Archive for 2012

Are Bigger iPhone Screens A Good Option For Apple?

►
The rumors around the iPhone 6 repeat the same idea of bigger screens, presumably 4.7'' and 5.5''. Before the upcoming WWDC 2014 reveals anything, and before the release of the next-gen iPhone, expected this fall, it's quite interesting to think how bigger iPhone screens would affect iOS development. Are they a good option at all?
Less than a year ago iOS 7 came out with its drastic changes, which required adjustments and redesigns. But what will it all look like? Well, the homescreen will hardly be littered with an extra column. But that's for users. What is truly interesting for developers and software owners, is the screen resolution. What will it be? Will it be necessary to make huge redesigns? We'll try to answer all of these questions below.
What The Resolution Of A Bigger Screen Will Be?
There have been lots of ideas on what the screen resolution of the new iPhone will be. Both users and developers are interested in it. The main suggestions circulating in the web are 750?1334, 1080?1920, 1600?966. The last option is not an option actually. Each iOS developer uses a relative value for rendering objects on the screen - so-called points. Here is the structure of CGPoint:
struct CGPoint {
CGFloat x;
CGFloat y;
};
The coordinates have the data type with a floating point. It could seem strange, since pixel is an atomic value - there's no such size for drawing as half a pixel. However, it's here that the very idea of Retina display was outlined. 1 point used to equal 1 pixel, but now for Retina it equals 2 pixels. Apple has always cared about the appearance of iOS and its apps; and has cared as well about convenience for developers. That's why with the release of Retina display developers didn't need to alter the code of their apps - designers had to draw the resources with double resolutions. All developers had to do was to add them to the project with the suffix @2x. The system automatically substituted the needed resource.
Let's take a look at this code:
[[UIView alloc] initWithFrame:CGRectMake(0, 0, 1, 100)];
It creates a view 1 point wide and 100 points high. If we launch it on iPhone 3GS (320x480), we'll see a line 1 pixel wide and 100 pixels high. But if we launch the same code on iPhone 4 (640x960), we'll see that our view has the same physical size on the screen, but is 2 pixels wide and 200 pixels high. The same code will work well on both Retina and non-Retina displays.
Let's exemplify our opinion with button size. If we take a look at iOS Human Interface Guidelines (the Layout section), we'll see that Apple recommends to make buttons sized no less than 44x44 points for convenience on a touchscreen. This equals 44?44 pixels on non-Retina and 88?88 pixels on Retina. Now let's consider resolutions 750?1334 and 1080?1920.
Let's take screen width for non-Retina in points as the reference value; and let's make a simple ratio for estimating the rate for re-calculating points into pixels:
750?1334:
750/320 = 2,34375.
1080?1920:
1080/320 = 3,375.
This means the size of the button, according to iOS Human Interface Guidelines, must be 44*2,34375 = 103,125?103,125 pixels and 44*3,375 = 148.5?148.5 pixels.
This will not happen. With this approach there will be an inevitable problem - images will be scaled, compressed, lose their sharpness and lose pixels. We can suppose that it will be invisible for the eye with such density of pixels. But Apple values its name and its well-known quality high enough not to take this step. A typical iOS user expects quality even in the slightest details. At the same time it would be a problem for iOS developers, who would have to rewrite lots of code, change UI of their apps, face the issues with compatibility, and so on. In its turn this situation would weaken Apple's position on the market; they surely wouldn't allow it with their ambitions to be ahead of everyone.
The conclusion is obvious: we will probably get the doubled resolution (1280?2272) and switch to @4x resources. The 16:9 ratio of display sides will remain the same. Let's make calculations for the doubled resolution:
1280?2272:
1280/320 = 4,0.
The button size, according to iOS Human Interface Guidelines, must be 44*4 = 176?176 pixels.
Looks good. We believe it's the way it will bee, and designers should get ready to use @4x resources.
Thoughts And Conclusions
#1. Doubled resolutions will require more processing powers - and bigger capacities. When an app is installed on an iOS device, resources for all supported devices are stored there. If it's an app that supports iPhone, iPad, Retina, and non-Retina, resources for all four screen types are stored on the device, being just an idle load. With the growth of resolutions this issue will become more and more acute, and Apple must already be struggling to find the solution.
#2. There must be sufficient state-of-the-art technologies for mass production of such displays and chips. It's hard to say whether Apple is ready for a breakthrough on the market with the iPhone 6, or the company will have to postpone it and lose the leading positions. Taking Apple's strategy into account, such a breakthrough is rather believable. We don't have to wait long to know the answer.
Bigger screens can be a good option for Apple, if they are ready to cover all the technical problems that go along with it. And what will happen, rumors aside, WWDC 2014 will show on June 2. For the rest of the answers we'll have to wait until the release of the iPhone 6.

