Tips Mudah Dapat Idea Untuk Menulis Di Blog

Entri kali ini saya nak ajak seluruh warga blogger untuk terus istiqamah dan bersemangat mengemas kini (update) blog masing-masing. Blogging menjadi satu wadah yang baik untuk ditinggalkan sebagai jariah ILMU kepada seluruh warga netizen. Insyaallah.

Jika dilakukan dengan serius, kegiatan ini akan menjadi sangat menyeronokkan. Selain boleh dapat ramai kawan, kegiatan ini juga menjadi salah satu cara melahirkan idea secara actual yang ada di kepala atau benak hati anda. Daripada dibiarkan terpendam saja idea tersebut, lebih baik dikongsikan melalui tulisan agar semakin banyak orang membaca dan siapa tahu dari tulisan-tulisan itu ada pembaca yang akan mendapat inspirasi baru. Bukankah ini sudah menjadi ladang amal kita, iaitu menulis untuk berkongsi. Dan ini perlu dibudayakan dalam masyarakat kita. Lihat saja masyarakat di Eropah yang suka berkongsi maklumat dengan orang ramai. Kalau kita search di Google tentang sesuatu perkara, terdapat lebih banyak maklumat yang datang dari mat saleh ini. Betul tak?

Kalau bercakap pasal penulisan, sudah pasti kita sangat memerlukan idea. Haa... perkara inilah yang sering menekan blogger ketika mereka ingin mengemas kini tulisannya. Rata-rata mereka mengakui akan kekangan mendapatkan idea. Tak tahu apa yang nak dipos.

Baiklah, supaya kawan-kawan blogger tidak susah mendapatkan idea, saya kongsikan sedikit ilmu cara mendapatkan idea untuk membantu anda menulis posting. Idea ini saya peroleh hasil dari pembacaan saya dari mereka yang lebih arif. Tips ini telah saya lakukan selama beberapa tahun. Ini sebahagian daripada tipsnya:

• Bertenang dan berzikir. 
  Tenangkan fikiran dan jangan terlalu memikirkan masalah yang dihadapi. Punca utama kita mengalami sindrom kekangan idea ini disebabkan emosi kita sering terganggu. Justeru, sebelum menaip pastikan minda kita dipenuhi dengan fikiran positif serta tiada perkara yang boleh mengganggu fikiran. Sebaik-baiknya banyakkan istighfar untuk dapatkan ketenangan. Bila kita dah bertenang, Insyaallah, akan dipermudahkan Allah untuk menjana idea dengan baik. Idea yang  mencurah-curah memudahkan kita nak update entry terbaru. Ketenangan juga menjadikan kita lebih fokus menaip entri blog.
• Tentukan tema.
  Tema ini sangat penting. Sebelum membuat tulisan sebaiknya tentukan temanya dulu kerana tema ini adalah seperti satu kerangka bagi sesebuah tulisan. Anda boleh menggunakan apa sahaja objek disekeliling anda sebagai inspirasi kepada tema anda.
• Tentukan jenis tulisan.
  Jenis tulisan ini penting untuk menarik pembaca sehingga mereka mudah mengenali ciri khas gaya tulisan kita. Jenis tulisan ini macam-macam, misalnya cerpen, feature, karya ilmiah, dan lain-lain.
• Menggali idea.
  Idea boleh datang dari mana saja. Untuk mendapatkan idea ini kita bebas berkarya ikut kesesuaian yang kita mahu. Tulislah berdasarkan minat anda kerana ianya dapat meningkatkan kreativiti dan menyebabkan idea bercambah dari semasa ke semasa. Misalnya menulis pengalaman peribadi, menulis pengalaman orang lain, menulis hasil dari khayalan, atau membuat tulisan review. Bila kita suka kepada sesuatu topik, senang kita hendak huraikan isinya, dan secara tak langsung akan meningkatkan kualiti penulisan kita.
• Gunakan konsep idea dengan kaedah jurnalistik.
  Setelah semuanya diperoleh selanjutnya adalah proses mengkonsepkan idea. Biasanya untuk mengkonsepkan idea ini saya kerap menggunakan kaedah jurnalistik. Kaedah jurnalistik itu adalah konsep 5 W + 1 H (What, Who, Why, When, Where, and How). Ini semua kita dah belajar semasa di sekolah. Takkan lupa dah kot? Insya Allah jika menulis menggunakan kaedah ini kita akan lebih mudah menyusun tulisan sebab kerangkanya sudah sistematik sehingga tinggal mengembangkan saja.

Semoga tips mudah mendapat idea posting blog di atas dapat membantu kawan-kawan ketika pening mencari idea tulisan. Dan jangan lupa supaya tulisan semakin berkualiti banyakkanlah membaca supaya perbendaharaan kosa kata anda bertambah banyak.

TCP/IP and Subnet Mask

Tutorial by Eli

1BRIS : Laporan Ketua Audit Negara

SALAH satu perkara kontroversi yang dibangkitkan oleh Laporan Ketua Audit Negara adalah pemasangan 1BestariNet Receiver Integrated System, atau 1BRIS.

Bagi sekolah tanpa struktur LAN yang sesuai untuk jalur lebar berkelajuan tinggi, menara 1BRIS dipasang di premis itu untuk menerima dan menyampaikan isyarat tanpa wayar berkelajuan tinggi.

Sebagai sebahagian daripada proses ini, Kementerian telah mendapatkan input daripada Jabatan Penilaian dan Perkhidmatan Harta (JPPH) berkenaan dengan kadar sewa yang sesuai untuk kontraktor, YTL. JPPH dalam surat bertarikh 14 Januari 2013
telah mengesyorkan sewa bulanan sebanyak RM1,200 bagi setiap tapak 1BRIS.

Walau bagaimanapun, YTL enggan membayar jumlah ini, malah menyatakan sebaliknya bahawa syarat-syarat kontrak membenarkan mereka untuk memasang menara secara percuma.

Selepas itu, pada 14 Februari 2014, Kementerian telah memutuskan untuk mengenakan sewa token sebanyak RM1,000 setahun bagi setiap tapak 1BRIS.

Berdasarkan jumlah yang baru ini, YTL membayar jumlah yang tertunggak, iaitu RM2,416.67 bagi setiap tapak dari 1 Mei 2012 hingga 30 Jun 2014, termasuk deposit tiga bulan.

Namun demikian, RM1,000 setahun adalah jauh berbeza daripada RM1,200 sebulan yang disyorkan oleh JPPH. Malah, Laporan Ketua Audit Negara menyatakan kadar tersebut adalah 'tidak munasabah'.

Dengan sebanyak 3,203 menara 1BRIS dipasang di seluruh negara ini, pendapatan sewa pada harga RM1,200 sebulan atau RM14,400 setahun adalah RM46.12 juta setahun. Pada masa ini, YTL hanya membayar RM3.2 juta setahun. Ini bersamaan dengan kerugian pendapatan sebanyak RM42.92 juta setahun bagi Kementerian.

Selain itu, Laporan Ketua Audit Negara juga mendapati berdasarkan kontrak yang dipersetujui antara Kementerian dan YTL, semua caj utiliti yang berkaitan dengan 1BestariNet dan 1BRIS adalah ditanggung oleh Kerajaan sepanjang tempoh kontrak,
sementara kontraktor hanya bertanggungjawab untuk kos yang berkaitan dengan pemasangan, penyelenggaraan dan pengurusan 1BRIS.

Ini adalah suatu kecuaian yang serius dalam perjanjian kontrak, seperti diakui pihak Kementerian dalam jawapannya kepada Pejabat Ketua Audit Negara bahawa pemasangan menara 1BRIS telah meningkatkan kos elektrik sekolah daripada RM150
hingga RM180 sebulan.

Bagi 3,203 tapak 1BRIS di seluruh negara, peningkatan caj elektrik adalah antara RM5.77 juta hingga RM6.92 juta setahun. Dengan kata lain, jumlah ini merupakan subsidi oleh Kerajaan untuk kepentingan YTL.

Menurut Laporan Ketua Audit Negara, Kerajaan hanya melanggan perkhidmatan YTL dan tidak seharusnya dibebani dengan caj utiliti, yang sepatutnya menjadi sebahagian daripada kos operasi penyedia perkhidmatan.

Akibat kelemahan dalam kontrak 1BestariNet yang jelas berat sebelah, YTL akan memperolehi keuntungan hampir RM50 juta setahun. Selama tempoh masa 15 tahun projek ini, YTL bakal mendapat keuntungan tambahan sebanyak RM750 juta. Ini tidak termasuk keuntungan daripada penggunaan komersil menara 1BRIS.

Menurut laporan portal berita yang kini tidak berfungsi iaitu fz.com pada 10 Mei 2013, Pengarah YTL Yeoh Seok Hong dipetik sebagai berkata, "menara di sekolah-sekolah bukan sahaja akan menyediakan sambungan Internet tanpa wayar di sekolah, tetapi di sekitar kawasannya juga".

