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Do you recall when laptops for gaming were a special breed? As I recall they were never the greatest selling notebooks but being the most expensive they were the foremost money generating systems. These trendy notebooks were just overpriced. They were like the show piece of what was possible with notebook computer technology, the best laptops in existence. They would create tons of excitement however I do not believe lots of people would go out and buy laptops at high prices. I reckon things are already changing though and will continue to because the larger manufacturers are all coming into the market.
If mass manufactured, manufacturers can make big markups on gaming portables. It is surely a great way to bigger gross profits. In my opinion larger companies can use leverage to persuade prospects to buy laptops despite cost. Had I been a smaller reseller I would probably be thinking of schemes to counteract this form of competition. I know for certain that laptops for gaming will get increasingly affordable for many. Also people just seem to trust bigger manufacturers greater.
In my opinion these manufacturers are churning out the best laptops at this point in time. This is one opportunity the littler resellers need to utilise to their benefit. The customisation factor is a large benefit to the customer. Typically a lot of comparisons of the specifications will be done and the tech savvy can judge what the superior portable actually is. For a few purchasers specs and benchmarks are more valuable than physical design.
Surely what’s happening here can benefit consumers in the long haul. High end technology will be available to the majority when prices are forced further down. I say that with a high degree of doubt though. New models are constantly coming out and these new systems typically demand premium prices. Seeing as the big brand companies have already started pushing gaming laptops, I guess we will have to wait to witness what occurs.
http://www.rizeon.com/gaming_laptops/page.php sell a few really good value gaming laptops so check out their site.
It is about time that Telecom companies start to deliver new services as stated by Gartner. Technology should not be at a standstill. There should be transformations to existing technological capabilities to deliver new services to consumers, and meet their demands. There are new digital services now in place, and voice technology is on the decline. Telecom companies need to speed up their efforts and come up with new applications and infrastructure to support these digital services.
Since voice revenues is declining very fast, carriers will have to come out with a wider range of high-tech service. It is expected that 20 of the largest carriers will be able to provide such new services by 2012. The market will become much more competitive, so Telecom carriers can no longer be just plain and simple providers of bandwidth. They must have the capability to compete with manufacturers of hardware, as well as with internet firms of varying sizes. The main challenge is in the intensive way in which IT will be used to deliver services by providers of mobile broadband communications services. The environment will also become highly competitive, as new opportunities for new digital services evolve.
Mobile operators also have a big challenge ahead of them. Preparations must be made for next mobile technologies, and fourth-generation (4G) technologies. Current pricing of mobile data services is quite high for consumers. By 2012, it is hoped that
Notebook computer shipments are approximately estimated to be approaching 127million units this year, which is a lot! So astronomical demand but little supply according to what manufacturers are anticipating. It doesn’t look like anything will hold back the surge of laptops at the moment. It’s a quick changing business that is seeing new trends all the time.
I’ve witnessed a lot of gaming laptops being introduced lately. Also with the amplified competiton and fast paced technology shifts, notebooks don’t maintaint their value for too long. With the advancement of dual core cpus, laptop computers are up to the the task of gaming. I think what’s most incredible is how sleek the chassis’s are and how cool the units run. Speed of computers should infinitely be a distance ahead of laptops but its still encouraging to see. Gaming laptops will undeniably get slimmer and more powerful in the future and it will be exciting to witness.
Even though the market share is controlled by brands marketing via retail channels I feel the direct channel and custom built laptops will always be here. The benefit with a few custom laptops is that you get better 3rd party parts fitted in them. With that in perspective you normally get to configure the processor, ram, hard disk and software. Most of the systems found in highstreet shops are made to capture the utmost market share and not the smaller specialist markets. Custom laptops provide a solution to this. I feel you also get superior support when getting a custom notebooks. I really feel this is a main factor that goes in favour for getting a laptop thats built to .
It’s amazing to see fresh laptop computers being released every year. One topic I haven’t spoken off is the increase of low cost ultramobiles. Obviously this will be something massive in emerging markets. Consumers need slim, incredibley lightweight devices but they also want them to have massive screens. Neglect power and price and we could already have this. By Analysing the trends it looks like gaming laptops will get lighter and faster. New laptops are commonly kept secret before their introduction so there is no telling what new ideas we’ll encounter.
I’d recommend these if you’re seeking to buy laptops.
Let’s face it if you are in a business needing de-ionized water or reverse osmosis water you are always concerned about the quality of your water. I know as a mobile detailing business that when we have ultra clean water in our tanks we are a happy camper. We know it will make your job so much easier. We also like the idea and concept of spot free water. Have you ever considered how Reverse Osmosis really works? Let me describe the process from my industries perspective.
