Art in Computer

Problems on Windows 7

2009-03-18T01:02:00.003+07:00

Weeks ago, has report the MP3 file corruption after a serious download Windows 0 (build 7000). Microsoft itself, in the same sunday also have created a patch for Windows 7 32 bit and 64 bit, and encourage users to download the patch system 7 or Windows Automatic Update before using the MP3 file.
MP3 file corruption occurs because each editable metadata in the MP3 file contains a lot of metadata in the header files, a few seconds of audionya at the beginning of the track may be lost permanently. Specific information from the header file size of 16KB will spur the loss of songs in a few seconds at the beginning of the song. In the Windows 7 Beta, program interface Media Foundation will make the MP3 file metadata editing, and cause problems when the MP3 file size with a great header is being played in Windows Media Player or Windows Media Center as the metadata for MP3 files edited by Windows Explorer.

In addition to problems with the MP3 file corruption, there are still two things that are private not published by Microsoft. MP3 file corruption problems, and two private issues are likely to have easier code execution and provides a hidden attacker full access rights of users. Problems may come from protocol Microsoft Server Message Block (SMB). However, for security problems, and Microsoft have not provided confirmation.

Meanwhile, Microsoft and at the same time take the opportunity to improve the playback and recording in Windows 7 beta, in order to increase the satisfaction of users who may not have been downloading up to close on January 24, next week. Some of the things that will be fixed in Windows 7 beta:
Tuning the source should be protected because it does not work correctly, such as the OpenCable Unidirectional Receiver (OCUR) and Integrated Services Digital Broadcasting (ISDB)
MHEG (ITV) in Europe that also does not work Recroding function after the system failed in the upgrade from Windows Vista, or the setup process in Windows Vista
Recording functions of Windows Vista DVR-MS which can not be played in Windows Media Center or the Windows Media Player.
Windows Media Center is not stable when the user runs recording.

Microsoft Hardware Support For Windows 7

2009-02-27T19:54:00.000+07:00

Microsoft has updated the Windows 7 portal with information about Microsoft hardware support for the Windows 7 operating system. The information consist basically of a table that contains names of currently available and old Microsoft hardware with information about software installation in the Windows 7 operating system.

The table is divided into different hardware products like gaming, presenter or keyboards. This basically allows users to install software for Microsoft hardware in the Windows 7 operating system. You will find download links to Intellitype Pro, Microsoft Xbox 360 controller, Lifecam or Intellipoint software in the list which can be used to install the software for the device in Windows 7.

Well worth a visit if you use Microsoft hardware on a Windows 7 computer system.

Intel Classmate PC Third Generation

2009-01-15T22:48:00.009+07:00

Intel first introduced the Classmate PC about two years ago. Classmate PC at that time seems to be a gadget that really have a unique because the small size and prices. But now at the netbook trend is merebak, Intel re-launched the third generation of the Classmate PC. What Intel offered this time?
From the design, this third generation is much different generation rather than first. When the first generation more fitting because when called Classmate design that is suitable for small children, this third generation have a different design. Intel seems to be spelled out trying embrace a wider market with this third generation.

Overall, this third generation have a smaller dimension without compromising 'Reliability' of the Classmate. Intel may still consider that the children clearly more 'careless' rather than adults. This means, casing Classmate is still able to survive if he be from a certain altitude and still use the keyboard spill proof. So you do not have to worry when the spill coffee on his keyboard.

The difference may be the most is the use of a screen that can rotate up to 180 º and folded up to a meeting with the exact design of the keyboard tablet PC. Because of a design similar to the tablet PC Intel clearly should embed function touch screen on this gadget.

Improvements also occurred in the grip design that makes Classmate remains comfortable outdoor use. However, the webcam is possible that it can be played to the outside so users can easily Classmate photographs using this laptop. Although the third generation of this size is smaller than the first generation, but the size of the keyboard is visible so that the larger more comfortable when used for typing.

Classmate this third-generation processors using Intel Atom 270 1.6 GHz with 512MB of RAM size. To save the media, Intel install the hard disk size of 1.8 inches with a capacity of 60GB. Screen is used this time is the 8.9-inch screen size is capable of displaying resolutions up to 1024 x 600 pixels.

Not yet clear how much prices will dipatok Intel to say that the new product will be released around October this month. Although some of the photographs had already circulating in some sites.

Windows 7 Replacement Vista

2009-01-14T00:08:00.008+07:00

Windows Vista is released November 2006 yesterday appears to be ending soon

Some time ago a rumor about Windows replacement windows vista spread, and eventually clarification from microsoft also appear even though the "stingy" talk microsoft windows with express code name Windows 7 will revolve around 2009-2010. Some time ago, and Microsoft launched Windows 7 milestone 1 (develepor build) at some of the selected developer.
Now how can this be windows 7? When Vista realese in public in kagetkan with the high specifications of the hardware is in need and can imagine in Windows 7 will require specification of the hardware.
The new generation successor has been released in beta.
Windows 7 that was known as Blackcomb and Vienna is planned later in 2010 will be outstanding. There is no certainty that the name will be taken as far Windows 7, Windows Seven, Vienna, and Blackcomb is just the codename used for the development of Microsoft.
As well as Vista and XP, Windows 7 will also be marketed in the version of 32-bit and 64-bit.

Although Microsoft has not released the statement about the features of Windows 7 will be held this, some observers predicted that Windows will include IE 7 and 8 Windows Future Storage (WinFS) as one of its components.
The only information about Windows7 emerged from Bill Gates at a conference in japan. show there in a notebook that is designed specifically with touch screen monitor that provides an illustration of how Windows 7 is later. there in peragakan do melakukam navigation and zoom with finger movements on the screen. Bill Gates only said that Windows 7 will choose a higher connectivity with a mobile device.

IE 8 beta 1 itself is integrated with Windows Server 2008 is released in February yesterday. While originally planned WinFS will strengthen Vista to replace the NTFS file system that must still be delayed because the project.
From some sites memajang a preview of Windows 7 this, there will be a feature that is quite interesting. In the Control Panel, there is an additional feature called the Recovery Center. Recovery Center is reputedly able to restore a damaged installation of Windows without the need to re-install. It does not have more data to potential lost in the process of repairing this.

The Microsoft itself only said that this generation of Windows will be more easily operated, more secure, easier dikoneksikan with gadgets, and more affordable.

Mouse Computer's new netbook sports DVD-Rom, little else of note

2009-01-13T23:52:00.004+07:00

We saw Mouse Computer switch gears with their gaming notebook the other day, and the company is back already with the LB-F1500W. Their first netbook with an optical DVD drive, this little terror "boasts" a 10.2-inch display, 1.6GHz Atom processor, 1GB memory, 160GB hard disk storage, and Windows XP Home. These are pretty run-of-the-mill specs, and for ¥64,800 (roughly $725) not really all that awesome. Available in two colors -- gothic-industrial black and a white as pure as the new fallen snow -- the thing should hit the streets on or around the last week of January.
We saw Mouse Computer switch gears with their gaming notebook the other day, and the company is back already with the LB-F1500W. Their first netbook with an optical DVD drive, this little terror "boasts" a 10.2-inch display, 1.6GHz Atom processor, 1GB memory, 160GB hard disk storage, and Windows XP Home. These are pretty run-of-the-mill specs, and for ¥64,800 (roughly $725) not really all that awesome. Available in two colors -- gothic-industrial black and a white as pure as the new fallen snow -- the thing should hit the streets on or around the last week of January.

Reference : http://www.engadget.com/

Top 10 Virus,Desember 2008

2009-01-06T23:00:00.002+07:00

Malingsi virus included in the new virus, into the first rank in the most virus is reported in this period. Followed by Autoit virus and the old, and the virus Doremi including a new virus. And indeed most of the viruses that enter in a list of ten times is a new virus. Read the list below:

1. Malingsi

Large well-virus with the size of 705,312 bytes is created using Visual Basic in the pack-use PECompact. It seems this virus is intended to attack another virus, this is seen from the message in the body. This virus breed and spread using intermediaries Personalization, which acts as a bot.

2. Autoit varian

Characteristic of a virus that is created using a scripting automation. That if the compile into a executable file, which is also in-pack using UPX. And nearly 90% of all viruses and their variants autoit that we have, using similar folder icon in penyamarannya. This virus will also create an autorun.inf file at the time of the disk drive or flash drive.

3. Doremi

In a database of viruses that we have, we have found 4 variants of the virus this Doremi.A, B, C and D. They have almost no difference in terms of coding. A variant uses similar icon PCMAV, B and C using the icon that looks like a key image, and D variants using image magnifying glass icon. All using social engineering techniques, so that seems like a normal program. Files created with the virus that Visual Basic is indeed seem to deliberately put on the Internet to trick users who download it. There is no technical briliant that he applied, but the author has provided a routine that evil act in a certain date, such as 14 or 8. What happened? He will try to remove all existing data on the hard drive without the user. Restart the computer, which appear only "NTLDR is missing". Along with the virus file, you usually will also be able to find a text file with the name of Do-Re-Mi.txt the contents, "by Midnight Joker"

4.Formalin

At the time this update is known variants of the virus 2 Formalin. Icon used by this virus resembles the withdrawal folder, and it is created using Visual Basic. On Formalin.D, the file size of 18,432 bytes, with the condition of the pack using UPX. The virus creates a folder "disguise" with names such as seepage problems UAN and UAS, My Completed Downloads, Picture Wallpaper, Crack Program, opened Jgn!, Nitip Data (jgn removed), and others. At the infected computer, Internet Explorer in the caption will be changed to "Your computer has been infected Formalin virus." He also tries to disable "safe-mode" with how to remove some registry related. And in the file properties of the virus, the property description in the version information will have any posts such as "Kasian dch loe".

5. Purwo.B

Created using Visual Basic, with the body size of about 36KB, without the pure-pack.Saat menginfeksi it creates a folder with the name "Purwokerto Under Cover" attributes that are hidden, and a file called "PurwokertoKotaSatria.exe" on each drive that he found . In the folder C: \ Windows \ System32 \ file system also have windows.exe, and in the C: \ Windows \ Shell \ services.exe.

6. Plolonk

The virus is a local production is made using Visual Basic, with a size of 67,072 bytes with the condition in-packscramble. In the registry, it creates a new item in the HKLM run, with the name of the service point on one of the parent file in the Windows directory with the name of dllhost.exe. In addition, the directory can also be found an image file that will be made by the wallpaper with the name Pl0Lonx.jpg. So on the infected computer, the computer's desktop wallpaper will change it into an image theme "SuSE Linux". In addition, to be automatically activated, he also put himself in the StartUp folder with the name Empty.pif. the possibility of using UPX.

7. Recycler varian

Which is the typical of this virus is a technique, how it spread. Of all the variants that we have, how that is done the same, namely masquerade as Recycle Bin. For example the virus attacks the flash disk. In the flash disk of the victim will be the folder with the name of Recycler in which there is a folder using the name of alpha numeric example "S-1-5-21-1482476501-1644491937-682003330-1013" with the icon is similar to the Recycle Bin icon. If this folder, click on or accessed from the Explorer, the file the virus will not be visible. To view them, you can go to command prompt with the command "dir / a".

8. Buxto varian

The virus is created using Visual Basic. On the one variannya, such as Buxto.C for example, it has a body size of 266,240 bytes, without in-pack. Icon virus-like icon application Mozilla Firefox browser. The virus is known to create autorun every drive in which he found to be spread. And one thing, the message delivered by this virus is quite nyeleneh, as an ad's message.

9. Minerva

Virus measuring about 340,981 bytes to 347,965 bytes Minerva.A and to use this Minerva.B spoofery as flash games, using the icon that looks like a standard flash file. If a user tempted, and accidentally activate the virus, which is a game show. And its random games, can Mario Bros., Single Puzzle Hangman, or the other. He was saving a few games in the body. That he would do to distract attention, the On the one hand that the virus has been the victim merasuki computer, the user is being cool to play its games. The virus is trying to go, and me-as registerrunning services. You can also find the file on the mother easily StartUp folder with the name minerva.com. So, be careful if you get a file-shaped flash games games, check first. himself in the HKLM \ System \ CurrentControlSet \ Services with the name of Minerva, can hope

10. Windx-Maxtrox

The virus is created with Visual Basic has a body the size of the original around 77Kb, without in-pack. The virus is suspected to originate from the strong North Sulawesi has an executable file infection capabilities. Precisely, it will menginfeksi program in the Program Files directory. Technical infection canny enough to avoid implementing it pendeteksian's heuristic antivirus engine. Characteristics that can be recognized on the infected computer is changing the image of the desktop wallpaper images into animation.

Reference : http://virusindonesia.com

India Wants to Double 3G License Prices

2009-01-06T22:36:00.004+07:00

Just as carriers (and would-be carriers) were likely scraping up the necessary 20 billion rupees to plunk down for a national 3G license over in India, the government wants to switch things up double down. The country's Finance Ministry has apparently asked the Department of Telecom to ask for some 40 billion rupees as a minimum bid price now -- that's about $840 million for those who don't have the Indian rupee-to-American dollar conversion table memorized -- which would automatically require Cabinet and regulatory re-approval, ensuring a delay of the January 30 date that had been previously scheduled for bidding to begin. Confusingly, the Finance Ministry indicates the proposed change is a response to lukewarm demand for licenses from foreign, non-Indian companies; the thought is that doubling the minimum might force out some local players and reignite interest from some global wireless heavyweights. Weird how that works.

Reference : http://www.engadgetmobile.com/

Motorola's SURF A3100 Headlines Three-pack of New Phones

2009-01-06T22:32:00.003+07:00

If these fine specimens look familiar, well, they should -- one's already been announced (albeit on a different carrier) and the other two have been thoroughly scooped. Motorola's CES haul includes the eco-tastic Renew W233, a simple candybar destined for T-Mobile that features a neutral carbon footprint and components made of recycled water bottles; the Tundra VA76r, a rugged 3G flip with push-to-talk that previously launched on Rogers and has its sights set on AT&T this time around for a January 13 release; and the headliner of the bunch, the SURF A3100. The WinMo 6.1-based SURF -- alias A3000, alias Atila -- features a full 2.8-inches of touchscreen adorned with a custom skin designed by Moto, 7.2Mbps triband HSDPA, a 3-megapixel autofocus cam, AGPS, and support for microSD cards up to a purely theoretical 32GB in size. Though the radio is fully equipped for North American action, no stateside launch is in the cards just yet; for now, you'll find the SURF in Asian markets before the quarter's out.

Packard Bell GPS Compasseo 600

2008-12-31T02:36:00.005+07:00

Menu guide easily operated this way. For example, from your home from the fire toward the Mangga Dua shopping center, you can simply enter your zip code or destination address via the virtual keypad is available in sentuhnya screen. But the map appears on the screen and the sound will soon guide you to where you are heading. Interestingly, the device is no more than a PDA phone also contains a map of this city, but also includes the islands of Java and Bali.

Compasseo 600 equipped with the 5 languages, namely Bahasa Indonesia, underwear, Chinese, Hokkien and English is intended for drivers of vehicles that want to find the nearest and easiest way to a place where it's correct. For example, can provide an alternative choice of the road from the toll road to fly over or under even fit. So far, most users Compasseo 600 are women who do not want to fuss at people in the middle of travel.

Counterfeit GPS that dibandrol around U $ 299 is supported by the battery and said 3 hours and be in charge through the USB connection on a computer or through a car Cigarette Lighter Adapter middle when driving.

