INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Latest Mobile Phones in LG

2010-06-07T06:05:00.000-07:00

LG GD510 Pop

The LG GD510 which is expected to hit the market soon is a multi-dimensional phone.It is compatible with 2G and 3G networks. It comes with a 3.0" TFT touchscreen with a resolution of 240 x 400 pixels. Coming with a speakerphone, the phone allows you to download polyphonic and MP3 ringtones. The internal memory of 42MB is enough to store the pictures taken and videos shot from its 3.15MP camera. It has a microSD (TransFlash) memory slot expandable up to 8GB. The LG GD510 is a GPRS, HSCSD, 3G, EDGE and bluetooth enabled device. It allows the user to send and receive messagess through SMS MMS and e-mail. It comes with a WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML browser and a stereo FM radio with RDS. It is a java-enabled phone with a standard Li-Ion battery. This gadget from the house of LG boasts of features like voice memo and organizer. It would be available in silver colour.

LG BL40 Chocolate

A state of art offering from LG's range is a sleek looking LG BL40 Chocolate that boasts of superb build quality and the great user friendly features. Coming in a vibrant black color casing this 3G candy bar device looks unique of its own kind because of its rectangular design and the artistically designed control panel. The 4.1 inches TFT capacitive touchscreen displays crystal clear images having the resolution of 345 x 800 pixels, hence ensuring true picture quality. The LG BL40 Chocolate has the terrific sound quality as it uses Dolby Mobile enhancement tool for giving its mobile users a wonderful listening experience. It's 5 MP camera which is equally responsive promises to give at par performance due to its built-in auto focus, LED flash, picture geo tagging, face & smile detection features. Apart from this, the smart phone comes with Wi- Fi facility that allows the users to have a pleasurable browsing experience.

LG KP500 Cookie

Light-weight, stylish, suave, impeccable are some of the adjectives that best describe the LG KP500 Cookie. It weighs a mere 89 grams and the dimensions that it boasts of, add on to its lean look. Equipped with a 3.0 inches TFT resistive touchscreen, it provides the users with a baroque view. Add-ons such as handwriting recognition and accelerometer sensor for auto-rotate increase the usability quotient. 1000 is the maximum limit up to which the phone book of the LG KP500 Cookie can store entries. And when it comes to call records, 40 dialed, missed and dialed calls are taken into consideration. A microSD card can be put to use to expand the memory, which is originally 48MB in size. Apart from Bluetooth and USB, this handset also supports EDGE and GPRS. It forfeits the need to carry a camera along, as it has got one of its own. The 3.15MP snapper delivers an outstanding performance. To browse through various WAP sites, the individuals can put to use the WAP2.0 browser, that this gadget comes loaded with. For the gaming freaks, it brings along 4 games and enables downloading of games as well. A stereo FM radio with RDS is also there.

LG KP500 Cookie Silver

The LG KP500 Cookie Silver is a stylish beautiful looking slim designed handset. The handset looks gorgeous in silver colour. It has a lot of stunning features such as imaging, messaging and many more. It has 8 mega pixels camera which supports the picture resolution of 3264x2448 pixels. LED flash feature allows the user to capture the crystal clear images in dim light. One can watch the images and videos on television screen also with the help of TV-out feature. The LG KP500 Cookie Silver comes with 8 GB external and 48 MB internal memory. An individual can send and receive messages via various messaging features like SMS, MMS, Email and predictive text. Data can be transferred to other compatible devices through Bluetooth, USB, EDGE and GPRS. Its audio player supports popular file formats such as MP3, WMA and AAC. Apart from audio player, the entertainment features of this smart widget also include stereo FM radio with RDS and Java games.

LG GD900 Crystal

The LG GD900 Crystal is a gorgeous 3G technology-based handset, which is embedded with a classic 8 mega pixel camera that comes with LED flash and autofocus features to capture bright pictures. The FM radio of this stylish handset allows the user to experience a complete musical entertainment. This innovative gadget is also known for its crystal clear keypad which shows all the numbered keys clearly visible to the users. The TFT touchscreen of this handset displays 16 millions colours with high resolution and allows the user to view clear vision of all outputs on this touchscreen. This gadget also facilitates you in availing an incredible Internet access and Web services. This smart phone is also equipped with competent email, downloading, SMS, EMS, MMS other messaging features. The EDGE and Bluetooth facilities of this gadget are good ways to connect your handset to other devices and these are also capable for data transformation wirelessly at high speed. So this LG GD900 Crystal is a mind-blowing handset and is able to win the heart of the mobile phone enthusiasts with its amazing looks and new services.

LG KU990 Viewty Silver

If you are on a search of such a contemporary highly fashionable mobile phone that will fulfil all your modern desires of high-end entertainment and mobile communication then here is the LG KU990 Viewty Silver just fro you. With a simple yet cute look this powerful features oriented handset is power-packed with plethora of high-end features that will help you to simplify your life. Its 3.0-inch TFT touchscreen will enhance your enthusiasm of accessing all its user-friendly features and view all your desirable videos. Among all its elegant features, the 5 mega pixels camera is the outstanding one which enables you to capture all your happy and funny moments at a supreme quality. Your entertainment will be much enhance with its embedded multi-format supported media player that will make you thrill by delivering outstanding quality sound output.

LG GD510 Pop Pink

Its a tough to point out the best feature in a phone when it incorporates everything. Since its meant mostly for the younger as well more mature audience, it does not seem to appeal the businessmen that much. This light weighted(87g)LG GD 510 Pop Pink comes in a stylish casing and design which makes this phone look really classy. A high usability of this phone helps send messages in a jiffy. A not at all displeasing battery which would last quite long until the user is sending online mails to friends. This is something that does tend to the battery of the phone. Since this phone is not camera focused it has fair camera option of 3.2megapixel which can take pictures. The Java powered games in this are extremely fun for all gaming lovers. It becomes easy to surf the net and connect to other phones via Bluetooth and a USB port and share media files. This handset could be bought online on PayG deals. Other cheap deals that could be one year long contract deals provided by UK's leading networks providers like Orange, Vodafone, T2. These contracts offer a lot of free gifts too. The price of LG GD 510 Pop Pink could also be compared to other phones available.

LG GW520 White

To meet users' standard requirement of stylish yet capable handsets, LG has launched their upgraded handset by the name of LG GW520 White which is flooded with numerous features to assist the users in an effective manner. The gadget belongs to the family of sleek mobile phones. This device is provided with a built-in WAP 2.0, XHTML & HTML web browser to ensure uninterrupted Internet browsing at any point of time. To assist the users with optimum pleasure, this handset is provided with smart entertaining applications such as embedded games, MP3 player and FM radio. The built-in camera of 3.2 MP is capable of taking high quality images and the added advantages of digital Zoom, camera key, photo editor photo album etc., enhance the picture quality. This mobile phone emerges winner as far as connectivity is concerned as it is provided with useful connectivity applications such as 3G HSDPA, USB, Bluetooth, EDGE and GPRS. The built-in phonebook of the LG GW520 White saves 1000 entries.

Latest Mobile Phones in SONY ERICSSON

2010-06-07T05:20:00.000-07:00

Sony Ericsson Vivaz

Another addition to the smartphones, Sony Ericsson Vivaz is a touchscreen phone which sports a wide display unit of 3.2 inches which displays 16 M colours. The Wi-Fi compatible device is also equipped with a built-in WAP 2.0, xHTML web browser to ensure easy and hassle free Internet access. Apart from this, the high resolution camera of 8 MP is sure to grab many more eye-balls, for it captures beautiful images, thanks to the useful features of auto focus, LED flash, face and smile detection. And when it comes to the shopping of the mobile phone, directphoneshop.co,uk is there to take care of all your needs. We offer cheap Sony Ericsson Vivaz contract deals from the leading providers such as Vodafone, T-Mobile, Three, Virgin, O2, Orange and more. Millions of deals enable you to avail the gadget online at low-prices. Icing on the cake is the comparison feature which allows you to compare lucrative contracts comprised of free gifts with ease and you can shop for the same at any point of time.

Sony Ericsson Satio

Immensely popular for its drop-dead gorgeous looks, the Sony Erisson Satio provides the individuals with a plethora of user-friendly applications, such as a mighty 12 mega pixel camera, that has in its kitty, features like xenon flash and touch focus. To facilitate easy navigation and ensure that the users do not get lost, it provides them with Google Maps and also offers A-GPS support. Applications such as gesture control and organiser, add on to the utility of this widget. With 128MB storage to its credit, it provides ample space, along with an option to expand the memory up to 32GB. To facilitate this task, the Sony Ericsson Satio brings along an 8GB card. This 3G phone is known for its seamless connectivity and is compatible with Class 10 EDGE, Class 10 GPRS, Wi-Fi, HSUPA and HSDPA. The WAP 2.0/HTML browser that it has on board, serves as a platform between the user and the internet. This Java-enabled gizmo boasts of several entertainment features, including games and a video player. On top of that, a music player is present too. The individuals get to enjoy a talk time of 4 hours and 50 minutes, for this handset has a Li-Po 1000 mAh battery.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 White

Sony Ericsson's latest EXPERIA X10 has recently come up in the market exclusively under the Orange network in UK. Having all the features of the previous handset in the Experia range, this mobile comes in a classy White color and nor Black like the other editions. This Android handset clearly carves a niche for itself as compared to all the other phone introduced by the best mobile companies. It is the first of its kind to boast of a 4 inch screen.It also offers an astonishingly high quality 8megapixel camera. Applications could now be loaded in a jiffy with a 1GHz processor. The Orange network which is initially associated with this phone can be done away with after a period of one to three months has been covered. The user can then go for other network deals by other providers at cheap prices. UK users can buy Sony Ericsson Experia X10 from online websites and avail free plans and gifts.

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10

Sony Ericsson is known for delivering stylish and equally capable mobile phones. Another addition to the long list is Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 which is provided with a built-in camera of 8 MP, capable of capturing quality still as well as video images. The long list of imaging features is comprised of auto focus, LED flash touch focus, image stabilization and face and smile detection. Moreover, the device is provided with the large internal memory of 1 GB which can be expanded further up to 16 GB by inserting card in the microSD memory card slot. Moreover, one can surf Internet at any point of time, thanks to the advanced technology of Wi-Fi and built-in HTML web browser. Not only this, the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X10 supports built-in music player and FM radio to keep the users busy all the time. On top of it, the large TFT capacitive touchscreen of 4 inches displays images having the high resolution of 854 x 480 pixels and enhances the value of the mobile phone to a great extent.

Sony Ericsson Vivaz Red

Another addition to the touchscreen mobile phones is Sony Ericsson Vivaz Red which can be availed at the low prices, thanks to the various contract deals and lucrative offers. The stylish gadget is replete with a number of sophisticated features and some of the most important ones include built-in music player, 8 MP camera to facilitate still as well as video imaging and user friendly messaging options which include SMS, MMS and Emails. Not only this, the light weighted gadget weighs 97 grams only having the dimensions of 107 x 51.7 x 12.5 mm. The best part is that Sony Ericsson Vivaz Red can be availed with cheap contracts that take care of your hard-earned money in the most efficient manner. Moreover, we at directphoneshop.co.uk put in great efforts to assist you with the affordable packages and plans and those too from the leading network providers of UK. Not only this, you can also buy the latest stylish mobile phone online and also get to enjoy comparison feature which enables you to go for the best possible deal with great ease.

Sony Ericsson Satio Silver

Sony Ericsson Satio Silver is a 12.0 mega pixel camera phone equipped with some of the supporting features viz auto focus, face detection, Geo Tagging and loads others. This gadget comes in mainly three exciting colors like Black, Silver and Bordeaux. The music player of the device comes along with Bluetooth A2DP and support that facilitates the wire less music playing experience and further it supports Mp3, AAC music tones. Here an individual can open directly TV series, mobile videos, podcasts and a music via innovative complete-touch media menu on this beautiful entertainment device. The handset is a Class10 GPRS supported gadget that ensures a faster connectivity to Internet and at the same time it has a built-in GPS receiver and Wi-Fi too. The compatibility with the WiFi proves very helpful for the users who like to be on the move all the time. Coming to the batter back up of the phone, it does not disappoint the users at all.

Sony Ericsson Elm

The latest Sony Ericsson Elm is a candy bar shaped mobile phone that weighs just 90 grams offering the measurements of 110 x 45 x 14 mm. The stylish gizmo comes with the TFT screen of 2.2 inches and shows photos with 240 x 320 pixels clear resolution. Then the smart handset is Wi-Fi enabled and allow the users to enjoy hassle free Internet access all the time. Apart from this, the inbuilt WAP 2.0, HTML web browser also allows comfortable net surfing to keep the users connected to their loved ones. In addition to this, users are sure to get attracted by the awesome resolution camera of 5MP that provides still as well as video photography at any point of time. Moreover, the huge phonebook of the Sony Ericsson Elm is allows to store 2000 contact entries. Moreover, the internal memory of the device consist of 280MB and the existence of the microSD memory card slot provides further extension of storage space up to 8GB externally. Forward to this, the music player of the attractive widget is simply amazing and plays the audio files in MP3, eAAC+ & WAV formats. Similarly, FM radio with RDS attribute pleases the music freaks and keeps them busy.

Sony Ericsson W995

The phone with great innovation as well as creativity is Sony Ericsson W995. Among plenty of mobile phones, this handset is very different. This is a perfect combination of looks, advanced music feature, brilliant connectivity and many more. The memory capacity is great. One can store multiple files with the internal memory of 118 MB. The feature of photocall can help one to make calls with the selection of images of concerned person. The 2.6 Inch colour screen comes with the resolution of 240 x 320 pixels. This music phone is fantastic for music lovers. The TrackID, shake control and SenseMe are advanced characteristics of music player. The camera lovers can also enhance their photography skills with the built-in camera of 8.1 mega pixels. Through picture editor, users can edit their captured images. They can cut, crop, rotate to get the desired one. Through Internet, one can download number of ringtones, wallpapers and games easily. Undoubtedly, one can move anywhere with this handset whose fitted battery is capable to deliver talk time of 9 hours. Just own Sony Ericsson W995 and enjoy every moment of life.

