Information Technology Blog

Open source Server Virtualization

2012-04-28T23:02:00.001+04:00

Virtualization is most popular buzz world these days, speically server virtualization, people are sometime thinking why should i go for virtualization as computers and servers are getting cheaper day by day. But virtualization is a broad term it includes, Server, Platform, Storage, Desktop and Network etc.
Earlier I was thinking why should I got for Virtualization?
Why I need Server Virtualization?
I came to know that Virutalization can combine multiple software workloads on one computer system and then I can run various VMs (Virtual Machines) which saves, money, space, power as we can use existing system resources which are not utilized suppose you have requirements for multiple servers like mail server, application server, database server, webserver, storage server, domain controller etc, then you may have multiple hardware for all in traditional case, but if you monitor all above server you will notice that all the server hardware resources are not utilized fully I.e Primary Memory, Secondry Storage and Processor, all servers consumes electricity lets say 750 watts per server is power utilized so if you multiply all hardware you are consuming power which really can be saved another is physical space required in racks or server farm or data center. Server Virutualiztion covers all above issues.

But Question may come in your mind, what if server crashes then all my VM gets damaged. and What if server is hacked, if server is hacked only the VM which is hacked that will be under control of hacker, other machines will still remain in your control. We will cover all the questions in this article.

Server Virtualization is defined by many authors in many ways but from above concept you can now define easily that Server Virtualiztion is combination of hardware and software which uses utilizes existing hardware efficiently to create Virtual Machine (VM).

Hardware can be any Server Hardware but processor should support Virtualization, Software will be Hypervisor.

Hypervisor is operating software which manages resources efficiently for your VM, it will be loaded at hardware and VMs will be created using Hypervisors. there are many types of virutalizations like Para-Virutalization, OS-Level Virutalization and Application level Virutalization, Now suppose you got hardware, now which Virutliazation Technology you should chose,

Paid or Free, Open source or closed source, as the technology is very popular so vendors are making lots of money by selling their different flavours by combining hardware, software making suits, installation, confiuguration and maintenance etc. Most popular thse days are VMWare, Microsoft Hyper-V, Citrix Xen-Hypervisor, OpenVZ, and some cloud vendors, but i will not include Cloud Computing here, I am just conver virutlization Technology. I will not waste your time to explore all above, if you have decided to pay lots of money for virutaliztion and remain tense free then go for VMWare which has a lots of options for Storage as well, but if you have got IT Skills then I recommend go for opensource Server Virualization i.e; OpenVZ, KVM, Xen-Hypervisor and Proxmox was my choice. I explored both, but in my opinion promox is best, Why? becuase it supports many Storage Devices and supports both OpenVZ and KVM. PROXMOX is open source Server Virutalization Operating System, you can download indepedent ISO from proxmox website Version 1.9 and 2.0 both are available but 2.0 had many features which 1.9 didn't have. I am updating promox tutorials and isntallation guides for your ... please keep visiting this blog.

Windows 8 - next Generation for Tablet and Traditional Desktops

2012-03-06T18:45:00.002+04:00

Windows 8 is different from all previous versions and an improved interface, which a user needs today, due to apple's iPad most of the users switched from PC/Laptops to iPad but because of limitations what they could do on pc couldn't do on iPad Microsoft brought Windows 8 which fulfilled most of the requirements, Windows 8 on Slate with work as tablet and then on desk as desktop and on laps as laptop.

New kind of applications are there now to be downloaded by users same like appstore by apple and marketplace for andriod, using html5 and java scripts applications users will be more flexible to build websites and web applications.

To help the users who have habit of using earlier version of Windows Legacy apps can, however, run side by side with the new Windows 8 apps.

I will update its more information very soon......

Top 10 Open Source PBX Software.

2011-03-10T11:12:00.002+04:00

PBX (Private Branch Exchange) is a small telephone switch that is used to establish connections among the internal telephones of a private organization. PBX reduces the overall cost of telephony in a company by reducing the total number of telephone lines they need to lease from the telephone company. Without a PBX a company needs to lease one telephone line for every employee with a telephone. The company
only needs to lease as many lines from the telephone company as the telephone company as maximum number of employees that will be making outside calls at one time. It is nearly 10% of the number of extensions.

In a PBX system, every telephone is wired to the PBX. When an employee takes the receiver off hook and dials the outside access code, the PBX connects the employee to an outside line. The enterprise-class PBX including directory-based voicemail, conference calling, integrated messaging, interactive voice response (IVR), three-way calling, caller ID, and call queues. These packages are provided at no cost and enjoy support from users who provide product support.. Please read more for pabx software;

1. Asterisk

Asterisk performs all the functions of a traditional telephone system and much more. Essentially it is an open source PBX system. It includes a host of features such as voicemail and call conferencing. With Asterisk software telephony hardwareand a common PC, anyone can replace an existing switch or complement a PBX by adding VoiceOverIP, voicemail, conferencing and several other capabilities. The PBX systems integrates with analog phones and most standards-based IP telephone handsets and software.

Asterix not only reduces the cost of traditional telecommunication technology and operation it also moves the voice over IP, VoIP, to the mainstream. Asterisk integrates pre-existing analog telephone network with the benefit of IP technology, reduce costs.

Link

2. sipX

sipX is an open source voice over IP PBX software. The main features of sipX is software implementation of the Session Initiation Protocol(SIP) that makes an IP based communication system (IP PBX). The design of sipX deviates from the traditional Asterisk. sipX includes features such as voice mail, interactive voice response systems, auto attendants and the like. It looks like Asterisk isn't the only open source PBX game in town anymore. sipX, as the name implies, is a SIP-only PBX project released under the LGPL. A noteworthy feature is the inclusion of an out-of-the-box

Link

3. Elastix

This is an open source Unified Communications Server software that is offered with IP PBX, email, faxing and collaboration functionality. The Web interface includes capabilities such as Call Center software with predictive dialing. Elastix integrates several software packages each including their own set of features. Elastix adds new interface for controlling and reporting. Elsastix offers Call recording, Voicemail and Voicemail-to-Email functionality, flexible IVR configurable by web interface, voice synthesis support, extension batch tool to generate large number of extensions using CSV files, integrated Echo Canceller. Phone provisioner, configurable via a web interface. It allows configuration of a large number of IP phones in a short time for supported phones. It features a web interface and includes capabilities such as call center software with predictive dialing. The Elastix functionality is based on open sourceprojects and offers PBX, fax, instant messaging and email functions.

