seoontheweb.com Search Engine Optimisation Stratagies

The pleasure of having satellite TV access is parallel to the quality of the satellite TV company that provides the service for you. Since all service providers actually offer the same type of technology, it all pretty much boils down to a few factors you have to consider. Here are tips for choosing the right satellite TV service that will give you years of excellent service in terms of quality and reliability:

Decide on what you want to have.

One of the best reasons to get satellite TV service is that you get access to literally hundreds of channels that range from news to sports to films to music videos to religion to home shopping to international programming. Now, out of all the hundreds of channels you have, determine how many of these you can actually view.

It’s a common mistake among first-time satellite TV service subscribers to get carried away by the figures. After all, who wouldn’t want to boast of having access to 350 channels at the neighborhood barbecue? Never mind that you probably only spend a few minutes each day browsing through about 50.

When choosing a satellite TV service for you, consider the kind of stuff you want to see and will actually make time for to view. If you like lots of premium film or movie programming, for example, DISH Network may be the better choice for you. If you prefer premium sports programming, then perhaps DirecTV is the right provider.

Consumer or corporate?

Decide whether you need to apply for a consumer subscription or a corporate subscription. Most providers will give you bundled offerings that include TV access, phone and Internet. Find out which one offers the best deal for your specific needs.

Do you like high-def?

If you have a new TV that can handle high definition images, why let it go to waste? Take advantage of what satellite TV service companies are offering you and let your TV show its stuff. If you like high-definition programming, choose the satellite TV service that offers more channels in this type of programming.

Do you like international programming?

There are many reasons why people are opting for multicultural TV programming. In fact, this has become so popular that it is actually considered a genre these days. For one, international programming offers you excellent access to many of the world’s cultures.

If you like learning about other countries – their customs, traditions, practices, even their language/s, then you might want to consider choosing a satellite TV service company that offers this type of package. Multicultural TV programming is an excellent source of learning and information, particularly for specialized studies or language learning. Most shows are captioned for easy comprehension.

Simply choose whether you prefer to view individual channels or buy entire packages altogether for better value. You could choose from a number of language channels including Chinese, Spanish, Korean, German, French, Russian, Farsi, Armenian, Tagalog and Polish, among others.

Do you need the hardware?

Generally, when you have your satellite dish installed, you can’t take it with you should you wish to move. However, in terms of hardware, there are satellite TV service companies that give these away.

Living off the grid?

Most of the major satellite TV service providers offer access for subscribers who live in the countryside or other remote locations. When choosing a satellite TV service, look for a company that focuses on the type of location you have. There’s a good chance they might have the best service.

Thomas Martinez has contributed many articles on the HDTV topics especially on Satellite TVs. If you want to learn more on high-definition TVs like choosing HDTV antenna, visit http://www.technewsnetwork.org for more information.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Today`s hectic work schedules don`t let people to move out and do something for fun to divert their minds from their works. Hence it`s no surprising to find many people relying on the top gaming consoles for their daily dose of entertainment and fun.

The top game consoles are on the top priority list of many people these days. With each passing day the electronic entertainment is getting bigger, louder, and crazier. Video game consoles concept came during the mid seventies. And the mass popularity of video game consoles in a short period paved the way for the top game consoles for generation next.

The top game consoles let the user play exciting, interactive and innovative multimedia games from his Personal Computer. These top gaming consoles are powered by astounding multimedia features and sophisticated high powered audio like that of television to offer enjoyable gaming experience to the users.

A controller which is directly connected to the game console mostly manipulates and controls the top game console. The controller uses a number of buttons such as analog joysticks to input info and interact with on screen objects such as the game media, memory card, power supply and other core units of these top game consoles.

With the advent of modern technology, now lighter and compact gaming consoles are available which can be carried anywhere easily. These days many top game consoles are available which are compatible with different file formats and videos. Now even wireless controllers are available which lets the player operate several functions easily.

