How To Use the Cloud

A recent study claimed that cloud computing will create more jobs than the early Internet boom did. The industry is slated to create big business opportunities, as well as hundreds of thousands of jobs. In fact it is such a big deal, venture capitalists are expected invest upwards of $30 billion into the industry over the next five years or so.

Cloud Education is a Top Priority

Fortunately, you won’t have to wait five years to see the effects the industry has on the job market. Currently, there are far more of these employment opportunities than qualified candidates to fill those positions. Jobs are being advertised ad nauseam across the Internet and even Rackspace, a huge name in the cloud computing industry, is looking for new talent. These jobs are expected grow dramatically over the next few years. According to a report by technology analyst firm IDC, available cloud-computing jobs are expected to reach 14 million globally by
2014. While this is a good problem to have, it is a problem nonetheless. The industry needs a large stable of qualified IT
managers, systems administrators and network engineers to meet the rapidly growing needs of this technology.

Cloud Computing 101: Introducing CloudU

Part of the problem is that while there is plenty of discussion about how awesome it is, there is not much discussion about why it’s awesome, and how it works. Rackspace has built an intensive online resource, providing educational tools to train the general public, and potential Rackers (read: employees) in cloud computing
concepts. The resource is called CloudU, and answers two big questions right off the bat within the first couple of lessons:

1) What is cloud computing? & 2) How do I understand the cloud computing stack (Iaas, PaaS, SaaS)?

What is Cloud Computing?

In previous years, enterprise-level computing was expensive. It was expensive on two levels: On one level, storing and managing massive datasets required massive processing power, which is definitely pricey to maintain. On another level, running in-house server technology and data centers required using lots of electrical power. It provides high-powered processing, while keeping electricity consumption low, and at a fraction of what it would cost to run a dedicated server or data center for a large-scale company. This is all accomplished in cloud-based data centers where processing and hardware resources are shared among multiple servers simultaneously. This gives the service providers the ability to provide scalable, customized computing resources on a subscription or as-needed basis to their customers.


Understanding the Cloud Stack

The cloud stack is broken into three distinct components:

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS) and Software-as-a-Service (SaaS).

IaaS – Infrastructure-as-a-Service providers, sometimes called Hardware-as-a-Service (HaaS), is just that, a provider of server hardware for companies. Companies can rent server space, hardware and operating systems, and have them installed on-site or at a third-party location. Rackspace is among the largest providers of IaaS solutions.

PaaS – PaaS is often referred to as middle-ware. This is because PaaS solutions provide an easy path of all a company’s application deployment needs. This includes server space, operating systems, and a host of deployment methods that cut the app development time in half.

SaaS – SaaS is the most common type of service, primarily because it is the easiest to access and use. Essentially, SaaS providers offer powerful software solutions over the web. This includes everything from storage to word processing to digital video editing. SaaS includes any type of software that you can use online.

Everyday, technology is becoming more of an omniscient presence blanketing the planet. As these types of networks continue to augment traditional server delivery and mobile technology expands to necessitate more cloud infrastructure, we can expect jobs in the field to continue blossoming long into the future, potentially growing to make cloud computing and information technology one of the foremost industries in the future.

This guest post is by Thomas Stone a contributing author at technected.com

Google in the Works: Android Glasses!?

Google Co-Founder Sergey Brin Sports the New Google Glasses at Dinner in the Dark, a Benefit for the Foundation Fighting Blindness -- San Francisco, CA

Is Google really developing glasses that can deliver real-time information on a heads up computer interface display? Yes, it sounds like something out of a Star Trek episode, but the New York Times claims to have confirmed the rumor; this is no joke.

Developers from Google’s secretive GoogleX offices have “let the cat out of the bag” on this project, dubbed “Project Glass”, releasing this statement in a recent Google+ post:

“We think technology should work for you—to be there when you need it and get out of your way when you don’t.

A group of us from Google[x] started Project Glass to build this kind of technology, one that helps you explore and share your world, putting you back in the moment.”

The glasses are expected to have capabilities similar to a generation-old Android. 9TO5Google speculates “something like 1GHz ARM A8, 256MB RAM and 8GB of storage.” With a 3G or 4G data connection, the glasses could allow users to access social media, share photos, video chat, and even use Google Maps for live navigation.

