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15 Pocket Books / 1,000++ IT Magazine Articles (Author) / 19 Yrs FULL-TIME Freelance Translator / 32 Yrs Working Experience (Text Content, Sales/Marketing, PHP Web Developer)
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English to Thai: Banking Security General field: Science Detailed field: IT (Information Technology)
Source text - English Asia Commercial Bank (ACB) is one of Vietnam’s leading financial institutions, providing a full range of banking and related services, including loans, insurance, and foreign exchange for corporate and consumer clients. Thebank is privately owned, and its major shareholders include Jardine Matheson Holdings and Standard Chartered.
Headquartered in Ho Chi Minh City, ACB has more than 100 branches throughout the country.ACB is known in Vietnam to be an early adopter of new technologies. With the country’s rapid economic growth in recent years, the expansion of ACB’s banking network, and the introduction of new services such as Internet banking and securities trading, ACB has seen a dramatic increase in systems on its network. This has raised the level of risk to its data from virus outbreaks and other security threats. ACB needed a solid defense strategy backed by robust and easily scaleable solutions to safeguard customer data and allow its clients to conduct transactions with confidence.
Solution
ACB began its evaluation of security solutions, testing products from a range of vendors, including CheckPoint, but eventually chose Fortinet solutions because of the versatility of its products. The deputy manager of the bank's Information Technology Division, notes while other solutions tend to separate firewall and intrusion detection functions, the FortiGate family unites these capabilities in a single, user-friendly appliance. He says ACB was also impressed by the strength of Fortinet's local support and its commitment to Vietnam, a nascent market where the vendor moved to establish its presence early. "We've had a strong relationship with Fortinet from the beginning," He says. "When we were first looking at really using the Internet and protecting our network, they were already there to help." Initially, the bank had installed at its head office two FortiGate™-500 systems, which have recently been replaced by one FortiGate™-1000AFA2 and one FortiGate-1000A with IPS and anti-spam features activated. The FortiGate systems are used to secure access to the corporate network and its core banking platform. The core network is currently being overhauled to incorporate business intelligence, online banking, and imaging functions. The FortiGate-1000AFA2 and FortiGate-1000A are supplemented with a FortiGate-200 at ACB’s card center, which runs antivirus and intrusion prevention solutions around the clock protecting the data generated from the tens of thousands of credit and debit cards the bank has issued to its customers. ACB has also deployed FortiGate-60 firewalls at 20 key branches.
Success
Since implementation, Mr. Nam says the Fortinet devices have run remarkably smooth and ensured ACB’s network has yet to suffer a single intrusion or security-related downtime incident. As the bank prepares to develop its range of online services and boost its presence in underserved parts of Vietnam, Nam says it will build up its Fortinet deployment to match. Over the next year ACB plans to invest in FortiManager™- 400 and FortiAnalyzer™-800 management and reporting systems, as well as more FortiGate™-60 firewalls for additional branch offices.
“The biggest advantage of Fortinet is that the company manages to combine so many functions in one appliance and still keep prices reasonable,” he says. “We were also impressed by the help we received from Fortinet’s local team in the planning and deployment stage, which made sure the solutions were easy for administrators to install and use.” Nam says the bank's management and employees are also increasingly appreciative of the role Fortinet has played in supporting ACB's technologycentric strategy and safeguarding the institution's reputation.
"They may not see the tools working, but they're aware that the solutions are keeping our networks safe and giving customers confidence as we grow, expand, and move more banking online," he says.
English to Thai: Maximizing ROI with Server Virtualization General field: Tech/Engineering Detailed field: IT (Information Technology)
Source text - English “Virtualization” can mean many different things. From server and storage to client and network, virtualization is expanding beyond a single definition. To narrow the focus, this article examines how server virtualization enables businesses to run multiple “virtual” servers on a single physical machine, lowering computing costs and increasing long-term business flexibility.
Much like the human brain, most physical servers use only a fraction of their computing power. Since conventional servers are just larger versions of what you have on your desk, conventional server technology matches just one operating system with one physical server. With only one system to maintain, the server is only using a portion of its capacity, leaving huge portions of server capacity unused.
Server virtualization enables multiple, independent operating systems to run “virtually” on a single server, creating multiple, independent computers on each server. By consolidating servers, virtualization allows businesses to run on two to three servers at maximum capacity, as opposed to 10 servers at only 20 percent capacity. This not only decreases maintenance costs by an estimated 50 to 70 percent, but also increases the overall efficiency of the system.
Further, server virtualization allows businesses to rapidly repurpose their information technology (IT) infrastructure, providing greater availability, higher fault tolerance and improved continuity of operations in the event of a disaster or failure. Poor planning, on the other hand, can eat away at the very savings that server virtualization offers.
Here are some best practices to keep in mind if you are considering server virtualization:
1. Base your virtualization investment decisions on reality, not theory. Conduct a comprehensive assessment of your server environment to identify which pieces of hardware you can virtualize. Free tools from companies like VMware or Microsoft can help identify exactly which servers are good candidates for virtualization, enabling you to plan for your specific needs. Other companies, including CDW, offer complete virtualization assessment services that are worth investigating
2. Before virtualizing your servers, be certain that the software applications you use are compatible with virtualization software. Qualified solution providers and most virtualization software vendors can help you determine if your server is suitable for virtualization
3. Technology advances rapidly, and the hypervisor/virtualization platform you select may not be compatible with aging server hardware. Even servers as young as five-years-old may not be viable candidates for virtualization, as they are not able to run common virtualization software systems. In addition, the most common hypervisors – Citrix, Microsoft and VMware – are each unique platforms. So, before purchasing, make an informed decision about which hypervisor will operate most effectively with your hardware platforms and best meet your specific business needs
4. Revisit your backup architecture as you prepare to virtualize your servers. Many vendors offer enhanced backup products for virtual infrastructure that can reduce costs considerably. However, if your business has a long-term maintenance contract, consider whether changing your backup architecture will mean a broken contract and financial penalties
5. To realize the greatest cost savings and return on investment (ROI), eliminate as many physical servers as possible. After consolidating your applications onto a virtualized server platform, turn off, recycle or sell the now-unused servers
6. Because virtual and physical environments require different forms of maintenance, be sure to take the time to properly train your staff during implementation. Often, small businesses feel incapable of making considerable investments toward training, as it is typically an expensive undertaking. However, improper maintenance can lead to countless repairs and lost functionality that will surely cost more over time
English to Thai: Car Crashes and IT security General field: Tech/Engineering Detailed field: IT (Information Technology)
Source text - English Car Crashes and IT security
It's always when you least expect it and when you least need it. That accident waiting to happen. Friday evening after a long week, and you're heading home for a relaxing weekend, suddenly a truck comes out of nowhere on the motorway and the next thing you know you're standing at the side of the road; your "pride and joy" looking rather dejected and you standing next to it as a million motorists slow down to view the latest car wreck and thank their lucky stars it wasn't them. I've been one of them on many an occasion but I guess every one of us is just a moment away from that accident waiting to happen.
And life is like that, especially in IT security. Weekly we read about breaches, failures, increased snooping and you'd think we'd learn but generally we seem to think it's always the other guy who gets it, and one of the areas which seem to generate the greatest risk is - the expired certificate.
In cryptography, a public key certificate (also known as a digital certificate or identity certificate) is an electronic document which uses a digital signature to bind together a public key with an identity - information such as the name of a person or an organization, their address, and so ...
Digital certificates are used to establish and validate an identity on the internet. Digital certificates, issued and managed CA's (certificate authorities), can address a number of security concerns. For example, they can verify the identity and privileges of an individual, a server, an application, a device, a database, an organisation on the Internet, provide non-repudiation and authorise transactions such as payments. Most of us seem blissfully unaware that they're there. But the reality is that today there are hundreds and in many cases thousands of them distributed throughout our infrastructures. Our VPN concentrators' use them for authentication, load balancers use them to secure connections, and virtually every application to application process uses them to ensure authentication and secure communication. And all it takes is just one failure or expiry and bang goes your weekend.
What You Don't Know Can Hurt You
The problem with accidents is that you could always avoid them if you knew when and where they would happen. Had I somehow been able to have an early warning that a certain truck with a certain registration was going to change lanes at the exact moment I had passed him, then I could have taken preventative measures. And the same goes with certificates.
If you knew ahead of time where the certificates were and when they would expire, and who was responsible for them; then you'd be able to take pre-emptive action. The problem is that most organizations simply do not know. If you happen to use certificates signed by a Trusted Third party (TTP) then they will notify you when renewal is due - after all your paying for them year on year. But then there are the certificates that have been created using your own Certificate Authority (CA) which are usually managed using a spreadsheet or some other archaic method, and then there's the nightmare "self signed" certificates which have been created on some application or device with no need to get any external validation.
But regardless of who or what is supplying your certificates, none of these systems by themselves are going to take care of the actual task of renewing the certificate on the actual application and device. It wouldn't have done me much good if I hadn't taken action six months ago to renew my insurance when I received the letter reminding me that a renewal was required! Fortunately my valid insurance document was sitting in the "glove box!"
An expiry, or failure, of any of these certificates will always lead to chaotic finger pointing throughout the organization with everybody blaming somebody and nobody taking responsibility. Just imagine if I'd had to face my wife with the news that not only had my car been mugged but that I'd also forgot to renew the insurance. That would be tame compared to the hysterical reaction you get when a certificate brings a trading floor to a grinding halt in the middle of the afternoon, or results in the production line of a global manufacturer to stop working for eight hours!
Crisis Management Is Not Making It Up As You Go Along
When my truck driver "friend" stepped down from his magnificent "chariot," I quickly discovered he didn't speak my first, second or third language - not that I really understand my own third language - but fortunately having a mobile phone with the police emergency numbers, and the "what happens when you hit a truck in a foreign country" number from my insurance company, it was relatively simple to set procedures in motion.
Most organizations I meet with are not able to tell you who owns or is responsible for certificates on systems and applications. There is no verification process to check if certificates are installed correctly, and in the event of a crisis everyone suddenly looks at the Infosec group and expect them to simply fix it.
Counting The Cost
Ultimately my altercation has come with a price, whether it's the neighbour who seems intent on telling the whole street that I have a damaged car as if in some way I've just been responsible for a 50% drop in the value of the properties around me; the loss of productivity from having to spend a day chasing insurance companies and getting repair estimates; and just the sheer inconvenience of having to remove a lifetime's personal belongings from my car before sending it off to be repaired.
So loss of productivity, dented ego, and financial loss all because I was in the wrong place at the right time. Of course you console yourself with the thought that it could have been worse, and sure in many cases things are just simply unavoidable, but when it comes to your certificates there is no reason why an accident should happen.
Get Some Insurance!!
The first step in managing encryption is to determine where keys and encryption certificates are deployed within the enterprise environment, and assess where imminent risks exist, such as which systems are using weak key strengths, which certificates and keys are about to expire, where rogue certificate authorities are in use, etc.. Five simple questions:
• What has actually been deployed, and on how many systems
• Which certificates are still in use
• Certificates that have been issued by any all CAs
• Status of root and intermediary roots are in use on those systems
• Whether or not those certificates are within policy
And if you don't know the answer to the list of questions then that "truck" may just be around the next bend!
English to Thai: Building smart General field: Science Detailed field: IT (Information Technology)
Source text - English Building smart
Sahara Petrochemicals, based in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), prides itself on maintaining the highest in quality standards and delivering on them consistently to both internal and external customers.
And information technology is a crucial part of ensuring this standard.
“The importance of IT to the functioning of Sahara Petrochemicals cannot be exaggerated. It is absolutely essential for the smooth functioning of the organisation and to ensure that its deliverables are met on time and in quality,” says Ihab Hawari, IT manager at the company.
It is no wonder then that Hawari and his team take their jobs seriously, and they have worked for the continuous success of Sahara since its formation.
“Sahara took shape in late 2004, and even then the senior management gave instructions for the establishment of a data centre. However, we did not build a high availability data centre because we were a small organisation. So we started out with a ProLiant server Gen 3 standalone, had a file server and Active Directory with the necessary assistance of the PC platform. This was the case till 2007,” says Hawari.
With continuing growth and increasing employee numbers, Sahara felt the need for expanding its infrastructure and software base in order to provide scalability and efficiency for future operations.
“In 2007, we decided to establish a high availability data centre. Keeping this in mind we met a few vendors and considered their solutions. HP was one of them. We had initial meetings in Saudi Arabia and follow-up meetings in Dubai. When we had got all the commitments necessary, in terms of solutions and support, we placed the order with HP,” says Hawari.
The set of solutions HP brought to the table for the data centre included servers, SAN storage solutions and a back-up library. In 2009, Sahara upgraded the data centre to add one more enclosure, along with servers and increased the SAN storage capacity from 11 TB to 14 TB.
“During this upgrade, we also implemented virtualisation. We have around 62 physical servers, of which 11 are currently virtualised. VMWare is our virtualisation platform. Currently we utilise virtualisation in the low-end performance servers, with small applications. We do have plans to extend virtualisation to other servers and platforms as well, since we have not encountered any issues with it. Eventually we might decide to go with virtualisation for servers running individual apps. At that point in time, the number of servers we have on hand might increase from the current 62 to nearly 100, without any additional hardware investment,” says Hawari.
He adds that the only thing that looms as a concern for Sahara with virtualisation is the potential single point of failure that such an investment entails, especially when it is carried on to cover the firm's mission-critical applications.
“Each hardware platform will be running multiple VMWare servers and if this platform gets affected that will mean multiple applications will be out of service. Following discussions with the HP team on this matter we decided to implement a cluster node among two VMWare servers. It will be a double investment, but at the same time it gives us potential for relaxation and also provides us higher availability,” says Hawari.
Early this year, Sahara physically migrated its data centre from one location to the other. Hawari is proud of the fact that the entire migration was completed within 72 hours and involved minimal downtime for the stakeholders at the company.
Software smart
Sahara has been judiciously investing in software solutions to support its business activities as well. SAP forms the core of the company and is run off a bank of 21 servers which, Hawari states, have not been virtualised yet.
“In the short time that we have had since the set up of the actual data centre in the beginning of 2008 (almost 2.5 years now) the IT team has successfully implemented SAP. And we made no compromises in the implementation and in the choice of modules that we needed,” says Hawari.
In 2007, Sahara also implemented a host of solutions from Microsoft including Exchange Server 2007 and Office 2007, and began replacing Windows XP with Windows Vista Enterprise and Business editions.
“Integration was an important point for us to consider when we picked our solutions. This is the reason we went for HP as the single vendor across servers, storage and back-up, thus leaving us with absolutely no integration issues. Then we have SAP as our base ERP, across the network we have Cisco, we have Microsoft providing us with multiple solutions across the desktop and servers, Meridium for availability management, LabWare for information management across our labs, we have plant information management systems, FollowME for print management and so on,” states Hawari.
He adds that the company is still in the stages of implementing Meridium. While 82% of the project has been finished, Hawari expects the solution to go live by the end of June. This year, the firm will also be working on an intranet portal, using Microsoft’s SharePoint to link end-users in the corporation and common data. It will also implement a helpdesk (starting in August) besides taking steps to put in place a disaster recovery platform, starting in September.
“We currently have only one data centre but we are planning to start on a disaster recovery plan in the last quarter of this year. We are not planning on doing this ourselves. We will look to outsource it to the companies that specialise in this kind of business,” states Hawari.
IT strategising
As mentioned, the 21-member IT team at Sahara take its job seriously. This is why they pay a lot of attention to strategising and planning for their investments to ensure that they always meet business needs.
“There are many aspects to strategising for IT. First, there are business requirements. Nowadays, the majority of senior management and business owners rely on IT to support the business. They understand that there is a high cost element connected to technology, but when it comes to the short lifecycle of technology the equation for business owners comes in to conflict. The technology lifecycle is around six years, and that is very short compared to plant, factory or other equipment lifecycles which stretch up to 20 years.
“The strategy here from an IT management point of view is to extend the lifecycle of technology investments, make good selections of solutions from day one, do extensive research on all the solutions that are being considered and keep close to manufacturers and vendors. You also need to keep in mind that the lifecycles mentioned by most vendors will be geared to meet their timetables and need to be considered with a certain amount of salt,” says Hawari.
“The second element of strategy involves understanding the business. We work in the petrochemical environment. I need to support that environment. For that I have to understand the business nature of the petrochemical industry, starting from raw materials, take off and processing, until final product, then logistics, then delivery to the customer, then collecting money, paying the supplier, and managing variable costs and assets. I have to understand this and many other things in the business to provide solutions. To serve, optimise and make things easy in terms of best practice is most important, because most of the mistakes made by organisations these days are linked to the way they hire people. These people come with an old philosophy from their last employer and they want to deploy the same. The management at Sahara has decided to go with global best practices, and has given strict instructions to every business owner that they have to follow the same. This gives us a little bit of harmony and smooth employment of services,” Hawari states.
Sahara’s IT team constantly tracks business requirements through an IT steering committee. The committee, which meets once a week or a minimum of once a month, discusses all the business plans of the organisation and what is on the cards for the next quarters. Following this, Hawari presents his solutions for consideration during the following steering committee meeting, which will then be discussed and a solution selected. The committee involves senior management and other mid-level managers, apart from the IT team.
He points to the case of the company’s unified communications system as a typical example of a solution that is keyed for business priorities. The solution, which provides single sign-on, extension availability and advanced mobility features helps end-users in the organisation to communicate with their customers, supplier and internal stakeholders whether they are at office, outside the campus or even outside the country. The company's IT team works on these solutions to ensure that communication needs are met proactively, as much as it works on others to derive high performance levels.
“We have challenges with some of the platforms and operating systems, in terms of performance but we manage it with the technology vendor. We also try to address and avoid integration issues as far as possible. Our other major challenge is to find the right IT resources. Finding the right IT professionals is very difficult nowadays. We have had reasonable success though in hiring people – some of them came with considerable experience and others were hired fresh. The fresh hires were trained in-house for around six months, until they were judged to be capable of going live with the technology and provide support and development requirements on it as necessary,” says Hawari.
Moving ahead
Going ahead, Hawari has no doubt that he and his team will be able to continue their support for the business operations of the company, and he credits the senior management’s continuing belief in the IT department as a key factor for the success of their operations so far. He does, however, have a message for vendors in the regional industry.
“Vendors have to keep close to their customers and understand their requirements. They should help the customer select wisely and provide them with scenarios of how solutions will work in their particular environments and how this will affect data integrity in those particular situations. They should not focus on just their business; in fact, focusing on customer requirements will help them in the long term. They should also pay more attention to their after-sales support initiatives. HP has been one of the better ones in the region in providing support to its customers,” says Hawari.
“Regional organisations, especially ones that are just starting out with their data centre investments, should study their requirements thoroughly, consider themselves as a business owner, and consider investments only in the light of business objectives. And, IT managers have to constantly try and read between the lines of what the business owner is asking, to get hints on what is not included in the plan given to him, to see the possible challenges and issues in any business need, and solve them proactively before they raise their ugly heads. That is my message to regional CIOs,” concludes Hawari.
Quick look at Sahara Petrochemicals
To make use of the support offered to the industrial sector in Saudi Arabia, especially in petrochemical manufacturing projects, Zamil Group, one of the largest business houses in Saudi Arabia handled the formation and sponsored Sahara Petrochemicals, a Saudi joint stock company with a paid up capital of more than one billion Saudi Riyals. Sahara Petrochemicals participates in and supervises the foundation and establishment of several limited liability companies in Al Jubail Industrial City with the participation of Saudi and foreign companies that have modern skills and technologies to produce and market chemical and petrochemical products such as propylene, polypropylene, ethylene and polyethylene.
Sahara Petrochemicals was founded to be one of the pioneer industrial pillars in Saudi Arabia, especially the petrochemical industry, which evolved in the late seventies and has developed into one of the pioneer manufacturing and exporting sectors in the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.
“เป็นช่วงเวลาที่ไม่นานนัก หลังจากที่เราก่อตั้งดาต้าเซ็นเตอร์ได้สำเร็จในช่วงต้นปี 2008 เราก็สามารถอิมพลีเมนต์ SAP ได้สำเร็จตามมา ซึ่งในทั้งสองส่วนนี้เราไม่ยอมประนีประนอมหรืออ่อนข้อให้กับปัญหาในการอิมพลีเมนต์และทางเลือกที่เราได้เลือกแล้วแต่อย่างใดเลย” ฮาวาริกล่าว
ในปี 2007 ซาฮาร่าได้อิมพลีเมนต์โซลูชัน Microsoft Exchange Server 2007 และ Microsoft Office 2007 และเริ่มต้นแทนที่ Windows XP ด้วย Windows Vista Enterprise และ Windows Vista Business “การต่อเชื่อมระบบเข้าด้วยกันได้ถือเป็นจุดสำคัญสำหรับเราในการพิจารณาเพื่อเลือกโซลูชันต่างๆ และนั่นคือเหตุผลที่เราเลือกเอชพีให้จัดหาเซิร์ฟเวอร์ สตอเรจ และระบบแบ็กอัพให้กับเรา เนื่องจากองค์ประกอบดังกล่าวนั้นไม่มีประเด็นด้านการเชื่อมต่อระบบให้เราต้องคิดเลยแม้แต่นิดเดียว นอกจากนี้เรามี SAP ทำหน้าที่เป็นระบบ ERP ให้กับเรา โดยทำงานอยู่บนเครือข่ายของ Cisco ที่เรามีอยู่ เรามีผลิตภัณฑ์ของ Microsoft ซึ่งก็มีโซลูชันที่ทำงานให้เราได้ทั้งบนเดสก์ทอปและเซิร์ฟเวอร์ และที่แล็บของเราก็มี Labware ซึ่งทำหน้าที่บริหารจัดการด้านสารสนเทศให้กับแล็บของเราอยู่ นอกจากนี้ก็ยังมีระบบบริหารจัดการโรงงาน และมีโซลูชัน FollowME สำหรับการบริหารจัดการงานพิมพ์ด้วย” ฮาวาริแจกแจง
English to Thai: Facebook users fall for rubber duck's friend request General field: Science Detailed field: Internet, e-Commerce
Source text - English Facebook users fall for rubber duck's friend request
People still haven't learned that social sites are criminal gold mines, says security firm
Gregg Keizer
December 7, 2009 (Computerworld) Facebook users haven't learned to keep their personal information private, a security researcher said today after his company conducted a test that sent randomly-selected people a friend request from bogus accounts.
One of the account profiles sported only an image of a yellow rubber duck, while the other was represented by a pair of cats.
The test conducted by Sophos was similar to one the firm did two years ago, said Graham Cluley, a senior technical consultant at the U.K.-based security vendor. In the 2007 test, 41% of the Facebook users who received the request from "Freddi Staur," represented on Facebook by a toy frog, divulged personal information, such as their e-mail address, date of birth and phone number to the stranger.
In 2009, up to 46% of the people pinged from a pair of made-up accounts -- one allegedly a 21-year-old single woman, the second a 56-year-old married woman -- responded to the friend request. A majority of those who responded gave away their full date of birth and their e-mail address.
"It looks a little bit worse now than before," said Cluley, referring to the numbers of Facebook users willing to part with personal information. "It was staggering, actually."
The two separate requests -- each aimed at 100 randomly-chosen contacts in the two fake users' age groups -- also illustrated the difference between younger and older users on Facebook. Although the 50-something crowd responding to the request from "Dinette Stonily" were less likely to give out a fully-fleshed date of birth, they were three times more apt to hand out their phone number.
Relatively few people in either group -- just 4% of the group replying to 21-year-old "Daisy Feletin," and 6% of the older users -- gave out their full street address, however.
The "Daisy Feletin" profile used an image of a toy duck as the account holder's photograph.
People just don't seem to get it, Cluley said, no matter how many times they're warned that identity thieves and other criminals troll social networking services like Facebook for useful information. "Sometimes it seems that we're in a classroom, and all the students are donkeys," Cluley bemoaned.
"Ten years ago, it would have taken a con artist weeks, maybe with the help of a private investigator, to come up with this kind of information. Or diving in garbage bins," said Cluley.
Now, however, people see services like Facebook as entertainment. "They think they have nothing to lose, giving out information, but you have a lot to lose," Cluley warned. "People have to remember that the Internet is, to some extent, public. Criminals essentially have a one-in-two chance of getting information without even trying."
English to Thai: Overall Data Center Setup & Layout General field: Tech/Engineering Detailed field: Computers: Systems, Networks
Source text - English Overall Data Center Setup & Layout
Technologies & Processes To Keep In Mind For A Well-Organized Data Center
Key Points
• Done effectively, data center setup and layout can help mitigate potential issues and result in more effective operations.
• Documentation during the development and construction phases is critical for the success of future modifications, retrofits, or troubleshooting.
• Even seemingly pedestrian elements such as cabling and rack types can impact data center operations later.
The road to a well-organized, effectively designed data center begins during the design and development phases. It is often the case that unexpected—and unwanted—data center events occur due to flaws introduced during the data center design phase.
Fortunately, mitigating a lot of these issues is often a matter of thinking about potential problems during the data center setup and layout phase and designing around them. Doing so will ensure that a new data center is designed for minimal downtime as well as effective use of space and infrastructure elements.
Consider Virtualization & Cloud Options
Virtualization is rapidly becoming a commonplace technology in use in many data centers. That should come as no surprise: Virtualization can greatly reduce server sprawl while maintaining the processing capabilities business applications need to work most effectively. Minimizing server sprawl can greatly contribute to a well-organized data center simply by reducing the amount of hardware that needs to be hosted.
Bradley Brodkin, president of HighVail Systems (www.highvail.com), says a good first step during the data center setup and layout process is for administrators to look at all existing applications, services, and processes currently running in the data center to determine the amount of application load that can be consolidated on a virtualized server, farm, or private cloud to achieve higher resource utilization.
However, virtualization is not a cure for all ills. Jon Heimerl, director of strategic security at Solutionary (www.solutionary.com), says administrators should ensure that they balance applications that have different demand cycles on the same hardware and stay away from, for example, packing a single server with 60 virtual systems that all have their highest demand cycle between 12 and 2 p.m. on weekdays. It’s important to understand that virtualization can potentially increase overall system utilization and power use, Heimerl says.
Along similar lines, Brodkin says a public/private cloud can provide flexibility by allowing administrators to plan for balanced loads and farm out computing power to meet infrequent peaks and valleys in requirements.
Implement Cable Organization
Cabling may seem like a pedestrian task, but effective, well-thought-out cabling design can mitigate many headaches during the life of a data center. Dealing with a rat’s nest of tangled cables is not a good use of time, especially when the clock is ticking and a data center issue needs to be promptly resolved.
Michael Frank, vice president of data center services at Internap (www.internap.com), says properly sized cabling makes it easier to troubleshoot any challenges that may arise in interconnected equipment. During the design phase, admins should avoid landing on deployments that result in confusing tangles of wires that cannot be easily traced when equipment problems occur. Also, designing tight turns and bad bends can degrade signal quality and limit throughput.
Purchasing the correct power strips allows for power cables to be neatly routed and managed. For example, says Frank, the use of vertical and horizontal power strips is dependent on the overall design and the cabinets or racks into which equipment can be deployed. Finally, Frank says, administrators should develop a network plan that anticipates growth so cable runs and connection points can be minimized. Shorter cable runs and fewer connection points improve troubleshooting and minimize points of failure, he says.
Heimerl says admins should include support for additional equipment in their cable capacity planning, such as environmental sensors, tamper indicators, and surveillance camera needs. For more information on smart cable management, see “Cable Organization & Management” on page 28.
Plan For The Unexpected & Know Your Building
Heimerl says data center design should include planning for unexpected events. For example, he says, even though a raised floor may not be needed because everything is supplied from above, administrators should not ignore the fact that the raised floor provides another function. Heimerl tells the story of a data center located in a building basement that did not have a raised floor. When a fountain at the front of the building leaked, 3 inches of water flowed into the data center, causing rack power supplies located close to the floor to short out. And, he adds, the data center had no floor drain, so water had to be manually bailed out.
Heimerl also advises admins to maintain an accurate “as-built” blueprint of the data center that clearly shows where key infrastructure items such as utilities and cabling are located. Heimerl cites an engineer who worked on an upgrade at a data center and needed to cut a hole in a wall to run new conduit. The engineer did not have drawings available, so he cut the hole in a spot on the wall that he felt was suitable for the task. Unfortunately, the engineer cut into the sewer line for the five-story building where the data center is housed. The hole in the line promptly drained 6 inches of sewage into the data center. Sadly, the data center also lacked a floor drain.
Pay Attention To Cabinets & Racks
Internap’s Frank says facility administrators should procure properly sized cabinets and racks with adjustable mounting rails to allow for the placement of equipment both today and in the future with less chances for complications as IT equipment changes.
Also, he adds, IT administrators should understand the cabinets or racks available in the data center because these will sometimes dictate what equipment will work and what won’t, as well as any special equipment required, such as shelves or sliding rails. Administrators should also watch the cabinet depth and width, especially if vertical mounted power strips, wire managers, and relatively deep servers are used.
Top Tip: Start By Talking To Stakeholders
Stephen Johnson, senior vice president for critical environments at Primary Integration (www.primaryintegration.com), says early planning activities will identify all relevant issues and establish parameters for moving forward in an effective manner. According to Johnson, the process starts by identifying all stakeholders in the facility and ensuring that they are able to provide input early in the process. Stakeholders include facilities and IT personnel, designers and engineers, commissioning agents, high-level contractors, manufacturers and vendors, and anyone else ultimately responsible for data center performance.
English to Thai: Polycom Solution Portfolio General field: Tech/Engineering Detailed field: Computers: Hardware
Source text - English Polycom Solution Portfolio
Polycom® RealPresence™
Experience (RPX™)
Fully immersive solution delivering a 100% controlled,
life-like experience
• Realize low TCO with H.264 High Profile for lower
bandwidth requirements - ITP v2.7
• Seating capacity from 4 – 28 participants
• Full screen, cinematic view supporting 2 to 4 screens
• Superior realism delivered with high definition video and audio
• HD video, audio and flexible HD content sharing
• Purpose built for executive and boardroom
meetings, corporate trainings and higher education
• Investment protection is ensured as a standards-based,
interoperable solution
Polycom® Open
Telepresence Experience™
(OTX™) 300
Immersive Telepresence solution combining high
performance with unique design elements for small groups
• Realize low TCO with H.264 High Profile for lower
bandwidth requirements – ITP v2.7
• Multipurpose design seats 6 people in a telepresence call or
10 when not in a call
• HD video, audio and flexible HD content sharing
• Three 65-inch LCD displays create the illusion of sitting
across the table from distant colleagues
• Easy to use – simple and consistent touch-screen user
interface across all locations
• Three large 21.5” color content displays
• Optional Complete Experience Kit includes rear wall and
lighting package
• Investment protection is ensured as a standards-based,
interoperable solution
Polycom® Architected
Telepresence
Experience™ (ATX™) 300
Customized Immersive Telepresence designed
for integrators to create unique telepresence
solutions
• Three-codec kit to create unique and powerful
telepresence rooms
• Clear, crisp HD video up to 1080p resolution, HD
audio and flexible content sharing
• Highly customizable solutions, flexible designs
leverage existing space, furniture and decor
• Partner skills and services ensure specific
application requirements are met
• Investment protection is ensured as a standardsbased,
interoperable solution
Polycom® HDX® 8000
Series
Advanced solution bringing
HD video, voice and content sharing
capabilities to conference rooms,
classrooms and meeting spaces
across the enterprise
• Dual Stack H.323/SIP & H.320 standards support
• HD 1080p30, 720p 30 & 60 fps resolution
• H.264 High Profile with Rev B and HDX v2.6
• Up to 6 Mbps
• H.239 People Content™ & People Content™ IP
• Polycom People On Content Chroma Key
• Support for Polycom Conferencing for MS Outlook
• AES, HTTPS, TLS, ICE
• VCR/DVD input/output
• 4-Way HD embedded multipoint support
• H.320 BRI, PRI or serial modules available
• Analog port for audio-only participants
• Serial port API support
• Single or dual 42-inch displays on HDX solution
• Single 50-inch on HDX pedestal or wall mount
Polycom® Video Border Proxy™
(VBP™) E Series And ST Series
• VBP E Application Layer Gateway
• No external registration required
• 1Mbps, 3Mbps, 10Mbps, 25Mbps, 85Mbps, or 200Mbps
• H.323 application-aware firewall
• VBP ST Access Proxy
• Requires external registration
• 10Mbps, 25Mbps, 85Mbps or 200Mbps
• ITU-T H.460 18/19 standard support
Polycom® RSS™ 4000
Network-based appliance that records, archives, and streams Telepresence and video conferences to desktops, conference rooms, and more
• Stream to live audiences in up to HD 720p
• Automatically archive in HD 1080p
• Record directly from H.323 endpoints and MCUs
• Record up to 15 simultaneous conferences
• Full management and authentication with AD
• Redundant RAID hard drives & power supplies
Polycom® Video Media Center™ (VMC™) 1000
• Upload content from multiple sources
• Organize, manage and track large libraries of video
• Video-on-demand media man¬agement
• Unicast and multicast support
• Management of multiple Polycom RSS servers
• Create and scheduled live broadcasts
Video Distribution
Polycom® Video Edge™ (PVE™) 1000
Appliance for cost effective and reliable delivery of Live Streaming and Video on Demand. Provides an alternative/supplement to Multicast on corporate networks
• Minimize network bandwidth consumption for streaming video
• Ensures reliability of live streams
• Intelligently caches video to minimize network and playout responses
Recording Studio
Polycom® Recording Studio (PRS) 1000
In house capability to mix/match a/v sources – produce their own videos – live and VOD. Permanent install in production room or move from one event to another
• Mini Production Studio in a box
• Easy capture & streaming of video / audio sources, mixing pallet
• Captures presenters PC (VGA in) as well as 5 other video feeds and 3 audio feeds
Digital Signage
Polycom® Digital Signage™ (PDS™) 2000
Video Enablement of key communication and messaging to target groups. Applicable to multiple industries / verticals and applications
• Broadcast quality media
• Highly scalable and reliable solution
• Minimizes network impact
• Easy to use system – ease content changes, customer templates and style sheets
Industry Solutions
Polycom® Instructor™ FS
Combines video conferencing and interactive white boarding into a single cost-effective, powerful package
• HD 1080p 30 fps or 720p 30/60 fps
• 50-inch flat-panel plasma display
• Powered by HDX and Smart Technologies
• Small size and weight makes it easy to move
• Simple touch-screen controls
Microsoft Solution
Polycom CX5000
Unique 360° group video collaboration for Microsoft UC environments
• Active speaker tracking automatically focuses on the person currently talking
• 360° panoramic view of entire meeting room
• Easy to setup and use – as simple as a webcam
• Use as analog speakerphone for voice-only calls
• Works with Microsoft Live Meeting 2007, Office Communicator 2007, and Communicator “14”
Standard Definition Conferencing
Polycom® Quality Definition Experience™ (QDX™) 6000
The QDX provides an optimal price-to-performance ratio for non-HD video applications.
• Simplified installation and ease of use
• Affordability speeds your return on investment (ROI)
• Superb audio clarity with Polycom StereoSurround
• Quality, performance, simplicity and affordability
• Improved collaboration with intuitive one-touch content sharing
Installed Audio Solutions
Polycom® SoundStructure®
System that delivers clear and immersive audio for more productive voice and video conferences
• Deep robust integration with HDX systems
• Breakthrough feedback elimination
• Modular PSTN telephony cards
• Stereo echo cancellation from 20Hz - 22 kHz
• AEC with no compromises
• Supports the HDX mic’s and HDX remote control
Integrated Video and Voice Solutions
Polycom® SoundStation® IP 7000
Table top audio conferencing solution that integrates with Polycom HDX Room Telepresence
solutions for high quality conferencing
• Connects directly to any HDX
• Replaces HDX microphone arrays
• Dial audio or video calls from IP 7000 phone
• Start content sharing right from the phone
• 20-foot microphone pickup range
• Use HDX table Mic arrays as extension Mics
Business Communications
Polycom® SoundStation® & VoiceStation®
Polycom conference phones are the industry standard for clear, productive conference calls, and are a fixture in meeting rooms worldwide.
• Expansive 360-degree microphone coverage
• Latest models feature HD Voice technology
• Models designed for large rooms, standard conference rooms and private offices
• Analog, VoIP and Digital PBX versions available
Mobile Communications
Polycom® SpectraLink® and KIRK® Handsets
Polycom offers the industry’s most versatile Wireless telephony solutions for the workplace that deliver the power of a desk phone on a mobile device. Polycom Wireless Telephones provide a wide range of IP, digital and analog interfaces ensuring connectivity to the majority of PBX systems for businesses worldwide. Simple to learn and use
• Broadest PBX and WLAN interoperability
• Guaranteed voice quality
• Industry’s most durable handsets
• Extensive application and strategic partnerships
• Best in class service and support
Polycom® Open Collaboration Network
The Polycom Open Collaboration Network enables best of breed, Unified Communications (UC) solutions while ensuring customers’ flexibility and investment protection. By teaming with strategic partners-- Avaya, BroadSoft, HP, IBM, Juniper, McAfee, Microsoft, and Siemens-- Polycom delivers fully integrated, end-to-end UC offerings that leverage our complete portfolio of voice, video, telepresence, and infrastructure solutions.
English to Thai: Shaping the shield General field: Science Detailed field: Computers: Hardware
Source text - English Shaping the shield The situation that Orascom Telecom found itself in recently is one that will ring familiar to many IT managers across the region.
With more than 80 million subscribers as of the end of March this year, Egypt-based Orascom is among the largest and most diversified network operators in the Middle East, Africa and Asia. At the organisation all the information exchanged between the corporate headquarters, its subsidiaries and associated vendors is communicated by e-mail. E-mail is therefore a mission-critical business application on which all corporate employees and executives rely. This was the reason that the IT security team found it imperative to find a solution for a problem that was fast becoming a menace - spam.
"90% of the 1.5 million daily e-mails received in our headquarters is spam. It was therefore critical for us to implement an enterprise-class security solution to maintain efficient business communications," says Mina Samir, IT security manager at Orascom Telecom.
In order to tackle the issue, the security team at Orascom deployed a software-based solution in 2004. However, with the growth of the organisation over the years they increasingly found the solution to be inadequate for their needs.
"By 2007, we had decided that we needed a new appliance-based approach for the antispam solution. The evaluation process for the solution was started in June 2007 and by the end of the year we had already selected the vendor and started testing the hardware elements involved," says Samir.
Evaluation of the various solutions on offer was based on the relative accuracy of each of them, along with the product's availability and transparency. Based on these parameters, Fortinet's FortiMail e-mail security platform was chosen by the organisation.
"We tested the appliances in our back-up site. In March 2008, we deployed two of these appliances. Since we moved to FortiMail, our management and employees have appreciated a huge decrease in the quantity of spam e-mails they receive. From an IT perspective, FortiMail is definitely an enterprise-class e-mail security solution, which provides us with a superior level of protection, reliability, management and reporting. We have not added to our current appliances yet, but we are in the process of looking into adding more," says Samir.
The FortiMail solution now filters the entire inbound e-mail traffic going through Orascom's corporate servers with minimal downtime. The organisation also subscribed to the FortiGuard antispam and anti-virus services to get automatic and continuous updates, and to ensure its FortiMail platforms are kept up to date to help protect against the latest threats.
In addition, Orascom uses FortiMail's detailed logging and customised reporting functionalities to get granular information on all malicious e-mails received, blocked and quarantined.
"We are very happy with the Fortinet solution and we are planning on adding at least one more appliance by the end of the year. This will be deployed at our back-up site. We will also encourage our subsidiaries to adopt the Fortinet solution in the future," states Samir.
Solving defence issues
While spam was one of the biggest problems facing the IT team, there were other internal and external defence mechanisms that they were constantly looking into in order to improve their security standards.
Recently, keeping in mind the sensitivity of some of the information being handled by the different departments within the organisation, the security team implemented two-factor authentication for accessing and working on certain applications by using RSA's token solution.
"We wanted to restrict access of an application to certain employees. For two-factor authentication we evaluated several vendors and chose RSA based on their references, support factors and integration elements. After selecting the solution, we tested it in our production environment before deploying it," says Samir.
The evaluation process started in June 2008, followed by a process of customisation of the solution for Orascom's specific needs. The solution went live in the first quarter of 2009. Apart from security solutions, the IT team has also put in place financial consolidation systems, unified communications and a web conferencing solution in the recent past.
"As a security team, we are constantly required to do more with less. This is why we insist on multi-vendor security within Orascom to ensure that even when an external attack happens they don't find a relatively easy homogeneous environment. We also ensure that we select the best vendor for any particular solution area after having done a proof of concept. These basic processes help us maintain a higher level of security," says Samir.
Budgets for IT security are decided following a lengthy process, which involves meetings with business teams and understanding the projects that are absolutely critical to the organisation.
"The process starts with ideas. We sit with business leaders to know exactly what they need. We give shape to the project and put down the exact objectives of the particular solution. Then we start consulting different vendors to find out how we can achieve this objective. After this, we put forward a proposal and make a presentation with our findings and estimated budgets," explains Samir.
This is done as an annual process. More recently, one of the major projects that Samir and his team have been busy with is the creation of a proper disaster recovery plan for the organisation which involves the setting up of an appropriate site.
"Our back-up site currently mirrors only the processes and data related to one particular crucial application. We have been working on a fully-fledged disaster recovery plan. This we are in great need of because from 2000, when the current back-up site was established, we have added lots of applications and services, especially in the last three years. We need to re-assess the business objectives, the services that are essential to us, the recovery time and point objectives such that we can have a proper disaster recovery site," says Samir.
According to him, the assessment should be finished by next month and a technical design for the site will be done. He hopes to have the disaster recovery site, which will operate in a different city from the location of the headquarters, up and functioning sometime in 2010.
Most critical services at Orascom will be moved to the disaster recovery site once it is operational. This will include services running on all three of the organisation's data centres, all of which function out of the current headquarters.
Implementing standards
Apart from the massive disaster recovery project, Samir is also working on implementing a standardisation across the various subsidiaries of Orascom.
"We had started to standardise a couple of years back. Since we have limited resources we started with the elements that we considered to be the most important, like the firewall and the intrusion prevention systems (IPS). With these solutions, the subsidiaries can choose between only two vendors based on the local support that is available," says Samir.
He adds, "We will soon do this for the antispam filters as well. Currently, all of our subsidiaries have their own appliances, chosen at different times based on their specific needs. Due to this situation it is difficult to move to a standard immediately. However, when any of them need to replace an appliance, we can insist that they choose only between two vendors as is the case with other solutions now."
Samir agrees that much of the issues surrounding different products used at different locations can be solved, and a uniform level of operation made true, by the development and deployment of a single security policy.
"So far we do not have a centralised IT policy and so we do not insist on similar purchases at the seven subsidiaries. If we make an agreement and we benefit out of it, we try and push the solution among the subsidiaries as well. In the coming year, I also plan to rectify this gap by creating a security policy.
We find this especially essential now since we need to accommodate the usage patterns of an increasing base of travelling employees. We need to make our systems flexible for them, while at the same time reducing risk for the corporate network. It is a very tough project and requires tight collaboration between the systems, applications and security team. We will probably start the process of the formation of a security policy with that project," states Samir.
Like many others in the Middle East, Orascom Telecom is moving carefully and cautiously in security measures they implement to ensure that their choices work for them in the most efficient manner, with minimal possibility of encroachment. Slow and steady it might seem now, but the organisation is likely to win the race with higher security and increased business productivity, led, as they are, by an efficient IT and security team.
English to Thai: A practical guide to migrating to VoIP General field: Tech/Engineering Detailed field: Computers: Systems, Networks
Source text - English A practical guide to migrating to VoIP
One of the most crucial steps any organisation should take in deploying a solution for voice over IP (VoIP) is to plan for an Internet Protocol-oriented infrastructure. True, VoIP deployments vary significantly from one organisation to the next, and migrations don’t all follow the same path. But by understanding the principal elements of VoIP — network bandwidth and CODEC requirements, Quality of Service (QoS) for networked voice traffic, standards such as the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP), etc. — organisations can
establish a specific, effective baseline for their VoIP solution deployment, and ensure the best possible system and network performance.
Critical phases of VoIP planning and infrastructure design
Since the mid 1990s when voice over IP was introduced, the IP industry has increasingly turned to open standards like SIP and recommended CODECs for network bandwidth in the effort to improve VoIP network readiness and security worldwide. At the same time to make migrating to VoIP more straightforward, IP vendors and service providers have continued to establish essential planning and design functions for a successful migration. Six of those key functions are discussed here.
Plan the right architecture for your particular VoIP deployment model
A single site or distributed locations? Also, is the migration phased, i.e., moving only selected systems, departments or sites to VoIP, or enterprisewide? Whichever model and migration approach, the planning goal is to structure your organisation’s cable plant design and data center resources sufficiently for VoIP call processing to all potential users. With regards to having all needed IP technologies in place and issues such as data center space, energy consumption etc, planning should also include a detailed inventory of existing and required architecture topology components. Among those components: each IP network device on the LAN or WAN/MPLS, plus gateways, routers, media servers, system servers (email, web services, speech recognition, CRM, databases, etc.), phones and other voice devices such as headsets, and business applications.
Understand the factors that impact voice (call) quality
As voice transmission travels over an IP-based data network, the clarity and quality of the call can be negatively impacted by delay, echo, and jitter. Delay stems from the amount of time it takes a VoIP voice packet to be created, sent across the network and converted back into sound, while echo results from delay(s) in any point of the voice packet process. Jitter occurs when voice packets arrive at an interval greater than they’re sent. Overall, echo becomes more noticeable as delay increases, and jitter is more prevalent when an IP network provides different waiting times for voice packet transmissions, or varying levels of latency. Another factor affecting voice quality is VoIP signaling/signal loss associated with delay.
When planning your network for VoIP, note that delay has the most impact on voice quality since it precedes echo and jitter. To achieve the best potential quality for a VoIP call, a general guideline is that one-way delay should not exceed 150 milliseconds. A range of 150-400 milliseconds is acceptable for higher one-way delay ranges, provided system administrators are aware of the increased transmission time and its impact.
However, any count above 400 milliseconds is considered unacceptable. To measure delay in total, a best practice is to determine end-to-end delay for Real Time Protocol (RTP) packets on the network without using “pings,” which are deliberately small info packets sent from one computer to another via the network being evaluated. And while some network vendors routinely use pings to garner “favorable” quality readings, pings aren’t subject to Quality of Service (QoS) controls for network bandwidth and the latency in voice packet transmissions. Fortunately with QoS, ongoing enhancements have minimized the latency that can hamper voice quality in VoIP configurations, and many telecom and Internet service providers use QoS measures to improve their VoIP network service.
Analyse and prepare your network for voice and data
Analysing a network’s voice and data traffic volumes and planning the appropriate capacity for VoIP isn’t something a company’s IT team does on a routine basis. Therefore, actual network prep is usually better left to a vendor or consultant certified in network assessments. To determine where your network is and where it needs to be for a VoIP migration, an analysis for voice/data network readiness, traffic capacity and ongoing reliability typically encompasses the following systematic valuations:
Voice network
• Voice load measurement
• Network traffic during normal and peak (busy) hours to avoid congestion
• Voice/data transport selection (using Erlang B or Erlang C tables; see http://www.erlang.com/calculator)
• Traffic engineering
• Voice circuits between sites, identified for multi-site configurations
• Voice traffic and traffic cost assessmentsAn inventory of PBXs and voice mail boxes
• Quality of Service (QoS) with regard to switches and routers that prioritize voice traffic
• Network reliability and voice (call) security
Data network
• Voice/data bandwidthQoS features selection
• WAN media types, identified
• Traffic patterns
• Data network costs
• IP telephony considerations
Hardware
• Routers: Homo or heterogeneous? Modular? Voice-enabled?
• Switches: Homo or heterogeneous? Voice-enabled?
• PBXs and other telephony equipment: Product life cycle? IP-enabled?
• Address schemes: RFC 1918 compliant or public addresses? Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol (DHCP) scope design?
A network analysis should further study factors like disaster recovery and E-911 service, call recording, quality monitoring, and how deploying VoIP capability to new branch offices and remote and mobile users might affect network bandwidth. Your network analysis should simulate VoIP traffic on the network to measure capacity and evaluate traffic characteristics, Quality of Service (QoS), congestion, reliability and other potential issues. By this, your organisation can make needed changes and reasonably assure network success before launching its VoIP initiative.
Determine CODEC and bandwidth needs
Defined, CODEC is the COmpression/DECompression that voice-based data packets experience when they’re converted from analog form to digital signals for VoIP. CODEC factors can originate in a PBX/IP PBX phone system and be shared by analog phones, or take place in phones themselves. The International Telecommunications Union establishes various CODECs as recommendations and standards for VoIP planning — G.711, G.726, G729, G723.1 are currently the most used — with CODEC selection typically driven by network design (LAN, WAN, MPLS). Determining actual percall bandwidth consumption depends on IP header size, voice payload size, and voice packets per second, or sampling rate. In general, each VoIP voice packet in a call transmission contains 40 bytes of IP overhead, and overall for CODEC bandwidth with overhead, combined WAN data (voice, video and data) should not exceed 75% of available link bandwidth if planning to optimize the network for VoIP.
To achieve the best possible voice transmission quality, it’s critical to incorporate the right CODEC and reach a maximum theoretical Mean Opinion Score, or MOS (see the following chart). In the MOS scale, 1 is interpreted as unintelligible for a VoIP call and 5 is considered ideal, although compression and other factors in an IP-based voice/data network make it virtually impossible to reach a score of 5. At the high end, a maximum MOS score of 4.2 to 4.4 is considered more realistic.
The truth about MOS and analyser tools to measure voice quality
Different people rarely interpret a call’s clarity the exact same way, and arriving at a true Mean Opinion Score to determine voice quality is similarly subjective — if not maddening. To measure quality via the VoIP voice packet transmissions over a network, many professionals in VoIP circles recommend using time-synchronized analyzers. Yet questions persist about the accuracy and consistency of such analyzers and the methodologies behind them. One study, for instance, cites that the same voice packet trace run through two different analysers produced MOS scores of 3.0 and 3.8 for the same call, whereas another “good quality” call was rated 2.8 and one considered “worse” came in at 3.4.
The truth is, analysers — and analyser vendors — almost never use the same algorithm to compute MOS. If you do turn to an analyzer tool, be sure the vendor provides actual test data for the analyzer, collected under real call scenarios and validated by a third-party tester. More so to establish a true baseline of MOS scores and avoid score discrepancies for your organisation’s VoIP environment, rate the quality of calls under network conditions specific to your own business, such as peak hours and call loads.
Determine QoS priorities and the appropriate methods/policies
Another key component of VoIP network planning is deciding where your organisation’s QoS priorities lie. Using the example of a multi-site centralised call processing deployment model, where call processing originates from a central site and reaches multi-site locations via SIP tie lines to a WAN (or MPLS), QoS can reside in network points for campus access, campus distribution, the WAN, and branch locations. Noting those points and having determined QoS priorities, the next steps are to characterize the data network, implement QoS policies and monitor the network’s operational load. QoS priorities themselves should consider how your network will be used and what level of network service is required (integrated services, differentiated services for guaranteed latency/delivery, best effort). Priorities must also consider all network applications. Characterising the data network requires dividing traffic into classes for voice, video and things like financial applications, E-business applications, point-of-sale transactions, back-ups or server synchronization, database transactions, and web surfing, file sharing, and quake. Once QoS is prioritized and characterized, implementing your QoS policy comes down to coding the actual priorities in your organisation.
Address security needs and potential issues
Any organisation that handles confidential information on an IP-based network must make securing calls and data an ongoing priority. Fortunately, the security mechanisms now available for IP technologies are some of the most stringent ever, and new standards are constantly being deployed to make security even more concrete. Among these standards, the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) is highly accepted worldwide for its rigorous message encryption and user authentication in a VoIP environment, in large part because SIP is regulated by the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) for IP communications security.
