Free videoconferencing - can't we all just get along?

No. Which is very good news -- a lot of people want to save money on their phone bills, or even better, have free or low-cost video conversations with each other. And until pretty recently, the law of the jungle applied: only two animals of the same species could, you know, get together. Did you have a Mac? Then it wouldn’t be settling in for a long relationship any time soon with a PC.

Now, though, and in many ways, the rules no longer apply. For example, Skype is easy to use and has free, robust versions for both Mac and PC. If your PC pal wants to have a video conversation with you, a Mac wonk, all each of you has to do is download Skype software (www.skype.com) to your respective computers (again, it’s free); your computers will happily chat with each other all day long. Better yet, it's not just the software that's free. Even the calls will be free or very low cost, in most cases, all day long. It's even true if two of you have PC's and another friend has a Mac. As long as you all have installed Skype software, you'll have no problem.

Another way to do it: a Mac user who has iChat AV v2.1 will discover they have can do video conferencing with anybody who uses AOL Instant Messenger 5.5 for Windows.

There are other software solutions out there, too, and I'd welcome anybody to post suggestions they find easy and powerful.

The IPhone App Life Cycle

The application development life cycle refers to a logical sequence of activities to develop an application according to set goals and objectives. However iPod touch apps are IT applications and as such have some unique characteristics that must be understood. Regardless of the scope and complexity any application development goes through a series of stages during its life. First there is a conception phase, in which the outputs and critical success factors are defined. Second, is the planning phase, in which the application development project is broken down into smaller parts/tasks. Third, is the execution phase, in which the application development plan is carried out. Last, is the exit phase, in which the application development project is closed out. The completion of the application development plan results in a finished product or application that is then presented for sale in the Apple App Store. With IT application development the phases do not have to be completed in sequence many tasks from different phases can be accomplished simultaneously. This is a big advantage because the application development project can move forward at a faster pace if numerous tasks are accomplished simultaneously.

iPod touch apps development activities can be grouped into phases so that the manager and his/her team can better plan and organize the resources needed to complete each activity, and also establish objective metrics for progress and to justify decisions for moving ahead, correcting or ending the app development project. Diverse application development tools are available in the different phases. Below is a closer look at what is important in each phase.

1. Conception

In this first stage, the scope of the iPod touch App development project is defined along with the approach to be taken to deliver the desired outputs. The application development project manager is appointed and in turn, he selects the team members based on their skills qualifications. Project Charter, Business Plan, Project Framework (or Overview), Business Case Justification, and Milestones Reviews are common tools for use in the conception stage.



2. Planning

The second phase of IPod touch apps development should include a detailed identification and assignment of each task until the end of the application development project. It should also include a risk analysis and a definition of criteria for the successful completion of each deliverable. The oversight process is established, beneficiaries identified and reporting criteria and reporting methodologies agreed. Business Plan and Milestones Reviews are commonly used tools in the planning stage.

3. Execution and Controlling

The focus of this phase of iPod touch apps development is the proper execution and control of project activities. The plan from the planning phase is implemented to accomplish the project requirements. As the plan progresses, groups from other areas of the organization become involved to prepare for the final testing, production, and support of the product. Risk Analysis, Score Cards, Business Plan and Milestones Reviews are commonly used tools in the execution and controlling phase.

4. Closure
In this last stage of iPod touch app development, the manager must ensure that the project is brought to its proper completion. The closure phase is characterized by a written report containing the following components: a formal acceptance of the final product, a matching of the initial requirements specified by the client with the delivered product, releasing project resources, and a closure notification to higher management. The app is then submitted to the App Store and the waiting period begins. Different developers have had different experiences in terms of how quickly their apps were approved. Sometimes Apple requires the developer to make changes to that app and then resubmit it for approval. Others have experienced quick approvals within a few short days. Once approved, the iPhone or iPod touch app makes its way into the proper category in the App Store for all the buyers to see.

