How does Google Maps work ?

When you want to locate a business or a place, you need the right tools in your hand. This can be in the form of a paper map, a business card with the complete address or a directory through which you can complete your task of searching for the place. Now there is an even more powerful application through which a search can be made - Google Maps.

What is Google Maps? It is a web mapping service which is provided for free by Google and it can be used to find locations in any part of the world. It is highly useful for the navigation industry and also for businesses. As a business owner, you can build your business listing through Google maps by creating an account at Google Places or Local Business Centre.

When you open Google Maps for the first time, you are taken to a map of the United States. Enter any location on the search box at the top of the window and the application will show you the location in map form after performing a search through its global servers. Information is retrieved from TeleAtlas, where all map imagery is stored. The location map is displayed with a visual pointer that shows the exact location where a search has to be performed. This makes the search process all the more easy.

Google Maps helps to find business locations as well. When you specify a business and a location in the search box, it directs you to the place where that business is located, giving you the address. If you specify a complete business address, the application retrieves the map imagery corresponding to it.
In addition to this facility, Google Maps can be used to find driving and walking directions between addresses. You have to enter the direction mode and specify the addresses in the search fields. The fastest location between both locations is found and displays an image of the trip with a line showing the entire route.

This application has the ability to display detailed street maps that can be further expanded to reveal areas in an expanded form, right down to the pedestrian level such that you can view from the street level and even from the block by block level. A point to be noted when using Google Maps is that places that are densely populated are shown in more detail, than those which are thinly populated.

Google glasses 3D

Recently Google revealed their new development in the optical industry - or is it actually specific to optics? Google's "Project Glass" is a revolutionary new design that has taken the technological world by storm. These specs are potentially the coolest, smartest glasses you'll ever don! A mix between some of our favorite social media outlets like Google+, chats and text messages, they allow you to do everything through the comfort of your own eyes! They use every technological advancement including global positioning systems (or GPS), voice over internet protocol (or VoIP), and smartphone electronics. By going green (with added smart car technology), the lenses allow you to see clearly through your seemingly normal visual-world and get all of these high tech updates in the process, as well. What happens for those who wear glasses, you ask?

Well, what will be the most interesting in regards to this new invention is just how Google will adapt to those who actually need to wear glasses as a form of vision correction. Will Project Glass only be available for those with twenty/twenty vision - or anyone who wears contacts? Or, will there be an option to use the glasses structure of the product as actual prescription eyeglasses and still be able to see the invisible high tech screen? Google clearly hasn't dotted all of the "i"s or crossed all of the "t"s with this new invention - or at least they're not letting us in on it... yet.

Google did recently release a promo-type video - properly titled "One day..." - in which you can see a day in the life of someone who uses Project Glass eyewear. With the equivalent of a mobile computer within our eye's view, the glasses allow you to send text messages with friends, "check in" to local events and post on social media sites, as well as talk to friends with video chat. With the GPS capabilities, the glasses will be able to walk you through the streets of New York, as well as the aisles of a local bookstore - simply to find a specific section to obtain a certain genre of books. The future is certainly upon us with Google's Project Glass.

While Google's Project Glass eyeglasses are a thing of the future, for now we'll stick to regular prescription eyeglasses. It's hard to say whether or not they will actually take off with popularity - especially since they don't appear to be the coolest looking accessory. However, styles change, and who knows what our fashion forward society will allow "one day". After all, the style of what is considered fashionable in the world of glasses frames does change fairly regularly. So what do you think of Google's new glasses?? Are they the future of eyeglasses?

What is an IP adress ?

It is a default private IP for various NAT/network devices such as routers. In order to resolve the issue of shortage of IP to be used on the Internet, these IP addresses were devised. RFC 1918 defines the ranges of the private IP.

An IP, where IP stands for Internet Protocol, is a numeric identification that is assigned to all the devices or machines, which are a part of any computer network. All the devices, which are connected to a network, have a unique IP. As we have said earlier, these addresses are numeric representations, which are divided into four parts, and each part is separated by a period (dot) between them. For instance, an IP normally looks like 192.168.1.1.

One series of these numbers is classified as private IP. Generally, this set of numbers range from 192.168.0.0 to 192.168.255.255. Each of these numbers is retained and unique as compared to other IP addresses. The word unique here is used in the sense that these numbers are unique within the network they belong. To make this clear let us take an example of your college or office computer, which is assigned an IP 192.168.1.1 in network and you, will have the same IP address in your home network as well and it won't create any conflicting issue.

NAT (Network Address Translation) and Private Address Space

With the evolution of Internet, there started to be a shortage of IP addresses simply due to the way through which these are allocated. For a quick fix of this problem, NAT devices are used. For instance, if you have more than one computer in your home and all of them are connected to a NAT device say router, that router assigned a unique private Ip to each computer.

