http://www.articletrader.com/ Articles at ArticleTrader en-us http://www.articletrader.com/computers/hardware/walkie-talkies.html http://www.articletrader.com/computers/hardware/walkie-talkies.html Sun, 23 Oct 2005 00:00:00 -0500 In this age of the mobile phone, walkie talkies, or two-way radios, seem like an anachronism. However, many people who grew up before the 1990s may recall that no respectable private eye or detective story was complete without a walkie talkie being used while following a suspect or chasing a criminal!

You may not be the sort who likes to follow suspects or chase criminals as part of your daily activities, but you could still use a walkie talkie in your daily life. If you enjoy outdoor activities, love to go motorcycling, work in a school, college, pub or club or look after a little baby at home, you would find a walkie talkie a very useful gadget. You may need a walkie talkie system if your job requires you to move around from one point to another within a three kilometre range. The benefit over mobile phones is that they are license free and do not have any associated call charges.

For instance, you can use a regular baby monitor if you are at home downstairs and your baby is asleep upstairs, but what happens if you need to visit a neighbour? Some walkie talkies have a wider range than regular baby monitors and also include a “baby monitor” mode. You can leave one radio in the baby’s room and take the other wherever you go—when the baby wakes up or begins to cry, you will know at once. The Cobra MT725 Value Pack is ideal for this.

Workers in pubs or clubs, or teachers and staff members in schools and colleges would find walkie talkies very effective and useful when communicating with colleagues. In both cases, workers and staff members may have to respond to emergencies, and may not be near a telephone. Walkie talkies can be clipped onto belts, and come with an earpiece-microphone combination to enable discreet communication. All you need to do to send a message is to press the Push to Talk button on the handset.

Motorcyclists can use a walkie talkie system that fits into their motorcycle helmets, along with the Push to Talk button that is mounted on the motorcycle handlebar or the recommended voice activation via a MICVOX. If you plan a motorcycle holiday with a group of friends, this system should enable you to stay in touch, over a distance of a mile, in all kinds of weather. You will also find a walkie talkie very useful on a skiing or mountaineering holiday—you may not be able to use mobile phones in the mountains or abroad as the roaming charges may be more than you want to pay!

If you are on the lookout for a suitable walkie talkie, all you need to do is take a virtual walk down our aisles at BB-Shopping.com. We stock Cobra and Entel Euro-Wave walkie talkies that you can use at home and outdoors. You can also purchase walkie talkie accessories and download manuals from our site.









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Ian Williams http://www.bb-shopping.co.ukhttp://www.bb-shopping.co.uk/walkie-talkie-radios-pmr-446.html

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/computers/hardware/gps-cell-phones.html http://www.articletrader.com/computers/hardware/gps-cell-phones.html Sun, 23 Oct 2005 00:00:00 -0500 Motivated by the events of 9/11 2001 and problems with 911 calls from cellular phones, the FCC requires that by the end of 2005 all cell phone carriers must be able to trace the location of cell phone calls to within a range of no more than 100 meters.

Cell phones are already available with GPS technology installed. These systems are not the same as the GPS devices used by hikers, mariners and drivers. Lower cost models do not allow the user to enter data such as mapping software. All systems require a wireless network.

Cell phones with GPS technology use AGPS (Assisted Global Positioning System). Assisted because the system uses both cell phone towers and satellites as location finders.

There are advantages and disadvantages in the new technology. The cost to implement the program will be passed on to consumers -– cell phones will cost more. Privacy is a real concern with the general public especially in this day of identity theft. It is a concern that unknown people will be able to access your location. Also there is a possibility that the spam you are flooded with on your home computer will now be sent to your cell phone.

Using GPS cell phones to track people has some great advantages. Locating kids and family can be a blessing. Remember though, if you try to locate someone who is out of your calling area, you will be charged extra.

The obvious benefit for the consumer is the issue of emergency aid and that was the catalyst for this whole idea of GPS cell phones. A 911 call that can be quickly located, emergency roadside assistance, locating persons missing in remote areas, the list goes on. If coverage is available then GPS cell phones save lives.

Many carriers already have GPS cell phones available. You can buy the basic model for emergency tracking or you can pay for the technology that turns the cell phone into a sophisticated mapping, PDA system. Problems are still an issue with the advanced features. The more you use the advanced features, the greater the drain on the battery. Increasing battery size also increases the cell phone size and that is a problem for most consumers who want ever smaller, lighter devices to carry around. At this time Japan seems to have the edge on developing the high-end miniature GPS cell phone.

Sacrificing privacy for safety is the issue and I suspect that it would only take one positive outcome in an emergency situation to make the decision for you.

As the systems become more and more refined camera and PDA capabilities are being included into the phone itself. Developments in GPS cell phone technology are continuing. If programmers can solve the issues of privacy then the potential for GPS cell phones is incredible. It will no longer be an issue of "Can you hear me now?" Rather the question will be, "Can you find me now?"