In R.O. water pressure forces water through a fine membrane that filters out between 85-95% of the dissolved solids in the water. Water lacking these solids won’t water spot a car. It’s important to have soft water filter inline the R.O. system prior to R.O. Some systems have a water softener/carbon filter/R.O. system in that order. This saves life on the R.O. membranes. R.O. units are measured in gallons per day (GPD) because there flow is relatively slow. Usually they run twenty-four hours a day and the water is put into a storage tank to be used later. Small R.O. units that cost between $2,500 and $5,000 put out 4 gpm. To go to 10 gpm, the speed at which you’d want to fill your tank, the cost of those units starts at $25,000.
Car washes need units that make between 500 to 1000 gallons a day for the rinse cyles. A small unit will work because 4 GPM (gallons per minute) X 60 minutes is 240 gallons. So, in four hours at night when the car wash isn’t being used, they will have one thousand plus gallons. The only problem for them is that a thousand gallon tank is five feet wide and eight feet tall.
An R.O. machine works best when it’s running clean water through it. Otherwise, the membranes let nature take over. Then you have not reverse osmosis but osmosis. It’s better to have a small machine running twenty-four hours a day than a big machine running two hours and then shutting off. R.O. membranes should have a constant positive flow through them. Some industry leaders believe twelve to thirteen hours is the maximum you should run an R.O. unit a day. They think the machine will last longer.
Silica, iron, aluminum and bacteria cause irreversible damage to membranes and that’s why pre-filters are a must to keep membranes from fouling. Fouling results when particles suspended in the feed water are deposited within the R.O. unit. Fouling reduces permeate flow rate. Bacteria fouling usually doesn’t cause the permeate conductivity to increase until your system is extremely plugged. Other particles may cause permeate conductivity to increase.
Most biological and particulate silica foulants can be removed with the proper chemicals. Bio-fouling is a problem. Pre-treatment may have little impact on R.O. unit fouling. Simply killing the bacteria won’t work because the same number of fouling particles (living or dead) still enter the R.O. unit. The best way to handle bio-fouling is cleaning the equipment and the upstream pipes and filters. Chlorinated water will be bad and should be un-chlorinated before entering the R.O. unit. Fouling by non-living particles is handled by your pre-filters, or additional sediment filters or cartridge filters with a nominal filtration rating of five microns or less. This can be complicated stuff and you can call your franchsior for a telephone number of a fair and honest local or regional water purification consultant.
Chlorine is the most common agent to chemically attack and destroy the polyamide thin film membranes that are commonly used in car washes. Activated carbon blocks are used generally in filters upstream from R.O. units. Larger units use granulated carbon filters or other methods. Active chlorine consuming sites on the activated carbon material is depleted over time and eventually dechlorination will diminish and finally cease. This will allow chlorine to damage downstream chlorine sensitive membranes in your R.O. unit. Carbon filters must be replaced as frequently as their manufacturers specify.
Most commercial R.O. units are too small to justify installing instrumentation to determine when to clean them. Cleaning periodically can remove most scalants and foulants. If you wait too long permanent damage will be done and proper cures will not work. If you wait until you have low flow problems, the elements may be plugged significantly and chemical cleaning may be ineffective or may take many hours to get the elements back to near original performance.
If you want, you can have the R.O. dealer do periodic cleaning on a service contract. It may be worth your while. Expect to pay between $80 to $160 per quarter. Watch for parts price gouging. Some companies are like sharks. If well taken care of, the membranes will last years. You may want to have a technician also check upstream filters. That way, if anything does go wrong, it’s their responsibility and you can make them pay. Make sure your contract is tied to their lifetime warrantee. Regular Maintenance Of Reverse Osmosis Units is ultra important and you should change your prefilters often. Water softeners every month, carbon filters quarterly. Be sure to check the pressures weekly and membranes will need changing every so often too. Think on this.
“Lance Winslow” - Online Think Tank forum board. If you have innovative thoughts and unique perspectives, come think with Lance; www.WorldThinkTank.net/wttbbs/
When you mention the word “technology,” most people think about computers. Virtually every facet of our lives has some computerized component. The appliances in our homes have microprocessors built into them, as do our televisions. Even our cars have a computer. However, the computer that
everyone thinks of first is typically the personal computer, or PC.
It is a general-purpose tool, built around a microprocessor.
A PC has many different parts such as memories, a hard
disk,
a modem, etc that work together. A PC is said to be “general
purpose” because you can do many different things with it
like: you can use it to type documents, send e-mail, browse
the Web and play games.
Let us look at the main components of a typical desktop
computer.
