid—life career crises. For example, it has been found
that students who had made weIl—adjusted vocational choices and
had developed mature career attitudes (as measured by Crites’
Maturity Inventory, discussed in Chapter 2), had also been most
successful in moving through the first six stages identified by
Erikson
There may be sex differences in the course of the life stages.
One study found that adolescent
. girls often achieve a sense of identity only after they have es-
tablished a sense of intimacy (generally heterosexual) in their
relationships. Thus, the intimacy stage may precede the identity
stage for girlst; adolescent boys, on the other hand, are seen
by these researchers to be able to achieve intimacy after they
had attained a sense of identity, which fits with Erikson’s model

Other theories, too, correspond in part, to Erikson‘s concep-
tion of life stages. In the realm of vocational behavior, Super and
his associates employ a model of five developmental stages: (1)
childhood, (2) adolescence, (3) young adulthood, (4) maturity,
and (5) old age. The main task in the I
childhood (up to age 14) stage is growth. In this stage the person ?
begins to fantasize about careers, and develops vocational inter-
ests and capacities. During adolescence, the person begins to
explore his own interests and different specific career opportu-
nities. This corresponds to Erikson’s identity stage. In young
adulthood, the person may initially flounder
a bit (as seen in the high initial turnover of recent college gradu-
ates), and eventually establish himself in a particular field. This
corresponds to Erikson's intimacy stage with some hints of gen-
erativity later. In maturity, the person continues
to hold his own in a sort of career plateau. This stage is probably
when generativity concerns would be most important. Old age
(65 and on) is a period of disengagement. This would be the
time ego integrity would be achieved, if the person has resolved
all the earlier stages. (The vocational stages defined by Super
are shown in detail in Table 3-1 .) Super's model has been support-
ed in recent research on organizational careers.

Miller and Fcrm’s Occupational Stages

Miller and Form have described five stages based more
on actual job behaviors than on the underlying developmental
processes. The preparatory work period occurs in childhood. The
initial work period (late teens) consists of part-time and occasional
jobs. The trial work period starts with the person’s first regular
full-time job and continues until he settles into a stable field of
work: (late twenties or early thirties). The stable work period ex-
tends from the thirties to the sixties, and is followed by retirement.
Typical career patterns tend to emerge, based upon the ways
people have gone through (or have failed to go through) these »
work stages, with primary emphasis on the stability or security
ofthe career. These patterns are as follows:
1. Stable career pattern. People in this category have gone directly from
their schooling into work with which they stayed. Many managers and
most professionals have careers of this type.
2. Conventional career pattern. In this pattern, the individual goes through
the stages in the sequence listed above: initial jobs, trial jobs, and stable
employment. This pattern describes most managerial careers.
3. Unstable career pattern. In this pattern the person never really becomes
established in one area, going from trial jobs to a stable situation and
then back to trial jobs again. She might be called /atera/ly mobile, rather
than upwardly mobile.
4. Mu/tiple-trial career pattern. In this pattern the person does not stay in

1. Growth Stage (Birth—14) ·
Self-concept develops through identification with key figures in family and
in school; needs and fantasy are dominant early in this stage; interest
and capacity become more important in this stage with increasing social
participation and reality testing. Substages of the growth stage are:
Fantasy (4-10), Needs are dominant; role playing in fantasy is impor-
tant.
Interests (11-12). Likes are the major determinant of aspitalions and
activities.
Capacity (13-14). Abilities are given more weight, and job requirements
(including training) are considered.
2. Exploration Stage (Age 15-24)
Self-examination, role tryouts, and occupational exploration take place
in school, leisure activities, and part—time work. Substages of the explora-
tion stage are:
Tentative (15-17). Needs, interests, capacities, values, and opportu-
. nities are all considered. Tentative choices are made and tried out in
fantasy, discussion, courses, work, etc.
Transition (18-21). Reality considerations are given more weight as
the youth enters labor market or professional training and attempts
to implement a self-concept.
Trial (22-24). A seemingly appropriate field having been located, a
beginning job in it is found and is tried out as a life work.
3. Establishment Stage (Age 25-44)
Having found an appropriate field, effort is put forth to make a permanent
place in it. There may be some trial early in this stage, with consequent
shifting, but establishment may begin without trial, especially in the profes-
sions. Substages of the establishment stage are:
Trial (25-30). The field of work presumed to be suitable may prove
unsatisfactory, resulting in one or two changes before the life work
is found or before it becomes clear that the life work will be a succession
of unrelated jobs.
Stabilization (31-44). As the career pattern becomes clear, effort is
put forth to stabilize, to make a secure place, in the world of work.
For most persons these are the creative years.
4. Maintenance Stage (Age 45-64)
Having made a place in the world of work, the concern is now to hold
it. Little new ground is broken, but there is continuation along established
lines.
5. Dec/ine Stage (Age 65 on)
As physical and mental powers decline, work activity changes and in
' due course ceases. New roles must be developed; first that of selective
participant and then that of observer rather than participant. Substages
of this stage are:
Deceleration (65-70). Sometimes at the time of official retirement,
sometimes late in the maintenance stage, the pace of work slackens,
duties are shifted, or the nature of the work is changed to suit declining
capacities. Many men find part-time jobs to replace their full—time oc-
cupations. _
Retirement (71 on). As with all the specified age limits, there are great
variations from person to person. But complete cessation of occupation
comes for all in due course, to some easily and pleasantly, to others
with difficulty and disappointment, and to some only with death.

London Business School Executive MBA (Dubai) attracts new talent

2011-12-12T07:12:00.000-08:00

London Business School has announced the number of professionals from the media, leisure, sport and entertainment industries has more than doubled for its Executive MBA (Dubai) programme.

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The School, regarded as one of the world’s leading business schools, hosted its orientation week with new students in London this month, welcoming the next generation of business leaders from across the globe.

Student David Hanson, who is from the UK and is Director of Movies and On Demand at Orbit Showtime Network in Dubai, said:

“I think most of us are still buzzing from the orientation week. It was amazing to meet up with such a wide range of professionals and tap into their knowledge and enthusiasm. There was a genuine sense of camaraderie as we quickly realized that we as a group, are as responsible for each other’s development.”

The new Executive MBA class, which has increased in size to be the biggest since 2009, represents 13 industries, with 17 per cent coming from within the media, leisure, sports and entertainment sectors.

Students on the programme include executives who work for some of the region’s highest profile sporting events, including the Formula One Etihad Airways Abu Dhabi Grand Prix and the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships.

Andrew Scott, Deputy Dean of Programmes and Professor of Economics at London Business School, said: “Each year we witness a new trend emerging and this year is no different with some interesting statistics showing just how fast our world is changing. We are delighted to welcome an increase in students from such exciting industries, which reflects the diversity of our Executive MBA has become.”

There are 23 nationalities represented in the class, with the programme welcoming students from South Korea and Senegal for the very first time. Forty per cent of the class will be commuting from outside of the UAE, with students coming from Aberdeen, Almaty, Amman, Athens, Beirut, Cairo, Delhi, Doha, Karachi, Kuwait Moscow and Riyadh, among other cities around the world.

“Our Executive MBA programme is designed for those who want to broaden and strengthen their global approach. The students have taken on an exciting challenge and they can now look forward to enhancing their knowledge and learning the necessary skills and tools to be effective global leaders,” added Professor Scott.

The diversity within the Executive MBA was further enriched last year by the integration of the two London and Dubai based classes during three residential sessions held in London, forging even greater connections and networks throughout the UK, Europe and the Middle East.

“At orientation I was particularly impressed with the school’s involvement and presence in the international business community, the diversity and experiences of my fellow students and the smooth integration of the Dubai and London streams,” said student Bishoy Azmy from Egypt who is CEO of Al Shafar General Contracting in Dubai.

The average length of professional experience for the class is more senior in this intake, with 11 years of experience on average. The School has also welcomed a higher percentage of students working in Abu Dhabi, up from eight per cent in the last intake to 17 per cent.

London Business School’s full-time MBA programme is ranked number one in the world in the Financial Times´ annual survey, and first in the Financial Times´ ranking of European Business Schools´ MBA, EMBA and Executive Education programmes. It launched its Executive MBA programme in Dubai in September 2007. Located over campuses in two of the world’s most dynamic cities – London and Dubai – this programme is taught over 20 months. Ten of the 11 core courses are taught in the Centre of Excellence at the Dubai International Financial Centre, while the majority of elective courses are offered at London Business School’s central London campus.

The programme, taught exclusively by London Business School’s own faculty, gives students a thorough grounding in all key areas of business and management and, through the diverse elective portfolio, also allows them to specialise in their chosen subject areas.

Extended IT Support For Windows Servers And Windows PCs

2011-12-09T14:22:00.000-08:00

In these difficult economic times many companies understandably want to extend Business IT Support and hardware maintenance on their Microsoft Servers and PCs for as long as they can.

But at some point the hardware will run out of warranty and it will become so old that your IT Support Company will be unable to provide adequate IT Support.

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How Long Can You Extend IT Support On Old Computers?

Generally Servers and PCs will last for between 3 and 5 years.

There are 3 main reasons for this:

1. After 5 years it’s almost impossible to get a warranty. That means if it breaks it’s difficult to fix. Even if you could get a warranty it would be expensive compared to the cost of a new computer.
2. The version of software on the computer will be quite old. This may make it difficult to exchange information with people who have a more current version of the software despite the best efforts of your Business IT Support Company
3. Old computers are slow. Your users are likely to be frustrated. As far as they are concerned their PC or the network server will be getting in the way of them doing their work.

So by this stage it will be slow, won’t interact well with more modern systems in the outside world and can’t be repaired.

Limits On Managed IT Support Services

It will probably be too expensive for your IT Support Company to maintain your old computers. If you have a fixed price Managed IT Support Service there is likely to be a clause in the IT Support Contract that limits IT Support on old computers. After 5 years it’s probably more expensive to keep an old computer than replace it.

