TechBuzz: Web Conferencing

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Topic: Web Conferencing

Whenever two or more people gather to share information, collaborate, brainstorm, argue, inform or train one another, that's called a conference.

Face-to-Face Conferences:

• A salesman attends a trade show to pitch his product to hundreds of potential clients.
  
• The accounting department and the CFO sit around a big table and review the fourth-quarter numbers.
  
• A consultant flies around the country to train employees on a new software application.

The drawback is that these face-to-face meetings, presentations and training sessions aren't always financially viable. Many of today's companies compete in a global marketplace with offices around the world and clients from Moscow to Moscow (Idaho and Russia, that is).

Communication and technology advances have made it possible to recreate the impact and interactivity of real-world conferences without having to leave your desk.

Web conferencing is used to conduct live meetings, training, or presentations via the Internet. In a web conference, each participant sits at his or her own computer and is connected to other participants via the internet. This can be either a downloaded application on each of the attendees' computers or a web-based application where the attendees access the meeting by clicking on a link distributed by e-mail (meeting invitation) to enter the conference.
Web conferences are organized like

• An organizer sends out e-mail or text message invitations to join the Web conference on a certain day and certain time.
  
• The invitation includes a link to the conference and a password or access code to enter. If the invitation is accepted, a reminder is programmed into the attendee's calendar application.
  
• Once all the attendees log on to the conference or seminar, a single presenter controls the meeting. As presenter, you can share your desktop and other documents and applications. You can also hand control over to the other attendees and let them present.
  

Common Features
Here are some of the common features of Web conference programs:

• Using common applications like Microsoft Word, Microsoft PowerPoint and Adobe Flash Player, presenters can create dynamic graphic presentations enhanced by audio or even streaming video.
  
• Has the ability to create e-mail invitations with easy-to-use templates.
  
• Desktop sharing allows the presenter to display everything that's on his computer to attendees in real time. They see exactly what he sees. 
  
• Document sharing and application sharing work exactly the same way. 
  
• File transfer allows you to post documents for download either before, during or after an online presentation.
  
• Audio control allows the presenter to mute or un-mute panelists and attendees as needed. For larger Web seminars, it's typical to mute all attendees.
  
• Whiteboards are shared virtual workspaces where presenters can cut and paste documents, graphs and images. By sharing control of the whiteboard, presenters can draw, annotate and edit just like they were scrawling on a real-world whiteboard.
  
• For greater interactivity, presenters can give attendees chat capability or the option of instant messaging questions to the presenters.

Unified Communication Systems

Many people can participate in online or video conferences.

Moving forward, we're going to see more and more companies offering a unified communication system. With the popularity of IP telephony on the rise, businesses can now access all of the old and new means of communication through one supplier and one simplified software package or Web interface.

Unified communication systems will be attractive to businesses because it will simplify billing and systems administration and hopefully lower the overall costs of conferencing by combining disparate services through one vendor.
There are going to be several big companies vying for these all-in-one corporate accounts. Cisco Systems recently bought WebEx, the market leader in Web conferencing services. And Google recently announced a partnership with Avaya, a leading IP telephony and communications company.

Software and Service Providers

Adobe Acrobat Connect	Glance	OmNovia Technologies	TalkPoint
Citrix Online	IBM Lotus Sametime and IBM LotusLive	Openmeetings	TimeBridge
Dimdim	Microsoft Office Live Meeting	Oracle Beehive	Tokbox
Elluminate	MSN	Premiere Global Services (PGi)	WebEx
Fuze Meeting	Netviewer	Rhub communications	WebTrain
Genesys Meeting Center		ShowDocument	Zoho

Regards,

Suman G

Tech Buzz: How GPS works?

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Tech Buzz is back with new topic, "Global Positioning System".

Our ancestors had to go to pretty extreme measures to keep from getting lost. They erected monumental landmarks, laboriously drafted detailed maps and learned to read the stars in the night sky.

Things are much, much easier today. For less than $100, you can get a pocket-sized gadget that will tell you exactly where you are on Earth at any moment. As long as you have a GPS receiver and a clear view of the sky, you'll never be lost again :)

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People talk about "a GPS," they usually mean a GPS receiver. The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a space-based global navigation satellite system that provides reliable location and time information in all weather and at all times and anywhere on or near the Earth when and where there is an unobstructed line of sight to four or more GPS satellites.  The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a constellation of 27 Earth-orbiting satellites (24 in operation and three extras in case one fails). It is maintained by the United States government and is freely accessible by anyone with a GPS receiver.

