All About Web Innovations

In considering how to extend the Web with new technologies, it is instructive to compare Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) with frames. CSS is an elegantly designed extension, whereas�frames suck, as I have said many times.CSS is�backward compatible�to the extent that viewing a style-enhanced site with an older browser causes no problems at all. Of course, the user doesn’t see the stylistic enhancements made possible by CSS (e.g., multiple fonts and indented margins), but the text of the page will be readable and will be presented in a reasonable default style (of course, the extent to which you deem the default presentation reasonable depends on your assessment of the quality of typography in mainstream browsers: admittedly rather poor). In contrast, a page designed with frames is useless for a user with an old browser.CSS is�orthogonal to other features�in Web browsing. When multiple style sheets become supported in future releases of the mainstream browsers, users might want to learn the command to switch between styles, but they won’t have to. Even if users do learn this new command, it will not interfere with or change their understanding of earlier commands and operations. In contrast, frames destroy bookmarks, change the meaning of established commands like “print” and “view source”, and in general make a mess of the user’s prior understanding of the Web.CSS�builds on the philosophy of the Web: cross-platform design and simple-to-understand codes that are precisely documented in public specifications. In contrast, frames are hard to learn for authors, poorly documented, and have no chance of working on anything except desktop computers with relatively large screens (try fitting frames on a Pilot palmtop and you will see what I mean).Read more in�http://www.useit.com/alertbox/styles_vs_frames.html��

Generally, most people have confused Bluetooth as being able to directly provide Internet access to computers once attached. This may have been due to them being confused by Bluetooth’s current capabilities. To clear things up, this article is here to define briefly what Bluetooth is and how exactly it provides internet access.

Bluetooth, generally speaking, works on the same principle as WiFi. Both use unregistered spread spectrum technology. Bluetooth is a device for connecting different devices, eg. mobile phones and computers, handsets and phones, etc., wirelessly. It is meant as a step up from the infrared technology that connected devices before. Bluetooth is more than capable than infrared in its capabilities such as being able to connect devices at greater distances and higher speeds.

The complexity of WiFi is usually too difficult for the average person to understand. To break it down, WiFi is an internet connection that uses two types of radio technology: a single carrier and a multi-carrier. The single carrier type of radio technology, direct sequence spread spectrum radio technology, was the reason behind unlicensed spread spectrum whose regulations enabled the development of WiFi as well as other wireless technology such as cordless telephones, Bluetooth, etc.The father of WiFi title has been awarded to Netherland invention, WaveLAN. Invented during 1991 by the NCR Corporation which later was renamed Lucent & Agere Systems, it held the chair of IEEE 802.11 for 10 years.

The advent of Web 2.0 has become one of the most thrilling developments in the evolutionary history of the internet. The power of the big business was liberated and brought into the hands of the users who now demand more from the web. From total satisfaction to sharing personal thought, the web has evolved so much that it is by no means any similar to the initial design and concept.
Having video blogs and blogs that earn money for that fact is making people realize that the web is more that just someplace to get mp3’s from and that they could now take the web with them all over the place. Ultra-mobile PC’s, laptops, PDA’s and even your lowly 3G mobile phone can now keep you in touch with the internet all the time.
Web development has evolved into an art with advertising now responsible for most profits of search engines and more traditional businesses. From your local hardware tot he furniture shop, they all have in one form or the other a web based ad system that gives them a bit more exposure.
But there is a dark side in all the developments that we have seen over these few years, privacy and identity theft have risen to such high levels that major law enforcement agencies have been forced to create specific offices just to deal with them. The many problems with information (classified and personal) being either lost or stolen have also risen so much that the UK and US government have had to redefine the way information is handled and transported to and from secure facilities. One of the biggest weak points that has continued to plague the privacy issue is that we humans are still the ones responsible for the loss or leakage of such information. Lost data CD’s, complacent behavior that makes us lenient in our handling of information is still one of the most vulnerable points in any IT system.

The world and the internet has truly evolved into something wonderful that allows people from across the world to get hold of information when and where ever they want it. Let us just hope that we, the creators of all this technology does not get obsolete as many of the technologies that have gone before us have faded into history.

