Monday, June 13, 2011

A post-PC planet?


The latest obituary comes from Apple, which is now proclaiming a post-PC world (which by definition will also be a post-Mac world). The BBC quotes Apple’s Steve Jobs as saying “About 10 years ago we had one of our most important insights. That was that the PC was going to become the hub of your digital life.”
But now, mobile devices have overturned that model. Their built-in communications means they are always connected. “… they can talk to the cloud whenever they want. Now if I get something on my iPhone, it sends to the cloud immediately. We are going to demote the PC to just be a device. We are going to move the digital hub, the center of your digital life, into the cloud.”
As a company talking up the importance of tablets and smartphones, and their own cloud-based service, they would say that, wouldn’t they? But it is the direction that so many device manufacturers, service and application providers, and equipment vendors see the world moving: into the cloud.
By separating processing power and storage capacity from the physical constraints of a PC, and shifting those qualities into the cloud, I think we are taking a big step towards realizing the true potential of the ICT infrastructure we have been building around the planet.
My colleague Ola Hubertsson put it well in an earlier blog theme here at Thinking Ahead, there are three main forces shaping and transforming our world into a Networked Society: mobility, broadband and the cloud. The constant and accelerating emergence of new devices and services that make the best use of those three forces means that even if the PC isn’t quite dead yet, it is starting to look like a future candidate for retirement.

Toward an IPv6 world in mobile networks

IPv4 to IPv6 transition

IPv4 has served the internet well, but the world has to shift to IPv6 – and soon. Mobile networks need to be among the first. Fortunately, there are good mechanisms available to ease the IPv4 to IPv6 transition.
The internet has outgrown the limits of its current IPv4 address space. IPv6 solves the address space problem, but migrating to the new version still requires some effort and a set of IPv4 to IPv6 transition mechanisms. This article presents mechanisms for providing IPv6 connectivity, and discusses their benefits, applicability and the challenges facing different phases of the transition, particularly for mobile networks.
Dual-stack, whereby IPv4 and IPv6 operate side-by-side, is the recommended model for IPv6 migration. If dual-stack is not possible, tunneling mechanisms can be used to provide both IP versions to users. While the number of hosts accessible with IPv6 has historically been low and the connectivity unreliable, initiatives such as World IPv6 Day are improving the situation. While a lot of work remains to be done on IPv6 support for various applications and devices, it is already possible to live and work with an IPv6-only network.

Tuesday, June 7, 2011

Most Appealing Websites


Internet has its own vast world full of different websites. The number of websites is countless but only a few of them are well-designed enough to capture the attention of the visitors. I am also a regular internet user and I have made a list of some most interesting and appealing websites. This list would save your time which you spend in searching for an exciting website.
TravBuddy.com
As its name suggests, this website is all about travelling. It is designed for those who like exploring new things. You can share your travelling experiences, adventure and joy of discovery on this site and your opinions may prove helpful for a new visitor of this website. You can share something memorable which may be astonishing and exciting for someone else who is visiting for the first time.
The Onion
The Onion is the most exciting and appealing website that’s why it is included in the list of top ten interesting websites. On this website, you can find a set of stories based on real events. Many of the stories are so interesting that they can bring a smile on your face. I am a big fan of this site and I visit it almost every day and to my surprise there is always new and fresh content on this site.
Bored.com
This site is full of games, videos and comics and it never let you getting bored. You can spend hours in visiting this interesting site. Here you can play addicting and funny games so I recommend visiting this site at least once and then you will definitely agree with me.
Motley Fool Caps
This website is quite useful for the people who have their shares listed in stock market. Here you can read the comments of other people about any particular stock. Even you can make your own imaginary portfolio and then compare it with that of others. This site is very helpful for business people because it provides you a way to try your luck in stock market without taking risk. If you want to make some investment, this site would help you to make portfolio and will also assist you in checking your advancement.
Hulu
It is an interesting website providing you the facility to watch movies and television shows free. There are plenty of movies offered by this site including Liar, Picture Perfect, Dragonheart and much more.
Oddee
This website is all about bizarre and astounding things in the world. It is quite interesting to visit this website again and again.
These were some of the websites which I found most interesting and appealing and I am sure that you will agree with me after visiting these sites.

