Enterprise Resource Planning

Advantages of ERP Systems
There are many advantages of implementing an EPR system; here are a few of them:
A totally integrated system
The ability to streamline different processes and workflows
The ability to easily share data across various departments in an organization
Improved efficiency and productivity levels
Better tracking and forecasting
Lower costs
Improved customer service

Disadvantages of ERP Systems
While advantages usually outweigh disadvantages for most organizations implementing an ERP system, here are some of the most common obstacles experienced:
Usually many obstacles can be prevented if adequate investment is made and adequate training is involved, however, success does depend on skills and the experience of the workforce to quickly adapt to the new system.
Customization in many situations is limited
The need to reengineer business processes
ERP systems can be cost prohibitive to install and run
Technical support can be shoddy
ERP's may be too rigid for specific organizations that are either new or want to move in a new direction in the near future.

Apple Safari 4 Beta Released

Apple Safari is a leading web browser holding some 8% of market share as of January 2009. Now Apple has unrolled Safari 4 Beta at 24th February, 2009. This new version is claimed to be a fastest and most innovative browser by Apple Inc.

Boasting a galore of features with this release, they’ve specifically emphasized on the speed and innovation side. Their new Nitro JavaScript engine claims to beat Internet Explorer 8 by 6 times and is 4 times faster than Firefox 3.1’s. It is tightly integrated with HTML 5, CSS 3 web standards and is fully Acid 3 compliant.

There are innovative new features such as Top Sites which displays stunning previews of frequently visited sites. Full History Search, AutoFill, Spell Check, Grammar Check are built right in the browser. Apart from this, there are many features which you can read here. It currently runs on Windows and Mac. Below is its screenshot.

Download Safari 4 Beta.

Install Apache Server with PHP and MySQL

To install apache server with PHP & MySQL support go to:
System >Administrator > Synaptic Package Manager
Mark following packages for installation and then click "Apply" button from toolbar:

apache2.2-common
php5
php5-common
php5-gd
php5-mysql
phpmyadmin
mysql-client-5.0
mysql-common
mysql-server-5.0

After completing installation open your browser and go to: http://localhost .
If everything installed successfully you will see "It works" message.

UNIX’s Unique Birthday!

On February 13th 2009, a very special moment for UNIX lovers will occur. UNIX will be celebrating its 1234567890th birthday. Wondering how? Here’s its explanation.
UNIX calculates its time as number of seconds since January 1, 1970. On February 13 2009 at 11:31 PM GMT, this time will reach 1234567890 seconds. You can see this time on your UNIX based machine by opening a terminal and typing date +%s
Or if you don’t have UNIX installed, don’t worry. You can view live countdown right here.

Download Windows 7 Public Beta

Microsoft's Windows 7 public beta is now available at http://www.microsoft.com/windows/windows-7/beta-download.aspx
Minimal System Requirements.
* 1 GHz processor (32- or 64-bit)
* 1 GB of main memory
* 16 GB available disk space
* Support DirectX 9 graphics with 128 MB memory
* DVD-RW drive

Google shows Web-based offline Gmail on iPhone

Story Highlights
Google on Wednesday demonstrated a concept version of Gmail for the iPhone
This Gmail could be used even when a phone had no network connection
Google exec: "It's very, very fast because it's using [a] local database"
Google wants to bring to the iPhone all of Gmail's features

(CNET) -- Showing that its Web application priorities extend to the mobile world, Google on Wednesday demonstrated a version of Gmail for the iPhone that could be used even when the phone had no network connection.

Vic Gundotra, Google's vice president of engineering, showed what he called a "technical concept" of Gmail even when the iPhone was offline. In January, Google released an offline version of Gmail for desktops and laptops, and like it, mobile phone incarnation runs in a Web browser, not as a native application.
The software let Gundotra browse and read e-mail even after he switched the phone into airplane mode, which shuts off the wireless network.
Offline applications can't of course retrieve new data from the network, but they do synchronize when network access is restored. Meanwhile, it stores e-mail in a local database on the phone, even when online.
"You'll note that it's very, very fast because it's using that local database," Gundotra said. The application also showed a floating toolbar that was visible even as he scrolled through his inbox.
It's significant for several reasons that Google is eyeing a new version of its Web-based Gmail application for the iPhone. For one thing, the company wants to bring to the iPhone all of Gmail's features -- search, labels, and conversations, for example -- and Apple's built-in mail application lacks those abilities.

