Archive for the ‘Technology’ Category
Robots – Here and Now
Robots have been around as long as we can remember, but until relatively recently, their impact on our lives has been limited to the movie screen. However, they’ve come a long way since the “Danger Will Robinson!” robot from the television series Lost in Space. Advances in processing power, software algorithms, and motor miniaturization have allowed for the creation of some truly amazing mechanical creatures.
One of the most compelling robots is one created by Aldebaran Robotics called the Nao Bot. This robot is almost eerie in its ability to mimic human movements. It is fitted with optical, audio, and capacitive (touch) sensors to allow it to react to a variety of stimuli from its environment including voice and hand signals. It can even work together with other Nao Bots. While not really able to sort laundry or clean the dishes independently, it can do a pretty impressive dance number. Sony has its own version as well.
Not all robots are for entertainment purposes. You may have seen the disc-shaped robot in stores (I saw one at Target the other day) that vacuums floors independently. One company, iRobot Corporation, offers a line of specially designed robots that vacuum floors, clean swimming pools, and even clean out gutters with little or no interaction. The cost of these robots varies from $100 up to about $500 depending on the features that you want.
Have you ever wished you had a helper for moving a bulky item like a table or piece of drywall? Well now there is a robot developed by Masaaki Kumagai and Takaya Ochiai at the Tohoku Gakuin University in Japan that can balance on a ball so effectively that it is capable of carrying relatively heavy loads without falling over. Although not yet available at your local Lowes, this technology shows great promise for practical applications.
These are only a few of the robots that are being developed and even sold commercially. From hospitals to factories to homes, robots are beginning to make their way into our lives. The day when one of these mechanical helpers are as commonplace in our homes as a computer may not be far away.
An Overview of CSMA-CD
One of the most useful methods in computer networking, the Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection (also called CSMA/CD) is an efficient network access procedure that can be applied in a data transmission station that has the ability to identify another signal during frame transmission. In addition, this procedure is also helpful in using a carrier sensing method. Moreover, this networking method is helpful in improving the performance of Carrier Sense Multiple Access when a collision is found. Know more about it by looking at the easy steps in how to detect jam signals as well as collisions.
Identifying Collision Details
The procedures that are used for detecting collision details depend on a particular media used. For instance, collision can be detected on electrical buses like the Ethernet by examining the received data as well as the transmitted data and comparing them. If there are differences in the transmitted and received data, then it signals a collision, which can lead to the termination of data transmission. If a collision is detected, it will send a jam signal, which will control the functions of transmitters. However, computer users should know that to efficiently use this method, there are some repeaters and hubs in a computer network that must be replaced with switches.
The Applications of Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection
The Carrier Sense Multiple Access/Collision Detection (CSMA/CD) is composed of different rules that direct each network as well as the devices in a computer network the appropriate time to start or stop data transmission. Even if the application of this method is recommended to all computer network administrators, it is still has limitations. In this regard, they are not assured that this can prevent 100 per cent data transmission collision in different networks. To resolve problems associated with collisions, there are some network devices that can be used to decrease the collision domain size.
Additional Information and Other Important Details About CSMA/CD
A collision domain size in a computer network can be decreased by installing devices like network bridges as well as switches, which are useful for microsegmentation. Aside from switches and network bridges, another device that can be used to avoid data collision is a router. This device is designed to filter data being transmitted in a network. Additionally, it is also helpful in dropping and forwarding packets depending on Internet Protocol or IP addresses. Moreover, it is also efficient in broadcasting the addresses in a network that can easily receive and transmit data or packets.
You in Data
A month ago I signed up to Daytum, a web service that lets you record data about your life. After admiring their simple and logical data recording method, I began wondering what drives people to disseminate their life in data and whether “Personal Intelligence” had anything to teach the “Business Intelligence” world.
Looking through the public profiles people are tracking everything from exercise regimes to irrational fears, from fuel consumption to religious activity. It seems to me that there are three main groups of users:
1. The efficiency drivers: those who track everything to give an objective view of where they can save money and time
2. The motivational diarists: those who record things like dietary intake and gym routines to chart their achievements and, I suspect, act as a record of shame when things go wrong.
3. The curious masses: those who enjoy visualizations of the number of cups of tea they’ve consumed this month or how many hours a year they spend on the toilet.
Data analysis and visualization in the business world has always had a strong arm in efficiency drives, so it is only natural that our first group have taken to do the same with their own finances. It can be quite revealing to find that your monthly coffee expenditure could pay for a weekend break for two.