Deus Ex Large Hadron Collider

The Large Hadron Collider is like the moon: round, large and mystical. To doubting thinkers, it's like the moon missions: expensive and unnecessary. If you're a fan Dan Brown’s book “Angels & Demons” or the movie based on it, the LHC is dangerous. But whatever you think of it, the Large Hadron Collider is going to change our world -- and here are some of the ways how:

Finding the Higgs Boson: God From the Machine

It's not true to say the LHC was built in Geneva for one reason ... but if it were, the Higgs boson would be it. The Higgs is predicted by the Standard Model of particle physics, which explains how our universe works. But it's the only particle in a rather large list -- quarks, electrons, protons, and so on -- that's never been observed. It's important because if it exists it will help explain why things have mass in our universe, which is still a mystery. That makes the Higgs boson so fundamental, and mystical, that it's earned itself a nickname: the God Particle.


Just Building the Thing

The Large Hadron Collider, which is expected to be fully operational this year, really is astonishingly … well, large. It's essentially a giant circular vacuum tube within which particles are accelerated up to a good portion of the speed of light and banged into each other. We've been doing similar things for decades but never on a scale this enormous. Years ago, I worked with a synchrotron -- a superficially similar machine -- and took great pleasure walking the 100m (328-foot) distance around the top of the beam tube, ducking and weaving around the equipment.
Image courtesy of FastCompany.com


But the LHC’s main ring has a circumference of nearly 27 kilometers -- over 16 miles. The key bits of machinery are advanced magnets, about 9,300 in total. Some of them have to be super-cooled to run -- a coolant leak caused the accident that disabled the LHC last year -- and when it's working properly it'll be at a temperature of -271.25ºC (-456.25 Fahrenheit). That requires around 96 tons of liquid helium, and makes the LHC the largest cryogenic facility in the world. The main ring is also dotted with experimental chambers where the actual physics will happen -- the largest of these is five stories high.

Think about all this being carved into the rock under a mountain, along with all the wiring, cooling, heating, computing and so on. Just building the LHC has taught us a lot about mega-scale engineering.

Best Spyware Removers

Finding the best spyware removers to detect and remove spyware and adware from your computer is much easier if you consider a few things before you make your purchase. Here are a few things to keep in mind when looking for a spyware protection program.

The best spyware removers should offer you complete protection against spyware, adware, keyloggers, Remote Access Trojans (RATs), and browser hijackers. These are the main spyware infections that expose your confidential information and diminish your PC's performance.

An important consideration for any spyware protection program is automatic updates for your software. There are new spyware programs invented on a regular basis just like viruses and automatic updates cover you against the latest spyware threats.

Another important consideration to look for should be technical support from the manufacturer. A spyware protection program doesn't do you any good if you have a technical issue that you can't solve. Often, just a minor piece of technical advice will solve most software problems and it's important that your software run right. You also may need someone to answer questions that come up.

Customer service is another feature you may consider looking for. It shows the
manufacturer is a trusted source who cares about their reputation and will probably be around awhile.

Spyware is quickly becoming a major threat to Internet security. It is reported that 9 out of 10 computers are currently infected with spyware, adware or both. Most people don't even realize it's there because spyware and adware is programmed to run silently. Microsoft estimates that spyware is responsible for 50% of all PC crashes.

If you don't remove spyware from your computer it will eventually not work at all or your computer files will become infected by spyware programs. Your personal information, passwords and credit card numbers could end up stolen from you without you even knowing it.

Once you remove spyware and adware programs from your computer you'll find it will run faster and your personal information will be much safer. Your security and peace of mind is worth spending a little time to find the best spyware removers possible.

Florida State commits to Wi-Fi deployment: four-year effort expands to campus classrooms

The proliferation of Wi-Fi hot spots at airports and coffee shops has whet users' appetites for more--and once college students and faculty experience the convenience of wireless bandwidth, it doesn't take long before they begin asking their information technology administrators to install it on campus, too.