Replacing your Server

Your servers are pretty fundamental, so it’s important that you have an IT Support Contract for them. However Business IT Support isn’t the whole picture - hardware maintenance is important too.

The performance and reliability of your servers will affect all of your staff, not just 1 or 2. After 5 years it’s almost impossible to get a warranty, so if it breaks your IT Support Company probably won’t be able to get it fixed for you.

Most businesses are so dependent on their servers that they cannot afford for that to happen. So, at the very latest it will need to be replaced when you can no longer get a warranty, or an IT Support Contract.

However you may need to replace it before then if it will not run the most recent version of an application that you must upgrade to. Or if the growth of your business means that it is no longer powerful enough for your requirements. Your IT Support Company should advise you of this.

Hardware Maintenance From Your IT Support Company

Believe it or not the hardware manufacturers are the best and the cheapest people for hardware maintenance. IT Support Companies are not particularly well geared up for hardware maintenance.

We would advise you to buy Dell servers and PC’s. It’s good quality kit and Dell will come to your site within 4 hours and repair the hardware. And because they manufactured the hardware, unlike the IT Support Company, they have the parts to fix it quickly.

All the others – Toshiba, Sony, Apple etc. – make you send the broken hardware to them. They will return it to you 2 weeks later usually with the hard drive wiped, so it will require a complete rebuild by your IT Support Company. Your IT Support Company should liaise with the hardware manufacturer when you do have a problem – after all that’s why you’re paying for an IT Support Contract!

Speedreading Computer Software - On the Web High Schools Make Use of Speed Reading Computer Programs

2011-12-07T16:26:00.000-08:00

Not all speedreading applications are created similarly. There are a couple genuinely strong pieces of applications in our world that might assist you out infinitely, and there one or more forms of computer applications that do not do pretty much for you to any degree. I hope that this short examination should support you understand what types of applications are going to be the best for your particular life.

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The first most relevant pieces of speed reading computer programs is that you must have a great deal of assortment in activities. A couple kinds of computer applications do nothing but give you reading passages and time you. The better forms of speedreading softwares should include games that show you diverse ways of chunking, analyzing, and highlighting varied reading quickly techniques. Individuals should challenge you with reading comprehension questions, which are nice for compelling you to concentrate on something and get the most knowledge feasible regardless of what the subject matter is. Visual exercises are at times included, and these are not generally recommended by reading rapidly specialists. Many doctors have cited these as a leading cause of recurring migraines, and perhaps incredibly, they have small effect on how fast you could read.

Books might be traditional, courses may be the most all-encompassing, but more and more, individuals are turning to PC or Mac applications as perhaps the best strategies to discover most forms of stuff. From high school courses, to over the internet science fairs, computer learning is at the forefront of education. There are most forms of things that are clearly better to know in front of a PC or Mac screen, but is reading one out of those?

Speedreading software is one of the completely new ways you could take to ameliorate your reading abilities to the next level. Programs offers you a lot of benefits over a traditional book or pen-and-paper method. First is the accurate reviews tracking and progress meter that tracks your outcomes over time. Software also offer you a distinct best part in allowing the applications producers to illustrate their points in completely new ways. With the numerous tools built in, There's no way to honestly avoid using this is one or more way. So get on board and get yourself a few reading rapidly applications to strengthen your abilities.

The first newest products being offered in schools across the U.S. is an on line high school, where students stay home and log in instead of ending up with on a school bus. Lessons are basically self-driven, with video support from educators, and assignments are largely project-based. These schools offer a number of positives, specifically in sparsely populated areas, or for students who are not able to handle the larger populations of schools. It also lets for another choice for students without having to be sent from school to school.

The first largest benefits of an over the internet high school is the factor of choice in education. instead of having to target what a educator thinks is necessary, on the internet schooler are allowed a lot of independence in what they want to learn. A common most in demand alternatives time and time again in these schools is the choice to know speedreading using reading quickly programs. English teachers are buying into the idea that learning to read fast does not necessarily mean that you are learning to read poorly, and speedreading lessons typically reinforce this concept.

Educators report that after having learned speed reading, ACT test and SAT scores are up, and children are uncommonly driven to understand.

Ways to manage IT Resource Requirements beyond Outsourcing

2011-12-07T14:21:00.000-08:00

You will find that there are several reasons which require that you top up your IT resources – a couple of common reasons are seasonal trends and projects. In general, larger companies have built-in additional resources to deal with the highs and lows of demand. However, this is not the most efficient or cost effective model. For organisations which are small and medium sized, it is often a case of “just coping” leading to higher costs and lower efficiencies.

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A common challenge that many companies face is dealing with difficult and often unforeseen requirements. A suitable partner however could have innovative solutions to help you in such a state of affairs:

1) Interim & Ad hoc IT resources
This is the perfect solution if you do not have the capability, or you will lose basic IT support for your business, when you need to manage additional or short term projects. In such situations the partner either provides the additional resource for the project, or a resource to back fill your own staff from their talent pool, allowing your team to devote time to the project, without risking any lack of service to the business.

2) Short Term & Interim IT resources
This is the best solution when you need interim and fixed short term back up. You would have noticed that companies often undergo change which maybe planned or unplanned resulting in emergency support requirements during work overloads, specialist skill requirements, or resource requirements to deal with continuity management, change management and skills transfer.
Employing contractors directly will be both expensive and complicated. Here, the partner delivers the specialist skills as and when required in all these situations.

3) Flexible IT resources
We recommend that you take a pro-active approach when you plan for IT resource requirements and focus on preparing yourself for the unexpected staff shortages that spring up during holidays, sickness and urgent projects. A solution that will counter unpredictability by being flexible will be ideal such as a system where you can be provided with credits similar to pay as you go mobile phone tariffs, which you can pre-purchase in advance and use as when your require with no fuss and no hassle. That is, you will purchase resource credits from your partner and over the course of a year, you can exchange them for a wide range of skills that can be deployed anywhere at any time. This will relieve the pressure of staff shortages, IT projects or major roll-outs across a number of countries.

When you use these services you will benefit in the following ways:

1. Reduce the need for maintaining bench and underutilised staff
2. Ensure work continues and backlog does not mount providing a unique intermediate solution when faced with a decision between permanent or contracted staff
3. No inflated salaries and resentment or competition between existing staff
4. Improve flexibility and eliminate employee liability
5. Projects, SLA’s or backfill requirements will not be put on hold, minimising any downtime
6. Reduce employer liability and the costs associated by the employee being accountable to your partner
7. Ensure that you adhere to the complex European laws
8. Get fiscal reimbursements should the candidate leave or not work out
9. Eliminate any contractor or employment liabilities including IR35
10. Gain talented staff who match your organisation requirements without any of the HR/Payroll or recruitment costs
11. Decrease downtime and risk management with the purchasing of resource credits to provide maintenance when you don’t know you’ll need it!

You will see that Allied Worldwide's IT Recruitment Resourcing solutions helped their client to efficiently manage technical resource requirements at their locations across Europe, resulting in a reduction in their overall expenditure by approximately £250,000 per annum. You can read more about how a leading manufacturing firm reduced overall costs using flexible resources.

These bespoke solutions offer the transfer of employee’s, taking them on permanently and allowing you to only pay for the time you require whilst maintaining the same long-term employee carrying limited liability. We understand that longer serving employee’s (eg. 10+ years) carry a large cost with increased salary increments over the duration of employment, a very common dilemma in the West. This solution provides a happy interim when firms want to retain costly long-serving employees but also want to capitalise on the cost-savings which come with a new employee.

Additionally our IT consulting services for clients are designed to help them detail their strategy and bring in an independent perspective and impartial objectivity. The benefit that this clarity brings results in increased efficiency and reduced costs

Oracle updates WebLogic for cloud usage

2011-12-03T06:29:00.000-08:00

For the new release of its WebLogic, Oracle has tailored the enterprise Java application server so that it can be used more easily in cloud deployments.

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"Many of our customers are running in traditional data centers but they are interested in moving to the cloud. We designed WebLogic 12c to make that happen," said Mike Lehmann, Oracle senior director of product management, noting that the "c" in the name of the new version stands for "cloud."

WebLogic 12c will be available for use within the next few weeks, the company announced Thursday. This edition is the first major update to WebLogic since WebLogic 11g, released in 2009.

With this release, Oracle has updated the software to meet the latest set of Java standards. It runs the latest version of the core Java runtime environment, Java SE (Standard Edition), version 7, released last July.

WebLogic 12c is also the first version to comply with the full Java Enterprise Edition 6 platform profile, including the APIs (application programming interfaces) and libraries for Java EE 6 components such as Java Servlets, JAX (Java API for restful XML Web services), JSF (Java Server Faces) and Enterprise JavaBeans. Java EE 6 also brings Context Dependency Injection, a feature long requested by developers for easily injecting components into applications.

Much of the work Oracle did getting WebLogic ready for the cloud involved integrating the server software with other Oracle and non-Oracle applications.

For instance, WebLogic has been tweaked to run with Oracle Virtual Assembly Builder, which provides a way for an organization to package into a single container all the components in a multitier application. Typically, enterprise Java application components, which include a Web server, traffic management software, the application server and a messaging tier, tend to be spread out across multiple servers. This software packages all of them into a single virtual container, which then can be moved from server to server and managed as a single identity.

The company also paired WebLogic with Oracle Traffic Director, a load balancer that routes inbound traffic across a number of duplicate WebLogic instances. "As they cloud-enable their environment, customers start getting a proliferation of virtual machines. Virtual Assembly Builder minimizes that by collecting them up into assemblies. And Traffic Director then allows them to tailor their network traffic much more cleanly into their back-end infrastructure," Lehmann said.

The software also has been engineered to work more easily with the Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) database clustering software. The application server can pick the best database server to work with at any given moment, and, as a result, can enjoy up to a threefold performance boost, Lehmann said. Other application servers will poll the database for new events to act upon, whereas, for WebLogic, Oracle set up a messaging system that can alert the application server immediately when new information has been ingested into the database. Oracle engineered similar performance enhancing shortcuts wth its Exalogic appliance, which is based on WebLogic.

