An issue that can be of concern with computer users is choosing the best way your computer should behave when it is in an idle or dormant state.

Since Windows 95 and the arrival of the ATX chassis with the software-controlled power supply, it has become more feasible to provide software control over a computer’s power needs. Macintosh users have had this ability all along and this was gradually implemented in to Windows laptop computers just before 1994.

Now there are a range of software-controlled reduced-power modes that a computer can be set to assume when you are not using it. The different modes work in order to make sure that work-in-progress data isn’t lost and that the computer “knows where it is” when it comes to.

Power conditions

Peripheral sleep

This mode is a common idle-operating mode for computers not actually doing something and is often set up by default. This is where hard-disks or other mechanical drives spin down and the the display turns off, but power is maintained to the RAM, system processor and communications circuitry.

The computer then operates at full steam when you operate the keyboard or mouse or, in some cases, connect peripherals or insert removable media.

System sleep / standby

A computer that operates in this mode has the processor and RAM and, in some cases, certain communications channels consuming power but the processor is operating under a low power condition. This mode then allows for instant-on wakeup when you need the computer. This power state is typically indicated with the power light slowly flashing  or changing to a colour like amber.

Then it may be woken up by, in some cases, you using a keyboard or mouse or just pressiong the power-control button.

Some Windows 7 and newer Macintosh laptop computers implement a “hybrid sleep” where the contents of the RAM are dumped to the hard disk / solid-state drive when they enter this mode. This allows for the battery to die down without loss of data.

Hibernate / Deep sleep

When a computer is placed in the hibernate or deep-sleep mode, the current contents of the RAM are dumped to a special file on the computer’s hard disk or solid-state drive. Then the computer shuts off completely.

The tradeoff with this mode is that it takes slightly longer for the computer to be at useable state due to reading from the hard disk. For SSD-based systems like netbooks, Ultrabooks and the Toshiba R830 that I reviewed previously, the restore time would be likely to be short compared to a hard-disk-based system.

When you need the computer, you just activate the power switch where the computer will start up and read back the data from the secondary non-volatile storage.

All Windows laptops have supported this power state “out of the box” but MacOS X computers require the user to download and install third-party utilities to implement this mode.

How can I best use these modes

If you are leaving your computer while it is transferring data or doing a long task, you could allow it to implement “peripheral sleep” for peripheral devices that aren’t relevant to the task. This can be done through setting up spin-down or display-off times using the power-control options in your operating system.

Implementing standby / system-sleep can be handy for computers connected to external power like desktops or laptops that are plugged in to their charger. But I wouldn’t recommend this for laptops running on their own battery, even Ultrabooks or other SSD-based power-optimised ultraportables.

I would implement the hibernate mode mainly as a preferred power-down mode on laptop computers. This works as a way of maximising battery availability especially if you want to have it available at the end of your journey. This is even though your journey may end up at your desk where you may plug the laptop in to power before using it.

The Hibernate mode is also more important for netbooks, Ultrabooks and similar units that you use as a secondary “traveller” computer and you may typically “lay them up” for a time period in an order of weeks or months as you stay working at your regular desk.

If you can, you may need to implement hibernate mode on your desktop if it doesn’t handle system sleep properly or is fed from an AC supply that is unreliable like in the country or peri-urban areas.

For laptops, it may be a good idea to check the power options to determine what closing the lid does when you set the computer up for the first time. This is more important when it comes to what it should do while on battery power.

It is also worth shutting down the computer and restarting it every few weeks, especially if you shift between networks a lot or connect and disconnect peripherals frequently.  The “boot” cycle that is part of the process gives the computer a chance to properly take stock of its storage, peripheral-device and connectivity environment.

Concluaion

Once you know what these low-power operating modes that your computer’s operating system offers are about, then you could be able to operate it in a power-efficient way especially when you are not using it and yet come back to a responsive machine.

Introduction

Previously, I reviewed the 2008 version of the Western Digital WDTV Live network media player and found that there are some areas where it could be improved on. Now I have been offered the latest iteration of this network media player for review and this review will be an interesting exercise to compare it to the previous model.

