If you ever had the foresight in 1970 to wonder along what sequence of events wireless technologies would start penetrating society, you probably would not have started first with high quality voice networks, then followed with high speed data-networks and finally ended with low data rate, low duty cycle simple sense and control networks. Most likely you would have suggested a sequence the other way around: let’s start “slow and easy” with sense and control networks (sending temperature information every 5 minutes and control our heaters or air conditioners); then you may have guessed that this would have been followed by more complex data networks, as a higher speed next generation data network, and finally the wireless revolution would have been completed with the most complex voice networks with its high demands on low latency and high quality.
Not so. The first revolution was about wireless voice networks, in two steps: in-house and then outdoors (DECT/GSM). The second revolution was about wireless high speed data (Wi-Fi) in every laptop, you can’t buy them without it anymore. And finally, the third wave with sense and control networks (ZigBee)?
Actually: remote controls for our televisions have been around for a while, our remote keys for our cars, for our garage door openers. But that never grew out of the stage of the wireless extension of a push button… Something feels wrong with this picture, what are we missing?
As usual the devil is in the details and going back to the 70-ies, it seemed that we missed an essential point, the usage model. And interestingly, only very recently we have started to pick up on this. The difference between voice and data networks on one side and sense and control networks on the other side is how to use these. We are used to live with handling a phone or a laptop and make sure that the batteries are charged – actually we have learnt it the hard way (“Where can I find an outlet?” Or worse: “I forgot my adaptor”). But with sense and control networks we need a “use and forget” model, that is, we do not want to be bothered with making sure that we have to regularly charge our remote control(s) or our car key(s)… and here is where trouble starts.
Let take our “house of the future”… remote controls for switching on/off lights; temperature sensors; motion sensors (whether someone is in the room) for comfort or security, etc. Without having to be too creative we can easily calculate 50 sensors (actually a not too sophisticated car has already 50 sensors today). Well… let’s assume a battery life of 1 year per sensor. This means that we have on average to change a battery every week. And worse: to find out which battery we have to change, we will have every week at least one sensor down. OK, battery life will increase, but so will the number of sensors.
But there is more, and everyone who has a wireless switch in his house for a lamp will recognize this. In the past if a lamp does not work, well… change the bulb. But with a wireless switch this game has changed. If a lamp does not work, what is the problem: is the bulb broken, or is the battery of the switch empty?
All of a sudden “changing a bulb” has become a “diagnostics problem”, with different possible outcomes: the lamp is broken, the battery is empty (,or both!?). All of a sudden something as simple as “changing a light bulb” is not anymore what it has been.
So, after all there is a simple explanation that the acceptance of sense and control networks is lagging compared to their sophisticated cousins in voice and data and this has nothing to do with the network sophistication, it is purely about the usage model: ease of installation/maintenance (and: “fix and forget”).
With the arrival of standards for sense and control networks, as well as with the increased possibilities for energy harvesting out of the environment (solar cells, motion energy), all the focus is going towards making these networks low maintenance, or better: total maintenance-free – and this will become the time of arrival of the third wireless wave, that originally was considered to be the most simple one.
GreenPeak http://www.greenpeak.com
Rabu, 10 Juni 2009
The Third Wireless Wave - Sensor networks
The Internet of Things
Our Internet connected world is experiencing a revolution that is still in its early phases. New technologies, applications and online concepts are springing forth every day, changing the way we work with the net and how we connect and communicate with each other. Even though it is hard to predict what will happen next, the high rate of change and progress of Internet functions and applications indicates the Internet has not yet matured and will continue to develop and evolve in many interesting and powerful ways.
One area of progress that is difficult to predict and that has been seriously lagging – seemingly just waiting in hiding to emerge and blossom – is the integration of the Internet with our physical world. Today’s world of the Internet and our physical world are essentially two standalone worlds with humans functioning as the interface between the two. In the future, these two worlds will become significantly more intertwined, and this intertwining will become a sort of revolution in its own.
