Data can be transferred in 3 different modes, these 3 modes are equally popular and used in common everyday situations.

• Simplex

If data can only be transferred in a single direction (one way) it is known as simplex. Television transmission is an example of Simplex transmission, here data can be transferred only to a television but no data can be transferred in the opposite direction.

• Duplex

When data maybe transferred in two directions simultaneously it is known as Duplex, a simple telephone conversation would be an example, while we usually don’t talk simultaneously a telephone provides that ‘duplex’ functionality.

• Half-Duplex

In this mode of transmission as well, data maybe transmitted in both directions, however it cannot be done simultaneously. A Walkie Talkie would be an example of this mode of transmission.

The different modes are implemented based on their requirements, for example in Simplex transmission, two way transmission is not required in television transmission thus Simplex is used.

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• Windows 7

This is the predecessor of Microsoft’s (failed) Windows Vista operating system and after the results of Vista, looks like Microsoft is determined to get things right with Windows 7. Currently in beta Windows 7 is set to release it’s stable version in October. The main improvement over Windows 7 would be the increased efficiency and performance in terms of speed and compatibility. I think the Internet has covered most of the major features and news regarding updates of the Windows 7 and here are some pointers to find out more:

- Windows 7 News
- 50 seriously useful Windows 7 tips, tricks and secrets
- The Top Windows 7 Tips and Tricks List
- Seven reasons you need Windows 7
- 7 Things We Hate About Windows 7
- Why XP owners won’t love Windows 7
- 10 reasons Vista haters will love Windows 7

• Google Wave

Google has been ‘silently’ acquiring relatively small companies and adding features to its existing services and just as all the hype over their minimalist browser is dying away they’ve announced the release of a new service ‘later this year’ that has potential to revolutionize social networking and information sharing as a whole.

Google Wave lets you have real-time communication streams known as ‘waves’ with any number of Google contacts allowing you to share text, photos, videos, maps, documents and pretty much all other sharable aspects of Google’s services. It’s pretty much the combination of all their services in a communication stream. Don’t underestimate the use of  ‘real-time’ though, it really is real-time, users in a ‘wave’ can actually see as you type a message! Also it is planned to be available as a downloadable application to be run as a separate application on a private server. You can find out all you need to know on Google Wave in the 80 minute long developer preview video on the features of Google Wave on the Wave homepage. Below are a few more interesting links on Google’s newest service.

- Google Wave: A Complete Guide
- Google Wave Drips With Ambition. A New Communication Platform For A New Web.
- Google Wave Questions and Answers
- Is Google Wave a Twitter Killer?
- Could Google Wave Redefine Email and Web Communication?

• Bing

Well, looks like Microsoft is actually getting a hold of something, after Vista proved to be unworthy, they’ve (after quite a while) successfully impressed geeks and the average user with their upcoming Windows 7 release. And then there was Live Search, outperformed in the search engine market and holding the least market share out of the three main search engines (Google and Yahoo being the other two).

Which brings us to Bing, The rebranding of Live Search, Bing was launched around 3 weeks back. Backed by a marketing budget of around $100 million I’m pretty sure this isn’t the first time you’ve read about Bing on the Internet. Bing calls itself a ‘decision engine’ however looking closely you’ll find it’s still pretty much a plain search engine. (this is a real decision engine)

However Bing has actually got to the average Internet user, evidently we’d notice it with the increased market share and even leap frogging Yahoo few days after it’s launch with a 16% share which pretty much means they’ve actually done something right this time around as they did with Windows 7.

Find out more about Bing:

- Bing Overtakes Yahoo in Search Market Share
- Hands on: Microsoft Bing review
- Bing Tips & Tricks
- 5 Advanced Bing Tips

So there you have it, 3 of the much talked about products currently percolating the Internet. Be the first to know any new updates on these services by subscribing below.

And, as always comments on these products are welcome.

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The other way to turn your computer into a Television is using the Internet. There are several live streaming television channels available for viewing which are mostly free. Of course before giving online TV a try you will need a good internet connection to ensure seamless and uninterrupted playback. If you’ve got yourself a good internet connection I suggest you try online TV services for a change.

While local and cable TV is great, watching TV online has it’s benefits as well:

• Gain access to exclusive content

There are channels available that are only streamed online and comprise of very educational and entertaining content that you probably won’t find on traditional television and cable channels very often.

• Gain access to new content as they are released

While local and cable TV is great, new releases of movies, music and such are available quicker on online TV rather than your local TV. This widely depends on your country, but if you are outside the US mainly you will probably see more recent releases in online streaming channels than what you would find on your local or cable TV.

• Video on demand

While this can be configured with your TV as well, online TV gives you more flexibility and at cheaper prices or even for free. There are plenty of services that let you pick a TV show or movie of your choice which is pretty much VOD.

• Less commercials

Ah, that’s the other thing, with online TV you see much fewer advertisements and interruptions during streaming making your TV watching experience a lot more productive.

