How To Troubleshoot Your Computers Mouse

Writen by Otis Cooper

The Motherboard is the largest component in your PC and the Central Processing Unit is its brain. But when your input devices go on the blink, you're shut down for awhile. When Computer Mice problems come, we don't panic as fast when we cannot access our hard drive.

When you grab your Mouse and either click or roll the buttons and nothing happens, your computing fun stops. Even though the mouse is a little input device, you will wish you understood its every aspect when it dies.

When input device failure occurs, the problem may lie with the computer's hardware,the mouse, the OS or Operating System. Let's take a look at what you should check when mouse failure occurs. If you need help with mouse components, www.ultimatepcrepair.com contains photos of every component in the computer.

When the mouse dies, you should be able to perform the same functions with the keyboard. It may be a little closer but you won't be shut down completely.

NO MOUSE MOVEMENT

First...If the mouse has no movement, first look at the mouse connection at the rear of the computer.Be sure it is plugged in completely.

Second...remove the plug and inspect for connectors or pins that may be broken or bent. The connector is color coded with green being that of the mouse.

If your mouse uses the USB or Universal Serial Bus connector, check the connectors for any damage and be sure it is plugged in.

MOUSE STOPPED DURING OPERATION

Should your mouse quit in the middle of computing, save your work immediately. Press the ALT key to access your program and save your work.

Check the connection in the rear to be sure it has not worked itself loose.If the connection is tight, inspect the mouse components for dirt.

Remove the retain and trackball inside the mouse. Clean the Ball with a mild solution and be sure all residence is removed.And clean the Ball Cavity with a cotton swab. Replace the ball and secure it with the retainer.

Connect the mouse to the system unit and boot the the computer. Try clicking a program to see if the mouse works. If the mouse fails, check the device driver for the mouse.

MOUSE POINTER MISBEHAVING

This problem may be the result of your computer be affected by a virus. Use your Anti Virus software to scan your sysem for viruses.

You can go to http://www.free-av.com to download a free version of anti virus software if you don't have anti virus software installed on your system.

A corrupt device driver can also cause the mouse to misbehave. Check the device driver by opening the Control Panel, and open the System folder.

Select the device driver tab and use the down arrow key to scroll down to the mouse.Expand the mouse to see if the driver is installed.

If you see a yellow icon, the mouse has a problem and you can try to re-install the device driver.First uninstall the mouse from Windows and reboot the PC.

After the system reboots, the operating system will find the mouse and re-install the driver.If you have a wireless or USB mouse, re-installing the special software may be in order.

A misbehaving mouse may occur when you install another device on your system. If this happens, the mouse and new device may be conflicting with each other by using the same address.

Unplug any hardware you installed and uninstall any software recently installed. See if the mouse operates properly.

Use the System Restore utility to set your computer back to a time when the mouse was working as it should. The Registry can be the culprit of the mouse behaving badly.

You can connect your mouse to another computer to verify it is bad. If the mouse works on another system, check the problems mentioned in the PC's operating system.

MAINTAINING YOUR MOUSE

To keep the mouse performing at its very best,you should take the time to clean the components of your mouse.Regularly clean the mouse, both inside and out.

Clean the outside of the mouse with rubbing alcohol. This solution is best since it does not leave any residue.Take the time to clean a small area first, to to certain any damage to the plastic will not occur.

The components inside the mouse to be cleaned are the Rollers, as well as the Ball.These two parts are the most important to be kept clean and always take great care in doing so.

Carefully take apart the mouse by turning the retaining ring counter clockwise to unlock it. Remove the Ball and clean it with warm water and not alcohol.

The rollers inside the mouse cavity can be cleaned with alcohol by dampening a Q Tip and wiping the rollers gently.

With clean hands, insert the ball back in the mouse and replace the retaining ring. Now enjoy your mouse and should it cause any problems, you're armed with the knowledge of how to diagnose and repair most problems

Copyright 2006 Otis Cooper

Otis F. Cooper is solely dedicated to boosting the knowledge and confidence of every computer user. Use his informative articles and videos to understand all about the PC. Read more in depth articles for pc training and repair at www.repairarticles.com

Consumer Electronic Industry

Writen by Thomas Morva

The electronics industry is one of the most dynamic industries around today. This is because you can expect that newer, faster and better models of various electronics products appear in the market at least every few months. This is because the manufacturers of these products invest heavily in research and development of newer and better models of their products because they believe that doing so would give them an edge over their competitors. However, this phenomenon has made it harder for consumers to purchase electronics products because apart from being afraid that what they will buy will be obsolete in less than a year, they are also apprehensive to buy products that may have features that may be too complicated for them.

Buying the right digital camera

One of the best examples of a product that enjoys a high turnover rate in terms of the development of new models and features is the digital camera. This is because manufacturers of this highly popular product come out with new models almost every six months. Given this, the current models of digital cameras in the market can be expected to have more features and better capabilities than some of their early predecessors.

However, this has also contributed to a certain level of confusion among consumers on which model they should purchase. For some, they always go for the most advanced models available as they are assured of some of the best features, however, some people may find that buying the most advanced models would only leave them with features they do not really need. Given this, it is clear that the high turnover that digital camera models exhibit also has the potential of alienating some consumers because of certain apprehensions they may have in purchasing newer models. In a way, consumers are placed in suspended animation, where they may just end up always waiting for the next model.

One of the best examples that show the dynamism of the electronics industry is the digital camera because their manufacturers constantly develop newer models. However, just like any other electronics product, this phenomenon of coming up with a newer model every few months can have the opposite effect of alienating consumers as they become more afraid of buying products that would be rendered obsolete by these newer models.

Consumer Electronics provides detailed information on Consumer Electronics, Wholesale Consumer Electronics, Consumer Electronic Industry, Consumer Electronics Stores and more. Consumer Electronics is affiliated with Security Cameras.

Why Rent A Computer

Writen by John Beagle

If you are out of town you might need to rent a car, a hotel room AND a computer.

When your car or computer breaks down, you need a temporary rental replacement or perhaps you just want to impress someone... you can rent a fast new car or a computer that would impress your client or your date.

People confuse computer renting with leasing. Renting is short term in nature and is very flexible. You can extend the rental or cancel at any time. Leasing, like buying, can't be cancelled without a 'severe penalty' once you have committed. Leasing is a fixed arrangement. Renting is totally flexible.

Use the same analogy for renting cars as for renting computers. You wouldn't rent a car from Hertz® or Avis® for three years, would you? You might lease a car for three years from GMAC® or a lease a computer from GE Equipment Leasing®, but you wouldn't be able to rent one for a day or two from those companies.

There are many more reasons to rent computers, projectors, and plasma displays than you might think.

For example, classroom computer training. Computer rental companies can setup an entire classroom of computers and let you focus on your training program and not the hardware. Rental companies like have everything you need and a backup plan if something unexpected happens.

Conferences go more smoothly when you deploy the services of a rental company to handle the installation of sound systems, computers, large plasma flat screens, lcd projectors and other technology. Renting allows you to focus on your event and not hardware issues. Let the numerous hardware issues get handled by hardware rental experts.

Convention displays are really impressive with 42" Flat Plasma Display Screens. Try lugging one of those from your home office. Renting plasma displays is a much better idea.

Temporary offices can be setup with rental computers, printers, copiers and fax machines. They will be configured to your company specifications and installed at any remote destination. Rentacomputer.com has setup temporary offices in hotel rooms, trailers, warehouses and convention centers. Temporary offices have been setup for State and Federal Supreme Courts, television networks covering presidential conventions, movie studios setting up at remote locations, and corporate mergers and takeovers.

Traveling executives won't have to lug portable computers through airports or other public transportation facilities. Executives can have technology preconfigured and tested, waiting at their final destination! Traveling with technology is one hassle that can be easily avoided with the laptop computer rental option.

Special projects can be expedited with specialized technology such as color or high volume printers, copiers and extra computing horsepower.

Temporary employees need temporary technology. Rentacomputer will coordinate the installation and removal of computers, printers and other technology for any period of time specified. If you hire temporary employees, hire temporary technology too.

John Beagle is a writer for Xponex Web and Media Services Visit Rentacomputer.com for more infomation on computer rentals.

History Of The Computer Flipflops A Basic Counter

Writen by Tony Stockill

We looked at the Binary system, and basic computer logic elements, in previous articles, "It's a binary world - how computers count" and "How computers add - a logical approach".

Now we can combine two parts of these articles to look at a counter. Another common logic element in a computer is a counter or timer. This can b to count items going past a sensor on an assembly line, or possibly a count-down timer. For example, if you have a late model washing machine it will have a simple computer using a count down timer to give 10 minute wash cycle, etc.

There are several types of counter, nearly all of which use a basic element of electronics, the Flip-Flop. And you thought they were rubber shoes English people wear to the shower or the beach. (At this point Australians say "I thought they were called thongs").

OK back on topic. The flip-flop is as old as electronics, and is a classic example of the binary system. It has two possible stable states, A or B, and can be 'toggled' from one state to the other, just like a 'push-on, push-off' switch. It was originally made with two vacuum tubes (or one, for example a double triode).