Thursday, December 27, 2012
Posted by Unknown
0 Comments

4 Top Risks in Healthcare IT

►
Healthcare IT is progressing by leaps and bounds. The advancement in technology has helped doctors and hospitals to streamline their operations and improve their efficiency. This is achieved by reduced dependence on paper and increased preference for automation. However, technology comes with its own set of unique risks. Hackers continually hack into vulnerable systems to exploit weaknesses. Customer data protection and privacy are at stake. While there are numerous risks facing healthcare IT, some top ones occupy the prime position.
Four risks in healthcare IT
1. Incompatible operating system
Every IT technology needs an operating system to function. Without it, they are just dead hardware. Operating systems are continually updated regularly and older versions are seldom supported. The big hindrance towards operating system compatibility is that many smaller organizations do not have the wherewithal or the budget to update to the latest versions. They also have a lazy attitude towards IT maintenance. All these factors make them very vulnerable to hacking and other exploits.
2. Browser weakness
As software needs to be continuously online in order to function, the strength of the browser is a vital factor. However, browsers in vulnerable systems fail to act as a vanguard against online infections. There are many reported cases where hackers were able to inject malicious code into the browsers to exploit vulnerable systems. Even if the users are not making extensive use of such browsers, their mere presence is enough to raise the risk level.
3. Electronic records
Electronic records are not always fool-proof and prone to external and internal data theft. Many times third-party applications that jeopardize the system security are used without restraint. This makes organizations IT system prone to security risks. The one solution for this problem is to use sophisticated hospital information systems, which have inbuilt support for almost all the regular functions. In the meantime, hospitals should conduct constant monitoring of all devices and systems in order to detect any breaches.
4. Inside threat levels
It is often assumed that data risks are always external rather than internal. This is not true. Going by the historic records, most of the data breaches have occurred internally. Employees often inadvertently breach data policies. In response to that, many organizations have banned camera phones and USB drives. Such strict policies are the need of the hour for a perfect hospital IT management.
The above four risks should make you aware of the vulnerabilities your healthcare service is exposed to on a daily basis. Do a constant analysis of your systems and upgrade them to robust levels.
Arjun Walia is a prolific Mumbai-based freelance writer who writes on numerous topics including Critical access hospital solutions, Healthcare management system and Patient information system to name a few.

Sunday, November 25, 2012
Posted by Unknown
1 Comment

Application Performance Monitoring And Management Solutions To Improve User Satisfaction

