Cost factor are always on the fore front of every business decision process especially. Targeting IT cost reduction is no different. Computer information officers could not agree over enterprise desktop virtualization as a cost saving investment. Maybe you are aware of Dell’s OptiPlex 980 desktop and FX100 zero client computer which is touted to be faster and more energy-efficient. These kind of computer hardware are intended for deployment in the enterprise desktop virtualization environment.

IT professionals looking for alternatives could easily point out the lowered costs by replacing out desktop computers with thin clients. Having enterprise desktop virtualization technology could bolster security and meet regulatory requirements. It could also simplify desktop management and even allows desktop backup which is missing in most companies. Those are some point of benefit that could be noted for having enterprise desktop virtualization which initially makes it appealing for investment.

The down side of having enterprise desktop virtualization is not obvious as it could pop up in the long run when everything has grown in size. Imagine thousands of users or more with each hosting desktop images in the data center. This will create a significant shift in how the IT infrastructure is managed. There will surely result in additional cost on retraining existing staff attending online courses or hiring additional talent required to support it. Heavy-duty servers, network components and storage would implicate more expenditure for the enterprise-wide virtual desktop infrastructure. There might be more cost on licensing fees, data center cooling and power which are not very evident.

Businesses are reluctant that’s why most deployments are in small numbers ranging from 50 desktops up to a 1,000. The reason behind might be that the benefits of enterprise desktop virtualization is difficult to fully quantify.

The latest technology craze even before it’s unveiling was Apple’s latest hybrid tablet PC. What is known as “iPad” is essentially an oversized iPhone or iPod touch. A mix of features that are from tablet PC and iPhone. I was asking if iPad tablet would be a hit gadget or will it be worth your money at $500 a piece. I’ll look only on one important aspect of the device which would be good to think about.

The software environment of iPad is inherited from the earlier Apple device like iPhone or iPod touch mobile device. Thus, when Steve Job showed a demo of browsing The New York Times on the iPad, and some of the website’s content didn’t display. The reason behind is probably because iPhone or iPod touch does not support Adobe’s Flash technology. Apple has long kept Adobe’s Flash technology out of the iPhone or iPod touch software environment. As Jobs’ demo showed, the iPad tablet PC is no different. Apple hasn’t changed things yet.

It would be really cool to have Adobe Flash running on iPad and I bet iPad would get more followers. Apple rather preferred to have HTML5 standard for web embedded videos instead of Flash video players. Finally, we end up with a flash-less iPad tablet PC which doesn’t jibe well with digital publishers. Personally, I would rather wait a few months for an alternative touch screen device that is capable of running Adobe’s Flash embedded on every website.

Finding ways to reduce cost is a managers task in a slump economy. Computer and Information Technology is an easy target for cost reduction. For example, businesses hire fresh college graduates as developers of relational database applications. I don’t have anything against it as having new blood to the organization is good. To prove their mark they do relational database design and application development as learned in school, but it’s different in the real life scenario.

Many says that developing relational database applications is easy. Maybe it’s true for some small applications like simple inventory database where the design doesn’t matter very much. Any mistakes made will reveal themselves in time, errors will be corrected, and lessons will be learned. But for important applications, though, this is a sure formula for disaster. Lack of real world application development experience is usually behind major project failures.

Prominent software development frameworks like Java, .NET, PHP, C#, JavaScript, XML, Ruby, Ajax, and many more requires a new skill set. Not to include the skills on software testing, software configuration management, project management, databases, UML, and others. Using tools to speed up application development is good, but there is the tendency that new fourth generation rapid application development tools in the wrong hands could escalate flaws. Thus, an office colleague prefer still coding practice than using rapid application development software.

