Technology

Effects of Emerging Technologies on the Society

By  |  2010/01/21 02:23 Posted in Technology  |  Comments (0)

Advancement in technology has made the world go “gaga”. As far as technology is concerned, you can expect the unexpected or imagine the unimaginable. The world has left the stage of crude implementation. Every facet of life has been touched and affected by technology. The bewilderment of everyone is that existing technologies are fast becoming obsolete by the day; courtesy of advancement in technology. This article discusses the effects of emerging technology on the society.

Technology has affected and is still affecting people of all age brackets from all over the world. You can imagine the formats in which toddlers’ toys and items for old people are made these days. They are given touch of modernity to let them have the feel of the innovations the mind of the human person is
capable of.

Internet Technology

Let us begin with Information Technology. Gone are the days when people melted for fear of where to get information or data for their usage. Whatever information you think you need has been well written out for you on the Internet. “Internet is the world on the computer”. The internet has a wealth of information on every area of human endeavour. It is a safe place of consultation or reference for students as well as professors. The internet is a place individuals and enterprise run to locate the information they need. For instance, when you need any service, just log into the Internet, and you will see one million and one individuals and organisations who render such services. Whatever it is you need, you can find it on the internet.

The world wide web as an aspect of technological advancement, has made the production and sharing of information a breeze. With the proper use of the internet, businesses that took “ages” to be accomplished are now executed within a twinkle of an eye. Even though the internet has numerous advantages, it has some disadvantages too. A lot of unhealthy materials are available on the internet. And these to the detriment of innocent minds. In as much as good people post relevant information on the net for the use of those who need them, people with bad intentions also post harmful materials on the intenet. Materials on how to indulge in bad things abound on the internet. This is because a large part of the internet is not censored.

Technological advancements have positive and negative effects on us. Let us talk about other facets of latest technologies and their effects.

Nano technology

Nano technology, like the Internet technology is spreading like a wild fire and its future effects are unimaginable. Nano technology spreads through large parts of human life. In the area of human health, nano technology is used for the treatment of cancer. It is used through the infrared to dismantle cancer tumors. Besides the health sector where nano technology has proved its relevance, it is also a force in the electronic sector. With nano, devices or applications of different types and sizes can be built. As a matter of fact, the military seems to be using the nano technology than anyone else. They are projecting its usage for combat, espionage and so forth. Nano technology has unimaginable possibilities. If care is not taken, without nano technology, a lot of damages could be achieved. And the world that has been built for many years might be destroyed within a few moment.

Energy Technology

So much has come out under this category. We have the solar energy, the wind powered plants, hydrogen battery technology. These have proved really useful in place of their alternative technologies. They have helped to break monopoly of various power sectors. Many homes in the US and Europe power their homes with solar energy. This and others are fruits of alternative energy. As good as these are, they come with some environmental hazards. They generate a level of pollutions in our environments like air and water pollution and heat generation to mention but a few.

In a nutshell, as good and important as modern technologies are, efforts should be made to curb their negative impacts. Whenever there is a technological innovation, efforts should be made to forestall its negative impacts on the society.

Author: Emmanuel Damisa
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Digital Camera Information

What is Bluetooth Technology?

By  |  2010/01/16 01:33 Posted in Technology  |  Comments (0)

Bluetooth technology is a type of the wireless technology that eliminates the need for the number of inconvenient cables and devices that are used to connect the computers, mobile phones, digital cameras, handheld devices and new digital appliances. Bluetooth enables the users to connect to a wide variety of telecommunication and computing devices easily, without cables.

It makes rapid ad hoc connections, automatic unconscious connections between two or more digital devices. Bluetooth provides the opportunity of using the mobile data in different applications. Bluetooth makes wireless communication between the two devices in a localized area of a room of office or home very easily. Bluetooth technology uses radio-based links and all the connections between the devices and invisible and instantaneous.

By Bluetooth technology your laptop can send print request to a printer in your next room. Bluetooth is actually a standard for wireless communication between the devices in a relatively small area and it is therefore works fine in the personal area network (pan) using radio frequency.

Any two devices that follow the Bluetooth standard can communicate with each other. A number of the Bluetooth devices like digital camera, mobile phone and handheld pc can form a network. You can send emails to your mobile phones from your laptop without any physical connect between your laptop and your mobile phones.

Features of Bluetooth technology

Bluetooth technology uses radio waves for communication in 2.4 GHz

It supports multi point communication not just point to point.

Bluetooth works in a small area of 10-15 meters.

Bluetooth offers speed of 1-2 mbps.

Bluetooth chipsets are less expensive though more expensive than IrDA.

How Bluetooth technology works

Bluetooth is a high speed wireless link technology that uses the radio waves. It is designed to connect the mobile phones, laptops, hand held devices and portable equipments with almost no work by the end users. Unlike infrared Bluetooth does not require line of sight between the connecting units. Bluetooth technology is a modified form of the current wireless LAN technology and its more acceptable for its relative small size and low cost.

