Computer and Network

Wednesday, July 16, 2014

Top 7 Ultrathin Windows Laptops: Alternatives to Apple's MacBook Air

Many people consider the Apple MacBook Air to be the gold standard in ultrathin laptops, but Windows users don't have to jump to the Mac platform to get the same slim and sleek design.

The seven lightweight laptops here are each no more than about an inch thick, and in some cases they cost several hundred dollars less than the groundbreaking Apple laptop.

Here's how these ultrathin laptops each stack up to Apple's popular 13.3-inch ultraportable (discussed in the order of their announcement).

Samsung Series 9

Advantages: The 13.3-inch Samsung Series 9 comes with twice the memory (4GB versus 2GB) of the MacBook Air. It also has a backlit keyboard, faster USB 3.0 ports, and, most important, the latest Intel processors (two generations newer than the 2010 MacBook Air). Samsung's high-style laptop is a touch thinner and lighter than the MacBook Air, too, though not noticeably so.

Samsung Series 9 review 1 Series 9/MacBook Air comparison

Disadvantages: Retailing for $1599, the Series 9 doesn't have any price advantage over the high-end MacBook Air model and costs $300 more than the lower-end Air version. The MacBook Air also has a higher display resolution (1440 by 900 pixels) than that of the Series 9 (1366 by 768 pixels).

Note: The Samsung Series 9 also comes in an 11.6-inch version to rival Apple's similar, smaller MacBook Air.

Toshiba Portege R830

Advantages: Also boasting a 13.3-inch display, the Toshiba Portege R830 (starting at $890) weighs only 0.3 pound more than the MacBook Air, yet can save you as much as $700. Like the Samsung Series 9, the Portege R830 comes with 4GB of RAM (twice the memory of the MacBook Air) and USB 3.0 ports. Its rated battery life is 2 hours longer than that of the MacBook Air and the Series 9. Perhaps most distinctive for a laptop of this size and weight: The Portege R830 comes with 4GB of RAM (twice the memory of the MacBook Air) and USB 3.0 ports. Its rated battery life is 2 hours longer than that of the MacBook Air and the Series 9. Perhaps most distinctive for a laptop of this size and weight: The Portege R830 has an integrated DVD drive.

Disadvantages: Although the Portege R830 has a larger-capacity drive (640GB), it's a slower 5400-rpm SATA hard drive rather than the premium Flash storage type found in the MacBook Air. The Portege R830's display resolution (1366 by 788 pixels) is lower than the MacBook Air's (1440 by 900 pixels), too. Finally--and most noticeably--while the MacBook Air is known for its supersleek profile, the Portege R830 has a boxier build and is about a third of an inch thicker (1.05 inches at its thickest).

MSI X-Slim X370

Advantages: If you don't mind a bit more thickness (0.2 inch) and a touch more weight (0.2 pound) to your ultraslim laptop, you can save between $700 and $1000 by buying the $599 MSI X-Slim X370 instead of the MacBook Air. This 13.4-inch machine should have a longer battery life than the MacBook Air (up to 3 hours more than the Air's 7 hours), thanks to its new AMD Fusion processor. It comes with 4GB of memory instead of 2GB, and it has an HDMI port for connecting to your TV.

Disadvantages: Though undoubtedly thin, in terms of design the X-Slim X370 isn't as cutting-edge as the MacBook Air and its aluminum unibody construction. And although the 500GB hard drive available for the X370 at retail has a faster (7200-rpm) speed than MSI previously announced, it's not the high-performing Flash storage that the MacBook Air offers. Finally, Apple has better brand recognition than MSI, which may or may not matter to you.

Monday, December 30, 2013

How to take a screnshot with an iphoe

How to Take a Screenshot With an iPhone

If you want to know how to take a screenshot with your iPhone, just follow these easy steps.

1) Turn on your iPhone. Just hold down the button on the top right of the phone and wait for the white Apple logo to appear.

2) Find the image you want to capture. You can choose any image from your email, photos, home screen, or from anything you find online.

3) Find your Sleep/Wake button. This is the button on the top right of your phone. It's the button you use to turn your phone on and off.

4) Find your Home button. Your home button is the round button centered on the bottom of your iPhone. It has a picture of a white square in the center.

5) Hold down the Sleep/Wake and Home buttons at the same time and release them. If you were able to take a screenshot, then you should hear a camera shuttersound and see a white screen.