• Cheaper

With a little bit of research it is possible to get high quality streaming with VOD and other features for absolutely free. Paying a tiny sum for all these features are also possible and worth it as well. In any case, comparatively online TV is a lot cheaper.

There are plenty of  free and paid TV services online, some of the most popular ones are:

• ChannelChooser

Channel Chooser is one of the most popular free web based channel portals offering an array of thousands of channels to choose from.

• AnyTV

AnyTV is a TV streaming application giving you access to thousands of streaming channels available for free with limited channels and features and for $44 with all channels and extra features available. All channels are rated by users to let you pick the best channels easily and categorized as well. The quality of channels in terms of freshness of content and display quality vary as well.

• Livestation

LiveStation is a Microsoft backed project and gives you access to several channels partnered with LiveStream (this mainly consists of news channels) and user submitted streams. Recommended specifically for news, LiveStation provides a free downloadable application with a sleek interface for viewing TV online.

• Joost

Joost is another similar service to LiveStation yet web based and is another user-driven community as well comprising of several high quality streams. It also features unique features such as integrated Facebook login for members and the possibility to embed channeld on your website.

• wwITV

Another popular Internet TV portal with thousands of channels worldwide to choose from.

While Internet TV seems like a decent alternative the main negative aspect behind Internet TV would be the video quality factor. Quality varies drastically depending on the source. Another issue with Internet TV, mainly the free services is that some of the content and the channels itself may not be permitted for commercial viewing.

The above mentioned online TV services are just a few of several free and paid online TV services, there are plenty more to choose from. If you happen to stumble across a great online TV service be sure to mention it in the comments.

Read this great LifeHacker article telling you why Internet TV is a great alternative.

Update: Looks like WordPress thinks online TV is a great idea too. Fresh from the Automattic oven, WordPress has launched WordPress.TV, all you need to know about WordPress, on video.

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With mouse gestures you can do just that, the concept is popular among web browsers, all major web browsers now support it in terms of a built in feature or addon. Mouse gestures let you perform common (and not so common) tasks using just your mouse and that’s it! To perform a mouse gesture, generally you would hold your right mouse button and move it in a sequence to perform an action. This sequence differs from browser to addon, and can be customized in some addons/browsers.

For example in Opera, gestures is a built in feature, you just hold your right mouse button and move it to the left to perform the ‘back’ function in the browser. If you use Firefox, the most popular Gestures addon is the FireGestures addon, opening a new tab using this addon in firefox can be done by holding the right mouse button and moving it left and then right. This can be customized in the FireGestures preferences. The same feature using Opera can be done by holding the right mouse button and moving the mouse downwards.

Commonly, Gestures are acknowledged by displaying the sequence performed in the status bar or drawing the sequence on the screen (FireGestures offers both these) so you know what you are doing. One of the issues with mouse gestures is the wrong sequence being mapped, which may cause an entirely different action to be performed to what you actually wanted so you got to watchout for that or you might end up closing your browser when you wanted to open a link which is ironic and can be frustrating. One way around this is to stick with the default gestures assigned for functions, that way you won’t find combinations that can easily cause a different action to be performed.

According to Wikipedia, Mouse Gestures originated from Apple computers for ‘dragging’ to move or copy items so thank you Apple for that! Before you try it i’m warning you, if you get used to Gestures you’ll find it annoying to surf without it! Mouse Gestures are available in other applications and for common OS use as well but we’ll leave that for another post.

Try Gestures with your favorite browser:

• Firefox
• Opera
• Internet Explorer
• Safari
• Chrome

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Company – Axill Europe

Head office – UK

Brief Description – Cheap, popular, feature-filled VOIP provider

Ratings:

• Sound Quality – 4/5
• Price – 5/5
• Software – 3.5/5
• Features – 5/5
• Connectivity – 5/5

Rating Description

• Sound Quality

Sound quality is good. Transmission delays are present at times. There are breaks in the voice at times which is negligible.

• Price

The most attractive feature with the package, pricing. Rates are quite cheap, one of the cheapest VOIP providers’ infact. You pay a ‘voucher’ of a minimum of $5, also vouchers for 10, 25, 50 & 100 dollars are available.

• Software

The software features a classic black skin. Lets you add and remove ‘widgets’ based on your needs. The software does contain a few bugs though which is the main negative factor about the service, the applets (phone especially) fail to execute at times.

• Features

Globe7 is feature-filled, which is another advantage of the service. Some of the features are its Globe7 TV, videos, games, breaking news, etc.

• Connectivity

Connectivity is good. Gets connected immediately. Call is generally not interrupted during sessions.

Other Details:

It formerly provided free credit when a use watches Globe7 TV but the software came with a price. Now, the free calls feature has been removed and the software is now freeware. It also provides SMS at moderate pricing.

They also give you 5 cents for free to test the quality of the conversation.