It normally has two outputs, one being the complement of the other. That is,if one output(A) is a logic 0, the other(B) is a logic 1, and vice-versa. The input, or Toggle(T) is at logic 0 until a pulse from a sensor, for example, comes along. This pulse takes the logic state to 1, then back to 0. The toggle effect, causing the Flip-Flop to flip, is actually the CHANGE from 0 to 1.

In logic terms the flip-flop is made up using AND and OR gates, in logic cicuitry it is just a 'black box' labelled FF. Several FFs may be grouped into yet another black box, a counter, timer, or multivibrator.

We can make up a Truth Table, which we have used before. If you recall, a truth table tells you what the Output will be for all possible Inputs.

TRUTH TABLE for Flip Flop - Toggle (C)hange,- Outputs A and B.

INITIAL STATE
T B A
0 1 0 'A' output is 0

PULSE #1
T B A
C 0 1 'A' output is 1

PULSE #2
T B A
C 1 0 'A' output is 0

Now we string some flip-flops together to make a counter. Say we have a sensor on a beer bottling machine, which has to count 5 bottles before switching the feed, we need to count up to 5, or 101 in Binary. We will need 3 flip-flops, for binary bits 0,1 and 2, corresponding to decimal bit value of 1,2 and 4.

We will take the A output of the 3 flip-flops to a decoder black box, which we can use to detect when we get to 5, then switch the feed. The B output of flip-flop 0 is passed to the toggle input of flip-flop 1 via an AND gate, so the next pulse from the sensor (which goes to all 3 flip-flops) at this AND gate will toggle the flip-flop, depending on the value of the B output, 0 or 1. Similarly the B output of flip-flop 1 goes to the toggle of flip-flop 3 via an AND gate.

Our 3 Flip-Flops now come up with a truth table like this:-

INITIAL STATE
FF2 FF1 FF0
TBA TBA TBA
010 010 010 'A' outputs 000 - 0

PULSE #1
FF2 FF1 FF0
TBA TBA TBA
C10 C10 C01 'A' outputs 001 - 1

[The (C)hange flips FF0 (always). FF1 & FF2 are blocked by the AND gate which needs a 0 input from the previous FF 'B' output AND the pulse change.]

PULSE #2
FF2 FF1 FF0
TBA TBA TBA
C10 C01 C10 'A' outputs 010 - 2

[The (C)hange flips FF0 (always). FF1 flips beacause the 'B' output from FF0 is a 0 when the Pulse arrives. FF2 is blocked as before.]

PULSE #3
FF2 FF1 FF0
TBA TBA TBA
C10 C01 C01 'A' outputs 011 - 3

[FF0 flips, FF1 is blocked again,as is FF2.]

PULSE #4
FF2 FF1 FF0
TBA TBA TBA
C01 C10 C10 'A' outputs 100 - 4

(FF0 flips, FF1 flips, FF2 flips.)

PULSE #5
FF2 FF1 FF0
TBA TBA TBA
C01 C10 C01 'A' outputs 101 - 5 count complete!

[FF0 flips, FF1 and FF2 are blocked.]

This counter can count up to 111, 7 decimal, it then resets to 0. A couple of interesting points to note are:-

1. FF0 flips every pulse. FF1 flips every 2 pulses. FF2 flips every 4 pulses etc. These facts can be used to make up a divider, which can be cascaded. For example the 4 pulse output can go to a second counter which also gives a 4 pulse output, totalling 16. This can be expanded to make up a decadic counter by decoding a count of 1010 (10 decimal) and using this to toggle the next counter, etc. What about 60 and 12 for your digital watch?

2. Look at the 'B' outputs from the counter. In sequence the values are:- 111, 110, 101, 100, 011, 010 (7,6,5,4,3,2 decimal). See the pattern? That's right - a countdown timer! We'll be using this in a later article.

Tony is an experienced computer engineer. He is currently webmaster and contributer to http://www.what-why-wisdom.com. A set of diagrams accompanying these articles may be seen at http://www.what-why-wisdom.com/history-of-the-computer-0.html.

Wired For Wireless

Writen by Brenda Fleen

Individuals and businesses who seek mobility and convenience would need to invest in the best *wireless technology* out in the market today. It would be wise to get hardware that could be used with or without a plug especially for jet setters who travel to every undiscovered nook of the globe, restless twenty-something nomads who enjoy the freedom of changing zip codes every so often, and those whose livelihood depend on being on the road a lot. Times are changing fast and lifestyles are morphing at almost the same pace. So update your shopping list, man your online shopping carts, and get ready to launch your life on the fast lane.

When scouting for a laptop that will probably spend a lot of its time on the road with a fearless traveler such as yourself, you will need a totally durable, relatively affordable, and globally hailed brand of hardware. Additional perks wouldn't hurt either so make sure that what you're getting is capable of giving you what you need and more. The Dell Inspiron 9300, a 17" UltraSharp wide screen beauty, could just be what you're looking for to replace your age old desktop computer. In this day and age, it is almost impossible to find a notebook that has inimitable power and value for your money. It is relatively cheaper than its other leading rivals, which just brings stress from buying decisions down to a minimum. Aside from its non-TrueLife and non-glossy LCD, I personally think that nothing else can top the model when it comes to price, GPU power, and specs - not even other portable models from Dell. Suggested retail price for this item is at $1,399 but you can get it much cheaper online. Without a Dell online discount coupon, you could still get the notebook for only $1,235.80 at www.compudirect.com.

Digital cameras and webcams have solved countless of file-sharing concerns ever since they came to existence. They made it easier for everyone to capture, store, and send photo images and video via the world wibe web. Now you can attend an important meeting or catch up with a long lost friend even when you're out of the country. They also make tasteful presents to colleagues and relatives - it tells them that you care and that you'll always be around to see what's been up with them. I bought a Logitech QuickCam for my notebook late last year. So far it hasn't let me down and I don't think it will anytime soon. The Logitech QuickCam for Notebooks Deluxe is compact, cost efficient, and has high quality software and hardware, making it the most practical and intelligent choice among other mid-level performance webcams. It has a built-in mic, smart face tracking capabilities, automatic gain control, and 640 x 480 resolution capturing good quality images. It also comes with other amenities such as rubber clip adjustment pad for slimmer screens and a neoprene travel case to keep it secure when it is not being used. Originally priced at an already affordable $60, zipzoomfly.com will ship it free for an all-in package cost of only $47.99.

Last but not the least, what good are top wireless gizmos and gadgets if you don't have wireless internet connection? The Apple AirPort Express Base Station With Airtunes has saved my skinny behind countless of times. The genius little plug creates wireless internet connection that can be used on the Mac and the PC. There are no crazy snake-like cables or separate power supplies to distract you from your work so it's easy to tag along and keep - a great example of technology on the go. Once you plug it in, you can check your MySpace account, update your blog, or browse through *online computer courses* while pretending to listen to your professor in class. The wireless compact device is around the same size of an iPod Mini and it includes a mini stereo port which you can use to connect universal sound systems to your computer. Save $10 when you buy it from www.macconnection.com.

Start making cyber noise with these "wired" wireless gadgets. It would certainly drive you to be your best wherever in the world you may be. With wireless technology the world does not appear to be so big anymore.

For more valuable information on discount shopping, discount travel, please visit http://www.shoppersdiscount.com

Tivo Is Just A Dvr How Direct Tv And Others Packaged A Product For Success

Writen by Nick Smith

TiVo, the poster child of technological advancement for companies like Direct TV, is really nothing more than a middle-aged woman in a designer dress - with plastic surgery. The technology behind TiVo is really just a tweaked DVR, or digital video recorder. Other companies have it; but no other company has built as successful marketing package around their product as has Direct TV with TiVo.

What is TiVo, um, I mean a Digital Video Recorder?

Digital Video Recorders capture video in a way similar to old video recorders, but they do it digitally. Watchers can "pause and rewind live TV" because the speed and response time of DVRs, like TiVo, provide for a virtually seamless transition from live TV to recorded material. Based on user settings, up to 80 hours of television can be recorded. This can include your favorite show each week, or you can record everything you watch to make sure you don't miss anything. Remember, every DVR can do this, not just TiVo.

The difference is the way Direct TV has partnered with TiVo and positioned it for success in the highly competitive market of satellite television and accessories. The true success of TiVo's marketing strategy lies in the fact that many people believe it is a unique product.

With product lines in competitive markets, positioning and packaging is king. Direct TV touts TiVo in nearly every major marketing campaign they put together. They offer discount TiVo technologies to new customers who are willing to commit to a one-year contract. My guess is that if you have ever heard of Direct TV and seen any advertisement they have produced, you have been exposed to the TiVo name and features.

Have You Ever Heard of Tevas?

The three strap sandals that have come in and out of fashion over the last few decades are now known almost universally as "Tevas." Chalk up a point for the company Teva that created and marketed their sandals extremely successfully. When was the last time you had jello (actually a name brand of gelatin desert), or used a Kleenex (trademarked name for a tissue)? Do you ask for a "Coke" no matter what flavor of soda it is? The list goes on and on, including the most recent tendency to refer to all DVR technology as "TiVo."

What are you going to do about it?