You can now run high definition DVDs, listen to music, slideshow your digital photographs, connect to the Internet with a built-in browser and perform many other multimedia tasks through the top gaming consoles. Also the huge storage spaces of these top game consoles facilitate the gamers to store loads of games without any trouble. Once can even download exciting game to these top game consoles from online stores and WiFi hotspots.

Now some of the leading brand names are joining hands with game manufacturers. Microsoft’s Xbox 360, Sony’s PlayStation 3 and Nintendo’s Wii are the world’s three leading manufacturer companies which produce top console games. The complex games in these gaming consoles make the whole gaming experience highly thrilling and enjoyable. Let`s have a look at the latest incarnations of the three stand-alone gaming consoles.

Microsoft XBox 360:

It is one of the first top game consoles launched in the market and hence has a loyal fan following. Although not as inexpensive as the Wii, Xbox offers a larger selection of games to choose form compared to the other two models. This top game console`s high definition feature empowers Power PC-based CPU with 3 symmetrical cores and graphic processor of embedded DRAM which is of 10MB.

Embedded with a built-in digital camera, Xbox offers users to click stunning pictures. You can watch DVD, listen to music on your favorite MP3 player and can be online. Apart from this, the Xbox Live Arcade offers more classic arcade console games to choose from.

Sony PlayStation 3:

This is the most expensive of the three top game consoles. Its built-in Blu-ray Disc Player produces great quality graphics and unlike Xbox, you no longer have to add a separate High definition DVD player to watch all HD DVD movies. You can enjoy all high definition content on the PlayStation 3.

Nintendo Wii:

With a price of around $250, this is cheapest of all the top game consoles. Although certain high-end features are not available, it has all basic features of a gaming console. The controller for the Wii looks more like that of a TV remote control and actually it allows better movement to the gamers while playing their favorite games.

You can have access to portuguese articles about game consoles from page Video_Game Roberto Sedycias works as IT consultant for www.polomercantil.com.br

Popularity: unranked [?]

Compared to Intel or AMD, Sun Microsystems has traditionally focused more on high-end, high-powered servers and supercomputers than on desktop home computers. It should come as no surprise, then, that Sun produces some of the most advanced High-performance computing (HPC) systems available. In fact, they offer not just one, but several different types of HPC solutions for different computing needs.

High performance computing uses either supercomputers or computer clusters to solve advanced problems requiring millions of calculations. Although it is most commonly associated with scientific research, recently high performance computing has been increasingly applied to business uses such as data warehousing, transaction processing and line-of-business (LOB) applications.

Sun’s most powerful HPC system is currently the Sun Constellation System, which was introduced in 2007. In consists of several different hardware and software components. At its heart lies the Sun Fire X4500 data server, which combines server and storage functions. It contains two dual-core processors and an incredible forty-eight 1000 GB SATA drives, for a total of 48 terabytes of storage. It also uses the Sun StorageTek 5800 System for its data archive for clients to store large amounts of digital information, such as medical information, digitized historical records, or rich media. It uses a customer-definable metadata index to tag, search, and retrieve information. At the bottom hardware level lies one or more Sun Blade systems, which are essentially just interface terminals for users to interact with the system.

The Constellation System runs on either OpenSolaris or Linux. It also makes use of the Sun Grid Engine, a workload scheduler for computer clusters and server farms. On the physical level, it manages and schedules the allocation of hardware resources such as processors, memory, and hard disk space. On the software level, it coordinates the scheduling, dispatching, and managing of large numbers of standalone, parallel, or interactive user jobs. The Sun Grid is also offered as a service purchasable separately from the Sun Constellation System.

Sun offers another high performance computing system, the Sun Modular Datacenter. Although perhaps not as powerful as the Sun Constellation System, is much more flexible. The Modular Datacenter (MD) is essentially a portable server farm. It is built into a standard 20-foot shipping container, and therefore can be transported to any location in the world through existing transportation networks. It is ideal for locations that lack the infrastructure to support a server farm or in situations where a data center is needed in a location only temporarily, and the customer wants to avoid having to acquire or construct a building to house one. Upon arrival, a 280-server data center can be quickly deployed and made operational for 1/100th of the cost of constructing a traditional data center building. The only drawback is that an external chiller is required to operate the Modular Datacenter.