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Anne King is a sports and recreation writer in Boise, Idaho. For more information on GPS cell phones, visit Maps GPS Info.com which also provides practical information on GPS and maps that everyone can use. The website includes product reviews and a maps/GPS glossary.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/computers/hardware/oled-displays.html http://www.articletrader.com/computers/hardware/oled-displays.html Thu, 23 Mar 2006 00:00:00 -0600
The organic films consist of a hole-injection layer, a hole-transport layer, an emissive layer and an electron-transport layer. When voltage is applied to the OLED cell, the injected positive and negative charges recombine in the emissive layer and create electro luminescent light. Unlike LCDs, which require backlighting, OLED displays are emissive devices - they emit light rather than modulate transmitted or reflected light.

OLED technology was invented by Eastman Kodak in the early 1980s. It is beginning to replace LCD technology in handheld devices such as PDAs and cellular phones because the technology is brighter, thinner, faster and lighter than LCDs, use less power, offer higher contrast and are cheaper to manufacture. An important step in the evolutionary process began with the use of thin-film organic layers. The first EL thin-film device used a single organic layer sandwiched between two injecting electrodes.

OLEDs are the latest and most promising buzzwords in display technology. To give you an idea of their potential, imagine a cardboard-thin TV screen. Now imagine that you can roll up your TV, put it away or carry it wherever you go. Automatically, you start appreciating why millions, if not billions, of dollars are being poured into OLED research every year.


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Webmaster of http://www.oled-display.net http://www.oled.at

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/computers/hardware/perpendicular-hard-disks.html http://www.articletrader.com/computers/hardware/perpendicular-hard-disks.html Wed, 29 Mar 2006 00:00:00 -0600 What is a Hard Disk Drive?

A Hard Disk Drive (HDD) is a device used by modern computers to permanently store information. The Hard Disk Drive is arguable the most essential part of a computer system in that all the information that is permanently stored is contained within its enclosure, including your computer’s Operating System (OS). Thanks to Hard Disk Drives, long gone are the days when you would have had to keep all your programs and documents stored on removable media such as Floppy Disks or CD-ROMs.

Originally invented in the mid 1950’s and made commercially available in 1956 by International Business Machines (IBM). Called RAMAC (Random Access Method of Accounting and Control), the first Hard Disk Drives contained as much as 50 platters which were 24 inches in diameter and were computers in their own right albeit with a single purpose – to store data. The entire unit which housed the hard drive was the approximate size of two large refrigerators placed side by side. In the 50 or so years since their invention, Hard Disk Drives have steadily and aggressively far out paced Moore’s law. Which stipulates that memory in computers will increase by 100% approximately every 18 months. Hard Disk Drives on the other hand have increased capacity in the same period by approximately 130%, an increase of 100% every nine months in many cases. Such capacity increases are being threatened, however. I

n the years since the first Hard Disk Drive very little has changed apart from logical steps in technology such as the increased speed or improved interfaces, the basic technology has changed very little. There have been no technological leaps, as it were, for Hard Disk Drives beyond their increased miniaturisation. Apart from miniaturisation and recording media improvements the Hard Disk Drive as a device is almost identical technologically speaking, to the very first, the RAMAC.Hard Disk Drives use a similar technology as is employed in audio and video cassettes. Such audio and video cassettes use a magnetic ribbon wound around a two wheels to store data. To access a particular portion of the data contained on the magnetic ribbon, the device must wind the tape such that the beginning of the section containing the data is underneath the device that reads the data (the magnetic read/write head). This process is called sequential data retrieval because in the process of accessing the particular data, the device must sequentially read each piece of data until the data it’s looking for is found. This process is very time consuming and contributes to wear.

Hard Disks on the other hand use a circular disk-shaped platter upon which the magnetically sensitive compound is laid. Such platters are similar in concept to a Compact Disk (CD) in that the data they hold can be accessed randomly, that the recordable media is in a circular (disk) shape, and that the data is sectioned off into tracks and sectors. Data on a Hard Disk Drive can be accessed randomly because the recordable medium of Hard Disk Drives uses these separated tracks and sectors. By separating the data in such a way, it can be positioned at random intervals of the disk, depending upon the space requirements.

Anywhere from one to seven recordable platters are contained within a modern Hard Disk Drive’s metallic enclosure. Hard Disk Drive platters are perfectly circular disks made from either an aluminium alloy or a more recently a glass ceramic substrate which is a ceramic disk suspended in a glass outer shell. Onto the surfaces of a disk’s platter is laid a thin layer of a magnetically sensitive coating called the recording medium, in modern drives the mixture is a complex amalgam of different materials such as cobalt chromium platinum boron (CoCrPtB) and other such rare metals.

How does a Hard Disk Drive store data?

