There are hundreds of stories about ambitious people who quit their job to start business in their garages, worked 80-hours weeks, sold their companies and wound up rich. This isn't of them. Instead, this is about the growing number of average people who are spending their leisure hours selling hobbies and services on home computers and the internet. With full-time salaries stretched thin and the cost of necessities rising, more people are looking for low-risk to earn extra income.

"The Web is a great place to shop and spend money, but it's pretty great for making money too," says Joanne Pratt, a Dallas-based adviser to the Small Business Administration on at-home commerce. More than half of all small businesses are based at home, according to the SBA. "Computers, Internet access, cell-phone technology and simplified web-page design software have all become cheaper and faster in recent years, making it easier to lunch some type of at-home enterprise without sinking a lot of money into it," says Simon Yates, senior analyst at Forrester Research. Most people who run at home businesses use a laptop computer, connect to the internet and live in a household where the average annual income is $65000, reports Forrester.

To manage the extra cash, many entrepreneurs are using accounting software programs for small businesses, such as Intuit's QuickBooks line, which generated revenue of $654 million last year--a jump of nearly 100 percent since 2000. "If you're the slightest bit entrepreneurial, you can reach large numbers of consumers instantly over the internet, while keywords searches at Google let consumers reach you just as quickly," says Pratt. "The Web is an amazing marketplace." How can you turn your PC into a cash money ? Its easier than you think: Auction Stuff on eBay In new York, where trend-conscious executives and socialites routinely clear out cramped apartment closest to make room for newest look, Bonnie Levine is considered something of a personal seller. Think Carrie bradshaw in reverse. When the Monolo Blahniks and Pradas have to go, Levine gets a call to pick them up. Another Is Are Following- 1. Blogging 2. Sell your Hobby 3. Writhe Article In Boddunan etc.

Nexus One, the Google Phone Two years after announcing Android,Google answers the question "where's Gphone"by lunching Nexus One.It's not the first Google-branded phone manufactured by HTC,but it's the first Android phone sold by Google. Google set up an online store for Android phones and Nexus One is the first phone that's available for sale.Andy Rubin likes to call it a superphone because it's much more than a regular smartphone.Even if Nexus One is probably the best Android phone on the market,it's far from being revolutionary. "manufactured by HTC, the Nexus One features dynamic noise suppression from Audience,Inc.,a large 3.7" OLED display for deep contrast and brillian colors and a 1 GHZ Qualcomm Snapdragon chipest for blazing speeds.Running on Android 2.1,the newest version of Eclair,the software includes innovations like a voice-enabled keyboard so you can speak any text field,fun Live Wallpapers,a 3D photo gallery for richer media experiences and lots more.Of course,it also comes with a host of popular Google applications,including Gmail,Google Voice ang google Maps Navigation,"mentions Google. The phone is available for purchase in the United States and can be shipped to the UK,Hong-Kong,and Singapore.You can buy it unlocked for $529 or buy for $179 with a T-Mobile Plan.Google will ship the phone in many other countries and will add support for other carriers,including Verizon and Vodafone. Why lunch a phone and sell it only on Google sites? To create some excitement and to connect the phone with Google's brand. Nexus means "bond, link",so the phone link between Google's users and Google mobile services.

One invention that has changed the field of communication and put forward revolutionary developments in human life style is the invention of RADIO. With that invention unreachable has changed to reachable and untouchable has changed to touchable. Till the invention of radio long distance communication which made used of wire for transmission has changed to wireless and this paved the breakout of wireless technologies which lead to the invention of mobiles.

I am not going to tell about the invention of radio. I will like to share details about the new era communication technologies like Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. These technologies are not from a different family. It is included in the same family of radio. That is why I have mentioned about radio and its invention. We all know that Wi-Fi is faster than Bluetooth. What is the reason for this? After you have completed reading this article you will be able to answer this question.

BLUETOOTH

We are using it in our mobiles without knowing that what is the technology adopted behind it. The basic thing making use in Bluetooth is that the conversion of digital data into radio signals and vice versa. Two way communication is possible through Bluetooth. This is the basic fact. Now let’s see it in detail and its characteristics and factors which is to be kept in mind while using it.

The circuits or devices which make use of Bluetooth are cell phones, PDA and laptops. Also medical instruments are making use in medical sector. As we know that the above said devices were battery operated, Bluetooth technology operates in small power ratings. With small power ratings a range of about 10 feet is possible with Bluetooth. Also Bluetooth is capable of travelling through walls and other obstructions.