Dengan kata lain, menara 1BRIS juga akan menyediakan perkhidmatan komersial jalur lebar YES 4G kepada penduduk sekitarnya, sekaligus memungkinkan YTL untuk meraih keuntungan tambahan.

Sumber: http://goo.gl/vErH3L

Manfaat Dari Bigdata Kepada Sesebuah Syarikat

Apa manfaat yang dapat diperoleh dari Bigdata ?

Pengenalan BigData telah membolehkan pihak organisasi atau syarikat mengakses lebih banyak data berbanding sebelumnya. Data tak-terstruktur boleh dikatakan telah 'mati dan tidak bernilai', namun dengan BigData, ianya boleh dikumpul dan dianalisa bagi manfaat organisasi. BigData memberikan peluang kepada organisasi untuk menerokai korelasi data dan bentuk data (patterns) yang sebelum ini boleh dikatakan terselindung (hidden). Ini bermakna, pihak organisasi sekarang ini mempunyai akses kepada lebih banyak maklumat tepat yang boleh mempengaruhi perniagaan mereka.

Berikut ini beberapa pemanfaat dari BigData yang sering digunakan dalam syarikat besar.

Meningkatkan Jualan

Biasanya data yang dapat digunakan untuk meningkatkan jualan sesebuah perniagaan antaranya ialah seperti apa yang disukai, siapa yang disukai, bagaiamana perasaan saya, saya berada di mana, saya bersama siapa, apa yang telah saya beli, apa saja yang ingin saya beli, mimpi apa yang ingin saya miliki, dan hal-hal lainnya.
Data-data ini digunakan syarikat perniagaan untuk menilai produk-produk seperti apa yng perlu diciptakan dan diproduksi oleh syarikat agar pengguna menyukai dan membeli produk yang dihasilkan oleh syarikat

Hubungan Pelanggan (Costumer Relationship)

Kadang kita akan mendapatkan ucapan selamat ulang tahun dari beberapa syarikat produk, atau terkadang juga kita akan mendapatkan kiriman penawaran promo produk dari beberapa brand meskipun kita sudah lama tidak menggunakan produk mereka.

Ini sebahagian dari proses Customer Relathionship Management (CRM). Ini adalah salah satu cara syarikat untuk membina kesetiaan para pengguna mereka terhadap brand milik syarikat dan hal ini boleh menyebabkan pembelian kembali oleh pengguna terhadap brand dari syarikat tersebut. Perkara sebeginilah yang diharapkan oleh sesebuah syarikat.

Data-data ini biasanya dapat diukur dari tarikh ulang tahun kita, artis kegemaran kita, barang jenis kesukaan kita, atau hal-hal yang kita suka. Data-data ini dijadikan rujukan oleh syarikat untuk membina hubungan yang dekat dengan pengguna brand mereka. Sehingga pengguna boleh menjadi hero bagi brand syarikat di antara brand-brand produk lainnya.

Hubungan Pekerja (Employee Relation)

Sumber Manusia (Human Resources) adalah aset terbesar bagi sesebuah syarikat. Hal ini menjadi perhatian penting bagi sesebuah syarikati untuk meningkatkan kesetiaan dari para pekerja terhadap syarikat tersebut.

Sebagai contoh, pihak syarikat akan mengumpulkan data-data mengenai tingkat kepuasan dan ketidakpuasan dari para pekerjanya. Pihak syarikat akan menanalisa data-data menjadi sebuah nilai yang berharga, bagi membolehkannya meningkatkan prestasi dari pekerjanya melalui program-pogram yang disediakan oleh syarikat berkenaan. Hal ini biasanya menjadi tugas dari Jabatan Sumber Manusia (HRD) untuk melakukan perancangan program yang memberikan manfaat bagi tingkat kepuasan kerja para pekerja dan meningkatkan tahap produktiviti. Secara tidak langsung, ianya mampu menyekat para pekerja dari berpindah ke syarikat lain.

BigData memainkan peranan penting dalam memberikan informasi bagi sesebuah syarikat untuk melakukan inovasi dalam menjalankan core business mereka. Seterusnya terserahlah kepada syarikat memikirkan bagaimana untuk mengumpulkan dan mengolah BigData mereka.

Sumber:

1. http://www.e-dba.com/
2. http://blogdetik.com

 

Malaysia Perlu Ramai Saintis Data Pacu Ekonomi Baharu

PERDANA Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak mempengerusikan Mesyuarat Majlis Pelaksanaan Koridor Raya Multimedia Malaysia (MSC) kali ke-26 Perbadanan Pembangunan Multimedia (MDeC) di Bangunan Perdana Putra di sini hari ini. - Foto BERNAMA

PUTRAJAYA: Kerajaan sedang mempertimbangkan untuk melantik seorang ketua saintis data berikutan perkembangan pesat MSC Malaysia dan sektor digital di negara ini, kata Perdana Menteri, Datuk Seri Najib Razak.

Katanya, cadangan itu akan dikemukakan kepada kabinet untuk tujuan pelantikan tidak lama lagi.
"Memajukan ekonomi digital Malaysia adalah satu jalan yang perlu kita ambil dan cabaran itu perlu dihadapi dengan penuh bersemangat bagi menggerakkan negara ke arah mencapai Wawasan 2020," katanya semasa menyampaikan ucapan penutup pada mesyuarat Majlis Pelaksanaan MSC ke-26 di sini, hari ini.

MSC Malaysia adalah inisiatif teknologi maklumat dan komunikasi nasional yang diwujudkan bagi menarik syarikat teknologi bertaraf dunia dan dalam masa yang mempersiapkan industri ICT tempatan.

Dalam usaha menangani jurang kemahiran dari segi saintis data yang ada di negara ini, Najib berkata kerajaan memutuskan untuk mengarahkan agensi pemberi biasiswa seperti Jabatan Perkhidmatan Awam (JPA), Kementerian Pendidikan dan Suruhanjaya Komunikasi dan Multimedia Malaysia (MCMC) untuk menyediakan biasiswa.

"Dengan ini, ia membolehkan rakyat Malaysia dilatih sebagai saintis data bagi ijazah pertama, ijazah sarjana dan PhD dan ini boleh dilakukan dengan segera kerana kita mahu ia ditambah bagi mengatasi jurang kemahiran," katanya.

Najib juga mengumumkan Malaysia akan menjadi hos Kongres Dunia mengenai Teknologi Maklumat (WCIT) pada 2020 yang akan dianjurkan bersama oleh MDeC dan PIKOM.

Pemilihan penganjur itu diumumkan pada WCIT 2014 di Guadalajara, Mexico, baru-baru ini.
Ini kali kedua Malaysia diberi penghormatan untuk menjadi penganjur WCIT selepas kejayaannya menjadi penganjur siri ke-16 pada 2008 di Kuala Lumpur.

Sementara itu, Menteri Komunikasi Dan Multimedia, Datuk Seri Ahmad Shabery Cheek berkata kira-kira 10,000 saintis data profesional diperlukan untuk membangunkan sistem data negara menjelang tahun 2020.

Kerajaan juga sedang berusaha membawa pulang saintis-saintis data di luar negara untuk kembali berkhidmat di tanah air.

"Setakat ini kita mungkin ada 1,000 lebih di kalangan data profesional tetapi data saintis itu tidak ramai dan ada beberapa orang di merata dunia dan kita berusaha mendapatkan mereka kembali. Sebelum ini kedudukan dalam kerajaan tidak begitu jelas kedudukan mereka, kini mereka akan diberikan tempat lebih menarik." kata Ahmad Shabery ketika ditemui pemberita selepas majlis yang sama.

Dalam usaha merealisasikan peluang dalam big data analytics (BDA), Perbadanan Pembangunan Multimedia (MDEC) akan melaksanakan tiga projek berimpak tinggi dalam pembangunan bakat.

Antaranya termasuk penubuhan Institut Data Sains Asia, data terbuka kerajaan dan penubuhan Pusat Inovasi Kecemerlangan BDA bagi melahirkan bakat tempatan dalam bidang sains data.

Read more at: http://www.astroawani.com/news/show/lebih-banyak-biasiswa-ditawar-bagi-tingkatkan-industri-sains-data-negara-46806?cp

Sumber:
1. www.bharian.com.my
2. www.astroawani.com

Apa Itu Bigdata?

Pembicaraan mengenai Bigdata dalam entri saya kali ini adalah hasil carian dan kutipan dari artikel yang pernah keluar di media cetak mahupun media elektronik. 

Apa itu Bigdata?

Sebelum membicarakan Bigdata dengan lebih lanjut, ada baiknya kita melihat sedikit penjelasan terminologi Bigdata yang diambil dari wikipedia,

Big data is a blanket term for any collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes difficult to process using on-hand data management tools or traditional data processing applications.

The challenges include capture, curation, storage, search, sharing, transfer, analysis and visualization. The trend to larger data sets is due to the additional information derivable from analysis of a single large set of related data, as compared to separate smaller sets with the same total amount of data, allowing correlations to be found to “spot business trends, prevent diseases, combat crime and so on.