However, it is the second cohort that interests me most. It is an old mantra that what doesn’t get measured doesn’t get done, but measures and targets handed down by management often produce the opposite of the desired effect. Perhaps empowering people with tools to track and visualize their own productivity could increase motivation, without the feeling that Big Brother is watching your every move. Or then perhaps it would just be another distraction.
As data recording becomes quicker and data visualization becomes easier, those who embrace personal data analysis may find a personal competitive advantage just as businesses do everyday. Whether businesses can harness this effectively to motivate their employees remains to be seen.
Why is SEO so important?
Internet has become a part of life. These days, we do everything from communication to shopping, from gathering information to providing information about our business. If you are not ‘online’ you don’t exist. This trend has given way to a whole new venue where businesses can grow and operate.
There are millions of people who are running their business through the internet and are earning great profits from it. Now you must be wondering, why some websites are so popular, while a large number of websites stay in obscurity? Why do some websites pop up in the first few search engine results while others come in later pages?
The answer to this question is SEO or Search Engine Optimization. SEO means optimization of the content of a website in a way that it’s ranking in search engines rise. Search Engine Optimization involves using the right number of keywords and keywords that are in the right place in the content. This ensures that when those particular keywords are searched, the website is shown in the first few search results.
Naturally, the higher a website is shown in the search engine results list, the more traffic it will get. This is the main reason why some websites get more traffic and bigger profits than others. For example, suppose you run a travel website about tourism in London. Just writing good content won’t be enough to get good traffic to it. You will have to make sure that the people who are trying to gather information about tourist activities in London get to see your website. For this, you will have to use the right keywords and key phrases in the content. This is what we call SEO.
Search Engine Optimization can be a tricky thing because you must know exactly the right keywords and phrases and put them in the right places. You must also know which keywords are searched most and which keywords will be beneficial for your website. In SEO, there is not a “one size fits all” rule. Each website is different and its optimization should be according to the specifics of that website. That’s why you must hire a professional SEO service to optimize your website.
Why SEO Services?
SEO Services will use the right keywords to ensure better ranking for your website. A good SEO service will make sure that your website content includes the popular keywords which are searched frequently in the niche of your website.
A SEO service will increase visitors to your website by presenting your website when they are looking for products, services and information that your website provides. It will definitely increase your online business. This practice is known as SEO Marketing.
SEO Marketing is one of the best tools to promote any website because it solves the basic problem with any online venture. It solves the problem of getting enough exposure in the search engines. It doesn’t matter how much you try to publicize your website through other means of internet marketing unless and until you get your website optimized. Therefore, hiring SEO Services is a step in the right direction.
The best and the most effective method of SEO optimization is through organic SEO. This kind of optimization is perfect for people who are working with a limited budget, but still want to reach large audiences.
What is Organic SEO?
Organic SEO is search engine optimization in its truest form. These days, many search engines offer paid SEO services. This service allows a website owner to “buy” a few keywords and phrases of his choice. When those phrases are searched, his website is displayed in the top search results. In return, the website owner is required to pay a certain amount for every click to his website. This is known as pay per click optimization.
Organic SEO, on the other hand, has no such formalities. In this kind of SEO, the website is optimized by good and popular keywords and the rest is left to the search engines. No amount is paid to anyone. Organic SEO has many benefits such as:
· People trust organically optimized websites more
Anyone can buy any keywords in the pay per click method, so potential site visitors cannot be sure of the legitimacy of their content. This is why people are more likely to trust the organically optimized websites in favor of pay per click optimized sites.
· It’s affordable
Organic Seo is much more affordable than the pay per click method. One doesn’t have to keep making regular payments to search engines using this method. Plus, the pay per click method carries the risk of getting increased traffic, but potentially fewer sales, i.e., you can lure people to your website through this method but can’t force them to buy. This sometimes becomes a raw deal for website owners.
· Relevance
Organically optimized websites ensure relevancy of the content. The search engines display these websites because of their content and not because they were told to pick them, so this relays a better image to internet users.
In short, organic SEO is the safest and best choice for website owners who want to create a good and substantial website that people can trust in the long term. This is also very good for those who want to increase traffic to their website without spending too much money.
If you want to get your website optimized, then you should contact an SEO service that provides guaranteed SEO for the website. This means, hire a service that has expertise in this field and that knows how to optimize in the best possible manner.
There are hundreds of websites on the internet which claim to give the best and guaranteed SEO services. You must make sure that you hire the best by checking their previous records, the testimonials and reviews on their website. This will give you an idea of their performance.
In the end, all I can say is that there is hardly any popular website that hasn’t been Search Engine Optimized. And if you want your website to be popular, you now know what to do.
