My Experience with Microsoft

I am Vikas Pareek doing Computer Science Engineering. I am very happy to share with you, my experience with Microsoft. Well the most and foremost experience with Microsoft was with Microsoft Windows Operating system. 
The reason why I(well most of the people int the world) like to use windows operating system is that its completely User friendly unlike its open source counterparts. I started using windows OS since I was in 8^th standard beginning with windows98 then gradually till windows 8.1. The best part is that the windows os, the newer the better. I came to like Microsoft after the launch of Win7 and Win8 operating system.

Next came along with the operating system the MS office tools right from MS office 2003 to recently updated cloud application MS 365. It has been the most famous editing tools among professionals and even at academic and personal level.

I am a web developer so the user friendly application from Microsoft like Visual Studio has really helped me to bring out the web developer in me. Its intelligent coding system was really helpful as it helped me to learn code and design simultaneously and so create a better web page and many such applications(windows applications ofcourse).

Next when my dad brought me a windows phone it became very easy for me to access my favorite Operating system even in my phone and with ease. Even the surface tablet from Microsoft is just fantastic because of its looks and performance out beating any other tablets.

Microsoft has tried to play its role in almost all kinds of industries. The cloud storage like ‘OneDrive’ and ‘SkyDrive’ in phones is the best yet. I like it the most because I get free storage online so there is no problem of memory in SD cards or phone memory. I can save them for something else.

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Videocon d2h unveils HD DVR with 1000GB hard drive

Videocon d2h has added the 1000GB storage capacity version of the HD Recorder, for their Direct to Home (DTH) service. The company says that this translates into 1775 hours of recording. This DVR was unveiled at the International Indian Film Academy (IIFA) awards held at Macau.

Like the current 500GB version, the 1000GB version will also offer the ability to record two channels simultaneously and also offers Auto Serial Recording. This DVR also has the 3D capability, and Videocon d2h offers one 3D channel on the platform. 

Mr. Saurabh Dhoot - Director, Videocon Group on this product said, “We are thrilled to launch India’s First High Definition Digital Video Recorder (HD DVR) with an unprecedented 1000 GB storage capacity. This new age lifestyle product will make our offering even more exciting for consumers who like to watch television content at their own convenience. This product provides greater value based on its advanced features, high quality performance and elegant design. The subscriber experience is set to be further enhanced and our assortment of products will spoil the customer for choice.”

Videocon has announced an upgraded version of the HD DVR, with a bigger hard drive. 

Videocon d2h, at the moment, offers 444 channels and services on its DTH platform, including 22 Full HD channels. The service is offered with the MPEG-4 and DVB-S2 technology, and the channel packages start at Rs 220 per month.

No word yet on when this DVR will be available in the market, or the price. We will keep you posted on the same. We also hope to get our hands on a review unit of the Videocon d2h 1000GB HD DVR and give you a verdict on the product.

After 43 years, DRAM market finally reaches maturity

DRAM capex as a percent of sales forecast to fall to all-time low in 2013

Features | CIOL Bureau

SCOTTSDALE, USA: Forty-three years after Intel introduced the first DRAM device in 1970, the DRAM market has finally matured to the point where there are only three major suppliers remaining-Samsung, SK Hynix, and Micron, which recently closed on its acquisition of Elpida.

A good sign that the DRAM market has reached maturity is that capital expenditures in 2013 are forecast to be $4.0 billion, only slightly more than the $3.9 billion spent during the great recession year of 2009 according to data released in IC Insights' Mid-Year Update to The McClean Report 2013. Meanwhile, the DRAM market is forecast to reach $33.7 billion.

This means DRAM capital spending as a percent of sales is forecast to fall to an all-time low of only 11.9 percent this year (Fig. 1). Lower-trending capex investment for new DRAM fabs and process technology upgrades have contributed to rising average selling prices (ASPs) for DRAM so far in 2013. For the year, the DRAM average selling price is forecast to jump 40 percent and lift total DRAM market growth 28 percent.