Sony Ericsson W995 Red

The Sony Ericsson W995 Red the handset which is endowed with everything a user need from style which you can boast off to mind-boggling features. The handset provides the user a very strong Walkman player which supports all the popular audio formats like MP3, MPEG 4 and AAC. You can enjoy additional music as the gadget provides FM radio with RDS facility. With RDS facility, whenever you listen to the music you will get the information related to the track like artist/song name. The handset integrates a 8.2 mega pixel camera with image enhancement features like auto-focus, image stablisation and face detection which ensures better quality images every time you click them. The camera provides the facility to capture video at 30 frames per second with WQVGA quality. Connectivity of the handset is also good as it is enabled with Quad-band technology,Bluetooth, HSDPA and USB port for easy synchronization with other devices. All these features make the Sony Ericsson W995 Red a true all rounder.

Latest Mobile Phones in BLACKBERRY

2010-06-06T21:13:00.000-07:00

BlackBerry 8520 Curve

The highly fashionable BlackBerry 8520 Curve comes with a whole lot of upgraded features. The long list starts with the 2 Megapixel camera which facilitates still images as well as the video photography. The efficient BlackBerry product comes with a 2.64 inches TFT screen which displays clear images, videos, wallpapers etc. having the resolution of 320 x 240 pixels. The outstanding gadget weighs 106 grams with the dimensions of 109 mm by 60 mm wide by 13.9 mm deep. The gorgeous black coloured gadget supports Wi-Fi technology which provides easy Internet access for collecting various types of important information. The additional advantage of A-GPS navigation enables the users to get the direction in the unknown places and desired locations. The BlackBerry 8520 Curve is provided with a built-in music player which allows an individual to play music in MP3, AAC, AAC+ & WMA formats. Moreover, the users can also kill away the leisure time whenever they feel bored by getting engaged in the interesting embedded games.

Blackberry Bold 9700

Subscribers are usually excited about new mobile phones with hi tech features. BlackBerry Bold 9700 is necessarily a 3G HSDPA / UMTS gadget, with support for 2G GSM. The phone, like most other BlackBerry gadgets, sports a QWERTY keyboard. BlackBerry has launched BlackBerry Bold 9700, a 3G phone with many applications to impress customers throughout the world. The gadget has bright display screen with 480 x 360 pixels resolution to view images. The Blackberry OS v5.0. Wi-Fi WLAN support is provided to allow the subscribers access to Internet while on the move. It has an integrated 3.2 mega pixel camera. With this gadget, one can click images and record films also. The Wi Fi feature has been given to connect the BlackBerry Bold 9700 with your work station for doing various works. The user can upload as well as download substantial amount of data from this mobile phone to any other compatible handset and the device is fitted with standard rechargeable battery which lasts for a long time.

Blackberry Storm 2

BlackBerry Storm 2 is one of the devices from the wide range of BlackBerry phones which have been watched very eagerly. The BlackBerry Storm 2 has been released to provide the people ultra modern functions with faster processing speed. The keys on the front are sensitive to touch as well. An individual can operate it with just by a single touch and it also has various upgraded features and hence gives better connectivity. Further, it is fitted with a 3.2 mega pixels camera that can record wonderful photographs. It is equipped with internet browser which works on quad band GSM network. The BlackBerry Storm 2 has Wi-Fi for using internet at office and home. When it comes to the looks, the handset scores very high with its exquisite design. The front of the gadget is dominated by the touchscreen monitor panel. The battery back up of this gadget is sufficient to keep users engaged for hours.

Blackberry 9700 Onyx

The all new Blackberry 9700 Onyx is a stunning mobile phone which is replete with the number of upgraded yet user friendly features. To begin with, the smart phone is designed to keep net savvy busy all the time. They can surf net at any point of time, thanks to the dual advantage of Wi-Fi and built-in HTML web browser. The best part is that the data transfers take place easily and that too at the high speeds due to the inclusion of EDGE, GPRS and HSDPA technologies. As far as imaging is concerned, the built-in camera of 3.2 MP definitely going to please the users and make them capture lovely moments of life. Similarly, music lovers also get to enjoy more with the built-in music player which is capable of playing MP3, WMA & AAC+ formatted audio files. Next comes the efficient battery of the mobile phone which delivers up to 6 hours talktime or up to 408 hours stand by time, with a single charge. Apart from this, BlackBerry 9700 Onyx is provided with the 2.44 inches TFT screen and on top of it, the full QWERTY keyboard and touch-sensitive optical trackpad add more to the value of the gadget.

Blackberry 8520 Curve White

Mobile phones from the house of BlackBerry enjoy worldwide appreciation, thanks to their advanced features and eye-catching looks. Likewise, Blackberry 8520 Curve White is a stunning handset which comes with a 2.46 inches TFT screen. The handset weighs 106 grams and has the dimensions of 109 x 60 x 13.9 mm. Moreover, it boasts of a 2 MP camera which enables you to capture still as well as moving images. Not only this, you can also get tuned to your favourite tracks at any point of time, thanks to built-in music player which supports MP3, AAC, AAC+, WMA & ASF audio formats. Apart from this, you can enjoy interesting embedded games whenever you want. The added advantage of Wi-Fi adds more to the value of the gadget manifold and assures easy and hassle free Internet browsing to the users. In addition to this, Blackberry 8520 Curve White is equipped with the internal memory of 256 MB and the storage capacity can be expanded further up to 32 GB by inserting card in the microSD memory card slot.

Latest Mobile Phones in SAMSUNG

2010-06-06T20:47:00.000-07:00

Samsung Tocco Lite

Samsung Tocco Lite is the latest tool of communication getting admiration worldwide. This is a multi-tasking device which is capable to satisfy the phone needs of any modern user. The efficiency of this handset can be analyzed with its multitude of features. The built-in camera of 3.15 mega pixels, an integrated music player and light weight of 93.5 grams are its surprising features. One can take the advantage of SMS, MMS, Predictive text and Email messaging options to get connected with dear ones. The turning feature of 3 inches large display can offer excellent viewing of images, videos or other graphics. Other high-end features of the phone is comprised of gesture lock, an accelerometer sensor and handwriting recognition. To support daily activities, the Tocco Lite brings organizer feature which is composed of services including a phone book, calender, speaker phone and may more. The GPRS and EDGE technology forms the connectivity features. One can stay connected with the world through Internet accessing. The internal memory which comes with 50 MB internal memory can store large number of files. The iPod quality sound can entertain anyone. Hence, Samsung Tocco Lite is an outstanding multimedia handset for the user.

Samsung S8000 Jet

In this modern world of communication, handsets are many but very few are blessed with looks and useful features both. As such, Samsung has presented Samsung S8000 Jet to satisfy the phone desire of modern phone lovers. This handset is good in looks and weighs just 110 grams. The capability to fulfill communication and business needs are the main reason of bringing popularity to this gadget. It is a complete touchscreen phone and users can get any feature over the display with just single touch. One of the most striking features of this device is its built-in camera of 5 mega pixels. Apart of giving excellent images and videos in natural light, one can get high-quality images and videos in dim light also with the support of LED flash. Entertainment-wise this gadget is too good. One can listen to music and get entertained with the integrated music player and FM Radio. One can gain access to World Wide Web with th support of WAP 2.0 Web browser. The storage capacity of this phone can be described as 2GB / 8GB. In need, with the use of microSD card, users can expand the storage capacity upto 16 GB.

Samsung B3410

The Samsung B3410 is a slide-opening handset which is equipped with the TFT touchscreen of 2.46 inches and the added advantage of full QWERTY keyboard acts like icing on the cake. The smart phone ensures hassle free imaging all the time with its 2 MP camera and also facilitates video recording with great ease. Apart from this, the built-in WAP 2.0, xHTML browser promises best possible Internet access and you can surf net whenever you want. Then the internal memory of the device which is of 30MB can be expanded externally up to 8GB by inserting card in the microSD memory card slot. Moreover, the all new Samsung B3410 does not disappoint the music freaks as well as gamers and comes equipped with the built-in music player and interesting embedded games to promise loads of entertainment all the time. Not only this, its standard battery makes you enjoy up to 10 hours 40 minutes talktime and up to 640 hours stand by time, when it is fully charged. Moreover, added advantages of Bluetooth, USB port, FM radio, 3.5 mm audio jack etc., add more to the value of the mobile phone.

Samsung Omnia Pro B7610

Samsung Omnia Pro is another wonderful smartphone from Samsung. It is also known as Samsung B7610. The phone has a colour AMOLED touchscreen. It is 3.5 inches wide with a high resolution of 480 x 800 pixels. It has an internal memory of 1 GB and you can expand it up to 32 GB. The battery gives you the talk time of 7 hours and stand by time of 288 hours. It supports MP3 and polyphonic ringtones. The device sports a 5 mega pixel camera with digital zoom. It also has features like auto focus and flash. The secondary front camera is also present. Music player and FM radio keeps you entertained. You can send and receive SMS, MMS and emails too. The audio player supports AAC, AMR, eAAC, MP3, OGG, WMA file formats. Handset has a full QWERTY keyboard and runs on Windows Mobile 6.1 Proffesional. The other features include TV out function, GPS, 3.5 mm jack and Internet browsing.

Samsung I8000 Omnia2

Samsung is known as one of the best business phone manufacturers. This time, Samsung has presented Samsung I8000 Omnia2 to meet the business needs of modern phone user. This phone is not only perfect from business point of view but is capable to satisfy the desire of general users also. It runs with WM 6.5 zippy processor and Window Operating System. Superb picture quality is the characteristic feature of 5 mega pixels camera coming with it. One can record fantastic videos at the rate of 30 footages per second. With the option of dual LED flash, it is simple to take images during night time also. Samsung I8000 is blessed with 16GB internal memory and users can use microSD card to get more space. Internal memory is quite enough but even though, this handset is blessed with fast pace processor. Wi-Fi connectivity and GPS system are two another important features. There is built-in DivX player which can play DivX movies on this phone. Internet can be accessed anytime and anywhere. Users can remain updated with current incidents, news or happenings of the world through browsing with Opera browser. Hence, Samsung I8000 Omnia2 can spice up your life.

Samsung S7070 Diva

The latest Samsung S7070 Diva comes with a built-in camera of 3.2 MP which captures priceless moments and also allows you to record beautiful moments along with the still photos. Apart from this, the long list of the multimedia features gets enriched with a built-in music player and FM radio. Moreover, the stunning touchscreen phone is suitable for net savvy as well, for it supports WAP 2.0, xHTML & HTML web browser and the inclusion of the EDGE and GPRS technologies ensure fast rate data transfers. In addition to this, the user friendly handset supports interesting embedded games which promise loads of entertainment. At directphoneshop.co.uk, one can compare millions of deals from the leading retailers and can go for the cheapest one which brings along free gifts. Moreover, this online shop facilitates you to buy the Samsung S7070 Diva at the low prices by browsing through the lucrative contract deals from the house of O2, Orange, Vodafone, T-Mobile, Three, Virgin and all.

Samsung S5560

One of the leading brands of mobile phones, Samsung has come up with another touchscreen phone named Samsung S5560 which boasts of the large display unit of 3 inches. The smart phone is provided with the powerful camera of 5 MP which ensures easy capturing and the added advantages of auto focus, LED flash, smile and blink detection and image stabilization enhance the picture quality to a great extent. Then comes the music capabilities of the device and it emerges winner in that department as well, thanks to the built-in music player which supports MP3, WAV, eAAC+ & WMA audio formats and FM radio which assists the users efficiently with the RDS feature. Apart from this, the useful gadget deserves a word of appreciation for its connectivity features. On one hand, it makes the net surfing lot easier with the advanced technology of Wi-Fi and built-in WAP 2.0, xHTML, HTML web browser. Similarly, on the other hand, Bluetooth and USB port allow you to share data and files with the other compatible contacts. Then you can enjoy up to 9.5 hours talktime and 620 hours stand by time, in one go, thanks to the fitted battery of the Samsung S5560.

Samsung Omnia Pro B7330

The stunning Samsung Omnia Pro B7330 is a 3G mobile phone and is provided with the full QWERTY keyboard to facilitate easy text and numeric input everytime. Thanks to the light weight of 107 grams and the dimensions of 114.9 x 59 x 10.8 mm, it can be carried in pocket with much ease. The internal memory of the device is comprised of 270 MB storage & 256 MB RAM which is capable of storing important data and if it seems insufficient, then, you can insert the card in the microSD memory card slot which facilitates further expansion up to 32GB. Apart from this, the powerful camera of 3.2 MP never lets you down and captures beautiful images having vibrant colours everytime. The advanced technology of Wi-Fi itself establishes connection with the local WLAN to assure net surfing whereas the built-in web browser makes Internet access all the more enjoyable. Not only this, the smart Samsung Omnia Pro B7330 takes good care of the demands of the modern day users and comes complete with the user friendly features of Pocket Office, Bluetooth, built-in music player, FM radio and interesting games.

Samsung I5700 Galaxy Spica

Another addition to the touchscreen mobile phones, Samsung I5700 Galaxy Spica comes with a 3.2 inches AMOLED capacitive touchscreen which displays 16 M colours. The smart phone is provided with a 3.2 MP camera which enables you to capture beautiful moments of life. Moreover, the handset is equipped with a built-in music player which is capable of supporting MP3, e-AAC+ & WMA formats. Not only this, advanced technology of Wi-Fi allows the users to enjoy hassle free Internet access as it establishes connection with the local WLAN or with the near by hotspot. Internal memory of 128 MB can be expanded further up to 32 GB, thanks to the microSD memory card slot. Apart from this, easy messaging features of SMS, MMS and Emails allows you to keep in touch with your family and friends, irrespective of distance. In addition to this, Samsung I5700 Galaxy Spica supports Bluetooth which facilitates easy and hassle free sharing of data and files with the other compatible devices.