All information located on a computer is expressed as a series of ones and zeros (1/0), as binary digits (bits). Taking advantage of the nature of magnetic particles, that they can be polarised to magnetic north or south and that their magnetic poles can be alternated or switched when a sufficient magnetic field of the correct polarity is applied, Hard Disk Drives can store the very same sequence of bits onto a disk by polarising the required magnetic particles on the recording medium such that they represent the data being stored. Hard Disk Drives are sectioned off such that they contain both intersecting tracks and sectors. The purpose of which is to provide a logical data structure, to provide a way to distinguish between areas of data. Within each track there are a number of sectors. It is within these sectors of the Hard Disk which data is stored.

The platter of a Hard Disk Drive is coated with a magnetically sensitive coating comprised primarily of magnetically charged particles or filings which as a whole may be called the recording medium. These particulates can be magnetically aligned such that they represent binary digits, by inducing an electromagnetic field upon them via a devices read/write head. The recording media contains many billions of microscopic particles which when viewed extremely close resemble miniature metal filings. When a Hard Disk Drive records data onto the medium it takes many hundreds (usually anywhere from 500 to 100) of these magnetically sensitive particles to store a single binary digit. The increased reduction of the amount of particles required to record data is highly limited by the precision of the read/write head (the miniature device that reads and records data onto the recording medium) because the magnetic field which is used by the drive’s read/write head to read and/or record (write) data is such that it already tentatively borders nearby data.

Should it be shrunk much further in an attempt to increase precision, the likelihood of data corruption would increase vastly. Research by various parties has been on-going to find a workable solution to recording data onto much fewer or even single particles for some time now. A hard drive may record data onto the Hard Disk Drive by applying a sufficient magnetic field to the section of the recording medium (which is suspended upon the Hard Disks platter) such that the data (a series of ones and/or zeros which correspond to the information being stored) is recorded onto the medium by aligning the specified particles to the desired magnetic pole (north or south). In doing so, any previous data which was present is therefore destroyed.

Perpendicular verses Longitudinal

Ever since the late 1980’s and early 1990’s magnetic media drive manufacturers have been researching the feasibility of switching from longitudinal to perpendicular recording techniques. The advantage is clearly one of capacity: when longitudinal magnetic particles are packed together, they take up much more space than if they were to stand upright, if they stood perpendicular to the platter. More than merely a matter of initial capacity gain, perpendicular recording technology avoids a problem which has been well known in the field for many years: the super-paramagnetic effect (SPE), which affects magnetically charged particles of such small size as that used in Hard Disk Drives. “The super-paramagnetic effect is a phenomenon observed in very fine particles, where the energy required to change the direction of the magnetic moment of a particle is comparable to the ambient thermal energy” (source: Wikipedia.org).Many theories have cropped up over the years as to what density magnetic particles (described by a disks areal density) may achieve before becoming subject to SPE. At present it is suggested that anything from 100Gbit/inch2 to 150Gbit/inch2 is the physical limitation for longitudinal Hard Disk Drives, although perpendicular media solutions have been made as high as 230Gbit/inch2.

In the layering of the magnetic particulates atop a magnetic suspension layer and orienting the particles perpendicular to the platter, the recording medium can pack many more magnetically sensitive particles together in the same space than previously possible whilst keeping SPE at bay. Perpendicular recording technology does not however preclude SPE from limiting capacity in the future, more than anything perpendicular recording technology can been described as a way to give manufacturers breathing room to develop more permanent technological solutions such as holographic lithography or a multilayered recording medium. Traditional recording media manufacture consists of the spreading of recording material over a disk platter via a centrifugal force induced by spinning the platter whilst the recording material is placed atop its surface. The centrifugal force would spread the recording material across the surface, evenly spreading it in all directions. Perpendicular recording media manufacture on the other hand requires a much different technique.

The exact manufacturing process of perpendicular recording media is unsurprisingly a closely guarded secret, especially considering its recent arrival on the marketplace. From patents filed at the United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), it can be taken that the predominant technique involves the laminating of magnetic and non-magnetically charged metals such as chromium, cobalt, platinum and alloys of similar; sandwiching unique layers to affect the desired result – a recording medium such that the magnetic particles are aligned perpendicular to the platter. In US patent number 6387483, filed by the NEC Corporation of Tokyo; it describes the technique as follows:The perpendicular magnetic recording medium of the embodiment is formed by laminating a Cr film, a soft magnetic under layer film, and a perpendicular magnetizing film on a substrate in this order. (Source: USPTO no. 6387483)

In longitudinal media manufacture too, laminating multiple supportive metals is achieved; in perpendicular media however, the difference is the magnetizing film as described above. Whereas traditional lamination ordinarily serves only to prevent wear and noise (both electro-mechanical and audible noise), in perpendicular media manufacture it would appear that at least some of the lamination process is used to magnetize the magnetic media particles to a perpendicular orientation. Precisely how the reorientation of magnetic media particulate is accomplished is not easy to determine, most probably because the technology is so new that such details are sketchy at best and obscure or guarded at worst. This fact is not at all surprising concerning a new technology such as perpendicular magnetic media development.