Samsung Rilis TV LCD Full Definition

2008-12-31T01:41:00.005+07:00

At the end of April and then, surprising the market the Samsung device with an audio-visual displays 65 multiple products and high definition in the event that extensive "Samsung Digital Partners AV Roadshow 2008". Some of Samsung's audio visual products on display in this event, among other LCD TV Series & 6 and a crystal display design revolutionary. LCD TV Series 5 with manual control touch-sensitive. TV and Plasma TV Series 4 as a high definition 3-dimensional first in the world.

Not only LCD TV that their launching. At the same opportunity, Samsung is also introducing a tool audio systems entertaiment as the HT-X810 home theater sound bar that complements TV, Samsung High Definition TV. The HT-BD2 considered as a home theater in a box the first equipped with Blu-ray playback. Product Blu-ray player that is not surprising series BD-P1500, which can produce images sejernih crystal. And, not, the original manufacturer of South Korea also released a DVD-F1080 devices which appear lightweight with a minimalist design.

Attendance 65 audio-visual products from Samsung is not detached from the ambitions to dominate the audio-visual market in Indonesia and Southeast Asia and Oceania.

Reference : http://technomobile.wordpress.com

How to Download Music/Song on Multiply

2008-12-27T21:52:00.002+07:00

This tutorial I make as simple as possible.

First, you MUST USE MOZILLA FIREFOX AS YOUR BROWSER. Then on the playlist that you want to download (remember, now you are download the whole playlist, not individual song anymore) you click the "Play this playlist" link on the bottom every playlist. After you click that link, the new window will pop-up asking what you want to do next, choose "Save to Disk" option. This option will save the whole list into M3U format (usually the M3U files will saved automatically into Desktop).

After the files saved, open that M3U file with any kind of music player (either Winamp, Windows Media Player, iTunes, etc), then you choose which song that you want to keep from the playlist, highlight the song (you need to play that song), then you click the "File" option (on the Top Left Corner), choose "Save As", pick the destination where you want to save. Eureka !!!... the song you want it saved.

Reference : http://babikecap.multiply.com

Companies recall 100,000 laptop battery packs

2008-12-27T21:43:00.005+07:00

SEATTLE, Washington (AP) -- Computer makers are recalling 100,000 laptop battery packs made by Sony Corp. after 40 reports of overheating, according to a U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission notice Thursday.Sony also recalled nearly 10 million of a different model of battery in 2006 and 2007.

The voluntary recall applies to certain Sony 2.15Ah lithium-ion cell batteries made in Japan and sold around the world in laptops made by Hewlett-Packard Co., Dell Inc. and Toshiba Corp.

Some incidents involved smoke or flames, according to Sony. Twenty-one of the reports claimed minor property damage, and small burns were reported in four cases.

Sony blamed two factors for the defects: adjustments on its manufacturing line from October 2004 to June 2005, which may have affected the quality of cells in certain production lots; and a possible flaw in the metal foil for electrodes.

The company said no reports have been filed for batteries made after 2006, and noted that the recalled units are a small fraction of the more than 260 million it has shipped over six years.

This also pales in comparison to the recall of nearly 10 million of a different model of Sony batteries in 2006 and 2007, which affected almost every major PC manufacturer, including Dell Inc. and Apple Inc.

In this batch of problematic laptops, the bulk of the 35,000 affected computers in the U.S. were sold by HP between December 2004 and June 2006, according to the safety commission, including HP Pavilion, HP Compaq and Compaq Presario models.

Some Dell Latitude and Inspiron models shipped between November 2004 and November 2005 are also covered by the recall, as well as some Toshiba Satellite and Tecra laptops sold from April 2005 to October 2005.

An additional 65,000 of the flawed batteries were sold outside the U.S. The PCs and separate batteries were sold directly by the computer manufacturers, electronics stores and online retailers worldwide, not by Sony.

Sony said its own Vaio laptops don't use the battery in question. Last month, however, the company recalled 440,000 Vaio notebooks worldwide because of a wiring flaw that can cause overheating.

The safety commission said PC users should remove laptop batteries immediately and contact the manufacturer to request a replacement. Details, including laptop model numbers and contact information for Dell, HP and Toshiba, have been posted on the commission's Web site.

Shares of Sony rose $1.52, or 7.2 percent, to close at $22.65 Thursday amid broader market gains.

Source : http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/ptech/10/31/sony.laptop.recall.ap/index.html

Microsoft “hacking” computers in China?

2008-12-27T21:40:00.005+07:00

An anti-piracy campaign by Microsoft is having a difficult time in China. The company may face an investigation from local authorities who allege Microsoft is trying to “hack” consumer computers.

Getty Images

Microsoft started a global plan in August to upgrade one of its anti-piracy tools, to make a stand against bogus copies of Windows XP Professional. PCs running either genuine or counterfeit XP Pro will automatically update themselves with an authorization evaluation program. Computers installed with the phony software will thereafter display a black desktop at start-up and revert to black again in an hour even if the background is changed. A permanent notice will also appear at the bottom right-hand corner of the screen warning users to purchase genuine XP copies. However, all programs will run normally.

The campaign expanded to China last week, and induced scares and firestorms among the large PC population, which exceeds 135 million.

More than 80% of the 60,000 Internet users participating in an online survey conducted by Tencent, one of the largest Internet service portals in China, protested the campaign. They complained that it was the high price of a legitimate copy of XP that had forced them to turn to counterfeits. A genuine copy of XP Pro is priced at $376 (2,578 yuan) in the Chinese market.

A lawsuit followed. On the second day of the campaign’s landing, Dong Zhengwei, a lawyer specialized in consumer rights protection, charged Microsoft with potentially sabotaging private computers. He suggested a billion-dollar fine for Microsoft.

Dong said that the anti-piracy program would “pose a threat to personal information security” and could be defined as a “crime.” “It is equivalent to illegal invasion, or hacking,” he said on Sina, the largest Chinese news portal. Many of the country’s computer societies, IT critics and scholars also stated their agreement with Dong.

In response, Microsoft China’s Intellectual Property Rights Supervisor Yu Weidong explained that this was a global campaign that aimed to educate consumers and keep them from harmful counterfeits.
The program would not affect normal functions of a PC and the company would not collect any personal information through it, he said.

On October 27, a week after the debate began, Chinese authorities made a statement that it supports any legal campaigns to protect intellectual property rights. But, “the companies should weigh their approaches and consider the affordability of Chinese consumers,” said Yan Xiaohong, deputy director of China’s National Copyright Administration.

Although more than 80% of surveyed Internet users in China told Sina that they would not purchase legitimate XP copies, Microsoft’s campaign, in combination with promotions on Office and Vista, did push up the company’s overall sales by roughly 60%. But, some free open-source software also witnessed a huge increase in sales, apparently thanks to Microsoft’s crackdown.

And more experienced PC users said they had simply shut down the “automatic update” function to avoid the “black screen” desktop and additional costs.

Source : http://scitech.blogs.cnn.com/2008/10/28/microsoft-hacking-computers-in-china/

Google swamped with 'great idea' submissions

2008-12-27T21:37:00.001+07:00

(CNN) -- A $10 million call by Google Inc. for beneficial, world-changing ideas has generated more than 150,000 online submissions.

More than 150,000 people have submitted ideas they hope will benefit the world -- and be funded by Google.

The deadline for people to submit ideas for the initiative, called Project 10^100, was Monday. Google employees will now sift through the ideas, submitted in 25 languages, and choose 100 semifinalists by January 27. Funding for up to five winning ideas will be awarded in May.

"We're thrilled by the large array of enthusiastic responses to Project 10^100. That number has exceeded our expectations," said Bethany Poole, a product marketing manager at Google.

"We're also very impressed by the variety and ingenuity of the submissions across all categories, ranging from health to energy, education and the environment," she said.

Google launched the ambitious project September 24 to help celebrate its 10th birthday. In announcing Project 10^100 (pronounced "10 to the 100th"), the Internet giant said to hoped to solicit and bankroll fresh ideas it believes will have broad and beneficial effects on people's lives.

The project's Web site (http://www.project10tothe100.com/) suggested that successful ideas address such critical issues as providing food and shelter, building communities, improving health, granting more access to education, sustaining the global ecosystem and promoting clean energy.

As an example, Google cited the invention of the Hippo Water Roller, a barrel-shaped container that holds 24 gallons and can be rolled with little effort like a wheelbarrow, making it easier for African villagers on foot to transport critically needed fresh water to their homes.

Over the past month, the Google project's Web site received more than 2.5 million unique visitors, and its video was watched more than a million times. Entrants had to briefly describe their idea and answer six questions, including, "If your idea were to become a reality, who would benefit the most and how?"

Now comes the hard part. More than 3,000 Google employees from more than 50 offices worldwide, with the help of an advisory board, will whittle down the massive list to 100 finalists.

"We will be going through the database and judging the ideas based on their reach, depth, attainability, efficiency and longevity," Poole said.

On January 27, Google will make the top 100 ideas available online for public voting for one week. A panel of as-yet-unnamed judges will then review the top 20 ideas and announce up to five winners in mid-February.

Funding, from a pool of $10 million, will be awarded in May. If the judges decide to reward five winning ideas, each will receive $2 million. If only two ideas are chosen, each will receive $5 million, and so on.

Source : http://edition.cnn.com/2008/TECH/biztech/10/22/google.project.update/index.html

At Intel and Asus, We Crowdsource Your PC

2008-12-27T21:34:00.001+07:00

Intel and Asus have started a new campaign in which they’re encouraging users to come together and bring their suggestions for an ideal laptop. Users can do this at a newly launched site called WePC, where they can cooperate on the creation of three different machines: a netbook, notebook and a gamer PC.

Mike Hoefflinger, general manager of Intel’s Partner Marketing Group, says this about the idea: “…Intel is working with ASUS to tap into the creative energy of consumers as they share ideas on designing their ideal PC. Intel is committed to encouraging conversations with consumers and giving people a voice in the design of technology they use every day.”

However, what Mike doesn’t mention is that this initiative doesn’t primarily stem from the idea that crowdsourcing can bring a better PC to the world or that crowds are smarter than Intel or Asus’ experts; it comes from the idea of conversational marketing.

There’s nothing negative about this; in fact, I like seeing smart marketing (as opposed to boring marketing, which happens a lot more often) at play. I remember Dell doing something similar, but I haven’t seen or heard of any palpable results from their initiative. Hopefully, this idea from Intel and Asus will result in an awesome laptop which will, in turn, make companies think hard about the true value of crowdsourcing.

Source : http://mashable.com/2008/10/29/intel-asus-crowdsourcing-pc/?referer=sphere_related_content

Create B-movie poster art

2008-12-25T04:26:00.004+07:00

Everything from desktop scans to bitmap images is useful when it comes to creating authentic B-movie poster art. Derek Lea explains how unconventional methods can yield stunning results in Photoshop…

Sometimes the look of cheapness has a strong appeal. The traditional B-movies from the 50s and 60s were prime examples of cheapness. Originally they were no more than simple marketing strategies to get people into the theatres. They were often garish and tasteless to the point of insulting your intelligence. However, in that cheapness, that lack of intelligence, lies a certain timeless charm.

That charm is evident, most of all, in the poster art of that period. Blood-dripping typography and scantily clad women litter the scenes. Photos were cropped in a choppy manner, large halftone screen patterns ensured acceptable reproduction by even the shadiest printers, brush strokes remained visible in quick and dirty illustrations, and garish colours were used to grab attention.

But as the years passed, collectors latched on to these unlikely masterpieces, finding beauty in their camp sincerity and less-than-perfect execution. And here we find ourselves, recreating this imperfection in Photoshop, an application built for perfection. A tad ironic when you think about it. We’re going to show you how to exploit the Photoshop toolset to not only mimic the imperfect techniques of the old days, but also to create wonderfully sharp and clean illustrations within your camp poster designs.

A number of elements you see here reside in the support files as desktop scans, but before they wound up there, we had to execute a few real-world techniques of our own. You see, in order to create convincing crumpled effects, we printed out many elements and crumpled up the pages by hand. Sometimes, the best way to get a real-world effect is to simply start with the real thing. And it’s within the Channels palette, as you’ll soon see, that these distressed desktop scans will become raw material for the imperfect bits and pieces within these compositions.

As for perfection, well, that starts with a photograph. Rather than reaching for the ever predictable Adobe Illustrator Live Trace button, we’ll show you how to painstakingly trace details from your images by using the Pen tool. And finally, to finish things off, we’ll show you a few innovative bitmap tricks that transcend the predictable when it comes to working with image modes and alpha channels.

reference : http://www.computerarts.co.uk

Painting Your Computer Case

2008-12-25T04:18:00.004+07:00

Preparing for painting

When everything else is done, what you want else do you want to do? Maybe you would want to paint you computer case. Let me just tell you the process of painting your computer case would take several days. The process that you would have to go through are Sanding, Priming, Painting and Finishing. But before you do all these, you must be prepared not being able to use your computer for several days. To paint you computer case, you need to de-assemble all computer components and let the computer case empty.

Sanding

Sanding is the process of taking the clear coat off the metal of your computer case. Why do you want to take off the clear coat off the computer case? This is because the clear coat of your computer case is a layer that will prevent new paint to stick well. So that is why you need to take off the clear coat layer.

You can do this with the wet / dry sand paper or water-proof sand paper. This way you can use water together while sanding the surface. For the front panel of the computer case which is normally made of plastic, you can use 300 to 400 grit sand paper. For the metal surface of the computer case, you can use a 600 grit sand paper that is more fine. When you feel that the metal surface is smooth, your sanding has been completed. You might want to sand down all the way to the bare metal, but you don’t really have to do that.

Priming

After sanding, you want to coat a layer of primer on the computer case. A primer coat will hold the paint layer to the metal surface. You may want to to do 3 layer of the primer coat. You must wait for each layer to dry before you can apply another layer. You can get a primer coat spray easily at many hardware stores.

Before you spray the primer coat spray, make sure that the computer case is clean and dry. Then use a steady left-to-right motion when spraying. When you are done, let it dry. Give it 24 hours to dry. When waiting for it to dry, make sure you put it in a clean environment. You don’t want dust to fly and stick to the wet spray, right?

OK … for the rest of the layers, make sure that the earlier layer has dried totally. And to make the layer smooth, in case there aren’t due to dust flying around or your naughty fingers, sand it again with a 400 grit wet dry sand paper just like when you are sanding it to remove the clear coat.

Remember, do at least 3 layers of primer coat. I know that this is going to take days. But be patient. It’ll be worth it.

Painting

Now choose your color. When you have choosen you color, go and buy your spray paint. Painting will be just like priming. Depending on the number of layers that you decide to have, this can also take days. I really recommend three or four layers.

You will need to repeat the process exactly like priming. First you make sure the surface is clean and dry and smooth. If not, clean it, wait for it to dry, and sand it. Then, apply one layer to the computer case. Then wait for it to dry again. Let it be for 24 hours. This way you can let the surface dry completely. Then do the sanding again to make sure that all surface is smooth. The apply another layer. Do this for three or more layers.

Finishing Coat

Finally, to maintain and add a glossy, shining finish to the job, we apply the clear coat for finishing. Depending on how glossy you want your computer case to be, you can put more and more layers of clear coat. More layers mean more glossy look.

The process is the same like priming and paint. You need to wait about 24 hours to let the layer dry totally. But for sanding, use a 600 grit sand paper.

Just a last note, for priming, painting and clear coat, it is advisable that you buy sprays of the same brand. This is because that same brand would tend to bond better among themselves.