Wi-Fi is becoming an important initiative for more and more colleges and universities. And for a large public university such as Florida State in Tallahassee, that undertaking can be similar in scale to that of a municipal deployment. Like other academic institutions implementing Wi-Fi, FSU has faced funding, security and manpower issues--and has found some creative solutions to all three challenges.

INITIAL EXPERMENT

IT personnel at FSU first began experimenting with Wi-Fi about four years ago as a means of connecting several outlying buildings to the campus computer network without having to lay fiber. That experience taught them that they would need to address potential security vulnerabilities before expanding further, says Clint Ringgold, FSU coordinator of computer system control. "We decided to go with a gateway approach to take care of security," Ringgold says.

A year of in-house testing followed. "We required people to log on to the campus network," says Ringgold. "That empowered us to be able to take known user information from the university and if there is a security issue, we can determine the individuals who might have been involved."

Manpower issues also were top of mind. "Part of our solution was that our network had to be able to be run by a very small number of people," Ringgold says. "We have three people in our wireless group taking care of approximately 3,000 total users, including 1,500 on a daily basis." Those numbers continue to climb and could swell to include all 40,000 faculty, staff and students as more and more computers come equipped with Wi-Fi cards.

Network administrators developed several computer screens that would be automatically sent to users when certain situations arose to help the users solve the situation on their own. If users have a virus problem or are consuming too much bandwidth, for example, a screen appears on their computer advising them of the problem.

How To Pick Your Perfect Laptop

I always cringe when I see people buying laptops in high street stores and know that they are wasting so much money on a laptop with features they will never use. It is sad to see sales representatives trying to sell you the most high-priced laptop you are willing to buy just to make the largest commission they can. Perhaps that's a failure in capitalism but it certainly doesn't mean that you need to fall for their tricks every time. Selecting the perfect laptop for your needs need not be tricky provided you are aware of some of the fundamental factors effecting laptop efficiency.

First of all let's talk about different brands of laptops. You might notice yourself being sold a Sony laptop over an Acer laptop and end up paying hundreds extra for the Sony even if the laptop's specifications are almost similar. Does this mean you have gotten a faster or more reliable laptop but going for the premium brand? Does it imply that by going with the finest brand you have gotten a faster and more dependable laptop? Unluckily no, well done you just spent a few hundred on a brand name. Only a few suppliers in the world make components for the laptops which are then bought by the laptop brands such as Acer, Asus, Dell, HP, Sony etc and put together to be sold under their respective brand name. So next time you are looking to purchase a fresh laptop overlook the brands altogether. Instead, focus on the specifications of the laptop and if possible try them in the shop before buying. Another major downside for a laptop buyers is either buying a laptop which is way too sophisticated for their needs or buying one which is lacking in performance and holds back the buyer from utilizing the piece of technology as per their needs. For those of you looking only to use your laptop for surfing the net, chatting with friends, emails, office programs, and watching videos, the low-priced laptops on the market will have more then enough power for these needs. Simply select a laptop that looks nice, has enough hard drive space for your needs and forget about processor speed or graphics card performance.

For those of you looking to play games on your laptop be ready to shell out a fortune for your laptop. The graphic card is the only vital component for a gaming laptop. By tradition laptops have awful graphics as manufacturers try to cut expenses so any gaming laptop will set you back at least 500 or $700. If you want to play games you might as well choose the laptop only on the graphics card that it has. Get the laptop with the most powerful graphic card in your budget and forget about the rest of the specifications as if the graphics card is powerful the rest of the system will be too.

Robot to create Facebook profile

Facebook could soon be helping bridge the divide between humans and robots.

Researchers are giving a robot its own Facebook profile page to help foster meaningful relationships with people.

The page will be populated with interactions the robot has with people as well as photos of the time it spends in human company.

Its creators hope that embedding it in a social web will demonstrate that a sustainable friendship can grow up between man and machine.

Ancient scholar

The coupling of robot and social network is the idea of Dr Nikolaus Mavridis and co-researchers as they look into ways of overcoming the reluctance of people to stay in touch with robots.