Popular GPS Devices

Each of these 3,000- to 4,000-pound solar-powered satellites circles the globe at about 12,000 miles (19,300 km), making two complete rotations every day. The orbits are arranged so that at any time, anywhere on Earth, there are at least four satellites "visible" in the sky.

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Check how GPS works !

                   

As you travel signal is passed from Cell to Cell

       

We all have to really appreciate the brains who brought cutting edge-technology with efficient navigation solution that is making our travel easy !

Regards,

Suman G

Tech Buzz: Web Application

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Technology / Topic : Web Application

In current world, we are directly or indrectly using internet for many things in our daily life. We do use internet for checking weather, news, travel, stock etc..

All our needs are served by applications running on internet. These applications are none other than 'Web Applications'. No wonder web applications have become such a ubiquitous phenomenon.  

 However, due to their highly technical and complex nature, web applications are a widely unknown and a grossly misunderstood fixture in our everyday cyber-life.

Web Application:

From a technical view-point, the web is a highly programmable environment that allows mass customization through the immediate deployment of a large and diverse range of applications, to millions of global users. Two important components of a modern website are flexible web browsers and web applications; both available to all and sundry at no expense.

Web applications are computer programs allowing website visitors to submit and retrieve data to/from a database over the Internet using their preferred web browser. The data is then presented to the user within their browser as information is generated dynamically (in a specific format, e.g. in HTML using CSS) by the web application through a web server.

How do web applications work?
The figure below details the three-layered web application model. The first layer is normally a web browser or the user interface; the second layer is the dynamic content generation technology tool such as Java servlets (JSP) or Active Server Pages (ASP), and the third layer is the database containing content (e.g., news) and customer data (e.g., usernames and passwords, social security numbers and credit card details).

The figure below shows how the initial request is triggered by the user through the browser over the Internet to the web application server. The web application accesses the databases servers to perform the requested task updating and retrieving the information lying within the database. The web application then presents the information to the user through the browser.

Benefits

• Browser applications typically require little or no disk space on the client, upgrade automatically with new features, integrate easily into other server-side web procedures, such as email and searching.
  
• They also provide cross-platform compatibility in most cases (i.e., Windows, Mac, Linux, etc.) because they operate within a web browser window.

Drawbacks

• Standards compliance is an issue with any non-typical office document creator, which causes problems when file sharing and collaboration becomes critical.
  
• Browser applications rely on application files accessed on remote servers through the Internet. Therefore, when connection is interrupted, the application is no longer usable. 
  
• Since many web applications are not open source, there is also a loss of flexibility, not allowing customizations of software, preventing users from running applications offline (in many cases), and making users dependent on third-party servers.

Regards, 
Suman  G

Tech Buzz: Client-Server Architecture evolution

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Technology / Topic : Client Server Architecture Evolution

Client: A client is an application or system that accesses a remote service on another computer system, known as a server, by way of a network.

Specific types of clients include web browsers, email clients, and online chat clients.

Server: A server computer is a computer, or series of computers, that link other computers or electronic devices together. They often provide essential services across a network, either to private users inside a large organization or to public users via the internet. For example, when you enter a query in a search engine, the query is sent from your computer over the internet to the servers that store all the relevant web pages. The results are sent back by the server to your computer.

Specific types of servers include web servers, ftp servers, application servers, database servers, name servers, mail servers, file servers, print servers, and terminal servers.

Most web services are also types of servers.

Why Client-Server Architecture evolved?

The evolution of Client-Server Computin has been driven by business needs, as well as the increasing costs for host (mainframe and midrange) machines and maintenance, the decreasing costs and increasing power of micro-computers and the increased reliability of LANs( Local Area Networks). 

In the past twenty years, there are dramatic improvements in the hardware and software technologies for micro-computers. Micro-computers become affordable for small businesses and organisations. And at the same time their performances are becoming more and more reliable. On the other hand, the drop in price for mainframe is growing at a slower rate than the drop in its price. Little developments have achieved with mainframes.

Client, Server and Technology

Client/server refers to the way in which software components interact to form a system that can be designed for multiple users. This technology is a computing architecture that forms a composite system allowing distributed computation, analysis, and presentation between PCs and one or more larger computers on a network. Each function of an application resides on the computer most capable of managing that particular function.

Tier	2 Tier	3-Tier	Web Oriented (N-tier)
Key Advantage	● Good application development speed. ● Most tools for 2-tier are very robust.  ● Two-tier architectures work well in relatively homogeneous environments with fairly static business rules.	● RPC calls provide greater overall system flexibility than SQL calls in 2-tier architectures. ● 3-tier presentation client is not required to understand SQL. This allows firms to access legacy data, and simplifies the introduction of new data base technologies. ● Provides for more flexible resource allocation.	● Different aspects of the application can be developed and rolled out independently. ● Servers can be optimized separately for database and application server functions. ● Servers can be sized appropriately for the requirements of each tier of the architecture. ● More overall server horsepower can be deployed.