Considering that many of Sun’s products are already in use in several of the top 500 supercomputer systems (including the fourth fastest supercomputer computer in the world), it’s fairly obvious that HPC solutions is one of the things that Sun does best. While other companies can only offer one or two such solutions (if they have any at all), Sun Microsystems has several systems for customers to choose from.

Tom Kranz runs a Unix Consulting business, as well as a help site for users of Silicon Graphics computers. He specialise in Solaris consultancy and larger scale infrastructure solutions.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Choosing a smartphone is never an easy task. You cannot change your cell phone every month that’s why you have to think in a long term perspective, being aware that a qwerty phone you buy will serve you for at least a year or more.

First step in finding the best qwerty phone for you would be to determine the budget and decide if you would buy an unlocked phone or one tied up with a contract.

Applying for an 18-month contract, there is a chance you will get a free qwerty cell phone and a monthly data package or a hefty rebate from the selling price. It is the easiest option, however, nothing comes for free - you’re just getting your phone on split payments over the next 18 months. In most cases you will find that you pay less for minutes, texts and data if you are not on a subsidized contract, i.e. you buy an unlocked phone and pay the full price.

It all depends on your budget. If you have free money now, buy an unlocked phone and shop around for the best monthly price plan. If you decide to go for unlocked qwerty cell phone models, you have to allocate around $200. That starter sum of money can buy you an unlocked Palm Treo 680 or a Pantech Duo. The top-end qwerty cell phones will cost over $400 - an unlocked BlackBerry Bold World phone can cost you around $650. If this doesn’t sound like the right option, visit your wireless carrier for the free subsidized phone offers.

Operational System

It is easy to sort qwerty cell phone models by the (OS) operational systems they use. OS is a software environment that makes your cell phone run, managing calls, contacts, games, applications and all other functions.

The most obvious choice for majority of people would be a Windows Mobile OS, as it gives you a familiar interface similar to a PC, easy synchronization (data transfer between a mobile phone and a PC) and crash-free operation. The most popular qwerty cell phone models using Windows Mobile OS are HTC 620 (aka HTC Dash), HTC S740 and Palm Treo W edition.

Those who enjoy using hand-helds like Palm Pilot and other pocket organizers running Palm OS will probably want to follow their passion and stick with Palm. The most popular cell phones of this kind are Palm Treo models. There are different ones - check with your provider if the Treo model you like can be supported by your country network. For example, you will find it difficult to use Palm Treo 680 in USA because it does’t run on CDMA networks.

Another popular choice is Symbian OS used by Nokia smartphones. Some people feel that Symbian is becoming old and outdated in comparison with Windows, especially when it comes to editing Office documents. However, Symbian is an open-source program, which means that any programmer can develop apps and features for the OS. If you are keen on upgrading you basic cell phone with new apps and games, Symbian is the one to choose. With new open-source OS solutions like Android (the first qwerty cell phone using Android OS is Google G1 phone) taking on strength, it is possible that Symbian may fade away in next couple of years.

Another popular OS is BlackBerry - it is a light-weight Java based OS exclusively used by BlackBerry qwerty cell phones. BlackBerry gadgets are a good choice for business users but they are still to struggle in order to knock Windows Mobile from its pedestal of Number One smartphone software in the world.

Features and Entertainment

There are many different criteria for comparing qwerty cell phone models. You have to decide which features are the most important for you.

If you are keen on music and streaming video, you might find that Windows Media Player for Mobile suits your needs best. A phone with Windows Media Player will replace your MP3 player and your video player.

It is also preferable that a qwerty phone has a digital camera integrated. You need at least 1.3 or 2.0 Megapixels for quality images. Be aware that Palm Treo 680 has a 0.3 Megapixels camera and BlackBerry 7 has no camera at all.

