Technical Specification

• Screen resolution will be 800 x 480(WVGA)
• Following hardware buttons are required for WP7: Start, Back, Bing integrated Search button, Camera and Power button. Some vendor devices can have more buttons than these five. But, these are required.
• Capacitive multi-touch with support for minimum of four contact points.
• A Qualcomm Snapdragon CPU with DirectX 9 graphics support and the platform is flexible enough to expand in future, according to Microsoft.
• 256MB of RAM
• Currently 8GB of internal Flash storage, but no support for microSD cards.
• WiFi support
• AGPS
• Accelerometer
• FM Radio
• 5 MP camera with flash

The ‘Metro’ interface is a type-and-motion heavy interface based on primary colors and lots of minimal, negative space, and this will be a familiar interface for Zune HD users. It has large, bold text that trails off the screen, menus which move dimensionally in and out instead of just side to side, and the sense that you are panning over long, single pages of information, rather than a set of separate panels. The clean, sharp ‘tiles’ which dominate the home screen, completely lacking in any real world-inspired bevels, drop shadows, curves of textures,  dialer, and alphabetical search grid, which looks like they’ve been built out of separate parts from Tempest. There are two themes basically boil down to light text on a black screen and it is the default theme of the OS and dark text on white screen, and you can pick your choice of four accent colors: red, orange, blue and green.

The phone unlock screen includes time, date, upcoming calendar events, number of unread messages, and number of missed calls. When the screen unlocked, it shows the user-configurable and movable ‘tiles’. The tiles can be linked to an application, a specific contact or a website, a photo gallery, playlist. But you can link anything with these tiles. It has an automatic tile sorting system as the user’s favorite list.

Multitasking And Notifications

The Windows Phone 7 series can process only the Microsoft’s core apps in the background. Third party applications cannot run in the background, and it supports push notifications enabling third party apps to send updates to the home screen even when another application is running. As a reason, Microsoft’s says, it eats a lot of battery life.

Page States

The OS support for page states, which is similar to cookies on websites. It is a light weight package that can easily be kept in memory to preserve the look and feel, and data of an app while discarding the memory heavy UI elements. When the app is needed again after the user navigate away from the screen, it reconstructs to its previous state and this process is called ‘dehydration’ and ‘rehydration’.

Hubs Strategy

Windows Phone 7’s Hub strategy is a unique feature for the platform. From the People Hub, you can manage your various mail accounts and social networks in a single view. You can set status updates and check mails in single place, rather than changing applications. The Picture Hub helps you to access your locally stored photos or cloud based social network picture galleries, upload pictures and comment on them. They offer photo editing functionalities as well. The Game Hub is integrated with Xbox Live, where you can use your avatar in there, and Xbox Live games and achievements, Spotlight feeds, and the ability to browse gamer profiles. The Zune HD is your Music + Video Hub in the Windows Phone 7. You can download new music over WiFi and 3G. You can rent or purchase videos as well. Microsoft is working with Pandora to integrate with the hub, utilizing the Zune player to tap into Pandora’s streaming services.

It has its built in Internet Explorer browser, but it’s not fast as mobile safari.

The business people always love Microsoft Windows mobile, as it has many stunning features, and it has a great support for office tools. Windows Phone 7 has great features with multimedia support and the users will love this lot more than before. In near future, we can expect some wonderful add-ons and application for the new product. Most of the games are developed with XNA support and lot of silverlight features has added to it.

References

• Microsoft-7.JPG. (2010, April). Retrieved from sanamalik.com: http://sanamalik.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/02/Microsoft-7.JPG
• Windows phone 7 series the complete guide. (2010, April). Retrieved from engadget.com: http://www.engadget.com/2010/03/18/windows-phone-7-series-the-complete-guide/

New Features in OS 4.0

Multitasking

iPhone’s multitasking solution allow several third party apps to run in the background while the user working with another application. It is handled with a simple task switcher by double click the home button. When click the home button, it will show a list of currently running applications. You have to select the application and it will switch to it. The system gives preferences to running tasks and less preferences to others as needed. It allows the user to pause some applications, while enabling some special service to allow some types of tasks such as answering calls or playing music on the background. Apple has listed seven kinds of services that will give the user the kind of multitasking without choking the system

Background Audio: This can be done apps like Pandora, where user can listen to music while doing another task.

Voice over IP – VoIP: Before multitasking implemented, VoIP applications were limited as they were not active all the time to receive incoming calls

Background Location: There are two kinds of applications—turn-by-turn direction GPS applications like TomTom would run this service in the background to tracks where you are, while you are working on another app, and social networking application like Loopt.

Push notifications: This was already a background task, but it has been expanded in OS 4.0.

Local notifications: These notifications are generated by the iPhone applications and can be sent between the applications. If something important happened in background, a notification will popup whatever the app you are using at the time. This is an effective way of keep tracking between the applications.