Lets observe how client-server architecture evolved during the course of time:

Regards,
Suman  G 

Tech Buzz: RSS

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RSS? What is this?

The trouble with living in the Information Age is paradoxical: There's too much information. It's everywhere. How are you supposed to keep track of all the news, sports, weather and blogs you follow?

If you're addicted to the constant flow of data that we know as the Internet, you're not going to be able to manage it without some help. One way to keep track of it all has grown very popular since its introduction in 1997: RSS. Short for Really Simple Syndication, RSS is a way to subscribe to a source of information, such as a Web site, and get brief updates delivered to you.

The original version of RSS, created by UserLand in 1997, stands for RDF Site Summary or Rich Site Summary. Netscape Communications used the technology to deliver content to users of its MyNetscape portal. In 2003, the name changed to Really Simple Syndication with the release of the RSS 2.0 standard when a new team began work on it.

RSS Feeeeeeeeeedss !!!!

These sources are called feeds. When you subscribe, you'll get a feed -- often a series of headlines and brief summaries -- of all the articles published on that particular Web page. This lets you scan the articles on the page more efficiently. Sometimes you'll even spot more headlines that you might never have seen buried on the original page.

Feed icon you come accross in many sites is 

How do I create RSS Feed?

RSS isn't really that different from a normal Web site. In fact, they're the same in one respect: Both are simple text files on Web servers. RSS uses the World Wide Web Consortium's Resource Description Framework (RDF) as a guide to tell a feed aggregator how to read the file. RDF is based on extensible markup language (XML). Since RSS is based on XML, however, the document contains information that tells the aggregator where to look for the standard upon which it's based. It's an extra step that happens on the back end and is invisible to you as you view an RSS feed.

RSS tags tell your aggregator how to display the feed on your screen. In addition to the size of the font and other details, RSS tags also include the name of the creator of the feed, the date it was published, when the feed was updated and more useful information that helps you decide which articles to select from the feed and read in full. Many news organizations and other Web sites that publish with their own proprietary systems have to build RSS into their Web code.

Tell me Something about RSS Reader...

Reading RSS feeds can be a great time-saver. In the time it takes you to scan whole Web pages for information, you can review headlines from dozens of sites all collected in one place. On the other hand, the ease with which you can view RSS headlines may convince you that you can subscribe to even more sites. You may end up spending just as much time reading feeds as you used to on regular Web sites.

Some of the popular RSS Reader Sites Google Reader and many blogging sites.

                           

Do you want to see full articles on one page? Or do you just want the headlines? Do you want everything organized by date, with the feeds mixed by most recent, or would you prefer to keep each site separate? These are options that your aggregator will give you help you enjoy your reading.Aggregators take many forms.

Different browsers handle feeds differently, but you'll probably be given a choice of options for handling the subscription.The popularity of RSS feeds has encouraged companies that offer personal home pages, such as Yahoo! and Google, to incorporate feed readers into their products. If you have a MyYahoo! or iGoogle page, you can add your feeds there.

Start using RSS Readers from today ! Keep track of the latest information :)

Regards,

Suman G

Tech Buzz : Rich Internet Application

Source: Email Fwd ....

Rich Internet Applications

Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) are web applications that have many of the characteristics of desktop applications, typically delivered either by way of a site-specific browser, via a browser plug-in, or independently sandboxes or virtual machines. RIAs generally split the processing across the Internet/network divide by locating the user interface and related activity and capability on the client side, and the data manipulation and operation on the application server side.

Adobe Flash, Java, and Microsoft Silverlight are currently the three most common platforms.

Users generally need to install a software framework using the computer's operating system before launching the application, which typically downloads, updates, verifies and executes the RIA. This is the main differentiator from JavaScript-based alternatives like Ajax which use built-in browser functionality to implement comparable interfaces. While some consider such interfaces to be RIAs, some consider them competitors to RIAs and others, including Gartner, treat them as similar but separate technologies.

Why RIA?

• Users are dissatisfied with the capabilities and performance of simple HTML-based Web applications
  
• Need for desktop type interactions
  
• Bringing Interactivity & Intuitiveness Into Web Applications
  
• Adds complexity to design, develop, deploy and debug

Benefits of RIA

• Features that WOW the users
  
• Lot of processing can be off-loaded to the client
  
• Adoption spreads rapidly and dramatically
  
• Improved responsiveness and  platform independence
  
• Businesses have more reach to their offerings through Rich web applications.
  