Central processing unit (CPU): The microprocessor “brain”
of
the computer system is referred to as the central
processing
unit. The CPU oversees everything that a computer does.
Memory: This fast storage area is for storing data and is
connected directly to the microprocessor. That’s why it is
fast. There are various types of memory in a computer
system:
Random-access memory (RAM): Used to temporarily store
information that the computer is currently working with.
Read-only memory (ROM): It refers to computer memory
chips,
containing permanent or semi-permanent data that does
not
change.
Basic Input/Output: Required to establish the basic
communication when the system is turned on. It is directly
connected to the motherboard.
Caching: The storing of frequently used data in extremely
fast RAM that connects directly to the CPU.
Virtual memory: Used to temporarily store data and swap it
in and out of the RAM.
Motherboard: This is the main board in the computer that
has
the processor, the RAM, the BIOS ROM, the timing and
control, the interrupt and direct memory access hardware
and
the keyboard interface on it which are connected to it
through the secondary connection.
Soundcard: this device attaches to the motherboard with a
socket called PCI, which allows the computer to play CD’s
or
music files, or MP3 CD’s. All soundcards have speakers
and
connectors. The quality of sound depends upon the quality
of the card.
Hard drive: This is the main storage device of a computer.
It stores information including the OS that allows you to
access it all. Most common OS for PCs is Microsoft
Windows.
And Apple computers use the Macintosh operating system.
Other drives: Most computers are also complete with floppy
disk and CD drives. These vary from system to system,
however all work in same way. They read information stored
on disks. These are necessary for maintaining and
updating
the computer’s software and operating system.
That’s the components that create the average computer.
Although there are many different systems, and configura-
tions, it is difficult to imagine our lives without them.
The author has been fascinated with computers for over 30
years. He has been called a computer geek, and resembles
that remark.
He is known for taking the complex subject of computers
and breaking it down into laymans terms that are easy to
understand.
Roger A. Pendey is passionate about computers and
is the webmaster of FIFO Computer
Old School Vision of Computers
As a child of the 60’s, I grew up watching Hollywood’s vision
of the computer of the future. I use to watch in amazement as
TV character would feed a question into a computer and an
obscure answer would immediately be spit out. I remember
playing “computer” with my grade school friends in the
neighborhood. I put a cardboard box over me with a light bulb
jammed in the middle of it with a slot in the front. I would
have my friends write a question on a piece of paper and slip
it threw the slot, and as I made ‘bleeping’ and ‘zooping’
noises, I replied to their questions about the universe, the
best a grade school child could.
I eventually outgrew the Hollywood vision of computers, or at
the very least, Hollywood’s vision for the computers of the
future became a little more realistic. Although, the
reoccurring notion that computers will solve all our problems
won’t go away. As recently as five or six years ago, I
remember seeing a commercial promoting the Internet and how it
will magically solve all our woes, minus all the ‘bleeping’
and ‘zooping’ I remember from TV as a child.
Unfortunately, the promises of computers and the Internet have lagged behind our expectations of them, especially the expectations of small businesses. While large multinational corporations have been able to afford IT departments that could create specific applications to suite their needs, many small businesses were left out in the cold during the “computer revolution”. If a small business had a specific need or requirement with respects to automating their business process, their only choice was to hire a computer consultant, who could take weeks, and possible months, to write their program, and charge a cost prohibitive amount for the service.
Unfortunately, the reality is that most small businesses have been left with the same applications and programs they’ve been using for the last 10 years. Computers for the small business resemble a typewriter of the past more than Hollywood’s image of the computer of the future. At best, some small companies might have an individual on their staff that could create elaborate Spreadsheets, but more times than not, a computer was seen begrudgingly as items of unfulfilled promises.
The Second Coming of Computers
Over the last four or five years, there has been another “computer revolution”, and unlike the “computer revolution” of the mid to late 90’s, that mostly affected consumers and large businesses, this one is aimed at small businesses.
Threw the mid to late 90’s, innovators and visionary’s toted the Internet as the end-all-beat-all to everyone’s woes and problems with promises of a “new economy” and riches for all. Everyone was excited about the promise of computers, and everyone was eager to hop on the Internet dot com bandwagon. I’m sure most people know of someone that attempted to make money off the Internet, from that cousin that attempted to start a web site, to that neighbor that changed careers and went threw a technical training to learn programming or systems administration.
When the tech bust of 2000 happened, thousands of individuals that had hoped to reach their goals threw computers and the Internet, found themselves unemployed and ferociously competing for jobs. Within a matter of months, job postings that were only receiving two or three resumes were suddenly being flooded with resumes. Over the course of months it went from being an employee’s market to being an employers market.