If you own a small business or operate one out of your home, you might not be running your own unique product line. But if you do, what are you doing to package it and position it for success? Consider doing the following:

• Name your product or service. It may sound silly, like naming your car "Betsy" or "Lechuga," but a name is an essential part of successful repackaging. This is what TiVo did when they renamed their DVR technology. Rather than call it a car wash, try something like "Dirty Mike's 15-Point SuperClean." Maybe five years from now people will say they need a "superclean" instead of saying they need a "carwash." Keep reading below for legal considerations.
• Before you start using a new slogan or title, double check to make sure another company does not already own the trademark or copyright. The last thing you want to do (or pay for) when you own a small business is a lengthy legal process over something you could have avoided had you done the research.
• Get legal protection for your products, names, and slogans. At the same time you are doing your research, register your trademarks, copyrights, and where appropriate your patents. Registering your intellectual property with the government will go a long way when it comes time to stop others from infringing on your company name or intellectual rights.

Nick Smith is an internet marketer specializing in online advertising. For more information about TiVo and DVRs, visit I-Satellite.

Putting The Boomers Out To Pasture

Writen by Tim Bryce

"The Baby Boomers will be more remembered for the problems they left behind as opposed to anything they accomplished during their tenure."
- Bryce's Law

As we all know, the Baby Boomers are regarded as those people born following World War II, I believe it is from 1945 to 1960. This generation has seen a lot: the space race, the fall of the Berlin Wall and the USSR, and eleven U.S. Presidents, just to mention a few. In the area of Information Technology, they actively participated in the transition from mainframes to client/server computing, the Internet, and an unprecedented number of technological developments, including cell phones, cable, video enhancements, etc. They were there during the MIS movement of the 1960's and 1970's, they helped invent the packaged software industry, and spearheaded e-commerce.

As they are entering their 60's, the Boomers are now approaching retirement, and we are already seeing them rapidly fade from view in I.T. departments. For example, I.T. is now considered a young person's game dominated by workers in their 20's and the manager (the "old man") in his early to mid 30's. In contrast, Boomers are now generally regarded as dinosaurs who are slowly being put out to pasture. They haven't completely left yet as they still possess valuable knowledge about legacy systems and are blessed with certain skills required to maintain such systems, e.g., Systems Analysis, Technical Writing, COBOL, ISPF, CICS, TSO, IMS, ROSCOE, MVS, etc. They are hardened veterans who still enjoy their work but are growing weary of the changes in the corporate landscape, such as short-term planning, outsourcing, and the development of disjointed systems by the spirited younger workers. Inevitably, the Boomers are often asked to clean up the mess left behind by such projects.

The transition from the "Greatest Generation" to the Baby Boomers in I.T. was relatively smooth, with the veterans mentoring the Boomers and guiding them on their path towards succession. However, the transition from the Boomers to Generation X (those born between 1965-1976), Generation Y (1977-1994), and Generation Z (those thereafter) has been much more turbulent. I attribute this to three reasons:

1. The change from mainframe to PC based computing - the technologies were perceived as dramatically different and, as such, companies left one set of workers behind to tend to the mainframes, and hired a new generation oriented to the PC's. Regrettably, there was little common ground between the two. Whereas the two groups should have been working together all along, a polarization of the two groups ensued instead.

2. Changing socioeconomic conditions which affected family dynamics, such as having both husband and wife working full-time jobs and letting family responsibilities slip through the cracks. This led to changes in our morality and other cultural differences whereby the younger generation doesn't have the same set of interests or priorities as the Boomers.

3. An increasingly competitive global economy which has forced a change in the pace and priorities of business.

This has all resulted in several changes in orientation and perspective. For example, instead of long-term planning, quick and dirty solutions are now considered the norm; e.g., if something cannot be done in 30 - 90 days, its not worth doing. This emphasis on speed versus craftsmanship has led to questionable quality, poor service, and repetition in work effort (which is why systems and software produced today are considered "disposable"). These changes in orientation also created a spirit of competition as opposed to cooperation, independence as opposed to teamwork, and a decline in corporate loyalty. Such attitudes are not limited to I.T., and can be found throughout a business as well as our society in general.

So what will be the Boomers' legacy? A rise or fall in our standard of living? Viet Nam or the war on terror? Our growing dependency on foreign oil? Our fascination with gadgets? What?

Frankly, I believe their legacy will be the generation gap they helped create. I consider this rather ironic since they liked to grouse about the gap between their fathers and themselves. But the "Greatest Generation" did a better job of transferring the reigns of power than the Boomers ever did. The divisiveness between the Boomers and Generation X/Y/Z is so substantial, that even if the Boomers tried to coach or mentor, Gen X/Y/Z probably wouldn't heed their advice. This has led to a major hiccup in the transference of management and systems knowledge. Consequently, Gen X/Y/Z is much more reactive as opposed to proactive in their management style, which will be felt for years to come. How many 9-11's or Hurricane Katrina's do we need to suffer through before we learn how to plan and adapt to changing times? For example, the patchwork systems being implemented by companies today will inevitably lead them to lose their competitive edge tomorrow. Executives are only now beginning to realize how weak their corporate systems are and how ineffective their companies will be in the years ahead. This is what has triggered the latest attempts to reinvent systems theory, but I fear it is too little, too late.

So, as the Boomers begin to ride off into the sunset, do we thank them for their efforts or do we open an express lane for them?

Tim Bryce is the Managing Director of M. Bryce & Associates (MBA) of Palm Harbor, Florida, a management consulting firm specializing in Information Resource Management (IRM). Mr. Bryce has over 30 years of experience in the field. He is available for training and consulting on an international basis. His corporate web page is at: http://www.phmainstreet.com/mba/ He can be contacted at: timb001@phmainstreet.com Copyright © 2006 MBA. All rights reserved.

Rfid Uses For Aircraft Carriers

Writen by Lance Winslow

Can you make an RFID system for ordinance on an Aircraft Carrier? We believe so. The RFID tag would be o the weapon during its manufacturing a shipping stage so you do not lose weapons. In the case of the Navy it would be accounted for in an inventory control system all the way until it is loaded on an aircraft and shot of the carrier. By doing this it would place an instant order to the maker of the weapon to make another one. Real time logistical controls. There is a lot to the procurement and logistical process and more can be done to do better.

http://www.carwashguys.com/finite.pdf

Remember their are all kinds of other issues to deal with. The RFID tag reader would be under the aircraft while on the catapult hook up area would also signify that the ordinance has left the ship. Since they cannot land back on the ship with ordinance it would signify expended. For ordinance which is allowed to land back on the ship they would not marked sold until they left the aircraft. Likewise 20 mm shells would be sent to the aircraft inventory control system and it would be sent to reader on the plane, which would be downloaded. Every 100 shells would be marked by RFID Tag. An enemy killed by a 20 mm shell would rather die by a specially marked bullet than an ordinary one, so you are doing them a favor as you send them to their final destination to meet Allah? In other words the enemy does not care so that factor is null and void of debate.

On a tank the reader could be on the end of the barrel as the ordinance leaves it is accounted for. If the tank is destroyed and crew is lost then the net centric system marks it destroyed and 3 more people are enlisted into tank school, a tank is ordered and the ordinance order for it's supply cancelled until the date of delivery for the replacement tank. You see. Sounds morbid? Not really it is reality based logistical chain. War is hell. So if you are going to have a war, get it over with as fast as possible and by all means be sure to win it.

Clauswitz agrees and Patton said an army moves on it's stomachs, yes it does and that goes for the fuel, armament, weapons and people. RFID tags streamline systems. I am most certainly not justifying the killing of one's own species, but if this is to occur, let's get it done right with the least amount of anguish. The devil is in the details, your supply chain can kill you much faster than the other side. Just like a prize fighter who is out of shape, stayed up too late drinking the night before or a marathoner who did not load up on complex carbohydrates in the days leading up to the event, if you want to win, be prepared to go the distance. Just a thought. Have drawings and schematics and much more on this idea.

Lance Winslow - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/

Demanding Environments Require Special Computer Solutions

Writen by Aldene Fredenburg

Computer technology has invaded every aspect of our working and personal lives; the jobs are rare that don't require some exposure to computers and other electronic devices. The problem is, some environments aren't exactly computer-friendly.

Imagine what plunking a computer down in a car wash would do to delicate memory chips, or what the effect on a hard drive would be located in a machine shop, where powerful chemical solvents hover in a fine mist throughout the environment. Yet computers can and do exist and function well in such environments, thanks to tech companies specializing in creating computing equipment and peripherals designed for rugged use. Water- and dirt-proof keyboards and numeric keypads, flat panel monitors designed for a variety of lighting conditions, and tough, indestructible optical pointing devices provide reliable use in demanding situations.

If your company needs computer systems that will be used in something other than a normal office environment, take a look at your surroundings. Is the environment extraordinarily wet or dry? Does the air include lots of dust or chemical solvents? Will the employees who use the equipment necessarily have soiled or greasy hands because of the work they perform? Is it likely that some of the peripherals will be exposed to rugged use or frequent impact?

If you examine the special requirements of your workplace in terms of computer hardware, you will probably find that there's a high-tech company who has anticipated your needs, and has the perfect selection of computers and peripherals for you.

