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[dhilipkumar]

OS X widget

An OS X widget is a downloadable, interactive virtual tool that provides services or increased functionality within the Apple operating system. Essentially, widgets are miniature applications that allow the user to perform common tasks easily and access information quickly. OS X 10.3 and 10.4 automatically revert to the Dashboard after a set period of time, bringing whatever widget s that are installed and active to the foreground.

In their current incarnation, widgets provide services including -- but by no means limited to -- the following:

• Lists of the latest news headlines or RSS news feeds.
  Customizable weather forecasting, with radar and reflectivity real-time tracking.
  Mapping, including access to mash-up s of geography and other data and Microsoft's Virtual Earth.
  iTunes media content playback and listings.
  Sticky notes.
  Stock market activity tracking.
  Travel information, including links to flight tracking and airport status reports.
  Language translation.
  Real-time sports scores.
  Customizable interfaces for listening to Internet radio stations or podcasts.
  Direct search for Wikipedia, Dictionary.com and other references.
  Wireless network scanning.
  IPTV browsing and viewing.
  eBay auction monitoring.
  MySpace searches.

Early examples of widgets existed as desktop accessories on earlier version of the Macintosh OS. These widgets were written as device drivers, allowing a Mac user some multitasking ability.

Microsoft's new OS, Vista , is expected to incorporate widgets in some form, under the heading of "gadgets."

[dhilipkumar]

Cell phone, smartphone -- what's the difference?

What is a smartphone? The answer is not so simple, judging by the number of definitions available. In fact, it can be a bit of a mystery.All the popular definitions rely on the fundamental understanding that a smartphone brings together a computer with a wireless voice device. Everyone agrees on that.

But there are many nuances that separate a smartphone from a standard wireless phone, which also can incorporate some kind of a computer with wireless voice capability.Mobile industry analysts use these subtle distinctions to determine how to count smartphones separately from other wireless phones. For example, they are able to say that a wireless phone, such as the LG Rumor2, which goes on sale by Sprint Nextel Corp. on Sunday, is technically not a smartphone, although it provides access to e-mail, Internet browsing and a Qwerty keyboard.

The iPhone, just about any BlackBerry, and Nokia N or E series devices are considered smartphones, at least according to Gartner Inc. and IDC, the biggest market research firms monitoring wireless phone and smartphone shipments.

The CTIA, an industry association representing hundreds of wireless device makers and wireless carriers, uses a simple approach (possibly the simplest) in its glossary. It defines smartphones as "wireless phones with advanced data features and often keyboards." It adds, "What makes the phone 'smart' is its ability to manage and transmit data in addition to voice calls."However, a CTIA spokeswoman said there is apparently no industrywide standard definition for a smartphone and that the CTIA's glossary definition is "general."

Four industry analysts interviewed for this story said the word smartphone is indeed a term of art, subject to the many changes that have been made in wireless handhelds since 2000, when Palm Inc. started adding voice capabilities to its personal digital assistants.

"Smartphone is one of those terms of art that gets bantered about so often," said Ramon Llamas, an IDC analyst.

IDC conducted a survey of consumers last summer and discovered many different interpretations. For some people, a smartphone has to be able to access the Internet wirelessly, while others think it has to handle text messaging or allow typing on a touch screen or actual keyboard, Llamas said.

"When you talk to the folks on Mainstreet U.S.A., it's a real can of worms," he said. "There is still a lot of confusion as to what counts as a smartphone."

IDC first coined the term converged mobile device in 2002 to avoid using the term smartphone, which Microsoft Corp. was using to describe enterprise-focused wireless handhelds, Llamas said. The definition IDC developed has gone through several updates since then, with a key change in 2006 that added the requirement that a converged mobile device include a "high-level operating system."

[dhilipkumar]

Cell phone, smartphone -- what's the difference?


Today's definition from IDC for a converged mobile device, which is IDC's equivalent to smartphone in IDC press releases on phone shipments, reads, "A subset of mobile phones, converged mobile devices feature a high-level operating system that enables the device to run third-party applications in addition to voice telephony. Examples of high-level operating systems include Android, BlackBerry, Linux, Mac OS X, Palm, Symbian, and Windows Mobile. Converged mobile devices share many features with traditional mobile phones, including personal information management, multimedia, games, and office applications, but the presence of a high-level operating system differentiates these devices from all others."