►
The organization today looks for a solution that helps to monitor and quantify the speed and efficiency of the business critical applications to run smoothly and ensure best end users experience. To save on the valuable productivity time and revenue, organizations are investing in application management software by getting services both on-premises and as-a-service delivery options. The solution provides you with 360 degree view of business applications to help resolve performance problem and find root causes before they disrupt critical services.
The vital offerings in Application performance management (APM) are:
User Experience Management: Identify and resolve response time by managing performance SLA and measuring data on user interactions.
  • Synthetic User Record and Playback
  • Real User Performance Monitoring
  • Real User Session Capture and Replay
  • Business Analysis Data Mart
Application Server Monitoring and Diagnostics: Prevent problems before it disrupts critical services and violate service level agreement (SLA).
  • Application Server Monitoring
  • Component-Level Monitoring
  • Transaction Tracing
  • Web Server Monitoring
  • Message Queue Monitoring
Database Monitoring and Management: Provide consistent performance monitoring and management across varied database platforms, helping you reduce administrative costs and improve service levels.
  • Database Monitoring
  • Real-time Database Diagnostics
  • Database Workload Analysis
  • Database Tuning
SLA Monitoring and Dashboards: SLA monitoring solution feeds crucial application and service management information into the existing framework. SLA policies & reports are developed to improve service quality and minimize any disruption. These policies are created by using data from performance, availability and change across from the IT environment.
  • Role-based Dashboards
  • Dependency Mapping
  • Service Definitions
  • Component Discovery
  • SLA / OLA Policies
  • 3rd Party Integration
Virtual Server Management
Minimize hardware costs and identify/fix problems faster with deep visibility into VMware ESXi and Hyper-V performance management issues. The solution for virtual server monitoring and capacity management provides powerful virtual infrastructure monitoring, capacity planning, service management and charge back.
Infrastructure Monitoring
The infrastructure monitoring solution helps to link all the disparate parts of your IT environment as one centralized platform by providing constant management & monitoring for all diverse operating systems that supports critical applications from every perspective.
  • Operating System Monitoring
  • Network Device Monitoring
Virtual Desktop Diagnostics and Monitoring
AVAP for Virtual Desktops brings powerful diagnostics and rich monitoring and diagnostics solutions for virtual desktop environments.
  • Virtual Server Monitoring
  • Virtual Machine Life-cycle Management
Custom Application Development, Support & Maintenance
A lot of IT service providers provide bespoke software development services based on various technologies. To suit your specific requirements, such providers adopt various development methodologies such as Scrum, Agile and Waterfall, which significantly trim down your development costs and reduce risks.
Simplify managing your IT applications across various layers of the application infrastructure, whether it is on the physical, virtual or cloud environment. Keep reading to know more about the infrastructure services.
David Clark is the technical writer for Espire Infolabs, an end to end business solutions provider company. Follow David and Espire Infolabs on Twitter, @EspireInfolabs, like them on Facebook and check out more of their services: http://www.espire.com/solutions/application-management

Monday, August 27, 2012
Posted by Unknown
0 Comments

Find Out How to Restore Corrupted Excel Files

►
Microsoft Office suite is a common application among end users all over the world. Due to its innovation, it is often used in computer systems from educational institutions, organizations, hospitals, small businesses to large corporate houses. In the complete MS Office suite, Microsoft Excel is commonly used for everyday activities which provide exceptional features for keeping records of essential information and details. On accounts of corruption to xls data files, at certain times you have to be able to recover corrupted Excel documents.
Sad to say, there are a lot of factors accountable for causing corruption to such files which includes sudden system shutdown while you are doing work, incomplete data transfer from usb thumb drives, corruption due to virus and many others. Such factors are entirely the reason for causing loss of data saved in Excel spreadsheets. For those who have lost a considerable amount of important information, you will need to try to find the right solution to recover that information back. Try to find a procedure of software that has the potential to recover corrupted computer data back easily.
Consider a scenario below in which the Excel file is definitely corrupted:
Assume you actually have files in SkyDrive in which you are using for accessing anytime. You actually have conveniently been working with SkyDrive. However the following day, you discovered one of the Excel files in the SkyDrive is severely corrupted. It happens to be your pure bad luck that you simply do not have a backup file safely stored. Due to this, you are unable to gain access and make use of the file. To be able to fix this issue, you have attempted a variety of possibilities but all turned out to fail; you would like to learn how to recover corrupted Excel files.
Error Message:
You get an error message that says, "Excel cannot open the file because the file extension or file format is not valid. Verify that the file has not been corrupted and the file extension matches the format of the file."
Ways you can use to fix the corrupted Excel file:
Before going through any kind of option for restoring and repairing corrupted files, you can attempt to try the below provided procedures:
Try to save the damaged file in a new format.
Try to open the file in several other formats similar to HTML or SYLK.
Try to open the files in Microsoft Word.
Free inbuilt 'Open and Repair' facility.
You can modify the calculation feature.
Link the corrupted Excel file.
Recovery Programs:
If you do not know how you can recover from your corrupted Excel file, then you can certainly try numerous software recovery software solutions available on the market. After trying the above free procedure, you will have a better understanding of the recovery software. You can then use a Recovery software which will restore and repair all the damaged data stored in your Excel sheets.
The author has a passion for all things that is regarding technology, is a consultant for more than 5 years on databases, and a geek. A content management specialist by day at LearnProSQL and a SQL training consultant for their SQL course.