Task completion: This will allow applications to finish the tasks started before switching to another application. It pops up an alert when the app task is done, even when you are using some other apps

Fast app switching: This will allow currently running applications to available instantly rather than start them up each time. All the application can now be frozen in full, so when you reopen them, they are restored exactly to the previous state.

iBook

The iBook, which was only available for Apple’s iPad, is now available for iPhone, now you can take your books with you wherever you go as oppose to iPad. iBook now available for iPod Touch as well. Currently it is only available in United States only as it has some complexity of geographic distribution deals with publishers.

iAd

iAd, Apple’s newest interactive advertisement platform. According to Jobs, it offers ‘interaction and emotions’ which is middle of where web ads and TV ads to the app users. Those ads are going to be served without leaving the current app you are working on, and then you can close the ad at any time and return to the app where you left it. It offers variety of interactive options like sounds and video clips and games within the advertisement. According to Jobs, one ad every three minutes would lead to 1 billion ad impression per day over Apple’s 100 million devices. Apple will host the ads and developers will receive 60% of iAd revenue. The iAd is based on HTML5.

New Mail App

Unified inbox with multiple email exchange accounts with fast inbox switching with a few taps. It allows users to open attachments using specific applications. Organized by thread and groups together messages by date.

Application Folders

For better organizing, OS 4.0 has a folder feature. Now, user can create folders according to App Store category, and users can rename it as well.

Game Center

Apple’s going to start a centralized gaming service such as Xbox Live to connect players online and the scores can be viewed anyone on the network. This service will be available by the end of this year.

Bluetooth Keyboard Support

This is another feature taken from the iPad. Now, iPhone 4.0 support Bluetooth Keyboard.

Custom Backgrounds

Now you can choose different backgrounds for your iPhone 4 and not just for the lockscreen

Enterprise Features

• Better data protection: Encrypted emails and PIN coded attachments
• Mobile device management: Lets IT managers to deploy iPhone and manage them remotely
• Wireless app distribution. Companies can push out custom apps over the air instead of relying on iTunes sync.
• Support for multiple exchange accounts
• Support for Exchange server 2010
• SSL VPN support from Juniper and Cisco

Disadvantages

There are many hardware compatibility issues when migrating to iPhone OS 4.0. You cannot have multitasking features in your iPhone 3G and if you want to have that experience, you have to buy a new iPhone with OS 4.0. Even in 3GS model, it does not have a front camera yet, so you cannot take video calls nor do video chat though it is a multimedia phone. These features are mandatory and people are expecting them on upcoming editions. iPhone OS 4.0 does not support Java. There are number of free Java applications available all over the net but you cannot use them. They have HTML5 as an alternative for Flash. This might be a good idea but you cannot watch flash videos or browse flash sites. Only few sites support HTML5 Currently such as YouTube.

Competitors

While Apple is trying to implement the multitasking, the windows mobile has implemented it years ago. From the services and enterprise level, Windows mobile is in a leading level around the globe. There are no free things in Apple, if you want a book, you have to buy it from iBook, and for music, you need pay and download it from iTunes. But in windows mobile, there are large number of sites and lot of applications available for free. People love Apple, because of its multimedia features, and it has a great support for gaming. But the future of the Apple’s stability is depends on what are the enterprise level services it offers, how much it supports for free and open source software, and how much its applications support world wide. Most of its features limited to United States. Even though it has many wonderful features, not everyone can get benefit out of them.

After all, there is a question mark in my mind. Will iPhone OS 4.0 be able beat its competitors even with these upgrades?

References

• (2010, April). Retrieved April 2010, from media.techworld.com: http://media.techworld.com/cmsdata/products/3219758/iPhone%20OS%204.jpg
• Iiphone OS 40 All The New Features. (2010, April). Retrieved April 2010, from Gizmodo: http://gizmodo.com/5512635/iphone-os-40-all-the-new-features
• iPhone OS 4.0: Multitasking arrives (live blog). (2010, April). Retrieved April 2010, from Cnet: http://news.cnet.com/8301-13579_3-20001876-37.html
• New iphone os 4 features. (2010, April). Retrieved April 2010, from The Huffington Post: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/08/new-iphone-os-4-features_n_530401.html#s79663

OpenID identity is actually not a username and password system. Technically, they are URLs. Something likes this,

• http://claimid.com/username
• http://username.myopenid.com
• http://me.yahoo.com/username

You have to give your credentials to the OpenID provider website, and the provider is responsible to notify the other sites that you are who you claim to be. After you have claimed the authentication and authorization, you can use the website as a registered logged in user. Facebook Connect and Google Friend Connect are some examples of OpenID. The main difference in the OpenID is a single company does not control it. There are number of companies you can choose to obtain an OpenID.

To use the OpenID credentials, the website should have the OpenID login feature, and if you can find the OpenID logo somewhere on the webpage, you can use your OpenID to login. This form then connects with the OpenID client library.