The current circuits are contained on a circuit board of 0.9 cm square and a much smaller single chip version is in development and soon it will be in use. The cost of the Bluetooth device is expected to fall rapidly. Bluetooth chip has to be equipped in many devices. In Bluetooth technology, small and inexpensive transceivers have been placed in the digital devices. The radio waves operate at 2.45 GHZ band on the Bluetooth devices. Bluetooth supports the data speed up to 721 Kbps and 3 voice channels. The Bluetooth chip can either be built into the devices or it can be uses as an adapter. In computer it can be used with the USB port. Each Bluetooth device has a 48 bit address from the IEEE 802 standards and the Bluetooth connections can be either point to point or multi point. Bluetooth range is 10 meter but it can be extended up to 100 meters by increasing the power.

Bluetooth devices are protected from the external interference because they change their frequency up to 1600 times in a second. Bluetooth radio technology provides the bridge between the existing data network. Bluetooth guarantees security at the bit level and the authentication is controlled by the end user by using 128 bit key. An important face of the Bluetooth technology is that it instantly forms a network when two or more devices come closer in the range of each other.

Bluetooth technology benefits

Bluetooth technology is a convenient choice of communication in a wire free, short range environment. Bluetooth is a globally available standard for connecting the devices like mobile phones, digital cameras, laptops, mp3 players, cars, stereo headsets etc. Bluetooth enable devices do not need to install any drivers. The key benefits of the Bluetooth wireless technology are its built-in-security, low cost, easy of use, robustness, and ad hoc networking capabilities.

The Bluetooth wireless technology is available globally. Many manufactures from the different companies are busy to implement the technology in their products. Bluetooth technology operates in the 2.4 GHZ, one of the unlicensed, industrial and scientific radio bands. Bluetooth technology is a free of charge service but your mobile phones set should support the GSM and CDMA technology.

Today mobile phones have built in capabilities and Bluetooth functionalities in them. Bluetooth technology is available in the different range of the devices like mobile phones, automobiles, medical devices, industries and enterprises etc. Due to the key features of the Bluetooth technology like low power consumption, low cost and wireless features make it more popular. Bluetooth technology does not require any fixed infrastructure and it is very simple to install and setup.

No wires are required to connect the Bluetooth devices. You can connect to other Bluetooth enabled devices anytime if they come in your range. Bluetooth wireless technology is widely supported and is secure wireless standard today. Bluetooth devices has built-in security features such as 128 bit encryption and pin code authentication when Bluetooth devices identify themselves they use the pin code when they first time connect.

Author: Bushra Bashir
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Digital Camera News

Three Emerging Technologies that Will Change the World

By  |  2010/01/11 01:14 Posted in Technology  |  Comments (0)

I was speaking with a friend the other night about his great grandfather. His great grandfather was born in 1875. He lived until 1965. Can you imagine the technology that this man saw come online? Let me name a few: the typewriter, the electric dental drill, the telephone, the phonograph, the incandescent light bulb, the hearing aid, the electric fan, the dishwasher, the escalator, the airplane, the Model T automobile, the air conditioner, the defibrillator, the atomic bomb, the electric guitar, the nuclear submarine, nylon, the polio vaccine, and the laser. He died right when the first minicomputer was coming to fruition. All of that in the span of his lifetime. Which leads me to the topic of this article. Technology has completely changed the way we live. And technological advances have accelerated at unbelievable speeds. Technology is converging in ways no one could have foreseen. I want to highlight some of the most interesting technologies out there. These are technologies that will change the world, for good and bad.

Nano Technology

Probably the most interesting and frightening of the emerging technologies is nano technology. Nano technology is a cross disciplinary field that deals with building and synthesizing materials at scales of 100nm or less. Nano technology usually works in one of two ways. It either pulls smaller parts together to build or it breaks bigger parts down. The parts are then used to form smaller, new materials. But why is nano technology so important?

Nano technology is important because it will have massive effects across every area of life. As I write this, researchers are working on a nano particle to target cancer cells in lungs. In 2004, Rice University tested gold nano particle cancer treatment. In this treatment, these 150 nanometer gold particles were injected into the blood stream of cancerous mice. Gold particles at this size pass into tumors, but not healthy tissue. The researchers then passed infrared through the mice. The tumorous cells absorbed the infrared, heated up, and were destroyed. They are also working on quantum dots that allow doctors to easily identify multiple diseases quickly and accurately. But the uses don’t stop there. Nanotechnology will drive down the scale of electronics. This will lead incredibly small devices. The applications are limitless. And you can bet that the military will be clamoring for nano technology. The military is looking to have numerous nanotechnologies online by the year 2015. Such advances include performance enhancing nanotechnology that aids bodily functions. These will include response times, oxygen use, and heightened senses. But nanotechnology can also be used for reconnaissance and combat. Nanobots could scout areas without being seen. They could also enter into enemies for espionage. They could kill targets from within the host’s body. The possibilities are frightening.

Alternative Energy & Fuels

When gas prices skyrocketed this past year, many people suddenly took an interest in alternative energy and fuels. And because demand rose, companies suddenly found themselves forced to take interest. Most of the common arguments for alternative energy and fuels center around issues of pollution, cost, dependence, and jobs.

What most people don’t realize is that alternative energy and fuels always have environmental effects. This can be in the form of heat generation, air pollutants, waste by-products, land usage, extraction, etc. Instead, we have to talk about pros and cons around each type of energy and fuel. There is no silver bullet. Costs, dependence, and jobs also vary depending on the energy type.