The future of storage technology

Perpendicular magnetic media technology as discussed earlier is merely a temporary solution, to find more permanent solutions we must look to much more advanced technologies. One such technology is patterned magnetic media. The process of patterned magnetic media aims to make singular magnetic particulates the object of recording bits, you will remember that current technologies requires approximately 500 to 1000 magnetic particles to store a single bit. The object of patterned media is to cut this dramatically down to a single particle per bit. Advantages of such a technology are such as reduced statistical noise associated with granular media and more increased areal density (as much as 64Gbit/inch2).

Patterned magnetic media aims to prevent the SPE barrier, or at least further decrement its effect through the use of so-called mesas and valleys. The technique uses the creation of barriers between magnetic particles, thereby avoiding the SPE complication which affects closely packed particles. Holographic Storage (a.k.a. Holographic Lithography) too is a technology that aims to increase storage capacity which is also under heavy research, and claims to be a much more permanent solution. Unlike Patterned Magnetic Media, Holographic Storage is a revolutionary step away from magnetic media and previous optoelectronic technologies.

Hard Disk Drives will always be subject to inertia and centrifugal force induced by the moving parts of the drives mechanical components (platter, read/write head), Holographic Storage has no such issues; the holographic process uses lasers in replacement of the read/write head of a Hard Disk Drive and the media itself requires no momentum (unlike the platters in Hard Disk Drives).

Such holographic storage is far from realisation, in fact it is postulated by some that it may be as much as ten years before the technology can be made into a workable solution. In direct symmetry to early memory research, research on Holographic Storage technologies seems to have banded into two camps: one of super fast data retrieval and extraordinarily high capacity storage; no doubt there will be extremely profitable markets for both.

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Sean Nicholls is an undergraduate at the National College of Ireland where he is working on a Bsc.H in Software Systems. With almost six years experience of Computer Programming, Sean has extensive knowlege of computers and computer-related technology. For further reading visit Sean's blog at http://www.seannicholls.com/

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/computers/hardware/data-security-safes.html http://www.articletrader.com/computers/hardware/data-security-safes.html Tue, 11 Apr 2006 00:00:00 -0500
While paper records secured within a fire-rated safe can withstand temperatures up to 350 degrees Fahrenheit, computer media is damaged beyond use by temperatures above 125 degrees and 80% humidity. Microfiche film, tapes, diskettes, CDs, DVDs and computer media require the added protection of a data media safe.

Data Media Safes are specifically designed for data media storage. Protect against fire and climactic changes--a requirement for a small business or home office. A data media safe must keep the internal temperature below 125º and the humidity level below 85%. Several fire testing laboratories have tested our safes at a temperature of 1,832 degrees F for over one hour with internal temperatures remaining below 122 degrees F. The safes were awarded the one-hour label. In addition, the safes are manufactured under ISO 9002 quality standard requirements.

Fire could destroy your business! In fact, eight businesses burn almost every hour in the U.S. resulting in over 2.3 billion dollars in annual losses.* Unfortunately, seven out of ten businesses have not adequately protected their vital records. When that information is destroyed a business often fails. Don't become a company that incurs fire damage resulting in critical loss of data (customer, personnel, accounting files, etc.) by not utilizing quality fire and data media safes. Survival is possible but preparation is necessary.

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http://www.datamediasafes.com
http://www.centurionsafes.com

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/computers/hardware/office-supplies-and-client-relation.html http://www.articletrader.com/computers/hardware/office-supplies-and-client-relation.html Tue, 23 May 2006 00:00:00 -0500
However, it is not always possible for the managers to track and answer all the minute details of the needs of employees in a comparatively bigger office. We admit that it is not an easy task to operate.

Say, an office needs some tapes. Is this much information enough to get the job done! There are, Clear Tape, Double Sided, Drafting Tape, Adhesives and Litho Tape, Masking Tape, Packing Tape, Printed Tape, Invisible Tape and many other verities.

Now again we ask- ‘is this much information enough to get the job done!’ These tapes come in various sizes and colours to serve specific needs. Without being to market (i.e. without seeing the product and the new arrivals) how one can decide and define one’s specific needs!

The problems get more intense while buying computer accessories, inkjet cartridge, toner cartridge and even photo paper, glossy photo paper or photo printer paper.

An office comprising of even fifty or less employees faces huge problems regarding on-time office supplies. It is not always possible to find and recruit a person who is the best to understand the specific needs and choices of every individual and buy from market the ideal product at the best price.

To add to this, many companies do not want to burden themselves by stuffing a person for this job and instead, they sign agreements with local suppliers.

These companies try to ignore the fact that this job demands a specialist’s direct and sensitive attachment. To add to it, the company is always running the risk of paying some extra amount for not being updated about ever-changing market prices.

Otherwise, some companies just allow the employees to buy products themselves that wastes much valuable time of the person and the company.