Behind The Scene

There are two parties involved in an OpenID transaction, Consumer and Provider. A Consumer (also called a Relying Party) is an OpenID enabled web site. A Provider plays the role as a registrar. It allows users to create and manage OpenID URLs and accounts, and authenticates the user to Consumers. This is an open source framwork service, and anyone can be a Consumer or a Provider without any cost of licensing fees. You can find a large number of web applications allow users to log in using the OpenID credentials and number of sites have become the service Providers all over the web.

When a user tries to log into a Consumer site using OpenID, the Consumer site contacts the Provider to verify the user’s credentials. The user may be redirected to the Provider and asked to sign in using Provider password. When its done successfully, the user will automatically redirected to the Consumer site with granted access as a registered user.

Getting Started With OpenID

To use OpenID, you should have an OpenID account with one of the many providers on the web. If you have an account with Google, Yahoo, AOL, LiveJernal, Blogger, Flickr, MySpace or any other common big name OpenID  providers, then you already have an OpenID. If you want, you can have an OpenID account with some dedicated OpenID providers, such as MyOpenID or ClaimID. This is called as ‘home base’. Even if you choose any of the services, you’ll get a unique URL that you can use around the web.

Getting Used To OpenID

The main confusion of using OpenID is, it is not a normal username and password but it is usually a URL something looks like this: http://username.providername.com.

To log into an OpenID enabled Consumer site

• Find the OpenID logo somewhere on the web page
• Paste your OpenID URL in the provided text field and press Enter
• You’ll be asked to sign into you account back at your ‘home base’. You have to provide the username and the password to the ‘home base’ account.
• At last, you will have to provide some of your basic details like your name and profile picture.

That is all. No need to register, no need to confirm.

Benefit Of OpenID For Different Level Of Internet Users

General Internet User

• Convenient online experience: Do not have to memorize a number of username and password for different sites
• Security: If you could find a secure OpenID provider, the phishing attack surface is reduced.

E-Commerce And OpenID Consumers.

• Being an OpenID consumer, they can give a simple user registration to the users. This will give a major attractiveness for website.
• With the user’s approval, the OpenID let know more about the visitors to the consumers to target their market
• Can be prevent from identity theft, as the login information can be retrieved from OpenID

OpenID is not a perfect solution for a normal user, until he’s getting used to it, and to prevent the security problem, the user must choose a secured OpenID provider.

References

• (2010). Retrieved on 2010, April from wired.com: http://howto.wired.com/wiki/Use_OpenID
• (2010). Retrieved on 2010, April from zdnet.com: http://blogs.zdnet.com/digitalID/?p=78
• (2010). Retrieved on 2010, April from penn-olson.com: http://www.penn-olson.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/12/openid.gif

Augmented reality changed the way the users see the world. Augmented Reality enhances a user’s perception of and interaction with the real world.  The virtual objects display information that the user cannot directly detect with their own senses.  The information conveyed by the virtual objects helps a user perform real-world tasks. The base of the augmented reality is on computer graphics. Next-generation augmented-reality systems will display graphics for each viewer’s perspective. Augmented reality (AR) works on the same principles as virtual reality.  Augmented reality overlays virtual objects and information over the real world, unlike VR (Virtual Reality) where the user is immersed in a completely virtual environment. This is usually achieved by the use of see-through head mounted displays and tracking devices.

Applications

iPhone

There are augmented reality iPhone and Smart Phone applications released in to the market. iPhone’s Layar application is a nice example for augmented reality. The Layar augmented reality browser looks at an environment through the phone’s camera and overlays data on top of points of interest such as restaurants, shops and tourist attractions. The app retrieves information from third-party developers who contribute their “layers” to the Layar platform. For example, there is a layer called iMetro, and when that’s selected and you’re standing outside, Layar will display digital overlays of nearby bus stops and the time the next bus is arriving.

There is an augmented reality feature which can be accessible through Easter egg in iPhone 3GS, which is activated by shaking the handset three times. A message will appear reading, “The Monocle has been activated,” and then a Monocle button will appear in the upper-right corner. Tapping that button will launch your iPhone camera, and digital overlays of business listings, accompanied by star ratings, appear on screen. The app presumably draws its geo-aware powers from the iPhone 3GS’ digital compass and GPS.

SmartPhone

There’s a smartphone app named Recognizr uses recognition software to create a 3-D model of a person’s mug. Then it transmits the model to a server, which matches it with an image stored in the database. An online server performs facial recognition, shoots back a name of the subject, and links to his social networking profiles.

Medical

In Medical, Augmented Reality technology could provide an internal view of the human body to 3-D digital dataset in real time. This can be reduced the need for larger incisions.

Military

In military, aircraft and helicopters have used Head-Up Displays (HUDs) and Helmet-Mounted Sights (HMS) to superimpose vector graphics upon the pilot’s view of the real world. Besides providing basic navigation and flight information, these graphics are sometimes registered with targets in the environment, providing a way to aim the aircraft’s weapons.

