114th Gadgets and Technologies

Computers are all around us now.  We could find it everywhere around us, from our own house, small stores, restaurant, café, hospitals, schools and many more.  With the development of new devices, such as Iphone, Ipad, Blackberry, android phone, etc; network cables play a very important job.  Networks cables are used for connecting network device to others or for connecting computers to share scanner, printer, etc.  There are many types of network cables, depending on the network’s topology.  In order to find the right network cable, please make sure you check the topology first.

To buy network cables, you can go to computer stores or just simply buy it from Internet.  There are a lot of computer stores that serve online selling.  But make sure you order the right network cables.  As I mentioned earlier, there are a lot type of network cables, such as coaxial cable, twisted pair cables, patch cable, Ethernet crossover cable or optical fiber cable.  Although right now, the usage of wireless are commonly used, but most computer networks still use cables in order to transfer signals from a point to other.  However when you decide to buy online, make sure you purchase from trusted website.

Internet is something really crucial to our life right now.  In every aspect of our life, Internet always takes a part.  Right now, there are a lot of individuals who opens online store (selling clothes, baby needs, toys, food, etc).  With the rapid growth of Internet users, there are a lot of companies which provide Internet service, targeted to individuals, not only limited targeted to companies.  With the growth of Internet service providers, the competition becomes tight and tight which resulted into the benefit to users.  Right now, Internet subscription fees to customers becomes more and more affordable.

If in the past, home users is only aware of dial-up Internet, right now home users could also choose DSL service.  Based on wikipedia, DSL or Digital Subscriber Line is a family of technologies that provide Internet access by transmitting digital data over the wires of a local telephone network.  With DSL service, home users may experience faster Internet access compare to dial up.  In terms of price, of course DSL service will be more expensive compare to dial up, but the speed itself will be different with the dial up service.

Choosing the Internet service provider will be another challenge for home users.  It will be better if you do a research first for the reliable and trusted Internet service provider (ISP).  You may ask your friend, who has already use that Internet service provider (ISP) whether that company has a credibility and coverage to your area.

Internet is something that we cannot live without nowadays. Compare to few decades ago, Internet is growing so extremely fast. If in the past, we need to physically go to the library should we want to find any information. But with the rapid technology, so called Internet, we do not need to waste our energy to go to the library; instead we just need to sit down and browse it to the Internet. From daily knowledge, social, politic, technology to economic knowledge can be found as well. So, basically all of information you need can be found in the Internet.

With the rapid usage of Internet, the number of Internet Service Provider (ISP) who provide the Internet service is increasing as well. If few decades ago, there are only few players in this area, nowadays there are plenty of Internet Service Providers (ISP) players. The type of service they provide also vary right now. If in the past there is only dial up service, now you can find dsl, web hosting service and many more. DSL will provide you relatively better speed compare to dial up. Based on wikipedia, DSL or Digital Subscriber Line is a family of technologies that provide internet access by transmitting digital data over the wires of a local telephone network.

With the competition of internet service company, the price they offer becomes lower and lower. Right now with less than $10/ month, you can enjoy Internet at your house. But if you are a heavy user of Internet, you may choose DSL package which give you more stable and faster connection. Do not forget to choose the reliable and trusted ISP as well. Happy browsing!

The trend of online shopping is increasing nowadays.  With the development of technology, people are spoiled with the easiness of shopping.  From home appliances, clothes to information technology product, people can just sit down and buy those products from their cozy sofa.  The number of online shops increase exponentially while the demands keep increasing.

For people who wants to purchase IT related product, the existence of online shop is really helpful.  If they need anything, they can easily search for the market price through the Internet.  They may compare the price and find the cheapest one.  The number of IT related online shop keeps increasing as well nowadays.  There are lots of vendors offers many range of products.  For hardware products, the variety range from PC, monitor, USB, VGA and many others.  The brand is also vary, for example for VGA to USB video grabber, there is Epiphan VGA2USB.  For the software, they sell operating system, anti virus and many more.  The brand also vary from microsoft, panda anti virus, mac, and many others.  For application, it varies from accounting system, CRM, ERP and many more.  There are lots of independent software vendor (isv) those offer their applications to be sold online.  They usually sell it at competitive price and packaged it with reasonable price.

With the existence of Internet technology, distance also does not matter since you do not need to physically come to the shop.  So, the market of the Internet seller grows much bigger compare to the traditional seller.

The most important thing if you want to start building an online business, you must have a good reputation.  Buyers nowadays always check the reputation of the shop and only purchase from the one who has good reputation.  So, if you expect your business to grows, you have to make sure that you always keep what you have promise to your buyers.  Because with the Internet technology, the disappointed customer may spread their bad experience to others.  And with the power of Internet, it may spread so fast.

Printers equipped for 3-D are poised to go mainstream, now that Hewlett-Packard plans to start selling them. The company’s inkjet and laser printers are staples in offices and homes.

The devices, which can crank out three-dimensional plastic models through a process similar to printing text on sheets of paper, have until recently been available only to high-end industrial designers. HP’s devices will be targeted at a broader market of mechanical-design professionals, and will probably cost less than $15,000.

“This is the boldest step we have seen so far in 3-D printing,” says Scott Summit, chief technology officer for Bespoke Innovations, a company that creates 3-D artifacts for medical use. “A lot of people want to do 3-D printing but it is a mysterious world. With HP embracing it, it is likely to demystify the idea to many consumers.”

HP’s printers will be manufactured by Stratasys, a company that specializes in 3-D printers.

The printers have long been used by designers and architects in computer aided design (CAD) to create prototypes before finalizing on the design for large-scale production. But these printers cost many thousands of dollars and have been popular with only a select group of specialists.

Over the last three years, hobbyists have found a way to make inexpensive 3-D printers, bringing the technology to do-it-yourselfers. The Makerbot, a 3-D printer that started shipping last April, costs $750 for a basic kit that includes, among other things, three NEMA 17 motors to drive the machine; nuts, bolts, bearings, belts and pulleys to assemble it; an electronics motherboard; and a pinch-wheel extruder to shape objects. A premium version of the Makerbot printer costs $950.

The HP-Stratasys line of printers are likely to be much more expensive than the Makerbot, since they are targeted at users in automotive and aerospace industries. HP and Stratasys declined to mention pricing for the upcoming line of 3-D printers. But last year, Stratasys offered an office-friendly 3-D desktop printer for around $15,000.

“There are millions of 3-D designers using 2-D printers,” says Santiago Morera, vice president and general manager of HP’s large format printing business, in a statement. “Stratasys’ technology is the ideal platform for HP to enter the market and begin to capitalize on this untapped opportunity.”

HP’s line of 3-D printers could straddle the world between hobbyists and small design businesses such as Summit’s that are looking to create individualized objects for consumers.

For instance, Summit’s firm has created  a backpack for firefighters that is molded individually to each user’s body. The backpack also doubles as a suit of armor, he says.

Another application for 3-D printers could be prosthetic limbs, because they could be customized for every individual.

Summit says, “3-D printers were not used in the production stage. But it is no longer just a prototyping tool, it’s become a manufacturing tool.”

The availability of inexpensive computer aided design (CAD) programs has helped make 3-D printers accessible to more users, says Summit.

“Five years ago you had to pay quite a bit of money to get a program that would let you export your design file in the STL format that can be sent to the 3-D printer,” he says. “Designers had to know Solidworks or Maya. But now you have Blender and Sketchup and other inexpensive 3-D-design programs.”