News–Wi-Fi Direct Gadgets Could Revolutionize the Wireless World
Posted on October 29th, 2010
Wireless networks created on the fly will be possible with new gadgets using the Wi-Fi Direct specification. Connected Wi-Fi Direct devices will be able to exchange content without a fixed Internet access point. Current devices using 802.11 a, g and n standards will also be able to join networks created by Wi-Fi Direct devices.
A new generation of consumer gadgets based on the Wi-Fi Direct specification unveiled in December will dramatically change the wireless networking environment when the first certified products hit the store shelves later this year, the Wi-Fi Alliance said Tuesday. According to the global trade association, the new technology will give consumers the ability to establish instant wireless networks with other devices on the fly without the need for an intervening home network, hot spot, or access point.
The goal is to make it easier to share apps or exchange multimedia content with any individual equipped with a Wi-Fi-enabled devices such as a laptop, web tablet, smart phone, e-reader or camera, noted alliance CEO Edgar Figueroa.
Although Wi-Fi was first used as a wireless technology for laptops, these days the technology is showing up in a wide range of consumer electronic products. ABI forecasts that 82 million portable consumer devices and 216 million handsets with Wi-Fi capabilities will ship in 2010 alone.
With Wi-Fi Direct, the initial focus is on helping users with activities such as sharing gaming apps and synchronizing devices, as well as exchanging photos, videos and other multimedia content. The Wi-Fi Alliance expects all these capabilities will appeal to younger Americans, who carry an average of about 1,100 songs, 50 videos, and 1,200 photos on digital devices.
With Wi-Fi Direct, device users also will be able to send pictures directly to a printer, display images and videos on a TV screen, and even share a presentation with a group. About 90 percent of young Americans report gathering around a portable device to look at pictures, videos or video games, according to a new survey conducted by the Wi-Fi Alliance and Wakefield Research. In addition, 64 percent of respondents said Wi-Fi connectivity helps them maintain their social relationships with friends.
Wireless networks created on the fly will be possible with new gadgets using the Wi-Fi Direct specification. Connected Wi-Fi Direct devices will be able to exchange content without a fixed Internet access point. Current devices using 802.11 a, g and n standards will also be able to join networks created by Wi-Fi Direct devices.
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News–Digital Media Gives Communities More Control
Posted on October 27th, 2010
"Digital media is challenging traditional assumptions about story-making," says Jason DaPonte, former mobile platforms managing editor at the BBC.
DaPonte now works as a mentor for Endz2Endz, an online multimedia youth video site produced by and for young people in Brixton. The web-based "magazine", headed by entrepreneur and film-maker Dennis Gyamfi, gives those young people involved the chance to build their digital media skills and express themselves. "Audiences growing up with the net have an expectation to be part of the story," says DaPonte. "If we’d tried to do Endz2Endz as a conventional film it would have been all about them and us, patronising and judgmental. By helping them create their own stories with some additional guidance, the end result is 100% theirs and totally authentic."
Growing attention is being paid to the potential of documentaries to empower communities by giving them a chance to tell their own stories. It’s a shift in emphasis fuelled by a number of factors, including social activism, a backlash against the rise of docu-entertainment formats and a desire for greater authenticity.
Telling stories and removing as much of the "filter" between the storytellers and the audience as possible is a goal that award-winning film-maker Penny Woolcock champions in her recent BBC Four documentary, On the Streets. In the film, the homeless people themselves, rather than policy makers, welfare or charity experts tell their story. "The fear in a multi-channel world is that unless you tell people repeatedly what’s going on you won’t hold that audience but that, I believe, is wrong," says Woolcock.
"The film’s angle is, of course, shaped by me but the point is no one gets in the way between subject and camera telling the audience what to think. Filtering people’s stories in this way risks patronising or, worse, misinterpreting what they want to say. Not doing so has resulted in a more powerful, truthful film."
Much of documentary film-making is about fostering change, in social or political policies. "Changing situations for communities case by case isn’t the fastest way of achieving social change," says Australian director and human rights lawyer David Vadiveloo. "Gathering popular support is critical. And enabling the individuals involved to communicate their own experiences unmediated by any vested interests is the best way of achieving this end."
The rise of the internet and digital content production and distribution techniques has also played an important role in making it easier for communities to create and share their own material. And this, in turn, is leading to a redefinition of what "documentary" means, says Vadiveloo, who in addition to his film credits is also founder and director of Community Prophets, which offers digital media training courses for marginalized youths.
"Commissioning TV editors are always looking for new and interesting stories and that won’t change," says Vadiveloo. "Marginal communities, meanwhile, have a unique story to tell which they’ve just not had the opportunity to share before. This isn’t about one medium taking over from another but a fundamental shift in the balance of power as storytellers take greater control."