The internet has invaded our lives and established itself as a daily necessity. Most people have access to the internet either through the home, work or even during play and it has allowed us to gather information like never before. One problem, the internet has grown so much that making sense of all the available information is truly mind-boggling. Do a simple search on a web browser and you get hundreds if not thousands of pages from which only a handful are truly useful for your particular application. The internet used to work with a program called a spider that goes through each and every web page indexing and storing all the information onto a database. That database has indeces as to what they are more likely to be relevant to a search that they are presented accordingly. Newer search engines have evolved into a sort of artificial intelligence that not only matches the words in your search but the manner and way the words co-relate to each other meaning it understands what you mean, or at least it tries to. The problem is that the total amount of information that is stored and added onto the millions of web servers are enormous and trying to handle all of them while dealing with information that is already there is quite next to impossible. Time may come when you get answers that you need as you mean them but for now, we still have to deal with a lot of garbage that finds it’s way though the search engine to your desktop leaving you to sort and determine their true value.

As if the EU hasn’t just banned the Pirate Bay people and sent them into their respective cells, here comes Norway-based, Moot, a file sharing service that allows locally linked individuals connected through the same WiFi connection. They can be friends, strangers or even the police for that matter as long as they have the necessary software installed allowing them access to the file-sharing capabilities of the software. On your mobile, you get a sort of radar screen that shows the relational location of registered members who have the software installed. It is still in it’s infancy and for it to be of any use for anybody. Read the rest of this entry »

From geo-tagging, where digital pictures were loaded with locational data from an attached GPS receiver to today’s geo-caching which is a way of reminding you where you wrote note, took a picture or did something online while on the move, the file sharing service Drop.io allows geocoding of all your files that have been uploaded to their system and that’s just the beginning with more features to come. You not only get to share content with the world, you also get to access your content, quickly through an abbreviated URL making it available anytime and every time as long as you have an internet connection. Like dropping candy for Hansel and Gretel to pick-up, you gain the ability to browse a map representing a specific area, move your mouse around and find stuff (files, notes, pictures or just about anything you deem fit to upload to their servers). Read the rest of this entry »

Geo-aware applications are rapidly establishing a niche of their own which has a combination of some of the web’s most innovative technologies combined. From Google’s Mapping data and huge data centers, the social notes of social web sites and the real-time positional data of mobile computing through smart phones, they all meet and converge to produce maps with social function making it the latest “IN” thing all over the web. The internet has evolved many times before but the advent of the so-called WEB 2.0 (much hyped by Microsoft) that was greeted with gusto’ by many a web users simply as the social web it continues to evolve to this day. Add to that the huge leaps in computing power and getting them into the hands of the millions of computer users and smart-phone owners the world over and they connect into one very useful and social tool at that. Read the rest of this entry »

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We all need to back up our files from our personal computers. It is an important practice that users must observe. Yet it is always often taken for granted. When we fail to do so, we lose important documents, photos, videos and contacts and so much more. Sad to say hard drives are not always safe to back your files up. It has a life cycle. Given around 8-10 years. Considering that it doesn’t bog down due to power surge. You may opt to use file recovery applications. But these are often than not, time consuming.The best way is to prevent it from happening rather than looking for softwares to retrieve your lost files. So as a rule of thumb, we are suggested to back up our files every time you have a new and important file to keep.

Some important data to back up are:

• Family photos
• Documents
• Bookmarks
• Address book
• Emails
• Work files and folders

There might be files you want to save. Its really up to you which is important to keep in case your hard drive fails. You should go through your computer and think about any information you would not want to lose if your hard drive should fail.

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Firefox Mozilla is one of a great Internet Browser of all times. And with these Add-ons Installed on your Mozilla, it sure to be a burning one!

Smart Search: To look for the selected text through your background menu, using any of your bookmark keywords.

Rollyo: Make modified search engines for your Firefox Search Bar anytime!

Yahoo Toolbar: Use Yahoo! and the web faster, safer, and easier with new mail notification, search suggestions, online bookmarks, free spyware scanning, and more.

Snap Links: allocates users to easily open several links in new tabs by drawing a box around them. Links can also be opened in new windows, new tabs on a new window, copied to clipboard, bookmarked or downloaded without trouble.

Translator: Translator is web translation extension that allows you to translate any web page into nearly any language at the click of a button.

Con Query: Context searching for everyone and URL manipulation tool for advanced users.