Wednesday, June 20, 2012
Posted by Unknown
0 Comments

Microsoft Excel: Avoiding Data Entry Errors With Dependent Data Validation Lists

►
Using data validation to create drop-down lists is a fabulous way to avoid data entry errors in your spreadsheets. In this article I want to take drop-down lists one step further. Let's imagine that you are creating a time sheet that needs to have departments and employee names included. You could create two totally separate lists, one with all of your departments and one with all of your employees, but that would allow you to accidentally put an employee into the wrong department. Instead, you can create a dependent validation list, so the only employees you will see are the ones that match the department you have chosen.
As with any data validation list, you need to begin by creating the options that will appear in the drop-down lists. I recommend doing this on another worksheet in your workbook and then creating named ranges. For more information about doing this, see my Ezine article 'Avoid Data Entry Errors by Using Drop-Down Lists.'
Start by creating a database with the departments across the first row and the employees listed in the appropriate cells underneath. Choose the cells in the first row and name the range 'Departments.' You now need to name the range of cells that contain the employees. A quick way to do this is as follows:
1. Select your database
2. Ctrl + Shift + F3
This should open the 'Create Names from Selection' dialog box.
3. Make sure there is a check mark in the location of your headers - in this case 'Top Row'
4. OK
If you click on the arrow beside the name box (to the left of the formula bar), you should see the named range 'Departments' as well as the name of each department.
Go to the cell of the sheet you want the list to appear in. We will start by creating a normal data validation list to show the departments:
1. Make sure you are on the cell, or cells, you want the drop-down for the departments to appear in
2. On the Data ribbon click on the top half of the Data Validation button in the Data Tools group
3. In the Data Validation dialog box, choose List for the value to Allow
4. In the source box, type '=' and then 'Departments,' or whatever name you used for your range
TIP: To see all the ranges in your workbook, press the F3 key. You can then choose the appropriate range from the box.
5. OK
6. Select a cell that you added this validation to and make sure the list of departments show when you click on the drop-down arrow
If this has worked, continue with the following steps:
7. Choose the cell, or cells, that you want to contain the drop-down of employee names
8. On the Data ribbon click on the top half of the Data Validation button in the Data Tools group
9. In the Data Validation dialog box, choose List for the value to Allow
10. In the source box type '=' and then 'Indirect'
This function will look for a named range that matches the value that is in the Departments cell. If you chose 'Sales,' Indirect will be looking for a range of cells that are named 'Sales.'
11. Behind the function name 'Indirect,' type an opening bracket, the cell reference for the first cell in the 'Departments' range, and then a closing bracket
Ensure that the 'Indirect' function cell referencing is not absolute. If it is, remove the dollar signs. An example of what you typed may be '=Indirect(A1)'
12. Click on a cell in the departments column and choose the desired option
13. Click on the employee cell in the same record and select the drop-down arrow
You should see only the names of the employees that are in that department.
TIP: If your list changes frequently, turn your database into a Table. This will create a dynamic range for your spreadsheet. Whenever someone is added to or removed from the table, the change will be reflected in the data validation lists.
Tired of people choosing an apple variety when they are filling in an order for cherries? Put dependent lists to work and create accurate data in your spreadsheets.
Reen Rose is an empowerment expert who believes in aiding businesses of all sizes, by helping individuals and teams acquire the skills they need to be happy and successful in their work. She is an experienced Microsoft Certified Trainer, Microsoft Office Specialist Master and a Myers Briggs certified practitioner.
She has been described as 'focused, fun and very effective'.
To find out more about Reen and the training and corporate services she offers, please visit her website at http://www.ReenRose.com.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012
Posted by Unknown
0 Comments

Encryption: What Is It and Why Is It Important?