A great number of companies are turning to online stationery supplier to solve these problems. However, many online suppliers cannot afford to employ client specific account management executives for personalized assistance.

Many of them just ignore (if they have really thought about that) this point partially to increase the profit margin in their stationery supply business. It all depends on the owner’s business ideology and business propositions.

It is high time for online office stationery suppliers to act in this issue; otherwise, the clients will remain deprived of services that they really deserve.

Still, there are people who invest on building a long-lasting relationship, perhaps for the reason that they believe: A good relationship always pays. Wish all the best for them.

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Graham Coleman is an investigative freelance writer. He has years of experience in online office supplies and owns http://www.everythingoffice.co.uk/ and http://www.officeshopping.co.uk/ - UK's leading Independent Office Stationery Company, showcases ranges of office supply, office equipment, office furniture supply on the most advanced and easy to use E-procurement site within the office products industry. Also offers computer toner and cartidges, promotional business gift and corporate interior office design.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/computers/hardware/guide-to-buying-a-new-printer.html http://www.articletrader.com/computers/hardware/guide-to-buying-a-new-printer.html Tue, 06 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0500
For home use, you'll probably want to print out digital photos or graphics, which makes colour a must. The traditional differentiation between lasers and ink jets has been office versus home use; however, colour offers obvious presentation advantages for business use as well. Fortunately, prices for both categories of printers have come down enough to make it practical to purchase both a laser and an ink jet if you absolutely need both colour and high-quality text.

The work you do

There are a number of different printer configurations available today, many of them quite specialised in the applications. There are specialised photo printers, direct disc CD printers, Multifunction printers, desktop ink jets and high-speed lasers.

If you want a printer that is specifically designed for printing photographs, you will most likely look for a colour ink-jet system that is a photo printer, allowing very high quality colour output and capable of printing all the way to the edge of the page. Recent releases by major brands now include all-in-one Multifunction devices that include scanning and printing capabilities. Many smaller units that are designed purely as a photo-printer to plug directly into your digital camera are also available. Much the same can be said for CD or DVD printing, with specialist printers available for printing directly onto discs, saving label application.

On the other hand if you are a small home-office worker, then your requirements may be more general, in which case you need to make a printer decision based on the types of documents your produce and how many. In general terms, ink-jet printers offer high quality colour outputs at a low hardware cost, but high consumable cost. Lasers offer significantly higher speeds but at a much higher hardware cost. High volume usage however, reduces the cost per page considerably.

Multifunction printers (MFP) are often ideal for home office or student needs because they combine multiple functions into one unit, usually a scanner, printer, copier fax machine, doing a little bit of everything, and saving considerable desk and office space in the bargain. Generally ink-jet style printers, some MFP may trade-off performance for price and convenience ( e.g. lower resolution, slower print speed) than if you were to buy a printer and scanner individually.

You can buy Multifunction printers specially configured for printing photographs, with some machines providing the ability to scan directly from 35mm slides and store digital files and print them, which is ideal for archiving old photo libraries. However, the scanned images may not exhibit the same clarity and brightness of digitally capture photographs, or as the kind of quality that you can obtain from a deidcated scanner. Search Myshopping.com.au for the specifications you require and compare prices and performance between brands and technologies.

Dealing with Technical Talk

One of the specifications that you will be faced with, is that of resolution. Up to a point, a printer's resolution determines aspects of its print quality. Images are made up of tiny dots of ink or toner that is applied to the page, and resolution is the term given to the number of dots per inch-quoted as dpi. This usually represented in a two-dimensional matrix (eg: 600 x 300 dpi). Most printers today support a basic 600 x 600 dpi resolution that produces adequate quality in most instances. Many ink jets, however, especially photo printers and high-end plotters, offer higher resolutions and more dots in the vertical plane than the horizontal.

Resolution ratings are not the whole story however. Many printer manufacturers now incorporate smoothing and enhancing features through software algorithms. This means that some output from printers with a lower dpi looks just as good as that from a higher dpi unit. And, although some printers have very high resolutions, you're not likely to notice any difference in quality with common print jobs once you go above 600 x 600 dpi resolution. What you will notice however, is much higher consumption of inks or toner. It is noteworthy, and perhaps obvious to some, that the higher resolution you are printing at, the higher will be your consumable consumption, and this is the most expensive part of your printer.

Speed is another important consideration. Vary rarely will you find that your printer performs at the 'pages-per-minute' rate (ppm) that is advertised or cited in the specification. There are a number of reasons for this including the size of the file being printed, the amount of ink coverage on the page, the proportion of black to other colours, the weight of the paper stock and possibly even the constancy of the power supply of electricity to your premises. This is not to day that the manufacturers, under laboratory conditions are not able to make the machine perform at spec, just not to rely on the claim as a gospel figure. However you can use the speed ratings to make some judgement of performance differences between brands and models. If speed is an important consideration, then you can short-list printers that claim to perform above a certain rate and the compare other factors. You can do this at Myshopping.com.au simply by searching for printers that offer a certain ppm speed.