Aldene Fredenburg is a freelance writer living in southwestern New Hampshire. She has written numerous articles for local and regional newspapers and for a number of Internet websites, including Tips and Topics. She expresses her opinions periodically on her blog, http://beyondagendas.blogspot.com

Scalability Testing 7 Tips For Improvement

Writen by Mark Trellis

Systems that work well during development, deployed on a small scale, can fail to meet performance goals when the deployment is scaled up to support real levels of use.

An apposite example of this comes from a major blue chip company that recently outsourced the development of an innovative high technology platform. Though development was behind schedule this was deemed acceptable. The system gradually passed through functional elements of the user acceptance testing and eventually it looked like a deployment date could be set. But then the supplier started load testing and scalability testing. There followed a prolonged and costly period of architectural changes and changes to the system requirements. The supplier battled heroically to provide an acceptable system, until finally the project was mothballed.

This is not an isolated case. IT folklore abounds with similar tales. From ambulance dispatch systems to web-sites for the electronic submission of tax returns, systems fail as they scale and experience peak demands. All of these projects appear not to have identified and ordered the major risks they faced. This is a fundamental stage of risk based testing, and applies equally to scalability testing or load testing as it does to functionality testing or business continuity testing. With no risk assessment they did not recognise that scaling was amongst the biggest risks, far more so that delivering all the functionality

Recent trends towards Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) attempt to address the issue of scalability but also introduce new issues. Incorporating externally provided services into your overall solution means that your ability to scale now depends upon these external system operate under load. Assuring this is a demanding task and sadly the load testing and stress testing here is often overlooked.

Better practice is to start the development of a large scale software system with its performance clearly in mind, particularly scalability testing, volume testing and load testing. To create this performance testing focus:

1. Research and quantify the data volumes and transaction volumes the target market implies. Some of these figures can be eye openers and help the business users realise the full scale of the system. This alone can lead to reassessment of the priority of many features.

2, Determine the way features could be presented to users and the system structured in order to make scaling of the system easier. Do not try and have the same functionality you would have for a single user desktop solution provide an appropriate scalable alternative.

3. Recognise that an intrinsic part of the development process is load testing at representative scale on each incremental software release. This is continual testing, focusing on the biggest risk to the project: the ability to operate at full scale.

4. Ensure load testing is adequate both in scope and rigour. Load testing is not just about measuring response times with a performance test. The load testing programme needs to include other types of load testing including stress testing, reliability testing, and endurance testing.

5. Don't forget that failures will occur. Large scale systems generally include server clusters with fail-over behaviour. Failure testing, fail-over testing and recovery testing carried out on representative scale systems operating under load should be included.

6. Don't forget catastrophic failure could occur. For large scale problems, disaster testing and disaster recovery testing should be carried out at representative scale and loads. These activities can be considered the technical layers of business continuity testing.

7. Recognise external services if you use them. Where you are adopting an SOA approach and are dependent on external services you need to be certain that the throughput and turnaround time on these services will remain acceptable as your system scales and its demands increase. A smart system architecture will include a graceful response and fall-back operation should the external service behaviour deteriorate or fail.

© Acutest 2005 – http://www.acutest.co.uk

About The Author Mark Trellis is an experienced consultant working in performance testing, scalability testing and load testing. For further information visit: http://www.acutest.co.uk or http://www.acutest.co.uk/performance-testing.html

Why Choose Refurbished Laptops Over New

Writen by M Johnson

First and foremost refurbished laptops have the same quality and performace of a new laptop, but they have one major advantage- cheap price! It's possible to save over half the retail price by buying refurbished. The fact is most people only use a laptop computer for the portability and to operate a few applications. The need for every known piece of technology wrapped up into one high priced mobile computer isn't there anymore.

Refurbished laptops offer the best value for your dollar. Below you can see what refurbished laptops can do for you:

Portability- Take them anywhere. Most refurbished laptops weigh between 5-8lbs. Easily carry them in a backpack, case, or a simple laptop bag. It's like having your desktop computer with you at all times.

Discount Price- Why spend all that extra money on the "latest thing". Technology moves so fast that by the time a new laptop is paid for there is already a new and improved model. Trying to keep up is impossible and not really necessary. Our cheap refurbished laptops are less than 6 months old and have very high quality standards. They also come with advanced mobile technology so you can relax. They will function as new, and will come with today's useful features.

Connect to the World- You can connect to your family, friends, co-workers, business clients and more with ease from anywhere in the world. Getting online is now better than ever. You can connect via Wi Fi, DSL, Cable or dial up. The internet is getting faster and easier to connect to and you'll be able to do it from virtually anywhere!

No Wires- This is the best part about refurbished laptops. If you have a desktop computer at home, or at the office you know it's impossible to take it with you. Wires, the bulky weight, the need for a plug-in outlet just makes desktops too hard to move from place to place. Well, now you don't have to worry about that. Laptop computers are built and specifically designed for maximum portability. Lightweight and no wires make these the best choice for almost everyone.

Take up Less Space- When a desktop computer just isn't feasible, then your best choice possible. Cheap laptops function just like a full size computer, but without the size. The technology is ever advancing and you get the best of both worlds. You get a great computer and when you buy refurbished laptops you get a great price. Perfect for home, dorm, school, office, traveling, the list goes on and on.

Refurbished laptops maybe a little older than a new one, but the savings can be awesome. Compare buying a reconditioned laptop computer to buying a used car. Used cars have all parts replaced that need to be and run just like new, but because they have a few miles on them they cannot be sold as new anymore. Refurbished laptops are the same way.

If you are looking to save money and still get the quality you are looking for consider refurbished laptops.

Copyright 2006 Mike Johnson

Online Crazy Deals specializes in mobile computing including new and refurbished laptops. Making your dollar go farther without sacrificing quality is our main goal. To learn more visit http://www.onlinecrazydeals.com .

Printing The Prepress Model

Writen by Michael Russell

The print media has long been the way that advertisers, newspaper proprietors and the general public have communicated with each other. Printing is only the end product of this continuing process. The pre-press area of printing is really the preparation and design part before an page has "been put to bed" and before it comes anywhere near a printing press.

I mentioned the print media in my first paragraph. This has become a slightly overworked and generalised term, but with the advent of the internet and other electronic forms of communication, the title is, in fact, reasonably accurate.

The attraction of a page of type is obviously determined by what is on it. This usually takes the form of typefaces - collectively known as fonts - they used to be called founts in their early days - and images (pictures). The design of these usually determines how much the page is going to be read. Though it probably isn't something the reader thinks about consciously, the designer most certainly would.

Fonts broadly fall into two categories, serif and sans serif. Serif typefaces are the fonts that have the squiggly bits, a good example of these are the typefaces which are usually used to produce wedding invitations and the like. Sans serif typefaces mean "without serifs" the French word for without being "sans". We used to call this "block writing" in schooldays if memory serves me correctly! Enough of the history lesson, let's move on!!

To make a page look attractive, it is responsibility of the person composing the page to use the correct balance of typefaces. This person, in years gone by, was called a Compositor. Because of his training, he was skilled in the craft of composing types to look attractive in the printed word. I think today we call them either typographers or graphic designers - the principle is still the same though.

Fonts were made in type foundries - in the lead era of printing - for centuries. One of the major influences in type design was the Bauhaus in Germany in the 1920s. They made an incredible contribution to all forms of design at that time - including wallpaper design. One of the more famous typefaces of that era was Gill Sans - a quite beautiful non-serif font.

The age of digital fonts is with us now and there are many fonts which are just as beautiful as their old-style counterparts. Digitised fonts in my opinion though, do tend to carry too much space to the left of the figures, particularly the figure one. This tends to unbalance the look of a page. There are differing styles of fonts, which seem to stretch both horizontally and vertically whichever takes your fancy. Naturally, all these type of fonts may be changed and altered electronically with the software available through the design industry nowadays.

Our target, whether two hundred or two years ago is still the printing press and, although we appear to have revolutionised the way we prepare our pages, the methods in their time and place, were equally practical. It is a matter of opinion - depending on your age group - which you think is the more efficient.

Michael Russell Your Independent guide to Printing

Souped Up Computer Cases

Writen by Peter Stewart

The computer case is just the box that the computer stuff is housed in. For all intents and purposes it does very little. It doesn't have to spin around, open or close too often or do many other things.

However a well made and designed case can make very obvious and pleasant differences for your computing experience. Although most cases will do for the very run of the mill, everyday computer, a better case can benefit you in many ways.

Looks are probably the first thing that you would look for. At the very least you will have to look at your case, so it should look good. Many cases, even really cheap ones can come in many different colors and styles. Of course looks are important, but that is an easier thing to decide than the more unseen details that can effect the design. We will look at those in details, so that apart from a good looking case, it will be functionally good too.

Construction of the case will mean the difference in how much of a beating the case can take, how sturdy it is and how easy parts are to put in. Most cases utilise aluminum of thin steel. Very cheap cases that use aluminum are often very flimsy because the aluminum is more expensive and so they keep costs down by making it thin. Under $50 don't expect much. Might be fine if it's never transported or knocked. More expensive cases for $150 and up are aluminum. They are constructed from tough, thick aluminum, because of this, they are heavy, which is an easy way to tell if its strong or not. Avoid aluminum, except for more expensive cases.