►
The internet has transformed the way people live. It has changed everything from the way we learn to the way we shop. We use the internet to carry out a number of activities ranging from reading news, playing games and interacting with friends and family, besides a number of other things. We think that we only receive information from the internet; however, this is far from the truth. In the process of browsing the internet, we actually send out a lot of information such as our identity and location. We generally aren't as safe on the internet as we may think we are.
For instance, when shopping online, our name, address, and credit card information are transmitted over the internet to the vendor. With such private information being channeled through the internet, it is vital that certain measures be taken to ensure privacy and confidentiality of the data. Latest information technology news tells us that the number of cyber crimes is on the rise.
This is where encryption comes in. Simply put, encryption scrambles the data which is to be transmitted over the internet in a way that can only be decrypted by someone who has the encryption key.
The concept of encryption is based on cryptography, and it is of two types:
  1. Public Key Encryption
  2. Symmetric Key Encryption
Public Key Encryption
With this type of encryption, two different keys are used. There's a public key and there's a private key. For example, if a person wants to send encrypted data over the internet, the public key is used to encrypt the data; however, the data can only be encrypted by the recipient using their private key.
This method can be used to send secure emails and to digitally sign the documents. Secure Socket Layer (SSL) and its newer method, the Transport Layer Security (TLS), are examples of public key encryption systems.
Symmetric Key Encryption
In this method of encryption, both the sender and the receiver use the same encryption key. This simplifies the process and makes it faster. Nonetheless, the key and the data can be compromised while in transit over the internet. Data Encryption Standard (DES) was a type of symmetric key encryption that is replaced by a more modern Advanced Encryption Standard (AES).
Encryption of Data
The advantages of encryption aren't just limited to the internet; you can encrypt your data on your computer, your USB storage devices, hard drives, mobile devices and numerous other data storage devices in order to prevent misuse of data if your devices are lost or stolen.
Importance of Encryption
As learnt from the latest information technology news, the number of cyber crimes is on the rise and this makes it necessary for computer users to keep their data safe from hackers. Large corporations and governments require high levels of encryption in order to protect their sensitive plans such as business secrets and confidential data. It also gives us peace of mind that our data is not getting into the wrong hands.
Moe Tarhini is the Senior Technical Writer at @Technogigs. Technogigs is an online news and information portal dedicated to people who wish to keep pace with the fast-paced tech world. For more information, please visit: Technogigs.

Posted by Unknown
0 Comments

3 Simple Ways to Speed Up a Mac

►
Nothing beats the performance of a brand new Mac. It's quick to load up, and can tackle multiple tasks with ease. While you may do your best to keep your Mac clean, photos, documents and your iTunes library may actually be slowing things down. Here are 3 simple and proven ways to speed up your Mac.
How to Speed Up a Mac
Fine Tune Your Startup
If your Mac is slow to startup, you may have too many unnecessary apps trying to load up. Cleaning up your startup will fix the problem. Instead of waiting for your browser to load and a host of other apps, you can start using your Mac right away.
To fine tune your startup, head over to System Preferences > Users & Groups and select your username. Click on the "Login" items, and take a look at the list of apps that startup when you boot your Mac. Uncheck any apps that you don't need. This is the simplest way to speed up a Mac and one of the most effective.
Clean Up Your Hard Drive
Macs use any free hard drive space as virtual memory, so lack of hard drive space can really hinder performance. Freeing up some hard drive space can speed up Mac Pro by providing more virtual memory.
Start out by emptying your Trash and removing any unused apps on your Mac. There's a good chance that you have quite a few apps that were mistakenly installed or only used once. Deleting these from your hard drive will provide you with more space and more virtual memory.
Use the Activity Monitor
Your Mac's Activity Monitor can give you a little insight into which apps are "memory hogs." The Activity Monitor lists all of the running apps, CPU usage, RAM usage and virtual memory usage. If an app is using a considerable amount of virtual memory, you may want to get rid of it or minimize your usage of it. Make sure not to download anything from internet without seeing it properly. These can contain virus, trojan with it that can harm your mac and you might not able to recover it from this issue.
These are three simple ways to speed up your Mac, but you may also want to consider using cleaning utility tools as well. By keeping your hard drive clean and free from unnecessary apps, your Mac should run in tiptop shape at all times.
http://www.etechviews.com/ is Source of Technology news and tech product reviews.