There are a host of alternative energies being tested. Wind powered energy plants are already in place in many parts of the world. Solar energy production has taken huge steps forward with the help of nano technology. One such company is Nanosolar. Nanosolar is producing solar cells that are 100 times thinner than conventional cells. Not only are the cells cheaper to produce, but they also convert the solar energy much more efficiently. Ocean thermal energy conversion (OTEC) uses the temperature differences in the ocean layers to produce energy. And OTEC can utilize this colder water (36 degree F cooler) in other things like on shore agriculture and refrigeration. And the list goes on.

Massive interest was generated in alternative fuels this past year when gas prices hit record levels. New developments in battery technology could help. One such development is Millennium Cell’s hydrogen battery technology. This technology differs greatly from traditional rechargeable batteries in that it’s instantly rechargeable. It also has a much great efficiency for energy conversion, so it is much smaller and lighter. There is also greater reuse efficiency since you don’t need to replace the entire battery. You only need to replace the energy module. Developments are continuing in biodiesel, electric, hydrogen, methanol, etc. I think there could be some serious future synergy between nano technology and alternative energy.

“Bionetics”

This is my name for the incorporation of technology into the body. The dermal display is a great indication of things to come. Though I have yet to find a working demo version of this concept, I have no doubt that it will become a reality. The display would be driven by millions of nanobots. These nanobots would display light when touched. This would print a display onto your hand, or wherever the nanobot display would be housed. And this is where it gets really interesting. The display nanobots would be connected to millions of other fixed and mobile nanobots throughout the patient’s body. This would give instant readings on hundreds of vital statistics. Again, nanotechnology plays a strong role here.

The bionics revolution is already underway. There have been four major cases of robotic limbs recently, the latest being a woman. The robotic limbs take advantage of the functional nerve endings in the limb stump. These nerve endings are used to actuate the robotic limb and to provide feedback to the brain. More money is being poured into robotic limbs every year.

“Functional bionetics” are implants that enhance our lives. And you may be surprised to know that people are actively doing this as I write. People are inserting tiny electronics in their bodies that will unlock their front doors and their cars. The same technology is being used to unlock computers. But it doesn’t stop there. There is talk of implanting devices that will carry health information. You could be carted into a hospital totally unconscious and they would be able to access all of your past medical history. Most of this is done through RFID technology.

“Bionetic networks” will be networks of connected bionetic devices. This would allow people to share sensation, feelings, and communication. If this sounds completely fictional, I invite you to consider the work of Kevin Warwick, Professor of Cybernetics at the University of Reading, England. He has implanted an extra-sensory device that interfaces with one put in his wife. They were implanted in their arms. The first experiments are aimed at exchanging sensory inputs, like pain. The hope is to extend that to other, more complicated neurological processes like thoughts and emotion. Obviously, that would drastically change relationships and indeed the world. Forget about your teens text messaging, maybe they will be brain linking in the future. Now that’s really scary!

What will we be able to say came online in our lifetimes? I’m sure we could already list a lot of important technologies. But keep your eyes out for these emerging technologies. They are set to change the rules of our world. These technologies will upset economies, change military tactics, empower people, and be used to control others. Keep an eye on them.

Author: Paul McGillivary
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Digital Camera Information

Disruptive Technologies – Part 1: How Music Editors Are Related To Steam Engines

By  |  2010/01/06 00:59 Posted in Technology  |  Comments (0)

I am not into technologies, those that change so ever fast, and always. But I do observe technological trends, along which the development of scientific applications revolves.

And of all trends, perhaps disruptive technologies are the defining path of industrial implications, a linear passage that technological progress almost invariably follows. Though the concept of disruptive technologies is only popularized in 1997 by Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Christensen in his best-seller The Innovators Dilemma, the phenomenon was already evidenced back in 1663, when Edward Somerset published designs for, and might have installed, a steam engine.

As put forth by Clayton Christensen, disruptive technologies are initially low performers of poor profit margins, targeting only a minute sector of the market. However, they often develop faster than industry incumbents and eventually outpace the giants to capture significant market shares as their technologies, cheaper and more efficient, could better meet prevailing consumers demands.

In this case, the steam engines effectively displaced horse power. The demand for steam engines was not initially high, due to the then unfamiliarity to the invention, and the ease of usage and availability of horses. However, as soon as economic activities intensified, and societies prospered, a niche market for steam engines quickly developed as people wanted modernity and faster transportation.

One epitome of modern disruptive technologies is Napster, a free and easy music sharing program that allows users to distribute any piece of recording online. The disruptee here is conventional music producers. Napster relevantly identified the non-market, the few who wanted to share their own music recordings for little commercial purpose, and thus provided them with what they most wanted. Napster soon blossomed and even transformed the way the internet was utilized.

Nevertheless, there are more concerns in the attempt to define disruptive technologies than simply the definition itself.

One most commonly mistaken feature for disruptive technologies is sustaining technologies. While the former brings new technological innovation, the latter refers to successive incremental improvements to performance incorporated into existing products of market incumbents. Sustaining technologies could be radical, too; the new improvements could herald the demise of current states of production, like how music editor softwares convenience Napster users in music customization and sharing, thereby trumping over traditional whole-file transfers. The music editors are part of a sustaining technological to Napster, not a new disruptor. Thus, disruptive and sustaining technologies could thrive together, until the next wave of disruption comes.

See how music editors are linked to steam engines? Not too close, but each represents one aspect of the twin engines that drive progressive technologies; disruptors breed sustainers, and sustainers feed disruptors.