The tragic events of 9/11 were what put the computer industry into a tailspin and ironically opened up the possibility of the second “computer revolution”. As corporations froze their budgets and killed projects, thousand more individuals found themselves unemployed. For roughly one and a half years, the computer industry seemed to die on the vine, and as individuals began to become despondent, they began to change careers again hoping to make an income that could support their families and life styles.
Fortunately, a certain percentage of individuals refused to give up on a career in the IT industry, and many programmers began to search for alternatives to being employed by large corporate IT departments. Some were bitten by the entrepreneurial bug and began writing programs for industries they were familiar with from past careers. As new entrepreneurs began with limited budgets and resources, many of these programs were targeted towards smaller businesses.
Is There a Limit to the Industries Affected?
I myself use to consult with Fortune 500 companies, have moved my practice to small and mid-sized corporations. Since doing so I’ve become amazed at the evolution I’ve seen in some of the most surprising industries. The industry I’m most surprised with is the pest control industry. I have an acquaintance that has a pest control business. Basically he catches rats and mice for the food service industries.
We were talking one day about the subject of a second “computer revolution”, when he began to share his own experience with it. Apparently, he had purchased an application that utilizes a bar code reader that records the status of his mice and rat traps. As he goes from customer to customer, he scans the traps and records the status of the trap, if it was empty, had a catch or even if the trap was gone. After he is done with his route for the day, he goes back to his office and downloads the data into his application and is able to compile trends at his customer’s sites.
With the use of this database, he no longer has to rely on his memory, guessing, or digging threw paper work to figure out what is going on at his customer’s sites. He can simply use his application and have his database tell him if his customer’s site is clean, infested or if the infestation has moved. Based on these reports, he is able to sell his customers more accurate services and products based on their individual needs. He claims his business has grown approximately 12% over the last two years threw the use of this product.
After I moved my practice to small and mid-sized business, I stumbled across a small application that I have since recommended to many of my customers in the Service Industry. I had a customer that is in the Chimney Sweep industry, and for their industry, the business is considered quite large with 9 trucks and approximately 30 employees. They had been experiencing many problems with issues like inventory, dispatching/scheduling, and invoicing they wished to correct threw the use of a customized application.
In an attempt to make the business more productive and profitable, they had contacted me with the desire my company write a program that would fulfill all their needs. Upon assessing their requirements I quickly analyzed that that it would be a more cost effective solution to identify an existing product that could fulfill all their needs. After a few days of searching I discovered an Enterprise Resource Planner (ERP) for small Service-oriented industries.
The application was written by a group of three programmers who found their jobs outsourced to India in 2002. One of them had experience in the HVAC industry prior to changing his career in the mid 90’s, after discovering himself unemployed but still with hopes of staying in the IT industry, he wrote the application with two of his former co-workers.
After discovering the software vendor, I worked with them to identify their products full potential and eventually established it was flexible enough to be a good match for my customer’s requirements. With a good deal of hindsight, the programmers developed their product on Open Source technology, which allows parts of programs to be distributed for free, allowing it to be created for a fraction of the cost their counter parts of the 90’s.
My customer is now able to manage invoicing, purchase orders, inventory, scheduling/dispatch, and Marketing with two - three office employees verses the four - five they need a few years ago. The application, which the multi-user version costs approximately $2,500 and the single-user version costs approximately $650, is very cost effective.
For a smaller business to have an application of this versatility and functionality would have been unfathomable prior to 2001. I have since installed this application into several customers, all of which have become dependant upon it for the smooth operation of their companies.
The Promise has Finally Arrived
For smaller companies wishing to experience the promises of computers the time is finally here. More and more small computer vendors are springing up, producing complex and cost effective applications and products for most conceivable industries.
For small businesses to reap the benefits of present technology, they need to:
1. Know exactly what business process you wish to affect with the introduction of software.
2. Do your homework on the Internet, there are many small software vendors out there, if you do a through search, a vendor can be found with the solutions you need.
3. If you wish to use a consultant to identify a solution, don’t assume they are familiar with your industries needs and requirements. Ask what experience and solutions they’ve had with your specific industry.
4. Get references, an established firm should be able to produce previous customers that can vouch for their quality of work.
5. Get a break down of the costs involved with the installation of the product. Get it in writing if there is any training or tech support.
6. A consulting firm should be attentive to you and your needs. There are good consulting firms out there and there are bad consulting firms out there, the difference should be evident in the amount of effort and energy they spend to identify the correct solution for you and your company.