A video released, depicting “a day in the life” wearing the glasses, shows live social media notifications, live navigation, and more as a user walks through downtown New York City. The glasses will have the capability, with voice input and output, to function as a smartphone. They’re also expected to have a front-facing camera capable of capturing and posting live images.

Sadly, more recent reports for 9TO5Google state that the heads up display is not transparent, is only for one eye, and does not have 3D configurations as previously speculated.

Developers for 9TO5Google remain optimistic, however, writing:

“One really cool bit: The navigation system currently used is a head tilting-to scroll and click.We are told it is very quick to learn and once the user is adept at navigation, it becomes second nature and almost indistinguishable to outside users.”

While earlier reports suggested that the glasses would not be ready for a mass roll out anytime soon, the New York Times quotes unnamed Google employees who said “the glasses will go on sale to the public by the end of the year.”

The Glasses are expected to cost about the same price as a current smartphones.

This post brought to you by Tom Grimes, Content Developer for DutchCrafters.com and longtime electronics enthusiast.

5 Important Internet Security Tips For Beginners

Security has become the essential requirement while using internet for any purpose. As the internet has been so developed that one can easily get the personal or account information of any other person by hacking her/his account. Because of the vast advancement in technology, various kinds of software have been created which can be used to gain access of other’s personal data. So to get secure from all these fears, let’s apply some of the basic security measures for using internet.

There are 5 essential Internet security tips described below:

1.) Keep your anti-virus updated and also get Firewall protection – Always make sure that you have an updated anti-virus installed in your computer; otherwise your computer is in danger if you are accessing internet. Anti-virus protects your computer from unknown virus attacks while accessing internet. Firewall protection is also very important because it filters the incoming data and out going on your system network. This will protect your business network from any virus and keep it safe.

2.) Choose your passwords very wisely – You must choose your system password and also accounts password very wisely. Most of the people use their names or names of the loved ones as their passwords which can be easily guessed by anyone and can also be very dangerous at times. So this is an old idea of selecting passwords. To get strong password protection, you must use the combination of various types of words like use both lower-case and upper-case letters with some numbers and special characters to create the password. This password cannot be guessed by anyone. If necessary, change your password after few days.


3.) Avoid clicking on suspicious attachments and links – It is recommend-able to never
click on suspicious links or open unknown attachments, sometimes it can damage your windows and your system will fail to restart. The suspicious files can be a hacking file which can give your account details to the hacker just by clicking them. So make sure that the attachments you are opening are the clear ones to avoid risks.

4.) Log out your account properly – Sometimes when we use public computers, we often forget to properly log out our account just for the hurry or if any network problem occurred. This can also be accessed by another person who comes on your seat after you left out. This is also dangerous. So before leaving log out your account properly. And try not to access your bank accounts or other important accounts in public places.

5.) Keep your data backup – To keep yourself secure at all times, maintain your database backup. Copy your important data into CDs, or DVDs, or in some hard disk which can be easily available in case of any miss happening. At least, your work will not suffer and you will be successful to secure your data.

A Real World Scenario of Exchange Database Corruption

Generally, users tend to back up their Exchange databases, but have problems when corruption strikes.For a user running Exchange 2003 and performing full database backups using Backup Exec 2010 R2, a number of errors may show up causing those backup tasks to fail. These errors may look like:

Error category : Resource Errors

Error: e000fedf – A failure occurred reading an object.

Or

Error: e000032c – The consistency check of the snapshot for the Microsoft Exchange database has failed. You should check for possible data corruption in the Exchange Server that is online.’

At this stage, if you restart the information store and then try to back up, you will get similar results.

To fix this, you can either plan for a database restore from a good known backup or repair using the ‘ESEUTIL’ tool. Generally, restoring from a backup is a good option than restore as it takes comparatively lesser time. Moreover, the repair process may cause data loss. So, it should be used as the last resort.

Before starting the repair process, you should copy the Exchange database files to a safe location. Also, there should be sufficient free space on your hard disk for running Eseutil. When running Eseutil with the ‘/p’ option, you should have space at least 20 percent of the size of your database. When running ‘Eseutil /d’, the space on the disk should be at least 110 percent of the database size. The ‘Eseutil’ tool creates several temp files on the drive where you are performing the repair operation. You can choose to specify a different location for the temp directory using command-line switches. However, this would make the process more complicated and time-consuming.