While robots that can engage people have been produced before now, research suggests that humans lose interest - at most a few weeks after being introduced - as the behavioural repertoire of the machine is exhausted.

In a paper on the pre-print website Archive.org server, the researchers say they want to find out if this can be thwarted by giving humans and robots a pool of shared memories and if they are part of the same social circle of friends.

The platform for exploring the problem is a robot that can recognise faces created by Dr Mavridis and colleagues from the Interactive Robots and Media Lab (IRML) at the University of the United Arab Emirates plus co-workers in Germany and Greece

The prototype is based on a PeopleBot machine from ActivRobots to which they have added a range finder, touch screen and stereo camera. The current prototype is called "Sarah" but when the project begins this will be swapped for a machine with the face of Islamic scholar Ibn Sina, aka Avicenna.

Under the hood the machine has three software modules to help it interact with people it meets at IRML. One module recognises the faces of real people or the images they place of themselves on Facebook.

Free Sony Ericsson Pay As You Go Phone – Choose the Best Deal

New thing of any thing always catch the attention of the consumers. Right just new cell phone attract the customers towards to it. The thing which plays an important role in attracting the customers towards to it is its looking and innovative features. These both things can be found with the handset of Sony Ericsson cell phone. Handsets of mentioned company are equipped with superb capabilities and high-end technologies. The customers can enjoy the facility of music player, camera, internet connectivity and powerful multimedia applications.

Sony Ericsson handsets are available with lucrative pay as you go deal which is the best deal for the communication. Besides of this the users can get various lucrative options like incentives, low cost tariff plans, free talk time, free handsets etc. the customers are free to choose the best deal after making a search wide search which is granted by the top network service provider. For the customers free sony ericsson c510 pay as you go phone is a matter of benefit. In this way the customers can take the advantage of the free line rentals, free gifts and accessories, cash backs, etc. if you want to buy a contract phone, it is necessary to sign a contract with the service provider for 12 months free line rental to 18 months. Moreover, the customers are promised to give the benefits of free talk time, reduced call rates, free text messages, free gifts etc.
In such attracting deals the customers becomes satisfied and sign the contract without reading terms and conditions. Such lucrative deals are also available handsets like Motorola, Nokia, Samsung, and Sony Ericsson are easily available with some very astonishing contract deals. Pay as you go is the best deal for the average mobile user. These phones are especially popular among teenagers. With this deal the customers can be free from heavy monthly bills. By purchasing your Sony Ericsson cell phone on pay as you go deal you can save your hard earned money. In this way you can communicate without taking the tension of monthly bills.

Concentrate on Building Residual Income

Residual income programs are the best way to make long-term income. For example, even if you overspent a little for a forty dollar sale using pay-per-click ads. Let us say you are in the red by seven dollars. If that program offered renewal payments for a service like web hosting. You would be profitable on the second payment, and all future payments would be icing on the cake.

Imagine if you got recurring bonuses at your regular job for sales you made months or years ago. That would be a great job. Well, that job is yours for the taking. All you need is a website theme. You do not need to build a website that you know very little about.

Everyone has a passion or a hobby; they know more than the average person about their area of interest does. It really is of little consequence what your passion or hobby might be (up to a point). If you are interested in fishing, boating, skiing, sports, home improvement, flowers, gardens, decorating, cars, juggling balls, saving money, travel destinations or whatever. You can turn your passions into multiple streams of income.

There are tens of thousands affiliate programs that you can promote. Many of these programs offer lifetime commissions. My favorites are usually some kind of service. Creating websites that generate multiple streams of income is easier that I ever thought possible. Search engines love to find real information about every subject. That is what search engines do. They find the most in depth and most relevant results for any search inquiry.

The most successful websites are those that provide solutions. When people look for information, they are really looking for a solution. From catching, more fish to growing a bigger pumpkin. If you can provide the answer that searchers are looking for, you can turn your area of interest into income. Even if, all you do is provide free information.

