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Solar PV Technology Offers a DIY energy Solution

December 5, 2011 — 11:58 am

Do a bit of DIY, get cheap energy and save the planet. It sounds like a great idea, doesn’t it? Where’s the catch? Rather strangely, there is none.

Solar PV technology is what we are talking about, and if you have been waiting for the chance to make your home more ecologically then this could be your chance to do it. If you have also been waiting for the chance to impress your friends with some complex sounding but simple DIY then this is ideal for you as well, coupled with basic energy efficiency practices such as double glazing windows Solar energy can make a real difference.

This got me thinking about what other DIY jobs are easier than they sound and could do a bit to help save the planet. Here are some ideas to get you looking out the tool box.

A Compost Toilet

Do you know how much water you use every time you flush the toilet? The answer is lots and if you want to go truly green then a compost toilet is easy to make. You need sand, empty bottles, bamboo, clay and a few other things. Don’t worry, there are step by step instructions with photos on a number of internet sites, so you won’t get lost along the way. If a compost toilet just sounds too far out then simply adding something like a brick inside your cistern will take up space and ensure that you use less water every time you flush.

Grow More Plants

There are lots of different benefits to be had from growing your own plants. Apart from it being a fun hobby you can also recycle some household items as pots, get some compost heap fun going on and grow your own fruit and vegetables. You will be amazed at how many people are genuinely impressed at your gardening skills without realising that it is actually one of the simplest and most natural tasks around. If you have children in the house then you should get them involved as well, as they will love it.

Recycle Your Clothes and Make Something New

If you have a really badly treated old t-shirt or pair of trousers then maybe the only thing you can do with them is turn them into rags for cleaning up the house. However, for anything in a better condition you should use your creativity before throwing them out. Sometimes cutting off legs, adding buttons or dyeing can turn a useless piece of clothing into something which can still give you some use. If you are planning to do a few more DIY jobs then you will want some more clothes which you don’t need to worry about getting dirty or ripped as you work. The same goes for jewellery, as lone earnings can be added to necklaces and broken necklaces can sometimes be turned into earrings. Just take your time and look over anything you are planning to throw out. Once you get used to the idea of seeing new uses for old things it will start to come naturally to you to think this way.

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Science Technology
Admin ISK

Portable & Desktop External Hard Drives – What’s The Difference?

— 10:40 am

With sales of portable and desktop external hard drives on the rise, many home and business owners are now discovering the benefits of these useful peripherals. However, there are still large numbers of people who perhaps do not understand the latest computer jargon and technology, and are missing out on all the benefits that external hard drives have to offer.

If you tend to veer away from “technical” stuff, and don’t know your hard drives from your CD-rewriters, this advice is for you. I explained in simple terms exactly what external hard drives are, the benefits of using them, and the differences between portable and desktop external hard drives.  With this information at hand, you’ll soon be ready to decide whether you need an external hard drive and what type to use.

What are external hard drives?

Every computer contains a hard drive, also called a hard disk, which functions as a storage device for files, programmes and information. In some ways, the hard disk could be thought of as the brain of the computer. External hard drives serve exactly the same purpose as internal hard drives, but they are completely separate from the computer, sealed in plastic casing to protect the working parts. As I will explain in more detail later on, external hard drives come in two formats – portable and desktop.

Why do I need an external hard drive?

Over the past ten years, computers have entered almost every area of our daily lives.  We use computers to stay in contact with our friends and family, manage our finances, shop, plan holidays and even work. This means that most us of store information on our computer hard drive which may be sensitive – like your banking details or tax records. Identity theft is on the rise, so it is important to take steps to keep your computer secure. External hard drives can help with this because you can disconnect the external hard drive after you are finished using it, and store it away, reducing the risk of theft and hacking.

A second reason that external hard drives are so popular is that they allow computer users to back up (make a copy of) the internal hard drive. If the internal hard drive is damaged, either physically or by a virus, the owner of an external hard drive will have a copy of all their programs and files. Basically, an external hard drive acts as a kind of insurance – if you do have a problem with the internal drive, you won’t lose have to worry about losing documents, photos and files.

What are the differences between portable and desktop external hard drives?

The main difference between portable and desktop external hard drives is size. Portable versions are designed to be carried around, and are packaged in a slim-line casing, while desktop drives are larger and often have integrated fans which help extend the life of the equipment. Portable drives tend to have a lower storage capacity than desktop ones,  some of which can hold up to 1Terabyte of information. Generally, people choose external hard drives by weighing up the importance of storage volume and size, depending on their personal requirements.