This character of sustaining technologies brings us to another perspective of disruptive technologies: they not only change the way people do business, but also initiate a fresh wave of follow-up technologies that propel the disruptive technology to success. Sometimes, sustaining technologies manage to carve out a niche market for its own even when the disruptive initiator has already shut down. Music editor and maker softwares continue to healthily thrive, despite Napsters breakdown (though many other file sharing services are functioning by that time), with products like the AV Music Morpher Gold and Sound Forge 8.

A disruptive technology is also different from a paradigm shift, which Thomas Kuhn used to describe the process and result of a change in basic assumptions within the ruling theory of science. In disruptive technologies, there are no assumptions, but only the rules of game of which the change is brought about by the behaviors of market incumbents and new entrants. They augment different markets that eventually merge. In Clayton Christensens words, newcomers to the industry almost invariably crush the incumbents.

While researching on disruptive technologies, I came across this one simple line that could adequately capture what these technologies are about, A technology that no one in business wants but that goes on to be a trillion-dollar industry. Interesting how a brand new technology that seemingly bears little value could shake up an entire industry, isnt it?

You are probably asking, why then that no one wants it? Or how true is the money claim to these disruptive technologies? And if it is true, what are the implications to the business practice? How do market incumbents and new entrants behave?

The scope of this article could only let me take the first question. Well, it is not that dominating companies are not visionary to see a disruption is coming. They cant. A disruptive technology is inherently not attractive initially; no one could see how Napster could boom and lead to the thriving market of audio softwares like the music editors and mixers, except the disruptors themselves. Even if one manages to foresee it, the Innovators Dilemma is there to keep them from acting.

And as the books show, technology has always evolved in waves of disruption.

Author: Anh Tuan Nguyen
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Digital Camera Information

Technological Innovation Through Tech Mining For Market Dominance

By  |  2010/01/01 00:53 Posted in Technology  |  Comments (0)

Innovation means technological change. The technology change results in practical implication or commercialization, it does not mean just generation of ideas. The importance of technological innovation in today’s competitive economy is very clear, as today the worldwide economy depends on technology and technological innovation to an extraordinary degree.

Technological innovation plays important role in the economical growth of any country. Us, Japan, and other European countries are developed only due to there technological progress. In recent years, Singapore, India, China and many other countries are advancing dramatically due to technological innovations and progress. High technology companies are a significant and growing component of the economy. The competitive of these companies depends on technological innovations. Innovations improves standard of living. Developments in medical and pharmaceutical technologies have delivered extensive returns in health and life span.

Technological innovation involves tech mining. Tech mining includes understanding the technological innovation processes to track them more effectively and get informed about latest happenings and make valuable business decisions about R&D and subsequent implementation and adoption choices.

Innovation is defined as the process by which technological ideas are generated, developed and transformed into new business products, process and services that are used to make a profit and establish marketplace advantage. A better understanding of the innovation process is essential to figure out empirical measures deriving from innovation activities to generate actionable technological intelligence.

Tech mining is done through data or information extraction from multiple data sources, compilation and analyzing the results and represents key findings in actionable visual representation for easy understanding to what is happening now and predicting the future technologies.

Various types of technology analysis that can be aided by tech mining is as follows:

(A) Technology Monitoring (technology watch) – cataloguing, characterizing, identifying and interpreting technology development activities

(B) Competitive Technological Intelligence (CTI) -exploring out “Who is doing what?”

(C) Technology Forecasting-anticipating possible future development paths for particular technology domains

(D) Technology Road mapping – tracking evolutionary steps in related technologies and, sometimes, product families, technology diversification and technology tree

(E) Technology Assessment – anticipating the possible unintended, direct, indirect, and delayed consequences of particular technological changes

(F) Technology Foresight – strategic planning (especially national) with emphasis on technology roles and priorities

(G) Technology Process Management – getting people involved to make decisions about technology

(H) Science and Technology Indicators – time series that track advances in national (or other) technological capabilities

Reasons to Do Tech Mining

  • Forecast likely development paths for emerging technologies – identify new products, research or service opportunity
  • Identify competitors, or collaborators, at the “fuzzy front end” of new product development – keep tract of your competitor’s activity for market dominance.
  • Identify potential customers for your intellectual property (“IP”) – new licensing, collaboration, acquisition and merger opportunities.
  • Discover additional application arenas for the outputs of your R&D – identify how to develop new products and services from your existing business processes, without inventing more.
  • Gauge market potential for prospective technology-based products and services
  • Be a wiser consumer of others’ science and technology
  • Manage the risks of technology development and implementation based on better information.

Author: Vinod Singh
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Digital Camera Times

Does the Technology Really Matter?

By  |  2009/12/27 00:26 Posted in Technology  |  Comments (0)

Does the technology really matter in todays world? Basically computer systems just work today, cell phones work almost anywhere now and with our mobile devices we are getting all of our office communications now while we are out and about. So does the technology matter? All the information flowing through cyberspace, through the airwaves, down the copper, does it matter how it gets to its destination?

For the small business owner who is attempting to crack into an emerging market with a breakthrough product, the answer maybe a plain old NO. As a small business owner myself, when I want to make a phone call for example, I simply pick up the handset and expect a dial tone. Dial my ten or eleven digits and strike up a conversation with my party at the other end. How my voice enters the phone system and comes out the ear piece at the other end is not important to me. The intelligence going over the technology is what matters. In the end, the fulfillment of the required and desired task is what matters. The technology itself is required to assist and enhance the fulfillment process, states Zak McKracken, a Managed Services consultant in Australia.