Once you have decided on a niche that you know well, it is worth the time and effort to find out if you can profit from your niche. There are online resources that we can use to determine supply and demand for a niche. There are also resources that help evaluate the competition, as well as tools that help determine the profitability of a niche. After you have found that you have a solid idea, you can start building your own website. A home based business that you can do in your spare time.

In conclusion, spend your time promoting programs that offer lifetime commissions. You will come out much further ahead in the end, than you would by offering one-time sales. Of course, you could do both, just realize that your efforts can be rewarded long term.

Windows Vista Themes

The Windows Vista Themes allow people to be able to change the visual elements of the desktop area on their computer by selecting a theme that is stored on their computer. People can select which computer sounds they want on the computer desktop too, and some of the themes come with their own sound scheme.

The Microsoft Corporation website can provide directions that will help people apply a sound scheme on their computer desktop. To allow people ample opportunity to personalize their Vista experience, it is also possible to change any of the individual sounds on the computer so that every event has a unique sound attached to it. These sound changes will only apply to the personal settings of one user account on the computer.

All of the Windows Vista operating systems will includes two themes, and these themes can be changed out at any time. The two themes are the Windows Vista Themes and the Windows Classic Theme. The latter theme is very similar to the themes used in the earlier Windows operating systems.

Windows Vista users can download Windows Vista Themes from many software company websites. Some of these themes will be provided free of charge and many can must be purchased. Any Windows Vista Theme that is downloaded from an outside should be considered very carefully. A theme can be assigned to any person that has set up a user account on the Vista operating system.

It is possibly to change themes by opening the Theme Settings on the computer by using the Start Menu button. Vista users can click on the Control Panel, and select Appearance and Personalization button, and select Personalization to find the area marked Themes. The Windows Vista Theme can be selected and installed by selecting the Theme you want from the list in this section.

Tips a Laser Printer Or Inkjet Printer

Once you have determined to purchase a new printer, the next question, which comes almost instantly to your mind, is whether to select an inkjet printer or a laser printer. This article is aimed at helping you to decide on a printer which suits your needs and budget to the maximum and hence to help you in making a well-informed purchase.

To start at the beginning
The first thing to consider while buying a printer is the purpose of its purchase. If the primary objective of your printer is to print your kids school projects or for your hobby of collecting hard copies of information on the internet, then it would be in your best interest to plump for a printer on the basis of low running cost. Since it is meant for children's use as well, it should be very easy to use. Also, since it is for use at home, one should consider a multi function inkjet printer; this is because it gives one the liberty to scan the documents and photographs back into the computer and also has the option of photo copying the documents.

Majority of the printer manufacturers have their multi function inkjet printers in the market and hence these are available at very reasonable price in the market. However, before deciding to purchase a particular printer one should have a thorough knowledge of the running cost of the product.

There is no doubt that an inkjet printer works well for homes and small offices, but if one is considering the purchase of a printer for a large office, then inkjet printers are going to prove themselves costlier than laser printers.

The Laser Printer
Laser printers are the best bet for any large office, especially now when there are colour laser printers for less than £200. The laser printers have many advantages when compared with inkjet printers as they are small foot print, have great network connectivity and give much better results because of the chemical toner used. Not only this, the laser printers are much faster than inkjet printers and also have much lower running cost than inkjet printers. Most of the laser printers come with an integrated RAM of 128mb, and also have the option of expanding the memory up to a gigabyte of memory. This feature of the laser printer really favors the large office environments as it allows the queuing of multiple complex print jobs at the same time.

To Conclude
When compared with the inkjet printers and the laser printers, there is no doubt that the snapshot printers are the slowest of all. However, if your purchase of the printer is intended to make photographs, it is the best possible choice for you. They are comparatively lower in price and give the buyer the convenience of printing directly from the printer. These snapshot printers can be carried easily to any place as they have integrated carrying handles as well as optional battery packs. So, the printer which suits your needs best is the best printer for you.