Price

Recommended Retail Price: AUD$149

Functions

Online functions will change as the device’s platform evolves and will vary by country.

Connections

The media player itself

WDTV Live network media players - earlier version below 2011 version

The current edition of the Western Digital WDTV network media player is the similar size to the previous-generations of this network media device but is finished in a newer style with an obvious infrared-remote receiver and an upfront USB socket for memory keys and hard disks. It doesn’t have the “book-style” shape as the previous model and is pitched as a unit to go with a cluster of consumer-electronics equipment.

Connectivity

The WDTV Live’s audio-video connections are similar to the previous model except that there isn’t the component video output jack. This is meant to assume that this device will work with the flat-screen TVs that have the HDMI connection or the legacy CRT TVs and video projectors that use the composite video connection for their external video devices. You still get a breakout cable with 3 RCA plugs on the end so you can connect this device to most of these TVs, in a similar way as you would with most smartphones and some digital cameras.The previous version of this device was a “Wi-Fi ready” device in that it required the user to purchase an additional USB Wi-Fi network adaptor dongle and plug it in to the unit. This time, the WDTV Live comes with the Wi-Fi network adaptor integrated in to the unit and is how I tested the unit.Front view of current model and earlier model

The Wi-Fi connectivity is set up for 802.11g/n wireless networks and supports wireless routers that implement consumer and small-business security methods i.e. WEP and WPA(2)-PSK, including WPS quick-setup routines. The latter can be started from the TV screen through the WDTV Live’s setup menu.It is still sensitive enough for most interactive-TV applications and standard-definition viewing but I would recommend using the Ethernet connection with a HomePlug AV adaptor (if necessary) for better and more reliable throughput.

User Interface

Remote control

The menu structure and user interface was more like an XBox 360 with recent firmware than the previous model’s interface which reminded me of the XrossBar interface used in Sony’s connected consumer electronics. Here, this interface was able to still work well even with legacy CRT TVs because of having the selected option in the centre and brought up.

It also used the “coloured function buttons” on the remote control which is the trend for consumer video equipment. Here this was used for applying filters or changing list orders for content and other lists. This is compared to the user using a D-pad to do all the control on this device which was the case with the previous model.

Applications

I have tried some of the services that come with the system and have noticed that YouTube comes with two user interfaces. One feature that I liked with this YouTube application was that it was able to cater for multiple users. This meant that it held the Google usernames of previous users in memory so different users can log in to their personal user profile and is a step in the right direction.

As far as the Facebook app is concerned, it is totally broken in that it can’t show the photos that are part of the social-media service. You don’t even see the profile pictures for your Facebook Friends, which makes for a disappointing experience with this device. You could see the text on the various Walls or Feeds that you subscribe to and post text-based comments but that’s all.

Most other photo and video applications work as required and the streamed videos and audio content come through smoothly. This is even though I was using it on an older “classic” TV set.

UPnP AV / DLNA

The UPnP AV / DLNA experience that the WDTV Live provides  is still the same as the previous models in that when it comes to photo and video content, it’s slow to load off the network. You can still “pull” content down from your MediaServer device like your NAS using the remote control and the on-screen user interface but the WDTV Live doesn’t work well when pictures or video content is “pushed” to it under the control of a control point.

This could be improved with read-ahead caching and proper handling of queue lists which would be important for this class of device. Once this is ironed out, it could make the WDTV Live media player become a cost-effective tool for network-based content playback including digital signage for the small business.

Limitations and Points of improvement

One main limitation with the WDTV Live family is that it doesn’t support any of the catch-up TV / video-on-demand services that are currently available for the Australian and New Zealand markets like ABC’s iView or the Plus7 service. I have seen other devices including Sony’s BDP-S380 offer this kind of functionality which would bring these services to how they should be enjoyed – relaxing on the couch and watching on the big screen TV.

But personally I would like to see the device’s software and hardware re-engineered for better network and Internet performance. This was also confirmed to me by a close friend who bought the same device and found it didn’t perform as well as it should.