Owners of small businesses are turning to features and benefits over the actual technology. We find that a benefit of working from home to catch up on loose ends when it is convenient is a great selling feature to emerging technologies like SSL VPN, where ease of use and security are important requirements to the overall benefit of working remotely. However, the technology needs to have a tremendous level of ease of use attached to it. Small Businesses do not want complicated steps that many small business IT consultants believe is necessary to properly secure a network for remote access, for example. The technology needs to be simple and effective or the small business owner will never invest in it.

The shift in the SMB consulting community needs to change. As Dave Sobel of Evolve Technologies in Washington, DC states, I sell value, not technology. This is what small business owners are looking for in todays strong economy. But businesses today are still cautious on where they will invest their technology dollars. They require a solution that provides everything they need, it must be affordable and it has to work better than predicted, says Amy Babinchak of Harbor Computer Services, a Microsoft MVP in Security. Solutions need to have value: be full of benefits and provide the business owner with a tool to assist them in performing their tasks and services and to be competitive in the marketplace. Small businesses do not have endless IT budgets, so they need to do more with less. They need reliable solutions that work, without paying through the nose for IT support services.

Small business owners today are too busy trying to stay a step ahead of their competition to worry about computer systems. Those who do focus efforts on their systems may have to re-evaluate their business when they realize that they just wasted a whole year setting up a server and workstations instead of focusing on their product offering to the market. Small Business owners who try to do their own technology end up in a trap because they focus so much effort on their own systems that they lose the perspective of their real business function.

IT Consultants have been preaching in their communities that they should become trusted advisors to their customers, states Doug Geary of GearyTech in Toronto. When you find yourself in that position, you will find the brand/flavour of your recommendations is mostly meaningless. This is true despite the argument of many IT consultants. To a small business owner, it doesnt matter if a server has SATA, SCSI or SAS drives, they just need to be able to store their information securely, reliability and most importantly with zero downtime. We see many technology focused consultants putting all their attention on the specifications of a server for example, the RAM is this fast, the drives spin a 15,000 RPM, and RAID 5 means this. Doesnt matter! Can the server you are recommending meet their goals? If the answer is yes, then you have done your job.

Where does the technology matter then? It matters to the IT consultant who is working on building out the solution. It matters to the people that have to support it. It doesnt really matter to the business owner. They want to have someone who is reliable, trustworthy and most important available when they need that team or person to take care of it. Todays business owner puts a lot of trust in IT companies to provide them with a solution that will meet their needs and then they must be able to support it, and if they are not around down the road for some reason, someone else needs to step in and support it without rebuilding or going through a tremendous learning curve.

The actual technology only matters to the IT company. They are the ones that need to learn it inside and out, they are the ones that need to stay ahead of the technology curve and have the ability to inform their clients when new solutions are available to make the business owners life easier and/or more profitable.

So what is important to the business owner? It just has to work, when they need it, always. Benefits to their business are very important and features and nice to haves round it out. Business owners like mainstream, well known solutions. They want what their peers have because they saw it at the gym, lunch or out on the golf course. When they ask for it, it is because they saw their peers with it, and maybe it is a solution that allows his/her friend to work from home three afternoons a week or go to a school event and still have information from the business coming to them when they are away from the office. It is not the job of the IT consultant to discourage the technology, it is the job of the consultant to embrace it and provide it. Many times I see business go elsewhere simply because the company was ill equipped to adapt to the clients changing needs or request, and the competitor could.

Author: Stuart Crawford
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: US Dollar credit card

Russia Web gang took millions from Citi: report

By techwizard  |  2009/12/22 19:39 Posted in Computers, Technology  |  Comments (0)
Bank denies Wall Street Journal report FBI is investigating hacker attack
The Associated Press
updated 3:04 p.m. CT, Tues., Dec . 22, 2009
URL: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/34521131/ns/business-us_business/

WASHINGTON – The FBI is investigating a hacker attack on Citigroup Inc. that led to the theft of tens of millions of dollars, The Wall Street Journal reported Tuesday. The bank strenuously denied the report.

Citing anonymous government officials, the Journal reported that the hackers were connected to a Russian cyber gang. Two other computer systems, at least one of connected to a U.S. government agency, were also attacked.

In a statement, Citi said “any allegation that the FBI is working on a case at Citigroup involving a breach of Citi systems resulting in tens of millions of dollars of losses is false. There has been no breach and there have been no associated losses.”

Dow Jones & Co. spokesman Robert Christie said the Journal stands by the accuracy of its story.

The Journal reported that the attack on Citigroup’s Citibank subsidiary was detected over the summer, although it may have occurred up to one year earlier. The FBI, the National Security Agency, the Homeland Security Department and Citigroup worked together to investigate the attack.

Cyber crime is of increasing concern to businesses and the federal government, with President Barack Obama calling it one of the “most serious economic and national security challenges we face.”

On Tuesday, Obama announced the appointment of Howard A. Schmidt, a former eBay and Microsoft executive, as the government’s cyber security coordinator.

Internet attacks on banks are very common, said Tom Kellermann, a former senior member of the World Bank’s Treasury security team and now vice president of security awareness for Core Security Technologies.