But more broadly, the move is significant because it shows how Web-based applications can bypass the control particular companies such as Apple or Microsoft have over a computing technology.
Apple has achieved tremendous success with its App Store, which lets people download and buy software for the iPhone and iPod Touch. But it controls that conduit, and it only can deliver software written specifically for those devices.
Web applications run in a Web browser, and all smart phones have browsers -- though of course hardware and network constraints typically mean they're anemic compared to desktop versions.
In case this point about the power of Web applications was lost on observers, Gundotra showed the same Gmail software running on the HTC Magic, a new phone using Google's Android operating system.
"You now have an ability to build an app that spans devices as long as that device implements the latest specifications of these modern HTML 5 Web browsers," Gundotra said.
The mobile phone version of the Gmail software uses a somewhat different approach to enable offline access.
Where the desktop version uses a Google-developed open-source browser plug-in called Gears to enable offline support, the iPhone version uses the offline data storage standard of HTML 5, the gradually emerging overhaul of the language used to describe Web pages. That technology can cache the state of an application as well as data such as messages.
Of course, getting a modern, full-featured browser on a PC with plenty of memory is hard enough, and mobile browsers generally lag PC versions.
However, it should be noted that Safari on the iPhone, like the browser in Android, is based on the WebKit open-source project, and WebKit has been building in offline support. So at least on some higher-end phones, a Web-based version of offline Gmail could be an option sooner rather than later.

source:-http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/19/google.gmail.iphone/index.html?iref=nextin

Expert: Social networkers risk 'losing control' of privacy

Story Highlights
Expert: Social-networking site users risk losing control of personal information
Facebook backed down from changing content ownership policy after user revolt
Sites have to balance legal requirements, making policies on data use clear
Young people in particular should be careful about what they post online

To read full article visit:-http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/18/facebook.privacy/index.html?iref=nextin

Facebook backs down, reverses on user information policy

Story Highlights
Facebook this month changed its policy to say user content belonged to Facebook
Outraged members canceled their accounts or created online petitions
On Wednesday, Facebook reviewed user "feedback," and reverted to its old policy

To Read full article visit:- http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/18/facebook.reversal/index.html

Murthy pulls out as IT advisor to president

Bangalore, Feb 18 (IANS) Infosys Technologies chairman and chief mentor N.R. Narayana Murthy has declined to be the IT advisor to the Sri Lankan government, the IT bellwether said Wednesday.
In a letter to Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa, Murthy said he had decided to withdraw from being the advisor due to personal reasons.
“I thank you for the courtesy shown to me during my recent visit to Sri Lanka. I have decided to withdraw from being the advisor to your government due to personal reasons,” the company quoted Murthy’s letter to Rajapaksa.
Murthy was appointed Feb 13 as Rajapaksa’s international advisor on IT after he was invited to be the chief guest at the launch of “2009 - Year of English and Information Technology” at the presidential secretariat in Colombo.
The Sri Lanka government launched the IT initiative to meet the demands of the 21st century in skills and capacities, mainly in the rural sector.
Incidentally, Murthy told IANS Tuesday that the role of an advisor was to keep his mouth shut and open it only when asked for his views based on experience.
“I am advisor to president of South Korea, prime minister of Malaysia and have been made advisor to Rajapaksa,” Murthy said on the sidelines of a function at the Infosys campus in the electronics city, about 30 km from here.
A day later, Murthy declined the offer.

source:-http://www.dailymirror.lk/DM_BLOG/Sections/frmNewsDetailView.aspx?ARTID=40944