Fans on the case keep air flowing through the computer, pushing cooler air into it and sucking the warmer air created by the CPU and other parts out. Modern computers have become hotter as they've become more powerful so they need more air passing through. Unfortunately the answer of more fans makes more noise. Cases can often take up to 4 80mm fans. This will provide enough air going through. Sometimes you can use less, if not none, for underclocked or light load computers. An option that I like is 120mm fans. They move twice as much air as 80mm fans, but with the same noise, to 2 120mm fans will move as much air as 4 80mm ones, but produce half the noise. Cases need to be made to take 120mm fans or modified yourself.

Thumb screws instead of screws that need a screwdriver are a cheap extra, but can make the opening of the computer that much less hassle, requiring one less screwdriver to be used.

Another extra to be considered are mounting brackets for hard drives and optical drives. Instead of having to open the case to take out the drives, brackets are included. The brackets are attached to the drives with the normal screws and then the drives can be slotted in and taken out without tools. Useful if you take them out a lot, I don't, so it's not high on my priority list.

Something that effects convenience is the positioning of the USB ports and sound plugs. There are always the standard ones on the back of the computer, but the other ones on the case can be just about anywhere. Most common is on the front, but there are some that position them under a flap on the top. On the top is okay, but if your case is in a closed area with something over its top they will be inaccessable. See if the position in convenient for where you will keep your computer.

So in summary, look for...

• Looks
• Construction quality (aluminum or steel)
• Fans, both size and positioning
• Thumb screws
• Mounting brackets for drives
• USB, sound, firewire plug positioning

Peter Stewart is a computer enthusiast, his interest in computers and focus on practical down to earth advice inspired his two websites. http://computer-buying-guide.com - Practical buying tips http://computer-reviews.net - Fair and honest reviews and opinions

History Of The Computer Codes For Data Transfer Part 1 Of 3

Writen by Tony Stockill

We have seen, in the History of the Computer series, how machine code is used to operate a computer so that it can use 1s and 0s to interpret a program's intentions. But what about a code for human communication with the computer? We can variously write and read to and from different media, such as paper tape, magnetic tape, disk or teletype, but we need some means of converting English (or another language) into a form which can be carried on these media.

You may recall the old Western movies where the James gang shoot the telegraph operator so he can't call the Marshall for help. Or the movies about the '29 Wall St crash where the tycoon reads the bad news on the ticker tape and promptly leaps out of 32nd floor window. Both of these are early examples of a code being used on a medium. In this case morse code on the telegraph, and an analog code produced from a keyboard at the transmitting point, also sent by telegraph. The ticker tape, so called because of the noise made by the printing mechanism, carried the Stock Code, as used in today's stock market, and a quote.

A later code used for paper tape, the baudot code, named after the French inventor, Baudot, was a five bit code, punched across the tape, giving a 1s and 0s pattern to make up the 26 letters of the alphabet. The tape was an inch wide and came on big reels. A sprocket hole was punched in the tape so that it could be moved through the reader.

As we know from our look at binary codes, 5 bits will give us a total of 31 characters (1+2+4+8+16) plus zero. With 26 being used for the English alphabet, the other characters are used for Carriage Return, Line Feed, etc. These are needed to operate the typewriter used to print out the information. Another character, Bel was used to ring a bell on the typewriter to alert the operator.

Later a Shift character was incorporated, similar to the Shift key on a typewriter, so that following characters would indicate numbers. Another shift code would switch back to letters. This Baudot Code was used on teletype machines to transmit data from one location to another. This was later accomplished by first punching the tape, and then transmitting it by feeding it through a 'high speed' reader. These speeds were gradually increased as the technology improved, and were generally expressed as the 'Baud Rate', roughly equivalent to bits per second, also named after Baudot. Most problems came from punching errors and synchronising transmitter and receiver.

In part 2 we look at how codes are used in computers.

Tony is an experienced computer engineer. He is currently webmaster and contributor to http://www.what-why-wisdom.com . A set of diagrams accompanying these articles may be seen at http://www.what-why-wisdom.com/history-of-the-computer-0.html . RSS feed also available - use http://www.what-why-wisdom.com/Educational.xml

Server Downtime What Downtime How To Never Have Server Downtime

Writen by Wes Tafoya

Technology: Secrets on using technology to save large sums of money, increase profits and increase employee productivity.

Part Ι

What IT companies will not (can not) tell you. The 100% business continuity solution.

Technology - Without it, the business world would collapse. Unfortunately, with technology it can also be expensive. Our purpose is to explain to you some how to eliminate a main expensive component of your IT part of your business – Downtime. A seemingly unsolvable and major setback for business and Administrators alike that has many times caused of businesses to

1. file bankruptcy within six months of a crash

2. loss of clients/patients

3. loss of thousands if not millions of dollars annually

4. loss of jobs and inadvertently causing an organization to downsize

5. loss of data and the enormous cost to repair that data – if that is possible

6. and most importantly, the enormous stress on the company and the techs who work so hard to attempt to keep your systems online.

What are the solutions? Well today's standards would ask you to buy an overpriced cluster solution that still only gives 99.9% up-time. That still almost nine hours of down time. My company, BeechTek has talked to many clients using cluster solutions and one thing they honestly admit that they have no idea the system will even kick in if there is a situation that calls for it. We are not including the scripting, management, hardware cost, multiple Operating Systems (OS) and applications, amongst other factors. There are many "solutions" which is a joke when you are the one responsible for your systems staying up.

"Well that is all that is available right? I mean, we can't afford to pay hundreds of thousands of dollars like the big companies for a state of the art systems." The truth is even big corporations are loosing incredible amount of money, data security and their best technicians are still at a loss trying to engineer a workable solution.

This is where I come in. I feel for business and especially the techs. These guys are the heartbeat of companies and they still get very little respect and even less pay for their brilliant resolve. However, you would be shocked at companies that are too close-minded and terrified of change. Personally I do not lose any sleep if a company doesn't use our technology – their competitors will and we can reduce their operating cost, increase their production rate in many cases both, in many situations by over 50%!! One company will only use IBM hardware. I laughed, "you will spend over $12,000 a month on new hardware, downtime and expensive solutions because of . . . .why??" Do not misunderstand me, I respect IBM and all my competitors. If your hardware vendor has you sold into thinking that its better to have downtime other than save thousands and thousands of dollars that can be used to expand your business – you are perfect bed mates. I'm sure any intelligent person would agree – it doesn't sound intelligent!

I am sure you know this but technology utilized properly should make your company much more capital in return. After all, is the purpose of investing in any technology also the same reason why you invest in the first place, to make money? To the degree and quality one outflows his time, money etc. will be proportionate to what he inflows. While this universal basic philosophy of life holds true, competence, ingenuity and the ability hold your ground and succeed separates those who succeed and become powerful and those who do not. With this said, in intelligent hands, technology can do amazing things but in the wrong hand's it can destroy a business and even lives. However, we all agree it takes money to make money but let me show you some ways to help you with all of that. Here are some ways to profit using technology.

Let us take a server. Although IT companies will never admit it, they count on two things to happen.

Downtime

Servers go down and this is very common. We all agree downtime (the time the server is down or inoperable or inaccessible) makes an IT company lose money, lose clients and even can inadvertently cost lives, we have all agreed on that. We also we have agreed that repairing any data loss and the other problems associated with downtime, to financial loss and bad PR from losing clients (and lost clients) because you could not service them when they needed it is very, very bad.

Well I have some great news for you!

There are a couple of very workable solutions for mission critical servers that we found about that is very affordable.

1. While there are many servers that claim to be fault tolerant, I only found one that is truly a 100% FT server! I am not talking about a mirrored disk or a HD RAID but the whole box. We found a server that does not have one single point of failure! Imagine a whole box that is Fault Tolerant! We also have a written guarantee of 99.999% up-time!

2. Your client needs and can have 99.999% up-time at 100% availability. What does that mean? It means that you will have more chances on winning the lottery then having your server go down. Most redundant and "protected" servers have at the best 99.9%. This is a cluster solution also. This breaks down to about 8hrs and 45 minutes. WOW! That is bad and the accepted standard. Not for my company and if your company has just as much critical data that can't be down this obviously isn't a good solution. So our 100% Fault Tolerant Server will save you thousands if not millions of dollars, precious time and greatly increase employee production. Most importantly it will secure you clients faith in the ability of your company. As far as I know there isn't anyone that wants to hear – "sorry, but we can't service you cause our servers are down." But I could be wrong!

3. Active upgrade – you can test the patches, updates and upgrades before you install. If those new updates are suspected to cause problems, you can "rollback" to the previous setting. How much money and time will that save you? Let us just say that most companies spend thousands of dollars every year to have a special department just to test patches, updates and upgrades not to mention repairing a down server if those updates do not work. Do not forget – although you need to reboot to install these updates – your client still has 100% availability!

4. The NEC Fault Tolerant server supports many Operating systems (OS) through virtualization if needed. If needed you can also have multiple OS's on one server via a virtual environment instead of buying a multitude of additional servers. These machines will even automatically reboot the OS/application in an attempt to get the software back online. Again, there is still 100% availability!