A very important factor is the quality of the keyboard. I still think that the majority of people make their choice according to their thumb size. It is better to pop into a mobile shop and thest the keys of different qwerty cell phone models. The most tactile buttons are on HTC 620 and Nokia N71 - that’s why people with large hands usually pick these models or choose a slide-out qwerty cell phone (like HTC S740 or Google G1) where the keyboard is even bigger.

There is no such thing as the best qwerty phone in the world. All the major qwerty phone makers have spent restless months or even years and millions of dollars developing smartphone models and you shouldn’t really experience much trouble with any gadget. This is probably the case when you need to let your heart (or should I say thumbs) rule your head.

If you are looking for a phone with full qwerty keyboard, please read Qwerty Phone Reviews before making a decision.

Popularity: unranked [?]

The history of Sun Microsystems reveals how important innovation and flexibility are to the success of a company. Innovation allowed Sun to build a company capable of taking the lead in its marker within the first few years of its incorporation and continue to grow dramatically. More importantly, Sun’s flexibility and a willingness to adapt to changing environments enabled them to survive the bursting of the dot-com bubble that bankrupted so many tech companies. And both these traits—innovation and flexibility—allowed them to bounce back and recapture an influential presence in computer world.

Sun was incorporated in February 1982 with only four employees. For the next ten years, the company was mainly a hardware vendor selling workstations, but they did that single task quite well. They sold 68000 processor-based workstations running the Unix operating system, and using TCP/IP (now known as the Internet Protocol) at a relatively low cost. Five years later, they were winning the Workstation Wars of the 1980s and took the lead in the market. They maintained this lead into the early 1990s, when they expanded to servers.

The dot-com bubble of the 1990s led to booming business and dramatic growth for Sun Microsystems. New dot-com companies were starting up everywhere, creating a demand for expensive Sun-based server systems to handle high levels of web traffic. When the dot-com bubble burst in 2001, however, it hit Sun hard. Sales for hardware, Sun’s primary market, dropped dramatically. No new dot-com companies were starting up and needing new equipment. Existing startup companies didn’t need to upgrade their servers—when web traffic failed to meet their expectations, their existing high-end Sun servers could handle the existing load quite well. And as the dot-coms began to go out of business, their equipment was auctioned off, and suddenly companies needing high-end Sun servers could acquire them at a much lower cost than Sun was offering. Finally, Sun was also facing competition from a new server farm strategy that used larger numbers of small, cheap servers running open-source operating systems (primarily Linux) instead of the traditional strategy of small number of expensive, high-end servers like the ones Sun produced. As a result of all these factors, Sun experienced several quarters of steady losses, their stock fell to less than a tenth of its peak value, and Sun was forced to close manufacturing plants and lay off employees.

In addition to massive cost-reduction efforts, Sun managed to weather the recession through flexibility, adopting its competitor’s strategies and diversification of it products. Sun developed a powerful but low-cost 64-bit system to compete in the low-end server market. They began to compete in the open-source world by donating 1,600 patents to the global open source community in 2005. Currently, Sun offers an open-source office suite (StarOffice and OpenOffice), an open-source version of Solaris (OpenSolaris), and turned their powerful platform Java system into an open-source project. Finally, they began to diversify their business away from mainly hardware and are competing in the “Software as a Service” Market. In 2005, they expanded their 3000-CPU server farm used for research and development, and made it available for commercial use, selling processing hours and storage at affordable prices.

Today, Sun Microsystems retains an influential presence in the computing world. Their history demonstrates the importance of innovation and flexibility to a company. Innovation allowed Sun to grow quickly and dominates their market. Their flexibility with their products and willingness to adapt to a changing economic environment allowed them to survive a recession. And both qualities allowed them to bounce back and stay ahead of the volatile and ever-changing tech market.