I believe that using application development tools together with traditional development testing cycle would be positive. Finding the balance to get the right mix would be the best solution. Those working in the industry for sometime have a better advantage. Therefore, getting some web based software training about newer developer tools coupled with experience is a sure key to a better career.

dish network satellite tv and broadband internet

People living in remote areas have a great desire to watch TV news, report, sports or HBO movies. On the mountain areas of the province that I have visited where there’s no source of electricity people use transistor radios. A few have access to a television powered by car battery. Whenever a neighborhood has a TV turned on; the whole children flock towards it.

The form of entertainment is very limited but everything is slowly changing. Remote populations and areas could now be reached by satellite TV. In the US for example dish network is a popular satellite TV provider. These satellite TV’s are helping people have greater access to entertainment in remote areas.

Satellite TV provider have tied up with some major broadband Internet provider. Technology has developed to a point where a one-stop portal using a satellite connection for both TV entertainment and Internet is made available. As prices become affordable the trend of satellite TV use is becoming more and more common. People could save by using the same satellite subscription to get both services.

The dish network packages are very flexible to suit the taste of the viewer. Subscribers also enjoy the bundled Internet connection which is fast, reliable and secure. People will now have easy access to entertainment and information through satellite TV connection. The advantage of a satellite based connection is it could be easily setup anywhere and there will be no limitation of wiring. The downside of the a satellite connection is signals could be affected by rain and thunderstorm.

Despite the limitation of satellite TV services people still like the service. More over there are lots of dish network promotions that are attractive and cheap. Entertainment TV and High-Speed Internet both from the same satellite feed is becoming affordable. It would empower people through greater access to information and entertainment.

Virtual machine are cool to use even for a working desktop. Backup of the whole virtual machine and taking snapshot copies is easy. I have a virtual machine which runs Windows XP SP2. The original system disk size of 10 Gb is a bit limited. Several system updates, installation of MS 2007 Office Suite and other application software have out grown the allocated disk space.

The good thing about virtual machine is that you could change the memory size or the disk space if necessary. I used VMware virtualization software which comes with a tool vmware-vdiskmanager disk expansion software. I delved into increasing the virtual machine disk space, as everything looks straightforward and easy.

I made a backup copy of the virtual disk for insurance. Increasing the disk size was cool. No sweat, but it was not recognized by the system. There are instructions on how to use the extra partition to be part of the main system partition with disk expansion. I followed the outlined task. Surprise !!! Windows XP was unable to boot, screen turns blue and restarts the virtual machine automatically after a few seconds.

The good thing is I made a backup copy, before I DELETED the virtual disk (which is a really dumb thing to do). I copied back the virtual disk backup copy into the same location. Everything worked fine with Windows XP starting up, but the backup copy of the virtual disk seems to be old. I noticed, some latest installation and setup of important software are not there anymore.

The process which started with increasing virtual machines disk size ends up as disaster recovery problem. There’s no guarantee that everything will work fine when it comes to this kind of computer operation. So, I tried to recover the over written virtual disk file with the use of open source TestDisk Photo Recovery Software. I was not lucky with it. So, maybe I’ll try it with the use of commercial file recovery software like Active Undelete.

The Internet has build a a growing number of people who are connected online. Internet is really addicting as more web applications and social networking services are made accessible through portable devices and computers. It is even researched that mobile devices like smartphones have over taken computers as the primary device that uses Internet.

The report has some truth in it as smartphone are available everywhere. Almost everyone has a smartphone which is GPRS or 3G enabled that is conveniently connect to the Internet with wifi technology. The very light and handy mobile devices are very easy to tag along. Mobile application software for checking email, sms, video chat, are some of the most used programs.

Internet service providers are adapting schemes to accommodate the demand of growing personal communication and mobile devices market.

Internet distance education is going on mainstream. Home schooling or joining online degree education is getting better acceptance by parents. Students who find going to an established school might have an option for getting better careers by enrolling on Internet online degree programs. Some say that education is expensive, but I would say ignorance is more expensive. Education is very important in this competitive times.

The Internet offers many options for getting a degree. Flexible education could be done at home at anytime. There are even free training courses and self-study courses without time constraints. The big advantage of online learning is the unique learning experience which could be done on your own pace at your own time frame. Virtual classrooms with video conference give interactivity for students that span geographical locations. Online exercises and downloadable educational materials help students learn better.