You can perform a successful repair of your Exchange database in three phases:

  • The initial phase involves doing a database page-level and table-level repair. To do this, run the below command:

eseutil /p ‘DBPath’ (DBPath is the path of your EDB file)

  • Next, try De-fragmenting the database and rebuilding all indexes by running ‘Eseutil /d’ command.
  • Now run ISInteg to perform database repair at the application level as follows:

isinteg -s ServerName [-fix] [-verbose] [-l LogFilename] -test TestName[[, TestName]…]

If the above process fails to repair corruption in the database, you should use third-party Exchange Server recovery tools. With the help of these utilities, you can easily recover all inaccessible mailboxes from the Exchange database and save them as individual PST files in your system. These software can extract all the pieces of recoverable information from your troubled database and help you regain access to your mission-critical data.

5 of The World’s Most Astonishing Gadgets

Technology has vastly changed man’s way of thinking. In every aspect of life, technology nowadays has been applied. Whether it’s for personal, business or travel, it is evident that a pieces of these technologies are seen everywhere in the world. Because of these advancements, handy gadgets were created which allow individual to bring them anywhere they want to. These amazing products are used in industries, but mostly for personal purposes. These “devices” were regarded by many individuals as some of best gadgets they had ever received. And why is that? Probably because aside from having it as one of the best gifts they ever had, it also satisfied their needs in many different ways. There are a lot of new technological advancements that are made everyday, but with the examples below I will list today’s best! Lets take a look at them.

1. T-Mobile G2x with Google

Measuring 4.9” by 2.5” by .4 “, this mobile phone contains 2 dual-core having 1GHz processor. It has two cameras which are 8-megapixel rear-facing camera with LED flash at the same time auto-focus and a front-facing 1.3 –megapixel camera. Its content could either be in a landscape or portrait format which looks more gorgeous when in a landscape form. This devise offers an amazing mobile gaming and entertainment experience you will be looking for.

2. ThinkGeek iCade

This particular gadget is designed for iPad, iPhone and iPod touch which is wireless-Ly controlled. This wireless game controller has a classic D-Pad and button layout like the NES game-pad which is powered by two AAA batteries. The game-pad is connected to iOS devices via Bluetooth and features a power-saving mode that won’t drain when not in use. This one is listed as one of the best gift gadgets for people who wanted to go back to 80’s can also have beautifully retro-styled tabletop arcade cabinet where useless iPad will be placed.

3. Sony Handycam HDR-TD10

This particular devise from Sony weighs one and a half pounds which can zoom up to 10 times. It has 64 GB built-in hard drive with twin lens system that can store up to 5 hours high-definition 3D footage’s. Upon viewing the images, it has a flip-out viewfinder which let users show what he has been shooting in 3D without 3D glasses. When into PC, it allows users to edit images in 2D. This gadget would totally be one of the best gift ideas for a person who has interest in photography.

4. Samsung Nexus S4G

Having a dimension of 4.88” x 2.48” x 0.44”, this amazing product with 480 x 800 pixels resolution has 16GB internal storage and Android as its operating system. It could last up to 6 hours with a lot of features inside it. Some of it are just it contains faster streaming, GPS location, Near Field Communication (NFC), hearing aid compatibility, blue tooth, mobile hotspot, usb, WI-FI and many more. This could also easily be a great gift idea for a person with hearing disability would receive.

5. HTC Thunderbolt from Verizon

This mobile from Verizon has 1 GHz processor which runs on Verizon Wireless 4G, and LTE Network. It has a mobile hotspot functionality that will allow other WI-FI capable devices to connect to Verizon’s network via Thunderbolt. It lets users with DLNA-compatible devices share their media over a wireless network and it can download with download speed ranging from five up to twelve Mbps as well as upload-speeds of two to five Mbps. Furthermore, its “instant boot” feature enables the device to start-up quicker than its competition.