Monday, March 19, 2012
Posted by Unknown
0 Comments

File Integrity Monitoring - Database Security Hardening Basics

►
The Database - The Mother Lode of Sensitive Data
Being the heart of any corporate application means your database technology must be implemented and configured for maximum security. Whilst the desire to 'get the database as secure as possible' appears to be a clear objective, what does 'secure as possible' mean?
Whether you use Oracle 10g, Oracle 11g, DB2, Microsoft SQL Server, or even MySQL or PostgreSQL, a contemporary database is at least as complex as any modern server operation system. The database system will comprise a whole range of configuration parameters, each with security implications, including:
  • User accounts and password settings
  • Roles and assigned privileges
  • File/object permissions
  • Schema structure
  • Auditing functions
  • Networking capabilities
  • Other security defense settings, for example, use of encryption
Hardened Build Standard for Oracle, SQL Server, DB2 and others
Therefore, just as with any Windows or Linux OS, there is a need to derive a hardened build standard for the database. This security policy or hardened build standard will be derived from collected best practices in security configuration and vulnerability mitigation/remediation, and just as with an operating system, the hardening checklist will comprise hundreds of settings to check and set for the database.
Depending on the scale of your organization, you may then need hardening checklists for Oracle 10g, Oracle 11g, SQL Server, DB2, PostgreSQL and MySQL, and maybe other database systems besides.
Automated Compliance Auditing for Database Systems
Potentially, there will be a requirement to verify that all databases are compliant with your hardened build standard involving hundreds of checks for hundreds of database systems, so automation is essential, not least because the hardening checklists are complex and time-consuming to verify. There is also somewhat of a conflict to manage in as much as the user performing the checklist tests will necessarily require administrator privileges to do so. So in order to verify that the database is secure, you potentially need to loosen security by granting admin rights to the user carrying out the audit. This provides a further driver to moving the audit function to a secure and automated tool.
In fact, given that security settings could be changed at any time by any user with privileges to do so, verifying compliance with the hardened build standard should also become a regular task. Whilst a formal compliance audit might be conducted once a year, guaranteeing security 365 days a year requires automated tracking of security settings, providing continuous reassurance that sensitive data is being protected.
Insider Threat and Malware Protection for Oracle and SQL Server Database Systems
Finally, there is also the threat of malware and insider threats to consider. A trusted developer will naturally have access to system and application files, as well as the database and its filesystem. Governance of the integrity of configuration and system files is essential in order to identify malware or an insider-generated application 'backdoor'. Part of the answer is to operate tight scrutiny of the change management processes for the organization, but automated file integrity monitoring is also essential if disguised Trojans, zero day malware or modified bespoke application files are to be detected.
File Integrity Monitoring - A Universal Solution to Hardening Database Systems
In summary, the most comprehensive measure to securing a database system is to use automated file integrity monitoring. File integrity monitoring or FIM technology serves to analyze configuration files and settings, both for vulnerabilities and for compliance with a security best practices-based hardened-build standard.
The FIM approach is ideal, as it is provides a snapshot audit capability for any database, providing an audit report within a few seconds, showing where security can be improved. This not only automates the process, making a wide-scale estate audit simple, but also de-skills the hardening exercise to an extent. Since the best practice knowledge of how to identify vulnerabilities and also which files need to be inspected is stored within the FIM tool report, the user can get an expert assessment of their database security without needing to fully research and interpret hardening checklist materials.
Finally, file integrity monitoring will also identify Trojans and zero-day malware that may have infected the database system, and also any unauthorized application changes that may introduce security weaknesses.
Of course, any good FIM tool will also provide file integrity monitoring functions to Windows, Linux and Unix servers as well as firewalls and other network devices, performing the same malware detection and hardening audit reporting as described for database systems.
For fundamentally secure IT systems, FIM is still the best technology to use.
NNT is a leading provider of PCI DSS and general Security and Compliance solutions. As both a File Integrity Monitoring Software Manufacturer and Security Services Provider, we are firmly focused on helping organisations protect their sensitive data against security threats and network breaches in the most efficient and cost effective manner.

Sunday, February 19, 2012
Posted by Unknown
0 Comments

- Copyright © Technology for World -Metrominimalist- Powered by Blogger - Designed by Johanes Djogan -