Windows 8
So had some time over the “silly” season to install and play with Windows 8. I downloaded the Developers Preview 64 bit . Which includes:
- 64-bit Windows 8 Developer Preview;
- Windows SDK for Metro style apps
- Microsoft Visual Studio 11 Express for Windows 8 Developer Preview;
- Microsoft Expression Blend 5 Developer Preview;
- 28 Metro style apps including the BUILD Conference app;
Not wanting to compromise my current OS installed I opted to install it in a VM using VitualBox.
The install at least worked and it was up and running however one thing that I noticed is that it is a lot more hungry on memory, which is understandable, however I think Microsoft can do a lot more to ease up on the HW utilization.
It was interesting to explore the Sample applications which was provided in this bundle, however none of them really got me exited and I must be honest I do not believe that I will use them going forward, but I must also mention that this view is from a business perspective.
I found the keyboard and mouse combo odd as Windows 8 was designed from the ground up with finger input interaction and it is clear that Windows 8 is optimized for touch, I just wonder how well this will be received by the normal day-to-day business user running Windows 8 on his trusty Laptop. I guess that the Business user will shoo away the live tiles when real work has to be done.
On of the annoying things (well it did annoy me but I have been told to be a bit odd) ,clicking Start whisks you straight into Metro-land, so a lot of keyboard shortcuts needs to be used to get around this.
From time to time Windows 8 felt very unfamiliar to me, simple things like how to Shut Down or put your Laptop to Sleep. I guess a lot of this is linked to habits, i.e. tapping the Home button on phones.
It seems that the learning curve is a lot steeper that I imagined at first, as it will take time to get use to the new interface and the way that you interact with the glossy live tiles.
I do believe that the change moving from Windows 7 to Windows 8 is big especially considering the business user, mostly because of it being very unfamiliar and the amount of “getting used to” or perhaps learning that will be required to get around.
It would be interesting to see what Microsoft will add or change from now until the official release, and how long it will take for big Organizations to deploy Windows 8 in their enterprise
Product Showcase
99Desk was invited by the Business Association of Stanford Entrepreneurial Students (BASES) to their Product Showcase at Stanford University.
Product Showcase is their new $50,000 competition, where over 100 teams from Stanford’s top engineering and entrepreneurial talent will be presenting products of their own creation to the public – you can essentially think of it as a “science fair on steroids.” The product entries this year range from security gadgets to remote-controlled blimps to web applications.
This is a great chance to get a glimpse of the latest innovations and meet upcoming entrepreneurs from Stanford.
They will also be featuring renowned guest speakers, industry experts and venture capitalists.
Why hiring a Freelancer makes sense
One of the main reasons for outsourcing your required work to a Freelancer is cost. Freelancers are so must more cost effective than hiring a company.
Freelancers have lower overheads than regular businesses. The quality of the work in most instances much better than what is being received from a company because a Freelancer needs to build up a good portfolio to ensure feature business. There are also some Tax advantages for companies when using are using freelancers.
When hiring a Freelancer interaction will be with the person who has a personal stake in the project, this is different when hiring a company for your project and this has some advantages.
• Direct contact with the person doing the work
• More effort will be put into your project – longer hours
• Will ensure delivery on time as his/her reputation is at stake
Hiring a Freelancer does not restrict you to only your City, using the World Wide Web one can hire Freelancer anywhere in the world buy using multiple portals like 99Desk to assist you in appointing the correct Freelancer.
With all the communication tools available today it definitely makes sense to consider a Freelancer for your next Project.
Outsource Software Development
Software Development
India is one of the biggest Software development outsource Freelance markets places today.
The world is discovering the fact that India is a super power when it comes to developing IT solutions. As a result of the latest trend “IT outsourcing to India”, we find many fortune 500 companies making use of software development outsourcing to India.
Being the world’s second highly populated country, human resources are a boon by itself. As we all know and become familiar with the Gulf being renowned for its crude oil, and South Africa for its diamonds, India is proud of the abundance and easy availability of its highly qualified and technically skilled English speaking computer professionals.
Infrastructure
There are an abundance of excellent Telecom, ISP and cellular networks available in India. Which means that companies engaged in IT outsourcing to India can be in touch with the IT professionals without any hurdles.
The amount of highly skilled and certified freelancers in India is staggering and the numbers seems to be increasing
Outsourcing to India offers significant improvements in quality and productivity for overseas companies and individuals
India has become the leader in offshore contracting services (India owns around 80 percent of this market) because of -
• A highly trained work force
• Low labor costs
• Appreciation for software development disciplines
• A widespread use of the English language
Freelancers and outsource companies in India offer a strategic initiative to cut costs as well as provision of access to intellectual capital, which may not be available in-house. Virtual web companies are a natural outgrowth of the omnipresence of the Internet.
One example of such a company is 99Desk.com is a global outsourcing solution and freelance jobs portal. They provide a secure platform for Freelancers working from home, Freelancing IT companies and Service buyers to work together.
The merits and demerits of offshore contracting
he advent of technology has brought in its wake the proliferation of many kinds of businesses. One of such is offshore contracting, which is gradually gaining prominence around the world. The best method of doing an international allocation of some business processes to a third party service provider. It would interest you to know that there are a lot of big businesses that outsource parts of their non core business processes to African and Asian countries like Ghana, Philippines, China, South Africa and China. In the time past, this was just a temporary business procedure. However, its immense benefits have led to a big jump in those patronizing it.