Samsung Tocco Lite Pink

The Samsung Tocco Lite Pink weighs only 93.5 grams with dimensions of 104 * 53 * 11.9 mm. It has 3.0 inches TFT resistive touchscreen with accelerometer sensor, handwriting recognition and smart unlock feature. This device offers 50 MB internal memory, which could be further increased upto 16 GB with microSD card. The 3.15 mega pixel inbuilt camera has smile detection feature, which doesn't require any manual adjustments for a perfect image. The standard Li-Ion battery provides standby time upto 800 hours and talktime upto 10 hours. The document viewer feature allows to access word files, excel files, powerpoint and PDF files. Stereo FM radio, MP3 player and MP4 player are available with this handset for music lovers. It provides four different options for connectivity and data transfer. These are – GPRS, EDGE, Bluetooth and USB. Its a Quad band mobile phone, which supports GSM 850, 900, 1800 and 1900 MHz network. And this device is available in black, white and pink color.

Latest Mobile Phones in NOKIA

2010-06-03T21:38:00.000-07:00

Nokia X6

Nokia X6 is astoundingly beautiful with its unique design. It features a 3.2 inches capacitive touchscreen that is finger-operated. It has a 5 mega pixel camera with Carl Zeiss optics that can click splendid photos and you can store a number of these in your device as it has memory of 32GB. With its music player you can listen to 35 hours of non-stop music. Enjoy music with built-in loud speakers and unlimited free music download from Nokia Music Store. You can also see latest updates from your friends from social networking sites on your home screen. It has a media bar touch key to easily access music, video centre, gallery, share online and web browser. Nokia X6 has Bluetooth for local connectivity and TV out function. The handset has a secondary camera too that facilitates video calling. It gives talk time of 8.30 hours and stand by time of 401 hours.

Nokia N900

Nokia N900 is a next generation phone. It runs on Maemo 5 software. The Linux based software gives you the PC -like experience on your phone. It gives the same experience as if you were browsing net on your PC. You can open any number of applications at a time while working. It comes with a touchscreen and full-QWERTY keyboard. The keyboard slides out and you can easily type your content with it. The screen is 3.5 inches wide with 800 x 480 resolution. WVGA screen gives you great internet browsing experience and to make it more faster it offers 10/2 HSPA and WLAN. The internal memory is 32 GB that can be expanded up to 48 GB with a microSD card. You can control up to 10 personal email accounts through it. Noka N900 sports a 5 mega pixel camera with Carl Zeiss lenses. It actually looks like your PC has gone mobile.

Nokia N97 Mini

The Nokia N97 Mini looks fabulous with its 3.2 inch TFT resistive display screen offering a resolution of 360 x 640 pixels showing 16M colors. The screen comes with Proximity sensor, accelerometer and handwriting recognition. There is a full QWERTY keyboard which allows fast data input while sending emails or instant messages. The Nokia N97 Mini features 5MP camera offering a resolution of 2592 x 1944 pixels and comes with Dual LED flash,Geo tagging, autofocus and video light. There is a separate camera for video call. It features a TV-out functions and captures video of VGA format at 30fps. The handset is equipped with high speed data transfer technologies like GPRS, EDGE and HSDPA. The device allows wireless data transfer through Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The built-in music player can play eAAC+, WAV, WMA and MP3 music files whereas the video player can play Real Video, MP4 and WMV video files. The phone features TV-out, Document viewer, Digital compass, Flash Lite and T9. The phone has got stereo speakers with 3.5mm audio jack. The handset comes with internal memory storage of 8GB and a microSD card slot which can save as much as 16GB data. The phone allows 32 hrs of incredible music play.

Nokia X6

Nokia X6 Pink falls under the family of touchscreen phones and can be obtained at the real low prices, thanks to a number of contracts and amazing offers. This stunning mobile phone is equipped with a whole lot of advanced features and some of the most important ones include built-in music player, 5 MP powerful camera which allows still as well as video photography and a number of easy messaging options such as SMS, MMS and Emails. Apart from this, the smart gadget weighs 122 grams only having the dimensions of 111 x 51 x 13.8 mm.

Nokia X6 White

The new Nokia edition of X6 White belonging to the latest16 GB category which carries all the best features as compared to its previous X6 category of 32GB phones, could also have its memory expanded unlike the latter. Though called the White phone, Nokia X6 is covered in White only from the rear while the front is Black in color with Blue keys. It comes in various colors of Blue, Black, Red and Pink. And with its new edition of Yellow in waiting you could carry it in panache. The major difference between the two handsets is that the X6 White is a much cheaper phone though this has come at the expense of music. This gadget does not have music in it. But there are pros and cons of everything. It disappoints the music listeners but offers a good quality 5megapixel camera, 3.5mm audio jack as well as a 3.2 inch touch screen and a QWERTY keyboard enabling quick emailing and messaging. This is too appealing an offer and attracts the users to buy it despite its deficits.

Nokia N97

Not many handsets boast of drop-dead gorgeous looks and state of the art features. The Nokia N97 is an exception though. The 3.5 inches TFT resistive touchscreen that it is embellished with, adds on to the appeal. Of course, features such as proximity sensor, accelerometer sensor, full QWERTY keyboard and handwriting recognition come in handy and prove to be useful. It is equipped with a 5 mega pixel camera and provides the users with a secondary camera as well, for video calling. Applications such as a WAP2.0 browser and document viewer have been incorporated to cater to the business users. Several complementary features have also been imbibed, including a digital compass, a video and photo editor and TV-out. For the convenience of the users, it is fitted with a long-lasting Li-Ion 1500 mAh (BP-4L) battery that provides a talk time of up to 6 hours. Space is what differentiates the Nokia N97 from other handsets. It comes with an internal memory of 32GB and on op of that, the users have the freedom to expand the memory. Connectivity options include Class 32 GPRS, Class 32 EDGE, HSDPA, Wi-Fi, v2.0 microUSB and last but not the least, v2.0 Bluetooth with A2DP.

Nokia N97 Mini White

The huge popularity received by the launch of the regular N97, made a way for the Nokia N97 Mini White. It is indeed a very powerful device that runs on Symbian platform with OS v9.4, Series 60 rel. 5. The operating system is further powered by the ARM 11 434 MHz processor which allows the device to give an outstanding sort of performance. It is integrated with a high definition and improved 5 mega pixels camera that clicks the images with maintained amount of brightness and contrast. Coming to the music playing competencies of the gadget, it is loaded with an audio player that is backed with the supports to play most of the known formats. At the same time, one can tune into the on-board FM radio of the device to listen to music. The Nokia N97 Mini White does not make the users disappointed even on the memory aspects as it is equipped with the 8 GB storage, 128 MB RAM and an external memory of up to 16GB that can be expanded with the help of microSD card. Additionally , the device supports high speed of data transfer and connectivity and is loaded with most of the popular features of the day.

Nokia 5800 Xpress Music

A fantastic music phone presented by Nokia is Nokia 5800 XpressMusic. Users can enjoy music and video files with built-in speakers. On move or anywhere, the high quality music can entertain the music lover. Music files and other data can get space in internal memory of 81 MB and RAM of 128 MB. Additionally, use of microSD card can expand the storage capacity up to 16 GB. Another striking feature is 3.15 mega pixel camera which comes with the image enhancing options of auto focus and LED flashlight. It would be exciting to get up to 8 hours 45 minutes of talktime and standby time of 208 hours. Document viewer, voice memo, photo editor and organizer are some surprising features of this mobile phone. The XpressMusic is a Symbian phone as it runs with Symbian v9.4 Operating System. Apart from messaging and entertainment, calling feature is also interesting of this device. It comes with 3G network, so users can participate in video calling. Internet accessing is the feature which can connect the owner of this phone to the entire world. Hence, Nokia 5800 XpressMusic is truly an outstanding selection of mobile phone for the modern phone user.

Nokia 5530 XpressMusic

With the compact design and unbelievable music features, the new Nokia 5530 XpressMusic is all set to inject the virus of music in all kinds of users. This elegant looking handset with a 2.9 inches touch screen is available in wide array of eye-pleasing coloured casings which include Red on black, Grey on black, Blue on white, Pink on white and Yellow on white. The gadget fitted with the rechargeable battery that provides the standby time of around 336 hours and talk time of up to 4 hours and 50 minutes, if it is in fully charged condition. The handset comes loaded with 70 MB of internal memory and its storage space can be expanded further up to 16 GB with the support of microSD card. Other noticeable features of this gadget are Handwriting recognition, Proximity sensor for auto turn off, Accelerometer for auto rotate, Document viewer application. The Nokia 5530 Xpressmusic comes in the sleek dimensions of 104 x 49 x 43 mm and its weight is measured around 107 grams.

Nokia E72

Nokia E72 is made business and personal communications. It has a contemporary design with full QWERTY key board. The screen is 2.36 inches with active matrix technology and 320 x 240 pixels of QVGA resolution. 5 mega pixel camera comes with auto focus and flash features. CMOS sensor and 5 times digital zoom gives you great pictures with impeccable clarity. Capturing videos is so easy in Nokia E72. It gives 10 times digital video zoom. Video calling can be done at the rate of 15 frames per second. You can listen to your most loved songs on the music player. You can also use its audio streaming feature to listen to the songs online. Similarly to watch online videos you can use video steaming. It has got navigational features too like A-GPS and Nokia Maps. You can store up to 999 SMS in your phone. And there is an additional facility of speed dialling especially for SMS. Of course you can use MMS, Instant messaging and email features of the phone for the communications.

Nokia 6700 Classic

The Nokia 6700 Classic is a dazzling smartphone that bears a weight of 116.5 g and comes with 18K gold-plated body. This smartphone supports a TFT that is capable of displaying 16M colors. The phonebook is able to store upto 2000 entries. The Nokia 6700 Classic also incorporates latest technologies such as GPRS, EDGE, 3G, Bluetooth and USB. It has a 5 megapixel still camera that works at a resolution of 2592x1944 pixels. Other features of this device include Stereo FM radio with RDS. The key network providers available in UK include Orange, O2, T-Mobile, Virgin, Vodafone and Three. These providers are offering various mobile deals such as Pay As You Go, Contract deal, SIM Only and SIM Free. With the latest plans, you can also get hold of some of the most alluring free gifts such as 42 inch LCD TV, Nintendo Wii and iPod Nano. So, sit back and compare the various mobile phone deals and buy a smartphone of your choice. There is no need to go to a market, just buy it online.

and many more.......

Gadgets

2010-01-01T20:40:00.000-08:00

ZOMM keeps your keys and phone close

Little things like your keys and cellphone are easy to lose. They’re probably the most commonly lost items for the average person. Some people find ways to keep track of these items. However, if you’re still on the lookout for a method that will work for you, then perhaps you could give ZOMM a try. It’s said to be the world’s first wireless leash for cellphones. It helps you keep both items close to each other and from getting lost.

Of course, if you lose both your keys and your cellphone at the same time, it would cause a problem. The device connects via Bluetooth to your cellphone and hangs on a keychain with your keys. Then you set a distance and once the cellphone gets outside that distance the keychain will start to beep at you. It also will work as a wireless speaker phone and has a panic feature. The panic portion works when you press the button on the front, it’ll start shrieking and automatically dial emergency services.

The Solar Powered Dragonfly Kit

Lawn ornaments are still found in a great deal of yards, yet slowly they’re changing. It used to be you could watch them change as soon as there was a strong breeze. However, instead of these dragonflies flapping their wings with the wind, they are powered by the sun. Thankfully, they do still keep their power source eco-friendly, but in a slightly more hi-tech way.

These solar powered dragonflies come in a set of two. Their textured wings make an attempt to make realistic movements. You’ll have to do some assembling yourself, but you won’t have to use any glue. You just snap together or screw parts of the dragonfly together. It does require a hobby knife, a side cutter and other basic tools.

Machine Gun USB Drive

If having a USB drive resembling the bullet from a machine gun isn’t enough for you, perhaps this USB drive made to look like an actual machine gun would be better suited for you. Don’t worry, it’s not quite as large as a machine gun, so it is somewhat portable. Although I’d advise keeping it away from places like the airport, despite that it is small enough to fit into your pocket.

Even though it appears pocket-sized, I’m not sure it’d be very comfortable within your pocket. These Machine Gun USB Drives look like they have plenty of small pieces to poke you with and even break off within your pockets. However, you could just leave this 4GB drive on your desk.

Rapid Blemish Healer

The definition of looking good these days seem to stem from beauty magazines as well as advertisements that bombard us wherever we go, and it requires one to steel one’s mind to prevent being influenced that skinny is beautiful, alongside a host of other criteria like being fair and blemish-free. Well, if you happen to be under the spell of advertisements, the Rapid Blemish Healer might be just the thing for you.

This device uses the same phototherapy treatment developed by dermatologists to help heal skin blemishes 55% faster than if left untreated. It administers moderate heat to open clogged pores and uses green and red phototherapy to eliminate p-acne bacteria, the most common cause of acne. Eliminating the need for prescription medications, the device also reduces painful, unsightly swelling that accompanies acne pimples. Simply place the device on a blemish for two 10-second intervals (with five-seconds in between) and it automatically delivers the phototherapy with the push of a button. Provides 40 treatments after a four-hour charge.

Tire Chain Buddy

For those who live in the tropics all year round and wish they had some semblance of snow falling down, think again. You will have to deal with a slew of different problems whenever winter comes around, and keeping yourself warm is the least of your troubles. The Tire Chain Buddy helps make life easier though, as you no longer need to grapple with tangles or lie on the cold, hard ground during installation. Taking around 3 minutes per tire, you can get up and running in no time!

It’s now simple, fast and easy to install chains. Tire Chain Buddy features customized holders that make fastening the ends easy—no lying on the ground! When not in use, your chains stay tangle free so you can easily slip them over the tire. Kit includes two mounting arms, two chain hangers, loading strap, magnetic reminder instructions that can be placed on your car’s bumper, and a carrying case/kneeling mat. One size works with all standard radial tire chains, and passenger car tire sizes up to 245mm wide.