Let’s take a practical example. It has been a hard day of work and you are driving home. It’s a cold day, and you want to turn on your house heating system so your home will be nice and cozy when you arrive. Or you are rushing off to work and all of a sudden you start to wonder whether you remembered to turn off the heat before you departed.
Despite all our technology sophistication you are probably best off by calling your neighbor (who has a reserve key of your house) to go inside and do the job. This is an interesting example because most likely you already have a little control network at home controlling your heater with a thermostat and you probably also have Internet access at home.
Still, the lack of integration between these networks leaves you no other option than calling your neighbor. In addition to checking our heating, this is also how most of us check that the whether the door was locked and the windows were closed. Wouldn’t it be great if you could control your house with a few buttons on your cell phone? Interestingly, it does not require any major technology breakthroughs to make this happen.
All of us are using the Internet today for communication and reading the news (with blogging as an interesting new phenomenon filling the hole between the two). We are also using the Internet for shopping, where every brand or store nowadays has a point of access to the Internet. What is not connected to the Internet are all the functions that could be useful for making our lives comfortable and saving energy.
The Internet is like a big nerve center that still has to build a smaller nerve system that connects to all the supporting functions of our lives. The backbone is there but not the final end connections to our senses and muscles.
So far, our view of the Internet has been quite “human-centric”, but that is going to change. It is quite likely that sooner or later the majority of items connected to the Internet will not be humans, but things: heating/cooling systems, health sensors, security systems, central door/window locking systems, remote controls, etc.
It is here where wireless networks will play a major role. There are many more “things” than “people” and to physically “wire” all things to the Internet is just not feasible. The good news is that recently communication standards (like IEEE 802.15.4 and on top of that ZigBee) have been ratified to make this possible. But it is not only wireless technology that is required - “energy harvesting” from the environment will also be an essential element. In addition to removing the data communication cables, it is also important to eliminate the power cable and the need for batteries, along with their negative impact on the environment as well as the huge labor costs associated with charging and maintaining batteries.
Energy harvesting is the rapidly emerging technology that pulls energy out of the environment (IE - a solar cell on a pocket calculator or a kinetic device that converts vibration to electrical power) and can provide the energy needed for the “thing” to have it connected and controlled over the Internet. The development of energy harvesting devices is making big steps forward, but there is still a long way to go, in particular in reducing the cost of the harvesting devices.
Looking into the future, the “Internet of Things” could very well be the next revolution on the Internet where integration of our physical and virtual worlds will be the main driver. The new “Internet of Things” will enable a new class of applications that will make our lives more comfortable and that will help us to reduce our wasteful use of energy.
Converting E-booklets To Real Ones
There are a lot of royalty free instructional custom booklets over the Internet these days. These free “e-books” and “e-booklets” can provide a project or firm with easily accessible information that is perfect for its staff. Even big businesses are starting to take notice of this fact and sometimes do minor booklet printing projects based on these royalty free e-books. This is because the process of converting e-books to real kinds of books and booklets is extremely easy. If you want to know how to convert e-books for booklet printing here are five simple steps on how to go about it.
1. Preparing the file for printing.
First you need to prepare your file for printing. Some free E-books can come in the Adobe “.PDF” file which can be readily printed with the Adobe Reader application. Others meanwhile can also come in a “.doc” Microsoft Word document or other word processing file. Finally, some e-books can also be made in the E-book reader file formats such as the Microsoft “.lit” file format. For your own purposes however, always try to aim for a file format that you can work with. The easiest is of course the PDF file since there is little lost in terms of details and layouts when you use this. Other formats though may be some trouble since you will need to have the applicable expensive software for them to print them as well. To prepare these e-books however for booklet printing, it is best to focus on one file format like the PDF. There are a lot of free file conversion software out there that can change the file format of your E-book to the format that you desire. Our recommendation is that you always convert your e-books or download them in “.PDF” format so that is easier to deal with.
2. Proper settings for prints.
Now with your file all ready, always try to make sure that you have the proper setting for your prints. Make sure that the paper size is right and that it is indicated as the right paper size in the file format. Make sure as well that the printing quality for the e-book is set to the highest amount as possible so that you will get high quality prints. Depending on your format as well, you might want to adjust the margins so that the left and right pages have the correct amount of adjustments to accommodate binding.