Laser printers use powder toner that is electromagnetically attracted to the page by an image temporarily made on a transfer drum through a laser scanning process, and then fused to the page with a heat-setting system. This toner is supplied in cartridges, usually one for each of a four-colour printing system (cyan, magenta, yellow and black). Manufactures give some estimate of how many pages of a given size each toner cartridge will print, based on a predetermined proportion of coverage (say 10%). As with the speed claims, these estimates are rarely accurate, but can be used to make some judgement between makes and models. The higher resolution of image you are printing, the more toner will be used in the process. Ink jet printers use a liquid ink stored in tanks that are sprayed by very fine nozzles onto the page as they are required. Just as you replace the toner cartridges in the laser system, you replace ink tanks when they're depleted in an ink jet printer.

It is important to understand that even thought the printer might be cheap, consumables is where the manufacturers actually make enormous profits, so be sure to consider replacement consumables when doing your cost comparisons. With ink jet printers, some have colour cartridges in one unit, others have separate colour units. In the long run, separate tanks will most likely work out cheaper, because as one colour runs out, you replace only that colour. When all colours are housed in the one cartridge unit, you may have a nearly full tank of cyan when the yellow is completely gone, and you have to throw away unused ink. Not only does this waste your money, it can also be environmentally expensive.

Cost

There are two parts to your cost assessment of a printer. The first is the purchase price of the printer itself. This can vary considerably between brands and models, and is usually differentiated through different features being offered. Use Myshopping.com.au to search for a printer based on a given price range and compare the features. However, possibly more important is the ongoing cost, often measured in cost per page. A typical ink jet printer may cost you 40-50 cents per printed page, depending on how much ink you are using on the page, it may even cost more. By comparison, a colour laser may work out to 15-20 cents per page. These costs don't usually include the paper stock, and are based on consumables and maintenance costs. Companies like Xerox often supply large colour Laser printers for a cost per page fee.

One cost assessment technique is to estimate how much printing you will do in a given period, load your calculations with a percentage of ink coverage (if you are printing all full gloss and high resolution photographs, for example, you might load the cost per page by a factor of 8-10), factor in the machine cost and make a comparison of what you will spend in a year, including the cost of the printer.

Other things you might consider

How paper travels through a printer can affect your whole printer experience. The closest you can get to a 'straight through' paper path, the more trouble-free your printer will be. If all your printing is only on plain white bond paper, then paper path will possibly not be a major consideration. But if you're printing on photographic stock, thick paper, envelopes, transparent film or other materials, then be sure the print path is compatible with your requirements. How you connect to your computer might also be a consideration, especially if you work with large files where connection speed is a consideration. Most printers today offer relatively high-speed USB interfaces. But you might want to consider wireless connections or networking capabilities.

When choosing a Laser printer, on-board RAM (read only memory) might be a consideration. A printer with a standard 64 Megabytes of RAM will be slow to print a quantity of documents that are larger in size than the printer's memory. If large documents are a consideration, make sure you can upgrade the printer's memory. The printer driver provides the software interface to your printer, offering you on-screen control over copies, page size, orientation, resolution, text smoothing and paper thickness and type. Many drivers now include advanced features and enable you to create your own custom-setting profiles for quick selection. Moreover a good driver provides complete printer management from on-screen, including paper jams and job queue management. Ink-jet drivers often provide graphical indications of remaining ink levels for each colour.

Search using Myshopping.com.au

Consider any bundled software offerings when you're choosing a printer, for this can mean a significant bonus in value-added software. Bundled applications might include greeting card, poster, and banner creators, and photo editing programs. With computing becoming a major component of education, software for kids that provide a user-friendly way to create word processing and graphics documents can be a major bonus. Space may be an issue in your office, in which case you should consider the amount of space the printer will need to operate efficiently. This is often more than just its footprint. You need to also consider access to paper trays and airflow around the machine. While basic printer configurations may be fine for your immediate needs, take a look at the options available and their costs for each unit before you buy. You may see future applications. This is easy to do using Myshopping.com.au where you can simply compare types of technology, prices, vendors and the options each one offers.

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Andrew Gates is a writer for comparison shopping site MyShopping.com.au. MyShopping.com.au helps you compare printers from hundreds of different brands and vendors.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/computers/hardware/computer-parts-no-more-a-hidden-business.html http://www.articletrader.com/computers/hardware/computer-parts-no-more-a-hidden-business.html Tue, 06 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0500
The use of computer is endless you can use a computer for printing reports, documents, publishing newsletters or for just printing photos. The hardware of a computer is infrequently changed, in comparison with software and data, which are "soft" in the sense that they are readily created, modified or erased on the computer.

Most computer hardware is not seen by normal users. It is in embedded systems in automobiles, microwave ovens, electrocardiograph machines, compact disc players, and other devices.