Go green with Huntkey 90W Energy Star Universal Notebook Adapter

Going green has been the mantra where consumer electronics and transportation are concerned for a fair number of years already, and we have good reason to be worried about the condition of our earth when we pass on – do we make sure that our kids are able to live in a clean environment, or must they wear gas masks with oxygen tanks each time they head outdoors? The choice is ours, and there are many methods that we can take to make sure that apocalyptic scenarios do not occur once we have breathed our last. Apart from taking public transport and making more earth-friendly choices in terms of food, another way would be to use more green electronics. Don’t know where to start? How about taking an inventory of all your appliances at home and see which are the ones that have green alternatives, choosing those models the next time you want to make a purchase. As for computers, Huntkey has a solution in the form of the 90W Energy Star Universal Notebook Adapter.

What makes this Huntkey offering so different from the rest? Well, the 90W Energy Star Universal Notebook Adapter is able to reach the Energy Star-V standard for starters, where the more output power it has, the higher power consumption laptop it can supply. Take for example a 15″ (or greater) laptop display screen with an independent graphics card – it will probably require such an adapter. Apart from that, the Huntkey 90W Energy Star Universal Notebook Adapter is also more than capable of meeting people’s needs where high efficiency is concerned, as it can hit up to 87% of power efficiency to place it at the highest level of power efficiency of any Energy Star Specification. In layman’s terms, the higher the efficiency, the more consumers are able to save on their monthly power bills.

Don’t worry about the Huntkey 90W Energy Star Universal Notebook Adapter being limited in use to certain countries only – it functions worldwide by supporting input in the range of 100-240Vac at 50-60 Hz, alongside an output voltage of 19V DC, at 0.47A max. Each purchase comes with ten different tips that cater to a variety of laptop brands including HP, DELL, Lenovo, Asus, Thinkpad, Acer, Compaq, Toshiba, Sony, Samsung, Gateway, Panasonic, Sharp and Fujitsu among others. You will also be glad to know it comes with a two-year warranty and a free carrying bag for added convenience.

Mophie to offer iPhone credit card reader

When the iPhone was first released a few years ago, the whole world was abuzz with anticipation on how Apple would be able to an above-average cellphone experience to the masses, and I must admit, we weren’t disappointed. Heck, expectations were so high that folks even queued up outside the store for a couple of days before its release, willing to fork out a whopping $599 outright for the handset (and that is even before one takes into consideration the monthly fees). Well, the iPhone has certainly come a long way since its release with incremental upgrades and updates introduced along the way, and it seems as though this smartphone is able to do just about anything (save for stemming pollution around the world). Today, we bring you news of another new function introduced to the iPhone thanks to Mophie – with their iPhone credit card reader.

Mophie, the popular iPhone and iPod accessory and battery add-on maker, will use CES 2010 as the platform to introduce their iPhone credit card reader and third-party app, marking the accessory manufacturer’s first attempt to break into the lucrative mobile payment systems market. The accessory has been unimaginatively dubbed as the “Credit Card Reader”, where each purchase will be accompanied by a complimentary third party processing application which enables one to turn the iPhone into a functional device that accepts credit payments simply by swiping one’s credit card through a special casing attached that is connected to their handset.
There are still a great many details concerning this new mobile payment system by Mophie that have yet to be unveiled, and industry analysts are pretty sure that the device’s success will depend largely on the design and bulk of the iPhone add-on alongsde a price point that is hoped to be customer friendly. Make no mistake, this device isn’t about to start a monopoly in such a segment since it will go up head-to-head against Square. The Mophie Credit Card Reader will be packaged as an iPhone-only shell case which is similar to their Juice Pack Air battery pack for iPhone.

Peanut Memory Stick Holder

Even hearing about a memory stick holder, most people would instantly write it off as ridiculous. At first, I would have agreed. However, there are several cases where it could make life a little more convenient. A lot of USB drives have a way to hang onto them through their lid. If you lose that lid though, you lose the ability to carry it on your keys. This holder would allow for you to store your USB drive on your keychain and keep it safe.

It’s just a small peanut shaped holder that conceals your drive within it. Really, I think it’s better than a lot of the drives that comes with the keychain attached to either the drive itself or the lid. Either option comes with complications. This way you can solve both issues by storing it in a neoprene case (that’s the stuff they make wetsuits out of).

Brain Trainer works your head

Not all jobs give your brain the workout you crave. If you feel yourself slowly becoming, well, slow. You might want to try to keep your brain a little more active. With this Brain Trainer your brain can feel lively and quick again. Of course it’s going to have to struggle through several different tests before it actually feels smart again. However, once you’ve mastered level after level, you’ll get that confidence back.

This small Brain Trainer is a hand held device that will give you all kinds of mental exercises. It has everything from shape recognition tests, a card counting test to a math test and then a test to help you remember phone numbers. That last one is useful enough that, that test alone is enough to make the device worth purchasing.

Battery-Powered Simply Espresso Machine

Those that must have their espresso every single day probably don’t want to rely on going to a coffee shop all of the time. If that’s the case then perhaps an extremely small espresso machine would do the trick. This one won’t take up much room on your countertop and could even be stored in your cabinets when it’s not in use. Then when it is needed you can use it in your kitchen or even at your desk.

This Simply Espresso is said to be the first and smallest battery-powered espresso machine in the world. Which is pretty believable looking at the device. It looks slightly smaller than a normal sized thermos. It’s still big enough to give you your cup of espresso though. It says it gives great results without you having to invest in expensive machinery. While I don’t dispute that this may give a great cup of espresso, the machine isn’t exactly what I’d call affordable.

Tootsie Pop Candy Buds Headphones

Earbuds seem to be getting more and more interesting lately. You can find anything from wooden ones to the more strange types that make things seem to appear on one side of your head and continue to the other. Well now you can even get a pair branded with your favorite type of candy. These specifically go with the classic Tootsie Pop logo on the side. It’s better suited for those that like unique electronics that don’t take things too over the top.

These headphones are pretty basic and thankfully affordable to top it off. They come with an extra long cord and 95db sensitivity. They also have 160 Ohm impedence and 20-20,000Hz frequency. They even come in a container that resembles an oversized Tic Tac container.

Information and Communication Technologies

2010-01-01T20:34:00.000-08:00

Information and Communication Technologies

Information and communication technologies, or ICT, allows users to participate in a rapidly changing world in which work and other activities are increasingly transformed by access to varied and developing technologies. By this definition, you could almost say ICT is technology's version of economic growth, to satisfy the needs and wants of the community over time.ICT is also a very age friendly mechagnmisom ICT tools can be used to find, explore, analyze, exchange and present information responsibly and without discrimination. ICT can be employed to give users quick access to ideas and experiences from a wide range of people, communities and cultures.

Economic Impacts
In recent decades widespread incorporation of ICTs into many tiers of business, political processes and everyday life has caused fundamental restructuring of the global economy. ICTs have increased international interconnectedness and sped up the process of globalization. They have been instrumental in the information revolution, facilitating the transition from industrial economies, driven by the manufacturing sector, to knowledge economies.

ICTs, in conjunction with globalization and the information revolution, have reshaped the workforce. By increasing the speed of international communication ICTs have enabled corporations to outsource jobs, both in the manufacturing as well as white collar sectors. While this lowers production costs and as a result the cost of goods, it has also had fundamental and often detrimental impacts on labour conditions.

Outsourcing causes geographic fragmentation of commodity chains, in which production of goods occurs in specialized plants in different locations, often traversing international boundaries. Locations with no or minimal restrictions on wages, compensation and entitlements for workers therefor become economically attractive as sites of production. This can lead to the exploitation of workers in developing countries and undermine the bargaining power of organized labour in developed countries. outsoucing causes geographic fragmentation of in which production of goods ocure in speciallixes pants in different ocation often traversoi international boundaries despite the international spread of ict the economic ip=mpacts have been gerographically uneven. They have exacerbated prexistion desparities between developed coutries, which can aford to produce and consume the lates.

Despite the international spread of ICTs the economic impacts have been geographically uneven. They have exacerbated pre-existing disparities between developed countries, which can afford to produce and consume the latest technologies and developing countries, which cannot. This gap is known as the digital divide.

Social Impacts
ICTs have impacted societies on many levels. They have extended the reach of public administration, leading to a centralization of regional management into urban centres.

They have led to new forms of employment in innovation and production of ICTs and a demand for highly skilled specialists. However ICTs have also enabled professionals in certain industries to be replaced by unskilled workers, or even made entirely redundant. Proponents of ICTs portray this as a ‘re-skilling’ of the workforce, while to detractors it is a ‘de-skilling’ process.

The diffusion of ICTs within societies is varied, with some institutions and sections of society having greater access to ICTs then others. These divisions are reflected in the content of ICTs. For example the English language, which is understood by only 10% of the worlds population accounts for approximately 80% of internet content.

Despite these imbalance in power relations, many social justice movements believe ICTs can be used to promote equality and empower marginalized groups. These groups advocate ICTs as a means of providing accessible and affordable information and as a platform for voices that might otherwise go unheard.

Economic Development
ICTs have been identified by many international development institutions as a crucial element in developing the worlds poorest countries, by integrating them into the global economy and by making global markets more accessible. The World Bank has collaborated with the International Finance Corporation to promote access to ICTs, an initiative which it describes as one of its most successful. In 2006 the United Nations launched an initiative called the Global Alliance for Information and Communication Technologies and Development.

Information and Communication Technologies for Development

2009-12-30T20:11:00.000-08:00

Inormation and communication technologies for development

Information and Communication Technologies for Development (ICT4D) is a general term referring to the application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) within the field of socioeconomic development or international development. ICT4D concerns itself with directly applying information technology approaches to poverty reduction. ICTs can be applied either in the direct sense, wherein their use directly benefits the disadvantaged population, or in an indirect sense, wherein the ICTs assist aid organisations or non-governmental organizations or governments or businesses in order to improve general socio-economic conditions. In many impoverished regions of the world, legislative and political measures are required to facilitate or enable application of ICTs, especially with respect to monopolistic communications structures and censorship laws.

The concept of ICT4D can be interpreted as dealing with disadvantaged populations anywhere in the world, but is more typically associated with applications in developing countries. The field is becoming recognized as an interdisciplinary research area as can be noted by the growing number of conferences, workshops and publications. Such research have been spurred on in part by the need for scientifically validated benchmarks and results, which can be used to measure the efficacy of current projects. Many international development agencies recognize the importance of ICT4D. For example the World Bank's GICT section has a dedicated team of some 200 staff working on these issues.

A good example of the impact of ICTs on development are African farmers getting better market price information and thus not being impoverished by unfair corps buy-out people. Another example includes mobile telecommunications and radio broadcasting fighting political corruption in Burundi.

History

The history of ICT4D can, roughly, be divided into three periods:

ICT4D 0.0: mid-1950s to late-1990s. During this period (before the creation of the term "ICT4D"), the focus was on computing / data processing for back office applications in large government and private sector organisations in developing countries.

ICT4D 1.0: late-1990s to late-2000s. The combined advent of the Millennium Development Goals and mainstream usage of the Internet in industrialised countries led to a rapid rise in investment in ICT infrastructure and ICT programmes / projects in developing countries. The most typical application was the telecentre, used to bring information on development issues such as health, education, and agricultural extension into poor communities. More latterly, telecentres might also deliver online or partly-online government services.

ICT4D 2.0: late-2000s onwards. There is no clear boundary between phase 1.0 and 2.0 but suggestions of moving to a new phase include the change from the telecentre to the mobile phone as the archetypal application; less concern with e-readiness and more interest in the impact of ICTs on development; and more focus on the poor as producers and innovators with ICTs (as opposed to just consumers of ICT-based information).

Projects

ICT4D initiatives and projects may be designed and implemented by international institutions, private companies (e.g. Intel's Classmate), governments (e.g. e-Mexico initiative), non-governmental organizations (e.g. International Institute for Communication and Development), or virtual organizations (e.g. One Laptop per Child).

ICT4D projects address one or more of the following issues:

- Access and Infrastructure: providing suitable computer hardware, operating systems, software, and connectivity to the internet. These would include the affordability of software and hardware, the ability to share software (as echoed in the Free Software movement), and the ability to sustainably connect to the internet.

- Capacity building and training in ICT: installing, maintaining, and developing hardware and software, digital literacy (technological literacy and informational literacy) and e-Awareness.

- Digital content and services: e-services (e-learning, e-health, e-business/e-commerce, e-Governance/e-Government), including concerns related to local-language solutions in computing, and the Open Access agenda.

- Regulation of the ICT Sector and digital rights: Universal Access vs. monopolistic structures, Intellectual Property Rights, privacy, security, and digital identity.

- Ethics and Social Contexts

- Environment and Agriculture

- Free and Open Source Softwarw

- Gender and ICT

- Health and Medicine

- Policy and Social Analyses

- Technical Innovation for Development

Problems

Projects which deploy technologies in underdeveloped areas face well-known problems concerning crime, problems of adjustment to the social context, and also possibly infrastructural problems.

Literacy issue is one of the factor why projects fail in rural areas, proper education and training to make the user at least understand how to manipulate the application to get the proper information they needed. Constant follow up with the community to monitor if the project is being used or implemented.

Projects in marginalised rural areas face the most significant hurdles. Since people in marginalised rural areas are at the very bottom of the pyramid, development efforts should make the most difference in this sector. ICTs have the potential to multiply development effects and are thus also meaningful in the rural arena. However introducing ICTs in these areas is also most costly, as the following barriers exist:

- Lack of Infrastructure: no power, no running water, bad roads

- Lack of Health Services: diseases like HIV, TB, malaria are more common.

- Lack of Employment: there are practically no jobs in marginalised rural areas.

- Hunger: hungry users have problems concentrating.

