Big data applications bring new database choices, challenges

The volumes of data that had to be handled back then seem amusingly modest by today’s “big data” applications standards, with IBM’s 3380 mainframe able to store what seemed like a capacious 2.5 GB of data when it was launched in 1980. To put data into IMS, you needed to understand how to navigate the physical structure of the database itself, and it was a radical step indeed when IBM launched DB2 in 1983. In this new approach, programmers would write in a language called SQL and the database management system itself would figure out the best access path to the data via an “optimiser.”

Big data: A great way for database management

Big data is the term for a collection of data sets so large and complex that it becomes 

difficult to process using on-hand database management tools or traditional data 
processing applications. The challenges include capture, curation, storage,search, 
sharing, transfer, analysis,and visualization. The trend to larger data sets is due to the 
additional information derivable from analysis of a single large set of related data, as 
compared to separate smaller sets with the same total amount of data, allowing 
correlations to be found to "spot business trends, determine quality of research, 
prevent diseases, link legal citations, combat crime, and determine real-time roadway 
traffic conditions."

As of 2012, limits on the size of data sets that are feasible to process in a reasonable 
amount of time were on the order of exabytes of data.Scientists regularly encounter 
limitations due to large data sets in many areas, including meteorology, genomics,
connectomics, complex physics simulations,and biological and environmental research.
The limitations also affect Internet search, finance and business informatics. Data sets 
grow in size in part because they are increasingly being gathered by ubiquitous information-
sensing mobile devices, aerial sensory technologies (remote sensing), software logs, 
cameras, microphones, radio-frequency identification readers, and wireless sensor 
networks.^[The world's technological per-capita capacity to store information has roughly 
doubled every 40 months since the 1980s;as of 2012, every day 2.5 quintillion (2.5×10¹⁸) 
bytes of data were created.The challenge for large enterprises is determining who should 
own big data initiatives that straddle the entire organization.

Big data is difficult to work with using most relational database management systems 
and desktop statistics and visualization packages, requiring instead "massively parallel 
software running on tens, hundreds, or even thousands of servers".What is considered 
"big data" varies depending on the capabilities of the organization managing the set, and 
on the capabilities of the applications that are traditionally used to process and analyze the 
data set in its domain. "For some organizations, facing hundreds of gigabytes of data for the
first time may trigger a need to reconsider data management options. For others, it may take 
tens or hundreds of terabytes before data size becomes a significant consideration."

Cloud Computing:Hot trend in computer field.

Cloud computing is a colloquial expression used to describe a variety of different 

typesof computing concepts that involve a large number of computers connected 

through a real-time communication network (typically the Internet).Cloud computing 

is a jargon term[citation needed] without a commonly accepted non-ambiguous
scientific or technical definition. In science, cloud computing is a synonym for
distributed computing over a network and means the ability to run a program on
many connected computers at the same time. The phrase is also, more commonly
used to refer to network-based services which appear to be provided by real
server hardware, which in fact are served up by virtual hardware, simulated by
software running on one or more real machines. Such virtual servers do not
physically exist and can therefore be moved around and scaled up (or down)
on the fly without affecting the end user - arguably, rather like a cloud.

The popularity of the term can be attributed to its use in marketing to sell hosted
services in the sense of application service provisioning that run client server
software on a remote location.

Advantages:-

Cloud computing relies on sharing of resources to achieve coherence and
economies of scale similar to a utility (like the electricity grid) over a network.
At the foundation of cloud computing is the broader concept of converged
infrastructure and shared services.The cloud also focuses on maximizing the
effectiveness of the shared resources. Cloud resources are usually not only
shared by multiple users but as dynamically re-allocated per demand. This
can work for allocating resources to users. For example, a cloud computer 

facility, which serves European users during European business hours with a
specific application (e.g. email) while the same resources are getting reall-
ocated and serve North American users during North America's business
hours with another application (e.g. web server). This approach should
maximize the use of computing powers thus environmental damage as well
since less power, air conditioning, rackspace, etc. is required for a variety
of functions.

