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Written by Daryl Moon
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The latest buzz word in Information Technology is “Cloud Computing”. In the next two TechTalk articles I will explain the basics of what it means and how it is being used today. Cloud Computing moves the infrastructure (servers and server software) out of your office/business environment and onto the Internet. No longer do you need to purchase and maintain expensive server equipment, you simply rent the space, time and applications that you require on equipment located in a data centre somewhere else. It can be located anywhere in the world and usually it is duplicated in many different parts of the world to provide additional reliability and security. There are significant advantages to this approach - you do not have the capital cost of purchasing and maintaining the servers, software and their environment (expensive air-conditioning, security and technical support). You just pay a monthly service fee to access your applications. Your service provider has much better purchasing power than a small operator so they can get much better deals when purchasing equipment and services. The ability to handle times of high demand is easier to manage as the service provider can share this load across many customers with different peak periods. Being specialists in managing data centres means that the service provider can do a far better job than an organisation (whose business is not running computer systems) but their primary role may be in retail sales, tourism, education etc. Cloud based applications can be accessed from any Internet connected device (PC, phone, tablet etc) from anywhere there is Internet access, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The negatives to this new approach include Internet access speed, cost and reliability; communication with the service provider, reliability, long term viability of the service provider, security for your data and suitability of the provider’s services for your needs. What if you have a slow and unreliable Internet link (like many parts of the Pacific)? What if your service provider goes bankrupt and your applications are suddenly shut down? What if your critical data is lost or stolen? What if the applications offered do not quite match your requirements, can you get them altered to meet your needs or is it a “vanilla” offering designed to suit most of the people most of the time? Many of these disadvantages can be avoided by carefully selecting a service provider with a good track record, a growing client list (so they remain viable) and a Service Level Agreement that provides a guarantee that your data is safe, available and the environment is regularly maintained to best practice standards. The speed and reliability of your Internet connection remains the main stumbling block in this equation and this component is NOT the cloud computing provider’s responsibility. As long as the Pacific Islands suffer from low speed, unreliable and expensive Internet access, the Cloud Computing revolution will remain “in the clouds” for many of our organisations. In my next article I will discuss some popular and successful services available “in the cloud”. |
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Written by Daryl Moon
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The new Apple iPad has sold well beyond even the most optimistic Apple fans with sales of over 3 million units since its launch on May 28th this year. From a technical viewpoint the iPad does not have any earth shattering technology under the covers. At the heart of the iPad is an Apple A4 processor (1 GHz), by no means a powerful CPU but adequate to do the job required and efficient enough to giver the device a long battery life (up to 10 hours). The 9.7 inch display screen is not much different to the average notebook screen but is significantly enhanced by the touch screen capability and the use of “gestures” (simple hand movements) to navigate the device. Connecting to the Internet is possible using WiFi or 3G mobile phone networks. Storage capacity is available in 16GB, 32GB or 64GB (significantly less than the average notebook). Weighing in at only 680 grams for the WiFi model, the device is light and easy to use in almost any environment. Apple has an uncanny ability to take a complex piece of technology, simplify and craft it into the latest “must have” piece of gadgetry. They were not the first to have a portable music player but developed the highly successful iPod, and now have the majority of that market. They were late entrants into the mobile phone market and have had phenomenal success with the iPhone. Tablet PCs have been around for at least five years but never really took off until Apple turned its highly successful and innovative team towards making the iPad a reality. Combining all of this technology into a useful and attractive device that will sell in the millions is what Apple has again achieved. They do this by designing and manufacturing the hardware themselves, by building the operating system software themselves and by imposing strict controls on the application software available for the machine. Having a lightweight and very portable device with the ability to display text, images, audio and video, along with the ability to connect to the Internet has caught the attention of users and businesses across a wide spectrum. Rev. Paolo Padrini, a consultant with the Vatican's Pontifical Council for Social Communications has developed an application for the iPad that will let priests celebrate Mass with an iPad on the altar instead of the regular prayer books. This is the second application that Padrini has built with his “iBreviary” application for the iPhone already enjoying over 200,000 downloads from the Apple App Store. A Sydney restaurant has begun using the iPad to replace its traditional menu. The customer can view pictures and descriptions of meals on the screen, decide what they wish to order and wirelessly transmit their order to the kitchen. The application can suggest suitable wines to accompany the meal choices and is also clever enough to remove items from the menu when the ingredients required run out of stock in the kitchen. These and many other TechTalk articles can also be found on the Internet at www.datec.com.vu. |
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Written by Daryl Moon