Tom Kranz runs a Unix Consulting business, as well as a help site for users of Silicon Graphics computers. He specialise in Solaris consultancy and larger scale infrastructure solutions.

Popularity: unranked [?]

Company Overview

Formerly known as General Wireless, Inc., Metro PCS Communication was founded in 1994 in Dallas, Texas with its founder Roger D. Lindquist, Chairman and CEO.

Prepaid Plans

Metro PCS Prepaid plans use a flat rate billing method with an offering of unlimited local calling plan for $30 as well as unlimited local and long distance plans for $35 to $50 per month.

The $30 per month that has unlimited local calling with no additional features. The $35 per month also has unlimited local and long distance calling, but no additional features. The $40 per month that has both unlimited local and long distance calling with enhanced voice mail, caller id, call waiting, three-way calling available. The $45 per month with unlimited local and long distance calling comes with an additional unlimited text, picture messaging, international text, enhanced voicemail, caller id, three-way calling, Mapquest, premium directory assistance, IM and internet access available. And lastly, the $50 per month that has everything above that includes Loopt and your personal Metro PCS email account as well as Pocket Express and Screen It

Pros and Cons

Unlimited services for calls are very attractive packages for those who always use the phone for calls. Also, as no contract is required; subscribers can go pay month to month, even though the plan resembles a traditional cell phone plan. Additional fees apply for basic extras such as caller ID, call waiting and 3 way calling. Metro PCS Prepaid also has very limited coverage areas which may run up additional charges.

Features

Minutes

Metro PCS Prepaid offers unlimited airtime messages to its subscribers.

Data

The Metro PCS Prepaid plan offers mobile Web access for $5 per month with the $35 and $40 plans. It is not available on the $30 plan but is included in the $45 and $50 plans.

Text and Picture

Unlimited text messaging is available at a flat rate of $3 per month with the $35 plan; it is free with all other plans. Picture messaging is available for $5 a month with the $35 and $40 plans. It is free with the higher priced plans. Text messaging and picture messaging are not available with the most basic plan.

International

Metro PCS Prepaid offers much lower and affordable international long distance rates than most companies, starting at 6 cents per minute. Contact customer service to hear find out more regarding specific country pricing.

Calling Features

Voicemail, caller ID, call waiting, 3 way calling are all included in higher plans free of charge. Other plans require additional charges to access these features.

Long Distance

The nationwide long distance is absolutely free when subscribers purchase the long distance plans.

911

Yes

Payment Options

Metro PCS Prepaid has an auto-pay feature which allows for payment to be made automatically with a credit or debit card each month. Subscribers can also pay by check, cash, credit card or debit card at a retail location. They can also pay over the phone with credit or debit card. Pay by mail is another option.

Roaming Charges

Roaming outside of a subscriber’s local service area is not included with your plan. Metro PCS Prepaid can offer the ability to roam with their TravelTalk program with an additional charge between 49 and 79 cents per minute, depending on location.

Activation Fee

There is no activation fee unless a new subscriber purchases a new phone and signs up for a service. But a $15 re-activation fee will apply to suspended accounts or returning subscribers.

Minute Expiration Rules

Metro PCS Prepaid has unlimited calling with all plans, so there are no minutes to purchase or expire.

Customer Service

Customer service is available via a toll free number and has an extensive customer help and support section on Metro PCS Prepaid customer service website.

Phones

Phones for Metro PCS Prepaid differ from one state to another. For more information, visit the website or call customer support.

For more similar articles, visit http://www.prepaidcellphoneselection.com and read about Prepaid brand reviews and ratings, blogs, industry news, forums.

Popularity: unranked [?]

The history of Solaris, the Unix-based operating system developed by Sun Microsystems, displays that company’s ability to be innovative and flexible. Solaris, one could argue, is perpetually ahead of the curve in the computer world. Sun continually adapts to the changing computer environment, trying to anticipate where the computer world is going, and what will be needed next, and develops new versions of Solaris to take that into account.