Llamas said the definition of "high-level OS" has three parts. "High level is the linchpin of the definition," Llamas said.

A high-level OS, as IDC defines it, means that the OS has to be able to run third-party applications, not just those written by the OS maker; the applications must be able to run on the phone independent of the wireless network; and the OS must be able to run multiple applications concurrently.

By comparison, Gartner Inc. uses a written definition for both entry-level and feature smartphones, with a similar mention of a more powerful OS as an important distinction. Gartner says an entry-level smartphone must run on an open operating system, while the feature smartphone adds support for one or more functions, such as music, video, gaming, pictures, Internet browsing, mobile TV, navigation and messaging. They usually have "larger displays, more powerful processors, more embedded memory and better battery capacity."

Gartner also says the feature smartphones can have a touch screen or a full Qwerty keyboard, but neither one of those is a requirement.

Both IDC and Gartner analysts agreed that the LG Rumor2 is not a smartphone.

Ken Dulaney, a Gartner analyst, said the Rumor2 is "probably not" a smartphone because it doesn't have a "market recognized" operating system or published APIs.

And Llamas said that while the LG Rumor's operating system is "a well-developed proprietary OS," it still isn't a "high-level" OS in IDC's parlance.

Ryan Reith, also an IDC analyst, said the Rumor2 isn't a smartphone because it doesn't support third-party applications. "There's no real opportunity to get to the core of that Rumor OS and allow consumers to use third-party applications of their choice," Reith said.

Reith noted that another defining characteristic of smartphones is that they are beginning to include an applications processor, a piece of hardware that allows the smartphone to run multiple applications at one time.

Even the device maker, LG Electronics, and the carrier, Sprint Nextel, aren't calling the Rumor2 a smartphone, but their reasons don't follow the same lines as the analysts.

A Sprint spokeswoman said the Rumor2 might seem to qualify as a smartphone but that Sprint has avoided using the term "just because there's not a good definition of smartphone" that is widely agreed upon.

An LG spokeswoman came up with a fairly specific reason why the Rumor2 is not a smartphone. In an e-mail, she wrote, "This particular device [the Rumor2] is not considered a smartphone. There is not a true definition of a smartphone, but it is generally accepted that a 'smartphone' is one that can sync more than one email account (Webmail, Gmail, etc.) onto your phone. This phone, while it does have Internet access, does not sync email onto the desktop."

Reith said LG's reasoning supports IDC's finding that the Rumor2 doesn't have a high-level OS in the sense that its OS does not allow applications to run entirely on the phone separate from the network. Sprint notes in its specifications sheet for the Rumor2 that access to Microsoft Exchange and Lotus Notes comes through Sprint's Mobile Email Work.

With the addition of software, Sprint could have changed that capability but chose not to, Reith noted.

In summary, just about everyone agrees that there is no precise, standard definition of the smartphone. Llamas said IDC's take has been criticized and praised alike from many parties.

Even though there are disparities in some definitions, analysts tend to report roughly the same numbers for shipments of smartphones, Reith said. Part of the reason is that analysts pay attention to one another's numbers and to what the vendors call a smartphone, Reith and Llamas said.

Reith said he couldn't think of a single device categorized by IDC as a smartphone to which Gartner or other major analyst firms wouldn't agree.

Still, the analysts acknowledged that the question of what a smartphone is can be confusing and even mysterious for the public. One analyst said that the CTIA's definition "probably needs to be updated," but Llamas said picking a proper definition can be a delicate matter.

"I'll respect others' definitions, and I'll stick with mine," Llamas said, laughing. "I'm being diplomatic."

[dhilipkumar]

What is Data center

Data centers have their roots in the huge computer rooms of the early ages of the computing industry. Early computer systems were complex to operate and maintain, and required a special environment in which to operate. Many cables were necessary to connect all the components, and methods to accommodate and organize these were devised, such as standard racks to mount equipment, elevated floors, and cable trays (installed overhead or under the elevated floor). Also, old computers required a great deal of power, and had to be cooled to avoid overheating. Security was important – computers were expensive, and were often used for military purposes. Basic design guidelines for controlling access to the computer room were therefore devised.