Quillpad : Write in your own language


[quillpad.png]
Quillpad is a free online typing tool. You can write in 10 Indian languages including Hindi, Gujarati, Tamil, Telugu etc with its online editor. For example, type 'aap kaise hain' in the Quillpad editor and it will convert it directly into Devanagari script. You can save or email your message.

Adhering To The Needs Of Plants When Growing Indoors


Indoor growing is an alternative method of raising plants based on botanical science, the use of which can be critical if a plant enthusiast lives in a region where outdoor conditions would not be hospitable to their plants of choice.  With just the right soil mixture, nutrients, amount of water, and assistive technologies, most any plant can be efficiently raised indoors.
Sunlight naturally provides plants with a selection of different light wavelengths, which different plant pigments need to function, and hence, all such wavelengths should be produced.  By using LEDs, fluorescents, and other grow lights all at the same time, a wide array of light wavelengths will be provided.
Equally key to plant well-being are other environmental conditions such as humidity, temperature, and air movement.  With air that is relatively dry, and that water will naturally evaporate into, a plant will transpire (”sweat” through its leaf openings) at too fast a pace.  Additionally, when there is too great a temperature, evaporation, and therefore transpiration, will be high, and with either too much heat or cold, there is the possibility of various plant physiological processes not working at their potential capacity.  Rapid transpiration also ensues if air speed surrounding the plant is too great.  Maintaining proper levels of the aforementioned things can be done using climate control devices that are readily available.
Of course, efficaciously raising plants indoors also entails supplying them with proper nutrient quantities, soil, and water levels.  Soil composed of organics, sand, silt, and clay in equal parts will work most effectively.  Water and nutrient leeching will be slowed, and pH will be at the proper level with such a soil mixture.  One must also take care to see that their plants are receiving hearty amounts of specific macronutrients (like nitrogen and potassium) and micronutrients (like iron and zinc).
Even lacking the proper meteorological conditions, one can still grow their plants of choice.  Indoor plant growth is a reality because of simple scientific knowledge, which gives us the ability to re-create the correct living conditions inside.  Walking into the midst of a properly utilized grow room setup could give you the sensation that you’ve been re-located to a far-off forest or jungle, so robust would the plants be.

The Main Things To Cover In Your Grow Room Creation


Creating an indoor grow space calls for careful planning to ensure that adequate space is given to both plants and equipment. You have to make sure that you consider and plan for several different eventualities.
Airflow and ventilation are the first aspects to consider in making schematics. What conveniently follows are moisture and temperature, which are to some extent a result of air movement patterns.
You can install your intake and exhaust elements for the grow room setup the moment all the airflow-related blueprints have been produced. This isn’t as intricate as it seems however, and dependent on the layout, you can place them in the middle of the room, or against a wall, whichever is more feasible with your design.
Lighting can be taken care of following that, with the idea that fixtures can possibly be cooled off to help manage the room’s temperature. LEDs are less difficult to maintain and more cost efficient than other grow light varieties. By implementing LED grow light technology into your design, you can minimize the cost of nurturing your garden and with the numerous wavelengths the LEDs can reach, you will be able to give more nutrients to your plants.
An extra aid in air circulation is one or a number of small fans placed deliberately. It is extremely important that the plants don’t get too hot and dry out, and in addition to watering them, there are many other aspects of interior gardening that are equally as crucial.
By lining the area with reflective covering, you are also making sure that the light is evenly spread and all of the plants are equally cared for. The dispersal of light by the coverings in conjunction with the fact that electricity-saving LEDs are being deployed ensure that energy will not be needlessly wasted in the growing process. Using energy saving methods will allow you to grow your in room garden with lower out of pocket cost as well as providing you better results with your plants.
In addition to lighting and airflow issues, there are several other facets of the growing program that one must keep in mind, watering techniques, plant nutrient usage, and item storing among them.
There is a lot to remember, but that is also why it is essential to keep a notepad handy to log all developments, ensuring that you don’t skip any necessary actions, and making it simpler for you to replicate in the future, if required.

