With everything turning towards technology, we have adapted the out with the old, in with the new mentality. Designer Kyle Bean has created a design that illustrates the issues with “technology and the Internet, and the effect it is having on the way we source information”. We are becoming a society that is more virtual. We download music rather than purchase CD’s, we research on the net, rather than going to the library and reading books. According to Kyle, “Books also have personality - they have textures and smells which the internet can’t offer”. Kyle wanted to illustrate this issue by using a book turned into a laptop. The object is made from a book purchased at a discount bookstore for only £1.50, as well as a few electrical components to illuminate the screen. The book/laptop, has a CD-Rom drive complete with CD, a keyboard that can be removed so as to access the battery, and a switch that turns off the screen light once the book is closed. The book when closed, looks just like a regular book until opened. The words, “The Future of Books” is inscribed on the spine. I think Kyle did a wonderful job expressing the changes the world is facing regarding technology.
The Jelly Click takes mouse portability to the extreme. All the electronic circuity lives on a small flexible board. The body itself is just soft plastic. Whenever you need a mouse, blow up the Jelly Click, attach the USB cable and you're good to go. As a bonus, it's a total floaty for you swimming challenged people.
Designer: Bongkun Shin, Heungkyo Seo, Jiwoong Hwang & Wooteik Lim
CDs are very convenient devices for data storing. Your favorite songs, photos and data can be stored in large numbers at a low cost. You might even be a proud owner of a large CD collection. However there is a problem too. A damaged CD can mean loss in data, or loss to your dear collection. Damages are caused when the readout surface (the shiny and unlabeled surface) of the disc is scratched pretty badly. The main cause for such scratches is dust and rough surfaces. The readout surface of the disc can quickly gather dirt and is very easily scratched. Similarly keeping it on a rough surface, fingerprints from careless handling and smears can also cause scratches.
How to prevent scratches:
i) To protect the data from scratches, fingerprints, dust particles, and smears, do not touch the readable/unlabelled surface of the disc.
ii) Never place it face down (on the readable surface) on a hard surface.
iii) Hold the CD from edges, with four fingers, to avoid touching the reading surface.
iv) Keep your compact disc in its case while not in use. Ensure that the case is clean from inside.
v) Keep the CD with the readable surface facing downwards.
How to clean the surface:
i) Should the CD become dirty, clean it with a soft cloth lightly moistened with CD cleaning fluid or ethyl alcohol.
ii) While cleaning work from the center to the edge. Always wipe the CD from the center hole to the outer edge. Never wipe in a circle, this will leave marks.
iii) Do not use any type of solvent, such as Benzene, Lacquer thinner, Antistatic Agents, LP record cleaners as they may damage the surface by reacting with acrylic coating.
You can also lose the data on your CD if you place it too close to strong magnetic fields; expose it to extreme temperatures and humidity. The Monitor of your Computer, Television set, VCD/ LCD player and Microwave Oven are some of the common domestic appliances which generate strong magnetic fields. These interfere with the stored magnetic data. Never leave the disc in a place which is subject to direct sunlight, high temperature and in high humidity.
CD player is also important. Don't forget about cleaning your CD player, too. A CD Lens cleaner will keep dust down from your player and keep your CD's playing at their best.
Damaged CDs can be repaired to some extent with repair kits that are available in the market. However, these repair kits can't guarantee you much, so the best thing to do is to take good care of your CDs in the first place.
Ever since the internet began, our concern for social values took to it. What began with e-mail and progressed to textual blogs has now become a whole new culture of its own. This is the culture of the pedestrian, the commoner using the internet to quell the giants that try to dominate it. And hence, amidst our newfound will to communicate via the computer screen, YouTube was born.