At the behest of users, Oracle also integrated WebLogic with Apache Maven, which aids developers in managing their applications' dependencies, or the libraries and classes needed for that program to operate. "This makes it easy for our customers to integrate WebLogic into their standard build environment," Lehmann said.

Hire Affordable Outsource PHP Development Company

2011-12-02T01:50:00.000-08:00

In today's modern era of world, technology proliferation has virtually occupied itself into all minute or major corners of the society. This day-by-day increasing technology is becoming a vast platform for transfer of ideas and growth of businesses.

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Technology has changed the life of every individual. Change is the key of life and positive adaptation is essential in this forever growing and changing world. One of the face of technology is the advent of Web and Internet technology. As a result, organizations have also adopt web development to increase their businesses.

Web technology has became powerful medium of communication and information generation. Web technology is made up of mark-up languages like HTML, PHP and many other. PHP development is vastly used now a days by most of the web development company. PHP outsource is currently at boom and at par level.

PHP stands for Hypertext Processor; a server side scripting language for fabricating the dynamic pages. PHP development is currently used by major companies for website designing and development as it is an open source software solution. PHP development is preferred, as this language can be embedded with HTML as well.

Outsourcing is one of main solution to keep yourself beforehand of your competitors. A successful PHP development company provides PHP outsource which suits to business and techno-driven world. PHP development company is having a best team of PHP outsource programmers and developers for PHP development.

A PHP development company which provides PHP outsourcing should contains following features and assets :

A PHP development company must follow consulting model and implements the best solution as per clients need and keeps complete compliance with your standards and also processes.

Hire PHP programmer who customizes your website to the finest accuracy. PHP outsource can be done from a PHP development company which provides presence and sufficient impetus towards the growth of your business.

Hire PHP programmer from such PHP outsource and PHP development company who understands your target customers, so that they can develop site in a technically accurate manner. So while choosing PHP development company, look for the one who is having expert and dedicated working professionals.

PHP outsource for PHP web development is available in India at very economical rates. Hire PHP programmer who makes your thinking reality for you. PHP outsource company should be consistent in completing clients projects on the given deadline at an affordable rate.

Hire PHP programmer from such company who focuses on rapid team mobilization and have pool of top-notch experts and dedicated professionals across different platforms and also technologies. A web development company for PHP outsource must provide consolidated solutions regarding services.

Hire PHP programmer from such PHP outsource company which is having highly equipped and modified development facility. All this, with simple goal of providing consistent quality at an affordable pricing, so that every one would like to hire PHP programmer from that company.

So, take the benefits of all PHP outsourcing services by hiring PHP programmer to beat the market competitors. Hire PHP programmer who is qualified, dedicated, experienced to develop website application, software application, mobile services, and many more.

Be the part of such PHP outsource and development company who believes in building strong relationship while also providing quality. The elevated PHP outsource company should be able to fulfill all your requirements, which would be beneficial to raise your business to a potential new level and height. PHP development provides lighthearted design, which makes PHP programmer work extremely fast and also available at a reasonable price.

Believe it or not, PHP outsource service has made this possible by providing result oriented and dynamic websites. Therefore, quality work with consistency at an affordable pricing becomes an important factor while choosing best PHP outsource and development company or when you hire PHP programmer, so that your business reaches to a new pinnacle by keeping all your needs and requirements intact.

Thus, it is very important to hire PHP programmer for PHP development. A successful PHP outsource company's primary purpose is to encourage the success of their clients by pioneering PHP development through valued, applications and services, which will then helps to heightens the class of their client interactions, increases the number of customer efficiency, and finally helps to deliver up-to best level of support and skill.

ExpertsFromIndia is an offshore leading PHP development company which provides solutions for PHP outsource as well. EFI is having highly dedicated and versatile team of PHP programmers and developers for PHP development. PHP outsource taken from EFI is accessible at an affordable rate.

Microsoft Surface 2 Goes on Pre-Order

2011-11-30T06:59:00.000-08:00

Microsoft Surface, the uber-cool, yet incredibly bulky technology that supports touch and device interaction was trimmed down earlier this year at CES 2011 to become the super svelte Microsoft Surface 2.0. Now its Samsung incarnation, the SUR40 is ready for pre-order in 23 countries (including the U.S.) and could arrive in stores, hospitals, restaurants and more by early 2012.

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An innovative and exciting device when it first arrived on the scene in 2007, Microsoft Surface is a touch-screen on steroids. In its first incarnation, the coffee-table-sized Microsoft Surface used a combination of cameras, computers and touch sensitivity to allow multiple people to interact with on-screen activities. In a demonstration I saw in 2008, Microsoft representatives placed a smartphone on the screen, which Microsoft Surface then recognized, displayed information about the device and let me set about choosing different model options. Other demonstrations included a customer and sales rep working together on Microsoft Surface to design a custom skateboard.

Samsung’s version, officially called “Samsung SUR 40 for Microsoft Surface” drops the cameras and puts all the Microsoft Surface technology inside one large — still coffee table surface sized — 40-inch LCD touch screen. The secret sauce is the “PixelSense Technology” that lets the LCD panel “see” without using a camera. Earlier this year, Microsoft explained that this means “Every pixel is acting as a camera, so the surface of the PC can actually see.” Among the things it can see is up to 50-points of simultaneous interaction. In other words, Microsoft Surface 2.0 could support a bar game with up to five — all-fingers-on — participants. Samsung SUR 40 for Microsoft Surface is, essentially, a powerful computer with table legs. Underneath the Gorilla Glass screen is an AMD Athlon™ II X2 Dual-Core Processor 2.9GHz paired with a powerful graphics processor.

Though recognized as one of Microsoft’s sexiest innovations, Microsoft Surface has never been headed for the home. Instead, it has ended up in hospitals, manufacturing, retail and casinos. Part of it could be the price, which is estimated at between $10,00 and $15,000 per unit. Update: Microsoft reps confirmed with Mashable that the price in the U.S is $8,900. Outside the U.S. “pricing will vary based on country-specific duties, taxes and fees.”

For those anxious to build custom apps for the the Samsung SUR 40, there is, naturally, a developers’ kit available for download at the Surface Developers Center. Check out our gallery from Microsoft Surface 2.0′s CES 2011 introduction and then, in the comments below, lets imagine all the cool ways we can use this innovative technology.

HP server revenue falls in turbulent quarter, Gartner says

2011-11-28T14:36:00.000-08:00

Worldwide server revenue grew 5.2% in the third quarter but declined for Hewlett-Packard (HP), Gartner Inc. said in a report on server sales during the quarter that ended Sept. 30.

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HP's quarter was a restless one. It fired one CEO and hired another and left the market wondering whether it was going to sell or spin-off its PC division, a move it later rejected.

In this same quarter, IBM's revenue share of the worldwide server market reached $3.85 billion, a 3.5% increase from a year ago. That gave it 29.7% of the worldwide market, nudging it ahead of HP for the top spot.

HP's server revenue, just over $3.8 billion, declined 3.6% from a year ago, leaving it with 29.3% of the world's market, according to Gartner. Third place Dell, meanwhile, grew 6.3% in server revenue during the period to more than $1.9 billion; it now has 14.7% share of the worldwide market.

Meg Whitman, the former CEO of eBay who was appointed in September as HP's new CEO, told financial analysts last week that HP needs "be simpler, clearer, and more consistent -- no more surprises."

Whitman cited the importance of innovation in selling products. Pointing to HP's recent introduction of low energy servers, Whitman said the company is increasing its investment in research and development.

HP has been hurt by Oracle's decision to discontinue software development on the Itanium processor, the company acknowledged.

"Our ability to close deals has been impacted by Oracle's Itanium decision," said HP's CFO, Cathie Lesjak, said during last week's call.

Gartner said that RISC-based systems and Itanium servers declined 6.8% worldwide, but vendors overall saw revenues increase 3.5%. Oracle Corp., which picked up Sun Microsystems' SPARC line, was in fourth place in revenue on Gartner's list, with nearly $764 million in server revenue. It had 6.2% of the market, unchanged from a year ago.

When measured by server shipments, HP saw a 3.1% decline in the third quarter to 693,265 shipments. It remains the leader in that category, followed by Dell, which increased shipments by 3.2%, to 517,867, and IBM, which saw no percentage change in shipments. IBM had 287,507 shipments, according to Gartner.

Market share as measured by shipments put HP at 29.2% of the market, Dell, 21.8% and IBM, 12.1%, Gartner said.

In Western Europe, beset by a financial crisis, server sales fell nearly 5%; that decline was offset by gains in other regions, including in Eastern Europe.

Jeffrey Hewitt, research vice president at Gartner, said that he can't definitely attribute HP's server revenue decline to its board level issues, but said it is possible that some businesses held off on orders in response. He cited other issues affecting HP's server sales, namely the decline in Unix and Oracle's Itanium decision, as contributing factors as well.

Unix, RISC and Itanium server revenue for HP fell 18.5% in the quarter, while IBM revenue grew by 27%. Oracle revenue in this category fell 11.6%, according to Gartner.

Hewitt said HP's third quarter "is likely to be something of a temporary glitch" that he expects the company to move past.

Oracle: HP paying Intel to keep Itanium going

2011-11-27T07:02:00.000-08:00

Hewlett-Packard has secretly contracted with Intel to keep making Itanium processors so that HP can maintain the appearance that "a dead microprocessor is still alive", and make money from its locked-in Itanium customer base and take business away from Oracle's Sun servers, Oracle said in a court filing on Friday.

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The market has never been told that Itanium lives on because HP is paying Intel to keep it going, Oracle said. Intel's independent business judgement would have killed off Itanium years ago, it added.

HP however described the filing as a "desperate delay tactic designed to extend the paralyzing uncertainty in the marketplace" that it said was created when Oracle announced in March, 2011, in a breach of contract, that "it would no longer support HP's Itanium platform".