The term "moving to cloud" also refers to an organization moving away from a 

traditional CAPEX model (buy the dedicated hardware and depreciate it over
a period of time) to the OPEX model (use a shared cloud infrastructure and
pay as you use it).Proponents claim that cloud computing allows companies to
avoid upfront infrastructure costs, and focus on projects that differentiate their
businesses instead of infrastructure.Proponents also claim that cloud computing
allows enterprises to get their applications up and running faster, with improved
manageability and less maintenance, and enables IT to more rapidly adjust
resources to meet fluctuating and unpredictable business demand.

Latest Techno-Mania: Cloud Computing.

Overview:--

Cloud computing delivers the ability to provision resources on demand to your

users.Cloud computing is enabling a major transformation in which you can

turn your datacenter into an IT-as-a-Service platform. This means you can

deliver applications to your end users faster than ever, without investing in new infrastructure, training new personnel, or licensing new software. Cloud

computing also helps your organization compete in new markets and 

communicate with customers in new ways. You can drive down the costs 

of doing business and increase your ability to adapt to changing market 

conditions.

Because cloud computing changes the way your organization consumes IT, 

you can change the role of IT in your organization and the way your team thinks 

about and delivers business success.

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latest studies and reasearches in the technical field will be updated time to

time.

Hackers hijack Google Palestine site with

 anti-Israel message.

Google says servers not hacked, instead Web users redirected to 

site that reminds 'Uncle Google' that the country shown on Google

Maps is Palestine, not Israel.

Pro-Palestinian hackers on Monday hijacked the Google Palestine domain (google.ps), redirecting Web users to a hacked version of the page that called for removing Israel from Google Maps and renaming it Palestine.

Google officials said their servers were not hacked. Instead it appears the hackers managed to break into the domain name registry for Palestine -- a database in which domains (web addresses such as google.ps) are converted to the unique IP addresses where the domain is located. The hackers changed the IP address to which google.ps directs users, sending users to a different website showing what appeared to be a hacked version of Google’s homepage. That site featured the hackers’ apparent protest against the use of the word “Israel” on Google Maps.

At the top of the defaced site the words “Google Owned” were written, underneath which the hackers’ message appeared: “uncle google we say hi from palestine to remember you that the country in google map not called israel. its called Palestine .. # Question: what would happens if we changed the country title of Isreal [sic] to Palestine in google maps !!! it would be revolution So listen to rihanna and be cool :P”

The hackers signed off as Dod, Hij@ker, alzher, Mr_AnarShi-T and toxico-dz.

Hacking Web domains, which is similar to spray-painting graffiti on walls in public places, happens all the time. In most cases, such acts of hacking are generally innocuous unless the hackers exploit security flaws to infect surfers’ computers with viruses or engage in “phishing” — scams to collect usernames and passwords. The Google.ps site is back to normal, but several tech sites have pointed out that what makes this case unique is the target: Internet giant Google.

“For a short period, some users visiting google.ps were redirected to a different website,” a Google spokesman told Haaretz. “Google services for the google.ps domain were not hacked. We’ve been in contact with the organization responsible for managing this domain name and the issue should be resolved.”

The Israeli-Palestinian conflict has already played out on Google previously, when the company upgraded the Palestinian Authority’s status on Google Maps: the name of the PA territory was changed from “the Palestinian territories” to “Palestine” -- a move that drew an official protest from Israeli officials.

Two months ago, the Knesset’s Science and Technology Committee held a discussion on the topic in the presence of Charlie Hale, Google’s official in charge of public policy and government relations, who came especially from Google’s headquarters in California. Hale laid out Google’s official position, under which the selection of geopolitical names is based on decisions by organizations such as the United Nations, the Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers and the International Organization for Standardization.

“We have no interest in being the arbiter of political disputes,” Hale said during the meeting. “I want to make it absolutely clear that in making these decisions we are in no way taking a political stance.

Microsoft launches Office 365 University for students

Microsoft has announced Office 365 University, especially for students. The 

Application is meant for full-time and part-time students studying in various 

universities and colleges. Office 365 Universitycomprises of the latest set 

of office applications likeWord, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher 

and Access. It works on personal computers, Macintosh, comes with Office 

on Demand and an additional 20 GB Premium SkyDrive storage facility.