Link

4. FreeSwitch

FreeSwitch is a scalable open source cross-platform telephony platform designed to route and interconnect popular communication protocols using audio, video, text or any other form of media. FreeSWITCH offers support to various stable telephony platform on which many telephony applications can be developed using a wide range of free tools. It was originally designed and implemented by focus on several design goals including modularity, cross-platform support, scalability and stability. FreeSWITCH offers many advanced SIP features such as presence/BLF/SLA as well as TCP TLS and sRTP. It can also be used as a transparent proxy with and without media in the path to act as a SBC (session border controller) and proxy T.38 and other end to end protocols.
Link

5. OpenPBX ( CallWeaver )

OpenPBX.org is an open source PBX in software for the Linux Operating System. Open.org is licensed under GPL. The features includes modular architecture, native support for Sangoma TDM cards, integrated faxing and eventually integrated messaging.

Link

6. CallButler

This is a free Windows-based open source PBX, IVR and Auto-Attendant Phone System built on .NET. It is a commercially available product, but is now being put into Open Source. CallButler features Text to Speech, Find Me/Follow Me, Call Forwarding/Transfer, Call Recording, Conferencing, Call Personalization and Unified Messaging, CRM/SFA/ERP/Database Integration.

Link

7. VoicePulse VoIP Service

VoicePulse for Business offers PBX installer and reseller channel for commercial businesses and wholesalers. The VoicePulse services are compatible with PBX clients like Digium's Asterisk, AsteriskNow, Switchvox, Fonality's PBXtra, trixbox, PBX-in-a-Flash, FreePBX, or FreeSwitch. It is a Asterisk-based systems that allow users to instantly activate new numbers, have active fail overs protection for numbers individually and view inventory of numbers.

Link

8. CoreDial VoiceAxis 3.0

CoreDial's VoiceAxis 3.0 software platform offers Service Providers and Interconnects to sell, provision, manage and invoice hosted PBX, VoIP, SIP trunking and related services for business and residential customers. This turnkey package is a software package targeted to enterprise-level business and service providers. The open source PBX software has been designed for the management, billing and provisioning of hosted PBX. It's a one stop management tool that Asterik users can take to, for its ease of use. VoiceAxis management software can be used by medium to large enterprises to implement a cost effective feature rich, scalable Asterisk PBX solution.

Link

9. Digium Switchvox SMB 4.5

Digium is a creator of Asterisk, which makes the platform available in a variety of ways both as a free code and as a value-added telephony and platform packages for businesses. The company is seeing the most traction with Switchvox. Its major products are IP PBXes geared for SMBs. The Switchvox, SMB 4.5 adds phone feature packs that brings functions such as call recording and visual voice mail directly to compatible handsets as opposed to being available only from the web. They were in previous Switchvox additions.

Link

10. Fonality trixbox Pro

This open source PBX is the business version of its IP-PBX software trixbox. The Pro Pro Standard Edition (SE), Enteprise Edition (EE), Call Center Edition (CCE) and Unified Agent Edition (UAE). Fonality uses what it calls a hybrid-hosted architecture - a split, hosted plus premise model. It includes free VoIP calling and monitoring like most traditional solutions to provide. It also offers the PSTN connectivity and call privacy that you'd like to find in more traditional PSTN set-up. Fonality uses the Asterisk-based PBXtra

Link

Media Streaming with Windows 7 - Engineering Windows 7 - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

2011-02-07T02:48:00.000+04:00

Media Streaming with Windows 7 - Engineering Windows 7 - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

The evolution of hard drives and Storage

2011-01-08T17:12:00.001+04:00

The punch card

A punch card was once the basis for digital information used for computer programs and data storage. They were widely used throughout the first half of the 20^th century in processing machines to input data and to store it. Punch cards could be fed into the first commercial computer, IBM 305 system, which then stored the data on hard disks.

IBM 350 disk storage unit

The 350 Disk Storage System was a major component of the IBM 305 RAMAC (Random Access Method of Accounting and Control) system, which was introduced in September 1956. It consisted of 40 platters and a dual read/write head on a single arm that moved up and down the stack of magnetic disk platters. Those 40 platters stored a whopping (for the time) 5MB of data.

IBM RAMAC 305

Introduced in 1956, the IBM 305 RAMAC (Random Access Method of Accounting and Control) was an electronic general-purpose data processing machine that maintained business records on a real-time basis. The 305 RAMAC was one of the last vacuum tube systems designed by IBM, and more than 1,000 of them were built before production ended in 1961. The system took up the better part of an entire room and required three administrators to run it.

IBM magnetic disk

The magnetic disk invented by IBM in the early 1950s contained 100 concentric tracks on each side. Each track stored 500 alphanumeric characters, yielding a total storage capacity of 5 million characters. This disk enabled users to retrieve any piece of information directly in less than a second.

IBM 650 magnetic drum

This 16-inch-long drum spun at 12,500 revolutions per minute to provide the IBM 650 computer of the mid-1950s with 10,000 characters of main memory. Data was magnetically encoded on 40 tracks around the drum.

IBM 1311 hard drive

The drive system, which shrunk storage technology from the size of a refrigerator to the size of a washing machine, had six 14-inch platters and contained a removable disk pack that had a maximum capacity of 2.6MB of data. The 1311 lived on through the mid-1970s.

IBM 1301 removable storage unit

Only two years after creating the RAMAC 305, IBM released the 1301, the first storage system that used "flying heads" on actuator arms to read and write data to its 50 24-inch magnetic platters. The 1301's head and actuator arm assembly looked something like a bread-slicing machine turned on its side because each drive platter had its own read/write head.

From 1979 through today

From 1979 through today: Six hard drives beginning with an 8-inch model, followed by 5.25-inch, 3.5-inch, 2.5-inch, 1.8-inch, and 1-inch disks, partially disassembled to show platters and read-write heads.

16MB Hitachi Microdrive

Microdrives spurred greater innovation in handheld devices, such as Apple's iPod. When the iPod was first released in 2001, it had a 1.8-inch hard drive with 5GB of capacity. By 2006, the iPod was equipped with a microdrive that held 160GB.