In addition to SIP, two security standards to note for their encryption capability are Transport Layer Security (TLS) and the Secure Real-time Transport Protocol (SRTP). TLS is based on the Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) standard and extends two distinct layers of security for an IP-based network. The first layer is the TLS Record Protocol, which ensures a private network connection via symmetric encryption. The second layer is the TLS Handshake Protocol, which provides authentication between an IP application server and a client using digital certificates. Encryption using the TLS and SRTP standards has become a best practice for protecting calls that travel over an IP-based communications network, especially when used in conjunction with other safeguards such as virtual private networks, virtual LANs (VLANs), access lists, and voice traffic authentication.
Another valuable layer of voice messaging security in a VoIP environment is the Internet Protocol security (IPsec) protocol, a framework of open standards that leverage cryptographic security services to protect communications traveling over IP networks. Comprehensively, IPsec supports network-level peer authentication, data origin authentication, data integrity, encryption for data confidentiality, and replay protection. (Microsoft is a true IPsec believer, having implemented IPsec in much of its Windows product lineup via standards developed by the IETF IPsec working group.)
Take advantage of every possible security method when planning a move to VoIP and your organisation will be well protected.
Conclusions
The more you understand upfront about VoIP and how it works, the more straightforward your organisation’s migration to IP communications will be. And by knowing how the details of VoIP can affect system and network performance both positively and negatively, you’ll be better prepared to optimize VoIP performance throughout your organisation after deployment
Translation - Thai แนวทางปฏิบัติในการโยกย้ายระบบสู่ VoIP
หนึ่งในขั้นตอนสำคัญที่สุดในการที่องค์กรหนึ่งๆ จะพัฒนาและติดตั้งโซลูชันสำหรับวอยซ์โอเวอร์ไอพี (Voice over IP) หรือ VoIP ก็คือ การวางแผนงานสำหรับโครงสร้างพื้นฐานที่อิงกับอินเทอร์เน็ตโพรโตคอล (Internet Protocol) ซึ่งแน่นอนที่สุดว่า การพัฒนาระบบดังกล่าวในแต่ละที่ย่อมจะต้องมีความแตกต่างกันอยู่บ้างพอสมควร และไม่มีความจำเป็นใดๆ ที่จะต้องพัฒนาไปในลักษณะที่เหมือนกันจนหมด อย่างไรก็ตาม ถ้าองค์กรใดมีความเข้าใจในเรื่ององค์ประกอบของ VoIP, ความต้องการแบนด์วิดธ์ในเครือข่าย, ความสำคัญในเรื่องของ CODEC, ความจำเป็นด้าน Quality of Service (QoS) สำหรับวอยซ์ทราฟฟิก (voice traffic) บนเครือข่าย และมาตรฐานต่างๆ อย่างเช่น Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) เป็นต้น องค์กรนั้นก็จะสามารถกำหนดขอบเขตการพัฒนาโซลูชัน VoIP ที่มีประสิทธิภาพของตัวเองได้ และสามารถมั่นใจถึงประสิทธิภาพของระบบและเครือข่ายของตัวเองได้
ขั้นตอนสำคัญในการวางแผนงาน VoIP และการออกแบบโครงสร้างพื้นฐาน
นับตั้งแต่พวกเราได้รับการแนะนำให้รู้จักกับ VoIP ตั้งแต่กลางทศวรรษที่ 1990 เป็นต้นมา ธุรกิจที่เกี่ยวกับอินเทอร์เน็ตโพรโตคอลหรือไอพีก็เริ่มเปิดตัวมาตรฐานใหม่ๆ อย่าง SIP และ CODEC .ในรูปแบบต่างๆ เพิ่มมากขึ้นเรื่อยๆ ซึ่งนั่นเป็นส่วนหนึ่งของความพยายามในการพัฒนาเครือข่าย VoIP ทั่วโลก ให้มีความพร้อมใช้งานและมีความปลอดภัยมากกว่าเดิม ในเวลาเดียวกันก็เพื่อเป็นการทำให้การโยกย้ายระบบไปสู่ VoIP มีความสะดวกรวดเร็วมากขึ้น ในขณะที่ผู้ค้าเทคโนโลยีที่เกี่ยวกับไอพี (IP Vendors) และผู้จัดเตรียมบริการ (service providers) ทั้งหลาย ก็ยังคงพัฒนาแผนงานที่จำเป็นและออกแบบฟังก์ชันต่างๆ เพื่อให้การโยกย้ายระบบมีความสำเร็จมากที่สุด ซึ่งในที่นี้เราจะพูดถึงฟังก์ชันที่สำคัญๆ สัก 6 ฟังก์ชัน
มาตรฐานความปลอดภัยอีกมาตรฐานหนึ่ง ซึ่งมีความสำคัญในการส่งข้อมูลเสียง VoIP ก็คือ the Internet Protocol Security Protocol หรือ IPsec ซึ่งเป็นเฟรมเวิร์กของมาตรฐานเปิดที่ช่วยเพิ่มประสิทธิภาพในส่วนของบริการด้านความปลอดภัยที่ใช้เทคโนโลยีการเข้ารหัสข้อมูล เพื่อเป็นการปกป้องการสื่อสารทั้งหลายที่เดินทางผ่านเครือข่ายไอพี ซึ่งโดยทั่วไปแล้ว IPsec จะสนับสนุน Peer Authentication ในระดับ Network Level รวมไปถึงการรับรองต้นกำเนิดของข้อมูล ความถูกต้องครบถ้วนของข้อมูล การเข้ารหัสข้อมูลที่เป็นความลับ และการป้องกันการทำงานซ้ำกระบวนการ (ไมโครซอฟท์เป็นผู้ค้าเทคโนโลยีรายหนึ่งที่มีความเชื่อถือในโพรโตคอล IPsec เป็นอย่างมาก พวกเขาได้อิมพลีเมนต์ IPsec ในผลิตภัณฑ์ตระกูล Windows ของพวกเขา โดยอาศัยมาตรฐานต่างๆ ที่พัฒนาโดยคณะทำงาน IPsec ของ IETF)
บทสรุป
ถ้าหากคุณต้องการให้การทำงานของภายในองค์กรของคุณมีความปลอดภัยมั่นคงมากพอ คุณก็ควรจะหาช่องทางที่จะใช้ประโยชน์จากวิธีการเพื่อความปลอดภัยในรูปต่างๆ ที่คุณจะสามารถนำมาประยุกต์ใช้กับองค์กรของคุณได้ ยิ่งคุณมีความเข้าใจล่วงหน้าเกี่ยวกับ VoIP มากเท่าไร คุณก็จะยิ่งจะสามารถพัฒนาองค์กรของคุณไปสู่ยุคของการสื่อสารด้วยไอพีได้ถูกต้องและรวดเร็วมากขึ้นเท่านั้น และการที่คุณมีความรู้ในรายละเอียดว่า VoIP สามารถส่งผลกระทบต่อประสิทธิภาพของระบบและเครือข่ายทั้งแง่บวกและแง่ลบได้อย่างไรบ้างนั้น คุณก็จะสามารถเตรียมการรับมือเอาไว้ได้เป็นอย่างดี
English to Thai: Speedy justice General field: Science Detailed field: Computers: Systems, Networks
Source text - English Speedy justice
The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department (ADJD) ensures the delivery and administration of justice and equality for all citizens and residents throughout the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. It supervises and coordinates the primary legal and judicial mechanisms, and processes that protect individual rights while safeguarding the rule of law.
Keeping in mind its high profile public nature, the IT team at ADJD has put together IT systems and infrastructure that cater to its objective.
“ADJD’s IT infrastructure is based on Windows and Unix systems, and Intel x86 and Itanium servers,” says Rashed Saqer Al Dhaheri, director of the IT bureau at ADJD. “The network architecture is Cisco-based. The network spans across 36 remote sites. The operations team is responsible for managing 200 servers, 200 network devices supporting 50 business applications, accessed by 2,500 end-users and public customers. Network architecture includes different layers of security at internal, DMZ at perimeter levels. All the access attempts are recorded, monitored and reported periodically. ADJD provides some of the key judicial e-services which are available, accessed and supported 24/7. ADJD IT service management is based on ITIL best practices and the key processes of service support and service delivery are already in place,” says Al Dhaheri, ADJD.
Recently, the non-profit, public service provider, which offers more than 200 services to the public, went through a vast modernisation and restructuring process with the vision of assuring an efficient and independent judicial system based on excellence that provides world class judicial services.
“This restructuring and modernisation process has imposed remarkable changes on the organisational structure, addition of new services, and introduction of new technologies,” says Al Dhaheri.
Along with this modernisation initiative, ADJD felt the need to manage increasing horizontal and vertical growth and a growingly complex environment. It also wanted to get in line with the various recommendations provided by the Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Committee (ADSIC), which governs all government entities.
After considering the options available to them, the 85 member IT team of ADJD, led by Al Dhaheri, decided to adopt and implement an enterprise architecture project.
“Enterprise architecture (EA) is an emerging practice devoted to improving the performance of the enterprises by enabling visibility in terms of the holistic and integrated view. This allows organisations to build agility and reduce response time to any changing internal or external conditions. ADJD is a young organisation established in July 2007. After completing the implementation of the technical infrastructure, one of the early initiatives was to use EA as a tool for organisational transformation and modernisation,” says Al Dhaheri.
Architecting success
ADJD went through a rigorous selection process to choose the right vendor for the EA project. Its selection process and scoring criteria included the project implementation and methodology proposed, the structure of the project team and its competency, market research of commercials and promises, experience in similar implementations (both local and international) and the duration proposed for the project. Considering all these elements, ADJD selected the Maptech-Shift Technologies, (part of Al Rostamani Group), partnership.
“Maptech – Shift is a pioneering IT and business consulting firm that enables government and commercial clients to transform best practice concepts into effective organisational capabilities. They have a successful track record of EA implementations,” says Al Dhaheri.
The project aimed to establish EA as a practice within ADJD and it covered definition of EA as a framework, getting a meta-model, principles, lifecycle and governance in place, evaluating performance of EA, identification of a maturity model and definition of a concrete roadmap. It also included definition of a Technical Reference Model (TRM), documentation of AS-IS and development of TO-BE models at different layers, and adoption of IT best practices, like ITIL, SLDC and COBIT.
“ADJD's custom enterprise architecture framework is loosely based on the Zachman Framework, making it a classification one in nature. It categorises the information that is needed to describe an enterprise (what, who, how, where, when and why of business). It is intended to provide a classification scheme for relating real world concepts to the concepts of information systems at ADJD. The framework can be viewed as a window for access into the EA information repository, ensuring ease of navigation between the models and providing insight into the EA footprint,” says Al Dhaheri.
The framework classifies information according to two dimensions – architecture layers and perspectives. Each intersection of those dimensions is represented by a set of models to address stakeholder concerns or interests of the organisation.
According to Al Dhaheri, the framework provides multiple benefits including, the provision of tools, a common vocabulary and standards, speeding up and simplifying architectural development, ensuring more complete coverage of an architectural solution as well as the provision of a logical structure to organise EA artifacts.
“The EA lifecycle at ADJD is cyclical in nature and is based on the TOGAF Architecture Development Method (ADM). It combines the various activities the architecture team has to perform whenever an EA project is initiated from a business request for architecture work. It includes five main phases which get executed sequentially, centred on a change management phase,” says Al Dhaheri.
The first is the strategy layer, which holds the goals, objectives and initiatives of ADJD’s business units. The second is the business layer, which consists of three levels – the value chain where ADJD’s entities are classified into core, government or support, the process level and then the business level. Together, they provide a holistic view of ADJD.
This is followed by the application layer, and the data layer, which holds the information about the enterprise application’s database in three different models, namely conceptual, logical and physical. In each case, the underlying models capture information about each database in detail.
The final infrastructure layer comprises of three levels as well. The conceptual level shows the WAN of ADJD (36 geographically separated locations), the logical level displays the LAN of ADJD and the physical describes the infrastructure in details.
Al Dhaheri states, “ADJD started the EA initiative in the beginning of Febuary 2009 and took six months to complete the entire documentation of the enterprise. In August 2009 the project went live.”
Maintaining the practice
The EA project at ADJD involved no unnecessary upgrade or replacement of equipment or software. During the implementation of the project ADJD tackled the training and knowledge transfer by having a separate communication plan.
The project team provided the different kinds of training for the respective stakeholders, including TOGAF certification, BPMN, tool training and data modelling. Al Dhaheri adds that since the ADJD team collaborated on the development from the beginning, the knowledge transfer was not that painful.
However, the deployment did not come without its own special challenges.
“Due to the modernisation effort, many changes were taking place at all levels. There were exponential changes at all the enterprise levels such as organisational structure, business process, data, application and infrastructure. These changes were in parallel with the project execution, which made maintaining a centralised repository of the organisation artifacts extremely challenging. The project team mitigated this risk by enabling the comprehensive change management process for all ADJD business and IT components, which supported the integration and consistency of the EA repository,” says Al Dhaheri.
The other major challenge involved the need to increase awareness, build knowledge and bring about cultural change in ADJD.
“The team developed a separate plan to mitigate this different levels of stakeholders. It developed and implemented a communication plan (awareness, training, etc) and a marketing plan (brochures, posters etc.,),” says Al Dhaheri.
With the challenges mitigated, Al Dhaheri says that the solution has delivered on its objectives. This included the complete documentation of business processes (more than 350) across 35 different departments, of 55 enterprise applications, of servers and other infrastructure elements as well as the database management system. It finished the identification and documentation of more than 200 services provided to the public.
Significant change requests are being assessed with the help of theEA repository, business process reports are being used as a reference and also give the holistic view of the business and cross-functional activities, and initiatives are being assessed with the As-Is models and validated against the To-Be models.
The business process re-engineering (BPR) exercise helped to identify improvement opportunities for public services. The BPR exercise was carried out for 8 bureaus by the EA team based on the as-is business process of the EA repository and achieved 21% reduction in the number of activities, 36% drop in the low value adding activities and 34% drop in handovers. Thus, cutting the time the customers spend to a few minutes.
“There is a connected view from the strategy to the underlying infrastructure and this is being used as an effective traceability tool. It also helps to narrow the problem and improve an area quickly with the impact assessment reports,” says Al Dhaheri.
Way forward
“EA is a process, so there is need to practice it everyday. ADJD has planned to do several elements as a roadmap for the EA programme. These include performing the Architecture Development Method (ADM) for all the initiatives of ADJD, generating architectural contract, architectural compliancereport and requirements document as a input for RFPs, prioritising all the initiatives as well as the project list, implementing the remainder of IT governance and service management processes, business process re-engineering for the remaining bureau’s business processes and balancing the score-card for initiatives and projects,” says Al Dhaheri.
ADJD’s EA project has already received couple of awards in recognition of it being a pioneer in practicing the program in a full-fledged fashion. The project actually underscores the importance that IT is given in the organisation, and consequently how increasingly crucial it is proving to be for achieving business objectives.
“The guiding principle of IT is to provide the foundation for the organisation. There are standards for how employees and managers are expected to act and interact. They provide a goal for how we want the IT bureau to be in the future. Each employee should strive to embody these principles, and challenge management to do the same,” says Al Dhaheri.
He adds, “In terms of IT alignment with the ADJD strategy, it’s directly aligned as well as being a subset of ADJD’s strategy. IT position itself in a prominent way by which it act as a enabler for all the ADJD strategic services. The IT bureau directly reports to the Undersecretary of ADJD. We see the IT team as a trusted partner and preferred IT provider for the strategic service within ADJD.”
Need we say more?
Quick look at ADJD
The Abu Dhabi Judicial Department ensures the delivery and administration of justice and equality for all citizens and residents throughout the Emirate of Abu Dhabi. It supervises and co-ordinates the primary legal and judicial mechanisms and processes that protect individual rights and safeguard the rule of law.
ADJD is based on a tri-tiered court system. It comprised of the Court of Cassation, Court of Appeals, and Courts of First Instance. In addition, subsidiary services such as Fatwa, Notary Public, Family Guidance, Reconciliation and Settlement Committees, as well as specialised courts work concurrently to ensure the administration of justice. Each court is managed by a Court President and supported by dedicated judges and administrative staff.
The Judicial Council oversees judiciary affairs. Comprised of ten senior members of the Department, the Judicial Council approves judge appointments, promotions, secondments and other important technical judicial affairs. The Undersecretary of the Department supervises all administrative support functions, whereas the Attorney General supervises all prosecutorial functions.
ในส่วนของแผนงาน Modernization นั้น เอดีเจดีมีความเห็นว่าจำเป็นต้องมีการจัดการการเติบโตทั้งในแนวนนอนและแนวตั้งควบคู่กันไป รวมไปถึงการจัดการสภาพแวดล้อมที่กำลังเริ่มซับซ้อนมากขึ้นทุกขณะด้วย องค์กรจะต้องพร้อมรับคำแนะนำต่างๆ ที่มีความเห็นอันหลากหลาย จากคณะกรรมการระบบและสารสนเทศแห่งอะบูดาบี (Abu Dhabi Systems and Information Committee) ซึ่งเป็นหน่วยงานที่ดูแลองค์กรภาครัฐทั้งหมดในเรื่องนี้
English to Thai: Monitoring The Network General field: Tech/Engineering Detailed field: Computers: Systems, Networks
Source text - English Monitoring The Network
Do You Know Your Current Network State?
With the definition of an IT network quickly changing, the manner in which IT managers can best monitor their networks is changing, as well.
The concept of the network now ex-tends beyond the management of physical network devices, says Steve halita, vice president of marketing at NetScout Systems (www.netscout.com). As monitoring tools proliferate and defini-tions change, monitoring methods are changing, as well, he adds. And IT managers must work to keep on top of these changes.
But a recent report from Dimension Data (www.dimensiondata.com) finds a significant gap between IT leader assumptions about their networks and the actual state of them. According to the report, 81% of IT leaders believe that maintaining technology standards for their networks is critical. Yet the report found that more than 35% of all devices are at end-of-sale and more than 50% of them are beyond end-of-software-maintenance or last-day-of-support.
Due to this lack of understanding around the true state of an enterprise’s systems, IT leaders end up scrambling to replace hardware unexpectedly and at a higher price than if strategic planning had taken place, says Larry Van Deusen, national practice manager for network integration at Dimension Data.
So how can leaders get a handle on their network needs and best monitor their networks? Via software made for that purpose, possibly, or by calling a consultant, experts say.
“Organizations of all sizes are being asked to optimize what they have and do more with less,” says Marina Gil-Santa-maria, director of product marketing at Ipswitch’s (www.ipswitch.com) network management division. “Therefore, it’s important to discover, map, inventory, and document all the assets deployed in your infrastructure: network devices, servers, deployed software, virtual machines, VLANs, and port-to-port connectivity.”
The steps she calls for require a little detective work on the part of IT managers, she says. To help, they should look for software tools that identify which systems and network devices are deployed in the infrastructure and identify port-to-port connectivity. The latter allows managers to understand how everything is connected.
Network management software should also identify inventory and configuration information. This allows IT managers to get the total picture of the software, operating system, and firmware versions currently running on devices and servers, Gil-Santamaria says.
TThe software should include physical-to-virtual mapping and association capability to help IT managers prevent virtual proliferation.
It’s Interrelated
Sounds easy enough, right? But one problem can be finding the right tools for the job, halita says.
“IT is swimming in tools. They’re drowning in tools and none of them are connected,” he says. “The guys working on the desktop get network tools built to monitor that system, and the guys working on the network get tools built for the network . . . those on server management buy their own tools, and none of that network data is connected.”
The issue comes about because the definition of what a network is has changed in only the past five years, Shalita says.
“The network had originally been thought of as providing the connection, so you looked at the status of the switch or the router [and] found out what information you could about it,” he says.
Today, the network can be thought of as everything that makes up what a user consumes over the network, he says, including applications and the domain name system.
“I could monitor my network switch and see it’s green, so the link is working, but the application may still be running extremely poorly,” Shalita says. “So many things in networks today [are] interrelated.”
HHe recommends IT managers look for network management software that monitors network devices as well as applications running on the network and all other aspects of the network. This type of software allows IT managers to look at relationships between devices and applications to determine whether the device, the application, the DNS, or something else is at fault when things go wrong.
Identify Gaps
For his part, Van eusen recommends IT managers also consider bringing in a consultant to help enact a plan that goes beyond network performance management. A consultant will likely begin a plan by taking an overall up-close look at the enterprise, including the number of locations, critical business applications, and the current strategy in place to manage the network. Such a look identifies gaps in the current management process, Van Deusen says.
Besides enacting a customized performance management solution, a consultant might also establish a technology lifecycle management plan that helps predict which solutions will be needed in the future. Consultants can also help with specialized needs, such as compliance requirements and particular security issues, he adds.
It may sound like a big task, but the risks of not monitoring and managing the network are great, says Gil-Santamaria.
“If you’re manually gathering asset information, you know how tedious, time-consuming, and labor-intensive these activities are,” she says. “Plus, how can you be assured that assets, connectivity, and topology information man-ually gathered is complete and accurate, and [that] it will remain up-to-date in an ongoing basis?
““If you don’t have accurate information, you won’t be able to optimize your IT resources; troubleshooting will be much slower, and compliance regulations will not be met by your organization,” she says.
Tools To Look For
Many organizations have some type of Layer 3 discovery tool in place based on whichever network management tool they use, says Marina Gil-Santamaria, director of product marketing at Ipswitch’s (www.ipswitch.com)) network management division.
A Layer 3 discovery tool identifies systems or network devices deployed across the infrastructure using layer protocols such as ICMP (Internet Control Message Protocol), SNMP (Simple Network Management Protocol), or IP addressing, she says.
But a Layer 3 discovery tool is limited in that it doesn’t automatically establish the physical connectivity between devices in the network. Network managers will need to manually establish the connection.
“The process is really tedious, time-consuming, resource-intensive, and prone to errors,” Gil-Santamaria says. “You have to manually plow through router configurations, device logs, and APs to try to get to the bottom of how everything is connected.”
A Layer 2 discovery tool, on the other hand, automatically establishes the physical connection between the devices and the network.
Gil-Santamaria suggests that IT managers should look for a combination Layer 2/Layer 3 discovery tool that automatically gathers inventory and configuration information, as well as identifies virtual resources in the infrastructure.
Key Points
- Network management software will help with network monitoring, but the services of a consultant can also help.
- The definition of the network today extends beyond physical devices to include applications (and virtual applications) the enterprise runs.
- Software monitoring tools have proliferated and can be confusing to wade through when you’re determining the right ones for your enterprise.>
English to Thai: Running Your Business on Open Source Software General field: Science Detailed field: Computers: Software
Source text - English Running Your Business on Open Source Software
Whether it's content management, CRM, ERP, databases, or IT management, you'll find open source solutions for managing all aspects of your business. We help you choose the right options
Is it possible to run your business purely on open source software? If we look at it only from an applications availability standpoint, then yes, you can do it. There are open source applications available for just about every commercial application out there-whether it's desktop productivity, network management, web servers and apps, security, or even business apps. There are open source apps available for all popular operating systems, be it various Linux distros, Windows, or Unix. But it's obviously not practically feasible for an organization to suddenly rip and replace its entire infrastructure with open source alternatives (unless you're a startup doing everything from scratch). You have to weigh your options carefully.
Choosing the right open source software requires the same level of evaluation as closed source alternatives. You have to define your business needs and map them to the best application that can handle them. You need to evaluate the technical feasibility and manpower availability to do the job. If you don't have manpower with the requisite expertise in open source software, then you need to provision for it, train them, etc. The Central Electricity Authority for instance, built their entire information system on open source. For this, they didn't have the in-house expertise on open source, and had to first train their manpower before the deployment.
Other costs associated with open source software include cost of support for the software, consultation charges for deployment, recruitment of fresh manpower with the relevant expertise, among others. You have to evaluate these costs against how much you're likely to pay for the closed source options.
So that's what our story is all about-provide the best options from the open source world that cater to various needs of a business. Just as the world of open source software has gone far beyond tools for IT infrastructure management, our story also goes beyond and looks at solutions that cater to some real business needs of organizations. Take databases for instance. Besides the fact that MySQL and PostgreSQL are the most popular open source databases, there's another new cloud ready database called Cassandra, which is being used by the likes of Facebook (who created it), Twitter, etc. We've covered that in this issue.
Most online portals and websites are moving to proper CMS (Content Management System) platforms, and the open source world has some of the best ones out there. A lot of organizations are today finding it difficult to decide which open source CMS to move to. Hopefully, our article in this story will make things clearer for you.
ERP and CRM are two other areas where organizations have actively started considering open source software. In fact, some of the open source alternatives combine the functionality of both into a single package. We have a story that demystifies this area by comparing SugarCRM with vTiger, two of the most popular open source CRM software.
Then of course, we've also kept in mind the needs of system managers, security specialists, WAN managers, and IT managers. There are articles on how to convert a standard low cost router to do load balancing one for your WAN. We've talked about a solution that provides anti-virus, anti-spam, content filtering, and VPN all built into a single package called ClearOS. Besides these, there are lots of other examples of open source usage, case studies, and much more in this story.
Hopefully, you'll find answers to some of your burning questions on open source software. If you don't, then do refer our comprehensive online archive (http://pcquest.ciol.com/content/linux/) of open source software. Together they should provide you everything you need for using open source software in your organization. If you still don't find what you need, then do write back to us and we'll be more than happy to cover your specific areas of interest.
Case Study: Central Electricity Authority Sets up its Data Center on Open Source Software
Central Electricity Authority (CEA), is the apex body in the Indian Power sector, which collects data from various stakeholders in the power sector and utilizes it for monitoring various power sector activities, enabling timely planning/policy decisions and making the information public in the form of various reports.
An Information Management System (IMS) application was required to collect all data through a web based interface, store it in a central repository and generate customized reports. The application would help streamline data capture, analysis, and reporting. CEA setup a data center to host this application. The clear mandate for CEA was to ensure as low a TCO as possible while deploying this application.
For this, the group decided to embrace open source technologies for the job. As there was little IT knowledge in the group, the company decided to outsource the entire project to a third party vendor, which in this case was Vayamtech. The external agency did everything right from setting up a mid-sized data center, procuring the necessary software & hardware, did complete installation & configuration of rack servers, networking, and developed custom applications and conducted trainings.
Open Source tech used
The application was developed on the J2EE platform, and the entire source code for the same, along with appropriate design documentation and data dictionary were also created so that CEA wouldn't remain locked in with the implementation partner. Most of the servers were based on RHEL AS and ES. CEA feels that this provides more cost effective resource utilization and security than most of its counterparts. The IMS application was hosted on RHEL and interacted with a proprietary database. For the development, open source packages like WAMP & XAMPP were used. For the deployment, various components of LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) were separately installed and configured.
Challenges faced
The first challenge was lack of knowledge about open source technologies and how to use them for developing the application. The four officers from CEA who were chosen for the job had to undergo training sessions to learn how to develop on open source products and technologies. Only then could they handle all phases of the application development life cycle. This training was conducted for CEA by the Engineering Staff College of India, Hyderabad.
The second issue that gave sleepless nights to CEA was finding external FOSS experts, because their existing suppliers were more comfortable selling hardware, licenses and services. They managed to find a domain specific consultant, who guided them in defining the specs, and in creating the RFP.
The third problem faced by CEA was a change in the licensing policy of their hardware vendor, due to which most of their software had to be redeployed. Due to this, they ended up having a mixed environment of both proprietary and open source software. Keeping a close watch of such a mixed environment and develop apps that integrate the two became a challenge for the company.
Lastly, during the installation & configuration of individual packages on specific Linux kernel used for the application, CEA faced some challenges in utilizing the desired RPM packages and it was a bit time consuming despite the support of various online open source forums.
Intranet on LAMP
In addition to this, CEA developedan intranet on LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP). Under this project, a few bilingual applications like Complaint Management System, Inventory Management System & Bill Management System have been developed and deployed which are web-based monitoring tools automating the earlier manual processes. The complete design, development and testing of all these intranet applications was handled by the four CEQ officers. Another two officers from the company handled administrative tasks related to the power sector job portal www.indiapowerjobs.com, which has again been developed on LAMP.
Why Open Source?
Better security, no vendor lock-in, freedom to customize the software as per their requirement without bothering about any licensing policies were the major reasons for moving to open source technologiesapps, open The company benefited from a 40% saving in the TCO as a result of this.
การใช้เทคโนโลยีโอเพ่นซอร์ส
แอพพลิเคชันดังกล่าวพัฒนาขึ้นโดยการใช้แพลตฟอร์ม J2EE ในขณะที่ซอร์สโค้ดและเอกสารต่างๆ ก็ได้รับการออกแบบมาเพื่อให้ CEA จะไม่ถูกจำกัดเฉพาะพาร์ทเนอร์รายใดรายหนึ่งเท่านั้น โดยที่เซิร์ฟเวอร์ส่วนใหญ่จะอยู่บนพื้นฐานของ RHEL AS และ ES ซึ่ง CEA มีความรู้สึกว่า การดำเนินการในลักษณะดังกล่าวจะสามารถช่วยจัดเตรียมทรัพยากรและความปลอดภัยได้คุ้มค่ากว่า เมื่อเทียบกับทางเลือกอื่นๆ ที่มีประสิทธิภาพใกล้เคียงกัน โดยที่แอพพลิเคชัน IMS นั้นจะถูกโฮสต์เอาไว้บน RHEL และทำงานร่วมกับฐานข้อมูลที่มีลิขสิทธิ์ และสำหรับการพัฒนาระบบนั้น มีการใช้งานแพ็กเกจโอเพ่นซอร์สอย่าง WAMP & XAMPP ในขณะที่การพัฒนาระบบดังกล่าวนี้เอง ที่องค์ประกอบของ LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL, และ PHP) ได้รับการติดตั้งและกำหนดค่าให้ทำงานในส่วนต่างๆ ขององค์กรไปพร้อมๆ กัน
ความท้าทายที่ต้องเผชิญ
ความท้าทายอันดับแรกที่ CEA ต้องเผชิญก็คือ การขาดแคลนความรู้เกี่ยวกับเทคโนโลยีโอเพ่นซอร์ส รวมไปถึงวิธีการใช้โอเพ่นซอร์สเพื่อพัฒนาแอพพลิเคชันด้วย ในขณะที่พนักงานจำนวน 4 คนของ CEA ซึ่งถูกคัดเลือกมาให้รับผิดชอบต่อโครงการนี้ ได้ถูกส่งไปเข้าคอร์สฝึกอบรมเพื่อเรียนรู้วิธีการพัฒนาแอพพลิเคชันต่างๆ โดยการใช้ผลิตภัณฑ์และเทคโนโลยีโอเพ่นซอร์ส เพื่อให้พวกเขาสามารถจัดการแอพพลิเคชันในเฟสต่างๆ ได้ตลอดวัฏจักรการพัฒนาแอพพลิเคชัน ซึ่งการฝึกอบรมดังกล่าวนั้นได้รับความร่วมมือจากสำนัก Engineering Staff College of India แห่งเมืองไฮเดอราบัด
ความท้าทายอันดับต่อมาที่ทำให้ผู้บริหารของ CEA แทบข่มตาหลับไม่ลงก็คือ การค้นหาผู้เชี่ยวชาญ FOSS (Free and Open Source Software) จากภายนอกองค์กร เนื่องจากในบรรดาซัพพลายเออร์ที่พวกเขามีอยู่นั้น ส่วนใหญ่จะสะดวกใจที่จะขายฮาร์ดแวร์ ลิขสิทธิ์ซอฟต์แวร์ และบริการทั่วไปเท่านั้น ซึ่งพวกเขาที่ CEA ก็ได้ใช้ความพยายามอย่างมาก เพื่อมองหาที่ปรึกษาที่มีความเชี่ยวชาญในเรื่องที่พวกเขาต้องการจริงๆ เพื่อมาให้คำแนะนำเขาในเรื่องของการกำหนดสเปคและจัดทำ RFP (Request for Proposal) ที่สมบูรณ์แบบ
ความท้าทายประการที่สามที่ CEA ต้องเผชิญก็คือ เรื่องของการเปลี่ยนแปลงนโยบายด้านลิขสิทธิ์หรือ Licensing นั่นเอง เนื่องจากจะต้องมีการปรับเปลี่ยนซอฟต์แวร์ส่วนใหญ่ที่พวกเขาใช้อยู่ให้เป็นโอเพ่นซอร์ส ซึ่งในท้ายที่สุดแล้วมันก็ลงเอยด้วยการที่จะต้องมีสภาพแวดล้อมทางไอทีที่มีทั้งซอฟต์แวร์ลิขสิทธิ์และซอฟต์แวร์โอเพ่นซอร์ส ดังนั้นการดูแลจัดการและพัฒนาแอพพลิเคชันภายใต้สภาพแวดล้อมที่มีการอินทิเกรตกันจากซอฟต์แวร์ทั้งสองค่ายจึงกลายเป็นเรื่องที่ท้าทายสำหรับองค์กรนี้ไปในที่สุด
ความท้าทายประการสุดท้ายก็คือ ในระหว่างการติดตั้งและกำหนดค่าแพ็กเกจแต่ละแพ็กเกจบน Linux Kernel ที่ใช้สำหรับแอพพลิเคชันต่างๆ นั้น CEA ต้องเผชิญกับความท้าทายในการใช้งานแพ็กเกจ RPM ที่ต้องการ และต้องเสียเวลาไปพอสมควร ทั้งๆ ที่ได้รับความช่วยเหลือจากออนไลน์ฟอรั่ม (online forums) ที่คอยสนับสนุนการใช้งานโอเพ่นซอร์สอยู่หลายที่ด้วยกัน
สร้างอินทราเน็ตด้วย LAMP
นอกจากนี้ CEA ได้พัฒนาอินทราเน็ตบน LAMP (Linux, Apache, MySQL and PHP) ด้วย ซึ่งภายใต้โครงการนี้ มีการพัฒนาแอพพลิเคชัน 2 ภาษาจำนวนหนึ่ง อย่างเช่น Complaint Management System, Inventory Management System และ Bill Management System เป็นต้น ซึ่งทั้งหมดจะได้รับการพัฒนาและติดตั้งใช้งานในลักษณะเครื่องมือที่เป็น Web-based และมีกระบวนการด้านคู่มือที่ทำงานโดยอัตโนมัติ โดยที่การออกแบบ การพัฒนา และการทดสอบแอพพลิเคชันบนอินทราเน็ตเหล่านี้นั้น ได้รับการดูแลจัดการโดยพนักงาน 4 คนของ CEA และมีอีก 2 คนที่จะคอยดูแลงานบริหารที่เกี่ยวข้องกับงานในส่วนของภาคพลังงานในเว็บไซต์ www.indiapowerjobs.com ซึ่งแน่นอนว่ามีการพัฒนาขึ้นมาด้วย LAMP อีกเช่นกัน
English to Thai: The 10 Best Free Tools to Analyze Hard Drive Space on Your Windows PC General field: Science Detailed field: IT (Information Technology)
Source text - English http://www.howtogeek.com/105785/3-quick-ways-to-make-sure-your-google-account-is-secure/
The 10 Best Free Tools to Analyze Hard Drive Space on Your Windows PC [3 หน้า]
So, you bought yourself a new 2 TB hard drive thinking, “I’ll never use this much space.” Well, think again. It’s amazing how fast photos, videos, music, and other files start to use up any hard drive space we have.
Then, you think, “How am I going to sort through all these files and figure out what is taking up the most space?” Luckily, we’ve gathered information about 10 free tools to help you do just that.
SpaceSniffer
SpaceSniffer is a portable, freeware program that helps you understand the structure of the folders and files on your hard drives. The Treemap visualization layout SpaceSniffer uses helps you to immediately visualize where big folders and files are placed on your devices. The area of each rectangle is proportional to that file’s size. You can double-click on any item to see more detail.
If you’re searching for specific file types, such as all .jpg files, or for files older than a year, or any other condition, use the Filter field to limit the results to only those files. For help with how to use the filtering feature, select Filtering help from the Help menu.
WinDirStat
When WinDirStat starts, it reads the whole directory tree once and presents it in three useful views. The directory list, which resembles the tree view in Windows Explorer, displays on the upper left and is sorted by file/subtree size.
The extension list is a legend that displays on the upper right and shows statistics about the different files types.
The treemap takes up the bottom of the WinDirStat window. Each colored rectangle represents a file or directory, and the rectangles are nested, representing subdirectories and files within the directories. The area of each rectangle is proportional to the size of the files or subtrees. The colors of the rectangles for files indicate the file extensions that correspond to the extension list.
TreeSize Free
TreeSize Free allows you to start the program normally or from the context menu for a folder or a drive. It shows you the size of the selected folder, including its subfolders. The tree is like Windows Explorer in that you can expand every subfolder within the selected folder or drive and drill down to the file level. The results are visible as TreeSize Free scans the selected folder or drive.
You can download TreeSize Free as a portable program or as an installable file. To get the option on the context menu, you must download the installable file and install the program.
Disktective
Disktective is a free, portable utility that reports the real size of your directories and the distribution of the subdirectories and files inside them. You are asked to select a directory or drive when Disktective opens. The selected folder or drive is analyzed and a tree view displays on the left side of the window and a pie chart with percentages displays on the right.
Because Disktective doesn’t need to be installed, you can take it with you on a USB flash drive to analyze the flash drive or any Windows computer you come across.
DiskSavvy
DiskSavvy is a fast, easy-to-use disk space analyzer that allows you to analyze disk usage for your hard disks, network share drives, and NAS storage devices. The main window shows you the percentage of disk space used by each directory and file. You can also easily view pie charts or bar charts showing the results in graphical format.
DiskSavvy is available as a freeware version, a Pro version, and an Ultimate version, each successive version providing additional features. The freeware version allows for a maximum number of files of 500,000 and a maximum storage capacity of 2 TB. It has support for long filenames, Unicode filenames, and UNC network path names and allows you to copy, move, and delete files directly within the program.
JDiskReport
JDiskReport is another free tool that presents an analysis of the selected folder or drive as a pie chart, ring chart, bar chart, or in a detailed table. Click the Scan a file tree button (magnifying glass) on the toolbar to select a drive or folder and start the scan. The Folders tree view in the left pane presents a Windows Explorer-like tree allowing you to easily access all the subfolders in the selected folder or drive. Multiple tabs at the top of the right pane provide different ways to view the results of the scan. Each tab also has options at the bottom for additional different views. There are buttons on the toolbar that allow you to sort by size or name and to show the file size or number of files on the selected tab as appropriate.
GetFoldersize
For each folder in the selected folder or drive, GetFoldersize displays the total size for all the files in that folder or drive and the number of files and subfolders within the folder or drive. You can use GetFoldersize to scan an unlimited number of files and folders on internal and external hard drives, CDs and DVDs, and network share drives. It supports long file and folder names and Unicode characters and the ability to display the file size in bytes, kilobytes, megabytes, and gigabytes. GetFoldersize allows you to print the folder tree and to save the folder tree and information to a text file.
GetFoldersize is available in a portable version, so you can carry it around with you on a USB flash drive or other external drive. However, if you install GetFoldersize, an option is added to the context menu in Windows Explorer allowing you to start GetFoldersize and scan a folder by right-clicking on it.
RidNacs
RidNacs is a fast disk space analyzer that scans local drives, network drives, or a single directory and shows the results in a tree view with a bar chart displaying percentages. You can save the results of the scan in multiple formats (.txt, .csv, .html, or .xml). Files can be opened and deleted directly within RidNacs. During installation, you can choose to add an option to the Windows Explorer context menu that allows you to right-click on a folder or drive, open RidNacs, and start a scan on the selected folder or drive immediately. When you scan a folder, it’s added to the list of Favorites under a list of available drives on your computer. You can also change the look of the bars on the bar chart with skins.
Scanner
Scanner uses an extended pie chart with concentric rings to display the usage of the space on your hard drive, external drive, network drive, etc. The outer segments of the rings represent deeper directory levels. Moving your mouse over a segment of the chart displays the full path at the top of the window and the size of the directory and the number of files in the directory below the path. Right-clicking on a segment provides additional options. The Zoom option allows you to zoom into the selected directory and is also available by clicking on the segment. You can also Open, Recycle (delete by moving to the Recycle Bin), and Remove and file or directory directly within Scanner.
Scanner comes with two .reg files that allow you to add Scanner to the Windows Explorer context menu and remove it again. It is a portable program and comes with two text files (one of them in English) that describes the usage of the program.
เนื่องจากการใช้งาน Disktective นั้นไม่จำเป็นต้องมีการติดตั้งแต่อย่างใด ดังนั้นคุณจึงสามารถนำมันติดตัวไปกับคุณได้ โดยเซฟมันเก็บไว้ใน USB Flash Drive เพื่อนำไปใช้ในการวิเคราะห์คอมพิวเตอร์ที่ใช้ระบบปฏิบัติการ Windows เครื่องอื่นๆ ได้ด้วย
DiskSavvy
DiskSavvy เป็นเครื่องมือในการวิเคราะห์พื้นที่การใช้ดิสก์ที่สามารถใช้งานได้ง่ายและรวดเร็วอีกตัวหนึ่ง ซึ่งจะช่วยคุณวิเคราะห์การใช้งาน Hard Disk โดยทั่วไป รวมไปถึง Network Drive และ NAS Storage ด้วย โดยที่หน้าต่างหลักของมันจะแสดงให้คุณเห็นเปอร์เซ็นต์ของพื้นที่ดิสก์ที่ไดเร็กทอรี่และไฟล์ต่างๆ ครอบครองอยู่ ซี่งในส่วนนี้คุณสามารถเลือกให้มันแสดงผลกราฟิกออกมาเป็น Pie Chart หรือ Bar Chart ก็ได้
DiskSavvy นั้นมีให้เลือกใช้ในแบบของ Freeware version, Pro version และ Ultimate version ด้วยกัน โดยแต่ละเวอร์ชันจะมีความสามารถลดหลั่นกันไป กล่าวโดยเฉพาะ Freeware version แล้ว มันจะอนุญาตให้มีการใช้งานกับไฟล์จำนวนมากสุดที่ 500,000 ไฟล์ และพื้นที่สตอเรจมากสุดที่ 2 เทราไบต์ โดยจะสนับสนุนทั้ง Long filenames, Unicode filenames และ UNC network path names อีกทั้งจะยอมให้คุณคัดลอก เคลื่อนย้าย และลบไฟล์ต่างๆ จากภายในตัวโปรแกรมได้เลย
JDiskReport
JDiskReport เป็นเครื่องมือใช้งานได้ฟรีอีกตัวหนึ่ง ที่สามารถแสดงผลการวิเคราะห์โฟลเดอร์และไดรฟ์ของคุณได้ โดยจะแสดงผลเป็น Pie Chart, Ring Chart, Bar Chart หรือตารางแสดงรายละเอียดก็ได้ ให้คุณคลิกปุ่ม Scan a file tree ซึ่งเป็นรูปแว่นขยายที่อยู่บนทูลบาร์ เพื่อทำการเลือกไดรฟ์หรือโฟลเดอร์และเริ่มต้นการสแกน ซึ่งทรีวิวที่แสดงโฟลเดอร์ต่างๆ ในแผงหน้าต่างด้านซ้าย (left pane) จะแสดงทรีที่มีหน้าตาคล้าย Windows Explorer ซึ่งจากจุดนี้คุณสามารถแอ็กเซสไปยังซับโฟลเดอร์ต่างๆ ที่อยู่ในโฟลเดอร์ที่คุณเลือกได้ นอกจากนี้ยังมีแท็บ (tab) ที่อยู่ส่วนบนของหน้าต่างด้านขวา ซึ่งได้จัดเตรียมวิธีการดูผลการสแกนในรูปแบบต่างๆ เอาไว้ให้คุณด้วย โดยที่แต่ละแท็บจะมีออปชันให้เลือกอยู่ที่ด้านล่างอีกด้วย ซึ่งคุณสามารถเลือกเพื่อกำหนดรูปแบบการแสดงผลเพิ่มเติมได้ นอกจากนี้ก็ยังมีปุ่มต่างๆ บนทูลบาร์ที่คุณสามารถเลือกเพื่อแสดงผลไฟล์โดยเรียงลำดับด้วยขนาดไฟล์ (sort by files size) หรือเรียงลำดับด้วยชื่อไฟล์ (sort by files name) เพื่อให้เหมาะสมสอดคล้องกับแท็บที่คุณเลือกได้อีกด้วย
GetFoldersize
สำหรับซับโฟลเดอร์แต่ละซับโฟลเดอร์ที่อยู่ในโฟลเดอร์แม่ หรืออยู่ในไดรฟ์ที่คุณเลือกนั้น GetFoldersize จะสามารถแสดงขนาดของไฟล์ที่อยู่ในนั้นได้ทั้งหมด รวมไปถึงจำนวนไฟล์และซับโฟลเดอร์ที่อยู่ในโฟลเดอร์แม่หรือในไดรฟ์นั้นๆ ด้วย คุณสามารถใช้ GetFoldersize เพื่อสแกนหาไฟล์และโฟลเดอร์ที่อยู่ในทั้ง Internal Hard Drive, External Hard Drive, CD, DVD และ Network Drive ได้อย่างไม่จำกัดจำนวน โดยที่มันสามารถรองรับ Long File Name, Long Folder Name และ Unicode Character ได้ อีกทั้งสามารถแสดงผลขนาดของไฟล์เป็นไบต์ กิโลไบต์ เมกะไบต์ และกิกะไบต์ได้ โดยที่ GetFoldersize จะยอมให้คุณสามารถพิมพ์ Folder Tree และเซฟ Folder Tree รวมทั้งข้อมูลต่างๆ เกี่ยวกับโฟลเดอร์ลงเท็กซ์ไฟล์ธรรมดาๆ ได้ด้วย
GetFoldersize จะมีเวอร์ชันที่เป็น Portable ด้วย ดังนั้นคุณสามารถพกพามันไปยังที่ต่างๆ พร้อมกับคุณได้ด้วยการใส่มันเอาไว้ใน Flash Drive หรือ External Drive อย่างไรก็ตาม ถ้าหากคุณใช้วิธีติดตั้งโปรแกรม GetFoldersize ซึ่งเป็นวิธีที่จะมี Context Menu ปรากฏขึ้นใน Windows Explorer ด้วยนั้น คุณก็สามารถใช้งานโปรแกรมและสแกนโฟลเดอร์ต่างๆ ได้ โดยการคลิกขวาที่โฟลเดอร์ดังกล่าวเท่านั้น
RidNacs
RidNacs เป็นโปรแกรมวิเคราะห์ข้อมูลที่สามารถทำงานได้อย่างรวดเร็ว โดยมันสามารถสแกน Local Drive, Network Drive หรือ Directory ได้ และจะแสดงผลเป็นทรีวิวร่วมกับบาร์ชาร์ตในลักษณะของ Percentage ซึ่งคุณสามารถเซฟผลของการสแกนเป็นฟอร์แมตที่หลากหลายได้ (เช่น .txt, .csv, .html, หรือ .xml เป็นต้น) โดยไฟล์ทั้งหลายจะสามารถถูกเปิดและลบได้จาก RidNacs โดยตรงเลย และในระหว่างการติดตั้งนั้น คุณสามารถเลือกเพื่อเพิ่มออปชัน Context Menu ให้กับ Windows Explorer ได้ ซึ่งออปชันนี้จะช่วยให้คุณสามารถคลิกขวาเพื่อเลือกโฟลเดอร์หรือไดรฟ์ที่คุณต้องการได้ รวมทั้งเปิดโปรแกรม RidNacs และเริ่มต้นการสแกนจากโฟลเดอร์หรือไดรฟ์ที่คุณเลือกได้ในทันทีเลย เมื่อคุณสแกนโฟลเดอร์หนึ่งๆ นั้น มันจะถูกเพิ่มเข้าไปยังรายการ Favorites ที่อยู่ภายใต้ไดรฟ์ที่ใช้งานได้ในคอมพิวเตอร์ของคุณอีกทีหนึ่ง ซึ่งคุณสามารถเปลี่ยนหน้าตาของบาร์ต่างๆ ที่อยู่ใน Bar Chart ได้ด้วยการเปลี่ยน Skin
Categories: Wireless data
ตลาด RFID จะสร้างรายได้ได้ 3.1 พันล้านเหรียญในปี 2007
ABI Research ได้ตัดสินใจลดยอดประมาณการณ์ของซอฟต์แวร์และบริการทางด้าน RFID ในปีหน้าลงเหลือ 3.1 พันล้านเหรียญ ซึ่งถือเป็นการลดลงจากเดิมที่เคยประมาณการณ์ไว้ 15 เปอร์เซ็นต์
English to Thai: Adobe After Effects Review General field: Tech/Engineering Detailed field: IT (Information Technology)
Source text - English
Adobe After Effects is the market’s leading software in the creation of special effects for motion graphics and moving images.
In this sense, Adobe After Effects is like Photoshop for video. It features tools that are similar to Adobe’s popular image editor, only adapted to video. As an example, one of its newest tools, RotoBrush, works as Photoshop’s Magic Wand, enabling you to select silhouettes and place characters against any background without requiring a chroma screen.
Adobe After Effects also includes more video-specific tools, such as Auto-Keyframe, which creates key frames automatically where you apply a video effect, and the Mesh warp effect in 3D, thanks to which you’ll be able to warp and distort your video as it if was a plain image.
But if there’s something outstanding about Adobe After Effects, that’s its third-party plug-ins. Mocha, for example, is an advanced tracking system that helps you in the creation and adjustment of scenes. Another excellent Adobe After Effects plug-in is Color Finesse, with which you can work with color in your video like you’ve never done before.
The most recent version of Adobe After Effects has noticeably improved its performance. On the downside, now it’s only available for 64-bit computers.
Adobe After Effects is the most powerful, complete solution for motion graphics and video effects.
Translation - Thai
Adobe After Effects เป็นซอฟต์แวร์ชั้นนำในตลาดสำหรับการสร้างเอฟเฟกต์พิเศษ (special effects) โดยเฉพาะอย่างยิ่ง เอฟเฟกต์ประเภทกราฟิกเคลื่อนที่ และภาพเคลื่อนไหวต่างๆ(
ส่วนสำคัญที่สุดที่จะทำให้ iMac มีการใช้งานที่ง่ายก็คือระบบปฏิบัติการ Mac OS X นั่นเอง แม้จะมีส่วนติดต่อผู้ใช้งานที่สวยงามและง่ายก็ตาม แต่ด้วยรากฐานจากระบบยูนิกซ์อันแข็งแกร่งนั้น ทำให้ Mac OS X มีความมั่นคงกว่าภาพภายนอกที่เห็นเป็นอย่างมาก Mac OS X ได้รับการออกแบบมาให้สามารถต้านทานกับการโจมตีจากผู้ไม่หวังดีได้ทุกรูปแบบ ช่วยให้ iMac ของคุณปลอดภัยจากไวรัสและสิ่งแปลกปลอมต่างๆ ที่มีอยู่มากมายในโลกคอมพิวเตอร์ทุกวันนี้
ส่วนระบบปฏิบัติการที่ Veritas CommandCentral Storage 5.0 รองรับก็ได้แก่ IBM AIX, HP-UX, Sun Solaris, Red Hat Linux และ Microsoft Windows ในแง่ความปลอดภัยนั้น Veritas CommandCentral Storage 5.0 มีการควบคุมการเข้าถึงทรัพยากรของระบบได้หลายระดับ นอกจากนี้ Veritas CommandCentral Storage 5.0 ยังรองรับโพรโตคอล iSCSI ซึ่งช่วยเพิ่มความสะดวก ความประหยัด อีกทั้งให้ความคล่องตัวในการใช้งานสูงอีกด้วย
English to Thai: Repair Your Own Credit General field: Law/Patents Detailed field: Finance (general)
There are many people who helped make this book a reality. They include Ron Fry, Jodi Brandon, Stacey Farkas, Jackie Michaels, Jennifer Seaman, and Mike Lewis at Career Press. Also, thanks to Anne Robinson, Betsy Sheldon, and Ellen Scher, who assisted with
revisions for previous editions.
