Brandon Lee

Google's New Tool To Control Your Account After You Were Gone

Mon, 15 Apr 2013 02:57:13 -0400

Ever wonder what will happen to your Google account after you were gone? All the transactions, the businesses you had in the cyber mailing, what will happen to those? Because unlike when people are still communicating ‘manually,’ the conversations we are currently having through e-mail will stay intangible unless we actually print them.

What if someone needs them when we’re not around anymore and because our accounts are locked out of passwords, they cannot access such important files?

Well, thankfully, Google now has a solution for this dilemma if eventually the need occurs. The said solution, the ‘Interactive Account Manager’ tool, will ‘control what happens to your account when you stop using Google,’ i.e. death.

Google will send, with the use of this new tool, a notification one month before you desired time (3, 6, 9 months or one year, your choice) for Google to take action on your account. If the user has not responded or reentered your account, Google will notify your ‘trusted accounts’ (you can list up to 10 accounts) and will shared your data with them. The notification to your trusted accounts will look like this:

Or, if you desired not to share your data, Google can delete your account right away including your blog posts, YouTube videos, etc.

Verizon Collaborates With NYC For 'Faster Deployment'

Wed, 03 Apr 2013 22:53:05 -0400

One of the world’s biggest broadband and telecommunications companies, Verizon Communications collaborates with the most populous city in the U.S.A. to, according to FierceTelecom, “ test a way to more quickly deploy fiber in the city.”

To use a technique called ‘micro-trenching,’ this pilot program will allow Verizon to carve shallow grooves in the ground to deploy fiber. With hopes to earn significant advantage over Verizon’s competitors, the program will enable the company to sell faster speed Internet services and television service in more parts of the Big Apple.

The program, however, is not exclusive to Verizon as the New York city officials kept the program open for other providers to participate. Also, this venture will be critical for the company as New York city’s copper facilities were damaged beyond repair caused by the Hurricane Sandy.

Clearfield Connections have already used the micro-trenching method to install its FieldShield pushable fiber product at one customer’s tower. “Another area was we were able to install was in streets of Chicago. A deployment (was needed) for that tower that wouldn’t disrupt traffic. …We took micro-trenching technology, (made) a simple saw cut in the sidewalk, laid 10 mm microduct through the trench, and delivered service in a couple hours. We never even closed traffic,” Clearfield President and CEO, Cheri Beranek told FierceTelecom.

'Crappy Comments' Not Allowed On Facebook

Tue, 26 Mar 2013 02:10:13 -0400

Web giant, Facebook, announced that it has implemented a new comments feature that will organize and structure ‘crappy comments’ posted on Pages or high-trafficked profiles on the said website.

To feature the most active conversations atop posts, the world’s most visited social networking site will re-order the threads by relevance to each viewer. A Facebook member may find a particular conversation thread higher if they share connections to participants in a thread.

In a note posted on Facebook, Facebook journalism Program Manager, Vadim Lavrusik stated, ”After months of testing, we have seen how the new feature can improve conversations and be used to start open dialogues with the community.”

This new feature is expected to avoid a deluge of comments especially to the page of celebrities or brands that have hundred of thousands of followers. Such feature is only available on the desktop at the time being.

207% Growth In LTE Traffic Expected In 2013

Mon, 18 Mar 2013 21:23:15 -0400

The market intelligence company specializing in global technology markets, ABI Research, predicted this Monday that the LTE traffic volumes will likely grow 207% this 2013 by surging mobile applications.

Research associate at ABI Research, Marina Lu, said, ”In developed markets, 4G is rapidly gaining traction. Verizon Wireless, for example, has reported that 50% of its data usage is on 4G LTE.”

According to ABI Research, driving this growth are smartphone applications which put the number of downloads worldwide at 36.2 billion last year, up 88% on 2011. However, it is not just the number of downloads that matters, but the volume of data traffic their use subsequently generates.

“The emergent growth in enterprise apps does have potential. Both AT&T and Orange have invested in enterprise apps, setting up their own in-house service teams,” said ABI Research Vice-President of Forecasting, Jake Saunders.