The USB flash drive

Solid-state storage, or NAND flash, is quickly usurping hard disk drives as the medium of choice for personal mobile storage. This Pico mini flash drive from SuperTalent holds 8GB of data. Today, however, USB drives the size of a pack of gum hold up to 256GB of data.

From 1956 to 2010

In 1956, the RAMAC 305 stored 5 million characters. Today, hard drives stores as much as 3TB of data, and solid-state technology is quickly approaching a terabyte of capacity in a single drive.

Now Storage is in every device and Hard Disk and Storage device requirement is almost in every device.

Camera Mouse

2010-12-05T14:17:00.001+04:00

Camera Mouse is a program that allows you to control the mouse pointer on a Windows computer just by moving your head.

The program was developed to help people with disabilities use the computer. The main audience for this program is people who do not have reliable control of a hand but who can move their head. People with Cerebral Palsy, Spinal Muscular Atrophy, ALS, Multiple Sclerosis, Traumatic Brain Injury, various neurological disorders use this program and its predecessors to run all types of computer software.

Camera Mouse works as a mouse replacement system for Windows computers so it should work with just about any application program. For example people use Camera Mouse with entertainment programs, education programs, communication programs, web browsers, and so on. (See the Downloads page for some of the programs and websites that we have used with Camera Mouse.) Camera Mouse works best with application programs that require only a mouse and a left click and that do not have tiny targets. It's easier to use Camera Mouse with application programs that do not require extreme accuracy.

What equipment is required? A Windows 7, Vista, or XP computer system and a standard USB webcam (or a webcam built into the computer or monitor). We do our development work with a Logitech HD Pro Webcam C910 or a Microsoft LifeCam Cinema. Camera Mouse works with other commercial USB webcams as well.

This program is available for free download. Partial support for our work came from the National Science Foundation* and now from generous gifts from the Philanthropy Committee of Mitsubishi Electronic Research Labs (MERL), from the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation, and from the Accenture Fund at Boston College. Boston College and Boston University also are most generous in providing support.

The original idea for Camera Mouse was developed by Prof. James Gips (Boston College) and Prof. Margrit Betke (then at Boston College, now at Boston University). Here are copies of papers on the original Camera Mouse from the 2000 RESNA Conference [pdf] and from IEEE Transactions on Neural Systems and Rehabilitation Engineering in 2002 [pdf]. Many students have contributed to the development of Camera Mouse.

For several years the Camera Mouse technology was licensed by Boston College to a start-up company called Camera Mouse, Inc., with headquarters in Texas.They developed a commercial version of the program that was available at their website at www.cameramouse.com. (You are at www.cameramouse.org.)

With the demise of the company and the revocation of the license by Boston College, we (JG and MB) decided to develop a new version of the program and make it available for free. Donald Green, former Boston College student and principal at Mekinesis, developed and implemented Camera Mouse 2007. Don expanded Camera Mouse 2008 to work with a much wider variety of commercial webcams. Camera Mouse 2009 and 2010 and 2011 are much smaller downloads and work on computers with multiple video sources. Matt McGowan and Don Green kindly volunteer their time to maintain and improve Camera Mouse.

There have been over 200,000 downloads of Camera Mouse from this site since the program was made available in June 2007.

Camera Mouse 2011 version 1.2 (posted October 25, 2010) is the latest version.

We hope that Camera Mouse 2011 version 2, with a facility for double-clicking, will be available in January 2011.

you can visit the website for more details cameramouse.org

Open Source Communications (Asterisk *)

2010-12-05T14:03:00.000+04:00

Asterisk, the world's most popular open source communications project, is free, open source software that converts an ordinary computer into a feature-rich voice communications server. Asterisk makes it simple to create and deploy a wide range of telephony applications and services, including IP PBXs, VoIP gateways, call center ACDs and IVR systems.

Asterisk is released as open source under the GNU General Public License (GPL), and it is available for download free of charge. Asterisk® is the leading open source telephony project and the Asterisk community has been ranked as a key factor in the growth of VoIP.

Asterisk is like an erector set or a box of Legos for people who want to create communications applications. That's why we refer to it as a "tool-kit" or "development platform". Asterisk includes all the building blocks needed to create a PBX system, an IVR system or virtually any other kind of communications solution. The "blocks" in the kit include:

Drivers for various VoIP protocols.
Drivers for PSTN interface cards and devices.
Routing and call handling for incoming calls.
Outbound call generation and routing.
Media management functions (record, play, generate tone, etc.).
Call detail recording for accounting and billing.
Transcoding (conversion from one media format to another).
Protocol conversion (conversion from one protocol to another).
Database integration for accessing information on relational databases.
Web services integration for accessing data using standard internet protocols.
LDAP integration for accessing corporate directory systems.
Single and mult-party call bridging.
Call recording and monitoring functions.
Integrated "Dialplan" scripting language for call processing.
External call management in any programming or scripting language through Asterisk Gateway Interface (AGI)
Event notification and CTI integration via the Asterisk Manager Interface (AMI).
Speech synthesis (aka "text-to-speech") in various languages and dialects using third party engines.
Speech recognition in various languages using third party recognition engines.

This combination of components allows an integrator or developer to quickly create voice-enabled applications. The open nature of Asterisk means that there is no fixed limit on what it can be made to do. Asterisk integrators have built everything from very small IP PBX systems to massive carrier media servers.

Asterisk As A PBX

Asterisk can be configured as the core of an IP or hybrid PBX, switching calls, managing routes, enabling features, and connecting callers with the outside world over IP, analog (POTS), and digital (T1/E1) connections.
Asterisk runs on a wide variety of operating systems including Linux, Mac OS X, OpenBSD, FreeBSD and Sun Solaris and provides all of the features you would expect from a PBX including many advanced features that are often associated with high end (and high cost) proprietary PBXs. Asterisk's architecture is designed for maximum flexibility and supports Voice over IP in many protocols, and can interoperate with almost all standards-based telephony equipment using relatively inexpensive hardware.