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Admin ISK

Don’t let Technology Ruin Your Cinema Experience

December 1, 2011 — 4:08 pm

On a recent trip to my local movie theatre to check cinema times for new releases, I got talking with some other film fans. Somehow, our conversation drifted onto the theme of annoying habits of other cinema users and how technology was a big part of the issue.  This sparked an (unscientific) survey amongst my friends and family, all of whom agreed that while there are some unspoken rules of cinema etiquette, they nevertheless had broken at least one of them on a visit to see the latest movies.  This got me thinking – perhaps it is time to finally get these cinema etiquette rules down in writing, and solve the problem of the annoying film-goer forever. Of course, these rules don’t cover things that are just common sense and basic good manners– like switching off your mobile phone and not talking loudly during the film, but more subtle things which can make going to the cinema more pleasurable for everyone.

Rule Number One : Check Cinema Times Before Arrival

One of the top dislikes of film fans is people who stroll into the movie theatre when the main feature has already started. Those early moments of a film can be vital in understanding the plot-line, so people bustling by and causing a distraction are likely to be frowned upon by those already seated. Cinema times are easy to check due to advancements in technology (you can even get an I-Phone App to do the hard work for you), so allow yourself enough time to get to the venue and make you way to your seat before the film begins!

Rule Number Two : Ill? Stay At Home…

It is unfortunate if you have been checking the cinema times and planned to see a movie, then come down with a cold or flu. However, for other peoples sake – stay at home, and book a ticket to see the film when you are feeling better. Quite apart from the fact that you might be passing germs to other people, do you really want to be the person who ruins that tense movie moment with your coughing and sneezing?

Rule Number Three : The Reason You Can’t Take Your Own Food

People are always complaining that most cinemas prohibit customers from taking food and drinks purchased elsewhere into the movie theatre. However, there is a very good reason for this, which was well illustrated when I visited a cinema in Spain. All was well, until the person sitting beside me began to unpack what looked like a three course lunch. While I normally love garlic, being assailed by the pungent odour throughout the entire film was a little off-putting to say the least….not to mention being showered with breadcrumbs, when the guy stood up. I suppose the moral to this story is that some foods are rather unsociable…so if you are not going to share, leave the contents of your fridge at home!

These are my top three rules of “unspoken” cinema etiquette. Do other cinema-goers agree with these rules and are there more to add to the list?

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Admin ISK

Lawn Mower Deals and Reviews

November 16, 2011 — 3:49 pm

Get lawnmower deals online. Check out the lawn mower reviews so you can find out what others say about each product you are interested in. online you will find lawn mowers below $180, and as much as $1700 depending on what you want and can afford.

You can find deals and reviews online for all riding and push lawnmowers including the gas, electric and Green mowers.

Brands available online include

  • Honda
  • John Deere
  • Craftsman
  • Yard Man
  • MDT Universal Lawn Tractors
  • Sears
  • Husqvarna

This is the top brands listed in the article but other models are available and probably less costly. You can go online to look at lawnmower reviews to see what other brands are available and to find out what others are saying about Honda, John Deere, Craftsman, and Yard Man, MDT, and Sears models. Get reviews on self-propelled gas mowers, gas push mowers, electric models, real lawnmowers, and other styles.

Honda makes the self-propelled gas machines including the HRX and GCV models. You can get reviews online including prices, cons, pros, warranty details and other information from reviews online.

Honda and Husqvarna make the push mowers at affordable cost. 7012P is made by Husqvarna and the HRS models are made by Honda.

Ho-ho-ho Christmas is around the corner so why not invest in the latest Robotic Robo-mowers with my name written all over it. Wahoo – this mower is awesome. Rather than do the work yourself, the robo-mower will do the work for you. The cost for this mower is around $1000, but hey if you have a robot taking care of your lawn that cares. You can make up the money in another area. However, keep in mind that some robot owners claim that these robotic machines do not meet up to their expectations. Apparently, some of the mowers take around one week to set up perimeter wiring. This is an appointment process since the mower needs to know where to go. Some claim that the robot machines take longer to get the grass mowed.

Apparently, I will have to pull out my inventor cap to create one of the top-of-the-line robot mowers that does exactly what people ask in less time. In the meantime, take a browse on the Internet to find out more about the electronic, push mowers, riding machines, and other brands.

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Admin JHS

Kinmen-Xiamen Submarine Cable will be Running in March

October 21, 2011 — 10:20 am

A submarine cable and marine management project to connect Kinmen and Xiamen has been approved for development through Chunghwa Telecom, the National Communications Commission (NCC) has announced. The undersea cable project will be completed in March and is expected to greatly improve the quality of telecommunications at both ends.