You only need to hold the two buttons down for one second for this to work.

You don't have to release the buttons at the exact same time.

6) Check your Camera Roll to make sure that you captured the image. To find your Camera Roll, simply click on the "Photos" application on your home screen. Then click on "Camera Roll," which should be listed as your first album. Your screenshot should be the last image in this album.

If you weren't able to take the screenshot, try to do it again and hold down the buttons for a second longer this time.

Friday, October 18, 2013

Bacteria that makes the Hawaiian bobtail squid bioluminescent also dictate when it expresses a gene that encodes circadian rhythm-controlling proteins,according to a paper due to be published in mBio.

The squid has fascinated microbiologists for years because of its harmonious relationship with just one bacteria -- Vibrio fischeri. The bacteria does not express light when it is freely roaming in the ocean, but when housed in the squid's light organ (located in its underbelly) it will work with the animal to emit light according to how much

moonlight and sunlight is visible above. In doing so, the squid will glow a light blue to mimic the light from above, eliminating its shadow on the seabed and rendering it invisible to predators potentially lurking below. The two live a happy coexistence: the bacteria getting sustenance from the squid, the squid getting camouflage from the bacteria.

A cyclic daily routine enjoyed by the two had already been noted. For instance, the bobtail squid expels 95 percent of the bacteria every morning when it's about to go to sleep in the seabed. In doing so the squid ensures infant squid have access to new bacteria and that it stops emitting light while it sleeps. The remaining bacteria repopulate everyday and are back to full capacity by nightfall. This process employs a type of cell-to-cell communication called quorum sensing. It's induced when the individual bacteria release chemical autoinducers to alert others to its presence, and when the level of autoinducers reaches a certain density the bacteria turns on genes that react with proteins to emit the light. In the bobtail's case, the bacteria produces the enzyme luciferas. It's why the bacteria doesn't emit light outside the squid's organ -- in the ocean the autoinducers never accumulate to a high enough density.

What has been unclear is how the squid and bacteria communicate with one another -- for instance, how does the squid recognise and translate light messages to good bacteria and not bad. The mBio paper has gone a way in providing some clues as to how this symbiosis works behind the scenes. It has revealed that escry1, one of two genes in the squid that encodes proteins that set its inner clock (similar to our light sensitive biological clock) is dominant in the light organ where the bacteria thrives.

Lead author on the paper Margaret McFall-Ngai of the University of Wisconsin found that the gene was not cycling with environmental light however, as is the norm among animals and humans, but with the bioluminescence dominant at night. The find is an exciting one because it is "the first report of bacteria entraining the daily rhythms of host tissues", according to McFall-Ngai, and could be replicable in other animals or even humans. It's been difficult to breakdown the relationship between human, their good bacteria and viruses because the system is so complex -- we have millions of "good bacteria" thriving within us. Conversely, there is just one bacteria dominant in the bobtail squid and the pair make excellent research subjects because each can thrive without each other.

This means researchers can study bacteria-free squid in the lab to see what natural states the Vibrio fischeri are affecting -- which is how McFall-Ngai confirmed her suspicions about what was happening with the gene cycles.

She found that squid in the lab that lacked Vibrio fischeri bacteria could not luminesce and did not cycle their expression of the escry1 gene. Using a blue light to mimic the luminescence still did not induce gene cycling. However, if the bacteria was present but defective (unable to luminesce), gene cycling did kick in when the fake light was used. It proves that the bacteria and the light are together essential for controlling gene cycling in the squid.

Breaking the process down further McFall-Ngai found that microbe-associated molecular patterns (MAMPs), which alert animals to the presence of certain microbes, induced some cycling when combined only with light and not bacteria. Next up she and her team will investigate how the escry1 gene affects the squids metabolism, but the whole find could point us in the right direction to understanding how the millions of bacteria in our gut possibly regulate other processes in the body.

"Recently, in two different studies, biologists have found that there is profound circadian rhythm in both the epithelium [of the human gut] and the mucosal immune system of the gut that is controlled by these clock genes," McFall-Ngai said in a statement. "What are we missing? Are the bacteria affected by or inducing the cycling of the tissues with which they associate? We don't know."

Further studies of the processes could answer questions about how our body communicates with good bacteria, and how the Vibrio fischeri bacteria developed a symbiotic relationship -- considering it is closely relation to other Vibrio bacteria that are far from symbiotic, causing cholera and gastroenteritis.