Asterisk As A Gateway

It can also be built out as the heart of a media gateway, bridging the legacy PSTN to the expanding world of IP telephony. Asterisk’s modular architecture allows it to convert between a wide range of communications protocols and media codecs. Asterisk as a feature/media server.
Need an IVR? Asterisk’s got you covered. How about a conference bridge? Yep. It’s in there. What about an automated attendant? Asterisk does that too. How about a replacement for your aging legacy voicemail system? Can do. Unified messaging? No problem. Need a telephony interface for your web site? Ok.

Asterisk In The Call Center

Asterisk has been adopted by call centers around the world based on its flexibility. Call center and contact center developers have built complete ACD systems based on Asterisk. Asterisk has also added new life to existing call center solutions by adding remote IP agent capabilities, advanced skills-based routing, predictive and bulk dialing, and more.

Asterisk In The Public Network

Internet Telephony Service Providers (ITSPs), competitive local exchange carriers (CLECS) and even first-tier incumbents have discovered the power of open source communications with Asterisk. Feature servers, hosted services clusters, voicemail systems, pre-paid calling solutions, all based on Asterisk have helped reduce costs and enabled flexibility.

Three things I'd give up my computer for

2010-12-05T09:16:00.002+04:00

I've been thinking about new gadgets I'd like to pick up next year, and for the first time since I can remember, a new PC didn't make the list.

For me, that's unheard of. A new PC has always been on the list. Whether I actually bought one is another story, but every year I watched as new models came on the market. Next year is no exception. Intel's line of new chips, code-named Sandy Bridges,

is the kind of thing I would once have been willing to empty my wallet for. But recently I've been looking at my old computer. It's seen better days. It's on its third video card, its second power supply, and I have to take off the side panel every time I restart so I can push start the fan. The only thing I really use it for these days is surfing the internet, playing video games, and playing the videos on my TV.

Long gone are the days when I actually needed a real processor. It's been probably three years since I've done any serious video rendering, and I don't even remember the last time I had a compiler installed.

It's just getting to the point where I no longer need a PC, or at least not the latest and greatest, and the other gadgets on my list of things for 2011 have helped make the decision for me.

First is a tablet. After months of waiting around to see if the competition had anything better to offer (they don't), I've decided to go with the iPad.

I also need a new phone. My Nokia E71 has been a real road warrior, but after three years, it's beginning to look a little rough, so I'm looking at either an iPhone or an Android.

I also need a new netbook. My days of carrying around a six-kilogramme notebook are over.

Intel's new line of Atom processors combined with the Meego OS looks interesting, but if I can find a decent portable keyboard for the iPad, I may even pass on the netbook. Finally, I'm picking up an Xbox. No, it's not because of the Kinect, but because I'm tired of waiting to see when — or if — the latest games will be released on a PC.

Not the only one

So, a new tablet, smart phone and game console. What do I need a new computer for? I'm not the only one thinking this way, either. Apparently a lot of people are rethinking the need for a new PC.

Gartner, a research company, cut its PC shipment forecast figures for 2011 on Wednesday. The market is still growing, but the company cut its forecast from 17.9 per cent to 14.3 per cent.

That's disappointing for the PC industry, which was hoping to see sales of the new Sandy Bridges chips boost sales. Those who would want to argue these figures aren't the death-knell of the PC industry, at least as we know it, can point to numerous other reasons such as a lousy economy.

But Gartner is with me on this one. It points directly to the iPad, which it says could grab 10 per cent of the PC market by 2014, but it also throws cloud computing into the mix, which will start to affect PC sales in 2012.

How will cloud computing affect PC? Most of the R&D going into processors these days is aimed at the video crowd, with Sandy Bridges being a prime example, but why pay for the chip when you can upload the video to something like Adobe, and have them do the work for you.

I guess I shouldn't be surprised. All the gadgets we have today are the ones we've been dreaming about since the days of Star Trek. I just never thought I'd live to see the day I would willingly give up my PC.

Daily-deal website spurns Google takeover bid

2010-12-05T09:15:00.003+04:00

Google's offer to buy daily-deal site Groupon has been spurned by the Chicago-based startup, according to a person with knowledge of the matter.

The proposed acquisition fell through amid hesitation by Groupon's founders, said the person, who requested anonymity because the talks are private. Groupon will decide whether to sell shares in an initial public offering next year, the person said.

Talks could resume if both sides overcome their differences. Google had offered $6 billion (Dh22.06 billion), including incentives that would be paid to the target's managers if performance targets were met, people familiar with the matter had said this week.

Groupon would have helped its new owner expand in the $133 billion US local-ad market and lessen its reliance on search.

"Clearly Google wants to get into the local space and Groupon was one way," said Aaron Kessler, an analyst at ThinkEquity in San Francisco who has a "buy" rating on Google and doesn't own it. "I don't think from a Google perspective that if they miss out, that there's not other ways to get into local."

Google Chief Executive Officer Eric Schmidt had been willing to pay almost twice the $3.2 billion he spent on DoubleClick, his next most expensive target, to add features and repel a threat from such rivals as Facebook. The Chicago Tribune initially reported Groupon's rejection.

Top Chinese officials led Google hacking: WikiLeaks

2010-12-05T09:13:00.002+04:00

The hacking of Google Inc that led the internet company to briefly pull out of China was orchestrated by two members of China's top ruling body, according to US diplomatic cables released by WikiLeaks and cited by The New York Times on Saturday.

Citing the cables, the Times said China made repeated and often successful hacking attacks on the US government, private enterprises and Western allies as far back as 2002.

Google, the world's top internet search engine, closed its China-based search service in March, two months after it had said it would stop censoring search results in response to what it said was a sophisticated cyber attack that it traced to China and increasing limits on freedom of expression.

The dispute was resolved in July after Google tweaked the way it directs users to an unfiltered search engine.

The Times quoted one cable dated earlier this year as saying: "A well-placed contact claims that the Chinese government coordinated the recent intrusions of Google systems. According to our contact, the closely held operations were directed at the Politburo Standing Committee level."

The paper added that the cable quoted the contact as saying the hacking of Google "had been coordinated out of the State Council Information Office with the oversight" of two members of the Communist Party's Politburo: Li Changchun and Zhou Yongkang. It said Zhou is China's top security official.

But the Times said that in an interview with the paper, the contact cited in the cable, "a Chinese person with family connections to the elite," denied knowing who directed the attack.

