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Soul
Digital
InFo-Tech
February 3, 2008
Soul
RoboForm2Go
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Future of TV
Television is changing, with a raft of new services, delivered over new platforms, set to transform the way we watch
HIGH DEFINITION
Nature programmes have leapt at the chance to use High definition High definition television, or HDTV, is a new format for watching programmes, offering sharper, clearer and brighter pictures and better sound. You need an HD-ready TV and an HD set-top box or decoder to receive the programmes, which are sent through digital signals. Televisions are considered HD-ready if the screen has enough pixels to display a high definition picture and must be capable of displaying pictures with either 720 or 1080 vertical lines. The programmes themselves must be made and transmitted in HD. Digital TV can be sent through an aerial, satellite, cable or phone line, and to watch it you need a set-top box or a built-in decoder in your TV set. As well as extra channels, digital also provides improved quality, electronic programme guides and interactive features via the red button, like voting or extra coverage such as Ashes highlights. While analogue signals work by transmitting sounds and pictures as continuously varying waves, digital information is sent as compressed computerised pulses of information, coded as 1s and 0s. Because these signals take up much less space than analogue, more channels can be squeezed into the same airwaves.
DOWNLOAD OF THE WEEK!
Sandrina Abeywardene
B Y Tby E Compiled
RoboForm2Go is a secure password manager and form filler. It stores all your login information and can run directly from a USB drive. Once launched, it attaches itself to Internet Explorer (or other IE based browser) and allows you to login to your sites with a single click from the toolbar. When you remove the USB drive from the host computer, no traces of Pass2Go are left behind. The program can also store personal data for automatic form filling or reference (credit card numbers, social security, driver license numbers etc.). Pass2Go uses AES encryption and password protection to secure your data on the USB drive. The autologin features work in Internet Explorer and IE-based browsers, however you can also access your stored data from the program interface on any computer, regardless of any browser. The free version allows you to store up to 10 logins. Download at : http://www.roboform.com/download.html
ON DEMAND
“On demand” means being able to throw away the TV schedule and watch what you want, when you want. Dedicated services - such as HomeChoice and BT Vision in the UK - send shows and films over a broadband connection to the TV via a set-top box. Or viewers can watch at leisure on a computer, with many US networks already offering hit shows online and UK broadcasters fast catching up.
MOBILE
Mobile phones can now be used to watch television on the move. High-speed connections on the 3G network enable pockets of information to be watched on mobiles, but this bears a heavy load on network. Competing technologies (DAB-IP and DVb-H) are being trialled by phone manufactures to let more people watch the same shows simultaneously. All mobile operators offer some sort of video service, with some now able to receive tv programmes. As well as mobile phones, watching shows or video podcasts on iPods and other MP3 players is becoming increasingly popular.
Internet names for
Mobiles linked to disturbed sleep
AsIA
PERSONAL VIDEO RECORDERS
Personal video recorders (PVRs) record digital television straight onto computerlike hard drives. They let you pause, rewind and replay action on screen while you are recording a programme - allowing for time-shift viewing of live TV. PVRs have built-in programme guides, making it easier to choose what to record. Some models let you tell them to always record your favourite soap, or tape all programmes on a specific subject.
TV MEETS COMPUTER
Connecting your TV to your computer, or just having one machine that does both things, is expected to be big. This will open up a huge library of video from the internet to watch on your TV as well as using the computer’s memory as a PVR. There is some way to go before the technology and usability are slick enough to make it truly viable, but Microsoft’s Media Centre has made a start. Apple will bring out its iTV, doing a similar thing, early next year. And games consoles such as the Xbox 360 let you download shows to watch on TV. A device called the Slingbox could really shake things up, beaming your home TV signal to any computer wherever you are in the world.
The .asia regional internet domain has officially opened for business, with big firms expected to grab addresses. Governments and companies can now register interest in specific domain names, such as www.namehere.asia. Companies will be able to register domains for which they own a trademark and governments will get a chance to earmark those on a reserved list. The general public will get a chance to snap up their own .asia domain when the landrush starts in February 2008. Work to create the .asia domain began in 2000. The DotAsia Organisation won official approval to set up the domain in mid-October 2006 and the first .asia domains should go live on the internet in March 2008. Unlike other administrators of net domains, the DotAsia Registry plans to use an auction to determine who gets domains wanted by more than one organisation. The highest bidder will win the right to the contested name. The geographical reach of the .asia
Wide reach
domain extends from Australia to the Middle East. In all, 20 organisations that run country code domains have signed up to back the .asia registry. The .asia domain is the second regional domain to go live following the European .eu suffix which started selling in April 2006. Other regional domains for Africa and Latin America are expected to follow. Despite the diversity of languages spoken in Asia, all the domains offered initially will be written using the Latin alphabet which is already used in established generic domains such as .com and country codes such as .uk. At the same time that the sunrise period for .asia begins, net address overseer Icann (The Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers) is starting trials of a system that will let net addresses be written in local alphabets. Icann will trial addresses written in Arabic, Persian, simplified Chinese, traditional Chinese, Russian, Hindi, Greek, Korean, Hebrew, Japanese and Tamil.
Using a mobile phone before going to bed could stop you getting a decent night’s sleep, research suggests. The study, funded by mobile phone companies, suggests radiation from the handset can cause insomnia, headaches and confusion. It may also cut our amount of deep sleep - interfering with the body’s ability to refresh itself. The study was carried out by Sweden’s Karolinska Institute and Wayne State University in the US. Funded by the Mobile Manufacturers Forum, the scientists studied 35 men and 36 women aged between 18 and 45. Some were exposed to radiation equivalent to that received when using a mobile phone, others
were placed in the same conditions, but given only “sham” exposure. Those exposed to radiation took longer to enter the first of the deeper stages of sleep, and spent less time in the deepest one. The scientists concluded: “The study indicates that during laboratory exposure to wireless signals components of sleep believed to be important for recovery from daily wear and tear are adversely affected.” Researcher Professor Bengt Arnetz said: “The study strongly suggests that mobile phone use is associated with specific changes in the areas of the brain responsible for activating and coordinating the stress system.”