3. Printing at home.
Now if you are printing at home, make sure to buy lots of paper. Make sure that it is set properly in the paper tray and that it is the right size that has been set in the file format. It is usually best to print at home if you have a high quality printer, since you always want to print all these pages with the best look possible. Otherwise if you do not have a good quality printer, skip to step five below.
4. Binding at home.
Once done with your prints, you may now want to bind them as well. Some people just make do with a stapler, while others use plastic binding combs that are easily available for use at your home along with a simple comb binding machine. You can also try buying custom “clear books” where you can slide in your pages in plastic sleeves within a hard binder. There are actually a lot more home binding techniques that you can use to bind your printed e-books. Just use the one that is best for your budget and abilities.
5. Using professional booklet printing services.
If you however do not have the patience to print and bind at home, do not worry. There are online booklet printing services out there that can print your ebook for you as booklets. Just send them your own edited version of the book file and setup the transaction including a choice of right binding techniques. Once you are finished just wait for your booklets to arrive and you are all set. You should have ebooks printed as booklets for easy use in your project or firm.
So now you know how to print free royalty free e-books for your own benefit. The process is simple enough to follow so everyone can try it.
For comments and inquiries about the article visit:
http://www.printplace.com/printing/booklet-printing.aspx, http://www.printplace.com/printing/custom-booklet-printing.aspx
Rabu, 03 Juni 2009
Keep A High Performing System Thru Registry Cleaners
The main function of Windows registry is to keep all important program operation information in your computers. This is an ultimate function and must be taken seriously. Otherwise, your whole computer system will crash down and all your important files will be gone forever. When you are having problems with the performance of your computers, one of the aspects that you need to consider is the status of the Windows registry. This especially happens when you have not cleaned up this very vital part of your computer system. Oftentimes, computers that are used regularly can result to a slow and cluttered registry.
If you don’t have registry cleaners to work on the cleaning up, your system's performance will deteriorate. Thus, it can eventually affect the whole performance of your computers. With a PC software maintenance, it will be easier for you to regularly keep this part of your computer well-maintained. It will contribute greatly for your computers to have better speed and be error free. Any problems with windows registry can be avoided if you have the right back-up software to look after it. One of the most frequent reasons why problems occur in this part of your computer system is the improper way of uninstalling softwares.
Maybe you thought that you have removed a program or a software adequately from your computers, but as matter of fact you have not. Registry cleaners function to ensuring that they clean up the system every after you do some tasks like this. Somehow you will have the peace of mind that somebody else will clean up the mess after you do what you want to do with your computers. Also, corrupt hardware drives can also cause problems to this windows system. Thus, be aware if you hardware drives are functioning well or not. If you begin to notice that your computer’s speed is slowing down, or you experience erroneous problems with Windows, check your Windows registry.
The problem may originate from there. Registry cleaners make sure that this part of your computer is well-taken care of as this part of your system is perhaps the most important. It make sure that your system does not gather unwanted things that may cause it’s performance to deteriorate. For this reason, you need to have reliable registry cleaners for your system. There are free cleaners on the net. This is especially recommended to those who want to install it for personal purposes only. However, if you are into online business, it is more apt to have a better performing and reliable registry cleaners.
Quality service can be demanded if you know you are paying for it. Freebies may only have limited features or options. Better yet, optimize your PC with the best registry cleaners there are. For online marketers especially, you cannot sacrifice a vital part of your online business operation by keeping a slow performing system. You may become too busy with your business and cleaning your system might be neglected. By having this kind of systems cleaner to do the job for you, you can be assured of a smooth system operation with less hassles.
Social Media Is Not Just For Kids Anymore 10 Quick Start Tips
It was not so long ago that social media was thought by many to be a short-lived trend and not an internet marketing tool that could be facilitated by the business world. However, as the number of users of popular social networking sites increases every day, can your business really afford to continue ignoring this phenomenon?