While we are definitely in the beginning of the second computer revolution, unfortunately, if you are expecting to magically obtain the benefits of it, chances are you’ll be let down. Expect to do some work when trying to find the right solution for you and your business. The more energy you spend in trying to find the right solution will directly equate out to the amount of increased productivity and profitability your company will experience after the solution is installed.
While computer solutions may never reach the point where an individual will simply input a question or problem and suddenly receive an answer, small businesses are much further ahead of where they were five years ago.
Keith Tyson
Midwest Business Performance, Inc.
http://www.mbp-inc.net
On-line charities are a perfect place to see how people help the world, and inspire you to join a good cause.
It isn’t hard to see that a lot of people, animals, and the environment in general are being neglected in our world today. That’s not to say that a lot of things haven’t been improved over time as well. As I come from one of the few wealthy nations, I can witness daily both the extravagances of greed and the injustice of poverty, although of course the amount of poverty in my country is far less than in so-called third-world or developing countries. If we watch the News (I try not to as it often effects my mood in a detrimental way) we can also see all kinds of issues relating to the sustainability of our planet and its natural creatures that live in our interconnected space. However, we often seem to be separating ourselves from the Nature that actually provides us with all the elements we need to survive in the present and in the future.
There are differing opinions on how we as developed countries can help the rest of humanity to move forward. Some more ‘primitive’ societies might argue that they don’t need our help or want our type of modern lifestyle anyway. In Bhutan instead of GDP they have GDH or Gross Domestic Happiness. In thinking that happiness is more important than money maybe we really don’t have too much to give or teach these people. Bhutan is a minority however and the truth is that many countries could do with our support both in terms of finance and in the sharing of skills and knowledge.
Many people don’t seem to believe in giving to charities or non-profit organizations. I read recently in an Oxfam International article that of the 22 rich countries who promised a mere 0.7% of their GDP, only five have come through with the goods. It’s also the documented case that most of the charity given in the world is by individuals, and not the rich ones like you’d think, a huge proportion of America’s charity is given by people in the lower income brackets. This may be because they can emphasize with the marginalized as they too know what it is like to have little. It may also be the case that they are also happier with what they have as opposed to the often-obsessive consumer who always feels that they haven’t got enough and need more material possessions.
A friend of mine says that the way to help others isn’t by giving aid but by going and helping to build infrastructure and to change belief systems about economics and progress. The hard thing for most of us is we don’t see a means to implement these changes. I can definitely see where monetary aid can be of great help, especially when people have to live in tragic circumstances as in the recent Tsunami in Southeast Asia. Sometimes people simply need shelter, food, water, clothes, blankets and medicine to survive and thankfully there are several organizations whose sole purpose is to fulfill this need. Even with their help, around 30,000 children still die everyday in our world. If we all gave just a couple of dollars a day that we usually spend on chocolate or coffee much of this poverty could be alleviated.
I work as an Internet writer so I’ve been checking out some of the charities on-line. Giving is so easy these days, just a push of some buttons on your computer and you could make a positive change to the world, no matter how small the change, all actions in life have their reactions and repercussions. Check out Oxfam International, Plan International, World Wildlife Foundation, Red Cross, Unicef, Care International, World Vision, and Greenpeace just to name a few. You can also look up smaller organizations that work in your local area. A lot of the web sites are very well constructed and you can read all about their campaigns, policies, how to donate, and even how to get involved yourself if you really want to be proactive as a volunteer.
The Oxfam International site is really interesting especially if you are one of the skeptics who don’t believe that the money actually goes where it is meant to after being filtered by administration etc. They give annual reports, strategic plans, mission and vision statements etc. so we can know exactly what they are doing. I can’t say the same for all charities that exist, so do your research.
The World Wildlife Foundation also has a very professional website with a multitude of information in the form of News articles and interesting facts. There are many cool photos of Nature and unfortunately of the misuse of it by humanity. Like the Oxfam site you can subscribe for a free monthly newsletter to see what new causes and case studies are on the agenda. Reading these can make you a little sad but there is usually at least an equal amount of positive stories about progress from the hard work done. I like reading these newsletters more than current affairs articles that usually have only a couple ‘happy’ stories that are often just silly and irrelevant (though I do think having a laugh after all the death and chaos is better than nothing).
So check out some of these sites, they may help to redeem your faith in humanity as well as remind you of the bigger picture that you are part of. In seeing the wider perspective you may just realize that you can make a difference.
About the Author
Jesse S. Somer
M6.Net
http://www.m6.net
Jesse S. Somer is a firm believer that a butterfly flapping its wings in Jamaica can cause a storm in India. Every action has its reaction no matter how small, so it may be time to give a hand and we’ll see what comes of our generosity.