5. Remote management – Lights out computing; Are you vacationing in France? With remote management you will be instantly notified when a clients FT Server is having issues. Note: To this date there have never been any reports of these servers having any problems.

6. These also are all hot swappable HD's.

7. These servers run a little more expensive then a regular server but far less than a cluster solution.

8. There are many additional benefits and features that are very impressive but my job isn't to sell you – it's to educate you that downtime is yesterdays news. The technology is unbelievable, it's new and it works. Of course unless you like yeaterdays gear you will need this to get ahead.

With this said, how much is it to you to finally eradicate downtime?? Do you really want you competition to have this technology before you? Can you see that putting your resources from slow, expensive and unreliable servers to the right equipment will let your techs work on the other important projects (other than downtime)? Do you understand that financial resources you could use for expanding your company and most importantly – the restored faith your clients will have in you?

Good luck!

Wes Tafoya BeechTek.com Wes Tafoya is the Vice President for BeechTek. Unfortunately man of the big companies do not offer real workable ideas and solutions. You can sell companies anything or you can find out what they are going through. So with research and help from Gargantua companies like NEC and others, BeechTek strives to introduce America to solutions unknown in America. If you want to succeed - you need to be ahead of everyone else-are you ahead? Call us today for a presintation or a web cast.

How To Make My Own Layout

Writen by Emma Drosy

Making your own layout is not all that difficult what with all those templates and help available on the net. You just have to have a good idea of what you want and also where to look for the best help.

Before you start making your own layout, here are a few things that you need to keep in mind, if you want your layout to be effective.

1. Make your layout attractive but simple. This means that you will have to select your background, color, images and other visual aspects with care, so that you r site looks attractive, but at the same time ensure that your site is not too complicated. Select the colors and images in such a way that there are pleasing to the eye and easy to look at.
2. Make sure that your layout allows for easy and intuitive navigation. No matter how good your layout, if your visitors don't understand your site and can't find their way around easily it's going to flop.
3. Provide as much help as you can to make life easier for everyone.
4. Your site layout should not be too cluttered. Make sure that there is plenty of white space and the layout is well organized.

Once you are clear about the layout, the next thing is to get it translated into a site. Remember that these days one need not be an expert to make a layout on one's own. Forget about programming, you need not even know what HTML stands for. All that you need to know is what you want. You can get all the help you want in terms of layout building tools, templates, ready made images, layout ideas and a lot more. All for free - that is unless you are in the mood to spend. You can get a lot more ideas from paid sites.

So get going with your very own layout. It isn't half as difficult as you might have thought. Good luck.

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Cant I Just Do My Cd And Dvd Duplication At Home

Writen by Jason Cole

You've just created an mp3 audio album that you want to make CD copies of, or maybe you have a collection of home video clips you'd like to burn to DVD and pass out to your friends. As far as you know home CD album duplication and DVD duplication require just a couple of things; a computer with a burner, CD-Rs and/or DVD-Rs, and the proper software. I have all that, so why can't I just go ahead with my home CD/DVD duplication project? Here are a couple factors to take into consideration before you jump into your disc duplication project.

1. Speed/Volume
With your home set-up, you can burn CDs and DVDs one at a time, and you have to reload the burner manually. This is fine if your disc duplication project only consists of 1-10 pieces. (CDs or DVDs) Considering that burning one disc at 24x speed takes between 3-5 minutes, to burn a large amount of discs, you're going to have to have a lot of time set-aside. Professional disc duplication facilities use multi-drive, auto-loading machines that can burn up to 8 discs simultaneously. This cuts down on the total cost of your CD or DVD replication package, and saves you the headache.

2. Quality
In addition to a certified maximum burn speed, CD-Rs and DVD-Rs all have physical parameters and properties that must be taken into account. To get the absolute best quality out of your CD album duplication or DVD disc replication project, you must follow certain guidelines. The guidelines are explained in the "Red Book" of audio, one of a set of color-bound books that contain the technical specifications for all CD and CD-ROM formats. Most professional CD / DVD duplication / replication houses follow these guidelines, and will produce better quality discs more often than not.

By all means, this article should not stop you from duplicating your CDs and DVDs at home. This is just here to educate you a little bit more about what the big guys are doing, and why it costs a tad bit more to get your discs duplicated by them.

Jason Cole and http://www.DiskFaktory.com offer great tips and information regarding CD DVD Duplication, in addition to providing excellent CD and DVD duplication services. Get the information you are seeking now by visiting http://www.diskfaktory.com/tips/CD-duplication-tutorials.asp

Data Mining

Writen by Ross Bainbridge

Data mining is the retrieving of hidden information from data using algorithms. Data mining helps to extract useful information from great masses of data, which can be used for making practical interpretations for business decision-making. It is basically a technical and mathematical process that involves the use of software and specially designed programs. Data mining is thus also known as Knowledge Discovery in Databases (KDD) since it involves searching for implicit information in large databases. The main kinds of data mining software are: clustering and segmentation software, statistical analysis software, text analysis, mining and information retrieval software and visualization software.

Data mining is gaining a lot of importance because of its vast applicability. It is being used increasingly in business applications for understanding and then predicting valuable information, like customer buying behavior and buying trends, profiles of customers, industry analysis, etc. It is basically an extension of some statistical methods like regression. However, the use of some advanced technologies makes it a decision making tool as well. Some advanced data mining tools can perform database integration, automated model scoring, exporting models to other applications, business templates, incorporating financial information, computing target columns, and more.

Some of the main applications of data mining are in direct marketing, e-commerce, customer relationship management, healthcare, the oil and gas industry, scientific tests, genetics, telecommunications, financial services and utilities. The different kinds of data are: text mining, web mining, social networks data mining, relational databases, pictorial data mining, audio data mining and video data mining.

Some of the most popular data mining tools are: decision trees, information gain, probability, probability density functions, Gaussians, maximum likelihood estimation, Gaussian Baves classification, cross-validation, neural networks, instance-based learning /case-based/ memory-based/non-parametric, regression algorithms, Bayesian networks, Gaussian mixture models, K-Means and hierarchical clustering, Markov models, support vector machines, game tree search and alpha-beta search algorithms, game theory, artificial intelligence, A-star heuristic search, HillClimbing, simulated annealing and genetic algorithms.

Some popular data mining software includes: Connexor Machines, Copernic Summarizer, Corpora, DocMINER, DolphinSearch, dtSearch, DS Dataset, Enkata, Entrieva, Files Search Assistant, FreeText Software Technologies, Intellexer, Insightful InFact, Inxight, ISYS:desktop, Klarity (part of Intology tools), Leximancer, Lextek Onix Toolkit, Lextek Profiling Engine, Megaputer Text Analyst, Monarch, Recommind MindServer, SAS Text Miner, SPSS LexiQuest, SPSS Text Mining for Clementine, Temis-Group, TeSSI®, Textalyser, TextPipe Pro, TextQuest, Readware, Quenza, VantagePoint, VisualText™, by TextAI, Wordstat. There is also free software and shareware such as INTEXT, S-EM (Spy-EM), and Vivisimo/Clusty.

Data Mining provides detailed information on Data Mining, Data Mining Tutorials, Business Intelligence Data Mining, Web Data Mining and more. Data Mining is affiliated with Offshore Data Entry.

Review Of The Apple Ipod Shuffle

Writen by Bradley James

Introducing the mini iPod Mini: the iPod Shuffle

The iPod shuffle is basically a smaller version of Apple's extremely popular iPod and iPod Mini. The shuffle is much smaller than the iPod (about the same size and weight as a pack of gum), but holds fewer songs as a result. You can now purchase either a 512MB iPod shuffle, or one with a full 1GB. Keep in mind that the regular iPod can now hold up to 40GB, so it has quite a bit more storage. The shuffle though is designed to be a super-mobile, light-weight device that you can wear around your neck and take just about anywhere. You are limited to about 10 CDs worth of songs that play in a random order on default. Below you will find some more information about the device, including a manufacturers description and review.

Information Direct From Apple

Time to mix things up. Meet iPod shuffle, the unpredictable new iPod. What will it play next? Can it read your mind? Can it read your moods? Load it up. Put it on. See where it takes you.

Random is the New Order
Welcome to a life less orderly. As official soundtrack to the random revolution, the iPod Shuffle Songs setting takes you on a unique journey through your music collection -- you never know what's around the next tune. Meet your new ride. More roadster than Rolls, iPod shuffle rejects routine by serving up your favorite songs in a different order every time. Just plug iPod shuffle into your computer's USB port, let iTunes Autofill it with up to 120 songs and get a new experience with every connection. The trail you run every day looks different with an iPod shuffle. Daily gridlock feels less mundane when you don't know what song will play next. iPod shuffle adds musical spontaneity to your life. Lose control. Love it.

DJ Your Day
If you favor cycling to a hip-hop soundtrack and snowboarding to a little electronica, Autofill iPod shuffle from a specific iTunes Playlist and roll. Download an album from the iTunes Music Store and listen to it in order before you Shuffle it into your collection. Or just drag and drop individual songs from iTunes onto iPod shuffle. With Play in Order mode, you manage the music. If things take a turn for the predictable, never fear. Turn iPod shuffle over, flip the slider to Shuffle and mix on the go.