HP has made statements to the marketplace to the effect that Intel's commitment to Itanium is its own, based on its normal calculations for investing in processors that it believes have a future, Oracle said in a filing before the Superior Court of the State of California for the County of Santa Clara.

A public redacted version of the filing was made available to The Wall Street Journal's AllThingsD blog. Intel said it is not a party to the lawsuit, and therefore does not have any comment on it. "Intel does not comment on commercial agreements that we may or may not have with our customers," the chip giant said in an e-mailed statement.

Oracle also claimed that HP had kept secret from the market, but revealed in a filing two days previously, that HP and Intel have a contractual commitment that Itanium will continue through the next two generations of microprocessors.

HP's strategy behind its "false statements" about Intel's support for Itanium was to take away business from Oracle Sun, and "reap lucrative revenues from the locked-in Itanium customer base using HP's HP-UX operating system on Itanium servers", as the company gets few service contracts on operating systems like Linux that run on x86 processors, Oracle said.

Oracle acquired Sun Microsystems last year.

HP filed a suit in June over Oracle's decision to stop developing software for the Itanium processor, the chip used in HP's high-end servers, claiming that Oracle's decision violates "legally binding commitments" that it made to HP and the companies' 140,000 joint customers.

Oracle said at the time that HP tricked it into signing an agreement last September to continue its support for Itanium, even though HP knew of an Intel plan to discontinue Itanium. HP already knew all about Intel's plans to discontinue Itanium, and HP was concerned about what would happen when Oracle found out about that plan, Oracle said in a statement in June.

As Oracle well knows, HP and Intel have a contractual commitment to continue to sell mission-critical Itanium processors to customers through the next two generations of microprocessors, thus ensuring the availability of Itanium through at least the end of the decade, HP said in a statement.

"The fact remains that Oracle's decision to cut off support for Itanium was an illicit business strategy it conjured to try to force Itanium customers into buying Sun servers -- and destroy choice in the marketplace," HP said.

Court rules that HP's Hurd probe document can remain secret

2011-11-26T16:24:00.000-08:00

A document tied to an internal Hewlett-Packard sexual harassment investigation of former CEO Mark Hurd will remain sealed, according to a ruling handed down this week by the Delaware Supreme Court.

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HP shareholder Ernesto Espinoza had filed a lawsuit seeking to inspect the document, which was prepared by the law firm Covington and Burling on HP's behalf.

The Delaware Chancery Court had already ruled against Espinoza on grounds his need to see the document wasn't sufficient enough to override "attorney-client privilege and work product immunity protections," the state supreme court said in its ruling, which was handed down Monday. "We affirm, but on the alternative ground that Espinoza has not shown that the Covington Report is essential to his stated purpose, which is to investigate possible corporate wrongdoing."

Hurd resigned from HP in August 2010 and also reached a confidential settlement with a former HP contractor, Jodie Fisher. Shortly thereafter, he took a job as co-president of Oracle.

Although the internal HP investigation did not conclude Hurd was guilty of sexually harassing Fisher, it found he had broken HP's business conduct standards and uncovered a "systematic" series of inaccurate expense reports meant to cover up his relationship with her, the ruling added.

Hurd received a lucrative severance package from HP. Espinoza had argued that if HP's board had reason to fire Hurd "for cause," then the payments shouldn't have been made, the court said.

A Secure Network for Security Experts

2011-11-25T06:28:00.000-08:00

Portable Security System from Cisco Will Protect Global Conference Network

A conference that attracts top security professionals from around the world is very tempting to hackers. Unless properly secured, the conference network could be vulnerable to attacks intended to disrupt the conference activity or to access sensitive information on participants’ computers.

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These threats will be considerably reduced in the network that Cisco is building for the annual international security conference hosted by the Forum of Incident Response and Security Teams (FIRST) on June 21–22, 2007 in Seville, Spain. Cisco is building and managing this network free of charge for FIRST, which is a nonprofit organization for incident response teams from government, business, and education organizations worldwide.

Traveling Security System

Cisco will monitor network performance and security with a new, portable system developed by the Cisco Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT). This traveling “system in a box” includes power equipment and the following network elements:

Two Cisco Catalyst Series 3750 switches for wired network connectivity
Multiple Cisco Aironet 1240 AG Series wireless access points using Wi-Fi Protected Access (WPA2) for authentication and encryption of wireless sessions
The Cisco ASA 5500 Series Adaptive Security Appliance (IPS Edition), which provides capabilities for firewall, intrusion detection and prevention, and secure VPN access
The Cisco Security Monitoring, Analysis and Response System (MARS) appliance, which performs security monitoring by correlating events reported by the network and security elements

All of these products are installed in a standard 19-inch rack that is mounted on compression shocks and brackets in a portable container. The container is hardened to prevent damage during shipping and has wheels for easy movement. “At the conference site, we will just need to connect the Ethernet cables, then we can immediately start monitoring the network activity and security,” says Gavin Reid, manager of the Cisco CSIRT team.

Threats that can be detected by this portable system include network intrusion attempts, viruses, events that trigger a security alert on the Cisco ASA appliance or Cisco Catalyst switches, and traffic flows that indicate anomalies. “We will be monitoring for suspicious activity and if found, we will be able to block it very quickly by using the capabilities in our traveling security system,” says Reid.

“Network connections at conferences can be haphazard, which is a concern for security professionals who must be able to securely connect to their enterprise networks while away from the office,” says Martin Nystrom, a Cisco CSIRT security engineer. “With the Cisco network and security capabilities at the FIRST conference, participants can be more confident in the security and reliability of their network connections.”

“Ready-to-Go” Network Security for Events and Emergency Response

Cisco plans to use this portable security system at other events, both public conferences and internal company meetings that are held at locations not connected to the Cisco network. “The equipment rack and shipping container have the size and flexibility to incorporate different devices as needed for each event or location where the portable system will be used,” explains Chris Fry, Cisco network security engineer. “For example, the system can contain only security and monitoring devices when it will be used in a location that already has a network.”

Adds Nystrom, “A portable network and security system can also be used by enterprises to respond to emergency situations or to deploy in advance as a preparedness measure. With all elements in one portable case, a network team can quickly deploy the system during an incident.”

About the Computer Security Incident Response Team

The Cisco CSIRT reduces the risk of loss as a result of security incidents for Cisco-owned businesses. CSIRT regularly engages in proactive threat assessment, mitigation planning, incident detection and response, incident trending with analysis, and design of the incident analysis and response portion of the Cisco network security architecture.

Court rules that HP's Hurd probe document can remain secret

2011-11-23T21:31:00.000-08:00

A document tied to an internal Hewlett-Packard sexual harassment investigation of former CEO Mark Hurd will remain sealed, according to a ruling handed down this week by the Delaware Supreme Court.

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Apple picks Sharp, dumps Samsung for iPad 3

2011-11-22T12:00:00.000-08:00

The Samsung-Apple [AAPL] relationship seems on the rocks, with Apple shifting display production to Sharp, taking advantage of new and potentially cheaper production processes as it readies manufacturing for the iPad 3, iPhone 5 and in future, an Apple television, says Jefferies analyst, Peter Misek.

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Sharp and Apple

Digitimes last week made the claim that Sharp has begun manufacturing for Apple. Today that's confirmed in a fresh research note from Misek.

"We believe Apple has shifted display production and that Sharp has now become a large panel supplier, based on our checks. We believe that the Gen 6 Kameyama facility has been exclusively taken over for Apple purposes with Apple purchasing $500 million to $1 billion of equipment for the manufacturing of iPad 3 and iPhone 5 LTE displays," he said.

Then it gets interesting:

The analyst thinks Sharp has already begun iPad 3 display production (two weeks ago), and adds that the display tech achieved will allow for HD resolution screens on the iPad 3, which he suggests may ship in March. The analyst also thinks Sharp's plant will be used for iPhone 5 production.

Introducing IGZO

The adopted display tech is based on IGZO (indium, gallium, zinc) processes, which offer near-OLED power consumption, is cheaper to make and only 25 percent thicker than displays made using OLED technology. This technology depends on oxide-material-based thin-film transistors, which enables manufacturing advantages.

The analyst has a host of interesting details on the new process, for example: "He believes that Apple and Sharp will jointly develop OLED panels for use in the iPhone and iPad within the next one to two years."

He describes a new printing technology Sharp and Apple have that enables OLED to be printed onto a film that's later stuck to the glass, boosting display yields to a "tremendous" degree.

Why is it less expensive?

Because it produces displays with similar performance to that of LCD, but which can be mass produced on existing amorphous-silicon TFT-LCD production lines. The IGZO transistors feature electron mobility 20-30 times higher than that of amorphous-silicon thin-film transistors, this report claims.

"The IGZO LCD panel’s performance outclasses anything attainable with conventional amorphous-silicon TFT panels," said Shuji Sako, deputy group general manager of Sharp’s Display Device Business Group.

Feeling the pain

Piling on even more agony on Apple's flailing tablet competitors, Misek also warns that Apple may intend keeping the iPad 2 on the market with a lower ($100-200 less) price.

The analyst has a host of interesting details on the new process, for example: "He believes that Apple and Sharp will jointly develop OLED panels for use in the iPhone and iPad within the next one to two years."

This mother-lode of analysis keeps on giving: Misek also believes work has begun on a new Apple television, set for mid-2012 launch, with the display made at another Sharp facility and prompting panic among other TV makers, anxious to avoid becoming irrelevant.

Jaw-jaw, or war-war?

Meanwhile litigation between parties continues. This has driven the relationship between Apple and Samsung to the rocks, while the public relations fallout of all the litigation isn't really doing anyone any favors.

Manufacturers are pouring money into legal teams, consumers are becoming radicalized, variously accusing Apple of being "controlling" and Google et al of being "copycats", and manufacturers are being slowly forced to focus on price, rather than features.