Office 365 University is available to students for Rs. 4199 for four years of 

subscription. The company said that Office 365 University will allow students 

to study in a better way that would result in future jobs and offering them 

an upper hand in the competitive young Indian market.

"University students will love the capabilities of new Office. Office 365 University 

will be a trusted and integral part of students' everyday always-on, always-connected 

life, taking full advantage of the cloud and touch capabilities, all at the best price,

" Ramkumar Pichai, GM,Microsoft Office Division, Microsoft India said in a statement.

Microsoft has also put up a list of recognized universities and colleges, and University 

students only need to go online at www.office.com/verify to validate their eligibility 

to activate office. While the verification process is on, students will be required to fill 

in their university qualifications or international student identity card particulars. On 

the other hand, students can also submit documents via the manual verification procedure. 

After the verification process is complete, students can purchase Office 365 University from 

the online Microsoft store.

WhatsApp introduces one-press voice 

texting, to be rolled out on all operating

systems in 24 hours.

Instant messaging service WhatsApp has rolled out an update that lets you

now send voice texts by just pressing one button.

The company announced the availability of this new feature while announcing

that it has now hit the 300 million monthly active users mark.They garnered a 

whopping 50 million new active users in just 2 months.

With this new feature, you can record and send voice clips with one press of

 the mic icon.According to a report in AllThingsD, WhatsApp users now send 

11 billion messages and receive 20 billion messages per day - up from 27 billion

 total in June.

WhatsApp has began rolling out voice messaging for all of its apps, on iPhone, 

BlackBerry, Android, Windows Phone and Nokia.

Simple and easyWhat's interesting about this feature is that it is simple with less taps on the screen

to get the job done.You just press the record button to record your message and let 

go of the mic icon once ur done to send the message.If you decide not to send the

message then you just swipe to the left to delete the recording.

There is no time length limit when recording a message therefore users can get as 

creative as they want.Another interesting feature is that the playback of a voice text

will automatically switch from handset's speakers to its earpiece when the device is

held to your ear.The mic icon also turns blue when recipients have listened to the

message .

Feature available in 24 hours
In the report it is also mentioned that WhatsApp with its strength of just 45 employees 

will push the new voice feature simultaneously on all its platforms and will make it 

available to all users within 24 hours.Facebook and WeChat already have the voice 

texting feature but what's interestingabout Whatsapp is its one press voice text feature.

Siddhartha Bhavsaar, a businessman and an active user of WhatsApp from Mumbai

is quite happy with the update, " I hate typing. Voice messaging will be so much 

easier and fun!"

One of the last useful update rolled out by WhatsApp was to allow its users to send 

batches of photos in one go.Divya Saboo, a mass media graduate from UPG College 

of Management in Mumbai feels that the realms of conversation has increased ten-folds. 

" With family, you normally conversate in your regional language. With voice text now 

on WhatsApp I can easily communicate with my mother who does not know English 

effectively."Rahil Shaikh, a design proffessional does not really think it makes much 

of a difference. "To voice chat, I will call the person. Why would I voice text and then 

wait for a reply on WhatsApp. The app is great for free texting and group chats, but 

there is no need for voice text."

This feature does not need the app updated and will automatically appear on your 

device once it is rolled out.Wonder if 'instant video' is the next update from WhatsApp. 

We can only wait and hope......

Datawind Ubislate 3G7: New tablet 

of Aakash makers spotted.

As per the listing the Datawind Ubislate 3G7 has quad band GPRS and tri-band HSPA 
connectivity Couple of days after the Government of India promised to launch Aakash 4 tablet,            

a new tablet of Datawind - which ironically made the previous versions of Aakash
tablet - has been spotted.

Technology focused website, Engadget, claimed to have spotted the tablet - called

Datawind Ubislate 3G7 - on the FCC’s (Federal Communication Commission) website.