As well, Western Digital could make the next or subsequent generation of this device part of a DLNA-driven multi-room PVR setup for broadcast TV. Here, they could use a box with a hard disk for recording TV shows from a cluster of ATSC / DVB-T front-end tuners using an electronic programme guide. As well, this box is managed by any device compliant with UPnP AV version 4 such as next-generation WDTV Live boxes, allowing for scheduling of TV programmes and bookmarking (shift between viewing locations) amongst other functions.

Conclusion

At the moment, I wouldn’t really recommend the WDTV Live in its present incarnation and would like to see the arrival of cost-effective video-based network media players that have access to the full plethora of network media services and work responsively and properly for the DLNA Home Media Network whether under “pushed” or “pulled” conditions.

Most small organisations such as micro-businesses and other small businesses will place an expectation on computer printers to be used as an “organisational short-run printing press”. This expectation has been brought around through the availability of word-processing software that can offer basic desktop-publishing functionality and easy-to-understand desktop-publishing software that can do what most people want being available at a price that most people can afford.

HP OfficeJet Pro 8600 Plus all-in-one printer

This concept has also been emphasised by printer manufacturers through their advertising collateral like a recent Canon TV commercial for their PIXMA printers or HP’s website for their OfficeJet Pro inkjet printers.

What features does it need to have?

High-yield printing

The printer should have optional support for high-yield ink or toner cartridges as well as regular-yield cartridges. This is more important for inkjet machines because the ink cartridges are typically very small and aren’t able to hold a lot of ink.

It is worth noting that most of the equipment pitched at business users like the HP OfficeJet Pro 8600 will typically have the larger-capacity cartridges and have a higher duty cycle therefore being able to do this kind of work.

As well, you should prefer to use an inkjet printer that uses individually-replaceable ink tanks for each colour. These printers also become more cost-effective to run because you only need to replace the colours that you run out of when you run out of them.

The print mechanism has to be able to support large print runs without failing mid-job. This includes having it perform advanced printing functionalities like auto-duplex or use of anciliary trays. It also has to work reliably with jobs that are based around media other than regular paper.

Automatic duplexing

This brings me to automatic duplexing. An increasing number of home-office printers and small-business printers are being equipped with an automatic duplex mechanism so that the unit can print on both sides of the paper. This is usually to permit you to save paper but people may find this function useful for turning out booklets, brochures, greeting cards and the like where they want to print on both sides of the paper. Similarly, automatic duplexing may come in handy for making flyers and signage that is to be seen on both sides of a window.

Brother MFC-J6910DW A3 inkjet multifunction printer

A common problem with some of these mechanisms is that they don’t print to the narrow edge of Letter or A4 paper during a duplex print run. The problem has been more so with most Hewlett-Packard inkjet printers except the OfficeJet Pro 8600, which was pitched as a brochure-printing machine. This can cause problems with registration shifting or a requirement to have large margins on the document. Some Canon printers such as the PIXMA MX-870 have improved automatic duplex mechanisms that can work to the edge of the paper.

Another problem is that there is a time penalty of approximately 15 seconds per page with inkjet printers when they use automatic duplexing. This is to allow the ink to dry on the front side of the paper before the printer draws the paper in to print on the back.

Issues concerning use of the printer

Plastic-based media

Plastic-based media like overhead-projector transparencies, back-print film and vinyl stickers / decals have special requirements when it comes to printing them on your printer.

They range from being able to “hold” ink that is sprayed on to them by the inkjet process or passing through a heat-based printing process such as the xerographic process used in laser and LED printers.

Laser printers and special media

If you use a laser printer, you need to use laser-optimised media for plastic-based media and stickers. This is because the printed documents have to pass through “fuser rollers” that are heated at a very high temperature in order to melt the toner on to the media. This can be a problem with the adhesive and plastic backing associated with stickers or the plastic media melting inside the machine and causing damage that is costly in both money and serviceability terms.

Brother HL-4150CDN colour laser printer

It also can extend to glossy “presentation / brochure” paper which uses some form of glazing to provide the sheen, and this can cause problems with different printers.