The writer of this article owns a website called “Seo-Services.Com” which is a great place for SEO Marketing. If you are looking for All type of SEO Services that gives you high class web promotion and provides you superb seo solution then this is the place for you. Also Visit our Organic SEO.
Hundreds of jobs on the line as MySpace considers cuts
MySpace is considering closing down a number of offices around the world as it attempts to cut costs and recover from a slump that has left it trailing its rivals.
Senior executives at the social networking site are currently discussing the possibility of shutting down operations in California, Italy, France and Spain, sources have told the Guardian.
The closures – which could be announced as early as next week – could result in the loss of hundreds of jobs.
One office under threat is the company’s base in San Francisco, which only opened at the end of 2007 and is home to around 200 members of staff. It is not yet clear if those jobs would be cut as a result of such a shutdown, or whether some workers would be offered the option of relocating to MySpace’s headquarters in Los Angeles.
It is also expected to cut a number of jobs in its European offices as it struggles to meet revenue targets for advertising amid falling user numbers. Workers in Paris, Madrid and Rome could be affected, and 20 people are already believed to have been fired from MySpace UK in February, including the head of IT and head of facilities.
Guardian Technology revealed on Thursday that MySpace has seen falling user numbers and time spent on its properties in the UK and US, while rival sites including Facebook have continued to increase their audiences.
As a result, pressure has built on the company to regain its momentum – leading the site to bring in a new chief executive and undergo a series of redesigns to help woo back users who have deserted it.
Those changes have so far failed to halt the slump, however, and sources within the company say that Travis Katz – the London-based general manager of MySpace’s international division – has made a series of short-notice trips to the US to talk to senior executives about possible cutbacks.
He is believed to be returning again for further discussions on on Monday.
It is understood that the closure of offices could be announced as early as next week, leaving European staff concentrated in two offices in the UK and Germany.
MySpace UK declined to comment on Katz’s movements or the prospect of job cuts and office closures. Asked whether it could offer staff confidence in their jobs for the coming fortnight, a spokesperson declined to comment.
Rumours of job losses first began circulating earlier this week, when the Silicon Valley news blog TechCrunch reported that “massive layoffs” of up to 25% of the company’s workers were on the cards.
The cuts would come at a turbulent time for the website and its parent company, Rupert Murdoch’s News Corporation, which bought MySpace in 2005 in a surprise deal worth $580m.
In April the site’s co-founders, Chris DeWolfe and Tom Anderson, were moved out of their jobs at the top of the company and replaced by Owen Van Natta, a former Facebook executive.
The moves, which took place suddenly, are thought to have been brought about by Jonathan Miller – the former head of AOL who is now Rupert Murdoch’s lieutenant for digital business.
The mood in the UK office now was described as “damp” by one source, who said that there was a realisation that Facebook had trumped it.
Sales staff were also struggling to fulfil their revenue targets due to the advertising downturn, putting extra pressure on the company as the falling number of users and time spent means it cannot command as much for adverts compared to growing rivals such as Facebook and LinkedIn.
The prospect of a $900m ad deal with Google running out next year will put extra pressure on the site.
Twitter makes millions for Dell
Dell stirred up a little commotion earlier today when it said that sales made through its DellOutlet Twitter account had earned the company around $2m. In fact, says Dell tweeter Stefanie N, it may be even more than that:
We’re also seeing that it’s driving interest in new product as well. We’re seeing people come from @DellOutlet on Twitter into the Dell.com/outlet site, and then ultimately decide to purchase a new system from elsewhere on Dell.com. If we factor those new system purchases that come from @DellOutlet, we’re actually eclipsed $3 million in overall sales.
This all sounds great for Dell and its public relations (it’s going gangbusters, says the Register ), and equally good news for Twitter, making some wonder whether this is the sort of thing the site should be charging for.
However, I think it’s worth looking sceptically at the numbers.
$2m is not even a drop in the ocean compared to Dell’s overall sales of $12bn in the last three months (stat fans: Twitter is the sales channel for 0.008% of Dell stock) and overall the company’s sales are taking a beating – down 23% for the most recent quarter.
So it’s worth considering whether this is actually about gaining customers, or just building a new relationship with customers Dell already has. Like the arguments over whether a music track downloaded illegally is a lost sale, we can ask whether every sale on Twitter is a sale gained, or just an existing customer who is using a different method to get what they’re looking for (often with an extra discount).
Ultimately, it’s impossible to know without surveying Dell’s customers.
So, if you’ve bought through this method, let us know in the comments why: would you have bought Dell otherwise?
It’s worth trying to get to the bottom of these numbers to try and make some sense out of them before the marketing gurus start spinning the line that you can make millions from Twitter.