Credit Cards and eCommerce

Image via Wikipedia

Credit cards are a necessity these days. Your options will be limited if you do not have one. Buying stuff from eBay, Amazon, Newegg and other major online stores will be less convenient without credit cards. Sure, you can use Paypal and other payment systems but credit cards are still the most commonly accepted method of payment. The other payment systems are just a nice addition. There are still plenty of sites that only accept credit cards.

However, there is also the issue of security to think about. Payments made using credit cards must be made through a secure connection only. There are people out there who are after other’s credit card information. People must also never send their credit card information through email. If they do, their credit card information might be extracted because emails are sent as plain text. (Unless they have been encrypted)

Luckily, aside from better security protocols, banks are also issuing special credit cards which are designed particularly for online purchases. Compared with regular credit cards, these special online credit cards are better in many ways. You can adjust your credit limit easily so that you can fund it only when needed. If in case a cracker gets a hold of your credit card information, she won’t be able to use it as the balance will be empty.

Technology made our lives more convenient. But it’s a double-edged blade. We also need to be vigilant while enjoying our newfound privilege.

The Apple Magic Trackpad is Real

Image via Wikipedia

Apple is really a champion in the field of design. They came up with a new trackpad that is so beautiful to look at. It is simple, elegant and sleek. It has the same gestures as the MacBook or MacBook Pro pad, plus an additional three-finger move. The additional gesture lets you drag your windows across the screen. Engadget will still be doing some serious testing with the new Apple Magic Trackpad. I guess we just have to wait a little bit. For certain, a lot of new and wonderful stuff are coming out of Apple’s door.

Computers for Cars

Image via Wikipedia

The computer is ubiquitous these days. In the past, you can only find these monsters inside universities, laboratories and in the military. Now, everybody seems to have one. Even cars. Yep, your car has a microchip that controls fuel injection, braking and stability control, among other things. It is now even possible to interface your laptop computer with your car.

This is a nice thing because you could then use a lot of useful applications in your laptop to perform adjustments and troubleshooting routines. You could also perform a variety of measurements. For instance, you can measure your engine’s horsepower and your car’s brake horse power ala The Fast and The Furious. Of course, it won’t be the same as using a real dynamometer but at least you will have a pretty good estimate. A dynamometer measures force, torque or power. These metrics are very important to mechanics and car enthusiast. With these metrics, you can fine tune a car to work optimally and efficiently.

Since computers are improving all the time, courtesy of Moore’s Law, do not be surprised if the computer in your car becomes more powerful than it is now. In the future, it may even be able to interface with your GPS or radar scanner such that when it detects a car in front of you, it slows its speed down or at least prompts you to. Just hope that the computer won’t hang, though.

Skype for iPhone Now has Multitasking Capability

Image by philcampbell via Flickr

Skype is a wonderful application for the iPhone. It allows you to make and receive calls without having to use up all your allotted talk time. However it needs to be open all the time to make sure that you do not miss any calls. Any incoming calls will not be received when the Skype application for your iPhone is not running. Wouldn’t it be nice if you do not have to miss those calls without having the Skype application open all the time?

The answer is now a resounding yes. Skype just updated their application to take advantage of the iOS 4’s multitasking capability. Isn’t this great? You can now have Skype always on but in the background and out of the way. You can use your iPhone for other things. Once there is an incoming call, you will be notified by a prompt. You can also switch to other applications while on a Skype call.

Self Hosted Blogs

Image via Wikipedia

It is nice to host your own blog. However, I do not want the hassle of installing my own blogging platform and updating it regularly. Failing to update it with regular patches could make you vulnerable to network intrusion. Crackers are always on the lookout for exploitable blogs. That is something you would never like to happen. You could find your blog defaced one morning. If your blog has high traffic, you could find out one day that your traffic had been redirected to another site. Internet security is a serious matter that you must consider if you are planning to self-host your blog.