It has never been easier to get an online education. Those who could not afford to pay for their learning could study online for free. Many free educational resources could be found on the Internet. If you have the money to spare, you could enroll in reputable online university or online college. Better careers are within everyone’s reach with Internet online degree education.

Reducing IT cost in businesses and other organizations are main goals for management. IT outsourcing services are viewed as an economical alternative to in-house IT services. Our institute has considered outsourcing as a way of cost reduction and obtaining required IT professional service. It is hoped that a pool of experienced and qualified team would boost business.

IT outsourcing promises to increase operation service levels, broaden service areas, introduce best practices in providing IT services. A 24 hours-a-day and seven days a week service will be implemented. The outsourcing contract provided includes operation and maintenance of hardware/software required of the entire institute. A smooth and satisfactory performance is expected of the IT services delivered.

The IT outsource will include support for network services, data center services, network security, desktop services, hardware support, communication infrastructure support and helpdesk services. Computer software application development, maintenance, administration support, defect and root cause analysis, change request, impact analysis and service level agreements based support services will be implemented.

In general, those are some expected IT outsourcing services improvement and benefits that the institute eyes when it signed a contract agreement. We’re crossing our fingers that everything will go smooth during the transition period.

There’s a great concern about safety of Toyota cars, in the US and around the globe. The defects that appears are piling up. More and more complaints are coming and lot’s of reported recall are done for different reason. Thus, some come to suspect that there might be a cover up on the main reason for the recall. Some believed that Toyota cars have this faulty electronic system which caused all the problems. We could read that some of the reason why Toyota cars has been recalled are due to sticking accelerator pedal up to power window short circuit problem. The best automotive pcb maybe was not used, but nobody knows for sure the reason behind the problem that plagued Toyota cars.

A news I have read was about unintended acceleration problem as one of the major reason for recalling millions of Toyota cars. The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration have even decided to investigate the possibility that electromagnetic interference have caused the problem.  Modern cars are in some ways full of electronic system. Pointing to the interference in auto throttle systems as the culprit of unintended acceleration problem might be difficult to prove. I know that Toyota cars have a reputation for technology. So, they might be using the best copper pcb or aluminum pcb to ensure that the electronic circuitry are reliable in all cars.

Toyota has insisted numerous times that the car computer system was not the reason for consumers’ complaints that their cars speed up unexpectedly. Safety advocates and industry analysts continue keep on asking  about the cars’ electronic systems. James Lentz, Toyota Motor Sales president, reiterated in several television appearances and news paper interviews that electronics is not an issue in the recalls. So, there’s nothing to look for like pcb manufacturer to sack due to the failures.

It seems to ring true, as the stuck accelerator pedal for example is a mechanical problem. Mechanical failure is easier and more transparent to diagnose than an electronic problem. The average garage mechanic, might miss out checking the computer micro-processing failures. Service center usually replace the whole defective unit without some serious investigation on the cause. The management, dealers and mechanics have difficulty in diagnosing rare unpredictable failure in their electronics. The average driver does not really know also the exact problem when their cars computer or electronic gadget malfunctions. It’s hard to check wiring failures, damaged circuit boards and programming in modern cars. Thus, proving that Toyota recall as due to faulty electronics and auto computer system failure might be a difficult task.

Gone are the years when the Internet is littered with static web pages. The web has evolved from a collection of still document like geocities.com to a more dynamic web page like facebook.com that have social bookmarks, friendly networks, embedded videos, rotating links, and more. I have observed that website with fresh content gets at the top of search engine rankings.

Website that has newer contents attracts also new incoming links. Everyone knows that links are valuable for getting high PageRank. This building of trust and authority based linking is very important to SEO. In the past, spammer’s try to manipulate this though, but Google was fast to counter link farms and paid link directories. Web directory listing is part of seo strategy.