I’ve spent many thousands of hours on the Internet searching for
information, jobs, contracts, people, and other items of interest. You can
literally find out anything! The trick is learning how to find relevant and
hidden information in an efficient manner. This is the job of an ‘Internet
Sourcer.’
— What is an Internet Sourcer? —
The Internet Sourcer is a relatively new position for many organizations.
The most common use of a Sourcer is in the recruiting and talent-search
fields. Usually, a Sourcer scours the Web for resumes and candidates using
several search techniques to ensure their searches are complete and
accurate. Some of the better Sourcers come from the computer industry and
work independently as well as have an extreme amount of focus, patience, and
inquisitiveness.
— Data Mining —
Data mining uses various techniques to examine data and organize that data
into a meaningful presentation. This is also a part of an area known as
Knowledge Management—an entirely different world and best left for a later
tome.
* Finding Information
As applied to Internet Sourcing, data mining consists of a set of search
techniques (i.e., Flip Search, X-Ray, Peel Back) to acquire information.
These techniques allow you to locate relevant and hidden information on the
Internet that would otherwise be out of your reach. Each of the techniques,
mentioned shortly, can be applied to any of the larger search engines such
as AltaVista (http://www.altavista.com/) and HotBot
(http://www.hotbot.com/).
* Organizing Information
Once you locate the information, you have to organize it by relevancy. This
can be accomplished with various tools, including, Correlate
(http://www.correlate.com/). This tool allows you to organize links, text,
and documents in a tree format to better view and understand the information
you’ve acquired.
— Various Search Techniques —
Locating information on the Web is not as straightforward as you might
think. Of course, you can always do a simple keyword search and locate a
few thousand links, of which only 25% to 50% are truly relevant to your
specific search. To really dig into the Web, you need to understand the
three search techniques explained below. To present valid examples, the
following explanations use the techniques for searching potential candidates
and resumes on the Web.
* Flip Search
Flip Search locates items by link association. For instance, instead of
searching for potential candidate pages based on specific keywords, the Flip
Search returns pages that are ‘linked to’ a target Web site. Links might be
personal homepages, colleges, industry organizations, companies,
publications, or associations. Each of these ‘linkers’ represents a
potential of providing candidates or related information.
Two of the primary search engines that support various Flip Search
mechanisms are as follows. Once you understand the premise for this search,
you can determine the specifics for the other major search engines on the
Web.
- AltaVista: On the ‘Advanced Search’ page, in the Boolean Query text field,
enter ‘link:host.com AND homepage AND “java programmer”‘ and press Enter.
With this search string, you’re searching for all links that are associated
with the keywords ‘homepage’ and ‘”java programmer”.’ You can refine the
search using skills, job titles, and any term that might refine your search
target.
- HotBot: On the ‘Advanced Search’ page, enter the URL or domain name in the
Search text field. In the Look For drop-down box, select ‘links to this
URL’. Refine your search by entering skills, job titles, and any term that
defines your search target in the ‘Word Filter’ text fields.
Examine the results as you work with different searches to see how this
search works. It is extremely powerful and can generate numerous relevant
links for any given search condition.
* X-Ray Search
Most sites have documents that aren’t accessible through links on their
site’s pages—hidden from view, yet publicly available. The X-Ray technique
searches files in a server and lets you view most of these ‘hidden’
documents.
To try this out, go to AltaVista’s ‘Advanced Search’ page and type
‘host:tripod.com’ in the Boolean Query text field. Like ‘link:’, ‘host:’
tells the search engine to look for keywords in documents on the specified
Web site—the Web site for the ‘tripod.com’ domain.
When you click the ‘Search’ button, you could end up with several million
documents from your target host. To obtain a more manageable group of
results for this example—look for freelance writers. For example, enter
the following search string into the Boolean Query text field:
host:tripod.com AND “freelance writing”
When I did the search, I got about 100 results. Consider that, intuitively,
many people name their resume page ‘resume.’ With this assumption, let’s
fine-tune the search again to look for resumes using the following search
string:
host:tripod.com AND title:resume AND “freelance writing”
The word ‘title:’ tells the engine to look for keywords in the tag
in the header of a Web page— the text that appears at the top of your
browser’s window.
* Peel Back Search
Let’s say that you’ve used the X-Ray technique and found 400 links. One of
those links (e.g., http://www.host.com/group/members/mybio1) points to a
corporate site on which several individuals have their biographies. Of
course, you can guess that if this one biography matches your needs, there
might be other biographies with similar qualifications.
At this point, you can use the Peel Back technique. This technique takes one
result from the previous two searches and drills down into the site. It not
only reduces the amount of time you spend looking at each biography, but it
also bypasses any specific walls in place that prevent you from prowling the
site (e.g., a 403 browser error).