The NCC approved the Taiwan telecom giant’s plan to construct a direct Kinmen Xiamen submarine cable link. The project will be funded by CHT, the company behind the marine management project, China Telecom, China Unicom, and China Mobile.

The brand new undersea cable will be the first submarine cable to provide direct cross Taiwan strait telecommunications. CHT marine management will cover half of the cost of construction, while their 3 China based partners will cover the other half between them.

The submarine cable has been designed to provide a transmission capacity of 9.6 TBps (TeraBytes per second), but this capacity could well be expanded upon depending on the actual demand, said CHT.

The system includes two lines including one connecting Kinmen’s Guningtou to Xiamen’s Dadeng Island, through 9.7 kilometers of submarine cable in total, and another connecting Kinmen’s Lake Ci to Xiamen’s Guanyin Mountain, with 11 km of undersea cable in total. Both submarine cable projects will adopt a non-repeater submarine cable system, the company added.

As well as greatly improving telecommunications quality in both regions, the brand new submarine cable system will also provide bigger bandwidth services. The new cable line is set to link up with domestic submarine cables including Taiwan-Kinmen and Taiwan-Kinmen-Penghu lines.

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Admin IQY

Mobile Broadband Coverage

October 5, 2011 — 2:07 pm

If you are searching for mobile Internet, one of the most important features you should look for in a package is mobile broadband coverage. If you purchase a mobile phone from a company that does not offer good coverage, your signal will often fail or be poor.

You should look for features such as mobile broadband coverage, prices/fees, network speed, data network reliability, and help and support. Considering the monthly rates, (Prices and fees) is important, but other features should be considered as well. You can compare the average download/upload data transfer rates from various companies online.

Some companies offer unlimited data, others will offer less. Look for network speed when you go online to find out how much download and upload data transfer rates is offered. Network coverage is the availability of broadband connection. Major companies often provide you with the best network coverage. Right now, the major companies offer coverage to you on open Interstates, highways, thoroughfares, etc. Most companies are still working to improve coverage in rural areas.

Data network reliability is important. Data networks that are not available can interrupt your life particularly if you are a professional businessperson. Make sure the company you are considering mobile broadband from has good data network reliability. Help and support is important. If you purchase broadband from any company, and call the company for technical support and no one is available, time is lost. Customer support team should be available via e-mail, telephone, and they should post helpful information on their web site, such as a FAQ. Some vendors will post tutorials, supportive documentation, and device manuals, which is great. When you contact customer services, the workers should be responsive and knowledgeable to your needs. Continue reading Mobile Broadband Coverage »

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Admin JHS

Boost SEO Performance of an Image with This Useful Tip

October 4, 2011 — 10:41 am

It is good search engine optimisation to surround images on your site with relevant, keyword rich text, be it headers, captions or other text outlets. We have already established throughout this series of basic tutorials that search engines are not set up to interact directly with images and require keyword text to locate relevant pages for the users search engine query.

For this reason it is necessary to include all of the relevant keywords and phrases in unique, descriptive, relevant, quality text. But it can also be incredibly helpful to bolster the relevant keywords surrounding your image with the words ‘picture’ and ‘image’. This can help to ensure that the image included on your page performs well in SEO terms, because when most people are using search engine to locate a particular image, they will include the words ‘image’ or ‘picture’ in their search queries.

Include these words in the text content used as headings or descriptions of images can provide an added competitive edge to the page’s SEO performance. If a search engine user inputs a more general search query on the subject matter, your keyword inclusion should still have the desired effect. The use of the words ‘image’ and ‘picture’ simply increases your chances of success for more specific search queries too.

The same theory applies to video search queries though this particular kind of query is not quite as prolific as those related to images. The aim of the SEO game is often to entice the search engines with as much descriptive and relevant copy as possible, so since you are describing an image it stands to reason that your text content will be relevant to this.

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Admin IQY

10 Great Reasons to Choose Scheduling Software for Corporate or Legal Firms

September 30, 2011 — 3:55 pm

Scheduling software is an absolute must within the hustle and bustle of a hectic office environment. In the corporate and legal sectors, scheduling software is crucial because employees are expected to make frequent, serious deadlines; what’s more within a law firm these deadlines could concern life and death situations. No company in these industry sectors should be without a comprehensive yet straightforward scheduling package, such as Rendezvous scheduling software.

