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Different Types Of Networking Cables

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On March 25, 2014

In IT Support, Networking

March 25, 2014

Though wireless network technology has evolved many folds, still people use wired networks at home and offices. They use cables as a medium to transfer information and communicate through networked devices. These cables do look similar to a naive; however, they are quite different. You must know what kind of cable you need for your LAN and for this; you must understand different types of cable available in the market.

Coaxial Cables
The Coaxed cables or coax are copper cables, which are a standard for 10Mbps Ethernet cables. Cable companies used these cables to connect TV sets with antennas. Even the telephone companies use these cables. Two major types of coax cable, which were used in 1980s and 1990s, were thinnet (10BASE2 standard) or thicknet (10BASE5 standard). These cables are widely used in office Ethernet and LANs. The cable has an inner copper wire of varied thicknesses, which is surrounded by insulation and other shielding.

Twisted Pair Cables
Twisted pair cables are made of two copper wires, which are twisted together to reduce electromagnetic field. These wires are often wound together in pairs. Ethernet twisted pair cables have up to 8 wires wound together in pairs. These wires were introduced during 1990s, starting with 10Mbps (Category 3 or Cat-3), which later on evolved as 100Mbps (Category 5 or Cat-5) and soon became high-speed 10Gbps wires. Twisted pair cables are of two types, Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) and Unshielded Twisted Pair (UTP). Higher grade twisted pair is used in LANs as it is far cheaper than coaxial cable.

Fiber Optics
Fiber optic cables have made the dream of long distance calls, internet, and cable TV a reality. These cables transmit information through strands of glass and pulses of light. These cables can easily bend, as they are made of glass and are used in Wide Area Networks (WANs) where the communication traffic is high. Single mode and multimode are two types of fiber optics. Single mode fiber optics has higher bandwidth capacity; therefore, it is used in long-distance telecommunications networks. The local networks use multimode because they are cheaper.

USB Cables
USB cables have twisted pair wiring and are used to connect computer with peripheral devices such as mouse, keyboard, etc. They are not used for connecting a computer with another for networking. By using Dongles, an Ethernet cable can be easily connected to a USB port indirectly.

Crossover Cables
Crossover cables such as Null modem cables connect two similar devices, for example two PCs. It is constructed by crossing over the order of the wires so that it can connect two computers directly. It looks similar to regular Ethernet cable, so one needs to buy carefully.

We at Centex Technologies provide complete office computer networking solutions to our clients. For more information, call us at (855) 375-9654

Promote Your Business With Instagram

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On March 18, 2014

In Internet marketing

March 19.2014

With more than hundred million users in the Instagram community, it has the potential to promote businesses to new heights. Here are some ways to use Instagram for the marketing and promotion of your business.

Take catchy photographs:
Photos are the best medium to grab the attention of people and ignite conversation about your products. If you want to market your business using Instagram, then click some attractive pictures of your products and services. Upload these pictures and share in the community. This is a great way to make people aware about your products. You can introduce new products and services to create a buzz. By putting interesting tag lines, you can define the pictures and the products that you are highlighting.

Use hashtags on photos:
To categorize your photos, use hashtags. This will make it easy for users to find brands and products. By picking a hashtag name, you will make your brand and products identifiable.

Create interest:
By sharing photos on instagram, you can make users curious about the pictures and the products. You can use interesting contests to engage your followers such as asking them to post pictures showcasing the creative applications of your products. If you are from service industry, then you can use before and after pictures to show your results.

Give a face to your brand:
You can make your brand more accessible by promoting your business activities, events, and achievements online. To promote your brand, you can associate with a celebrity or highlight the performance of your employees.

Invite others to share:
Invite your clients and other contacts to share the photos uploaded by you. It would be great if your customers upload photos of themselves using the product. You can also announce prize for the best photos, this will encourage more people to share your photos and popularize your brand. Inviting others will make it interesting and interactive. This will further encourage users to visit your account time and again to get new updates.

Arrange events:
Plan events and interesting activities and create hash tags for these to increase the participation. Hashtaging the event much before the actual date helps you get huge attention. Post the photos of the event.

These simple ways will help you use Instagram effectively to establish your brand; however, it is crucial to update your account and communicate with your target audiences regularly.

Debunking Rumors About iPhone 6

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On March 11, 2014

In Tech Buzz

March 10. 2014

The expectations from iPhone are mounting with the launch of the Innovative smart phone approaching fast. With the rising excitement, there are many rumors about its release date, specifications, and special features. This article aims at debunking some of the rumors that surround the launch of next generation smart phone.

What you can expect from iPhone is a new colorful range that will be made in plastic and available at budget prices. The next generation phone is expected to have more powerful processor, bigger storage, better battery life, and a much bigger screen. With an improved camera, the phone will feature near-field communications for various functions such as unlocking doors in buildings and cars, quick purchases, and personal identification. The smart phone is likely to be between 4.7 and 5.7 inches.

Big Screen: The first rumor about iPhone 6 is that it will have quite a large screen and the company may advertize this iPhone as its first phablet. It is expected that the screen size of smart phone is likely to be between 4.7 and 5.7 inches.