The concept, as all great concepts go, was simple. With a tag line of 'broadcast yourself', YouTube allows us to upload videos that we make, or videos that we have made and were rejected by other forms of producers. And upload we did. On last count, YouTube had around 70,000,000 videos in its archives. So you can expect a lot of variety. All the major areas of man's social life is completely covered, whether it is our thirst for music, our daily curiosity for sports, meaningless lectures, and just simple people sitting in front of their computer eating paper. Indeed, in the coming years, YouTube is bound to be television's greatest nemesis.
Media's obsession with the common folk isn't new,hence the popularity of reality shows, but what YouTube does is that it breaks the barrier between the two sides of a cathode screen. You can communicate with the directors and producers, something you could never do watching 'American Idol', although the essential concept is the same. There's something romantic about seeing someone like you or me doing something rather than some faceless Hollywood studio spoon-feeding us. This is basically why the concept of videoblogging has caught on, and now is fast becoming synonymous with YouTube. Whilst the text blogger might sit in front of his computer screen for hours trying to formulate his thoughts into words, a videoblogger suffers no such hassle, because with the aid of video, he comes as close to making a point as he ever will. And not only can you watch and upload videos, you can also comment on them, making the website even more accessible to us.
What works so well for the website is its ease to use. Basically, it's a portal where we can share and communicate. YouTube is user-friendly, and that is what makes it so special. All you need to do is click the giant Upload button on the top of the screen. Even the usual hassle of a nonsensical form is absent. All we require is a camera, a computer, an internet connection and something to talk about. And even if you are not the creative sort, just watching and commenting on the videos is exciting. And if there is a video you really need to show to everyone, just send the link! YouTube can be your personalized television channel if you choose to create favorites, playlists and even match video preferences. Even considering the sluggish internet connection and our daily doses of load-shedding, trust us on this, YouTube is definitely for you.
Tags: tecnology
We've all heard a lot about Google. But if you are still among the very few who haven't, then what in the real world have you been up to? With almost all of our search queries entertained by Google, it's easy to limit Google to what it does best: online searching. But then again, to dismiss Google as a search engine would be like trying to cover the sun with your palm, only limiting your own online and offline convenience. Google is way more than 'just' a search engine. Just like an iceberg, the search engine is only the tip of the vast empire that is Google.
Simplicity: the name of the game
Well, I've had just about everything with the free webmail sites that proclaim they're the best in the world. It just might be true to some folks, but after countless hours I've wasted 'testing' their beta version and trying for the umpteenth time to upload the attachment, I've decided to make the switch. And what better alternative than Gmail! With over 5GB of online storage (and counting!), you surely won't feel the need to delete those important mails ever again. Plus, the no-frills interface gives you the best aesthetic feel. The best thing about Gmail has to be its integrated chat feature: you can directly chat from the email page. No need to install an extra messenger client!
Get Published!
You have a way with words and all your friends praise your skills with the pen. But, with no one coming up to you with positive reviews and critiques and suggestions, you are finding it difficult to sustain that inner flame you have for writing. For starters stop writing; with a pen that is and start typing. To get more readers and to get 'published' try Google's blog engine: Blogger (http://www.blogger.com/). Blogger allows you to publish your thoughts online and maintain a blog space. And what more, with the advanced editing features you can make your blog as private as you want. It's all up to you. If you want to share some of your pictures, Picasa has just the right tool to upload it to the net. Utilize its collaborative features, and build a class blog where everyone from your group or your class can post their entries to the blog.
So there it is, join the bandwagon and google into the virtual world.
My friend is a 'flaunt it if you have it' type of guy, and his latest acquisition is reflected in his MSN ID that reads, 'Nepali use garna parcha', not in English but in the Devnagari script. In my home computer, I see little square boxes instead of the text, but the message is clear-he wants me to start using the Nepali Unicode Program developed by Madan Puraskar Pustakalaya under its Font Standardisation Project. Being more comfortable with reading and writing English than Nepali, the program may not be of much use to me personally, but on a larger context, it does have immense utility and significance in the Nepali computing community.
Why Nepali?