So you have to use special media that is rated for laser-printer or xerographic photocopier use. This media is designed to pass through the hot fuser rollers without damaging the printer.  Some of the media that is made by particular printer manufacturers is designed for the printers made by that manufacturer and, in some cases, printers based on a certain print-engine type. This is due to the manufacturer knowing the operating temperature for the printers in question.

But there are some kinds of special media that is made by third parties and pitched at a range of printers offered by many different manufacturers. Some of these also may be available under the private labels that different stationers and office-supply stores use. For example, Avery make a large range of laser labels that are compatible with most laser printers that are in circulation nowadays.

Inkjet-compliant plastic media

To get best results out of inkjet printers with plastic media, you have to use inkjet-optimised plastic media that has a rough surface on the printed side. This is to catch the droplets left by the inkjet printer as part of its printing process and avoid the ink smearing over the medium as it passes through the printer or is handled by the user.

As well, you will need to set the printer’s driver software to work with “overhead transparencies” or “back print film” when you print to plastic media. This is to allow the printer to optimise its printing process for the media.

When you load the media, you have to make sure that the rough “printing” side faces the print head as it feeds through the printer. This may be harder to understand with Hewlett-Packard and Brother printers because they use a U-shaped paper-feed path and eject the printed document above the paper storage trays. Here, you would have to put the media in with the rough side facing down when loading the printer.

Use your printer or outsource your printing for that print run

The main question that a lot of users will end up asking will be whether to have the print runs made by an outside printing house or print the documents with their printer.

One factor to consider is how many copies you will be eventually needing for your design. If you are turning out up to 20 to 40 copies of your design at a time, you can get by with using your machine. If you end up running more than that, you would need to outsource your printing. This is because of the cost of ink and paper involved in the large print runs, the costs associated with the wear and tear on your machine and the time it takes to run the large print jobs on the typical home-office or small-business printer. This last factor will be of importance with fax-enabled printers that have to be ready to receive faxes or printers that are required to turn out hard copy as part of business processes.

Another factor worth considering is how often your design is likely to change. If the design is likely to change frequently or be suited to an occasion, you may have to use your printer for the short runs or outsource larger runs to a print shop that can turn out medium runs. Examples of this may include a café, restaurant or bar turning out menus or drinks lists that are centred around particular food and drink specials, a church or funeral home turning out an order-of-service for a particular occasion or an estate agent or auctioneer running flyers about the property that they are auctionning to hand out to customers.

It is worth knowing that your machine would be useful for creating proofs or short “test-runs” of  documents that you expect to outsource to a print shop for the large outsourced runs. An example of this could include a test-run to assess the effectiveness of a design or a preview run for special customers. It can also be useful for creating “infill runs” of documents when you have run short of copies and either you don’t want to order another large print run or you want copies on hand while another large run that you ordered is being processed.

Conclusion

Here, small businesses can consider the use of a desktop printer as the “small-business printing press” if they know what their machine is capable of and they are using the right media for the job. This includes whether to work it hard on a large print job or assign the job to the local print shop.

Videos

A Day Made Of Glass 1 (link to this)

A Day Made Of Glass 2: Same Day (link to this)

My Comments

I had heard about Corning’s new series of videos about glass being more than just windows, mirrors and drinks containers. Their vision in these videos was to have windows, mirrors and similar objects as display surfaces for computer-hosted data; as well as for other applications like photovoltaic (solar) cells or electrochromic uses like tinting or frosting on demand.

Some of these visions include windows that are clear but become frosted “on demand” for privacy or show images or text such as a themed photo cluster or a diagram, with some being touchscreens for interacting with the display or being a control surface for lighting for example. The applications were being extended to automotive use like the glass displays being part of a dashboard for example.

This has been made feasible through efforts like the “Gorilla Glass” technology that is now being implemented in smartphones, tablets and large displays like TVs. Here, this glass is about an increasingly-tough surface or about a thinner glass surface for an LCD or OLED display application (including a touchscreen) being as tough as a glass surface of regular thickness.