Don't believe that? Consider this: the biggest-selling non-Apple iPad sold in the US in 2011 was the HP TouchPad, on strength of the $99 price HP sold the device at. Just 1.2 million non-iPads were sold this year. Apple sold 11.2 million in the last quarter.

The battle's tough and is raising a new discussion about the value of patent and IP law. Not only this, but regulators in Europe and, presumably, beyond are beginning to look into all this struggle to ascertain if there's anything anti-competitive going on. Samsung's unusual handling of 3G patents, for example.

Overview of Major IT Certifications

2011-11-21T14:55:00.000-08:00

In today’s competitive IT job market, an IT certification is often a prerequisite to get a high-paying job or a salary increase. Professional certifications are the best way to demonstrate your skills and expertise in any given technical field to present to prospective employers. Through education and certification, professionals gain the skills, knowledge, and validation needed to be recognized as an expert in diverse products or technologies. MCSE Certification, CCNA Certification, A+ Certification, and SAP Certification are a few of the many certifications or credentials an IT professional may achieve.

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Microsoft Certifications

Microsoft certification programs are considered to be the major advancement to gain both professional and education background. The Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer (MCSE) certification prove an individual's expertise in designing and implementing the required infrastructure for any type of business solutions based on the Microsoft Windows 2000 platform and Microsoft Windows Server System. Other Microsoft certifications include MCAD (Microsoft Certified Application Developer) certification, MCSA (Microsoft Certified Systems Analyst) and MCT (Microsoft Certified Trainer).

Cisco Certifications

The CCNA certification (Cisco Certified Network Associate) indicates a foundation in apprentice knowledge of networking with certified professionals able to install, configure, and operate WAN, LAN, and dial access services for small networks with 100 nodes or fewer. Operation and configuration services also includes but are not limited to use one but several of the following protocols: Serial, Frame Relay, IP RIP, IP, IGRP, VLANs, RIP, and Ethernet, Access Lists. CCNE, CCIE and CCNP are other Cisco certifications.

SAP Certification

SAP Certification is sponsored by SAP corporation - a leading business software (ERP, CRM and Supply Chain software) vendor. It is one of the few credentials in the world of business with additional value only issued to those professionals who demonstrated their abilities by passing demanding, process-oriented exams through rigorous study or direct experience.

A+ Certification

A+ certification is different from the others because it is not promoted by one company only, but by a whole group of PC manufacturers and other companies in the hardware market and its acceptance as an industry-wide credential offers additional benefits. A+ Certification prove the competency of entry-level service technicians in the computer industry and it is an internationally recognized testing program sponsored by the Computing Technology Industry Association (CompTIA).

Oracle Fusion Middle Ware core principles

2011-11-19T10:03:00.000-08:00

What is Oracle Fusion Middleware?

Middleware has its roots in common integration tasks such as connecting software applications and exchanging data. Middleware makes a difference in the back office and on the front lines, where people and information meet.

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Over the years that followed, various technologies have emerged with the aim of making the development of distributed applications easier. Companies needed to integrate their existing applications and make them available to their entire organization. Many applications were hardware dependent, were difficult to monitor and maintain, and required large and powerful hardware. This is where middleware technologies began.
Middleware has come a long way, very quickly. Now, with standards-based integration and easy to use tools, a company’s internal IT resources are able to more easily integrate enterprise applications, maintain these integrations, and evolve these integrations to meet changing business needs.
Development tools provide graphical programming interfaces that make it so that IT programmers with no prior J2EE development experience can get up to speed very quickly. Integrations efforts are now greatly reduced with less coding involved.

Oracle Fusion Middleware is a comprehensive family of products ranging from application development tools and integration solutions to identity management, collaboration, and business intelligence reporting.
These products provide the critical software foundation needed to ensure corporate growth, insight, and control. With Oracle Fusion Middleware, you can leverage your investment in Oracle or any other vendor to make better decisions, secure sensitive information, streamline compliance initiatives, and mitigate risks. And because Oracle Fusion Middleware is modular and integrated, you buy only what you need, when you need it.
Fusion Middleware: Core Principles
Oracle fusion technology is based on five core principles:
• Model-driven: Modeled from applications, business processes, and business information
• Service & Event-enabled: Through extensible, modular and flexible applications and processes exposed as services
• Information-centric: Providing complete, consistent, and actionable real-time intelligence

• Grid-ready: With scalable, available, and secure architecture that is manageable on low-cost hardware
• Standards-based: Meaning it is open and pluggable in a heterogeneous environment
Oracle Fusion Middleware products provide the ability to:
• Orchestrate: Manage your business processes within a Service-Oriented Architecture
• Collaborate: Foster productivity with collaboration and content management services
• Protect: Manage risk and drive compliance with an unbreakable architecture and end-to-end identity management.
• Integrate: Improve your capacity for growth by integrating your existing applications and technologies
• Analyze: Improve insight into business operations with BI solutions and a common data model that turns information into action
• Use the applications, technologies, and skill-sets you already have with the Oracle’s middleware

IBM ASM 92P1168

2011-11-18T07:13:00.000-08:00

From a connectivity standpoint the E220s has a good collection of ports. Notably, Lenovo had to leave an optical drive out of the Edge E220s in order to deliver a smaller form factor, but was able to keep the rest of the ports you would expect on a portable business notebook.HP COMPAQ nw8440 Battery
The Edge E220s has a low light webcam that performed well in most situations. You can see a sample image taken with the webcam below. It’s no replacement for a higher quality webcam, but for a notebook of this size it performs as well enough you can see my stubble.HP COMPAQ nw8440 Mobile Workstation Battery

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The real magic comes from the built in VOIP software which allows you to focus the microphone on yourself, ignoring background noise, or to listen to the entire room and act as a speakerphone. We’ve seen this in action on the X220 and the X1, but it is still impressive to have a conversation over the built in Mic without the person on the other end of the call hearing coworkers and background noise.HP COMPAQ nw9440 Battery

We like the fact that the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E220s sticks to business with a lack of extra software installed from the factory. Our review model came with the ThinkVantage toolbox, which you’ll find on most ThinkPad notebooks, but not much else. This toolbox includes the VOIP optimization software we mentioned above as well as other system tools for controlling security, battery life and backup and restore options.HP COMPAQ nw9440 Mobile Workstation Battery

Like most notebooks the ThinkPad Edge E220s comes with a standard one year warranty, but businesses will appreciate the ability to add an extended warranty up to three years, and opt for extras like accidental damage protection and on site repair service. Warranty pricing varies with coverage, but runs up to $279 for a three-year depot warranty.HP COMPAQ nx7300 Battery

There’s no question that the $800 Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E220s offers a great value to business users and students. The compact size, hearty performance and wonderful keyboard come together in a package that makes us wonder how Lenovo can offer it all for this price.HP COMPAQ nx7400 Battery

The ThinkPad Edge E220s isn’t the thinnest or lightest business notebook, but the whole package comes together very nicely. We definitely wish that the display wasn’t glossy and that the battery lasted longer than 5 hours, but the great keyboard and sexy looks compensate well. If you want an ultraportable that won’t break your budget, the Lenovo ThinkPad Edge E220s is one of our top picks.HP COMPAQ nx8200 Battery

The Philadelphia Public School Notebook is an independent, nonprofit news service serving thousands of supporters of the Philadelphia public schools. The Notebook serves as an information source and voice for parents, students, teachers, and other members of the community who are working for quality and equality in Philadelphia's public schools.HP COMPAQ nx8220 Battery

A group of concerned parents, teachers, and community members committed to improving public education founded the Notebook as a quarterly newspaper in 1994. We remain an independent journalistic enterprise, with nonprofit status backed by foundation and donor / member support.HP COMPAQ nx8420 Battery

The Philadelphia Public School Notebook is an independent,HP COMPAQ nx9420 Battery nonprofit news service serving thousands of supporters of the Philadelphia public schools. The Notebook serves as an information source and voice for parents, students, teachers, and other members of the community who are working for quality and equality in Philadelphia's public schools. A group of concerned parents, teachers, and community members committed to improving public education founded the Notebook as a quarterly newspaper in 1994. We remain an independent journalistic enterprise, with nonprofit status backed by foundation and donor / member support.HP COMPAQ 361909-001

Over our 17-year history, we have developed into a widely read and respected resource. Our newspaper has a circulation of 60,000 copies. Most of these are distributed free of charge through each Philadelphia public school and Free Library branch as well as through charter schools and over 250 community organizations.HP COMPAQ 361909-002

Each issue of the Notebook focuses on a theme of vital importance to public education in Philadelphia and contains both news and commentary in English and Spanish. The Notebook publishes the newspaper six times per year, a monthly NEWSFLASH, a daily blog, and community events and dialogues about education and education reform. Learn more about our offerings here.HP COMPAQ 372771-001

El Philadelphia Public School Notebook es un servicio de noticias independiente y sin fines de lucro que les sirve a miles de personas que apoyan las escuelas públicas de Filadelfia. El Notebook sirve como recurso de información y voz para los padres, estudiantes, maestros y otros miembros de la comunidad que están trabajando por tener calidad e igualdad en las escuelas públicas de Filadelfia.HP COMPAQ 381374-001

Un grupo de padres, maestros y miembros de la comunidad preocupados por mejorar la educación pública fundó el Notebook como un periódico trimestral en 1994. Todavía seguimos siendo una empresa periodística independiente sin fines de lucro financiada por el apoyo de donantes y nuestra fundación.HP COMPAQ 395794-001

En nuestros 17 años de historia nos hemos convertido en un recurso ampliamente leido y respetado. Nuestro periódico tiene una circulación de 60,000 copias. La mayoría de ellas se distribuye gratuitamente en cada escuela pública y biblioteca pública de Filadelfia, en cada escuela chárter y en sobre 250 organizaciones de la comunidad.HP COMPAQ 395794-002