Fresh links could come from registering on valid web directories like yahoo.com, lycos.com, altavista.com, google.com, and many other smaller not so popular web directories. Web directories will help gain website exposure in search engines. The process is sometimes not clear. Thus, ordinary webmasters don’t ever register there on a web directory, but you can click here to learn some free ways of registering using some seo software.

Finally, long established website that has relevant content attracting fresh links have the advantage to pull up better search engine result page rank.

IBM's Roadrunner Supercomputer

A computer that could make 1 petaflop, or 1 million billion calculations, per second could qualify as a world’s fastest supercomputer. What’s the use of having so much computing power? The use could vary from modeling nuclear explosions, simulate Big Bang, DNA sequencing, to simulate climate change with higher accuracy. The use of the fast supercomputer could go a long way for science and technology.

A practical use for the fast supercomputer could be in medical studies of DNA for hgh which could lead to find a better cure for growth deficiency. Astrophysicist could use the number-crunching power to understand more on the unexplained dark matter component of the universe. Anyone could think of countless science and technology application for a super fast computer. It utilizes parallel computing technology which allow computers to perform more than one task at a time which is a typical limiting factor on many PCs.

The fastest supercomputer named “Roadrunner” was built originally by IBM and the U.S. Department of Energy for monitoring stockpile of nuclear weapons. Times have changed and it is currently being used in experiments for more peaceful means.

Laser printers, thermal printers, inkjet printers and color printers are becoming inexpensive. Sometimes the cost of the ink is about two thirds of the printer. But most offices which issues invoice or receipt relies still on dot matrix printer. It is very common for every point of sale in the market to have invoice printer or receipt printer which is dot matrix printer. In a typical office the computer printers are shared to maximize space and usage. This is done by setting up a shared printer hosted on one of powerful computer machine which runs on Windows XP Professional or Windows 2000 server.

There are times when the shared network printer do not work. For example, our finance department cashier section that runs Oracle Financial software even uses the LQ 2170i epson receipt printer which is shared to four users. They usually call for technical support when shared network printer does not work. Two common reason I encounter are the changed printer share name and firewall setting in the host computer. Whenever you are tasked to trouble shoot shared network printer problem try to check the easy ones above.

Installation of Linux OS is not an everyday task. Preparing a RedHat Enterprise Linux server to run Oracle Database 10g is a recent task at work. Network configuration for a system is critical for networked services especially with Oracle Database 10g server.

The result default configuration file entries are based on the data provided on the Network Configuration stage during Linux installation.

Installation Network Configuration data:
Hostname: rhel4ora10g.yes.net
IP: 213.59.28.252
Mask: 255.255.255.0
Gateway: 213.59.28.254
Primary DNS: 213.59.0.1
Secondary DNS: 213.59.63.6

There are three related network configuration files that needs to be checked when installing Oracle Database 10g: a)network, b)hosts, and c)resolv.conf.

/etc/sysconfig/network
NETWORKING=yes
HOSTNAME=rhel4ora10g.yes.net
GATEWAY=213.59.28.154

Linux network configuration file default

/etc/hosts
127.0.0.1 rhel4ora10g.yes.net rhel4ora10g localhost.localdomain localhost

Linux default hosts file

/etc/resolv.conf
search yes.net
nameserver 213.59.0.1
nameserver 213.59.63.6

Linux default resolv.conf file

A favorite Linux text editor like “vi” with proper privilege is needed to edit those system network configuration files.

For example, Oracle Database 10g installation requires addition of the following on the resolv.conf file:
options attempts:5
options timeout:15

The files are a good reminder to look back as reference in the future when trouble shooting network problems.

Surfing the Internet makes you vulnerable to all sorts of malicious program attack. A common scenario I experience is some web pop-up that falsely informs vulnerability to malicious programs and computer virus infection. It’s a consolation to the unsuspecting user to see these web pop-up messages as it offers a solution.