It is even worth noting that Philips was also involved in “taking glass further” with mirrors that are displays and lately with an OLED light  / solar-cell combination which is transparent one moment and a light-source another moment while supplying extra power during the day. This latter application was pitched again at cars with a way of bringing more light in to the car but also working as an interior light when it is darker.

At least this shows that there will be many different game-changers when it comes to the design of display and similar technologies.

Articles

Is Verizon readying a family data plan? | Signal Strength – CNET News

Verizon shared data plans show up in employee training materials, still on track? | Engadget

Previous Coverage

Multiple wireless-broadband devices – could a MiFi, tethered smartphone or similar device be the answer?

Should mobile carriers charge a premium for tethering your mobile phone to your computer

My Comments

Verizon have started work on heading towards making shared / family data plans available to consumers and small-business owners who buy wireless-broadband service in their markets in the USA. They would appeal to people who run multiple devices that benefit from wireless-broadband service, such as the typical user who runs a smartphone and a tablet like an iPad. They will typically have a larger data allowance which is shared amongst the multiple devices in a similar way that voice-call minutes or text-message units are shared amongst mobile phones that are part of a family plan.

This may be offered as an alternative to tethering a laptop or tablet to a smartphone and may place their business model centred around the “tethering premiums” in jeopardy. But this can still lead to the goal of increased revenue per customer by them offering larger data allowances for the shared plans, especially as most of us buy data allowances in a way to provide some sort of “buffer” for usage peaks. But, for these plans to work well, they need to support sufficiently large allowances and allow a user to connect a maximum of between five to ten devices to the service; or 15-20 for a family / household plan. This can cater for different usage patterns including newer device classes such as cameras or vehicle infotainment systems with integrated wireless-broadband modems; as well as families that are very “switched-on” when it comes to technology.

The same “shared data plan” can be implemented by fixed-broadband Internet providers that implement data allowances in their business models like most of the ISPs serving the Australian market. Here, they could cater for users who maintain two or more Internet services like a service set up at their holiday house, city apartment or business premises as well as the service that is used at their main home. The service providers could then allow for a larger data allowance to be used between the locations with minimal allowance wastage due to underused locations. In some ways, it could allow those service providers who sell fixed and mobile Internet service, like most telcos to run service plans with larger aggregate data allowances that cover fixed and mobile use.

Any telecommunications carrier or Internet service provider who runs or intends to run a data-allowance model should then keep an eye on Verizon’s shared-data-plan model and assess whether to run it with their current business model. Similarly, the carriers could examine ways of taking this further with “virtual LANs” that exist across the devices on the same plan and consistent security / “clean-feed” parental-control parameters across all devices associated with an account.

Article

North Carolina Officially Launches the First Commercial TV White Spaces Network

My Comments

There was an official launch of a commercial-service-ready Internet-service backbone based on “TV White space” in Wilmington, North Carolina, USA. The network was to use vacant frequencies in the VHF (most likely Band III) and UHF bands that were used by TV broadcasters before they went to digital technology and shut off their analogue signals. It is primarily a fixed-wireless setup but there is the ability to use transportable modems at the customer’s end of the link. One major benefit was the ability for improved “non-line-of-sight” performance which means that forests or built-up areas cannot easily interfere with the signal.

The idea behind the “white-space” network was to make Wilmington a “smart city”, a proving ground and commercial-rollout showcase for the technology. But there were some gaps concerning the rollout and delivery of this technology to customers. For example, could customers use an existing rooftop VHF or UHF TV aerial (antenna) that is still in good working order as the aerial for the “white-space” service’s link; or would they need to install a new aerial on the mast. 

As well, the main deployment was to cover Wilmington’s parks and gardens but I would rather that we see a full-scale “TV White Space” rollout that encompasses one or more country towns with associated hamlets or villages. Here, this can be used to assess coverage of sparse living areas like farmland or mountainous area and to assess how a network operator can go about covering particular areas where there is low coverage.

Similarly, I would like to find out whether the service is really costly to provide to the customers and what the real-world bandwidth and service reliability is like in a “White Space” Internet-delivery setup.