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A Laptop TV Tuner
Posted on October 26th, 2010
Some accessories are inside a laptop but the ones are external meaning they can easily be moved between computers and you can choose whether to use them or leave them at home depending on what you are doing and where you will be doing it.
Portability is definitely the biggest benefit of laptops because you can work, use the internet, everything you use a computer for practically anywhere. But portability also creates the biggest risks and worries for laptop owners. Because you can take your laptop so many places there are more things that can happen to it. It can be left somewhere, it can be stolen, and it can be damaged. These are the biggest worries of a laptop owner.
Laptop TV tuners are pieces of hardware that add TV and DVR functionality to your laptop. For less than $100, a TV tuner for your laptop makes it possible to watch over the air TV, cable and satellite programs and record TV on your laptop. If your monitor has high enough resolution many tuners can even process high definition signals.
Watching over the air channels on your laptop requires an antenna. Some tuners have a built in antenna while others utilize an external desktop antenna about the same size as a beer or soda bottle. More powerful antennas are available.
Your reception depends on the city you live in and how far you are from the broadcast antenna but if you live in a major city chances are you can watch over the air broadcasts in your backyard or at a tailgate party. Watching cable or satellite TV requires a subscription to the cable or satellite provider and the tuner must be connected to the cable or satellite cable.
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News–Thieves Targeting Electronic Goods
Posted on October 21st, 2010
Two Palmerston North suburbs are being targeted by burglars, with some home owners returning home to find their property piled up at the back door.
Thirty-two properties in Terrace End and Roslyn have been hit by a "concentration" of day-time burglaries in the past two weeks that police believe could be related.
Acting Senior Sergeant Phil Skoglund said the owners of two properties – one on Napier Rd and another on James Line – returned home to discover their belongings stacked up by the back door.
He said television sets, laptops, and stereos, were being targeted.
Detective Sergeant Tim Moffat said there had not been an increase in the number of burglaries reported in the city.
Mr. Moffat said burglaries during the day were the most common and logical.
"Most dwellings are burgled during the day as most of the occupants are out during the day," Mr. Moffat said.
"Just like commercial properties are targeted at night or on weekends, because they are not occupied."
Palmerston North police are advising property owners to get to know neighbors, and to keep electronics and other expensive belongings out of sight.
"Don’t put your big flat-screen TV in the front window where you can see it from the street," Mr. Moffat said.
"Don’t leave laptops lying around either, and make sure you keep your doors locked."
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USB Drives – Popular Portable Storage Devices
Posted on October 19th, 2010
USB external hard drive is a device that basically takes compact USB drives, flash drives or SD cards that you would use in your camera or mobiles. This USB external hard drive is not what we are talking about here we are more interested in its connection.
This device uses a little USB connection which sort of square boxy type of connector and just about every modern computer or late computer uses these USB connections for their external devices. The USB is a connection between a host computer and a number of peripheral devices.It was originally created to replace different kind of slow buses like the parallel, serial, and keyboard connection which were a single bus type which the devices could connect too. The USB has evolved from the slow connections and now supports almost every type of device that can be connected to a PC.
When you plug the USB connector to your computer it is run on your computer by the device that is called the USB drivers. The window on your computer recognizes a new USB device has been plugged into it and asks what you want to do with it. Basically that is the result of the USB drivers which is running the programming behind this device.
Many manufacturers provide features like password protection, and downloadable USB drivers that allow the USB drives to become compatible with the older systems that do not have the USB ports. The USB drives have replaced floppy disk, and CD’s.
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News–Mobile Phone Users in Ghana to Reach 70% of Population End of 2010
Posted on October 14th, 2010
The telecommunications companies in Ghana have taken centre-stage in Ghana’s economy as the oil industry which is expected to make a huge impact is about to begin in November or December 2010.
The mobile phone companies put together are the fastest growing businesses as a large number of Ghanaians use mobile phones.
The number of mobile phone users in Ghana, has therefore, been predicted to reach 70% of the country’s total population of about 23 million.
A new report by the Business Monitor International (BMI) which says on its website that it is a leading, independent provider of proprietary data, analysis, ratings, rankings and forecasts covering 175 countries and 22 industry sectors, has said.
According to BMI, in the first six months of 2010, it calculated that the number of mobile subscribers increased by 7.3% to reach 16.475 million.
For the year as a whole, BMI says it now predicts that the market will expand by just over 14%. This will raise the penetration rate to just over 70% by the end of 2010.
Ghana has six mobile phone companies licensed to do business in the country, but only five are in operation. These are MTN, which is the largest, Tigo, and the oldest mobile phone provider, Vodafone, Zain and Kasapa. The sixth provider, Globacom is yet to start operations.
It is however, expected that when Globacom begins operations the number of subscribers will rise.
