Domain Names

The dotted decimal notation system was difficult to remember, & hence a new IP addressing system using words was evolved. In this system, an address such as www.amazon.com is called a domain name. Domain names are sets of words that are assigned to specific IP addresses, & these names can have two or more word groups separated by periods. Domain names are formed by the rules and procedures of 'domain name system'. The extreme right part of the domain name is the most general, & each part of it becomes more specific as we move to the left from right. As an example, the domain name www.amazon.com contains 3 parts separated by periods. Starting at the right, the name 'com' indicates that the computer belongs to a company, the company is identified by the name 'amazon', & the word 'www' indicates that the computer is running software that makes it a part of the 'World Wide Web'. 

Domain names are organized in subdomains or subordinate levels of DNS root domain, which is nameless. The rightmost part of the domain name is called a "top level domain",which include generic top level domains, such as com, edu, gov, net, info, mill, biz, name, pro, int, & org and the country code top level domains, such as uk, us, ca, au, & de. The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names & Numbers (ICANN) is responsible for managing domain names, & coordinating with the IP address registrars.

Fundamentals of IP Address

IP Address:

This is a numerical label assigned to each device participating in a computer network that uses Internet Protocol for communication. The functions of IP address are to identify the host or network interface, & location address.

Internet Protocol Version 4: (Standard: RFC 791)

This protocol uses a 32 bit number to identify computers connected to the internet. Computers do all the internal calculations using a binary number system in which each digit is either a 0 or a 1, corresponding to a state of either OFF or ON.  IP Version 4 allows more than 4 billion different addresses, as 2³² = 4, 294,967,296. When a router breaks a message into packets before sending it onto the internet, the router marks each packet with both the source & destination IP addresses of the message. Each IP address appears as 4 numbers separated by periods specified under the dotted decimal notation system, & each of the 4 numbers is an 8 bit number. In networking applications, an 8 bit number is called an octet, & in binary, an octet can have values from 00000000 to 11111111, & the decimal equivalents of these binary numbers are 0 and 255 respectively. As each of the 4 parts of a dotted decimal number can range from 0 to 255, IP addresses range from 0.0.0.0 (32 zeros in binary) to 255.255.255.255 (32 ones in binary).

Introduction to Networks

Internet uses packet switching technology to move data between two points. On a packet-switched network, files and email messages are broken down into small pieces or packets, that are electronically labeled with their origins, sequences, & destination addresses. Packets travel from one computer to another along the interconnected networks untill they reach their destinations. Each packet can take a different path through the interconnected networks, & the packets may arrive out of order. The destination computer collects the packets & reassembles the original file or email message from the pieces in each packet.

 

Routers: When an individual packet travels from one network to another, the computers through which the packet travels determine the best possible route for getting the packet to its destination. The computers that decide how best to forward each packet are called routers or gateway computers.  The programs on routers that determine the best possible path on which to send each packet are called routing algorithms.The routing algorithms use the information they have stored in routing tables. This information includes (1)list of connections that lead to particular groups of other routers, (2)rules that specify which connections to use first, & (3)rules for handling instances of heavy packet traffic and network congestion.

Review: Internet Encryption

The program that transforms normal text, called plain text, into cipher text (the unintelligible string of characters) is called an encryption program. It is the process of encoding data in such a way that only authorized users can read it. Here the data or information is encrypted using an encryption algorithm, making it an unreadable ciphertext. The process is usually accomplished with the use of an encryption key, which specifies the modus operandi of the data encoding. The authorized users can decode the ciphertext using decryption algorithm, which requires a secret decryption key. There are two types keys used in present encryption system.

 

Private Key: Here the encryption and decryption keys are the same. The communicating users must agree on a secret key before starting communication. It can be difficult to distribute new keys to authorized users in each transaction, while maintaining security and control over the keys. The main disadvantage of private keys is that they do not scale well in very large environments such as the internet. Here, x individual internet clients would require (x(x-1))/2 private key pairs.

 

Public Key: This is a latest technological development, & here the key is meant for anyone to use and encrypt the data/message. However, the receiving user has access to the decryption key, & is capable of reading the encrypted data. Symantec Corporation's 'Pretty Good Privacy (PGP)' is a data encryption & decryption algorithm, & is very often used for signing, encrypting, & decrypting texts, emails, files, directories, & whole disk partitions to increase the security of email communications. PGP follows OpenPGP standard RFC 4880 for data encryption & decryption.