Cada edición del Notebook se enfoca en un tema de vital importancia para la educación pública en Filadelfia y contiene tanto noticias como comentarios en inglés y español. El Notebook publica el periódico seis veces al año, un boletín NEWSFLASH mensual, un blog diario y también eventos y diálogos en la comunidad sobre el tema de educación y reforma educativa. Haga clic aquí para saber más sobre lo que ofrecemos.HP COMPAQ 395794-261

The is a portable notebook stand that offers 12 degree angle for ergonomic typing and airflow. The primary selling point of the AViiQ Portable Quick Stand is that it is collapsible, which makes it easy to carry around. However, stability and the high angle weaken what would be an otherwise useful accessory.HP COMPAQ 398875-001

While some notebook stands are too bulky to take with you, the AViiQ’s weighs only 5.5 ounces and collapses flat to fit in the notebook compartment of your computer bag. The AViiQ Portable Quick Stand is so thin, you will barely notice it is there.HP COMPAQ 398876-001

The stand is made from four long slices of plastic that look metallic. They are held together by silicone rubber that comes in five colors, allowing you to find one that fits your style. AViiQ says that the Portable Quick Stand will work with smaller notebooks like the MacBook Air or larger 17? computers.HP COMPAQ HSTNN-DB06

The stand has a 12 degree angle which raises the notebook off the table offering increased airflow for cooling and a higher angle for those who prefer this angle while typing. People who have good touch typing form will like that angle.HP COMPAQ HSTNN-DB11

Unfortunately, like many users, we are lazy and rest our wrists on the front part of the laptop. As a result the angle is a little too high for comfortable typing. Very few of our staff find this kind of angle useful for typing. The good news is the stand can be used at a lower angle, even if it was not designed to be used that way. Below you will see what we mean.HP COMPAQ HSTNN-DB29

As you can see, when you fold the edge with the smaller pieces in on itself instead of putting them at the base of the triangle, the angle is much lower. This is a more comfortable angle to use while typing.The AViiQ Portable Quick Stand is quick and easy to set up, just press along the folded edge and it turns into a triangle that forms the base of the stand.HP COMPAQ HSTNN-I04C

There is a bit of a trick to make the stand work without your notebook sliding off. Our MacBook Air has two rubber feet on the bottom. We positioned the apex of the triangle just below those feet and it stays in place (see above). Another option is to have the top groove grab the back edge of the lid of your laptop (see below). This won’t help if your laptop doesn’t have a lid that folds back as low as the back edge of the MacBook Air’s lid.HP COMPAQ HSTNN-LB11

If you place the top of the Quick Stand against the MacBook Air’s flat metallic base, the notebook will slide off of the stand. Also, the AViiQ Portable Stand is a little unstable while you type, especially for those who bang on a keyboard. If you are a heavy typer the notebook will bounce a little while on the stand. Finally, you cannot use the stand on your lap at all.HP COMPAQ HSTNN-OB06

At $39.99 the AViiQ Portable Quick Stand is on the high side. While the portability is a nice feature, the weaknesses above make the Portable Quick Stand too expensive for us to recommend. Typically stands in this price range offer more functionality and importantly a sturdier base to type on.HP COMPAQ HSTNN-UB11

If you are looking for a way to protect your MacBook Pro keyboard or for a way to learn common application shortcuts, the KB Covers keyboard covers for Apple notebooks are a great solution that won’t feel like you’re trying to type with a sheet of rubber between your fingers and the keyboard.HP COMPAQ PB992A

carries a number of keyboard covers designed to help you master applications like , learnas well as. These covers work with the MacBook, MacBook Pro, MacBook Air and there are also models available for the Apple keyboard. We had the opportunity to review the Photoshop, Mac OS X shortcuts and Clearskin KB Covers for this review.HP Compaq 6510b Battery

KB Covers come in a variety of models to serve a wide range of users. We believe that Photoshop and other specialized application users will be some of the primary customers, but the inclusion of an OS X keyboard shortcut keyboard means that these covers are also a nice accessory for new Mac owners. The Clearskin covers are a good fit for users that want some keyboard protection without obscuring any keys.HP Compaq 6515b Battery

The KB Covers skins are soft and flexible, allowing for a nice typing experience while on your MacBook Pro keyboard. The edges of the keys are somewhat firm which takes some adjustments in typing styles if you don’t often hit the center of the keys, but within a week we had adapted to the new feel.HP Compaq 6710b Battery

Apple to audit suppliers after pollution concerns, groups say

2011-11-16T07:02:00.000-08:00

Apple plans to hire a third-party auditing firm to investigate 15 of its suppliers suspected of violating environmental regulations, according to local environmental groups that met with the company Tuesday.

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Apple has been holding talks with the groups after they accused the tech giant of failing to control the pollution caused by its suppliers in China.

Apple's Beijing office did not immediately respond to a query about the groups' claim, although it has previously said it is committed to ensuring its suppliers meet environmental and labor standards.

The groups' previous investigations have found environmental problems at the facilities of 27 suspected suppliers of Apple products. In one case, the pollution from two manufacturers was linked with a rise in cancer rates in residents living nearby, according to a report issued by the environmental groups in August.

Apple sent five employees to speak with the five Chinese environmental groups. Two of the employees came from Apple's U.S. headquarters and were in charge of supply-chain management. Apple requested the environmental groups not to reveal the employees' names to the press.

During Tuesday's meeting, Apple acknowledged that 15 of 22 of the suppliers the group has identified are in fact manufacturers of the company's products, according to Wang Jing Jing, vice director of the Institute of Public and Environmental Affairs, a group which attended the talks.

But Apple didn't identify to the group which 15 suppliers of the 22 were the right ones, according to members of environmental groups that attended the meeting. They believe Apple should publicly release the information to keep the company and its suppliers more accountable.

"What Apple has been doing is positive," said Li Chunhua, the secretary general of the Green Stone Environmental Action Network, who participated in Tuesday's meeting on a conference line. "But we want them to be more open with their supply chain. They didn't do more in this area."

Apple's meeting with the environmental groups comes shortly after a factory believed to fabricate the aluminum casings for laptops was forced to shut down by the Chinese government.

Catcher Technology, a supplier for Apple's MacBooks, temporarily closed their facility last month after nearby residents complained of unbearable odors coming from the facility.

Samsung becomes biggest smartphone vendor as Android's market share grows

2011-11-15T06:02:00.000-08:00

Samsung became the biggest smartphone vendor in the world during the third quarter, and Android's market share has surpassed 50% for the first time, market research company Gartner said on Tuesday as it reported on phone sales to end-users.

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Worldwide smartphone sales totaled 115 million units in the third quarter of 2011, up 42% from the third quarter of 2010. However, smartphone sales slowed compared to the second quarter, a consequence of the economic situation and of consumers holding out for new models, including the iPhone 4S, according to Roberta Cozza, principal analyst at Gartner.

Android and Samsung were the big winners among smartphone operating systems and vendors, respectively.

Samsung became the worldwide number one for the first time, selling 24 million smartphones, three times as many as it sold during the third quarter last year.

Samsung's support for Android, and the availability of a wide variety of low-cost smartphones running the OS, helped Android grab a 52.5% share of the market: 60.5 million smartphones based on the various versions of the OS were sold, according to Cozza.

Worldwide, Nokia is still the second biggest smartphone vendor and Symbian the second most popular smartphone OS. Consumers bought 19.5 million Symbian-based smartphones, giving the OS a 17% market share. Smartphones based on Symbian are still popular in Eastern Europe and the Middle East.

Nokia's first smartphone running Microsoft's Windows Phone OS, the Lumia 800, has gone on sale in Germany, and will go on sale France, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain and the UK later this month. Microsoft reached a new low during the third quarter as its operating system software now only has a 1.5% share of the smartphone market.

To compete with the Google camp and Apple, Nokia needs to expand its product portfolio and work with Microsoft on more ways to differentiate from the competition, according to Cozza. At the same time, Microsoft needs to add support for hardware features like LTE (Long-Term Evolution), which is becoming increasingly important.

"We don't expect to see a major impact on sales until the second half of 2012," said Cozza.

Apple sold about 17 million iPhones in the third quarter, an annual increase of 21%, but down nearly 3 million units from the second quarter of 2011, perhaps because potential buyers were waiting for the launch of the iPhone 4S, which came in the fourth quarter. That makes iOS still the third most popular OS, with a 15% market share, and Apple the third biggest smartphone vendor.

Now that the iPhone 4S has been released and is doing well, Cozza expects Apple to bounce back during the last three months of 2011. With the iPhone 4S and the lower pricing of older iPhone models, Apple is a formidable competitor, according to Cozza.

During the fourth quarter, the battle between the Android camp and Apple will be especially cutthroat in the U.S. HTC won the top spot during the third quarter, but Apple in second place and Samsung in third place are just behind, Cozza said.

Microsoft wasn't the only OS vendor heading downward: Research In Motion (RIM) recorded new market share lows in both the U.S. and worldwide, at 10% and 11%, respectively. It sold 12.7 million units, enough to make RIM the fourth-largest smartphone maker, and BlackBerry OS the fourth largest OS, according to Gartner's data.

HTC may the biggest smartphone vendor in the U.S, but the company is only the fifth-largest vendor worldwide. It sold about 12 million smartphones.

Beyond smartphones, worldwide sales of all types of phones totaled 440.5 million units in the third quarter, up 5.6% from the same period last year. The five biggest vendors are Nokia, Samsung, LG Electronics, Apple and ZTE.

acebook places third: Companies young people want to work for

2011-11-14T10:24:00.000-08:00

Facebook is the third company that Americans want to work for. Only two other companies were ranked higher by young professionals this year: Google and Apple.

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Facebook placed third this year in a ranking of how attractive an employer is among professionals in the US. This is a huge win for the social networking giant, considering it is just a 7-year-old company.

The results, which reveal how working professionals perceive organizations as employers, are based on a survey conducted by employment data and consulting firm Universum. The company asked 6,698 young professionals with one to eight years of experience between June 17, 2011 and September 30, 2011.