But if you are bent on self-hosting your blog, the first thing that you need to do is to find a Web hosting company that offers the best deal for your needs. There are also reseller web hosting accounts that you might want to look into if you know a lot of people planning to start their own self-hosted blogs. With a reseller Web hosting account, you purchase the Web host's services wholesale and then sell them to people you know for a profit. By the way, this is a relatively simple and inexpensive way to start your own online company and to make money online.

The next question you need to ask yourself is the blogging platform you are going to use. There are a lot of options out there but Wordpress seems to be the platform of choice for the most part. After you have all the necessary ingredients, just mix them all together and hope that everything works out just fine. If not, the support team of your Web hosting company is usually very helpful. There are also a lot of resources on the Internet covering Wordpress installation on your servers. Happy blogging!

Apple Is Stronger Than Ever

Image by DrewVigal via Flickr

Apple, Inc. is definitely in the zone. The Q3 sales of their Mac, iPad and iPhones this year blew up sky high—past Wall Street’s estimates. In the not too distant past, Apple is among the lesser known computer manufacturers not unlike Sun Microsystems. The only people using a Mac those days were die-hard Apple fans. Lately, it is not surprising anymore to see a Macbook on a table if you happen to pass by a coffee shop.

I am not sure if this is because of the Apple Macintosh’s new OS X operating system or the introduction of their latest portable gadgets like the iPod, iPhone and now the iPad, or a combination of both. Whatever the reason is, I am happy for this development. For Mac users, they will be getting more software for their Macs because Apple’s growing market share is becoming more attractive to software developers. For PC users, Microsoft and computer manufacturers like IBM, HP, Sony and Dell will be striving very hard to improve their products because of the very real competition that Apple is now offering. For me, it is a great time for all computer users. Having more choices is always better.

Vacation and Work or Work and Vacation

Image via Wikipedia

Work and vacation are words that hardly go together in one sentence or said in one breath. But with the aid of technology like mobile internet and ultra portable netbook computers, you are now allowed to confuse one from the other.

Personally, I do not like portable computers like notebooks—much less, netbooks. I would much prefer the power that a desktop workstation provides. Portable notebooks and netbooks just have lower memories, cramped capacities, smaller screens, tinny audio, smaller keyboards, and inferior video cards. Plus, they’re much more expensive than a comparable desktop. They also cannot play your latest games when the time comes to take a break. The only thing that they have going for them is mobility. But is it worth it? I thought that nothing is worth being able to play my latest 3D first person shooter. However, thinking about the beautiful beaches of Hawaii made me think again.

It is not that I have some luau invitations or something—though I would have to say that I love those artistic and colorful invitation card designs. But imagine being able watch the sea, hear the waves and smell the breeze while working on your keyboard. You will not only be doing work and vacation together—you will be enhancing your work and increasing your productivity in no time due to the relaxing and creativity enhancing nature of the environment. Talk about working with nature with the aid of modern technology. So send me some luau invitations. I won’t pass on the offer and not even break a single stride in my work.

Digital Versus Analog

Image via Wikipedia

Digital technology has been around for quite some time already—Digital cell phone networks, digital cameras, digital videos and more. However, a lot of non-techies still confuse digital technology with analog technology. For most of them, it is simply the modern version of a particular technology. A digital cell phone is the modern version of the older analog cell phone while a digital camera is the newer reincarnation of the older film camera. But that is simply not the case.

Digital technology simply means that its input, output or storage is conveyed in discrete digits and not a continuous curve of values. In mathematics, think of digital as integers and analog as real numbers. In digital there is no in-betweens. A digital clock, for instance, moves from 1:30 directly to 1:31—no in-between—while an analog one moves its hand from 1:30 clockwise a quarter of the way, then half the way and later to 1:31. In the same amount of time, of course. The same is true in digital and analog communications. In an analog communication, the voice disturbs a device which then transmits a range of voltage much like a sine curve; but in digital communication, the voice is sampled and each sample is assigned distinct values which are then transmitted. Those values are then transmitted.