Bigdata merupakan satu  istilah umum untuk sebarang koleksi set-set data yang begitu besar dan kompleks yang begitu sukar untuk diproses menggunakan alat pengurusan data yang sedia ada atau aplikasi pemprosesan data tradisional

Apakah semua data yang besar dapat disebut sebagai bigdata ? Bigdata memiliki 3 ciri utama iaitu :

1. Volume
Volume data yang besar pada pada bigdata ini meningkat seiring dengan berkembangnya teknologi internet. Jutaan orang memproduksi data video yang ada di youtube, status di facebook, foto di instagram dan lain-lainnya. Banyaknya data yang diproduksi telah menghasilkan begitu besar volume data yang tersimpan secara format digital di internet.

2. Velocity
Volume data yang banyak tersebut bertambah dengan kecepatan yang begitu cepat sehingga sukar bagi kita untuk mengelola hal tersebut.

3. Variety
Data yang begitu banyak dan cepat tersebut memiliki jenis yang pelbagai. Ada teks, gambar, video, foto, animasi, dan lebih banyak lagi jenis data yang lain.

Bigdata bukan hanya membicarakan masalah ukuran, namun juga meliputi kelajuan pertumbuhan data serta variasi data. Itu sebabnya dikenal istilah “Volume”, “Velocity”, and “Variety” sebagai ciri-ciri Bigdata.

Jika permasalahan data hanya terhad pada ukuran, maka teknologi database ketika ini masih mampu untuk menangani data berjumlah sangat besar tersebut. Namun ketika data tumbuh sangat cepat disertai dengan jenis yang semakin beragam maka teknologi sekarang akan menemui banyak keterbatasan untuk memproses data-data tersebut.

Ketika sekumpulan data dimasukan ke dalam database, setidak-tidaknya pembangun (developer) harus menentukan struktur data tersebut dalam database. Format data input harus ditentukan atau diketahui sebelumnya. Apa yang akan terjadi semasa implementasi dan operasional berjalan ternyata ada data dalam bentuk lain juga ingin dimasukan ke dalam database? Data tersebut harus melalui proses normalisasi, format data harus disesuaikan terlebih dahulu dengan format yang telah didefinisikan oleh database barulah kemudian data boleh dimasukkan ke dalam database. Sebesar apapun jumlah data yang akan dimasukan asalkan format datanya sesuai maka akan dapat ditangani oleh teknologi database yang digunakan. Data bukan hanya untuk disimpan dalam database, namun juga untuk diproses serta ditampilkan kembali. Apabila format data telah sesuai dengan design database awal, memproses dan menampilkan data adalah hal yang mudah. Apalagi jika didukung dengan hardware yang selayaknya.

Seiring dengan perkembangan dunia digital, data yang perlu untuk disimpan ke dalam database semakin besar. Data tersebut boleh meningkat dalam hitungan saat, dan yang lebih parah adalah bentuk data tersebut semakin beragam. Kemungkinan terjadi data-data tersebut memiliki format video, gambar, logs, binary, trace logs (.pcap), dsb. Ketika data-data tersebut meningkat (growth) dan ingin disimpan dalam database sehingga dapat diproses oleh aplikasi maka diperlukan suatu pendekatan baru untuk menyimpan data-data tersebut serta memprosesnya dalam waktu singkat. Kita tidak perlu membuat definisi struktur terlebih dahulu untuk menyimpan data tersebut sehingga apapun bentuk datanya maka tinggal ‘lempar’ saja ke dalam media penyimpanan / database, apabila diperlukan maka kita boleh memproses data apapun dalam media penyimpanan tersebut untuk mendapatkan hasil pemrosesan dalam waktu singkat. Ingat, dalam waktu singkat. Jika dengan teknologi database sekarang ini untuk mendapatkan hasil dalam waktu singkat sangat memungkinkan disebabkan adanya struktur data yang jelas, maka bagaimana caranya apabila sekumpulan data tersebut benar-benar mentah?

Hadoop & Bigdata Market Segments

Bigdata adalah konsep, implementasi dari suatu konsep tentunya mungkin beragam. Mungkin Hadoop adalah implementasi core bigdata yang paling popular pada saat ini, namun bukan bererti Hadoop adalah satu-satunya. Vendor seperti Microsoft dan LexisNexis misalnya, masing-masing memiliki project dalam kerangka Bigdata: Dryad dan HPCC, walaupun pada akhirnya project Dryad tidak diteruskan lagi dan Microsoft fokus pada Hadoop.

Hadoop merupakan satu projek sumber terbuka (opensource) di bawah Apache. Silakan baca buku “Hadoop — The Definitive Guide” untuk mengetahui lebih lanjut tentang sejarah Hadoop. Hadoop merupakan implementasi "opensource project" yang dapat memecahkan 3 karakteristik masalah pada Bigdata iaitu Volume, Velocity, dan Variety.

Seperti layaknya kernel pada sistem operasi maka Hadoop yang terdiri dari 2 komponen utama: HDFS (Hadoop Distributed Filesystem) dan MapReduce, memerlukan suatu ekosistem untuk dapat memanfaatkan implementasi Hadoop secara maksima. Jelasnya, ekosistem tersebut berfungsi sebagai add-on tambahan bagi Hadoop, misalnya: Hive. Hive memungkinkan seseorang mengekstrak data dari Hadoop menggunakan syntax seperti SQL. Hive akan mengkompil SQL language tersebut ke dalam MapReduce untuk mengakses data di dalam Hadoop. Dengan adanya Hive, maka seorang pakar database tidak perlu belajar Java dan membuat aplikasi MapReduce untuk dapat mengakses serta memproses data dari Hadoop. Contoh lain projek dalam ekosistem Hadoop adalah Pig, HBase, Mahout, dan sebagainya.

Keperluan Bigdata yang semakin besar membuka peluang baru bagi masyarakat IT untuk memasuki pasaran tersebut, mulai dari membuat implementasi core Bigdata alternatif seperti yang dilakukan oleh LexisNexis, membuat distribusi Hadoop-stack seperti yang dilakukan oleh Cloudera, MapR, ataupun hortonworks, hingga aplikasi yang bermain dalam kerangka analisis dan visualisasi seperti Karmasphere.

Jeff Kelly membuat presentasi segmentasi Bigdata market yang cukup menarik melalui rajah berikut:

Segmentasi di atas menunjukan peluang besar bagi ragam startup untuk masuk ke dalam pasaran Bigdata.

Malah, International Data Corporation (IDC) menjangkakan bahawa pasaran Bigdata akan mencapai USD16.1 billion pada tahun 2014, tumbuh 6 kali lebih cepat jika dibandingkan dengan rata-rata pasaran IT. Jumlah ini termasuk infrastruktur (server, storage, dan lain-lain), servis, dan software. Saya belum melakukan eksplorasi lebih lanjut mengenai pasaran Bigdata di Asia khususnya di Malaysia, namun jika melihat keperluan Bigdata di Amerika Syarikat (US), maka tidak salah apabila muncul istilah “Bigdata is the new H1B Visa”. Tidak percaya? Cuba lihat pencarian pekerjaan ini (Hadoop Developer) dan ini (Hadoop System Administrator) di Linkedin, itu baru sebahagian kecil saja dan baru mengenai hadoop developer serta system administrator namun sudah menunjukan betapa besarnya pasaran Bigdata di US.

Cepat atau lambat keperluan Bigdata akan masuk ke pasaran Asia, dan tentunya Malaysia akan terkena tempiasnya memandangkan kandungan maklumat yang pantas berkembang sama ada melalui internet, aplikasi telefon pintar dan tablet. 

Seiring perkembangan zaman, pemilik perniagaan (business players)  tidak lagi sekadar memerlukan aplikasi front-end seperti website ataupun mobile apps, bahkan mereka akan memerlukan suatu teknologi yang dapat membantu mereka memprediksi serta menentukan arah kebijakan bisnes (business intelligence) dengan cepat, bukan lagi berdasarkan pengalaman ataupun intuisi, namun berdasarkan acuan ketepatan data (data accuracy) yang diambil dari sekumpulan data terstruktur mahupun semi-terstruktur.

Sumber:

1. www.wikipedia.org
2. blogdetik.com

A Made In Malaysia IT Startup Success Story - Tableapp

Meet Tableapp

Benson Chang is the founder of Tableapp, a real time online reservation service for restaurants in Malaysia. He and his company won a free IT upgrade as the runner-up in the Intel Level Up Your Business contest.

Tableapp was inspired by the needs of Benson's parent's F&B business. Oftentimes the staff were too busy to take reservations and had difficulty managing their customer database. Benson saw an opportunity for technology to simplify and improve the business as well as help Malaysian diners find places to eat.

Their app lets diners make an instant reservation online and provides restaurants with a guest management system. They started business in February 2013 and in little more than a year, they’ve grown quite a bit. Now, Benson has 4 staff under him including developers and salespeople and their IT is increasingly strained by new demands.

Take a journey with us as we transform Tableapp into a more mobile business with the power of Intel technology.