Respondents were asked to pick as many as five ideal employers out of a list of about 200. They could also write in candidates, and a total of 17,950 companies were evaluated. You can see the top 15 in the table above.

8.90 percent of young workers said they wanted to work for Facebook. Only two companies ranked higher: Google (19.67 percent) and Apple (12.74 percent).

Robots v. humans: Real steel or dumb metal?

2011-11-14T04:22:00.000-08:00

Robots are making huge strides in space, on the ocean floor and even in the dentist office

Right from the start let's agree that the argument of humans or robots is getting close to being a dead heat in some areas. With advances in artificial intelligence and complex software, many robots are close to performing some duties better than their human counterparts.

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For example, NASA and General Motors built the 300 pound Robonaut2 - or R2 - a robot that is capable of using the same tools as humans and now works alongside them in space onboard the International Space Station. R2 can use its hands to do work beyond the scope of prior humanoid machines and can easily work safely alongside people, a necessity both on Earth and in space, NASA stated. It is also stronger: able to lift, not just hold, a 20-pound weight (about four times heavier than what other dexterous robots can handle) both near and away from its body. Granted the robot takes up valuable space station space, but it doesn't have to be fed or go to the bathroom - major advantages in space.

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Other robots such as the Octoroach being developed by UC Berkeley researchers can crawl into all manner of super-secret surveillance or emergency recovery applications that the human body just could not. The Octoroach is an eight-legged, sensor-laden, battery-powered device that can find its own way around a room and climb over obstacles. Its compliant, rather than rigid legs let it effectively mimic a cockroach scrambling across the floor.

Other robots such the REMUS 6000 autonomous underwater system recently conducted a 3,900 square mile search of Atlantic Ocean bottom looking for the deep-sea wreck site and black boxes from Air France Flight 447, which crashed off the coast of Brazil two years ago. The autonomous undersea vehicles are designed to operate in depths up to 6,000 meters (19,685 feet or 3.73 miles) and are capable of staying underwater for up to 20 hours. Human searches of the area never found anything, but the bots did.

But while robots can in certain areas achieve what humans cannot, you only have to look as far as say the products that are thought of and designed by the humans at Apple. Or look at the way humans can interact as a group to bring about social change -at least sometimes anyway. Getting robots to act as a group is a science that is only beginning to take shape.

Humans, at least some of them, still have feelings and emotions that robots just cannot mimic. Though some robots are getting close. Japanese researchers this year showed off a dentistry-training robot that can flinch, gag, blink and try to carry on a conversation with cotton stuffed in its mouth - effectively mimicking a real human visit to the dentist.

Still the notion that robots will at some point outperform us all is an interesting though scary proposition. In the current movie "Real Steel" a washed up boxer "teaches" a "sparing bot" how to fight in the ring with success. But in the movie the humans take control over the bots from time-to-time to help them box. Still, for purposes of our human v. robot argument, the movie was set in 2020 and the idea that robots could learn and perform boxing as a skill no longer seems that far-fetched.

Hackers may have spent years crafting Duqu

2011-11-12T10:15:00.000-08:00

The hacker group behind Duqu may have been working on its attack code for more than four years, new analysis of the Trojan revealed Friday.

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Moscow-based Kaspersky Lab published some findings today from a recent rooting through Duqu samples provided by researchers in the Sudan, saying that one driver included with the attack payload was compiled in August 2007, extending the timeline of the gang's work.

"We can't be 100% sure [of that date], but all the compiled dates of other files seem to match to attacks," said Roel Schouwenberg, a senior researcher with Kaspersky, in an interview today. "So we're leaning towards that date as correct."

Schouwenberg added that the August 2007 driver was most likely created specifically for Duqu by the group responsible for the attacks, and was not an off-the-shelf file built by others, because the driver has not been spotted elsewhere.

Other researchers have found files amongst those used by Duqu that carry build dates of February 2008, but actual attacks have been tracked back only to April 2011.

That was also the month that the Sudan-provided samples indicated attacks took place against an unnamed target in that country, according to Kaspersky, which reported two separate attempts -- one on April 17, the second on April 21 -- to plant malware on Windows PCs.

The first attack failed because the email message carrying a malicious Word document was blocked by a spam filter; the second was successful.

Microsoft has confirmed that the Duqu campaign exploits a vulnerability in a Windows kernel-mode driver -- specifically "W32k.sys," and its TrueType font parsing engine -- to gain rights on the compromised PC sufficient to install the malware.

Although Microsoft has yet to patch the bug, it has urged customers to disable the font parser to protect themselves.

Kaspersky's other notable discovery was that each of the dozen Duqu attacks it knows of used a custom-created set of files compiled immediately before the malware was aimed at a target.

"The differences are pretty minor, but they are using unique files tailor-made for each operation," said Schouwenberg. "Each and every attack had its own command-and-control [C&C] server, with its location embedded in the files," he explained.

"That hints that they're very business oriented," Schouwenberg said. "They're very professional, very polished."

Although Kaspersky's newest analysis differs in some ways from that conducted by other security firms -- notably Symantec, which was the first to disclose Duqu's existence -- neither Schouwenberg or a Symantec director saw a conflict.

"Each security firm has different clients, different contacts, and with the limited sharing of samples, we may have just found the earliest [Duqu code]," said Schouwenberg.

Symantec echoed that.

"There are multiple variants of Duqu and the samples Kaspersky have analyzed simply reflect this fact," said Eric Chien, technical director of Symantec's security response group, in an email reply to questions today. "Thus, we have no reason to believe there are conflicts between our analysis and the analysis published by Kaspersky. Their analysis is based on earlier versions, which would account for the earlier date."

Duqu has been characterized by Symantec and others as a possible precursor to the next Stuxnet, the ultra-sophisticated worm that last year sabotaged Iran's nuclear program.

While some have disputed that, Kaspersky is firmly in the Stuxnet-connection camp.

"This new analysis has made us more confident that Duqu was created by the same people behind Stuxnet," said Schouwenberg.

There are certainly differences -- Stuxnet was an attack tool, Duqu seems designed to be part of an intelligence-gathering operation -- but Schouwenberg said there were even more similarities. One such similarity: a line between Stuxnet and Duqu's infection process that, he said, showed the authors of the former learned important lessons that they then applied to the latter.

"They learned from Stuxnet, which was very 'noisy,'" said Schouwenberg, referring to the widespread infections of the worm that many believe was due to over-eager attackers who had been stymied in an earlier attempt to infiltrate Iran's nuclear facilities. Duqu takes a much more cautious approach; It exploits only one unpatched, or "zero-day" Windows vulnerability, not the unprecedented four used by the Stuxnet shotgun.

"Duqu is very sophisticated," said Schouwenberg. "Some mistakes were made in Stuxnet, but all those mistakes are gone now [in Duqu]."

RIM stands by Flash mobile as it pursues HTML5

2011-11-10T23:44:00.000-08:00

Research In Motion will continue to use Adobe Flash Player, at least for the BlackBerry PlayBook tablet, even after Adobe announced it will discontinue Flash for the mobile Web.

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RIM also said in a blog post that it will push ahead with both Flash and HTML5, a Flash alternative, for the PlayBook, just as it did when the PlayBook launched earlier this year.

Google, which launched the open-source Android mobile operating system, hasn't commented on Adobe's decision to ditch the Flash Player in future mobile browsers in order to focus on HTML5.

However, many Android developers and partners with Android phone makers have raised concerns about Adobe's decision, some saying they want to continue using Flash and want details on the progression from Flash Player to HTML5.

Microsoft decided not to include Flash in its Windows Phone 7.5 "Mango" devices, after saying earlier in the year that it planned to work with Adobe to see if Flash software would work with Windows Phone mobile OS.

IDC analyst Al Hilwa said Microsoft's decision not to support Flash in Windows Phone 7.5 or Windows 8 Metro "has to have weighed in" Adobe's decision on Flash. "Deciding how much [Adobe should] invest in Flash is no doubt related to the overall investments that other key vendors are making in HTML5 ... The support for HTML5 is overwhelming from browser makers and platform owners."

IDC predicts that 90% of smartphones and tablets will have HTML5-ready browsers by 2013. On the other hand, IDC said it will take until 2015 for 90% of desktop browsers to support HTML5, which is one reason Adobe has stuck with investing in Flash for desktop browsers.

Apple and former CEO Steve Jobs never supported Flash on its various iOS devices because of performance problems when running Flash video that resulted in battery drain.

RIM's blog, penned by Dan Dodge, the CEO of the QNX division at RIM, gave plenty of credence to HTML5, calling it a "powerful, open standards-based development platform."

Dodge didn't say how long RIM plans to work with Flash, however. "As an Adobe source code licensee, we will continue to work on and release our own implementations [with Flash] and are looking forward to including Flash 11.1 for the BlackBerry PlayBook," he wrote.

Notably, Adobe had said it will release Flash Player 11.1 for Android and for the BlackBerry PlayBook, and will then discontinue development of Flash Player for browsers in new mobile devices.

RIM was "pleased" by Adobe's plan to continue development of Flash-based apps delivered via Adobe Air and through RIM's BlackBerry App World, Dodge added.

RIM's Alec Saunders, vice president of developer relations, added to Dodge's support in a separate blog, saying: "What I would like the developer community to know is that RIM will continue to support developers who have built Adobe Flash-based apps on our platform."

Where the heck is iWork '12?

2011-11-10T04:15:00.000-08:00

Apple last major update of its venerable office suite — iWork — was almost three years ago and it’s starting to show its age. Is it going 64-bit? Will it get a Final Cut Pro X-style reboot?

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Where the heck is iWork ‘12?

Microsoft Office is an industry standard and a practical requirement for people that need to exchange office documents back and forth. But I tend to launch Keynote, Pages or Numbers when I’m creating a new document for me. Although I’ve done several tours with Office (who hasn’t) I prefer iWork for most tasks and Keynote is hands-down a better application than PowerPoint.