PC hardware:

A typical personal computer consists of a case or chassis in desktop or tower shape and the following parts:

Motherboard: The Motherboard is possibly the most important part of the computer. The motherboard is the foundation of any PC. All the critical subsystems, including the CPU, system chipset, memory, system I/O, expansion bus, and other critical components run directly off the motherboard. Likewise, the interconnections among these components are laid into the motherboard itself.It slots for expansion cards and holding parts including :

- Central Processing Unit(C P U): It is the core of computer, it control the main processing process.
- Random Access Memory (RAM): It is for Program execution and short term data storage.
- Basic Input-Output System (BIOS): All Computer Hardware . has to work with software through an interface. The BIOS gives the computer a little built-in starter kit to run the rest of software’s from floppy disks (FDD) and hard disks (HDD). The BIOS is responsible for booting the computer by providing a basic set of instructions.
- Keyboard: The keyboard is one of the simplest parts of the computer to understand. This chapter goes beyond the keyboard basics, however, to show you how to do tasks such as inserting special characters or typing in another language. This chapter also looks at how to take care of your keyboard and how to take care of yourself when using it.
- Power supply - A case that holds a transformer, voltage control and fan.
- Storage controllers : It is of IDE, SATA, SCSI or other type, that control hard disk, floppy disk, CD-ROM and other drives; the controllers sit directly on the motherboard (on-board) or on expansion cards
- Video display controller: It produces the output for the computer display.
- CD - the most common type of removable media, cheap but fragile.
- CD-ROM Drive
- CD Writer
- DVD – DVD- ROM Drive, DVD-RAM Drive, DVD Writer.
- Tape drive - mainly for backup and long-term storage.
- Internal storage - keeps data inside the computer for later use.
- Sound card - It translates signals from the system board into analog voltage levels, and has terminals to plug in speakers.
- Networking - to connect the computer to the Internet and/or other computers, to connect one to other computers you required the following thing:
- Modem - for dial-up connections
- Network card - for DSL/Cable internet, and/or connecting to other computers.
- Other peripherals
- Hot Hardware - Popular forums for those interested in learning or exchanging info on graphics cards, motherboards, processors, drives and cases, or shoot the breeze in The Lounge.

The internet is the best place to buy cheap computer parts. Due to increase in demand for many parts in many suppliers find it profitable to sell their products online. The online dealers have their websites, which offer information on the various types of computer parts available for purchase. Whether you want to reviews computer hardware on water-cooling, flat screens, memory modules, video cards, and the latest in gaming and technology news, just go to http://www.dvwarehouse.com they have something you’ll enjoy. Shop by our busy computer hardware forum, where thousands of hardware enthusiasts participate in active discussion. Also try searching our hardware forum database, as well as our full network of sites, for answers to any computer questions.

DV Warehouse is one stop shop for the Video Editing Solutions, as we aim to provide the widest range of video editing products available nationwide. From the latest HD solution to the hard-to-find analog device for your studio, DV Warehouse should be your first stop. They offer a multitude of products from dozens of the industry's leading manufacturers, normally available at multiple vendors, under one roof. Visit them today for best buy Computer Parts.

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Monica Craft - I am computer part supplier. According to me http://www.dvwarehouse.com is (Best Online Computer Store).



Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/computers/hardware/the-necessity-of-barcode-printers-in-modern-times.html http://www.articletrader.com/computers/hardware/the-necessity-of-barcode-printers-in-modern-times.html Fri, 16 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0500
A barcode printer is a computer peripheral for printing barcode labels or tags that can be attached to physical objects. Barcode printers are commonly used to label cartons before shipment, or to label retail items with Universal Product Codes.

Desktop barcode printer has become a commonplace tool for entering product information at retail chains and shopping complexes. Industrial barcode printers are used in manufacturing facilities and large warehouses helping in inventory management and sales process automation.

The most common barcode standards are UPCs and EANs.

Universal Product Code Bar Code - The standard bar code printed on retail merchandise. It contains the vendor's identification number and the product number which is read by passing the bar code over a scanner.

European Article Numbering is the European standard for barcodes. There are two different versions of EAN bar codes, EAN-13 and EAN-8, which encode 13- and 8-digit numbers, respectively. A special EAN-13 bar code with a 5-digit supplemental code is used on books to encode the International Standard Book Number (ISBN) and the price. This bar code is called “Bookland”.

Traditional one-dimensional bar codes use the bar's width to encode a product or an account number. Two-dimensional bar codes, such as PDF417, MaxiCode and DataMatrix, are scanned horizontally and vertically and hold considerably more data. PDF417 is widely used for general purposes. MaxiCode is used for high-speed sorting, and DataMatrix is used for marking small parts.



Barcode Printers employ two major printing methods – Direct Thermal (DT) and Thermal Transfer (TT).

