GLONASS - An Alternative to GPS

Today, GPS become a part of everyday life. Common people are using GPS devices for finding shortest route of their destinations to for keeping eye on their kids. Usually, people are unaware about the GPS system; how it works; to whom it belongs. Most common misconception is that GPS belongs to USA, but the fact is that GPS is a system and it is implemented as NAVSTAR by USA. This means the current GPS we are using is USA owned but soon we getting different alternative to NAVSTAR GPS system as Russia based GLONASS GPS system.

So, GLONASS (GLObal NAvigationSatellite System) is a satellite navigation system managed by Russia. Alike NAVSTAR, GLONASS is also provides real time position to military and civilian. Receiving the GPS signals at high latitudes are very difficult, in such cases GLONASS signals are useful. GLONASS have regional as well as full global coverage. GLONASS have same accuracy and precision as NAVSTAR. Many smart phones are NAVSTAR and GLONASS enabled.

Like Russia, other countries are developing their own positioning or navigation system. China is developing COMPASS or Beidou Navigation Satellite System which will be fully operational by 2020. European Union is building Galileo Positioning System which will be fully operational by 2019. India is developing two regional navigation systems - Indian Regional Navigational Satellite System (IRNSS) and GPS Aided GEO Augmented Navigation (GAGAN). Both systems are planned to be fully operational by 2014.

This means in near future we will get more option about getting location based information.

TV + Smart Box = Smart TV

When I was teenager, video game was the buzz word. I was very curious about video games and that is not because of game but my curiosity was about connecting the video games devices to television (TV). Attaching different kinds of devices added new dimension to TV, and that can be used for other purposes rather only watching TV programs. Over the past few years, TV technology hasn’t upgraded much, but now TV becomes a multi-faceted device named as Smart TV.

As we are in touch with the terms like smart card, smart phone, smart money, but what does smart means? Oxford dictionary says smart means neat, stylish, fashionable, clever or ingenious. I think all these terminologies defines smart TV because it is a television set with integrated network and web connectivity facilities to connect to the internet.

The operating system and inbuilt network connectivity facilities present in Smart TV that allows us to connect to the internet, also it allows us to install and run applications as like smart phone. The smart TV is not only a TV set, but also it integrates set-top box, LAN port, blu-ray player, game console, etc devices. These devices allow user to play games, to surf on Web, to communicate with people, to search and view movies, audios, videos, photos on the Web, cable TV channel, or storage device.

The companies like Samsung, Sony, LG, Lenovo, etc are selling smart TV, but they charge much. If you have already bought a TV which doesn’t have smart capabilities, even though don’t worry. Any type of TV (CRT or LCD or LED) can be converted into smart TV, you just need a smart box. Smart box or smart TV box is a small device which adds smart label (capabilities) to regular TV.

I think, smart box is a complete package like a computer. It has a processor, operating system, set-top box, internal storage, wireless mouse and keyboard, WiFi router, LAN port, USB ports, card reader, motion sensor remote control, and HDMI audio-video ports. Then why do we need a Netbook? The smart box currently available in the market provides an Android OS which allows us to access the wide range of apps through Google Play.

The companies like Akai, Amkette, Portronics, Kickstarter and Equiso are selling smart box in the market. Akai smart box cost Rs. 6590, Amkette’s EvoTV box cost around Rs. 10,000 and Portronics Limebox cosy Rs. 8500. 

So, enjoy the new dimension in the arena of television.

Future of Computing

Can you imagine your desktop or laptop without Hard disk? In current situation, absolutely not! But in near future, we will to say bye-bye to our hard disk. 

No doubt, hard disk plays crucial role as a secondary storage medium but technology is growing very fast. When I started my computer science study in 2000, I started with 10 GB hard disk. Now-a-days, it is in TBs. By technology advancement, not only storage capacity increased but also dimensions are decreased. 2X1 cm data (memory) card can store no of GB data.

In 21^st century, human’s life is very fast, we need instant things like instant coffee, instant food, instant money, etc. Human’s life become very easy with the use of ICT, but for that we need instance access to personal data and applications. If you don’t have access to your data, i.e. you don’t have your desktop PC or notebook with you then you are wedged to this situation. To thrash such situation, you have to keep your all data and applications in your pocket which is not good and feasible solution or you can keep your data and applications at some remote location and which can be accessed through internet. Currently, similar concept is implemented as thin client in our client/server model. In thin client, there is no hard disk attached to PC, all data will be stored in and accessed from central hard disk, i.e. server’s hard disk. This architecture saves not only the cost but also electrical energy.