During the boom of the microcomputer industry, and especially during the 1980s, computers started to be deployed everywhere, in many cases with little or no care about operating requirements. However, as information technology (IT) operations started to grow in complexity, companies grew aware of the need to control IT resources. With the advent of client-server computing, during the 1990s, microcomputers (now called "servers") started to find their places in the old computer rooms. The availability of inexpensive networking equipment, coupled with new standards for network cabling, made it possible to use a hierarchical design that put the servers in a specific room inside the company. The use of the term "data center," as applied to specially designed computer rooms, started to gain popular recognition about this time.

The boom of data centers came during the dot-com bubble. Companies needed fast Internet connectivity and nonstop operation to deploy systems and establish a presence on the Internet. Installing such equipment was not viable for many smaller companies. Many companies started building very large facilities, called Internet data centers (IDCs), which provide businesses with a range of solutions for systems deployment and operation. New technologies and practices were designed to handle the scale and the operational requirements of such large-scale operations. These practices eventually migrated toward the private data centers, and were adopted largely because of their practical results.

As of 2007, data center design, construction, and operation is a well-known discipline. Standard documents from accredited professional groups, such as the Telecommunications Industry Association, specify the requirements for data center design. Well-known operational metrics for data center availability can be used to evaluate the business impact of a disruption. There is still a lot of development being done in operation practice, and also in environmentally-friendly data center design.

Data center classification

The TIA-942:Data Center Standards Overview describes the requirements for the data center infrastructure. The simplest is a Tier 1 data center, which is basically a computer room, following basic guidelines for the installation of computer systems. The most stringent level is a Tier 4 data center, which is designed to host mission critical computer systems, with fully redundant subsystems and compartmentalized security zones controlled by biometric access controls methods. Another consideration is the placement of the data center in a subterranean context, for data security as well as environmental considerations such as cooling requirements.[1]

[dhilipkumar]

Data center : Physical layout

A data center can occupy one room of a building, one or more floors, or an entire building. Most of the equipment is often in the form of servers mounted in 19 inch rack cabinets, which are usually placed in single rows forming corridors between them. This allows people access to the front and rear of each cabinet. Servers differ greatly in size from 1U servers to large freestanding storage silos which occupy many tiles on the floor. Some equipment such as mainframe computers and storage devices are often as big as the racks themselves, and are placed alongside them. Very large data centers may use shipping containers packed with 1,000 or more servers each; when repairs or upgrades are needed, whole containers are replaced (rather than repairing individual servers).

Local building codes may govern the minimum ceiling heights.




The physical environment of a data center is rigorously controlled:

# Air conditioning is used to control the temperature and humidity in the data center. ASHRAE's "Thermal Guidelines for Data Processing Environments" recommends a temperature range of 20–25 °C (68–75 °F) and humidity range of 40–55% with a maximum dew point of 17°C as optimal for data center conditions. The electrical power used heats the air in the data center. Unless the heat is removed, the ambient temperature will rise, resulting in electronic equipment malfunction. By controlling the air temperature, the server components at the board level are kept within the manufacturer's specified temperature/humidity range. Air conditioning systems help control humidity by cooling the return space air below the dew point. Too much humidity, and water may begin to condense on internal components. In case of a dry atmosphere, ancillary humidification systems may add water vapor if the humidity is too low, which can result in static electricity discharge problems which may damage components. Subterranean data centers may keep computer equipment cool while expending less energy than conventional designs.

# Backup power consists of one or more uninterruptible power supplies and/or diesel generators.

# To prevent single points of failure, all elements of the electrical systems, including backup system, are typically fully duplicated, and critical servers are connected to both the "A-side" and "B-side" power feeds. This arrangement is often made to achieve N+1 Redundancy in the systems. Static switches are sometimes used to ensure instantaneous switchover from one supply to the other in the event of a power failure.

# Data centers typically have raised flooring made up of 60 cm (2 ft) removable square tiles.The trend is towards 80–100cm (31.5–39.4in) void to cater for better and uniform air distribution. These provide a plenum for air to circulate below the floor, as part of the air conditioning system, as well as providing space for power cabling. Data cabling is typically routed through overhead cable trays in modern data centers. But some are still recommending under raised floor cabling for security reasons and to consider the addition of cooling systems above the racks in case this enhancement is necessary. Smaller/less expensive data centers without raised flooring may use anti-static tiles for a flooring surface.