Transportation

Transportation navigation is one of the main achievements of Augmented Reality. Modern GPS navigation systems using street views which contain augmented reality technologies.

Business and Marketing

In the business world, Augmented Reality could be a really good marketing tool among businesses. Best Buy is a good example for AR advertisement.

In Future It Can Be Used To

• Entertainments, where real world people can be interact with virtual objects. This can be used in gaming environments perfectly.
• Transportation signs and signals, where the roadside signs can be created virtually and placed
• Road vehicles’ navigation system can be replaced with AR technology. Where the driver can interact with the real world virtually.
• Without leave the house, people can do the shopping. Find, match, and change products with a single touch.
• Documents can be created in real world by virtual objects such as virtual AR word processing software.

Disadvantages

Even though Augmented Reality has a lot of advantages, it has some disadvantages as well. Currently, the cost for the technology is high. Therefore, not every people might able to take the advantage of the technology. The GPS on a mobile phone normally only gives a position within around 20 meters, while the iPhone’s compass orientation is only accurate to around 20 degrees. This can lead to problems in determining exactly what’s within the camera’s view.

References

• (2010, 04). Retrieved from cs.unc.edu: http://www.cs.unc.edu/~azuma/ARpresence.pdf
• (2010, 04). Retrieved from augmentedrealreality.com: http://augmentedrealreality.com/
• (2010, 04). Retrieved from howstuffworks.com: http://www.howstuffworks.com/augmented-reality.htm#
• (2010, 04). Retrieved from vr.ucl.ac.uk: http://www.vr.ucl.ac.uk/projects/arthur/arthur2.jpg
• (2010, 04). Retrieved from wired.com: http://www.wired.com/gadgetlab/tag/augmented-reality/
• (2010, 04). Retrieved from venturebeat.com: http://venturebeat.com/2010/01/27/augmented-reality-the-next-generation/

There are two types of clouds available: Public cloud and Private cloud. A public cloud can be accessed by anyone on the internet but the private cloud is accessible only for the limited number of users. When creating the private cloud using public cloud resources, it is called virtual private cloud.

Software-as-a-Service (SaaS)

This type of service allows thousands of users to access a single application through the browser or some kind of front end portal using multi-tenant architecture where a single instance of software runs on a server, serving thousands of customers. It’s a profitable system for customers, where there’s no need for investing in servers and software licenses. In the service providers’ point of view, its just one application to maintain, so maintenance costs are very low. SaaS is commonly used on HR applications. But, it can be anything from web based email services to inventory control systems.

Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS)

This is a variation of a SaaS. It provides a development environment for developers to create applications on the platform over the internet using development tools hosted on the service provider’s platform. Usage of this service is not totally convenient to developers, as the development tools are limited to vendor’s architecture. But they can achieve  predictability and pre-integration.

Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS)

This type of services provides virtual server instances with a unique IP address and storage. Users can access the server using the service provider’s API to start, stop and configure the server. In the enterprise, cloud computing allows a company to pay for only as much capacity as is needed, yet purchase more capacity whenever required.

Web Services In The Cloud

Rather than delivering the whole application, this system offer web services APIs to developers to develop services over the internet. They’re available as discrete business services to the total APIs offered by Google Maps, ADP Payroll Process, the US Postal Service and Bloomberg.

Managed Service Providers (MSP)

A managed service is an application exposed to IT rather than to end-users. These service providers provide infrastructure management services such as network-based services, applications and equipment to enterprises on subscription basis. In addition to these services, the MSP can manage and integrate a range of enterprise networks associated activities including Web hosting, Virtual Private Network (VPN), unified messaging, video networking etc.

Commerce Services Platform

Commerce Services Platform enables service providers and software companies to become solution providers, as this is a hybrid of SaaS and MSP. They’re most common in trading environments, such as expense management systems, that allow users to order travel or secretarial services from a common platform that then coordinates the service delivery and pricing within the specification set by the user.

Internet Integration

The integration of cloud-based services is in its early days. OpSource, which mainly concerns itself with serving as SaaS providers, recently introduced the OpSource Services Bus, which employs in-the-cloud integration technology from a little startup called Boomi. SaaS provider Workday recently acquired another player in this space, CapeClear, an ESB (enterprise service bus) provider that was edging toward b-to-b integration.

Future Of Cloud Computing

In future, for the security purposes, the large enterprises can be building their own private clouds and the cloud computing service providers will support information security as well. The enterprises will become part time cloud-computing vendors and you need only the browser as a development tool. Game Servers will be the most interesting cloud computing in future.