Goes with Everything
iPod shuffle weighs as little as a car key and makes a tuneful fashion statement. Just throw the included lanyard around your neck and take a walk. Or run. Or ride. There's nowhere your skip-free iPod shuffle can't go, and with up to 12 hours of continuous playback time, it keeps going as long as you do. A neat little cap protects the USB connector, and those signature white earbud headphones tell the world you love to listen in style. You can even make your iPod shuffle splash-proof, arm-hugging, and longer-running with optional accessories. Ready for anything from a Transatlantic flight to a weekend at the beach, the iPod shuffle makes the perfect, low-maintenance pal.

Touch of Genius
Good things really do come in small packages. The controls on the iPod shuffle feel as intuitive and easy to use as those on every iPod model. Play, pause, skip, repeat, shuffle and hold at the touch of a thumb: The circular, ergonomic controls and one-click slider make it simple to listen without looking.

The Music Store in Your House
Add to the iPod shuffle mix with songs downloaded from the iTunes Music Store. Browse and preview more than one million songs, then buy what you want, 24-7, from the comfort of your Mac or PC. With the iTunes Music Store and iPod shuffle, you'll always have music at hand...literally. The smallest iPod yet, iPod shuffle fits neatly in the palm of your hand and looks just plain neat around your neck. Prepare to make friends and influence people when you wear it biking, hiking, snowboarding, dog-walking and anywhere else that could use a great soundtrack.

That includes off-the-beaten-path spots where you may need to play, pause, move back, skip forward, shuffle and turn up the volume without looking. Luckily, iPod shuffle pays due respect to its elders with a thumb-friendly, circular control pad that puts the 'go' in ergonomic.

Plug-and-Playlists
iPod shuffle makes syncing a piece of cake. Cupcake, even. Use the optional Dock to connect to your computer or just plug iPod shuffle directly into a USB port on any computer. Then drag and drop individual songs, Autofill your favorite playlists or Autofill your iPod shuffle with a random sampling from your music library. Since iPod shuffle automatically charges while syncing, it stays ready for your next adventure.

Our First Look at the Shuffle

First of all, the iPod shuffle is a very simple looking device that follows the same style as the famed iPod. It really is the size of a decent pack of gum, easily worn around the neck as Apple proposes, or in your pocket. The connection to your computer could not be easier; all you have to do is hook it into your usb port like you would a regular usb memory stick. You can then copy onto the shuffle any songs or groups of songs you would like. For those of you who already own and iPod, you will be happy that the device takes AAC files, as well as MP3. Once on the shuffle, the songs begin to play out in random order. If you want to hear a particular song, you have to keep hitting forward until you reach it - there is no display on the device to show you what songs are coming up. This is one of the very few downsides to the music player.

The music sounds really good, even with the headphones it comes with. The music did not skip once, substantiating Apple's anti-skip claim. It would have been nice to see an FM tuner feature, but then again, it was designed to be a simply device without the bells and whistles that make other similar players $100 more expensive. Also, the battery life is just about 12 hours, which is about 5 hours less than the industry average. Most of the time this is not a problem, however, since it is so easy to recharge (it even recharges while you are loading songs onto it).

The fact that the songs play randomly on the device is going to be seen differently by different people. It can be somewhat liberating not to have to worry about which song you will hear next, or in what order you will hear a group of songs. In fact, it's just like mindlessly listening to the radio, except that you only hear songs you like, and there are no commercials - two really good things! If you want more control over your songs, or you really need to see where you are in your play list, then a regular iPod may be the better choice. But for those who want a simple, light-weight, spontaneous alternative to the iPod, the shuffle is just about the best choice.

Bradley James is a senior editor at SciNet.cc, a website containing many helpful consumer electronics review articles. For more information on Apple iPod shuffle , please visit our iPod Shuffle webpage.

Tips For Choosing The Right Computer Desk Furniture

Writen by Morgan Hamilton

Computers play a huge role in modern living. People worldwide spend hours seated before their computers for either work or entertainment purposes. However, spending so much time on your computer can cause health problems especially if you are forced to do so in an uncomfortable position. Its important to find computer desk furniture that won't harm you. Do not keep on using a desk that puts you in an unnatural position every time you use your mouse. A desk that sets your keyboard too high can cause an injury to your wrist that can develop into Carpal Tunnel Syndrome.

Computer desk furniture is available in retail furniture stores, home stores, department stores, and at office supply stores. Computer workstations are sets that often come with computer desk furniture like desks, chairs, and bookshelves. This station offers you spaces were you can conveniently place your monitor, keyboard, CPU, and a storage space. You can buy the pieces separately if you find that a workstation becomes inadequate for your needs.

You can find pieces that you need or mix and the match the pieces until you put together a set that is suitable for you. You can also find computer desk furniture online through the Internet. Although purchasing online may include shipping costs, you can find sites that offer free shipping. They will then deliver the furniture to your home where you can assemble it yourself.

You can choose from a variety of colors and wood type when you purchase computer desk furniture. Some of the wood used are natural but most are made out of a type of pressed wood. The natural wood costs more but they are also more attractive. Since the humidity of your area might warp the wood so it is important to find a type of wood that will match the climate of your home.

It's also important to maintain your computer desk furniture by polishing the wood regularly. Durability and safety are issues you should keep in mind, especially if you have children at home. Possible dangers like sharp corners should be inspected before making any purchase.

If you're not satisfied with the computer desk furniture that is available on the market, you can have it built specially for you. It may cost more than buying ready-made pieces, but if you can afford it you can have one that built exactly the way you want it.

Morgan Hamilton offers expert advice and great tips regarding all aspects concerning computers. Get more information by visiting Computer Desk Furniture

Making Wholesale Electronics A Family Affair

Writen by Chris Robertson

These days, it seems that each person is helping himself or herself to a different slice of the digital pie. There's no doubt that the consumer electronics market is booming, and there's no end in sight. Yet, although it might seem that our lives revolve around various electronic gadgets, in my family, each person has a preference for a certain type of electronics - something that captures his or her imagination and simply won't let go. Luckily for our family budget, we've been able to find sources for wholesale electronics, so that we can indulge each person's preferences.

My youngest son, for example, would be hard-pressed to give up his video game consoles. Although he has other interests, his video games bring him an extraordinary amount of pleasure. Solving puzzles, creating new worlds, collecting objects, and defeating enemies give him such joy. He goes so far as to think up new characters and activities for game sequels, even sketching out what new realms might look like. For a school project last year, he designed and wrote a 24-page puzzle book (crosswords, anacrostics, word searches, and so forth) based on Pikmin, one of his favorite video games.

My older daughter, on the other hand, couldn't care less about video game consoles. Like most teenagers, music is her thing. She was enthralled with her mp3 player for about a year, but when she received an iPod for her birthday (purchased at wholesale, of course!), the mp3 player began collecting dust. Whether tucked into her pocket or her pocketbook, her iPod goes with her everywhere.

Although my husband enjoys video games, he prefers portable video game consoles. He especially favors his PSP, although his Nintendo DS also gets a workout. His true passion, however, is the digital camera. He was an early adopter of the technology, and his wholesale purchases have been keeping pace with the evolving technology. He's currently using a 7-megapixel digital camera, and is waiting for the prices to come down a bit before moving to a single lens reflex digital camera.

As for me, I've been enchanted with DVD players for years. My affections have turned to DVD player-recorders, and I delight in programming my DVR to record my favorite shows, to learn my viewing preferences, and to copy episodes onto DVD.

Wherever the future of electronics us, my family is ready. As long as we can continue to find wholesale electronics, we will delight in whatever devices come along.

Chris Robertson is an author of Majon International, one of the worlds MOST popular internet marketing companies on the web. Visit this Electronics Website and Majon's Electronics directory.

Remain Calm Despite Tempting Computer Prices

Writen by Bryan D. Applegate

Everyone has seen the drastic drop in computer prices in the past seven to eight months. Large and small companies alike are luring you and your buddies in with lower-than-ever prices and best-ever rebates and incentives. You must ask this: Why is this happening?

Three years ago, some important person predicted the arrival of a one hundred dollar computer; is this it? No. With all the SEC lawsuits and investigations, are companies scared to make money and have now decided to lose money just for giggles? No. What we're seeing until about Q2 2006 is a massive, industry-wide yard sale.

Thankfully, this yard sale is not filled with junk. In many cases, you can find great computers and peripherals for about one-third their original prices. But there is a catch. As good as some of this stuff is, there's superior stuff on the way and the yard sales are companies doing Spring Cleaning. Retailers just can't put the new stuff next to the old stuff on their shelves... Eating the cost is smarter business for them.

Massive changes to computers and their physical guts haven't occurred for about five years. From 1993 to 1999, it really was a frustrating affair as guts and pin-configurations changed almost every two months. Intel tried this, Intel tried that, RAM was this way, then it was that way and your new computer in 1995 was seriously outdated in 1996.

In 2000, Intel sat on Pentium merely increasing its power and RAM squatted on a standard that allowed us all to upgrade our 2000 computers even four years later with little fuss. That lack of change helped us forget "the old days." Now, revolution is coming in fits and starts once again. RAM is changing physically, video cards are finally changing after almost a decade, processors are blasting into space physically and mathematically in the way they compute.