World is shifting towards cloud computing. The cloud computing is a technology which allows you to store your data and applications over internet in a protected form. You can store everything like Softwares, Movies, Music, and Documents in the cloud (storage center). Now-a-days, cloud computing is not a regular practice, large organizations are using it, but in near future it will be a common practice. Currently, companies like Google, Microsoft, Amazon are providing the cloud computing on commercial as well as free basis (Google Drive, Microsoft SkyDrive)

In June 2011, Google has launched its next generation laptop named as Chromebook. The Chromebook will not have its own Hard Disk (only minimal space for secondary storage); all data will be stored in the Google’s cloud. This is the step towards using the cloud computing at personal level. Recently, IITs have launched world’s cheapest Tablet PC named as Aakash II. Tablet PC has very less internal and external storage so they will also alternatively use cloud computing technology. Cloud computing requires a Web connection to access the contents of cloud. In the country like India where we are struggling for a getting Web connection, that’s why it will take time to widespread use of cloud computing.

Nanotechnology will play crucial role in storage technology of computing. Currently magnetic technology will be replaced by nano-chips to store a large amount of data. In nano-chips, we can store ample amount of data with a very low cost.

DNA computing is a form of computing which uses DNA, biochemistry and molecular biology, instead of the traditional silicon-based computer technologies. DNA computing, or, more generally, biomolecular computing, is a fast developing interdisciplinary area. DNA has capabilities to transfer the data faster than electrons to have effective communication in computer system. These computers will be eco-friendly computers. The research and development in this area concerns theory, experiments and applications of DNA computing.

In future, we may have chemical based computer. Chemical computer also called reaction-diffusion computer, BZ computer (stands for Belousov–Zhabotinsky computer) or gooware computer. These computers will be based on a semi-solid chemical "soup" where data is represented by varying concentrations of chemicals. The computations are performed by naturally occurring chemical reactions. So far it is still in a very early experimental stage, but may have great potential for the computer industry.

Ultrabook is the slimmest version of laptop. These laptops are the very expensive in cost but they are very versatile, you can easily make them move. This kind of laptop will be popular in business but I think this will not good buy for common people.

Tablet PC (or simply tablet) is a small (not smallest) size handheld PC. By dimension, it lies between smart phone and Netbook. Tablet PC comes in 7” or 10” sizes. Tablet PC’s touch screen, GPS and motion sensor are the very attractive features to users. People loves touch experience (which is lacking in laptop and desktops). No doubt, tablet PC will be popular because of their low cost, but doubt about the usability of tablet PC. For miniature work or entertainment, it’s fine to use Tablet PC but if you want to work hard (say for 5 hours) then surely tablet PC will not good deal. Second thing that I experienced that you are getting that working feel like laptop because apps are in compact version. You have to rely on laptop or Netbook.

Netbook is a small size laptop which is low configured small screen laptop. Netbook is internet ready machine to easily access the Web. It has very less internal storage memory so we can keep our documents in cloud.

This is a snapshot of future computing but science also experienced magic which is called Eureka, so you can also expect some Eureka in computing also.

Can’t establish a reliable data connection to the server

I am using android based Samsung’s Galaxy Pop CDMA (SCH-I559) cell phone. I was eager to connect to internet to access the Web on my cell phone. But, whenever I was accessing the web based apps (Play store, gmail, etc) on my cell phone, it asked for a Gmail credentials. I gave my Gmail credentials but it gave the error message “Can’t establish a reliable data connection to the server”

 

On Web, I searched about this problem. Results show the only solution is that “you need to reset the phone”. The problem with resetting the phone is that, you lose all the data. I found the solution in that you will not lose the data.

Firstly, I want to tell you, why phone displays such error when you tried to use apps. When you start your android phone first time then you need to configure the account with Gmail address. If you ignore that configuration then you will get the above message when you access the apps.