Radio signal of 2.45 GHz is used in Bluetooth Technology. This frequency is laid by the international standards so that other devices can be synchronized by constructing it to operate in this frequency range. The chance for interference of different frequency is minimized by making use of frequency hopping. Also large number of devices can operate at a time. Bluetooth uses spread spectrum frequency hopping. In this method a device uses 79 individual frequencies that are pre chosen. These frequencies will change rapidly and remain in the device for a fraction of second. Also more than one device which makes use of Bluetooth may be operating at different frequencies at a time. Also this method reduces the interference from electrical and signals from the surroundings.

While discussing about the security of Bluetooth, a device cannot access a provider without getting authorization access from the service provider. Device level security and service level security is made use in Bluetooth. This enables to provide security for private data. But this security doesn’t work on encryption basis and chances for hacking is more. So while playing with Bluetooth devices makes sure that you are secure by turning of Bluetooth when not needed or by turning it undetectable.

Wi-Fi

The advanced version of Bluetooth can be called as Wi-Fi. It uses the same radio technology for communication between devices. But the frequency and bandwidth of radio wave is different from that of Bluetooth. Wi-Fi provides two way communications with more speed than Bluetooth.

Now let us see how Wi-Fi works. The basic things required in Wi-Fi are a router, an Ethernet hub, a firewall and wireless access point. The basic working of Wi-Fi is such that the router is connected to the internet. It converts the digital data and transmits as radio signals. Devices which have Wi-Fi can access this internet and thus wireless access become possible.

The frequency spectrum of Wi-Fi signals lies between 2.5 GHz to 5 GHz. This frequency is higher than that used in cell phones, television and radios. Wi-Fi is also called 802.11. It got this name from IEEE. IEEE uses this type of codes for naming different technological protocols.

We can classify the Wi-Fi signals into different categories based on the frequency and speed of transmission of signals. They are

802.11a-This works at 5 GHz frequency and is capable of transmitting at a speed of 54 MB/s. This method uses orthogonal frequency division multiplexing. This is an efficient method for splitting of signals before they reach receiver.
802.11b-This is the slowest but cheapest way of using Wi-Fi. It uses 2.4 GHz for transmission and can achieve a speed of 11 MB/s. This method uses complementary code keying modulation technique.
802.11g-This also uses 2.4 GHz for transmission. But it can achieve greater speed because of the use of orthogonal frequency division multiplexing.
802.11n-The new method of Wi-Fi which uses orthogonal frequency division multiplexing which can achieve a speed up to 140 MB/s.
With Wi-Fi we can get a range of about 30 feet which is sufficient to make a small building wireless.

But Wi-Fi faces some security problems while comparing with that of Bluetooth. Bluetooth is closed transmission methods and one cannot access it without the permission of service provider. But Wi-Fi is open. Anyone in the Wi-Fi hot spot can access it. This will create problem while the transmission of sensitive data. Although security can be introduced in Wi-Fi there are more holes in Wi-Fi rather than in Bluetooth. So be aware while dealing with Wi-Fi.

Datawarehousing, Datawarehousing,... Datawarehousing. This is becoming the new buzz word in the world of computer software.Datawarehousing consultants are now being the most sought after people in the software industry, and with just a little over 2+ years of experience, software companies and organizations are willing to pay any amount they demand. So, what constitutes datawarehousing?. Let's explore it.

Datawarehousing (DW) is also known as Business Intelligence (BI), Business Warehouse (BW), and Business Information Warehouse (BIW).

In order to explain the basic definition of what exactly constitutes a datawarehouse in software terms, let's take an example of none other than our own Indian Railways. We all know that many trains are operated by railways, and they maintain a computerized software system for the same. This system takes care of the following thigs

• Reservation /Cancellation of Tickets
• Preparation of charts
• Train-timings
• Station details
• Goods, Cargo,Parcel details
• Railway employee salaries

and properly maintains and updates these on a regular basis. This means, this system is very frequently updated. Such a system; which is updated regularly is called a transaction processing system, or simply OLTP System (OnLine Transaction Processing system)

Now, say for example, if the top-management of Southern Railways, wants to do an analysis for

• Introducing new trains, new routes, new stations
• Analyze profit and loss of a given train or station
• Analyze railway employees' salary
• Analyze the percentage of cancellations for a particular train or station
• Analyze the percentage of waiting list for a particular train or station

then, they cannot use the OLTP system because it is very frequently updated every second,every minute,every hour,every day,every week and every month. Also, it will be very helpful for the senior management to take decisions based on multi-dimensional views of the system. But unfortunately, OLTP systems are not designed for multi-dimensional views. Again, if analysis is done on OLTP system's data, it will be changed data. For example, if analysis is done in the morning on reservations, there is a possibility that reservation might have been cancelled, which implies incompleteness of the data (for analysis purposes), and analysis has to begin from scratch once again, which is again a waste of time.