What’s holding Tableapp back

We got our Intel reseller in Malaysia, SNS Network, to take a look at Tableapp's business and find out how we can help:

Issue 1: Coding needs to be fast
Tableapp’s developers often make changes to the code of their app multiple times a day, taking up hours of the workday.

Issue 2: Salespeople need to be connected
The sales team has to meet restaurant owners but their PCs lacked the connectivity for them to transfer files to the office.

Issue 3: Devices should impress clients
As a technology company, Tableapp need up-to-date devices to look the part when they are trying to convince restaurant owners to sign up with their app.

How we leveled up Tableapp's business

Our Intel reseller, SNS Network, had these IT recommendations to help Tableapp work smarter and faster:

Getting the business up to speed

We replaced their old desktops with new 2 in 1 and Ultrabook™ devices. Not only do the new devices have amazing processing power that helps with productivity and time saving, they are also easy to carry around. The new PCs also come installed with McAfee security software that helps with securing Benson's valuable code. 

"Compiling data used to take 1 minute, now it’s 10 seconds. Considering we do it over 100 times a day, that’s a lot of time savings."

          says Benson, founder of Tableapp

Connectivity and mobility to work anywhere

With their office situated in the heart of the capital of Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur, Benson and his staff occasionally face long commutes and traffic jams. The new mobile devices also helps them save travel time by letting them work from home or a café.

Another factor making it easier to work anywhere is cloud connectivity. Tableapp has a physical server but uses Dropbox* to synchronize code updates for their software. By being able to connect and share work files from anywhere, Benson and his staff can work on the go while still fully collaborating.

Making an impression with clients

Benson and his sales team have to meet restaurant owners to demonstrate the effectiveness of their software. The new 2 in 1 device is great for this as it can show off the app in both tablet and PC mode. Its stylish design also creates a strong impression.

Ready to take on the world! 

With the IT upgrade complete, Benson and his team at Tableapp are able to perform at a whole new level:

• They are now more productive with the new powerful PCs.
• It's easier for them to work anywhere with mobile devices and easy connectivity.
• Sales demonstrations are now more impressive with the 2 in 1 devices.

Tableapp is now looking to grow beyond Malaysia, sharing their app with nearby countries.

Resource:
Intel.com. (28.9.2014). App Developer Case Study: Tableapp . Retrieved from http://smb.intel.sg/insights/case-study/tableapp?eid=12a_Outbrain_SMB+Content+Syndication+MY-Q3

Kamu Hilang Sesuatu Yang Penting Kerana Alat Telekomunikasi

Wahai sahabatku,
Kamu ada masa untuk diluangkan untuk tulisan aku ini? Maksud aku ialah dalam banyak-banyak aktiviti – membaca Whatsapp, membaca status Facebook, mesej kekawan, baca berita di internet, mencari di Google, tengah main game, telefon yang tidak henti berbunyi, melayari YouTube dan muzik – kamu ada tak masa untuk membaca tulisan aku ini?

Dengan kehidupan kamu yang sibuk, sudah tentu kamu sedang menyoal samada berbaloi ke tak untuk kamu menghabiskan masa kamu yang berharga untuk membaca tulisan yang agak panjang ini. Untuk kamu rasa berbaloi, tulisan ini mestilah ditulis dengan sangat baik.

Siapa kamu sebenarnya, wahai sahabatku? Sebagaimana orang lain, kamu adalah seorang yang bersemangat, sibuk, berangkaian dan bercita-cita. Kamu sentiasa mengejar untuk memiliki alat elektronik terbaru untuk membolehkan kamu berkomunikasi dengan pelbagai cara. Bagi kamu, sangat penting untuk sentiasa mengikuti perkembangan terbaru. Kerana itu, kamu selalu terikat dengan alat telekomunikasi kamu – telefon, iPAD ataupun komputer.

Sedarkah, kamu tidak terlepas daripada terfikir siapa yang email kamu dan siapa yang akan menelefon kamu ketika kamu bersukan, solat mahupun di tandas. Sebaik kelas kamu habis, perkara pertama yang kamu akan lakukan ialah menyemak telefon untuk melihat apakah ada mesej, email atau miscall yang menanti kamu. Apabila ada pensyarah yang tidak izinkan kamu membawa telefon ke kelas, kamu memikirkan cara bagaimana kamu boleh seludup telefon untuk dibawa ke kelas.

Kamu hidup seolah-olah menjauhkan diri kamu daripada alat telekomunikasi adalah satu perkara yang teramat sangat susah bagi kamu. Wahai sahabatku, betulkah apa yang aku kata?

Kamu sentiasa berfikir bahawa kamu perlu sentiasa online demi keluarga, sekolah mahupun kerja. “Bagaimana kalau ada kawan, rakan sekerja, bos atau ahli keluarga yang perlukan saya segera?” – itulah persoalan yang sentiasa berlegar di minda kamu. “Aku mesti pastikan aku boleh dihubungi pada bila-bila masa!” – itulah idea yang tertanam di mindamu.

Wahai sahabatku,
Tidak dinafikan bahawa teknologi membawa banyak kebaikan, namun banyak juga perkara negatif yang dibawanya sekiranya kamu terlalu terikat dengannya tanpa sedar. Kamu akan merasa tergesa-gesa dan cemas dengan masa; kamu makan dengan cepat, dan sering makan sambil bermain telefon dan di depan komputer; kamu tidak dapat menumpukan fokus untuk masa yang lama; dan kamu mengalami kelesuan minda.

Kamu sedar bahawa stress boleh mendatangkan kemudaratan, tapi kamu tidak sedar bahawa badan dan minda kamu sebenarnya telah lama stress akibat terlalu terikat dengan alat komunikasi kamu. Pada zaman ini, kamu tidak akan dapat melepaskan iPAD, telefon dan alat kamunikasi kamu, meskipun di dalam hati, kamu ingin tahu apakah impak segala pelbagai komunikasi canggih ini pada kehidupan kamu…

Sedarkah kamu bahawa kerana alat-alat telekomunikasi ini – kamu telah kehilangan sesuatu yang amat penting – iaitu kualiti minda kerana kamu telah ditelan teknologi tanpa sedar.

Wahai sahabatku,
Setakat ini dulu tulisan aku kali ini. Renungkanlah dulu sebelum aku menghuraikannya dengan lebih lanjut di tulisan-tulisan akan datang.

Senyum!
TUAN IBRAHIM TUAN MAN | 28 September 2014. 

10 Hot Programming Languages That Are On The Rise

By Serdar Yegulalp, InfoWorld  
 
From Ceylon to Egison, these 10 languages tackle tough programming problems in unique and increasingly popular ways.

Beyond the usual suspects: 10 programming languages on the rise

The sheer number and diversity of programming languages in use today is immense. For better or worse, however, most organizations settle on a small subset, the usual suspects, to tackle whatever programming problem comes their way. Java, C++, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby -- time and again, developers shoehorn code to do the best they can with the tried and true.

Some problems require new approaches and new tools. Here are 10 programming languages gaining significant traction for newfound, newly created, or reimagined utility. They run the gamut from general purpose to highly specific, and have roots that range from Lisp to Java, but each could have meaningful impact on modern programming as it evolves.

Ceylon 1.0.0

Resembles: Java (but it isn't a version of it)

License: Apache v2

What's it all about: Once upon a time developers at Red Hat got together and said, "Man, Java would be great if only it didn't do this, and if only it did do that." Several wish lists later, Ceylon was born. The language runs on the JVM and Node.js, while doing away with many of Java's more notorious pain points. Instead of XML, it uses a JSON-like declarative syntax for tree-structured data, and it features static typing, a module system, and support for some structures that don't exist in Java, such as sequence, intersection, and union types.

Clojure 1.6

Resembles: Lisp

License: Eclipse Public License 1.0

What's it all about: One way to think about Clojure is that it's Lisp for the JVM, given that it runs on the JVM and has full access to Java's frameworks and libraries. Clojure's creators advertise the language as a tool for functional programming that is also designed for concurrency -- in other words, well-suited to multicore or widely distributed applications. InfoWorld's Andy Oliver looked at Clojure in the context of Ruby and Ceylon, and he felt it best suited for programmers coming from a math or science background. But with the functional programming paradigm on the rise, Clojure deserves a closer look beyond computational science.

 

 

Egison 3.3.3

Resembles: Lisp

License: MIT

What's it all about: Egison is a functional language aimed at performing pattern matches against a range of data types. Egison's creator, Satoshi Egi, claims that pattern matching in existing programming languages is supported only when the data is stored in a structured form like a list. Egison was designed to allow pattern matches to be expressed in different ways based on data types (for lists vs. sets); to handle nonlinear patterns, such as multiple occurrences of the same variable in a pattern; and to create functions that both receive and return patterns.

 

 

Groovy 2.2

Resembles: Java

License: Apache License 2.0

What's it all about: Call it "Java plus," since Groovy is essentially a syntactical extension of Java that runs on the JVM and can make use of Java library classes. But Groovy bristles with features not found in Java natively: static and dynamic typing, mainly, but also operator overloading, native regular expression support, and -- my favorite -- a "?" operator to allow for the safe checking of null objects without wrapping expressions in tons of syntactic sugar. It's also found uptake with some fairly big names: LinkedIn and Wired have used Groovy (and Grails, a Groovy Web framework) for their websites, and major IDEs like Eclipse and IntelliJ now support it.