- Illiteracy: Text user interfaces do not work very well, innovative Human Computer Interfaces (see Human Computer Interaction) are required.

- Lack of means to maintain the project: some projects may be left to deteriorate in time because if a component gets broken they are costly to repair and maintain.

- Lack of support from the local government

- Social Contexts: the potential users living in rural marginalised areas often cannot easily see the point of ICTs, because of social context and also because of the impediments of hunger, disease and illiteracy.

- Corruption is one of the factors why it hampers the implementation of the ICT project in rural areas.

- Trainings and seminars must be conducted according the suitable time of the farmers, to make sure that their daily routine for livelihood must be done first.

- Proper applications are not user friendly.

The World Bank runs Information for Development Program (infoDev), whose Rural ICT Toolkit analyses the costs and possible profits involved in such a venture and shows that there is more potential in developing areas than many might assume. The potential for profit arsises from two sources- resource sharing across large numbers of users (specifically, the publication talks about line sharing, but the principle is the same for, e.g. telecentres at which computing / Internet are shared) and remittances (specifically the publication talks about carriers making money from incoming calls, i.e. from urban to rural areas). Remittances are estimated to have a volume of upward of 250 billion USD and websites have been established to take advantage of this fact (e.g. Aryty, Philippines; Mukuru.com, Zimbabwe).

Lessons learned

What's crucial in making any ICT4D effort successful is effective partnership between four key stakeholders:

- Public sector (governments - from developed nations, developing nations, international bodies, and local governments)

- Private sector (companies belonging to members of the target audience, multi-national organizations wishing to expand their markets to the 4 billion people under US$2/day, pro-poor or social companies)

- Informal sector (NGOs, advocacy groups, think tanks)

- Representation from the target audience
InfoDev have published 6 lessons from an analysis of 17 their pilot programmes (see below). These lessons are backed by a variety of examples as well as a list of recommendations, which should be read by everyone starting an ICT4D project.

- Lesson 1: Involve target groups in project design and monitoring.

- Lesson 2: When choosing the technology for a poverty intervention project, pay particular attention to infrastructure requirements, local availability, training requirements, and technical challenges. Simpler technology often produces better results.

- Lesson 3: Existing technologies—particularly the telephone, radio, and television—can often convey information less expensively, in local languages, and to larger numbers of people than can newer technologies. In some cases, the former can enhance the capacity of the latter.

- Lesson 4: ICT projects that reach out to rural areas might contribute more to the MDGs than projects based in urban areas.

- Lesson 5: Financial sustainability is a challenge for ICT-for-development initiatives.

- Lesson 6: Projects that focus on ICT training should include a job placement component.

Sustainability and scalability

A growing perspective in the field is also the need to build projects that are sustainable and scalable, rather than focusing on those which must be propped up by huge amounts of external funding and cannot survive for long without it. Sustaining the project's scalability is a huge challenge of ICT for development on how the target user will continue using the platform. Development on ICT is not one shot implementation but rather it is a complex process to undertake continuously and the progress of each project evolves around the pervasive education for adaptability of the technology.

Also, many so-called "developing" countries, such as India (or other South Asian countries like Sri Lanka, Pakistan, and Bangladesh, as also nations like Malaysia, China, Indonesia, Brazil, South Africa and many others) have proved their skills in IT (information technology). In this context, unless these skills are tapped adequately to build on ICT4D projects, not only will a lot of potential be wasted, but a key indigenous partner in the growth of this sector would be lost. Also there would be unnecessary negative impact on the balance of payments due to imports in both hardware and software.

Currently, the main two perspectives coming out of this sector either emphasize the need for external aid to build infrastructure before projects can touch viability, or the need to develop and build on local talent. Both approaches are, of course, not mutually exclusive.

Critics

As it has grown in popularity, especially in the international development sector, ICT4D has also increasingly come under criticism. For instance, questions have been raised about whether projects that have been implemented at enormous cost are actually designed to be scalable, or whether these projects make enough of an impact to produce noticeable change.

In Sri Lankan journalist Nalaka Gunawardene argues that thousands of pilot projects have been seeded without regard to generalisability, scalability, and sustainability, implying that these projects will always require external funding to continue running and that their impact is limited. This sentiment echoes a 2003 report by the World Bank.

Further criticism on ICT4D concerns the impact of ICTs on traditional cultures and the so-called cultural imperialism which may be spread with ICTs. For example, young males are tempted to spend their recreational time playing violent computer games. It is emphasised that local language content and software seem to be good ways to help soften the impact of ICTs in developing areas.

Ariette Esterhuysen, an advocate for ICT4D and human rights in South Africapointed out that some ICT4D projects often gives more impetus to how ICT can help its beneficiaries economically rather than helping them gain a society where social justice and equal rights prevails. She Believes that sustainable development can only be achieved if there is human rights and people can speak freely.

Another point of criticism against ICT4D is that its projects are seldom environmentally friendly. Beneficiary communities are often given the responsibility to dispose of the toxic electronic scrap when an equipment breaks down beyond repair. Since transporting the equipment to a recycling facility is costly; the equipment is often disposed of improperly, thus contributing to the pollution of the environment.

Information and Communication Technologies in Education

2009-12-24T20:17:00.000-08:00

Information and Communication Technologies in Education

Information and communication technologies in education deal with the use of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) within educational technology.

Purpose

The purpose of ICT in education is generally to familiarise students with the use and workings of computers, and related social and ethical issues.

ICT has also enabled learning through multiple intelligence as ICT has introduced learning through simulation games; this enables active learning through all senses.

ICT By country

Australia
In all of Australia, ICT is not a subject until the final two years of schooling, despite similar subjects being available before VCE or equivalent. In Victoria, children start ICT in Prep but are not reported upon until they are in Year 1. They undertake a wide range of activities using technology to learn in all curriculum areas.ICT Curriculum and Standards

Norway
Norway ICT is a course which students can select for their second year of upper secondary school. From pre-school to Year 10 ICT is interwoven throughout the curriculum as part of the Essential Learning of Communication.

Philippines
Other countries, such as the Philippines, also have ICT as an educational subject in their curriculum.

United Kingdom
In the United Kingdom, Information and Communication Technology (ICT) is a subject in education, and a part of the National Curriculum. All students must study Information and Communication Technology to GCSE level.

The ICT programme in the United Kingdom is co-ordinated by Becta. A major initiative was the Curriculum Online scheme, which was closed in 2008 and which was produced to accelerate the uptake of technology amongst schools. Becta took over the running of this scheme from the Department for Education and Skills in 2005. Becta worked closely with the Joint Information Systems Committee to develop strategy.

Students are taught to use software such as office suites, desktop publishers; they are also taught about ICT theory, and how ICT can be used to solve problems. IComputer programming is not taught at GCSE level.

Students also study the Data Protection Act, the Computer Misuse Act, and other legal and ethical issues related to ICT.

Many schools have specialist school status in technology and, more recently, in maths and computing, and these schools champion the use of ICT to enhance teaching and learning.

Within Scotland and the North East of England a pilot enterprise in education initiative (ICT Youth Challenge) aims to use ICT as a vehicle to encourage creative thinking within the youth demographic. Tapping into the 'unconstrained' minds of the regions young people, the programme simulates the process of taking a new innovative ICT idea through the commercialisation process. The competition is sponsored by Microsoft and BT and hopes to expand its reach throughout the UK in 2009/10.

Categories
ICT in education can be broadly categorized in the following ways:
- ICT as a subject (i.e., computer studies)
- ICT as a tool to support traditional subjects (i.e., computer-based learning, presentation, research)
- ICT as an administrative tool (i.e., education management information systems/EMIS)

Latest Gadgets in Technology World

2009-12-14T20:26:00.000-08:00

Latest Technology

Is Charging Your Gadget Overnight Waste Of Energy?

Dell officially launched the Adamo XPS, the highest-end version of its designer ultra portable. Dell says it expects to “begin taking orders and shipping the Adamo XPS in time for the holidays.” The ultra thin luxury laptop starts at $1,799.

The system is championed as the thinnest notebook ever and measures just 0.39 inches at its thickest point. Dell accomplishes the feat by tucking most of the computer components into the display section and relying on a unique hinge that opens underneath and acts as a built-in prop . In spite of its slimness, t

he notebook still has a removable battery, two USB ports and DisplayPort output but also weighs slightly more than its MacBook Air rival at 3.2 pounds.

When fully opened, the keyboard sits at maybe a 20-degree angle. It’s an unusual setup, but one that provides a more ergonomic typing experience than the average flat laptop keyboard. We also liked the keyboard’s metal keys and the reasonably large touchpad.

A Six Gadgets Charger

Many times we leave our gadgets Mobile phones, PDAs, MP3 players, Cameras, Laptops etc with charger plugged in overnight. Lets check if this is a major waste of energy.

What happens if you leave the mobile phone plugged in all night?

According to measurements from Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, the average cell phone draws 3.68 watts of power from the outlet while it’s charging and 2.24 watts when charged. Let’s take the worst-case scenario and assume that you’re over-juicing a charged battery for the entire night. Leave the average phone plugged in for eight unnecessary hours, and it’ll use about 0.018 kilowatt-hours of electricity. Do that every night for a week, and the figure rises to 0.13 kWh; every night for a year, and you’re looking at a grand total of 6.5 kWh of electricity.

What if you leave your phone charger plugged in all the time, even when the phone itself isn’t attached—how much vampire power would that suck up? Again using the Berkeley Lab figures, if the average charger is plugged in for the entire 8,760 hours of the year, it’ll use about 2.3 kWh of electricity.

Your iPod or Zune probably isn’t worth worrying too much about, either: According to Chris Calwell, the founder of energy efficiency consulting firm Ecos, digital music players only draw about 0.25 to 0.4 watts when fully charged.

What about laptops?

If you got yours in the last few years, it may not be much of a nighttime energy hog. According to figures from the University of Pennsylvania’s IT department—which looked at several laptops purchased between 2005 and 2009—today’s laptops draw between one to three watts when switched off but plugged in, and roughly the same amount in sleep mode. That puts them in about the same ballpark as cell phones. A laptop that’s idle, but not asleep, will draw closer to 15 to 20 watts.

Given that the average American’s residential electricity consumption is more than 4,000 kWh each year (PDF), the Lantern doesn’t think that a handful of kilowatt-hours are worth much tossing and turning. You could do way more for the planet, for example, by swapping out a single incandescent light bulb in your home for a compact fluorescent one; as the Lantern pointed out in a previous column, that simple action alone can save 126 kWh a year. Plus, charging your gadgets while you sleep has the added benefit of shifting a tiny fraction of your energy usage from the daytime, when demand is highest, to the nighttime, making things just a bit easier on your local grid.

As Cambridge professor David MacKay notes in his book Sustainable Energy—Without the Hot Air, obsessively unplugging your charger is like “bailing the Titanic with a teaspoon.” By all means, do it, he says, “but please be aware how tiny a gesture it is.” (He goes on to note that, according to his calculations, keeping your phone charger unplugged for a year saves as much energy as skipping a single hot bath.)

Nokia Unveils Its First Linux Phone N900

Nokia unveiled N900, its first smart phone running on Linux software, aiming at improving its offering at the top end of the market.

The Nokia N900 runs on the Linux-based Maeme 5 software, featuring true multitasking with applications as well as Web browsing with Adobe Flash support.

Nokia’s workhorse Symbian operating system controls half of the smartphone market volume — more than its rivals Apple, Research in Motion and Google put together. Nokia said Linux would work well in parallel with Symbian in its high-end product range.

“As Nokia announces the software platform that will drive its future services aspirations it created a dedicated solutions unit — the challenge will be to ensure that all these elements work in harmony in the face of fierce competition from Apple and Google,” said Ben Wood, head of research at CCS Insight.

The new N900 model, with cellular connection, touch screen and slide-out keyboard, will retail for around $712, excluding subsidies and taxes.

Nokia also unveiled a new Solutions business unit, which aims to better tie together its phone operations and new mobile Internet services offering.

Technical details of N900:

Display:

3.5 inch touch-sensitive widescreen display800 × 480 pixel resolution
Web browsing:Maemo browser powered by Mozilla technologyAdobe Flash™ 9.4 supportFull screen browsing.

Camera:

5 megapixel camera (2584 × 1938 pixels)Image formats: JPEGCMOS sensor, Carl Zeiss optics, Tessar lens3 × digital zoomAutofocus with assist light and two-stage capture keyDual LED flashFull-screen viewfinderPhoto editor on deviceTV out (PAL/NTSC) with Nokia Video Connectivity Cable (CA-75U, included in box) or WLAN/UPnPLandscape (horizontal) orientationCapture modes: Automatic, portrait, video, macro, landscape, action

Video:

Wide aspect ratio 16:9 (WVGA)Video recording file format: .mp4; codec: MPEG-4Video recording at up to 848 × 480 pixels (WVGA) and up to 25fpsVideo playback file formats: .mp4, .avi, .wmv, .3gp; codecs: H.264, MPEG-4, Xvid, WMV, H.263

Music and audio playback:

Maemo media playerMusic playback file formats: .wav, .mp3, .AAC, .eAAC, .wma, .m4aBuilt-in FM transmitterRing tones: .wav, .mp3, .AAC, .eAAC, .wma, .m4aFR, EFR, WCDMA, and GSM AMRDigital stereo microphoneDLNA.

Galileo Telescope Reaches 400th Anniversary

The telescope was the first instrument to extend human senses, revolutionising our view of the heavens and our place in the world.Exactly 400 years ago on 25 August 1609, the Italian astronomer, mathematician, physicist and philosopher Galilei Galileo showed Venetian merchants a new creation, a telescope, the instrument that was to bring him both scientific immortality and, more immediately, a whole lot of trouble.