มีบุคคลหลายท่านที่ได้ช่วยทำให้หนังสือเล่มนี้กลายเป็นจริงได้ ซึ่งบุคคลดังกล่าวได้แก่ Ron Fry, Jodi Brandon, Stacey Farkas, Jackie Michaels, Jennifer Seaman และ Mike Lewis แห่งสำนักพิมพ์ Career Press ซึ่งก็ต้องขอขอบคุณบุคคลเหล่านี้ รวมถึง Anne Robinson, Betsy Sheldon และ Ellen Scher ที่ได้ช่วยแก้ไขปรับปรุงเนื้อหาเพิ่มเติมจากการจัดพิมพ์ครั้งครั้งที่แล้วด้วย
The original edition of this book would not have been possible without the support and assistance of the following people: Peder Lund, Jon Ford, Karen Pochert, Fran Milner, Janice Vierke, and Tina Mills at Paladin Press; Lona Luckett at the Better Business Bureau;
Holly Novac at TRW (now Experian); Russell Deitch at the Federal Trade Commission; Gayle Weller and Susan Henrichsen with the California Attorney General's Office; Nancy Cox with the Riverside County District Attorney's Office; Elliot Blair Smith at the Orange County Register; Laurin Jackson at Secretarial Solutions; Lenny Robin of Fresh Start Financial Service; Dianne Huppman, Executive Director of Consumer Credit Counseling Service of the Inland Empire; Merrill Chandler of the North American Consumer Alliance; and Michael Jay, Michael Hsu, Ken Yarbrough, Greg Sullivan, Stacey Aldstadt, Carmen Vargas, June Lamond, Michael Givel, Jayson Orvis, Troy Smith, Mike Foccio, Ron Vervick, Ronda Roberts, Michael Hunter Schwartz, Joel Goodman, Brent Romney Winfield Payne, Donna Jones, Ethan Ellenberg, and Kathy McSkimming. To these people, and to everyone else who made a contribution to this book-thank you.
ต้นฉบับของหนังสือเล่มนี้คงจะไม่สามารถสำเร็จได้อย่างแน่นอน หากปราศจากความช่วยเหลือของบุคคลเหล่านี้: Peder Lund, Jon Ford, Karen Pochert, Fran Milner, Janice Vierke และ Tina Mills แห่งสำนักพิมพ์ Paladin Press; Lona Luckett แห่ง the Better Business Bureau; Holly Novac แห่ง TRW (ปัจจุบันคือ Experian); Russell Deitch แห่ง the Federal Trade Commission; Gayle Weller และ Susan Henrichsen พร้อมด้วย the California Attorney General's Office; Nancy Cox พร้อมด้วย the Riverside County District Attorney's Office; Elliot Blair Smith แห่ง the Orange County Register; Laurin Jackson แห่ง Secretarial Solutions; Lenny Robin of Fresh Start Financial Service; Dianne Huppman, Executive Director of Consumer Credit Counseling Service of the Inland Empire; Merrill Chandler of the North American Consumer Alliance
รวมไปถึง Michael Jay, Michael Hsu, Ken Yarbrough, Greg Sullivan, Stacey Aldstadt, Carmen Vargas, June Lamond, Michael Givel, Jayson Orvis, Troy Smith, Mike Foccio, Ron Vervick, Ronda Roberts, Michael Hunter Schwartz, Joel Goodman, Brent Romney Winfield Payne, Donna Jones, Ethan Ellenberg และ Kathy McSkimming ด้วย และต้องขอขอบคุณท่านอื่นๆ ที่มีส่วนร่วมในการจัดทำหนังสือเล่มนี้ ซึ่งคงไม่สามารถเอ่ยชื่อได้หมดในที่นี้ด้วย
Contents
Preface .....................................................................................
Chapter 1: The Credit Game ...................................................
Chapter 2: A Cast of Characters ..............................................
Chapter 3: Your Credit Report ................................................
Chapter 4: Your Rights Under the Fair Credit Reporting Act..
Chapter 5: The Importance of Good Credit ............................
Chapter 6: 7 Steps to Reestablishing Your Credit ....................
Chapter 7: Repairing Your Credit Step-by-step........................
Chapter 8: Credit Card Secrets ................................................
Chapter 9: Lending Scams .......................................................
Chapter 10: Dealing with Debt ...............................................
Chapter 11: Credit Repair: Who needs it?
What's wrong with it? .........................................................
Chapter 12 Credit Repair Scams .............................................
Chapter 13: Identification Theft ..............................................
Chapter 14: Choosing a Credit Counselor ..............................
Conclusion: Getting Help .......................................................
Appendix A: Summary of Federal Laws ...................................
Appendix B: Where to Get Help .............................................
Appendix C: Addresses of Federal Agencies .............................
Appendix D: Federal Trade Commission Offices .....................
Appendix E: Resources ............................................................
Index .......................................................................................
Preface
Karen Johnson had recently returned from college in Europe and had not yet established credit in the United States. She picked out a small used car with a sticker price of $12,600 at Sam's Auto Mart. She filled out a credit application, and the salesman left to process it. When the salesman returned, he told Karen, "I'm sorry, but you don't have enough credit to qualify for the loan." Karen went to four other car dealers and got the same reaction. Slick Willie, the salesperson at Too Good Auto Sales, also told Karen that her credit history was insufficient, but he added that he could help her establish new credit. Karen, frustrated and in desperate need of a car, decided to go along with Slick Willie's plan.
คาเรน จอห์นสัน (Karen Johnson) เพิ่งเรียนจบกลับมาจากวิทยาลัยแห่งหนึ่งในยุโรป เธอยังไม่เคยใช้บัตรเครดิตในสหรัฐอเมริกาเลย เธอสนใจที่จะซื้อรถมือสองคันเล็กๆ คันหนึ่งในร้านรถยนต์มือสอง Auto Mart ของแซม (Sam) ซึ่งติดป้ายราคาเอาไว้ที่ 12,600 เหรียญ เธอได้กรอกใบสมัครขอเครดิตเอาไว้ และพนักงานขายก็นำใบสมัครดังกล่าวไปดำเนินการตามขั้นตอนของเขา แต่เมื่อพนักงานขายคนนั้นกลับมา เขาก็บอกกับคาเรนว่า “ผมเสียใจที่จะบอกกับคุณว่าคุณไม่มีเครดิตพอที่จะกู้เงินได้” ดังนั้นคาเรนจึงลองไปที่โชว์รูมแห่งอื่นดูอีกสี่แห่ง ซึ่งก็ได้รับคำตอบเช่นเดียวกัน แต่สำหรับที่ Too Good Auto Sales นั้น สลิค วิลลี่ (Slick Willie) ซึ่งเป็นพนักงานขายที่นั่นได้บอกกับเธอว่าประวัติและข้อมูลทางเครดิตของเธอยังไม่เพียงพอต่อการพิจารณาขอสินเชื่อ แต่ว่าเขาสามารถช่วยเธอสร้างมันขึ้นมาได้ และด้วยความที่คาเรนไม่มีหนทางอื่นใดอีกแล้ว อีกทั้งเธอจำเป็นต้องใช้รถมากด้วย เธอจึงยอมทำตามวิธีการที่สลิคนำเสนอ
Slick told Karen that he had a friend who, for $900, could get her a good credit rating. Slick also promised to reduce the sticker price of the car by that amount. Slick called his friend Felix Fixer and arranged a meeting for Karen and Felix.
Karen went to Felix's office and wrote him a check for $900. Felix went right to work. He called Blue Sky Bank, a subscriber to a major credit bureau. Felix convinced the bank clerk that he was an employee of a credit bureau and that, because of computer problems, he needed to get the bank's credit bureau access code. The clerk responded with the three-digit code.
คาเรนไปที่สำนักงานของเฟลิกซ์ และเขียนเช็คสั่งจ่ายเงินให้เฟลิกซ์ไป 900 เหรียญ จากนั้นเฟลิกซ์ก็เริ่มดำเนินการตามวิธีของเขา เขาโทรหา Blue Sky Bank สมาชิกรายหนึ่งของบริษัทข้อมูลเครดิตรายใหญ่ เฟลิกซ์บอกกับพนักงานของ Blue Sky Bank ว่าเขาเป็นพนักงานของบริษัทข้อมูลเครดิตแห่งหนึ่ง แต่เนื่องจากระบบคอมพิวเตอร์กำลังมีปัญหา เขาจึงใคร่ขอทราบรหัสการเข้าถึง (access code) ของธนาคารที่เปิดไว้กับบริษัทข้อมูลเครดิต ซึ่งเฟลิกซ์ก็ได้รับการตอบกลับมาเป็นตัวเลข 3 หลัก
Next, Felix searched the phone book for other people named Karen Johnson. He used the access code that he obtained from Blue Sky Bank to get credit information from the credit bureau on all of the Karen Johnsons listed in the phone book. When he found a credit report for a Karen Johnson that contained only positive information, he stopped looking. He copied down the account information, and then contacted Karen at home and asked her to stop by his office.
จากนั้นเฟลิกซ์ก็เปิดสมุดโทรศัพท์เพื่อค้นหาชื่อของบุคคลอื่นๆ ที่ชื่อคาเรน จอห์นสันเช่นกัน เขาใช้รหัสเข้าถึงที่ได้จาก Blue Sky Bank เพื่อเข้าไปหาข้อมูลเครดิตของทุกคนที่ชื่อคาเรน จอห์นสันจากบริษัทข้อมูลเครดิต และเมื่อเขาพบรายงานเครดิตของคาเรน จอห์นสันที่มีแต่ข้อมูลที่เป็นบวกแล้ว (ข้อมูลที่ดูน่าเชื่อถือ) เขาจึงคัดลอกข้อมูลทางบัญชี (account information) นั้นมา และติดต่อให้คาเรนมาที่สำนักงานของเขา
When she arrived, Felix gave her the credit information he had obtained and instructed her to use all of the information when filling out an application. He also instructed her to use a mail-drop address that he could control as her current address and to use the "victims" Social Security number. Karen was now free to apply for credit anywhere.
Karen went back to Too Good Auto Sales and reapplied, using the new information. She got the car, Slick and Felix split the $900, and Slick Willie got the commission.
คาเรนกลับไปที่ Too Good Auto Sales แล้วกรอกใบสมัครขอสินเชื่ออีกครั้ง ด้วยข้อมูลทางเครดิตที่ไม่ใช่ของเธอ และในที่สุดเธอก็ซื้อรถที่เธอต้องการได้ ส่วนสลิคและเฟลิกซ์ก็แบ่งเงิน 900 เหรียญกันคนละครึ่ง นอกจากนี้สลิคยังได้คอมมิสชันจากการขายรถอีกด้วย
This is just one example of the multitude of credit repair scams that have sprung up around the credit reporting industry, capitalizing on the credit problems of millions of American consumers and exploiting the weaknesses in the credit reporting industry. There are many more.
The flaws in the credit reporting system and the abuses that have occurred in the industry have caused financial injury to a significant number of consumers. However, these flaws and abuses spawned another whole industry (credit repair) that, although well-intentioned originally, has become riddled with corruption.
Consumers should be wary of credit bureaus and credit repair services alike. The fact is that consumers who wish to have false or inaccurate information removed from their credit reports have little need for credit clinics. Under the rules outlined in the Fair Credit Reporting Act, they can do it themselves easily and inexpensively.
Repair Your Own Credit was written (past simple-passive) for those consumers who have had credit problems and are considering the services of a credit repair company. It is meant (present simple-passive) to warn consumers of the dangers and pitfalls of credit repair and to empower people to help themselves. The book is a result of many years of research into the subject of consumer credit, including my own personal experiences as a credit consultant and consumer activist. It is based on firsthand accounts of some of the major players in the credit game.
Repair Your Own Credit takes a revealing, if not shocking, look at the scams and scoundrels that gave the credit repair business such a bad reputation and tells how they ended up. Many of my former associates have cautioned that I may be sacrificing my own livelihood and perhaps even my own freedom and safety by publicizing this book, and perhaps that is so. But to paraphrase Benjamin Franklin, "Those who would give up essential publicity to purchase a little security deserve neither."
“Repair Your Own Credit” จะเผยให้คุณเห็นกลโกงต่างๆ รวมทั้งกลุ่มคนที่มีพฤติกรรมการฉ้อฉลพึงระมัดระวัง ซึ่งได้ทำให้ธุรกิจรับแก้ไขปัญหาเครดิตกลายเป็นธุรกิจที่มีชื่อเสียงไม่ดี ซึ่งเพื่อนๆ ของผมได้เตือนผมว่า ผมอาจจะต้องอุทิศตัวเอง หรือสละแหล่งรายได้ของตัวเองเพื่อการนี้ และอาจรวมไปถึงเสรีภาพและความปลอดภัยจากการเขียนหนังสือเล่มก็เป็นได้ แต่ก็คงดังเช่นที่เบนจามิน แฟรงคลิน (Benjamin Franklin) ได้กล่าวไว้ “ผู้ที่ยอมจำนนต่อความขลาดกลัวในการที่จะตีแผ่สิ่งที่เป็นประโยชน์ต่อสาธารณะชนเพื่อซื้อความปลอดภัยเพียงเล็กน้อยให้กับตัวเองนั้น เขาผู้นั้นไม่สมควรได้รับอะไรเป็นเครื่องตอบแทนเลย นอกจากความขลาดกลัวและความไม่ปลอดภัย”
Chapter 1
The Credit Game
For many years, I researched various strategies for attaining the personal and financial freedom that comes with debt-free wealth. I spent thousands of dollars on books, tapes, newsletters, and home study courses. I attended seminars and consulted with self-proclaimed experts on real estate, creative financing, positive thinking, multilevel marketing, mail-order publishing, and other plans. Some were very valuable and informative; others were total rip-offs. I also came across several underground books that claimed to reveal inside secrets and strategies for beating the system. Some of these books contained very interesting and useful information. Others turned out to be not only completely illegal, but frightening as well.
I finally began to get discouraged. None of these plans live up to their promises. The only people who seemed to be getting rich were the promoters themselves. I was tired of being ripped off. I still couldn't help thinking, however, that there must be a way for someone like myself, with an average education and abilities, to get ahead in the world.
One day I attended a seminar in Riverside, Calif., led by an authority on consumer credit. The seminar also featured a former credit bureau executive turned consumer advocate. I listened intently as they took turns explaining credit bureau operations, consumer rights under the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA), how to have negative information removed from credit files, and the secrets of establishing a new credit identity. The final hour of the seminar was devoted (past simple-passive) to instructions on setting up a profitable credit consulting firm. I was intrigued (past simple-passive) by the possibilities. Somehow, this seminar seemed a little different than the others. Little did I know that it was about to become a major turning point in my life. I left the seminar with an entirely new understanding of the phrase "knowledge is power”.
Eagerly, I began the process of clearing up the wreckage of my past and getting my own house in order. My credit had been devastated (pass perfect-passive) by bankruptcy, divorce, and many years of reckless living. I was amazed (past simple-passive) to discover that, by applying what I had learned at the seminar, in a matter of weeks, companies that had rejected me previously were suddenly begging me to take their credit cards.
For several years I worked as a credit consultant with my own company. By working with others, I discovered that most people had information in their credit files that was obsolete, inaccurate, or misleading. In many cases, the information belonged to someone else with a similar name. I discovered that people were being discriminated (Past Continuous-Passive) against and turned down for credit, insurance, jobs, and even places to live because of a clerical error.
During this time I was involved (past simple-passive) in a lawsuit against TRW Information Services (now called Experian), one of the largest and most powerful of the consumer credit reporting services or credit bureaus. That prompted me to do some additional research into the way credit bureaus violated the rights of citizens.
The culmination of this research was the publication of How to Beat the Credit Bureaus: The Insider's Guide to Consumer Credit. This book shows how credit bureaus violate the Fair Credit Reporting Act, and it presents case studies of people who have taken legal action against the bureaus on grounds of defamation, invasion of privacy, and negligence.
บทสรุปของการวิจัยถูกตีพิมพ์ไว้ในหนังสือชื่อ How to Beat the Credit Bureaus ซึ่งเป็นหนังสือแนะนำแนวทางต่างๆ ให้กับผู้บริโภค โดยเนื้อหาภายในได้เผยให้เห็นว่า บริษัทข้อมูลเครดิตละเมิดต่อกฎหมายการรายงานข้อมูลเครดิตด้วยความเป็นธรรมอย่างไรบ้าง และได้เสนอกรณีตัวอย่างของผู้คนที่ถูกปฏิบัติในลักษณะที่เป็นการสบประมาท รุกล้ำความเป็นส่วนตัว และไม่ได้รับการเอาใจใส่จากบริษัทข้อมูลเครดิตอย่างถูกกฎหมาย
Consequently, hundreds of lawsuits were filed (past simple-passive) against the major credit bureaus throughout the country. TRW was among them, with the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and 19 states filing law suits against it. The credit bureaus were forced (past simple-passive) to make it easier for consumers to obtain information regarding their files and also to dispute erroneous information. TRW and Equifax awarded thousands of dollars in damages to consumers and agreed to major concessions and policy changes.
Meanwhile, with 70 percent of American consumers as potential clients, the credit repair industry developed quickly to meet the needs of the millions of individuals with poor credit ratings. Along the way, a parade of con artists and self-proclaimed credit gurus took advantage of an opportunity, leaving behind a wake of bare-pocketed consumers. In recent years, American consumers have lost more than $50 million collectively by hiring fly-by-night operators to "fix" their credit reports-with little or no results. Thousands of consumers have complained of being ripped off by unscrupulous promoters of credit repair scams. In an attempt to put a stop to these companies and their deceptive practices, new legislation has been passed.
The following pages provide a shocking inside look at the scams used by credit clinics to bilk millions of dollars from gullible consumers on a daily basis. They also explain how you can work to repair your own credit, for little or no money.
There are many types of players in the consumer credit game: creditors, credit reporting bureaus, credit repair agencies, the Federal Trade Commission, Congress, and state authorities, not to mention lobbyists at both the state and federal levels. All of them are in
the game to make money or protect a means of making it, or to regulate the industry, but none of these players are truly here for you, the individual consumer of credit. Every person who uses credit (more than 90 percent of all American adults) should become familiar with
the agencies that influence his or her credit reputations. Knowledge is the first and best avenue to power the individual consumer can have. A brief introduction to the major characters follows, and you will find expanded information in the chapters that follow.
Creditors
For the purposes of this discussion, a creditor is any company, organization, or institution that permits you to use future income to purchase goods and services today. A creditor could be the issuer of a credit card, the company that holds your mortgage, or the bank that helped finance your auto loan. In exchange for advancing you credit to purchase goods or services, creditors expect repayment with interest. Creditors have a keen interest in your payment habits: Will you pay on time? Will you pay the full amount? What have other creditors experienced with you in the past? Many creditors rely on another major player in the credit game (the credit reporting service) to provide them with information about your credit history.
Credit reporting services
There are more than 1,200 credit reporting services in the United States, but there are three in particular that every credit consumer should get to know: Experian, Equifax, and Trans Union. These are national/ international agencies that collect credit history information on hundreds of millions of American consumers. This information is provided to them by individual creditors (such as department stores, mortgage companies, and banks), known as subscribers in credit bureau parlance. (Public information, including bankruptcy filings and other legal actions, is also collected by the credit reporting bureaus.) Creditors then purchase complete credit histories on individual consumers from the bureaus. These credit histories are used to evaluate a consumer's creditworthiness when considering extension of credit. Other agencies or individuals may purchase credit information as well, including employers, insurance agencies, and law enforcement agencies.
The three major credit bureaus each have affiliate bureaus that collect credit history information on a more regional basis. These regional agencies enter into a relationship with one of the big three bureaus, with the regional agency storing its information on the national bureau's database. There are also mortgage reporting agencies, which are localized agencies that serve the real estate market and provide credit reports that are a composite of information available through the major credit bureaus.
Experian
Experian, formerly TRW Inc., is based in Orange, Calif. It is one of the nation's largest computerized consumer credit reporting services, maintaining credit information on more than 180 million consumers in the United States. Experian collects and stores that information and provides it to subscribers that have a "permissible purpose" to use it as defined by the Fair Credit Reporting Act (FCRA). Permissible purposes include granting credit, hiring for employment, and underwriting insurance policies. (*** สินธร) Organizations and companies that subscribe to Experian's service include credit grantors, employers, and insurance underwriters.
Experian entered the credit reporting business when, as TRW, it acquired Credit Data Corporation in 1969. This bureau, originally the Detroit-based Michigan Merchants Credit Association, was founded (past simple-passive) in 1932. In the early 1960s, the company used file cabinets and three-by-five cards to store consumer credit information. In 1965, Credit Data initiated and installed the first computerized, online credit reporting system. For more than two decades, TRW was the technological leader in the credit reporting industry. It was the first to automate its nationwide database to ensure that consumers' credit histories were kept (past simple-passive) when they moved or changed their names.
Mental workouts
The humble crossword is rapidly becoming a celebrity, alongside other A-listers of the puzzle world, such as Sudoku and Kakuro. After decades spent languishing in the comparative obscurity of puzzle pages and specialist publications, brainteasers have sud¬denly invaded (present perfect – active) centre spreads and front pages. What has propelled such previously unassuming pastimes into the spotlight?
It turns out that puzzles are not simply' a bit of fun' or a divert¬ing amusement - they are actually good for you, providing the cognitive (meaning thinking and related activities) equivalent of physical exercise. There is a growing body of evidence that mental exercise of the sort offered by brainteasers and puzzles can bene¬fit you in two ways: braintenance and cognitive boosting.
Braintenance
Braintenance is the ungainly but popular term increasingly used to describe the idea of maintaining your brain so that it retains its functions and health and so that the ageing process is slowed. (present simple – passive) Braintenance may even help to slow or prevent the onset of dementia and Alzheimer's disease.
Health experts have long suspected that following a healthy lifestyle - taking regular cardiovascular exercise, following a low fat diet, avoiding smoking and drinking and reducing stress, helps to protect against strokes and to maintain a healthy blood supply to the brain. But a number of studies, including a particularly impressive long-term study into the cognitive and brain health of a group of nuns in Mankato, Minnesota, have shown (present perfect – active) that this kind of healthy lifestyle, in addition to some other factors, can make the difference between cognitive decline and dementia on the one hand, and a fully active, sharp mind that lasts into extreme old age, on the other.
The 'other factors', identified by David Snowdon of the Sanders-Brown Center on Aging at the University of Kentucky in Lexington, in his 'Mankato Nun Study', included a positive attitude to life, a degree of spirituality, a good supply of folic acid, and a regular programme of cognitive exercise in the form of adult education (lifelong learning), wide reading, stimulating discussion and a prediliction for crosswords, puzzles and other such pastimes.
ส่วนคำว่า “ปัจจัยอื่นๆ” ซึ่งกำหนดขึ้นโดยเดวิด สโนว์ดอน (David Snowdon) แห่งศูนย์ศึกษาทางการอายุแซนเดอร์ บราวน์ (Sanders-Brown Center on Aging) มหาวิทยาลัยเคนทักกี้ในเลกซิงตัน (University of Kentucky in Lexington) ซึ่งได้จากการศึกษาแม่ชีในแมนกาโตนั้น ได้แก่ ทัศนคติที่ดีต่อชีวิต ภาวะของจิตใจ ระดับของการได้รับกรดโฟลิค และการได้รับการกระตุ้นทางการรับรู้อย่างสม่ำเสมอ ซึ่งอาจจะอยู่ในรูปแบบที่หลากหลาย เช่น การศึกษาตลอดชีวิต การอ่านหนังสือไม่จำกัดประเภท การถกเถียงอภิปรายในเชิงสร้างสรรค์ และรวมไปจนกระทั่งถึงการเล่นเกมปริศนาชนิดต่างๆ ด้วย
Cognitive boosting
More controversial, until recently, has been the idea that you could not only maintain your cognitive function but even boost it. Most experts think that IQ is mainly determined (present simple – passive) by genes and environmental factors in early life (for example, nutrition during infancy), which, in turn, means that by adulthood your IQ is largely set. But several studies have shown (present perfect – active) that specific mental exercises can produce measurable changes in the brain which can be observed with brain scan. For instance, a 2005 study from the University of Kentucky in Lexington suggests that regular meditation actually thickens the cortex (the outer layer of the brain) in the regions associated with attention and sensory processing.
Can mental exercise actually boost performance? There's little doubt that familiarity with the material and practice on sample questions can improve your performance on intelligence tests, but recent research goes even further. According to an experiment by the BBC conducted in March 2006, a programme of simple mental exercise (which included puzzles and brainteasers) followed for just one week was enough to boost IQ by up to 40 per cent in some subjects!
Most experts would probably steer shy of making such extrav¬agant claims, but the point is that there is a growing acceptance that mental exercise really works and should be as much a part of a healthy lifestyle as a good diet and physical exercise.
Train your brain
This book is intended (present simple – passive) to introduce you to a range of mental exercises that could help you to achieve both braintenance and cognitive boosting. It presents mental challenges and exercises that seek to test, tease and expand your abilities in a range of areas, including the main abilities or aptitudes that fall under the more general heading of 'intelligence': mental speed, verbal aptitude (ability with words and language), numerical aptitude (ability with numbers and mathematical reasoning), spatial aptitude (ability to think in terms of space, form, shape and pattern), logical aptitude (ability to use logical thinking), creative thinking (especially as applied to problem-solving) and memory (which is involved (present simple – passive) in most, if not all, of the other abilities). There are specific chapters on two of the most popular forms of everyday mental exercise, Sudoku and Kakuro puzzles, which are powerful and fun tools to exercise logical aptitude.
These are not the only mental abilities, nor even the only forms of intelligence. Abilities or traits such as wisdom, knowledge/learn¬ing or emotional intelligence are harder to practise and do not lend themselves to puzzles, games and brainteasers in the same fash¬ion, and so are not dealt with in this book.
Cross training
The challenges, teasers, puzzles, games and exercises come in a wide variety of formats. For instance, you'll find questions like those you might encounter in an IQ test and puzzles like the ones you might see in a newspaper. This reflects the varied nature of the abilities and aptitudes dealt with. Adapting to new and varied mental challenges makes mental exercise more effective, just as cross-training makes physical exercise more effective. Work through the whole book and you'll not only be better equipped to tackle puzzles and games but also mentally fitter, sharper and better prepared for life.
Before you embark on a programme of exercise, it makes sense to find out a bit about what you are exercising. This chapter provides a quick introduction to the brain, the most important organ in your body, the seat of consciousness, the 'wetware', or biological hardware, on which the software of thinking and feeling runs, and the bit you use to tackle your daily Sudoku puzzle.
What is the brain for?
The brain is an organ of control. It controls the systems and processes of the body, while also controlling actions and responses, and, through these, the environment around you. To achieve these varying levels of control, the brain uses several processes. Cells and specialized regions of the brain release chemicals, such as neuro¬transmitters and hormones, which affect other brain cells and other parts of the body via the circulatory system. The brain also uses nerve signals - impulses of electrical energy generated and trans¬mitted by nerve cells - to communicate with other parts of the body via the nervous system, which connects the brain with the rest of the body via the spinal cord. Perhaps the most important function of the brain is the creation of mental processes that range from the highest level of conscious thought, such as mathematical reasoning or musical creativity, to the lowest level of unconscious regulation, such as triggering the onset of sleep or regulating the level of oxygen in your blood.
Overview of the brain
The brain is essentially the highly developed upper end of the spinal cord. Where the spinal cord enters the base of the skull it swell into the brainstem, which governs unconscious processes such as falling asleep or maintaining blood pressure, and the cere¬bellum, which helps to coordinate body movements. Above and surrounding these is the cerebrum, where emotions, memory and consciousness are created. (present simple – passive)
Inside the brain
Between the brainstem and the cerebrum are the limbic system, the thalamus and the hypothalamus. These structures provide a link between the unconscious processes performed by the brain¬stem and the conscious activities of the cerebrum. They are involved (present simple – passive) in the more 'primitive' aspects of being human: emotions, fear and basic survival drives. They also play essential roles in more 'sophisticated' mental abilities, such as learning and memory.
The thalamus and hypothalamus
Information from your senses floods into the thalamus, which sits on top of the brainstem filtering important and relevant informa¬tion to the cerebrum. It helps to turn conscious decisions into real-ity. The hypothalamus is a very small area of tissue with a large area of responsibility. As well as helping to control automatic body processes, such as digestion and urine production, it generates basic drives such as hunger, thirst and even sexual desire.
The limbic system
Most of the brain can be divided into structural groups. The limbic system, however, is a functional group, which includes various structures from different areas of the brain that are involved (present simple – passive) in functions such as emotion, memory and learning. Different combi¬nations of the structures perform slightly different functions. For instance, imagine you are walking home one night and encounter a fierce dog. Your amygdala, an almond-shaped structure next to your hypothalamus, helps to produce feelings of fear and appre¬hension. It also works in conjunction with your hippocampus to link the memory of your canine encounter with the emotions you felt at the time. Your hippocampus works with the mamillary bod¬ies - structures in the base of the hypothalamus - to store these memories, and it is also involved (present simple – passive) when you are learning a new route home that avoids the dog.
The higher brain
It is in the cerebrum, and in particular on its surface, the cerebral cortex, เปลือกสมอง that the abilities that make us human originate. This is where thought, language, logic and imagination happen.
The cerebral hemispheres
The outside surface of the brain, the cerebrum, has two obvious features. First, it is extremely wrinkled, (present simple – passive) which allows a lot of brain to be packed into a small space and maximizes the surface area, or cerebral cortex, where the most active parts are found. (present simple – passive) Second, it is split longwise down the middle to give two halves or hemi¬spheres. Although they look almost identical, the two hemispheres have different functions. They play profoundly different roles in a number of areas - emotion, language, maths - and in the way they deal with information from the senses. Each hemisphere is made up (present simple – passive) of four lobes, each of which has specialized functions. At the back of the brain are the occipital lobes, which are mainly con¬cerned (present simple – passive) with vision. At the back and top of the brain are the parietal lobes, which are where sensations from different parts of the body, such as touch and heat, are consciously felt. (present simple – passive) At the front of the brain are the frontal lobes, where voluntary muscle movements originate and where 'higher' intellectual functions, such as plan¬ning or mathematical reasoning, are located. (present simple – passive) At the sides of the brain are the temporal lobes, which are involved (present simple – passive) in smell, hearing and language.
Distributed function
Bear in mind that all these descriptions of what happens where in the brain are only intended (present simple – passive) as rough guides. Mapping brain func¬tion is notoriously difficult, and it used to be entirely dependent on post-mortem exams of human brains that had a dysfunction, usu¬ally as the result of brain damage. One famous case, for instance, was that of Phineas Gage. In 1848, an industrial accident blew a long metal rod through the front of his brain. To everyone's amazement, he recovered physically, but his personality changed overnight. He went from being considerate and responsible to being foul-mouthed, bad-tempered and incapable of making any long-term plans. In 1994, a computer reconstruction showed that Gage had suffered (past perfect - active) damage to precisely the area now believed to control rational behaviour and forethought.
In recent decades, however, more and more advanced scanning techniques have allowed (present perfect – active) scientists to look at brain activity in real time and to observe what happens where as people perform vari¬ous types of task. Such scans reveal that while the areas described above may be among the primary hotspots of activity, most of the brain is active at some level and there may be particular hotspots in regions not traditionally associated with the task in hand. In other words, cognitive functions are distributed (present simple – passive) across the brain.
How the parts of the brain work together
Space precludes a detailed explanation, but here is a whistlestop tour of how the different parts of the brain act together to produce the amazing range of functions of which it is capable.
• Information from your senses, in the form of nerve signals, arrives via the brainstem and passes through the thalami, where signals from differing senses are integrated (present simple – passive) and the information is routed (present simple – passive) to other parts of the brain.
A: Association - ส่วนประสานงาน
B: Body sensations - ความรู้สึกทางร่างกาย
H: Hearing - การได้ยิน
L: Language - ภาษา
M: Movement - การเคลื่อนไหว
S: Speech - การพูด
T: Taste - การรับรส
V: Vision – การเห็น
Broca’s Area – บริเวณโบรคา
Wernicke’s Area – บริเวณเวอร์นิเก
• Sights, sounds and touch sensations travel to various, specialized portions of the cerebral cortex, where they are processed (present simple – passive) and analysed to produce conscious sensations.
• The same parts are involved (present simple – passive) in thinking and formulating a response. Actions, such as speaking or moving, originate as activ¬ity in specialized areas of the cortex, and are then implemented (present simple – passive) with the help of processing by the cerebellum.
This chapter is about the speed at which your brain processes information and carries out tasks, how you can test that speed and, through practice, how to ensure that you are fulfilling your maxi¬mum potential. Sheer mental speed may not seem like the most glamorous or interesting of your mental abilities, but it is possibly the most important one. To understand why, it is necessary to explain how psychologists have investigated (present perfect – active) intelligence, and how they have arrived (present perfect – active) at the conclusion that mental speed may be the ultimate basis of intelligence.
Exploring intelligence
This book covers a wide range of tests of mental function; even so, it only scratch the surface of what is available in the world of academia and professional intelligence testing. There are tests for every aspect, component and subcategory of intelligence that psychologists have thought (present perfect – active) up, from general knowledge and vocabulary to mental navigation and maths. Does this mean that there is no such thing as intelligence, as a single, unitary concept? Do the varied aspects/subcategories of intelligence have anything in common? Is there some sort of underlying factor that ties them together? These are some of the big questions in the field of psychometrics (the study of how psychological factors can be measured), and psychologists use complicated statistical calcula¬tions to work out the answers.
English to Thai: Video Surveillance Is The Perfect POS Upsell General field: Tech/Engineering Detailed field: Computers: Systems, Networks
Source text - English Lost.
Translation - Thai ระบบสังเกตการณ์ด้วยกล้องวิดีโอจะสามาถเติมเต็มให้ระบบพีโอเอสได้
ปรับปรุงมูลค่าเพิ่มโดยการพ่วงระบบสังเกตการณ์ด้วยกล้องวิดีโอเข้าไปกับโซลูชันพีโอเอส (Point of Sale Solution) ของคุณ
Send a person to person text message (SMS) – ส่ง SMS ระหว่างบุคคล
Use SMS/MMS service: voting/polls/raffles/TV votes – ใช้บริการ SMS/MMS: โหวต/โพลล์/ชิงโชค/รายการทีวี
Use SMS/MMS service: receive news – ใช้บริการ SMS/MMS: รับข่าวสาร
Use SMS/MMS service: receive sports updates – ใช้บริการ SMS/MMS: ติดตามผลกีฬา
Use SMS/MMS service: receive information – ใช้บริการ SMS/MMS: รับข้อมูลเฉพาะด้าน
Instant Messaging – โต้ตอบข้อความ (Instant Messaging)
Download an Icon/Screensaver/Logo/Ringtone – ดาวน์โหลดไอคอน/สกรีนเซฟเวอร์/โลโก้/ริงโทน
Download games to store on the phone – ดาวน์โหลดเกมมาเก็บไว้ในโทรศัพท์
Send photos taken with camera phone to another – ส่งรูปที่ถ่ายด้วยโทรศัพท์ที่มีกล้อง
Access personal wireless email service – ใช้อีเมล์ผ่านเครือข่ายไร้สายส่วนบุคคล
Download MP3 files, short video clips via mobile phone – ดาวน์โหลดไฟล์ MP3 และวิดีโอคลิป
Play games offline – เล่นเกมออฟไลน์
Play online mobile game – เล่นเกมออนไลน์ผ่านโทรศัพท์มือถือ
Pay for small transactions via SMS – ทำธุรกรรมทางการเงินเล็กๆ ผ่าน SMS
Pay for small transactions via reader – ทำธุรกรรมทางการเงินเล็กๆ ผ่านเครื่องอ่าน
% of respondents – % ของผู้ตอบแบบสอบถาม
Weekly – ต่อสัปดาห์
Monthly – ต่อเดือน
English to Thai: IT Survey 6 General field: Marketing Detailed field: Marketing
Categories: Software
20 เปอร์เซ็นต์ขององค์กรต่างๆ มีการใช้งานระบบ BI บนซอฟต์แวร์ Open Source อยู่
จากองค์กรต่างๆ ที่สำรวจโดย Ventana Research พบว่า กว่า 20 เปอร์เซ็นต์ขององค์กรเหล่านั้นมีการติดตั้งใช้งานระบบ BI (Business Intelligence) ในสภาวะแวดล้อมการใช้งานแบบ Open Source แล้ว และอีกกว่า 19 เปอร์เซ็นต์ที่กำลังพัฒนาระบบ BI ด้วยซอฟต์แวร์ค่าย Open Source อยู่ นอกจากนี้ยังมีอีกกว่า 43 เปอร์เซ็นต์ที่กำลังพิจารณาระบบ BI แบบ Open Source ด้วยเช่นกัน
ในจำนวนองค์กรที่สำรวจนั้น กว่า 11 เปอร์เซ็นต์เลยทีเดียวที่มีการติดตั้งระบบ BI ที่ทำงานบนซอฟต์แวร์ Open Source ให้กับผู้ใช้งานในองค์กรเกินกว่า 1,000 เครื่องแล้ว ขณะที่อีก 38 เปอร์เซ็นต์กำลังวางแผนที่จะที่พัฒนาระบบให้รองรับผู้ใช้งานในองค์กรได้เกินกว่า 1,000 คนด้วยเช่นกัน และมีเพียง 4 เปอร์เซ็นต์ของผู้ตอบแบบสอบถามเท่านั้นที่ระบุชัดเจนว่า พวกเขาไม่มีแผนการเกี่ยวกับการติดตั้งใช้งานระบบ BI บน Open Source เพิ่มเติมแต่อย่างใด
English to Thai: IT Survey 7 General field: Marketing Detailed field: Marketing
เว็บไซต์อีคอมเมิร์ชยอดนิยมในสหราชอาณาจักร
GUS 11%
Amazon Sites 10%
Tesco Stores 7%
Littlewoods Shop Direct 6%
Apple Computer, Inc. 5%
Play.com Sites 5%
NEXT Group 3%
Ticketmaster 3%
The Carphone Warehouse Group 2%
Groupe PPR 2%
แหล่งข้อมูล: comScore
Categories: Software dev
นอร์เวย์เป็นประเทศที่มีการพัฒนา Open Source มากที่สุด
United Nations University ได้ทำการเปรียบเทียบจำนวนการใช้บริการ Mailing List Postings ที่เป็นเรื่องเกี่ยวกับ Open Source จากประเทศต่างๆ กับความแพร่หลายในการใช้งานอินเทอร์เน็ตในแต่ละประเทศแล้วพบว่า นอร์เวย์เป็นประเทศที่มีโครงการที่เกี่ยวข้องกับการพัฒนา Open Source มากที่สุด
English to Thai: IT Survey 14 General field: Marketing Detailed field: Marketing
Source text - English 53% of broadband value-added revenues come from security, 24% - from ASP
• Broadband
Broadband value-added services for business users showed revenue growth of just over 60% during 2004, Point Topic says. At the start of 2004, revenue was running at a yearly rate of around $2.3 bln. This figure grew to $3.7 bln by year-end 2004. Growth in BVAS revenues was lower than the rate of growth in the number of business broadband lines. These grew from 10.6 mln to 19 mln during 2004, an increase of 79%. Most businesses continue to obtain and use their broadband connections just for Internet access and related applications such as email. Relatively few use broadband to increase the efficiency of their internal business processes.
Business broadband access revenues (the total revenue from installation and connection charges) grew more slowly than the number of lines during 2004, increasing by just under 50% from $13 bln to $19 bln. This was because of reducing average tariff levels during the year. So, by the start of 2005, business value-added services were therefore adding around 19% to basic revenues, a very slight increase from the 18% contribution at the beginning of 2004. For the year of 2004 as a whole, Point Topic estimates that the contribution of BVAS was also 19% of total revenues.
74% of US students prefer online stores for textbooks
• E-commerce
TechDirt points to a survey by Campus Market Research, which says that 91% of US College students are online daily, 74% prefer to buy textbooks at online stores, and few would ever buy an item featured in a pop-up ad or junk e-mail.
42% of offline retailers combine online research data with offline purchase history
• E-commerce
42% of the Web analytics buyers surveyed by Forrester Research reported importing data from other customer touch points (such as point of sale systems and call centers) monthly or more frequently, up from 23% that did so in 2004. 25% of those surveyed correlate user survey data with site analytics to build customer profiles that link attitudes with behavior. 36% said they export site analytic data to a corporate data warehouse, while 39% cross-match site registration data with clickstream data.
93% of Web users annoyed by pop-ups, 89% by prompts to install extra software
• E-commerce
More than 70% of consumers are unlikely to purchase from or come back to a web site after encountering a pet peeve. What are the most frequent pet peeves in the Hostway survey? 93% of consumers say pop-up ads are annoying or extremely annoying. 89% are annoyed at the need to install extra software. 86% said dead links are annoying or extremely annoying. 84% said confusing navigation is annoying or extremely annoying. 83% express annoyance with registration log-on pages that block access to online content.
88% of vacation buyers use Internet for planning and shopping
• E-commerce
88% of online consumers used the internet in purchasing and planning their 2005 summer vacations, Feedback Research (a division of Claria) found. 61% of respondents going on summer vacation in 2005 had purchased or planned to purchase airline tickets online.
Top 10 countries for music piracy: Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Paraguay, Russia, Spain, and Ukraine
• Music
The top 10 countries where piracy is "at unacceptable levels" are Brazil, China, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Pakistan, Paraguay, Russia, Spain, and Ukraine. In China 85% of music sold is pirated, International Federation of the Phonographic Industry said. In Indonesia the rate is 80%. Mexico, Russia, and Ukraine are all cited as having piracy rates of 60% or higher. 31 countries have larger pirated-music markets than commercial ones.
98% of Japanese mobile music downloads were to cell phones
• Music
Cell phone downloads including complete songs and ring tone melodies totaled 108.9 mln songs during the first half of the year and were worth 13.6 bln yen ($123 mln), according to Recording Industry Association of Japan. Legal music downloads from the Internet to devices like portable music players totaled 2.2 mln songs and were worth 538.8 mln yen.Cell phone downloads accounted for 98% of the market by song and 96% by yen value during the first half of 2005.
Enterprise server OS market shares: Windows - 65-70%, Linux - 15-20%
• OS
Windows commands 65-70% of the corporate server operating system market, while the Linux share stands at 15-20%. Currently, Linux server shipments represent the fastest-growing segment of the market, Yankee Group says.
Search engine customer satisfaction: Google - 82, Yahoo! - 80, MSN - 75, Ask - 72
• Search engines
Customer satisfaction with e-business continued its climb, rising 4.7% since 2004 to 75.9 on the American Customer Satisfaction Index 100-point scale. E-business narrowed the gap with the ACSI e-commerce measure (78.6) and exceeded the national ACSI average (73.1) for the first time ever. As far as online search engines, Google received 82, Yahoo! ended up with 80, MSN is at 75, Ask.com is at 72, while AOL received the score of 71.
Half of online Americans have used WiFi hotspots, 20% use them frequently
• Wireless data
According to the Q2 2005 In-Stat Hotspot End-User Survey, nearly half of the 579 respondents use or have used hotspot services. Furthermore, 20% of respondents use these services frequently. While still slightly over half of the market has not used hotspots in the past, all respondents at least might consider using the service, with 17% indicating strong intent to do so. Nearly two-thirds of survey respondents that have used hotspots indicated plans to use the services more in the future. While 20% anticipated using the service at about the same level as they currently do, only 2% had plans to use the service less. While usage is expected to grow, it is possible that some of this growth in usage will be in the free access venues that are appearing, rather in the for fee locations.
82% of consumer magazines plan to up their Web efforts within the next 12 months
• WWW
International Federation of the Periodical Press asked magazines about their reasons for going online. 76% want to create new revenue streams and profits in the long term, 67% plan to build a community around the brand, 40% expect to create revenue and profits in the short term, 55% have increased the man-hours devoted to the website compared with 12 months ago, 82% expect to expand their online efforts in the next 12 months.
English to Thai: Building a Great Social Media Team General field: Science Detailed field: Internet, e-Commerce
Source text - English Building a Great Social Media Team
Posted May 16, 2012
Here is your million-dollar question for the day – how many people are in your social media department? I sincerely hope, for your sake and for the sanity of your employees, that you have more than one. And that it isn’t just some college kid you nabbed as an unpaid intern.
Before I hired our current social media manager, we didn’t have a very strong department because everything rested on the shoulders of one guy. He wasn’t some poor college student I suckered into an unpaid internship, but I now realize he had way more work than he could handle. Social media is so much more than just plugging products on Facebook – it’s about maintaining a conversation, building organic relationships, and making sure the social media department isn’t veering off course and one person can’t shoulder that responsibility alone. If you’re office is still expecting the world from one person, here are some tips on who to hire for a top social media team.
A Manager
Duh, right? Even though the little tidbit of advice to “hire a manager” seems painfully obvious, there are plenty of social media departments that don’t have one. They may have a couple of employees who write blog posts and send funny cat pictures to the office, but those employees need direction. Social media is not self-directing – you can’t just tell your employees that they need to have X amount of Facebook followers or they’ll have to stay late. A manager that has experience in running social media campaigns has a good idea of what a strong campaign looks like, and what needs to get done. They can translate those ideas into jobs for your employees, and help ensure everything tweeted/blogged/written is worthy of bearing your company’s name.
Team Members
Notice that I said team member(s). As in, more than one person. The company I own has three members in its social media department, and I’ve noticed that seems to be a great amount for a medium sized business like ours. If you just have a manager and just one person under them, that employee may begin to feel unappreciated or overworked. Three people can divide work and bring their own perspectives as to how your company should approach social media. Like I said, social media is an organic experience – it is constantly growing and changing. You need to have more than one voice in your department, or your campaigns will stagnate. If you are big enough to have a social media department at all, you are big enough to have at least three employees in it.
An Analyst…or something like one
ROI can make your social media employees very touchy. Working within this field requires that you have a creative mind, and creativity hates being constrained to a numerical value. But you need something quantifiable to make sure your social marketing is headed in the right direction. Hundreds of Facebook followers are great, but if none of them are buying anything then what’s the point? ROI of social media is a growing field, and it can be difficult to judge social media engagement and any outcomes from it adequately.
Recognition, however, is widely agreed to lead to sales. We have a great PR team that keeps an eye on our social media engagement, and lets us know if they see social marketing bleed into our traditional marketing. You don’t even have to have a PR team – just have some basis to judge your growth on. You, as the CEO, can be the voice of analysis simply by judging if you like what is happening and then communicating what you’d like to see changed to your social media manager. It’s a little unscientific, but it can work if you’re willing to be hands-on.
But the person who oversees blogging shouldn’t oversee analytics, and that intern who fetched your coffee this morning should not be given the keys to your social media campaign. Don’t waste any time or money on a subpar department – build a good team, give them a goal, and let them build your company’s social presence.
Translation - Thai การสร้างทีมงาน Social Media ที่ดี
ต่อไปนี้เป็นคำถามเงินล้านสำหรับยุคปัจจุบันเลยทีเดียว นั่นก็คือคำถามที่ว่า ในตอนนี้คุณมีพนักงานแผนก Social Media อยู่กี่คน? และผมคาดหวังอย่างจริงใจ เพื่อเห็นกับตัวคุณเอง และพนักงานผู้นั้นด้วย หวังว่าคุณคงจะมีมากกว่าหนึ่งคน และเขาคงไม่ได้เป็นเพียงเด็กจบใหม่หรือเด็กฝึกงานเท่านั้น
ก่อนที่ผมจะจ้างผู้จัดการแผนก Social Media คนปัจจุบันนี้ แผนกดังกล่าวของผมมันไม่มีความมั่นคงเอาเสียเลย เนื่องจากทุกสิ่งทุกอย่างมันไปประเดประดังอยู่ที่คนเพียงคนเดียวเท่านั้น ทั้งๆ ที่เขาก็ไม่ได้เป็นเด็กจบใหม่หรือเด็กฝึกงานที่แทบไม่ต้องจ่ายค่าแรงแต่อย่างใด แต่ผมเพิ่งจะตระหนักเป็นอย่างมากว่าเขามีงานล้นมือจนเกินไปนั่นเอง และงานด้าน Social Media ก็ไม่ได้เป็นแค่การเชื่อมโยงสินค้าและบริการเข้ากับ Facebook เท่านั้น แต่มันเป็นเรื่องของการคงไว้ซึ่งการสื่อสาร สัมพันธภาพระหว่างมนุษย์ด้วยกัน และที่สำคัญคือคุณต้องแน่ใจว่ามันจะไม่พาคุณออกนอกเส้นทาง หรือแม้กระทั่งมีใครเพียงคนใดคนหนึ่งต้องแบกรับมันเอาไว้แต่เพียงผู้เดียว และต่อไปนี้เป็นคำแนะนำบางประการ ต่อการจ้างพนักงานที่เกี่ยวข้องกับเรื่องนี้
ผู้จัดการแผนก
ฟังดูงี่เง่าไปหน่อยรึเปล่า? กับคำแนะนำที่จะให้จ้าง “ผู้จัดการ” สักคนหนึ่ง แน่นอนว่ามันอาจจะฟังขัดหูอยู่บ้างก็ตาม และแผนก Social Media ส่วนใหญ่ก็คงจะยังไม่มีผู้จัดการคนนี้กันเลย แต่พวกเขาคงจะมีพนักงานอยู่จำนวนหนึ่งอย่างแน่นอน ที่ชอบเขียน Blog หรือชอบโพสต์โน่นนี่นั่นอยู่เป็นประจำ หรือแม้กระทั่งส่งรูปแมวกลับมายังออฟฟิศ พวกเขาเหล่านี้จำเป็นต้องได้รับการชี้นำที่เหมาะสม ซึ่งในตัวของมันเองแล้ว Social Media มันทำแบบนั้นไม่ได้ และที่สำคัญก็คือ คุณไม่สามารถไปบอกกับพนักงานของคุณได้ว่า คุณจะสามารถมีเพื่อนๆ ในเฟซบุ๊กได้เท่านั้นเท่านี้คนเท่านั้นนะ หรือไปบอกว่าอย่าเพิ่งไปยุ่งกับมันเลย รอสักพักก่อนดีกว่า ดังนั้นผู้จัดการแผนก Social Media ก็คือบุคคลผู้มีประสบการณ์ในการรันแคมเปญด้าน Social Media และเป็นผู้ที่มีความคิดดีๆ ซึ่งรู้ว่า แคมเปญที่ดีควรจะเป็นอย่างไร และจะต้องใช้ปัจจัยอะไรบ้าง เพื่อผลักดันให้มันประสบผล และผู้จัดการที่ดี ก็จะสามารถเปลี่ยนความคิดให้กลายเป็นงานสำหรับพนักงานได้ และสามารถช่วยให้เรื่องของการเขียน Blog และการ Tweet ข้อความ เป็นสิ่งที่มีความหมายต่อบริษัทได้
สมาชิกของทีมงาน
สังเกตดูจะเห็นว่าผมจะใช้คำว่าสมาชิกของทีมเสมอ นั่นหมายความว่ามันต้องมีมากกว่าหนึ่งคนแน่นอน สำหรับบริษัทของผมจะมีอยู่สามคนที่อยู่ในแผนก Social Media และผมพบว่ามันเป็นจำนวนที่เหมาะสมแล้ว สำหรับบริษัทขนาดกลางอย่างเรา เพราะถ้าคุณมีผู้จัดการแผนกอยู่หนึ่งคน แล้วปรากฏว่ามีพนักงานอยู่ใต้เขาแค่คนเดียวเท่านั้น เขาก็อาจจะรู้สึกไม่ค่อยภาคภูมิใจนัก ที่สำคัญคืองานทั้งหมดก็จะมากองอยู่ที่เขามากเกินไป ดังนั้นการมีพนักงานสักสามคนจะช่วยให้พวกเขาแบ่งงานกันทำได้ และสามารถนำเอาทัศนคติหรือมุมมองของตัวเองมาใช้ เพื่อกำหนดวิธีที่บริษัทของคุณจะเข้าไปยุ่งเกี่ยวกับ Social Media ได้อย่างเหมาะสมนั่นเอง เพราะผมได้บอกคุณไปแล้ว ว่า Social Media นั้นเป็นประสบการณ์ที่มีชีวิต มันมีการเติบโตและเปลี่ยนแปลงตลอดเวลา ซึ่งในแผนกนี้คุณย่อมต้องการความคิดเห็นมากกว่าหนึ่งความคิดเห็นเป็นแน่ เพราะถ้าไม่เช่นนั้นแคมเปญของคุณก็จะไม่เดินหน้า ดังนั้นถ้าองค์กรของคุณใหญ่มากพอที่จะมีแผนก Social Media ได้ มันก็ย่อมจะใหญ่มากพอ ที่จะมีพนักงานอยู่ในนั้นอย่างน้อยสักสามคน
นักวิเคราะห์ หรือใครก็ตามที่สามารถวิเคราะห์ได้
ผลตอบแทนจากการลงทุนหรือ ROI นั้นสามารถทำให้พนักงาน Social Media ของคุณกระอักกระอ่วนใจได้เหมือนกัน เพราะการทำงานในเรื่องนี้เป็นสิ่งที่ต้องใช้ความคิดสร้างสรรค์ แต่บ่อยครั้งที่ความคิดสร้างสรรค์ก็ไม่ค่อยจะถูกโฉลกกับเรื่องของตัวเลขนัก กระนั้นคุณก็ยังต้องมีอะไรบางอย่างที่สามารถบอกเป็นเชิงปริมาณหรือวัดผลได้ เพื่อให้แน่ใจว่าแผนการด้าน Social Marketing ของคุณจะมุ่งหน้าไปถูกทาง แน่นอนว่าการมีเพื่อนในเฟซบุ๊กเป็นร้อยๆ คนนั้นเป็นเรื่องที่ดี แต่ถ้าพวกเขาไม่จับจ่ายใช้สอยอะไรเลย นั่นก็คงจะเป็นปัญหาอยู่เหมือนกัน ด้วยเหตุนี้เรื่องของ ROI สำหรับ Social Media จึงกำลังได้รับความสนใจ เพราะในตอนนี้มันคงยังไม่ใช่เรื่องที่ง่ายนัก ที่จะไปตัดสินเรื่องของ Social Media และผลตอบแทนของมันได้อย่างชัดเจน
อย่างไรก็ตาม เป็นที่ยอมรับกันโดยทั่วไป ว่ามันสามารถนำไปสู่การขายได้อย่างแน่นอน เรามีทีมงานพีอาร์ที่กำลังจับตาดู Social Media อย่างไม่ให้คาดสายตา แต่เราไม่ได้หมายความว่าคุณจำเป็นต้องมีทีมพีอาร์ของคุณเองแต่อย่างใด ขอเพียงคุณมีบรรทัดฐานในการตัดสินผลิตภาพของคุณเท่านั้นเอง และในฐานะของซีอีโอแล้ว คุณสามารถเป็นกระบอกเสียงให้กับผลการประเมินหรือวิเคราะห์ใดๆ ได้ โดยการตัดสินว่าคุณชอบสิ่งที่เกิดขึ้นหรือไม่ แล้วสื่อสารออกไปว่าคุณต้องการจะเห็นการเปลี่ยนแปลงไปในทางไหน ซึ่งบางครั้งมันอาจจะดูไม่ถูกต้องตามหลักวิทยาศาสตร์อยู่บ้าง แต่มันก็ได้ผลถ้าคุณตั้งใจจะทำให้มันได้ผล
ประเด็นก็คือ ถึงแม้คุณจะไม่สนใจเรื่องของ Blogging เลยก็ตาม แต่คุณก็ไม่ควรจะมองข้ามการวิเคราะห์มันไปเสียสิ้น และที่สำคัญก็คือ พนักงานฝึกหัดที่นั่งอยู่หน้าเครื่องทำกาแฟสดในออฟฟิศคุณเมื่อเช้านี้ ก็ยังไม่ควรจะถูกนำมาใช้เป็นคีย์แมนในแคมเปญ Social Media ของคุณในตอนนี้ อีกทั้งคุณไม่ควรจะไปเสียเงินเสียเวลากับการสร้างแผนกที่ต่ำกว่ามาตรฐาน แต่จงสร้างทีมงานที่ดี มอบเป้าหมายที่ท้าทายให้กับพวกเขา แล้วเปิดโอกาสให้พวกเขาใช้ Social Media สร้างสรรค์จรรโลงบริษัทคุณ
English to Thai: Social Mobile Local is the New Reality for Business General field: Science Detailed field: Internet, e-Commerce
Source text - English http://socialmediatoday.com/synecoretech/512519/social-mobile-local-new-reality-business
Social Mobile Local is the New Reality for Business
Posted May 22, 2012
Thanks to the Internet, the rise of digital marketing is organically playing out like a three-act play. Act I introduces social media to business, compelling brands great and small to accept the relevancy and power of social media marketing. Without much of an intermission comes Act II, the rise of mobile. Thanks to the massive consumer adaptation of smart phones in recent months, companies have had to re-examine their digital marketing efforts through a mobile lens. And finally, before you’ve had time to rush to the bar for a quick nip, comes Act III, the move to local. Social-media-browsing, smart-phone-wielding consumers are increasingly going social mobile to transact business within their community.