Upgrades of whatever, wonderful computer you buy today for cheap will simply be physically impossible. We are at the end of a long-time era. The birth of the next-era stuff will have pitfalls and growing pains – but it will be the NEXT-ERA regardless. If you buy now, prepare to be depressed in March 2006.

Intel doesn't make a 64-bit processor yet; it keeps breaking itself in testing. Programs and software are shifting to 64-bit requirements. AGP video cards have been locked at 8X speeds where their Next-Era prodigy can already boast four times the bandwidth (far more potential), but currently similar speeds i.e. 'growing pains', and today's RAM burns to a crisp when pushed to 1 Gigahertz speeds where tomorrow's RAM is already physically prepared for the bigger heat and numbers in speed. Finally, ever bought a Microsoft Windows disk?

At $400 a pop for full versions, that's nearly buying half the computer again. Next-Era machines will have XP's successor, "Vista", built in. Vista's release has been kindly delayed to allow the Spring Cleaning. If you deserve to be frustrated and short-changed, run out and buy a new computer right now. If you game, are a power user, enjoy full functionality and/or don't want a pet dinosaur taking up four cubic feet of desk space, you are super-duper well-advised to remain calm and stay seated until Q2 2006 when Microsoft Vista springs into existence announcing that the yard sale is over.

Bryan tutors happily and regularly with Dinarius, Inc. making sure that people know what they need to know to be better. More free lessons and advice can be found at Dinarius.com

Types Of Batteries

Writen by Jeff Anderson

Are you confused by the terms thrown around on batteries.such as Magnesium or Zinc-Carbon? We will walk you through a brief definition of each type of Alkalinee Batteries. Types of alkaline non-rechargeable batteries include:

Zinc-Carbon. Zinc-carbon cells, also known as "Leclanché" cells, were the first widely used household batteries. Rated at 1.5 volts per cell, they are much lower in cost compared to alkalines, but also have a lower energy density. Available in AAA, AA, C, D and 9-volt sizes, common applications are toys, remote controls, flashlights and other household items. Zinc-carbon cells, also known as "Leclanché" cells, were the first widely used household batteries. Rated at 1.5 volts per cell, they are much lower in cost compared to alkalines, but also have a lower energy density.

Zinc-Chloride: Heavy-duty zinc chloride batteries (ZnCl2) are the result of technological advances in zinc carbon battery manufacturing. A powdery mix serves as the cathode component of the zinc chloride battery. The mix is made of manganese dioxide (the active ingredient), carbon black (for electrical conductivity and moisture absorption), and zinc chloride electrolyte (which assists the chemical reaction).

Magnesium batteries - have twice the service life of a zinc cell of equivalent size. It is able to retain its capacity during storage due to a protective film that forms on the surface of the magnesium anode. The cost is competitive.

Alkaline-manganese Dioxide - These batteries were developed in the early 1960s and still hold a strong position in today's market. Alkalines are a very popular, multi-use premium battery. Rated at 1.5 volts per cell, they are available in the common AAA, AA, C, D and 9-volt sizes. They have a very good shelf life and are excellent for high drain rate applications, such as electronics applications. Alkaline batteries can deliver 50-100% more total energy than conventional carbon zinc batteries of the same size, making them popular for consumer applications.

Silver Oxide Cells: commonly found as button cells that power small electronic devices such as watches, calculators, hearing aids and other small specialty devices. Rated at 1.55 volts per cell, their advantage is small size, high energy density and long shelf life. Hope this summary helps.next time - you will be a battery expert!

About The Author Jeff Anderson knows his batteries. He knows what to look for and what pitfalls to avoid. Let him guide you to finding out more about batteries. Contact him at or visit the blog at his site www.summitbatteries.com.

Vibration Measurement

Writen by Elizabeth Morgan

Vibration measurement is done to create the data that's necessary in drawing a meaningful and significant conclusion from the system being tested. The said data can be very helpful in reducing as well as eliminating the vibration. Among the devices used in a typical vibration measurement system are transducers, preamplifiers, and processing and display apparatus.

The transducers are generally used in vibration measurement and analyses since they are responsible for converting mechanical energy into electrical energy. They do this by generating an electrical signal, which is a role of mechanical vibration. The velocity pickups and accelerometers installed or connected to the vibrating structure are considered transducers.

Velocity pickups generate an electrical output signal that is proportional to the velocity of the vibrating device. Since the vibrating mechanism's velocity is naturally cyclical, the sensitivity of the velocity pickup is expressed in peak milli-volts/cm/s. It is, therefore, a magnitude of the voltage created at the stage of optimum velocity. The natural frequencies of the equipment are very low, and they are tuned to calculate the vibration frequencies that are more than the pickup?s natural frequency. These velocity pick ups are considered helpful transducers since they are sensitive but strong enough to resist intense industrial atmosphere.

The accelerometer is a device that produces an output signal. The size of this electrical signal is proportional to the acceleration of the vibrating mechanism. Accelerometers possess good sensitivity qualities and a wide, helpful frequency range. Though small in size and light in weight, accelerometers are capable of calculating the vibration at a certain point without generally loading the vibrating apparatus. Moreover, accelerometers can easily work with electronic integrating networks to achieve a voltage that's proportional to displacement or velocity.

The next apparatus that's useful in vibration measurement is the preamplifier. Consisting of one or more stages, this equipment has two very significant functions. One purpose is to amplify the vibration pickup signal that's generally weak, and the other is to serve as an isolation tool or impedance transformer between the processing and display apparatus and vibration pick up tool.

The equipment intended for processing and displaying the vibration data is normally some kind of spectrum analyzer. The said analyzer can be a simple device that provides the rms equivalent of the vibration displacement, or it can be the one that essentially gives an instant analysis of the whole vibration frequency range. These analyzers are perhaps the most important device in vibration measurement. Usually, they are either a constant-percentage-bandwidth or constant-bandwidth kind of tool. They typically feature some kind of graphical display to give comprehensive frequency information.

Vibration Testing provides detailed information on Random Vibration Testing, Shock And Vibration Testing, Vibration Analysis, Vibration Control and more. Vibration Testing is affiliated with Wire EDM Machines.

Scalability Testing 7 Steps Towards Success

Writen by Mark Trellis

Systems that work well during development, deployed on a small scale, can fail to meet performance goals when the deployment is scaled up to support real levels of use.

An apposite example of this comes from a major blue chip company that recently outsourced the development of an innovative high technology platform. Though development was behind schedule this was deemed acceptable. The system gradually passed through functional elements of the user acceptance testing and eventually it looked like a deployment date could be set. But then the supplier started load testing and scalability testing. There followed a prolonged and costly period of architectural changes and changes to the system requirements. The supplier battled heroically to provide an acceptable system, until finally the project was mothballed.

This is not an isolated case. IT folklore abounds with similar tales. From ambulance dispatch systems to web-sites for the electronic submission of tax returns, systems fail as they scale and experience peak demands. All of these projects appear not to have identified and ordered the major risks they faced. This is a fundamental stage of risk based testing, and applies equally to scalability testing or load testing as it does to functionality testing or business continuity testing. With no risk assessment they did not recognise that scaling was amongst the biggest risks, far more so that delivering all the functionality

Recent trends towards Service Oriented Architecture (SOA) attempt to address the issue of scalability but also introduce new issues. Incorporating externally provided services into your overall solution means that your ability to scale now depends upon these external system operate under load. Assuring this is a demanding task and sadly the load testing and stress testing here is often overlooked.

Better practice is to start the development of a large scale software system with its performance clearly in mind, particularly scalability testing, volume testing and load testing. To create this performance testing focus:

1. Research and quantify the data volumes and transaction volumes the target market implies. Some of these figures can be eye openers and help the business users realise the full scale of the system. This alone can lead to reassessment of the priority of many features.
2. Determine the way features could be presented to users and the system structured in order to make scaling of the system easier. Do not try and have the same functionality you would have for a single user desktop solution provide an appropriate scalable alternative.
3. Recognise that an intrinsic part of the development process is load testing at representative scale on each incremental software release. This is continual testing, focusing on the biggest risk to the project: the ability to operate at full scale.
4. Ensure load testing is adequate both in scope and rigour. Load testing is not just about measuring response times with a performance test. The load testing programme needs to include other types of load testing including stress testing, reliability testing, and endurance testing.
5. Don't forget that failures will occur. Large scale systems generally include server clusters with fail-over behaviour. Failure testing, fail-over testing and recovery testing carried out on representative scale systems operating under load should be included.
6. Don't forget catastrophic failure could occur. For large scale problems, disaster testing and disaster recovery testing should be carried out at representative scale and loads. These activities can be considered the technical layers of business continuity testing.
7. Recognise external services if you use them. Where you are adopting an SOA approach and are dependent on external services you need to be certain that the throughput and turnaround time on these services will remain acceptable as your system scales and its demands increase. A smart system architecture will include a graceful response and fall-back operation should the external service behaviour deteriorate or fail.

Copyright Acutest 2005

Mark is an experienced consultant working in performance testing, scalability testing and load testing. For further information visit: http://www.acutest.co.uk