Digital Painting

2008-12-25T04:07:00.011+07:00

Digital painting is an emerging art form in which traditional painting techniques such as watercolor, oils, impasto, etc. are applied using digital tools by means of a computer, a digitizing tablet and stylus, and software. Traditional painting is painting with a physical medium as opposed to a more modern style like digital. Digital painting differs from other forms of digital art, particularly computer-generated art, in that it does not involve the computer rendering from a model. The artist uses painting techniques to create the digital painting directly on the computer. All digital painting programs try to mimic the use of physical media through various brushes and paint effects. Included in many programs are brushes that are digitally styled to represent the traditional style like oils, acrylics, pastels, charcoal, pen and even media such as airbrushing. There are also certain effects unique to each type of digital paint which portraying the realistic effects of say watercolor on a digital 'watercolor' painting.[1] In most digital painting programs, the user can create their own brush style using a combination of texture and shape. This ability is very important in bridging the gap between traditional and digital painting.

Digital painting thrives mostly in production art. It is most widely used in conceptual design for film, television and video games. Digital painting software such as Corel Painter, Adobe Photoshop, ArtRage, GIMP, and openCanvas give artists a similar environment to a physical painter: a canvas, painting tools, mixing palettes, and a multitude of color options. There are various types of digital painting, including impressionism, realism, and watercolor. There are both benefits and drawbacks of digital painting. While digital painting allows the artist the ease of working in an organized, mess-free environment, some argue there will always be more control for an artist holding a physical brush in their hand. Some artists believe there is something missing from digital painting, such as the character that is unique to every physically made object. Many artist post blogs and comment on the various differences between digitally created work and traditionally created artwork.

Reference : http://en.wikipedia.org

How To Create 3D Anaglyphs in Photoshop

2008-12-25T03:58:00.002+07:00

Obtain two stereo pair photos. (I often use two disposable cameras mounted on a board side by side and with an ever so slight convergence towards the horizon. Remember you're mimicking your eyes and your eyes always end up focusing on something--each eye can never look straight ahead separately. I find the best anaglyphs work with a very low level of convergence. This is usually evident by the amount of red/cyan silhouetting around objects in a scene.)

Scan each photo separately. (I would recommend desaturating them to make them B&W.)

Open left photo in Photoshop (just like your eye, the left photo is identifiable by the fact that objects within the scene are more to the right when overlayed with the other eye.)

From the color selector, select color #00FFFF (bright turquoise). The equivalent of this in RGB is R-000 G-255 B-255.(This is also called cyan).

Create a layer above the left photo and fill it with this color.

Duplicate this layer and go to Image > Adjust > Invert. This will change the color of this duplicate cyan layer to a red color (direct opposite). In RGB the color created will be R-255 G-000 B-000.

Open the right photo and copy it, close it and in the left photo (the one to which you added the colored layers), paste it below the red layer.

Now position the 4 layers as follows: The bottom is your right photo. Above it is the red layer. Above it is the left photo and above this is the cyan layer.

If you wish to check the alignment of the two photo pairs you can turn off red and cyan layers and adjust the opacity of the left photo to 50%. Make sure both photos are on the same vertical plane and shift up/down appropriately. When finished change the opacity of the left photo back to 100%.

Turn on the cyan layer and change the transfer mode to screen.

Merge the cyan and left photo layers together. You should now see a very abstract cyan tinted image that will be hard to distinguish in areas.

Turn off this new cyan layer.

Turn the red and right photo layers back on and change the red transfer mode to screen. (Note: You don't need to merge these two if you don't want to.) Again you'll see an abstract red image similar to the cyan before.

Turn on the new merged cyan/left photo layer and change the transfer mode to multiply. Put on glasses (red on left, cyan on right) and you should now see the anaglyph.

Tips:
You may wish to change the red/right layer's opacity to somewhere between 80 and 90%. Do this as you wear the glasses as it will make the adjustments easier. Remember in order to do this you need to add a white layer below the right photo (or red color/right photo merge) so you don't see the transparency squares beneath the photo if you started with a transparent background. You could also move this layer left or right to make adjustments to the alignment.

At the end you can merge down the image by going to Image > Flatten Image and save it as a JPEG image with the quality setting of your choice for simplicity so you don't have to save it as a layered Photoshop .psd picture.

Reference : http://graphicssoft.about.com

Make 3D Photos with any Camera Part 2

2008-12-25T03:52:00.006+07:00

Taking snaps

After preparing the scene you can take the pictures. If you take a photo of a 'standard scene', you should shift the camera (between the first and second snap) for 3 inches - it's approximately the distance of human eyes. If you take picture of objects which are in longer distance from the camera, you can shift the camera more, in the case of very near object you have to use shorter distance.
There are two recommended ways of taking left and right pictures, but the first step is always the same: You choose one point in the scene (a tower far away, a tree nearby, your sister's eye). Then you can take the pictures in this way: The selected point is exactly in the center of the picture for the left and for the right picture. And the second way: On the second photograph you shift the point by the same distance you have shifted the camera. You can see it on the picture here. (First way is A, second is B). Don't forget that if the point is far away and you shifted the camera by 3 inches then the shift on the object far away won't be visible (we believe you can't recognize 3 inches on the tower 10 miles away). So you can direct the camera to the same point.

Tips and tricks
The easiest way to make a good 3D photo is this:
1) Select a good scene and then remember one point on the scene (a stone, a man, a tree) and try to get it to the vertical axis of the finder of the camera (look at the picture here). Good idea is to 'attach' it to a sign in the finder - for example to the cross in the center. Some cameras have special signs in the finder - the time, the distance etc. You can use one of them.
2) Straddle to be stable. Take a first picture.
3) Don't move your body - only the camera - by 2 - 3 inches.
4) Check the position of the selected point (the stone, the man, the tree) - it should be in the same height on the vertical axis. Take a second snap.
One more very useful tip how to shift the camera in the best way you can find in this article.
If you can, then set the camera in the way it focuses all the scene. Cheap automatic cameras do it usualy in this way. It's unsuitable to focus only the main object of the scene for 3D pictures.

Create a 3D photo
Transfer your photos to the computer and start the program 3DJournal (you can download it's free version from our pages ). It's easy to use. Just push the buttons at the right edge of the window of 3DJournal - the first button, the second button, the third button...
First button loads the left photo, second one loads the right photo. Third button makes 3D picture. You should see mixed the original snaps and some red and blue 'ghosts'. Look at it using 3D glasses. Isn't it OK? No problem. Let's make a few corrections.
Because of possible distortions by taking left and right photos by an usual camera without a tripod we've build software functions to the 3DJournal, which are able to correct most of the problems. You can use arrows to the up, down, left and right to shift one of the images, you can rotate it to get the best possible 3D picture. You can also make it black-and-white. And then... then save it to the disk.
Detailed informations about how to use the program 3DJournal you can find in this article .

Finished
And that's all. We recommend to try to do a few photos with the same scene and with different scenes. If you don't choose a complicated scene (very near objects, for example in distance shorter than 2 meters) and don't make a basic mistake (a big shift of the camera for example) you should be successful.

Reference : http://www.3djournal.com

Make 3D Photos with any Camera Part 1

2008-12-25T03:44:00.013+07:00

Before talking about making 3D photos, let's talk shortly about what target we want to reach – how exactly will our spatial (3D) picture look like. Everybody knows an ordinary photo - it's flat and it looks flat. 3D photo contains informations about the distance of every object on the photo from the camera. That's the reason why 3D photo doesn't look flat. But the title 3D is a little bit inaccurate – these pictures are stereograms (stereographs). You can see the objects on a stereogram in space, but you can't rotate the stereogram and see them for example from the back. It's not real 3D record, it's 'only' stereogram.

For taking 3D photos you can use any camera - a digital camera, film camera and even a camcorder or webcam. It's similar to classical photo - if you have better camera (and you are a good photographer) then you have better pictures. In 3D photography it's necessary to transfer the taken pictures to the computer. It's easy if you have a digital camera or a digital camcorder. If you have an ordinary film camera you have to use scanner and with analog camcorder you have to use a special PC card for loading video. The best choice is a digital camera.
The taken pictures are then modified in a computer with a special software - you can find it on our pages. You can order - and download here - it's full version, but there is limited FREE version as well here, which paints small circles and the text '3DJournal - FREE' to the finished picture. You can see 3D photos through special glasses, which you can buy with one of our subscribers packets. And one more important thing: We talk here about 3D photos which are made with an Anaglyph method (with red/blue glasses) - it's affordable for everybody. Similar procedures you can use for other methods as well. You can read about them in other articles here.

Let's begin
First steps of making of 3D photos are the same as by taking of standard flat photos. You have to choose (or create) the right scene. To get 3D photo (stereogram) it's necessary to take two pictures - one from the position of your 'left eye' and the second from the position of your 'right eye'. It's easy. Just take a snap and then shift the camera a few inches to the right (or to the left) and take second snap. You can use a tripod, but it can be done without it as well.
At the time of taking first and second picture the camera should be in the same height and to have the same gradient. If you bend the camera in the time between taking these two snaps, for example in the direction to the ground or to the sky (or in the way that the scene is sloped to the right or to the left), it will be difficult to make final 3D picture (and in the worst case even impossible).
An useful advice how to shift the camera in the best way you can read in this article, more about taking of really good 3D photos here.

The scene
Preparing or selection of the scene is a little bit more complicated in 3D photographing than in the case of normal 2D photos. To emphasize the 3D effect we recommend to select a scene, where are objects of different distance from the camera. If you, for example, take a picture of mountains far away, it's good idea to select a scene, where there is a tree or a big stone in foreground. The tree or the stone then emhasizes the 3D effect.
The situation is simpler in the case you take a picture of a room. There you can usually find some thigs which are closer and some in longer distance. For example a birthday cake on the table before the group of children.
When we are talking about children - there is one more important thing you shouldn't forget. The scene can't change between taking of the two pictures (the left one and the right one). If it changes then the two pictures don't show the same scene and creating of 3D photo is impossible. It could be easy to manage in many cases - people are used to be still when photographed and they can stay still two or three seconds longer. But it could be a problem for example with animals. In these cases you will need a special stereocamera.

Reference : http://www.3djournal.com

Touch-screen Digital Cameras

2008-12-25T03:24:00.012+07:00

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T300

Cnet rating: 3 stars out of 5 (good)
The good: Fast performance; tons of handy image editing and playback features; zoom rocker is in a much more comfortable position.
The bad: Soft, noisy photos.
The price: $260 to $425
The bottom line: A great design, fast shooting and lots of features can't overcome the fact that the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T300 simply doesn't take very good pictures.

Nikon Coolpix S60

Cnet rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 (very good)
The good: Optical image stabilization; 3.5-inch touch-screen LCD; pretty; fun features.
The bad: Comparatively slow interface; relatively slow for its class; soft images; all but the power and shutter are touch-screen controlled.
The price: $259 to $350
The bottom line: Fun features and chic styling make the Nikon Coolpix S60 a tasty choice for casual point-and-shoot use. However, if you need speed or snapshot perfection, this isn't your camera.

Samsung TL34HD

Cnet rating: 3.5 stars out of 5 (very good)
The good: Very good touch-screen shooting controls; many settings to experiment with; well designed.
The bad: Middling photo quality; touch-screen frustrating to use in menu system.
The price: $230 to $311
The bottom line: An excellent touch-screen interface - at least for shooting photos - and decent feature set don't make the Samsung TL34HD's photo quality better than OK.

Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700

Cnet rating: 4 stars out of 5 (excellent)
The good: Attractive design; large, useful feature set; nice 3.5-inch LCD; fast performance.
The bad: Touch screen not for everyone; soft images.
The price: $340 to $400
The bottom line: Part smart-looking snapshot camera, part 4-GB portable digital photo album, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T700 will satisfy those who like showing off their pictures as much as they like taking them.

Reference : http://www.sfgate.com

Google's Chrome has a few tarnishes

2008-12-25T03:10:00.005+07:00

Inevitably, many people asked the same question: Is the Mountain View company's product good enough to supplant Microsoft Corp.'s Internet Explorer, the dominant window through which users access the Web?

What I discovered was a product that has some clear advantages over Microsoft's, but also some shortcomings that, overall, hardly make it a killer - at least today.

Installing Chrome, available in a test version at www.google.com/chrome, onto my PC was speedy, requiring no more than a few clicks of the mouse. As part of the setup, the software automatically imported the bookmarks, passwords and other settings from the Internet Explorer browser already on my computer (it does the same for Mozilla's Firefox, the No. 2 browser).

I feared that Google would try to hijack my Internet experience by making its products the default. But Google gave me a choice by asking in a pop-up window whether I would like to keep Google as my browser search engine (other choices include Yahoo and Microsoft Live) and whether it should place a Chrome browser button on my desktop.

Chrome's design, like Google's namesake search engine, is spare to give more space and emphasis to Web pages. A handful of small blue buttons appears in the toolbar above the Web page rather than big colorful buttons that come with Microsoft Internet Explorer.

To accommodate users who keep a lot of Web sites open at once, Google places tabs, which contain Web pages, at the top of the screen. In that way, users have quicker access.

In addition, the tabs are treated as separate browsers, in a sense. Instead of placing the menus in the toolbar at the top of the computer screen, Chrome features them near the top of the individual tabs.

The separate tabs, along with Chrome's underlying software, is supposed to create a more stable environment. Even if one tab freezes up, it won't crash the others. I didn't encounter such a problem, so I can't vouch for the browser's crash resistance.

Among Chrome's selling points is its speed in opening Web pages versus the competition. Generally, the pages did load quickly, although there were some wrinkles.

Chrome is more finicky when it comes to slightly outdated software. I apparently didn't have the latest version of Adobe Flash and therefore images that downloaded without a problem on Internet Explorer failed to download properly using Chrome until I updated my Flash software.

Subsequently, some graphics on usopen.org, for example, appeared in the wrong place on the page, intruding on some of the text.

Navigation is another area where Chrome tries to set itself apart. Rather than having separate boxes for search and for the address bar, Chrome combines them into one box, called an Omnibox.

Users are given suggestions as they type a URL or search term, helping to save time. Those suggestions get more personalized based on the user's browsing history to the point that all I had to do was type in a single letter to get the full Web site address I was seeking.

In some cases, users can search within sites that have their own search engine, like Google-owned YouTube, by hitting the tab key on the computer keyboard without leaving Chrome.

Indeed, part of Chrome's allure is the amount of user history it retains and prominently features on its home page. Images of pages that users visit most often, for instance, appear on the Chrome home page for easy access.

Anyone who shares a computer and who is concerned about privacy can use what's called "incognito," a tab that doesn't retain a record of the sites users visit. But the privacy feature falls short of some of those offered by Microsoft in its latest browser, Internet Explorer 8, which is also in a test phase.

To be sure, Chrome is a work in progress. In addition to being a test version, outside developers are invited to make improvements. But it faces a stiff challenge from Microsoft, which also is making improvements with its latest iteration, which includes some of the same features as Chrome, like tabbed browsing.
What it offers

Google's new browser, Chrome, is an attempt to challenge Microsoft's dominant Internet Explorer by offering:

-- Spare design

-- Tabbed browsing

-- Crash-resistant software

-- A combined search box and address bar, called an Omnibox

-- "Incognito" surfing mode for privacy

Reference : http://www.sfgate.com

Google Gadget Ads

2008-12-25T03:05:00.009+07:00

Adsense official blog just announces a new type of Adsense ads called Google Gadget Ads. Google briefly explains its main features:

- Gadget ads enable advertisers and agencies to engage audiences on the Internet’s largest ad network with a rich and interactive new ad format.

- Beyond Rich Media Advertising with “Websites within Websites”
Think of gadget ads as mini versions of your website in any AdSense ad size.

- Dynamic and Creative Advertising
Truly useful applications incorporating data feeds, maps, images, audio, video, Flash, HTML or JavaScript in a single creative.