The ability of suppliers to spend large sums of money to build a brand new wafer fab or to upgrade existing fabs has become nearly prohibitive for all but the leading DRAM manufacturers. With the price of a new wafer fab approaching $5 billion, only Samsung, SK Hynix, and the new Micron-Elpida will be able to continue investing in new and/or upgraded facilities this year.

Samsung perennially has had the DRAM industry's largest capital expenditure budget, which has allowed it to reduce costs and offer advanced products more quickly than its competition. From 2010-2013, Samsung's cumulative four-year DRAM capital spending ($10.95 billion) is forecast to far exceed the amount spent by either of its two nearest rivals-SK Hynix, $6.1 billion; and Micron, $5.1 billion-over the same period. (DRAM capex by the newly formed Micron-Elpida venture amounts to approximately $7.8 billion over the four-year span).

Perhaps, more telling is how quickly the level of DRAM capex spending falls off after SK Hynix and Micron. After investing heavily to bring 50nm- and 40nm-class processes to their 300mm wafer lines, Taiwan-based suppliers are out of cash. Facing intense pressure from the world's leading DRAM vendors, second-tier players like Nanya, Powerchip, and Winbond are having to look for niche markets in order to revive their respective IC businesses.

In the five-year span from 2004-2008, DRAM capital expenditures as a percent of sales averaged 42.1 percent. In contrast, that ratio over the five-year span from 2009-2013 is forecast to average 21.5 percent. Since only the top DRAM suppliers will be able to continue investing in new facilities, IC Insights forecasts the ratio of DRAM capex to sales to be in the 15-20 percent range through 2017, greatly reducing the potential for huge swings in the market based on too much or too little capacity in the system.

New study suggests talking on the phone while driving isn't related to accidents

After having been fed on researches and reports and a dose of common sense that using the mobile phone while driving could lead to an accident, a study by the researchers at Carnegie Mellon University and the London School of Economics, says otherwise. In a study in the U.S., the team analyzed 8 million accidents, and found no link between speaking on the phone and the car accidents. The period of this research was between the years of 2002 - 2005.

Prof Saurabh Bhargava from Carnegie Mellon University and Dr Vikram Pathania from the LSE, found that there was an increase in the number of mobile phone users jumping from one mobile tower to another (signifying movement at considerable speed), particularly after 9pm, there was no corresponding increase in the number of road accidents at the same time.

Speaking with the BBC, Dr. Pathania expressed his surprise at the findings, "At first we thought the numbers were wrong. We went back and checked everything - but there was nothing going on at all. We just know that we saw a big jump in cellphone use and there was no impact on the crash rate."

Study says that while mobile phone usage in the car has gone up, accidents that may directly be blamed to this distraction haven't.

However, he is quick to add, "We were only looking at talking, not texting or internet use. And it may be that the traffic conditions on the road at that time [9pm] are such that moderate use of cellphones does not present a hazard." and that "rash drivers will always find a way to distract themselves."

The study is quick to clarify that they are only referring to voice calls, and not texts and IMs. 

While this study may have its own facts and figures to prove what they are concluding, we do believe that this shouldn’t motivate you to use your phone while driving. First, the period of the study was between the years 2002 to 2005. Between then and now, there has been an exponential increase in the number of road users. Secondly, the time period chosen was post 9pm, which again meant that traffic could have been lighter at that time.

"Rash drivers will always find a way to distract themselves."

The use of mobile phone while driving is illegal in India, as in many other countries.

Source: American Economic Journal 

70pc of retailers could be using communications tech for faster growth

As a unified communications specialist, we know that this technology is a great platform for retailers to be able to converge physical shopping experiences with virtual ones, says Matt Newing, CEO of Elite

News | by CIOL Correspondent

LONDON, UK: Elite Telecom in conjunction with unified communications vendor Swyx has published a new whitepaper to help nearly 70 pc of retailers who according to latest research are unaware of how they can profit from the latest communications technology.

The free whitepaper titled, ‘How Retailers Can Drive Growth with Unified Communications' explains how retail businesses can take advantage of such technology in a number of ways including how to service multiple customer channels, decrease customer churn rates, increase sales and turnover, enhance brand credentials, improve staff wellbeing and speed up expansion plans.