Nokia introduces first touch device in Lanka

Working closely with Governments to mitigate gray market:
Anjana Samarasinghe in Singapore
Nokia introduced its first touch device for the mass market - Nokia 5800 XpressMusic in Sri Lanka on Monday.
The Nokia 5880 XpressMusic was launched in December. After the launch last December this product had a good response and Nokia sold over one million devices globally.
The company launched the product in Bangladesh in January and now in Sri Lanka, said Product Manager GTM Devices OPM, SEAP Michael Peh.
Nokia 5880 XpressMusic is a play, share , touch product. Nokia is targeting the younger generation through this device and it stores nearly 7,000 songs. The Company said the new device will be successful in the local market as in other markets. It is now commercially available in the Sri Lankan market.
Meanwhile, Nokia launched several new products at the Showcase Nokia 2009 which was held in Singapore on Monday.
Nokia unveiled two new additions to its Eseries range, the full QWERTY Nokia E75 and the compact QWERTY Nokia E55, which were the first to be shipped with the company's new email user interface to offer a richer messaging experience.
Nokia also introduced Nokia N86 8MP, Nokia 6710 Navigator and Nokia 6720 classic at the Showcase Nokia 2009 which was held in conjunction with the Mobile World Congress 2009 in Barcelona.
Vice President, Southeast Asia Pacific, Nokia Chris Carr said they have identified five key areas maps, music, games, messaging and media.
The E75 is equipped with the Nokia messaging which gives the best email experience for users and this will be made available in March.
The Nokia E55 compact messaging deviser will be available in the market in the second quarter this year.
The Nokia 6720 classic which is designed to talk will also be available in the second quarter this year.
The Company will make available the Nokia N86 8MP in the second quarter of 2009, he said.
Head of Marketing Southeast Asia Pacific Nokia Loren Shuster said that the Company does not have to change its strategies due to the global economic crisis since it has been positioned strongly with the correct strategies.
Our strategy is to approach people and make them enable, he said.
Talking about the gray market in emerging markets, he said Nokia is working closely with the Governments to mitigate the gray market and educate customers more on the issue.
"We will also enhance customer care service to combat the gray market in emerging markets," he said.
source:-http://www.dailynews.lk/2009/02/18/bus03.asp

Year 2009

“Sinhala text to speech” – for visually impaired

The official launching of the software “Nuwana Sinhala Text to Speech” developed by the Software Engineering Services Division (SESD) of the Sri Lanka Institute of Information Technology (SLIIT) was held recently.The development of the new software came to light as result of a request made by Sri Lanka Council for the Blind the SESD of SLIIT to explore the possibilities of developing a software which would open doors of knowledge to the visually impaired.
Accordingly the Head of SESD Yashas Mallawarchchi appointed a project team in order to achieve this. It was decided to hand over the research component to the academic staff of SLIIT. Accordingly, Dean / Research of SLIIT Dr. Koliya Pulasinghe guided a dedicated batch of students, who undertook an year’s extensive research, to develop an appropriate software engine.
It took the project team another four months to complete the latter stages of the development process to come up with the required software. What made it all so special was the fact that Mr Samson Perera, a visually impaired professional representing the Sri Lanka Council for the Blind has been working hand in hand with the project team from day one. Mr Perera who works for the Sri Lanka Council for the Blind is well conversant with Microsoft Word and Excel. He undertakes training for the visually impaired at the Council. “His insights were invaluable right through out the development process” Mr Mallawarachchi Head of the Project Team commented.
“Nuwana Sinhala Text to Speech” software will be made available to all those interested, free of charge by the Sri Lanka Council for the Blind. It would help the visually impaired to read a document, to use it to type Sinhala text and for proof reading. This software comes in handy as it improves the accuracy levels of their Sinhala typing as well.“Information Technology has revolutionized our lives, almost beyond imagination. We at SLIIT believe in bringing the best of education and training in Information Technology to our nation. This is an instance where we took one step further in order to channel our services towards the benefit of our people, to open the doors of wisdom to the differently abled among us” said Professor S. Karunaratne Chairman of SLIIT.
source:-http://www.itpro.lk/?q=node/1748

Microsoft bounty for worm creator

For view this artical visit:-http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7887577.stm

Great Experiment

Source:-www.lakbima.lk

Nine-year old whiz-kid writes iPhone application

SINGAPORE (Reuters) - While most children his age sketch on paper with crayons, nine-year old Lim Ding Wen from Singapore, has a very different canvas -- his iPhone.
Lim, who is in fourth grade, writes applications for Apple's popular iPhone. His latest, a painting program called Doodle Kids, has been downloaded over 4,000 times from Apple's iTunes store in two weeks, the New Paper reported on Thursday.
The program lets iPhone users draw with their fingers by touching the iPhone's touchscreen and then clear the screen by shaking the phone.
"I wrote the program for my younger sisters, who like to draw," Lim said. His sisters are aged 3 and 5.
Lim, who is fluent in six programing languages, started using the computer at the age of 2. He has since completed about 20 programing projects.
His father, Lim Thye Chean, a chief technology officer at a local technology firm, also writes iPhone applications.
"Every evening we check the statistics emailed to us (by iTunes) to see who has more downloads," the older Lim said.
The boy, who enjoys reading books on programing, is in the process of writing another iPhone application -- a science fiction game called "Invader Wars."
(Reporting by Melanie Lee; Editing by Bill Tarrant)
source:-http://www.reuters.com/article/newsOne/idUSTRE5140FI20090205