References

• (n.d). Retrieved on 2010, January from infoworld.com: http://www.infoworld.com/d/cloud-computing/what-cloud-computing-really-means-031?page=0,0
• (n.d). Retrieved on 2010, January  from techtarget.com: http://searchcloudcomputing.techtarget.com/sDefinition/0,,sid201_gci1287881,00.html
• (n.d). Retrieved on 2010, January from zenmediastudios.com: http://www.zenmediastudios.com/_uploads/2009/09/cloud-computing.jpg

Specification and Features

Its operating system is similar to iPhone’s operating system and has custom designed A4, Apple 1GHz Processor. It has 1024 x 768 resolutions, 9.7 inch LED touch screen, 1.5 pounds weight, 0.5 inch thin and it has around 10 hours of battery life as well. iPad has the fasters built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi connection, Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR and 7.2 Mbps 3G data speed. There are particularly designed games and apps available for iPad and an iWork suite which contains word processing, spreadsheet and presentation software especially for business use also announced. The starting price will be around $499 (16 GB). If you want to use AT&T connectivity, which is Apple recommended, another $130 will be added to the price. Apple’s iBook the virtual bookshop is one of the main features in iPad. You can turn pages with a single tap in the right-hand margin.

In addition, you can have a bunch of photo album in your iPad, and when it’s charging state, you can use it as a digital photo frame. Moreover, its high-resolution screen makes it perfect for watching any kind of video such as HD movies, TV shows and music videos. It has a unique YouTube app where you can easily navigate videos and organize videos. With the iPod application, you can browse, organize and listen to music with the powerful built-in speaker. The iTune store lets you to browse, buy music, TV shows or you can buy or rent movies with thousands of collections or you can sync with your Mac or PC to share the contents through iTune. There are around 140,000 applications available for iPad and you can easily browse, buy and download them from App Store.

The Google powered helps you to navigate with high-resolution satellite images where you can use your current location as well as you can get the directions. To taking notes, iPad has an onscreen keyboard and in landscape view, you can see your list of notes and the current one will shown win a red circle. From the Home Screen, you can have access to everything in your iPad in a tap and you can move apps around the screen in any order you want. Finally, the Spotlight Search allows you to search across iPad and its built-in apps.

Lack Of Functionalities

Even though iPad has the entire above-mentioned feature, it has failed some functionality as well. Due to lack of multitasking that means that you cannot listen to music while editing a photo. It’s a major issue in iPad. It does not have a camera. Even the iPod nano has a camera, so a business product without a web cam or at least a normal cam. So no video chatting, no photo snaps. It does not include a USB port, so file transfer between other devices will be difficult and inconvenient. Users have to depend on a USB adapter. Most of the users never accept this. iPad doesn’t support Flash. Which means you cannot view Flash embedded sites and applications. The main arguments against Flash running on the iPad are that it’s a resource hog and a security risk, but the lack of Flash support is nonetheless a hindrance for users. While the iPad’s display has been praised as crisp and sharp, its screen — LED-backlit with In-Plane Switching (IPS) — has its downsides. The iPad’s screen is not as power efficient as OLED devices, which don’t drain batteries as quickly. Moreover, LED screen tends to be harder on the eyes than the e-ink screens used on eReaders such as the Kindle. Apple has its own App Store for iPad and it has a lot of restriction on apps like no porn, nothing that infringes on the Apple trademark etc. The Free Software Foundation has already criticized the product, saying iPad is bad for freedom.

People have to think is it worth to buy this product for $500? Moreover, user has to depend on the iStore.  We can expect more features and bug fixed updates in future. However, for now its people have to decide do they really want to replace their current device to iPad.

References

• (n.d). Retrieved on January 2010 from huffingtonpost.com: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/01/29/apple-ipad-review-photos_n_441770.html?slidenumber=Dpqk1VkFkhM%3D&&&&&&&&&
• (n.d). Retrieved on January 2010 from apple.com: http://www.apple.com/ipad/
• (n.d). Retrieved on January 2010 from sindhtoday.net: http://www.sindhtoday.net/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/apple-ipad_tablet.jpg

History

The Blu-ray Disc Association developed Blu-ray disc. The first Blu-ray disc prototype was unveiled at the CEATEC exhibition as DVR Blue in October 2000. On February 19, 2002, the project was officially announced as “Blu-ray”. On October 4, 2004 the 20^th Century Fox joined hands with BDA’s Board of Directors. The first BD-ROM players were shipped in mid-June 2006. The first movie released in Blu-ray is 2003’s Charlie’s Angels:Full Throttle. This release used the standard DVDs MPEG-2 compression method.