The person said it was one of Li's subordinates who orchestrated a campaign to force Google to abide by censorship regulations, and Li and Zhou signed off on the plan at several points, the Times said, "But the person did not know whether senior leaders directed the attack."

The Times did not explain the discrepancy between what the person said in the interview and what was attributed to the person in the cable.

The cables did not make clear how the cyber attacks blamed on China were coordinated, the Times said, and "the cables also appear to contain some suppositions by Chinese and Americans passed along by diplomats."

According to the cables, at least one previously unreported 2008 attack, which US investigators code-named Byzantine Candor, yielded more than 50 megabytes of e-mail messages along with a complete list of user names and passwords from a US government agency.

WikiLeaks started publishing last weekend what it said were more than 250,000 US diplomatic cables, giving advance access to the Times and several other publications. Some of the revelations provide embarrassing insights into US foreign policy, while others lend support to the US diplomatic position.

Opensource ERP : The best way to manage your school or campus - fedena

2010-11-30T12:18:00.000+04:00

Fedena is being developed by a team of enthusiastic developers at Foradian Technologies Pvt Ltd. Foradian is an internet engineering company focusing on web application development, web design, logo design, brand identity and packaging design.

Fedena is an open source school/campus management system developed by people like you! It is a one stop solution for all school management related issues and helps you manage student databases and all other activities online.
Fedena is the ideal solution for schools and universities that want an easy means to manage all campus records. If you are a school/campus administrator, contact us and we will set up a free account for your institution.
Fedena is an open source software, which means that you don't have to pay anything to use the basic system. There are many more reasons for you to use Fedena. Scroll down to read more about the features Fedena offers.
Fedena gives you complete control over how you want to manage your school's databases and provides many tools to organize its activities.
Fedena is developed on the powerful Ruby on Rails framework and gives us an excellent framework on which we can provide you with a very stable and reliable product.
With fedena there is no need of any extra hardware or technical maintenance staff. All you need is a pc with internet connection. Even a mobile phone with GPRS will work.
The Fedena team is available 24/7 to help you whenever you encounter a problem or have a question about Fedena.
Fedena's code is freely available so that the passionate community of open source enthusiasts can help improve it.
With our dedicated SMS gateway, Fedena can always communicate with you via SMS and email. You can configure Fedena to alert you of any kind of changes within the ERP.

What They say??

Before starting Foradian, we were a team of highly successful freelancers helping each other in various projects. We have been active in the internet engineering field for almost a decade now and in 2008, we decided to start Foradian. For more information about Foradian, visit the official site.

Fedena is a step towards realizing our dream of creating a software that would help society easily manage its educational institutions. All of us have gone through the process of gaining education in schools and universities. Our dream is to utilize the power of internet and technology to help these institutions simplify this process.

Team fedena consists of highly talented software developers specialized in ruby on rails, user interface design and internet engineering. We follow agile software development method for the quick and efficient delivery of new releases and patches.

OpenERP, old name Tiny ERP is now open source end most popular

2010-11-30T09:56:00.001+04:00

ERP is most expensive solution for the companies where companies spend million of dollars to get the right ERP implemented, but still most of the companeis fail. But opensource ERPs provide companies to choice. Opensource ERP is License free, it means companies have not to pay for the software but if companies have good IT Skills they can get it implemented free of cost, but if any customization is needed then only they need to go for the paid customization through the ERP Partners like openERP has many partners around the world.
OpenERP was founded by
CEO Fabien Pinckaers in 2005. Fabien's vision was that Open Source provided a better way to meet customers' expectations. The above photo was taken during our partners and community days. So when we mean about us we mean about all of us.

Open ERP is an impressive software system, being simple to use and yet providing great benefits in
helping you manage your company. It’s easy to install under both Windows and Linux compared with
other enterprise-scale systems, and offers unmatched functionality.

Installing Open ERP under Windows or Linux for familiarization use should take you only half an hour
or so and needs only a couple of operations.
Please visit for more details www.openERP.com

OpenERP, old name Tiny ERP is now open source end most popular

2010-11-30T09:48:00.001+04:00

Free ERP Open source ERP System :: opentaps

2010-11-29T10:04:00.003+04:00

open taps Open Source ERP + CRM is a fully integrated application suite that brings together top-tier open source projects to help you manage your business more effectively. Today, opentaps supports ecommerce, Customer Relationship Management, Warehouse and Inventory Management, Supply Chain Management, and Financial Management to Business Intelligence and mobility integration out-of-the-box.

Whether you're a manufacturer, dis

tributor, retailer, or e-tailer, opentaps can help you manage your business faster and better:

Customers and Sales:
- Sell more effectively by tracking your leads to accounts sales conversion process
- Manage orders more efficiently with opportunities, quotes, and sales orders entry
- Improve customer service with customer case tracking tools
- Market to your customers with campaigns and contact lists. Send email updates or print mailing labels.
- Better understand your customers with opentaps Analytics
- Sell online with the built-in online store from Apache OFBiz or integrate with the award-winning Magento eCommerce platform for a rich online shopping experience
- Sell more by integrating with new sales channels such as Amazon.com, eBay, and Google Base
- Give your sales team incentives to sell more with the commission management system
- Empower your ERP and CRM system with Asterisk Voice Over IP (VOIP) telephony integration
- Work together more effectively by connecting your Microsoft Outlook and mobile phone devices to opentaps with Funambol
Inventory, Manufacturing, and Purchasing
- Manage inventory better with inventory thresholds and inventory transfers between all your warehouses and distribution facilities
- Plan and automate purchasing and manufacturing with Material Resources Planning
- Manage the manufacturing process with bills of materials, production runs, marketing packages, and reverse assemblies
- Ship more efficiently with picklists, packing stations, and integration with UPS, FedEx, and DHL
- Track serialized, non-serialized, and lot level inventory and trace inventory usages
- Standardize your product and pricing information with the product catalog manager
Financials and Reporting
- Integrated Accounts Receivable and Accounts Payable help you stay up-to-date with your customers and suppliers
- Real-time accounting reports help you stay on top your business
- Track profitability and control expenses across business segments with accounting tags

And if you are a developer looking to customize opentaps for your organization or your clients, you'll be glad to know that we've tried to make your life better with

Enterprise Java J2EE foundations using Apache Tomcat and OFBiz projects
Domain driven architecture embraces object-oriented development model with integrated Hibernate persistence and Spring framework
Rich AJAX user interface development with Google Web Toolkit
Business intelligence and reporting with Pentaho and Jasper Reports
Compatibility with MySQL, PostgreSQL, Oracle, and Microsoft SQL Server

Use your webcam as face gesture

2010-11-29T02:30:00.001+04:00

News from opera Labs : Opera we are always working on new ways to make your browsing faster. Eight years ago we introduced Mouse Gestures as a way to speed up your interaction with the browser and focus on what’s important: the content you’re looking at. We didn’t stop there, in 2005 we introduced Voice Navigation on the desktop and more recently we have worked with Nintendo to create a browser that takes full advantage of the “Wiimote” and later, the touchscreen in the DSi.