How The Expanding Inclusion Of LED Technology May Help You


As most individuals understand, LED technology has paved the way for lighting that runs cooler and uses less electricity, making it both cost effective and helpful for the environment. The technology is becoming more commonly used and there are many uses for LED lights; it is being used in different realms, and is proceeding to discover new uses all the time.
In the 1990s, LEDs were largely found in novelty lighting such as Christmas lights, rope lights, and other small concept ideas, but as the technology proceeded to gain popularity, developers have been able to explore a wide range of very practical and inexpensive uses for the lighting. Concurrent with plant growth, LED grow lights, mostly popular for nourishing indoor gardens, are able to operate on varying wavelengths to produce light on various spectrums. The fact that the lights do not burn close to as warm as other lighting methods also makes them optimal for indoor gardening, being less likely to dry the plants out in the process. Demonstrated by the SG 1250 HO, as the technology improves, so does the lighting capabilities, it provides an improved coverage space, advanced canopy penetration, and significantly higher light output than any other bulb on the market.
Making them protected against vibration and impact, LED lamps contain no glass tubing, and their internal parts are sturdily anchored. Many LEDs are made to be dimmed over a wide span, needing no minimum current to keep up the operation of the bulb. Allowing for assorted degrees of functionality from industrial to household use, the design of the lights themselves cements them as both functional and ranged.
Without having to switch out the bulb, LED lamps come in multiple colors and even have the power to change color without requiring any filters. This improves the energy efficiency over a white light source that outputs all colors of light then discards some of the visible energy in a filter.
In recent years, we’ve experienced advancements in the implementation of LED lighting become more acceptable and in 2008, Sentry Equipment Corporation, located in Oconomowoc, WI used LEDs solely to light the interior and exterior of their facility. Within two years they were rewarded by means of energy savings and the longevity of the LED bulbs themselves, not needing to be changed out for about 20 years time, though at first, they spent three times the amount that they would have with traditional fluorescent and incandescent lamps.
LEDs are fast becoming the status quo for lighting, and the varying implementations and advantages have made it a hot commodity in both personal and business locations.

For Work Or Fun, The Top 10 Travel Destinations Around The Planet


There’s a few destinations out there that shouldn’t be passed up, whether you’re traveling by choice or necessity. Take a moment and enjoy what it has to offer if you happen to find yourself in any of the following places.
1. Muskoka Cottage Country, Ontario, Canada
This 2,500 square-mile, hidden treasure is just outside of Toronto, and is located beside 8,699 miles of breathtaking shoreline, containing 17 historic villages. Home to scores of waterfalls, mountains and other natural marvels, you will discover the Algonquin Provincial Park to the east. Georgian Bay Islands National Park is to the west, containing more than 30,000 individual islands that look almost painted on the horizon.
2. Patagonia, Argentina
Argentina’s biggest ski destination is topped in white snow from mid-June until late September. Allowing you to really appreciate the splendor that is the Southern Andes, one of the country’s most beautiful locations, private jet charter will take you through the planet’s highest mountain ranges outside of Asia.
3. San Juan Islands, Washington
A 30-45 minute executive jet charter from of Seattle, this serene place is perfect for whale watching. Comprised of 4 islands, you may travel to and from each of them by ferry, and see all they have to offer.
4. Minneapolis, Minnesota
Home of the Mall of America, this metropolis really is the heart of the central United States. This city livens up with an assortment of events and cultural fairs all season long when they don’t get snowfall during the short summer season.
5. Glacier Bay National Park, Alaska
27% of the 3.2 million-acre park is covered in glaciers, and while exploring this amazing destination, you might also find any of a wide collection of wildlife, including bears to porpoise, moose, and humpback whales, making the journey one to remember.
6. Cardiff, Whales
The capitol city of Whales offers castles and no shortage of modern excitement all at the same time. Museums and outdoor activities such as white-water rafting are all within close proximity. The 2012 Summer Olympics football matches are also being prepared for in the city’s modern Millennium Stadium.
7. Stockholm Archipelago, Sweden
The “Garden on the Rocks” contains nearly 25,000 individual islands, and only 1,000 of them are inhabited, making this a fanastic location to traverse and enjoy the 62 mile stretch by boat, helicopter, kayak, or any number of choices at your disposal.
8. Azores, Portugal
These 9 islands are largely undeveloped, to retain their natural essence, and are nearly 1,000 miles off the coast. As you take in this low-key location, you can see everything ranging from volcanoes to scenic towns, windmills included.
9. Roatan, Honduras
Offering adventure for the entire family, this shallow-water, living coral reef is positioned about thirty miles off the coast of the mainland. You could swim with dolphins, swim through the reef, or even take the day to enjoy fishing.
10. Istria, Croatia
Awarded the coveted Blue Flag for superior water quality and environmental maintanence standards, this 333 mile-long coast includes more than 40 beaches. This place has been a seasonal hotspot for ages, and the colorful past may still be felt there today.
Wherever you choose to enjoy your time, be sure to appreciate what you view around you. The globe contains limitless treasures, and even if you are traveling for business, you could still take a bit of time out for yourself to enjoy yourself and have memories to hold dear for the entirety of your life.