- Largest Global Advertising Network
Reach over 75% of unique Internet users in more than 20 languages and over 100 countries with no serving or hosting costs.

- Community of Engaged Users Around Your Brand
Users can post and share your gadget ads anywhere.

- Full Interaction Reporting
Receive site-by-site interaction reports tracking dozens of actions.

See the demo and how to sign-up to this program. Of course, if you are eligible enough to join.

Reference : http://fatihsyuhud.com

Toshiba Portege R500 vs Apple MacBook Air

2008-12-25T02:51:00.010+07:00

Apple and Toshiba notebook that promote the andalannya, the Macbook Air and the Portege R500. From the target market and specifications, both as large-digadang grip required the businessman concerned will appreciate the design and mobility. Notebooks incoming Portege Series range has a super-thin design and lightweight magnesium with the chasis to make them remain firm.

Design is not impresses also are presented by the Apple MacBook Air. Aspect dimension be measured may not be too many expectations as ultraportable, but he entered in the category of small-sized notebook. With a thickness of only 0.76 inches, Apple as a call for the notebook in the world.

Design and engineering of making MacBook Air extraordinary. Effects of the first MacBook Air aluminum chasis is the same used in the MacBook Pro and fingerprint as standard equipment. When appointed MacBook Air weight reached more than 1.36kg. To make aluminum construction feels very solid and be solid when, and easily recycled.

While for the technical specifications, Portege R500 to be with the Core 2 Duo with a speed of 1.2Ghz and 1GB memory installed.

The technical specification of MacBook Air by dual-core processor will be supplied by Intel and with a 80GB hard drive memory capacity of 2GB. But unfortunately, by pursuing the design It is super, this notebook should limit the number of important facilities such as there is only one USB port, RAM and Hard Drive that can not be upgraded and does not own any Firewire ports,
Ethernet and Optical Drive. Overall, this product will only rely on technology Wi-Fi or other wireless technology as a network. Nevertheless, many praise the positive get the notebook at $ 1,799 USD this.

The interest in the Portege R500 is available media store 160 gigabytes hard drive capacity and it is the first notebook that has a solid state drive (SSD) with a single 128 gigabytes. SSD technology is able to make a notebook more realible with better performance and require more power sedikir, or energy efficient. Moreover, notebook worth around U $ 3,000 has a hard drive protection, spill resistant keyboad, and fingerprint security suites.

Yahoo launched Yahoo Go 3.0 Indonesian Version

2008-12-25T02:43:00.007+07:00

The official launch of Yahoo! Go 3.0 in Indonesia is a development that brought changes in the mobile services from Yahoo!, "Said Managing Director and Vice President, Yahoo! Connected Life, Asia Pacific, David Ko, in the press in Jakarta on Tuesday.

Yahoo! Go 3.0 mobile service to bring the latest with the "user interface" is better and more feature rich through "third-party widgets" that are easy to use.

Yahoo! Go 3.0 to bring rich and intuitive design that uses a small screen on the phone efficiently and accelerate the ability of consumers to find the information they need to use the mobile Internet.
"Home widget" on the new Yahoo! Go 3.0 is an innovative gateway for the customer to their destination in the learner-mobile Internet.

This feature provides a brief update on what is new since the last time the customer access, such as how many new e-mail received, the latest appointment in the calendar, and the latest images sent by friends through Flickr.

Home widget also includes a collection of mobile snippets that can be set according to the taste of the user preview of the content of web users favorite news headlines, weather conditions, and more so that users always know the latest information on when they are traveling.

Reference : http://technomobile.wordpress.com

Apple Improve the Mac OS X

2008-12-25T02:29:00.004+07:00

Apple has released improvements to the operating system Mac OS X, version 10.5.5, namely, yesterday. Repair is recommended for users of Mac OS X (called Leopard) version 10.5; 10.5.1; 10.5.2; 10.5.3 and 10.5.4.

These improvements include a general problem in the operating system, such as stability, compatibility and security. Among them is the improvement of the video player that befall a number of laptop users MacBook Air. There are also improvements on the "disease" that make Mac computers in unexpected light on the self-same hour every day.

In addition, Intel also improve the features Address Book, Disk Utility, iCal, Mail, MobileMe, and Time Machine. There are a total of 33 improvements, with a total of 136 files megabita.

Arts and Cryptographic Encryption Algorithm Data

2008-12-25T02:15:00.010+07:00

Cryptography is part of the Kriptologi. The etymology cryptography, which means secret or concealed, which comes from the Greek "Cryptos" which means secret, and "Graphien" which means the picture or writing. Meanwhile Kriptologi is the science of cryptography to learn (with a rich geological geography n Xb). So Kriptologi (Cryptology) is the science related to the cryptogram (technical writing and the details of the secret ropes == special knowledge in this but in the High School State == password).

The definitions of other cryptography based on several pakarnya, among others:

* Bruce Schneier (1996:1)

Cryptography (Cryptography) is the art and science to maintain the confidentiality of a message or news. Meanwhile Cryptanalysis (kriptanalisis) is the art and science to solve the diagnosis through a password text-diagnosis based on information and data assets. Branch of mathematics that covers both the science is Cryptology (kriptologi).

* Menezes, Oorschot and Vanstone (1996:4)

Cryptography is the study of the techniques associated with mathematical aspects of information security as konfidensialitas (confidentiality), data integrity, authentication and entity authentication data original. Cryptography is not just a tool / way to provide security information but it is a set of techniques.

* William Stalling (2003: 652)

Cryptography is a branch kriptologi associated with the design of algorithms for encryption / decryption, in order to ensure the confidentiality and message authentication.

* Mann Young Rhee (1996: 1)

Cryptography is the study of the system kripto, where security and authentication data can be guaranteed. Kripto system used to ensure the security and authentication data in the computer system of communication.

From the definition of experts, the conclusion can be drawn that cryptography is an art and technical mathematical methodical change in the light of the text (the text will be encrypted) password into the text.

The other side of the kriptologi is kriptanalisis, namely knowledge to extract the text back into the password text light, is a complement of cryptography and a crucial aspect in the implementation of a system kriptografis. Kriptologi second element in the growing and mutually complementary. From the basic concepts of cryptography categorized as a science applied mathematics, because the cryptographic algorithms based on the basic theories and concepts from several branches of mathematics, such as abstract algebra, number theory, statistics inferensial, statistical probability, Discrete logarithm, ellipse curve, the chaos, one function -direction, graph theory, and others.

Reference : http://www.kaskus.us

D-SLR camera Pas For Beginners

2008-12-20T23:13:00.003+07:00

Speed development of the technology is not merely the product of gadgets such as mobile phones or notebook. D-SLR camera also experienced a very rapid development. Olympus as the old players in the digital camera market introduce new products that have the ability claimed that there had never been in the D-SLR camera that is at this time. How part is the ability camera?

If you like the new world of photography and want to learn to know the camera D-SLR, not a camera to try Olympus E-420. The camera is a product of class D-SLR (Digital Single-Lens Reflex) have features that are suitable for the beginner. Potabilitas camera which has a size not too big as a professional camera generally.

As the series up grade from E-410, E-420 features autofocus with a live view. The screen also viewfinder with large size 2.7 inch hypercrystal II. This new technology can generate 2 times more easily see the contrast and brightness when the light. Camera worth Rp 6,5 to 7 million has CMOS sensor with 10MP from the Live-MOS, to ensure a clean image despite the use of the ISO.

reference : http://technomobile.wordpress.com/2008/12/04/kamera-d-slr-pas-bagi-pemula/

LG KS-20 threaten the existence of the Apple iPhone

2008-12-20T22:51:00.004+07:00

The presence of cellular smart phone Apple iPhone should have recognized a number of responses mobile producers bear a more prominent and passionate suppress the existence of iPhone itself. Is the LG, the South Korean manufacturer of mobile phones released this new series KS-20. Smartphone large as that in the success of the LG Prada has the function as a computer properly. Therefore, then this can also phone in juluki as a PDA phone.

KS-20 is the first LG smart phone that uses the operating system Windows Mobile 6. This means he also supports productivity applications for office work, with Windows Mobile Office is. Designs still take black as the main theme, which makes not much different look with the Prada or the iPhone. The difference with Prada, KS20 using the round of four-way navigation.

KS-20 is the first LG smart phone that uses the operating system Windows Mobile 6. This means he also supports productivity applications for office work, with Windows Mobile Office is. Designs still take black as the main theme, which makes not much different look with the Prada or the iPhone. The difference with Prada, KS20 using the round of four-way navigation.

In addition, mobile phone tri-band GSM 12.8 millimeters thick, which also has a 2-megapixel camera; can to make a video call; and provide the player FM radio, music player, and video. All files can be stored in internal memory of 128 megabita external memory or Micro-SD.

Over all, aspects of the design, a mobile phone worth Rp 5 million is less classy than the LG KE850 which the touch of Prada fashion house. But that is clear, with the technical specifications of the existing, KS-20 is more superior than the LG Prada, even though iPhone.

reference : http://technomobile.wordpress.com

New Ultra Mobile PC from Sony

2008-12-20T22:39:00.002+07:00

VAIO VGN-UX57GN

In miniaturisasi electronic products, the producers of origin Japan, Sony is champion. Miniaturisasi Sony is not a vision, but he has repeatedly in the wujudkan products. This time they prove a small laptop with the birth name given Vaio VGN-UX57GN.

Laptops in the category of Ultra Mobile PC, or UMPC this function the same as any other laptop. Only with the dimensions of this gadget is a small tool can also become a means of entertainment that is' handy ', ultra small and lightweight.

In accordance with the features and shapes, for sure, this product is intended for business people who need the features of office and have high mobility. UMPC is supported by the Intel processor and operating system Windows Vista Business is already in the Philippines in May 2008 with prices around U.S. $ 1,699.

The influence of fight in the Tablet PC segment

2008-12-20T22:33:00.001+07:00

Needs to keep connected in a high level of mobility is something that I avoided for business at this time. Answering these challenges HDE original Italian manufacturer of notebook launched the latest range of notebook in the Flybook series V. Meanwhile, the original Japanese manufacturer, Fujitsu does not want to lose with the release lifebook T4220.

reference : http://technomobile.wordpress.com

Full-HD camcorder Smallest

2008-12-20T22:26:00.002+07:00

Panasonic HDC-SX5

Expertise as a manufacturer of Panasonic camcorder (camera recorder) is not foreign anymore. Following the success of the previous series, the original Japanese manufacturer is now released Panasonic HDC-SX5 claimed as a full high definition camcorder with the smallest dimensions of the world.

With high-definition quality, recording the results of HDC-SX5 looks more clear and sharp. To muffle the vibration when you take a picture, this device to be the mainstay of Panasonic technology, the latest form of OIS (Optical Image Stabilizer). Camcorders that have entered the Indonesian market valued around Rp 10 million.

reference : http://technomobile.wordpress.com

Nokia E71

2008-12-20T22:22:00.003+07:00

As the leader of the world mobile phone market, Nokia continued innovation and update products andalanya. Recently, the vendor is the origin of Finnish smartphone released in the new E-series range, the Nokia E71. This is a mobile phone business segment, but very stylishly designed. This appears on the adoption krom feel that silver is quite dominant.

Different from the previous series, E71 revise the display screen on the home screen to be more dynamic and rich feature icons. QWERTY keypad mobile phone concept features the akselerator screen. When the phone's position changed, the display will follow, horizontal or vertical.

Although thin, mobile phone worth Rp 4.7 million this be good. This contrasts with predecessor, the more well wide. So, not difficult to operate the smart phone with one hand. Button-key feel comfortable dipencet. Moreover, the phone dibekasi with beresolusi 3.2 megapixel camera, HSDPA connectivity, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, push-mail, and multimedia features.

reference : http://technomobile.wordpress.com/

Lenovo ThinkPad X200

2008-12-20T22:14:00.001+07:00

Although the ThinkPad X300 gets all of the attention for cramming so many features into a sleek 13.3-inch notebook, not everyone has more than $2,500 to drop on a laptop. As the successor to the ThinkPad X61, the equally portable and more affordable ThinkPad X200 (starting at $1,199; our particular Centrino Pro configuration will be available August 5 for closer to two grand) skips the X300’s optical drive and makes a solid state drive optional while offering a slightly smaller 12.1-inch widescreen.

More important, it boasts better performance and battery life than the pricier X300, thanks to Intel’s new Centrino 2 platform. And as with every ThinkPad, you get a durable design, stellar keyboard, and the security features that define a first-rate business ultraportable.

Design

The ThinkPad X200 features a lightweight, rock-solid design with Lenovo’s standard matte black finish. Measuring 11.6 x 9.2 x 0.8 inches and weighing 3.8 pounds (with the beefy nine-cell battery) the system’s magnesium alloy frame is thicker and heavier than the featherweight MacBook Air but feels more durable.

All the usual ports and connections are on board, starting with two USB ports, Ethernet, VGA, and an ExpressCard slot on the left side (along with the Wi-Fi switch). The right side houses an additional USB port, headphone and mic jacks, and a modem connection. Up front is a lone SD Card reader.

ThinkPads have been known for their sweet keyboards, and the X200 doesn’t disappoint. We loved the feel of the firm, responsive keys as we created documents in Word, and the spacious layout was conducive to an excellent typing experience. Unlike the X300, the X200 lacks a touchpad—we had to make due with just the TrackPoint—but we became acclimated to the responsive stick within a few minutes.

Display and Audio

Above the keyboard is the ThinkPad X200’s 12.1-inch display, which differs from its predecessor’s by offering a slightly sharper resolution (1280 x 800 pixels vs. 1024 x 768 pixels) and a much-appreciated widescreen format. (The standard format was one of our few gripes with the ThinkPad X61.) We jumped online to watch a high-definition trailer for The Dark Knight and were impressed with the deep blacks and color balance. The screen’s matte finish ensured minimal glare.

If you want to watch Blu-ray or DVD movies, you’ll have to invest in the ThinkPad X200 UltraBase dock ($299 for Blu-ray; $169 for DVD burner), as the system lacks an integrated optical drive. Above the display resides a VGA camera that delivered a smooth frame rate and a crisp picture both in bright and low light. Colors were a bit muted, however.

Audio quality is what you’d expect from a business machine; decent volume with a weak bottom end. Still, the dedicated volume controls located above the keyboard made it easy for us to quickly raise, lower, and mute sound.

reference : http://technoandmobile.blogspot.com

Painting with computer...?

2008-12-20T22:08:00.004+07:00

A program that allows you to produce artwork that provides the appearance of 'oil-painting'?

There are many programs that produce the appearance of an oil painting. I have been using Painter which is a very good program for that kind of task, and is available for Mac OS X, and Windows XP or Vista.
Other way of achieve the requested appearance is through the use of filters or "brushes" in applications such as Photoshop in the commercial world or The Gimp in the open source community and it´s free.
Also a helpful tool for the work is a digital tablet, like Wacom, wich allows you to control the aspect better than the mouse do.

Blogspot Tutorial: Adding Picture Post on Blogspot

2008-12-20T21:14:00.002+07:00

An article or a post created in the moment we will appear more attractive when there is a picture or image that included support. To add an image in the article or posting on Blogspot how easy enough, we can also use some of the options set in view of the image in the enter.

Add an Image from your computer - use this option to enter or upload images from computer to the blogspot. Click on the Browse button, select the image that will be included. We can enter multiple image files at once (a maximum of 5) by clicking on the link Add another Image.

Add an Image from the Web - this option to upload images from another website, the contents of the address of the image that will be put to Blogpot. To upload a file more than 1 click on the link Add another image.

Choose a layout - this option to manage the placement of the inserted image. We can see the difference from the placement of each option. Please note after the layout is uploaded images can not be changed, we must change to upload the image again and remove that by pressing the Delete button on the keyboard.