Looking ahead, we recognize the future importance of touch interfaces, but we believe that there is another input device that is already present in most new computers and it’s ready to enable a whole new way of user-interaction: the webcam.

Today we introduce Face Gestures, a revolutionary technology designed to make interacting with your browser easier and simpler on computers with cameras. Face Gestures lets you perform frequent browsing operations with natural and easy to make face gestures. By using an internal technology dubbed Face Observation Opera Language, we are able to recognize pre-determined facial expressions and match them to commands on the Opera browser.

You can try Face Gestures today by downloading the latest Opera 10 alpha snapshot or check out the video below to learn more.

Setting up Face Gestures

To enable Face Gestures press F8. You will hear a beeping sound as soon as Opera finishes calibrating your passive facial expression. Please don’t close your eyes, move your head or make any facial expressions while Face Gestures is calibrating.

Look at me

Among many others, the following gestures are currently included:

Initial stance: Relaxed expression
Back: Left wink
Forward: Right wink
New Tab: Double wink
Reload: Shake head
Go to Home Page: Roll eyes / Fake smile
Scroll Up: Raise eyebrows
Scroll Down: Frown eyebrows
Zoom In: Suck cheeks
Zoom Out: Puff cheeks
Bookmark Page: Lick up
Open Speed Dial: Waggle tongue

As always, we encourage all feedback and suggestions you may have. Please upload your gestures suggestions as a response to the above video in YouTube.

Security Considerations

No personal information or images are sent back to Opera when Face Gestures is enabled, so don’t worry about how you look.

Known Issues

As with any beta release there are some known issues with the current version of Face Gestures. Please read below before reporting a bug.

Beards and hair styles
Face Gestures is compatible with most types of facial hair and haircuts. But if your face is covered with more than 25% of facial hair, recognition errors may occur. Please note that handlebars and goatees are compatible independently but if combined recognition will decrease. At the moment soul-patches crashes the browser and it refuses to relaunch, we are looking into this problem. Bushmen beards and emo haircuts are not supported.
Adult Web sites
Users visiting Web sites that contain adult content sometimes make unconscious facial expressions. If Opera keeps opening Speed Dial and Zooming In and Out, please be aware that this not a bug. It may be useful to disable Face Gestures for a better experience. Also remember that wiping your cache is recommend after visiting untrusted websites.
Financial Web sites
For compatibility reasons Face Gestures auto-detects financial news services and disables itself. The current version of the recognition software is unable to adapt fast enough to the sudden change in the users expression map. As soon as the new version is available you will be prompted to installstimulus_package.patch.

Dropbox : Cloud Computing Storage and Backup

2010-11-28T12:19:00.000+04:00

Dropbox is the simplest and most delegant file-synchronizing tool It provides 2GB of Storage for free and if you want more storage you can pay upto 50Gb you can pay US$ 9.95 per month or 99.95 per year. It has the following key features;

Dropbox allows you to sync your files online and across your computers automatically.
Sharing files is simple. It takes only a few clicks.
Dropbox backs up your files online without you having to think about it.
A copy of your files is stored on Dropbox's secure servers. This lets you access them from any computer or mobile device
Dropbox uses military grade encryption methods to both transfer and store your data.
A free application for iPhone,iPad, BlackBerry, and Androidthat lets you access and manage your Dropbox on the go

PlayStation Move

2010-11-28T10:10:00.001+04:00

Playstation like Xbox 360 kinect brought it immersive and realistic gaming technology called Playstation Move. It captures full move of your body and lets you to interact with the it.

The PlayStation Move is a combination of the PlayStation 3 system, the PlayStation Eye camera and the PlayStation Move motion controller. The motion gaming technology is housed in the pairing of the motion controller and the eye camera. The sphere at the end of the motion controller allows the eye camera to pinpoint your every movement and position within the room. This tracking is translated, with absolute precision, into gameplay. So when you hit that bullseye, it won’t be a fluke.

It’s easy for anyone to pick up the motion controller and start playing even if you’ve never played video games before. Gameplay is intuitive and natural especially since PS Move transforms your movements on screen. This also gives you ultimate control over how you play the game.

Kinect for Xbox 360

2010-11-28T09:57:00.002+04:00

A popular game XBOX 360 brought its new input device , it is the best device i ever saw, everything in one Video, Audio,Games, Video Conferencing with just your actions and voice as an input.Kinect brings games and entertainment to life in extraordinary new ways without using a controller. Imagine controlling movies and music with the wave of a hand or the sound of your voice. With Kinect, technology evaporates, letting the natural magic in all of us shine. Controller-free gaming means full body play. Kinect responds to how you move. So if you have to kick, then kick. If you have to jump, then jump. You already know how to play. All you have to do now is to get off the couch.

Once you wave your hand to activate the sensor, your Kinect will be able to recognize you and access your Avatar. Then you’ll be able to jump in and out of different games, and show off and share your moves.

Kinect uses advanced entertainment technology to respond to the sound of your voice. Just say “Xbox” to reveal a series of voice commands. So you’ll be able to control HD movies with the sound of your voice—no remote required

Just use a wave of your hand or the sound of your voice to control your sport, movies and TV from Sky with Sky Player, HD movies through Zune, or streaming music from Zune and Last.fm.

Whether you’re a gamer or not, anyone can play and have a blast. And with advanced parental controls and movies for the family, Kinect promises a gaming experience that’s safe, secure and fun for everyone.