The NAT devices, such as router or firewall, modify the information that your computer send to the Internet, hence in turn they get a normal address that can be used on the web. Another important feature of the NAT device is that they are accountable to route the information entering the network to the right computer in your network.

Default IP

192.168.1.1 is a default IP address used by various NAT devices in private networks such as routers. Some other default IP addresses include 192.168.2.1 and 192.168.0.1. As we have said in the beginning that the ranges of these IP is defined by RFC 1918. The Internet Assigned Numbers Authority (IANA) is responsible for keeping these and other numbers reserved within their particular ranges for private network use.

There are so many Nat devices or network devices, which use 192.168.1.1 as default private IP. But the two most popular NAT devices brands, Linksys and Speedtouch use this and other numbers as their default IP.

Google Vs Bing Who's is the BEST ?

Bing started so humbly, with its odd commercials that left you asking, "what is Bing?" They began by bleeding money like a stuck pig, but now they have created a powerhouse "gang" of search engines. First Bing and Yahoo teamed up, then Bing and Facebook joined their features to make a more social search feeling, now they have tied themselves to Baidu.com making them a search juggernaut. In June 2011 Bing had climbed to 14% of the searches made online, from 4% 6 months ago in December 2010. But now Google has its new Google+ and Profiles. Soon Microsoft will be responding with its Tulalip Social Search Program. Will it be enough, or will Googles own Social Network overpower it?

Well here are some personal thoughts on the situation. I have years of experience in this industry and what it is telling me is that you need to look at the companies backing the product. Microsoft and Google. Microsoft is worth approximately 90 billion and has 89,000 employees. Google is worth approximately 50 billion and has 24,000 employees. Microsoft has nearly 3x the workforce and twice the cash. The big buster is this though, Google's 2010 profits are recorded as 8.505 billion dollars, well Microsoft closed the year with a hefty 18.761 billion dollars. Though Google has killed the first quarter with almost a years revenue, it still says to me that no matter what Google does if Microsoft wants to stay, they will stay.

With the Google+ user base already in the millions and zooming skyward, Google is planning heavy investments in it and will eventually use Plus as the infrastructure for all Google products. Microsoft will be responding with Tulalip soon, a Social Network that is integrated with search more deeply than anything we have seen before, will we get a nifty button for rating things? We can only hope that we get Microsoft to make a Check Mark button or something of the like so that we can integrate yet ANOTHER button into our websites. I believe that Google+ biggest mistake was making it so that no business section will exist for a year or so, that takes away HUGE group of interested parties.

The war is merely in its build up stage, early 2012 we should see some veritable nuclear bombs dropping from Microsoft I believe. As a P.P.C. Assassin I sit quietly by the sidelines watching, waiting and leaping upon opportunities that I see for my clients overall success and ROI. Watch your backs and remember, Ascension Web Presence Creation is here to help guide you when times are darkest in advertising. Never underestimate the power of the little red guy...

Best antivirus

Nowadays, only the best antivirus software products are able to detect all threats that are known, identify any potential risks quickly, and remove all malware that might have already been picked up by your computer. They are also able to block malware that might make attempts to get into your computer or laptops using various methods like chat, email, P2P file sharing, external devices, network connections, disks and websites. Most importantly, they should be able to do this in the background, without devouring all of your computer resources that are needed for other things.

Every year, the same antivirus and security products tend to offer the best, but there is always room for change. Here are the best products from current ones that are on the market.

Best Products

Bitdefender Antivirus Plus, Norton Antivirus and Webroot Secure Anywhere Antivirus programs are considered best for technological publications and testing facilities. Webroot and Norton are tied for the top spot in the malware removal test, but Bitdefender is not much far behind as well.

As soon as you have installed your protection and cleaned up any threats that already exist, your antivirus will then spend the majority of the time fending off any new attacks. Some products are better at preventing a problem in rooting out malware that has been in your system for a long time. Webroot seems to always score better in blocking new problems.

The best antivirus software must be constantly evolving in order to combat creative shape-shifting malware. In fact, computer viruses are at a pandemic stage. The first nine months of 2011, one software company processed 19.9 million new specimens of malware and still there are computer users who do not use antivirus software. They think that if they are careful where they click, their computer will not be infected, but this is no longer the case.

Many consumers use more than one real-time antivirus program, but that uses too many system resources, often causing conflicts and can even in some cases reduce your protection.

Best Free Programs

The very best antivirus software that is available free is "Avast! Free Antivirus", as evident from many recent studies. Avast has been improving steadily in rates of detection over the last several years, so now it rates up there with the best. It also has real-time capabilities including email, web, IM, P2P, network shields, boot-time scanning, and a behavior blocker. The newest version 6 also has features including site rating plugins, malware script protection and other situations. This is a FREE program and it does not use up all your resources as well.