There are a number of ways that scheduling software could benefit your company. Here are ten of the biggest:
1. Scheduling Space – When you need to book the right space at the right time, Rendezvous scheduling software can handle it. Fast. It’s also designed to prevent double booking.
2. Scheduling Resources – There’s more to a meeting than where or when, which is why Rendezvous can help you to arrange AV equipment, catering, video conferencing, telepresence, furniture and more; and staff, caterers and technicians can all monitor progress.
3. Video conferencing and telepresence – Since video conferences can take place across offices and time zones Rendezvous scheduling software can help arranging hassle-free multi location meetings, allowing the corporation to stay in contact whilst doing their bit for the environment.
4. Client Matter Number – Client matter number tracking and validation is extremely important at a law firm and can also be managed using this impressive software.
5. Outlook Integration – Through integration with the popular MS Outlook, clients and visitors typically located outside of the office can still know where and when to be and know what they need to prepare; connecting everybody through the software.
6. Self service – Rendezvous scheduling software can integrate with corporate intranets to control every aspect of an arrangement from meeting rooms, catering to concierge and more.
7. Meeting Change Notification – With important meetings, everybody needs to know of any changes as and when they happen. This can be achieved with Rendezvous thanks to automated notifications sent to mobile devices.
8. Configurable Workflow – Request / Approve processes can be configured to suit the preferences of your firm.
9. Management and Utilisation – This element is critical, so that performance and room bookings and facilities can be observed and assessed. Over 150 standard reports are available as well as query tool and other reporting options.
10. Last but not least, corporate and legal firms will benefit from happy and hardworking staff benefitting from a simple and streamlined scheduling programme.

Rendezvous is a web-based, flexible, scalable, configurable scheduling solution, used by large, small and medium sized corporate and legal companies around the world. Why not try Rendezvous for yourself and experience the positive change of this amazing software.

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Admin IQY

Cloud Computing – A Definition

September 13, 2011 — 11:36 am

The Cloud is that collection of computing resource (applications, servers, data, etc.) held out there “on the internet,” accessed via your broadband connection with a pay-as-you go business model wrapped around it.

It’s a great concept: one that will make computing easier, cheaper and more available for all businesses particularly small to medium sized businesses.

No Need For A Server In The Office With Cloud Computing

With Cloud Computing you won’t buy expensive servers and install them in your office. Instead the server(s) and application(s) that you use will be out in the Cloud. You won’t necessarily own them, just as you don’t own the electrical generating plant that supplies your electricity. You will just plug in and pay for what you use. Without the need to purchase a server or your applications your up-front Capital Cost will be much lower, or perhaps even zero. Instead you will pay a monthly fee for the use of server resource, applications and their IT Support.

But The Biggest Benefit Of Cloud Computing Is Agility

Lower capital requirements and lower fixed costs is all that it will take to “sell” Cloud Computing to most companies. However the main benefit will really be agility – the ability to rapidly scale computing resource to fit the business need – more, or less, servers and workstations within days. No longer will business plans be held back (to the same degree) by the ability to implement IT infrastructure projects. Those companies that really succeed with Cloud Computing will certainly take the savings but make real use of the business agility that it delivers.

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UK mobile broadband

September 12, 2011 — 12:34 pm

3 and PayG with Archos

PayG or pay as you go plans are highly popular in the UK. There are numerous reasons for this. It can be the flexibility of the plans, the fees that are less, or many other reasons. No matter why you might go for the pay as you go option, knowing what is out there is highly helpful. Three or 3UK has just announced a partnership with Archos to offer pay as you go mobile broadband.

The agreement is with Archos to provide 3 users with the Archos G9 tablet that has a uk mobile broadband pay as you go service. The operator said the deal with the tablets has been signed in order to help their consumers get a package they can afford and desire. The first series of agreements will provide the tablets to the UK and Europe as a whole. In fact wherever 3 has a network it will be possible for their consumers to take advantage of the pay as you go mobile broadband tablet.

The range of products will be Android based and these tablets will be released in stores in September 2011. Right now, the Archos tablet is one of the most powerful to be offered to consumers around Europe and the UK. It is supposed to rival that of the Apple iPad.

Archos already provides 3G dongles for laptop access using the mobile broadband concept. The table will require a dongle as it will not have built in 3G. This is a downside for the Archos product given the network iPad offers with a built in network. The idea of the dongle to be used with the Archos tablet is to serve another need. There are times when a laptop might be needed instead of a tablet, such as needing to type more quickly for business or personal reasons. Archos stated that they want the tablet to have 3G, but they also want their users to be able to use other products with the 3 mobile broadband pay as you go deal. Continue reading UK mobile broadband »

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