Direct thermal printers use a print head to generate heat that causes a chemical reaction in specially designed paper that turns the paper black. Direct thermal printers are generally less expensive, but they produce labels that can become illegible if exposed to heat, direct sunlight, or chemical vapors. Barcode printers require regular cleaning of the ribbon and the print head. Specks of dust may cause distortion of the bar codes. The outputs of these printers using ANSI software need to be continuously checked in order to check for system malfunctions.

Thermal transfer printers also use heat, but instead of acting directly on the paper, the heat melts a waxy or resin substance on a ribbon that runs over the label or tag material. The heat transfers ink from the ribbon to the paper. Thermal Transfer requires the use of a heated ribbon to produce long-lasting images of data onto a label and/or tag, whereas Direct Thermal process prints the image directly on the label/tag.

Direct thermal and thermal transfer barcode printers can print bar code labels on variety of media. The range of bar code printers vary from light duty printers to rugged and high speed industrial printers for meeting diverse requirements. In industrial printers, the range varies from medium to heavy duty to extra heavy duty printers. These printers can be integrated to existing applications / ERP for on demand label/tag printing.

Industrial barcode printers are used in large warehouses and manufacturing facilities. They have large paper capacities, operate faster and have a longer service life. For retail and office environments, desktop barcode printers are most common.

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Point of sale components provides the great collection of all your retail and inventory management needs. Whether you're looking for barcode printers and decoders, bar code labels, bar code label printers, bar code label software, bar code labels or barcode scanners, we have it.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]> http://www.articletrader.com/computers/hardware/basics-of-rgb-and-cmyk-for-ink-jet-printing-at-home.html http://www.articletrader.com/computers/hardware/basics-of-rgb-and-cmyk-for-ink-jet-printing-at-home.html Mon, 19 Jun 2006 00:00:00 -0500
CMYK is the color description representing printed material, short for the colors Cyan, Magenta, Yellow, and Black. Mixing these 4 colors together in different amounts give you the millions of colors that reproduce the colors in printed material. These are actual inks used in printing the images you see in color magazines and books. RGB is the color description for images viewed on your computer monitors, short for Red, Green, and Blue. RGB color is actually light, and mixing different levels of these light colors
creates the millions of colors that come from your computer monitor. All websites and nearly everything you see on your computer monitor is RGB unless the images have been converted to the CMYK color space.

When you print your images on your ink jet printer from your computer, your printer prints the image using CMYK inks. Viewing your image in RGB and then printing it out in CMYK may not yield the results you want. Programs such as Adobe Photoshop will convert your image from RGB to CMYK or vice versa. Some printers require the image to be CMYK before you can print the image correctly. Some printers don't print the image correctly if the image being printed is in RGB space.

A good reason for printing with a CMYK image is to see your image in CMYK color before printing. When an image is converted to CMYK from RGB, there may be some color changes that are noticeable in the image. The reason for this is because many colors in RGB cannot be reproduced using CMYK inks. That is why it is always a good idea to convert your image to a CMYK color space before printing. You could notice significant color changes to your image, especially in the very intense color areas of your image. Some of these intense color areas may appear less intense or very dull once converted. With photo editing software, you can go in and fix these trouble color areas to your liking.

Many ink jet printers on the market today actually print directly from an RGB color image. And converting the image to CMYK may cause it to print incorrectly. You will need to determine what color space your ink jet printer supports. The packaged software usually will give you a hint regarding color spaces. If there is no option to convert the color space from RGB to CMYK, most likely, the printer will print directly from an RGB color source. Usually, the higher end ink jet printers deal with the CMYK color space as consumer level enthusiasts don't even know these color spaces exist. New higher end ink jet printers, however, are now printing directly from the RGB color space as there is a wider spectrum of color that can be reproduced in RGB compared to CMYK color.

If you visit the website, www.instantimagers.com, the 'Framers' and 'DVD Cover & Disc Art' designs are provided in both RGB and CMYK color spaces. Comparing the RGB and CMYK images side by side, you'll notice there are color differences. This is due to some RGB colors not being available as a CMYK converted color. Both versions are provided because not all printers are alike. Some tend to print better with one color space. Many of CMYK printed designs have been manipulated further after conversion to match more closely the colors from the RGB color space as many of the colors in some designs did not covert seamlessly.

If all this seems confusing, not to worry. The key thing to remember is to print using RGB color if your printer and software support it. Let the software and the printer worry about getting the colors right. If you are more experienced with photo color correction and want more control over the color of the image, print in CMYK. You'll actually be manipulating and printing the image in the color space your ink jet printer's inks are using. You will be able to see the limits of the CMYK printing color spectrum right on your monitor. Getting color right with RGB and CMYK is totally different from calibrating your printer to match the colors on your monitor. That is actually the second step in getting the best color out of your prints. Understanding the difference between RGB and CMYK is the first step in getting the best print outs on your home ink jet printer.


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William Leung is the owner of www.instantimagers.comand has over 10 years of graphic design experience. He also possesses skills in web development, design, and multimedia design.

Source: http://www.articletrader.com ]]>