Group B students (class no. 19 onward):

2D: 9/11/2011 (Day 5)

F2 Practical Test Date

Group B students (class no. 19 onward):

2B: 3/11/2011 (Day 1)

2A: 4/11/2011 (Day 2)

2E: 7/11/2011 (Day 3)

2C: 8/11/2011 (Day 4)

2D: 29/11/2011 (Day 5)

Group A students (class no. 1 – 18):

2B: 11/11/2011 (Day 1)

2A: 14/11/2011 (Day 2)

2E: 15/11/2011 (Day 3)

2C: 16/11/2011 (Day 4)

2D: 17/11/2011 (Day 5)

Here is the comparing between Adobe Director, Adobe Flash and Power Director

4 x 8mm large sintered heat-pipes efficiently remove excessive heat away from the CPU,allowing for great Overclocking potential. Nickel Plated Base and Heatpipes,increase the longevity of the heatsink by slowing oxidation and deterioration rates… maintained performance over time. Double fin stack design,provides each tower with an impressive 147 x 103mm of surface area for heat dissipation. Special Arrow fin desing,which allows cool air to pass through while rapidly moving heat away and maintaining  quiet operating volume. Soldered Heat-pipes and Copper Base,ensure all components maintain the highest of Thermal Efficiency. Support for Multiple-Platforms:Intel Socket 1366/1156/775(AM2/AM3 Optional) Includes a Quiet 120 x 25mm PWN controlled fan. Capable of supporting up to three fans for the Ultimate Enthusiast(38mm Fan will fit between the two towers).

Heatsink Spec : -Cooler Dimensions: Length 147mm x Width 123mm x Height 160mm -Cooler weight: 825g(excluding Retention Hardware and Fan) -Heat pipes: 8mm Sintered Heat-pipe x 4 units -Cooler Base Material: C1100 Pure Copper with Nickel Plating. -Fan Compatible: 120 x 25mm/140 x 25mm/120 x 38mm Compatibility: -Intel Socket 1366/1156/775 (AM2/AM3 Optional)

Suggest TWO possoble  risks of forcuing a CPU to run faster than the speed expected by over-clocking?

Firstly, there will be an overheating on the heat dispersion device amd the CPU. Also the CPU or the heat dispersion device may not afford the faster speed.

There are several solution to cool down the CPU in order to slove the problem.

To cool down , there are several solutions:

• Improve the exchange of air (active cooling usinf fans):
• Make sure that fresh air always flow in the direction of the components having the highest temperatures (CPU, graphics card, etc..), For example here’s how the air flow should be (see image below)
• Ensure that the air from the hot components is vented off the casing.

• Use a Ventirad(Fan + Heater), it is more efficient, but still is is quite noisy!
• Regularly clean the CPU cooler and the radiator of the the graphics card (at least once a year). Remove the dust accumulated in these two elements using a can of compressed air. This type of aerosol provided specifically for this purpose.
• Use a tool such as CPU idle
• Switch to watercooling: a solution is much more expensive and complex, but more efficient, especially if you have overclocked your PC.

Development History & Implementations

Multi-touch technologies have a long history. The most recent and common hand-held elctrical devices using  multi-touch technolofy are Apple iPhone,iPad and iPod Touch. For further information about the development history,you can check it out at http://www.billbuxton.com/multitouchOverview.html

Multi-touch has been implemented in several different ways, depending on the size and type of interface. The most popular form are mobile devices (iPhone, iPod Touch), touchtables (Microsoft Surface) and walls. Both touchtables and touch walls project an image through acrylic or glass, and then back-light the image with LEDs.

Advantages of multi-touch technology

• Good for large displays with several users
• Can zoom-in and zoom-out  photos easily
• With Multi-touch technology,new and interesting games can be introduced
• Convenient when using mobile devices 

Things should be aware of

While many people are willing to accept that multi-touch technology is the way of the future, some have not learned how to discriminate between different levels of multi-touch technology. While the operation and theory behind multi-touch is basically the same across the board, and has been since the early 1980s, there is some technology that is simply better developed than other technology. However, this distinction depends upon the purpose of the technology at hand. For instance, some multi-touch tablets can interpret an unlimited number of touch points all at once. This means that you can have both of your hands on the tablet, as well as five or six other peoples’ hands working at the same time.

This is really a step forward in collaborative technology. However, some multi-touch tablets can only interpret two touch points at once. For a user simply wanting to explore multi-touch technology, this is satisfactory, but for someone needing efficiency and high quality, this can definitely be a setback. There are also some multi-touch devices that can only interpret certain finger movements, while the higher end devices do not limit your movements while doing things such as editing pictures. These issues may not be of very much importance to the average computer user that only uses multi-touch technology for typing and basic operations, but for businesses trying to capture the real genius and capitalize on the efficiency, small details such as the number of touch points and acceptable gestures can make a huge difference in their decision to select one device over another.