Now that the genie’s out of the bottle, consumer integration of social mobile local isn’t going away; in fact, it’s only going to increase with time. Here are a few facts and figures to chew on that underscore this new reality.
SHOW ME THE MONEY
Oftentimes, the best way to verify a new business trend is to follow the money, in this case the ad dollars. In May, BIA/Kelsey, advisor to companies in the social media space, released some impressive estimates on social ad spending, projecting it will reach $4.8 billion in the US this year, $7 billion in 2014, and nearly $10 billion by 2016. Most of that spending will be national, but a growing chunk will come from local ads.¹
In general, BIA/Kelsey projects ad spending will shift from traditional media and direct advertising to digital alternatives. Significantly, they predict that investment in mobile and Internet will account for the largest increase in local ad spending, nearly doubling from $11.1 billion in 2011 to $21.8 billion in five years. Overall, they expect companies will increase their investment in online and mobile advertising by 35.1 percent, while reducing spending in newspapers and magazines, direct mail, TV and radio.²
BIA/Kelsey estimates a compound annual growth rate for local social ads of nearly 30%. Moreover, local will grow from about a quarter of all spending this year to nearly one-third by 2016, thanks in a large part to the smart-phone enabled geo-local capabilities of consumers.²
GET SMART
As smartphone adoption continues to grow nationwide, nearly three-quarters of smartphone owners are accessing their mobile devices to get location-based information in real time. A new study conducted by the Pew Internet & American Life Project found that about 74% of smartphone users utilize location-based services to find information. In addition, one in five (18%) are checking in to local businesses with geo-social services like Foursquare.³
Interestingly, smart phone users are not just Gen Y hipsters. According to data from imrg and eDigital Research, over 50% of smart-phone users in the US are over 35 years of age.
WHAT’S ON OFFER?
Facebook and Google have responded in kind to this trend toward mobile-based local marketing.
On May 3rd, Facebook rolled out its new local marketing platform, Facebook Offers, to all local U.S. companies. With Offers, businesses can distribute coupons or other promotions to fans directly through their news feeds. Facebook isn’t charging anything for the service, and when a Facebook user claims an Offer, his or her friends will see it in their news feed, further amplifying its reach.
Less than a week later (May 9th), Google announced its latest update for Google Maps for Android that supports Google’s Groupon-like daily deal platform, Google Offers. With the new update, local merchants can attract customers to their storefront with free giveaways or coupons that Android users can see pop-up in real time on Google Maps.
SOCIAL MOBILE LOCAL
For businesses, it’s time to get social, think mobile, and spend local.
Social media is in fact a new marketing standard. Time to get social-your customers are.
They’re using mobile devices to access social sites, along with everything else, including ecommerce sites and your website. Better think mobile.
And they’re roaming the streets where they live (and travel) clutching their smartphones and tablets, looking for something to do, or something to buy. Make sure they find you first.
How are you integrating social, mobile, and local into your marketing efforts? If you aren’t what’s holding you back?
¹ eMarketer, “Local Social Ad Spending Set to Surge”
² BIA Kelsey May 2012 Press Release
³ Mashable, “More Smartphone Owners Use Location-Based Products”
Translation - Thai Social Mobile Local คือโลกใหม่สำหรับธุรกิจ
ยุครุ่งเรืองของการตลาดดิจิตอล (digital marketing) กำลังแสดงบทบาทได้อย่างน่าติดตาม ซึ่งดูเหมือนมันจะมีอยู่ 3 กระบวนทัพด้วยกัน กระบวนทัพแรก เป็นการแนะนำ Social Media สู่ธุรกิจ ซึ่งเป็นการกระตุ้นให้ทั้งแบรนด์เล็กและแบรนด์ใหญ่หันมายอมรับพลังอำนาจของ Social Media Marketing และยังไม่ทันไร กระบวนทัพที่สอง ซึ่งก็คือการมาถึงของอุปกรณ์โมบายก็เริ่มต้นขึ้น ซึ่งก็คงต้องขอบคุณความเปลี่ยนแปลงที่เกิดขึ้นกับสมาร์ตโฟน (smart phone) อย่างขนานใหญ่ในช่วงเวลาไม่กี่เดือนที่ผ่านมา ที่ได้ทำให้บริษัทต่างๆ ต้องหันมาทบทวนแผนงาน Digital Marketing ผ่านอุปกรณ์โมบายอีกครั้ง และในที่สุด ยังไม่ทันที่คุณจะลงดานเพื่อพักผ่อนสักเพียงครู่หนึ่งเลย กระบวนทัพที่สามก็เริ่มต้นขึ้น นั่นก็คือขบวนการเคลื่อนย้ายสิ่งต่างๆ สู่ตลาดในระดับท้องถิ่นนั่นเอง
เพียงไม่ถึงสัปดาห์ต่อมา (9 พฤษภาคม) Google ก็ประกาศการอัพเดทครั้งล่าสุดสำหรับ Google Maps for Android ที่สนับสนุนแพลตฟอร์ม Groupon-like Daily Deal ซึ่งสิ่งที่ Google นำเสนอก็คือ ผู้ค้าท้องถิ่นสามารถดึงดูดลูกค้ามายังหน้าร้านของตัวเองได้ด้วยของแจกฟรีหรือคูปองที่ผู้ใช้ Android สามารถเห็นแบบเรียลไทม์ได้ใน Google Maps
โซเชียลและโมบายในระดับท้องถิ่น
สำหรับธุรกิจแล้ว มันคือเวลาของการตอบรับกระแสของสังคม เป็นการนึกคิดแบบโมบาย แต่ใช้จ่ายแบบโลคัล
อันที่จริงแล้ว Social Media ถือเป็นมาตรฐานทางการตลาดแบบใหม่เลยก็ว่าได้ และมันเป็นเวลาของการรับรู้เชิงสังคมในแบบที่ลูกค้าของคุณเป็น ไม่ใช่ในแบบที่คุณเป็น
พวกเขากำลังใช้อุปกรณ์โมบายเพื่อแอ็กเซสเข้าใช้งาน Social Site ต่างๆ ซึ่งมันเป็นทุกอย่างในคราวเดียวกัน มันเป็นทั้ง Ecommerce Site และ Website ของตัวคุณเอง ดังนั้นการคิดแบบโมบายน่าจะเป็นคำตอบที่ดีที่สุด
เพราะพวกเขากำลังเดินทางจากถนนสายหนึ่ง ไปยังถนนอีกสายหนึ่ง ซึ่งเป็นที่ที่พวกเขาอาศัยอยู่ (และเดินทางด้วย) พร้อมๆ กับการกดปุ่มสมาร์ตโฟนหรือแท็บเล็ตของเขา แล้วก็มองหาอะไรบางอย่างทำ หรือไม่ก็มองหาอะไรบางอย่างเพื่อซื้อ ดังนั้นคุณต้องแน่ใจว่าพวกเขาจะเห็นคุณเป็นอันดับแรกๆ
ดังนั้นคำถามสำคัญก็คือ คุณจะสามารถอินทิเกรตเรื่องของ Social, Mobile และ Local เข้าเป็นแผนการตลาดของคุณได้ดีเพียงใด เพราะถ้าคุณไม่ทำ หรือทำมันไม่ได้ดี คุณก็จะย่ำอยู่กับที่ หรือกระทั่งถอยหลังลงคลองไปเลย
English to Thai: Smart cards get fare play General field: Tech/Engineering Detailed field: Computers: Systems, Networks
David de Kozan รองประธานฝ่ายบริการการตลาดกล่าวว่า “ด้วย CBC ทำให้ผู้ให้บริการรถประจำทางมีทางเลือกในการตัดสินใจมากขึ้นเพื่อออกระบบบริหารที่เริ่มต้นด้วยการเก็บค่าโดยสาร และส่งผ่านไประบบบริหารส่วนกลาง หรือขยายขอบเขตโดยการใช้สมาร์ทการ์ดต่อไปในภายหลัง”
ระบบที่ง่ายกว่า
De Kozan กล่าวว่า หน้าที่หลักของคนขับรถโดยสารก็คือ ขับรถด้วยความปลอดภัยและตรงต่อเวลา ส่วน CBC นั้น De Kozan กล่าวว่า “เป็นวิธีง่าย ๆ และอัตโนมัติในการช่วยรับผิดชอบการเก็บค่าโดยสาร และติดต่อสื่อสารสถานะของรถกับออฟฟิศเป็นหลัก”
คำบรรยายรูป
ทีมออกแบบของ ASUS ใช้ส่วนประกอบต่าง ๆ ของ Motherboard ในการสร้างผลงานชิ้นเอกขึ้นมาอีกครั้งหนึ่ง
BW: เมื่อ ASUS เข้าสู่อุตสาหกรรมโทรศัพท์มือถือเป็นครั้งแรกนั้น ผู้ที่ถูกขนานนามว่าผู้เชี่ยวชาญทั้งหลายต่างก็ไม่คิดว่า ASUS ควรจะเข้ามาเล่นในสนามนี้ แต่ก็ดูเหมือนว่าธุรกิจโทรศัพท์มือถือของคุณกำลังไปได้ดี อะไรคือความลับของความสำเร็จดังกล่าว
“ลูกค้าจำนวนหนึ่งกำลังอยู่ในภาวะเฝ้าคอยและสังเกตดู (Wait-and-See Mode) อยู่” Rob Bois นักวิเคราะห์ของ ARM Research Inc. ในเมือง Boston กล่าว “พวกเขาอาจจะประเมินและมองหาทางเลือกอื่นที่เป็นไปได้เหมือนกัน ถ้าออราเคิลก้าวไปในทิศทางที่พวกเขาไม่ชอบใจนัก”
“ค่อนข้างจะชัดเจนว่าการได้มาครั้งนี้มีความเสี่ยงที่ลูกค้าจะหนีหายอยู่พอสมควร” Marc Hebert รองประธานบริหารของ Sierra Atlantic Inc. ในเมือง Fremont รัฐ California กล่าว “ออราเคิลจะต้องดำเนินการเช่นเดียวกับที่เคยทำตอนที่ได้ PeopleSoft มา เพื่อหลีกเลี่ยงการสูญเสียลูกค้าไป เป็นไปได้ว่าลูกค้ากำลังสับสนอยู่เหมือนกัน เพราะการควบรวมกิจการดังกล่าวได้ทำให้มีเครื่องมือ (Tools) ในระบบ CRM ทำงหน้าที่เหมือนกันถึงสี่ตัวด้วยกัน แล้วยังมีสายผลิตภัณฑ์อื่นๆ ที่ทับซ้อนกันอีก” Marc Hebert เสริม พร้อมกับทิ้งท้ายว่า “พวกเขาจะต้องออกมาชี้แจงให้ชัดเจนกว่าปีที่แล้วว่า พวกเขาจะทำยังไงกับซีเบลกันแน่”
English to Thai: ShouldISaveFilesOnTheDesktop General field: Science Detailed field: IT (Information Technology)
English to Thai: RFID In Tune With Music Concert Needs General field: Science Detailed field: Computers: Hardware
Source text - English Lost.
Translation - Thai RFID กำลังประสานเสียงเข้ากับธุรกิจคอนเสิร์ต
ผู้ผลิตบัตรผ่านประตูรายนี้ได้ผันตัวเองมาเป็นโซลูชันโพรไวเดอร์โดยการพัฒนาระบบอ่านบัตรประตูด้วยเทคโนโลยี RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) ซึ่งปัจจุบันได้ถูกใช้โดยผู้จัดงานคอนเสิร์ตกลางแจ้งรายหนึ่ง ซึ่งคอนเสิร์ตดังกล่าวมีการจัดต่อเนื่องนานถึง 3 วันเลยทีเดียว
บริษัท National Ticket (Shamokin, PA) ไม่ได้ก่อตั้งขึ้นมาเพื่อที่จะเป็นโซลูชันโพรไวเดอร์แต่อย่างใด จริง ๆ แล้วพวกเขาเป็นบริษัทรับพิมพ์ตั๋วหรือบัตรผ่านประตูเข้างานต่าง ๆ เท่านั้น บริษัทแห่งนี้จัดทำบัตรผ่านประตูและปลอกข้อมือให้กับบริษัทต่าง ๆ ที่เป็นผู้จัดแข่งขันกีฬา จัดงานเทศกาล หรือมหรสพกลางแจ้งเท่านั้น แต่เนื่องจากเทคโนโลยี RFID (radio frequency identification) กำลังก้าวหน้าขึ้นตามลำดับ และลูกค้าบางรายก็เริ่มมีความต้องการที่จะใช้มันจัดการกับงานด้านบัตรผ่านประตูของพวกเขา ซึ่ง National Ticket เองก็ตระหนักดีว่า RFID น่าจะเป็นสิ่งที่พวกเขามองหาอยู่ “เรารู้ว่า RFID จะสร้างความเปลี่ยนแปลงอย่างมากในอุตสาหกรรมผลิตบัตรผ่านประตู และเราจำเป็นต้องคอยดูว่า เราจะมีส่วนร่วมกับสิ่งนั้นได้อย่างไรบ้าง” John Conway ผู้จัดการแผนก RFID และนักวิเคราะห์ระบบของ National Ticket กล่าว
ตัดปัญหาเรื่องการนับผิด
National Ticket ได้พัฒนาระบบบัตรผ่านประตูด้วย RFID ซึ่งเป็นการเลียนแบบวิธีการที่ตั๋วกระดาษเคยถูกใช้มาก่อน แต่สามารถปิดโอกาสในการคดโกงหรือจากการนับจำนวนบัตรผิดพลาดได้ คอมพิวเตอร์มือถือที่เป็นเครื่องอ่าน RFID ในตัวจะถูกใช้งานโดยเจ้าหน้าที่ของผู้จัดงานนั้น ๆ เพื่อคอยตรวจตราผู้ผ่านประตูเข้าออกตลอดเวลา และเมื่อผู้คนผ่านเข้างานไปหมดแล้ว ข้อมูลต่าง ๆ ที่บันทึกไว้ก็สามารถนำมาดาวน์โหลดเข้าเครื่องพีซีที่ทำงานด้วยฐานข้อมูลชนิดใดชนิดหนึ่งก็ได้ รวมทั้งสามารถสรุปยอดต่าง ๆ ที่ต้องการได้โดยทันที ดังนั้น ด้วยป้าย RFID ที่ถูกฝังอยู่ในบัตรผ่านประตู บรรดาบัตรปลอมทั้งหลาย (ปัญหาหลักของทุกงาน) ก็จะถูกตรวจพบได้โดยง่ายดาย “งานคอนเสิร์ต หรืองานเทศกาลบางแห่งที่จัดติดต่อกันหลายวัน ซึ่งอาจมีค่าบัตรเข้าชมราว ๆ 200 เหรียญนั้น อาจจะเป็นเหตุให้เกิดความสูญเสียได้เป็นจำนวนไม่น้อยเลยทีเดียว” Conway กล่าว
การจัดคอนเสิร์ตกลางแจ้งเป็นเวลา 3 วันใน Ohio ซึ่งแต่เดิมเคยประสบกับปัญหาบัตรปลอมเสมอ แต่ปัจจุบันได้ใช้บริการ RFID ของ National Ticket แล้ว และโดยทั่วไป นอกจากบัตรผ่านประตูหน้างานแล้ว ผู้จัดยังต้องขายเหรียญที่ใช้สำหรับแลกสินค้าหรือบริการในงานให้กับผู้เข้าชมเพื่อใช้แทนเงินสดด้วย อย่างไรก็ตาม ด้วยบัตรผ่านประตูแบบ RFID นี้ จำนวนเงินที่ลูกค้าจ่ายล่วงหน้าสามารถบันทึกลงป้าย RFID และอ่านด้วยเครื่องอ่าน RFID ซึ่งประจำตามจุดต่าง ๆ ทั่วงานได้ ทำให้ไม่มีความจำเป็นต้องใช้เหรียญดังกล่าวอีกต่อไป สำหรับงานที่จัดขึ้นในครั้งนี้นั้น National Ticket ต้องพิมพ์บัตรผ่านประตูจำนวน 9,000 ใบ และเช่าคอมพิวเตอร์มือถือยี่ห้อ Jett CE ผลิตภัณฑ์ของ Two Technologies, Inc (Horsham, PA) ซึ่งมีฟังก์ชันเป็นเครื่องอ่าน RFID ในตัวจำนวน 10 เครื่อง โดย National Ticket ทำสัญญาเช่าจาก RentQuick.com (Fishersville, VA) ซึ่งเป็นบริษัทให้เช่าอุปกรณ์ไอทีที่มีคอมพิวเตอร์มือถือยี่ห้อดังกล่าวให้บริการอยู่ และหลังจากงานเสร็จสิ้นลุล่วงไปแล้ว ผู้จัดคอนเสิร์ตได้เปิดเผยว่า ซอฟต์แวร์ทางด้านระบบ RFID สามารถอ่านบัตรได้โดยไม่ผิดพลาดเลย และคอมพิวเตอร์มือถือเองก็ทำงานได้โดยไม่ติดขัดแต่อย่างได
โซลูชัน RFID … หนึ่งในทางเลือกที่ลงตัว
จริง ๆ แล้ว National Ticket เองก็รู้จักเทคโนโลยีในการระบุตัวตนชนิดอื่น ๆ เช่น บาร์โค้ด หรือสมาร์ทการ์ด ซึ่งสามารถนำมาใช้ในงานระบบบัตรผ่านประตูได้เช่นกัน อย่างไรก็ตาม พวกเขาเห็นว่า RFID นั้นเหมาะสมกับกระบวนการผลิตในปัจจุบันของ National Ticket มากที่สุด “การเพิ่มป้าย RFID เป็นเพียงส่วนหนึ่งของขั้นตอนทั้งหมดของเรา” Conway กล่าว “เราเพียงแต่ติดป้าย RFID ลงไปอีกชั้นหนึ่งในบัตรผ่านประตูหรือปลอกข้อมือเท่านั้น” ระบบดังกล่าวต้องใช้เวลาถึง 8 เดือนในการพัฒนาแอพพลิเคชันและทดสอบความสามารถในการอ่านข้อมูลในระยะต่าง ๆ ได้อย่างแม่นยำ หลังจากนั้น National Ticket จึงได้นำมันออกสู่ตลาด และเปิดตัวในงานแสดงสินค้าต่าง ๆ ซึ่งเป็นผลทำให้ได้ดีลธุรกิจใน Ohio ครั้งนี้นั่นเอง
เนื่องจากเทคโนโลยี RFID ยังคงมีราคาแพงอยู่เมื่อเทียบกับเทคโนโลยีชนิดอื่น สำหรับปลอกข้อมือและบัตรผ่านประตูนั้น อาจจะมีต้นทุนที่ทำให้ลูกค้าต้องจ่ายเงินในระดับเหรียญ ไม่ใช่ระดับเซนต์ ด้วยเหตุดังกล่าว National Ticket จึงทำตลาดธุรกิจนี้อย่างค่อยเป็นค่อยไป “เราไม่ได้ลงทุนอะไรมากมายนักในขั้นตอนต่าง ๆ ที่เกี่ยวกับ RFID” Conway กล่าว “เราพยายามใช้อุปกรณ์และเทคโนโลยีที่มีอยู่แล้วให้เกิดประโยชน์กับ RFID มากที่สุดเท่านั้น”
แม้ว่าโซลูชัน RFID จะไม่ได้เป็นองค์ประกอบสำคัญแบบขาดไม่ได้ของธุรกิจที่ทำอยู่ก็ตามที แต่ National Ticket ก็มองหาลูกค้าใหม่ ๆ อย่างช้า ๆ แต่มั่นคง ซึ่งปัจจุบันได้มีการพูดคุยถึงการใช้งานระบบดังกล่าวกับอีกสามแห่งด้วยกัน หนึ่งในนั้นเป็นงานระดับชาติที่จะต้องใช้เครื่องอ่าน RFID แบบมือถือจำนวนถึง 100 เครื่องเลยทีเดียว ทั้งนี้เพื่อประมวลผลบัตรผ่านประตูทั้งหมดให้ทันการนั่นเอง
English to Thai: Projector Care Guide General field: Marketing Detailed field: IT (Information Technology)
WS_FTP Professional 2007 ยังคงไว้ซึ่งหน้าตาโปรแกรมที่มีสองฝั่งที่สามารถปรับขนาดได้ (resizable two-pane format) ซึ่งส่วนติดต่อกับผู้ใช้ดังกล่าวก็มีหน้าตาคล้าย Windows XP ที่ค่อนข้างง่ายแก่การใช้งานนั่นเอง ถ้าคุณเคยใช้งานในเวอร์ชันเดิมมาก่อนก็คงจะรู้สึกสบายใจที่ได้รู้ว่าทั้งเมนูบาร์ ทูลบาร์ คอนเน็กชันบาร์ คอนเน็กชันเพน และอินฟอร์เมชันวินโดว์ยังคงถูกวางอยู่ในตำแหน่งเดิม ดังนั้นคุณจึงไม่จำเป็นต้องกังวลเรื่องการต้องเสียเวลามาสร้างความคุ้นเคยเมื่อต้องเปลี่ยนมาใช้เวอร์ชันใหม่แต่อย่างใด นอกจากนี้ Ipswitch ยังคงแท็บอินเทอร์เฟซซึ่งเป็นคุณสมบัติที่ช่วยให้คุณสามารถสลับการใช้งานระหว่างหน้าต่างโปรแกรม Transfer Manager, Transfer History และ Connection Log Manager ได้โดยสะดวกเอาไว้อีกด้วย
ถ้าคุณต้องการตั้งเวลาเพื่อให้โปรแกรมทำงานแทนคุณ Ipswitch WS_FTP Professional 2007 ก็มี WS_FTP Script Utility ซึ่งจะช่วยในการตั้งโปรแกรมการโอนย้ายและจัดการไฟล์ด้วย FTP command อย่าง open, get และ put ได้โดยอัตโนมัติ โดยคุณสามารถสร้างสคริปต์เพื่อกำหนดให้ WS_FTP Professional ทำการอัพโหลดไฟล์ที่ต้องการได้เมื่อถึงเวลาที่กำหนดเอาไว้โดยการใช้ Scheduling Program ตั้งเวลาให้รันสคริปต์ในเวลาใดเวลาหนึ่งที่ต้องการโดยอาจจะเป็นทุกๆ วันหรือทุกๆ สัปดาห์ก็ได้
ด้วยคุณสมบัติที่เรียกว่า Browser Integration นั้น คุณสามารถใช้ WS_FTP Professional ในการดาวน์โหลดไฟล์ต่างๆ ผ่าน Web Browser ได้ด้วย โดยถ้าหากคุณเลือกดาวน์โหลดไฟล์ด้วย Web Browser เมื่อใดก็ตาม การดาวน์โหลดนั้นจะถูกประมวลผลโดย WS_FTP Professional แทน
Ipswitch WS_FTP Professional 2007 ยังมีคุณสมบัติต่างๆ อีกมากมายเกินกว่าที่จะกล่าวได้หมดในพื้นที่อันจำกัดนี้ อย่างไรก็ตาม สำหรับผู้ใช้งานตามบ้านที่ไม่ต้องการฟังก์ชันการใช้งานในระดับสูงหรือซับซ้อนจนถึงขนาดนี้อาจจะเลือกใช้ WS_FTP Home 2007 แทนก็ได้ ซึ่งก็สามารถช่วยให้คุณอัพโหลดไฟล์เพลง รูปภาพ วิดีโอ บล็อก พอดแคส และนำเว็บไซต์ของคุณขึ้นสู่อินเทอร์เน็ตได้อย่างมีประสิทธิภาพเช่นกัน
English to Thai: iPods at the Gate General field: Tech/Engineering Detailed field: Computers: Hardware
Strategizing Mobility
หลังจากโครงการนำร่องได้ลุล่วงไปได้ดีจากปี 1995 ถึง 1997 Seton Hall University ก็เดินหน้าโครงการขั้นต่อไปอย่างเต็มที่ในปี 1998 โครงการดังกล่าวมีชื่ออย่างเป็นทางการว่า Mobile Computing Program ซึ่งส่วนหนึ่งเป็นการจัดซื้อโน้ตบุ๊ก IBM Thinkpad (http://www.ibm.com) แล้วนำมาให้นักศึกษาเช่าใช้ในราคาพิเศษ ซึ่งก็สำเร็จลุล่วงไปได้ด้วยดี จนกระทั่งในปี 2001 ที่ผ่านมา นักศึกษาใหม่ทุกคนก็สามารถมีโน้ตบุ๊กของตัวเองได้โดยไม่ต้องเช่าจากทางมหาวิทยาลัยอีกต่อไป
Smart Podia
ที่ New York University หนึ่งในมหาวิทยาลัยเอกชนที่ใหญ่ที่สุดแห่งหนึ่งก็ได้ประดิษฐ์อุปกรณ์ที่มีชื่อว่า Smart Podia ขึ้นมา อุปกรณ์ดังกล่าวช่วยให้อาจารย์ผู้สอนสามารถเข้าใช้สื่อการเรียนการสอนจากโฟลเดอร์ใด ๆ บนเครือข่ายของมหาวิทยาลัยก็ได้ ด้วยรูปแบบของโฟลเดอร์ที่เป็น Web-based ภายในจะเก็บรวบรวมสื่อต่าง ๆ เอาไว้ รวมทั้งสไลด์ PowerPoint ที่สามารถใช้ในการอธิบายเนื้อหาในบทเรียนด้วย ซึ่งทุกอย่างสามารถเข้าถึงได้เพียงแค่การคลิกเม้าส์เท่านั้น ทำให้สะดวกต่อการใช้งาน เพราะอาจารย์ไม่ต้องต้องหิ้วโน้ตบุ๊กของตัวเองมายังห้องเรียนทุก ๆ ครั้งไปที่มีการสอนอีกต่อไป
เกี่ยวกับอุปกรณ์ดังกล่าวนั้น Marilyn McMilan รองอธิการบดีและหัวหน้าเจ้าหน้าที่ฝ่ายเทคโนโลยีของ New York University อธิบายว่า Smart Podia เป็นส่วนผสมทางด้านผลิตภัณฑ์จากผู้ค้าหลาย ๆ รายด้วยกัน “มันทำให้ชีวิตของทุกคนในมหาวิทยาลัยง่ายขึ้นมาก” เธอกล่าวถึงประโยชน์ที่ได้จากอุปกรณ์ดังกล่าวในที่สุด
English to Thai: IBM to release specialized mainframe chip for ERP, CRM apps General field: Marketing Detailed field: Computers: Hardware
ชิพตัวใหม่นี้มีชื่อว่า System z9 Integrated Information Processor (zIIP) ซึ่งจะมีราคา 125,000 เหรียญ และถือเป็นการเปิดตัวชิพพิเศษในเมนเฟรมของไอบีเอ็มที่แก้ปัญหาเวิร์คโหลดโดยเฉพาะ ครั้งนี้นับเป็นการเปิดตัวชิพที่แก้ปัญหาเวิร์คโหลดต่อจากชิพที่แก้ปัญหาดังกล่าวจากลีนุกซ์และจาวาในปี 2544 และ 2547 ตามลาดับ อย่างไรก็ตาม ไอบีเอ็มแถลงว่า บริษัทยังไม่สามารถให้รายละเอียดเกี่ยวกับวันเปิดตัวอย่างเป็นทางการได้แน่นอนในตอนนี้
“เหตุผลที่ลูกค้าจะสนใจใช้โพรเซสเซอร์พิเศษสำหรับเมนเฟรมก็เพราะ เหตุผลด้านความประหยัดเป็นหลักนั่นเอง” Jerry Murphy นักวิเคราะห์ของ Robert Francis Group ในเมือง Westport รัฐ Connecticut กล่าว โพรเซสเซอร์ดังกล่าวจะช่วยงานผู้ใช้ในแง่ของการลดภาวะเวิร์คโหลด ที่อาจจะเกิดขึ้นได้หากเครื่องเมนเฟรมนั้นๆ ใช้ชิพที่ออกแบบมาสำหรับงานประมวลผลทั่วไป (General-Purpose Chips)
Charles King นักวิเคราะห์ของ PundIT Inc. ในเมือง Hayward รัฐ California กล่าวว่า ไอบีเอ็มกำลังย้ายบทบาทเมนเฟรมจากการประมวลผลทรานส์แอ็กชันแบบเดิมๆ มายังการประมวลผลที่อิง Web-enabled มากขึ้น “แผนงานที่มีความหมายมากต่อไอบีเอ็มก็คือ การผลักดันให้เกิดโพรเซสเซอร์รุ่นใหม่ๆ ที่ทำงานกับแอพพลิเคชันที่เป็น Web-based และ Network-based มากขึ้น เพื่อช่วยปรับปรุงประสิทธิภาพการทำงานให้ดีขึ้นนั่นเอง” Charles King กล่าวทิ้งท้าย
English to Thai: Hard Disk Drives Go Mobile General field: Science Detailed field: Computers: Hardware
Source text - English Lost.
Translation - Thai ฮาร์ดดิสก์จะเคลื่อนที่กับเค้าบ้างแล้ว
ฮาร์ดดิสก์รุ่นใหม่ที่มีประสิทธิภาพสูง เมื่อนำมาบวกกับการประยุกต์ใช้งานแอพพลิชันภายในโน้ตบุ๊กแล้ว ต่างก็ช่วยเพิ่มโอกาสในการขายให้กับ VAR จำนวนมากได้
เราต่างก็คุ้นเคยกับการใช้งานดาต้าสตอเรจกันดีอยู่แล้ว เมื่อเราพูดถึงดาต้าสตอเรจ เราก็มักจะนึกไปถึงดาต้าเซ็นเตอร์ขนาดใหญ่ที่มีฮาร์ดดิสก์อยู่เป็นจำนวนมาก ซึ่งอาจจะดูเหมือนไม่น่าตื่นเต้นสักเท่าใดนักเมื่อเทียบกับเทคโนโลยีอย่าง RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) ที่กำลังมาแรงอยู่ในขณะนี้ แต่ก็ถือได้ว่าเป็นสิ่งสำคัญที่ขาดไม่ได้สำหรับแอพพลิเคชันจำนวนมาก อย่างไรก็ตาม ด้วยกระแสความนิยมการทำงานแบบเคลื่อนที่ไปไหนต่อไหนได้ที่กำลังแรงขึ้นๆ ตามลำดับ ปัจจุบันดาต้าสตอเรจจึงได้ฝ่าทะลุกำแพงของดาต้าเซ็นเตอร์ออกมาเพื่อตามติดไปกับผู้ใช้งานทุกหนทุกแห่งเช่นเดียวกับอุปกรณ์ชนิดอื่นๆ บ้างแล้ว
หน่วยแพทย์ฉุกเฉินในเขตพื้นที่เมืองซีแอตเติลกำลังได้รับประโยชน์จากโซลูชันเคลื่อนที่แบบเรียลไทม์ (Real-time Mobile Solution) ที่ช่วยทั้งในด้านการสื่อสารและการเข้าถึงข้อมูลของผู้ป่วย
สำหรับทางเลือกในเรื่องระดับราคานั้น ผู้ใช้งานบางกลุ่มไดัหันไปหาเว็บแพด (Webpad) แทน ซึ่งเว็บแพดเป็นอุปกรณ์ที่ออกแบบมาให้ง่ายต่อการหิ้วไปไหนมาไหนได้สะดวก และสามารถเชื่อมต่ออินเทอร์เน็ตความเร็วสูงแบบไร้สายได้ จึงเหมาะสำหรับผู้ที่ไม่ต้องการพลาดการเช็คเมล์ หรือเหมาะกับนักแชทตัวยง หรือกระทั่งนักท่องเว็บทั่วไปด้วยเช่นกัน อุปกรณ์ชนิดนี้ถูกดัดแปลงมาใช้อ่านอีบุ๊คก็เนื่องจากมันใช้งานง่ายนั่นเอง อีกทั้งยังบูตเครื่องได้รวดเร็ว และมีจอที่ขนาดเหมาะมือเท่าๆ กับความกว้างของปกหนังสือเท่านั้น เว็บแพดที่น่าจะกล่าวถึงก็อย่างเช่น Pepper Wireless Pad และ Nokia 770 Mini Internet Tablet เป็นต้น ซึ่งเครื่องทั้งสองรุ่นดังกล่าวเป็นที่ถูกใจผู้อ่านอีบุ๊คเนื่องจากมีน้ำหนักที่เบา มีความทนทาน และสามารถติดมือไปไหนมาไหนได้สะดวกนั่นเอง
แน่นอน นอกจากนี้ยังมีพีดีเอ (PDA - Personal Digital Assistant) ด้วย พีดีเอมีขนาดเล็กและน้ำหนักเบากว่าอุปกรณ์อย่างแลปทอป แท็บเล็ต หรือเว็บแพด แถมยังง่ายต่อการใช้งานอีกด้วย ขนาดที่เล็กนั้นสามารถทำให้พกติดตัวได้ตลอดเวลา และยังมีราคาถูกกว่าเมื่อเทียบกับซับโน้ตบุ๊กหรือแท็บเล็ตพีซีด้วย และเนื่องจากผู้ใช้งานส่วนใหญ่ใช้พีดีเอสำหรับดูปฏิทินและเป็นสมุดโทรศัพท์อยู่แล้ว จึงเป็นเรื่องง่ายที่จะใช้มันเป็นเครื่องอ่านอีบุ๊คไปด้วย โดยที่ส่วนใหญ่แล้วเครื่องพีดีเอที่ใช้ Palm OS เป็นระบบปฏิบัติการก็จะมีฟอร์แมทของอีบุ๊คเป็น Palm eReader และเครื่องที่ใช้ Windows Mobile PocketPCs เป็นระบบปฏิบัติการก็จะมีฟอร์แมทของอีบุ๊คเป็น Microsoft Reader
การที่จะเลือกระดับบริการที่ถูกต้องเหมาะสมได้นั้น เป็นเรื่องที่คุณจะต้องพิจารณาขั้นตอนการทำงานเกี่ยวกับเอกสารภายในองค์กรของคุณให้ได้อย่างครอบคลุม เพราะถ้าหากเรื่องเอกสารเป็นเรื่องสำคัญอย่างยิ่งสำหรับบริษัทคุณแล้ว คุณอาจจะต้องทำสัญญาบริการถึงที่ (On-site Service Contract) เพื่อหลีกเลี่ยงปัญหาดาวน์ไทม์ของระบบให้ได้มากที่สุดเท่าที่จะทำได้ หรือกระทั่งต้องซื้อสแกนเนอร์สำรองเอาไว้เพื่อนำมาเปลี่ยนแทนเครื่องที่เสียด้วยตัวคุณเองเลยก็เป็นได้
English to Thai: Cisco issues patches to authorization feature, VPN platform General field: Tech/Engineering Detailed field: Computers: Systems, Networks
จะว่าไปแล้วน่าจะเป็นความก้าวหน้าและราคาที่ถูกลงของเทคโนโลยีทางด้านนี้ด้วยเหมือนกัน ที่ทำให้อุปกรณ์ชนิดนี้แพร่หลายและมีการนำไปประยุกต์ใช้งานได้มากขึ้น สำหรับ Axis M11 Series นั้นเป็น IP Network Camera ที่มาพร้อมกับ Integrated IR-LED และ Mechanical IR-Cut Filter ที่มีการพัฒนาให้สามารถจับภาพในที่มืดได้ชัดเจนมากขึ้นกว่าเดิม ดังนั้นมันจึงเป็นกล้องที่สามารถทำงานได้ดีทั้งในกลางวันและกลางคืน โดยให้คุณภาพในระดับ HDTV และแน่นอนว่ามันสนับสนุน AXIS Camera Station Video Management Software ที่ช่วยในเรื่องการจัดการเรื่องต่างๆ ได้เป็นอย่างดีด้วยเช่นกัน
English to Thai: Finding a photo-sharing platform for you General field: Tech/Engineering Detailed field: Internet, e-Commerce
Source text - English Your photo-sharing app options are nearly endless. Here's our brief guide to help you find the one that fits your phone's needs.
The advent of a Facebook photo-sharing app (of some nature) is upon us. And while the service looks pretty impressive and undoubtedly has some considerable pull by being directly integrated with the social network titan, the field is rife with competition. It can be a confusing landscape to navigate depending on your level of interest and commitment–even if all you want is to fancy up your photos before sending them on their way to Twitter. Whatever you’re looking for, it’s probably there. Here are a handful of the best photo-sharing mobile platforms out there for your posting pleasure.
If you’re an advanced photographer…
Interested in presenting and sharing your photos (even your smartphone pics) on a platform that is strictly devoted to mobile photography? Don’t worry: Despite the camera phone’s general position as designator food-picture-taker, you’ve got some options. Flickr is a veteran Web playground for serious photographers and while it’s had its struggles, it’s minimalist and a natural choice for desktop Flickr users.
Cost: free (iPhone, Android)
If you’re a filter fanatic…
All the top photo apps come with these types of presets if you want, but there are so many dedicated filter apps to choose from that the process can be overwhelming, so we’ll help narrow it down for you a bit. Filter Mania comes with 12 filters and a handful more you can download for free. There’s literally nothing else to it. Camera Bag is another great option, although slightly more limited. 100 Cameras in 1 is yet another remarkable choice that takes it a step further with texture edits as well. If you’re willing to up the ante and spend a little more, we’re also fans of Magic Hour and Picfx. These apps all either bounce your images to established social sites like Twitter or Facebook or feature further integration with the likes of Foursquare and Evernote.
Cost: Camera Bag – $1.99 (iPhone; Android alternative: FxCamera)
Picfx – $1.99 (iPhone)
Magic Hour – $1.99 (iPhone, Android)
Filter Mania – Free (iPhone; Android alternative: Little Photo)
100 Cameras in 1 – $0.99 (iPhone)
If you’re a social network junkie…
You know who you are: Not only do you have the increasingly requisite Facebook and Twitter profiles, you maintain active Tumblr, Quora, Reddit, Stumblr, you-name-it accounts. In that cause, a photo-sharing app that not only integrates with outside social networking sites but has its own is what you’re looking for. Instagram is arguably the most popular mobile photo platform and comes with a committed community. Path is another option, especially if you’re a Twitter addict. It has a similar UI for its photo and activity feeds, and has a similarly strong following. Android users, don’t fret: PicPlz is just as capable and available for Android and iOS users.
Of course smartphone apps are all about the visual presentation. For those generally satisfied with pre-installed camera and photo apps but looking for a little more panache, there are some interactive options out there. Hipstamatic’s rolling selection of camera models and film type (some of which require in-app payments) make taking photos something of a game. It’s hard to give smartphone photography a retro, antique feel, but somehow Hipstamatic manages.
This likely applies to many smartphone users out there. If all you want is a new way to push photos to Facebook or view them in a more interesting way, PicBounce and Pixable are the apps for you. PicBounce is exactly what it sounds like: Take a photo, add a filter if you so dare, and push it to Facebook and/or Twitter. No username, account info, or networking required. Pixable puts a new spin on perusing your friends’ photos by aggregating your contacts’ most popular images of the week. This means you can skip over all the boring items like screen shots and food photos and get to the good, crowd-approved stuff. You can see popular of the day and week, as well as all new profile photos. It also shows you what’s tending on Instagram and Flickr.
Sound like you? Than look no further than Color or Photogram. The former is the new-ish photo-sharing app with an elastic social networking platform. It’s definitely got its share of faults, but if you like getting there first or introducing people to new ideas, then turn Color into your new project. The recently introduced Photogram, on the other hand, follows the rather generic photo app platform, but being as new as it is you might enjoy being there from the ground up.
Cost: Color – free (iPhone)
Photogram – $1.00 (iPhone)
English to Thai: ALCATEL-LUCENT MY IC PHONE General field: Marketing Detailed field: Telecom(munications)
Source text - English Writing Job
Translation - Thai นวัตกรรมที่กำลังจะเปลี่ยนชีวิตและรูปแบบการทำงานของคุณไปตลอดกาล
สำหรับ Alcatel-Lucent My IC Phone นั้นถือเป็นนวัตกรรมทางการสื่อสารยุคใหม่ อันเป็นผลมาจากการวิจัยและพัฒนาอย่างจริงจังของผู้ให้บริการและผู้ผลิตอุปกรณ์โทรคมนาคมรายสำคัญของวงการสื่อสารโลกอย่าง Alcatel-Lucent และล่าสุดกับผลิตภัณฑ์ My IC Phone นั้น นับเป็นส่วนผสมที่ลงตัวระหว่างการทำงานของฮาร์ดแวร์ ซอฟต์แวร์ และเฟิร์มแวร์ที่มาพร้อมกับเครื่อง Alcatel-Lucent My IC Phone โดดเด่นนับตั้งแต่รูปลักษณ์ภายนอกที่ดูเรียบง่ายแต่สะดุดตา ไปจนถึงเทคโนโลยีอันซับซ้อนและชาญฉลาดที่ทำงานอยู่ภายในตัวเครื่อง ซึ่งด้วยพื้นที่อันจำกัดเช่นนี้ก็คงยากที่จะบรรยายสรรพคุณได้หมด
Alcatel-Lucent My IC Phone สามารถตอบสนองงานด้านสื่อสารยุคใหม่ได้อย่างครบวงจร ไม่ว่าจะเป็น Phone Call, Text Email, Voice Mail, Advanced Searching, Social Media, Video Transfer, Instant Message, Calendar, Contact และ File Archives ซึ่งทั้งหมดก็คือส่วนหนึ่งที่มีความสำคัญอย่างยิ่งต่อแนวคิดการทำงานร่วมกันของพนักงานภายในองค์กรโดยไม่มีข้อจำกัดด้านระยะทาง (Enterprise Collaborating) ซึ่งแน่นอนว่าแนวคิดดังกล่าวมีความสอดคล้องและไปด้วยกันได้เป็นอย่างดีกับการช่วยลดสภาวะโลกร้อน (Global Warming) และปรากฎการณ์เรือนกระจก (Green House Effect)
English to Thai: BROTHER MFC-J6710DW General field: Marketing Detailed field: Computers: Hardware
English to Thai: Royal Caribbean Rolls out Self-Service Drink Fountains with RFID Technology General field: Tech/Engineering Detailed field: IT (Information Technology)
Source text - English Royal Caribbean Rolls out Self-Service Drink Fountains with RFID Technology
With 22 innovative ships, and more than 270 destinations in 72 countries across six continents, Royal Caribbean International is always looking for ways to increase guest satisfaction and sales.
For several years, the firm has offered a popular beverage package featuring Coca-Cola products. This beverage package entitles guests to unlimited fountain soda for a set price at the beginning of their cruise vacation. While this package yielded a very high penetration rate among guests and became one of Royal Caribbean’s single most popular offerings in food and beverage, it did not rate high on guest satisfaction.
The majority of the adverse comments we received from guests centered on their inability to refill their soda in the timely manner that they felt entitled to receive. After careful examination and extensive testing, they company implemented two unique solutions that completely changed guests’ experiences while increasing sales.
RFID Technology
In early 2008, Royal Caribbean commissioned both their souvenir cup manufacturing partner, Whirley DrinkWorks, and their sister company ValidFill to develop a self-service soda fountain machine prototype that would allow the company to better control and elevate their soda beverage packages.
The prototype used radio frequency identification (RFID) technology, which allowed guests who purchased the unlimited fountain soda packages to serve themselves while restricting service to guests who chose not to purchase the package.
After two years of testing, the company unveiled a specially designed souvenir cup from Whirley DrinkWorks with an embedded micro chip and next-generation soda fountain dispensers retrofitted with the RFID technology from ValidFill. The dispensers instantly reads the micro chip at the bottom of each cup, validates access to the beverage package and pours the correct amount of soda, preventing guests from filling other cups or containers. Because liquids can adversely affect electrical signals, the RFID readers are contained in a water-proof stainless cabinet below the soda dispenser and special antennas are sealed in the drip tray.
Says Bob Midyette, director of fleet beverage operations for Royal Caribbean International and Azamara Club Cruises, “For the first time, guests are not dependant on an employee for timely service.”
Ultraviolet Technology
Taking things a step further, the firm then asked themselves in depth questions, “What if the self-service program is as successful as anticipated?” and “What demands would that success place on the firm’s operation?” Traditionally, several thousand souvenir cups were unwrapped each week per ship, washed in a dishwasher, dried, lids placed back on and then sold.
It was a time-consuming process and the company became concerned that even a marginal increase in soda package sales could quickly overwhelm their workforce with the additional work and limit sales. With this in mind, the company began benchmarking best practices from various theme parks and discovered that sanitizing cups at the point of production rather than the point of sale reduced labor and allowed the firm to provide the highest level of assurance to guests and crew members alike.
In a process approved by the United States Public Health organization (USPH), a division of the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) that regulates the cruise ship industry, the souvenir cups now come to the ships pre-sanitized and cleaned. Each cup goes through an ultraviolet (UV) tunnel cleaning process before they are packaged and shipped to Royal Caribbean. The UV lights use different wavelengths to ensure the cups are bacteria-free and safe for guests. Thanks to UV technology, there is a reduction in overtime and labor and staff are freed up to better engage guests.
Improved Sales and Guest Satisfaction
These technology solutions helped to change several business processes for Royal Caribbean, starting with the sales process. The self-service dispensers are a great sales generator because once guests learn that a souvenir cup is required for access, most choose to purchase an unlimited fountain soda package and we’ve experienced a significant increase in soda sales, since the dispensers were implemented.
The serving process also has improved. An excellent example of this can be seen at the pool deck, a very high volume bar, where in the past a significant percentage of guests would wait for a bartender to refill soda. Now, guests serve themselves, which allows the company to provide faster and more frequent service to guests requesting drinks other than soda.
Since the deployment, guest satisfaction has increased significantly. Crew members also benefit because they can focus on providing great service and selling premium cocktails. And, based on testing one ship, Royal Caribbean’s sales expanded by 107 percent.
Royal Caribbean is committed to elevating the guest experience; with RFID and UV technologies, the company has dramatically improved guest satisfaction while increasing efficiencies, productivity and sales and experiencing a return on their investment of over 1,000 percent since implementing these changes fleetwide.
Bob Midyette is the director of fleet beverage operations for Royal Caribbean International, a global cruise brand with 22 innovative ships calling on more than 270 destinations in 72 countries across six continents. The line also offers unique cruise tour land packages in Alaska, Canada, Dubai, Europe, and Australia and New Zealand. Midyette is also the director of beverage operations for Azamara Club Cruises, Royal Caribbean’s exclusive luxury line of cruise ships. The RFID technology described in the above case study won Royal Caribbean International the award for Best Use of RFID to Enhance a Product or Service in the 2011 RFID Journal Awards.