Look at the ‘members’ path in the URL. There may be other members of the
group inside that folder. To take a look, “peel the URL back” until it
reads http://www.host.com/group/members. In hopes of viewing a list of
pages, you press the Enter key. Instead, you get the ‘403 Error Message’
that tells you that you’re forbidden from viewing the directory. This
usually happens when the Web server is setup to prevent ‘directory browsing’
and there are no default pages (e.g., index.html, default.html, etc.)
To resolve this, you peruse the directory indirectly. You already know that
the biography page is on ‘host:host.com’ and you know that there is a folder
named ‘members’ in the URL. Using this information, you can go to AltaVista
and perform an X-Ray search using ‘host:host.com AND url:members’. This
will return all pages on ‘host.com’ with ‘members’ in the URL. Viola!
— Becoming Proficient —
It is important to use and understand the techniques presented so that you
can become a proficient Internet Sourcer. The best way to exercise your new
talent is to locate various job descriptions on the numerous job-posting
sites. Prepare a set of keywords from the job descriptions and execute the
various search techniques. Try to fine-tune the search to acquire as many
specific and relevant resumes as possible.
Additionally, it’s important to follow a set of guidelines to provide a
professional presentation when looking for and performing various Internet
Sourcing opportunities. A subset of some of these general rules is listed
below to give you a jump-start on your new career:
- Don’t search to find out what you’re searching for. To make better use of
your time, make sure that you have a solid grasp of the target search and
the expected results.
- Many times, when performing the search, the keywords at the target links
are available as used in the search keywords. In other cases, however,
you’ll have to translate the search criteria to find the most possible
returns.
- Start with a small search string that returns a large number of pages. By
tuning the search iteratively, your string grows and the number of returns
decrease. Make sure that as the string grows, it doesn’t become convoluted
or contain misspellings. However, also take into account misspellings as
some words are misspelled in common ways at target Web sites.
- Assemble your resources to ensure that you can perform a successful
search. These resources include bookmarks to search engines, a method of
tracking searches, keywords for the target search, a list of competitors and
their URLs, association sites, universities, company profiles, industry
resources, and sites specific to a given discipline.
- Understand and use your techniques for effective and efficient searches.
Use the advanced search services at various search engines and understand
how to apply each technique to each engine.
- Continue working with and learning new search techniques—it is
imperative to your success as an Internet Sourcer. Also, visit
recruiter-specific sites to read on their latest trends and requirements so
that you can stay up to speed with the industry.
— Finding a Job —
As far as jobs are concerned, once you acquire some experience, go to
Jobvertise (http://www.jobvertise.com/) and search for ‘Internet Sourcer’
and ‘Internet Sourcing’. From the returned job list, you’ll be able to
either locate a position or find other keywords that can help you fine-tune
your search.
As an added bonus, from the information presented, you now know how to best
organize your resume to reach the largest audience and announce your new
profession as an Internet Sourcer. Prepare a searchable resume based on
this information and, pretty soon, every recruiter will know your name!
— What’s next? —
Obviously, in a short article there is no way I can make you an instant
expert, but I did provide you with the basic information to get you started.
Now, you can go out on the Web and search the information presented here to
find additional references and enhance your knowledge of this new position!
>From my own experiences, Internet Sourcing is a lot of fun and you can make
a reasonable amount of money performing contract Internet Sourcing services.
About the Author
Edward B. Toupin is a freelance consultant, writer, and published author
living in Las Vegas. He currently handles technical writing tasks for
various companies in New York, Chicago, and Denver. Edward also provides quality Web site
design, development, and marketing as well as writing, document design and
planning, and e-book publishing services. You can visit his Web site at
http://www.toupin.com or contact him at etoupin@toupin.com.
IBS implements new generation cargo terminal operations system for Emirates
Largest IT system implementation
Trivandrum - September 13, 2004 - IBS Software Services (IBS) has developed and successfully implemented Chameleon, a sophisticated new-generation, cargo terminal operations system for the Emirates Group.
IBS has designed Chameleon to handle end-to-end management and monitoring of cargo consignments, from the time a consignment is delivered to the airline till its delivery at the destination airport. IBS has delivered arguably one of the largest and most complex systems using new generation technologies for the airline cargo industry.
Chameleon enables a ground handler to manage all cargo terminal operations from reserving an air waybill to manifesting the shipment on a flight on the export/air side and to receive the cargo from the airline and deliver the shipment to the consignee on the import/land side. Chameleon also supports radio communications through hand held terminals and improves productivity and service levels by defining flexible workflows and monitoring the performance of the different business processes. Thus, Emirates SkyCargo and Dnata Cargo are currently operating with the most advanced Cargo Ground Handling and Warehouse Management IT system in the aviation industry today, providing Emirates with the tools that are needed to achieve its goals of efficiency, profitability and service quality.