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Governments around the world have struggled with understanding the Internet and how to amend legislation to prevent “inappropriate” use. The Internet is termed a “disruptive technology” as it has taken the world by storm, not waiting for the legislators to catch up or to “control” it and is continually evolving offering new and innovative services. Many governments have attempted to introduce controls for new technologies to prevent them being used for illegal means. The telephone network is used for criminal activities. Terrorism, drug dealing, fraud, illegal business deals and many other crimes are regular users of this basic communication service. Where there is sufficient means to suspect such activity is occurring, the authorities request permission to “tap” the phones (listen and record the conversations) as part of their investigation. The Internet however is a much more complex communications environment than the humble telephone network. The Internet is not just about viewing web sites but includes email, instant messaging services (Messenger, Yahoo Chat), social networking (Facebook, My Space, Twitter), software distribution, video conferencing, telephone calls (Skype), encrypted communication, electronic banking, document sharing and collaboration and a whole lot more. These services are implemented using a set of protocols which govern how they operate. Australia has become the joke of many commentators over the past few years as Federal Communications Ministers struggle with unworkable legislation attempts. This suggests that either their advisers are incompetent or the ministers simply ignore technical advice and have some other agendas. Under Labour Senator Conroy’s current reign there have been attempts to have a mandatory Internet Firewall (with very mixed trial results) and now a proposal to record all web surfing activities of Australian Internet users for 5-10 years! To record the web surfing activities of ALL Australians is simply not an affective means of dealing with the illegal activity. Recording web access is only one of the Internet protocols and ignores all the other services provided. Storing all this additional data will be a huge expense for ISP’s and there are no guarantees that it will be of much use or restrict criminal activities. If you have 50 people in your organisation accessing the Internet via one connection point, it is technically quite difficult for an ISP to identify which individual accessed what website. Criminals already use encrypted communications channels to avoid this type of detection so at best it may only catch the novices and amateurs. In order for governments to implement workable legislation to “control” the illegal or immoral aspects of the Internet it is important to understand how it works. To do this means that the legislators must have accurate and reliable advice upon which to prepare this legislation. Without this they are wasting their time, taxpayers money and restricting our access to freedom of communication that the Internet offers. |
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Protecting children online |
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Written by Daryl Moon
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Microsoft's "For Safety's Sake" research, found that while two thirds of Australian parents surveyed are concerned about the safety of their kids online, more than 60 percent of parents allow their children to surf the net unsupervised and unrestricted at home. Not surprisingly, one fifth of all Australian parents surveyed have caught their children looking at unsavoury material online, almost one third have found their children chatting to strangers, 36 percent have caught their kids downloading software without permission and another 12 percent have found their children handing over personal details. Strategies for parents to help protect children when using the Internet include: - Placing the computer in a room in the house where children can be supervised, not in a child’s bedroom.
- Discussing the dangers of using the Internet with your children.
- Instructing your children to never arrange a face to face meeting with someone they only know via the Internet, unless they have a responsible adult present.
- Informing children about the dangers of releasing information to strangers.
- Providing software controls to place restrictions on children’s use of the computer.
Strategies for children using the Internet: - Don’t post any images or videos which you wouldn’t be happy for your parents or grandparents to see. Once something is online, you cannot control who sees it, what they do with it and you may never be able to delete it.
- Think before you post a comment, send a text or email, or say something in instant messaging. If you wouldn’t say it to someone’s face, don’t say it online or via text.
- Protect your personal information. You wouldn’t give your phone number, address or school details to a stranger on the street so don’t do it online. Ask a trusted adult before sharing personal information online.
- Ask your friends’ permission before posting a photo or tagging them online. You would like them to respect your wishes so do the same for them.
Windows 7 offers a range of ways that parents can monitor and limit how their child uses the computer, at no additional cost: - Web Restrictions – Using an online service, a parent can restrict what types of web sites their child can visit, either by category or specific URL to determine what sites are allowed and which are not. These restrictions will work automatically with any web browser.
- Game Restrictions – Partnering with Computer Game rating systems from around the world, Windows 7 allows a parent to restrict the types of computer games that their child can play.
- Application Restrictions – If a parent chooses, they can apply limits so their child can only run the applications that the parent has approved.
- Time Limits - Parents can decide when children are allowed, or not allowed, to use the computer by choosing the specific times and days to block.
There are some excellent resources for both parents and children at www.thinkuknow.org.au, a partnership between the Australian Federal Police (AFP) and Microsoft Australia. Sources: www.microsoft.com/australia www.thinkuknow.org.au |
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