The Beatles, The Music That Altered The Planet


Four young men joined together to create one of the most well-known bands of all time in 1960, in Liverpool, England. Living on forever as Gods of rock, they went on to become an inspiration to all other bands that came after. They continue to build more fans every day and altered the face of music forever.
In 1965, all four members of the ensemble were welcomed by Queen Elizabeth II when they were awarded the highest honor as she knighted them, officially making them international icons. From that time forward, their unreal renoun only grew and they continued to expand their fan base all over the planet.
Fans excitedly follow the living members to this day, and even although they were only together for ten years, The Beatles each worked steadily after the band’s disbandment. When John Lennon was assassinated on December 8th, 1980, supporters all across the globe were shocked and mourned his loss as a whole. Although they hadn’t formally been together in 10 years, Lennon’s death hit them all very seriously, the surviving Beatles all took part in musical tributes to their fallen comrade in arms.
The next Beatle was lost when George Harrison succumbed to lung cancer on November 29th, 2001, leaving only Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr to carry on the legacy of The Beatles. Currently, Beatles vinyl is some of the most sought after on the market, and their esteem has never faltered, even after all this time.
Receiving an Academy Award for Best Original Song Score for the film ‘Let It Be’ in 1971, and have also received seven Grammy Awards and 15 Ivor Novello Awards, The Beatles were one of the most influential bands ever. They have been awarded 4 Multi-Platinum albums, 4 Platinum albums, 8 Gold albums, and one Silver album in the United Kingdom, selling more record albums than almost any other band in history, not to mention six Diamond albums, twenty-four Multi-Platinum albums, 39 Platinum albums, and forty-five Gold albums in the United States alone.
The Beatles have proved to be inspirational across multiple generations, and have influenced films, on top of too many other groups to count. Though they have been apart for over forty years, they still hold a warm place in hearts all over the planet, sculptors have even dedicated pieces of art to the group. Their music continues to stay true, satisfying groups everywhere without fail and setting the bar for all other bands that follow, even as their supporters continue to grow old, The Beatles really are kings of rock and roll.

Monday, June 6, 2011

Drinking 5 cups of coffee per day to cut stress can make you hallucinate!