Wednesday, October 16, 2013

Samsung Galaxy Grand software update brings Blocking Made

Samsung Galaxy Grand software update brings Blocking mode and stability improvements

Samsung recently launched the Galaxy Grand Duos in the country and now the device is getting its first set of software updates.

While one update brings improved stability with a 26.68MB download, the other is a feature called Blocking Mode. This second 21.17MB update comes with a warning saying that "some settings will be reset or data erased after this upgrade".

For those unaware, blocking mode allows users to disable notifications for certain features on the device such as incoming calls, alarm and timer and notifications itself, similar to the DND facility in iOS. Users can set a time when they choose not to be disturbed. They can, however allow incoming calls from certain contacts should they choose to add those to their 'Allowed contacts' list.

As warned, we particularly faced this issue after the update was installed. The songs saved in the storage card were not visible anymore and the Music player widget on the home screen went blank with no song details available. However, restarting the device post the update helped restore all the song data.

Users can head over to Settings>About Device>Software Update>Update.

The Galaxy Grand Duos (Review I Pictures) is Samsung's 5-inch device with a WVGA TFT display. It is a dual-SIM Smartphone that is powered by Android 4.1.2 (Jelly Bean) and runs on a 1.2GHz dual-core processor with 1GB RAM.

The Smartphone packs in 8GB of internal storage (4GB available to the user). The memory can be expanded by up to 64GB via microSD card. Samsung is also offering 50GB of cloud space through Drop box with the purchase of this Smartphone. Other features include an 8-megapixel rear and camera with flash, a 2-megapixel camera in the front and a 2,100mAh battery

Friday, October 4, 2013

vodafone internet settings for android

APN settings explained

APN (Access Point Name) settings are used by your phone, tablet or modem to connect to the internet, and send/receive PXT messages, over the Vodafone mobile network. Below you’ll find APN, WAP and PXT/MMS settings for your phone.

APN settings

Internet settings for smartphones

Name	VF WEB
APN	live.vodafone.com
MCC	505
MNC	03
APN Type	default

Note: Your phone may not require the MCC, MNC or APN Type

Internet settings for WAP-based phones (i.e. non-smartphones)

Name	VF WAP
APN	live.vodafone.com
Proxy	10.202.2.60
Port	8080

Note: Your phone may not require the MCC, MNC or APN Type

PXT/MMS settings

Name	Vodafone AU-MMS
APN	live.vodafone.com
MMSC	http://pxt.vodafone.net.au/pxtsend
MMS Proxy	10.202.2.60
MMS Port	8080
MCC	505
MNC	03
APN type	mms

Note: Your phone may not require the MCC, MNC or APN Type

Thursday, October 3, 2013

Manual Internet Settings for Omantel, Nawras Blackberry

Internet settings (iPhone – Nawras)
Go to Settings > General > Network > Cellular Data NetworkEnter Cellular
Data Apn : isp.nawras.com.om
Username : testTest : test

Internet settings (iPhone – Oman Mobile)
Goto > > > Apn : taif
Username : taif
Password : taif

Internet settings – Blackberry – Nawras
Go to Options > Advanced >
TCPAPN : isp.nawras.com.om
username : testpassword : test

MMS settings – Nawras
APN : mms.nawras.com.om
MMSC : 10.128.240.16/servlets/mms
MMS Proxy : 10.128.240.19:8080
All other fields blank

MMS settings – Oman Mobile
APN : mms
Username: mms
Password: mms
Mmsc: http://mmsc.omanmobile.om:10021/mmsc
Proxy: 192.168.203.035:8080
All other fields blank

Text Message Center Number

Go to Menu > messages > settings > text message > message centre
OmanMobile (+968 99300610)

Internet settings – Google Nexus One – Nawras
Go to seetings >Mobile networks > Access Point Names> Data
APNName: Nawras Internet (can be any name)
APN: isp.nawras.com.om
APN Type: default
User Name: test
Password: test
APN Type: defaultLeave other fields empty

MMS settings – Google Nexus One – Nawras
MMS APNName: nawras
MMS (Can be any name)
APN: mms.nawras.com.om
Proxy: 10.128.240.19Port: 8080
username: test
password: test
MMSC: http://10.128.240.16/servlets/mms
MMS proxy: 10.128.240.19MMS port: 8080
Authentication Type : None
APN type: mms