Image size - this option to set the size of the display of the image is entered. Image size is too influential, if not the image that our input is not too large. However, for images that use large selection of small or medium, this means that the image is not fully shown (full size), this can help accelerate the process of viewing of the image.

Click the check box that against I accept the Terms of Service, if not diconteng, and then click the Upload image, wait for some time. Hero displays from the upload process, if successful then upload Blogspot screen will display the request will be pressing the button DONE.

Unlike other editors, our new image will be uploaded on the top position. To move in the desired position, click on the picture, and drag (drag) the image to position desired, with the process to enter the picture the moment has been successful.

Blogspot Tutorial: How to Add Label On Post

2008-12-16T22:42:00.004+07:00

Labels on Blogspot can also be said that as a category of articles that are made, the label is also easier for our readers and to group articles on a particular sector or type.
To add a label or labels this way is very easy, there are several ways that can be used to create this label.
How to Make a label on Blogspot

The first is through the sheet editor, each time creating new articles, we can add a label directly on the article. That is available through the box at the bottom editor Blogspot, see the picture below:

Insert label accordance with the desired one article can have several labels at once if each other. This article will appear on the label given to it.

Second way is through the Edit Posts page, the page that displays all the articles that we make. From this page, we can arrange the removal or lebal on several articles at once.

How to add a label that is the way: 1) select the files will be labeled, 2) select a label that will be added through combobox, to add labels that have not been there in the combobox this by choosing New Label ... it will mucul dialog box that asks menginputkan name of the new label.

Articles that have the label will be visible on the right from the title of the article, the label form of writing berwana green. To remove the label on the article concerned how the same, namely to select the file and select the name of the label that will be removed.

Putting labels in the sidebar
So that visitors can access the label, we need to put a label on the layout element Blog. If you did not know how to put a label element in the layout, the following explanation. Entrance kehalaman Templates, and the sidebar (side), click on the link titled Add Page Element.

Then the screen Choose New Page Element select element label, by clicking on the paper ADD TO BLOG.

Then, the window will appear that displays the configuration label. Isikanlah Box Title with any word you want, for example category. And select the desired type of sorting, whether based on the Letter (ALPHABETICALLY) or the number of articles (By Frequency).

Up here that the label was made ready for use, we can see the results by clicking the link's

M-Commerce : The next zing thing

2008-12-10T21:49:00.002+07:00

M-Commerce is the retail of merchandise through a hand held device termed as a cellular device. The key technology that works behind M-commerce is WAP (Wireless Application Program). M- Commerce enables a user to access an internet connection without the need finding a place for plug ins. To encourage this budding technology, many big companies are trapping their hands in the business. It basically includes Nokia, Sony Ericsson, Motorola and Qualcomm companies which are launching WAP enabled phones in the market from time to time.

M-Commerce is a new modus operandi of commerce that takes place on through the medium of wireless applications, sets, mobile phones and the likes. Some services provided by Mobile-Commerce are news services, sports results, financial records, stock data and traffic data and information etc. Other than the above list, the M-commerce can be beneficial for mobile banking, auctions, mobile purchase, mobile marketing and mobile loyalty cards etc.

The term m-commerce is sometimes befuddled with e-commerce. But, there is a difference between e commerce and m commerce. Where e commerce is restricted to PC users with an Internet Connection, m-commerce is open to almost the entire mobile population.

In India, this technology is growing at elevated velocity. Different financial organizations are making efforts to promote m-commerce. The Reserve Bank of India is taking first step to encourage m-commerce and issues guidelines against creation of mobile wallet. The mobile wallet can be used for the payments of bills, basic purchase etc.

The leaders of telecom in India, Reliance and Airtel have taken the lead in offering m-commerce services. M-Commerce in India is on a huge growth path. Other organizations that are involved with m-commerce are Californian mobile payment service provider Obopay Inc. and Bangalore’s mChek India Payment Systems Pvt. Ltd. These organizations are among fast-expanding service providers which have intended contributions towards the technology expansion. Obopay Inc. offers mobile linked services in California and now it is planning to provide its services in India too.

India is the second largest mobile handset market in the world. So, it can be reaped as a potential market for m-commerce. A country where 100 million plus mobile users are there is a suitable place for marketing techniques like m-commerce. This is not the end, according to market survey, every month the number of mobile users is increasing up to 3 millions.

There are some severe challenges involved with the expansion of m-commerce that can slow down its expansion speed. They are:
1.Security with respect to payment through mobiles.
2.Knowledge about the technology to every mobile user.
3.Bad mobile connections some times

This budding technology can makes its way only when it is possible to remove above said challenges.
Satinder Kaur/ITvoir Network

The art of effective business communication

2008-12-10T21:29:00.002+07:00

With the increase in the use of emails via internet along with graphical text messaging forms, there are better means of communication to make way with words.
Verbal or written, either expressed well can increase the chances of success in any business by many folds. In the multilingual world, communication is a potent tool to persuade the end consumer. It is this communication which makes you land up in a good business relationship and it is the same tool which pulls out of business rift.

You went to attend a conference where speakers worked wonders by just delivering few notable corporate jargons and the final message was communicated to you. And, often you might have come across salesmen who tried pursuing you by using all forms of communication, direct, indirect, verbal and spoken, but you didn’t shudder or respond because of some loopholes in the process of communication.
And at yet another point of time, there might be occasions when you communicated by the expression of your eyes. In the corporate world, communication means a lot where the body language too speaks about you.The essence is to remove the barriers to communication. There should be enough relevance to the subject with evidence to support your argument, and make it work by using proper words. Many times, the quality of the product is of a low grade with less buzz created around the product by not doing enough advertisements and other marketing gimmicks. Rightly, it has been said that “word of mouth” is the best form of advertisement which again proves that nothing can be more rewarding than using the fine mode of communication. If you truly want to learn the art of connecting to people and strike the right chord, make way with words. Whatever styles and mode of communication you adopt, some add-on features will always help you build up style of communication.

Flower your personality: Do whatever you can do to develop your personality. Learn good etiquettes and maintain your posture while you speak since this forms an important part of your body language. Also maintain a proper dress code for the meetings and client presentations.
Show concern: When you speak, your eyes should be revealing the truth. Express concern for the person when you communicate.
Provide necessary details: Some customers want vivid details and inputs of the products or services you handle. Make necessary adjustments and provide all inputs.
Be wary of your language: This means that words you speak or write should not be harsh or seem offensive. Control always your temper and let the other person (an employee or client) feel that he is special for you.

Mintzberg had proposed three different categories of managerial role and operations, interpersonal, information-sharing and decision-making where all of these are based on active communication.
Kotter on the other hand talked of a general manager’s role which speaks of networking through good relationships which helps them to devise agendas and spending few minutes in meeting asking about things are moving in a business. Again involves communication. A manager needs to a good communicator if he wants to get work done by his subordinate. The success of the whole team depends on an employee’s ability to communicate with his peers and his superior. How effective is your communication is worth noting. So, what you should do to facilitate good communication?
Set your goals before speaking as to what you want to derive out of your communication process.
Speak relevant and speak clarity.
Create space for open communication and address issues on a soft note.
Always try to build up on your communication by taking care of other issues as discussed earlier
Try understanding what others communicate.

In a nutshell, always push yourself for becoming a powerful speaker by using tools of communication in a better way and remove the barriers to communications if any. Communication influences all divisions of an organizations in the form of an internal communication and not just the end consumer.

Source : http://itvoir.com/portal/boxx/knowledgebase.asp?iid=917&Cat=23

Vector and Bitmap Images

2008-12-10T20:33:00.003+07:00

It's almost impossible to discuss graphics software without first establishing an understanding of the differences between the two major 2D graphic types: bitmap and vector images. This is an important lesson and often a tough one to grasp. If you work with graphics at all, it's bound to come up, so it's an important concept to understand. Let's start by talking about the more common type: bitmap images.

Bitmap images (also known as raster images) are made up of pixels in a grid. Pixels are picture elements; tiny dots of individual color that make up what you see on your screen. All these tiny dots of color come together to form the images you see. Most computer monitors display approximately 70 to 100 pixels per inch--the actual number depends on your monitor and screen settings.

To illustrate this, let's take a look at a typical desktop icon such as the one shown in the image here. The icons on your desktop are typically 32 by 32 pixels. In other words, there are 32 dots of color going in each direction. When combined, these tiny dots form an image. The icon shown in the upper right corner of this example is a typical desktop icon at screen resolution. As you can see, when you enlarge the icon, as I have in this example, you can clearly see each individual square dot of color. Note the that white areas of the background are still individual pixels, even though they appear to be one solid color.

Bitmap images are resolution dependent. Resolution refers to the number of pixels in an image and is usually stated as dpi (dots per inch) or ppi (pixels per inch). Bitmap images are displayed on your computer screen at screen resolution: approximately 100 ppi. However, when printing bitmaps, your printer needs much more image data than a monitor. In order to render a bitmap image accurately, the typical desktop printer needs 150-300 ppi. If you've ever wondered why your 300 dpi scanned image appears so much larger on your monitor, this is why. For more in-depth information about resolution, scanning, and printing bitmap images, refer to my article Getting Started Scanning.

Because bitmaps are resolution dependent, it's difficult to increase or decrease their size without sacrificing a degree of image quality. When you reduce the size of a bitmap image through your software's resample or resize command, you must throw away pixels. When you increase the size of a bitmap image through your software's resample or resize command, the software has to create new pixels. When creating pixels, the software must estimate the color values of the new pixels based on the surrounding pixels. This process is called interpolation.

Did you notice in the paragraph above, I specifically talked about resizing images "through your software's resample or resize command"? I want to make the distinction between this method of resizing versus zooming in and out, or dragging the edges of your images in a page layout program to resize it. This type of resizing is more accurately called scaling. Scaling an image does not effect the image permanently. In other words, it does not change the number of pixels in the image. However, if you scale a bitmap image to a larger size in your page layout software, you are going to see a definite jagged appearance. Even if you don't see it on your screen, it will be very apparent in the printed image. Scaling a bitmap image to a smaller size doesn't have any effect; in fact, when you do this you are effectively increasing the ppi of the image so that it will print clearer.

Common bitmap formats include:
• BMP
• GIF
• JPEG, JPG
• PNG
• PICT (Macintosh)
• PCX
• TIFF
• PSD (Adobe Photoshop)

Popular bitmap editing programs are:
• Microsoft Paint
• Adobe Photoshop
• Corel Photo-Paint
• Corel Paint Shop Pro
• The GIMP

All scanned images are bitmaps, and all images from digital cameras are bitmaps.

Converting between bitmap formats is generally as simple as opening the image to be converted and using your software's Save As... command to save it in any other bitmap format supported by your software.

Bitmap images in general do not inherently support transparency. A couple of specific formats--namely GIF and PNG--support transparency. In addition, most image editing programs support transparency, but only when the image is saved in the software program's native format. A common misconception is that the transparent areas in an image will remain transparent when an image is saved to another format or copied and pasted into another program. That just doesn't work; however, there are techniques for hiding or blocking out areas in a bitmap that you intend to use in other software. For more information about retaining transparency in bitmap images, see Transparency from Here to There.

Key Points About Bitmap Images:
• pixels in a grid
• resolution dependent
• resizing reduces quality
• easily converted
• restricted to rectangle
• minimal support for transparency

Car cruising system incorporating ART-FNN man-machine interface in adaptation to various driving behaviors

2008-11-19T23:04:00.002+07:00

This research suggests a new approach to man-machine interface, that is based on the characteristics of an imaginary individual's driving behaviour and the easily detected car control figures. The adaptive resonance theory (ART) network is combined with the computer-aided learning of the Fuzzy Neural Network to obtain the different appropriate safe car-following headway between cars that are running under different speeds. The framework of this system is divided into two major parts. The first part uses the ART network, which uses the differences between the required least horizontal braking distance of a car, and the distance between the car and the obstacle standing on the end of the lane at the moment the driver applied the brakes, during a test where the car is running on a straight lane at accelerated speed. An off-line Self-organizing cluster discovering is conducted. The clusters of the above-mentioned two distances obtained through the ART network are used to determine the levels of the risk-taking factors of the drivers. Then the output of this ART network (i.e. risk-taking factor level), car speed and free travel of brake pedal are used as the fuzzy neural network (FNN) input; the appropriate car-following headway serves as the FNN output. Through the learning capability of artificial neural network, the complex membership functions between the inputs and the output can be efficiently established. Finally, the appropriate car-following headway predicted by the FNN are compared with the actual field data to prove the accuracy of the system in predicting the different safe car-following headway, given different driver and different car characteristics driven at different speeds. The completion of this system provides a feasible course for the development of a neural network in an individually-oriented man-machine interface system

Computer system and method for pricing financial and insurance risks with historically- known or computer-generated probability distributions

2008-11-19T22:47:00.002+07:00

The invention provides a universal approach to pricing assets and liabilities, whether traded on an exchange or over-the-counter market, or underwritten for direct risk-transfer, whether grouped or segregated, or even positive or negative in value. More particularly, it relates to a computer-implemented system and method, and a computer-readable medium for use with a computer means, for pricing financial and insurance risks with historically-known or computer-generated probability distributions. The method can also be used to quantify the uncertainty of a variable within any historically-known of computer-generated distribution of outcomes. The invention can also be used to objectively assess the relative value of traded portfolios, and to assist the underwriting selection of managed accounts.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

An economic enterprise, particularly a financial firm, insurance company, or government agency, often faces uncertainty in the future financial value of its assets and liabilities. These assets and liabilities can be brought to the enterprise via financial trading, or via financial or insurance underwriting, and then managed within a portfolio. In the prior art, the uncertainty of these assets and liabilities were evaluated differently, based on whether they were traded financial instruments, in a trading risk management environment, or, based on whether they were underwritten financial obligations, in an underwriting risk environment.

Pricing of Assets and Liabilities within a Trading Environment

When assets and liabilities are managed within a trading environment, such as where stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities, or other financial instruments are exchanged, uncertainty can be expressed as a probability distribution of potential future market prices. For each instrument, a probability distribution assigns a probability to each potential future price, as a potential outcome. Some outcomes increase, and others decrease, the future value of a portfolio that holds, and trades, these financial instruments.

For example, a mutual fund trader faces uncertainties in a stock portfolio because of volatilities in the underlying stock price. A municipal bond issuer from city government faces uncertainties in risk-free interest rates. A corporate treasurer faces uncertainties in strike prices for options issued to employees. A farmer faces uncertainties in soybean commodity futures prices before harvest time.

For each trading portfolio, a probability distribution of future prices can be assigned to each individual instrument, or, to any grouping of instruments, or, to the entire portfolio of instruments. The shape, skew, and other aspects of this probability distribution are fitted to historical records of past price movements for those instruments. This “fitted distribution” can then be used in quantitative models to anticipate future price movements.

Historical data for the price changes of stocks, bonds, currencies, commodities, and other financial instruments can be fitted to different kinds of probability distributions. These include parametric distributions generated by a simple mathematical function, such as normal, lognormal, gamma, Weibull, and Pareto distributions, and non-parametric distributions generated from a set of mathematical values, like those known from historical tables, or those generated from computer simulations.

In the prior art, computer-implemented systems and methods, and computer-readable media for use with computer means, for pricing financial instruments, were deficient because they could not accurately price, in a risk-neutral way, the vast majority of financial instruments whose price changes did not fit normal or lognormal probability distributions.