 

 

Hack 1.0

Resembles: PHP

License: PHP/Zend licenses

What's it all about: Facebook had already created its own runtime for PHP, known as HHVM -- so why not go a step further and fork PHP itself? Hack, Facebook's new spin-off language, keeps PHP's rapid development cycle and ease of use, adds static object typing and lambda expressions, and was written in OCaml for safety and durability. Much existing PHP code will run in Hack, making it theoretically easier to migrate from PHP to Hack, but right now, outside of Facebook's own bullpens, it's hard to say if Hack will enjoy the kind of massive uptake PHP has enjoyed.

 

 

Jeeves

Resembles: ML, but implemented directly in Scala and Python

License: MIT

What's it all about: Jeeves was created to help programmers do one thing: enforce privacy policies for how data moves through an application. As explained in the readme for the Python implementation of the language, this goes beyond ascertaining whether a given user can see a value to determining whether that user can see values derived from that value. Policies for how such data flows are created and managed separately from the program itself. Given how important data security has become as a matter of programming practice, projects such as Jeeves may be receiving a good deal more attention in the future.

 

 

Julia 0.2.1

Resembles: Python

License: MIT

What's it all about: Julia was designed for technical and scientific computing, where parallelized and distributed number-crunching is a way of life. Julia compiles to machine code with the aid of an LLVM-based compiler, and on some key benchmarks it outperforms Matlab, Mathematica, and R -- which were also developed for math and science work -- by a wide margin. It even supports a Lisp-like macro function for expanding the functionality of the language. Also, existing fans of Python's math and science libraries need not feel shut out, since Julia can optionally make use of those libraries as well.

 

 

Nimrod 0.9.2

Resembles: Python, Pascal

License: MIT

What's it all about: The Nimrod homepage describes the language as "a statically typed, imperative programming language that tries to give the programmer ultimate power without compromises on runtime efficiency." Nimrod compiles down to C (with C++ and Objective-C as options) and does not need a virtual machine or runtime. Its creator intends for it to be used for systems programming, because it can access hardware directly and has pointers to both garbage-collected and manually managed memory. The language also lets the user define operators and macros, and bindings have been written for many popular libraries and third-party applications: Windows and POSIX APIs, GTK2, OpenGL, and so on.

 

OCaml 4.01

Resembles: The ML theorem-proving language, and to some degree Lisp

License: Q Public License

What's it all about: Most programming languages generally tend to fall into one of three buckets: functional (Lisp), imperative (C), or object-oriented (Java). OCaml does all of those things, and some recent OCaml projects have made waves, including Hack (Facebook's recent fork of PHP, mentioned previously) and the Xen Project's Mirage OS. Its statically typed design may not win over those solidly invested in the dynamic-typing camp, but one sign of how seriously it's worth taking is how other languages are now beginning to arise in its wake as well: Microsoft's F#, for instance.

 

 

Racket 6.0

Resembles: Lisp, Scheme

License: LGPL

What's it all about: A variant of Scheme, which itself is a variant of Lisp, Racket was designed to be powerful enough for creating languages, but also straightforward and robust enough to be used for traditional application programming -- Naughty Dog uses it for scripting in several of its games, and the Hacker News website was developed using Scheme. Unlike other Lisp-like languages, Scheme's macro system includes the compiler itself, so features can be added to the language as if they were native Racket constructions.

 

Credit: http://www.computerworld.com

 

 

 

How To Login To Telegram?

Telegram is a very popular messenger application, it is more similar like WhatsApp. Like other messenger you can chat unlimitedly for free with your friends. Also it offers tons of new features like you can also send media through Telegram. Update your friends by your pictures, just like a complete social media, you can set your profile pictures with a cool status. You can send your videos share your current location also send recorded audio messages. It works fine on 3G, 4G and Wi-Fi. A survey show that Telegram has installed in more than 20 million devices.

Telegram has more security options, relative very fast as compared to different messengers. Make friends groups up to 200 members and share your media to them. After a short introduction about Telegram I’m going to show you a very quick guide of how to create your Telegram account for the first time on your Android device.

How to Create your Telegram Account

1. This tutorial is for android device. First you need to install this application via Google Playstore .

2. After installing open the application you will have a welcome screen by Telegram then press the Start Messaging option

3. Like other messenger Telegram also verify your account on your mobile number.
4. The method of verification is quite easy and simple, the confirmation code will be send on your device from Telegram server to confirm your number. Once you receive a confirmation message, it will be automatically sync through your device (sometimes you don’t need to enter it manually) and your Telegram is now verified.

5. After number confirmation you will find another window which required your personal information e.g. Enter your first and Last name . Enter the valid name , your friends on Telegram will recognize your by your first and last name , so it is not a user name .
6. Now you have done with Telegram, it’s totally free of cost.

7. After register your Telegram account, go to setting and you will found many features, you can chat background, block unwanted users and notification tons.

To delete your telegram account some users simply uninstall the app directly but it is not a proper way for it, If you want to delete your Telegram properly than go to Settings >> and click the Log out button.

Credit: http://www.telegramdownload.com

Communication At Its Best With Free Telegram

They say a problem well defined is half solved and this aptly fits into the case of Telegram. You may be in two minds whether I’m talking a sense or not.  But “Telegram” was in use as a medium of communication back in 19^th or at the advent of 20^th Century. How can that be deemed as the best medium for communication? Right? Hang on – let us explore on the same.

What is this new age Telegram?

This new age Telegram is all about an open platform for communication that is a non-profit mission too. It is the brain child of two people Nicolai Durov and Pavel. While Pavel supports the financial and ideological parts Nicolai takes care of the technical aspects.
A telegram is essentially a SMS and more; namely a Telegram can contain document, photographs/s, and video alongside data message. It is completely secured and free of any subscription. This Telegram however came into being in August 2013 following the footsteps of these two enterprising guys Nicolai and Pavel.

USP (Unique Selling Proposition) of the new age Telegram:   

1. Free for life: As a user you stand benefited from the lifetime free services of Telegram.
2. Non-profit Venture: Telegram is a non-profit venture and will continue to do so in future as its promoters Nicolai and Pavel confirm. This is something extraordinary in today’s worth given the revolution in telecommunication and revenues therein on worldwide market.
3. Private & Secured: Telegram messages are sent through cloud-based technology and have the property of self destruction with the high degree of encryption. Due to this encryption messages remain very much private while the use of cloud based technology makes the messages secured and accessible from multiple medium.
4. Fast: Delivery of Telegram messages is really very fast. No other messages such as an e-mail and data message can deliver as fast as Telegram.  
5. Supports Tablets & Phones: Telegram messages can be delivered to iPhone and Android phones alongside iPod and tablets.
6. Open & Powerful: Telegram messages are powerful in view of no restriction on message size, media and chats while Telegram platform is open to all and sundry.

Credit: http://www.telegramdownload.com/communication-best-free-telegram

How to use Windows Live Movie Maker Windows 8.1

Tutorial by Dom

Best Of The Cloud Storage Services

This article was originally published November 12, 2012 and has been updated for relevancy. Mika Turim-Nygren contributed to this article.

Two years ago, a majority of Americans thought a lightning storm could interfere with cloud computing. Today, cloud storage services are as ubiquitous as cumulonimbus in a Kansas tornado season. There are lots of cloud storage services out there luring in new users with free accounts, extra space, and social-networking rewards.

We’re all coming around to the idea that cloud storage can be pretty darn convenient. As demand grows for faster, higher-resolution videos and games – especially on smaller and smaller devices – our dependence on cloud storage and cloud computing will only increase. Cloud services allow consumers access to a kind of network storage: hosting files remotely so that they can access them at any time from a number of computers and devices. Gone are the days of face-palming because you forgot a document on your home computer. No longer do you have to clog up your own email with photos you sent yourself for easy retrieval later. Nowadays, you can simply send it to the cloud and forget it.

Today, most people use a cloud storage service. Even so, there are still very real security issues. For this reason, we always recommend encrypting sensitive files using software such as the free program TrueCrypt before entrusting them to the cloud.

Choosing a cloud storage service

Dozens of cloud storage services are now on the market. So which option is the best? While there’s plenty of debate over which service to choose, no single choice stands head-and-shoulders above the rest. Each has certain advantages, and you’ll simply have to tinker around until you find the one that works for you.

That being said, if you regularly purchase MP3s from iTunes, you’ll probably want to choose the corresponding cloud storage service: iCloud, respectively. Why? These entertainment powerhouses don’t count music purchases you’ve made from them against your storage size limit. Essentially, you can nab free cloud storage for your tunes, which enables music streaming to all your devices. Here’s our seven favorite cloud storage services.