“Large mobile device screens and 4G data-speeds will stimulate mobile video streaming/downloads to account for 56% of total [mobile data] traffic,” the firm adds.

first and last

Fri, 08 Mar 2013 01:28:59 -0500

first and last

Samsung Galaxy SIV To Feature "Eye Scrolling"

Tue, 05 Mar 2013 23:10:51 -0500

Samsung’s new smartphone, Galaxy SIV will be introduced this month. According to some reports, the new Android phone the electronics giant is about to debut has a strong focus on software.

Galaxy SIV has an exciting new feature described as “eye scrolling.” This particular Android phone will track the users’ eyes to “determine where to scroll.” The New York Times said that when the users read articles and their eyes reach the bottom of the page, the software will automatically scroll down to reveal the next paragraphs of text.

A Samsung employee gave out such information but refuses to explain what technology was being used to track eye movements. He also did not confirm whether such feature will be demonstrated in the upcoming Galaxy SIV press conference this coming March 14 at New York.

It was just last January when Samsung filed a trademark in Europe (“Eye Scroll” No. 011510674) for the said feature and in the U.S. it was named “Samsung Eye Scroll,” filed in February with the description, “Computer application software having a feature of sensing eye movements and scrolling displays of mobile devices, namely, mobile phones, smartphones and tablet computers according to eye movements; digital cameras; mobile telephones; smartphones; tablet computers.” Also posted by Samsung, without description, though, was Eye Pause.

Samsung’s Chief Product Officer, Kevin Packingham said, “It’s an amazing phone.” He, however, declined to give out details about this new phone.

New Internet Address Suffixes To Be Activated This 2013

Wed, 27 Feb 2013 02:06:43 -0500

The head of an Internet oversight agency said last Monday that there will be hundred of potential internet address suffixes to rival “.com” should be available for people and businesses to use by the end of the year.

First ones to come this mid-2013 will likely be Chinese and other languages said Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN) CEO Fadi Chehade. Following “other languages,” within weeks by English suffixes that do not have competing bidders. The names will not be specified until April, however, there are some single-bidder proposals such as “.aetna,” “.cadillac,” “.vegas,” “.quebec,” etc.

Other proposed suffixes (.app, .music, .tech)are said to take a longer time to be approved because multiple groups have submitted bids to run them and must work out disputes.

With last year’s nearly 2,000 businesses and groups submitting bids for about 1,400 different names, ICANN is overseeing the largest expansion of the Internet address system since its creation in the 1980s. With the said expansion, businesses and other trademark holder will be able to declare names they want protected for an annual fee of up to $150 per name (starting March 26).

Other issues regarding this matter remains to be resolved. Misspellings and longer suffixes are to be argued. In an interview on The Associate Press, Chehade said, ICANN did not want to restrict free speech or other legitimate uses.

Chehade said ICANN’s initial recommendations are expected in late April, after which the winning bidders will work out operational and contractual details. With the suffixes with multiple bidders, no deadline has been given for which parties must reach agreement.

In addition to that, on Monday, ICANN said it would spread its operations to three locations around the world to cover all time zones. Headquarters will remain in Los Angeles, with hubs expected in Singapore and Istanbul, Turkey, by mid-2013.

104-Year-Old Woman Wants Her 'Real Age' Posted On Facebook

Thu, 21 Feb 2013 21:28:56 -0500

Apparently, Facebook, one of the world’s most visited social networking website, was initially intended for people who are ‘young,’ and ‘gorgeous.’ It seems as though the website creators failed to perceive ‘older’ people wanting to join the discussion in the website they created.

Marguerite Joseph, born April 1908, encountered a problem on encoding her real birth year on Facebook. The 104-year-old woman is legally blind but she loves catching up with her family the modern way. Gail Marlow, Joseph’s granddaughter, reads and responds to her grandmother’s Facebook activities every day.

“Every time I tried to change the settings to the right year, Facebook always came back with an unknown error message and would send us right back to a year she wasn’t born in. I would love to see her real age on Facebook, I mean in April she’s going to be 105. It’s special,” Marlow told Channel 4 in Detroit.