While he said he has no knowledge of an attack specific to Citigroup, Kellermann said Tuesday that large financial institutions are “consistently targeted” by criminal organizations in Eastern Europe, Brazil and Southeast Asia.

“Ninety-eight percent of bank heists are now occurring virtually and not in the real world,” he said, adding that the industry is “hemorrhaging funds” as a result.

Banks that accept deposits made more than 53,000 reports of wire transfer fraud between April 1996 and the end of 2008, according to the Department of Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network. These reports are filed when a bank suspects criminal activity, though they are not necessarily evidence that a crime was committed. Nevertheless, such reports have been increasing. Nearly 15,000 of these reports were filed in 2008, up from 9,300 the year before.

It’s often difficult to determine who pulled off a virtual bank heist. Hackers tend to use “botnets,” worldwide networks of “zombie” personal computers they’ve infected with viruses without the knowledge of the computers’ owners.

And even if the hackers are caught, punishing them is another hurdle.

“Less than 30 countries have actually criminalized cybercrime,” Kellermann said.

Copyright 2009 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.


Technology Acceptance Issues in Pakistan

By  |  2009/12/22 00:03 Posted in Technology  |  Comments (0)

Technology, a term frequently used now-a-days which usually refers to a method or process that is made for facilitating peoples work or to benefit them in their particular circumstances. Speaking of technology, we see that the term Information Technology is being very popular in almost every aspect of our lives. From E-shopping to E-Banking, we perform so many transactions daily which involves computer systems interactions somehow. Even when we make a phone call, its log is maintained at the telephone departments database using an information system.

Information Technology is shaping itself as a backbone for the growth and development of our country. Government of Pakistan has launched its IT policy to keep pace with technologically developed countries. And some of the companies in Pakistan have enhanced their services by deploying information systems in their departments and providing their best to satisfy their customers. One good example is of Pakistan Post Company. In the past, this company was considered to be the slowest and unreliable source of delivering ones important documents and people used to send their documents using some private postal services which in their opinion was more reliable and fast. But now after the implementation of information systems technology, they are providing enquiry and reporting facilities relating to the movements of mail items, receptacles and dispatches and have enabled a web-based inquiry facility within time. In other words they have improved their overall operations and increased productivity. And they have joined the IT world to keep pace with the current market and their competitors.

Despite of all these benefits of Information Systems, there are still so many companies and organizations in Pakistan both in public and private sectors, that are still being operated manually. They are using the same old file-based system which makes processing very slow and inefficient at the operational level which also affects other levels of organization. At present, there are many reasons of not deploying Information systems even though they are beneficial. Reason of not deploying an information system is because some companies are running small businesses and they dont have more budget to deploy such systems.

In case of such organizations that can afford technological developments, the most important and significant issue is Technology Acceptance. And resistance to this issue becomes complex when examined in the light of how technology has been used in the past, how it may be seen as a tool of oppression, and how these experiences affect employees’ emotions and attitudes about the proposed new technology in the workplace. For instance, in the year 1997, around 7,600 employees from United Bank Limited were retrenched mandatory on account of overstaffing of the bank and in order to achieve its objective of “right sizing” which in other words was the deployment of new technology which forced them to cut down the size of staff.

Talking about employees resistance to the technology, we find that such people who used to work manually get bothered by only thinking that how will it be possible for them to work on new systems. Some of such employees usually have a fear of losing their jobs by the introduction of this new technology as i have discussed above. Some people even think that if computers get introduced in our company then there will always be a check and balance of everything they do and they wont be able to hide anything fraudulent. Some employees belong to a category of people who have nothing good to say about anything. They always try to oppose anything new and are negative in nature. Therefore they oppose the deployment and usage of new technology even though it is beneficial for the company but in some cases not for them.

Therefore before the implementation of a new technology it must be kept in mind that the introduction of a new technology will have profound effects on the work lives of employees. New technology always affects the social organization of work, access to resources, formal and informal organizational structures, and companies control patterns. And to overcome such problems, there must be a firm strategy that ensures the employees that they will not lose their jobs. Secondly there should be an awareness about the technology to be introduced and training programs should be conducted that makes them enable to work with the new systems efficiently. The information technology should make employees feel comfortable and rather than fearing, they should feel confident by having the knowledge about new system.

Hence if we want our country to be technologically developed then the government and private organizations should follow the right strategy of deploying new technology rather than forcibly imposing it on its employees.

Author: Rabia Wajeeh
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Hybrid and Electric Cars

Data Arteries – Enabling Business Strategy Through Information Technology

By  |  2009/12/16 23:37 Posted in Technology  |  Comments (3)

Regardless of size and industry, every enterprise is dependent upon information technology, and must have a strategy for how to employ it, especially as the internet becomes more pervasive. Information technology strategy is an enabler of business strategy. Not only must an enterprise manage relationships with its constituencies, but it must be able to connect with them electronically through data arteries – information supply, value, and demand chains. The information supply and demand chains are external; the information value chains are internal.

An information technology strategy is a special case functional strategy because every function in the enterprise requires electronic information delivery capabilities, and many require electronic process control also. In very large enterprises, strategy may be formulated at both the enterprise and organizational unit levels.

As websites such as Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, Plaxo, and Twitter become more pervasive in business, linkages between application systems and databases and social networking websites will be more important to enable constituencies to communicate both collaboratively and cooperatively. Just as email has become a primary method of communication between enterprises and their constituencies, so will social networking sites especially for advertising and ecommerce.