Carbonite (unlimited storage)

Star Wars reference aside, Carbonite is the best outlet for unlimited storage space. Yes, that means unlimited space. Who needs unlimited space? Businesses, mostly, but also anyone who has, say, thousands of high-resolution photos could do with a worry free backup as well. The cloud-based service automatically downloads photos, movies, music and documents to the cloud from a variety of devices. Automatic backups will keep your recent photos and files secure.

What’s more, Carbonite offers a referral program. You’ll get $20 off your cloud subscription with every referral that subscribes to the service. The cloud service has apps for Android and iOS. The file storage offers a several data storage plans that vary in price. The basic storage plan costs $60 and you’ll get full backup on a single computer for one year. Take note, the service works on Mac and PC. Carbonite also offers advanced services, like a localized backup, but that’ll cost more and are only available for PCs.

The Lowdown: With a decent referral program, Carbonite is the affordable option for unlimited storage space.

Dropbox

The reasons for Dropbox’s success are simple: the service is full-featured and easy to use. It also helps that the marketing is top-notch. Promotions styled like gaming quests encourage users to invite friends to the service to earn more storage space. Even though a number of services offer more initial free space – Google Drive’s 5GB, Mega’s 50GB, iCloud’s 5GB, or SkyDrive’s 7GB, versus Dropbox’s 2 GB – many customers seem to find Dropbox’s referral-rewards system irresistible (up to 18GB free space total). Upgraded pro accounts start at $9.99/month (or $99/year) for 100GB. Mobile support includes Android, iPhone, iPad, Blackberry, and Kindle Fire.

To get started, just make an account and download the desktop client. This installs a folder where you can drag-and-drop files in order to transfer them to the cloud. You’ll see a pop-up notification anytime anything new is added to your account; if this annoys you, you can disable it in preferences.

One of Dropbox’s main strengths is its constant backup of word files. If you sync your Dropbox folder to your main documents folder, Dropbox will automatically backup any changes you make to each document. To access previous versions of a document, simply right-click on a file within your Dropbox folder, select “Dropbox,” and then choose “View previous versions.” This feature can be invaluable if you accidentally overwrite a file, or if you’re working collaboratively on a project.

Speaking of collaborative projects, Dropbox boasts excellent sharing abilities. Invite someone to share a particular Dropbox folder with you and that folder will appear right on their desktop. You can also send a link to an individual document or image. Additionally, Dropbox offers the best Facebook integration of any service at the moment. Finally, folders full of images can be viewed as a gallery, making Dropbox a viable photo-sharing alternative to Picasa, Imgur, and Flickr.

The lowdown: Least amount of starting free space; best version-control backup; best Facebook integration; great sharing capabilities; good for multiple computers and devices.

Google Drive

Google Drive is the standard for cloud sharing services. The web giant thrives on integration with Google’s other services, like Gmail and Google Docs. For the convenient price of absolutely nothing, you’ll get 15GB of Google Drive space, 10GB of Gmail storage and 1GB on Picasa (photos under 2048 x 2048 don’t take up any cloud space). Upgrades cost $2/month for 100GB and $10/month for 1TB. Mobile support includes iPhone, iPad, and Android.

Signing up is as simple as logging in with a Gmail address and password. From there, Google Drive appears right in your Google toolbar, just a click away from your email inbox. You can drag-and-drop files straight into your browser, or download the desktop client to have access to Google Drive as a folder, just like with Dropbox.

Google Drive borrows from Google’s powerful search algorithm to allow searches of not only file names, but also text in scanned documents and objects in images (a neat trick for those with years of vacation photos). You can upload photos straight to Google+ or view more than 30 types of files directly in-browser, including some – like Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator – for which you may not have the actual software.

But Google Drive’s standout features are its sharing and collaboration tools. Thanks to integration with Gmail, you can share files with a click, with or without requiring a password. And when you work with partners on the same word file, spreadsheet, or presentation, either separately or right at the same time, Google Drive marks the contributions of each person with differently colored labels to make clear what’s changed.

The lowdown: Only service to integrate with Gmail and Google Docs; best sharing and collaboration capabilities; access files directly in-browser; edit documents directly in-browser; most economical file sharing service.

Microsoft OneDrive

OneDrive is like a nice rug. The utility is identical to a $10 thrift store mat, but aesthetics go a long way here.It’s not so much that Microsoft OneDrive (formally known as Skydrive) does one thing better than other cloud storage systems (other than being one of the few services to support Windows phones and Xbox). Instead, Microsoft’s cloud service delivers a nice overall package. If you don’t have a pressing reason to choose another service, it’s hard to go wrong with OneDrive. It touts a decent amount of free space (7GB), along with inexpensive upgrades (adding 50GB will cost $25/year). Mobile support includes Windows Phone, Android, iPhone, and iPad.

You can also post photos directly from OneDrive to Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social-networking sites, which is a nice time-saving touch. The service also touts a built-in remote access capabilities. From the OneDrive.com website, you can get access to any PC associated with your account that has the OneDrive client installed, even files not already uploaded to OneDrive. In other words, say you forget to move a presentation to your SkyDrive folder before leaving for work, but your home computer is still on. Simply sign into OneDrive and retrieve it from afar, whether it’s on your hard drive or a connected external hard drive. We can see this remote-access feature saving users a lot of frustration and heartache.

OneDrive is also the only service to integrate with free Office Web Apps, allowing you to work collaboratively on projects much like in Google Docs. However, the Office Web Apps have the advantage of opening Word, PowerPoint, and Excel documents seamlessly, avoiding any formatting kerfuffles. OneDrive maintains the 25 most recent versions of every file, so if a partner makes a change you don’t like, you can easily revert to an easier version.

The lowdown: Only service (besides Box) to sync with Windows Phone; only service to integrate with Microsoft Office Web apps; and a generous amount of free space (7GB); inexpensive upgrades; great collaboration tools and version-control backup; built-in remote access capability. Boom.

Mega

Kim Dotcom first appeared on the scene with Megaupload, the now defunct cloud service that was shut down by the FBI for copyright infringement. Now he’s back with Mega, a loose incarnation of his old site. Mega still doesn’t offer the intuitive editing, sharing, or collaboration abilities of other services, and we’ve said before that the site’s lax attitude on security and it’s open platform raises some eyebrows. For instance, if you lose your password, you can say goodbye to all your files. The site doesn’t offer a file recovery option.

That said, it comes with 50GB of free storage. That’s right, a free 50 GB. Upgrades start at 100 Euros per year (about $140) for 500GB of storage. It does support mobile integration Android and iOS, but so do all of cloud storage services.

The lowdown: 50 free GB may be too sweet for some to pass up. That and the somewhat primitive file-sharing devices of Mega make this cloud-based service worth a visit. Just remember your password.

iCloud

Apple’s cloud storage service doesn’t make waves on paper. But it works. And there might not be a better option for those who use iTunes as their central media hub. iCloud provides 5GB of free storage. Upgrading to 10 GB will cost $20/year. 20 GB goes for $40/year. Items downloaded from iTunes won’t count against your storage limit.

iCloud also acts as a media sharing hub. Currently, Apple’s cloud-based productivity suite, iWork, is in beta testing. It’ll include a word processor, among other things that can be shared with other iCloud users, all with an interface that looks a bit cleaner and more modular than Google Docs. Still, Apple can’t compete with Google’s price point, or the universality of Google accounts.

The lowdown: Best for iTunes devotees. Google, Mega, and Dropbox don’t offer the same robust database of music and photo sharing options. But the free 5GB won’t get you very far with music and photos.

Box

Box is an all-around solid service. It offers a compelling alternative to users who are wary to place an ever-increasing amounts of information in the control of Google, Apple, or Microsoft. Mobile support for all accounts includes Android, iPhone, and iPad.

Free accounts start at 10GB, although many of Box’s rather common-place features only come bundled with a business account, which starts at $15 a month per user. Shelling out for the latter will land you a whopping 1,000GB of storage space (which is just 24GB shy of 1TB), as well as version-history backups, password-protected sharing, and search abilities.

 

Indeed, in many ways Box seems best geared toward corporate use, and it shows. Clients include Proctor & Gamble, Six Flags, and Pandora. If you’re a small-business owner or a startup, Box may be right up your alley. All accounts, even free ones, allow you to share files or folders with a link. Box also integrates the ability to add comments and assign tasks for easy collaboration and workflow management.

The lowdown: Best for businesses; integrated workflow management tools; great sharing and collaboration potential; free accounts lacking some features.

What cloud storage service do you prefer?

Credit: http://www.digitaltrends.com

Voice Over Internet Protocol (VOIP)

Alternatively referred to as IP telephone or Internet phone,  VoIP is short for Voice over Internet Protocol and is an Internet protocol that enables users to make calls over the Internet. 

VOIP, a category of hardware and software that enables people to use the Internet as the transmission medium for telephone calls by sending voice data in packets using IP rather than by traditional circuit transmissions..." (quoted from Webopedia Computer Dictionary).

To make a call a telephone is connected to a network cable, versus a standard phone line or a call is made over a computer. This enables long distant phone calls to be cheaper, although sometimes at a lower audio quality. The first experiment VoIP call was made in 1973 even though the first software known as "Vocaltec" that enabled end users to make calls did not appear until 1995.