Warning, be careful when you’re up into this kind of web pop-up. Most of rogue antivirus product have been propagating this message on websites. This is to lure victims into clicking these pop-up messages which in turn installs some malicious software on the computer.

Fake antivirus products have devised an online customer support to make their product look more legitimate. The common response of this live technical support is to convince the user to buy some 30$ to $100 of product. It really sounds legitimate as there is this person that one could talk, which gives some assurance that the product being sold is legitimate.

The rogue antivirus software gives a false sense of computer security. Worst is sometimes these products lowers security settings on a victim’s computer. I have a friend that has clicked and fall into the trap ended up reinstalling Windows system. Next time you are faced with some annoying pop-up ads that says something is wrong your computer, think twice as it maybe a rogue antivirus product. Get the antivirus software from leading brands and IT shops that you could trust.

The clutter of LAN cable at home are an eye sore. Imagine the UTP cable that crisscross the floor when I connect a netbook, two laptop, and desktop computer. It looks like jungle at home. It’s also inconvenient to move around and settle on a comfortable place with UTP cable dangling. Not really the best of situations.

Thus, I bought a wireless access point router to remedy this problem. The idea is to do away with those UTP category 5 LAN cables. Wi-Fi enabled device like the netbook and laptop could easily connect without any problem. Older desktop computer though needs a wireless USB adapter for wireless connectivity to the Internet.

I have other Wi-Fi enabled device such as mobile phone which also benefited from the wireless access point. Checking email and synchronizing data is a breeze. All devices within range of the home wireless network could enjoy Internet based applications. WLAN technology is becoming a widely accepted. Everyone could experience the positive impact of how things are done efficiently and conveniently with WiFi technology. The hope of desktop computer without a Wi-Fi capability is to use a Wireless USB adapter.

People would be running full speed on the Internet highway with Google’s experimental broad band networks. Google has unveiled its plans that would deliver Internet speeds of about 100 times the ordinary Internet connectivity. It’s a direct competition with big mobile operators, which offer the same services.

I could not wait to see super fast mobile broadband plans available available in the market. Internet connectivity speed is always the kind of limitation on mobile devices like netbooks or smartphones. This issue affects the way mobile devices are used, but Google’s plan would be good to see implemented by modern Internet providers. It would surely bring newer applications that would deliver better user experience.

Being wired to the Internet is very important to me. Thus, I have subscribed on some wireless internet plans for different mobile devices. The wireless Internet plan is also very useful while on the move in checking emails and synchronizing data on my Nokia E52. The cheaper plan provided slow connection, but is acceptable for simple Internet browsing needs and checking emails only. I don’t expect too much from a smartphone connected to the Internet.

I am not an expert in broadband services. Thus, I scour the Internet for some helpful website in this regard. Those websites offer reviews and tools to compare broadband services to get the best broadband deals. I have visited one of those websites like http://www.broadbandexpert.com.au/, which reveals lots of information about broadband Internet. The website is Australia based, but it gave some idea of the rates and services to expect.

The thing that I like most on that website is the information about mobile broadband and the broadband guides. It contained very informative article about broadband in general. Anyway, when it comes to broadband Internet connection. I am hoping that Google’s experimental ultra high-speed broadband Internet would pave the way for faster connectivity from major mobile operators.

In a perfect world of Database Administrator everything is worry free. Everything could be automated using a software where nothing to think about backup and disaster recovery. Tuning up the database for optimum performance is magically taken cared by the software. That’s my impression of Oracle RAC One Node during the i-Seminar. Database administrator’s life would be easy.

In the real world problems do occur. I got a call about can not access the web application which was traced to inaccessible database server. I could not remote SSH to the server. Thus, I went to the server console to check things, but it’s also unresponsive. There’s no other choice left, but to hard restart the database server.

The boot up process went fine, but the Oracle database did not startup automatically. It should be started up manually through Linux command line interface.