Mr. V K Mathews, IBS Chairman and Managing Director said, “Emirates had a very aggressive time schedule for completion, and we are quite delighted that we were able to cut over two large terminal operators from existing systems to the new system with minimal interruptions to their operations. The success of both system development and implementation is a demonstration of our commitment, competence and determination to succeed even under the most challenging circumstances”.
“Chameleon is one of the largest IT system implementations which the Emirates Group has undertaken in recent times, and the project is strategically important for the Group. Understandably, Chameleon was a big challenge, and I truly appreciate and thank IBS for their professionalism, competence and commitment in making Chameleon a great success”, added Mr. Joshua Koshy, Senior VP-IT, Emirates Group.
A multi-million dollar project with over 120 person years of effort, Chameleon’s success could only be achieved through a spirit of co-operation and outstanding team work between ourselves and IBS. They created the product to our specifications and worked with us in implementing the system for the two business units resulting in very smooth transitions for them. As the project owner I could not have asked for more,” added Akshay Shrivastava - Manager-Information Services, Cargo and Logistics, Emirates Group IT.
Special features enable data communication using mobile computers and handheld devices to improve flow control and piece-level tracking, and hence reduce operational errors. The system is expected to improve productivity and service levels by automating the workflow, enabling paperless internal processes, and monitoring processes and performance. It also provides customers, suppliers and other partners direct control over logistics, processes and costs, while offering an advanced tool that boosts productivity and profitability - all of which will help Emirates to quickly boost its cargo revenue.
IBS recently partnered with Cendant Travel Distribution Services (TDS), a division of Cendant Corp. for the marketing of IBS’s new generation Passenger Services System that has been designed to replace legacy technologies.
About IBS Software Services
IBS Software Services is a world-class provider of software solutions to the global travel, transportation and logistics industry. IBS has business operations in USA, Europe, Middle East and Asia Pacific, and Group companies operate out of USA (Atlanta), Europe (London), Middle East (Dubai), Asia Pacific (Sydney) and India (Trivandrum). IBS has a large offshore software production and competence development centre situated in India, which is SEI CMM Level-5 assessed, and ISO 9001:2000 and TickIT certified. The global clientele of IBS includes major corporations like British Airports Authority, Air Canada, Emirates, Dubai Airport, Swiss, Qantas, SITA, EDS, Shell, GulfShare, and Qatar Airways. More information about IBS can be found on the web at http://www.ibsplc.com.
Media Contact:
Pradeep P. Suthan
Head-Corporate Communications
Tel: +91-471-2700080
Email:pradeeps@ibsplc.com
About the Author
Head-Corporate Communications
IBS Software Services (P) Ltd.
NILA, Technopark Campus,
Trivandrum 695 581, INDIA.
Tel: +91 471 2700080
Fax: +91 471 2700078
The most highly priced type of laptops come in two varieties. On one end you have the big, beefy gaming laptops and on the other you have the razor thin ultra portables which are insanely priced. Both command high price premiums. Gaming laptops seem to be more practical for everyday use if you are replacing a desktop pc and the umpc’s are the best choice if you are syncing the data with your desktop at home. The market for ultrea portables is rather small and the most popular laptop screen size is 15.4 inch. A new phenominen are the cheap portable laptops that are 10 inch or smaller, underpowered and only usable for a few common tasks. If you could only choose one the gaming laptop will always win as most users who require mobility can still be mobile with the standard 15.4 inch size.
When buying a laptop for gaming the video card is often a crucial, if not the most crucial part of the specification. Two options are available in this realm. Nvidia or ATi? ATi fell behind a little once AMD had takeover them and this has allowed Nvidia to be the current market leader. This technology is changing every single year and Nvidia seem to have the edge.
The cpu, memory and gpu are things to pay attention to when you are buying a gaming laptop. You need a processor with a minimum speed of 2GHz and it must have 2 processing cores. Minimum requirements for memory are 2GB if running Windows Vista but more is recommended. To play games you need to have a dedicated viedo card. Usually you get 256MB dedicated video memory. A mid to high spec gpu should play all current and future games without any effect on the playability. Anything above is a bonus and will just make frame rates a lot faster.
With the future of notebooks looking bright it seems we will only see more and more devices coming out over the next year which will come in all form factors. Power users can now consider the gaming laptop as a serious option. Cheap laptops are also getting advanced and more mobile.