Note: I think, this trick may work on all android phone

To rectify the problem, you just access Youtube app from your android phone (But you need your Google credential attached to Youtube.com account. For that, on computer you login on Gmail and then on another tab open Youtube.com. You need to signin with Google credentials). Now go to Youtube App and login with Google credentials.

After you have signed in via the Youtube app, exit the Youtube app (without closing the app; by pressing the Home button) and go to the main Android Settings menu. Then go to Accounts and sync. In Accounts and sync, you will see email id that you used to login in Youtube app; tap on that account. After the account has been brought up, check the checkbox for Sync Contacts or Sync Gmail, this will synchronies Google account.

 

Now, you can tap on Gmail or Play store app, it will automatically login in that app with Your Google account details.

It is very important to configure Google account, as per my experience. I have applied visible pattern to my cell phone. My little cousin drawn tried a lot wrong pattern and the visible pattern was trapped. I thought, I should have to update the phone’s firmware and I will lose my all data. There is one option, “Forgot pattern?”, but it ask Google credential but I thought it will not work because there is no data plan was activated on phone. But I entered the Google credentials and that was accepted and I got my phone’s desktop.

(Images are copied from Web just for explanation)

Green Revolution 2.0 - Green IT

I think, we need one more green revolution, and in current scenario, I would call it as Green Revolution 2.0. This green revolution is not for the renovation of agricultural practices (like old green revolution), but this is to help build environment GREEN to save the only planet where we can breathe, i.e., the Earth.

Everyone talks about the words like Green, Go Green, Think Green, etc. etc…. but what that means? What green means?

The Green initiative means making eco-friendly sustainable environment.  If we are talking about Green IT (Information technology) then it means to make an eco-friendly and sustainable IT.  Eco-friendly IT means an IT which is less harmful for us and environment, and making a sustainable IT which reduces the e-waste. About Green IT, Wikipedia says – “It is the study and practice of designing, manufacturing, using, and disposing of computers, servers, and associated subsystems—such as monitors, printers, storage devices, and networking and communications systems—efficiently and effectively with minimal or no impact on the environment.”  So I must say Green IT is as much about us rather than just a technology. Green IT is also called Green Computing.

There are a lot ways to support Green IT (Green Computing), i.e., to bring Green Revolution 2.0 in IT; I am discussing several of them-

Desktop and laptop computers are the base for IT; however they consume lot electric energy, that’s why power management of personal computer (PC) is the best way to save electricity. Power management includes, switching off monitor when it is idle, putting PC in stand by or hibernate mode if you are taking break from your work, reducing brightness of monitor. A properly power managed PC saves enough energy to power a 75W light bulb continuously for over a year. You can purchase the products which supports Green, processor which supports undervolting to reduce the electric energy. Software like Granola can be use as power management software.

We should adopt the paperless work strategy. This means we must use digital documentation format like e-documents. E-documents includes e-mail, e-bill, e-cash etc etc. Try to make more and more e-documents because if we reduce paper printing, it will save printer papers, electricity, and ink of printer.

Waste management is one the major part of administration and e-waste management is very difficult to manage because e-waste is not properly recycled. If we think computer’s e-waste, then only 50% of computer parts can be recycled. Most of the e-waste is dumped at sea, disassembled by hand, or burned in an open air. These disposal methods are very dangerous for human and environment.  26 US States that have established state-wide recycling programs for obsolete computers and consumer electronics equipment. I came across the shocking statement on ‘Wikipedia’ about e-waste disposal – “computers gathered through recycling drives are shipped to developing countries where environmental standards are less strict than in North America and Europe. The Silicon Valley Toxics Coalition estimates that 80% of the post-consumer e-waste collected for recycling is shipped abroad to countries such as China, India, and Pakistan.”  MoEF should take concrete steps against this. We can purchase such hardware which serves us for long time or we can use our existing hardware as long as we can. This will reduce e-waste and its adverse effects on environment and us. If you want to buy new hardware then buy green labeled or energy star rated products with long term goal. Samsung has taken initiative about collecting and proper recycling the e-waste.

Nowadays, telecommute is one of the blooming concept to make greener IT. Telecommute is the way in which we can work at home rather than going in the office. This reduces greenhouse gas emission related to travel, reduces an overhead cost for office space, lighting, air conditioning, etc.  Use the next generation technology like WiMAX and Voice over IP (VoIP) to support green initiative. WiMAX is a long distance wireless network which reduces the wiring infrastructure. VoIP is the web based telephone which reduces the telephony wiring infrastructure by sharing the existing Ethernet copper wire.