The Technology

Laser and Optics

To read and write data the Blu-ray disc uses a blue or violet laser, which is operating at a wavelength of 405nm. The diodes are InGaN (Indium Gallium Nitride) lasers that produce 405 nm photons directly, that is, without frequency doubling or other nonlinear optical mechanisms. Conventional DVDs and CDs use red and near-infrared lasers, at 650 nm and 780 nm, respectively. The blue-violet laser’s shorter wavelength makes it possible to store more information on a 12 cm CD/DVD-size disc. The minimum “spot size” on which a laser can be focused is limited by diffraction, and depends on the wavelength of the light and the numerical aperture of the lens used to focus it. By decreasing the wavelength, increasing the numerical aperture from 0.60 to 0.85, and making the cover layer thinner to avoid unwanted optical effects, the laser beam can be focused to a smaller spot. This allows more information to be stored in the same area. For Blu-ray Disc, the spot size is 580 nm. Blu-ray Discs feature improvements in data encoding that further increase the capacity.

Hard-coating

To avoid the scratches, the Blu-ray disc has scratch-protection coating names Durabis.

Blu-ray with Java

The Java platform for Blu-ray players is called BD-J, which is based on JavaME Personal Basis Profile (PBP) v 1.1. It contains the additional APIs such as JavaTV and special Blu-ray API. In addition, it is based on a subset of JavaSE 1.4.2, so it uses the standard JVM. This includes Vector graphics, network support and file system access etc. The network connectivity is mandatory for Blu-ray profile 2 with support of TCP/IP and HTTP. For security, the secure connection contains the Java Socket Extension. A Blu-ray play can contain flash disks, a hard-disc or a USB port for extra memory. The file system classes allow accessing the file systems.

The BD-J platform uses AWT for its Graphical User Interface (GUI) with support of a remote control navigation. The Java Media Framework (JMF) is used for playback of the content on the disc. With the Java sandbox security, the user only allowed to access the disc publisher allowed servers. The main reason for incorporating Java in Blu-ray players it to get better possibilities when creating menus, in contrast to DVD players which use a simple MPEG based technology. Another basic feature is the possibility to add interactivity while playing the movie.

The Blu-ray Profiles

Each Blu-ray player must adhere to a specific profile. This specifies such things as the memory requirement. All profile with video requires a full BD-J implementation. This is a short summary of the current profiles:

• 1.0 – This is the profile that is used today. It requires that the player has at least 64 KB persistent memory.
• 1.1 – This becomes mandatory on all players that are manufactured after November 2007. The memory requirement is increased to 256 MB. The players must have a secondary video decoder and a secondary audio decoder. The secondary video decoder is used for picture in picture, whereas the secondary audio could be used for audio commentary etc.
• 2.0 – This is called BD-Live and this requires the player to have network connectivity. The memory requirements are set to at least 1 GB. The memory is not limited to built-in memory, but could also be an external memory, such as an USB memory stick.
• 3.0 – This is an audio only profile. This does not require BD-J.

The Blu-ray with Java platform can bring a new revolution in the field of movie publishing. We can expect our favorite movies with a very good quality in near future.

References

• (n.d). Retrieved on January 2010 from blog.jayway.com: http://blog.jayway.com/2009/12/11/blu-ray-and-java/
• (n.d). Retrieved on January 2010 from kombo.com: http://ps3.kombo.com/images/content/news/blurb_blu_ray_logo_20100106.png

Development

The film Avatar had been in development since 1994 bye James Cameron, who wrote an 80-page script for the film in two weeks. Cameron has stated that “every single science fiction book I read as a kid”. He announced about filming the Avatar after completing the Titanic. From January to April 2006, Cameron worked on the script with Dr. Paul Former, who developed the Na’vi language and culture. The budget for the film is $237 million, with $150 million for promotion. Most of the live action scenes were shot in Wellington, New Zealand on sets constructed by a massive team of 150 contractors.

The Technology

Performance Capture

Cameron first introduced the motion capture technology in Total Recall, with the first CGI human movements. But this had some limitations, in particular the actor of the character being portrayed. Moreover, the actor’s expressions cannot capture with this technology. CGI is traditionally done by placing reflective markers all over an actor’s face and body, which are then interpreted by computer technology to create digitized expressions for CG characters. Cameron and his team developed a new image-based facial performance capture technology, requiring the actor to wear special headgear rig equipped with a camera, which is placed inches from their face to capture and digitalize every muscle contraction or expression.

Animation

The digital animations have done by the Weta Digital in New Zealand, which has owned by Peter Jackson. They’ve transferred basic renderings into photo-real images, using lighting, shading and rendering. The realism was extended to each leaf, tree, plant and rock, which were rendered in WETA computers. In addition, a team of artists designed the props and weapons for the Na’vi and humans. These digital designs have taken to complete over one year of time.

Stereoscopic 3D Fusion Camera

The production partner Vince Pace and James Cameron developed this camera system. This camera was used to bridge up the gaps between the scenes and artistically formed an untraceable connectivity between the live action and the computer-generated scenes.

Virtual Camera/Simul-Cam Technology

The combination of the Virtual Camera and the Simul-Cam gave the best features of the 3D and the CGI technologies for Avatar. The Virtual Camera simulated a camera that was fed CG images by supercomputer surrounding the volume. This allowed amplification of each small adjustment on the virtual production stage, from camera movement to actor interaction. The simul-cam fed, in integrated real-time, CG characters and environments into the live action Fusion 3D camera eyepiece, allowing the director to direct virtual scenes on Pandora the same way he would a live-action scene.