The earliest known working telescopes appeared in 1608 and are credited to Hans Lippershey. Among many others who claimed to have made the discovery were Zacharias Janssen, spectacle-maker in Middelburg, and Jacob Metius of Alkmaar. The design of these early refracting telescopes consisted of a convex objective lens and a concave eyepiece. Galileo used this design the following year. Galileo who made the instrument famous. He constructed his first three-powered spyglass in 1609, presented an eight-powered instrument to the Venetian Senate in August, and turned a twenty-powered instrument to the heavens in October or November.

The telescope was one of the central instruments of what has been called the Scientific Revolution of the seventeenth century. It revealed hitherto unsuspected phenomena in the heavens and had a profound influence on the controversy between followers of the traditional geocentric astronomy and cosmology and those who favored the heliocentric system of Copernicus.

IBM To Build Next Generation Chips Using DNA

In future DNA wouldn’t just control human evolution but also computing evolution, if IBM succeeds to use DNA in development of next-generation microchips.

IBM scientists are using DNA scaffolding to build tiny circuit boards; this image shows high concentrations of triangular DNA origami binding to wide lines on a lithographically patterned surface; the inset shows individual origami structures at high resolution.

Scientists at IBM Research and the California Institute of Technology announced a scientific advancement that could be a major breakthrough in enabling the semiconductor industry to pack more power and speed into tiny computer chips, while making them more energy efficient and less expensive to manufacture.

Today, the semiconductor industry is faced with the challenges of developing lithographic technology for feature sizes smaller than 22 nm and exploring new classes of transistors that employ carbon nanotubes or silicon nanowires. IBM’s approach of using DNA molecules as scaffolding – where millions of carbon nanotubes could be deposited and self-assembled into precise patterns by sticking to the DNA molecules – may provide a way to reach sub-22 nm lithography.

The utility of this approach lies in the fact that the positioned DNA nanostructures can serve as scaffolds, or miniature circuit boards, for the precise assembly of components – such as carbon nanotubes, nanowires and nanoparticles – at dimensions significantly smaller than possible with conventional semiconductor fabrication techniques. This opens up the possibility of creating functional devices that can be integrated into larger structures, as well as enabling studies of arrays of nanostructures with known coordinates.

“The cost involved in shrinking features to improve performance is a limiting factor in keeping pace with Moore’s Law and a concern across the semiconductor industry,” said Spike Narayan, manager, Science & Technology, IBM Research - Almaden. “The combination of this directed self-assembly with today’s fabrication technology eventually could lead to substantial savings in the most expensive and challenging part of the chip-making process.”

The lithographic templates were fabricated at IBM using traditional semiconductor techniques, the same used to make the chips found in today’s computers, to etch out patterns. Either electron beam or optical lithography were used to create arrays of binding sites of the proper size and shape to match those of individual origami structures. Key to the process were the discovery of the template material and deposition conditions to afford high selectivity so that origami binds only to the patterns of “sticky patches” and nowhere else.

The paper on this work, “Placement and orientation of DNA nano structures on lithographically patterned surfaces,” by scientists at IBM Research and the California Institute of Technology, will be published in the September issue of Nature Nanotechnology and is currently available at: http://www.nature.com/nnano/journal/vaop/ncurrent/abs/nnano.2009.220.html

Verizon Wireless Set To Rollout 4G In 2010

Verizon Wireless completed its first successful Long Term Evolution (LTE) Fourth Generation (4G) data call in Boston based on the 3GPP Release 8 standard; the company also announced that it had earlier completed the first LTE 4G data call based on the 3GPP Release 8 standard in Seattle. While Verizon previously disclosed its intentions to test the 4G standard in the two cities, the carrier had not provided details on the trials until now.

The tests involved streaming video, file uploads and downloads, and Web browsing. Interestingly, Verizon also said it placed voice calls using Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) technology to enable voice transmissions over the LTE 4G network, though the carrier has said in the past that it plans to keep most voice traffic on its existing CDMA 1x network.

Technology partners helping to enable data calls in these initial markets include Alcatel-Lucent (Boston) and Ericsson (Seattle) for base station/radio access network, LG and Samsung for trial devices, and Starent Networks and Nokia Siemens Networks for network equipment. Devices from LG and Samsung will soon be supplemented by devices from ST Ericsson, Motorola and Qualcomm.

Boston and Seattle each now have 10 LTE 4G cell sites up and running on the 700 MHz spectrum. These LTE 4G markets were selected by network planners due to their geographic configuration of suburban and urban areas as well as the areas’ high-technology population. The trials will help Verizon Wireless and its LTE 4G network partners understand issues that include how to best prepare cell sites and how to add the new technology to the network.

Verizon Wireless expects to commercially launch its LTE 4G network in up to 30 markets in 2010, covering 100 million people. In subsequent years, an equally aggressive growth plan will result in full nationwide coverage in 2013.

For more information about Verizon Wireless’ LTE 4G network, visit www.verizonwireless.com/lte.

Information and Communication Technologies for Environmental Sustainability

2009-12-12T19:55:00.001-08:00

Information and communication technologies for environmental sustainability

Information and Communication Technologies for Environmental Sustainability (ICT Ensure) is a general term referring to the application of Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) within the field of environmental sustainability. With the usage of new technologies the global community, can be supported in their collaboration to preserve the environment in the long term. New technologies provide utilities for Knowledge acquisition and awareness, early evaluation of new knowledge, reaching agreements and communication of progress in the interest of the human welfare. This includes ethical aspects of protecting human life as well as aspects of consumer safety and the preservation of our natural environment.

Application Areas

More and more application areas are becoming relevant to sustainable development in industry, health care, agriculture and the information society. And they have an impact on the perspectives of ICT, the environment, policy and science. More and more interest has been emerged as well to risk and disaste management, adaptation to climate change and resource use.

- ICT for Energy Consumption/Efficiency

- ICT in Climate Change

- ICT in Natural Resource Management

- Eco-industrial Applications and ICT for Industrial Ecology

- ICT in Agriculture

- ICT for Biodiversity

- ICT for Landscape Ecology

- Personalized Information Systems and ICT for Quality of Life

- ICT for Sustainable Urban Development

- ICT in Health Care

- ICT for Environmental Risk Management

Agriculture

Agriculture is the production of food and goods through farming and forestry. Agriculture was the key development that led to the rise of human civilization, with the husbandry of domesticated animals and plants (i.e. crops) creating food surpluses that enabled the development of more densely populated and stratified societies. The study of agriculture is known as agricultural science.

Agriculture encompasses a wide variety of specialties and techniques, including ways to expand the lands suitable for plant raising, by digging water-channels and other forms of irrigation. Cultivation of crops on arable land and the pastoral herding of livestock on rangeland remain at the foundation of agriculture. In the past century there has been increasing concern to identify and quantify various forms of agriculture. In the developed world the range usually extends between sustainable agriculture (e.g. permaculture or organic agriculture) and intensive farming (e.g. industrial agriculture).

Modern agronomy, plant breeding, pesticides and fertilizers, and technological improvements have sharply increased yields from cultivation, and at the same time have caused widespread ecological damage and negative human health effects. Selective breeding and modern practices in animal husbandry such as intensive pig farming (and similar practices applied to the chicken) have similarly increased the output of meat, but have raised concerns about animal cruelty and the health effects of the antibiotics, hormones, and other chemicals commonly used in industrial meat production.

The major agricultural products can be broadly grouped into foods, fibers, fuels, and raw materials. In the 2000s, plants have been used to grow biofuels, biopharmaceuticals, bioplastics and pharmaceuticals. Specific foods include cereals, vegetables, fruits, and meat. Fibers include cotton, wool, hemp, silk and flax. Raw materials include lumber and bamboo. S Other useful materials are produced by plants, such as resins. Biofuels include methane from biomass, ethanol, and biodiesel. Cut flowers, nursery plants, tropical fish and birds for the pet trade are some of the ornamental products.

In 2007, about one third of the world's workers were employed in agriculture. Though in 2003 agricultural employees were fewer but due to the agricultural awareness it increased rapidly in 2008– the services sector overtook agriculture as the economic sector employing the most people worldwide. Despite the fact that agriculture employs over one-third of the world's population, agricultural production accounts for less than five percent of the gross world product (an aggregate of all gross domestic products.

Biodiversity

Biodiversity is the variation of life forms within a given ecosystem, biome, or for the entire Earth. Biodiversity is often used as a measure of the health of biological systems. The biodiversity found on Earth today consists of many millions of distinct biological species, which is the product of nearly 3.5 billion years of evolution.

Climate change

Climate change is a change in the statistical distribution of weather over periods of time that range from decades to millions of years. It can be a change in the average weather or a change in the distribution of weather events around an average (for example, greater or fewer extreme weather events). Climate change may be limited to a specific region, or may occur across the whole Earth.

In recent usage, especially in the context of environmental policy, climate change usually refers to changes in modern climate (see global warming). For information on temperature measurements over various periods, and the data sources available, see temperature record. For attribution of climate change over the past century, see attribution of recent climate change.

Natural resource management

Natural resource management refers to the management of natural resources such as land, water, soil, plants and animals, with a particular focus on how management affects the quality of life for both present and future generations. Natural resource management is congruent with the concept of sustainable development, a scientific principle that forms a basis for sustainable global land management and environmental governance to conserve and preserve natural resources.

Natural resource management specifically focuses on a scientific and technical understanding of resources and ecology and the life-supporting capacity of those resources. The term Environmental management is also similar to natural resource management.

Quality of Life

The term quality of life is used to evaluate the general well-being of individuals and societies. The term is used in a wide range of contexts, including the fields of international development, healthcare, and political science. Quality of life should not be confused with the concept of standard of living, which is based primarily on income. Instead, standard indicators of the quality of life include not only wealth and employment, but also the built environment, physical and mental health, education, recreation and leisure time, and social belonging.

According to ecological economist Robert Costanza: While Quality of Life (QOL) has long been an explicit or implicit policy goal, adequate definition and measurement have been elusive. Diverse "objective" and "subjective" indicators across a range of disciplines and scales, and recent work on subjective well-being (SWB) surveys and the psychology of happiness have spurred renewed interest.

Also frequently related are concepts such as freedom, human rights, and happiness. However, since happiness is subjective and hard to measure, other measures are generally given priority. It has also been shown that happiness, as much as it can be measured, does not necessarily increase correspondingly with the comfort that results from increasing income. As a result, quality of life should not be taken to be a measure of happiness.

Communications - Enabled Application

2009-12-11T20:22:00.000-08:00

Communications - Enabled Application

A communications enabled application (CEA) is a set of information technology (IT) components and communication technology components that are integrated using a particular service-oriented architecture (SOA) to increase the productivity of an organization and/or improve the quality of users' experiences.

Communication enablement adds real-time networking functionality to an IT application. Providing communications capability to an IT application:

- removes the human latency which exists when (i) making sense of information from many different sources, (ii) orchestrating suitable responses to events, and (iii) keeping track of actions carried out when responding to information received;

- enables users to be part of the creative flow of content and processes.

What distinguishes a CEA from other software applications is its intrinsic reliance upon communications technologies to accomplish its objectives. A CEA depends on real-time networking capabilities together with such network oriented functions as location, presence, proximity, and identity.

Another distinguishing characteristic of a CEA is the implicit assumption that network services will be available as callable services within the SOA frameworks from which the CEA is constructed. To provide callable services, the network services which are available today must be made virtual and component-like. CEAs apply to business processes as well as instances where no obvious business process which requires improvement exists (e.g., games, entertainment video). CEAs that apply to business processes are referred to as communications enabled business processes or communications enabled business solutions.

Importance of Communications - Enabled Application
CEA are important for at least four reasons:

1. The convergence of (i) CEA, (ii) broadband and (iii) millions of different devices connected to the network is expected to significantly affect the communications industry.

2. CEA introduce a fundamental change in the way that information communications technology (ICT) applications and services are designed, developed, delivered, and used. To date, SOA has focused on building IT applications only and the network has been mostly deemed to be a transport pipe. CEA incorporate communications capability into any application. This requires that network services must be made virtual and component-like as well as callable within a SOA framework. CEA implementation entails a significant reorganization of present network management functionality.

3. CEA bring together the richness of IT applications with the sophistication and intelligence of communications networks. This enables greater customization, greater simplification of interactions, and automatic adaptation to users' environments and preferences.

4. Making network components from multiple vendors work in a mashup will be a major challenge. The service level agreements (SLAs) for these mashups will be difficult to define and deliver upon.

Examples of Communications - Enabled Application
- A tech savvy entrepreneur can integrate highly secure services such as messaging, voice, conference call, authentication and inbound short message service into an IT application for the purpose of delivering a customized solution in hours or days at a fraction of the cost of large packaged applications or custom development projects.

- A patient is discharged more quickly because the patient care application used by authorizing medical personnel can reach out to the discharge application, wherever they are.

- A new policy is processed and approved more quickly because the client’s insurance agent initiates real-time communications with people who have reviewed the policy and are required to approve it.

- Faster and more effective emergency response is provided because the first responder application recognized the availability and location of key resources.

- An industrial customer problem is resolved more quickly because the project management application scheduled the earliest possible conference call with all key available stakeholders and delivered all relevant information to them.

- A data center backup package that runs overnight must be complete by 8 a.m. when the network turns back to daytime operations. The application recognizes that it will not complete in time - so it makes a request of the network for more capacity. The network can apply logic to translate the request into a set of commands to the various nodes to do whatever is required for the task to be completed by 8 a.m. (e.g., change the priority, provision more capacity, allocate more wavelengths).