Having a website for your business simply isn’t enough if it doesn’t have a high visibility. Your objective should be to get your website noticed, and the way to do that these days is by writing about it, and getting it written about in blogs and other social media sites.
Some of the social media tools that you can use to help achieve your objectives include Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and related forums and blogs.
Twitter is the newest social media tool to appear with a reputation that has grown extensively in a very short period of time and now ranked as the third most used social network. Twitter’s attraction is that it offers a very simple way for people to connect with each other, even President Obama is known to use it. Twitter is an effective business marketing tool to point to your website and/or blog updates.
Facebook is one of the largest social networking site around, with more than 200 million active users worldwide. It offers fantastic business features and the opportunity of making business contacts. Facebook now has “Pages” you can promote your business on and get “fans”. Another attractive feature of Facebook is the advertising opportunities which reach your specific demographic. There is also an “Events” feature to help with your internet marketing.
Integrating blogging into your marketing plans is an effective way to connect with your target audience. Blogs are useful places to post questions and get feedback about products and businesses. A business blog is an effective internet marketing tool because it contains specific industry related content. Search engines will pick up on the keywords and phrases used and attract a high number of visitors.
Here are some tips to get you started in your social networking and internet marketing.
1. Set up a business blog. For an online business, they are perfect as you can build awareness, establish expertise and create a practical communication channel between you and your customers which is ideal for building trust and reputation. Business blogs are generally successful because they allow you to connect directly with your customers and give them an avenue to communicate directly with you.
2. Track and identify those blogs where your consumers hang out and integrate yourself into this community. Post interesting content, make contacts and form relationships. Time spent creating awareness around your brand in this environment is time well spent because you are so significant within that position.
3. Append your signature to all blog comments and outgoing email messages as it offers a personal and effective, and free, way to market your business. Insert your keywords, into your URL in your signature line. Make the actual link your URL. The keyword link to your site may help your search engine rankings.
4. Use video to show your product or service, particularly popular are ‘How to..’ videos. Put it on your blog and website and send it to YouTube. You can also post it at YouTube and simply embed it into your sites.
5. Open an account in a couple of social media networks such as Twitter, Facebook or LinkedIn. Create content that is highly relevant and link worthy. DO NOT SPAM the groups, you’ll lose followers and fans very quickly if you do. Some groups such as Facebook will close your account.
6. Learn Twitter etiquette. The main rules are, don’t spam, spammers don’t last long on Twitter. Always give credit for retweets, don’t do spammy auto direct messages.
7. Add links from your Twitter and Facebook pages to your blog, website and email.
8. Have a plan as to how you will research and investigate social media networks and follow it. Don’t rush things, learn the ropes first.
9. Don’t directly promote your business all the time. Instead, offer ways to help others such as providing resource links, articles and helpful tips.
10. Link to other blogs and websites. Links are what search engines and users make good use of, and search engines need them.
Consumers don’t only want to communicate with each other; they also want access to the businesses and companies they buy their goods and services from. Your customers want to connect with the real people behind the company and know what you are doing and planning to do.
Business owners are becoming more aware how important using social media as one of their internet marketing methods really is. Consumers are more internet savvy, have more access to information and can search and compare easily. They expect (or at least want) a company to provide them the information they need and want with the ability to interact with the company. Social media marketing is a way to connect to consumers on a more personal level. Now is the time to put your energy into looking at and learning about these social networking sites as they are set to radically change the way businesses communicate.
How to Create an Audio or Video
If you get to a point in your internet marketing career where you need or want to learn how to create professional audio or video presentations I would strongly recommend using Power Point, Sony Sound Forge and Sony Vegas Movie Studio. I use all of these and I would have to say Sony’s got the best editing software out there. It is easy to use and it has a large, organized workspace from which to work.
Adobe Audition which is Sound Forge’s closest competitor is not very easy to use and looks like a cluttered mess. Sadie, another editing software is also hard to use and is extremely expensive.