Solaris was born in 1987 out of an alliance between AT&T and Sun Microsystems to combine the leading Unix versions (BSD, XENIX, and System V) into one operating system. Four years later in 1991, Sun replaced it’s existing Unix operating system (SunOS 4) with one based on SVR4. This new OS, Solaris 2, contained many new advances, including use of the OpenWindows graphical user interface, NIS+, Open Network Computing (ONC) functionality, and was specially tuned for symmetric multiprocessing.

This kicked off Solaris’ history of constant innovation, with new versions of Solaris being released almost annually over the next fifteen years. Sun was constantly striving to stay ahead of the curve, while at the same time adapting Solaris to the existing, constantly evolving wider computing world. The catalogue of innovations in the Solaris OS are too numerous to list here, but a few milestones are worth mentioning. Solar 2.5.1 in 1996 added CDE, the NFSv3 file system and NFS/TCP, expanded user and group IDs to 32 bits, and included support for the Macintosh PowerPC platform. Solaris 2.6 in 1997 introduced WebNFS file system, Kerberos 5 security encryption, and large file support to increase Solaris’ internet performance.

Solaris 2.7 in 1998 (renamed just Solaris 7) included many new advances, such as native support for file system meta-data logging (UFS logging). It was also the first 64-bit release, which dramatically increased its performance, capacity, and scalability. Solaris 8 in 2000 took it a step further was the first OS to combine datecentre and dot-com requirements, offering support for IPv6 and IPSEC, Multipath I/O, and IPMP. Solaris 9 in 2002 saw the writing on the wall of the server market, dropped OpenWindows in favour of Linux compatibility, and added a Resource Manager, the Solaris Volume Manager, extended file attributes, and the iPlanet Directory Server.

Solaris 10, the current version, was released to the public in 2005 free of charge and with a host of new developments. The latest advances in the computing world are constantly being incorporated in new versions of Solaris 10 released every few months. To mention just a few, Solaris features more and more compatibility with Linux and IBM systems, has introduced the Java Desktop System based on GNOME, added Dynamic Tracing (Dtrace), NFSv4, and later the ZFS file system in 2006.

Also in 2006, Sun set up the OpenSolaris Project. Within the first year, the OpenSolaris community had grown to 14,000 members with 29 user groups globally, working on 31 active projects. Although displaying a deep commitment to open-source ideals, it also provides Sun with thousands of developers essentially working for free.

The development of the Solaris OS demonstrates Sun Microsystems’ ability to be on the cutting edge of the computing world without losing touch with the current computing environment. Sun regularly releases new versions of Solaris incorporating the latest development in computer technology, yet also included more cross-platform compatibility and incorporating the advances of other systems. The OpenSolaris project is the ultimate display of these twin strengths—Sun has tapped into the creative energy of developers across the world and receives instant feedback about what their audience wants and needs. If all software companies took a lesson from Sun, imagine how exciting and responsive the industry could be.

Tom Kranz runs a Unix Consulting business, as well as a help site for users of Silicon Graphics computers. He specialise in Solaris consultancy and larger scale infrastructure solutions.

Popularity: unranked [?]

When one comes up against an unbreakable barrier, what do you do? Symmetrical multiprocessing is a classic example of handling the problem by going around the barrier rather than trying to break through it. The technological barrier, in this case, is the computer processor. Although CPU technology is constantly evolving, becoming faster and more powerful, it’s not growing fast enough to keep up with our computing needs. If one can’t break through it, how does one go around it? The answer is to add a second processor, or a third, or ten, or a hundred. Symmetrical multiprocessing is the computer architecture that allows a computer to divide different tasks among multiple processors working in unison.

In symmetric multiprocessing, or SMP, two or more processors act independently, but share the share the memory bank. When using processors that have more than one core, each core acts as a separate processor. Each processor (or core) can be assigned to any process or thread, and can pass the tasks back and forth between the different processors for load balancing. SMP architecture is most useful for systems running multiple programs simultaneously, because each program can be assigned its own dedicated processor.