# Data centers feature fire protection systems, including passive and active design elements, as well as implementation of fire prevention programs in operations. Smoke detectors are usually installed to provide early warning of a developing fire by detecting particles generated by smoldering components prior to the development of flame. This allows investigation, interruption of power, and manual fire suppression using hand held fire extinguishers before the fire grows to a large size. A fire sprinkler system is often provided to control a full scale fire if it develops. Fire sprinklers require 18" of clearance (free of cable trays, etc.) below the sprinklers. Fire sprinklers are typically spaced 14 feet apart.[citation needed] Clean agent fire suppression gaseous systems are sometimes installed to suppress a fire earlier than the fire sprinkler system. Passive fire protection elements include the installation of fire walls around the data center, so a fire can be restricted to a portion of the facility for a limited time in the event of the failure of the active fire protection systems, or if they are not installed.

# Physical security also plays a large role with data centers. Physical access to the site is usually restricted to selected personnel, with controls including bollards and mantraps.Video camera surveillance and permanent security guards are almost always present if the data center is large or contains sensitive information on any of the systems within.

[dhilipkumar]

Data center : Network infrastructure

Communications in data centers today are most often based on networks running the IP protocol suite. Data centers contain a set of routers and switches that transport traffic between the servers and to the outside world. Redundancy of the Internet connection is often provided by using two or more upstream service providers (see Multihoming).

Some of the servers at the data center are used for running the basic Internet and intranet services needed by internal users in the organization, e.g., e-mail servers, proxy servers, and DNS servers.
Network security elements are also usually deployed: firewalls, VPN gateways, intrusion detection systems, etc. Also common are monitoring systems for the network and some of the applications. Additional off site monitoring systems are also typical, in case of a failure of communications inside the data center.


Applications

The main purpose of a data center is running the applications that handle the core business and operational data of the organization. Such systems may be proprietary and developed internally by the organization, or bought from enterprise software vendors. Such common applications are ERP and CRM systems.

A data center may be concerned with just operations architecture or it may provide other services as well.
Often these applications will be composed of multiple hosts, each running a single component. Common components of such applications are databases, file servers, application servers, middleware, and various others.

Data centers are also used for off site backups. Companies may subscribe to backup services provided by a data center. This is often used in conjunction with backup tapes. Backups can be taken of servers locally on to tapes., however tapes stored on site pose a security threat and are also susceptible to fire and flooding. Larger companies may also send their backups off site for added security. This can be done by backing up to a data center. Encrypted backups can be sent over the Internet to another data center where they can be stored securely.

For disaster recovery, several large hardware vendors have developed mobile solutions that can be installed and made operational in very short time. Vendors such as Cisco Systems, Sun Microsystems, and IBM have developed systems that could be used for this purpose.

[dhilipkumar]

What is DTS-WAV files

What exactly is a DTS file? DTS is a multi-channel, usually 5.1 or 7.1, home theater lossy encoded audio format created by Digital Theater Systems.

DTS is available on DVDs, but not lossleess, and for this guide we will be playing back DTS-WAV files which have come from enhanced audio-CDs or from concert DVDs or DTS CDs.

It is important to have AC3Filter installed. AC3Filter is an open source AC3 decoding filter that allows you to watch videos with AC3-encoded surround audio.

After you install the filter, all video players, including Microsoft's Windows Media Player, that use DirectShow, should be able to play AC3 and DTS audio correctly. Filter also supports ProLogicII audio as well.

After you have installed AC3Filter, open AC3Filter Config. (Start->All Programs->AC3Filter->AC3 Filter Config) and head to System. Then make sure DTS is selected.

[aadhar]

Blu-ray is the successor to DVD. The standard was developed collaboratively by Hitachi, LG, Matsushita (Panasonic), Pioneer, Philips, Samsung, Sharp, Sony, and Thomson. It became the default optical disk standard for HD content and optical data storage after winning a format war with HD-DVD, the format promoted by Toshiba and NEC.