Today, VoIP and Internet phones are becoming commonplace. Many cable TV providers offer bundles that include VoIP, allowing customers to take advantage of the Internet phone technology. Businesses have begun to embracing the change and utilize VoIP as well, nearly eliminating the need for telephone lines in the work place. While telephone lines are not completely gone, technology is moving things in that direction and it may not be long before the Internet phone, and the cell phone are the remaining two primary methods for voice communication.

Examples of VoIP include: Skype, Teamspeak, and Ventrilo.

Uses

VOIP has become a growing method of communication in the modern world, especially in sales-oriented jobs. It has been integrated mostly for business purposes to replace conventional phone calls. The methods of use can be classified into three major categories:

• To interconnect VOIP phones within a single building using the building's Local Area Network (LAN)
• To interconnect VOIP phones between multiple locations of the same organization using a backbone network
• To interconnect VOIP phones to regular telephones in different organizations or for sales purposes

Benefits

Toll-Free Calls

The main purpose of VOIP is to provide a method of cheap yet extensive communication. Regular telephone calls can become costly if used too frequently, yet with VOIP one only needs to pay for a good internet connection and subscription to a VOIP service. With these two facilities handy, VOIP becomes a capability to make limitless phone calls through the internet. Although the person at the other end may be using a regular phone, the VOIP user either uses a computer or VOIP phone to communicate.

The major advantage of VOIP is that it allows the user to make as many phone calls as they like for a fixed price instead of being charged by the minute. This makes a huge cutback on costs for jobs such as telephone marketing that require making many phone calls for hours every day.
VOIP can become low-cost or toll-free for people who are using only the internet to communicate. If both or all users are using the internet to communicate, VOIP becomes a way of talking or conferencing without having to pay any additional fee apart from the regular fee for internet.

Reduced Wiring Costs

Using VOIP can also minimize building wiring costs in new or renovated buildings due to reduced wire infrastructure. Instead of using many cable systems such as data networking, telephone connections, and cable distribution, VOIP makes it possible to rely on less cabling costs in terms of maintenance as well as initial installment.

Easy Relocation

Anyone who has relocated their job or home knows how difficult it is to switch local phone numbers, not only for them but even more so for others who want to call them. Cell phones have largely helped to solve this problem, but cell phones are one of the costliest methods of common communication. VOIP provides a cheaper solution, since internet is a universal medium. A VOIP instrument can be relocated without central administrative support. With the internet being a global medium, VOIP allows users to communicate from anywhere in the world at one of the lowest costs possible.

Roaming Facility

To use your regular local phone you have to access it from your regular phone line. It would not be possible for you to make a phone call using your local phone line if you are somewhere else using someone else's phone. Here is another problem that VOIP helps us overcome. With VOIP, you can use someone else's phone to use your VOIP connection. Some VOIP systems allow people to walk up to a telephone instrument in any office and dial a couple of numbers on the keypad ("log in"). That telephone then temporarily assumes the configuration of the telephone line in your home office. By assuming your telephone number, your list of speed dial numbers, and your intercom settings, it becomes a temporary substitute for your VOIP phone in your office!

Dynamic IP vs Static IP

Static IP addressing is for one customer on one IP address and Dynamic IP addressing assigns a different IP address each time the ISP customer logs on to their computer, but this is dependent upon the Internet Service Provider (ISP) because some ISP's only change the IP address as they deem it necessary.

If you have Dynamic IP Addressing through your Website Host it means that you are sharing an IP Address with several other customers.
If you are a beginner on the internet, an avid internet user, are entertaining the thought of starting your own website business, are a gamer, use VOIP or VPN there are several things you should know about IP Addressing.

Static IP Addressing

If you feel the need to always know what your IP address is then you need a Static IP address, because it is constant. Static IP addresses are more reliable for Voice over Internet Protocol (VOIP), more reliable to host a gaming website or to play X-Box, Play Station, use Virtual Private Network for secure access to files from your company network computer, etc. 

Static IP addresses are also great if you use your computer as a server, as it should give your file server faster file uploads and downloads. Another plus with Static IP's, when hosting a website you are not sharing your IP with another company who sends out a lot of E-mail SPAM and not only has their website been shut down but in turn gets your IP address blacklisted.

In contrast a static IP address can become a security risk, because the address is always the same. Static IP's are easier to track for data mining companies. Static IP addressing is less cost effective than Dynamic IP Addressing.

Dynamic IP Addressing

The biggest advantages of Dynamic IP Addressing are less security risk as the computer is assigned a new IP address each time the customer logs on, they are cost effective and there is automatic network configuration (the less human intervention with network configuration the better). Dynamic addressing is usually used by ISP's so that one IP address can be assigned to several users, however some ISP's use Sticky Dynamic IP Addressing and do not change the IP address very often. Dynamic IP Addressing can be used by families with several computers or by a small business owner who has a home office. The software that comes with a router allows for Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) setup and assigns each computer attached to the router an IP address automatically.

In contrast, Dynamic IP addressing should not be used for VOIP, VPN, playing online games or game hosting because Dynamic IP addressing is less reliable then Static IP addressing and could cause the service to disconnect while you are on a VOIP, VPN or gaming.

Source: http://whatismyipaddress.com

How is Telegram different from WhatsApp?

Telegram Messenger is a proprietary, cross-platform free instant messaging subscription service for smartphones. In addition to text messaging, Telegram users can send each other images, video, and audio media messages as well as their location using integrated mapping features.

 Video Review

 

Unlike WhatsApp, Telegram is cloud-based and heavily encrypted. As a result, you can access your messages from several devices at once, including tablets and computers, and share an unlimited number of photos, videos and files (doc, zip, mp3, etc) of any size. Thanks to our multi-data center infrastructure and encryption, Telegram is also faster and way more secure. On top of that, Telegram is free and will stay free — no ads, no subscription fees, forever.

Do you prefer Telegram App? Download Telegram here

 

Saluting 19 Generations Of Computer Programmers

By Peter Wayner, InfoWorld

From punch cards to JavaScript, computing history owes everything to those who've programmed the machines.

 The computer industry has been through a number of generations, each with its own distinctive flavor, often defined by a programming language or technology. They burst out with newborn fervor before settling into a comfortable middle age -- still kicking somewhere because software never really dies.

These new technologies often group programmers by generation. When programmers enter the job market and learn a language, they may stick with the same syntax for life. It's not that it's hard to learn a new language; you can often make more money with the expertise you have, so the generations live on.

Here is our guide to some of the more dominant tech generations in computer history, as embodied by the programmers who gave them life.

Punch-card programmers

The '60s-era computers received instructions from cards with punched holes, a scheme that dates to the earliest programmable looms for weaving cloth. There was recently a story about a punch card programmer for looms in England that still use the old technology to make lace.
Language of choice: Fortran
Special skill: Not dropping the deck of punch cards
Social media strategy: Joining the right country club
Other career choice: Advertising
Clothing: Dark flannel suit
Rhetorical tic: "They say there's a need for five computers, but I think doubling or tripling that estimate would be more accurate."
Car: Oldsmobile
Song: Ella Fitzgerald's "Mack the Knife"
Favorite artifact: Wreath made of punch cards

Space Shuttle programmers

This crew worked with 8086 chips and kept the shuttles running by searching eBay for replacement hardware. The computers may not have had much memory, but they traveled farther than the biggest mainframes and fanciest racks.
Language of choice: Assembly code
Special skill: Remembering which register is already swapped to RAM
Social media strategy: Logged into Facebook once to friend spouse and neighbor
Other career choice: Disco lighting designer
Clothing: Leisure suits
Rhetorical tic: "If we don't do it, the Russians will win."
Car: Cadillac Eldorado
Song: Frank Sinatra's "Fly Me to the Moon"
Favorite artifact: 8086 chip

Cray programmers

There was a time when the fastest computers were built by a small company run by an enigmatic genius who spent off-hours digging tunnels in his basement.
Language of choice: Cray's automatically vectorizing Fortran
Special skill: Setting up loops so the Fortran compiler could vectorize them
Social media strategy: Going to the company holiday party
Other career choice: NASA rocket scientist
Clothing: White shirt with pocket protector
Rhetorical tic: "It's classified."
Car: Nondescript sedan that blends into the NSA parking lot
Song: Wendy Carlos and Benjamin Folkman's "Switched-On Bach"
Favorite artifact: Cray sitting in the NCM outside Fort Meade

Cobol programmers

The first big adopters of computers never would have succeeded without a simple mechanism for writing software that supported the core business. Cobol was the first great tool for writing what the enterprise programmers call "business logic."
Other language of choice: Fortran
Special skill: Using self-modifying code like ALTER X TO PROCEED TO Y
Social media strategy: Sends out Christmas cards printed on paper
Other career choice: Stereo designer
Clothing: Tracksuit left over from an early morning mall walk
Rhetorical tic: "It's cool."
Car: Honda Civic
Song: Gillian Hills, "Zou Bisou Bisou"
Favorite artifact: Something signed by Grace Hopper