As per the listing the Datawind Ubislate 3G7 has quad band GPRS and tri-band HSPA+">HSPAconnectivity. Besides, it has WiFi, Bluetooth 3.0, micro SD card

slot and a 2 megapixel front camera. Not much information about the tablet is

available as of now.

Notably, last week Kapil Sibal, the Communication and Information Technology

 Minister of Government of India, told that Aakash 4 is all set to be launched 

January next. He also went on to say that 12 manufacturers have showed 

interest in the tablet whose specifications have been freezed.

Aakash is first in a series of Android-based tablet computers promoted by

 Government of India as part of an initiative to link 25,000 colleges and 

400 universities in an e-learning program. The first three versions, which 

were heavily criticised for non-availability and quality, were made by DataWind.

In view of the uproar, the Government of India in July this year came out with a 

proposed list of minimum features for the upcoming Aakash 4 and as per analysts,

if the tablet indeed comes with the set of proposed features then it would be an 

attractive low cost tablet. You can check the proposed specifications of  

Aakash 4 here.

So it would be interesting to see if government launches this purported Ubislate 3G7 

as Aakash 4 or bring a whole new product from a different manufacturer.

Android 4.3's New 'Always-On' Wi-Fi  Feature Buried in Settings. It might be a bit much to say that one of the new features  packed into Android's 4.3 upgrade is controversial, but it's  definitely one worth knowing a little bit more about. As those  who have taken a spin around the Android 4.3 ROM have  noticed, Google has made a change to devices' Wi-Fi settings  in Android 4.3. "To improve location accuracy and for other purposes, Google and other apps may scan for nearby networks, even when Wi-Fi is off," describes Google. Android Police's Ron Amadeo notes that the move is actually  probably designed to save one's battery life instead of wasting it, given that the only other way for one's smartphone  to discern one's location is to kick on the battery-draining  GPS. However, he also calls out Google's interesting use of  language in its disclaimer – specifically, the "other purposes"  bit. "Those 'other purposes' probably (that means this is the speculation part) involves shipping that Wi-Fi location  data back to Google, which is how the Wi-Fi location  service currently functions. The way to use Wi-Fi hotspots  for location data is to build a map of  SSID (hotspot name)  locations. You do that by running around with a GPS and  Wi-Fi chip and virtually stick Wi-Fi pins on a map,"  Amadeo writes. To check and see whether your phone has this feature enabled  by default (a number do not), you'll have to navigate through to the very bowels of your Android operating system's settings  — Google doesn't exactly make this feature all that easy to flick on and off. Here's how: Fire up the Settings app and tap your finger on the Wireless and Networks option. Tap on the Wi-Fi option, and then tap on the Menu button on your phone's lower-right-hand corner (the triple-dots icon). When the submenu pops up, tap your  finger on the Advanced option. From there, you'll want to  make sure to check the "Scanning always available" option  if you want to participate in the new Android 4.3 feature.  Otherwise, if it's checked, you need merely to uncheck it to  ensure that "Wi-Fi off"really means "Wi-Fi off." It's important to reiterate that numerous reports have come in  from Nexus 4, Nexus 7, and Galaxy Nexus owners – to name a few – who all indicate that this feature remains off by default when they've updated their devices to Android 4.3. Which is to  say, it's more important that you know about this potentially  useful setting than to freak out about it, but it's also worth checking this, and many of Android's other "Advanced" wireless  configuration options, when you've upgraded your mobile OS!

Google Releases 4.3 OTA for HTC One and Galaxy S4 Google Play Editions.