Overall (4/5):

Efficient, feature-filled, cheap VOIP provider.

Visit Globe7 Home Page

Learn more about VOIP

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1. Length Checks

In this validation technique, data entered is checked to make sure it is a particular length, for example 4 characters, if it’s greater or less than 4 characters it is detected as an error.

1. Range Checks

Here data is checked to lie within a specified range as in if integers (numerical values) were entered a range of 10 – 1000 may be specified in which case all entered data must be in between 10 & 1000.

1. Presence Checks

This is a simple check performed to check if data has been entered into a field, it makes sure required fields are not left blank.

1. Character Checks (or Character Type Check)

This checks if data entered is a particular character type, for example it may check that a ‘name’ field has only letters.

1. Check Digit

A check digit is a single digit generated from a complete number, for example an ISBN contains a check digit, the last digit of the ISBN is a check digit. It is calculated using the rest of the numbers in the ISBN, when checked, the check digit is recalculated, if it produces a different value an error has occurred during data transmission or entry.

1. Hash Totals

Hash totals are meaningless totals calculated using a series of entered records, for example if you find the totals of all the record numbers of a collection of records it is a meaningless total. It could be used as a hash total to validate the records.

1. Control Totals

This is similar to a hash total except the total is a meaningful one, i.e. instead of totaling record numbers you might total the salaries of the employees in an employee database, this total provides some meaning and it can be used to validate data.

Well the above are some of the checks made when you enter data. So the next time you register for a service online remember most of these checks and maybe even a few more are made on each of the fields you fill in!

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The service will be funded through ads displayed while downloaded songs are been played by users in the Qtrax player. The service is new and the first beta of the player is yet to be launched.

Also, other advantages include malware and popup ad free service to compete with other P2P services. The aim of Qtrax is to establish a legal file-sharing service to drive users from other P2P services like Limewire which has been criticized strongly for freely distributing copyrighted illegal music.

Surprisingly, Qtrax is not the first service that provide free legal downloadable music. Other services like SpiralFrog also provides a similar ad-supported free music downloading service from Universal music.

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The uses vary from recording words to recording marks in public examinations mainly in multiple choice answer sheets. The system does have some negative aspects as much as it has a few good points. Here are some of the advantages and disadvantages of OMR.

Advantages

1. One of the main and obvious advantages is its speed. Recording details off input sheets is done pretty quickly.

1. The automated system means data entry by employees is not involved and so typing errors and costs are reduced.

Disadvantages

1. As OMR is used to obtain information from the general public clear instructions on how to mark their choice should be provided, apart from clear instructions which are generally practiced when OMR is used, there is still a high rejection rate from the OM reader as they are being wrongly filled.

1. As the reader is quite sensitive the forms should be in perfect condition, if they are crushed or even folded it may be rejected by the OM reader.

So there you have it, a little you need to know about OMR, like all technology in use there is good and bad, but OMR is still extensively used by government organizations, institutions and companies. This technology maybe replaced in the near future with a more foolproof system but methods are still being experimented with to make the system more accurate.

Perhaps with the wider use of OMR, the rejection rate may reduce with time as the public would be more aware.

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Parity

One way data is checked is by checking the bits in a byte, if you have a fair knowledge of this stuff you’ll know a byte is something like this: 11010101, made up of only 1s and 0s. There are two types of parity, odd and even, if even parity is used, the bytes would be checked to have an even number of 1s, if odd parity is used the byte would be checked to have an odd number of 1s, also bytes consist of only 7 bits (1s and 0s), the last bit is used to make the number of 1s odd or even based on the parity method used to check the bytes. In case there is an error during transfer it is detected, of course like all error checking methods this method is not completely foolproof, if two bits are changed during transmission the error won’ be detected.

Echoing back

This is a wasteful yet very accurate process; here the receiver sends the data back to the transmitter for the data to be checked, if there is an error the data is resent by the source. That data is again sent for checking and so on. As you can see, this method is very foolproof, but is time consuming and costly as data has to be transferred twice.

Check Sum

Generally, data is sent as a block of bytes, here the number of bytes sent can be calculated and sent along with the bytes, at the receiving end the sum is recalculated and compared with the original sum, in case the sum is different an error has occurred and the data will have to be resent.

This method is quite accurate as well but cannot detect errors within the bytes.

Therefore as all methods have inaccuracies, data is usually tested by more than one method to ensure the correctness of the data being transferred. These checks all happen in a matter of a few seconds and is usually not noticed by the users involved.

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With the lack of attaining 3G speeds though it is also called 2.75G. It has caught up quickly, most latest phones are EDGE powered and most mobile providers around the world provide EDGE connectivity. But as EDGE was getting into gear 3G was released as well, and with the faster speeds and video calling function it provides for mobile devices people certainly prefer the enhanced 3G technology.

Still, as older mobile devices are not compatible with 3G technology EDGE is still widely used and would probably be around for some time.

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