Leading organizations can invest in alternate energy sources like - solar, wind, hydro power, which will balance their carbon secretion and can save the electrical energy. E.g. Google Inc. is using solar energy

Next generation computers like chemical computer and DNA computer will play vital role in the green revolution 2.0. In near future, computers can replace the silicon based chip to chemical or biological (DNA) chips for better performance. This will also reduce power consumption and toxic material produced from e-waste.

Datacenters is the need of the today’s IT world however they produce 0.3% of the world's CO2 emissions. The effectiveness of algorithms has an impact on the amount of computer resources required for any given computing function. This is dependent on designing an efficient algorithm. Well-designed algorithms can be used to route data to data centers. The efficient algorithm can save up to a 40 % of energy costs.

In cloud computing, all data and applications will be saved and accessed from a remote server or a remote data center. This approach will save energy, cost and resources. AT&T funded  Carbon Disclosure Project issued a report, which reveals that, a company that adopts cloud computing can reduce its energy consumption, lower its carbon emissions and decrease its capital expenditure on IT resources.

4 tons of CO2 are eliminated for every server virtualized. That’s why virtualization can play vital role in green computing. Virtualization is the technology that abstracts computing resources and separates out the operating system so that machine can run multiple applications. Virtualization can reduce hardware, energy, and support costs. 

The government has taken initiative about certifying the data centers as green. There are some criteria in government’s regulation which includes using low-emission building materials, recycling, using alternative energy technologies, and other green technologies.

So the bottom line is,

Green IT starts with engineering eco-friendly products and encouraging IT departments to consider more eco-friendly options like telecommute, virtualization, paperless work, power management, reducing e-waste, proper recycling habits and establishing green certified data centers.

Greening our IT products, applications, services, and practices are an economic and an environmental necessity, as well as our social responsibility because we all breathe the same air and live on the same planet

So please, save the earth because,

In universe, Earth is the only planet where we can breathe...

The Internet V/S internet

Really, The Internet is differ from internet???

Ans is Yes.

If you searched this topic on Internet, you will get various answers. Some says both are same, some says both are different.

I said both terms are differ from each other. Let me explain, when I was studying my MCA course, I read the book "Computer Networks - A. S. Tanenbaum". With reference of this book, I can say internet (small 'i') means the network of network, is also called internetwork. We can say internet is the collection of LANs, MANs and WANs. This means that, internet is the physically present, but The Internet (or simply Internet) is not hardware system. It is the collection of different networks that use certain common protocols and provide certain common services. We use internet to access The Internet. Alternatively we use the term World Wide Web (WWW or Web) in place of The Internet.

Next Generation Addressing - IPv6

The current version of the Internet (known as version 4 or IPv4) uses a 32-bit IP addressing system, means Ipv4 can only produce address up to 2^32 i.e. in binary number system 32 times 1 i.e. 4,294,967,296. Even though we cannot use all these addresses because millions of addresses are reserved for private networks and multi cast addresses.

For example, the IP address 0.0.0.0 is reserved for the default network, the address 127.0.0.1 is used for loopback(localhost) address and the address 255.255.255.255 is used for broadcasts

If we compare this with our Postal system, this is similar to the postman can identify 4,294,967,296 correct home address but if more than these addresses are present then how postman can deliver a post??? So we need the postman who can identify more addresses than 4,294,967,296. This introduces out new addressing system call as Internet Protocol Version 6. IPv6 uses 128-bit addressing system, so IPv6 can produce 2^128 unique addresses i.e. 128 times 1

i.e. 340,282,366,920,938,463,463,374,607,431,768,211,456

The tremendous growth in mobile devices including cellular phones, notebooks, computers, and wireless handheld devices has created a need for additional blocks of IP addresses. The website http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm shows 1,596,270,108 Internet users in the world by March 2009.One day it will cross the mark of our limited IP addresses(i.e. 4,294,967,296).Before the IP will be exhausted we should ready with the solution i.e. IPv6.Some organizations are predicting that IP will be exhausted in 2012 or 2013.