Pricing of Assets and Liabilities within an Underwriting Environment

Assets and liabilities can be managed within an underwriting environment, where, for example, credit, health care, pension, insurance, and other risks are assumed. Uncertainty can be expressed as a probability distribution of anticipated contract obligations. A probability distribution assigns a probability to each contract obligation, as an outcome. Some outcomes increase, and others decrease, the future value of a portfolio holding these obligations.

For example, a credit card issuer faces uncertainties because of customer delinquencies, defaults, renewals, prepayments, and fluctuations in outstanding balances. A utility company faces uncertainties in energy demand during extreme weather conditions. A hospital faces uncertainties in patient receivables. An insurance company faces uncertainties in premium receptions and claim payments. A reinsurer faces uncertainties of paying for hurricane and earthquake damages. A pension plan faces uncertainties of prolonged life expectancy.

For each underwritten portfolio, a probability distribution of anticipated obligations can be assigned to each individual contract, or to any collection of contracts, or to the entire portfolio of contracts. A parametric probability distribution can be fitted to historical records of past experience for those contract obligations. This “fitted distribution” can then be used in quantitative models to anticipate future contract obligations.

Historical data for contract obligations in credit, health care, pension, insurance, and other underwritten risks have been fitted to different kinds of probability distributions. These include parametric distributions generated by a simple mathematical function, such as normal, lognormal, gamma, Weibull, and Pareto distributions, and non-parametric distributions generated from a set of mathematical values, like those known from historical tables, or those generated from computer simulations.

In the prior art, computer-implemented systems and methods, and computer-readable media for use with computer means, were deficient because they could not accurately price, in a risk-neutral way, the vast majority of underwritten contract obligations whose cashflow outcomes did not fit normal or lognormal probability distributions. This was true even when portfolios were expressly underwritten for immediate transfer to another counterparty by true sale, trade, or even reinsurance.

Pricing of Risk Vehicles, Regardless of Whether they are Assets or Liabilities, Traded or Underwritten

In the prior art, computer-implemented systems and methods, and computer-readable media for use with computer means, were deficient because they could not accurately price, in a risk-neutral way, the vast majority of financial instruments whose price changes did not fit normal or lognormal probability distributions.

Before this invention, computer-implemented systems and methods, and computer-readable media for use with computer means, were deficient because they could not accurately price, in a risk-neutral way, any managed portfolio of assets and liabilities whose entirety or parts were drifting from positive to negative value, or, from negative to positive value, over time.

With the explosion in computer applications, reams of historical data for financial instruments and contract obligations can now be gathered and processed instantly. Many computer simulation models can generate a sample distribution of possible outcomes for these traded and underwritten portfolios. For example, a derivative modeling firm can anticipate a price distribution for an underlying stock for a financial option. A catastrophe-modeling firm can anticipate a loss distribution for a geographic area after a simulated hurricane or earthquake.

Yet, with the increased availability of historically-known or computer-generated data, there is no accurate method for pricing the underlying risk, except in two special cases, applicable only to rare instances of probability distributions.

The first special case is the well-known Capital Asset Pricing Model, or CAPM, which relates the expected rate of return to the standard deviation of the rate of return. A standard assumption underlying the CAPM is that asset price movements have lognormal distributions, or, equivalently, that the rates of return for those asset price movements have normal distributions. The CAPM approach is deficient, however, when the historical asset returns do not have normal distributions.

The second special case is the Nobel Prize winning Black-Scholes formula for pricing options. Financial trading and insurance underwriting researchers have noted the similarity in the payoff function between a financial option and a stop-loss insurance cover. Again, a standard assumption underlying the Black-Scholes formula is that asset price movements have normal or lognormal distributions. Again, the Black-Scholes approach is deficient since the historical price movements of most capital assets do not have lognormal distributions.

Reference : http://www.freshpatents.com/Computer-system-and-method-for-pricing-financial-and-insurance-risks-with-historically--known-or-computer-generated-probability-distributions-dt20080918ptan20080228605.php

The Art in Computer Programming

2008-11-08T21:49:00.004+07:00

What exactly is software development, and why is it so hard? This is a question that
continues to engage our thoughts. Is software development an engineering discipline? Is it art? Is it more like a craft?

We think that it is all of these things, and none of them. Software is a uniquely human endeavor, because despite all of the technological trimmings, we're manipulating little more than the thoughts in our heads. That's pretty ephemeral stuff. Fred Brooks put it rather eloquently some 30 odd years ago[Bro95]:
"The programmer, like the poet, works only slightly removed from pure thought-stuff. He builds his castles in the air, from air, creating by exertion of the imagination. Few media of creation are so flexible, so easy to polish and rework, so readily capable of realizing grand conceptual structures. (As we shall see later, this very tractability has its own problems.)"

In a way, we programmers are quite lucky. We get the opportunity to create entire worlds out of nothing but thin air. Our very own worlds, complete with our own laws of physics. We may get those laws wrong of course, but it's still fun.

This wonderful ability comes at a price, however. We continually face the most frightening sight known to a creative person: the blank page.

1. Writer's Block

Writers face the blank page, painters face the empty canvas, and programmers face the empty editor buffer. Perhaps it's not literally empty—an IDE may want us to specify a few things first. Here we haven't even started the project yet, and already we're forced to answer many questions: what will this thing be named, what directory will it be in, what type of module is it, how should it be compiled, and so on.

The completely empty editor buffer is even worse. Here we have an infinite number of choices of text with which to fill it.

So it seems we share some of the same problems with artists and writers:
1.How to start
2.When to stop
3.Satisfying the person who commissioned the work

Writers have a name for difficulties in starting a piece: they call it Writer's Block.

Sometimes writer's block is borne of fear: Fear of going in the wrong direction, of getting too far down the wrong path. Sometimes it's just a little voice in your head saying "don't start yet". Perhaps your subconscious is trying to tell you that you're missing something important that you need before you can start.

How do other creative artists break this sort of logjam? Painters sketch; writers write a stream of consciousness. (Writers may also do lots of drugs and get drunk, but we're not necessarily advocating that particular approach.)

What then, is the programming equivalent of sketching?
Software Sketches

Sometimes you need to practice ideas, just to see if something works. You'll sketch it out roughly. If you're not happy with it, you'll do it again. And again. After all, it takes almost no time to do, and you can crumple it up and throw it away at the end.

For instance, there's a pencil sketch by Leonardo da Vinci that he used a study for the Trivulzio equestrian monument. The single fragment of paper contains several quick sketches of different views of the monument: a profile of the horse and rider by themselves, several views of the base with the figures, and so on. Even though the finished piece was to be cast in bronze, da Vinci's sketches were simply done in pencil, on a nearly-scrap piece of paper. These scribblings were so unimportant that they didn't even deserve a separate piece of paper! But they served their purpose nonetheless.[1]

Pencil sketches make fine prototypes for a sculpture or an oil painting. Post-It notes are fine prototypes for GUI layouts. Scripting languages can be used to try out algorithms before they're recoded in something more demanding and lower level. This is what we've traditionally called prototyping: a quick, disposable exercise that concentrates on a particular aspect of the project.

In software development, we can prototype to get the details in a number of different areas:
a new algorithm, or combination of algorithms
a portion of an object model
interactions and data flow between components
any high-risk detail that needs exploration

A slightly different approach to sketching can be seen in da Vinci's Study for the Composition of the Last Supper. In this sketch, you can see the beginnings of the placement of figures for that famous painting. The attention is not placed on any detail—the figures are crude and unfinished. Instead, da Vinci paid attention to focus, balance and flow. How do you arrange the figures, position the hands and arms in order to get the balance and flow of the entire piece to work out?

Sometimes you need to prototype various components of the whole to make sure that they work well together. Again, concentrate of the important aspects and discard unimportant details. Make it easy for yourself. Concentrate on learning, not doing.

As we say in The Pragmatic Programmer[HT00], you must firmly have in your head what you are doing before you do it. It's not at all important to get it right the first time. It's vitally important to get it right the last time.
Paint Over It

Sometimes the artist will sketch out a more finished looking piece, such as Rembrandt's sketch for Abraham's Sacrifice Of Isaac in 1635. It's a crude sketch that has all of the important elements of the final painting, all in roughly the right areas. It proved the composition, the balance of light and shadow, and so on. The sketch is accurate, but not precise. There are no fine details.

Media willing, you can start with such a sketch, where changes are quick and easy to make, and then paint right over top of it with the more permanent, less-forgiving media to form the final product.

To simulate that "paint over a sketch" technique in software, we use a Tracer Bullet development. If you haven't read The Pragmatic Programmer yet, here's a quick explanation of why we call it a Tracer Bullet.

There are two ways to fire a big artillery gun. The first way is to carefully measure the distance to the target, compensate for wind speed and direction, the weight of the ordinance, and so on, crunch all the numbers and give the orders to fire:

"Range 1000!"

whirr. click.

"Elevation 7.42!"

whirr. click.

"Azimuth 3.44"

whirr. click.

"FIRE!"

BOOM. Oh bad luck, there. Missed.

"Range 2015!"

whirr. click.

"Elevation 9.15!"

etc. . .

By the time you've set up, checked and rechecked the numbers, and issued the orders to the grunts manning the machine, the target has long since moved.

In software, this kind of approach can seen in any method that emphasizes planning and documenting over producing working software. Requirements are generally finalized before design begins. Design and architecture, detailed in exquisite UML diagrams, is firmly established before any code is written (presumably that would make coders analogous to the "grunts" who actually fire the weapon, oblivious to the target).

Don't misunderstand: if you're firing a really huge missile at a known, stable target (like a city), this works out just great and is the preferable way to go. If you're shooting at something more maneuverable than a city, though, you need something that provides a bit more real-time feedback.

Tracer bullets.

With tracer bullets, you simply fill the magazine with phosphorus-tipped bullets spaced every so often. Now you've got streaks of light showing you the path to the target right next to the live ammunition.

For our software equivalent, we need a skeletally thin system that does next to nothing, but does it from end to end, encompassing areas such as the database, any middleware, the application logic or business rules, and so on. Because it is so thin, we can easily shift position as we try to track the target. By watching the tracer fire, we don't have to calculate the effect of the wind, or precisely know the location of the target or the weight of the ammunition. We watch the dynamics of the entire system in motion, and adjust our aim to hit the target under actual conditions.

As with the paintings, the important thing isn't the details, but the relationships, the responsibilities, the balance, and the flow. With a proven base—however thin it may be—you can proceed in greater confidence towards the final product.
Group Writer's Block

Up till now, we've talked about writer's block as it applies to you as an individual. What do you do when the entire team has a collective case of writer's block? Teams that are just starting out can quickly become paralyzed in the initial confusion over roles, design goals, and requirements.

One effective way to get the ball rolling is to start the project off with a group-wide, tactile design session. Gather all of the developers in a room[2] and provide sets of Lego blocks, plenty of Post-It notes, whiteboards and markers. Using these, proceed to talk about the system you'll be building and how you think you might want to build it.

Keep the atmosphere loose and flexible; this gets the team comfortable with the idea of change. Because this is low inertia design, anyone can contribute. It's well within any participant's skills to walk up to the whiteboard and move a PostIt-note, or to grab a few Lego blocks and rearrange them. That's not necessarily true of a CASE tool or drawing software: those tools do not lend themselves readily to rapid-feedback, group interaction.

Jim Highsmith offers us a most excellent piece of advice: The best way to get a project done faster is to start sooner. Blast through that writer's block, and just start.

Just Start

Whether you're using prototypes or tracer bullets, individually or with a group, you're working—not panicking. You're getting to know the subject, the medium, and the relationship between the two. You're warmed up, and have started filling that blank canvas.

But we have one additional problem that the painters do not have. We face not one blank canvas per project, but hundreds. Thousands, maybe. One for every new module, every new class, every new source file. What can we do to tackle that multiplicity of blank of canvases? The Extreme Programming[Bec00] notion of Test First Design can help.

The first test you are supposed to write—before you even write the code—is a painfully simple, nearly trivial one. It seems to do almost nothing. Maybe it only instantiates the new class, or simply calls the one routine you haven't written yet. It sounds so simple, and so stupid, that you might be tempted not to do it.

The advantage to starting with such a trivial test is that it helps fill in the blank canvas without facing the distraction of trying to write production code. By just writing this very simple test, you have to get a certain level of infrastructure in place and answer the dozen or so typical startup questions: What do I call it? Where do I put it in the development tree? You have to add it to version control, and possibly to the build and/or release procedures. Suddenly, a very simple test doesn't look so simple any more. So ignore the exquisite logic of the routine you are about to write, and get the one-line test to compile and work first. Once that test passes, you can now proceed to fill in the canvas—it's not blank anymore. You're not writing anything from scratch, you're just adding a few routines. . . .

2. When to Stop

We share another problem with painters: knowing when to stop. You don't want to stop prematurely; the project won't yet be finished.[3] But if you don't stop in time, and keep adding to it unnecessarily, the painting becomes lost in the paint and is ruined.

There's only one way avoid either trap: feedback. Before you even start a particular task, you have to have a way to determine that you're done. For example:
A. . .
is done when. . .

Project
Customer accepts

Development
Passes functional tests

Module
Passes unit tests

Bug fix
Test that previously failed now passes

Meeting
objective for meeting achieved

Document
Deliver exactly what's needed

Talk
Done when audience throws rotten fruit

Paper
You are still reading this, right?

We had a client once who seemed to have some difficulty in the definition of "done" with regard to code. After toiling for weeks and weeks on a moderately complex piece of software, Matthew (not his real name) proudly announced the Code Was Done. He went on to explain that it didn't always produce the correct output. Oh, and every now and again, the code would crash for no apparent reason. But it's done. Unfortunately, wishful thinking alone doesn't help us get working software out to users.

It's easy to err on the other side of the fence too—have you ever seen a developer make a career of one little module? Have you ever done that? It can happen for any number of political reasons ("I'm still working on XYZ, so you can't reassign me yet"), or maybe we just fall in love with some particularly elegant bit of code. But instead of making the code better and better, we actually run a huge risk of ruining it completely. Every line of code not written is correct—or at least, guaranteed not to fail. Every line of code we write, well, there are no guarantees. Each extra line carries some risk of failure, carries an additional cost to maintain, document, and teach a newcomer. When you multiply it out, any bit of code that isn't absolutely necessary incurs a shockingly large cost. Maybe enough to kill the project.

How then, can we tell when it's time to stop?

Painting Murals

Knowing when to stop is especially hard when you can't see the whole thing that you're working on. Mural painting, for instance, takes a special eye. In corporate software development, you may only ever see the one little piece of detail that you're working on. If you watch mural painters up close, it's quite difficult to discern that the splash of paint they're working on is someone's hand, or eyeball. If you can't see the big picture, you won't be able to see how you fit in.

The opposite problem is even worse—suppose you're the lone developer on a project of this size. Most muralists are simply painting walls, but anyone who's ever painted their house can tell you that ceilings are a lot harder than walls, especially when the ceiling in question covers 5,000 square feet and you have to lie on your back 20 meters above the floor to paint it. So what did Michelangelo do when planning to paint the Sistine Chapel? The same thing you should do when faced with a big task.

Michelangelo divided his mural into panels: separate, free-standing areas, each of which tells a story. But he did so fairly carefully, such that the panels exhibit these characteristics:
High cohesion
Low coupling
Conceptual integrity

These are things we can learn from.
Cohesion

What is cohesion? As used here, cohesion refers to the panel's focus and clarity of purpose. In the Sistine Chapel ceiling, each panel tells a single Old Testament story—completely, but without any extraneous elements.