Whether for business or personal purpose, what’s important in choosing a new gadget  is… it should really fit what you need. Don’t just purchase it because it is considered as one of the hottest or newest gadgets at present, rather have it because of its features that fit what you really need. Have those amazing gadgets because they satisfy your expectations and helps you achieve your goals and objectives in life.

Protecting your Business with Mobile Tracking Software

Opening up a business is a real risk for many mainly due to the fact that a business can either simply prosper or just fail completely. For some, opening up a business is putting in a life’s time worth of savings and hoping that what they’re investing in will turn out to be successful and make their life easier in many ways in the long run. However, if the business doesn’t work out the way it was supposed to, a person must face a long list of difficulties, some of which are very difficult to come back from.

Due to this very reason, people have become extremely careful and do a lot of research before stepping into a venture. Also, once they have started their journey they will go to extreme lengths to protect their business and competitive advantage from the grasp of competitors. One of the most popular ways of protecting their businesses now days is to use a Mobile Tracker.

There are many small… yet successful businesses in the Unites States. Many of these businesses have special recipes which make them unique. Whether it be a special form of coffee or a special pastry, these businesses capture the heart of the local public. However, their specialty is often subject to theft as competitors are known to send in their employees to try to get that secret recipe or ingredient. Most businesses have therefore started using Mobile Tracking Software to protect their interests.

These small businesses often have to employ new people in order to meet the requirements of their customers and while doing so unconsciously employ employees or people from other competitor businesses. However, they keep these employees in check with the use of this software, which once installed in an employees cell phone can deliver information regarding calls made and received, text messages exchanged, emails sent, sites visited, pictures and videos present in the phone, cell phone conversations and even GPS tracking.

All these features of  Tracking Software enable the employer to see whether new or old employees are spreading secret information about their business or not. By listening to cell phone conversations, the employer can monitor the contents of an employee’s conversation, by viewing text messages the employer can see if recipes or ingredients are being shared and by viewing pictures and videos the employer can see if the employee is sending pictures or videos of their products to competitors. Also, the GPS tracking allows the exact location of the employee to be known in real-time. The Mobile Tracking systems have helped employers in protecting their secrets and well as their business as a whole.

Would you use such a system? Send us your thoughts.

About Author

Stella Rebecca has been in the business of providing quality information on spy software for cell phones. Her main expertise lies within the spectrum of GPS Tracking software which are making waves in the technology world today.

New Gadgets Are Worth The Review

Today, there are a great quantity of new technologies to buy. For most of us there is no possible way to inspect every single gadget that we may we interested in. That is where an excellent review matters… because of the limited amount time that we have. Finding a reliable gadget review can easily separate useful necessities from generic advertising promotion. So when your son needs the latest cell phone, or a desktop computer that is good for gaming and school work, go to a source that will do all the tough information digging for you. This is important because every day, the number of online stores offering high-tech gadgets is increasing and you should be alert when selecting and apprehensive when making your decision. A good gadget supplier should provide excellent technical assistance and a good product review should point out the ones that do. These types of great reviews will save you the headache of having to dig through technical jargon to finally find the details you’re looking for. Opinions and gadgets vary, so the review should have a healthy helping of both. There are many plugins and widgets that the author can install that will allow the reader to rate the article or gadget, send a personal message, share the review with friends or simply bookmark the article for future reference.

Follow these 5 helpful points to create your own gadget review:

  1. After finding the most relevant points that you find it necessary to list, clean the article from the rest of the mess. The rest of the mess will turn off your reader from even reading the article. To have a successful article, you will definitely want your readers to read what you have to say!
  2. Clutter can be stopped through lists, points, spaces and dashes. The less flustered your readers are, the more mentally satisfied they will be. Tell each gadget apart, even if the differences are split-hair differences. Magnify the difference and provide points as to why it matters enough to include in your review.

An example of a comparison review is laptops. Mac vs. PC. Each are good but have solutions to different lifestyles and budgets.

  1. Pictures and articles should go hand in hand. If you include a photograph of the gadget, please be careful to include one that is big enough to show the gadget in a positive light, but not too big that it will take over the entire page and hide your article.