As Joseph’s granddaughter keeps on trying to encode Joseph’s real birth year, 1908, Facebook just constantly shifts it to 1928. However, with all the publicity this dilemma has been making, Facebook finally heard it and released a statement saying, We’ve recently discovered an issue whereby some Facebook users may be unable to enter a birthday before 1910. We are working on a fix for this and we apologize for the inconvenience.”

The controversy somehow took effect on Joseph, from having just 100 friends (before the controversy), she now has 326 friends. And, fortunately, she have been able to post her real age.

Apple Holds 20% Of U.S. Consumer Technology Revenue In Terms Of Sales in 2012

Wed, 20 Feb 2013 00:02:34 -0500

A raise on Apple’s share was accounted for the company last year 2012. From 17.3% share in 2011, Apple currently has a 19.9% share of sales of consumer technology in the United States.

According to a data released by The NPD Group, a company that provides market information and advisory services to drive better business decisions, with more than 2% increase in Apple’s share, the electronics giant beat out Samsung, its direct competitor.

The top five brand with the most shares in consumer technology are as follows:

“While sales fell in consumer technology for the second consecutive year, there was an uptick in Q4 which is cause for optimism. After struggles with declining categories, and increasingly saturated markets over the last few years, fourth quarter’s results may be the first sign that even as a mature industry consumer technology can grow again, albeit with a very different dynamic than in previous growth spurts,” said VP of Industry Analysis at NPD, Stephen Baker.

Atlas V Launched

Mon, 11 Feb 2013 23:21:00 -0500

A new satellite was launched into space just last Monday. The said satellite will “keep closer tabs on Earth’s glaciers, crops, forests and shorelines, continuing a tradition that began four decades ago.”

“Atlas V” took-off from Vandenberg Air Force Base at 11:30 AM, local time. Tracked by the mission controllers, the satellite headed southwesterly towards the direction over the Pacific.

NASA Administrator Charles Bolden Jr. even said, “Give yourselves a pat on the back, shake each other’s hand, hug each other, cry a little bit and then go celebrate.” Bolden monitored the launch from mission control.

Equipped with sensors better and more powerful than the satellites that came before it, the latest Landsat will zip around the planet 14 times a day taking hundreds of pictures that will be beamed back to ground stations in South Dakota, Alaska and Norway.

Atlas V will operate for five years although it is fueled to last for 10 years according to Frank Kelly, Director at USGS Center for Earth Resources Observations and Science in Garretson, South Dakota.

Tim Dunn, NASA’s assistant launch director, said in a post-launch interview on NASA TV that, “Things could not have gone better today. It really was an absolutely smooth countdown.”

iPhone Users Scored Highest Wireless Bills

Fri, 01 Feb 2013 00:10:48 -0500

A data given to Wall Street Journal by Consumer Intelligence Research Partners (CIRP) indicates that a typical iPhone user’s average monthly data bill of is highest in the smartphone market. In accordance to that CIRP survey, more that half of the respondents spent more than $100 per month on their wireless plan. 10% of iPhone owners spent $200 or more, 6% spent $50 or less, on the other hand. The survey was conducted in the latter part of 2012.

As for other smartphone customers, Android users spent 7% more than $200 a month, 53% spent over $100 per month, and 12% spent $50 or less.

However, CIRP co-founder Michael Levin explains, “We think it has to do with their data plans and carriers, rather than their usage habits. They are all on expensive data plans, unlike Android users, some of which are on prepaid or unsubsidized plans with regional carries.”

odesk MS Word 2007 Test

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 21:56:09 -0500

odesk MS Word 2007 Test

Business Attire for Men

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 21:53:57 -0500

Business Attire for Men

Satellite Stuff: Azerspace/Africasat-1 starts preoperational testing

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 21:14:14 -0500

Satellite Stuff: Azerspace/Africasat-1 starts preoperational testing:

edhopperfirst:

Azerspace/Africasat-1 -the first telecommunications satellite ever deployed by Azerbaijan- is going through its pre-start test at the Guiana Space Center near Korou, French Guiana.