Command Line Startup of Oracle Database:

$sudo su – oracle
$cd /u04/data/u04/app/oracle/10.2.0.1
$source MYSERV.env
$lsnrctl start
$sqlplus /nolog
SQL>conn /as sysdba
SQL>startup;

Usually, there’s no need to change directory to the Oracle home directory as it’s already placed on the bash profile. If the Oracle environment is set properly then there’s no need to run the “source MYSERV.env”. Command line startup of Oracle database in Linux is not that difficult as I’ve thought.

Collaboration Tool Software Google Buzz in Gmail

Communication and sharing of ideas is quiet easy with online collaboration tools on the Internet. Major businesses are leveraging Internet with collaboration tools. Online collaboration software could be used in meetings, training, online events, sales, to as simple as sharing videos.

The newly released software Google Buzz in Gmail on a personal use level could be a simplistic collaboration tool. Buzz could be used to share updates, photos, videos and more. It could be used to start conversations with your email contacts about common things you find interesting. Little is needed to set up in creating connections with the people you email and chat with the most.

This is a kind of social networking, twitter, chat, and whatever all rolled into one place. There’s much integration with the people you contact most on email. Conversations and comments are appearing immediately right on the email inbox to keep ideas moving. Simple online collaboration with Google Buzz could be used to follow friends and get recommended buzz from others in Gmail from any computer or mobile smartphones with Internet connection.

IT training are very important for an IT professional to keep up with the fast changing computer world. I welcome training for it’s an opportunity to go out of the four walls of the office. Reality never allows a leave at work to attend training due to the busy work load. An option for this case is to attend online training or i-Seminar.

I got invited to attend an hour of Oracle Free i-Seminar topic “Oracle RAC ONE Node”. It’s more of an overview or teaser of what good there is in Oracle RAC One Node. Basically, Oracle Real Application Clusters (RAC) One Node is a new option added to Oracle Database 11g Release 2 Enterprise Edition. It have features and benefits of Oracle RAC made available on a single-instance database.

Major benefits of having Oracle RAC One Node:

• Always On Single Instance Database
  - online replacement of servers and storage
  - online patching and upgrades of operating system and infrastructure software
  -online database patching
  -automated cluster fail over
• Better consolidation
  -extreme consolidation of servers and storage
  -load balancing to protect service levels
• Enhanced virtualization
  -extends and improves database availability and flexibility when running in a virtual server
• Lower cost dev/test platform for RAC
  -develop and test against same tech stack
  -lower oracle license cost

Source: Oracle i-Seminar

Computer server virtualization is a very hot topic in the IT industry. Database servers with Oracle RAC One Node running in virtual machines could improve availability and flexibility at lowest possible cost. It’s worth investing as it will make database management almost everything automated with little or no downtime at all.

Doing business online providing e-commerce service is main source of income for some IT people. Making money online comes from a vast variety of sources. This could include providing IT support services remotely to do computer system maintenance or computer software re-installation. It could also be a web design or web development work, providing web hosting, maintaining blogs, or doing SEO marketing for a particular business and other wide range of work online.

Usually, PayPal is the platform which is widely used in services payment online. This comes very convenient for both the customer and the service provider. With the use of email alone registered with PayPal payments are transferred hassle free. It comes to be a trusted form of payment online. I don’t doubt when someone pays through PayPal as transaction payments are received immediately.

I got a surprised to receive a payment which requires clearing and that’s in a form of PayPal eCheck. I delivered the services online, but the customer paid through PayPal eCheck and it’s about 3 to 5 days before I could get the payment usable. There are reports that some unscrupulous people are taking advantage of this. Thus, others are wary of receiving payments in a form of eCheck.

PayPal though is very clear in stating not to ship items before the payment is cleared. How about if it’s a online service done such as website design or remote computer software installation? This leaves the service provider with little or no choice. Every transaction on the Internet involves risk. Thus, a degree of trust should also prevail that the agreement would be honored. Just keep your fingers crossed while waiting for the PayPal eCheck to get cleared.