Since analog data has infinite possible in-between quantities and only a small portion of which can be practically sampled in digital data, it can be said that analog data is more faithful to reality and has more quality. But since our senses cannot take advantage of all the additional data that analog provides, whether audio or visual, then moving to digital which is a lot more flexible is the more pragmatic approach.

Technology to Remove Scars?

Image via Wikipedia

Scars are the skin’s natural way of repairing injuries to itself. They happen when a layer of a person’s skin is damaged. After a layer of skin is damaged, it will heal with a scar. The problem is that the tissue composing the scar is usually of lesser quality than the tissue that it replaced. In addition, no hair can grow in the scar tissue and that portion of the skin becomes more sensitive to ultra-violet rays.

It is therefore desirable to remove scar tissues. With all the modern technology that we have, you would think that this is going to be easy. But currently, there is no such technology that can completely remove scar tissues. What can be done today is mainly to improve how the scar looks by:

• Disguising,
• Relocating, or
• Minimizing the prominence of the scar.

These are done by a competent and skilled surgeon. But not all scar removal surgery would end up the same. There are several factors that can help decide the outcome of a scar surgery, such as:

• The type of skin and it’s color, and
• The age and size of the scar.

Obviously, the smaller the size of the scar, the easier it is to disguise it, relocate it, or minimize its prominence. Different types of skin requires different surgical techniques and some skin color makes it easier to hide scars. Timing is also very important. The younger the scar, the better the outcome of the scar operation will be. So if you are planning to have a scar removed, do not wait too long.

Searching Updates in Facebook

Image via CrunchBase

In Twitter, I have been using the search tool to search for tweets of a particular topic in the Twitter timeline. This is a very handy feature to get a review of something. Upon using Facebook, I missed this capability. It would have been nice to know what people are saying about a particular product or a particular movie.

But as I began to explore Facebook more, I later realized that you can also do a similar search in Facebook. Unlike in Twitter though, there is no separate site with a different interface to conduct your search e.g. search.twitter.com. Instead, all you have to do is use the regular Facebook search box and filter the results by posts. I normally used the Facebook search only to find friends and groups, and did not realize that it can also be used to find posts containing particular keywords. Now, I’m much happier.

Lightsaber Technology

Image via Wikipedia

The technology behind the epic Star Wars is indeed very awesome. But of all the gadgetries in Star Wars, the lightsaber comes foremost to most people’s mind. This sword made of light energy can cut through most materials. The energy is amplified by some type of crystal and discharges only an insignificant amount of energy as it is a closed circuit system. It only uses up some energy if it cuts through things.

I wonder when technology would be capable of designing and constructing a real lightsaber—or whether it could even be done. Imagine if you have one and an assortment of Star Wars Costumes. Then, you would be ready to take on a hoard of Sith Lords. (or Jedi Knights, depending on your political inclinations)

But seriously, if technology can be capable of constructing a real life lightsaber, it is not just the Star Wars fans who will be happy for it. Being capable of constructing a lightsaber would mean the capability of creating an improved and efficient energy generator which could clearly help us all with our energy needs. Our current sources of energy are not as efficient as a lightsaber. We will then be able to save our environment. For me, I can also finally wear my jedi robes with real conviction.

Computer Gaming and Kid’s Education

Image by OllieBray via Flickr

Most of us think that games are bad for kids because it takes time away from their studies. Partly, this is true. But a recent trend in computer gaming is to fuse fun and education. There are lots of things that are good for kids to learn but are unfortunately boring. An example is typing. Computers are very common nowadays that learning how to type properly and efficiently is a very valuable skill. It is a skill your kid can rely on for the rest of her life. It is almost like learning to drive.

But typing rows and rows of letters will get boring really quick. To remedy this, there are game type typing tutors which can hold the attention of your child a bit longer. They will be asked to type the letters that fall from the sky or the letter on alien’s shirts to send them back to outer space. This is a game—but it is one which enables your child to learn a very important skill.