Product Review: Amazon's Top Watch

Watches:

Expensive collectible watches, valued for their incredible feat of expert engineering workmanship and aesthetic appeal, often have mechanical movements powered by springs, & provide additional features such as timers, altimeter, moon phase, slide rule bezel, chronographs, GPS technology, & heat-rate monitoring capabilities that work in tandem in addition to simple time keeping. While shopping a watch, whatever the price or style, the brand name can play an important role in determining the right watch. Brand choice can be highly subjective, & will vary from person to person. Finally it comes down to how you perceive a brand, & what it represents, as well as what it speaks to your sensibilities - high style or horological history, modern or traditional, collectible or affordable.

 

Automatic or mechanical watches are made up of 130 or more parts that work in tandem to tell the time, & these timepieces have no batteries. Automatic movements mark the passage of time by a series of gear mechanisms, & are wound by the movement of your wrist as you wear it. Self-winding (automatic) watches utilize kinetic energy, the swinging of your arm, to provide energy to an oscillating rotor to keep the watch ticking. If you do not wear the watch consistently, for about 8-10 hours a day, you can keep the watch powered with a watch winder. Always refer the Owner's Manual.

Twitter's New Feature Around Embedded Tweets

 

  

Recently Twitter unveiled a new feature that adds related headlines to the embedded tweets in order to help tell the story behind the tweet. You will see a new "related headlines" section on the permalink page of tweets that have been embedded in websites. It lists and links to websites where the tweet was embedded, making it easier to discover stories that provide more context. Embedded tweets remain as they have been, but on the timeline of the twitter users who originally tweeted them, the related headlines will be displayed. 

Ecommerce Language for Small Business Owners

 

Curated Commerce: This refers to creating unique product lines that provides customers with a distinct collection of products. In online shopping, the demand for personalization is a vital driving factor. Marketing techniques viz. email marketing is very often used to showcase unique product lines to customers depending on the personal taste & purchase history. 

 

Ecommerce Hosting: This depicts a type of website hosting platform exclusively meant for ecommerce firms, which differs from a standard website hosting platform in many functionalities, such as, database support, SSL, shopping cart software, payment processing services, & security.

 

Electronic Data Interchange: This refers to the exchange of data between companies through networks. This is an easy but important mechanism for companies to buy, sell, & trade information, as the number of internet users is increasing rapidly.

Avoid Facebook Scams

Introduction:

Facebook has approximately 1.06 billion monthly active users, as on Dec' 2012(Source: cNet), & this number is increasing @25% per month, as more and more people go online & create facebook profiles. Therefore it is presumably correct that infiltration occurs in the social arena for 'phishing scams', 'malicious spams', & 'malware'. While working online, scams & spams are unavoidable, but we have to take precautionary measures to avoid these nuisances in order to protect both our privacy & computer system.

How many plug-ins can you add to your personal computer?

Theoretically, one personal computer can be connected to 127 USB (Universal Serial Bus) devices. But practically it is somewhat different. Let us have a look into it. As per the USB specifications, all devices are controlled by a host controller, & this chip has a 7-bit wide address field, & thus it should be able to recognize 128 addresses. Since the controller itself uses the address ‘0’, a total of 127 addresses remain open for plug-in of other USB devices. The USB architecture comprises of the host controller, hubs, & actual USB peripherals, & host controllers are designed to be connected to hubs, & other USB devices. Each device has at least one function, & each function is assigned an individual address. In order to connect 127 devices to a personal computer, we will need a lot of hubs, & each of which will be connected to these available addresses.

How online profiles can be deleted in a click?

You must be tired of having signing up hundreds of websites or apps just to know the inside story, & then climb uphill deleting your online profiles from the unnecessary ones. A lot of companies or websites use dark pattern techniques to make it difficult to find how to delete your online profile or account. A dark pattern is a type of user interface that has been carefully crafted to trick users into doing things, such as buying insurance with purchase or signing up for recurring bills.

 

Dark Patterns: User Interfaces Designed to Trick People 

Computer Security: Q & A

Question 1:

Will you lose data if you keep a magnet near a computer or a hard disk on top of a soundbox?

 

Answer:

 

The hard drive magnets are the rare-earth, permanent, & powerful Neodymium magnets, which forms almost half of the motor or actuator that moves the Read/Write head quickly across the surface of a hard disk platter.  These are really strong magnets. The stronger the magnets, the faster the head can move over the disk in order to reduce the access time. Terabyte-sized drives consist of up to 4 platters that are coated with iron oxide or cobalt, & each have capacities of up to 690GB. This data is stored in small magnetized segments or bits on the disk, which can have two magnetization directions: 0 & 1.