NEED & IMPORTANT OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

2009-08-17T05:25:00.000-07:00

INTRODUCTION

Information technology is used for storing, protecting, processing, securing, transmitting, receiving and retrieving information. In business establishments, information technology is used for solving mathematical and logical problems. Information technology helps in project management system. Firstly, planning is done, then the data is collected, sorted and processed and finally, results are generated. It helps managers and workers to inquire about a particular problem, conceive its complexity and generate new products and services, thereby improving their productivity and output. The primary importance of information technology in education is that various learning resources can be accessed instantly, by students as well as teachers, at their convenience. Learners can also adopt multimedia approach and collaborative learning. The information is authentic and the latest updated information is available. Multiple communication approaches like chats, forums, e-mails, etc. can be adopted by them. Students can access the on-line libraries and distance learning is also possible. Information technology has proved to be a significant employer. Many people with knowledge of computers have got jobs in the field of information technology and have successfully made it into a career. It has helped in finding cures for many diseases thereby serving mankind in more ways than one. Different kind of softwares are provided for hearing and visually impaired people which aids them in their passion for learning new things and gathering information. Hopefully this article has given you an idea about why is information technology important today and also about its advantages. Information technology has advanced tremendously since its invention and will continue to advance in the future. In today's world, owing to its wide applications, sound knowledge of information technology is a must for having a successful career.

The information society challenges the education system. In recent years, the speedy, effective and global communication of knowledge has created a new foundation for co-operation and teamwork, both nationally and internationally. The increasing role played by information technology in the development of society calls for an active reaction to the challenges of the information society. Already, new and greater demands are being made as to the core qualifications of individuals, as well as to their understanding and knowledge of the consequences of the introduction of information technology for the work and organisation of a company. Companies are no longer forced to gather all their functions in one place. The knowledge-intensive functions such as development and marketing can be sited in countries where the labour market can supply highly educated employees, whilst production itself can be moved to low wage countries. The result is the efficient handling, processing, co-ordination and administration of company resources, which is decisive for the competitiveness of the company.In a society which is becoming increasingly dependent on information and the processing of knowledge, great demands are therefore made that the individual should have a solid and broad educational foundation on which to build. Educational policy in the information society must ensure that:

1. IT qualifications are developed by means of their integration in all activities in the education sector and
2. The individual citizen must have an active and critical attitude to developments and not passively allow technological development to set the pace.

IT educational policy must ensure:
1. Up-to-date qualifications in the information society
2. Up-to-date qualifications gained against the background of a high general level of education in the population will be decisive if Denmark is to maintain competitiveness and its share of the global labour market in the information society. IT skills and IT understanding are thus central prerequisites for the individual, both now and especially in the future.
The advantage of using information technology is that time-consuming work routines can increasingly be performed by means of this technology and time can thus be devoted instead to communicating and informing, to the processing of information and the production of knowledge.

NEED AND IMPORTANT OF INFOMATION TECHNOLOGY IN EDUCATION
Information Technology in Education, effects of the continuing developments in information technology (IT) on education. The pace of change brought about by new technologies has had a significant effect on the way people live, work, and play worldwide. New and emerging technologies challenge the traditional process of teaching and learning, and the way education is managed. Information technology, while an important area of study in its own right, is having a major impact across all curriculum areas. Easy worldwide communication provides instant access to a vast array of data, challenging assimilation and assessment skills. Rapid communication, plus increased access to IT in the home, at work, and in educational establishments, could mean that learning becomes a truly lifelong activity—an activity in which the pace of technological change forces constant evaluation of the learning process itself.

Need
1. Education is a life long process therefore anytime anywhere access to it is the need
2. Information explosion is an ever increasing phenomena therefore there is need to get access to this information
3. Education should meet the needs of variety of learners and therefore IT is important in meeting this need
4. It is a requirement of the society that the individuals should posses technological literacy
5. We need to increase access and bring down the cost of education to meet the challenges of illiteracy and poverty-IT is the answer

Importance
1. Access to variety of learning resources
In the era of technology. IT aids plenty of resources to enhance the teaching skills and learning ability. With the help of IT now it is easy to provide audio visual education. The learning resources are being widens and widen. Now with this vivid and vast technique as part of the IT curriculum, learners are encouraged to regard computers as tools to be used in all aspects of their studies. In particular, they need to make use of the new multimedia technologies to communicate ideas, describe projects, and order information in their work.

2. Immediacy to information
IT has provided immediacy to education. Now in the year of computers and web networks the pace of imparting knowledge is very very fast and one can be educated anywhere at any time. New IT has often been introduced into well-established patterns of working and living without radically altering them. For example, the traditional office, with secretaries working at keyboards and notes being written on paper and manually exchanged, has remained remarkably stable, even if personal computers have replaced typewriters.

3. Anytime learning
Now in the year of computers and web networks the pace of imparting knowledge is very fast and one can be educated .One can study whenever he wills irrespective of whether it is day or night and irrespective of being in India or in US because of the boom in IT.

5. Collaborative learning
Now IT has made it easy to study as well as teach in groups or in clusters. With online we can be unite together to do the desired task. Efficient postal systems, the telephone (fixed and mobile), and various recording and playback systems based on computer technology all have a part to play in educational broadcasting in the new millennium. The Internet and its Web sites are now familiar to many children in developed countries and among educational elites elsewhere, but it remains of little significance to very many more, who lack the most basic means for subsistence.

6. Multimedia approach to education
Audio-Visual Education, planning, preparation, and use of devices and materials that involve sight, sound, or both, for educational purposes. Among the devices used are still and motion pictures, filmstrips, television, transparencies, audiotapes, records, teaching machines, computers, and videodiscs. The growth of audio-visual education has reflected developments in both technology and learning theory. Studies in the psychology of learning suggest that the use of audio-visuals in education has several advantages. All learning is based on perception, the process by which the senses gain information from the environment. The higher processes of memory and concept formation cannot occur without prior perception. People can attend to only a limited amount of information at a time; their selection and perception of information is influenced by past experiences. Researchers have found that, other conditions being equal, more information is taken in if it is received simultaneously in two modalities (vision and hearing, for example) rather than in a single modality. Furthermore, learning is enhanced when material is organized and that organization is evident to the student. These findings suggest the value of audio-visuals in the educational process. They can facilitate perception of the most important features, can be carefully organized, and can require the student to use more than one modality.

7. Authentic and up to date information
The information and data which are available on the net is purely correct and up to date.
Internet, a collection of computer networks that operate to common standards and enable the computers and the programs they run to communicate directly provides true and correct information.

8. Access to online libraries
Internets support thousands of different kinds of operational and experimental services one of which is online library. We can get plenty of data on this online library. As part of the IT curriculum, learners are encouraged to regard computers as tools to be used in all aspects of their studies. In particular, they need to make use of the new multimedia technologies to communicate ideas, describe projects, and order information in their work. This requires them to select the medium best suited to conveying their message, to structure information in a hierarchical manner, and to link together information to produce a multidimensional document.

9. Distance education
Distance Learning, method of learning at a distance rather than in a classroom. Late 20th-century communications technologies, in their most recent phases multimedia and interactive, open up new possibilities, both individual and institutional, for an unprecedented expansion of home-based learning, much of it part-time. The term distance learning was coined within the context of a continuing communications revolution, largely replacing a hitherto confusing mixed nomenclature—home study, independent study, external study, and, most common, though restricted in pedagogic means, correspondence study. The convergence of increased demand for access to educational facilities and innovative communications technology has been increasingly exploited in face of criticisms that distance learning is an inadequate substitute for learning alongside others in formal institutions. A powerful incentive has been reduced costs per student. At the same time, students studying at home themselves save on travel time and other costs.
Whatever the reasoning, distance learning widens access for students unable for whatever reason (course availability, geographical remoteness, family circumstances, individual disability) to study alongside others. At the same time, it appeals to students who prefer learning at home. In addition, it appeals to organizers of professional and business education, providing an incentive to rethink the most effective way of communicating vital information.

10. Better accesses to children with disabilities
Information technology has brought drastic changes in the life of disabled children. IT provides various software and technique to educate these poor peoples. Unless provided early with special training, people profoundly deaf from birth are incapable of learning to speak. Deafness from birth causes severe sensory deprivation, which can seriously affect a person's intellectual capacity or ability to learn. A child who sustains a hearing loss early in life may lack the language stimulation experienced by children who can hear. The critical period for neurological plasticity is up to age seven. Failure of acoustic sensory input during this period results in failure of formation of synaptic connections and, possibly, an irremediable situation for the child. A delay in learning language may cause a deaf child's academic progress to be slower than that of hearing children. The academic lag tends to be cumulative, so that a deaf adolescent may be four or more academic years behind his or her hearing peers. Deaf children who receive early language stimulation through sign language, however, generally achieve academically alongside their hearing peers.

HISTORY OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

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The term "Information Technology" is usually quite often referred to an entire industry. In actuality, information technology is the use of computers and software to manage information. In some companies, this is referred to as Management Information Services (or MIS) or simply as Information Services (or IS). The information technology department of a large company would be responsible for storing information, protecting information, processing the information, transmitting the information as necessary, and later retrieving information as necessary.

When people hear the words "Information Technology," the first things that come to mind are computers and the Internet. It may also bring up words like "network," "intranet," "server," "firewall," "security," as well as more arcane expressions such as "router," "T-1," "Ethernet," or the mysterious and exotic-sounding "VoIP." However, the term "information technology" is not new and has not always referred to things relating to computer. Information technology is as old as the brain itself, if you think of the brain as an information processor. As far as IT being a science, even that goes back as far as the earliest attempts to communicate and store information. And that is essentially what information technology is: the communication and storage of information, along with the ability to process and make use of the information stored.

The history of information technology predates the invention of the modern digital computer by many centuries. Machines for calculating fixed numerical tasks, such as the abacus, have existed since antiquity. Wilhelm Schickard built the first mechanical calculator in 1623. Charles Babbage designed a difference engine in Victorian times, and around 1900 the IBM Corporation sold punch-card machines. However all of these machines were constrained to perform a single task, or at best, some subset of all possible tasks.

During the 1940s, as newer and more powerful computing machines were developed, the term computer came to refer to the machines rather than their human predecessors. As it became clear that computers could be used for more than just mathematical calculations, the field of computer science broadened to study computation in general. Computer science began to be established as a distinct academic discipline in the 1960s, with the creation of the first computer science departments and degree programs. Since practical computers became available, many applications of computing have become distinct areas of study in their own right.

In order to perform the complex functions required of information technology departments today, the modern Information Technology Department would use computers, servers, database management systems, and cryptography. The department would be made up of several System Administrators, Database Administrators and at least one Information Technology Manager. The group usually reports to the Chief Information Officer (CIO). Information technology has a long history and has only recently been associated with the use of computers.

OTHER DEFINITION OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

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Others Definition of Information Technology

In the broadest sense, information technology refers to both the hardware and software that are used to store, retrieve, and manipulate information. At the lowest level you have the servers with an operating system. Installed on these servers are things like database and web serving software. The servers are connected to each other and to users via a network infrastructure. And the users accessing these servers have their own hardware, operating system, and software tools. Such as:-

1. Biotechnology

Biotechnology refers to the use of microorganisms such as bacteria or biological substances such as enzymes, to perform industrial or manufacturing processes. Although biotechnology seems new, it has been around for quite some time and has been used to produce drugs and synthesize hormones. Biotechnology has also been used to genetically alter bacteria for use with the cleanup of oils spills. One area of biotechnology uses organisms to manufacture organic products such as beer and milk products. Biotechnology is also used to recycle, treat waste, clean up sites contaminated by industrial activities (bioremediation). Another area of biotechnology doesn't use living organisms at all. Examples include DNA microarrays used in genetics and radioactive tracers used in medicine. Modern biotechnology is often associated with the use of genetically altered microorganisms such as E. coli or yeast for the production of substances like insulin or antibiotics. Another promising new biotechnology application is the development of plant-made pharmaceuticals.

2. Bluetooth

Bluetooth is a transmission specification for digital data exchange between 2 or more devices over short-range. This data can be anything including documents, images, and voice and the devices include PDAs, phones and desktop devices. The specific is an open standard allowing any one to take advantage of the opportunities it presents. Unlike other wireless transmissions technologies, Bluetooth is intended to be used by devices that are close to each other. For instance, a PDA could transfer data such as a phone number to a cellphone. A laptop could transfer data such as e-mails to a PDA. With this technology, the need for wires and proprietary file transfer software could be eliminated.

Some examples of bluetooth applications are:
- Wireless networking between desktops and laptops.
- Bluetooth peripherals such as printers, mice, and keyboards.
- Bluetooth cell phones have been sold in large numbers, and are able to connect to computers
personal digital assistants (PDAs) and, specifically, to hands free devices.
- Certain mp3 players and digital cameras to transfer files to and from computers.
- Bluetooth headsets for mobile phones.
- Bluetooth car kits that allow users with Bluetooth-equipped cell phones to make use of some of
the phone's features, such as making calls, while the phone itself can be left in a suitcase or in
the boot/trunk, for instance.
- For remote controls where infrared was traditionally used.

3. Business Process Outsourcing (BOP)

Business process outsourcing (BPO) is the act of giving a third-party the responsibility of running what would otherwise be an internal system or service. For instance, an insurance company might outsource their claims processing program or a bank might outsource their loan processing system. Other common examples of BPO are call centres and payroll outsourcing. Typically, companies that are looking at business process outsourcing are hoping to achieve cost savings by handing the work to a third-party that can take advantage of economies of scale by doing the same work for many companies. Or perhaps the cost savings can be achieved because labor costs are lower due to different costs of living in different countries. In exchange for the potential cost savings, the company in question must relinquish control over an aspect of their business which explains why business process outsourcing.

4. Client/Server

The term client/server describes one possible relationship between two software applications in which the client makes a service request from the server. The client/server relationship can apply to two programs running on a single computer or two programs running over a network. In the case of a network, the client/server model provides a convenient way to interconnect programs that are distributed efficiently across different locations. Computer transactions using the client/server model are very common and it is likely you are involved with such transactions almost daily. For example, to check your e-mail from your computer, a client program on your computer forwards your request to a server program at your Internet Service Provider (ISP). Once the server program has retrieved your e-mail, it forwards them to the client on your computer, which then allows you to read the e-mail. The client/server model has become one of the central ideas of network computing. Most business applications being written today use the client/server model. A distinction used to be made between client/server applications and internet-based applications. However, that distinction is being blurred such that even internet-based applications are beginning to make use of the client/server model. Using Visual Basic and SQL Server (or Oracle), I've built complex and highly-scalable client/server based systems for well-known international companies. Read more about the software I wrote and my role as a computer programmer for MasterCard International.