Demerits of offshore contracting
One of the many risks that businesses face these days with respect to offshore contracting is that of not being able to effectively maintain the output quality that is generated. This is with due consideration with the geographical and cultural difference. Moreover, there are times that the service provider would take absolute control of the process of outsourcing while the company is not result-oriented. This is because there are a number of such companies that are just profit-oriented concerning what they would gain from the contract. It would interest you to know that there are a number of the service providers which are just handling a lot of offshore business processes from a variety of companies. What then happens is that it destabilizes their concentration and time with regards to the crucial tasks that have to be performed. The end result of such offshore contracting is a fall in standards and quality of work.
Merits of offshore contracting
With offshore contracting, you would get reduced cost in terms of recruitment and operations. What happens is that this form of contracting significantly reduces the need for hiring additional workers, especially when your wage rates are quite high. The fact that it reduces the jobs created in countries does not take away the fact that cost is drastically reduced. This then translates into lower prices for consumers of those goods and services. When you are comfortable with this process, you would get time to concentrate on your core business operations, which ensure long term growth and profitability. For this reason, a lot of companies view this as better than harm to this global village.
Handling the risks associated with offshore contracting
In order to ensure that you effectively reduce the risks associated with this form of contracting, there is the need to carefully choose the best of service providers. You can easily do this by hiring the services of a reputable company to do this for you. Most of such firms are very experienced and adept at acquiring offshore services abroad in order to effectively maximize your profit levels. This would then give you a unique upper hand in your industry no matter the level of competition at stake. You would surely reap all the benefits of offshore contracting.
Freelancing: Doing your own thing at your own pace
Freelancing provides you with the freedom that you might look for, not bound to normal office hours and also not having to commute to an office every morning. Most Freelancers work from home or some will put some variety into their working environment and work 2 days out of the week from the local coffee shop. Today technology provides you with the freedom to work almost from everywhere you like, and even while you on holiday.
Freelancers comes in many forms, Software Development, Website Development, Business Plan writing, Translating Service, Freelance Writing the list can go on and on. But be aware with all this freedom comes risk and insecurity. As a freelancer, your next paycheck is never guaranteed. You need to make sure that you have the next project lined up. This plagues many freelancers, no matter how seasoned.
The best way to ensure your freelancing future is to offer a service you know people want. Just because you’d like to do something doesn’t mean that there’s a readymade market for it, and the best way to ensure this is through Marketing.
You need to create a profile as a trust worthy resources that delivers quality work on time and in budget.
Marketing is often a part the Freelancers neglect and as a result many Freelancers go back to a 9-5 job and back into the corporate world that they initially fled from
Building a Portfolio
Building a portfolio does not start over night and as in any business, your freelancing career is only as strong as the sales you make. Finding clients is the number-one challenge for any freelancer. How do you attract clients? You can follow the below steps to get you going
1. Develop a portfolio: this is the quickest way to demonstrate the scope of your skills.
2. Try to get the word out – colleagues, friends, family, neighbors you might find that referrals will make up the bulk of your initial business.
3. Make sure that you join a Freelance portal like – www.99desk.com
4. Create a profile and increase you visibility on such a portal.
5. Make sure that you regularly visit the portal so that you are aware of what you competitors are doing and what their strategy and strong points are, you never know you might want to work with other Freelancers on future projects.
How Digital cameras work
So most of us know how a digital camera work, well maybe we think we do. I am not talking about how to operate a digital camera as this is a whole other discussion. I am talking about the internal workings. Taking a step back and looking at CD’s DVDs, MP3s are all using or built around the same basic process in converting conventional analogue information (represented by a fluctuating wave) into digital information (represented by ones and zeros, or bits). The digital camera is truly different from its predecessor, conventional cameras which depend entirely on chemical and mechanical processes where as all digital cameras have a built-in computer which record images electronically. One of the biggest difference in the operation of the camera is in the storage medium, and number of images made between changes. For instance, with a 35mm camera, you can have a maximum of about 36 exposures before you have to rewind the film, open the back, and insert another film roll. With digital you might be able to shoot hundreds of images before changing your “digital film”. Most digital cameras use a small memory card that inserts into a slot in the camera body. Usually it will be behind a small door on the side or bottom of the camera. The camera manual will explain the process well enough to get started The most common questions is about how the images are stored on a digital camera or what is a mega pixel. When you take a picture with a digital camera the light strikes a digital sensor array, instead of a piece of film. These digital sensors are computer “chips” with names like CCD (Charge-Coupled Device), CMOS (Complementary-Metal-Oxide-Semiconductor). Instead of exposing a photosensitive chemical known as film to a scene to create an imprinted image, most digital cameras use a charge-coupled device (CCD), an electronics instrument that creates a pixel map based on the electric charge generated when photons slam into a sensitive material. This phenomenon is called the photoelectric effect, and was elucidated by Albert Einstein in a famous 1905 paper. Think of mega pixels as millions of dots of light that are being stored for each picture. The more dots of light there are, the higher the resolution of the image. More pixel dots = bigger pictures. Usually, the more mega pixels the better. It takes a lot of mega pixels to make prints on photo paper, so it would be best to get a camera with as many mega pixels as you can afford. When the image strikes the sensor, it gets all those mega pixels excited. First the image goes through colour filters above the individual sensors. The sensor converts the image from light waves into an analogue electrical signal. The analogue signal is then run through an analogue to digital converter (A-D Converter), where it becomes a pure digital signal. Then it is again put through a series of electronic filters that adjust the white balance, colour, and aliasing of the image. Next a compression cycle makes the image as small as possible by dumping unnecessary pixels, for more efficient storage. Your picture is now ready to be saved on the internal memory or storage device of you camera. Armed with your digital camera you can go a experiment. You can also become a freelance photographer and make good money selling your photos on the internet. The Freelance Photography market is exploding thanks to the Internet. You can learn more about selling your photos and making money click HERE to discover how to make money with your digital camera.