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4 Common mistakes to avoid with Bluetooth in Office

Raj — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 13:00:00 +0000

SFGate has an article on their website on how to best use Bluetooth technology in small businesses. The article covers topics such as the basics of Bluetooth technology and how Bluetooth can make your business more efficient. It also talks about 4 networking mistakes that most network administrators commit when implementing Bluetooth in the offices.

The common mistakes that must be avoided when implementing Bluetooth in your office are as follows:

Not covering the entire office – Admins often forget that the wireless connectivity should be available in every corner of the office and not just few important locations.
Leaving the default passwords – Wireless devices always ship with either an empty or a default password. Most admins leave these unchanged, this is a big security threat for the organization.
Lack of troubleshooting knowledge – This is not a very common technology to be able to easily troubleshoot. Make sure that everything is in order before the vendor leaves the office post the installation.
Network security – Unless the security requirements are met, computers should not be connected to the Bluetooth network.

If you are a small business or SOHO, make sure that you read the SFGate article (link below) on using the Bluetooth technology in your office.

[SFGate]

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Can You Imagine a Cell Phone Without a Battery?

Raj — Fri, 17 Aug 2007 17:08:30 +0000

Yes! I am talking about a cell phone that will not need a battery to work. I know, it might sound like a dream from a very distant future but that might be a reality much sooner than you think. This will be made possible using the new circuits, that works on principle of thermoelectric generators, made from semiconductor elements.

Research scientists at the Fraunhofer Institute for Integrated Circuits have made it possible to use natural human body heat as a source of generating electricity. The thermoelectric generators extract electrical energy from the difference in temperature in hot and cold environment. As of now, this technique could offer only 200 millivolts of electricity but that could be enough to power some sensors that require very low voltage to work. In future, this technology could be extend to work in any environment where a temperate difference occurs. One such place could be a moving car wherein its engine is cooled by wind blowing into the engine compartment resulting in significant temperature differences. The electricity thus produced could then be used to power the electrical equipments within your car, but all that in near future. For now, let’s just hope that scientist make some remarkable progress and make it possible to use this technology for the masses.

» More on this technology at Fraunhofer Institute’s website.

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ZYB Launches SMS Backup for Your Mobiles

Raj — Wed, 14 Feb 2007 13:57:23 +0000

ZYB seems to be adding more exciting features to its existing set of free offerings. [see previous review on ZYB].

One of the recent launches from them is SMS Backup service. With this feature, users will now be able to backup their SMS on ZYB and restore them on any other mobile phone. It works with all mobiles – regardless of operators. Not only that, users can view their SMS online and since the SMS are combined with user’s own contact list, it’s much easier to manage them online. Apart from the standard SMS rate charged by operators, backing up your SMS is free as of now.

They now support over 300 mobile phone models of many popular brands compared to an earlier support for only 200 models, and with many new model being added to the list of supported models, we are sure they will have most of us covered very soon. ZYB now also supports import of Google calendar and a full two-way synchronization between ZYB and Google calendar is still under development which will be introduced later.

ZYB’s current user base has grown to 80,000 and over 4 million contacts have already been uploaded [for backup]. In coming months we hope to see a social networking platform from ZYB, so people can get more out of their mobiles.

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Backup your mobile and never lose any contact again

Raj — Sat, 09 Dec 2006 21:02:39 +0000

ZYB is offering a FREE service to backup your mobile and store the contacts online. In case you lose your mobile or it stops working [most common problems], you will still be able to get a copy of all your contacts to your new mobile.

How does it work?

ZYB works with more than 200 different mobiles and your mobile just needs to be able receive and send data from Internet. ZYB will create an online backup of your contacts and calendar. You can even share your contacts and calendar with your friends. Some advanced features of this service such as synchronizing with iPod, Outlook and MSN will cost few euros per year.

The features

Unlimited back-up of all your contacts and calendar
Access the data online, print and even export
Crate your own network of people and invite them to share your contacts

Supported phones

Here is a list of manufacturers (number of models) from ZYB’s website.

Nokia (100)
Samsung (7)
Motorola (59)
Siemens (38)
Sony Ericsson (74)
Alcatel (1)
BenQSiemens (6)
Ericsson (2)
LG (11)
NEC (7)
Panasonic (10)
Sendo (2)
Sharp (4)

What are you waiting for? Go ahead and back up your mobile!

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Virtualization: It’s time for network-based virtualization

Raj — Fri, 01 Dec 2006 04:29:11 +0000

While many of us are familiar with Operating System virtualization, the Network-based virtualization is also catching up fast. Major advantages of Network based virtualization are:

Reduced investment and operating costs with increased security.

Partitioning a single physical network into multiple virtual networks.

Shared services across all partitions of the network.

Consolidation of many physical networks into a single infrastructure.

Users will see a single infrastructure while it might have been built out of several hundreds of networks. They will experience a less cluttered and virtualized network instead of the traditional messed-up network which comes as a result of several networks with different services spread across them.

Applying network based virtualization to file storage will dramatically enhance the productivity of users as they see a single network and accessing any file will appear as if accessed from one network while it could have been stored in any network, anywhere in the world. Such an implementation reduces your investments and operating costs and at the same time increases security. You will not have worry about rolling out security policies across all the networks, just the single virtualized network should be updated with security policies and you are done.

Another important thing you must take into consideration is that network based virtualization not only increases security but also dramatically cuts down on Auditing time. With only one virtualized network to audit, you save time and thus increase productivity. Changes are easy to implement and end user impact is reduced.

Ability to partition the existing network infrastructure into several virtual networks helps in many ways. While one virtual network can be used by people within the company to access various services, at the same time, a restricted virtual network can be created for the outsourced company to access your resources. With policies specific to each network, security is increased and at the same time your investments towards providing an isolated network for external customers is reduced to a great extent.

Another major factor to think about is the amount of money that could be saved with consolidation of several networks into a single infrastructure. Networks such as Storage network, VoIP network, Streaming media, Wireless network can be consolidated to create a single infrastructure which is much better to manage and administer.

With years to come, network based virtualization will become a common practice to follow across medium and large organizations with small organization also indirectly benefiting out of it.

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Hard Disk Drives that Detects a Drop

Raj — Sun, 19 Nov 2006 08:27:01 +0000

The technology existed for quite a few years and with more vendors now adapting it, we can expect to see it as a standard offering on all make and models in another an year or two.

These hard drives can detect a sudden motion or drop with a built-in sensor. Not only they detect a drop but also park the read-write head of the hard disks in a safe zone to avoid damage due to shock received after the fall. The damage may mostly arise due to collision between the head and platters of the hard disk. This collision can be fatal and may result in physical damage and also loss of data.

The sensors measure axial acceleration by using an accelerometer which detects a drop [a free fall] and signals the hard disk to park its head [stop reading and writing] to avoid any damage to the head and platters. It does not make hard disks shock proof though.

The technology is already in use by Lenovo in its Laptops and other vendors are also working towards featuring this technology in their products. Hopefully, we should see all laptops shipping with hard disks equipped with this technology very soon.

Popular manufacturers who are already shipping this technology in their hard disk drives are Seagate and Samsung.

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