Obviously, one must have an SMP-capable operating system to order to take full advantage of the multiple processors. Without one, a multiprocessor computer would behave like a uniprocessor system—maxing out one CPU while the others remain unused.

Modern entry-level SMP systems (which these days includes home PCs and laptops) often have only one processor with multiple cores, the most popular ones being Intel’s Xeon, Pentium D, and Core Duo series, and AMD’s Athlon64 and Operton processor families. Entry-level servers also use CPUs, along with Sun Microsystems’ UltraSPARC family of multicore processors. Midrange servers usually contain several multicore processors, most often between four and eight.

High-end servers have sixteen or more multicore processors. However, for a long time high-end servers’ processing power was blocked by another unbreakable barrier—the physical memory addressing limitation of 64 Gigabits. The development of 64-bit memory addressing about five years ago got around this barrier. Intel’s EM64T Xeon processor, AMD’s AMD64 Operton, and Sun’s SPARC64 processors are all now able to perform 64-bit addressing.

Sun Microsystems’ M-class Enterprise servers using SPARC64 VII processors are good examples of the power of an SMP system. The most powerful of Sun’s high-end servers is the Enterprise M9000, which can be equipped with up to 64 processors. If combined with Sun’s SPARC64 VII processor, a quad core CPU, this server can effectively utilize 256 separate, independent processing cores. In fact, in May of 2008, a Sun Enterprise M9000 server set a worldwide performance record on the TPC-H data warehousing benchmark at the 1 Terabyte scale factor using an Oracle Database.

For now, the unbreakable barrier of processor speed has been sidestepped. The combination of multicored processors, 64-bit memory addressing and symmetrical multiprocessing allows this to happen. The next technological barrier we’ll come up against is the limit of physical memory addressing for the processors. But with 64-bit architecture capable of addressing up to 16 ExaBits of memory, this is not a barrier we’ll bumping up against anytime soon.

Tom Kranz runs a Unix Consulting business, as well as a help site for users of Silicon Graphics computers. He specialise in Solaris consultancy and larger scale infrastructure solutions.

Popularity: unranked [?]

It’s hard for kids to imagine live today without TV or television. You can always date yourself back to medieval times by mentioning that the TVs that you watched were 1) small 2) black and white not color 3) had tubes rather than transistors and broke down all the time and lastly that you had only 1, 2 , 3 or maybe 4 channels at most. Contrast that to today’s “100 channels with nothing on” the giant bid screen LCD or plasma TV and you sure get a comparison.

What is the history of television and TV broadcasting in the US?

First of all it can be stated that early TV and experiments in television like devices were conducted throughout the world in various places. Alternatively TV could be said to be “invented” in Britain, Scotland, Germany Russia or the United States. Still the major introduction of TV in a major way with regular television programming over networks and TV stations did not occur till 1946 after the end of the Second World War. Actual color TV broadcasting did not start until the 1950’s with widespread introduction some 10 years later overall. In 1954 the first all electronic color televisions sets were introduced at $ 1,000, which was generally 1/3, the price of a new mid-range car.

Try to tell a youngster that you lived before the days of remotes and you got lots of exercise getting up to physically twist the dial and manually change the channel on the set. True there were only a handful of stations then so there was not that much choice

As such “channel hunting “or “channel surfing” was kept to a minimum. It could be said that these were the “golden years” of the television industry and television industry execs. Not only were there few channels for competition among TV networks and TV stations but as well many viewers were just too lazy to get off the couch and change the channel. In some cases it can be said that just like today with 4 year old computer geniuses it was often left to the youngsters to be the official channel changers as many adults were either unfamiliar or downright intimidated by the television set and its banks and rows of dials and controls.

Indeed the first version of the “remote control” was dubbed “Lazy Bones” as it seemed the ultimate in laziness not to have to get up off the couch or easy chair to physically change the channel on the set. However the first remote the “Lazy Bone” was not wireless – it ran with a cable across the room that was often tripped over by unseeing, thoughtless family and guests. The TV remote was well received and shortly better models that were used wireless ultrasound like today’s various electronic remote controls .Remotes were a major luxury upgrade in both cost and availability for TV model lines.