The Internet Engineering Task Force adopted "IP Next Generation" (IPng) on July 25, 1994, with the formation of several IPng working groups. By 1996, a series of RFCs were released defining Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6), starting with RFC 2460.

Incidentally, the IPng architects could not use version number 5 as a successor to IPv4, because it had been assigned to an experimental flow-oriented streaming protocol (Internet Stream Protocol), similar to IPv4, intended to support video and audio.

The following advantages are immediately obvious in the new scheme of things:

Þ Larger address space

Þ Support for mobile devices

Þ Simplified address auto-configuration

Þ Improved address management

Þ Built-in security with end-to end IP Sec

Þ Enables more levels of hierarchy for route aggregation

IPv6 addresses are normally written as eight groups of four hexadecimal digits, where each group is separated by a colon (:). For example,

2001:0db8:85a3:0000:0000:8a2e:0370:7334

IPv6 also implements new features that simplify aspects of address assignment (stateless address auto configuration) and network renumbering (prefix and router announcements) when changing Internet connectivity providers. The IPv6 subnet size has been standardized by fixing the size of the host identifier portion of an address to 64 bits to facilitate an automatic mechanism for forming the host identifier from Link Layer media addressing information (MAC address).

The 2008 Summer Olympic Games were a notable event in terms of IPv6 deployment, being the first time a major world event has had a presence on the IPv6 Internet at http://ipv6.beijing2008.cn/en (IP addresses 2001:252:0:1::2008:6 and 2001:252:0:1::2008:8) and all network operations of the Games were conducted using IPv6.[29]It is believed that the Olympics provided the largest showcase of IPv6 technology since the inception of IPv6.

In 1997, IBM became the first commercial vendor to support IPv6 through its AIX 4.3 operating system. The latest version of Microsoft's Windows operating system, Windows Vista, has full IPv6 support enabled by default.

USB 3.0

The Universal Serial Bus, or USB, a popular standard for transferring files to your PC or charging your iPhone, got its first major update in eight years.

USB 3.0 will be 10 times faster than the current USB 2.0 standard, and will increase the amount of electrical current that can be delivered through a USB cable.

Users need the increased speed -- 4.8 gigabits per second, to be precise. And as consumers carry around more devices, charging them off a PC using a USB cable will be much easier than carrying multiple chargers.

With the USB 3.0 specifications nailed down this year, the standard will bump up the power output to 900 milliamps from 100 milliamps, allowing more devices to be charged faster.

At first glance, the USB 3.0 connector looks just like the 2.0 design

Key Features :-

• USB 3.0 will be backwards-compatible with USB 2.0

• The maximum speed of USB 3.0 is 4.8Gbps

• Uploads and downloads are kept on separate data lanes

• USB 3.0 will charge more devices, quicker

• USB 3.0 will be more power efficient
  

The Mysterious Memristor

Anyone familiar with electronics knows the trinity of fundamental components: the resistor, the capacitor, and the inductor. In 1971, a University of California, Berkeley, engineer predicted that there should be a fourth element: a memory resistor, or memristor. But no one knew how to build one. Now, 37 years later, electronics have finally gotten small enough to reveal the secrets of that fourth element. The memristor, Hewlett-Packard researchers revealed today in the journal Nature, had been hiding in plain sight all along—within the electrical characteristics of certain nanoscale devices. They think the new element could pave the way for applications both near- and far-term, from nonvolatile RAM to realistic neural networks.

The discovery of the "memristor" or memory resistor will make it possible to develop computer systems that remember what's stored in memory when they are turned off. That means computers that don't need to be booted up and systems that are far more energy efficient than the current crop.

Researchers also hope the memristor can help develop a new kind of computer memory that can supplement or ultimately replace dynamic random access memory, or DRAM -- the type of memory used in personal computers.

Memristors are still primarily confined to the lab, so commercial products based on this kind of circuitry will not be available for at least five years.

The memristor's story starts nearly four decades ago with a flash of insight by IEEE Fellow and nonlinear-circuit-theory pioneer Leon Chua. Examining the relationships between charge and flux in resistors, capacitors, and inductors in a 1971 paper, Chua postulated the existence of a fourth element called the memory resistor. Such a device, he figured, would provide a similar relationship between magnetic flux and charge that a resistor gives between voltage and current. In practice, that would mean it acted like a resistor whose value could vary according to the current passing through it and which would remember that value even after the current disappeared.