The Software Used In The Making Of Avatar

There are many companies and their software product has involved in the development of the film Avatar. The company list has given below.

• Industrial Light and Magic, USA (most of the character design, modeling and effects)
• Weta Digital, New Zealand (most of the character design, modeling and effects)
• Stan Winston Studios (most of the props, including the AMP suit)
• Framestore, UK (Sully’s arrival at Hell’s Gate and two other shots)
• Hybride, Canada
• Prime Focus, USA – Frantic Films is mentioned for the same thing but not officially credited – (design and compositing of the control room screens, HUDs, etc)
• Look Effects, USA (compositing)
• Hydraulx, USA
• Giant Studios, USA (motion capture)
• Blur, USA (space shots of ISV Venture Star)
• Pixel Liberation Front, USA (screens and HUD design)
• Lola VFX, USA (digital cosmetic)

The Main Software Used Has Given Below

• Autodesk Maya
• Pixar Renderman for Maya
• Autodesk SoftImage XSI
• Luxology Modo (model desing)
• Autodesk 3ds max (space shots, control room screens and HUD renderings)
• Autodesk MotionBuilder (for real time 3d visualisatons)
• The Foundry Nuke Compositor (image compositing)
• Autodesk Smoke (color correction)
• Autodesk Combustion (compositing)
• AVID (video editing)
• Adobe After Effects (compositing, real-time visualizations)
• PF Track (motion tracking, background replacement)
• Adobe Illustrator (HUD and screens layout)
• Adobe Photoshop (concept art, textures)
• Adobe Premiere (proofing, rough composition with AE)
• Many tools developed in-house
• Plug-ins for each platform

Avatar made a big revolution in the 3D and Sci-Fi films. Moreover, the film was a big success.

References

• (n.d). Retrieved on 2010, January from scriptphd.com: http://www.scriptphd.com/?p=1257
• (n.d). Retrieved on 2010, January from twin-pixels.com: http://www.twin-pixels.com/software-used-making-of-avatar/
• (n.d). Retrieved on 2010, January from scienceprog.com: http://www.scienceprog.com/technologies-used-in-avatar-movie/
• (n.d). Retrieved on 2010, January from twin-pixels.com: http://www.twin-pixels.com/wp-content/uploads/4054882656_1b4c62a3cb.jpg

Engine and Power Supply

It has an Engine Power of 111 kW (149 hp) electric motor and 1.4 L 4-cylinder for powering 53 kW (71 hp) generator. For up to the first 64 km (40miles) the Volt will be powered by electricity, which is charged in lithium-ion batteries that charged from an electrical power outlet. After 64 km, a small 4-cylinder gasoline internal combustion engine creates electricity on-board using a 53 kW (71 hp) generator to extend the Volt’s range to more than 300 miles (483 km). The electrical power from the generator is sent to either the electric motor or the batteries, depending on the state of charge (SOC) of the battery pack and the power demanded at the wheels.

The Model

The Chevrolet Volt has four doors with a rear lift gate and can be seated for four passengers. In addition, the top speed has also been increased from the electronically 134 km/h to 160 km/h. The battery pack size has also been reduced from 300L to 100L. The design model first revealed to the public on September 16, 2008. The lithium-ion battery technology in which the cathode contains the lithium has a large impact in determining the success of the car.

Efficient Fuel Consuming

If the batteries are fully charged, without any other fuel supplies, the Volt can travel less than 64 km trips using only the stored electricity in lithium-ion batteries. Once the Volt’s battery has discharged to the estimated 30% lower State of Charge (SoC) limit, the engine starts and supplies power to the electric motor to continue driving the car and maintain the battery charge at 30%.

The Smart Phone Application For The Chevy Volt

General Motors has unveiled an application, which has successfully developed by the OnStar for Chevrolet Volt drivers that will let them remotely control the whole car in their Blackberry, iPhone or Motorola Droid in the International Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas on 05^th of January 2010.

Drivers can communicate with their Volt using the OnStar’s Mobile Application with the real-time data connection to perform number of tasks. The OnStar application has offered a wide range of interaction and control, which has never offered on any electric vehicle before. The features including:

• Display charge status
• Schedule time for charge or notify to charge
• Display battery charge level in percentage
• Notify via text messages to drivers to plug in their vehicle when the battery level is low
• Status reports
• Warming up or cooling the vehicle before getting in
• Showing miles per gallon, EV miles and miles driven for last trip and lifetime

The president of the OnStar Walt Dorfstatter has stated  that “The Chevrolet Volt ushers in a new era of automotive technology and calls for a new level of connectivity and control, Nearly 6 million vehicles on the road today use OnStar to stay connected, and our new Smartphone app will make that even easier for Volt drivers.”