In order to over come this, a new concept called OnLine Analytical Processing system (OLAP) was introduced (popularly known as datawarehouse or business intelligence). In this system, there wont be any updates to the data regularly, which means historical data or past data only will be available, in a multi-dimensional view, specifically for analysis purposes.

OLTP vs. OLAP

OLTP -> Updates to data is very frequent.
OLAP -> No updates to data.

OLTP -> Latest/Current data will be available.
OLAP -> Historical data will be available.

OLTP -> Data will be available in normalized tables.
OLAP -> Data will be available in cubes.

OLTP -> Data that is available, will be perfectly suited for day-to-day business.
OLAP -> Data that is available, will be perfectly suited for analysis purposes.

OLTP -> Data that is available, can be acessed by all business users, customers, senior management, et all.
OLAP -> Data that is available, can be accessed only by senior management of the enterprise and/or restricted users.

OLTP -> Live data (Detailed data)
OLAP -> Summarized data.

OLTP -> (simply)Data
OLAP -> Metadata (i.e., Information about data)

OLTP -> Data that is available, can be modified.
OLAP -> Data cannot be modified.

OLTP -> Database design is (very) complex.
OLAP -> Database design is (very) simple.

OLTP -> No. of transaction per users is very high 100s to 1000s.
OLAP -> No. of transaction per users is very low.

OLTP -> Response time is very quick.
OLAP -> Response time is reasonable.

OLTP -> Security is about which users can access which business functionality.
OLAP -> Security is about which data; whether should be at info-provider level, etc. and not about user access.

OLTP -> focuses on getting day-to-day work of the business completed quickly and efficiently. Specific users work on specific business functionality.
OLAP -> There's nothing like creation, updation, deletion, insertion, modification, etc. Only specific users (usually the senior management) display and analyze the data.

Now, we have got a basic idea as well as a brief overview of what is a datawarehouse and what is an OLAP system. Now let's further explore it.

Datawarehouse systems use what is known as cubes, dimensions, and measures. Let's take another example of reservations.
Reservation can be done against a train, a station, a class, date, berth, and no. of passengers. So, in this example, reservation will be considered as a 'Measure', against which various 'Dimensions' like train, station, class, date, etc., can be analyzed. These various dimensions, against a single measure, is called multi-dimensional view. The place where data about both dimensions and measures are available (for a multi-dimensional view) is known as 'Cube'. Similarly, there can be a separate cube for cancellation, trains, stations, passengers, etc.

Now let's analyze some common terms associated with datawarehousing.

Data Scrubbing - Scrubbing, as the name suggests means rubbing or erasing or deleting. Data scrubbing means, erasing (deleting rather) unnecessary data. For example, the data that is loaded into the datawarehouse comes from various OLTP sources. So, scrubbing ensures the inaccuracies in the data due to different OLTP sources are removed and contradicting data is also removed.

Fact table - Stores detailed values about values for the measures (otherwise known as facts)

Data Marts - Business divisions of the datawarehouse based on an organization's (enterprise) business divisions (or departments). For example, in our example of railways Tickets, Finance, etc.

Data Preparation Area - Also known as data staging area. Data which is in OLTP need not necessarily be maintained in a single OLTP system, which means, for datawarehouse, data from various OLTP systems are added. Therefore, in the staging area, data from various OLTP sources is converted into an uniform and unique types, i.e., data is prepared and ready to be loaded into the datawarehouse database (after type conversion).

Datamining - Mining as the name suggests, is to search for something unknown, with the belief that something will be discovered. For example, in the railways large number of cancellations (or reservations), could mean a particular impact on a particular station, etc. Discovering the reason for the same and thereby show a perfect (or near-perfect) future trend is known as datamining.

ETL - ETL stands for Extraction Transformation and Loading.
Extracting is the technique of collecting data, scrubbing it.
Transformation means preparing the data, making the data ready to be available in the datawarehouse.
Loading is the technique of moving the transformed data into the datawarehouse's database (i.e., moving the transformed data into cubes).

Once ETL is completed, data will be available in cubes in multi-dimensional views, and analysis can be carried out.

Popular datawarehouse software - SAP BI, Informatica, COGNOS, SQL Server Analysis Services and many more

SAP BI - Provided by SAP Corporation (www.sap.com)
Informatica-Provided by Informatica Corporation (www.informatica.com)
Cognos - www.cognos.com
SQL Server Analysis Services - Provided by Microsoft Corporation (www.microsoft.com)

So, the next time you hear in news that railways is going to introduce a new train/route, you know how they would have done analysis !!