Curved glass: Another rumor that has been prevalent for long is that iPhone 6 may have a curved screen. This will enhance its look along with making it sit nicely against user’s cheek while calling. The screen quality will also be much better. It is noticed that the curved screen phones are hardwearing and produce less glare while watching video. It is somewhat sure that iPhone 6 will have curved screen; however, there are rumors about the glass material. Forbes predicts it will be curved Gorilla Glass and Times suggests that it will be scratch proof, expensive Sapphire glass.

Improved sensors: TechCrunch suggests that improved screen sensitivity is what you can expect from iPhone 6. According to Darrell Etherington of TechCrunch, Users who find the current screen size enough may be more interested in sensor developments. Improved sensitivity will improve the drawing and handwriting applications on the iPhone and iPad much better. This will make the Apple devices more like professional-level artistic devices. It is predicted that iPhone 6 will have features that will benefit those who want to make a note or doodle on their smart phone.

Solar power: According to USA Today, it is possible that iPhone 6 will have solar powered battery. Forbes has informed that Apple has filed patents for devices powered by solar cells. This will make you charge your phone battery by simply walking with it on a sunny day. This will solve the problem of limited smart phone battery life.

Digital Trends claims that Apple may launch two slightly different models of iPhone 6. One model will be smaller and other will be larger model, more like a phablet.

3D Printing – An Introduction

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On February 28, 2014

In Tech Buzz

February 28, 2014

New technologies are launched everyday; however, there are certain technologies that have power to revolutionize the world. 3D printing is such a technology that is bound to redefine the manufacturing of homemade and customized products.

3D printing is still a naive topic. Most of the people think that it is a similar process as normal printing; however, it differs a lot. Unlike a regular printer, that creates an image on TV screen, monitor, or paper, 3 D printing produces real objects, for instance, earlier craftsmen used hand techniques and tools to mould material into a particular shape, but 3D printer easily creates a 3 dimensional structure in no time. 3D printing, which is also known as Additive layer manufacturing in industrial terminology, is a manufacturing process that uses digital model to create 3-dimentional solid objects of virtually any shape and size. The process is also called architectural modeling, rapid prototyping, and stereolighography. The technique uses layers of material to make the desired object. By using the technology, creating complex shapes and structures becomes easy. The 3D printing technology uses distributed manufacturing and prototyping and finds applications in construction, automotive, architecture, aerospace, engineering, medical, and dental industries, jewelry, fashion, food, and various other fields.

Manufacturers create a digital model with the help of a 3D Computer Aided Design (CAD) program. This model is sliced into extremely thin layers. While printing, the 3D printer starts printing from the bottom of the design and layer by layer builds the desired object. Initially, the technology was available with large corporations, as it was expensive; however, with more advancement, desktop 3D printers came into being and the technology became affordable as well as accessible to even small and medium sized companies. These days the use of 3D printing ranges from designing fine jewelry to designing automotive parts. It took a lot of time and money to create prototypes in the past; however, 3D printing has eased the stress and has made it economical and less time-consuming. Now companies can produce own prototypes instead of outsourcing the work to production companies and this greatly helps them bring down their expenses.

The credit of creating first 3D printers goes to Chuck Hull who developed this wonder machine in 1984. Depending on the product to be made, different printers use different material for creating layers, such as resin, metal, plastic, polymer, gel, etc. Exact replicas of various objects can be easily created by using this emerging technology. With time, the cost of these printers has substantially decreased and the sales have increased. The technology promises to be the future of manufacturing industry. It will create endless possibilities for manufacturers and will allow them to create solid objects by simply pressing a button.

Facebook Acquires WhatsApp

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On February 24, 2014

In Tech Buzz

February 24, 2014

Social networking giant, Facebook has acquired WhatsApp, a leading cross platform messaging company. The deal value of acquisition is pegged at $16 billion and payment would be made $4 billion in cash and $12 billion in shares of Facebook. Another $3 billion in RSUs will be granted to WhatsApp founders and their employees. The deal also includes $2 billion (One billion in cash and rest in shares) in case it gets shelved due to failure in obtaining necessary regulatory approvals.

As Facebook and WhatsApp work on the same principal of connecting individuals, it is suggested that the partnership would mutually benefit both parties. The remarkable success of WhatsApp of being the maximum used messenger service across the world is believed to increase the reach of Facebook in the longer run. As for Facebook’s benefit to WhatsApp, the former’s resources and history of being the most successful social networking site, will lead to the expansion of WhatsApp across the world. In the meanwhile, WhatsApp will continue to charge $1 after the initial free period of one year as it is currently doing.

It is estimated that the messaging volume on WhatsApp is almost equal to that of the combined telecom text messages across the globe. The messaging application adds to its count a whooping 1 million new members every day. Current statistics as per Facebook’s Blog are that over 450 million users use WhatsApp every month and out of those 70% are active daily.

WhatsApp, with its lean team of 32 engineers processes more than 50 Billion messages every day. To begin with, WhatsApp founders’ strategy was to provide ads-free messenger service that is fast, reliable and cheap. There are many messenger services but, WhatsApp supersedes them with advanced technology that facilitates deliverance of messages at lightning speed.

Though not on the cards yet, with WhatsApp in Facebook’s going for a merger, we can expect to see even better integration of messaging services with the social networking platform.

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