  1. Try not to use your camera-phone to take a picture of your gadget, unless you are trying to portray what a photo with the camera will look like. Follow up and coming evolved tech news guides or subscribe to the manufacturer feeds to be in the know of when the newest gadget will come out. Consider your gadget sources. Make friends with people of similar blogs or sites. Follow them, talk to them, do whatever it takes to get the latest news.
  1. A demonstrative video about your gadget is a great way to affirm the customer’s interest in the gadget. The video may be the deciding purchase factor. Don’t always assume that your customer is already familiar with the gadget. This is a common mistake.

Be an authentic product reviewer by providing your own opinions on the gadget by first-hand knowledge of it. You have to love what you do!

Comparison Test- Nokia Lumia 800 Vs Apple iPhone 4S

With as many as seven operating systems, bigger and better screens, features and applications; we have more options in buying a mobile phone than there was ever. As new Smartphone models are rolling into the market every second, it has become hard for us to decide where to invest our hard-earned money. To make this decision a bit easier, we have compared the two most popular phone models in the market- The Nokia Lumia 800 and Apple iPhone 4S.

The two phones are quite similar in many features. The main difference between these two Smart phones lies in the basic construction and the operating system.

The Apple iPhone 4S has a sophisticated design with abundant use of steel and glass. The main frame of the phone is made of steel while either side of the phone is laminated with glass for that classy look. A note here will be that this makes the phone quite delicate as well as a magnet for finger prints. It will be a good idea to use a phone cover in case you decide to get one. The Nokia lumia 800 on the other hand is made of poly-carbonated material on the lines of Nokia N9. This provides the phone with extra ruggedness at the same time makes the phone light weight. The shape of Nokia lumia 800 is quite ergonomic and easy to use. Also the unusual length and small width makes the phone easy to handle as well as use.


Nokia Lumia 800 comes with the latest in windows mobile- ‘The Windows 7.5 Mango’. Although Windows phone are not doing good business as compared to other OSs like- ‘Android’ and ‘iOS’, ‘The Mango’ may be Window’s savior in this context. Apple on the other hand comes with the latest A5 OS which Apple claims to be able to run graphics as much as seven times faster than its earlier models. Also one major feature which differentiates these two phones is the application- ‘Siri’ (which is an AI-based voice assistant) provided in the Apple iPhone 4S.

Other than these features there are minor differences in features provided in these two mobiles. Both the Apple iPhone and Nokia lumia 800 are quad-band, 3G and WiFi enabled phones. Both the phones have 512 MB internal RAM and do not support external memory cards. They are both available with 16 GB internal memory whereas the Apple has two more options with 32 GB and 64 GB memory storage.

Both the phones feature an 8MP camera with LED flash. However the Nokia Lumia 800 has a dual LED flash as against one in Apple iPhone 4S but lacks severely in one front- No secondary/front camera. So if you want to use the Lumia 800 for a video chat, then be ready with a mirror! Also video shooting from iPhone is better as it supports 1080p@ 30 frames per second as compared to a mere 720p@ 30 frames per second.

The batteries are also nearly same at about 1450mAh (Nokia Lumia 800) and 1430mAh. (Apple iPhone 4s) It can provide a decent battery backup for either of the phones, but an increase will be very much appreciated considering the large 3.7 inch screen and 3.5 inch large screens respectively.

Although the screen sizes are bit similar but writing (or more precisely dictating) in iPhone is definitely the winner. With Siri as an office assistant you can send long articles and emails which will be specially beneficial for Article Writing. (God, I’m fed up of typing, an iPhone 4S will be very much appreciated!)

One major defect with the Nokia lumia 800 is that the Bluetooth feature has restricted sharing. Hope Nokia checks this flaw through phone software updates.

Overall both the phones are quite good and anyone would be tempted to have their hands on one as soon as possible. Which phone to go for? The answer depends entirely upon individual preference(s).

Near Field Technology: Future Primitive

It’s no secret to most in the tech world, or the rest of the first world, that mobile is going to be the industry that defines how we use the Internet this year and likely on into the decade.

After the 2011 holiday season, hundreds of millions of mobile devices like smartphones and tablets have spilled into the market. Mobile platforms have been popularized at an incredible speed as prices continue to fall and the Holy Grail device – one that will wrap your entire digital life into one item – doesn’t seem too far away.