Translation - Thai Royal Caribbean กับการพัฒนาระบบบริการเครื่องดื่มด้วยตัวเองโดยใช้เทคโนโลยี RFID
ด้วยจำนวนเรืออันทันสมัยกว่า 22 ลำ และเป้าหมายปลายทางทางการท่องเที่ยวกว่า 270 แห่งใน 72 ประเทศ ทั่วทั้ง 6 ทวีป Royal Caribbean International ก็ยังคงไม่หยุดนิ่งที่จะมองหาวิธีใหม่ๆ ในการเพิ่มระดับความพึงพอใจของลูกค้า เพื่อเพิ่มระดับรายได้ให้มากขึ้นกว่าเดิม
คำติชมในทางลบที่ทาง Royal Caribbean ได้รับอยู่เสมอนั้น มักจะมีศูนย์กลางอยู่ที่ การที่ลูกค้ามักจะไม่ได้รับการเติมเครื่องดื่มได้ในเวลาที่ต้องการจริงๆ นั่นเอง ซึ่งหลังจากทำการสำรวจและทดลองอย่างจริงจังเป็นระยะเวลาหนึ่งแล้ว Royal Caribbean ก็ตัดสินใจแยกบริการออกเป็นสองประเภท ซึ่งในที่สุดก็ทำให้ลูกค้าได้รับการบริการตรงกับความต้องการมากขึ้น และสามารถเพิ่มรายได้ในส่วนนี้ได้อีกด้วย
เทคโนโลยี RFID กับการช่วยเพิ่มยอดขาย
ในช่วงต้นปี 2008 ทาง Royal Caribbean ได้ร่วมมือกับพาร์ตเนอร์รายหนึ่ง ซึ่งเป็นผู้ผลิตแก้วที่ระลึก (souvenir cup) และมีบริษัทในเครือชื่อ ValidFill ซึ่งเป็นผู้พัฒนาระบบเติมน้ำอัดลมแบบที่ลูกค้าสามารถบริการตัวเองได้ (self-service soda fountain machine) ซึ่งทำให้ง่ายต่อการจัดการและควบคุมชุดเครื่องดื่มแบบรีฟิลล์ไม่จำกัดได้ง่ายขึ้นกว่าเดิมมากเลยทีเดียว
ระบบดังกล่าวนั้นใช้เทคโนโลยี RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) ซึ่งช่วยให้ลูกค้าที่ซื้อแพ็คเกจเครื่องดื่มแบบเติมได้ไม่จำกัดสามารถให้บริการตัวเองได้ตลอดเวลา ในขณะที่ลูกค้าที่ไม่ได้ซื้อแพ็คเกจนี้จะไม่สามารถใช้บริการของระบบดังกล่าวได้
หลังจาก 2 ปีของการทดสอบ Royal Caribbean ก็ได้เปิดตัวแก้วที่ระลึกและแก้วใช้งานแบบพิเศษที่ทาง Whirley DrinkWorks เป็นผู้ออกแบบมาให้ โดยเป็นแก้วที่ฝังไมโครชิพที่สามารถทำงานร่วมกับตู้เติมเครื่องดื่มอัตโนมัติ ที่ทำงานด้วยเทคโนโลยี RFID จาก ValidFill ได้นั่นเอง ตู้เติมเครื่องดื่มอัตโนมัติจะอ่านไมโครชิพที่ฝังอยู่ที่ก้นแก้ว เพื่อตรวจสอบประเภทของแพ็คเกจที่ลูกค้าซื้อ จากนั้นก็จะเติมเครื่องดื่มให้ตามที่ลูกค้าต้องการ โดยที่สามารถคำนวณปริมาณเครื่องดื่มที่จะต้องเติมลงไปจริงๆ ได้อย่างถูกต้องแม่นยำ และสามารถป้องกันไม่ให้ลูกค้าเอาภาชนะหรือแก้วอีกใบหนึ่งมาเติมต่อจากแก้วใบแรกได้ด้วย และเนื่องจากเครื่องดื่มซึ่งเป็นน้ำนั้นอาจจะส่งผลกระทบบางอย่างต่อการทำงานของสัญญาณอิเล็กทรอนิกส์ได้เหมือนกัน ดังนั้นเครื่องอ่าน RFID ของ ValidFill จึงต้องทำงานอยู่ในกล่องสแตนเลสกันน้ำ ซึ่งติดตั้งเอาไว้ที่บริเวณด้านล่างของตู้เติมเครื่องดื่มอัตโนมัติ ส่วนเสาสัญญาณก็ถูกออกแบบมาเป็นพิเศษ และถูกติดตั้งเอาไว้บริเวณถาดรองรับน้ำล้นที่อยู่ด้านล่างถัดจากตะแกรงรองแก้วนั่นเอง
บ็อบ มิดแยตต์ ผู้อำนวยการฝ่ายบริการเครื่องดื่มของ Royal Caribbean International และ Azamara Club Cruises ให้ความเห็นว่า “นับเป็นครั้งแรกเลยทีเดียว ที่ลูกค้าไม่จำเป็นต้องพึ่งพาบริกรอีกต่อไป”
Royal Caribbean มีความตั้งใจจริงกับการยกระดับความพึงพอใจของลูกค้าเป็นอย่างมาก ซึ่งด้วยเทคโนโลยี RFID และ UV นั้น บริษัทสามารถปรับปรุงความพึงใจของลูกค้าได้อย่างชัดเจน รวมไปถึงประสิทธิภาพ ผลผลิต และยอดขายก็เพิ่มตามไปด้วย ซึ่งนับตั้งแต่ติดตั้งระบบดังกล่าวหมดทั้งกองเรือเป็นต้นมา ระบบดังกล่าวสามารถให้ผลตอบแทนจากการลงทุนได้ถึง 1,000 เปอร์เซ็นต์เลยทีเดียว
สำหรับบ็อบ มิดแยตต์นั้น เขาเป็นผู้อำนวยการฝ่ายบริการเครื่องดื่มของ Royal Caribbean International ซึ่งเป็นกองเรือที่มีเรือสำราญขนาดใหญ่และทันสมัยกว่า 22 ลำ และจัดว่าเป็นบริษัทที่มีชื่อเสียงในระดับโลก ที่พร้อมจะพาคุณแวะเยี่ยมชมสถานที่ท่องเที่ยวที่น่าสนใจกว่า 270 แห่งใน 72 ประเทศทั่วโลก ซึ่งเส้นทางบางแห่งยังได้เสนอแพ็คเกจท่องเที่ยวภาคพื้นดินเพิ่มเติมอีกด้วย เช่น ที่อะลาสก้า แคนาดา ดูไบ ยุโรป ออสเตรเลีย และนิวซีแลนด์ เป็นต้น นอกจากนี้มิดแยตต์ยังเป็นผู้อำนวยการฝ่ายบริการเครื่องดื่มของ Azamara Club Cruises ซึ่งเป็นเรือสำราญที่มีความหรูหราในระดับพิเศษของ Royal Caribbean ด้วย สำหรับเทคโนโลยี RFID ที่อธิบายไปข้างต้นนั้น เป็นกรณีศึกษาของ Royal Caribbean International ที่ชนะรางวัล Best Use of RFID to Enhance a Product or Service จากนิตยสาร RFID ในปี 2011 นี้เอง
English to Thai: Is Android becoming the Windows of mobile malware? General field: Tech/Engineering Detailed field: Internet, e-Commerce
Source text - English http://www.digitaltrends.com/android/is-android-a-dream-platform-for-malware/
Is Android becoming the Windows of mobile malware? [3 หน้า]
Juniper Networks is reporting a shocking 472 percent increase in the incidence of Android malware since July of this year. What's going on, and is Android becoming a malware writer's dream?
Juniper Networks is raising eyebrows in the mobile industry this morning with a new report claiming the incidence of malware targeting Android devices has risen by 472 percent since July of this year. Presumably, that number is augmented by “hundreds” of malware samples the company uncovered in a series of third-party Russian app stores. Juniper describes the Russian malware cache as just the “tip of the iceberg,” believing there may be thousands of more malware apps waiting to be discovered.
Although many security firms still characterize the threat of mobile malware as relatively low, it’s important to know that those firms are generally comparing the number of threats faced by Android and other mobile operating systems to the those faced by Windows — which is the absolute king of malware, assaulted by hundreds and even thousands of new trojans, worms, exploits, and variants every day. Saying a platform faces a low threat compared to Windows isn’t saying much at all.
But Juniper’s figures highlight the growing threat of mobile malware, particularly on Android. How do Juniper’s numbers hold up, what’s to blame for rising Android malware, and how can Android users protect themselves and their devices?
Juniper’s figures
According to Juniper Network, the amount of malware targeting Android has jumped by 472 percent since July, punctuated by very sharp increases in October and November. Juniper says they were seeing steady increases in the amount of Android malware they intercepted in July and August, which saw incidence rates increase by 10 and 18 percent, respectively. However, in September Juniper intercepted more than double the amount of Android malware it had in July (up 110 percent) and that figure jumped to either 111 or 171 percent from October 1 through November 10. (See Juniper’s infographic for more detail—the infographic claims a 111 percent increase most recently, But Juniper’s text says 171 percent.)
The figures echo similarly alarming percentages from other security vendors. This summer, Trend Micro claimed the incidence of Android malware had increased 1,410 percent from January to July 2011. It published an infographic, too.
Curiously, Juniper provides no hard figures to accompany its percentages, so it’s difficult to know what those percentages mean in absolute terms. It would be nice to compare the number of malware apps out there (and their interception rates) to the number of available Android apps or the number of apps distributed over the same period of time. After all, if a small town of 5,000 people had one serious traffic accident in 2010 and then two serious traffic accidents in 2011, the rate would be up by an alarming 100 percent! However, number of accidents in proportion to the number of drivers — let alone the number of hours driven in the town during the year — would still be very, very low. Juniper Networks does describe the cache of Russian malware it found as “hundreds” of apps, but it’s not clear if those are included in the firm’s 472 percent increase, and offers no other hard figures.
Symantec and Kaspersky similarly offer percentages for recent increases in Android malware, but seem to withhold hard figures — or, at least, I haven’t been able to find them. McAfee is slightly more helpful: In August it reported a 76 percent increase in malware targeting Android during the second quarter of 2011, and gave a specific number of threats it had identified: 44. Just this week, McAfee described the total number of malicious apps in the wild as “approximately 200“—and that’s across all platforms, including Symbian, Java ME, Windows Mobile, iOS, and others.
The number of apps available on the Android Market stands at about 350,000. Although the total number of threat apps is never truly known — even to security researchers — the alarmingly large percentage figures from Juniper and McAfee do seem to suffer from a bit of the small-town problem. Despite some high-profile malware removals from the Android Market (like DroidDream trojans earlier this year), in absolute terms, Android malware still a very small portion of the broader Android software ecosystem.
Types of Android malware
There does seem to be basic agreement on the types of Android malware out there. The bulk acts as spyware and tries to steal personal data, including contacts, location, personally identifying information email, messages, and data stashed in log files and other areas of the device. Spyware can also potentially control an Android device, meaning it could place calls, send messages, restart apps, disable locks, control vibrate alerts, and (of course) access the Internet to send collected data to the malware authors — or download and install new malware packages.
Spyware represents a bit of a longer-term game for malware authors: They’re hoping they’ll get usable (and sellable) information by keeping an eye on users’ phones, and they’ll make their money selling collected email addresses (and potentially financial information) to spammers and cybercriminals.
One form of Android malware that has immediate payoff for malware authors is are SMS Trojans: apps that appear to do something fun or useful, but in the background send SMS messages to premium rate numbers — the same way many voting competitions, music and ringtone services, and other businesses collect money via text messages. Once those messages are sent, the malware authors have their money, and consumers don’t have much (or any) recourse. The bulk of Android malware apps Juniper says it found in Russian third-party Android markets are SMS Trojans.
Pointing fingers
So even if malware isn’t quite overrunning the ecosystem yet, where is all this malware coming from? Security firms seem to pretty squarely place the bulk of Android malware at the feet of cybercriminals who used to target Java ME and Symbian phones. As those platforms have declined, they’ve moved along to Android, which enables them to leverage some of their working knowledge of Java and is also, conveniently, now the world’s hottest-selling smartphone platform.
In terms of distribution, security firms all agree that third-party Android app stores run a higher risk of malware than trusted sources. A number of Android exploits have been distributed via third-party app stores in Russia and China — heck, one Chinese example of Android malware uses a public blog as its command-and-control center. The appeal of these app stores in their respective markets is obvious: They use local languages, and their selection of apps and new items is going to be much more in tune with local culture than the broader Android Market. Nonetheless, most of those app stores are completely unregulated and unmonitored: Almost anyone can upload anything, safe or not.
That doesn’t let Google’s Android Market off the hook. Although McAfee recommends Android Market specifically as a trusted source for safe Android apps, other security outfits aren’t so kind. Juniper in particular rips into Google’s management of the Android Market:
“These days, it seems all you need [to upload malware to Android Market] is a developer account, that is relatively easy to anonymize, pay $25 and you can post your applications,” Juniper wrote in its blog. “With no upfront review process, no one checking to see that your application does what it says, just the world’s largest majority of smartphone users skimming past your application’s description page with whatever description of the application the developer chooses to include.”
Google famously does not review submissions to the Android Market, or require code-signing by a trust authority, although developers must at least code-sign with self-signed certificates. Although Google will remove malicious apps once they’re discovered, realistically that can’t happen until the apps have victimized users.
Staying safe
Android users can take some basic steps to keep their devices and their data safe. Good tips include:
• Disable the “unknown sources” option for installing apps in the Android device’s Applications Settings menu. This will help prevent users from inadvertently installing software when, say, accidentally following a malware link in an SMS message, spam, or social networking site. It will also keep the device out of most third-party Android app stores, which seem to be a prime distribution vector for Android malware. However, this may not be an option if users need to sideload custom Android apps for, say, business or work purposes.
• Research apps before downloading or buying them. Try to stick with apps that have broad third-party recommendations and come from reputable publishers. Check both an app’s and publisher’s ratings.
• Carefully check app’s permissions. When you install an app, Android will present a list of hardware and software components that the app wants to access, including things like location data, a device’s camera, the Internet, storage, system tools, MMS/SMS, and making phone calls. If the requested permissions don’t seem reasonable, don’t allow the app to install. For instance, a game probably doesn’t have any need to access your contacts, and a photo organizer doesn’t need to send SMS messages.
Makers of security and antivirus software will, of course, recommend users download, install (and, hopefully, purchase) antivirus software for Android. However, the jury seems to be out on how useful security and antivirus apps are for Android — at least at the moment. A new study from AV-Test (PDF) finds that almost all free Android malware apps don’t offer significant protection against existing Android malware. Paid Android security packages from F-Secure and Kaspersky fared better, but only managed to detect about half the installed threats tested by AV-Test, although they did very well with blocking malware installation.
The most important thing is probably to be aware that there is malware for Android, and let common sense be your guide. If an app seems to good to be true, it might just be carrying a hidden payload that’s after your money and personal information.
English to Thai: Apple files patent for long-lasting fuel-cell MacBook battery system General field: Tech/Engineering Detailed field: IT (Information Technology)
Source text - English http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/apple-files-patent-for-long-lasting-fuel-cell-macbook-battery-system/
Apple files patent for long-lasting fuel-cell MacBook battery system
Apple has filed two patents for fuel-cell battery systems for its MacBook laptops that could potentially enable users to go "weeks" without a re-charge.
Apple has filed two patents with the US Patent and Trademark Office that suggest the electronics giant is developing hydrogen fuel-cell batteries for its MacBook lines in an attempt to use more environmentally-friendly ways to power its creations. First uncovered by AppleInsider, the pair of patents (1, 2) explain that the batteries would not only be better for Mother Nature, but could also last “for days or even weeks” on a single charge.
“Our country’s continuing reliance on fossil fuels has forced our government to maintain complicated political and military relationships with unstable governments in the Middle East, and has also exposed our coastlines and our citizens to the associated hazards of offshore drilling,” states the two filings. “These problems have led to an increasing awareness and desire on the part of consumers to promote and use renewable energy sources.”
According to the filing, Apple is investigating a number of types of fuel cells. Hydrogen fuel-cells are the kind most often found in cars, but Apple points out in the filing that building a hydrogen fuel-cell system that can fit into a laptop is quite a challenge — though it’s a problem Apple is working to solve.
“As a consequence of this increased consumer awareness, electronics manufacturers have become very interested in developing renewable energy sources for their products, and they have been exploring a number of promising renewable energy sources such as hydrogen fuel cells,” states the filing. “Hydrogen fuel cells have a number of advantages. Such fuel cells and associated fuels can potentially achieve high volumetric and gravimetric energy densities, which can potentially enable continued operation of portable electronic devices for days or even weeks without refueling. However, it is extremely challenging to design hydrogen fuel cell systems which are sufficiently portable and cost-effective to be used with portable electronic devices.”
As we all know too well, just because Apple is developing something doesn’t mean it will ever make it to market. But considering that consumers have begun to expect more environmentally-friendly gadgets, as the filing says, and that this new technology could also result in much longer battery life, it would be a shame if this dream never becomes a reality.
English to Thai: Apple boldly reinvents the school textbook with iBooks 2 and iTunes U, but will educators bite? General field: Tech/Engineering Detailed field: IT (Information Technology)
Source text - English http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/apple-boldly-reinvents-the-school-textbook-with-ibooks-2-and-itunes-u-but-will-educators-bite/
Apple boldly reinvents the school textbook with iBooks 2 and iTunes U, but will educators bite? [2 หน้า]
Apple is taking on textbooks directly with iBooks 2, iBooks Author, and a new version of iTunes U. Combined, these offerings let authors create textbooks, allow students to buy them for $15 or less, and give teachers the ability to create entire courses on the iPad. We've got all of the details and a few questions of our own.
Apple just held a press conference here in New York detailing new strategies and software to turn the iPad into a complete textbook replacement for students of any age. After rattling off the many reasons why textbooks are not as good as computers (weight, lack of up-to-date material, cost, no search, etc), Apple announced iBooks 2, iBooks Author, and an improved iTunes U, all with the goal of completely melding the iPad into the education experience.
iBooks 2
Beginning today, iBooks 2 is available as a free iPad app for download. The big addition to this app is textbooks. Apple demonstrated a host of new features that make its textbooks superior to paper books. Most importantly, most books will be priced at $15 or less. We’ve listed some new features below.
- Searchable: You can search through entire textbooks for anything easily
- Glossary: Click on any glossary word and its definition instantly pops up on the right side of the screen
- New interactive elements: By tilting the iPad from portrait mode to landscape, you can view a book in an entirely new view, focusing on media
- Videos, slideshows, more: As you’d expect, moving video and other interactive elements are in many of these new textbooks
- Quizzes: Questions and quizzes built into the book
- Instant study cards: Perhaps the coolest new feature is the ability to highlight text and instantly turn that text into a study card, which looks just like a note card you’d use to study for a test. Flash cards can be automatically generated and shuffled into random order
- Automatic updates: Books will stay up to date forever. You own a book forever and can re-download it from the cloud anytime
The new iBooks store now has a textbook category and will have books for on every subject, every grade level, for every student, according to Apple. Textbooks are somewhat large at about 1GB or more, so we expect more 64GB (or higher) iPads will be sold in the future.
We don’t yet know if you can save your notes to the cloud so they are there when you re-download your book, or if you can share notes with other students.
iBooks Author
To compliment the new iBooks 2 experience, Apple created iBooks Author and made it available as a free download on the Mac App Store, starting today. The software appears to easily let anyone create a textbook with relative ease. Templates for things like math or science books are included and you can drag text, video, or images into place. It can also import Word files and automatically fill in pages. Adding glossary terms is as easy as highlighting a word and writing in a definition. Advanced developers can manipulate books using HTML5.
The program is also able to create kids books and other types of books as well.
Several textbook publishers are already onboard including Pearson, Houghton Mifflin, McGraw Hill, and Harcourt. McGraw Hill books on Algebra 1, Biology, Chemistry, Geometry, and Physics are already available and Pearson is making two books available as well.
iTunes U gets a makeover
Apple also announced upgrades to iTunes U, which it boasts already has more than 1000 universities using it and 700 million downloads. The new iTunes U will let instructors create entire online courses. Some of the new features are below.
- Teachers can post assignments or send messages to all students, who get a notification when there’s a new message
- Students can read a book chapter and mark an assignment as complete
- Streaming lectures are also possible
- Course materials can link to PDFs, apps, audio files, video, textbooks, other books, or Web links
- Students can rate courses like they do apps in iTunes. One click to download materials
- Of course, it’s fully integrated with iBooks 2
- K-12 grades can now sign up for iTunes U as well
- Available in 123 countries
Questions remain
There is no doubt that the services shown today are impressive, but it’s hard to say if they will be widely adopted or not. There are also key questions that remain. Not all pre-college students can afford iPads (or college students). There also isn’t an announced way for students to get textbooks for free through their school, as is currently the case in public elementary, middle, and high schools in the United States.
Then there’s sharing. All of this sounds great, but can students share notes, save notes to the cloud, or lend books to one another?
Perhaps the biggest achilles heel to the whole system is that you need an iPad to take advantage of it. Requiring that all students buy iPads is a tough, and potentially expensive, choice, especially when many of them might already have an Android, Amazon, or Windows 8 tablet (I’m talking future kids). Apple’s complete resistance to making this program available on anything outside of its own hardware will undoubtedly limit its impact.
Still, when I was growing up, every classroom had an Apple computer in it. That was how I learned how to use computers. If the company can find a way to reach out to educators on that level, it could have a huge impact.
Doubts aside, we already know Microsoft is a bit scared. Today, the company put out its own blog post about how Windows 7 tablets are great for education. Unfortunately, the post didn’t have much to say.
อย่างไรก็ตาม เรารู้ว่าในตลาดนี้นั้น Microsoft อาจจะเป็นคู่แข่งที่ไม่ค่อยน่ากลัวสักเท่าไรนัก ปัจจุบันนี้ Microsoft ได้เผยแพร่ Blog Post เกี่ยวกับ Windows 7 Tablet ที่เหมาะสมกับงานด้านการศึกษาไปบ้างแล้ว แต่โชคไม่ค่อยดีนัก ที่ผลของการประชาสัมพันธ์ดังกล่าวอาจจะไม่ค่อยได้รับการพูดถึงสักเท่าไรนัก
English to Thai: How to choose the right Ultrabook for yo General field: Tech/Engineering Detailed field: Computers: Hardware
Source text - English http://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/how-to-choose-the-right-ultrabook-for-you/
How to choose the right Ultrabook for you [2 หน้า]
With a flood of seemingly identical Ultrabooks hitting the streets soon, how do you find the right one for you? From SSD sizes to battery life and connectivity, here are some of the biggest considerations to keep in mind.
By now you’ve heard of Ultrabooks: those lighter than air, sleek and slim, chromified, laptops. After only just being introduced, the market is already bursting at the seams with at veritable overload of the MacBook Air-inspired PC versions.
While you might be able to spot one (if you can see it, that is), Ultrabooks remain something of a mystery to consumers. Here’s a quick introduction to the minimalist PC, and a guide to choosing a good one—beyond looking at how slim its design is.
Intro to Ultra
The actual definition of an “Ultrabook” comes from Intel, and it boils down to running a second-generation Intel Core Processor and having “thin, light, and beautiful designs that are less than 21mm thick.”
The term itself was coined by Intel, and the devices are set to coordinate with the company’s processor model releases. They will run Sandy Bridge, then Ivy Bridge (set to hit in the near future with improvements to integrated graphics and CPU capabilities), and later Intel’s Haswell processors.
To say that the current fleet of Ultrabooks mostly amount to MacBook Air knockoffs is pretty fair. We’re equal opportunity when it comes to the Mac vs. PC wars, but the incredibly thin laptop from Apple and its instant popularity definitely inspired the models we saw hit in full force at CES 2012. Yet if we’ve learned anything, it’s that the definition of “Ultrabook” is somewhat open to interpretation, and we’re seeing manufacturers slightly poke and prod with the term.
Storage and speed
If your Ultrabook is going to be your most-often used PC, then you need to pay attention to storage size. Most models have solid-state drives (SSDs) with at least 64GB of flash storage, and up to 256GB. This is reasonable, but probably not enough for heavy media users, like people with large photo or movies collections. If you don’t have another notebook or desktop to archive these on, you might need to figure in the cost of an external hard drive. Either way, make you sure you take a look at how much storage you’ve used with your current computer and make sure you buy an Ultrabook with at least as much.
Some Ultrabooks utilize a hybrid flash and magnetic hard drive system, which allows the operating system to boot quickly off a tiny chunk of flash memory, while programs and other data come off a conventional magnetic hard drive. This can slow things down since not all applications are stored in flash memory, but in turn it offers more storage – as much as one terabyte in current models. Is speed or space more important to you? If you’re one of the many who have started deferring to cloud-based storage platforms, the answer is probably speed.
Graphics
Ultrabooks might not be ideal for gamers, since brute force isn’t a selling point, but some Ultrabooks do offer discrete graphics cards. Besides opening the door to Call of Duty or Diablo 3 on the go, a good GPU can also improve 3D performance in applications like Google Earth or CAD programs, and help smooth out HD video decoding. Battery life obviously suffers, but some Ultrabooks intelligently switch the GPU on and off to deliver power when you need it and extend battery life when you don’t. Lenovo’s ThinkPad T430u for instance, uses Nvidia’s Optimus switchable graphics platform.
Cost
How much is too much? Ultrabooks run the gamut, and you should know right up front that for a worthwhile machine you’re going to pay around $1,000. If the price tag is more than $1,300 (give or take) you’re probably paying too much, for a couple of reasons.
First of all, this is a very new market segment and that means it’s ripe for improvement — which will come quickly. We’re willing to bet that most people considering buying an Ultrabook right now care quite a bit about their computer’s performance, and if you’ve paid attention to Intel’s roadmap, these processor upgrades are on the horizon. We understand wanting to get one now (do we ever), but we don’t suggest emptying your entire bank account for an Ultrabook like Toshiba’s Portege Z830-S8302—a whopping $1,429. Windows 8 with its touch interface is on the way as well, and if you want a tablet-like experience, don’t blow it all just yet.
Ultrabooks are likely to get more expensive when they ship with upgraded hardware, so either wait for this first rush of them to go down in price, or continue saving up for the next batch. You can’t have it both ways. At least most of us can’t.
Ports
When you sacrifice size, you sacrifice hardware. Naturally, this means Ethernet, USB, and SD card inputs, as well as HDMI output. Be sure to take note of how many your potential Ultrabook has—or its lack thereof.
Just for quick reference, many options have USB and HDMI ports, but SD card readers are a little harder to come by. The Asus Light Ultrabook, Toshiba Portege Z830-S8302, and Samsung Series 5 are a few examples of Ultrabooks with built-in SD card readers. An Ethernet jack can be tough to find, too —although it’s slightly less important for most laptop users. The Series 5 and Toshiba Portege Z835 are two examples that have Ethernet connectivity.
Battery life
At the least, an Ultrabook should have five hours of battery life; generally eight at the most. Again, you’ll need to know how you plan to use this device, but even five hours is nothing to complain about if you’re upgrading. If you really want the Ultrabook experience, we suggest looking for something in the six and up range. Also remember that most Ultrabooks have their batteries sealed inside due to size constraints, so you won’t be able to easily swap them out as you can with most ordinary notebooks.
English to Thai: Creating Social Media Dashboards General field: Tech/Engineering Detailed field: Computers: Software
Source text - English Creating Social Media Dashboards
The act of being alive today creates an immense stream of social data. A whole industry has developed around creating social media dashboards for monitoring social conversation, but the reality is that social media dashboard solutions are fairly cookie-cutter and all utilize the same data sources.
What if I want to create a custom visualization of my own data combined with everything else? If I choose one of the existing dashboards I’m pretty much limited to what ever that monitoring company believes is important to the general audience.
Free is nice, but you generally get what you pay for. When it comes to discovering competitive business insight through data analysis the devil is in the details. You need to think about your social data and business impacts from a thousand different viewpoints before you discover your epiphany.
If you are like me, I generally don’t fall in the cookie cutter category. I am constantly asking the questions that matter (to me.)
Some of the right questions…
How much budget do I have to work with?
You should be thinking about the entire process you need to complete. Creating your own social dashboard or getting a license for an existing one is only a fraction of the project. You should make sure that you have enough budget set aside for research, strategy, training, integration, and business conversion. My general rule is that a dashboard should generally take less than 20% of the project budget (it is an important piece, but not the only piece.)
How much time do I have?
Creating a socia media dashboard requires you to understand some of the cogs that are going to be built into the visualization. You either have to spend time learning these cogs or set aside budget for having a consultant help you.
How accurate does it need to be?
One of my biggest grudges about most of the cookie cutter solutions out there is accuracy. I’m amazed by the ‘fluffy’ data that originates from platforms ranging in cost from $20 to $10k a month.
Who is using it?
The larger your organization, the more people who will probably need access to it. You need to develop a list of the who, where, why, when, and how people in your organization are going to access and act on the information in your social media dashboard.
Where can I promote the data?
It is essential that this data is seen. The saying goes “out of sight, out of mind” – you need to make plans to actively display your social media dashboard in a manner that keeps the data front and center with the people who it matters to.
What is data privacy?
A lot of people in the industry don’t want to talk about this part. Many of the cookie-cutter SAAS solutions out there service competitive accounts and don’t really keep things properly contained. Account managers are often looking at SAAS clients and examining what types of data are being tracked by what types of clients. This data is used to help other clients make changes to their tracking solutions and eventually used to make upgrades to the platform. *If I assumed my organization was an industry leader, I’d rather not have my data insight be used as a tool to help a dozen competitors.
(if you want to read more about questions you should be asking, check out my article on 40 Social Media Dashboards)
Tools for creating Social Media Dashboards
I’m not going to lie.
There are a million tools to create social media dashboards.
I’ve seen enterprise level social media dashboards that look like they were drawn on napkins and freemium ones that were delightful user experiences.
The real trick is identifying the right tool for the right job.
Just because it looks pretty doesn’t mean it works well. It also doesn’t mean it is accurate, consistent, or even worthwhile.
You have to think of your social media dashboard from both a functional and a design perspective.
- Starting with completely free web code like HTML and PHP, you can create some pretty simple web dashboards. I wouldn’t recommend going into the realm of site coding unless you have someone on your project team that is comfortable playing with these tools.
- Open sources solutions like WordPress and Drupal. While both of these systems are traditionally thought of as blog platforms, they both operate as effective methods of posting and collecting information with the right plugins. I’ve personally developed several whiz-bang dashboards on WordPress.
- I also rely on Microsoft Excel and Access. These are the easiest tools to examine some basic data conclusions and are readily available to most users. Using some of the built-in charts allows me to quickly compare a few sets of data to help refine my end target.
- Microsoft Powerpoint is also a commonly overlooked tool. Create a few basic objects in Powerpoint and create mock-ups of what types of data should be where. This process generally lets me share a half dozen visualization samples so that I can get input from the working team to move cogs around.
Getting more advanced…
When working with web data I commonly show examples. Google Images is critical for this. Simply doing a search on Google Images for “industry dashboard” gives me some ideas to how other people visualize data.
When I’m done with my basic strategy I turn towards a list of tools
•
• Tabelau Software
• Tibco Spotfire
• Dundas
• ArcPlan
• FusionCharts
These tools each have some useful applications. There is no magic bullet or one size fits all winner.
User Analytics
Don’t forget to monitor who uses your dashboard.
One of the most important qualities to my social media dashboard is whether or not anyone will use it.
I want to know who, when, where, why.
I want to know what matters the most to that user and what role they play in the company.
If my data is useful and is presented properly, I will have a repeat user who consistently returns for more.
If I don’t have a repeat user I need to figure out why. I may have to change the presentation of the data, use different data, or train the person on why the data is important.
How does data impact your business?
What visualization and dashboard tools do you use to track social media? Do you think there are any inherent benefits or flaws associated to using an existing ‘social media dashboard?’
Translation - Thai การสร้าง Social Media Dashboard
การรักษาสถานภาพเอาไว้ให้ได้ในทุกวันนี้นั้น ได้สร้างกระแสข้อมูลเชิงสังคม (social data) ขึ้นมาจำนวนมากเลยทีเดียว ซึ่งมันก็ทำให้อุตสาหกรรมโดยรวมมุ่งหน้าไปสู่การสร้าง Social Media Dashboard (กระดานควบคุมการทำงานโซเชียลมีเดียหลายๆ ตัวพร้อมๆ กัน) สำหรับติดตามกิจกรรมต่างๆ ใน Social Network ขึ้นมา ทว่าความจริงประการหนึ่งก็คือ โซลูชันเหล่านั้นค่อนข้างจะมีอะไรๆ ที่เหมือนๆ กันอยู่มาก อีกทั้งส่วนใหญ่ต่างก็ใช้แหล่งข้อมูลจากแหล่งเดียวกันด้วย
ข้อมูลดังกล่าวมีผลกระทบต่อธุรกิจของคุณอย่างไร
เครื่องมือการแสดงผลเป็นรูปภาพตัวใดที่คุณใช้ในการติดตาม Social Media แล้วคุณคิดว่ามีประโยชน์ใดๆ แฝงอยู่ในนั้นอีกหรือไม่ หรือว่าจะมีจุดบกพร่องใดๆ ในเรื่องของการใช้ Social Media Dashboard ตัวนั้นๆ
English to Thai: The Top Ten Mobile Apps in the Enterprise General field: Tech/Engineering Detailed field: Computers: Software
Source text - English The Top Ten Mobile Apps in the Enterprise
As we begin the New Year we can perhaps look back on 2011 as the true first year of enterprise mobility. After many years of false starts and several roller coaster years of enterprise IT consumerization that culminated in 2011 with the rise of a new acronym - BYOD, or Bring Your Own Device - it is now clear that enterprises are moving quickly to both adopt mobility as the new strategic way forward, and to adapt to the numerous ways that mobility creates opportunities for enterprises to unleash new ways of doing business.
New ways of doing business in a mobile world means understanding the fast-paced, always-on, always-connected nature of the world we now live in. Most businesses now anticipate the ability of partners and customers to react quickly to whatever may be happening at any point within any business process. Customers and partners now expect any company they are doing business with to be able to react to any given situation immediately.
The more progressive companies, in fact, don’t react - rather they make use of mobility to allow themselves to proactively participate and to act as the change agents that are causing reactions from customers, consumers, partners and competitors. Progressive, mobile-oriented companies are now leading the business world; those that are late to the mobile game in 2012 are truly late to the game - they can be considered laggards at this point in time.
Given the intense state of mobility that now exists within the enterprise, Mobile Enterprise Magazine decided to conduct some research and take a look at what business processes companies have spent their time and money mobilizing during the period up to and including 2011, and what enterprises are most likely to find themselves mobilizing in 2012 and in the years immediately following. Our report on the top ten mobile applications in the enterprise is the result of that research, which included both qualitative discussions with a number of different companies, and quantitative research based on a survey we conducted (details of the survey are available at the end of this report).
We took a look at two different but related things for two categories of mobile applications. Our two categories of apps are as follows: internal business applications that target a company’s workforce and internal business processes; and second external applications that reach out to business partners and customers, and that reach out to consumers. Some of these applications necessarily cross both boundaries - for example, real time mobile business intelligence touches consumers in the act of “consuming” services, but then feeds back that information to internal teams for analysis and action.
For each of these categories of internal and external mobile apps, we first wanted to know specifically what business processes were being mobilized, and the relative level of importance being placed on them in terms of what was getting funding first, and what came further down the list in priority. Second, we wanted to know if organizations were attempting to build their apps in-house, either using internal tools or a mobile application platform, or if they were turning to mobile vendors for prepackaged solutions.
We did break the latter down further in our research, asking if prepackaged apps were run straight out of the box or if additional customization was required. However, for the charts presented in this report we collapsed those findings into one simpler category of prepackaged applications.
Our research also took a look at the mobile operating systems and platforms our respondent companies were either supporting or planning to support. We’ve left this part of the research for another report that will appear at a later date.
Internal Apps Through 2011
Figure 1 shows what the top ten apps have been through the end of 2011. Figure 2 provides a companion snapshot of the methods used to mobilize each of these ten applications.
Keeping in mind that “through 2011” essentially means everything a company has mobilized to date (our survey did not specifically ask for apps mobilized in 2011, but asked what apps had been mobilized through 2011). It is certainly no surprise to see that, as Figure 1 shows, email dominates the list. Some may find it surprising that the number isn’t actually 100%, but email is without a doubt the most ubiquitous mobile corporate application.
Second on the list is mobile-optimized corporate intranet access. As with email, this is probably the number two function any company will see employees make use of - whether mobilized or not. It is encouraging to note that 65.1% of respondents’ businesses have already moved forward with mobilization efforts here.
It is a bit surprising to note that field service-based location services aren’t yet very prevalent. Field service operations has traditionally been an area that has received strong mobile attention, but it is also an area of internal operations that may now be considered less of a priority as it becomes more critical to mobilize other areas of any given business.
Across the board, however, the overall set of numbers from respondents, showing mobile app penetration of approximately 30%-42% overall, is a sign that mobility is indeed making inroads. Though we do not have comparative research for earlier years, we can make a safe assumption that most of this growth occurred in the last 18 - 24 months. At this time last year we would have expected far lower numbers. It is noteworthy that travel and expense remains decidedly un-mobile given the relative ease to mobilize T&E. The problem here may be that less than 50% of businesses are using prepackaged apps for T&E - a business process that lends itself entirely to using third party apps.
Internal Apps in 2012
Figure 3 shows the direction internal enterprise apps are very likely to take in 2012. Figure 4 shows the companion chart depicting the methods of implementation for each app. Email, as was suggested in Figure 1, is nearing full saturation and therefore falls from first down to ninth place on the list of top ten apps. It is certainly no surprise to note that business intelligence takes over first place in 2012. Real time business intelligence is clearly an area that is now receiving a lot of enterprise attention, which includes substantial specific investments beyond mobility. CRM is no stranger to the mobile world, and it makes sense to see it move up to the number two spot for 2012.
As Figure 3 shows, custom internal mobile app development has moved up substantially. We believe that the key reason for this is due to enterprises beginning to consider mobility not as the last step to implement in a business application but rather as the first crucial step in building entirely new enterprise applications.
By giving mobility top priority enterprises ensure that their new apps will be inherently mobile from start to finish. Even though an enterprise may later build out more functionality for, say, a tablet form factor and even greater functionality for a laptop, by starting with the pure mobile capabilities first, enterprises will ensure that their applications will always be mobile in nature. We would not be surprised to see custom internal apps move into second place in 2013.
The other thing to note here is that Figure 4 shows that less than 40% of custom internal apps are being created through prebuilt packages. This strongly suggests that the apps being built are more complicated than prebuilt packages are able to handle, with specific mobile developer resources required to meet the demands of the mobile apps being created.
Figure 5 provides a Top Ten Internal Enterprise Applications summary and side by side comparison of where we’ve been and where we are headed with internal enterprise applications development. Note that ERP has finally snuck into tenth place and onto the list for 2012.
ERP - enterprise resource planning - means a lot of things to a lot of different people; however, as a baseline it simply means integrating both internal and external management information across an entire company to enable the flow of information between all business functions and processes inside an organization and to manage the connections to all outside partners. Well, is there any better definition of what mobility can best enable? Look for ERP to continue to move up the list of top ten internal mobile apps.
External Facing Mobility
Figure 6 shows the top ten external facing mobile apps that have been implemented through the end of 2011. Figure 7 shows the companion snapshot for how these apps are being implemented. It is certainly no surprise to see that business to consumer (B2C) applications dominate here. Social networking, of course, is closely allied to B2C applications and most consumer facing mobile apps will likely have a variety of social networking capabilities built into them.
The rest of the applications that appear on the top ten external facing mobile apps list are not of any particular surprise. These app categories have all been in the spotlight since the iPhone hit the street, although most of them are represented by pure consumer mobile applications rather than by enterprise specific applications. What is important to note here is that Figure 6 does indeed represent the enterprise side, and it is encouraging to see these typically consumer-oriented capabilities now finding their way into the mainstream of enterprise development.
Is it a surprise that real time consumer business intelligence sits in tenth place - and not in first place? No, not at all. Mobile consumer BI becoming fully relevant first requires a significant seeding of the marketplace with B2C applications. As we see in Figure 6, this B2C seeding has certainly taken off in 2011, and we are now finally starting to see a real need for mobile consumer BI - and it puts in an appearance in tenth place.
If there is a surprise, it is that mobile-optimized Internet shopping purchases and research aren’t sitting right next to mobile-optimized Internet access to customer accounts. Businesses appear to be slow to move here - perhaps slower than is prudent to do. We will point out however that these are also categories that are best reflected through the retail channel and the Mobile Enterprise survey may be underserved by this particular market segment.
External Mobility 2012
Figure 8 shows what we may expect from enterprises on the external facing app side in 2012. Figure 9 shows the companion chart depicting how enterprises are going about implementing these apps. The first obvious thing that Figure 8 shows is a significant rise in real time consumer business intelligence, now up to sixth place from tenth. This is hardly surprising given the big push in B2C apps shown in Figure 6.
Location based services, in the meantime, has quietly snuck itself up to third place. This increase in LBS is in fact not surprising. LBS is a key tool for implementing highly effective real time consumer BI, and an increase up the ladder by one should signal an increase up the ladder by the other - and that is exactly the case we have here.
Social networking continues to hold on to its number two spot in 2012, but then we run into a surprise. Business to consumer and business to business (B2B) have suddenly changed places on the top ten list. Whereas in Figure 6 B2B appears in fourth place, it surges in 2012 to first place, strongly suggesting that enterprises do indeed now view mobility as a key strategic business asset and go to market strategy.
B2C remains a strong component of the mix, but in fact pure B2C applications may simply now be tapping out after a two year run. LBS and social networking are key pieces of B2C’s continued growth, and the fact that the three of them sit in second, third and fourth place on the list not only underscores their relevance for the enterprise, but clearly shows how tightly linked to each other these application segments actually are.
What is surprising is the degree to which the B2B external applications have jumped, with a big 10% point lead over social networking. Considering the social networking buzz that exists generally in the mobile marketplace - whether on the consumer or the business side, this is a significant finding. It clearly articulates and strongly underscores that mobility is gaining strong visibility at the senior management level and that this visibility is being translated into direct mobile initiatives. Clearly enterprises are now driving mobile development in a major way.
Figure 10 provides a summary view and side by side comparison of the external mobile enterprise application landscape. One thing worth noting from this summary view is video streaming, which lurks near the bottom of both lists. In fact video streaming appears to be taking a back seat to other enterprise application priorities, but this allows us the opportunity to make a prediction for 2013 - look for video streaming to make a similar leap up the ladder as LBS has done this year.
Building Mobile Apps Tomorrow
Before we close, it is worth taking a quick look at how enterprises anticipate shifting their development methodologies heading into 2012 and beyond. As Figure 11 demonstrates, there is a steady shift taking place away from an emphasis on building mobile apps in-house. Building apps in-house has long been cited as a key competitive issue for most of the mobile application platform vendors. With good reason.
Many enterprises do try to build their mobile applications in-house. Eventually they all discover that this is a mistake - short of developing a prototype it becomes a massive, highly inefficient and very costly effort to build a mobile app strictly through the use of in-house resources. Figure 11 shows some encouraging movement on the part of enterprises in recognizing this issue, and in beginning to move away from building in-house without a mobile app platform partner.
Finally, we asked our respondents where on the enterprise application development continuum HTML5 was to be found. As Figure 12 suggests, it is clearly entering the enterprise mindset, with 71.3% of all respondents saying that HTML5 ranges from important to extremely important. It will be very interesting to see how HTML5 begins to affect the enterprise mobile application development process. 2012 will be a year of strengthening the HTML5 foundation. In 2013 we may very well begin to see HTML5 contribute to how the Top Ten Mobile Enterprise Apps lists shake out. For now, all signs point to mobility in the enterprise being on the ascendant.
อย่างไรก็ตาม มีคำถามอยู่ว่า เป็นที่น่าแปลกใจหรือไม่ ที่แอพพลิเคชัน Real Time Consumer Business Intelligence นั้น ปรากฏอยู่ในลิสต์ในอันดับที่ 10 เลยทีเดียว คำตอบก็คือ ไม่น่าแปลกใจเลยแม้แต่น้อย เนื่องจากแอพพลิเคชัน Mobile Consumer Business Intelligence นั้นเกี่ยวข้องและมีความต้องการผลพวงจากสำเร็จของแอพพลิเคชัน Business to Consumer เป็นอย่างมาก และดังที่เราเห็นในรูปที่ 6 นั้น จะเห็นว่าแอพพลิเคชัน Business to Consumer นั้นติดลมบนไปเรียบร้อยแล้ว ดังนั้นจากนี้ไปเราก็คงจะได้เห็นความต้องการที่แท้จริงของแอพพลิเคชัน Mobile Consumer Business Intelligence กันมากขึ้น ซึ่งมันก็ได้ปรากฏตัวให้เราเห็นแล้วในปี 2011 โดยเข้ามาเป็นอันดับที่ 10
ถ้าหากจะมีเรื่องให้ประหลาดใจ เรื่องนั้นน่าจะเป็นเรื่องของแอพพลิเคชัน Mobile-optimized Internet Shopping Purchase และ Mobile-optimized Internet Shopping Research เสียมากกว่า ที่มันกลับไม่ไปติดอันดับถัดจากแอพพลิเคชัน Mobile-optimized Internet Access to Customer Account ทั้งนี้อาจเป็นเพราะธุรกิจทั้งหลายคงจะต้องพิจารณาทุกอย่างเกี่ยวกับมันอย่างรอบคอบที่สุดนั่นเอง อย่างไรก็ตาม เราขอตั้งข้อสังเกตว่า แอพพลิเคชันดังกล่าว เป็นแอพพลิเคชันประเภทที่จะได้รับผลดีที่สุดผ่านช่องทางค้าปลีกเป็นหลัก และการสำรวจของเราก็คงไม่เข้าไปลงลึกในรายละเอียดเกี่ยวกับตลาดกลุ่มนี้แต่อย่างใด
ในช่วงเวลาเดียวกันนี้ แอพพลิเคชัน Location-based Services จะปรากฏอยู่เป็นอันดับที่ 3 ซึ่งอันที่จริงแล้วการเพิ่มขึ้นของแอพพลิเคชันชนิดนี้ ก็ไม่ใช่สิ่งที่น่าประหลาดใจแต่อย่างใด เนื่องจากแอพพลิเคชัน Location-based Serivecs นั้นเป็นเครื่องมือสำคัญสำหรับการอิมพลีเมนต์แอพพลิเคชัน Real Time Consumer Business Intelligence ที่มีประสิทธิภาพนั่นเอง และการเพิ่มขึ้นของการใช้งานในแอพพลิเคชันอีกตัวนั้น ก็น่าจะมีผลทำให้เกิดการใช้งานเพิ่มขึ้นในแอพพลิชันอีกตัวหนึ่งอย่างแน่นอน และในเวลานี้เราคงต้องขอยืนยันในข้อเท็จจริงอันนี้อย่างไม่อาจบิดพลิ้ว
สำหรับแอพพลิเคชันทางด้าน Social Networking นั้นยังคงรั้งอันดับที่ 2 ในปีนี้ แต่เราก็ต้องแปลกใจนิดหน่อย เมื่อแอพพลิเคชัน Business to Consumer และ Business to Business ต่างก็มาสลับตำแหน่งกันในปีนี้ กล่าวคือในรูปที่ 6 หรือในปี 2011 นั้น แอพพลิเคชัน Business to Business อยู่ในอันดับที่ 4 แต่พอมาปีนี้ แอพพลิเคชันดังกล่าวได้เลื่อนขึ้นเป็นอันดับ 1 แทน ซึ่งมันได้แสดงให้เห็นว่า ในปัจจุบันนี้องค์กรต่างๆ ล้วนแต่มองว่า Mobility ถือว่าเป็นทรัพย์สินทางธุรกิจอย่างหนึ่ง ที่มีความสำคัญทางยุทธศาสตร์ และมีความสำคัญต่อกลยุทธ์ทางการตลาดเพิ่มมากขึ้นเรื่อยๆ
แอพพลิเคชัน Business to Consumer ยังคงเป็นองค์ประกอบและส่วนผสมที่สำคัญต่อไป แต่สำหรับแอพพลิเคชันที่เป็น Business to Consumer ล้วนๆ เลยอาจจะถูกลดบทบาทลงภายใน 2-3 ปีนี้ โดยจะมี Location-based Service และ Social Networking เป็นส่วนที่ยังคงเติบโตต่อไปอย่างต่อเนื่อง และข้อเท็จจริงที่ว่าแอพพลิเคชันทั้งสามประเภทนั้น มาเป็นอันดับที่ 2, 3 และ 4 ตามลำดับ มันก็ไม่ได้เป็นเพียงยืนยันถึงความเกี่ยวข้องกันบางอย่างภายในองค์กรเท่านั้น แต่มันได้แสดงให้เห็นถึงการเชื่อมโยงซึ่งกันและกัน อย่างสอดประสานและแนบแน่น ระหว่างแอพพลิเคชันทั้งสามด้วย
สิ่งที่น่าสนใจอีกเรื่องหนึ่งก็คือ ระดับที่แอพพลิเคชัน Business to Business กระโดดขึ้นมานั่นเอง โดยที่มันนำหน้าแอพพลิเคชันอย่าง Social Networking เกินกว่า 10 เปอร์เซ็นต์เสียอีก ดังนั้นเมื่อพิจารณาจากกระแส Social Networking ที่มีอยู่โดยทั่วไปในตลาดโมบาย ไม่ว่าจะเป็นตลาดผู้บริโภค หรือตลาดธุรกิจก็ตาม นี่ถือว่าเป็นการค้นพบที่สำคัญพอดูเลยทีเดียว และมันเป็นการเน้นย้ำด้วยว่า เรื่องของ Mobility กำลังได้รับความสนใจจากผู้บริหารระดับสูงอย่างจริงจัง และความสนใจดังกล่าวกำลังนำไปสู่แผนงานทางด้านโมบายในอนาคตอันใกล้ และน่าจะชัดเจนว่าในตอนนี้ องค์กรต่างๆ กำลังขับเคลื่อนโครงการ Mobile ของตัวเอง ด้วยทรัพยากรที่มากกว่าเดิม
สำหรับในรูปที่ 10 เป็นการแสดงการเปรียบเทียบ External Mobile Enterprise Application ระหว่างปีที่แล้วกับปีนี้ ซึ่งอีกเรื่องหนึ่งที่เราน่าจะพูดถึงก็คือ แอพพลิเคชันด้าน Video Streaming ซึ่งแฝงตัวอยู่อย่างเงียบๆ ภายในลิสต์ทั้งสองรายการ ซึ่งอันที่จริงแล้ว Video Streaming ก็มักจะปรากฏตัวอยู่ข้างหลังแอพพลิเคชันตัวอื่นๆ ภายในองค์กรมาอยู่แล้ว แต่ภาพดังกล่าวอาจจะทำให้เราสามารถทำนายถึงสิ่งที่น่าจะเกิดขึ้นในปีหน้าได้อยู่บ้างไม่มากก็น้อย นั่นคือการเติบโตขึ้นของการใช้งานแอพพลิเคชันอื่นๆ ภายในองค์กร น่าจะช่วยทำให้ Video Streaming เลื่อนอันดับขึ้นมาได้ดีกว่าปีนี้
English to Thai: Tips for Save and Implement Unified Communication General field: Science Detailed field: Computers: Systems, Networks
Source text - English Tips for Save and Implement Unified Communication
Key Points
• Unified communications requires a phased approach, beginning with small steps that target the low-hanging fruit.
• UC projects should start with harnessing existing assets and building from there rather than attempting a one-size-fits-all approach.
• End-user communication is vital for project success.
Unified communications provides numerous ways to improve how people interact. But as it encompasses IP PBX, VoIP, email, audio/video/Web conferencing, voicemail, unified messaging, and instant messaging, most organizations don’t know where to begin.
“Although there is significant interest in UC from many enterprises, it remains a daunting and confusing topic,” says Bern Elliot, an analyst at Gartner, in his “Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications” research note. “As a result, many enterprises find it difficult knowing where and how to start.”
Start With Low-Hanging Fruit
Most experts agree that SMEs should keep it simple when it comes to UC implementation. A phased deployment is a good way to maximize investment. But which phase should come first? A good starting point is the identification of low-hanging fruit, such as an existing workflow that will be positively affected by unified communications with minimal investment and maximal return on investment.
For example, connecting an existing customer contact system with voicemail via an inexpensive upgrade might entail low costs yet bring high potential gain. By choosing such a task as the first phase of a gradual rollout, the end-user community sees the benefits of UC firsthand and gets behind further phases planned in the future.