Blu-ray Disk

What is Blu-ray?

Blu-ray is one of the two major formats competing for the emerging high definition DVD market. The name "Blu-ray" comes from the use of a blue-violet laser to read and write data. The term Blu-ray discs is shortened to BD for simplicity.

Due to HD DVD's capitulation in February 2008, Blu-ray is now the dominant HD format (in the West, at least).

A single layer BD will store around 25GB, which is more than 5 times the capacity of a single layer DVD. For each additional layer, an additional 25GB of storage will be available. The reason for the dramatic capacity increase over DVD is obvious when you consider that a HD transmission will take up a lot more room than a typical DVD stream, although with 25GB and 50GB capacities, and better compression algorithms, capacity shouldn't be an issue (so no "flippers", or double sided disc). These two types of discs are often referred to as BD25 and BD50.

BD resolution will follow the standard HD resolution standards currently used for HDTV transmissions. This means, at least for the present, the maximum resolution will be 1080i/p, or 1920x1080 in either interlaced or progressive format . There is also 720p resolution (1280x720, progressive), which is the current native resolution of many home theatre displays, and also SD resolution support, similar to today's DVDs.


The official date has been set to Spring 2006, announced in December 2005. HD DVD's release date was earlier pushed back to early 2006 as well. The difference between HD DVD and Blu-ray's launch dates is probably not a major issue, because even DVDs, the most successful format ever, took a year to become a "must-have" item after its official launch date, so the difference of a few months between the official launch dates is probably insignificant.


Blu-ray is now the only remaining HD format, after Toshiba announced in February 2008 that HD DVD will no longer be supported. And so technically, all companies are now backers of Blu-ray, but the list below is a list of the original backers of the format, before and during the format war.

Blu-ray is backed by the following list of companies:

* Apple Computer, Inc.
* Dell Inc.
* Hewlett Packard Company
* Hitachi, Ltd.
* LG Electronics Inc.
* Matsushita Electric Industrial Co., Ltd.
* Mitsubishi Electric Corporation
* Pioneer Corporation
* Royal Philips Electronics
* Samsung Electronics Co., Ltd.
* Sharp Corporation
* Sony Corporation
* TDK Corporation
* Thomson Multimedia
* Twentieth Century Fox
* Walt Disney Pictures

The main backers are Sony, Matsushita (Panasonics) and Philips, with Sharp also playing an important role. Sony (formerly Columbia/Tri-Star, and also the new owner of MGM), Fox and Disney are the main studio backers.

Warner is now the only major studio to back both formats after Paramount/Dreamwork's decision in August 2007 to stop releasing movies for Hd Dvd and to produce Blu-ray releases only. Rumors suggest that this deal will only last 18 months, although official statements indicate it is indefinite.

Warner has also announced in January 2008 that they will end support for HD DVD in May 2008, becoming a Blu-ray exclusive studio.

In November 2005, HP has stated that it might shift its support to HD DVD if "managed copy" and "iHD" are not supported by Blu-ray. Subsequently, mandatory managed copy will now be part of Blu-ray specifications, but the decision to include iHD is being considered.

What is Blu-ray Notebooks?

A Blu-ray Notebook (also known as Laptop) is a small mobile computer, and weigh 3 to 10 pounds (1.4 to 4.4 kg),yes many older regular notebooks may weigh more.

A player/drive which use blue-violet laser to read and write data called as blu-ray player/drive and any notebook come with this small but high tech device called blu-ray-Notebooks.

Blu-ray Notebooks usually run on a single main battery or from an external AC/DC adapter that charges the battery while also supplying power to the whole body hardware itself even in the event of a power failure.

Blu-ray Notebooks contain many components that are similar to the regular desktop computers and notebooks which perform the same functions, but come with more powerful graphic card to get benefit of any blu-ray discs, plus it will equipped with high resolution screen as now a days many notebooks coming with 1920X1200 high resolution screen which will enhance your experience to watch any bluray movies.

Still many people don't know which company selling which model in blu-ray or you can simply upgrade some of them.

For more Guidance of any blu-ray notebooks click on right side bar to know more about any particular brand bluray Notebooks and other accessory.