Geeks in Paradise | Brian Chee » November 2006

November 29, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Microsoft Launches Windows Live Barcode Beta | 2D Barcode Creators

TAGS: Industry Trends

So how cool is this....the Japanese have long been in love with gadgets and now finally we have a mainstream company that seems to be putting some effort into playing catchup. So you've seen those new 2D barcodes, here's an enterprise reason to get that camera phone you've been lusting over.

 So this 2D code came from the Microsoft site, and if you were to download the application for your Windows Mobile device you could then decode what the original author embedded into it.

So why am I writing about this you may ask? Well, barcode readers are mondo expensive, but almost everyone has a camera phone. So combine this recognition software withthe bar code printing software also mentioned at the site and you have a nice little SMB barcode inventory system.

However cool, I started wondering why Microsoft was getting into the bar code market when the answer slammed me in the face during the review of the Microsoft Office Sharepoint Server. The document library portion has an automatic barcode labeler so that you can more easily check documents in/out of the server. Just makes sense that Microsoft would abandon the older 1D Barcodes (like you see on soup cans and other UPC labeled items) in favor of the newer 2D codes with a much higher information density.

The recognition software also seems to be available as a standard windows app so with either a mobile phone or a camera on a Windows machine you could read information off biz card, a document, a computer, or just about anything else you may want to tag with a bit of information. Or just go crazy like our friends in Tokyo where posters for movies have a tag so that you can grab the URL with a simple snap of your cell phone camera.

 

Link to Microsoft Launches Windows Live Barcode Beta | 2D Barcode Creators

Posted by Brian Chee on November 29, 2006 04:34 PM

November 17, 2006 | Comments: (0)

You can help to find missing and exploited children!

TAGS: Industry Trends

www.wirelessamberalerts.org

It's simple and easy, just browse to the site, enter the zip codes that you're in regularly and your mobile number. You create an account during this process so that you can easily log back in to change the information.

I found out about this from a flyer that came with my replacement mobile phone from Asurion Insurance. (after your phone goes out of warranty, if you bought insurance, there is a good chance you're signed up with Asurion or a similar company)

We all say we want to help, now there is a way that you can be the eyes and ears to help protect our littlest techies!

/brian chee

Posted by Brian Chee on November 17, 2006 10:00 AM

November 16, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Wireless bypass...the DLink DWL-7700AP

TAGS: Toys and tools

 Designed for outdoor use, the DWL-7700AP has the ability to have a single unit cabled to an internet feed. Then using the 802.11a create a wireless connection in a point-to-multipoint configuration where the 802.11b/g radio then provides traditional access point functions. With an included outdoor CAT5e cable, POE Injector, Lightnig arrestors, dual band antennas and a short coax to support optional antennas all we had to add were some 3rd party 5.8ghz antennas and an antenna mount for the bathroom rafters.

So while I may have been able to build a device like this, I'm not sure I could have done it as well nor as inexpensively as Dlink...

 

DLink has been shipping a series of purpose built outdoor AP's that we've been using at the University of Hawaii School of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Technology (SOEST) to bring data out of the ocean and back onto dry land. The KiloNalu Near Shore Reef Observatory is a collection of interconnected submerged containers with instruments to measure things like sand movement, currents, temperature, particulates and salinity; with everything being connected back to dry land with an undersea cable.

Divers dropping the cables and instruments into the water about 200 yards off Point Panic (near Waikiki). They're running 600volt (DC) through the cable with 4 strands of single mode fiber in the center. Providing both power and communications the cable surfaces through a sea wall and eventually ends up in a closet outside a bathroom building.

Here's some pictures of pulling the cable through the conduit and then grinding away the armor so that we can terminate the fiber optics.

 

The 3M HotMelt fiber termination system changed about a year ago to a new formulation that melts at a higher temperature. So anyone with the old black oven will need to get the update kit with a white oven in order to reliably use the new connectors.

 
Here's one of the researchers adjusting the angle of a high gain panel antenna for the wireless bridge link.

Our problem was that getting high speed datacomm to a bathroom at a beach park was turning into a nightmare. Either we had to pay to dig up about a 1/2mile of road, or we had to pay for a custom cable pull through already packed conduits by the local telco. Lastly, there are a large number of condominiums in this area and everyone and their uncle has a WiFi router and everyone is at full blast. I counted in excess of 150 access points in view, and the Fluke AnalyzeAir Spectrum Analyzer was indicating almost 80% duty cycle (ie. you could only slide a bit in 20% of the time) on all three 802.11b/g channels. (only 1, 6 and 11 don't overlap, so you really only have three effective channels on 802.11b). The answer was to go into the 5.8ghz range on 802.11a and get out of the mud...

 

So with hat in hand we met with the UH John A. Burns School of Medicine (JABSOM) to ask for their cooperation. What we ended up with was a mast mounted on the roof of the school. What became problematic was a brand new building still under warranty and no easy way to get a data cable down from the roof. Our solution was to link the wired side of the Dlink DWL-7700AP's to an el'cheapo 802.11g Game Adapter to hop onto the existing secure wireless network at the school.

 

 

One of the mantras heard all during this install was "...the things we do for science...", especially as conversations got drowned out by the sound of flushing toilets...

Brian Chee is a Senior Contributing Editor with InfoWorld Magazine and is a researcher at the University of Hawaii School of Ocean and Earth Sciences and Technology (SOEST)

Posted by Brian Chee on November 16, 2006 01:22 PM

November 16, 2006 | Comments: (0)

Virtualization = Power savings?

TAGS: Industry Trends

Server Virtualization News: For PG&E customers, it pays to virtualize By Alex Barrett, News Director 26 Oct 2006 | SearchServerVirtualization.com

 

One of the things that VMWare brought up after our blade server shootout was that there is a big movement going on to reduce power and cooling consumption through virtualization. So while I'm stealing a bit of Paul Venezia's thunder, I thought I'd toss out a few numbers.

1. Quantity 60: 1-2 RU servers typically can eat up to 21KW of power
2. Quantity 60: blade servers drop that to around 1.6kw
3. each blade can have between 4-6 virtual servers on each
4. the above doesn't always apply but for stuff like web, it could work

So just by moving to blades we save 19.4KW of power and cooling, and if we even go 2 virtual servers per blade we have HUGE power and cooling savings.

Then combine that with the APC (or similar) cooling system where the cold air is pushed closer to the heat load...well what we have is a huge downsizing in data center power requirements.

I've been tasked at UH SOEST to help determine just what kind of money we're talking about to setup a backup generator to support our critical research labs. HUGE dollars and a possible environmental impact later, it has become VERY obvious that reducing the overall load of our critical data center could save us enough bucks to justify the move to blades and virtualization.

I'm hoping that my local power company takes a hint from PG&E and also offers incentives to virtualize...

Posted by Brian Chee on November 16, 2006 12:36 PM