Stressed people who consume five cups of coffee per day to deal with stress can exhibit signs of hallucination, according to a La Trobe University study.
Prof Simon Crowe from the School of Psychological Sciences, who examined the effect of stress and caffeine on 92 participants, found stressed people who had consumed about 200mg of caffeine during the day were more likely to imagine hearing things.
“What we did is we brought people into the lab while listening to White Christmas and then told them we were going to play some white noise,”News.com.au quoted him as telling mX.
“We also told them that within the white noise there may be parts of the White Christmas song and if you hear it, press the button.
“We didn't include White Christmas in the white noise but found that more people who were very stressed and had high levels of caffeine heard White Christmas,” he added.
In an office environment, a caffeinated worker would be on edge and not correctly interpret situations, said Crowe.
“They'll respond more to subtle cues but misidentify those cues. For instance, they may (mistakenly) believe that someone around the water cooler is talking about them and they will tend to overreact,” he added.

Drink 500ml Pomegranate Juice to Reduce Stress at Workplace


Pomegranate juice lowers heart rate and helps alleviate chronic stress related to work, according to scientists of Queen Margaret University in Edinburgh. During the study scientists studied 60 volunteers who had to drink 500ml of pomegranate juice every day for 2-weeks. Pulse rates were measured at the beginning and end of the study. The participants had to fill up a questionnaire describing their mood and feelings about their job.
It was seen that most of them had lower pulse rates and almost all of the workers reported being more enthusiastic, inspired, proud and active.

Lenovo launches ThinkPad X1


Personal computer maker Lenovo India today unveiled its ThinkPad X1 , a premium product that is priced from Rs 90,000 onwards, mainly aimed at enterprise customers. ThinkPad X1 is a premium notebook, which ranges from Rs 90,000 onwards and is the world's slimmest thinkpad measuring less than 17 mm. The product will be available at retail outlets. However, our focus is enterprise customers as it a premium product.It also has scratch proof and spill proof designs with 10 hours battery power.  It has rapid recharge feature that recharges 80 per cent battery in just 30 minutes. The company aims to become number one vendor in the country and to achieve this it has to grow faster than the market, which grew at slightly more than 20 per cent in FY10. We achieved a growth rate of close to 60 per cent in FY10, which was three times more than the market growth. We aim to maintain and sustain this growth.Lenovo is planning to enhance its products range in the country and will launch tablet computer in India in next few months. We have captured a double digit market share at 10 per cent in last quarter. Now we want to focus on growing faster, retaining our customers and become number one in next few years. Lenovo is also planning to increase its exclusive franchise outlets to 1,000 by the end of this year

How To Get The Results You’re Striving For- Harvesting Tomatoes Inside


In order for your plants and crops to thrive you have to implement different harvesting methods to watch them grow to maturity because harvesting outside is much different than growing indoors. There is a lot of care that comes with the process when it comes to vegetables, but if you do it correctly, the results can be much more rewarding than you might have hoped.
There are a couple things you would be wise to do before you even begin the process, and you must always pre-plan your grow room design in order to ensure the most effective use of the space.Gathering pots, soil, and your preference of grow light, keeping in mind that LEDs prove to be the most cost effective and generally warrant better results; you can get all of your supplies, and have them in a convenient location before you begin planting. You should proceed to begin the harvesting process once you have all of these aspects in place. We will focus on tomatoes, and how to successfully harvest your own indoor plants for the purpose of this article.
It starts with the seeding process, where you will start off each plant in its own pot that is at least 6” in diameter. Around 1/4” under the soil’s surface, you will want to have about three inches of potting soil, mixed with 1/8 teaspoon of hydrated lime in each pot and plant every seed. Also always be sure to water your plants thoroughly to ensure they have plenty of nutrients.
Before your plants start to bear fruit during the blooming process, they will begin to bloom. Because there are not commonly insects involved in the process, this is where part of the variances that are associated with indoor harvesting come into play; if you tap on the plants softly, it will simulate the natural vibration and help to encourage pollination. It is important not to tap the flowers themselves, but to focus on the larger stems.
You should stake them with a 10” wooden dowel close to the side of the pot and attach it by a piece of cotton or nylon cloth so that they do not bend under the weight when your tomatoes begin bearing fruit. This will be an asset in managing your area and will enable you to control which direction your crops grow.
Your tomatoes will likely grow to approximately a 1” diameter, and harvesting primarily takes 45 to 50 days. carefully pull them off of the plant, give them a quick wash, and they are ready to use. The process is extremely simple, and if you seed new plants every 14 days or so, you will likely have a flourishing crop all year long.