The good news is that new technology is being developed and tested every day, and as time passes manufacturers are working towards a limitless multi-touch tablet as a standard. In the end, this will be the difference between using a mouse and keyboard and using only your fingers to accomplish daily task.

Videos:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=89sz8ExZndc

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4hkSSlFYII&feature=related

GIF(.gif) 

Indexed color – 1 to 8 bits

GIF uses lossless LZW compression, effective on indexed color. GIF files contain no dpi information for printing purposes.

GIF was developed by CompuServe to show images online (in 1987 for 8 bit video boards, before JPG and 24 bit color was in use). GIF uses indexed color, which is limited to a palette of only 256 colors (next page). GIF was a great match for the old 8 bit 256 color video boards, but is inappropriate for today’s 24 bit photo images.

 GIF files do NOT store the image’s scaled resolution ppi number, so scaling is necessary every time one is printed. This is of no importance for screen or web images. GIF file format was designed for CompuServe screens, and screens don’t use ppi for any purpose.

 GIF is still an excellent format for graphics, and this is its purpose today, especially on the web. Graphic images (like logos or dialog boxes) use few colors. Being limited to 256 colors is not important for a 3 color logo. A 16 color GIF is a very small file, much smaller, and more clear than any JPG, and ideal for graphics on the web.

non-animated GIF image 

animated GIF image

JPEG (.jpg): Along with GIF, JPEG is most commonly used for Web graphics. Unlike the GIF format, which only supports 256 colors, JPEG supports millions and allows for graphic compression. Most people use JPEG for Web graphics that contain a multitude of colors and gradations — like photographic images. It’s also a handy file format if you frequently switch from Mac to PC platforms because JPEG graphics can be easily opened in both Macintosh and Windows applications.

JPEG File Interchange Format features

o      Uses JPEG compression
o      Uses JPEG interchange format compressed image representation
o      PC or Mac or Unix workstation compatible
o      Standard color space: one or three components. For three components,YCbCr(CCIR 601-256 levels)

PNG (Portable Network Graphics) was initially developed as a “patent-free alternative to GIF” for web development but it never took. Many browsers don’t support PNG so it’s not widely used except perhaps as screenshots and in email.

PNG supports palette-based images (with palettes of 24-bit RGB or 32-bit RGBA colors), grayscale images (with or without alpha channel), and RGB[A] images (with or without alpha channel). PNG was designed for transferring images on the Internet, not for professional-quality print graphics, and therefore does not support non-RGB color spaces such as CMYK.

A PNG image with an 8-bit transparency channel

I have chosen Motion Studio 4 and Power Director to do the comparison.

Adobe Director
Adobe® Director® 11.5 allows users to create and publish compelling interactive games, demos, prototypes, simulations, and eLearning courses for the web. The software is suitable for Mac and Windows® desktops, DVDs, and CDs. It can also read integrate virtually file format, including FLV and native 3D content.

User interface of Adobe Director

MotionStudio 4.0
MotionStudio 4is an easy-to-use, all-in-one multimedia authoring software, that combines image, sound, interactivity and animation for you to create stand-alone, royalty-free, executable files. It’s compatible with Windows Vista.
User interface of MotionStudio 4.0

Power Director
Power Director contains not only does this application have all the great features you expect in video editing software but it is built with both novice and advanced users in mind. Power Director Deluxe incorporates five of the six techniques that make up True Velocity. It suits the final and likely most significant speed factor, native 64-bit processing. However, the software is suitable for Windows® desktops only.
User interface of power director

General Comparison

Operating System

All three software are suitable for Microsoft Windows. However, only the Motion Studio 4 can be used under Mac OS. Hence, Motion Studio 4 is better at the area of operating system.

Price

Motion Studio 4 is the cheapest among the software while the Adobe Director is the most expensive.

Features

The Adobe Director and Power Director have many unique selling features and the all support 3D animations and can output to different file formats. However, only the Adobe Director supports the editing of the flash files. But the PowerDirector is aim to promote its’ speed. In the point of useful features, the Motion Studio 4 is the weakest and the best is Adobe Director.

To sum up, the Adobe Director has an advantage towards the other two as only Adobe Director support the Flash. However, the Motion Studio 4 has an advantage as it suits at different OS and has lower price. The  Power Director is the medium as there are many tools for users and it can process lots of file types and has a relatively reasonable price.