According to a report by Arianespace, the Azerbaijani communications satellite has been moved to the preparatory…

Digg Votes

Wed, 23 Jan 2013 21:09:23 -0500

Digg Votes

Satellite Internet Access: One-way receive, with terrestrial transmit

Sun, 20 Jan 2013 23:59:00 -0500

One-way terrestrial return satellite Internet systems are used with conventional dial-up Internet access, a form of Internet access that uses the facilities of the public switched telephone network (PSTN) to establish a dialed connection to an Internet service provider (ISP) via telephone lines, with outbound (upstream, which in computer networking, is the direction in which data can be transferred from the client to the server (uploading)) data traveling through a telephone modem (“modulator-demodulator”), a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information; but downstream data, which in a telecommunications network, is the data sent from a network service provider to a customer, sent via satellite at a higher rate. In the US, an FCC license is required for the uplink station only; no license is required for the users.

Another type of one-way satellite Internet system uses General Packet Radio Service (GPRS), a packet oriented mobile data service on the 2G and 3G cellular communication system’s global system for mobile communications (GSM), for the back-channel. Using standard GPRS or Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) (also known as “Enhanced GPRS” (“EGPRS”), or “IMT Single Carrier” (“IMT-SC”), or “enhanced Data rates for Global Evolution”), a digital mobile phone technology that allows improved data transmission rates as a backward-compatible extension of GSM, costs are reduced for higher effective rates if the upload volume is very low, and also because this service is per-time charged, but charged by volume uploaded. GPRS as return improves mobility when the service is provided by a satellite that transmits in the field of 50-63 dBW (“decibel watt,” or “dBW,” a unit for the measurement if the strength of a signal expressed in decibels relative to one watt). Using a 33 cm wide satellite dish, a notebook and a normal GPRS equipped GSM phone, or a device that can make and receive telephone calls over a radio link while moving around a wide geographic area, users can get mobile satellite broadband.

See: Shinya Yamanaka’s Nobel Prize and interest in sports

Satellite Stuff: Telefonica splits Hispasat stake between Albertis, Eutelsat in sale

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 00:41:58 -0500

Satellite Stuff: Telefonica splits Hispasat stake between Albertis, Eutelsat in sale:

edhopperfirst:

In a recently-forged deal, telco Telefonica will sell its 13 percent stake in Spanish satellite operator Hispasat to Eutelsat and Abertis for 101 million euros.

Telefonica expects to profit from the deal by 47 million euros. Its original plan was to sell its entire share to Abertis. Eutelsat,…

The Resources Inventory: Junior mining industry dwindling, says MacDonald Mines

Fri, 18 Jan 2013 00:31:11 -0500

The Resources Inventory: Junior mining industry dwindling, says MacDonald Mines:

resourceinventory:

The CEO of MacDonald Mines is all but begging politicians to save the junior mining industry by implementing reforms such as imposing limits on high-frequency trading and encourage financial institutions to more widely adopt resource.

The junior miner expressed its concerns about its industry’s…

The Resources Inventory: Lynas activates rare earth elements units in Malaysian plant

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 23:06:39 -0500

The Resources Inventory: Lynas activates rare earth elements units in Malaysian plant:

resourceinventory:

Australia-based rare earths miner Lynas Corp announced that it has finally and successfully commissioned the cracking and rare earth extraction units at its plant in Malaysia.

Lynas expects the cracking and extraction units to begin producing commercial rare earth products within January. The…

Satellite Stuff: ISRO again delays launching SARAL, Canadian satellites

Thu, 17 Jan 2013 23:04:18 -0500

Satellite Stuff: ISRO again delays launching SARAL, Canadian satellites:

edhopperfirst:

It appears that the Indian-French satellite SARAL and its co-passenger Canadian defense satellites will have to wait until February, according to an announcement by the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO).

ISRO announced this January 4 that it discovered an issue in the SARAL satellite…