In software, the Unix command line tool's philosophy of small, sharp tools ("do one thing and do it well") is one example. Each tool is narrowly focused on it's primary task. Low cohesion occurs when you have giant "manager" classes that try to do too many disparate things at once.
Coupling

Coupling is related to orthogonality[HT00]: unrelated things should remain, well, unrelated. Following the object-oriented principle of encapsulation helps to prevent unintended coupling, but there are still other ways to fall into the coupling trap. Michelangelo's panels have low coupling; they are all self-contained; there are no instances of figures reaching from one panel into the next, for instance. Why is that important?

If you look closely at one of the panels that portrays angels gliding about the firmament of heaven, you'll notice that one of the angels is turning his back to, and gliding away from, the other angels. You'll also notice that said angel isn't wearing any pants. He's rather pointedly "mooning" the other angels.

There is surely a tale that explains the bare tail of the mooning angel, but for now let's assume that the Pope discovered the mooning angel and demanded that it be replaced. If the panels weren't independent, then the replacement of one panel would entail replacing some adjacent panels as well—and if you had to use different pigments because the originals weren't available, maybe you have to replace the next set of panels that were indirectly affected. Let the nightmare begin. But as it stands, the panels are independent, so the offending angel (who was apparently on Spring Break) could have been easily replaced with a less caustic image and the rest of the project would remain unaffected.
Conceptual Integrity

But despite that independence, there is conceptual integrity—the style, the themes, the mood, tie it all together. In computer languages, Smalltalk has conceptual integrity, so does Ruby, so does C. C++ doesn't: it tries to be too many things at once, so you get an awkward marriage of concepts that don't really fit together well.

The trick then is to divide up your work while maintaining a holistic integrity; each Sistine Chapel panel is a separate piece of art, complete unto itself, but together they tell a coherent story.

For our projects, we have several techniques we need to use inside code, including modularity, decoupling, and orthogonality. At the project level, consider architecting the project as a collection of many small applications that work together. These interacting applications might simply use a network connection or even flat files, or a heavier-duty component technology such as Enterprise Java Beans (EJB).
Time

Up until now, we've concentrated on splitting up a project in space, but there is another very import dimension that we need to touch on briefly—time. In the time dimension, you need to use iterations to split up a project.

Generally speaking, you don't want to go more than a few weeks without a genuine deliverable. Longer than that introduces too large of a feedback gap—you can't get the feedback quickly enough in to act on it. Iterations need to be short and regular in order to provide the most beneficial feedback.

The other important thing about iterations is that there is no such thing as 80% done. You can't get 80% pregnant—it's a Boolean condition. We want to get to the position where we only ship what really works, and have the team agree on the meaning of words like "done". If a feature isn't done, save it for the next iteration. As the iterations are short, that's not too far off.

In time or space, feedback is critical. For individual pieces of code, it is vital to have competent unit tests that will provide that feedback. Beware of excuses such as "oh, that code's too complicated to test." If it's too complicated to test, then it logically follows that the code is too complicated to write! If the code seems to be too complicated to test, that's a warning sign that you have a poor design. Refactor the code in order to make it easy to test, and you'll not only improve the feedback loop (and the future extensibility and maintainability of the system), you'll improve the design of the system itself.

3. Satisfying the Sponsor

Now comes the hard part. So far, we've talked about problems that have simple, straightforward answers. Organize your system this way; always have good unit tests; look for and apply feedback to improve the code and the process; etc. But now we're headed into much more uncertain terrain—dealing with people. In particular, dealing with the sponsor: the person or persons who are paying to make this project happen. They have goals and expectations all their own, and probably do not understand the technology with which we create the work. They may not know exactly what they want, but they want the project to come out perfect in the end.

This must be the artist's worst nightmare. The person paying for the portrait is also sitting for it, and says simply "Make me Look Good". The fact that the sitter is royalty who commands a well-oiled guillotine doesn't help. Sounds pretty close to the position we find ourselves in as we write software, doesn't it?

Let's look at it from the sitter's point of view. You commission an artist to paint you. What do you get? Perhaps a traditional, if somewhat flat looking portrait such as da Vinci's Portrait of Ginevra Benci in 1474. Or maybe the realistic, haunting face of Vermeer's Girl With a Pearl Earring. How about the primitive (and topless) look of Matisse's Seated Figure, the wild and fractured Portrait of Picasso by Juan Gris, or the stick-figured jumble of Paul Klee's Captive?

All of these are portraits, all interpretations of a commonplace thing—a human face. All of which correctly implement the requirements, but all of which will not satisfy the client.

Beyond The Obvious

Each of these paintings captures the essence of a person, not just the form. More than simple photographs, each painting looks below the surface to capture something that the camera can't. As programmers, we must do the same thing, only we tend to call it abstraction.

The phrase "requirements gathering" implies that requirements are simply lying about, ready to be scooped up and worked on. That's akin to a simple photograph, in that it only examines the obvious, surface level elements. In order to emulate the painter, we need to go beyond what's asked for. We need to ask the wicked questions to help the client discover what's really needed.

Systems Thinking[Sen90] suggests asking a minimum of five "whys" beyond the first one. The classic example involves a factory floor where the consultant notices a small puddle of oil on the floor. He asks the shop manager about it, who grumbles and barks an order to the cleaning crew to get over here and clean up the oil. But the consultant persists: why is the oil there? The manager says it's the cleaning crew's fault. But where did the oil come from?

A little investigating and more than five "why" questions later, it turns out that an overly cost-conscious purchasing agent got a deal on cases of O-ring seals for the overhead pipes. Problem was, the rings were the wrong size—that's why they were such a deal. What seemed like a cost savings was in fact costing quite a bit of money in various ways.

We once were approached to develop a complex, enterprise-level data processing system that mail room staff would use to coordinate, sort, and track incoming payment checks prior to their distribution to the correct department. The company's current manual procedure was error-prone and unreliable; checks were being lost or misrouted to the destination department.

What's the real requirement here? A fancy system to sort and catalog mail for the sole purpose of delivering it to the right address? Hmm. Seems like there's already a system in place that handles that sort of thing. So instead of a nice, fat, year-long contract, we told the company to use a different postal address for each department. Let the Post Office do the sorting, hopefully without opening the pieces and losing the checks.

Requirements are rarely simple, and shouldn't be taken at face value. Remember, a portrait is more than just a picture.
Conventional Wisdom

Even stories about requirements may need deeper examination.

There's a marvelous story of technology and consultants gone wild, developing the Fisher Space Pen. The story goes that the U.S. Government spent millions of dollars of taxpayer's money developing a space pen—a pen that the astronauts could take to the moon that would operate in the harsh conditions of weightlessness, extreme heat and cold. Technology rushes to the rescue, and develops a miracle pen that can write upside down in a boiling toilet.

The Russians, by comparison, decided to use a pencil.

A marvelous tale of an inappropriate solution, except for one small problem. It's not true. Both the Russian and the U.S. astronauts used pencils at first, but there was a danger of the leads breaking and shorting out electric components, and the wood of the pencil itself was combustible as well. In a pure oxygen atmosphere, that's a really bad thing. The Fisher corporation realized this and, at its own cost, designed the Fisher Space Pen, which it then sold to NASA at reasonable cost. After the disastrous Apollo One fire, NASA made the Fisher pens mandatory.

Fisher listened to the real requirement, even before the client knew it. In time, NASA came to realize that they were right. It was an appropriate use of high-technology to solve a very real problem.
Technology For It's Own Sake

Of course, there's always the inappropriate solution: engineering for it's own sake. As luck would have it, we happen to have an anecdote for this case as well.

There was this company that had developed a sophisticated video camera that could pan and tilt, looking for a subject in its field of view. A wonderful, high-tech solution in search of a problem. In time, the company sold this technology to a government agency to help take pictures for driving licenses. You'd go into the licensing agency and have a seat in front of the machine, which would whir and click, grind and gyrate until it had locked onto your face. The flash would fire, and in a few minutes your completed driver's license would be ready.

One day, 58 year-old Fred complained that the pretty 20 year-old blonde girl on his license just didn't look much like him.

The company and the government agency kinda scratched their heads; they weren't sure what the problem was. Problems like Fred's were popping up over, but other then getting a bunch in a row, there didn't seem to be any pattern to it. Finally, the police started to complain—and got quite upset—when they started seeing driver's licenses that featured beaming, cartoon smiley faces instead of a photo.

They discovered that the technology had gone awry: in some cases, the camera wouldn't get a lock, and would simply continue to grind and whir, looking all over the room for the subject. After a few minutes of watching the camera carefully inspect the ceiling and windows, folks like Fred would get bored and wander off. The next driver comes in, and with a flourish of clicks and whirs, the camera would snap their picture—and associate it with the previous driver's license.

Now the staff figured out pretty quickly what the problem was, but they had no feedback path to the developers. They knew that once the machine got out of sync, they'd get bad licenses all day. So one clever user figured out that one could draw a happy face with marker on a piece of white paper, stick that over the chair, and the machine would happily snap the picture.

The real requirements were ignored in the rush to be clever, with predictably poor results.

How We Do It

So how do you find out what's in the client's head? At The Pragmatic Programmer's offices, we use "special equipment" (picture a 1950's mad scientist's laboratory replete with buzzing vacuum tubes, arcing Jacob's Ladders, and cranial implants). If that doesn't work, or if we're out in the field where health and safety restrictions prevent us from using our "special equipment", we resort to the old fashioned method of asking questions, both of the client and of ourselves.

What is the user's level of sophistication? What is the context in which the software is used? Real-time on the factory floor? In a life-critical system? For a home grocery list? What is the lifetime of the application? Unused after next week, or do you need to worry about the year-2038 bug? What are the risks? Not just the development or technical risks, but what are the sponsor's risks in taking on this project?

The best way to get these questions answered, of course, is to always involve the users as you go along. Seek frequent feedback to make sure you hear stories about anyone making smiley faces as soon as it happens.[4] Maintain short iterations with frequent deliveries, and work with the real users directly as much as possible. User representatives (such as a supervisor, manager or director) generally aren't as representative as we'd all like to think.

In our perpetual rush to jump in and start coding to the first neat idea we come across, we run the risk of getting locked in to a half-baked idea too early. Instead, try to cultivate emergence: Allow the solution to find itself where you can. Part of a developer's job is to provide a fertile ground in which ideas can grow. This means having code that is agile: code that supports rapid reassembly so you can try things out. Code that is easy to refactor, or that uses flexible configuration and/or metadata to facilitate rapid—but reliable—change, bolstered by a reliable safety net of complete revision control and competent unit tests.

Does all of this really work?

Yes, it does. We've done it successfully, we know other people who've done it successfully. It's lot of work, and it's a lot of hard work, and despite our best intentions, it might still not be a success due to factors beyond our control. So why do we bother with it all?

Because, as Brooks said, we programmers create. We can create awe-inspiring works with little more than the exertion of the imagination. Why do we do it? We do it for the pleasure of watching them show it off to others, of watching them use in novel ways we'd never imagined. For the thrill of watching millions on millions of dollars in transactions flow through your application, confident in the results. For the joy of building and being part of a team, and for the satisfaction of knowing that you started with a blank canvas and produced a work of art. And if you've gone to all that trouble, we think you should "sign your work". You should be proud of it.

It is, after all, a work of art.

###

Endnotes

1 Sadly, the project's sponsor canceled the monument due to lack of funds. Some things never change.

2 If you've got more developers on the team than will fit in an ordinary room, then you've got bigger problems than we can address here.

3 In software as well as in modern art, the distinction between intentional and accidental omissions is often difficult to make.

4 Again, the longer the gap before you get feedback the higher the likelihood of getting feedback in the form of a subpoena.

References : http://www.developerdotstar.com/mag/articles/art_computer_programming.html

The History of Photoshop

2008-11-08T21:42:00.002+07:00

While you won’t find it printed on any calendar, 2005 marks a quiet anniversary for the program that you, and many other graphic designers, probably use the most. It was 15 years ago in February that Adobe shipped version 1.0 of Photoshop – still its most popular (and lucrative) application, and possibly the only bit of software to have spawned its own verb form.

But the true origins of Photoshop go back even further. The program whose splash screen now displays 41 names was originally the product of just two brothers, Thomas and John Knoll, as fascinated by technology as they were by art. It was a trait they’d inherited from their father, a photography buff with his own personal darkroom in the basement and a penchant for early home computers.

Thus Thomas dabbled with photography, learning about colour correction and contrast in the darkroom, while John happily tinkered with his dad’s Apple II computer. When their dad – clearly an early adopter – bought one of the first Macs on the market in 1984, both were bowled over by its capabilities. Yet ironically it was its frustrating inadequacies that would eventually lead to the multi-million dollar application sitting on nearly everyone’s hard drive today.

In the beginning
By 1987, John Knoll was working at Industrial Light and Magic – Lucasfilm’s nascent special effects division, founded for Star Wars – while Thomas was studying for his Ph.D. on image processing at the University of Michigan. Having just bought a brand-new Apple Mac Plus to help out with his thesis, he was dismayed to find it couldn’t display greyscale images on the monochrome monitor. So, in true hacker style, he set about writing his own code to do the job.

Unsurprisingly, John was also working on image processing at ILM, and during a holiday visit he became very impressed with Thomas’s progress. In the book CG 101: A Computer Graphics Industry Reference, John says: “As Tom showed me his work, it struck me how similar it was to the image-processing tools on the Pixar [a custom computer used at ILM].” Thus the pair began to collaborate on a larger, more cohesive application, which they dubbed – excitingly – Display.

It wasn’t long before John had bought a new colour Macintosh II and persuaded Thomas to rewrite Display to work in colour. Indeed, the more John saw of Display, the more features he began to ask for: gamma correction, loading and saving other file formats, and so on.

Although this work distracted Thomas from his thesis, he was quite happy to oblige. He also developed an innovative method of selecting and affecting only certain parts of the image, as well as a set of image-processing routines – which would later become plug-ins. A feature for adjusting tones (Levels) also emerged, along with controls for balance, hue and saturation. These were the defining features of Photoshop, but at the time, it was almost unthinkable to see them anywhere outside of specialist processing software in a lab – or at ILM.

By 1988, Display had become ImagePro and was sufficiently advanced that John thought they might have a chance at selling it as a commercial application. Thomas was reluctant: he still hadn’t finished his thesis, and creating a full-blown app would take a lot of work. But once John had checked out the competition, of which there was very little, they realised ImagePro was way ahead of anything currently available.

From ImagePro to Photoshop
Thus the search began for investors. It didn’t help that Thomas kept changing the name of the software, only to find a name was already in use elsewhere. No one is quite sure where the name ‘Photoshop’ originally came from, but legend has it that it was suggested by a potential publisher during a demo, and just stuck. Incidentally, splash screens from very early versions show the name as ‘PhotoShop’ – which seems far more in line with today’s craze for ExTraneous CapitaliSation.

Remarkably in retrospect, most software companies turned their corporate noses up at Photoshop, or were already developing similar applications of their own. Only Adobe was prepared to take it on, but a suitable deal wasn’t forthcoming. Eventually, though, a scanner manufacturer called Barneyscan decided to bundle it with its scanners, and a small number of copies went out under the name Barneyscan XP.

Fortunately for the future of digital imaging, this wasn’t a long-term deal, and John soon returned to Adobe to drum up more interest. There he met Russell Brown, then Art Director, who was highly impressed with the program and persuaded the company to take it on. Whether through naivety on Adobe’s part or canniness on the brothers’, Photoshop was not sold wholesale but only licensed and distributed, with royalties still going to the Knolls.

It wasn’t as if this deal meant the Knoll brothers could sit back and relax; if anything, they now had to work even harder on getting Photoshop ready for an official, 1.0 version release. Thomas continued developing all the main application code, while John contributed plug-ins separately, to the dismay of some of the Adobe staff who viewed these as little more than gimmicks.