• Deployments costs are minimal

Here are the statistics on RIA,

Examples

Checkout these sites which exhibits the features of RIA.

The Broadmoor   Make hotel reservations and see results immediately.

MINI USA  Design your own Mini and send it to the dealer. Nike Running  Log and see your training progress, and find the right shoes. E*TRADE Get fast stock quotes with no page reloads. Enter a ticker symbol in the Quotes module on the top right. New York Stock Exchange Experience market activity on the NYSE virtual trading floor. JENN-AIR Design your own refrigerator. FootJoy Find the right golf product to fit your needs. Dai Nippon Search for the right printer ribbon. Yankee Candle Quickly create a custom candle. Camera Finder Demo Find the perfect digital camera in seconds.

Regards,

Suman G

TechBuzz: Internet Fax

Source: Email FWD ... Interesting Information about how Internet Fax Works 

Topic of the day : 'Internet Fax'

The traditional method for sending faxes over phone lines (PSTN i.e Public Switched Telephone Network)  "Fax machine → Phone line → Fax machine "

Internet fax uses the Internet to receive and send faxes.
Internet faxing uses the same principles as facsimile transmission, but it uses a Web interface instead of a fax machine. Internet fax services usually assign a fax number to each person who signs up for the service. People can send faxes to this number, and customers can send faxes via e-mail without using a fax machine.  It achieves a dramatic reduction in communication costs especially when long faxes are frequently exchanged with overseas or distant offices. Since there is no telephone connection charge when sending a fax over the Internet, the cost of sending faxes is covered entirely by the fixed line Internet connection fee. The recipient machine must also be compatible with Internet Fax.
Hardcopy is converted to TIFF (Tagged Image File Format) or PDF (Portable Document Format) data and attached to an e-mail in MIME (Multi-purpose Internet Mail Extensions)format. Then, taking advantage of a connection to the office LAN, data is sent via TCP/IP directly to any Internet Fax on the intranet or Internet. Because they make use of TCP/IP, Internet Faxes do not incur long-distance transmission costs and reception is verifiable.
Here's how it works,
To send a fax through an Internet fax service:
a. The sender attaches a document to an e-mail message. The document can be a scan of a paper document, or it can be created in a program like Microsoft Word.
b. The sender addresses the message to the recipient's fax number, followed by the name of the faxing service (for example: 18005551234@ emailfaxes.com).
c. The service translates the attachment so that a fax machine can read it.
d. The service sends the data across the phone line.
e. The recipient's fax machine decodes the data and prints the fax.
To receive a document from a traditional fax machine through an Internet fax service:
a. The sender dials the fax number that the service has assigned to the recipient.
b. The fax machine translates the data and transmits it over the phone line.
c. The service receives the data, translates it into an image file and sends the image to the recipient's e-mail address.
d. The recipient opens the em-ail message and the attachment and views the file.

The Internet has enabled the development of several other methods of sending and receiving a fax. The more common method is an extension of computer-based faxing, and involves using a fax server/gateway to the Internet to convert documents between faxes and emails. The process is often referred to as "fax to mail" or "mail to fax". This technology offers the advantage of dispensing with the machine as well as the additional telephone line, and because of this, has started to replace the traditional fax machine.

Reception:   Fax machine → Phone line → Fax gateway → email message (over Internet) → computer email account
Sending:  Computer → Internet → Fax gateway → Phone line → Fax machine

Fax using VoiceOverIP
Making phone calls over the Internet (Voice over Internet Protocol, or VoIP) has become increasingly popular. Compressing fax signals is different from compressing voice signals, so a new standard (T.38) has been created for this. If the VoIP adapter and gateway are T.38 compliant, most fax machines can simply be plugged into the VoIP adapter instead of a regular phone line.
Fax machine → VoIP adapter → VoIP gateway → Phone line → Fax machine (or vice versa)
As with regular faxes, only one fax can be sent or received at a time.

Advantages

Internet Fax  has many advantages:

• No fax machine → no maintenance, no paper, toner expenditure, possible repairs, etc.
  
• Mobility → All actions are done on the Web interface; the service is thus available from any computer connected to Internet, everywhere in the world.
  
• Confidentiality → The faxes are received directly on the account of the user; he is the only one who can access it. The received faxes are then less likely to be lost or read by the wrong people.
  
• No installation of software or hardware → All actions are done on the Web interface of the supplier, on the account of the user.
  
• No telephone subscription for an additional line dedicated to the fax.
  
• Many faxes can be sent or received simultaneously, and faxes can be received while the computer is switched off.

Regards,

Suman G