TOP 10 Free Travel Applications

2010-11-28T09:43:00.000+04:00

You can add these applications to your blackberry, iPhone or Android phone if you are travelling frequently.
Business people who travel frequently normally says I travel a lot I am out of town for once or twice a month. Right now the things has changed instead of having gadgets for all your needs like, GPS Navigation System, Digital Camera, Video Cam, MP3 Player, Laptop and so on, now today you can have only one mobile phone e.g your Nokia E72, Blackberry or iPhone or any other modern phone and can get benefits of all of Above. Following are top 10 Travel Application for mobile;

1. Google Maps
It is most useful application it tells you were you are and you can mark your destination so between two marks it will give you complete map, you can even share your current location with your friends and family member. e.g. if you are going for a meeting and you are travelling by road and your colleague wants to know your location so from that location that can get your estimated time of arrival, this facility in google maps is called Google Latitude.
2. Triplt
Travel Management is made easy with this application you can keep the record of everything like flight confirmation number, hotel confirmation numbers. I prefer it because it is extremely good at parsing the confirmation emails. It has application for almost all latest mobile phones and even simple phones m.tripit.com can give more information.
3. Kayak
This application can help you in searching the flights, hotels, car rentals, it searches efficiently using meta-search engine and gives you fare of both travel agents and airline site itself.
4. SitoOrSquat
It is a crowd-sourced bathroom locator that can take you a step beyond the old mainstay of hotel lobbies in the most cities around the world
5. WeatherBug
A lot of mobile weather applications are there but weatherBug it gives really a solid experience it can also be integrated with your contact list, moreover, you can tap on map to see what is weather in which location.
6. TripCase
this is again related to flights but it gives flight status, delays etc and even suggests the alternate flights can have all your flight details in this and can get updated one.
7. Google SMS
You are not having always connected data plans e.g. it is working in the country you are into but it may not work in other country may be you don't have roaming enabled or even if you have may be that Mobile operator of other country is not providing data plan. so what you if you want to search something. its easy you can type any search items and can send SMS to 46645 that is GOOGL, and you will get back the search result.
8. Priceline Hotel Negotiator
Not available in all locations but esp in US and Canada it last time booking for super cheap rates.
9. Yelp
Yelp is looking user-review sites especially for restaurants in major cities around the world and their mobile app is an excellent way to search for places to eat. Help app is available for Blackberry and iPhone but other phone owners can just go to m.yelp.com
10. JWire Wi-Fi Finder
This application is very popular and is available for iPhone Only, people normally don't care when they travel abroad, if they have post paid plan of data they still use with confidence in other country but when they come back to their country and get the bill....... imagine what will happen
for those who really want to connect to internet they first need to turn off data package when the are in other country and turn on this application, this application lets the iPhone to know there next public wifi is.

First Full 3D Note Book

2010-11-28T09:08:00.000+04:00

LG has unveiled its first 3D notebook, the LG R590 3D. A hight end 15.6 inch unit with finest Quality 3D Image through its vivid, crisp display. It provides the perfect platform for wide range of contents including games, pictures, animations and movies. This laptop is powered by Intel Core i5 Processor, with an HM55 cihpset and NVIDIA GeForce GT335M with 1GB DDR3 Dedicated Video Memory.

This laptop is available in Asia, South America, the Middle East and Africa since October, 2010.

"As more and more people consume content and interact via portable screens, we think this is a natural next step for business travelers, college students and small office/home office owners," said Dr. Skott Ahn, President and CEO of LG Electronics Mobile Communications Company. "And we put the entire package in a beautifully-designed chassis because we don’t think high-tech has to be a dull grey pizza box."

Untangle - Installation Guide

2010-11-27T16:29:00.003+04:00

This is step by step Installation Guide of Untangle, Untangle is a Multi Function firewall, to know more about Untangle Click here, you can create your own untangle box i.e; cheap untangle box.
Untangle System Requirements :
Normally depends on number of computers you want to connect with Untangle Server, let us consider you have 40 Computers in your small office the following will be sufficient. I Used a desktop computer having atom processor it cost me US $ 200/-, however following configuration your system must have

1.0 GHz x86 processor
1GB of system memory (RAM)
40 GB Hard Disk
Graphics card and monitor capable of 1024 by 768
Either a CD/DVD Drive or a USB port (or both)
2 Network Cards 3 Recommended (will be used as Internet, External and DMZ)
Wireless LAN Card in case of configuring Untangle as Wireless Access point.

How to Install Untangle Server using CD
Download ISO Image from Untangle website and burn it to the CD, Insert CD into CD-ROM of this system you want to install untangle into.. and chose first boot as CD Rom, CD Will load and following display will appear, chose first option GUI Installation.

Now Chose Language and Regional Settings and Click Continue

After Scanning the hardware the System will display following, if status is OK you can proceed otherwise you may need to check processor speed and primary memory.

If you are using Untangle for the first time i will recommend to chose yes and keep the Hard Disk partition default, untangle Installer will efficiently do the partition using its guided mode. Just chose yes and click continue..

Now It will take almost 20 minutes depending on your processor speed to finish the Installation.

Now during Installation it will show finishing Installation, mean installation is going to finish soon.

Ok Now Installation is done, Click on continue to reboot the system as the screen also says remove the CD from CD ROM.

once the System is rebooted you will get the screen asking for the Configuration, Please click on below Video to See how to do the configuration

<Video is being Uploaded)

if you have ADSL Connection you need one ADSL Modem which you will convert to bridge mode and then you will need to insert LAN CABLE from ADSL Modem to External Interface of Untangle Server.

for ADSL Connection you need to use Modem in this way

Internet RJ11 ADSL >>> ADSL Modem in Bridge Mode >>>>> RJ45 into External of Untangle Server

in ADSL Modem you will need to do basic settings of connections and Connection type will be bridge instead of PPOE, so you will not enter user id and password of internet in ADSL Modem it will be entered later in Untangle Server.

For more details you can contact your Local ISP for settings, you may have RJ45 connector so you can directly insert into Untangle without use of Modem, for those in UAE having fiber optic covered building.

.....