If you are looking for a free option, I have in the past recommended Audacity. Now it’s not anywhere near the quality of Sony Sound Forge, but if you aren’t looking for anything fancy and don’t mind working in a confined editing window this could work for you. You can create a pretty good quality file without the cost of using high-end audio software.
Sound Forge comes in two different versions. There is the less expensive Sony Sound Forge Audio Studio, which will probably take care of most of the stuff you want to do and the more expensive Sony Sound Forge 8, which gives you better sound quality among other features.
Sony’s Vegas Movie Studio is outstanding also because it allows you to easily edit, capture and create DVD’s, CD’s and VCD’s. It is also very inexpensive compared to Adobe’s Video Collection Professional – although Adobe’s software is more geared towards the professional movie maker whereas Sony’s software is more entry level editing software.
If you already know how to use Sony Sound Forge then it will be fairly easy for you to figure out Sony Vegas Movie Studio. Basically, all you have to do is drop in the audio, import the audio into Sony Vegas Movie Studio and then you’ll simply need to import the PowerPoint in there. Then all you’ll have to do is render it as either an MP4, MPEC, .mov or .avi. Once you do that you’ll be able to create your video fairly quickly.
All of these options are an excellent choice if you’re venturing out into the web audio/video sphere. You really can’t go wrong and highly recommend you check any of the above mentioned software out.
Hijacking Google Maps: It's Easier Than You Think
Over the past week I have seen results for localised keywords return a Google map for organic search. As a test, I entered property searches and found from the list of "property companies", item B on Google's map showing MBK, which as their website's title shows, is a "Center of Fashion Mall & Shopping Plaza in Bangkok Thailand: MBK Center". This is a shopping mall and has nothing whatsoever to do with real estate or property in Bangkok. Except, of course, their premises is a property.
So how could a shopping mall in Bangkok be displayed in the listings of real estate? And why are organic search results being listed in the form of Google Maps? That is for Google to reason and us to find out. So I did.
One of the real estate companies at the top of these lists has deftly registering their website on Google maps for a myriad of related search terms and they now appear in the #1 position for all, even though in organic search they are at the bottom of the page. Tip: change the address.
This process has therefore leapfrogged them to the top of Google search. I also assume that as the other real estate actors begin to notice what is happening, all will soon register their sites with Google maps in order to gain placement. And the quicker they do it (if my assumption is correct that it's first come, first served) the higher they will be listed.
The first thing to be clear about is that Google will initially check your phone number and reference with your registration, but companies that are cheating the system use different addresses thereafter to circumnavigate all verification. They do not check that a company does not have six to ten offices, all with different search terms, next door to one another.
Then I read blumenthals.com. What a lark they've had with Google.
The author had spoken with one of the florists in San Francisco that had been hijacked in Google Maps and the first thing he noted about this site was that the site owner estimated that his business was off 30% for the weeks of the hijacking. He commented: "That is a significant number that demonstrates the power that Google has conferred on local search."
He continued: "Every small business thinks that if they could only operate like the IBMs, Microsofts or Apples of the world, they would have their act together on these new marketing angles. If like, IBM et al, Podesta Baldocchi were on top of these details they could have prevented this hijacking.
"I wondered if that was in fact the case so I decided to see if some of the major Fortune 500 companies had in fact claimed their records and avoided the possibility of hijackings. Microsoft came to mind first. I grabbed one of their listings in Redmond and was able to change the location, url and their business name. Microsoft even managed to gather a spammy review in its short life as an escort service. Out of a sense of fair play, I changed it back although Google has not yet done so. I wasn't sure that that Microsoft or Google would appreciate my sense of humor."
On the blog he has screenshots of "Microsoft Escort Service", "Microsoft Corporation" registered at 1 Microsoft Way and last, to my delight, "Google Inc" as he discovered in the course of his investigation that "many of Google's local listing had been claimed and locked down, but not all had."
It appears that most businesses had better register and claim their very own Google Map, else someone is going to get in before you them and be at the top of organic search. That is if Google aren't embarrassed enough to end this crazy practice and put Google Maps on Google Maps, not at the top of organic search. That or get the title deeds or rental agreements faxed to them to verify.