Source: http://www.news-medical.net/news/20100914/Health-In-Reach-provides-new-Internet-based-service-to-access-quality-health-care.aspx

Lantronix Launches a New Internet-based Service
September 30, 2010: 08:00 AM ETLantronix, Inc. (NASDAQ: LTRX), a leading provider of secure, remote management and device networking solutions, today launched AccessMyDevice™, a new enterprise-grade, Internet-based service enabling business and technology professionals to easily view, manage, control and service virtually any device from a web browser. Initially offered in conjunction with the Lantronix SpiderDuo™, customers can use AccessMyDevice free for the first six months of service. Currently available in the US only, international customers can begin taking advantage of this new service in December 2010. Lantronix is also announcing the AccessMyDevice partner program, enabling businesses the opportunity to offer the managed service to their customers under their own brand name.
“We are thrilled to launch AccessMyDevice, a leading edge managed service solution,” said Jerry Chase, CEO at Lantronix. “This service provides new recurring revenue streams for Lantronix and offers our customers and partners competitive advantages in terms of productivity and cost savings. AccessMyDevice will also serve as a robust communications platform for delivering software as a service (SaaS) solutions to the M2M market.”
AccessMyDevice offers all the benefits of a browser interface, plus the added security and functionality required by enterprise customers to remotely access devices, servers, equipment and data behind firewalls. Key features include:

• 24/7 secure, browser-based access to virtually any machine, device, server, PC, laptop, microprocessor, and more.
• Operating-system independent — The initial SpiderDuo offering is compatible with Linux, Windows and Mac machines, and any device with a VGA video port and either USB or PS/2 keyboard/mouse connector.
• BIOS-level access — Without the limitations of a software-based solution residing at the operating system layer, users can change BIOS settings and even conduct an entire system restore.
• Virtual media support — Perform remote upgrades, transfer files and redirect local drives remotely.
• Wake-on LAN — Remotely wake up a computer or device that is turned off, or vice versa, saving on energy costs and system usage.

Source: http://money.cnn.com/news/newsfeeds/articles/marketwire/0668197.htm

How AccessMyDevice Works
Many enterprise IT departments do not allow unauthorized third party applications to be installed onto their systems, so for many users current remote access solutions that require dedicated client agents, such as IPSec or SSL VPNs, are not an option.
Another problem arises if the application involves remote M2M communications – dedicated VPN clients are simply not available for most appliance-based devices.

The solution? AccessMyDevice!
Our patent-pending Virtual Device Network (VDN) technology enables users to create dedicated TCP/IP connections between any two points on the Internet using a low-cost, easy-to-set-up secure solution. With no client software to install and no changes required to either the network configuration or application software at either end of the connection, AccessMyDevice provides a secure and totally transparent remote access solution.
The heart of the system is the AccessMyDevice platform, an Internet-based networking resource that relays connections between the user or user application and destination devices. Individual AccessMyDevice-enabled products are used as the destination devices that provide an easy and secure connection to the AccessMyDevice platform.

Source: https://www.lantronix.com/solutions/accessmydevice/how-it-works.html

An embedded system is a computer that has been built to solve only a few very specific problems. Very often, such systems must give an answer in a specified time. This is called real-time computing. These computers are usually embedded, they are parts of different devices. In contrast, a general-purpose computer can do many different tasks depending on programming. Embedded systems control many of the common devices in use today.

 Embedded systems use embedded operating systems which are often real-time operating systems. These operating systems are designed to be very compact and efficient. They leave out many of the functions the embedded computer never uses.

 Since the embedded system is dedicated to specific tasks, design engineers can optimize it, reducing the size and cost of the product, or increasing the reliability and performance

 Embedded systems are especially suited for use in transportation, fire safety, safety and security, medical applications and life critical systems as these systems can be isolated from hacking and thus be more reliable. For fire safety, the systems can be designed to be have greater ability to handle higher temperatures and continue to operate. In dealing with security, the embedded systems can be self sufficient and be able to deal with cut electrical and communication systems. Also, in the ever increasing interconnected world, digital embedded security is no more an option but a necessity as it is very critical for more transactions happening over embedded devices as front ends.

 If we understand the definition of embedded system, it is clear to see that embedded system has very large scope of applications. In fact, almost all modern electronic devices use some sort of embedded system technology inside them. To be clear, I give some examples of household appliances:  washing machines, rice-cookers, microwave ovens, …and thousands more..

 For example, let’s see simple embedded system such as digital clock. Digital clock has microcontroller (the controller) which is embedded to clock system (the larger system). The controller has specific task , to do all necessary to make the digital clock works.

 Also, each button press on the microwave is essentially a function call to change the current state of the oven. A functional language, in the words of the class text offer a good combination of simplicity and ornithogonality.A microwave oven controller takes input from a keypad, displays output on an LCD display and controls a relay that turns the microwave generator on and off.A programmable microwave oven could offer the consumer the ability to customize their appliance to their needs and habits.