5. Enterprise Resource Planning (ERP)

Enterprise resource planning (ERP) is the industry term used to describe a broad set of activities supported by multi-module application software that helps a manufacturer or other business manage the important parts of its business. These parts can include product planning, parts purchasing, maintaining inventories, interacting with suppliers, providing customer service, and tracking orders. ERP can also include application modules for the finance and human resources aspects of a business. Some of the bigger players in the ERP outsourcing market are SAP, Peoplesoft, and J. D. Edwards. New comers include Oracle, IBM, and Microsoft.

6. Ethernet

Ethernet is a network standard for data transmission using either coaxial or twisted pair cable. In the LAN (local area network) world, Ethernet is the most widely used standard. Until recently, Ethernet ran at 10 megabits per second, but it is just as common now for Ethernet-based systems to run at 100 megabits per second. Still newer systems have been developed to transfer data at 1000 megabits per second (equivalent to a gigabit). While Ethernet isn't going away any time soon, the last few feet between users and the network is rapidly being serviced by wireless technologies. Wireless offers greater flexibility to the user, but is much slower than Ethernet.

7. .NET

.NET is both a business strategy from Microsoft and its collection of programming support for what are known as Web services, the ability to use the Web rather than your own computer for various services. Microsoft's goal is to provide individual and business users with a seamlessly interoperable and Web-enabled interface for applications and computing devices and to make computing activities increasingly Web browser-oriented. The .NET platform includes servers; building-block services, such as Web-based data storage; and device software. It also includes Passport, Microsoft's fill-in-the-form-only-once identity verification service. The .NET platform is expected to provide: The ability to make the entire range of computing devices work together and to have user information automatically updated and synchronized on all of them
Increased interactive capability for Web sites, enabled by greater use of XML (Extensible Markup Language) rather than HTML A premium online subscription service, that will feature customized access and delivery of products and services to the user from a central starting point for the management of various applications, such as e-mail, for example, or software, such as Office .NET Centralized data storage, which will increase efficiency and ease of access to information, as well as synchronization of information among users and devices The ability to integrate various communications media, such as e-mail, faxes, and telephones. For developers, the ability to create reusable modules, which should increase productivity and reduce the number of programming errors. According to Bill Gates, Microsoft expects that .NET will have as significant an effect on the computing world as the introduction of Windows. One concern being voiced is that although .NET's services will be accessible through any browser, they are likely to function more fully on products designed to work with .NET code. The full release of .NET is expected to take several years to complete, with intermittent releases of products such as a personal security service and new versions of Windows and Office that implement the .NET strategy coming on the market separately. Visual Studio .NET is a development environment that is now available. Windows XP supports certain .NET capabilities.

8. Optical CharacterRecognition

Optical character recognition (OCR) refers to the software used to convert letters and numbers that are non-editable into a format that can be edited. For example, a magazine article is something that can't be edited. Using OCR software, you could convert this article into a Microsoft Word document and then be able to change any of the words. Before being able to use OCR software, you will need to get the document in to an electronic format if it isn't already in one. This can be accomplished by scanning it. The higher the quality of the scan and the higher the contrast there is between the characters and the background, the more likely the OCR software will recognize the text. However, even the best of the consumer-grade OCR software isn't perfect so expect a few mistakes. Typical uses of optical character recognition software include processing checks, archiving library material, and letter sorting by the postal office.

9. Original Equipment Manufacture (OEM)

An OEM (original equipment manufacturer) was a company that supplied equipment to other companies to resell or incorporate into another product using the reseller's brand name. For example, a maker of refrigerators like Frigidaire might sell its refrigerators to a retailer like Sears to resell under a brand name owned by Sears. A number of companies, both equipment suppliers and equipment resellers, still use this meaning. More recently, OEM is used to refer to the company that acquires a product or component and reuses or incorporates it into a new product with its own brand name.

10. Outsourcing

Outsourcing referrs to a company that contracts with another company to provide services that might otherwise be performed by in-house employees. Many large companies now outsource jobs such as call center services, e-mail services, and payroll. These jobs are handled by separate companies that specialize in each service, and are often located overseas.

There are many reasons that companies outsource various jobs, but the most prominent advantage seems to be the fact that it often saves money. Many of the companies that provide outsourcing services are able to do the work for considerably less money, as they don't have to provide benefits to their workers, and have fewer overhead expenses to worry about.
Outsourcing also allows companies to focus on other business issues while having the details taken care of by outside experts. This means that a large amount of resources and attention, that might fall on the shoulders of management professionals, can be used for more important, broader issues within the company. The specialized company that handles the outsourced work is often streamlined and often has world-class capabilities and access to new technology that a company couldn't afford to buy on their own. Plus, if a company is looking to expand, outsourcing is a cost-effective way to start building foundations in other countries.

There are some disadvantages to outsourcing as well. One of these is that outsourcing often eliminates direct communication between a company and its clients. This prevents a company from building solid relationships with their customers, and often leads to dissatisfaction on one or both sides. There is also the danger of not being able to control some aspects of the company, as outsourcing may lead to delayed communications and project implementation. Any sensitive information is more vulnerable, and a company may become very dependent upon its outsource providers, which could lead to problems should the outsource provider back out on their contract suddenly.

While outsourcing may prove highly beneficial for many companies, it also has many drawbacks. It is important that each individual company accurately assess their needs to determine if outsourcing is a viable option.

11. Sarbanes Oxley

The Sarbanes Oxley Act is a set of rules put together by the US government in an effort to improve a company's audit. These rules came about primarily due to the many corporate scandals that plagued the US not too long ago including some very high-profile cases such as Enron.

Initially, Sarbanes Oxley was viewed as a finance issue, but it soon became apparent that IT systems were so integral to the storage and retrieval of financial data, that much of the burden for compliance shifted to the IT department. To make matters worse, companies found that instructions were vague and definitions of compliance could differ between companies.
The July 1, 2005 issue of CIO Magazine identified these items as the top 5 IT control weaknesses as reported by auditors:

a. Failure to segregate duties within applications, and failure to set up new accounts and terminate old ones in a timely manner.
b. Lack of proper oversight for making application changes.
c. Inadequate review of audit logs.
d. Failure to identify abnormal transactions in a timely manner.
e. Lack of understanding of key system configurations.

12. Six Sigma Methodology

Six Sigma at many organizations simply means a measure of quality that strives for near perfection. Six Sigma is a disciplined, data-driven approach and methodology for eliminating defects (driving towards six standard deviations between the mean and the nearest specification limit) in any process -- from manufacturing to transactional and from product to service.

The fundamental objective of the Six Sigma methodology is the implementation of a measurement-based strategy that focuses on process improvement and variation reduction through the application of Six Sigma improvement projects. This is accomplished through the use of two Six Sigma sub-methodologies: DMAIC and DMADV. The Six Sigma DMAIC process (defines, measure, analyze, improve, control) is an improvement system for existing processes falling below specification and looking for incremental improvement. The Six Sigma DMADV process (define, measure, analyze, design, verify) is an improvement system used to develop new processes or products at Six Sigma quality levels. It can also be employed if a current process requires more than just incremental improvement. Both Six Sigma processes are executed by Six Sigma Green Belts and Six Sigma Black Belts, and are overseen by Six Sigma Master Black Belts.

Six Sigma is generally implemented in companies that manufacture products. For companies that are in the business of producing things that are less tangible such as software, the Capability Maturity Model is more often used.

13. Supply Chain Management

Supply chain management (SCM) is the oversight of materials, information, and finances as they move in a process from supplier to manufacturer to wholesaler to retailer to consumer. Supply chain management involves coordinating and integrating these flows both within and among companies. It is said that the ultimate goal of any effective supply chain management system is to reduce inventory (with the assumption that products are available when needed). As a solution for successful supply chain management, sophisticated software systems with Web interfaces are competing with Web-based application service providers (ASP) who promise to provide part or all of the SCM service for companies who rent their service.
Supply chain management flows can be divided into three main flows:

a. The product flow
b. The information flow
c. The finances flow

The product flow includes the movement of goods from a supplier to a customer, as well as any customer returns or service needs. The information flow involves transmitting ordersand updating the status of delivery. The financial flow consists of credit terms, payment schedules, and consignment and title ownership arrangements.

There are two main types of SCM software: planning applications and execution applications. Planning applications use advanced algorithms to determine the best way to fill an order. Execution applications track the physical status of goods, the management of materials, and financial information involving all parties.

Some SCM applications are based on open data models that support the sharing of data both inside and outside the enterprise (this is called the extended enterprise, and includes key suppliers, manufacturers, and end customers of a specific company). This shared data may reside in diverse database systems, or data warehouses, at several different sites and companies.
By sharing this data "upstream" (with a company's suppliers) and "downstream" (with a company's clients), SCM applications have the potential to improve the time-to-market of products, reduce costs, and allow all parties in the supply chain to better manage current resources and plan for future needs.

14. Total Quality management

Total Quality Management is a set of management practices throughout the organization, geared to ensure the organization consistently meets or exceeds customer requirements. Total Quality Management places strong focus on process measurement and controls as means of continuous improvement. And also Total Quality Management is a management approach that aims for long-term success by focusing on customer satisfaction. Total Quality Management is based on the participation of all members of an organization in improving processes, products, services, and the culture in which they work.

15. Utility Computing

Utility computing refers to the ability of companies to access computing services, business processes,and applications from a utility-like service over a network. The idea being that if a company has to pay only for what it is using then it will be able to save money. While the company offering utility computing services can benefit from economies of scale by using the same infrastructure to service multiple clients.

The alternative is to buy hardware that can handle peak loads, but is often using something along the lines of 15% of available resources. Utility computing is the evolutionary step up from Application Service Providers.

The underlying technology for utility computing is grid computing — the network of connected storage and CPUs from multiple systems into a centrally managed, but flexible computing environment.

16. Virus Definition

Antivirus programs use a handful of techniques to identify viruses. The oldest and most common method is through the use of virus definitions. When a virus is discovered, antivirus vendors examine and look for all the changes it makes to a system. These changes can include modifying files, creating new files, and updating the system registry. All of these changes together form a list that can be used to identify the virus on other computers. This list is called a virus definition.

Because viruses are created and modified all of the time, new virus definitions are created. Thus, part of the routine of checking for viruses involves downloading the new list. Unfortunately for consumers, virus definitions aren't interchangeable between programs and so you need to visit the vendor's web site or use the built-in update feature.

17. WiMAX

WiMAX, meaning Worldwide Interoperability for Microwave Access, is a telecommunications technology that provides wireless transmissio of data using a variety of transmission modes, from point-to-multipoint links to portable and fully mobile internet access. The technology provides up to 3 Mbit/s broadband speed without the need for cables. The technology is based on the IEEE 802.16 standard (also called Broadband Wireless Access). The name "WiMAX" was created by the WiMAX Forum, which was formed in June 2001 to promote conformity and interoperability of the standard. The forum describes WiMAX as "a standards-based technology enabling the delivery of last mile wireless broadband access as an alternative to cable and DSL"

WiMAX will coexist as a radio capability on the mobile computer, along with other radio technologies such as wireless fidelity and third-generation (3G), for many years.

18. Wireless Mesh

Wireless mesh technology was developed for the US Defense Department. Basically, it was a way for tanks on the battle field to communicate with one another and a central system. Each tank was an access point (AP). An AP would talk to its nearest AP who would relay the messages to another close AP, passing messages up and down the line. The network was smart in that you could take out one tank and it would heal itself, finding the shortest way back to the central command center.

Today, wireless mesh has evolved. Most mesh technologies still use a single radio for sending the information up and down the network as well as connect with a customer device like a phone or internet connection. In practical terms, this limits the speed (bandwidth) of the network, and also means that the system can go no further than 3 hops before it needs to find a connection into the internet fiber backbone as a single radio system loses, on an average, about two thirds of its speed over three hops.

WiMax and cellular technology systems are based on the single cell tower system. Mesh uses small radios or access points which are much cheaper to deploy and which connect to each other with many possible routes, passing information up and down the system.

OUTLINE OF INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

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Outline of Information Technology

The following outline is provided as an overview of and topical guide to information technology:

Contents

1. Different names:

This section requires expansion. There are different names for this during the ages or through fields. Some of theses names are:
ICT :- Information, Communication and Technology IT:- Information Technology; DCT:- Data Communication & technology; CDT:- Creative digital technology; DT:- Design & technology; IDCT:- Department of information & software technology; Infocomm:- Information Communication; TelCo (phones) & CompBusiness (HW+SW) & development (SW):- sets of professions as referenced within Human Recourses departments; and many more...

2. Branches of Information Technology:

a. Computer Science:-

Computer science (or computing science) is the study of the theoretical foundations of information and computing, and of practical techniques for their implementation and application in computer systems. It is frequently described as the systematic study of algorithmic processes that describe and transform information. According to Peter J. Denning, the fundamental question underlying computer science is, "What can be (efficiently) automated? Computer science has many sub-fields; some, such as computer graphics, emphasize the computation of specific results, while others, such as computational complexity theory, study the properties of computational problems. Still others focus on the challenges in implementing computations. For example, programming language theory studies approaches to describing computations, while computer programming applies specific programming language to solve specific computational problems, and human-computer interaction focuses on the challenges in making computers and computations useful, usable, and universally accessible to people.
The general public sometimes confuses computer science with vocational areas that deal with computers (such as Information Technology), or think that it relates to their own experience of computers, which typically involves activities such as gaming, web-browsing, and word-processing. However, the focus of computer science is more on understanding the properties of the programs used to implement software such as games and web-browsers, and using that understanding to create new programs or improve existing ones.

b. Information Technology

c. Informaiton & Communication

d. Computer Engineeering

3. History of Information Technology

a. History of Computing

4. Leaders in Information Technology

a. Information technology scholars

b. Information technology companies