Companies Employing Search Engine Optimization Are More Likely To Prosper


Search-engine optimization (or SEO) is a marketing strategy that is used to aid a client in improving its page’s prominence in a search engine. A whole set of sub-strategies with basically the same goal form portions of this overall strategy. A business may want to explore the possibility of hiring a search engine optimization company to help them make use of such an intricate strategy, in view of the benefits of it all.
Optimizing sections of page encoding or text or increasing the number of inbound conduits to a page are major parts of the process. The programs employed by search engines, known as “crawlers”, will more readily index a page or up its page ranking if such steps are taken. This simply means that with usage of a given key phrase as code or text and/or more links from other pages including such a phrase, a page is more likely to be either a possible search result to begin with or a more highly ranked search result, being nearer to the top of the list in a search centered on that key phrase.
Search engines, in the old days, often had flaws that savvy web administrators understood how to exploit. A top ranking in a search could be simply achieved if a keyword was used a great amount of times in page text, even if totally out of context. Although this kind of keyword usage is still sometimes used today, it is a much less frequent practice than in previous years, since search engine designers have long since caught on and reprogrammed crawlers to detect these sorts of techniques and diminish page rank of sites using them. What is not penalized by search engines and deployed by many admins today is redundancy of a keyword that is wholly relevant to the rest of the page.
Numerous methods for improving page visibility are widely used today. Content changes to mirror current trends and tweaks based on search engine analytical data are often used, as regards keyword incorporation. Being a reliable information repository and having intriguing content that people like to peruse are good ways to ensure that the number of links to your site is great.  Other web masters, needless to say, will be much more likely to recommend sites such as those and provide the means of going to them.
Using all the different procedures for optimization that are out there can be a challenging task for a small business, unaided, to deal with. Improving your site’s presence on the web, in other words, is best accomplished with the assistance of PPC management services. Those types of services will explore every avenue in helping your company boom.

Useful Tricks To Aid You To Limit Waste While Doing Your Own Textile Projects


In the past, where we might have gone out and bought new clothes or any other textile for your home, now more people are reusing, or recycling what they already have or buying their own fabric, as opposed to spending the extra money for new items, when you can just do it yourself; in the present economy, people are trying more than ever to spend less money and reduce unneeded spend. Reusing excess material is also a great way to make some adjustments to your textile projects without having to spend much money, and whether you are working with leather, cloth, wool, or any other material; there is always a way of making use of the materials as opposed to just throwing them out when you’re done.
You could utilize what you presently own, in some situations, and there are many wholesale fabric suppliers that sell fabric and other textile materials at terrific prices, but when you are looking at taking on some projects around the house. Always make sure to donate any unused clothing or materials to the organization of your choice in order to do your part and ensure that it doesn’t go to waste instead of throwing it away if you don’t choose to reuse old fabric.
It is important to keep your scraps, and have them on hand in the event that you have any need for them down the line when you buy fabric by the yard for various projects. By doing so, not only are you making great use of decent material that you may not have thought about prior, but you’re also eliminating another trip to the fabric retailer.
If you have any scraps of unused clothing, you may even be able to trim them down into rags or utilize them in other, slightly unconventional ways that maybe you did not consider before. Up from 2.8% in 1960, the U.S. currently recovers upwards of 15.3% of left-over textile materials by recycling more fabrics in the last half-century.
By recycling old textiles, it could even prove to be an exciting hobby as you become more acquainted with how to use your efforts to discover new means to save on materials, and with more people are catching on all the time and especially in such trying economic times, you could actually make a difference. With the ‘Green” movement acquiring added attention all the time, this is just another way to do your part to not only improve the environment by throwing out less trash, but also utilizing these items and doing some good for yourself along the way.