“Most enterprises are phasing their deployments over time in order to write down legacy investments and preserve certain operational business workflows,” says Timothy Perez, vice president and general manager at Siemens Enterprise Communications (www.enterprise-communications.siemens.com). “Allowing them the flexibility and predictability of a phased deployment/payment schedule maximizes their investment in the implementation.”
Implement At The Business Unit Or Department Level
A big-bang approach to technology deployment is occasionally a success, but when it goes wrong, the consequences can be staggering. And as UC is not a one-size-fits-all proposition, it very much requires attention to local variations and regional needs. Therefore, it is best to avoid the large scale, at least initially, and focus efforts on specific business units and/or departments.
“Unlike telephony, which is an enterprise utility, unified communications should be implemented specifically for a business unit or department in mind,” says Kevin DeMers, senior manager for unified communications at CDW (www.cdw.com). “For example, the sales department generally desires an entirely different user experience than the engineering or human resources departments.”
Communicate With End Users In Advance
The most common pitfall that organizations run into during implementation is inadequate planning and lack of key stakeholder involvement. This can make or break the carrying out of unified communications.
“Planning the implementation, while focusing on end-user and business processes by department, is the only way to get in front of potential risk,” says DeMers. “This requires intense review and acceptance from key stakeholders on what changes to business process might be needed to better utilize the UC application being implemented.”
A high level of communication with end users in advance, backed up by hands-on user training, is a necessity. If users have a say in what is happening and are trained well, deployment hiccups can be largely avoided.
“It sounds simple, but many times organizations assume that the end user will learn how to use the technology through experience,” says DeMers. “That lack of training and inadequate communication leads to unhappy employees on the first day of service, creating a perception of a bad solution.”
Build On What You Already Have
Completely changing the current communications system is rarely called for and is an expensive route. Smart SMEs save big by building on what they currently have and preserving existing investments.
Say, for instance, an SME has PBX, voicemail, and email systems that were implemented in the past couple of years. It makes sense to use these elements as the basis for a broader UC vision. Ripping them up and starting anew may sound good on paper but is almost always the most expensive way to go.
"Enterprises should review their inventories of communication equipment and the business partners and then develop a vision for where their communication could be,” suggests Elliot.
One Vendor Does Not Fit All
It is rare that a single product suite addresses all of an enterprise’s UC needs. Planners, therefore, should not expect a lone vendor to meet every requirement. Success often demands multiple vendors working in harmony.
“UC solutions require vendors’ products to be interoperable,” says Elliot. “As a result, evaluation considers how well vendors can work with other vendors, and enterprises should consider this an important criterion.”
There are some products, for example, that are really only meant to be used in a standalone manner. They are simply not designed to be one component of a larger solution. Others, on the other hand, are relatively vendor- and platform-agnostic. Only detailed questioning of vendor reps and on-the-ground testing can reveal how well different tools will integrate.
“No one vendor offers everything an enterprise needs for communication,” says Elliot. “Enterprises should ensure that the different products can interoperate.”
Best Tip: Pilot To Gain User Confidence
It is normal for users to question the audio and video quality of unified communications. Prior to any rollout, then, it is best to have a limited number of users involved in a pilot project. In addition to helping to ascertain the interoperability of the various components and the value of the system overall prior to any large-scale purchase, this can garner greater user confidence.
The University of Kentucky, for example, conducted a three-month UC pilot involving a few dozen users. According to Doyle Friskney, CTO of the University of Kentucky, the results gained impressed so many people that the IT organization increased the number of seats it planned to purchase from 300 to 1,000. This included audio and video help desk support for a wide range of users, meetings among disparate sites, and instant messaging and voice calls.
Ways To Save With VoIP
Key Points
• Consider SIP trunking and open-standards solutions, which can offer quick returns on investments.
• Reporting can help justify VoIP expenditures while saving money and can help SMEs to proactively address call-quality issues that will impact business performance.
• By spending your money wisely on assessment, monitoring, and reporting, you will achieve the best system performance and quality of experience for your users over time.
Today’s economy is squeezing every penny it can out of the data center—even Internet telephony is feeling the squeeze. As enterprises consider implementing VoIP technology, they are forced to consider ways to cut costs while trying to balance the best solution in the meantime. The good news is it’s possible—according to VoIP manufacturers and industry experts. Here are four ways that SMEs can save money when undertaking a new VoIP project.
Take Advantage Of What VoIP Has To Offer
Make sure to uncover all the benefits of using VoIP that can add real value in addition to cost savings. Chris Maxwell, director of Voxeo Labs (www.voxeo.com), says it’s important for IT and data center managers to look to unified communications applications that integrate a variety of modalities, including voice, video, presence, conferencing, and text to streamline communication. He elaborates, “Companies can take advantage of new instant messaging and SMS capabilities that are available now with VoIP or integrate voicemail with email and combine email contact lists with phone lists by doing so.”
Maxwell says data centers should consider using softphones for remote workers or even employees at headquarters to cut costs. He says a good headset can usually overcome quality concerns when using a computer as a primary phone.
SIP trunking should also be considered as an alternative, according to Matthew Kovatch, vice president of sales at Taridium (www.taridium.com). “Depending on your call volume, a complete new VoIP business phone solution can be paid off within six to eight months by reducing telephone costs alone,” Kovatch notes. “Some companies . . . offer comprehensive consulting and legacy migration programs that tie into your existing infrastructure.”
According to Kovatch, investing in open-standards VoIP may not be a bad idea, either. “Handsets, for example, can make up to 80% of initial hardware cost, and if you choose a proprietary vendor, you might be tied to the vendor forever with expensive and inconvenient hardware upgrades,” he says. “And consider a managed VoIP service if you are concerned about acquisition costs.” Kovatch says a managed service combines the reliability of an on-premise open-standards VoIP telephony system with the convenience of a simple monthly fee for equipment, phone service, and support.
Choose Your Infrastructure Wisely
Maxwell says starting with an IP PBX (Internet Protocol private branch exchange) is a good idea. “Companies can get their feet wet by trying out an IP PBX,” he says. “Many small to medium-size enterprises are finding free, open-source PBXes . . . and many other bundled IP switch technologies are becoming increasingly stable, more widely used, and highly functional. It’s possible to implement some of these devices quite easily and cheaply. The benefit is low cost; the trade-off may be in installing and configuring the software yourself.”
In Maxwell’s opinion, considering your existing phone lines is also a good idea. “There are devices such as media gateways and ATAs (analog telephone adapters) that serve as converters from analog phone lines to SIP-based VoIP lines,” he says. “This allows companies to keep their current telephone provider,
infrastructure, and phone numbers while serving VoIP to local and remote locations using ATAs. In fact, if you have a WAN between two offices, it’s possible to bring in calls to a single location, convert the calls to VoIP, and send the calls to remote locations via SIP to be answered by remote employees.”
Glean From Reports & Monitoring
Criss Scruggs, senior manager of product marketing at NetIQ (www.netiq.com), says that now, more than ever, organizations are being asked to demonstrate the value and return of each new investment. So how do organizations justify their VoIP expenditures while saving money simultaneously? “While not really a trade secret, reporting is the way to accomplish this task,” Scruggs says. “You should already be doing this for your critical applications, and by extending existing reporting capabilities to the VoIP network, you can not only demonstrate service levels, but also rapidly identify and resolve call-quality issues. In addition, reporting can be leveraged as a capacity-planning tool for the next phase of your VoIP implementation.”
Scruggs adds that proper diagnostics and reporting not only save money, but also help SMEs to proactively address call-quality issues that will impact business performance and tangibly demonstrate the value of VoIP. “By wrapping reporting into your standard VoIP rollout, you can avoid future downtime for end users, justify to your customers the call quality and service delivery metrics as needed, and prevent business stakeholders from questioning the value of your communication investments,” he says.
Scruggs also says that deploying a complex communications system across your network should not occur without proper monitoring for the proof of concept and post-deployment phases, which does present up-front costs but saves considerable cost over time. He says it is not uncommon for distributed organizations to believe their networks are prepared to adequately support VoIP and deliver the QoE (quality of experience) and service that users have come to expect with traditional telephony.
On the other hand, he says research shows that nearly 70% of those actively researching VoIP monitoring solutions are doing so after deployment in response to significant increases in trouble tickets and service quality complaints. “In today’s economy, most organizations cannot afford these issues, as they can result in lost revenue,” Scruggs notes. “Deploying a monitoring system after your initial VoIP implementation can be time-consuming and costly.”
Handle Your VoIP Network With Care
What do VoIP and cars have in common? Scruggs says that, when properly maintained, both VoIP networks and motor vehicles can deliver incredible benefits that far exceed the maintenance and purchase costs. “For example, by following the manufacturer’s maintenance timeline and due diligence recommendations, you can make your car last over 250,000 miles by offsetting future, larger issues and making the most of your initial investment,” he says. “The same is true for VoIP. By spending your money on the right things from the get-go—assessment, monitoring, and reporting—you will achieve the best system performance and QoE for your users over time.”
By not following this proper management path, Scruggs says the chances of sporadically paying much larger amounts to fix issues and potentially needing a major system overhaul increase dramatically. “These very issues and hidden costs can be easily avoided with proactive management, which may be an additional cost up front but will save significant funds in the long run.”
Top Money-Saving Tip: Conduct A Proper Network Assessment
Conducting a comprehensive (and relatively inexpensive) network assessment will provide the necessary information to avoid both under-engineering and over-engineering the network to meet your specific needs, according to Criss Scruggs, senior manager of product marketing at NetIQ (www.netiq.com). Scruggs says to make sure your network can adequately support VoIP; assessing it prior to deployment is key to helping you save money in the long run. “You will not only reduce the risk of overspending on equipment, but have access to the data you need to properly plan your deployment,” he says. “By assessing your network, you reduce the risks associated with poor quality post-deployment and therefore the likelihood of spending money on services to diagnose and potentially reconfigure the system.”
Translation - Thai คำแนะนำสำหรับการติดตั้งระบบ Unified Communication แบบประหยัด
ประเด็นหลัก
• Unified Communication ต้องการการดำเนินการเป็นเฟสๆ (phased approach) โดยเริ่มต้นด้วยขั้นตอนเล็กๆ ที่สามารถให้ประโยชน์ได้อย่างรวดเร็ว
• Unified Communication ควรจะเริ่มต้นง่ายๆ จากทรัพย์สินที่มีอยู่ และสร้างความสำเร็จขึ้นมาจากจุดนั้น แทนที่จะหมดเงินและเวลากับสิ่งใหม่ทั้งหมดโดยไม่จำเป็น
• การสื่อสารกับผู้ใช้งาน (end-user) เป็นสิ่งสำคัญอย่างยิ่งต่อความสำเร็จของโครงการ
•
Unified Communication เป็นหนทางในการพัฒนาการสื่อสารโต้ตอบระหว่างบุคคล แต่เมื่อมันแวดล้อมไปได้วย IP PBX, VoIP, Email, Audio/Video/Web conferencing, Voicemail, Unified Messaging และ Instant Messaging องค์กรส่วนใหญ่จึงไม่รู้ว่าจะเริ่มต้นตรงไหนดี
“แม้ว่าจะมีความสนใจต่อ Unified Communication เป็นอย่างมากจากองค์กรต่างๆ แต่มันก็ยังเป็นเรื่องที่สร้างความสับสนให้กับพวกเขาอยู่พอสมควร” เบิร์น เอลเอียต นักวิเคราะห์จาก Gartner ระบุเอาไว้ในงานวิจัยที่ชื่อ “Magic Quadrant for Unified Communications” ของเขา ซึ่งเขาสรุปเอาไว้ว่า “ผลสุดท้ายองค์กรจำนวนมากก็พบว่าเป็นเรื่องยากที่จะรู้ได้ว่าควรจะเริ่มจากจุดไหนก่อนดี”
ตามความเห็นของดอยล์ ฟริสก์นีย์ หัวหน้าเจ้าหน้าที่ฝ่ายเทคโนโลยีของ University of Kentucky ซึ่งมหาวิทยาลัยแห่งนี้ได้ดำเนินการโครงการนำร่อง Unified Communication เป็นเวลา 3 เดือน โดยมีผู้ใช้งานจำนวนหนึ่งประมาณ 20-30 คน พบว่าผลตอบรับค่อนข้างน่าประทับใจมาก จนทำให้มหาวิทยาลัยเพิ่มจำนวนที่นั่งสำหรับผู้ใช้งานระบบดังกล่าวจาก 300 เป็น 1,000 ที่นั่งเลยทีเดียว ซึ่งรวมไปถึงส่วนของการสนับสนุนงาน Help Desk ทั้งภาพและเสียง การประชุมทางไกลระหว่างไซต์ และการใช้โปรแกรมโต้ตอบข้อความด้วย
แนวทางการประหยัดด้วย VoIP
ประเด็นหลัก
• พิจารณาบริการ SIP Trunking และโซลูชันมาตรฐานเปิด (open-standards solutions) ที่สามารถให้ผลตอบแทนจากการลงทุน (Return on Investment) ได้อย่างรวดเร็ว
• การรายงานผล (reporting) สามารถช่วยแสดงให้เห็นถึงค่าใช้จ่ายของ VoIP ได้ ขณะที่สามารถประหยัดเงินและช่วยองค์กรในการแก้ปัญหาเรื่องคุณภาพของการใช้งาน ซึ่งส่งผลกระทบต่อประสิทธิภาพของธุรกิจได้เช่นกัน
• ด้วยการใช้จ่ายเงินของคุณอย่างชาญฉลาดไปกับการประเมิน การสอดส่องดูแล และการรายงานผล คุณจะได้รับประสิทธิภาพของระบบที่ดีที่สุด และสร้างประสบการณ์ที่ดีที่สุดให้กับผู้ใช้งานได้ตลอดไป
ทุกวันนี้เศรษฐกิจยิ่งรัดตัวมากขึ้นทุกที จนกระทั่งแม้แต่ Internet Telephony ก็ยังเป็นเรื่องที่ต้องกระเบียดกระเสียน เมื่อองค์กรเริ่มที่จะคิดติดตั้งเทคโนโลยี VoIP พวกเขาก็จะถูกบังคับโดยปริยายให้ต้องมองหาหนทางในการลดต้นทุนการได้มาไปพร้อมๆ กับการได้โซลูชันที่ดีที่สุดเท่าที่จะเป็นไปได้ในเวลาเดียวกัน ข่าวดีก็คือ ตามความเห็นของผู้ผลิตและผู้เชี่ยวชาญเทคโนโลยี VoIP นั้น ความต้องการดังกล่าวเป็นเรื่องที่เป็นไปได้ และต่อไปนี้เป็นแนวทาง 4 ประการที่องค์กรจะสามารถประหยัดเงินได้ เมื่อจะต้องจัดการกับโครงการ VoIP ที่เป็นโครงการใหม่
ใช้ประโยชน์จากสิ่งที่ VoIP มีให้คุณอย่างเต็มที่
คริส แม็กเวลล์ ผู้อำนวยการของ Voxeo Labs (www.voxeo.com) แนะนำว่า คุณต้องแน่ใจว่าคุณค้นพบประโยชน์ทั้งหมดจากการใช้ VoIP ที่สามารถเพิ่มมูลค่าที่แท้จริงและลดต้นทุนในการทำธุรกิจให้กับคุณได้ เป็นเรื่องสำคัญสำหรับผู้จัดการฝ่ายไอทีและผู้จัดการศูนย์ข้อมูลที่จะต้องมองหาแอพพลิเคชัน Unified Communication ที่สามารถอินทิเกรตกับรูปแบบการปฏิบัติหรือการดำเนินการที่หลากหลายได้ ไม่ว่าจะเป็นเรื่องที่เกี่ยวกับเสียง วิดีโอ การปรากฎตัว การประชุม หรือการสื่อสารด้วยข้อความก็ตาม เขาให้รายละเอียดเพิ่มเติมว่า “บริษัทต่างๆ สามารถใช้ประโยชน์จากความสามารถของ Instant Messaging และ SMS ที่ในตอนนี้ใช้งานร่วมกับระบบ VoIP ได้แล้ว หรือจะอินทิเกรตวอยซ์เมล์เข้ากับอีเมล์ และรวม Email Contact List เข้ากับ Phone List ก็ได้”
English to Thai: 5 Trends That Will Shape Small Business in 2010 General field: Tech/Engineering Detailed field: IT (Information Technology)
Source text - English 5 Trends That Will Shape Small Business in 2010
Dec 08, 2009 -
2009 was a pretty wild year in the world of marketing. While social media was building up steam in previous years, it pretty much went mainstream this past year. In fact, many businesses became fatigued from hearing so much about Twitter, Facebook, and social media in general.
As the hype settled and people began to understand how to use and integrate these new platforms, more change was brewing. The evolution that was social media in 2009 set the table for the realization of some significant trends to bubble up into the world of small business in 2010.
The groundwork for some of these trends has been in place for years, but I think we will see small business owners finally start to embrace the following five significant expansions in the New Year.
1) Real time is big time
At some point in 2010, all search results will consist of real-time information, scores, reviews, tweets and all, right there and up to the minute. We’re addicted to up to the minute connection and we want more. It’s kind of like the Meryl Streep line in Postcards from the Edge, “Instant gratification isn't fast enough.”
Most everything we do will be instant. Google Wave wants to introduce real-time collaboration.
An iPhone app called Shazam will tell me the name of the song playing on a coffee shop stereo right now. Oh, and I can buy it on iTunes, right now too.
Another, called Red Laser, will tell me where to get an item from a photo. It will also give me the best price available for the item anywhere, right now, from a bar code scan.
2) Location as plumbing
Imagine standing on a hill overlooking the downtown skyline and pointing the camera on your phone in any direction and getting a full tour of what you are looking at, including restaurant recommendations from friends in your favorite social network.
Walk into a museum, plug in your headphones and point your phone at a painting or sculpture. Then, read about it while a video interview from an expert on the artist loads.
Augmented reality and location aware services have been around for a while. Now that Facebook and Twitter are starting to play with geo-location for tweets and update, enabled by the GPS technology on most every new phone, look out, it’s going to tip.
Location sharing services like Foursquare, Loopt and Google Latitude, are already receiving mainstream media mention. It won’t be long before every rating and review site, such as Yelp! and Insider Pages, build this into the foundation and push coupons and discounts out to you based on location.
Anywhere you go you will be able to locate friends nearby or the location of every Twitter follower in a city you are visiting.
Your location, or that of your customers and prospects, will become another data point in the marketing mix.
3) Filtering gets social
Having access to vast amounts of information in real-time and the stores of data from throughout history are both a good thing and a bit of a curse. While we can now find the answer to just about any query, we are pummeled with so much information that we cannot sift through the good and bad and true and false.
Filtering and aggregating information became a valuable skill in the last few years as tools like RSS readers and search alerts allowed us to subscribe to and collect the information we wanted to read most.
I believe in the coming year another layer of filtering will become just as important as search engine optimization. Look to see search results peppered with recommendations from our social contacts.
When you search for the best attorney in town, a good movie or the best place to get some authentic TexMex, not only will you see the organic search results earned through Google’s algorithm, you’ll also see what your friend Jimmy had to say about such things.
Social search has the ability to eclipse the value of traditional SEO efforts. As more and more information is added to your social graph, I believe recommendations from trusted sources in your networks will carry significantly more impact in some cases than the results that reach the top spots in organic search.
4) Kitchen sink on the cloud
Will desktop applications and computing become a thing of the past? While not completely, 2010 looks like the year that small businesses will truly embrace applications that exist online only.
Entire software suites such as Google Apps and Microsoft Office Live will finally allow document, spreadsheet, database, and presentation software to function as Internet applications at greatly reduced costs and ultimate real time collaboration.
File sharing and storage, including total file backup from tools like Dropbox and Mozy, will become standard in the small business toolbox.
Project, task, scheduling and collaboration of all manners have made a dramatic move to the web with tools like CentralDesktop and Backpack, as remote workers and a global supply chain have dictated. Look for these kinds of tools to be routinely used as client service tools that eliminate the need to drive a few blocks to consult.
Online meeting tools like GoToMeeting, WebEx and even Skype, with video, will continue to allow people to connect in richer ways online.
The sacred cow of the desktop, financial data will finally move online completely as QuickBooks Online. Tools like Freshbooks make it very easy to do bookkeeping online while providing secure access for financial employees and outside accounting resources.
5) Fusion boosts offline
While the entire focus of this article to this point has been about changes online, the mantra for 2010 will be the convergence of online and offline for the greatest leverage.
No matter how wired we get as a society and business, there will always be a need for face to fact trust, building engagement. Now that small businesses have moved more online, the smart play will be to find the best ways to fuse the online and offline activates in ways that make the return on both even greater.
While LinkedIn and Facebook may be great places to find prospects and create awareness, they are not always the best platforms to build relationships deep enough to create a sale.
Using these platforms to create awareness for content that resides on your web site or to drive people to events where they can learn and network in person, will become an essential part of the marketing process.
In addition, using online tools such as Twitter and Biznik to further facilitate existing in person relationships, will become another tool that small businesses will add to their competitive arsenal. Now when a member of your sales team meets a prospect at a Chamber of Commerce function, they may follow them on Twitter and invite them to connect on LinkedIn as a matter of process and as a way to more easily communicate, refer and connect, all apart of the trust building cycle.
Elements of these trends have been brewing for some time and adoption of any trend generally happens over time and almost immeasurably. However, now is the time to analyze the impact these ideas may have on your business this year and into the future.
Image credit: prosto photos
John Jantsch is a marketing and digital technology coach, award winning social media publisher and author of Duct Tape Marketing.
Translation - Thai 5 แนวโน้มที่จะกำหนดรูปธุรกิจขนาดเล็กในปี 2010
ปี 2009 นับเป็นปีที่มีการแข่งขันกันค่อนข้างรุนแรงในโลกของการตลาด ในขณะที่ Social Media ได้เริ่มก่อกระแสขึ้นมาตั้งแต่หลายปีที่แล้ว แต่ดูเหมือนกระแสหลักของมันจะปรากฎให้เราเห็นกันชัดๆ ในปีที่ผ่านมานี้เอง แต่จะว่าไปแล้ว ธุรกิจจำนวนมากต่างก็เคยได้ยินเรื่องราวเกี่ยวกับ Twitter, Facebook และเว็บไซต์ Social Media อื่นๆ มากันมากพอสมควรแล้ว
เมื่อกระแสโฆษณาชวนเชื่อก่อตัวขึ้น ในเวลาเดียวกับที่ผู้คนเริ่มเข้าใจวิธีการใช้ และการอินทิเกรตแพลตฟอร์มใหม่ๆ เหล่านี้ ย่อมทำให้การเปลี่ยนแปลงเกิดขึ้นได้จริงเหมือนกัน นั่นคือวิวัฒนาการของ Social Media ในปี 2009 ได้ก่อรูปไปในลักษณะที่จะสร้างความตระหนักในแนวโน้มที่มันจะเข้าไปมีบทบาทต่อโลกของธุรกิจขนาดเล็กในปี 2010 นั่นเอง
ในท้ายที่สุดบรรดา Software Suite อย่างเช่น Google Apps และ Microsoft Office Live จะยอมให้ Document, Spreadsheet, Database และ Presentation สามารถทำงานเป็นอินเทอร์เน็ตแอพพลิเคชันได้ในราคาที่ถูกลงกว่าเดิม และเป็นการทำงานร่วมกันแบบเรียลไทม์อย่างแท้จริง
English to Thai: How to Use Social Networks to Engage Consumers General field: Tech/Engineering Detailed field: Internet, e-Commerce
Source text - English How to Use Social Networks to Engage Consumers
December 2, 2009
E-tailers have long known the benefits of acquiring their best customer's best friends, and they also know that nothing makes virtual cash registers ring better than word-of-mouth marketing. For these reasons, social media and online social networks can drive online shopping and spending.
Charles Nicholls, founder of SeeWhy, a re-marketing services company, believes that one issue hindering the e-commerce industry is marketers’ inability to use social networks in an engaging way.
While many e-tailers take advantage of Facebook Connect and tweet their latest deals, Nicholls says the danger this season is that social networks will be used as little more than cheap broadcast channels, and not as communication channels to truly engage customers.
"Once a customer has shared their passion about an e-commerce brand with their social network, it’s important to identify and recognize the customer’s value specifically," he said.
Find the Sneezer This Christmas
According to recent SeeWhy research, 50 percent of e-commerce marketers plan to use social networks this holiday season to distribute promotions and discounts. In a report authored by Nicholls, he suggests that to be successful this holiday season, you need to focus on finding the “sneezer” — that is, the customer that spreads your offers and promotions through social networks.
Social networking sites make it incredibly easy for your “sneezer” customer to share promotions and positive word-of-mouth marketing about your business in a single click with his or her network of friends. The problem, however, is that when your customer spreads that message — if you take no other steps —then you are simply using these valuable tools as a broadcast channel.
Nicholls believes that in order to correct this problem, you have to identify and recognize the value in your socially connected customers. "You’ve just found an advocate that can potentially be very valuable,” he said. “In 2010, retaining and rewarding sneezers will be increasingly important, but many companies fail to capture their identity or do anything with it."
Why You Should Integrate Social Media into Your Site
Unless a customer specifically provides you with personally identifiable information, then you won’t get those detailed social analytics, but according to Nicholls, if you allow customers to log in to social networks via your own Web site, then you can track your biggest word-of-mouth customers — the sneezers.
For example, if an e-commerce site owner uses Facebook Connect, it will let members log in to their Facebook accounts without leaving the e-commerce site. This is important because when they log in, the site has access to profile information about the member that can be used for personalization. E-commerce Web sites can make it easy for their customers who use Facebook to post the things they find and like on their Facebook Wall — where their network of friends will see it.
Nicholls says that e-tailers can capture the customers’ 15-digit Facebook ID number — not their e-mail address. "While this may not be directly actionable, it’s worth capturing and storing this data for future use. Analyzing the data can help you identify your most prolific sneezers.”
MySpace and Twitter have similar functionality, so it’s important for e-commerce marketers to become familiar with the different social media sites and integrate access to them from your own site. Also, you should learn how to take advantage of the best marketing options on each. Simply using Facebook Connect is not enough.
Tips for Better Social Media Contact
For e-tailers just getting started with social media integration, Nicholls suggests they simply stop being nervous about spreading awareness through social channels, and start by using sites like Twitter and Facebook to offer discounts and discuss promotions. This will help you build your network — and of course you should integrate one-click access to these networks from your own site.
Other ways you can start using social media is to take the customer service approach. Use these networks to make immediate and meaningful interactions with your customer. An e-commerce business can connect with customers much faster when using social media networks than it can with more traditional contact methods, like phone or e-mail.
On a cautionary note, e-commerce businesses may need to review their site policy to ensure customers have the opportunity to agree to receive communications from you on these networks. The last thing you want to do is disconnect a customer and have your social media tactics seen as a spam.
Also, Nicholls believes that you should reward customers who spread positive word about your e-commerce business. He recommends that when customers share your promotion or message in their activity feed, you should reward them (through the social networking site) with a special offer or discount.
Translation - Thai เราจะใช้ Social Network ในการผูกมัดใจลูกค้าได้อย่างไรบ้าง
บรรดา E-tailer ทั้งหลายต่างก็รู้ในประโยชน์ของการได้เพื่อนที่ดีที่สุดของลูกค้าที่ดีที่สุดมาเป็นลูกค้าของตัวเองมานานแล้ว พวกเขารู้ว่าไม่มีอะไรดีไปกว่าการตลาดแบบบอกต่อๆ กันไปอีกแล้ว ด้วยเหตุผลนี้ ทั้ง Social Media และ Social Network จึงเป็นสิ่งที่สามารถช่วยสนับสนุนการช้อปปิ้งแบบออนไลน์ได้อย่างแน่นอน
เพราะอะไรคุณควรจะอินทิเกรต Social Media เข้ากับเว็บไซต์ของคุณ
เว้นแต่ลูกค้าจะให้ข้อมูลบางอย่างของเขากับคุณเท่านั้น ถ้าไม่เช่นนั้นแล้วคุณก็จะไม่รู้รายละเอียดอะไรเกี่ยวกับเรื่องที่เขาพูดถึงคุณเลย แต่ถ้าคุณเปิดโอกาสให้ลูกค้าล็อกอินเข้าสู่ Social Network ต่างๆ ผ่านเว็บไซต์ของคุณ คุณก็สามารถติดตามข้อความที่ลูกค้าพูดถึงคุณได้
ตัวอย่างเช่น ถ้าเจ้าของ E-commerce Site ใช้ Facebook Connect ก็จะเป็นการเปิดทางให้ลูกค้าสามารถล็อกอินเข้าสู่แอ็กเคานต์ Facebook ของเขาได้โดยไม่ต้องออกจาก E-commerce Site นั้นๆ ซึ่งนั่นเป็นเรื่องที่สำคัญทีเดียว เนื่องจากจะทำให้ E-commerce Site สามารถเข้าถึงโปรไฟล์ของลูกค้ารายนั้นได้ และสามารถนำข้อมูลของลูกค้ามาใช้ประโยชน์ในการทำ Personalization ได้ E-commerce Site สามารถทำให้ลูกค้าที่ใช้ Facebook มีความสะดวกในการโพสต์ถึงสิ่งต่างๆ ที่เขาพบและชื่นชอบลงบน Facebook Wall ได้ ซึ่งจะทำให้เครือข่ายเพื่อนๆ ของเขาเห็นข้อความดังกล่าวในที่สุด
ทั้ง MySpace และ Twitter ต่างก็มีฟังก์ชันที่คล้ายคลึงกันนี้ ดังนั้นมันจึงสำคัญสำหรับนักการตลาด E-commerce ที่จะต้องคุ้นเคยกับเว็บไซต์ Social Media ต่างๆ และทำการอินทิเกรตการเข้าถึงเว็บไซต์เหล่านั้นจากเว็บไซต์ของคุณ นอกจากนี้คุณควรเรียนรู้วิธีการใช้ประโยชน์จากออปชันทางการตลาดที่ดีที่สุดของแต่ละเว็บไซต์ด้วย การใช้แต่เพียง Facebook Connect อย่างเดียวนั้นยังไม่เพียงพอ
คำแนะนำสำหรับ Social Media Contact
สำหรับ E-tailer ที่เพิ่งเริ่มต้นกับการอินทิเกรต Social Media นั้น นิโคลส์แนะนำว่าพวกเขาเพียงแต่เลิกวิตกกังวลเกี่ยวกับความรับรู้ที่จะแพร่กระจายผ่านช่องทางทางเครือข่ายสังคมเท่านั้น แล้วเริ่มต้นโดยการใช้เว็บไซต์อย่าง Twitter และ Facebook ในการเสนอส่วนลดและเงื่อนไขการขายพิเศษ นั่นจะช่วยคุณสร้างเครือข่ายของคุณขึ้นมา และแน่นอนว่าคุณควรจะอินทิเกรตการเข้าถึงแบบ One-click Access สู่เครือข่ายเหล่านี้จากเว็บไซต์ของคุณเอง
อีกวิธีหนึ่งที่คุณสามารถเริ่มต้นการใช้ Social Media ก็คือ เพื่อให้บริการลูกค้า ใช้เครือข่ายเหล่านี้ในการสร้างหนทางในการโต้ตอบแบบทันทีและมีความหมายกับลูกค้าของคุณ ธุรกิจ E-commerce สามารถเชื่อมต่อกับลูกค้าได้เร็วกว่าเดิมเมื่อใช้เครือข่าย Social Media โดยเฉพาะเมื่อเปรียบเทียบกับการติดต่อสื่อสารแบบเดิม อย่างเช่น ผ่านโทรศัพท์ หรืออีเมล์
กิจการ E-commerce อาจจำเป็นต้องทบทวนนโยบายของเว็บไซต์ตัวเองด้วย เพื่อให้แน่ใจว่าลูกค้ามีโอกาสที่จะเลือกที่จะรับการสื่อสารจากคุณผ่านเครือข่ายเหล่านี้ และสิ่งที่คุณจะต้องไม่ทำก็คือ การ Disconnect ลูกค้าออกไป หรือใช้เล่ห์เหลี่ยมทาง Social Media ที่ดูแล้วน่าจะเป็นเหมือนการสแปมเสียมากกว่า
นอกจากนี้นิโคลส์เชื่อว่าคุณควรจะเสนอรางวัลที่เหมาะสมให้กับลูกค้าที่เผยแพร่ถ้อยคำดีๆ เกี่ยวกับธุรกิจ E-commerce ของคุณด้วย เขาแนะนำว่าเมื่อลูกค้าแชร์ข้อมูลเกี่ยวกับการส่งเสริมการขายของคุณ คุณก็ควรให้รางวัลพวกเขา (ผ่านไซต์ Social Network) ด้วยข้อเสนอหรือส่วนลดเป็นกรณีพิเศษ
English to Thai: How to Use Social Media to Retain Customers General field: Tech/Engineering Detailed field: Internet, e-Commerce
Source text - English How to Use Social Media to Retain Customers
There are many times or reasons that a small business will receive an influx of new customers -- such as around the holidays for retail stores, during a new product or service launch, or after a local advertising campaign. While new customers are great, returning customers are even better. Social media offers a number of opportunities to turn your new and existing customers into repeat customers and fans.
Hook New Customers on Social Media
The first thing you should do is direct new customers to your social media accounts. A good way to do that is to incentivize that act of becoming your friend, fan, or follower. Offer those who have just made a purchase a discount on future business in the form of a coupon, but tie it to your social media presence. For example, retailers could let customers know at point of sale that if they become a fan of your business on Facebook, they'll receive exclusive offers for discounts on future purchases. Or customers could be given instructions to tweet out a special hashtag with a message about your store after they follow your Twitter account, and once that's done you could send them a direct message with a special offer.
This is not unlike the common practice of taking down email or mailing addresses for mailing lists, but social media puts the user more in control since, when properly used, it is a two-way medium. That's actually an advantage to small business owners because active, engaged customers will be more likely to give you their attention.
Concentrate on Building a Community
Once you have users signed up to follow you on social media sites, the trick to retaining them as customers is to keep them wanting to come back. That means constantly engaging them with new content, exclusive offers, and information they can't get elsewhere. The best way to grow your community is to consistently offer them quality content. That means forgoing the sales pitch most of the time.
Customers join communities because of the quality of information and because they want to be privy to news about sales, coupons, deals, new products, or changes to your business (e.g., new hours, changed location, or updated menu items). But that doesn't mean they want to receive constant sales come-ons. Delivering quality, helpful tips and information to your customers will make them more likely to want to do business with you and help build your online community.
Restaurants could share recipes or tips for properly reheating leftovers, for example, while plumbers could offer instructions for simple home fixes. Retailers could offer honest reviews of new products, and doctors could offer alerts about the latest medical research or health care policy updates. Get creative -- what sorts of information can you provide your customer community? This type of content will help to build your social media community and turn new buyers into return customers.
Play Favorites
Social media is a great place to promote your general sales and events, but you should also consider offering your social media fans exclusive deals that cannot be had elsewhere. Online-only offers will keep fans returning for more and it will help to build a community around your store, service, or brand, which is what social media is all about.
It's certainly true that you should treat all of your customers well, but it doesn't mean you should treat them all the same. Those customers that have taken the time to sign up as your fan, friend, or follower have shown a heightened interest in your brand that should be recognized. By plying your social media followers with occasional exclusive deals or discounts, you can help turn customers into fans that will evangelize your business to others. That way, you can turn new customers, into return customers, who in turn attract more new customers for you. That's the type of cycle that social media, when put to work properly, can help you create.
Translation - Thai เราจะใช้ Social Media เพื่อรักษาลูกค้าเอาไว้ได้อย่างไรบ้าง
มีบ่อยครั้งและหลายเหตุผลที่ธุรกิจขนาดเล็กจะมีลูกค้าใหม่หลั่งใหลเข้ามาในช่วงเวลาเดียวกันเป็นจำนวนมาก เช่น ในช่วงเทศกาลวันหยุดสำหรับกิจการค้าปลีก ช่วงเปิดตัวผลิตภัณฑ์หรือบริการใหม่ หรือช่วงส่งเสริมการขายด้วยแคมเปญโฆษณาต่างๆ เป็นต้น อย่างไรก็ตาม ในขณะที่ลูกค้ารายใหม่ๆ นั้นเป็นเรื่องที่ดี แต่ลูกค้าเก่าๆ ที่หวนกลับมาซื้ออีกครั้งนั้นน่าจะเป็นนิมิตหมายที่ดีกว่า และ Social Media ก็เป็นสิ่งที่สามารถเสนอโอกาสอันหลากหลายที่จะเปลี่ยนทั้งลูกค้าใหม่และลูกค้าเก่าให้กลายเป็นลูกค้าที่มีการสั่งซื้อกับคุณได้อย่างสม่ำเสมอ
สร้างลูกค้าใหม่ด้วย Social Media
สิ่งแรกที่คุณควรจะทำก็คือ การดำเนินการต่างๆ เพื่อชักชวนให้ลูกค้าใหม่ของคุณแวะไปยังแอ็กเคานต์ Social Media ของคุณ ซึ่งวิธีที่ได้ผลในการกระทำเช่นนั้นก็คือ การมอบสิทธิประโยชน์ให้เขาเป็นพิเศษเมื่อพวกเขาสมัครเป็นเพื่อน แฟนคลับ หรือผู้ติดตามความเคลื่อนไหวของคุณ ตัวอย่างเช่น ร้านค้าปลีกควรจะทำให้ลูกค้ารู้ว่า ถ้าพวกเขาเป็นแฟนคลับธุรกิจของคุณผ่าน Facebook พวกเขาจะได้รับส่วนลดพิเศษในการซื้อสินค้าครั้งต่อๆ ไป หรือหลังจากที่ลูกค้าติดตาม (follow) แอ็กเคานต์ Twitter ของคุณ คุณควรแนะนำเขาให้ทวีต Hashtag ด้วยข้อความพิเศษที่เกี่ยวกับร้านค้าของคุณ และเมื่อเขาทำตาม คุณก็มอบข้อเสนอพิเศษให้เขา
วิธีการนี้จะไม่เหมือนกับการส่งอีเมล์ไปยัง Mailing List ต่างๆ เนื่องจาก Social Media จะเป็นสิ่งที่ควบคุมได้มากกว่านั้น เพราะถ้าใช้ให้ถูกวิธี มันจะเป็นสื่อสองทางที่มีประสิทธิภาพ และนั่นจะเป็นประโยชน์ต่อเจ้าของธุรกิจขนาดเล็กอย่างแท้จริง เพราะถ้าสามารถโต้ตอบสื่อสารซึ่งกันและกันได้ นั่นก็มีแนวโน้มว่าลูกค้าจะให้ความสนใจคุณมากกว่าเดิม
เน้นการสร้างชุมชน
เมื่อลูกค้าทำการ Sign Up เพื่อติดตามคุณบนเว็บไซต์ Social Media แห่งใดแห่งหนึ่ง วิธีการที่ดีที่จะรักษาพวกเขาไว้ได้ก็คือ คุณต้องทำให้พวกเขากลับมาหาคุณเอง ซึ่งนั่นหมายถึงคุณจะต้องสื่อสารกับเขาอย่างสม่ำเสมอด้วยเนื้อหาใหม่ๆ ข้อเสนอพิเศษ และข้อมูลต่างๆ ที่พวกเขาไม่สามารถหาจากที่อื่นได้ และวิธีการที่ดีที่สุดในการพัฒนาชุมชนของคุณก็คือ การนำเสนอเนื้อหาที่มีคุณภาพอย่างสม่ำเสมอ และอย่าเน้นไปที่การขายของมากจนเกินไปนัก
ตัวอย่างเช่น ร้านอาหารหรือภัตตาคารสามารถนำเสนอสูตรอาหารหรือเทคนิคเล็กๆ น้อยๆ ในการอุ่นอาหารอย่างถูกต้องได้ ในขณะที่ช่างซ่อมประปาสามารถเสนอคำแนะนำสำหรับการซ่อมบ้านอย่างง่ายๆ ให้กับเจ้าของบ้านได้ ส่วนร้านค้าปลีกก็สามารถนำเสนอการรีวิวผลิตภัณฑ์ใหม่ๆ อย่างตรงไปตรงมาให้กับลูกค้าได้ และคุณหมอทั้งหลายก็สามารถเสนอคำเตือนที่ได้จากผลการวิจัยทางการแพทย์ล่าสุด หรืออาจจะเป็นคำแนะนำที่เกี่ยวกับการปรับปรุงหรือเปลี่ยนแปลงในนโยบายสาธารณะสุขก็ได้ ซึ่งไม่ว่าคุณจะเสนอข้อมูลอะไรให้กับชุมชนลูกค้าของคุณก็ตาม ให้ใช้ความคิดสร้างสรรค์เป็นสำคัญ เพราะเนื้อหาที่ประกอบไปด้วยความคิดสร้างสรรค์จะช่วยคุณสร้างชุมชน Social Media ให้เข็มแข็งขึ้น และสามารถเปลี่ยนลูกค้าใหม่ให้กลายเป็นลูกค้าเก่าที่หวนกลับมาซื้อสินค้าจากคุณครั้งแล้วครั้งเล่าได้
เสนอในสิ่งที่พิเศษ
Social Media เป็นที่ที่ดีในการส่งเสริมการขาย รวมถึงการส่งเสริมอีเวนต์ทางการขายโดยทั่วไปด้วย อย่างไรก็ตาม คุณควรจะพิจารณาการนำเสนอข้อเสนอบางอย่างที่เป็นพิเศษจริงๆ ที่ไม่สามารถหาได้จากที่อื่นๆ ได้ด้วย ถ้าคุณศึกษาเรียนรู้และนำไปปฏิบัติอย่างจริงจัง Social Media จะเป็นสิ่งที่คุณสามารถใช้ในการสร้างชุมชนที่แวดล้อมไปด้วยร้านค้า สินค้า และบริการของคุณ และสร้างลูกค้าประจำให้คุณได้อย่างแน่นอน
เป็นเรื่องจริงที่ปฏิเสธไม่ได้ว่าคุณควรจะปฏิบัติกับลูกค้าทุกๆ รายเป็นอย่างดี แต่นั่นไม่ได้หมายความว่าคุณจะต้องปฏิบัติกับทุกรายเหมือนๆ กันหมด โดยเฉพาะลูกค้าที่ให้เวลาในการ Sign Up เป็นเพื่อน แฟนคลับ หรือผู้ติดตามข่าวสารต่างๆ จากคุณนั้น แสดงว่าเขามีความสนใจเป็นพิเศษเกี่ยวผลิตภัณฑ์ของคุณ ซึ่งคุณก็ควรจะรับรู้และตระหนักในคุณค่าของพวกเขาเหล่านี้ ดังนั้นการเชื้อชวนลูกค้าเหล่านี้ด้วยข้อเสนอหรือส่วนลดพิเศษต่างๆ สม่ำเสมอ คุณจะสามารถเปลี่ยนพวกเขาให้เป็นกระบอกเสียงที่เผยแพร่ข่าวสารเกี่ยวกับธุรกิจของคุณไปยังคนอื่นๆ ได้ และจะทำให้ลูกค้าของคุณเพิ่มมากขึ้นเรื่อยๆ ตามลำดับ ซึ่งนั่นเป็นสิ่งที่ Social Media สามารถช่วยเหลือคุณได้อย่างแน่นอน
English to Thai: top myth of wireless protect General field: Tech/Engineering Detailed field: Computers: Systems, Networks
English to Thai: Top 10 Web Marketing Trends For 2010 General field: Marketing Detailed field: Internet, e-Commerce
Source text - English From social networking and e-mail marketing to search engine optimization and mobile, we tell you where to invest, what to test, and which deserve a rest.
Allocating your business' marketing budget to maximize return on investment and minimize the risks of a low or negative return can become a lot more unpredictable when your investments involve trends and emerging technologies. Investing in trends requires smart timing and consumer analysis.
You would think that marketing trends would be closely aligned with consumer trends, since effective marketing depends on getting your messages to appear where the highest concentration of qualified eyeballs are focused. That isn't always the case, however, because trend-focused marketers tend to place an inflated value on revolutionary technology and early adoption.
Thankfully, the majority of consumers permanently relocate their attention with much less frequency than marketing bandwagon drivers. Still, missing a trend or sticking with a has-been spells opportunity lost at best and negative returns or loss of market share at worst.
Since your trend-marketing returns are only as good as your ability to make educated guesses, here's some advice to help you avoid turning educated guesses into marketing messes. These top 10 Internet marketing trends for 2010, in no particular order, each come with advice on whether to "invest," "test," or "let it rest."
Trend #1: Search Engine Optimization
Advice: Test
Sites with relevant content and credible links will continue to rule the search rankings in the coming year, but 2010 has the potential to reveal a few new standards. As the volume of Web content continues to grow, consumers will demand even more relevant and personalized search results. That means search engines will be looking for more relevant and personalized content from publishers and brands. In fact, the search engine algorithms are already beginning to pay more attention to date of publication, geo-location, mobile device browsers, past behavior, and social media content.
Don't abandon your current SEO strategy in search of personalization, but make sure you allocate a portion of your budget to testing content, keywords, and links that are targeted toward niche audiences. Test keyword and link placement in social media, local content, and mobile Web sites, and make an effort to more frequently refresh some of the content you devote to search engine rankings. Once the search engines have tested these new search targets and revealed some concrete standards, you should be prepared to invest accordingly.
Trend #2: Paid Search
Advice: Invest
Paid search hasn't seen a revolutionary trend since the idea of the long tail was applied to keyword bidding. That's OK, because consumers will still use search engines in 2010 as a primary means of finding products and services to fulfill their needs, and they will still be clicking on relevant ads. Search advertising prices will remain reasonable, and average returns will remain comparably high as larger companies with decreased search marketing budgets continue to allocate resources to lower-cost SEO tactics in hopes of attracting visitors at lower prices. 2010 has the potential for even more downward pressure on price-per-click if Bing can gain enough loyal searchers to attract business away from Google.
You won't exactly feel like you're in the driver's seat when your search marketing placement choices are limited to Google, Microsoft, or both, but that doesn't mean you should shy away from investing in the highly qualified leads that paid search is capable of producing.
Trend #3: E-mail Marketing
Advice: Invest
It isn't hard to justify an investment in e-mail marketing when the cost of sending e-mails is so low. The low cost isn't the only reason to send e-mail, however. Most consumers still consider e-mail to be their primary form of communication, even though there are several alternative ways for consumers to subscribe to periodic content from small businesses.
E-mail marketing will remain highly predictable in 2010 and may even become more powerful as e-mail service providers improve social media integration, search engine access to archived e-mails, auto-responders and new integrated applications. If you don't already use an e-mail service provider, invest in one in 2010. If you already use an e-mail service, invest in your e-mail list and in producing valuable content to nurture leads and attract repeat customers.
The cost of building a permission-based list is likely to stay the same in 2010 as it was in 2009, but more than one-third of consumers changed at least one of their e-mail addresses in 2009 -- due to job changes or other economic factors. Spend more time and money in 2010 focused on keeping your e-mail list current when those consumers return to work and change e-mail addresses again.
Trend #4: Social Network Marketing
Advice: Test
Social media has one redeeming quality for marketers -- lots and lots of eyeballs. That's attractive if you're a major brand, but profitable interaction will continue to be the exception for smaller businesses in 2010 rather than the rule. A good test of your social network marketing potential is to survey your current customers to see how many of them consider social networking to be a primary form of communication. You should probably experiment with a Facebook fan page and a Twitter feed if you find that a meaningful percentage of your current customers indicate an interest in following your business.
Make 2010 your year to test content that attracts repeat and referral business. Your current customers are more likely than total strangers to respond to offers posted on social networks because they already know you and trust you based on their prior purchases.
Trend #5: Blogging
Advice: Let It Rest
If you're writing a blog to help with search engine rankings or to inform existing customers, you should continue to test or invest. If you're blogging in an attempt to attract new prospects and convert them to customers, however, 2010 will be a year that exposes the blogosphere's vulnerability to the law of averages. Converting prospects into customers depends on driving visitors to content that maximizes conversions, and that means your conversion rate is only as good as the content on your landing page. If that landing page is your blog and your blog changes frequently, your conversion rate is only as good as your latest blog post.
Instead of blogging to convert your Web site visitors into customers in 2010, work hard to test and develop great landing page content. When you find something that works, don't change it.
Trend #6: Web Presence
Advice: Invest
If you want people to see the content on your Web site, it might make sense to advertise the location of your Web site content by placing ads on other high-traffic Web sites. Driving visitor traffic to your site isn't the way to go for 2010, however. Instead, you need to spend 2010 driving your Web site content to the visitor traffic.
The difference stems from the fact that content aggregation sites like YouTube are boosting consumer demand for instant gratification and what I like to call "content nesting." Content nesting allows consumers to browse through content fed to them through a single Web page, or nest, so that they don't have to click on links to individual sites all over the Web, which takes more time -- not to mention that the results can be anywhere from unpredictable to shockingly irrelevant.
To take advantage of content nesting in 2010, your Web site content needs to be nested in as many content aggregation sites as possible. For example, a lot of people search for videos on YouTube. If you have a video on your site and it's not also on YouTube, people on YouTube will never know about your site. To them, YouTube represents the total number of videos available to them on their topic of interest.
Trend #7: Mobile Marketing
Advice: Test
In case you haven't heard, mobile marketing is all about marketing to people through their mobile phones and smart-phone devices. Small and midsize businesses haven't had much of an opportunity to engage consumers on mobile devices, but 2010 has the potential to change that.
Demand is increasing dramatically for mobile applications and mobile Web-browsing due to wider adoption of devices like the iPhone and phones based on the Google Android platform like the Droid and Nexus One. As more people adopt these phones and features in 2010, look for small-business marketing services to start providing lower-cost mobile marketing solutions like text messaging, mobile e-mail marketing, mobile websites, mobile application development and location-based marketing.
Make 2010 your year to collect mobile preferences from your prospects and customers, and use tools like Google Analytics to see how many people are visiting your Web site on mobile browsers. If you find interest in mobile interaction among your customers, begin testing simple mobile marketing campaigns such as sending a few mobile coupons via text or building a mobile micro-site for one of your products.
Trend #8: Podcasting And Online Radio
Advice: Let It Rest
Online radio is actually on a bit of a growth trend, but that's just because so-called terrestrial radio is suffering so much that radio advertisers are switching their investments to digital formats. 2010 will be a year of exploration for online broadcasters as they struggle to find and attract loyal audiences. iTunes has long been the leader in podcasting, but there are still no clear leaders in internet radio.
Even if leaders emerge in 2010, Internet broadcasters will need to make their media more sharable, more engaging, more trackable, and more mobile to attract money from advertisers. If you're looking to attract an audience by broadcasting or advertising on broadcast media, go with online video in 2010 and wait for radio to finish reinventing itself.
Trend #9: Online Video
Advice: Invest
If a picture paints a thousand words, how many words does a 30-second online video paint? Countless buying emotions and memorable brand moments are possible with video. Until recently, spreading your message with video was limited to the television screen. In 2010, watch for video to become more accessible to businesses of all sizes through online outlets. Online video is interactive, memorable, widely accessible, cheap to create, and highly shareable. There's also a lot of investment happening around video, which is sure to create even more low-cost opportunities for businesses to participate in video promotions in 2010.
Don't think of video as a replacement for text. As powerful as video can be, it can be more cumbersome than text because you can't scan a video as quickly as you can scan a page of headlines, links, and text to quickly find the exact information you need. Use your investments to find the right balance for your customers.
Trend #10: Coupons, Discounts And Savings
Advice: Test
OK, this one isn't entirely an internet marketing trend, but it's important enough to mention because of the economy. 2009 was another tough year for retailers, and consumers are so accustomed to shopping for deals that they might begin to expect the plethora of deep discounts currently available to continue forever. If you're engaged in heavy discounting to attract sales and survive the economic downturn, you'll need to spend 2010 slowly weaning your customers off your lower prices, assuming that the economy recovers. Resetting expectations won't be easy, so try swapping discounts for special privileges like loyalty discounts, free upgrades, and other offers that won't lock you in to price comparisons.