In May, Elite Telecom and Swyx teamed up with Retail Week to poll senior retail executives about how they communicate with customers and integrate key trends to gauge their awareness regarding the potential of unified communications.

The results revealed that almost 70 pc of respondents had not heard of, or understood the benefits of the technology.

Matt Newing, CEO of Elite, said: "Our survey pointed to a clear need to educate retailers on how technology can support key operational targets. This year we have already seen many high street retail businesses such as HMV and Blockbuster fail as a result of not evolving their business models to combine physical and digital journeys to suit changing customer preferences and behaviour.

"As a unified communications specialist, we know that this technology is a great platform for retailers to be able to converge physical shopping experiences with virtual ones - combining the best of ‘bricks and clicks' - whilst cutting costs and allowing for flexible expansion across all platforms. Last month online shopping grew by 20%, the highest figure to date, showing a clear need for retailers to adapt and optimise their communications so they can take full advantage of this opportunity. "

CEO at Swyx, Ralf Ebbinghaus commented, "The beauty of unified communications is that it integrates with all areas of a retail business, so that up-to-date information stored in a back-office app or web-based resource can be used in any type of communications channel. This results in a truly unified customer experience across all media.

"The new whitepaper identifies how senior retail executives can use unified communications to transform their particular business, from providing better service to supporting multiple channels, or simply saving costs and time when rolling out new outlets."

Yatra.com forgets to renew domain name; site goes inactive for three days

Yatra.com online travel agency and search engine forgot to renew its domain name that expired on 9th Aug 2013. The site suffered a substantial loss in business as it has remained inactive for almost three days due to this oversight.

The error was first spotted by SlideShare co-founder Amit Ranjan, who tweeted this news along with a photo showing the mobile version of the site marked by ‘This domain has expired.’

Yatra.com claims that the site is down due to technical reasons. Users trying to access Yatra.com are getting an error message: "Error. Page cannot be displayed. Please contact your service provider for more details. (8)"

Users who have booked tickets through this site will experience problems in accessing their bookings or make cancellations, due to this error. The Yatra Holidays Twitter account has informed its customers to dial 1860-5000-500 for any cancellation or rescheduling requirements.

The site seems to be back in track now, through there are two links saying Backorder Domain and Renew Now seen to the far right of the logo. However, the company has updated its domain registration for an year only (till August 11th 2014).

Yatra.com based in Gurgaon, Haryana, offers international and domestic flight reservations, holidays, weekend getaways, and much more to its consumers. In March 2011 the site was declared the leading online travel portal by comScore getting over 3.1 million unique visitors. Yatra.com became the second largest online travel site in April 2012, behind MakeMyTrip, with over 30 percent share in online travel-related transactions in the country.

BSNL to set up defence telecom network by July 2015

State-run telecom operator Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) is reportedly working to set up an alternative communication network for exclusive use by the Indian defence sector. BSNL is supposed to hand over the network by July 2015. After setting up of the new network, the defence sector is likely to release the 150 MHz of spectrum in frequency range of 1700 MHz to 2000 MHz. .

According to BSNL Chairman and Managing Director RK Upadhyay, the new network uses optical fibre and satellite links and is "is targeted to be completed in three years from Cabinet approval and this works out to July 2015. It's a tight schedule, but BSNL is making all efforts to meet it."

BSNL is likely to begin rolling out the optical fibre cable network across 57,000 kilometres by January 2014. The telco has issued tenders for a 3,000 kilometre OFC network for the navy, which is likely to be ready by the end of next year. The telco plans to issue tenders for satellite network, transmission, microwave radio and networking equipment.

The The Cabinet Committee on Infrastructure had given its nod to Rs 13,334 crore for the defence network project in July 2012. A Times of India report points out the actual valuation of the defence spectrum may differ from the estimate worth of Rs 3.6 lakh crore, based on the market dynamics and government policy.

The recent 2G spectrum auction in 1800 MHz band saw the final price of 5MHz for pan-India was at around Rs. 12,000 crore. Going by this benchmark, the value of 150 Mhz of defence spectrum is estimated at about Rs 3.6 lakh crore.

Source: TOI