On the other hand, the introduction of compulsory SIM registration, which became effective on July 1, 2010, will result in much weaker mobile customer growth in 2010, compared with 2009, the report said.
It could also result in the widespread deduction of inactive and unregistered mobile customers by the operators, it added.
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Learn About Wireless Headsets
Posted on October 12th, 2010
If you currently spend more than 5-10% of your day on the phone while also multi-tasking to get several other things done throughout your day getting a wireless headset may be a very easy and effective way for you to boost your productivity anywhere from 1% per day all the way up to as high as 10% (or more) over the way you are currently getting things done.
Digital Enhanced Cordless Telecommunications (DECT) which is used for cordless phone systems. The most commonly used profile of DECT is Generic access profile (GAP).
The GAP profile is used to enable communication between any GAP-enabled DECT base station and its cordless handset. By having this uniformed profile, developers such as Plantronics, Accutone and Jabra have developed wireless headsets that can directly pair with almost any GAP-enabled DECT telephones.
This allows anyone with a DECT Headset to pair it with their home or office DECT telephones and enjoy wireless communication using the wireless headset instead of the handheld receiver.
The 2.4Â GHz – This is the radio frequency (RF) that the wireless unit is designed to run on. This is an open frequency for wireless devices nonetheless other systems also use it (such as Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, Wireless LAN) which can cause problems with interference.
Because 2.4 GHz Headsets operate on a different frequency an additional base-unit is needed for the headset to communicate with the corded telephone base unit (land line).
The headset communicates with the base-unit and the base-unit communicates with the telephone base-unit (land line).
An automatic handset lifter can be used with some 2.4 GHz systems to allow the handset to be lifted wirelessly by pressing a button on the wireless headset.
Bluetooth Headsets – this has become a common wireless profile for wireless mobile phone headsets.
Bluetooth also operates on the 2.4Â GHz Frequency, similar to Wi-Fi but because it is designed for low power usage, it has a low transmission range.
Bluetooth desktop – With a base-station that connects to the land-line telephone and also the computer sound card, a Bluetooth headset can be paired to the base-station, which will allow you to use a single wireless headset for both land-line telephone and computer VoIP communications.
This choice, when used together with a multiple-point Bluetooth headset allows you to use a single Bluetooth headset to communicate between Mobile, Telephone and Computer, which can be used to give a complete wireless communication desktop solution using Bluetooth technology.
Currently one of the best known makers of high quality Wireless headsets for almost any wireless communications need is The Plantronics Corp.
Wireless Headsets can give you the same functionality of a telephone handset with the benefit of hands-free operation and better ease of use, which in-turn can allow you to get more done and be more productive throughout your day.
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Great Accessories That Are Perfect for Your iPod
Posted on October 8th, 2010
Since there are a lot of different accessories that have been created for you to enjoy your Apple iPod better, then be ready to start shelling out more cash for some cool Apple iPod accessories as well.
While the Apple iPod already comes with a good quality set of white earphones, those who are more particular with the quality of sound of their MP3 player can also check out the cool new lines of headphones and earphones that have been dominating the market recently.Since it is inevitable that you will get tired of having to listen to your music through headphones or earphones all day long – plus this kind of habit is bad for your ears, and then you would want to get yourself a cool portable speaker as well.
From portable speakers that double as alarm clocks to cute Lego portable speakers, there is certainly a portable speaker that is perfect for your Apple iPod. For some great portable speaker models, do not forget to check out the Creative Lab iPod speakers line as well.
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News—County’s Electronic Recycling Program Returns
Posted on October 6th, 2010
Madison County residents are invited to discard their unwanted electronics during a special recycling event this month.
The Madison County Recycling Program has announced it will join forces with the Madison County Board, County Board Chairman Alan Dunstan and local units of government to host a free electronic waste collection day.
Items that will be accepted at the event include: computers, monitors, televisions, keyboards, computer mice, printers fax machines, copiers, vacuums, blenders, toasters, electric kitchen goods and hairdryers. However, goods that will not be accepted are: white goods, vehicle motors, tires and hazardous waste.
Solid Waste Coordinator for the county Leah Dettmers said the county hosts the event bi-annually.
In addition, Dettmers said the county on average collects 80,000 pounds or electronics – two to three tractor trailers full.
Dettmers said the program helps get these goods recycled. In fact, she said starting in 2011 electronics will not even be allowed in landfills. She said the state passed legislation last year that the manufactures will have to pay for their electronic products to be recycled.
In addition, Dettmers said recycling electronics is not just environmentally-friendly, but it is also good for the economy as the recycling and reuses of the materials create jobs and promotes economic growth.
Electronic waste collection day is free and open to only Madison County residents – residency identification will be required.
Though business or contractor waste will not be accepted, governments and schools are encouraged to use this pickup and are required to make an appointment with the Madison County Recycling Office.
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