It's been a busy week in the Android space, and this evening Google appears to have hit the button on the Android 4.3 (Jelly Bean MR2) update for the HTC One and Samsung Galaxy S4 Google Play edition phones. I just got the 4.3 OTA notification on both of my Google-suppled GPe phones. The update is around 150 MB for the SGS4 and 180 MB for the HTC One, and comes as build JWR66V. This comes immediately after both HTC and Samsung released their Android 4.3 kernel sources online. Seems as though Google made good on its promise for speedy updates to the Google Play edition phones, as this comes about a week after the official Nexus program 4.3 OTA started. I'll be digging around inside to see if anything major sticks out beyond what's expected from 4.3

HTC One Dual SIM Coming Soon to India, Spotted on Company’s Official Site

HTC one is the hottest looking Android smartphone available in India. It can easily beat Samsung Galaxy S4 or even iPhone 5 for that matter. Now the Taiwanese giant is prepping to announce a Dual SIM variant of HTC One in India. This can be said as the HTC One Dual SIM handset has now got listed on the company's official site. Currently the device tagged as "Coming Soon." We are in touch with HTC India to get exact release details about Dual SIM version of HTC One. Originally, HTC One Dual SIM was launched in the Chinese market earlier this year. Since then, it was speculated that HTC might announce the dual SIM version of famed HTC One in the Indian market. The HTC One Dual SIM is slightly modified in comparison to single SIM version. The latter version comes with fixed internal storage - 32GB/64GB. With HTC One Dual SIM users can expand the internal storage via microSD card up to 64GB. Rest features are pretty much same.

Android 4.x Jelly Bean is now 

on 40.5 percent of Android 

SOFTWARE DEVELOPER Google's Android 4.x Jelly Bean mobile operating system is now on over 40 percent of Android devices after overtaking Android 2.3 Gingerbread for the first time last month.

Google's latest Android developer statistics, which it releases based on visits to the Google Play store over a two-week period, show that not only is Android 4.x Jelly Bean now the most popular, it's now on 40.5 percent of Android devices.

However, the majority of these devices are running the first iteration of Jelly Bean, Android 4.1.x, with just 6.5 percent of Android phones and tablets running Android 4.2.x. There's no word yet as to how many devices are running Google's latest Android 4.3 Jelly Bean operating system, and we're guessing that's because it hasn't been rolled out to many devices so far.

Google's latest figures also show that Android 2.3.x Gingerbread's share is finally starting to slow. Android 2.3.x Gingerbread is now on 33.1 percent of devices, down from 34.1 percent in July and 36.5 percent in June. The popularity of Android 4.0.x Ice Cream Sandwich is also starting to dwindle, down from 23.3 percent at the beginning of July to 22.5 percent in the two-week period running up until 1 August.

Android 3.0 Honeycomb is just as unpopular as it was last month with a 0.1 percent share, while Android 2.2.x Froyo, Android 2.x Eclair and Android 1.6 Donut are little more than memories with 2.5 percent, 1.2 percent and 0.1 percent, respectively.

Google's statistics might highlight the present state of Android fragmentation, but that hasn't stopped the Android mobile operating system from nearly taking over the smartphone market. Strategy Analytics revealed today that Android has an overwhelming 80 percent share of the global smartphone market, compared to Apple's and Microsoft's 13.6 percent and 3.9 percent market shares, respectively. 

Facebook lets users showcase posts on other websites

Facebook began letting people share social network posts at blogs or other spots on the Internet.

 An Embedded Posts feature being tested out at CNN, Huffington Post, Bleacher Report, PEOPLE and Mashable websites lets Facebook members broadcast posts in real-time to broader online audiences.
    
"We are beginning to roll out Embedded Posts to make it possible for people to bring the most compelling, timely public posts from Facebook to the rest of the Web," Facebook software engineers Dave Capra and Ray He said in a blog post.
    
"When embedded, posts can include pictures, videos, hashtags and other content," they continued. "People can also like and share the post directly from the embed."
    
Facebook posts that people allow to be shared publicly can be fired off to blogs or selected outside websites, with the list of venues to grow quickly, according to the engineers.
    
Examples given by Facebook included an official British Monarchy Page publishing a picture of the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge with their newborn son.
    
"Every day, public figures, journalists and millions of regular people share their thoughts on what's happening around the world on Facebook publicly," Capra and He said.
    
"Many journalists post detailed commentary about world events from their Facebook timeline."
    
The Twitter-style feature is being added as California-based Facebook works to expand its presence on the Internet and its appeal to members increasingly accessing the Internet on the go with smartphones or tablets.