Internet marketing trends develop quickly, so expect many new and exciting trends to emerge in 2010. Don't be too quick to jump on new bandwagons because consumers move more slowly than marketers and technology. Stay focused on attracting repeat business, deepening your customer relationships, and solving problems for people. Those are the trends that never fail businesses of all kinds.
คุณอาจจะรู้สึกว่าคุณไม่อยู่ในฐานะผู้เลือกสักเท่าไรนัก ในเมื่อดูเหมือนว่าการตลาดชนิดนี้จะจำกัดอยู่เฉพาะ Google และ Microsoft เท่านั้น แต่นั่นก็ไม่ได้หมายความว่าคุณจะต้องลบลี้หนีหน้าไปจากการลงทุนกับวิธีการที่นำลูกค้าที่มีคุณภาพสูงมาให้คุณได้เช่นนี้แต่อย่างใด
แนวโน้มที่ 7: Mobile Marketing
คำแนะนำ: ทดสอบ
ถ้าหากคุณไม่เคยได้ยินคำนี้มาก่อน การตลาดผ่านอุปกรณ์เคลื่อนที่ก็คือการตลาดทุกประเภทที่สื่อสารกับผู้บริโภคผ่านโทรศัพท์มือถือหรือสมาร์ตโฟนของพวกเขา ที่ผ่านมาธุรกิจขนาดเล็กและกลางอาจจะไม่ค่อยมีโอกาสจากช่องทางนี้สักเท่าไรนัก แต่ในปีนี้ก็มีแนวโน้มที่สถานการณ์ดังกล่าวจะเปลี่ยนแปลงไปอยู่เหมือนกัน
ดูเหมือนอุปสงค์ทางด้านการใช้งานแอพพลิเคชันและความต้องการในการเข้าเว็บจะเพิ่มขึ้นอย่างรวดเร็วอันเนื่องมาจากการให้การสนับสนุนของอุปกรณ์อย่าง iPhone และโทรศัพท์มือถือที่อิงกับระบบปฏิบัติการ Google Android อย่าง Droid และ Nexus One ซึ่งเมื่อผู้คนให้การตอบรับต่อคุณสมบัติของโทรศัพท์เหล่านี้เป็นอย่างดีในปีนี้ คุณก็เตรียมมองหาบริการทางการตลาดที่พร้อมให้บริการแก่ธุรกิจขนาดเล็ก เพื่อตระเตรียมช่องทางสำหรับโซลูชันที่มีต้นทุนต่ำอย่าง Text Messaging, Mobile E-mail Marketing, Mobile Website, Mobile Application Development และ Location-based Marketing เอาไว้ได้เลย
ในปีนี้ขอให้เป็นปีที่คุณจะทำการรวบรวมความชอบ (preferences) ของกลุ่มเป้าหมายและลูกค้าของคุณในเรื่องต่างๆ ที่เกี่ยวกับอุปกรณ์เคลื่อนที่เอาไว้ให้มากที่สุด และใช้เครื่องมืออย่าง Google Analytics เพื่อดูว่ามีคนเข้ามาเยี่ยมชมเว็บไซต์ของคุณด้วยเบราเซอร์ที่อยู่บนโทรศัพท์มือถือมากน้ยอเพียงใด ถ้าหากคุณพบปฏิกิริยาที่แสดงถึงความสนใจในสินค้าหรือบริการของคุณ ให้คุณเริ่มทดสอบแคมเปญทางการตลาดอย่างง่ายๆ อย่างเช่น การส่ง Mobile Coupon ด้วยการใช้ข้อความธรรมดาๆ หรือการสร้างเว็บไซต์ขนาดเล็กๆ (mobile micro-site) เพื่อรองรับผลิตภัณฑ์ชิ้นหนึ่งๆ ขึ้นมาโดยเฉพาะก็ได้
English to Thai: Windows 7 tricks:top tips and tweaks General field: Tech/Engineering Detailed field: Computers: Software
Source text - English Windows 7 tricks:top tips and tweaks
Getting to know Windows 7? Here are 20 ways to get around the interface and make it act the way you want.
Preston Gralla
November 11, 2009 (Computerworld) Editor's note: An earlier version of this story was written when Windows 7 was still in beta. Now that the final version has been released, we've overhauled the story, updating some tips, eliminating others that are no longer relevant, and adding seven new tips. Look for the icon to find the new tips.
Just got your hands on Windows 7 and want to bend it to your will? No problem. We've got plenty of tips, hacks and secrets to keep you busy for a long time, including automatically opening Windows Explorer to a folder of your choice, speeding up taskbar thumbnails, finding hidden desktop themes, forcing User Account Control to act the way you'd like, keeping your Explorer searches secret from others, and more.
So check out these tips. If you like them, we'll keep more coming.
General tips
We'll start with a few nifty tips that can make your desktop more interesting, make it easier to get around and increase your computer's power efficiency.
Use hidden international wallpapers and themes
When you first install Windows 7, it asks for your language, time and currency. Based on your responses, it installs a set of wallpapers and themes. If you choose English (United States) for your time and currency format, for example, the available desktop backgrounds and themes will include a United States section with scenery from locations such as Maine, the Southwest and so on.
Hidden, though, are background scenery and themes from other English-speaking countries -- Australia, Canada, Great Britain and South Africa. Normally, you can't access those backgrounds or themes, but there is a simple way you can install and use them:
1. In the search box in the Start menu, type C:WindowsGlobalizationMCT and press Enter. (Note: If Windows 7 is installed in a drive other than C:, use that letter instead.)
2.
3. Windows Explorer will launch and show you a list of subfolders under C:WindowsGlobalizationMCT: MCT-AU, MCT-CA, MCT-GB, MCT-US, and MCT-ZA. Each subfolder has wallpapers for a specific country: AU for Australia, CA for Canada, GB for Great Britain, US for the United States, and ZA for South Africa.
4.
For any of the countries whose wallpaper and themes you want to use, go into its Theme folder, for example, C:WindowsGlobalizationMCTMCT-ZATheme. Double-click the theme you see there (for example ZA).
A South Africa theme, ready to use.
Click to view larger image.
3. That will install a shortcut to the theme and wallpapers in the Personalization section of Control Panel.
You can now use them as you would any other theme or background, by right-clicking the desktop, choosing Personalize, and choosing a background or theme. They will be listed in their own section.
Shake your desktop free of clutter
If you frequently run multiple programs simultaneously, your desktop can get extremely cluttered. This can get annoying if you're working on one program and want to minimize all the other windows -- in previous versions of Windows you had to minimize them individually.
With Windows 7's "shake" feature, though, you can minimize every window except the one in which you're currently working -- in a single step. Click and hold the title bar of the window you want to keep on the desktop; while still holding the title bar, shake it quickly back and forth until all of the other windows minimize to the taskbar. Then let go. To make them return, shake the title bar again.
You can accomplish the same thing by pressing the Window key-Home key combination -- although doing that is not nearly as much fun.
Get a power efficiency report
Have a laptop and want to get more battery life out of it? Windows 7 includes a hidden built-in tool that will examine your laptop's energy use and make recommendations on how to improve it. To use it:
1. Run a command prompt as an administrator. To do this, type cmd in the search box, and when the cmd icon appears, right-click it and choose "Run as administrator."
2. At the command line, type in the following:
powercfg -energy -output FolderEnergy_Report.html
where Folder represents the folder where you want the report to be placed.
3. For about a minute, Windows 7 will examine the behavior of your laptop. It will then analyze it and create a report in HTML format in the folder you specified. Double-click the file, and you'll get a report -- follow its recommendations for ways to improve power performance.
A laptop's power efficiency report.
Click to view larger image.
Modify UAC
The User Account Control security feature was one of the most reviled additions to Windows Vista, with good reason -- its constant warning messages asking for permission to continue many operations drove users around the bend. UAC has been significantly improved in Windows 7 so that it's not as intrusive as in Vista, but you can still tweak it if you like.
Here's how to turn UAC on or off, and make it less or more intrusive than the default:
1. Go to the Control Panel --> User Accounts and Family Safety.
2. Click User Accounts, then click Change User Account Control settings.
Modifying UAC. Click to view larger image.
3. From the screen that appears, use the slider to select the level of protection you want. Here are the four levels and what they mean:
Always notify me. Think of this as UAC Classic. It works like Vista's UAC: When you make changes to your system, when software is installed or when a program tries to make a change to your system, an annoying prompt appears.
Default -- Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer. This is, obviously, the default; make a change yourself and UAC leaves you alone. When a program makes a change, a prompt appears and your desktop goes dark, just like it does in Vista. Otherwise, UAC sits there silently.
Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer (do not dim my desktop). This setting is identical to the default setting, with one difference: It won't dim your desktop so that you only see the UAC prompt asking you to take action. This presents a slightly elevated security risk over the default setting, because theoretically a program could allow a malicious program to interfere with the UAC prompt.
Never notify me when: In this one, UAC is completely turned off. This is, of course, an insecure option and not recommended for most users.
After you make the selection, click OK. Depending on the selection you made, you may need to restart your system for it to take effect.
Start Menu tips
Many people overlook the Start Menu, rarely using it except as a jumping off point to run an application or get to the Control Panel. But there's actually plenty you can do with it.
Search the Internet from the Start Menu
Note: This tip relies on the Group Policy Editor, which isn't available in some versions of Windows 7. Thus, this tip will not work if you have the Home Premium, Starter, or Home Basic editions of Windows 7.
The Start Menu's search box is a convenient way to search through your PC -- but you can also have it do double-duty and perform Internet searches as well. To enable this feature:
1. In the Start Menu search box, type GPEDIT.MSC and press Enter to run the Group Policy Editor.
2. Go to User Configuration --> Administrative Templates --> Start Menu and Taskbar.
3. Double-click "Add Search Internet link to Start Menu," and from the screen that appears, select Enabled. Then click OK and close the Group Policy Editor.
Enabling Internet search from the Start Menu.
Click to view larger image.
4. From now on, when you type a search term in the Search box on the Start Menu, a "Search the Internet" link will appear. Click the link to launch the search in your default browser with your default search engine.
Customize the Shut down button
The default action of the Start Menu's Shut down button is to turn off your PC. If you want to use the button for another action, such as restarting your PC, you click the arrow to the right of the Shut down button and select an action from the drop-down menu.
What if you rarely shut your PC down completely but frequently restart it? You can change the Shut down button's default action to be Restart -- or Switch user, Log off, Lock, Sleep or Hibernate.
To change your default, right-click the Start button and select Properties. On the Start Menu tab, click the "Power button action" drop-down menu and select which action you want to be the default. Then click OK, and OK again.
Add a Videos link to the Start Menu
The Windows 7 Start Menu includes links to your Pictures and Music folders, but not to your Videos folder. If you watch a lot of videos and want a link to them on your Start Menu, here's what you can do:
Displaying the Videos folder on the Start Menu.
Click to view larger image.
1. Right-click the Start button and select Properties.
2. On the screen that appears, go to the Start Menu tab and click Customize.
3. In the dialog box that appears, scroll to the bottom, look for the Videos section, select "Display as a link," and click OK and then OK again.
If you'd prefer that Videos display as a menu, with links to files and submenus, instead select "Display as a menu."
Windows Explorer tips
Windows Explorer is the heart and soul of the Windows interface, and overall it works quite well. But you can make it better.
Use check boxes to select multiple files
In order to select multiple files for an operation such as copying, moving or deleting in Windows Explorer, you generally use the keyboard and the mouse, Ctrl-clicking every file you want to select. But if you're mouse-centric, there's a way to select multiple files in Windows 7 using only your mouse, via check boxes. To do it:
1. In Windows Explorer, click Organize, and then select "Folder and search options."
2. Click the View tab.
3. In Advanced Settings, scroll down and check the box next to "Use check boxes to select items." Click OK.
4. From now on, when you hover your mouse over a file in Windows Explorer, a check box will appear next to it; click it to select the file. Once a file is selected, the checked box remains next to it; if you uncheck it, the box will disappear when you move your mouse away.
Selecting multiple files using your mouse and check boxes. Click to view larger image.
Open a command prompt at any folder
Command prompt fans will welcome this tip. With it, when you're in Windows Explorer, you can open a command prompt to any folder. This tip does exactly what the Windows XP PowerToy "Open Command Window Here" does.
To use it, hold down the Shift key and right-click a folder, then choose "Open command window here" from the context menu that appears. (Note that this tip doesn't work in the Documents folder.)
Protect the privacy of your Explorer searches
Note: This tip relies on the Group Policy Editor, which isn't available in some versions of Windows 7. Thus, this tip will not work if you have the Home Premium, Starter, or Home Basic editions of Windows 7.
When you search through your PC from Windows Explorer, you can see the most recent searches that have been performed. If you share a PC and don't want others to see what you've searched for, you can turn off the recent searches feature:
Select "Enabled" to protect search privacy.
Click to view larger image.
1. In the Start menu's Search box, type GPEDIT.MSC and press Enter to launch the Group Policy Editor.
2. Go to User Configuration --> Administrative Templates --> Windows Components --> Windows Explorer.
3. Double-click "Turn off display of recent search entries in the Windows Explorer search box" and select Enabled from the screen that appears. Then click OK. The recent searches feature will now be turned off.
Set a new Windows Explorer launch folder
When you run Windows Explorer, it always opens to the Libraries folder. That's fine if you use Microsoft's default file organization, which designates Libraries as the overall container for your folders. But what if you don't? You might prefer to have Windows Explorer open to Computer or any other folder you choose. Here's how to do it:
1. Right-click the Windows Explorer icon on the taskbar (it's the one that looks like a folder), and then right-click the Windows Explorer icon from the context menu that appears and select Properties. The Windows Explorer Properties dialog box appears.
2. You'll have to edit the Target field on the Shortcut tab of this dialog box in order to change the default location at which Explorer opens.
Changing the default Explorer location.
Click to view larger image.
If you want Explorer to open to a specific folder, simply enter the name of the folder, substituting your folder name for Folder, below, like this:
%windir%explorer.exe c:Folder
So to open Explorer to the folder named Budget, you would type this in the Target field:
%windir%explorer.exe c:Budget
If you want Explorer to open to special, pre-set locations, such as Computer, you'll need to enter special syntax in the Target field. Following is a list of three common locations and the syntax to use, followed by the syntax for the Libraries folder in case you ever want to revert to the default.
3. After you've changed the Target field, click OK. Next time you launch Windows Explorer, it will open to the new location you've designated.
Show all your drives in Windows Explorer
Depending on your system settings, when you go to Computer in Windows Explorer, you may be in for a shock -- you may not see all your drives such as memory card readers if those drives are empty. If this disconcerts you, there's a simple way for you to see them even if there's nothing there:
Having Explorer show empty drives.
Click to view larger image.
1. Launch Windows Explorer and press the Alt button to reveal the top menu.
2. Select Tools --> Folder Options and click the View tab.
3. Under "Advanced settings," uncheck the box next to "Hide empty drives in the Computer folder." Click OK. The drives will now always be visible.
Build your own Internet Search Connector
Windows 7 has a very useful new feature called a Search Connector that lets you search through a Web site from right inside Windows Explorer. With it, you type in a search term and select the Search Connector for the site you want to search; Explorer searches the Web site without having to open Internet Explorer, and the results appear inside Windows Explorer. Click any of the results to head there using your default Web browser.
Normally, you'll need to get each Search Connector from the Web site through which you want to search, and very few Connectors are available. Sites normally need to adhere to OpenSearch standards in order for their Connectors to work.
However, there's a work-around that will let you easily build your own Search Connector for any site, using Windows Live Search as a kind of go-between. Don't worry, you don't need to know any code to write a Connector. Just follow these steps:
1. Copy the following text and paste it into Notepad. The text you'll need to change is in bold, all-caps text:
NAME YOUR SEARCH
DESCRIPTION OF SEARCH
2. In place of NAME YOUR SEARCH, type in the name of the search as you want it to appear. In our case, we're going to build a Search Connector for Computerworld, so we'll just type in Computerworld.
3. In place of DESCRIPTION OF SEARCH, type in a longer description of the search. In our instance, it will be Search through Computerworld.
4. In the two SITENAME.COM entries, enter the Web site's domain. Don't use the http:// or www -- just the domain name. In our instance it will be computerworld.com.
5. To the right of "count=", type in the number or results you want to appear. In our instance, we'll keep it at 50.
6. In our example, here's what the code should look like (no bold necessary):
Computerworld
Search through Computerworld
Adding a new Search Connector.
7. Save the file in Notepad, choose UTF-8 from the Encoding drop-down box near the bottom of the Save As screen, and give it an .osdx extension. In our instance, we'll call the file Computerworld.osdx.
8. In Windows Explorer, right-click the .osdx file and select Create Search Connector. The Search Connector will be created.
9. You can now use the Search Connector. To get to it, in Windows Explorer go to YourName --> Searches --> Connector, where YourName is your account name, and Connector is the name of the Connector.
Results from a custom Search Connector. Click to view larger image.
Taskbar tips
One of the most significant changes to the Windows 7 interface is its new taskbar, which acts more like the Mac OS X dock than the Windows taskbar of old. Here are a few quick tips for using the new taskbar and tweaks for taking charge of it.
Speed up the display of thumbnails on the taskbar
One of the nicest things about the taskbar is that when you hover your mouse over the icons in it, you can see thumbnail previews of all open windows for each of those applications. When you do so, there is a slight delay before the thumbnail appears. But you can make the thumbnails display more quickly by using a Registry hack.
Important: Always create a Restore Point before editing the Windows Registry. If you don't know how to create a Restore Point or find your way around the Windows Registry, see "The tweaker's guide to the Windows Registry."
The taskbar in thumbnail view.
Click to view larger image.
1. Launch the Registry Editor by typing regedit in the Search box and pressing Enter.
2. Go to HKEY_CURRENT_USERControl PanelMouse.
3. Double-click MouseHoverTime. The default value you'll see is 400 -- which means 400 milliseconds. Type in a new, smaller value -- 150 is a good bet. Then click OK and exit the Registry Editor. You'll have to log off or restart your computer for the change to take effect.
Rearrange taskbar icons
It's easy to rearrange the icons across the bottom of the screen -- simply drag an icon to where you want it to live. You can also add icons to the taskbar by dragging them from an application, and delete the icons by highlighting them and pressing the Delete key.
Take control of the taskbar notification area
The notification area, at the far right of the taskbar, shows system messages and alerts, and displays the icons of programs and services that typically run in the background, such as Windows 7's wireless service. But what determines when, how and which icons show up there seems one of Windows' great mysteries.
Customizing the taskbar notification area.
Click to view larger image.
There's a simple way to find out, and better yet, to customize it.
1. Right-click the taskbar, select Properties, and from the dialog box in the notification area section, click Customize.
2. For each application, select from the drop-down box whether you want the icon and notifications to always be displayed, to never be displayed or to have an icon appear only when there's a notification of some kind. Click OK when you're done.
You can also customize the system icons and services that appear there, including the clock, volume, network, power and Action Center icons. At the bottom of the same screen, click "Turn system icons on or off," and from the screen that appears, choose whether to turn on or off the icon and notifications. Click OK twice when you're done.
See taskbar thumbnails without a mouse
If you're a fan of using the keyboard rather than your mouse whenever possible, you can move your cursor from icon to icon in the taskbar without a mouse -- and still see thumbnail previews. Press Windows key-T, and you'll move the focus to the leftmost icon on the taskbar. Then, while still pressing the Windows key, press T again to change the focus to the next icon to the right. You can keep doing this as long as you like.
Launch taskbar apps without a mouse
Likewise, you can launch any program on the taskbar without the mouse. Press the Windows key and the number that corresponds to the position of the application on the taskbar -- for example, Windows key-1 to launch the left-most application on the taskbar, Windows key-2 to launch the second left-most application and so on.
Run multiple copies of applications from the taskbar
The Windows 7 taskbar serves a dual purpose, which can get confusing at times. It's used to launch programs, and also to switch between programs that are running. So you launch a program by clicking its icon, and also switch to that program after it's running by clicking its icon.
But what if you want to launch a second instance of the program? Once the program is running, it seems there's no way to launch a second instance, because when you click its icon, you only switch to the running instance.
There's a simple fix: If a program is already running and you want to launch a second instance from the taskbar, hold down the Shift key and click the icon. A second instance will launch. You can keep launching new instances this way.
Get back the Quick Launch bar
Windows 7's new taskbar functions as a program launcher as well as task switcher. As a result, the old Quick Launch bar, the area on the left side of the taskbar that contained shortcuts for frequently used programs, has been banished. However, if you really miss the little applet, you can add it back. Here's how to do it:
1. Right-click the taskbar and choose Toolbars --> New Toolbar.
2 . You'll be asked to select a folder for where the new toolbar should live. In the Folder text box at the bottom of the dialog box, enter this text:
%userprofile%AppDataRoamingMicrosoftInternet ExplorerQuick Launch
After you do that, click Select Folder. A link for the Quick Launch bar will be added to the taskbar. It will be on the right of the taskbar, just to the left of the Notification area.
The Quick Launch bar docked on the right. Click to view larger image.
It's not particularly useful docked all the way to the right with no application icons showing, so we're going to have to do a bit of work on it to make it useful. Right-click the taskbar and, in the pop-up menu, remove the check next to "Lock the taskbar." Now right-click Quick Launch and remove the checks next to Show Text and Show Title.
Once you've done that, drag the vertical triple dotted line next to the Quick Launch bar to the left until you expose its icons. To prevent further changes, right-click the taskbar and check Lock the taskbar. You can now use the Quick Launch bar as you could in Windows XP and Vista, including adding icons to it and deleting them.
The Quick Launch bar, restored to usefulness. Click to view larger image.
Translation - Thai ลูกเล่นเด็ดๆ และเทคนิคดีๆ ใน Windows 7
คุณคงต้องการเรียนรู้เพิ่มเติมเกี่ยวกับ Windows 7 ใช่มั๊ย? ต่อไปนี้เป็นวิธีการ 20 วิธีที่จะจัดการกับ Windows 7 ในแบบที่คุณต้องการ
Editor's note: เวอร์ชันแรกของคำแนะนำต่อไปนี้ถูกเขียนไว้ตั้งแต่ที่ Windows 7 ยังเป็นชุดเบต้าอยู่ ในตอนนี้เวอร์ชันสุดท้ายของ Windows 7 ได้ออกมาแล้ว เราจึงได้ปรับปรุงเนื้อหาขึ้นมาใหม่ รวมถึงอัพเดทคำแนะนำบางเรื่อง และตัดเนื้อหาที่ไม่เกี่ยวข้องทิ้งไป อีกทั้งยังเพิ่มคำแนะนำใหม่เข้ามาอีก 7 ข้อด้วยกัน โดยคำแนะนำดังกล่าวจะมีไอคอน อยู่ที่ด้านหน้า
คุณคงอยากจะลงมือปฏิบัติการบน Windows 7 ด้วยตัวคุณเองใช่มั๊ย? ไม่เป็นปัญหา เพราะเรามีลูกเล่นและเทคนิคดีๆ ที่จะทำให้วันนี้คุณจะดูยุ่งทั้งวันเลยทีเดียว คำแนะนำดังกล่าวจะรวมไปถึงการเปิด Windows Explorer ในตำแหน่งโฟลเดอร์ที่ต้องการ, การเพิ่มความรวดเร็วให้กับ Thumbnail ที่อยู่บนทาสก์บาร์, การค้นหา Theme ที่ซ่อนอยู่, การควบคุมการทำงานของ User Account Control ในแบบที่คุณต้องการ, การเก็บความลับหรือรักษาความเป็นส่วนตัวในเรื่องที่คุณทำการค้นหา รวมทั้งเรื่องอื่นๆ อีกมากมาย
การเรียกใช้ Wallpaper และ Theme ของประเทศต่างๆ ที่ซ่อนอยู่
เมื่อคุณติดตั้ง Windows 7 เป็นครั้งแรก มันจะถาม Language, Time และ Currency ที่คุณต้องการใช้ ซึ่งจากคำตอบของคุณนั้น มันก็จะทำการติดตั้ง Wallpaper และ Theme ให้คุณชุดหนึ่ง ตัวอย่างเช่น ถ้าคุณเลือก Time และ Currency เป็น English (United States) พื้นหลังหรือ Background ของ Desktop และ Theme ก็จะเป็นภาพที่เกี่ยวกับประเทศสหรัฐอเมริกา เป็นต้น
อย่างไรก็ตาม ยังมี Background และ Theme ของประเทศที่ใช้ภาษาอังกฤษเป็นภาษาหลักซ่อนอยู่อีกจำนวนหนึ่ง ซึ่งได้แก่ Australia, Canada, Great Britain และ South Africa ซึ่งโดยปกติแล้วคุณจะไม่สามารถเข้าถึง Background หรือ Theme เหล่านี้ได้ แต่ก็มีวิธีการง่ายๆ ที่คุณจะติดตั้งและใช้มันด้วยวิธีการต่อไปนี้:
1.ในเสิร์ชบ็อกซ์ (search box) ที่อยู่ใน Start Menu นั้น ให้พิมพ์ C:WindowsGlobalizationMCT แล้วกด Enter (หมายเหตุ: ถ้า Windows 7 ถูกติดตั้งในไดรฟ์อื่นที่ไม่ใช่ไดรฟ์ C: ให้ใช้ชื่อไดรฟ์นั้นแทนไดรฟ์ C:)
2.Windows Explorer จะเปิดและแสดงรายการ (list) ของซับโฟลเดอร์ (subfolder) ภายใต้ C:WindowsGlobalizationMCT: MCT-AU, MCT-CA, MCT-GB, MCT-US และ MCT-ZA ขึ้นมา ซึ่งแต่ละซับโฟลเดอร์ที่ปรากฎขึ้นมาจะมี Wallpaper ของประเทศหนึ่งๆ อยู่ในนั้น นั่นคือ AU สำหรับ Australia, CA สำหรับ Canada, GB สำหรับ Great Britain, US สำหรับ United States และ ZA สำหรับ South Africa
แต่ด้วยคุณสมบัติ “Shake” ใน Windows 7 คุณสามารถ Minimize โปรแกรมทุกๆ โปรแกรมได้ในคราวเดียว (ยกเว้นโปรแกรมที่คุณกำลังใช้งานอยู่) โดยการคลิกค้างไว้ที่ Title Bar ของโปรแกรมที่คุณต้องการใช้งาน แล้วทำการเขย่า (เลื่อนไปทางซ้ายทีขวาทีติดๆ กัน 2-3 ครั้ง) จนกระทั่งโปรแกรมอื่นๆ ทุกโปรแกรมถูก Minimize ลงไปสู่ Taskbar จนหมด ส่วนการทำให้โปรแกรมเหล่านั้นกลับมาตามเดิมก็ทำได้โดยการเขย่า Title Bar อันเดิมอีกครั้ง
คุณสามารถทำขั้นตอนดังกล่าวได้ด้วยการกดปุ่ม Windows พร้อมๆ กับกดปุ่ม Home ที่อยู่บนแป้นพิมพ์ แม้ว่าวิธีการนี้อาจจะไม่ค่อยน่าสนุกนัก เมื่อเทียบกับวิธีเมื่อสักครู่นี้ก็ตาม
การดูรายงานประสิทธิภาพการใช้พลังงาน
ถ้าหากคุณใช้แลปทอปอยู่ คุณคงต้องการให้อายุของแบตเตอรียาวนานขึ้นใช่มั๊ย? Windows 7 มีเครื่องมือ Built-in ที่ซ่อนอยู่ที่สามารถตรวจสอบการใช้พลังงานของแลปทอปของคุณได้ และให้คำแนะนำแก่คุณว่าควรจะทำอย่างไรเพื่อปรับปรุงประสิทธิภาพการใช้พลังงานให้ดีขึ้น โดยมีขั้นตอนการใช้ดังนี้:
รายงานประสิทธิภาพการใช้พลังงานของแลปทอป
Click to view larger image.
การปรับเปลี่ยนการทำงานของ UAC
คุณสมบัติด้านความปลอดภัยของ User Account Control หรือ UAC นับเป็นหนึ่งในคุณสมบัติที่น่ารำคาญใจที่เพิ่มเข้ามาตั้งแต่เวอร์ชัน Vista ซึ่งอันที่จริงแล้วมันเป็นคุณสมบัติที่ดีและมีเหตุผล โดยมันจะแสดงข้อความแจ้งเตือนคุณเมื่อจะดำเนินการในสิ่งต่างๆ ที่มีผลต่อเรื่องของความปลอดภัย อย่างไรก็ตาม UAC ใน Windows 7 ได้มีการพัฒนาให้ดีขึ้นมากแล้ว โดยคุณสามารถปรับเปลี่ยนการทำงานของมันได้ถ้าคุณต้องการ
ต่อไปนี้เป็นการปรับเปลี่ยนการทำงานของ UAC เพื่อให้มันทำงานน้อยลงหรือมากขึ้นกว่าเดิม:
1.ไปที่ Control Panel --> User Accounts and Family Safety
2.คลิก User Accounts แล้วคลิก Change User Account Control settings
Always notify me เป็นการทำงานของ UAC แบบดั้งเดิมที่มีใน Windows Vista ซึ่งเมื่อคุณทำการเปลี่ยนแปลงระบบของคุณ หรือเมื่อมีการติดตั้งซอฟต์แวร์ หรือเมื่อโปรแกรมพยายามจะเปลี่ยนแปลงอะไรบางอย่างในระบบของคุณ จะมีข้อความแจ้งเตือนคุณปรากฎขึ้นมา
Default -- Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer เป็นข้อความที่อธิบายการทำงานค่อนข้างจะชัดเจน และเป็นค่าเริ่มต้นของระบบด้วย เมื่อมีโปรแกรมพยายามที่จะเปลี่ยนแปลงอะไรบางอย่างในคอมพิวเตอร์ของคุณ จะปรากฎข้อความแจ้งเตือน และ Desktop ของคุณจะมืดลง
Notify me only when programs try to make changes to my computer (do not dim my desktop) ค่า Setting นี้จะเหมือนกับ Default ทุกอย่าง ยกเว้นว่ามันจะไม่ทำให้ Desktop ของคุณมืดลงเท่านั้น ดังนั้นคุณก็จะเห็นเฉพาะแต่ที่ UAC แจ้งเตือนคุณให้คุณดำเนินการอะไรบางอย่าง ตัวเลือกนี้เป็นตัวเลือกที่มีความเสี่ยงเพิ่มขึ้นจาก Default เล็กน้อย เนื่องจากในทางทฤษฎีแล้ว อาจมีโปรแกรมบางโปรแกรมที่ยินยอมให้โปรแกรมที่ประสงค์ร้ายบางโปรแกรมสามารถแทรกแซงการทำงานของ UAC prompt ได้
Never notify me ตัวเลือกนี้เป็นการปิดการทำงานของ UAC อย่างสิ้นเชิง และแน่นอนว่าเป็นตัวเลือกที่ไม่มีความปลอดภัย และไม่แนะนำให้ผู้ใช้งานส่วนใหญ่เลือก
หลังจากเลือกตัวเลือกที่ต้องการแล้ว คลิก OK ทั้งนี้ขึ้นอยู่กับตัวเลือกที่คุณเลือก บางครั้งคุณอาจจะต้อง Restart ระบบเพื่อให้มีผลในการใช้งาน
คำแนะนำเกี่ยวกับ Start Menu
ผู้คนจำนวนมากมักจะมองข้าม Start Menu ไป น้อยครั้งที่จะใช้มันอย่างจริงๆ จังๆ นอกเสียจากจะใช้มันเพื่อข้ามไปรันแอพพลิเคชันต่างๆ หรือข้ามไปยัง Control Panel แต่อันที่จริงแล้วคุณก็สามารถใช้ประโยชน์จากมันให้มากกว่าเดิมได้เหมือนกัน
เสิร์ช Internet จาก Start Menu
หมายเหตุ: คำแนะนำนี้ขึ้นอยู่กับ Group Policy Editor ซึ่งอาจจะไม่เป็นผลในบางเวอร์ชันของ Windows 7 ดังนั้นคำแนะนำต่อไปนี้จะไม่ทำงานถ้าคุณใช้ Windows 7 Home Premium, Starter และ Home Basic
ช่องเสิร์ชบ็อกซ์ที่อยู่ใน Start Menu นั้นถือเป็นช่องทางที่สะดวกสบายในการค้นหาสิ่งต่างๆ ที่อยู่ในเครื่องคอมพิวเตอร์ของคุณ และคุณสามารถเพิ่มฟังก์ชันการทำงานให้มันทำการเสิร์ช Internet ได้ด้วย โดยมีขั้นตอนดังนี้:
1.ในช่องเสิร์ชบ็อกซ์ของ Start Menu ให้พิมพ์ GPEDIT.MSC แล้วกด Enter เพื่อรัน Group Policy Editor
2.ไปยัง User Configuration --> Administrative Templates --> Start Menu and Taskbar
3.ดับเบิ้ลคลิก "Add Search Internet link to Start Menu" และจากหน้าต่างที่ปรากฎขึ้นมา เลือก Enable แล้วคลิก OK แล้วปิด Group Policy Editor ไปเสีย
การ Enable ให้ Start Menu สามารถเสิร์ช Internet ได้
Click to view larger image.
4.นับจากนี้เมื่อคุณพิมพ์คำค้นหา (search term) ลงในเสิร์ชบ็อกซ์ของ Start Menu ก็จะปรากฎลิงก์ "Search the Internet" ขึ้นมา ให้คุณคลิกลิงก์ดังกล่าวเพื่อเปิด Default Brower เพื่อทำการเสิร์ชด้วย Default Search Engine ต่อไป
การปรับเปลี่ยนปุ่ม Shut down
ค่าเริ่มต้นของปุ่ม Shut down ที่อยู่ใน Start Menu เป็นการปิดเครื่องคอมพิวเตอร์ ถ้าหากคุณต้องการดำเนินการอย่างอื่น เช่น Restart เครื่องคอมพิวเตอร์ใหม่ ให้คุณคลิกที่ลูกศรที่ด้านขวาของปุ่ม Shut down แล้วเลือกตัวเลือกที่ต้องการจากดราปดาวน์เมนูที่ปรากฎขึ้นมา
ในการเปลี่ยนค่าเริ่มต้นของปุ่ม Shut down นั้น ให้คลิกขวาที่ปุ่ม Start แล้วเลือก Properties จากนั้นคลิกดรอปดาวน์เมนู "Power button action" ที่อยู่ในแท็บ Start Menu เพื่อเลือกตัวเลือกที่คุณต้องการให้เป็นค่าเริ่มต้น จากนั้นคลิก OK
การเพิ่มลิงก์ Video เข้าไปใน Start Menu
Start Menu ของ Windows 7 จะมีลิงก์ไปยังโฟลเดอร์ Pictures และโฟลเดอร์ Music ด้วย แต่ไม่มีลิงก์ไปยังโฟลเดอร์ Videos ถ้าหากคุณชอบดูภาพวิดีโอบ่อยๆ และต้องการสร้างลิงก์ไปยังโฟลเดอร์ที่เก็บภาพวิดีโอเหล่านั้น สิ่งที่คุณต้องทำก็คือ:
การแสดงลิงก์ไปยังโฟลเดอร์ Videos ใน Start Menu
Click to view larger image.
1.คลิกขวาที่ปุ่ม Start แล้วเลือก Properties
2.บนหน้าต่างที่ปรากฎขึ้นมา ให้ไปที่แท็บ Start Menu แล้วคลิก Customize
3.ในไดอะล็อกบ็อกซ์ (dialog box) ที่ปรากฎขึ้นมา เลื่อนสกรอลล์บ็อกซ์ (scroll box) เพื่อไปยังส่วนของ Videos แล้วเลือก "Display as a link" จากนั้นคลิก OK แล้วคลิก OK อีกครั้ง
ถ้าหากคุณต้องการให้ Videos แสดงในลักษณะของเมนูพร้อมกับลิงก์ไปยังซับเมนูและไฟล์วิดีโอ ให้คุณคลิกเลือก "Display as a menu" แทน
คำแนะนำที่เกี่ยวกับ Windows Explorer
Windows Explorer นั้นถือเป็นหัวใจสำคัญของส่วนติดต่อของ Windows และโดยภาพรวมแล้วก็ถือว่ามันทำงานได้เป็นอย่างดีทีเดียว แต่คุณก็อาจจะอยากให้มันทำงานดีขึ้น หรือทำงานแตกต่างออกไปก็ได้
1.ใน Windows Explorer ให้คลิก Organize แล้วเลือก "Folder and search options"
2.คลิกแท็บ View
3.ในกรอบ Advanced Settings ให้เลื่อนสกรอลล์บ็อกซ์เพื่อเลือก "Use check boxes to select items" แล้วคลิก OK
4.จากนี้ไปเมื่อคุณนำเมาส์พอยนเตอร์ (mouse pointer) ไปอยู่เหนือบริเวณไฟล์ที่อยู่ใน Windows Explorer ก็จะปรากฎเช็คบ็อกซ์ขึ้นที่ด้านหน้าชื่อของไฟล์นั้น เมื่อคุณคลิกที่เช็คบ็อกซ์ดังกล่าวก็จะปรากฎเครื่องหมายถูกในเช็คบ็อกซ์นั้นๆ และจะยังคงค้างอยู่อย่างนั้นแม้ว่าคุณจะเลื่อนเมาส์พอยนเตอร์ออกมาแล้วก็ตาม
การเปิด Command prompt จากโฟลเดอร์ใดๆ
ท่านที่ชอบใช้ Command prompt ก็สามารถใช้ประโยชน์จาก Windows Explorer ได้ โดยคุณสามารถเปิด Command prompt ที่โฟลเดอร์ใดๆ ที่อยู่ใน Windows Explorer ก็ได้ วิธีการนี้ทำงานแบบเดียวกับคำสั่ง "Open Command Window Here" ของ Windows XP PowerToy นั่นเอง
การปกป้องความเป็นส่วนตัวในการเสิร์ช
หมายเหตุ: คำแนะนำนี้ขึ้นอยู่กับ Group Policy Editor ซึ่งอาจจะไม่เป็นผลในบางเวอร์ชันของ Windows 7 ดังนั้นคำแนะนำต่อไปนี้จะไม่ทำงานถ้าคุณใช้ Windows 7 Home Premium, Starter และ Home Basic
เมื่อคุณทำการเสิร์ชจาก Windows Explorer คุณสามารถเห็นข้อความที่คุณทำการเสิร์ชไปเมื่อเร็วๆ นี้ได้ ซึ่งถ้าคุณแชร์เครื่องคอมพิวเตอร์ใช้กับคนอื่นๆ คุณคงไม่อยากให้เขาเห็นสิ่งที่คุณทำการเสิร์ช ซึ่งคุณสามารถแก้ปัญหานี้ได้โดย:
เลือก “Enabled” เพื่อปกป้องความเป็นส่วนตัวในการเสิร์ช
Click to view larger image.
1.ที่เสิร์ชบ็อกซ์ใน Start Menu พิมพ์ GPEDIT.MSC ลงไปแล้วกด Enter เพื่อเปิด Group Policy Editor ขึ้นมา
2.ไปยัง User Configuration --> Administrative Templates --> Windows Components --> Windows Explorer
3.ดับเบิ้ลคลิกที่ "Turn off display of recent search entries in the Windows Explorer search box" แล้วเลือก Enabled จากหน้าต่างที่ปรากฎขึ้นมา แล้วคลิก OK จากนี้ไปข้อความหรือคำที่คุณเพิ่งทำการค้นหาจะไม่ปรากฏขึ้นมาอีก
การเซตให้ Windows Explorer เปิดในตำแหน่งที่ต้องการ
เมื่อคุณทำการเปิด Windows Explorer มันก็จะเปิดไปที่โฟลเดอร์ Libraries เสมอ ซึ่งโฟลเดอร์ดังกล่าวถูกออกแบบมาให้เป็นคอนเทนเนอร์ (container) ของโฟลเดอร์ทั้งหมดของคุณ แต่ถ้าหากคุณต้องการจะเปลี่ยนให้มันไปเปิดที่ Computer หรือที่โฟลเดอร์อื่นๆ ก็สามารถทำได้โดย:
1.คลิกขวาที่ไอคอน Windows Explorer ที่อยู่บนทาสก์บาร์ (taskbar) โดยไอคอนดังกล่าวจะมีลักษณะคล้ายๆ แฟ้ม จากนั้นคลิกขวาที่ตัวเลือก Windows Explorer ที่ปรากฎขึ้นมา แล้วเลือก Properties จากนั้นไดอะล็อกบ็อกซ์ Windows Explorer Properties จะปรากฏขึ้นมา
2.คุณจะต้องแก้ไขฟิลด์ Target ที่อยู่ในแท็บ Shortcut ของไดอะล็อกบ็อกซ์ดังกล่าว เพื่อเปลี่ยนตำแหน่งเริ่มต้นที่ Windows Explorer จะเปิด
การเปลี่ยนตำแหน่งเริ่มต้นของ Windows Explorer
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ถ้าคุณต้องการให้ Windows Explorer เปิดที่ตำแหน่งโฟลเดอร์ใด ให้คุณใส่ตำแหน่งที่อยู่ของโฟลเดอร์นั้นๆ ลงไปในลักษณะดังนี้:
%windir%explorer.exe c:Folder
เช่นต้องการให้ Windows Explorer เปิดที่ตำแหน่งโฟลเดอร์ชื่อ Budget ที่อยู่ในไดรฟ์ C: ก็ให้ใส่ลงไปดังนี้:
%windir%explorer.exe c:Budget
ถ้าคุณต้องการให้ Windows Explorer เปิดในตำแหน่งอื่นๆ เป็นการพิเศษ เช่น เปิดที่ Computer หรือ My Documents คุณจะต้องใช้ Special Syntax เพิ่มเติม โดยมีรายละเอียดดังนี้:
3.หลังจากที่คุณเปลี่ยนแปลงฟิลด์ Target แล้ว ให้คลิก OK ในครั้งต่อไปที่คุณเปิด Windows Explorer ขึ้นมา มันจะเปิดไปที่ตำแหน่งที่คุณกำหนดเอาไว้ในฟิลด์ดังกล่าว
แสดงไดรฟ์ทุกไดรฟ์ใน Windows Explorer
ขึ้นอยู่กับค่า Setting ของระบบของคุณ เมื่อคุณไปยัง Computer ที่อยู่ใน Windows Explorer คุณอาจจะแปลกใจเล็กน้อย เพราะคุณอาจจะไม่เห็นไดรฟ์ทุกๆ ไดรฟ์ที่คุณมีอยู่ เช่น คุณอาจจะไม่เห็น Memory Card Reader ถ้าไดรฟ์ดังกล่าวว่างอยู่ เป็นต้น ซึ่งถ้านั่นทำให้คุณรู้สึกไม่สบายใจ ก็มีวิธีการง่ายๆ ที่จะเห็นไดรฟ์ทุกไดรฟ์ตลอดเวลา แม้ว่าจะไม่มีอะไรอยู่ในนั้นก็ตาม:
การทำให้ Windows Explorer แสดงไดรฟ์ที่ว่างเปล่า
Click to view larger image.
1.เปิด Windows Explorer แล้วกดปุ่ม Alt บนแป้นพิมพ์เพื่อแสดงเมนูออกมา
2.เลือก Tools --> Folder Options แล้วคลิกแท็บ View
3.ภายใต้ "Advanced settings" คลิกเพื่อยกเลิกเครื่องหมายถูกหน้า "Hide empty drives in the Computer folder" ออก แล้วคลิก OK จากนั้นไดรฟ์ทุกไดรฟ์จะสามารถมองเห็นได้จาก Windows Explorer เสมอ
การสร้าง Search Connector ด้วยตัวเอง
Windows 7 มีคุณสมบัติใหม่ที่มีประโยชน์มาก โดยมีชื่อเรียกว่า Search Connector ซึ่งช่วยให้คุณสามารถเสิร์ชทั่วทั้งเว็บไซต์หนึ่งๆ ได้จากใน Windows Explorer เลย เพียงคุณพิมพ์คำที่ต้องการค้นหาแล้วเลือก Search Connector สำหรับเว็บไซต์ที่คุณต้องการค้นหาเท่านั้น จากนั้น Windows Explorer จะค้นหาข้อมูลจากเว็บไซต์นั้นโดยไม่ต้องเปิด Internet Explorer ขึ้นมาเลย และผลลัพธ์ของการค้นหาก็จะปรากฎขึ้นที่ Windows Explorer เลย
7.เซฟไฟล์ดังกล่าวด้วยโปรแกรม Notepad โดยเลือก UTF-8 จากดรอปดาวน์บ็อกซ์ Encoding ที่อยู่บริเวณด้านล่างของหน้าต่าง Save As โดยให้นามสกุลของไฟล์เป็น .osdx ดังนั้นกรณีของเราจึงได้ไฟล์ Computerworld.osdx
8.ใน Windows Explorer ให้คลิกขวาที่ไฟล์ .osdx ดังกล่าว แล้วเลือก Create Search Connector จากนั้น Search Connector จะถูกสร้างขึ้นมา
9.ในตอนนี้คุณสามารถใช้ Search Connector ของคุณได้แล้ว ซึ่งจากใน Windows Explorer ให้ไปที่ YourName --> Searches --> Connector โดย YourName เป็น Account Name ของคุณ และ Connector เป็นชื่อ Connector ของคุณ
Click to view larger image.
ผลลัพธ์การค้นหาที่ได้จาก Search Connector ที่คุณสร้างขึ้นเอง
คำแนะนำที่เกี่ยวกับทาสก์บาร์
หนึ่งในความเปลี่ยนแปลงที่สำคัญของอินเทอร์เฟซของ Windows 7 ก็คือทาสก์บาร์ (taskbar) ซึ่งดูเหมือนจะมีการทำงานใกล้เคียงกับ Mac OS X dock มากกว่าทาสก์บาร์ของ Windows เวอร์ชันเก่าๆ และต่อไปนี้เป็นคำแนะนำอย่างง่ายๆ และสั้นๆ ในการใช้ทาสก์บาร์รูปแบบใหม่
หมายเหตุ: ก่อนที่คุณจะทำการแก้ไข Windows Registry คุณควรหมั่นสร้าง Restore Point เอาไว้เสมอ และถ้าคุณไม่ทราบวิธีสร้าง Restore Point ให้เข้าไปที่
http://www.computerworld.com/s/article/9042778/The_tweaker_s_guide_to_the_Windows_Registry
Thumbnail ที่ปรากฎขึ้นที่ทาสก์บาร์
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ควบคุมการทำงานของ Notification Area บนทาสก์บาร์
บริเวณ Notification Area (หรือ System Tray นั่นเอง) ที่อยู่บริเวณด้านขวาของทาสก์บาร์จะแสดงข้อความระบบ (system messages) และข้อความแจ้งเตือน (alerts) ต่างๆ รวมถึงแสดงไอคอนของโปรแกรมและบริการที่กำลังทำงานแบบ Background อยู่ด้วย เช่น Wireless Service ของ Windows 7 เป็นต้น แต่บางครั้งทั้งไอคอนและการแสดงข้อความที่มีมากจนเกินไปในบริเวณนั้นก็สร้างความสับสนให้คุณได้เหมือนกัน
การปรับเปลี่ยน Notification Area
Click to view larger image.
อย่างไรก็ตาม ยังมีวิธีการง่ายๆ ที่จะทำให้สถานการณ์ดีขึ้นบ้างอยู่เหมือนกัน
1.คลิกขวาที่ทาสก์บาร์ แล้วเลือก Properties จากนั้นคลิก Customize ที่อยู่ในส่วนของ Notification Area ในไดอะล็อกบ็อกซ์ที่ปรากฎขึ้นมา
2.ในแต่ละแอพพลิเคชัน ให้คุณเลือกดรอปดาวน์บ็อกซ์ว่าจะต้องการให้ไอคอนและข้อความต่างๆ แสดงอยู่เสมอ หรือว่าไม่ให้แสดงอะไรเลย หรือว่าต้องการให้แสดงเฉพาะข้อความ แต่ไม่แสดงไอคอน จากนั้นคลิก OK เมื่อคุณเลือกได้ตามต้องการ
คุณสามารถปรับเปลี่ยนไอคอนของระบบที่ปรากฎอยู่ที่บริเวณนั้นได้ด้วยเหมือนกัน ไม่ว่าจะเป็นไอคอน Clock, Volume, Network, Power หรือ Action Center ก็ตาม โดยที่ด้านล่างของไดอะล็อกบ็อกซ์ดังกล่าว ให้คลิก "Turn system icons on or off" แล้วเลือกว่าจะ Turn on หรือ Turn off ไอคอนและข้อความแจ้งเตือนเหล่านั้น จากนั้นคลิก OK ติดกันสองครั้ง
การดู Thumbnail ที่ทาสก์บาร์โดยไม่ใช้เมาส์
ถ้าหากคุณถนัดใช้แป้นพิมพ์มากกว่าใช้เมาส์ คุณสามารถเลื่อนเคอร์เซอร์จากไอคอนหนึ่งไปยังอีกไอคอนหนึ่งที่อยู่บนทาสก์บาร์โดยไม่ต้องใช้เมาส์ก็ได้ และยังสามารถดู Thumbnail ได้เหมือนเดิม โดยเพียงการกดปุ่ม Windows พร้อมๆ กับปุ่ม T ซึ่งจะเป็นการเริ่มต้นจุดโฟกัสที่ไอคอนที่อยู่ด้านซ้ายสุดของทาสก์บาร์ จากนั้นเมื่อคุณกดปุ่ม Windows T ไปเรื่อยๆ จุดโฟกัสก็จะเปลี่ยนไปยังไอคอนที่อยู่ทางขวามือทีละไอคอน
การเปิดแอพพลิเคชันบนทาสก์บาร์โดยไม่ใช้เมาส์
ในทำนองเดียวกัน คุณสามารถเปิดโปรแกรมที่อยู่บนทาสก์บาร์ได้โดยไม่ต้องใช้เมาส์เหมือนกัน โดยการกดปุ่ม Windows พร้อมๆ กับตัวเลขที่ตรงกับตำแหน่งของแอพพลิเคชันที่อยู่บนทาสก์บาร์นับจากซ้ายไปขวา ตัวอย่างเช่น กดปุ่ม Windows 1 เพื่อเปิดแอพพลิเคชันที่อยู่ด้านซ้ายสุดของทาสก์บาร์ กดปุ่ม Windows 2 เพื่อเปิดแอพพลิเคชันที่อยู่รองซ้ายสุดบนทาสก์บาร์ เป็นต้น
หลังจากนั้นคลิก Select Folder จากนั้นลิงก์ของแถบ Quick Launch จะถูกเพิ่มเข้าไปในทาสก์บาร์ โดยจะอยู่ด้านซ้ายของ Notification Area
Click to view larger image.
แถบ Quick Launch ที่อยู่ด้านขวาของทาสก์บาร์
คงจะไม่มีประโยชน์อะไร ถ้าแถบ Quick Launch จะปรากฎอยู่ที่ด้านขวาสุดจนกระทั่งมองไม่เห็นไอคอนที่อยู่ในนั้นเลย ดังนั้นเราคงต้องทำอะไรเพิ่มอีกนิดหน่อยเพื่อให้มันใช้งานได้เต็มที่ ให้คลิกขวาที่ทาสก์บาร์ แล้วบนเมนูที่ปรากฎขึ้นมา ให้คลิกเครื่องหมายถูกที่หน้า "Lock the taskbar" ออก แล้วคลิกขวาที่ Quick Launch แล้วคลิกเอาเครื่องหมายถูกที่อยู่ที่หน้า Show Text และ Show Title ออก
เมื่อคุณทำขั้นตอนดังกล่าวเสร็จแล้ว ให้ลากเส้นปะที่เป็นคล้ายๆ จุด 3 จุดเรียงกันในแนวตั้งที่อยู่ด้านหน้าของแถบ Quick Launch ไปจนกว่าคุณจะเห็นไอคอนทั้งหมดที่อยู่ในนั้น จากนั้นเพื่อป้องกันการเปลี่ยนแปลงในภายหลัง ให้คุณคลิกขวาที่ทาสก์บาร์แล้วคลิกเลือก Lock the taskbar ตามเดิม และในตอนนี้คุณสามารถใช้แถบ Quick Launch ได้เหมือนที่เคยใช้ใน Windows XP และ Windows Vista แล้ว รวมถึงสามารถเพิ่มไอคอนต่างๆ เข้าไปและลบออกได้ด้วย
Click to view larger image.