The proliferation of mobile devices has resulted in more varied use of the platform, including online shopping.


Online merchants crushed expectations and raked in $37 billion in revenue. Of those purchases, 7% were made from a mobile device (90% chance it was an iOS device). Many of those sales can be attributed to mobile apps, but people also purchased real-life goods on their mobile devices. eBay even set up pop-up shops filled with mobile devices for customer use designed to catch shoppers in the wild and pull more dollars through their online interface. With mobile shopping expected to grow in 2012, developers are working on ways to more intricately tie digital sales with the real world. The most promising step towards that is Near Field Communication.

The technology, called NFC for short, is essentially a radio protocol for smartphones that will allow transactions to take place between two devices with a simple tap.

Google is spearheading the movement; their premier product, dubbed Google Wallet, is the product of a partnership with Citibank, Samsung, and a handful of trendsetting retailers to make digital wallets a reality. The Nexus S 4G is the only official NFC equipped phone currently on the market and Wallet is only compatible with Citi cards for the time being. One of the more impressive attributes about the technology is its ability to fit into Google’s commerce ecosystem, making it able to apply deals from Google Offers and triangulate prices through Google Shopper – helping the consumer get the most up to date, discounted prices.

Google won’t be the only game on the block for long, though.

From USA TODAY:

AT&T, T-Mobile, and Verizon have partnered to create Isis, a virtual wallet and payment system, set to launch in 2012. ISIS will be open to all merchants, banks and carriers, according to its website. Isis aims to “eliminate the need to carry cash, credit cards and debit cards, reward cards, coupons, tickets and transit passes,” the website states.

Verifone has also recently completed its acquisition of Point, a company that provides payment services that make NFC technology possible.

“The acquisition gives us a great footprint with European merchants to introduce and integrate NFC in alternative payments with existing infrastructure,” said Pete Bartolik, a spokesman for Verifone. “We have an intense focus on mobile payment at this point in time. We are working with all traditional and alternative players in the space to find ways to utilize mobile technology and payments.”

 

Digital wallets will open up new doors for mobile marketing and cultivate the increasingly popular mobile commerce ecosystem that is finding its footing early on in 2012. We can expect mobile manufacturers to be rolling out NFC equipped models very soon in the year. (Many Apple enthusiasts are wringing their hands about whether the iPhone 5 will include the technology.) When these phones arrive, we will see just how powerful the platform is and how it will affect digital industries like advertising, marketing and retail.

Technology: Windows Release of The Old Republic

Come on let’s be honest, quite a few of us are secret Jedi Knights desperate to right the wrongs of the evil empire. So that’s why we were very excited to see the launch of video game Star Wars: The Old Republic, which Windows released at the end of 2011.

” Star Wars: The Old Republic is a semi-sequel to the first two knights of the Old Republic games set before Episode 1” but with characters from all over the Universe. It’s a massive, multi-player online game and it’s a chance for all of us to hone our Jedi skills, speak nonsense to fellow enthusiasts and flash our light-sabers with impunity. Oh yes.

The game has been produced by Electronic Arts and it’s reckoned to have cost nearly £90 million. The animations are said to be some of the best in the genre, they are bright, well-defined and very pretty. The light-sabers motion and sound are also something special. The designers have managed to combine the movie noise with something new that makes light-sabers even more enthralling. Nothing better than striking your foe down with a clean, cool sounding light-saber slash.


It’s up against some very stiff competition from games like World of Warcraft and last year was tough for subscription based MMO’s with free-to-play rivals wrestling for a top spot. However, it should be guaranteed millions of fans given its birth from one of the most iconic Sci-Fi film franchises of recent generations.

My only complaint is that character customization is limited, but there are so many characters and so much of the Star Wars Universe to roam, this is minor.

Now, as you all know (and if you don’t, why not), The Old Republic is actually set some 3,500 years before the familiar events depicted in the Star War movies. But, it’s still familiar for all Star War fans.

The game is based on adventure and romp. You start as a comparatively weak character and progress, by completing various tasks and showing moral leadership, onto a character of superhero proportions.

Although, of course, you can wander occasionally onto the dark side and practice breathing like someone on 100 Marlboro’s a day. Can’t wait!