Google tests mobile-phone tracking system

Technology uses mapping service
By MICHAEL LIEDTKETHE ASSOCIATED PRESS
SAN FRANCISCO -- Google Inc. is testing technology that will find the location of people using its mobile mapping service, even if the phone making the connection isn't equipped with a GPS receiver.
The new tracking feature introduced Wednesday is being touted as an added convenience because it will enable people on the go to skip the task of typing a starting address on a mobile handset's small keys when they turn to Google's maps for guidance.
Using the technology, dubbed "My Location," simply requires pressing zero on a mobile handset equipped with the new software. The sender's location shows up as a blue dot on Google's mobile maps.
The tracking system isn't set up to collect a user's phone number or any other personal information that would reveal a person's identity, said Steve Lee, product manager for Google's mobile maps. As a safeguard, the feature can be turned off at any time by clicking on a link in the help menu.
Those assurances probably will alleviate privacy concerns raised about the new service, analyst Greg Sterling of Sterling Market Intelligence said.
After trying out "My Location" on a BlackBerry device, Sterling predicted people will embrace it. He called it "an incremental improvement but still meaningful."
Unlike GPS, Google's tracking feature works while handsets are indoors. "My Location" also drains less power from a phone's battery than a GPS receiver does.
On the downside, Google's service isn't as precise as GPS. In most instances, Google hopes to get within one-quarter to three miles of a user's location -- close enough to provide helpful "neighborhood-level" information, Lee said.
The database that identifies the location of a mobile phone is still under construction, so the service still sometimes draws a blank. The company expects to fill in the holes as more people use the service, Lee said.
The tracking system's database currently spans more than 20 countries, including United States, much of Europe, Australia, New Zealand, the Russian Federation and Taiwan. It doesn't work in China or Japan.
By knowing more about a mobile phone's location, Google conceivably could make more money displaying ads from nearby businesses hoping to lure in more customers. The Mountain View, Calif.-based company currently doesn't plan to show ads on mobile maps but may in the future, Lee said.
source:-http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/business/341526_googlemaps29.html

Fears of impostors increase on Facebook

Story Highlights
Media reports of impersonation on Facebook are increasing
Facebook says fewer than 1 percent of its 150 million users are affected
A Seattle-area man says someone impersonated him to get money from his friends
In Wisconsin, a man was accused of using a false ID to solicit sex acts

To View full story Visit:-http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/05/facebook.impostors/index.html?iref=nextin

More turning to Web to watch TV, movies

Story Highlights
More Web sites like Hulu and Joost are offering free movies and TV shows
Some consumers are taking advantage of this to eliminate cable or satellite TV
Internet users in the U.S. viewed a record 14.3 billion videos in December
Consultant: "The future of TV is definitely [on the Web], but it will take some time"

(CNN)When Corey Wynsma's wife got laid off a few months ago from her graphic design job, the couple did an inventory of their household budget.