Computing in Nepali is currently restricted to documentation (read typing) and offline and online content creation on a limited scale. The lack of a user environment in Nepali makes the initiation even harder. English is the pre-dominant language as far as computer interfaces are concerned. At least in the Nepali context, a rudimentary knowledge of English is almost a necessity for even basic computer operations. An interface in Nepali would boost the acceptance of computers in a larger way, despite the cost barrier. It may not be possible to increase the number of computers significantly in Nepal in the near future, but it will get more Nepalis to use computers through software with a Nepali interface. Google already offers a Nepali interface for its popular search engine. Efforts are on to provide other software in Nepali, including for Microsoft products. There are various other groups that are creating Nepali software. While the government and other bodies frame policies to make computers easily available, computer usage will probably be limited to the English literate minority until software is unavailable in Nepali.
Why Standardisation?
A Nepali language interface is a very important element to enable the increased acceptance and use of computers in Nepal. Connected closely to a Nepali language interface is standardisation. Imagine an urgent email reading as lines and lines of little square boxes or strange characters in your computer. What if you aren't? To understand the need for font and character standardisation in computers, we need to trace the evolution of character encoding. Using ASCII, a computer could represent the English alphabet along with a few other special characters like punctuation and numerals. As computers became more prevalent, the need for other characters arose, and this led to hundreds of other encoding systems. Text in one encoding system was not compatible in a computer without the same encoding system, limiting its portability. This is the reason why many popular Nepali fonts like Kantipur or Himali do not read correctly if they are not installed in a computer. The solution would be a common standard or encoding system for all Nepali fonts.
Why Unicode?
In a future where we envisage a much wider scope for computers in Nepal, computing in Nepali makes a lot of sense. Current scripting standards like XML, JavaScript, WML and others also support Unicode. The advantages can be put in three short phrases: platform independence, program independence, language independence. The Nepali Unicode Standard is a misnomer, at least for the present, because Unicode defines standards for scripts and not languages. Nepali is based on the Devanagari script and Nepali Unicode fonts are Nepali implementations of the Devnagari Unicode Standard. Don't be disappointed, we may soon have a Nepali Unicode Standard.
Making use of the available technology, Nepal Investment bank and Nepal Telecommnications have joint hands to provide their customers with an easier way of recharging the balance on Pre-paid cell phones.Nepal Investment Bank has collaborated with NTC to provide its customers with a convenient way to recharge their pre-paid mobile balance through ATM.
To recharge your Pre-paid balance, enter your VISA Card in the ATM machine and choose a language you are comfortable with. Type your PIN number and follow the instructions. Dialing that PIN code will recharge your balance. You can recharge 200, 500 and 1000 rupees worth of balance at a time.
With every announcement from Nepal Telecom to open its prepaid mobile service, thousands of communication enthusiasts endue day in and out to be a part of the mobile world. The introduction of pre-paid mobile service has without doubt revolutionized Nepal.
The following things should be considered for mobile etiquette.
Road Safety: Calls are important but even more so is safety. Remember its not only about you, the road is for everyone If the call needs immediate attention, park your vehicle to the side and receive the call, otherwise let it be. No call is worth risking your life or others.
Talk Slowly: You are talking to the person on the line, not to the neighborhood so speak casually into the phone. Shouting not only irritates others but also gives away important information. If you have a habit of talking loudly, work on it and until you improve, its better to you move away from the crowd and do the talking.
Select Ring tones: The cell phone ring tones speak volumes on what kind of a person you are. Loud and obnoxious ring tones bother everyone; even if it is not at the wrong time or the wrong place, a bad ring tone makes it so. Be very careful in selecting ring tones and its volume; keep a civil and pleasant tone.
Don't fiddle with other's mobile phones: Not everyone likes other people meddling with their phones. If you are so interested, just look at and question; do not play or change settings on their handset. Don't read others SMS or emails, it is equivalent to reading others' diaries and therefore is offensive.