In the end it can be said that just like software use and needs often drives computer purchases the same could be said about the TV industry and its growth. It was the software of its day for the electronic device – the actual TV programs that sold television sets more than any technology improvement and advances. People bought TV whether it was to watch Milton Berle (Uncle L Miltie), I Love Lucy, the Ed Sullivan Show later on or amazingly a major driver of early TV sales was watching the professional wrestling matches at home. People liked the entertainment available “on the box” and found that they could only watch these shows at their friends or relatives so many times and “had to buy a set”.

Still it’s an amazing journey and a question to ask youngsters of “How Would You Live without T.V. ?”.

Travel Hotel Entertainment Bid Directory T.V.U. Linux Software Download TV.? Digital Cameras Blog Bid Directory

Popularity: unranked [?]

Multi-Tier Latency Concepts-01 by Barry Koplowitz

This article is also available as a Podcast on “The RootCause” podcast series available on iTunes.

The issue of latency of any kind, is a complex issue. Latency measurements in multi-tiered designs are the most complex of all. That being said, below are Five Concepts to help you get started.

FIRST: You need to have a clear understanding of the various types of latency. As I have covered this in other articles and podcasts, I will only include a bulleted list of the most critical types.

— LAN

— WAN

— Server

— Application

— Database

— Proxy

— Workstation & Browser

SECOND: You need to have a clear vision of what you are looking for. It is unlikely that you will be able to monitor all those areas simultaneously (except possibly through logs). Are you looking as part of a troubleshooting process, or a baselining process, or are you setting up a monitoring process?

THIRD: Think in terms of elimination. What can you eliminate from the equation? Breaking out the various forms of latency from a set of WireShark (or other) Trace Files is a subtractive process. You are trying to separate metrics.

For example, let’s say you want to separate the WAN from the LAN. You will need to have metrics of the same transactions from as close to the point where a packet gets onto the WAN as possible. Simultaneously, you need to capture the same transactions, performed on the other side of the WAN. If your testing is tight, your timing exact, and your process in both locations identical, you will be able to subtract the LAN metrics from the WAN metrics and have a glimpse of the WAN Only metrics.

Unfortunately this is not always as easy as it seems. In the example used above, it is accurate with minimal work—but only from the First Tier to the Client. Once you need metrics from the Second, Third or other Tiers—it gets much more complex. That is why one short article is limited to the big picture of concepts. Details require more space—but are also available

FOURTH: Once you have figured out where the traffic you want to measure is—specifically, its Physical Data Path—you are in a position to determine where to place your Packet-Sniffers. At minimum, you will always need two. You want to see the packet leave its source and arrive at its destination—both ways. Seeing only one side or the other may be able to tell you a great deal about the nature of the traffic and help you determine the cause of problems—but you need both sides to measure latency. Sometimes—you need several sides.

FIFTH: Once you are past the First Tier—identification of your test packets becomes more difficult. The Back-End Tiers will probably use protocols very different than the front. Additionally, depending on how the application is threaded, you may see many different users and connections funneled through a single connection on the Back-End. So, how do you separate them? The key is to find something that can be unique. If you have the ability to work directly with the Test Users (Human or Simulated) and can get them to put in certain text or numerical values, then you can look in the traces for those values and learn the specific TCP’s involved. It is best to speak to the Subject Matter Experts (SME) for the Application and Database, as they will know where you might be able to place such dummy data.

Barry Koplowitz founded Interpath Technologies Corporation in 1999. He is an executive consultant to large enterprise environments in the area of Processes, Management, Network/Application Analysis and Troubleshooting. His methodical approach provides real world solutions. He is the writer and host of The Root Cause podcast available on iTunes. http://www.interpathtech.

Popularity: unranked [?]