Article

HP Blogs – 6 steps for SMBs to become IPv6-ready – The HP Blog Hub

My Comments

There is all the talk of us running out of IPv4 public IP addresses for the Internet, and an increased awareness of IPv6 Internet technology. One major driver for the IPv6 technology is the rolling out of next-generation broadband services; where this feature will be seen as being part of the “next generation” mould.

In the near time, the typical IPv6 network will operate as a “dual-stack” setup where there is an IPv6 network and an IPv4 network operating over the same network space. A device such as an IPv6-ready router will typically bridge the gap between the dual-stack devices and the IPv4-only devices by assisting in the discovery of the devices and transferring data between the two different network stacks.

Outside IT contractors

If you do regularly engage outside contractors for your IT needs such as your POS / property-management technology, it would pay to ask whether the technical staff know about IPv6 and how to deploy it. Most of these contractors may think that small business doesn’t need IPv6 but as the Internet moves to this technology, it pays to be future-proof.

ISPs and Webhosts

It is worth making sure that your business’s ISP and Internet hosted services such as your Webhost are ready for IPv6 or have intentions to roll out a customer-facing IPv6 service.

Most ISPs and Webhosts are likely to have the backend of their services working on IPv6 technology but their customer-facing services like the Web services or Internet service may not be ready. This may be due to the presumption that most customer setups will fail when confronted with IPv6. The exception may be the ISPs that serve a “switched-on” audience that knows their way around the Internet technology; or ISPs and Webhosts that offer customer-facing IPv6 service as a limited-user beta test and they may offer a “dual-stack” setup.

It also pays to check that your domain host supports domain records that are compatible with IPv6 setups. This includes having AAAAA-form DNS records that can resolve your domain name to IPv6 addresses.

Hardware

Computers that run Windows Vista or 7, MacOS X Lion or recent Linux distributions will be ready for IPv6; with Windows XP having support through a downloadable module from Microsoft’s Web site. Relatively-recent computer equipment can be upgraded from prior operating systems to the newer IPv6-compliant operating systems. For the mobile platforms, the IOS (iPhone / iPad / iPod Touch), Android, Symbian and Windows Phone 7 platforms do support IPv6. They will typically operate on a “dual-stack” arrangement by being able to service an IPv4 network and an IPv6 network at the same time through the same network interface,

Similarly, most network printers pitched at the business end of the market that were released over the last few years would have support for IPv6 in a dual-stack setup.

As for routers, managed switches, access points and other network hardware, I would suggest that you check for firmware that supports IPv6 for your existing equipment. Keep an eye on the manufacturer’s Website for newer firmware updates that support IPv6.  If you are purchasing or specifying newer network equipment, make sure that it does support IPv6 or has future support for this in a planned firmware update. Most unmanaged switches, HomePlug-Ethernet bridges and devices that don’t use a Web or SMNP user interface would not need to be compliant with IPv6. This is because these devices work at levels below the IP stacks.

In the case of routers, the device should work as a “dual-stack” unit with support for routing between the two different IP network types. It should also be able to cope with working with a dual-stack Internet service especially as the business Internet services that provide IPv6 will do so in a dual-stack manner.

When I review any network hardware including printers, I will identify those pieces of equipment that are IPv6-ready so as to help you know whether the equipment will be future-proof.

Software

As for software on these computers, any desktop firewall software or other network-utility software that you run would need to support IPv6 operation. This is something that recent versions of this software would cater for, but you should make sure of this when you specify new software. It also holds true for any other network-management programs that need to work on an IP level.

The application software that serves office functionality or line-of-business needs wouldn’t be of concern in relation to IPv6 because the operating system would be handling the network-resource requests for these programs.

Conclusion

The key issue with assuring IPv6 compatibility for your small business network is to make sure that your computer equipment works on dual-stack IPv4/IPv6 software and / or there is a router that works as n IPv4/IPv6 bridge on both sides of the network-Internet “edge”. As well, the IT contractors and services that you engage would need to be knowledgeable about IPv6 and the impending rollout for your business.