The problem is that Apple’s last major update of its venerable office suite was almost three years ago and it’s starting to show its age. Here’s a breakdown of the major iWork releases since it was announced in 2005:

January 11, 2005 — iWork ‘05
January 10, 2006 –- iWork ‘06
August 7, 2007 — iWork ‘08
January 6, 2009 — iWork ‘09

Although Apple is still promoting ‘09 versions of software on its website…

Many people (including myself) thought that Apple would release iWork ‘12 at its Let’s Talk iPhone event on October 4, but it didn’t come to pass. Apple instead released the iPhone 4S, iOS 5, and iCloud - nothing to sneeze at, mind you. I was almost certain that Apple would release iWork ‘12 alongside iOS 5. It made total sense — at least to me.

Instead of releasing iWork ‘12, Apple decided to release incremental updates to the suite, mostly to support new OS innovations.

On July 20 Apple released updates to iWork desktop apps adding OS X Lion features like full screen, resume, auto save and versions.

On October 12 Apple updated Keynote, Pages and Numbers for iOS to version 1.5, adding support for iCloud’s Documents in the Cloud feature. The updates allow users to automatically store presentations, spreadsheets and word processing files in iCloud and keep them synced among multiple iOS devices.

While iWork for iOS got Documents in the Cloud support, unfortunately the desktop versions didn’t follow suit. This necessitates the following workflow if you want to transfer a Pages document from your iPhone to your Mac (for example):

Pages app > documents screen
Touch Edit (icons start to shake)
Touch Document
Touch Share icon
Touch iWork.com
Oddly you must send an email notification (even if sharing to yourself) or it won’t upload
Visit iWork.com from a browser on your Mac, log in
Download the shared file (options include Pages, PDF or Word format)
Open it in Pages for Mac OS

Once you’ve got the document on your Mac, there’s no way to upload it to iWork.com. The only way to get the document back on your iPhone is to email it to yourself and select “Open with Pages” on your iOS device.

Obtuse, to say the least.

So where, oh where, is iWork ‘12?

Originally iCloud was believed to be holding it up, but Apple released iCloud on October 4, so that’s not it.

A theory being floated on the Apple discussion boards is that iWork ‘11 was being re-written to be 64-bit native and Apple “ran into some significant issues with existing 64-bit-able hardware base” so they’re downgrading it to 32-bit.

One of my favorite rumors is that iWork ‘12 will come with a Final Cut Pro X-style reboot. It apparently started when AppleBitch discovered an Apple job opening for a Senior User Interface Designer that would “rework the iWork suite on both Mac and iOS devices.”

Whatever the reason, Apple needs to ship it soon. Seemless iCloud integration is practically a given but I’m sure that Apple has some other snazzy features up its sleeve, too.

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2011-11-08T05:35:00.000-08:00

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HP makes more executive changes

2011-11-04T02:02:00.000-07:00

After a couple of high-profile departures, HP on Wednesday announced some executive appointments, including a new CIO.

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John Hinshaw is now executive vice president of Global Technology and Business Processes, the company said. He'll oversee IT and will be in charge of optimizing business processes across the company. Hinshaw previously worked for Boeing and before that, Verizon Wireless. He'll report to Meg Whitman, HP's new president and CEO.

Craig Flower, an HP veteran since 1984, will take on the role of senior vice president and CIO. He'll report to Hinshaw.

Flower once reported to former HP CIO Randy Mott, who left the company in June as part of a restructuring instituted by short-lived CEO Leo Apotheker. Mott was known for his restructuring of HP's IT, including a massive reduction of data centers.

The appointments follow a number of high-profile departures at HP recently and this year. Last month HP's chief strategy and technology officer, Shane Robison, retired, and the company said it wouldn't replace him. Earlier this week, Phil McKinney, vice president and chief technology officer for HP's Personal Systems Group, said he'd retire at the end of this year. In June, well-known HP veteran Ann Livermore stepped down as head of the Enterprise Business but took on a board seat. Whitman, HP's new CEO, is taking over for Apotheker, who lasted less than a year and who replaced Mark Hurd, who had been ousted after allegations of sexual harassment.

Majority of mobile users under 44 now have a smartphone

2011-11-03T05:26:00.000-07:00

Smartphones continue to capture more mobile users, especially those less than 44 years old, according to a new third-quarter study from Nielsen.

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Only 43 percent of all mobile users own a smartphone, noted Nielsen. That figure covers everyone the company surveyed from 13 to over 65 years old. But ownership has hit more than 50 percent among some specific age groups under 44.

A majority 62 percent of those 25-34 own a smartphone and almost 54 percent of those aged 18-24 and 35-44 do as well. Teenagers are seen as heavy mobile phone users, but only 38 percent of those 13-17 own a smartphone as opposed to a basic feature phone. Moving up in age, 39 percent of mobile users 45-54 years old have a smartphone.

Smartphone usage is also growing among those 55-64. Though only 30 percent of people in this age range own a smartphone, that number is 5 percent higher than Nielsen saw in the second quarter.

In the neverending Android vs Apple smartphone contest, Android is on top, according to Nielsen with 43 percent of the U.S. market, while the iPhone is in the pockets of 28 percent of smartphone users. RIM's BlackBerry owns an 18 percent share, leaving Microsoft's Windows Phone with 7 percent, and other assorted vendors scooping up the remaining 4 percent.

Overall, smartphones grabbed 43 percent of mobile users for the third quarter, while feature phones still held onto a majority of 57 percent.

Lessons on the future of work from the days before email

2011-11-01T19:38:00.000-07:00

Like many of you, I just spent the last few hours trying to make some headway on my email inbox, the only 40 year old technology still at the heart of my work day. What better way to relaunch this blog on "the future of work," I thought, than with some reflections on what work was like in the days before email.

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These days weren't that long ago -- I remember joining the strategy consultancy McKinsey & Company in the mid-90's, and spending my entire first day in our New York office getting trained in... voicemail. Yes, voicemail.

With distributed teams working on-site at hundreds of different clients around the world, voicemail was the tool of choice at McKinsey back then for providing important project updates to the partnership. We were taught how to write an outline of our voicemail's three main points ahead of time (there were always three main points), how to record our message clearly, and how to send it to the entire project team at once. Busy partners were trained on how to play back their voicemail at double speed to save time.

Of course, voicemail was a nightmare to work with. You couldn't search, and you had to go through your inbox sequentially, even if the most critical message was at the end of the queue. You had to dial-in and check it constantly. The most amusing limitation was the need to record a message all in one take -- I remember one of my engagement managers spending literally an hour in our team room recording and re-recording a particularly sensitive message to the partner, trying to get the tone just right while the rest of the team tried to keep a straight face. We did also have our Lotus Notes email system, but getting online was still a little dicey from a remote hotel or customer conference room, so voicemail was the channel through which important things got done. I got on email once a day to read the newsletter from HR and other office updates.

By the time I left the firm three years later, that had all changed. By then, email ruled the day. Voicemail became the thing that I checked at the end of the day to make sure there was nothing critical that I'd missed.

My point? There was a time before email. And there will be a time after email. I'm not saying that email will die, but email will someday surely assume the role that the voicemail and the written memo play in today's workplace. Because email is, in its own way, just as broken as voicemail when it comes to supporting the way people work. Email is:

Completely unstructured, even when talking about increasingly structured things
Message centric, instead of centered on the people or topics it is about
Siloed, forever stuck in inboxes across the company instead of a centralized place where it can be discovered and shared
Asynchronous to a fault, in an increasingly realtime world
Lacks context -- every email message is an island, lacking context form everything else in your business

I'm not just picking on email -- that's just one example of how the way we work today is broken. We still use spreadsheets to keep track of who is doing what, by when. We still use presentations to organize meetings and make decisions. We use text documents to jot down things we want to remember.

There must be a better way to work. That's what I want to explore here in this blog -- examining the future of work.

Of course, the future of work is already here, its just unevenly distributed (with a nod to William Gibson). In the technology industry, we get little glimpses of what the future of work might look like every day -- when Box.net raises a new round of funding, when Jive files for its IPO, when Google brings a feature like Google+ to its productivity suite, when established vendors like SAP and Oracle struggle to catch up as they duke it out with vendors like Salesforce.com, and even when emerging companies like my employer Podio make us more productive doing things like collaborating on projects from our mobile devices.

But these are just glimpses. As someone who spends nearly as much time thinking about the nature of work as I do actually getting work done (sometimes to my own detriment!), I'm continually amazed by how early we are in this transition. But at least I'm not staying up late re-recording voicemails to my teammates anymore!

HP pardoned PC biz, but WebOS is still on death row

2011-10-30T14:48:00.000-07:00

HP pardoned PC biz, but WebOS is still on death rowJust a day after HP announced that it wouldn't be spinning off its PC division, with its new CEO Meg Whitman citing "together we are stronger", the same feeling does not extend to WebOS. British newspaper The Guardian reports on Friday that the company plans to shut down the division and more than 500 jobs could be cut.

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HP acquired the rights to WebOS through its acquisition of Palm in April 2010. The software was meant to power HP's line of Palm smartphones and the TouchPad, but following the scrapping of both lines in August, the future of WebOS was uncertain.

Both the ditching of the PC division and the end of WebOS were the swan song of ousted CEO Leo Apotheker. The appointment of Whitman led some to believe that there may be some chance that Apotheker's moves would be reversed. The surprising success of the TouchPad at $99 also added to the chance that WebOS may still have a chance.

Top-level executives in the WebOS division have been fleeing the company, The Guardian notes, with the general consensus of the department being that it would be closing down by the end of the year. HP has apparently also attempted to find a suitor, but there appears to be no interest in the mobile operating system.

This could be due to the fact that both Android and iOS have become so dominant in the mobile space: the two platforms control a large majority of the market, with RIM's BlackBerry stumbling and Microsoft's Windows Phone platform unable to gain traction in the market. WebOS would likely struggle to make any appreciable dent in the dominance of Apple and Google in the space.

HP didn't respond to our requests for comment on the status of WebOS were as of press time.