OpenBravo ERP

2010-11-24T21:05:00.002+04:00

Most of the times people ask...
What is budget required for ERP?
Is ERP Costly?
What is ERP?
How to Get ERP Implemented?
How long it takes to get ERP Implemented?
What are the Critical Success factors of ERP?
it is very hard to answer all the questions, because ERP depends on many factors, its requirements analysis, Vendor Selection, ERP Selection, anlalysing strengths and weaknesses of the company where it is required to implement, users, management, available resources, available budget.
ERP Licensing is not much costly but its implementation takes a lot time and money. and if you go for Modifications it will really suck, but if you go for Vanilla implementation then you can implement ERP within the project time and cost. I elaborated OpenBravo and found that it is best for those who don't have much to invest, it covers all the modules and has better functions.
What is OpenBravo ERP?
Openbravo is a web-based application built on the Model View Controller. Most of the code is automatically generated based on the Data Model Dictionary by an engine that we call Wizard for Application Development (WAD). The engine executes and recompiles the application every time the system administrator
changes the configuration to accommodate a user's request.Openbravo is the leading fully functional integrated web-based open source enterprise management (ERP) system that offers a unique value proposition - a higher value at a lower cost.

Modules by Openbravo ERP

•User Interface

•Application Dictionary

•General Rules

•Partner Relations

•Product Management

•Procurement

•Sales Management

•Receivables & Payables

•Financial Management

•Manufacturing

For more Inf

•Project/Service Management

Step by Step Installation of OpenBravo ERP
Please keep visiting my blog i will be uploading OpenBravo Video Tutorial Soon
For more information please click here

Creating NAS for Home / Office using OpenFiler

2010-11-24T20:56:00.001+04:00

Openfiler is one of the best open source NAS Systems.

Openfiler is a system which converts existing computer into a NAS/SAN appliance or IP storage and provides users and administrator to perform various tasks related to Storage, it has similar services like FreeNas, it has iSCSI initiator and targets,
openfiler can also be deployed as virtual machine and it can also support virtual machines, it is flexible and we can use it in multiple platform Microsoft, Linux, Mac OS etc. It supports both hardware and software RAID, it supports Active/Passive Clustering, it is scalable upto 60TB.
VIDEO TUTORIAL : OPENFILER
You can create your openfiler NAS, please watch below step by step guide of everything related to openfiler

Please don't forget to give your feed back about this video, this will help me in improving my future posts.

Microsoft Windows 8

2010-11-24T15:34:00.001+04:00

Evolution in Cloud Computing may fail windows 8
Not only this now there are many threats to Windows Operating System ...... Updating soon.....

Microsoft Windows - Evolutions

2010-11-24T15:02:00.002+04:00

Microsoft Started Operating System with DOS (Disk Operating System) and earlier versions of Windows were started with command line interface, we were needed to change the date, time and then EDIT program was used to make files in 1985 Microsoft Introduced Windows 1.0, to start windows from DOS win command was used, Microsoft Windows Logo also changed since 1985.

Here is a family tree of windows

Graphical user interface made the users more friendly with the computers and started to learn computer as it was easy to communication with computer using clicks and keys rather than entering the commands, Windows95 was popular than previous versions because users were not required to enter any command to start GUI. here is some screen shots of popular versions of Microsoft Windows
Windows 1.0 - 1985

Windows 2.0 (1987) - with more applications and overlapping windows

Windows 3.0 - 1990 (redesigned Icons with 16 Colors VGA)

Windows 3.1 - 1993 (Windows NT for End users and Business Users) more releases of NT 4.0

Windows 95 - 1995 (with new look without dos start) in 1997 Another release appeared with IE.
Windows 95 starts automatically and command line can be started inside windows.

Windows 98 -1998 (With Networking features and tools and better USB tools support)

Windows 2000- 2K (Plug and Play and File protection it helped both business users and normal user)

Windows ME - 2000 (Most criticized system due to bugs and errors)

Windows XP - 2001 (More Stable Version of Windows, it become successful and popular)

Windows Vista - 2006 (Disliked and criticized version, most complains by end users, lots of bugs)

Windows 7 - 2009 (Solved bugs of Visa + new Features lots of hardware support)

Windows 8 - advanced version supports Tablet and Desktop

To help the users who have habit of using earlier version of Windows Legacy apps can, however, run side by side with the new Windows 8 apps.

Information Technology Blog

Open source Server Virtualization

Windows 8 - next Generation for Tablet and Traditional Desktops

Top 10 Open Source PBX Software.

1. Asterisk

2. sipX

3. Elastix

4. FreeSwitch

5. OpenPBX ( CallWeaver )

6. CallButler

7. VoicePulse VoIP Service

8. CoreDial VoiceAxis 3.0

9. Digium Switchvox SMB 4.5

10. Fonality trixbox Pro

Media Streaming with Windows 7 - Engineering Windows 7 - Site Home - MSDN Blogs

The evolution of hard drives and Storage

The punch card

The punch card

IBM 350 disk storage unit

IBM RAMAC 305

IBM magnetic disk

IBM 1311 hard drive

IBM 1301 removable storage unit

From 1979 through today

16MB Hitachi Microdrive

The USB flash drive

From 1956 to 2010

Camera Mouse

Camera Mouse is a program that allows you to control the mouse pointer on a Windows computer just by moving your head.

Open Source Communications (Asterisk *)

Asterisk As A PBX

Asterisk As A Gateway

Asterisk In The Call Center

Asterisk In The Public Network

Three things I'd give up my computer for

Daily-deal website spurns Google takeover bid

Top Chinese officials led Google hacking: WikiLeaks

Opensource ERP : The best way to manage your school or campus - fedena

OpenERP, old name Tiny ERP is now open source end most popular

OpenERP, old name Tiny ERP is now open source end most popular

Free ERP Open source ERP System :: opentaps

Use your webcam as face gesture

Setting up Face Gestures

Look at me

Security Considerations

Known Issues

Beards and hair styles

Adult Web sites

Financial Web sites

Dropbox : Cloud Computing Storage and Backup

PlayStation Move

Kinect for Xbox 360

TOP 10 Free Travel Applications

First Full 3D Note Book

Untangle - Installation Guide

OpenBravo ERP

Creating NAS for Home / Office using OpenFiler

Microsoft Windows 8

Microsoft Windows - Evolutions