แถบ Quick Launch ที่ถูกนำกลับมาใช้ใหม่
English to Thai: Alibaba.com General field: Marketing Detailed field: Internet, e-Commerce
Source text - English Back to Alibaba.com
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English to Thai: Emojidom for Android General field: Tech/Engineering Detailed field: Internet, e-Commerce
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English to Thai: Hotel reviews in TripAdviser General field: Marketing Detailed field: Tourism & Travel
Source text - English Fabulous Hotel
Such a surprise to find this wonderful hotel in the Montmartre area.
Have been to Paris eight times and stayed all over, but the first time in
the Montmartre area and this hotel is a gem. The staff was wonderful and so helpful. Metro within walking distance. Moulin Rouge within walking distance. The Monmartre cemetery across the street....love the old tombs. Rooms spacious and a huge bathroom. Refrigerator in room.
Toilet separate from the tub and sink. Would stay here again and definitely reccommend. No problems walking to the hotel in the evening from the Metro.
Optimal Location For The Parks
My guest and I stayed at the Grand Californian for three nights and went to the parks for! days. This hotel had fantastic restaurants and room service, the staff was friendly, and the location was perfect. I really appreciated how quiet the room was and how luxurious the bedding was. My number one concern is always getting a restful nights sleep and I was able to do just that and get good naps in too. The view was fantastic and we were able to see the fireworks from the balcony. I will definitely be staying at this hotel again.
Nice hotel, but had some issues
We won a vacation that gave us 2 nights at the Disney Grand Californian Hotel. It is well over our normal budget so we had high expectations. When we arrived (after a 13 hour drive with a 2 year old and 4 month old) we ran into our first hiccup at the parking check-in. They had our reservation starting on the following day. That immediately started to worry me that they weren't going to let us checkin. After waiting 30 minutes in their check-in line, the desk clerk said the reservation was made for the following day. Good thing I had my email confirmation stating the day we arrived was the day we reserved so they were able to make changes on their end to get us in. We arrived around 11AM and checkin time wasn't until after 3 so they said they'd text us if the room was ready earlier than 3. So we drove around town trying to waste some time. Around 2 I called just to see if by chance the room was ready.... and it was...who knows how long it had been ready for. They were supposed to text us if was ready early. Wouldn't be such a big deal but we were eager to get in and unpack/unwind for some rest with the kids after the long drive. Those two issues happening back to back made me really concerned with how the rest of our trip was going to go. Luckily we didn't have any other problems. The rooms were nice and clean, the decor was so fun for the kids as well as my husband and I to enjoy. As for the trip to Disneyland in general, we went the end of September so we were expecting it to be less busy. Boy were we wrong. The hotel was packed, therefore the swimming pools were packed, the parks were packed, therefore all the lines were long and the restaurants were packed so all of our wait times were long too. The entrance from the hotel into Grand Californian was really nice but the line, again, was long. It took us about 30 minutes to get into the park even through the hotel only entrance. I liked that we were able to enter the park an hour early though. It gave us just enough time to checkout Cars Land before the even bigger crowd showed up. And just to add more comments, we attended the first night of the Halloween Party for the year and that was the busiest of the whole trip. It was literally stroller to stroller in Disneyland that night. Good thing I'm not closterphobic. Back to reviewing the hotel, the last half of our trip we changed hotels to stay closer to friends and within our budget. We defintely downgraded because it was obvious at the point how much nicer and cleaner the Grand Californian was so I'd give high marks in those areas. I also liked that the desk clerk gave us some fun things for the kids, like a pin showing it was their first visit to the park and some coloring books. I'd stay here again hoping that these hotel issues were a one time thing.
lovely little hotel
we stayed at the hotel for a couple of nights from 29/12/12 to 31/12/12 and having just found it through an internet search, its always abit of a gamble as to what you get.
this is a gamble that paid off for us as it was a lovely place to stay. 3 townhouses together to create a big 1.
on entry, the staff where very polite and helpfull and booked in without any problems at all and quickly.
we set to our rooms which was on the 5th floor which didnt bother us as we are still young(ish)! the only fault was that the lift didnt quite go to the 5th floor but as i say, wasnt a problem for us.
the rooms where small to average really but had a good collection of mod cons for comfort, tea/coffee making, big plasma. iron and board, telephone and other stuff. just the kind of things that are needed without over doing it.tele did only have the 1-5 channels tho which was a slight dissappointment but i wasnt there to watch the tele!.
it was very clean, warm and comfortable.
we didnt have the breakfast as it wasnt into the price which i didnt realize but we could have booked it shud we have wanted it. you do have to go over the road to another sister hotel to dine
the hotel is very close to earls court tube station so its a fair way out of the the west end area but only about 20mins by tube straight onto the piccadilly line.
overall, we had a very pleasant stay at the townhouse and would certainly like to stay there again and at a very reasonable price too. only other jape is that of many hotels is that a single room supplement was ony a few pounds cheaper than a double which makes it abit unfair to the single person in my opinion having to pay double the odds. its the same in many places unfortunately.
but YES, i would recommend this hotel and please ignore the negative comments from some of the fussy individuals.
English to Thai: Hotel reviews in TripAdviser General field: Marketing Detailed field: Tourism & Travel
Source text - English Old World elegance
This is a grand hotel just a short walk from the train station and the pedestrian mall. My room was small but comfortable. Only drawback was that I arrived on a hot summer day, and the hotel is not airconditioned. My only option was to sleep with the window open and endure the street noise or try to sleep in a sauna. An easy resolution would be for the hotel to proved simple table fans on request. The English-speaking staff was warm and friendly, and the breakfast buffet was an absolute feast to behold and enjoy.
great for a weekend stay
Just got back from Munich, this is a great hotel for a short break. Its 2 mins walk from the main station, theres plenty of shops etc nearby and restaurants, dont be put of by the casinos etc, theres a maccys and burger king 1 min away as well. Its about a ten minute walk to the main square, you pass some cool places on the walk, especially the beer houses. The hotel itself is good, reception nice and lift to all foors. There is a hotel bar but we didnt use it, looking at the prices though it certainly wasnt expensive. The room was just what you needed, clean and simple for the weekend, it had a tv and the bathroom was clean, the shower was a bit hot/cold if im being picky! Breakfast is coffee, juices, scrambled eggs, sausgage, fruit, pastries, rolls and cold meats cheeses, brilliant to start your day with, anyone on here saying its bad food is lying. We had a late flight so after checking out left our luggage in the locked luggage room, ideal, then it was 2 mins back to the station for the train to the airport, simples.
Great Stay Near The Train Station
Most comfortable bed you'll find in Europe (if you like soft, comfy beds)....Centrally located...Easy walk to all locations in Florence...Great breakfast....Some people may say it's noisy, but hardly noticed it....Stay here!!
Excellent location and friendly staff
Location is literally across the street from the train station. The railway station itself is close to all major sights including the bridges to cross the river and it made my trip very convenient inside and outside of Florence. You also feel safe because there are always people around in the area. Santa Maria Novello is 3 minutes’ walk from the hotel and it was nice to wake up in the morning to the church bell. Breakfast was a little chaotic but had a good variety and quality. Aperitivo was very good and restaurant/bar staff are attentive and personable. Wifi connection was not consistent and I just gave up using it after a while. Room was fine. The building looks a bit tired but rooms are good size and clean.
English to Thai: Hotel reviews in TripAdviser General field: Marketing Detailed field: Tourism & Travel
Source text - English Very old hotel but cheap
In September I with the girlfriend traveled across Switzerland. For two nights we stopped in Interlaken to make a trip to Jüngfrau and to take a hikking across the Alps. We looked for the cheapest hotel in this region. At the moment of booking this hotel was such. We chose a separate double room with a bathroom and a toilet on a floor. In our room there was one double bed and one double bunk bed , also in a room there was a wash basin. A room in the sizes big, but not cozy, it was cool. Furniture very old, floor boards creak. The shower and a toilet were near our room, for us a toilet and a bath on a floor wasn't a problem, everything is quite pure, light in soul burns not long, there is a motion sensor, from which lighting works if to wave with a hand, light joins. On the first floor a bar, it didn't disturb us. On the first floor there is a kitchen where it is possible to use a microwave, the electric kettle, the refrigerator, all not so new, but works, it is very convenient for those who to itself(himself) cooks food, we made a dinner and a breakfast. The hotel will be suitable for the budgetary tourists, which unpretentious. It is rather not hotel but hosted for youth. To the station Interlaken west on foot to go minutes 5-10. And it is necessary to visit Interlaken, beauty not in hotel, and in mountains. We read all about hotel and were ready that it not the smart. Everything suited us, for such price it is difficult to find something in Interlaken.
Cheap price hostel in picturesque town
I stayed in this hostel for 2 nights. The hostel is located in a beautiful area. The whole town of Interlaken struck me by its purity and harmony with nature. From Interlaken there is an easy access to the major cities of Switzerland, Zurich, Bern, Lucerne, and by the highest mountain railway tourists could get to the summit of the Zugspitze. Being in Interlaken, I took full advantage of its geographical position. But due to the rich program of excursions, I was not able to assess the quality of breakfast in the hostel. Had to leave very early and could only use a guests` kitchen for quick self service. The hostel rooms are situated on the upper floors of the colorful mansion, while the ground floor is occupied by a cafe and bar. I had an economy room with bunk beds. The room had a sink for washing. The shower and toilet are in the corridor. In general, the hotel is quite clean. The overall impression is very good, especially considering the cheap price.
Beautiful room, amazing views
Nothing can prepare you - except maybe having done it before - for the extraordinary view of the harbour from the upper floors, Sydney Harbour Bridge and Opera House included. We loved our room, which was spacious, light, very well equipped and, quite a rarity, had loads of hanging space and storage. There was a large desk as well as a dressing table and a generous window seat the length of the room.
We found this hotel very unusual for the complete absence of interaction with its clients. Once we had checked in, that was that. Not even a breakfast menu on the pillow (no loss whatsoever, because once I saw the price, I knew there was no way we would be eating breakfast at the hotel!). The convenient exit, if you are walking, and we were throughout our stay, is on the lower ground level where there is no staff presence. Housekeeping is so discreet we only saw someone once, as we were leaving.
Having mentioned the price of breakfast, at $44 the highest ever in my experience, I should say that prices for the (well stocked) minibar and room service were much more in line with expectations and seemed reasonable for the standard of this hotel.
The Rocks area is a great location for good places to eat, shopping, access to Circular Quay and the ferries if you are fully mobile. Otherwise, as other posters have mentioned, the steps and slopes in this area would make life difficult.
Lucky miss!
We were due to stay here in January but had such hassle trying to get room information that we swapped to the langham. Decided to go for a drink here at the shangri la and went up to the blu bar. It was 6.30 and a Monday night but we could not get a seat in the lounge. Sat at the tiny bar area and eventually got served by a rude and offhand staff member. Tiny glass of wine in cheap glassware. The view was stunning though! Felt like a tourist trap more like going up the eureka tower! No 5 star feel to the hotel common areas, cold, clinical and corporate. Also tricky location which was difficult to walk to from the rocks. Would think carefully if choosing this one as it would suit business rather than leisure. Dissapointing........
Better location than the Central YHA
This location is much quieter than the one in central Queenstown. Very friendly and helpful staff. Nice big kitchen. Heads up - if your room is far from the central area you are unlikely to get WiFi reception.
Serene location for excellent price
I was pleasantly surprised by how nice located this hostel is with plenty of free parking and an excellent view of lake. Rooms were very cozy and clean. It is just 10 mins of walk away from the center of Queenstown because of which it is much quieter during the night. Would recommend it to anyone looking to stay in Queenstown
Amazing friendly hotel
Yes this is a small - petit hotel but it packs a huge punch in the friendliness stakes. The staff could not be more helpful. The rooms are lovely and have nice new bathrooms with heated towel rails and comfortable beds. They have a really yummy breakfast and at the end of the day somewhere to store your skies and boots. The rooftop has a great view of the Matterhorn and it is really close to town. And everywhere in fact. I lost my camera whilst here and the staff chased it up for me and forwarded iron for me.-they really are just the best. Thanks agin
Quaint!
My wife and I stayed in Zermatt for one night as part of our honeymoon trip. Since it's my first time in the country, I was still excited over the winter season to look over the little gripes that some travelers would have about the hotel.
1. The hotel is quite a walk from the train station. I had a heavy army backpack and a roller suitcase that I pulled through the snow. The slope off the main street up to the hotel is quite a challenge, I was practically sweating in my winter coat! But if it's your first time in Zermatt, it's a nice orientation around the area to dispel those "how far can we walk in this town?" feelings. But if you are traveling with the elderly, please take a taxi. The hills are a little steep and icy in the winter.
NOTE: If you're checking out but still want to explore the town after, the hotel staff will suggest to keep your luggage with them until you're ready to leave Zermatt. But maybe you wouldn't want to go back up that slope so if you have some money to spare (CHF5 a bag to be exact), you can leave your bags at the train station. They have a dedicated luggage drop area.
2. Yes, the hotel is tiny! I didn't think about it beforehand but when I reached the hotel I said to myself "How am I gonna lug our luggage up the stairs in this dinky place?" Fear not, because there is a lift. A le petite lift. But it works so that's all that matters!
3. I liked the room that we were assigned to, it's all a matter of perspective really: I like small rooms because it prevents me from leaving a big mess. A lot of channels on the tv to surf through, toilet is renovated so it looks amazing (I wouldn't mind an old sleeping area but toilet I would like modern facilities please!). Our room overlooked the school so you can catch the youths outside during recess and observe the social cliques to be reminded of your own teenage years.
4. Breakfast was nice, pretty basic but a good spread: bread (toasted or not), coffee/tea/orange juice/grapefruit juice/water, jams, butter, eggs, fruits, yogurt, cold cuts and cereal. Everything was stocked to cater to the visitors staying in the hotel, enough to keep you alive till lunch time. They cannot provide you with an electric kettle in the room (we try to budget by eating instant noodles) but they are more than welcome to boil water for you down at the eating area if you need it.
All in all we had a good experience here, even though it was just for one night. A very nice place to see almost everything in Zermatt just by walking to the hotel!
We have just spent a wonderful five day break at this hotel. When we arrived we were advised that we were being updated to a Junior Suite, Room 207. The room and sitting area was very spacious and there was a Coffee machine for our use and ample milk cartons in the Mini Bar should we want to use them. We had arrived on the 20.00 train which meant that we were ready for something to eat, but did not want to eat in the Restaurant but wanted a snack so were advised to go to the Bar. We were told that on the following day the Bar and Restaurant would be closed due to a staff party, but that drinks would be available, served by the Reception Staff. I thought this very strange for a top class hotel. We were shown a menu that gave a choice of four Pizzas. We chose one to share and to be honest when it arrived we were disappointed by both its size and the amount of topping. It was however ample for our needs. At Breakfast the next morning, we chose from the extensive Buffet which would suit everyone, with no exceptions. I could not see what was missing.
After eating out the following day at Restaurant Des Alpes, a five minute walk down the road, on the advisement of the staff, we decided to give the Bar another go after not wanting anything on the Restaurant Menu. This time, based on our previous visit, we ordered two Pizzas. When they arrived they were enormous and we could only manage one between us. They bared no comparison to the one on the first night, which we explained to the member of staff who was rather puzzled by this. We arranged for the Pizza to be put in the kitchen fridge for the following day. As the weather the next day was raining hard we had the reheated Pizza for lunch in the Bar. It was delicious! We also went to the indoor pool which we had to ourselves. This was a good experience as the water was not too cold or warm.
For the last two days we ate in the Restaurant. My wife off the Menu and I off what is called the Snack Menu. This is a copy of the Room Service Menu and also available, unknown to us, in the Bar. When I asked at Reception about having this in the Restaurant, I was advised that they did not know, but would let me know. This they failed to do, so I took the plunge and asked for the menu when we sat down. After all if a meal is available in the Room, it is available in the Bar and Restaurant!! On both nights both of our meals were delicious. The only issue came on the last night when we were told that due to staff shortages, two were off sick; we could only eat at 18.00 or 21.00. I told the reception staff that this was ridiculous and due to medical reasons my wife had to eat at 19.00 ish. Eventually this was agreed after several telephone conversations with the Restaurant Manager. As happened the first night, we were alone in the Restaurant sat overlooking the river, except for a couple who arrived as we were leaving at 20.00. So much for the 18.00/21.00 scenario and the hotels inability to serve two guests!
We checked out that evening as we had an early morning departure. Our account was incorrect as we had prepaid through a booking company and were being charged again. Then we were advised that we may have to pay the Room Tax! Eventually the amount charged agreed with my estimate of what we had spent. The next morning we received our pre ordered breakfast and sat with a pot of tea waiting for the Shuttle Bus to the Train Station.
I would recommend this hotel to anyone. Everywhere we went, all the staff were smartly dressed, pleasant, friendly and spoke English, some obviously better than others. I would mention that the Room Service Menu should be publicised as being available in the Bar and Restaurant.
English to Thai: Hotel reviews in TripAdviser General field: Marketing Detailed field: Tourism & Travel
Source text - English Great place But Average
Me and My partner really liked the look of this hotel when we saw it online and the pictures are quite dissiving as it looks like the hotel is in the mountains but really its on the main road in interlarken and there is mountains behind but its in village .
The hotel is very close to the station so there is good access to trains which was great and it also had local buses . Interlaken is nice but very quite not what i expected but our stay was very pleaseant .
For a 5 star hotel i was quite suprised that there wasnt WIFI in the rooms and we had to always go down to the lobby if we wanted to use our internet to get free wifi , i think for the money you pay to stay at this hotel there should be free wifi in all rooms since the televsion programs are not so great .
Also when there cleaning rooms they dont really clean them properly , we still had our coffee and tea mugs that we used from the night before still in our rooms and not been changed , they didnt really clean your rooms very well and change things often i had to ask reception for this to be done . The room we was staying in had no air as well which was making us very dry mouthed in the mornings .
The staff are helpful enough but with most things we had to find out on our own as we wasnt told , its very relaxing hotel we did enjoy our stay but the hotel needs to give more greater care on the small things .
But all in all a very good stay .
Great stay to a 3 week bali holiday
Stayed here in December for 5 nights, with my husband and 2 boys (aged 4 & 7). We had interconnecting rooms on the ground floor in the garden wing. We did not find it an issue begin on the other side of the road. There is a pool there with a pool bar.. (what more do us adults need) It was quiter also. It took 3 minutes from leaving our room to cross the road and be seated for breakfast.. I've walked further in other hotels. Breakfast was fantastic, everything you could ask for. Our family favourite was soup for breakfast the kids especially. The main pool on the beach side is fantastic and we seemed to spend the morning there and the to the garden side in the afternoon. Both of the boys enjoyed the kids club, and made friends and were asking to go everyday. This gave us time to go and have a quite lunch, massage or to lazy around the adult pool reading a book. I've stayed at the Novotel at Nusa Dua once before but this is by far a better hotel. Would come back and stay again.. One tiny little negative sometimes when you turned the shower on the smell of seweage came through and it was rank. But we just turned the shower on few minutes before we wanted to hope in and the smell was gone.
Faultly Towers
We stayed for 7 nights in a pool villa booked direct with hotel paid for in march20121 phone call to hotel 3 days before arrival 2nd Jan 2013 all good villa confirmed ect. arrived at checkin villa not ready villa requested not avaiable, no welcome drink no cold towels no welcome pack checkin took over 2 hours with new girl no idea what was going on , got key porter took us to villa drop bags @ took off on walk through to explain villa. Next day move to new villa as requested after many phone calls ect, villa looked ok until u stay in it , bed hvery hard, no lighting in dressing room bad lighting in bathroom, shower wont turn on, handbasin tap leaked as well as handbasin all over the marble floor,no whats on infro in villa. We rang many times to get shower fixed & leak fixed they came 12 hours later 3 men took 1 hour, next day went out came back to villa grandchilren slipped on bathroom floor as the tap & sink still leaking lucky they didnt hurt themselves too bad very upest 2 & 6 year olds.Another phone call to try & get it fixed after many more calls a lot of heated conversations 4 to 6 men arrived took 3 hours to fix could of fixed it when we were out all day as we did report it before we left, bit I suppose thats too easy. All in all it sounds a bit petty but when u paid over 10 months ago a lot of money for pool villa, a lot of frustation, wasted timewaiting for repair men while on holiday is uncceptable! also wrong bill received for meal in beach resturant bill was for table next to us 3 times the price also happened in bar upstairs charged for drinds not ordered make sure u check your bills. overall I would NOT stay here again ever there a lot better hotels for way less money my advice is to try them instead.
Bad service, outdated rooms, and very rude staff.
Stayed im march 2012.. Last year during our trip to Moscow we decided to stay in this horrible hotel..it was not a great choice but because of convinient location we took a chance. Hotel staff is very rude ,no interest in customer service. Rooms in this hotels are very outdated ,poor housekeeping and bad smell. For Indians there is no choice of food as they have Chinese and Russian food avalable in their restaurants. There lobby is always crowded with prostitutes and pimps. Coffee shop is big but don't expect any service and quality food .this hotel is just a big building waiting for a renovation..last but not the least I have to say this....I am proud of our Indian hospitality .
Close to Airport
This Hotel is great to use, when you have a lay over night and an early flight to get connection to a beach resort. We were there on December 31st and saw their buffets (thanks God we did not participate in the party). This buffet has nothing to do with the food reputation of a Mövenpick Hotel. Not many guests did celebrate their end of the year there and for sure, there is a reason.
Rooms are ok, bedding as well, all is clean, everything is just average. For sure the city Hotels as Sheraton, Intercontinental are much better value for money, not to speak of the Park Hyatt, which offers great location, fine service and real 5 star luxury. The breakfast was again ok, service mediocre. The only people which were extremely friendly and professional where the receptionists and the bell boys. Use this Hotel only if you have business in the district or a flight to catch.
great room, not-so-great location, service just fine.
the hotel is new and well-maintained. modern facilities, clean, spacious. really, everything you wish for. location, however, is not so great. it is close to the airport (hence a good airport hotel) but far from the city centre/district 1 where you will find most of your touristy stuff. the redeeming part of this is that the hotel provides a free shuttle service to the city centre: 4 trips return per day. hop on the 9am shuttle and take the last 9:30pm shuttle back and you will have the whole day to do what you want in the city. shuttle service has to be booked at least 2 hours in advance, or the night before for the first shuttle.
the room is really one of the best i've seen in this class. bed is extremely comfortable and so are the pillows. it is rare to find good hotel pillows and moevenpick really delivered on this occasion. rain shower is brilliant, and bathroom is spacious, clean, and modern. we didnt get a good room so there was no view looking outside, but it was still well-lit with natural light. for around 100 bucks a night, you'll struggle to find a better hotel.
when we first arrived, the cab driver (notorious in this city) wanted to overcharge us with a rigged meter. luckily, we called one of the hotel bellhops who settled the issue for us. the cab charge went from 550k VND to 70k VND. taxi driver was clearly upset. bellhop later informed us that we should have got a 70k VND taxi coupon from the airport (note: we did check with the taxi counter in the airport prior to exiting but the guy spoke virtually no english...). to this day, we are not sure if bellhop is right. what we do know is that our metered taxi back to the airport costs us roughly 60k VND. one learns a few scam tricks while in vietnam -- some you learn by reading them online, others you sadly have to lern them the hard and costly way.
apart from the fantastic bellhop who saved us tons of money, staff service was mediocre. the guy who checked us in spoke perfect english and check-in was smooth as it can be. on the second and third day however, we ran into staff who spoke mediocre english and not exactly polite. we asked for a late check out and was promptly granted. however, the room key was deactivated at 12pm so we had to go down and get a new key -- reception should have managed this better when she granted us late check out. we also asked if we could conevrt VND to USD at the reception, and one lady gave us the "wtf" look and dismissively said "at the airport". very rude. tour desk (where you book the free shuttle) was also a hit and miss. one day we had a friendly and helpful guy (he looked really young which made us wonder if the hotel took in student interns). another day we had this lady who made several mistakes not just with us but also with everyone else inquiring at the desk. there was usually a line at the tour desk too. i wonder why they could not delegate some of the tasks to the reception or concierge instead. we had to line up for 25 mins to book the shuttle. ridiculous.
overall, i would definitely stay here again if i want to be close to the airport, or if i really just want to enjoy the room and a nice hotel in HCMC. if you're after mostly the tourist sights in the city, or if you are the sort who demands great service, then this is not for you.
English to Thai: Hotel reviews in TripAdviser General field: Marketing Detailed field: Tourism & Travel
Source text - English Looks can deceive
We booked 2 nights at this hotel on the way back from London. We had stayed at the Savoy in London (also run by Fairmont) and it had been a dream. So we thought would try another Fairmon Hotel expecting similar service whilst realising we not going to have the same type of hotel.
That was a mistake. The room was nice and the outlook lovely. It was In good condition and with a good bathroom.
The problem with this hotel is the service - around the hotel pool unless you chased someone for service there was none, same thing we found with front office / baggage people when we were leaving. Lots of people standing around doing nothing.
The room was not cleaned properly e.g. seeds from a nectartine the night before were still there the next evening.
The front of deak staff were vary average - we would ask for them to store valueables locked in bags in a locked room but they wouldn't. Actually the front desk person saif they would and then the baggage guy said they wouldn't. Because of this we had to walk around Singapore with our valueables for the day.
We came back later and the staff were mucking about with each other which did not look professional. I counted 13 people - about 8 at the desk and 5 related to luggage. All doing nothing.
Basically it was a nice looking hotel but with very average service. Service you would get at a Holiday Inn.
Equatorial Cameron Highlands
Equatorial is quite a decent hotel, but dont expect a 5-star facility. We stayed for 2 nights with 2 young children at the main hotel block which was ok but we read lots of horror stories at the apartment blocks. Buffet breakfast is adequate, the indoor swimming though small was heated and well lit. The fire place at night was a comfortable relief from the mountain cold. It drizzle quite a bit when we were there but the front service desk was always helpful in loaning out umbrellas.
The key attraction of Equatorial must be the location - it is within a short walking distance to Raaju Hill and EQ Strawberry farms. We went to both but found Raaju's staff more personable and friendly, cld be the boss himself. Kea farm day market was also within walking distance for my 2 young girls, so no worries for parents with young children. Lots of fruits, especially strawberries, oranges, sweet corn, fruit chocolates were in abundance, not to mention the usual tourist stuff - T-shirts, key chains, bags, dolls, pillows, all in the shape and colours of strawberrries. There is even a fairly large T-shirt shop just outside Equatorial run by a Pakistan guy selling at quite competitive price, some items even cheaper than the make-shift stalls at Kea farm market - no need to walk to far if you are short of time. He closes at 9pm!
If you found keen to try streamboat but not pay the high price at Equatorial (abt RM50pp), there are a few restaurants near the hotel (walking distance) that serve decent steamboat for about RM18-20pp.
In summary, Equatorial is a convenient hotel, not for its room or facilities, but superb for its location. Will stay at the main hotel block again if I visit Cameron Highlands.
Run down but....
The place is run down but overall still good. A bit of facelift will do good. I loved the buffet breakfast and choices they served for lunch and dinner. Anyway what's the point having an old hotel with good food and great service when there's nothing left to admire and enjoy in Cameron Highlands. The highlands had been plundered. I had been here for business trip and vacation with family. As for family vacations, I don't think it will happen again. I am writing Cameron off.
Great modern rooms
This is a very good hotel especially since I was upgraded to a suite on arrival which was huge and very clean and modern. Hotel has good facilities even though they charge for the gym which is strange since it is rubbish! Otherwise breakfast and bar are very good with really welcoming staff who were always happy to help.
Why charge for wifi
The Hotel is OK but I refuse to stay at a Starwood hotel again until they reverse their policy of charging for Internet. When paying $500 a night I expect the basics like water, electricity and Internet.
Rooms are not even wifi enabled although when called customer relations they were able to provide a router.
Wonderful stay!!
My husband and I went here for part of our honeymoon, during which we also stayed in Tahiti and Bora Bora. We contemplated plenty as far as which hotel would be best for us (we are picky!), and we landed on Hilton given the deals and reviews. We could not have been happier with our decision!
ROOM: Instead of an over the water bungalow room, we opted for one of the ocean view villas to save the excitement of an OTW bungalow for Bora Bora. Definitely a great choice -- our room was spacious, we had a great view of the ocean, and we had a little pool area where we would lay out and take the occasional dip when need be. Laying out on the beach was OK too, but with all the roosters (yes, roosters!) running around, we didn't spend that much time on the beach.
STAFF: Amazing amazing amazing! They are all so kind and so nice, and even though I'm sure many couples are coming for a romantic occasion or celebration of some kind, they are still genuinely excited for you and congratulate you with a huge smile. Lovely staff, I cannot rave enough.
POOL: Also awesome. Really liked the pool, the pool guys are so kind, it's also right by the beach and by dining areas so it's very convenient especially if you are not a beach person.
FOOD: Awesome. The breakfast buffet is great, the dinner buffet with the performance is also really impressive and fresh with a huge and delicious assortment that will not disappoint. In room dining is excellent as well.
SPA: Is OK. It's not the greatest spa experience and I'm not sure we'd rate this a 4 star experience, but it was decent.
WATER SPORTS: Awesome. This was by far our favorite part of the resort. The water activities are free, and there are SO many fish to see. They have everything from the pedal boats, to paddle boards and so on -- we made it a point to use them all, they were a great way to catch sunset or get out in the water without getting totally soaked. Everyone was active at the resort thanks to all the free water sports.
GYM/TENNIS: Also amazing. The gym is located conveniently across the street and it's equipped with a few machines and weights. It can sometimes get packed, so I did find myself waiting for one of the 3 treadmills a couple of times. The tennis court is great and I highly recommend taking advantage of them -- I don't think many people do, because the court always seemed empty!
Overall, great value, and an awesome way to kick off our trip with some activities for a few days before heading out to Bora Bora for complete relaxation. In fact, we were worried the Hilton Moorea would outdo Bora Bora, it was incredible that it only got better from there :)
Beautiful resort with beautiful modernized rooms
Upon arrival from our ghastly stay in Papeete, we were pleased that the reception provided drinks and even cocktails for free. They even knew our name right as we walked up! There's free coconut on the desk, as well.
Pros: Amazing breakfast, plenty of coconut, huge pool, splendid views, and much to do.
Cons: Expensive! Extremely expensive! Many of the waiters and waitresses are incredibly slow and should not be waiting.
Room service is surprisingly less expensive than the restaurant.
Advice: When booking a room, make sure you get free breakfast as well. $35 per person every day can get extremely expensive. Also note that internet is not free and will cost about $55 for 5 days. It's a bit slow, so be warned on that.
Also be sure to bring plenty of bug spray that has SPF in it (Avon Skin so Soft) and take the ATV and hike trips. Most people will do the Ray/Shark feeding, but that's really unnecessary.
DO NOT use the hotel's bikes or the people they suggest. Get a bike from the other hotels if you can (like Intercontinental) as they are much nicer.
Okay airport hotel for layovers, not much more
This is an okay hotel when needed for layovers but don't consider it for much more. It's a huge facility that's equipped for conferences or large family gatherings but it would not be my first choice in Hong Kong.
Here's a breakdown--
1.) Cleanliness, ok. Age and missing updates is what's to blame mostly here.
2.) Food, ok-good. Breakfast- It's not gourmet but it matches and was better than my expectations. Coffee was good.
3.) Beds, poor. Hard and with those lovely divots where someone has been sleeping in the same place for a long time.
4.) Check-in/check-out, ok. It was a busy time when we checked in and I think it was conducted fairly fast. Check-out was fine.
5.) Concierge/porters, good.
6.) Lounge- poor. Went to use the free wifi in the lounge and get a beverage. Service was ok but the drink was pretty bad and the band was just so-so.
7.) Location- excellent. You walk about 5-7 minutes from your gate to the hotel.
Don't really know about the price versus the value since the airline comp our room.
Good choice for a quick stop in the airport
I had to stop in Hong Kong for one night only. I book the Regal Hotel and I found it, by far, the best airport Hotel I have ever been. But I'm talking of "Airport Hotel" to stop one night, not as a choice to spend few days. However: the Hotel is just inside the airport, you don't need any shuttle or taxi, you just walk in after you come out from the arrival gate. It is a walk of 250/300 meters. People there are very professional, fast and kind, Room are very quiet, inspite the aircraft going forth and back, and also very luminous, well kept, clean and large.
Inside the Hotel you have several restaurant and bar where you can have some food or drinks.
For lovers of Starbuck coffee (like me), it is just outside the Hotel, 10 meters after the main entrance. Price of the Hotel is more than acceptable for the quality they are offering and its handy position. The only bad and annoying point is internet: they are charging 120 HKD, that more or less are 18 US$ for a 24 hours service, I really found that bad.
Awesome!
The place, people and surroundings are spectacular. The only caveat is that there's a little far from kyoto station (45 minutes) that is where everything is located (bars, restaurants, etc). You can take the bus or a taxi (although very expensive). At the hostel, people are very friendly, rooms are extremely clear, and there are some choices of food (expensive too). You can buy at the supermarket frozen food or anything and cook it at the hostel kitchen. Wifi it's free there. There are also computers with internet but you have to pay.
โดยรวมแล้วที่นี่คุ้มค่าเป็นอย่างมาก และถือเป็นวิธีเริ่มต้นการเดินทางด้วยการทำกิจกรรมต่างๆ เป็นเวลาสัก 2-3 วัน ก่อนที่จะมุ่งหน้าสู่ Bora Bora เพื่อการพักผ่อนอย่างสมบูรณ์แบบต่อไป อันที่จริงแล้ว เราสงสัยกันว่าที่ Hilton Moorea นี่จะทำได้ดีไปกว่าที่ Bora Bora เสียอีก เป็นเรื่องที่เหลือเชื่อจริงๆ กับบริการที่หาใครเทียบได้ยากของที่นี่
"
English to Thai: Hotel reviews in TripAdviser General field: Marketing Detailed field: Tourism & Travel
Source text - English Very clean
Just before I stayed it there with my family.
Very clean and big soaking bath prepaired.
They are staff, very kind. I recommend you here.
Great for the price.
Stayed here on day two of a four day clubbing adventure through Seoul. This place is very well appointed for what you will pay. My room was very comfortable with a great view of the Han river. The pool in the fitness center was a great surprise after a night out on the town. COEX is a 5 minute cab ride away. Club Ellui and club Answer are within a 5 minute walk. There is a store in the lobby that has everything you need. Juice, water, wine, bread, and gifts. The staff were more than willing to help with any request I had. A five minute cab ride away was Apujeong's "Rodeo" shopping district. Plenty of places to eat and Cafes within walking distance or within a 5 minute cab ride. 10 minutes from the closest subway.
Hotel Riviera, Seoul
A large well appointed hotel directly on the Limousine Bus Route 6006 from Incheon International Airport (WON10,000 each way).
Rooms are comfortable with a good supply of toiletries and mini bar services. Huge TV and free wifi all good. Perhaps service is a little impersonal but certainly a convenient well priced (Seoul is generally very expensive I've found) hotel just to the South of the main river through the city.
An excellent base for touring or business. Just remember to bring your currency converter.
Great Hotel on a Great location
The hotel is great,Location is great .......what more you want.Spent 4 nights with my kid and it was great.The room were big.Bathroom was neat and clean.I really miss the bathing experience as the water pressure was amazing.Buffet was good with lots of option.Orchard road is just 200m from the hoteland so is the mrt station.
My home away from home
First and foremost, the location of this hotel was very hard to beat. Shopping malls, supermarkets, MRT station and hospitals were all a stone throw away. Very efficient systems, check in and check out only took a few minutes. The rooms were excellent, very clean and modern and comfortable. Bathroom amenities were superb. Due to our frequent visits, we always had our room upgraded (thank you so much for that!). Breakfast was always good. But maybe it's time to change the food selections so frequent guests like us don't get bored. Above all, I especially loved the staff. They were all so nice and helpful especially the gentlemen at the hotel's door. I loved it whenever they cheerfully greeted me with "Welcome back!!". Yes, very glad to be back indeed!
Great location but no soul
I normally stay at this hotel on business trips to Tokyo. The location is excellent, easy access to the Dome itself ....it's part of the building. Rooms are always clean and spotless. Staff are OK but lack some of the finer customer orientation you see in other hotels. Internet is free as long as you have a LAN connection, but if like me you travel with an iPad and need wifi in the room then you pay extra, which I find just unacceptable in these days. The device you get to hook up the wifi is relatively straight forward but it's not as simple as entering a wifi code. You effectively hook up a router in your room. The reception area is vast, but again has no soul, there is no centre and you often find large groups of tourists sitting in all sorts of places. This can make it difficult for impromptu meetings. It's a fine hotel but the niggles make it only average for me.
The PERFECT soft landing - A
Arrived at the hotel as the firs stop with a Viking River Tour itinerary.
The room we had was simple and pretty. The bed was very comfortable, the room impeccably clean. It was the perfect soft landing after a long flight. Our room had a great view of the river. It was quiet and dark at night (important stuff to me at least).
The exercise facilities were very nice, and VERY clean. The hot tub was nice and hot, unlike some hotels that keep it barely warm.
The staff members we encountered throughout the hotel were all friendly and helpful. If there was a language barrier, they were quick to find the next available person to help….and really; the barrier is completely my fault. I can’t speak a stitch of Chinese!
The breakfast buffet was out of this world. There were stations from all over the world and the food wasn’t ‘passable’ as I typically aim for out of a buffet, but it was GOOD. Really good.
Located conveniently in the heart of Pudong, this hotel is in the middle of food, and shopping and excess! The area is VERY western, though you can hop to the other side of the river and find the older town (beyond the edge of the river which is lined with turn of the century Euro style buildings).
A great stay. A
Breathtaking views from the Club Lounge
As one would expect this Hotel delivers excellence in the quality of food, location, comfort of the rooms (Club Level) and service.
The night time views over the Huangpu river with Shanghai skyline as a back drop from the Horizon Club level lounge is just out of this world.
Service can only be described on a level of par excellence as every single employee from the bell boy to the club level chef have should have service as their middle name. A moment of true devoted service was when it was pouring down with rain and I am not sure why but during rain it is "impossible" to find a taxi? I had requested concierge that I needed a taxi and usually a few are waiting outside of the hotel; on this occasion there were none and one member of staff went out armed with a rain mac and an umbrella and came back 15 minutes later completely drenched with a Taxi?
The staff in the Horizon club lounge were fantastic as they could not do enough to keep customers happy.
Beautiful place!
Staff were absolutely exceptional! Everyone was super friendly and polite, always greeting us when we walked by and asking how our stay was going. Upon check-in we were offered a glass of orange juice and a cool towel. Which was lovely as we had just been on a delayed flight and did not arrive until 11pm.
Buffet breakfast was nice, but after a few days it gets a bit repetitive - would have been nice to have a few different options to choose from each day.
Highly recommend the anti-pasto platter from Salsa Verde (Italian restaurant, offering beautiful views of the Indian Ocean), as well as the Salsa Bar (just above Salsa Verde), go here for a drink and watch the sunset!
I found that sometimes the room service was a bit slow, but always well presented and tasty.
We did request connecting rooms, instead we were given rooms 4457 & 4458 which are not connecting rooms, none offered views of the ocean, but were still lovely rooms - rooms were replenished twice a day (except on the last 2 days, only replenished in the morning. I think because more attention was given to the guests staying for a major conference at the resort).
Only issue with the rooms was that the telephone in 4458 smelt a bit like urine..
Overall, a very pleasant hotel to stay at - the resort offers different recreational activities each day, lovely gardens, very spacious areas, exceptional service and all of this is located in a very peaceful and relaxing area.
English to Thai: Telecom Strings General field: Tech/Engineering
Source text - English %s added
Directory already exists
Photo
To create a similar folder, touch and hold an app, then move it over another.
Here\'s a folder
Folder closed
Download
Edited
Edited online photos
No audio files in %s
Filename already exists.
Unnamed Folder
Folder icon
Exported
The folder name is invalid
Locking area
Folder: %1$s
Empty directory will not be saved
Folder opened, %1$d by %2$d
Picture
Recording
Removed from %1$s
Folder renamed to %1$s
Screenshot
Email folder
Touch to close folder
Touch to save rename
Folder
Video
Follow
Big
Default
OK
Small
Food
%1$d call(s)
Payphone
Private number
Unknown
%1$d email(s)
Use now
Footprint will show the records of your certain operations on the phone, including call log, SMS, memos and gallery.
You can customize the content to display in \"Settings\" later.
Use Footprint
%1$d message(s)
MM-dd
HH:mm
Today
Your password is too weak, please change it for account security!
OK
Enforced GPU rendering
Enforced use of GPU for 2D drawing
Enforced 4x MSAA
Enable 4x MSAA in OpenGL ES 2.0 apps
Force RTL layout direction
Force screen layout direction to RTL for all locales
Force stop
If you force stop an app, it may misbehave.
Force stop?
Open "Auto-install apps without notificaion" now
Tips: Open the "Auto-install apps without notificaion" in the "settings", you can get newest apps in first time!
Invite you to experience new function
Free Update
forever
Forgot
Forum
%-d
%-m
%Y/\n%-m
%Y
I have already backed up all data
Not clear
Clear data
Uploaded: %s
Upgrade to Flyme 4 completely
%d%%
Format SD card
Format the SD card will delete all the data in the it, this cannot be reverted
Wipe all the data in the SD card
This upgrade will need to clear all data and extend system partition to complete, please be sure to back up your photos, music, video, and other data, so as not to cause losses
Erase all data to complete the upgrade
%H:%M\nToday
Forward
Forward
---------- Forwarded message ----------<br>From: %1$s<br>Date: %2$s<br>Subject: %3$s<br>To: %4$s<br>
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Couldn\'t forward one or more attachments.
Unable to forward attachment
You\'re using this app outside of your work profile
You\'re using this app in your work profile
Forward
Unable to forward message
Fwd:
Call forwarding
%d result(s)
More than %d found.
4:3
4K
Fingerprint function exception
Fingerprint not match
On
Large
On
On
Dial tone
Font size
Read caller name
Security lock
More Settings
Call volume
test
Mobile Internet
Flashlight
Mute
Free Internet
Dimming
Ringtone volume
open the Unicom Hearing Flow Pack for free audition and download?
"%.1f free hours"
"Free Space"
Free
Freely
Trial
Frequent
FR
FRI
From
Take photo
Choose from gallery
From:
From:
"%d - %d - %d"
Name
Full scan
Full screen mode
Full screen access
Using notification bar and multi-task
Valid until %s
Feature list
1. Positioning: You can locate a phone through networks and GPS;
2. Locking: A locked phone system cannot be accessed unless unlocked by entering correct Flyme password;
3. Sending messages: Display the written information on the screen of a lost phone so that whoever finds the phone can contact the owner;
4. Sending sound: Play the default sound at the maximum volume for three minutes and will be automatically stopped after the phone is unlocked;
5. Erasing the phone data: You can erase all the data including contacts, SMSs and applications, as well as format the SD card. After the data erasing, the phone can still be positioned, locked or execute other operations.
6. Front-cam shooting: Shooting can be performed in two modes; after shooting, photos are automatically sent back to the Phone Finder end;\n・Auto-shoot: If a wrong password is entered for the second time after the phone is locked, front-cam shooting will be automatically enabled;\n・Manual-shoot:You may also press Shoot through the client application and the webpage to control shooting manually.
7. Auto-lock: If screen lock or app lock has been set on the phone, Phone Finder will be automatically enabled if incorrect passwords are entered for 15 consecutive times, and the phone would be locked. (Upon unlocking, the screen lock password will be discarded; this function may also apply to cases where the screen lock password is forgotten).
8. Auto enables GPS: After being locked, the phone will automatically enable GPS and mobile data. GPS cannot be disabled when the phone is locked.
9. State feedback: Check through the finder the current network state of the lost phone, whether locking or other operations are successful, the time of operation, etc.
10. Recovery limit: When the phone is locked, Recovery is also locked so that Recovery and the access to the SD card are prohibited.
"11. Password retry limit: This function prevents unauthorized users from getting the right password through multiple attempts after the phone is locked. For example, if the password is entered incorrectly for 5 consecutive times,
will take the time to progressive approach, restrict each other input."
12. Password input limit: If password is entered incorrectly for five consecutive times, input will be limited in a progressive time manner.
13. Network activated by SMS: When the target phone is installed with a valid SIM card, network can be activated by SMS sent remotely.
Couldn\'t change the forwarding number.\nContact your carrier if this problem persists.
Couldn\'t retrieve and save current forwarding number settings.\nSwitch to the new provider anyway?
Bluetooth
Auto
Brightest
Half
Off
"Brightness %1$s"
Problem loading widget
Couldn\'t add widget.
Location
No recent events
Choose gadget
Setup
Off
On
"%1$s%2$s"
Disabling
Enabling
Sync
Power control
Updating Bluetooth setting
Updating Wi-Fi setting
Wi-Fi
Search Global contacts
%s global contacts
Searching %s...
Gallery content updated
"Gallery wallpapers"
Game Center
Game gifts
Enter gift center from personal center, and collect gifts in gift details
Personal center
In the personal center, you can manage games, check the wish list, check your gifts, manage downloads, and view gift center
Game categories
You can check out different categories of games on the categories page
Online recharging
Player can click the personal center in the game interface to perform online recharging
Forum interaction
Player can click the forum in the game interface to interact with other players
Game Controller
Game Details
Game download
Download Manager
Game Form
Please select a file to upload
Game gift bag
Game History
No games history
Game Management
No games
%d
%s gifts
Developer Games
Review
Forum
Recommended Games
Try those fun games out!
Funny Games
Game Updates
"You must enable data roaming for this SIM first which may incur significant roaming charges! Are you sure to enable data roaming and select this SIM?"
"3G service is not available with this selected SIM. This may load data slower. You can change the 3G service setting under Settings > Wireless & networks > Mobile networks. Are you sure to select this SIM?"
"You must enable data roaming for this SIM first which may incur significant roaming charges! Besides, 3G service is not available with this SIM. This may load data slower. You can change it under Settings > Wireless & networks > Mobile networks. Are you sure to enable data roaming and select this SIM?"
3G
"4G/3G service is not available with this selected SIM. This may load data slower. You can change the 4G/3G service setting under Settings > Wireless & networks > Mobile networks. Are you sure to select this SIM?"
"You must enable data roaming for this SIM first which may incur significant roaming charges! Besides, 4G/3G service is not available with this SIM. This may load data slower. You can change it under Settings > Wireless & networks > Mobile networks. Are you sure to enable data roaming and select this SIM?"
Data connection
Enter sim %d PIN
Enter sim %d PUK
Enter phone number
Activating\u2026
Deactivating\u2026
Select SIM card
General News
Advance to
Auto-advance
Message list
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Choose which screen to show after you delete a message
Reply all
Make \"Reply all\" the default for message replies
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Pictures in messages won\'t be shown automatically
Ask to show pictures
General settings
General
Generating print job
Couldn\'t attach file.
Keep your contacts safe even if you lose your phone: synchronize with an online service.
Add an account
Place the phone horizontally stationary
Local number
Reject
%s needs to use your location data
Documents uploaded for
Documents uploaded for shipment
Documents available for download by
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HEADER
Locations
Order Response
Overview
Destination DTSL
Origin DTSL
Uses DTSM
Over high threshold () must be blank or greater than zero
Over low threshold () must be blank or greater than zero
Over medium threshold () must be blank or greater than zero
Under high threshold () must be blank or less than zero
Under low threshold () must be blank or less than zero
Under medium threshold () must be blank or less than zero
Commonly Used Companies
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Your Portal User ID is:
English to Thai: Supply Chain Management Platform's User Guide General field: Bus/Financial Detailed field: Internet, e-Commerce
Source text - English Cancelled Orders - All orders where the requested quantity is equal to zero.
Orders with a Discrepancy - All orders where the requested date does not match the committed date or the requested quantity does not match the committed quantity.
Orders to be Confirmed - All orders with no commit values.
Orders to be Shipped - All orders where the requested date, requested quantity, committed date and committed quantity are equal and the orders have not been shipped.
BOL CollaboartionColors:
- A yellow cell indicates the current value is different from the previous value.
Booking LegendColors:
- A light green Booking line indicates that a Shipping Instruction exists for the corresponding Booking.
Milestone Tracking Report Legend Background colors: -Cntr/Trailer #
:
Doesn't match container numbers in associated Shipping Instruction -Timestamp:
An unreturned Container with Actual Time of Arrival more than 14days ago and No Status message was received past 14 days
Blanket Purchase Order - Finite termed contract between supplier and buyer
Measures only the orders that have shipments.
This measure determines whether the shipment was on time by comparing the actual shipping date with the Estimated Time of Departure (ETD).
The ETD is calculated by subtracting the desired Delivery Date by the Shipping Time.
The ETD is the time the Shipment should be shipped in order for it to arrive by the expected Delivery Date.
If the Shipped Date of the first shipment of an order is before the ETD then that shipment is considered early.
If the Shipped Date of the first shipment is on the same day as the ETD then the shipment is considered On-TIME.
If the Shipped Date of the first shipment occurs after the ETD then the shipment is considered late.Early Shipment == ASN Shipped Date< Estimated Time of Departure (ETD)Late Shipment == ASN Shipped Date> (ETD)On Time Shipment == ASN Shipped Date = (ETD) **The ETD and the ASN Shipped Date are displayed on the Compliance Details screen
Measures only the orders that have shipments.
This measure calculates whether or not the timestamp on the ASN message arrived in the Portal before the Delivery Date(DD) .
If the timestamp on the ASN message is before or on the day of the Delivery Date then the message is considered on time.On Time ASN Message = ASN Message DD
This measures Orders that have any shipments.
Shipments are linked to Orders by matching the Purchase Order Number, the Release Line Number, the Line Number, and the Shipment Line Number.
No calculations are used.
This measures Orders that have an Order Response within a 48 hour window.
The time when the integration message was received by the Portal is referred to as the Timestamp for that message.
If the Timestamp of an Order Response message comes within 48 hours after the timestamp of the Order then that constitutes an order with a valid Order Response.Valid Response == Order Response timestamp - Order timestamp
I have been full-time freelance translator since 2004. I specialize in IT, business, marketing, legal, management, tourism, and general subjects. Some of my works were printed by some of leading IT magazine publishers in Thailand. For my IT knowledge, I started my self-learning on computer by self-practice to coding C and Pascal Languages since the era of Borland Turbo C and Turbo Pascal compilers. The objective is to build Accounting Systems to be sold in software market.
However, after a few years I got stuck in it, I realized that the project is too big for one man, who at that time, was a beginner of how to programming. So I decided to turn my experience to function that I think it’s more appropriate for me. Of course, it's an IT Translator.
In 1993, I had my first printed IT pocket book. It was an English to Thai book translation job from the biggest IT book publisher in the country. That book was “Concise Guide to Windows for Workgroup 3.11" of Microsoft Press which was authored by Doctor Kris Jamsa.
Today with my age at 48 years old and 26 years working experience in IT industry. I have ever worked for several IT functions and positions such as Technical Writer, Technical Translator, Columnist, IT Products Reviewer, Webmaster, PHP Developer, Web Developer, MySQL Administrator, Website Founder, Project Programmer, Microsoft Certified Sales Specialist (MSS from Microsoft Corp) and Marketing Executive.
To the moment here. Reading, language and philology are still my passion. Now, I have fourteen translated books and one written book which were printed to the public. Most of them had been archived in The National Library as nation's references. Therefore, I believe that those can prove their own quality and standard.
Moreover, I have over a thousand of IT articles (by writing and translation) which were printed by Eworld Magazine, one of IDG's PCWORLD group.
I graduated in Business Administration (Finance and Banking) from Ramkhamhaeng University. It's an open university which I can worked and studied at the same time.
ODesk Test Results:
https://www.odesk.com/users/~01950eceb9926c6e77
Member since Sep '11
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