Business intelligence information can be used to identify opportunities for competitive advantage. However, information technology itself can be an enabler of competitive advantage, especially when there are opportunities to digitize products or deliver information products electronically. In such cases, business strategy is inseparable from information technology strategy.

Information technology comprises the analytical and operational application systems, databases, and technical infrastructure (hardware and networks) of an enterprise. Not all computer technologies are information based. Computer technology is used for process control applications in special purpose equipment. However, connectivity is essential as applications become more integrated. As digital construction and manufacturing practices develop through such technologies as computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing (CAD/CAM), the processes, the control of processes, and the products and/or services delivered by processes all rely upon information technology for connectivity.

For example, in the manufacturing industry, not only can design and manufacturing work be conducted through integrated CAD/CAM processes with electronic linkages to carriers, such as FedEx and UPS, but the entire project and process management activities can be monitored electronically from ideation to product delivery.

Through technologies such as electronic data interchange and electronic funds transfer, data and both digital and information products flow through information supply and demand chains in parallel to material supply and product and/or service demand chains. Within the enterprise, data flows through information value chains from supply chains and to demand chains.

Developing an information technology strategy document is essential for describing the requirements and for educating users because:

  • The impact is enterprise or organizational unit wide and other elements of strategy cannot be implemented without it
  • Administrative activities, such as legal, finance, and human resources, and operational activities, such as research and development, procurement, manufacturing or equivalent, distribution, marketing, sales, and service depend on information technology – analytical and operational systems support both administrative and operational functions
  • The time frames, expenditures, risks, and magnitude of efforts are usually larger and more complicated than other initiatives and must be clearly understood; information technology projects have a tendency to go out of control and under deliver – therefore, contingency plans are always necessary
  • The subject matter can be complicated if not well explained

Information technology strategy is usually packaged as a separate but related document to the strategic plan. It is deployed and executed through specific programs and projects that develop new or enhance or maintain existing application systems, databases, and technical infrastructure.

Large information technology development projects are usually cross-functional, and may be part of a broader initiative sponsored by multiple functions collectively. Broader initiatives that have information technology components include:

  • Market research and development
  • Product research and development
  • Infrastructure research and development for processes and information delivery

For example – for the development of a:

  • Digital manufacturing system integrating both research and development and sales and production activities (sponsors: Manufacturing and Sales functions – impact is on Research and Development, Procurement, Manufacturing, Distribution, Sales, and Service functions)
  • Financial, managerial, and regulatory accounting and reporting system (sponsor: Finance function – impact is enterprise wide)
  • Human resource management system (sponsor: Human Resources function – impact is enterprise wide)
  • Sales tracking system (sponsor: Sales function – impact is on all salespeople enterprise wide)

Some projects can be solely for the Information Technology function, in which case it is a customer of itself.

Steering committees should be established for major programs and projects representing the various impacted functions in order to resolve cross-functional barriers. Major programs should come under the review of a planning and policy committee at the enterprise level.

Information technology strategy formulation is a project in its own right at the enterprise or organizational unit level. Very large projects are grouped as a program of inter-related components under a program manager. Projects can be stand alone also. A single project can deliver one or more application systems and related databases and technical infrastructure, or multiple projects may be required depending upon complexity.

For example, when launching a new product, it may be necessary to conduct marketing, product, and infrastructure development projects that include the delivery of new systems, and upgrades to existing systems. However, if an addition to the product line is launched at a later time, a new project or set of projects may be required to enhance or maintain the current systems, or even develop new ones.

The work breakdown structure for downstream development, enhancement, and maintenance projects decomposes into planning, analysis, design, construction, implementation, and performance measurement phases. The performance measurement phase can be conducted in parallel with the other phases, and each must end with a performance review. A feedback loop to future planning activities must be established so that lessons learned from the past can be reflected in future initiatives.

Meeting the cost and schedule requirements is always a major consideration. Hence, “meeting the date” is a frequent requirement for project success. However, after implementation, the scope of what was delivered and its quality is usually remembered more than when. In anticipation of the need to make changes after implementation, an adaption project may be necessary to tune, standardize, and integrate the deliverables.

The planning phase is conducted at the enterprise, organizational unit, or program levels for one or more projects depending upon size and complexity. However, each application system and related databases and technical infrastructure is delivered through a project with distinct analysis, design, construction, and implementation phases. Each phase always begins with a detailed planning activity to ensure that resources are allocated appropriately. The work breakdown structure does not preclude the use of iterative methodologies within each phase for rapid application development and prototyping. Development, enhancement, and maintenance of websites can be very rapid, and heavily interactive with user involvement, when the appropriate tools are used.

Key questions and deliverables by information technology strategy project and downstream phases include:

Strategy project (enterprise and organizational unit levels):

Key questions:

  • How does information technology enable business strategy?
  • What are the investment priorities?

Deliverables include:

  • Information technology architecture (applications, data and databases, and technical infrastructure)
  • High level project phasing and plans

Planning phase (enterprise, organizational unit, and program levels):

Key questions:

  • What are the administrative functions’ systems and information needs?
  • What are the operational functions’ systems and information needs?
  • What are the priorities for the candidate analytical systems?
  • What are the priorities for the candidate operational systems?