 Besides, the embedded system inside a TV takes input from the remote control and displays output on the TV screen. The system controls the channel selector, the speaker system and certain adjustments on the picture tube electronics such as tint and brightness.

 Embedded systems are more than part of human life. For instance, one cannot imagine life without mobile phones for personal communication. Its presence is virtually unavoidable in almost all facets of human endeavor. While we search on patterns in each of these application spaces, we can clearly identify the trend as to where the future of embedded systems is heading.

 Lastly, the future of embedded lies in how faster people adapt to the changes offered by convergence – communications, nano, manufacturing and develop “super” applications that advance the society and human needs, let’s hope that our future is also embedded into it.

AAC

Advanced Audio Coding (AAC) is a standardized, lossy compression and encoding scheme for digital audio. Designed to be the successor of the MP3 format, AAC generally achieves better sound quality than MP3 at similar bit rates.

AAC has been standardized by ISO and IEC, as part of the MPEG-2 and MPEG-4 specifications. Part of the AAC known as High-Efficiency Advanced Audio Coding (HE-AAC) which is part of MPEG-4 Audio is also adopted into digital radio standards like DAB+ and Digital Radio Mondiale, as well as mobile television standards DVB-H and ATSC-M/H.

AAC supports inclusion of 48 full-bandwidth (up to 96 kHz) audio channels in one stream plus 16 low frequency effects (LFE, limited to 120 Hz) channels, up to 16 “coupling” or dialog channels, and up to 16 data streams. The quality for stereo is satisfactory to modest requirements at 96 kbit/s in joint stereo mode; however, hi-fi transparency demands data rates of at least 128 kbit/s (VBR). The MPEG-2 audio tests showed that AAC meets the requirements referred to as “transparent” for the ITU at 128 kbit/s for stereo, and 320 kbit/s for 5.1 audio.

AAC is also the default or standard audio format for iPhone, iPod, iPad, Nintendo DSi, iTunes, DivX Plus Web Player and PlayStation 3. It is supported on PlayStation Portable, Wii (with the Photo Channel 1.1 update installed for Wii consoles purchased before late 2007), Sony Walkman MP3 series and later, mobile phones made by Sony Ericsson; Nokia; Android; and WebOS – based mobile phones. AAC has also seen moderate adoption on in-dash car audio especially on high-end units such as the Pioneer AVIC series.

WMA

Windows Media Audio (WMA) is an audio data compression technology developed by Microsoft. The name can be used to refer to its audio file format or its audio codecs. It is a proprietary technology that forms part of the Windows Media framework. WMA consists of four distinct codecs. The original WMA codec, known simply as WMA, was conceived as a competitor to the popular MP3 and RealAudio codecs. WMA Pro, a newer and more advanced codec, supports multichannel and high resolution audio. A lossless codec, WMA Lossless, compresses audio data without loss of audio fidelity (the regular WMA format is not lossless). And WMA Voice, targeted at voice content, applies compression using a range of low bit rates.

Different between analogue audio and digital audio

Demystifying Analog and Digital

Analog and digital are common terms used in many fields, including audio. Since they can also be difficult terms to understand, a few definitions and examples are helpful.

What is Analog?

The word analog is defined as something that is similar to or analogous to something else. When someone uses an analogy they are comparing one thing with another, such as “her eyes are as blue as the sky”. Another example of an analogy or analog is an analog clock with hour and minute hands. The clock uses the positions of the hands to describe the time – the clock is an analog that describes the time of day.

What is Digital?

The word digital is defined as something that uses a digit or number to describe something. A digital clock uses numbers, not hands, to describe the time. For example, a digital clock uses digits to describe the time as 10 hours, 43 minutes and 12 seconds. Each digit is a specific numerical value that describes the time of day.

Comparing Analog to Digital

The clock example is a convenient way to understand the differences between analog and digital audio. An analog clock is a continuously flowing representation of the time of day. The hands move smoothly around the clock providing an analogy of the time. A digital clock uses distinct or individual digits to describe the time – it is not smooth flowing, but is characterized by discrete numbers that tell the time.

In audio, an analog signal is a smooth-flowing representation of music or sound. Like a bow on a violin string (an analogy), analog sound is marked by a continuously flowing sound. In digital audio the same bow on a violin string is represented by multiple distinct events, also known as digital samples.

When an audio signal is converted from analog to digital, the smooth-flowing sound of a bow on a violin string is replaced by multiple events or samples.

Digital Samples

Each digital sample is a snapshot in time that represents the size and shape of the sound of the violin at that precise moment. A digital signal is a series of multiple snapshots or samples, not a continuous wave. Each sound sample is represented by digits, either zeros or ones. There are so many samples that the human ear perceives the digital sample of the analog wave as a smooth-flowing continuous sound. For example, on a Compact Disc, there are 44,100 digital samples for each second of music stored on the disc.