Basic programmers

Invented to help Dartmouth students learn to write endless loops, Basic became the dominant early PC language when Bill Gates released Microsoft Basic. All the early games and software for the PCs were written in Basic. Today it lives on as Visual Basic.
Other language of choice: Assembly code
Special skill: Using GOTO without creating spaghetti code
Social media strategy: Going to Studio 54
Other career choice: Fast-food restaurant developer
Clothing: Bell bottoms
Rhetorical tic: "It's easy."
Car: Last convertible
Song: Blondie, "Heart of Glass"
Favorite artifact: Cassette version of Microsoft Basic

C programmers

C grew hand in hand with all of the variations of Unix and is still used by those who love Unix and Linux. It remains the tool of choice for those who program "close to the metal."
Other language of choice: C++
Special skill: Remembering to free everything malloced
Social media strategy: Posts to Usenet three times a month
Other career choice: Bell telephone switch technician
Clothing: Red Hat T-shirt from the early days
Rhetorical tic: "Wouldn't you rather handle the memory yourself?"
Car: Original Toyota Land Cruiser
Song: Something by the Ramones
Favorite artifact: Bell Labs coffee cup

C++ programmers

When C programmers looked at the idea of object-oriented programming, they created C++, a baroque version that worked best when the programmer was able to keep track of all the complicated ways code could interact. It took all of the garage-grade DIY intensity and added another way for programmers to prove themselves worthy.
Other language of choice: C
Special skill: Multiple inheritance
Social media strategy: Friendster
Other career choice: Pinball wizard
Clothing: Jeans jacket with safety pins
Rhetorical tic: "Java pretty much broke object-oriented programming."
Car: Ford Explorer
Song: The Clash's "Clash City Rockers"
Favorite artifact: Borland C++ T-shirt

Objective-C programmers (first generation)

There are two groups of people who fell in love with Objective-C: the people who bought a NeXT machine and those who bought an iPhone. The first generation went on to rescue Apple in its darkest days.
Other language of choice: Smalltalk
Special skill: Using InterfaceBuilder
Social media strategy: Subscribes to 42 mailing lists
Other career choice: Wall Street investment banker
Clothing: Hawaiian shirt
Rhetorical tic: "You mean C++ doesn't do that for you?"
Car: Mazda RX-7 or BMW 325
Song: Anything by Bob Dylan, Grateful Dead, or anyone else liked by Steve Jobs
Favorite artifact: NeXT machine

Perl programmers

The simple language for manipulating text files appeared around the same time as the Internet, so when people needed to fix Web servers, they turned first to Perl.
Other language of choice: Unix shell scripts
Special skill: Regular expressions
Social media strategy: Arguing on Slashdot
Other career choice: Roboticist building simulated dinosaurs for malls
Clothing: Jacket and T-shirt
Rhetorical tic: "It's the duct tape of the Internet."
Car: Tuned Honda Civic
Song: Pantera's "Cemetery Gates"
Favorite artifact: First edition of O'Reilly's Perl handbook

PHP programmers

Many PHP programmers fell into PHP by accident. They were creating HTML, and they needed a bit of dynamic logic. One tag led to another, and they found themselves creating websites and CMSes with the code.
Other language of choice: JavaScript
Special skill:Juggling the coding layer and the HTML markup
Social media strategy: More than 1,000 friends on Facebook; still logs into MySpace
Other career choice: Mortgage broker
Clothing: T-shirt depicting logo of pre-bubble startup you've never heard of
Rhetorical tic: "Monetize the eyeballs."
Car: Aging SUV
Song: The Cure's "Just Like Heaven"
Favorite artifact: Orange Kozmo moped

Java programmers

The first great language for the Internet, Java was driven by the promise of running everywhere. The desktops never surrendered to the server farms, but the introductory programming classes did.
Other language of choice: Pascal
Special skill: Creating extralong variable names in camel case so the code is self-documenting
Social media strategy: Checks Java.net account for local Java Users Group meetings
Other career choice: Y2K programmer
Clothing: Java One polo shirt
Rhetorical tic: "The JVM will just handle it in another thread."
Car: Mazda Miata
Song: Talking Heads' "Wild Wild Life"
Favorite artifact: Something signed by Jim Gosling

C# programmers

They fell in love with Java but remained loyal to Microsoft, perhaps because the boss insisted. The code looks similar. The idioms work the same way. It's pretty much the same as Java, but with a few fixes worked into the mix.
Other language of choice: .Net
Special skill: Navigating the .Net documentation
Social media strategy: Wondering whether Skype counts as social media
Other career choice: Starbucks barista
Clothing: Freebie Windows 98 tennis cap
Rhetorical tic: "It's really more efficient than the JVM."
Car: Toyota Prius
Song: Nirvana's "Come As You Are"
Favorite artifact: A Windows 8 phone

JavaScript programmers (first generation)

The first group of JavaScript programmers weren't really programmers but Web designers who needed their page to do a bit more. Many just wanted to check inputs, but a few ushered in the unending era of garish animations.
Other language of choice: HTML
Special skill: Remembering to put the function between script tags
Social media strategy: Going to a friend's GeoCities page
Other career choice: Chain restaurant manager
Rhetorical tic: "It works on IE 5.5 but not 6.0 yet."
Clothing: Parachute pants
Car: Ford Taurus
Song: Beastie Boys' "So What'cha Want"
Favorite artifact: Netscape Share Certificate

Ruby on Rails programmers

It takes all of 10 minutes to wrap a nice website around MySQL, then years to fiddle with it. The Ruby language offers a clean, low-punctuation syntax, while the Rails framework makes it easy to type the smallest files around. It's almost as if it were designed by carpal-tunnel sufferers.
Other language of choice: SQL
Special skill: Getting your stack to run on JRuby
Social media strategy: Writing a personal version of Facebook in 20 lines of code
Other career choice: Molecular gastronomist
Clothing: Plaid shirt and jeans
Rhetorical tic: "You just need a few tables and you're done."
Car: Minivan
Song: "The Rails Song"
Favorite artifact: 37 Signals T-shirt

Objective-C programmers (second generation)

The second generation of Objective-C lovers appeared during the app gold rush after Apple opened up the iPhone to apps written by outsiders. Suddenly a language slowly dying was reborn.
Other language of choice: JavaScript
Special skill: Figuring out how to make the layout manager work
Social media strategy: Posts pictures to Instagram and Hipstamatic but never uses words
Other career choice: Mortgage foreclosure processor
Clothing: Hoodie
Rhetorical tic: "This will sell millions."
Car: BMW
Song: Feist's "1234" or anything else chosen for an Apple commercial
Favorite artifact: iPod with a wheel

JavaScript programmers (second generation)

At some point, JavaScript programming turned into a professional path with snooty ideas and endless debates about clean code. Today, many Web pages are powered by sophisticated stacks that can only be maintained by skilled coders. The field is dominated by libraries that abstract away browser incongruities and offer a sophisticated plug-in structure.
Other language of choice: jQuery
Special skill: Closures
Social media strategy: Waiting for App.net
Other career choice: Working as a barista
Clothing: Hoodie
Rhetorical tic: "There's an open source jQuery plug-in that does it."
Car: Fixed-gear bicycle
Song: M83, "Midnight City"
Favorite artifact: Brendan Eich DM

Haskell programmers

The language of the future offers a functional, statically typed mechanism that can reduce the complexity of event-driven code. The main users are still found in universities, but that's changing as cool open source projects gain traction.
Other language of choice: ML
Special skill: Getting around the prohibitions on keeping state around
Social media strategy: Alumni Notes, Reddit
Other career choice: Professor of mathematics
Clothing: Turtleneck sweater with elbow patches
Rhetorical tic: "I like my laziness effortless and ubiquitous."
Car: Yugo
Song: Karlheinz Stockhausen's "Klavierstücke IX"
Favorite artifact: Möbius strip

Hadoop programmers

The tool for building map/reduce jobs is technically not a language, but a collection of libraries written in Java. Not that it matters -- writing the code requires a talent for spotting the best way to spread out the workload over a cluster of machines.
Other language of choice: Java
Special skill: Making sure the data is always local
Social media strategy: Yahoo coding conferences
Other career choice: Actuary
Clothing: Flannel shirt with beard, where possible
Rhetorical tic: "Big data."
Car: Retro Schwinn 10-speed bike
Song: Dan Deacon's electronica
Favorite artifact: Stuffed elephant

Node.js programmers

They learned JavaScript to add an Easter egg to their band's website. Now they're working for the enterprise using that same JavaScript to handle $10 billion in forex transactions a day.
Other language of choice: jQuery
Special skill: Trying to remember not to block the server with code that takes too long to execute
Social media strategy: Still bummed Diaspora hasn't gone far
Other career choice: Going to college
Clothing: Ironic T-shirt from Old Navy
Rhetorical tic: "Threads can be concurrent? Are you sure?"
Car: Skateboard
Song: "Video Games" by Lana del Rey
Favorite artifact: Rooted Android phone running Node

Credit: http://www.infoworld.com