OnStar servers are the intermediary between the OnStar application and the Volt. The application has the communication facility with the OnStar servers. Because of the OnStar’s real-time data connection, it helps drivers maximize the environmental benefits owning a Volt. Using the power from the grid, the driver can remotely start the Volt to pre-condition the interior temperature. It saves the battery charge for long driving.

Volt drivers can also view and manage vehicle systems and commands from the vehicle, the Internet or through a monthly OnStar Vehicle Diagnostic e-mail. Traditional OnStar features such as door lock, unlock and remote horn and lights-typically accessible only through a call to an OnStar center-will be available via the application.

Currently the application works on the Apple iPhone, Motorola Droid and Blackberry Storm, and General Motors says it also will be available on a mobile browser for other Smartphones. The demo application can be downloaded from iTunes store for Apple iPhone and for Motorola Droid and Blackberry Storm the application available at OnStarMobileDemo.com. Initial sales of the Chevy Volt, scheduled for production in late 2010 and the price have estimated to $40,000.

References

• (n.d). Retrieved January 2010 from hybridcars.com: http://www.hybridcars.com/news/gm-unveils-chevy-volt-smartphone-application-26402.html
• (n.d). Retrieved January 2010 from egmcartech.com: http://www.egmcartech.com/2010/01/06/chevrolet-volt-smartphone-app-lets-you-control-things-from-your-iphone-storm-dorid/
• (n.d). Retrieved January 2010 from wired.com: http://www.wired.com/images_blogs/autopia/2010/01/volt_smartphone_app.jpg
• (n.d). Retrieved January 2010 from wired.com: http://www.wired.com/autopia/2010/01/chevrolet-volt-gets-an-iphone-app/

When working on complex operations with a large set of data using a table-based database system, it   needs more resources and time consuming and it is actually an incredible piece of software but it might not be the best tool for every stored procedures. NoSQL is easy to use database system, its performance is fast, and it is a portable without any limitations other than the memory and the processor speed.  It uses key, value pair to store data so, if you want to keep your data in a persistent state and have access to them, then this would be an ideal database system. The object databases are been based on client-centric architecture rather than server-centric architecture and the queries are performed on the client. In addition, without bound to server hardware limitation, the data can be partition and scaled easily. However, if you have to work with around 10 gigabyte of data table that must be update each second from various clients, you cannot rely on the NoSQL since it lacks of performance on very big tables. At the same time some NoSQL databases do not even support a basic feature like automatic partitioning, but they provide reliability features like distribution, replication, snapshot, record-level version history, and MVC. Those are the reasons people like NoSQL most.

It is closely integrated and an extension of the UNIX environment. When using NoSQL, a database is just a regular UNIX ASCII file and you can use, move and maintain it as any other files that you have access. In addition, it does not need a fixed schema or data type, it does not have the ‘JOIN’ query, and ACID (Atomicity, Consistency, Isolation and Durability) properties are not important here. Moreover, queries are relatively simple than relational database system. Moreover, when using the table-based database system, there will be problems regarding the versions, but in this NoSQL database, you do not have to care about which version you are developing and which version the clients have.

There are some well know companies use the NoSQL databases as their storage and retrieval database system. Facebook’s Cassandara, LinkedIn’s Project Voldemort, Google’s BigTable and Amazon’s Dynamo are some of them. Chordless, CouchDB, Db4o, GT.M, Hbase, Hypertable, Memcachedb, Mnesia, MongoDB and Redis are some popular open source NoSQL projects.

Nowadays, the web community is more developed than it was. Therefore, it needs more technology with high performance rather than the traditional way of RDBMS to store and retrieve data. To meet the requirements of many ecommerce applications it needs an object database such as NoSQL where you can work with your own preferred language. If you have problems related to the scalability like reaching the limit of the write capacity of a single database server, amount of data is greater than a single server can hold or your page loading is being slow as well as structure related problems like tables with lots of columns and a little of them are actually used, and have a lot of join queries to deal with or your schema have a large number of many to many join tables you can think about to change to NoSQL.

References

• (n.d.). Retrieved January 2010, from Ycombinator.com: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=859468
• (n.d.). Retrieved January 2010, from Odbms.org: http://www.odbms.org/blog/
• (n.d.). Retrieved January 2010, from Eflorenzano.com: http://www.eflorenzano.com/blog/post/my-thoughts-nosql/
• (n.d.). Retrieved January 2010, from Buytaert.net: http://buytaert.net/nosql-and-sql
• (n.d.). Retrieved January 2010, from Carsonified.com: http://carsonified.com/blog/dev/should-you-go-beyond-relational-databases/
• (n.d.). Retrieved from http://1.bp.blogspot.com/_j6mB7TMmJJY/SxKcnXYD5GI/AAAAAAAAAX0/5uC0_Uo1fU8/s1600/p1.png