Recent developments in the field of mobile computing have made connecting to communications technologies on the move almost expected, marking a significant change from only a few years ago when connecting to the internet or transferring files wasn`t possible without a wire. Now, you can get just as good a transfer rate on the move on your mobile as you can from your desk top computer in the office, meaning that a number of business opportunities are now more achievable than they have ever been before.
Mobile telephony devices now also offer an efficient “on-the-move” service, for example, through GSM, GPRS and 3G.
Global System for Mobile-communication (GSM) allows a user to insert their SIM card into any mobile device with a compatible GSM frequency and make and receive phone calls to any other phone from that device. This is useful if travelling internationally on a frequent basis as you can be sure that your call will go through no matter which provider you are using and you only need the one device and SIM card.
General Packet Radio Service (GPRS) marks an improvement from GSM. It means that wireless packets of data, such as e-mails and web content, can travel across a wireless telephone network. Users can expect a rate similar to that of a 56K dial-up Internet connection meaning that it is possible to transfer files, as well as access and control in-house appliances and machines on the move.
3G, standing for “third generation”, also offers mobile communications services. It provides users with an “always-on” service with a real-time video calling function; high speed downloads, broadband speed web browser and location-based services such as locating your nearest bank or train station.
But these services are obviously redundant unless you have a device to access them on. “Smart phones” such as Blackberries and PDAs (Personal digital assistants) offer almost a “mobile office” service, supplying functions to send and receive e-mail, browse the web, simplified office programs as well as calendars, and conventional mobile phone services. This, in theory, means that the “office” as we knew it, is changing. As you`re able to check your e-mails on the train or on the way to a meeting, mobile communication is managing to simplify our lives in lots of different ways.
Mobile computing therefore has many benefits for all sorts of businesses. You are able to transfer files to clients immediately without having to return to the office, as you can carry them on your mobile device, or you could connect to your diary to organise a follow up meeting on the go. This leads to greater flexibility in the way that you work, and therefore improves the service that you are able to provide.
Guest post submitted by Broadband Expert…
Check out this latest pc concept (not actually by Dell) designed by Luis Luna, called the O Project. The O Project Dell personal computer is an eco-friendly computer that features a biodegradable skin composed of polymers based on cornstarch and bamboo. The best about this PC is that you can return the components to the producer to be recycled now that’s something that all manufacturers should think about in the future – excellent thinking!
This is quite a funny piece of gadget designed presumably by the Japanese, called the Visomate. The Visomate is primarily intended to boost workplace productivity by encouraging employees to sit up straight and stay awake. But you might also agree that it could help those with chronic backpain, just possibly!
As you may know or even have experienced this yourself, many people do actually fall asleep on the job and of course employers find this to be a real threat to their business!
On the other hand, Visomate can also be used, as it were, to correct bad sitting postures, Visomate is mounted onto the top of your screen and connected via USB. It doesn’t need any software, as soon as it is connected (for the power), once you begin to slump a little, an alarm will go off because the posture correction sensor has been triggered. And while you can mute the alarm, a LED signal is also emitted so your slouched state can be noted from afar – lol!
It is very easy to set up. All you have to do is to connect VISOMATE to USB port of your computer. You don’t even have to install any software. Once you connect it to a USB port, LED light will come on to activate the posture correction sensor.
If you’re interested, the Visomate USB posture correction alarm is available now online for $37 from the RareMonoShop.
Just saw this really cool WiFi + RC car mod from our friends over at Geeky Gadgets and thought it deserved abit of mention, it’s been made by Jonathan Bennet from JB Projects. Basically, this DIY project has created a car in which you can control using a computer of any kind that’s connected to the internet. And because it’s controlled via WiFi, it’s got an incredibly long range of up to 500m!
A remote control car that can be driven over the internet or with a laptop wirelessly from up to 500m away. It has a live-feed network camera so that it can be driven without line of sight and a horn so that you can honk at people. Adding a network camera, router, heavier batteries, extra circuits, and a whole bunch of wires adds a lot of extra weight that the car wasn’t designed for. Because of all of the additions, you’ll need to find a pretty large RC car. Thrift stores often sell RC vehicles (without remotes!) for $3-5. I have bought a number of cars this way for taking apart. Vehicles in the 1:10 size ratio or bigger are appropriate; you probably don’t want to go any smaller. I bought this car for $5 at Value Village.
Check out this video, featuring the car in action…
I believe with a bit of modification it could certainly be controlled using an iPhone like the RC we previously featured!
Are you a technician or a mechanic? Do you rountinely swap around computer hardwares like hard drives as part of your work? If so, then you will know the importance and understand what great pleasure it is to have a hard drive rack which connects conveniently via USB.
This USB HDD rack or dock as pictured below allows you to swap between 3.5″ or 2.5″ SATA hard drives, though there isn’t a handsome chassis enclosing the drive, a third of the SATA is enclosed within the dock. As you will probably know, the amount of heat generated from these things is actually quite enormous and sometimes annoying too if you had it just sitting next to your mouse on your desk all the time, so this new design from GeekStuff4U now comes with a new feature to solve this problem – a fan! This so-called next generation USB SATA dock has a fan which spins at a rate of 1,800 rpm and effectively most of the heat / air is pushed out from within the dock. Fortunately the only downside with this addition is that the USB won’t be able to handle the load so an AC adapter is included to supply the extra juice.
Here is another freeware we came across over the internet that I thought was quite useful and deserved a mention. It’s currently top ten in system utilities on CNET and it’s proven to be quite popular amongst advanced PC users, yes, unfortunately not for Macs.
SpeedFan is a program that monitors voltages, fan speeds and temperatures in computers with hardware monitor chips. SpeedFan can even access S.M.A.R.T. (click here to find out what S.M.A.R.T. means) info for those hard disks that support this feature and show hard disk temperatures too, if supported. SpeedFan also supports SCSI disks too.
At the lowest level, SpeedFan is an hardware monitor software that can access digital temperature sensors, but its main feature is that it can change fan speeds (depending on the capabilities of your sensor chip and your hardware) according to the temperatures inside your pc, thus reducing those unnecessary noise that fan of yours have been making!
SpeedFan can:
- handle almost any number of South Bridges
- handle almost any number of hardware monitor chips
- handle almost any number of temperature readings
- handle almost any number of voltage readings
- handle almost any number of fan speed readings
- handle almost any number of PWMs
Here are a few screenshots…
Lego is probably one of the things that we find most enjoyable to talk about here on this blog, unfortunately its not easy to build every from Lego. Luke Andersen, a computer science major student from Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, decided that he wanted to have something special for a PC, something with a wow geeky factor. So he made up his mind and first created the plans for his PC via a simple CAD program. Then he bought 1,238 Lego pieces (for a total of $140) to assemble his masterpiece as pictured, his design includes a removable panel which is pretty clever because he’ll always be backed up just in case he needed an upgrade. Another clever thing about using Lego to build his PC tower is that he can probably design places where he could easily take chunks of Lego out in the situation that the PC overheated.
And if he didn’t like the design, he could always smash it and rebuild a different design, that’s $140 well spent! Continue reading »