Cable TV seemed like an obvious luxury. So the couple, who live in Grand Rapids, Michigan, canceled their cable service and found another way to keep up with their favorite shows: on the Internet.
"We were already consuming a good portion of content online, and a quick survey of media sites allowed us to determine if those shows we were most interested in watching could be found online," Corey Wynsma said. "In almost each case, the answer was yes."
Rick Wampler, a technician for Cirque du Soleil in Orlando, Florida, came to the same realization when he dropped his cable subscription three months ago. Cost was a major factor, and Wampler wanted more control over the services he was paying for, he said.
As more Americans get used to watching video on their computers, more Web sites are popping up to offer free movies and TV shows. Consumers are taking advantage of this to eliminate cable or satellite TV and integrate their home entertainment with the Web. And online video viewership is skyrocketing. How to watch TV on the Internet »
Internet users in the United States watched a record 14.3 billion online videos in December, an increase of 13 percent over the previous month, according to comScore, an Internet marketing research firm. Popular site YouTube led the growth charge, accounting for almost half the incremental gain in videos viewed.
Don't Miss
Pope launches YouTube channel
Internet TV services such as Hulu, Joost and Veoh also are feeding off a new generation of tech-savvy users in search of cheap access to video content. Add to the mix players such as Netflix -- whose Roku set-top box offers more than 12,000 streaming videos and who is teaming with LG Electronics to embed new TVs with the service -- and there's enough online TV options to justify a subscription-free lifestyle.
Web TV content remains limited, however. Although Joost and Hulu might show your favorite ABC reality series or reruns of "The Simpsons," the sites won't be streaming NFL playoff games or new episodes of hit shows such as "Entourage."
For people used to a large TV with surround sound, watching movies on an 11-inch computer screen could be an unsatisfying viewing experience. And technical problems persist.
Wampler, the Cirque du Soleil technician, had trouble keeping up with the presidential election results on his computer in November.
"It was difficult to watch the presidential votes come in" because the live streams on several news sites were jerky and intermittent, he said. "Since I am on a cable modem service, my download speed is dependent on how many other people are also on the Internet at the same time."
Ronald Lewis, a Denver, Colorado-based technology adviser, believes that most Americans aren't prepared to watch TV on their computers.
"Broadband adoption is still ongoing in America, which means there are many people without access to the pipes, which will drive these [Internet TV] services," he said.
"Many consumers aren't interested in consuming long-form video services on their PCs. They expect a TV-like experience. Except for the tech-savvy and resourceful among us, it's not widely accessible."
The brutal economy may motivate some consumers, like the Wynsmas, to switch to Web-based TV, but it won't necessarily hurt the cable or satellite TV business, which has historically been recession-proof.
"Consumers continue to find their TV sets a reliable and comforting companion in difficult times," said Robert Mercer, a spokesman for DirecTV. Mercer said the satellite TV service showed strong customer growth and low disconnects through the third quarter of last year, and he expected that trend to continue through early 2009 despite the economic climate.
"The cable companies have invested billions of dollars to expand the footprint and reach of their services, and it will require a similar investment by the [Internet Protocol Television] players to catch up," said Lewis, the technology consultant.
"The IPTV players are in a great position to wage an all-out war for eyeballs over the next six to 10 years," he added. "The future of TV is definitely IP, but it will take some time to get there."
Data show that increasing numbers of people relying on the Internet for at least some of their TV viewing. Users watched more than 24 million videos on Hulu in December, a record for the fledgling company. And Joost users viewed 818,000 hours of video in January, up 25 percent from the previous month, a spokesman said.
A recent survey of 3,000 prime-time TV watchers by Integrated Media Measurements Inc., an audience tracker, found that 20 percent watched some TV online.
Don't think cable companies haven't taken notice. Comcast launched Fancast, its online TV player, last year to show such hit shows as "CSI: Miami" and "30 Rock."
"We embrace the online world as much as the offline world," said Mary Nell Westbrook, senior director of consumer communications for Comcast.

But one thing is certain: The landscape is shifting. And Internet TV services believe that time is on their side.
"The Internet as a TV provider is in its infancy," said Mike Volpi, CEO of Joost. "We believe that [in the future,] the majority of TV will be viewed over the Internet. It's mostly cost, but it's also convenience. People want to be able to travel and move about while watching TV."

For View full story:-http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/06/internet.tv/index.html?iref=nextin

Google Latitude keeps tabs on friends' locations

Story Highlights
New Google software, Latitude, lets cell phone users share their location with others
Google hopes it will help people find each other and keep track of loved ones
To protect privacy, Google specifically requires people to sign up for the service
People can share their precise location, the city they're in, or nothing at all

For More details visit:-http://edition.cnn.com/2009/TECH/02/04/google.latitude/index.html

How to lookup a user name and machine name using an IP address (on windows)

If you need to find a username but only have an ip address, if you use active directory (AD) then you can use the following method to find out the username:
At the command prompt enter the following command:

nbtstat –a ipaddress

Where ipaddress is the ip address.
This will list the machine name using that ip address.
Then run the following command:

net view /domain:ad > somefile.txt

Where ad is the name of the domain you want to search and somefile.txt is the name of the file to contain the output. This will generate a list of every machine and who is logged in. Open the output file and search for the machine name determined in step 1 (the username will be listed next to this).