 

 

How to Start Your Business?

In this 21st Century, a lot of people are interested to start a new venture of their own, & it may be due to: (a) they are tired of the present job, (b) they want to be their own boss, or (c) the current life style has made them frustrated. Starting a business is with its own frustrations, as you are starting it all from scratch. You are unaware of the facts and figures of expenses to be made as good as the revenue to be generated. Suppose you have a business plan or success road map to serve you along with a fixed budget. But many people never correlate the plan to the capital amount they will need at least for the 1st year. Further, a lot of small business houses are totally oblivious to the facts like, (a) who are the competitors in the niche, (b) the type of products or services they offer, (c) what is the current turnover of their business, etc.  

A Tale of Two Success Stories

India

In India, college or school drop-outs are looked upon unfavorably, & if you will think of entrepreneurship, you will get many whanks & spanks from family, friends, & soceity. Here goes the success story of Senthil Nayagam - a college drop-out, but the new epitome of the 21st Century Indian entrepreneur.

 

During 1999, Senthil started an Internet Cafe to supplement his livelihood, where he taught himself the skills of troubleshooting Linux, Perl, PHP, Python, & MySql. The startup business was initially a mediocre success, but later on failed. Not disheartened by his relatively failed first attempt, Senthil moved to Bangalore during 2004 to make a career in software, where he met his friend Dinesh Kumar who shared his passion for business. It was then that Senthil discovered the potential of Ruby & Ruby on Rails. Two years later, RailsFactory was born. 

Preview & Review - Google Glass

Google Glass

Preview:

This is a wearable computer with an optical head-mounted display, designed in an advanced computing concept, where computing is made to appear everywhere& anywhere, & to display information in a hands-free format, that can interact with the internet through natural language voice commands. This is an attempt to free data from desktop computers, & portable devices like phones and tablets. By uttering the phrase 'Okay Google', followed by one of the recognized commands, wearers can search the web, take pictures, record movies, execute messaging service, start video chats, know weather reports, look  for map directions, & perform on-screen translation service.

Use Google to Improve Your Business

CHAPTER - IV

Ref: Chapter -I, Chapter -II, & Chapter - III

Blogger:

This is a blog-publishing service that allows private or multi-user blogs with time-stamped entries at the sub-domain of blogspot.com. You can create your own blog & market your products or the products of other companies through this platform. Price: Free. Ref: xyz, pqr, abc & mno

ScreenShot:

Five Photo Tools on Google +

Courtsey: USA Today

Some Special Facts About Blogger Blogs

Features:

1. A drag & drop template editing interface,
2. Reading permissions,
3. Web feed options,
4. Label organization,
5. Dynamic updation,
6. Image & Video handling,
7. HTML (raw) conversion,
8. Adding location to posts: Geotagging,
9. Post time-stamping while publishing,

How to Create a Free Blogger Blog

Blogger Logo

Blogger is an online service owned by Google Inc. that publishes single or multi-user blogs easily FREE of cost. Generally all blogger blogs are hosted by Google at the subdomain of blogspot.com. If you are not familiar with this service, this article will guide you to create a FREE blogger blog. Come, join the blogosphere. 

Blog & Blogging - A Discussion

Introduction:

There are millions of blogs or weblogs in different shapes, sizes, contents, & platforms, which may be having some rules or may not be. A blog is some sort of personal diary or personal voice or a collaborative space or political soapbox or a collection of links or your memos to the world. Simply, a blog is a personal website, where you can write stuffs or upload videos or photos on an ongoing basis, which your readers will look into and may or may not connect you. A blog is a place or web space to collect and share things, that you find interesting. Technically speaking, a blog is a discussion or informational site published on the World Wide Web, and consists of discrete entries or posts, typically displayed in reverse chronological order. 

Use Google to Improve Your Business

CHAPTER - III

Ref: Chapter II & Chapter I

Google +: 

This is a multilingual social networking and identity service. It is the second largest social networking site in the world, having surpassed Twitter in January 2013. It has many features like, Stream, Circles, Hangouts, Messenger, G+ Mobile, Instant upload, Communities, Games, & G+ Pages, which can be used as per requirement of the ecommerce company. Price: Free.