Deliverables include:

  • Process models
  • Function models
  • Data models
  • Information models
  • Economic evaluation
  • Scope of analysis projects and schedules

Analysis phase (project level):

Key questions:

  • How do processes, functions, and systems fit together?
  • How do systems processes and functions relate to enterprise processes and functions?
  • How do systems processes and functions and enterprise processes and functions fit together?

Deliverables include:

  • Functional requirements
  • Economic evaluation
  • Scope of design projects and schedules

Design phase (project level):

Key questions (by system):

  • What are the system’s functional requirements?
  • What are the system’s technical requirements?
  • What is the total cost of ownership and benefits (tangible and intangible)?

Deliverables include (by system):

  • Application system specifications
  • Data and database specifications
  • Technical infrastructure specifications
  • Scope of construction project and schedule
  • Total cost of ownership/benefit analysis

Construction phase (project level):

Key questions (by system):

  • Is the system being constructed according to design?
  • If not, what change orders are required, and why?

Deliverables include (by system):

  • Tested application system and interfaces, databases, and technical infrastructure
  • Trained users

Implementation phase (project level):

Key questions (by system):

  • What are the costs and schedule relative to plan?
  • What is the scope relative to plan?
  • What is the quality relative to plan
  • When will the benefits be realized relative to plan?
  • What adjustments for tuning, standardization, and integration are required relative to plan?
  • What are the current anticipated enhancement requests?
  • What are the current anticipated maintenance requests?
  • What are the lessons learned for the future?

Deliverables include (by system):

  • Working application system and interfaces, databases, and technical infrastructure
  • List of enhancement requests
  • List of maintenance requests
  • Performance measurement report

As enterprises become more dependent upon the internet for connectivity with constituencies, it is essential to develop, enhance, and maintain the information technology strategy on an ongoing basis. The strategy must emphasize connectivity through the data arteries as digital and information products become more pervasive.

Formulating information technology strategy is an enterpriship (entrepreneurship, leadership, and management) competency.

Author: Nigel Brooks
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
Provided by: Canada duty

Technology Acceptance Model

By  |  2009/12/11 22:37 Posted in Technology  |  Comments (1)

Advances in computing and information technology are changing the way people meet and communicate. People can meet, talk, and work together outside traditional meeting and office spaces. For instance, with the introduction of software designed to help people schedule meetings and facilitate decision or learning processes, is weakening geographical constraints and changing interpersonal communication dynamics. Information technology is also dramatically affecting the way people teach and learn.

As new information technologies infiltrate workplaces, home, and classrooms, research on user acceptance of new technologies has started to receive much attention from professionals as well as academic researchers. Developers and software industries are beginning to realize that lack of user acceptance of technology can lead to loss of money and resources.
In studying user acceptance and use of technology, the TAM is one of the most cited models. The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) was developed by Davis to explain computer-usage behavior. The theoretical basis of the model was Fishbein and Ajzens Theory of Reasoned Action (TRA).

The Technology Acceptance Model (TAM) is an information systems (System consisting of the network of all communication channels used within an organization) theory that models how users come to accept and use a technology, The model suggests that when users are presented with a new software package, a number of factors influence their decision about how and when they will use it, notably:

Perceived usefulness (PU) – This was defined by Fred Davis as “the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would enhance his or her job performance”.

Perceived ease-of-use (PEOU) Davis defined this as “the degree to which a person believes that using a particular system would be free from effort” (Davis, 1989).

The goal of TAM is to provide an explanation of the determinants of computer acceptance that is general, capable of explaining user behavior across a broad range of end-user computing technologies and user populations, while at the same time being both parsimonious and theoretically justified.

According to the TAM, if a user perceives a specific technology as useful, she/he will believe in a positive use-performance relationship. Since effort is a finite resource, a user is likely to accept an application when she/he perceives it as easier to use than another .As a consequence, educational technology with a high level of PU and PEOU is more likely to induce positive perceptions. The relation between PU and PEOU is that PU mediates the effect of PEOU on attitude and intended use. In other words, while PU has direct impacts on attitude and use, PEOU influences attitude and use indirectly through PU.

User acceptance is defined as the demonstrable willingness within a user group to employ information technology for the tasks it is designed to support (Dillon & Morris). Although this definition focuses on planned and intended uses of technology, studies report that individual perceptions of information technologies are likely to be influenced by the objective characteristics of technology, as well as interaction with other users. For example, the extent to which one evaluates new technology as useful, she/he is likely to use it. At the same time, her/his perception of the system is influenced by the way people around her/him evaluate and use the system.
Studies on information technology continuously report that user attitudes are important factors affecting the success of the system. For the past several decades, many definitions of attitude have been proposed. However, all theories consider attitude to be a relationship between a person and an object (Woelfel, 1995).

In the context of information technologies, is an approach to the study of attitude – the technology acceptance model (TAM). TAM suggests users formulate a positive attitude toward the technology when they perceive the technology to be useful and easy to use (Davis, 1989).

A review of scholarly research on IS acceptance and usage suggests that TAM has emerged as one of the most influential models in this stream of research The TAM represents an important theoretical contribution toward understanding IS usage and IS acceptance behaviors. However, this model — with its original emphasis on the design of system characteristics does not account for social influence in the adoption and utilization of new information systems.

Author: Nida Mazhar
Article Source: EzineArticles.com
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