The format's name comes from the fact that a blue laser reads from and writes to the disc rather than the red laser of DVD players. The blue laser has a 405 nanometer (nm) wavelength that can focus more tightly than the red lasers used for writable DVD. As a consequence, a Blu-ray disc can store much more data in the same 12 centimeter space. Like the rewritable DVD formats, Blu-ray uses phase change technology to enable repeated writing to the disc.

[dhilipkumar]

thanks for the detail explanation about blue ray....

keep share wit us.....

[dhilipkumar]

USB 3.0 - You Need to Know

now there’s an upgrade to USB on the way. Here’s what you need to know about the coming USB 3.0.

• It’s fast: Dubbed Super-Speed USB, it will offer transfer speeds of 4.8 Gbps compared with High-Speed USB 480Mbps transfer speeds.

• It’s backwards compatible: Your existing USB 2.0 stuff will also work on the 3.0 ports and vice versa, although you won’t get the “super speeds.”

• It’s coming soon: Vendors will ship some boards at the end of this year, so mainstream consumers should see them on their computers and certain devices starting in 2010.

• It’s powerful: Like USB 2.0, it will transmit electricity, which means you can still use it to charge your gadgets.

• It’s energy efficient: It supports reduced power operation and an idle power mode, but it will still make your CPU work like crazy to help it reach those fast data transfer speeds.

• It’s backed by all vendors: Early on, both AMD and Nvidia were kind of miffed at Intel for holding back on some of the specification details, but that’s all over, and everyone’s now on board.

• It will end the longing for FireWire’s resurrection: The faster speeds will mean that sending data to an external hard drive isn’t as grindingly slow.

• Or will it instead keep the FireWire flame lit? Without the threat of FireWire competing against USB products, it’s possible we won’t see prices for technology drop as rapidly as they did with previous generations.

• Devices that generate big data will be the first to appear with the standard. Large flash drives, hard drives, video cameras and high-end cameras will be the first to have the technology because they can benefit from faster data transfer rates.

• It’s a way to create the anti-cloud: Instead of accessing everything online either through downloads or streaming, you can store gobs of content on hard drives, and have relatively fast access to it with USB cables. That might be handy if strict data caps are implemented or you think you’ll be without broadband for a while.

[dhilipkumar]

Petaflop -

 A petaflop is a measure of a computer's processing speed and can be expressed as:
A quadrillion (thousand trillion) floating point operations per second (FLOPS)

◙ A thousand teraflops
◙ 10 to the 15th power FLOPS
◙ 2 to the 50th power FLOPS
In June, 2008, IBM's Roadrunner supercomputer was the first to break what has been called "the petaflop barrier." In November 2008, when the annual rankings of the Top 500 supercomputers were released, there were two computers to do so. At 1.105 petaflops, Roadrunner retained its top place from the previous list, ahead of Cray's Jaguar, which ran at 1.059 petaflops.

Breaking the petaflop barrier is expected to have profound and far-reaching effects on the future of science. According to Thomas Zacharia, head of computer science at Cray's Oak Ridge National Laboratory in Tennessee, "The new capability allows you to do fundamentally new physics and tackle new problems. And it will accelerate the transition from basic research to applied technology."

techtarget

[lonelyeyes]

Many times, we need some powerful software such as TS Converter to help us straight convert among various HD and SD file formats. The following four software can do this for you.TS Converter can help you converter many kinds of formats,extract excellent audion from many videos,and also can edit video.
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TS to VOB Converter is powerful conversion software,It enables you to convert TS Files to VOB format and other videos.
TS To WMV Converter is very professional in converting TS files into WMV formats with high conversion speed and good output quality.

[sajiv]

Many times, we need some powerful software such as TS Converter to help us straight convert among various HD and SD file formats. The following four software can do this for you.TS Converter can help you converter many kinds of formats,extract excellent audion from many videos,and also can edit video.
TS File Converter is easy-to-use and multifunctional video and audio conversion software,its flexible video editing funtions and settings for output files make ie more full-functional.
TS to VOB Converter is powerful conversion software,It enables you to convert TS Files to VOB format and other videos.
TS To WMV Converter is very professional in converting TS files into WMV formats with high conversion speed and good output quality.

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