Curiously, this attitude still remains among some purists, who claim that most Photoshop plug-ins are somehow ‘cheating’ and not be touched under any circumstances, while others swear by their flexibility and power when used properly.

As in the program’s formative days, there were always new features to be added, and somehow Thomas had to make time to code them. With the encouragement of John, Russell Brown – soon to become Photoshop’s biggest evangelist – and other creatives at Adobe, the application slowly took shape. It was finally launched in February 1990.

Digital imaging for everyone
This first release was certainly a success, despite the usual slew of bugs. Like the Apple of today, Adobe’s key marketing decision was to present Photoshop as a mass-market, fairly simple tool for anyone to use – rather than most graphics software of the time, which was aimed at specialists.

With Photoshop, you could be achieving the same things on your home desktop Mac that were previously only possible with thousands of dollars of advanced equipment… at least, that was the implicit promise. There was also the matter of pricing. Letraset’s ColorStudio, which had launched shortly before, cost $1,995; Photoshop was less than $1,000.

With development of version 2.0 now underway, Adobe began to expand the coding staff. Mark Hamburg was taken on to add Bézier paths, while other new features included the Pen tool, Duotones, import and rasterisation of Illustrator files, plus, crucially, support for CMYK colour. This was another canny move on Adobe’s part, as it opened up the Photoshop market to print professionals for the first time. The program’s first Product Manager, Steven Guttman, started giving code names to beta versions, a practice which survives to this day. ‘Fast Eddy’ – version 2 – was launched the following year.

Until now Photoshop was still a Mac-only application, but its success warranted a version for the burgeoning Windows graphics market. Porting it was not a trivial task: a whole new team, headed by Bryan Lamkin, was brought in for the PC. Oddly, although there were other significant new features such as 16-bit file support, this iteration was shipped as version 2.5.

Like that difficult third album which can make or break a band, version 3 had to really deliver if it was to corner the market. Fortunately, the team had a whopper of an ace up their sleeve: layers.

By general consensus, the addition of layers has been the single most important aspect of Photoshop development, and probably the feature which finally persuaded many artists to try it. Yet the concept of layers wasn’t unique to Photoshop. HSC – later to become MetaCreations – was concurrently developing Live Picture, an image-editing app including just such a facility. While an excellent program in its own right, Live Picture was vastly overpriced on its launch, leaving Photoshop 3.0 for both Mac and Windows to clean up.

Nothing in later versions quite matched the layers feature for its impact, but there have nonetheless been significant changes. Version 5 introduced colour management and the History palette, with its extra ‘nonlinear history’ behaviour, which certainly opened up whole new creative possibilities. A major update, version 5.5, bundled Adobe’s package ImageReady in an entirely new iteration, giving Photoshop excellent Web-specific features. Layer styles and improved text handling popped up in version 6, and the Healing brush in version 7.

Today and tomorrow
Surprisingly given the age and market leading position of the application, Adobe continues to come up with new features for Photoshop. With Photoshop now part of the rebranded and remarketed Creative Suite 2, Adobe appears to be currently emphasising interoperability through the likes of Bridge.

But the program can’t and won’t stand still. For one thing, it faces much greater competition from a host of rivals, many of which claim to offer Photoshop’s power without the price. Lower-cost apps aimed at the amateur or home enthusiast, such as Paint Shop Pro on Windows, have had many years to learn from Photoshop. Adobe’s solution was to join them, launching the budget priced and feature-reduced but still immensely powerful Photoshop Elements – which itself has now reached version 4.

And the future? Unsurprisingly, Adobe isn’t telling. Photoshop is the jewel in its crown and its development is closely guarded. But there have been hints. Bryan Lamkin, now Senior Vice President of Digital Imaging and Digital Video, speculated earlier this year on a true 64-bit version of the application, and perhaps support for Apple’s CoreImage technology, which would bring enormous speed improvements. Rumours that Illustrator will merge with Photoshop have also abounded for years.

Whatever happens, it’s likely that Thomas Knoll will be involved in some way. Although not directly concerned with Photoshop these days, he still keeps his hand in, recently developing the Adobe Camera Raw plug-in and posting occasionally to the Adobe forums.

His brother still works at ILM too: appropriately enough, he was Visual Effects Supervisor on all three of the new Star Wars films. Without the original Star Wars, there would have been no Photoshop; and with no Photoshop, your job, this magazine and the entire graphics design industry would be very different from how they are today.

Reference : http://www.computerarts.co.uk/in_depth/features/the_history_of_photoshop

Searching for the Soul in the Machine

2008-11-08T21:20:00.001+07:00

If computers could create a society, what kind of world would they make? Thanks to the work of an ambitious project that adds a whole new meaning to the phrase, ‘computer society’, in which millions of software agents will potentially evolve their own culture, we could be about to find out.

With funding from the European Commission’s Future and Emerging Technologies (FET) initiative of the IST programme, five European research institutes are collaborating on the NEW TIES project to create a thoroughly 21st-century brave new world – one populated by randomly generated software beings, capable of developing their own language and culture.

This kind of social interaction is a tantalising prospect for the artificial intelligence (AI) experts, computer scientists, sociologists and linguists working on NEW TIES. The keyword here is ‘social.’ “While individual (or machine) learning and evolutionary behaviour have been quite well studied, social learning is still an unknown quantity,” says project coordinator Gusz Eiben, an AI professor at the Vrije Universiteit, Amsterdam.

Joining the Vrije Universiteit are the University of Surrey, Budapest’s Eötvös Loránd University, Edinburgh’s Napier University and Tilburg University in The Netherlands. The multidisciplinary team has a dual goal: to study natural processes (like language development), and to advance the construction of collective artificial intelligence.

“For the linguists and sociologists, the main motivation is to study existing processes in societies and languages,” Eiben explains. “The computer scientists on the other hand want to develop and study machine collaboration, with an eye on future applications in robotics. Robots in the home are only five to 10 years away, and in the future we might be able to send robot rescue teams to disaster areas to search for survivors. They could even one day travel to Mars. Obviously, it will be important for them to be able to cooperate with each other – especially if they are in a hostile environment.”
From thousands to millions of agents

Future disaster victims rescued by robots may perhaps owe their survival to the software agents currently being prepared for life in the NEW TIES engine – which, within a few months, will be running across a Grid of 60 computers. “No one has ever created an engine of this complexity,” says Eiben, adding that it will support about 1,000 agents at first, building up to millions – each one a unique entity with its own characteristics, including gender, life expectancy, fertility, size, and metabolism. The agents will not be labelled, but will have their own distinguishing characteristics to make them recognisable. Their traits will be inherited from their parents, and passed on to their offspring, but they will be able to learn from their own experiences and from each other.

“It’s a given of the NEW TIES project that we are not hardwiring agents,” says Eiben. “We are not programming how they behave. Each entity has its own ‘controller,’ analogous to a brain. And because we want to create an interesting controller, we have to produce a challenging world – otherwise there would be no impetus for development. So, in one scenario, we have created a world with seasons – so that the agents have to learn to find, transport and store food. And there are two rival groups, so they will have to learn to tell friend from foe.”

The agents will have the ability to communicate, using a ‘native vocabulary’ of a few simple words like, ‘food’, ‘near’, and ‘agent’. “One interesting question is how they will communicate,” says Eiben. “Naturally, the linguists want to see how they develop a spoken language, but for the AI researchers we will also test to see if there are possible alternatives – telepathy, for example.” Some basic rules will also be given, along the lines of, “if it’s hot, it burns,” but agents are expected to add to the rule set as they discover new ‘laws of nature.’
Ready to start experimentation

Currently, NEW TIES is on the brink between development - now pretty much complete - and scientific experiment, which can begin once calibration is completed. “We are ready to start the interaction,” says Eiben, adding that the team hopes to scale up to 5,000 computers, and a vast population of agents, because “then we’ll really see some emergent behaviours.”

In the meantime, he points to some intriguing results obtained from other platforms. His own findings have established that aggressive behaviour, surprisingly, increases in agent-worlds as life becomes easier, while an ideal world (‘ideal’ meaning maximum survival) has two main attributes: flexibility and mobility.

Eiben cautions against applying the findings from simple computer worlds to reality, yet admits that this ‘shadow world’ effect is the reason why the press have shown so much interest in NEW TIES, and why the project’s ‘it might look like this’ images have been taken as literal representations. Now, in fact, the project is working on a state-of-the-art visualisation for its interface, to make its agents more comprehensible to a public well versed in The Sims and other computer realities.

By the time it has run its course in August 2007, NEW TIES will have provided food for thought in several fields, and perhaps taken us a step closer to the days Eiben anticipates, when politicians will be able to run simulations on computers to test scenarios (for new tax laws, for example) before carrying them out in real life. “Simulators now allow us to optimise car engines or train timetables,” says Eiben. “But why shouldn’t they help us optimise social decision-making?”

Souerce : http://cordis.europa.eu/ictresults/index.cfm/section/news/tpl/article/BrowsingType/Features/id/81933

Art in Computer

2008-10-22T00:01:00.003+07:00

World must go through a period of time more than a decade to understand the boom in the computer graphics that introductions by Ivan Sutherland in 1963 at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), the United States. Through his thesis doctor proclaim invention called Sketchpad, a computer system that used to line directly with the computer screen through a light pen. At that time, when the mouse (mouse) has not been found, to interact with computers in the run-command, people who use the pen-driven move on a computer screen. And it is intended to create interactions that are represented graphically.

Sutherland focus on is how the rogue computer in such a way, that the concept of truth can produce a visual similarity. Such as how realistic pictures can be made into the image of the computer. Sutherland plays the brain how the computer can process circuits bits that produce the image of computer graphics, can mimic the real world as such. He also focused on the problem of the effect shadow (shadow), rebound (Reflection), refraction (refraction) and surface-surface closed.

In addition to the interface (interface) graphics on the computer screen, Sutherland is still using the concept of lines (vectors) that looks simple (gross). However, the discovery that embryo into the computer graphics technology that is currently in use in the various applications. Lack of it also provides the inspiration for many people that use the concept of a series of dots (pixels) in computer graphics in fact better than using the concept of lines.

Nicholas Negroponte in the famous book, Being Digital (1998) that Sketchpad introduce several new concepts, including dynamic graphs, visual simulation, the resolution of obstacles, pen tracking, and coordinate system that is not limited.

The ability of computer graphics is now also increasingly not recently. Convergence between computer technology, telecommunications, electronics, media, culture and art (read: film and entertainment world) to create computer graphics "illegal" if the law is seen next to the eye.

You can assess the interpretation of this is very extreme. But the view of contemporary conditions, the ability in the computer graphics used in various fields. For example in the field of printing (graphic design), television broadcasting, interactive CD ROM (multimedia), in making the design-build buildings (architecture). Then the business sector, where employers feel the need to provide the graphic design touch to the company website. Also on the same field to give the impression of three-dimensional space in the site, so that consumers feel are candidates for purchase in a store.

In the field of entertainment, like movies and games of three-dimensional (3D), computer graphics were to look realistic. The other is the field of science. Now with the ability of 3D computer graphics, "you can create 3D Anatomy of the body, which can be played playing, creating molecular structure, solar system planet-planet, and so forth." (Adi Kurniadi, 1999:9). And the last is the field of art, using computer graphics software specific, like Adobe Photoshop, you can create artworks painting (including manipulating images). And software for 3D Studio Max produce works of art in realistic 3D.

But the field's most prominent and popular is in the field of television broadcasting, graphic design, print media, making film with visual special effects, 3D animation and film. Success of the 3D animation movies Toys Story, Finding Nemo, Shark Tale, the video game Tomb Raider perhaps can be one of the parameters of the computer graphics.

At the time the product is consumed by the culture market, while also young people began to dream can make their own animated films, such as that, based on the idea itself. Of course, this preceded by the rich (that is not stopping) the ability of their computer that can "turn" dead objects (the animated), which has a width, height, depth, the effect of light and shadow and movement to the screen viewer. The process of animation in the image of 3D graphics is also called the creation of dimensions to-4.

Now we live in a world of computer graphics, which simulate the solar system; sun, the planet, the stars; effects panoramic sunset, cliffs, steep cliffs, mountains, sea waves, impersonating famous figures face, make a replica of the planet Mars and others. Be now graphical software such as 3D Studio Max, Photoshop, Corel PhotoPaint, Corel Bryce, Maya, Rhino, Poser and Lightscape into weapons pledge the "magic mandraguna." Konsumsinya in the form of CD software and books to be important indicators. Not to many reviews appear in the magazine's ability tabloids and information technology, following the results of the paper, as well as tips and tricks. This has also become an important marker of public appreciation of the growth of computer graphics, digital art and the desire to communicate visually.

The ability of the computer that can represent the real world as human as the original, giving us the opportunity to create our own world that we assume that there is real. Truly, this is the moment where people can realize dreams and the imaginary deep significantly.

Few touches on the terms popular by Paul Jean Baudrillard about hiperrealitas, computer graphics can be described as a simulator with this concept. Hiperrealitas concept is to explain the social phenomenon in which people assume that everything is an experienced absolute truth. In fact it is all the truth (not object) are made through a simulation of symbols, codes, which image such an object from the truth. Likewise with this statement Kenneth E. Boulding (2003) in William L. Rivers and Jay W. Jensen: The complexity that limited human imagination If complexity too high, it appears that the image-image is symbolic.

So, when we watch Hollywood movies about natural disasters Tornado, we feel the event is no more "Tornado" from "Tornado" that actually! This is one example is the effect of mass media such as movies with special effects aid computer graphics that simulate the real nature, it is very difficult to distinguish which of real and the imagination. For both of them have been in the solid material which we call as the idea of art, entertainment, media expression, and business. This is hiperrealitas it!

Similarly, again when we watch the scene the crew of ships that have panicked when the storm at sea. Some of us believe very sure if it indeed occurred in the middle of the sea (in the real world). However, the film is built from many combinations, such as the role of art and stage actor ( "art pretend to be other people"); camera tricks; computer effects to create waves, fog and sound effects (sound effects).

But in the side of the visual effects with the help of computer graphics, indeed, play a role simulate events that did not happen. In fact, there are some observers who say that the visual effects were added in a movie, indeed, a player (actor / stage reliable).

This also provides an overview for us that other effects that are formed from the progress of computer graphics is a role for creating new media art (especially the visual arts). This is also at the same time to shift the boundaries of the definition of art itself. This is a statement in the book Pfaffenberger Computer in Your Future (2002): Computers Assist artists in many ways for example, by making the tasks of creating art more convinient. But computers also broadcast pishing the boundaries of art, forcing us to question just what art really is (page 271). The fine arts, including paintings, drawings, Illustration, Sculpture, and are changing as artists increasingly see the computer as an Artistic medium (page 277).

And art is now getting its moment of revolution in which the concept of digital synthesis, the art becomes more democratic and personal. The new turn of the century was a heady and revolutionary period in the development of Art said that, through the introduction of digital tools, a great democratization in art making and drive to a period of time where the cracks in the dam of the traditional Fine Arts drive to show the world

(JD Jarvis, 2001/www.moca.virtual.museum).

Now with the use of computer graphics software, the results of the output (output), which he also referred to as the digital art (digital art). Although the status of this genre of art still debate many experts and critics, it is very difficult to reject the graphic image of the computer generated graphics are very beautiful and imaginative. Including the debate about whether the digital camera is the practice of art and photography or photo-manipulation (photo manipulation) and photo-collage (photo collage) is the product of art.

Looking ahead, the rate of acceleration technology, computer graphics is supported by the canggihnya processors, graphics hardware and software for 3D graphics. This will become increasingly penanada acceptance of computer graphics tools as the artists in the world.