Another best antivirus software for free is MS Security Essentials by Microsoft, which has high rates of detection, predominantly for rootkits. It is even more remarkable in having very few "false positives"; doesn't use many resources and is also good at removing any malware that already exist. It needs very little interaction and it updates and removes threats automatically. Moreover, it doesn't have any registration, ignoring advertisement or nag screens. It is best to note here that MS Security Essentials needs an authentic copy of Windows to be installed.

What are the predictions for 2013?

Threats to our computer systems and networks are predicted to get more sophisticated in 2013, as hackers become better at what they do, so it is going to be necessary more than ever to have the best antivirus software that you can afford. You may also have a look at the free software that is on the market, if your finances are not in a good shape lately. Lack of money is no longer a reason for not protecting your computer and personal information.

Find out how Touch Screen Technology works ?

Touch Screen Technology has been slowly becoming more main-stream with the roll out of several new smart phones and computer monitors. No mouse is required, no trackball, and no arrow buttons either. With the touch of your finger, you can launch applications, make a phone call, draw a picture, and more! It makes becoming mobile even easier, plus when it comes to smart phones, the screen is larger for better viewing. But how does touch screen technology work?

Touch Screens are able to operate using your hand, finger, or a stylus pen.

There are several different kinds of touch screens:

· Resistive (pressure-sensitive)
· Capacitive (electrically-sensitive)
· SAW (aka surface acoustic wave, or acoustically sensitive)
· Infrared (photo-sensitive)

Resistive touchscreen panels are composed of several very thin layers, including two thin metallic layers that are electrically conductive and separated by a narrow gap. When there is pressure applied to those layers, the metallic layers become connected. This causes a change in electrical current. This registers as a touch event which will then show as a cursor movement or the selection of an icon or application.

SAW technology uses ultrasonic waves that pass over a touchscreen panel. As the panel is touched, part of the wave is absorbed. This registers as a touch event due to the change in the waves themselves.

Capacitive touch screen panels consist of an insulator coated with a transparent conductor. By the human body touching this conductor, it distorts the electrostatic field of the body and determines the location of the touch.

Infrared touchscreen technology uses infrared LED and photo-detectors around the edge of a screen. When a stylus, finger, or other object interrupts the flow of these LEDs and photo-detectors, it creates a touch event.

The touch screen technology can be more complex than this simple explanation; however the method of using touchscreens is very easy and even fun!

5 ways to type faster in Android

You know the feeling. You never learned any keyboard skills at school (assuming they were even being taught when you were there) so your typing is closer to hunt and peck than it is to Mavis Beacon. Which is OK if you're tapping out a short email but is a pain in the neck if you've got a multi page report to produce.

Here are some tips to help you type faster without having to take two steps backwards in your typing speed while you learn.

1. Use more than one finger!

If one hand is laying dormant or is gripping your mouse with a vengeance rather than move anywhere near the keyboard, it's time to use at least one finger from each hand.

If you use each hand to cover around half the keyboard then you'll reduce what a hard disk manufacturer would call "seek time". Your fingers have less distance to travel, which will speed up your typing. Plus two of them tapping away will help as well.

2. Thump the space bar with your thumb

This is again quite an easy trick to learn.

Gradually train your thumb to be the thing that hits the space bar rather than moving one of your fingers down to the bottom of the keyboard.

3. Consider touch typing

This is a brige too far for a lot of people. I'm fast enough with a few fingers and my left thumb to have found that learning to touch type was too much hassle. Maybe eventually I'd have sped up but short term touch typing was grinding my typing and my creativity to a halt. Your choice - if you're pounding a keyboard day in, day out, it could be worth the short term hit on typing speed for the longer term benefit.

4. Watch the screen, not the keyboard

This one is an "ouch" at first.

But learning to watch the screen more than the keyboard was probably the single most important thing I personally did to speed up my tapping.

Touch typists do it by definition, so I figured that if it was good enough for them, it was good enough for me.

There are times when I'll slip and my eyes will glance at the keyboard. But they're less and less often and are used to "get my bearings" on where the keys have moved from (psychologically - I don't balance my keyboard on my lap) since I last checked.

A purist touch typist would glare at me for doing this - they'd use those little raised bits on the F and J keys to keep themself guided. But if you're not a touch typist, glancing at the keyboard is fine.

5. Cheat!

Again, Mavis Beacon would throw her arms up in horror at this suggestion.

But there's nothing to say you have to use a keyboard.

There are programs available that will transcribe your words onto the screen. So you can literally talk your words rather than hammer away at that QWERTY keyboard.

Windows keeps it a bit of a secret but ever since Vista, it's had that capability built in but - for reasons I've never understood - switched off. Do a quick search and see whether you get on with this method - I find it slows me down, especially as I like to listen to music as I type but you may decide it's the best way to not type.