POS is a short form for point of sale. POS hardware is basically used at trade or retail level, a checkout counter in a shop, or changeable sites where a deal occurs in this type of environment like restaurants, hotels, stadiums, casinos, as well as retail environments. POS hardware uses computers and dedicated workstations that are connected with money records, barcode readers, ocular scanners and magnetic band readers for correctly and right away capturing the business. POS hardware includes label printers, cash drawers, Barcode scanners, pole display, card swiper or reader, POS Monitor, POS Touch Screen and receipt printers. To use POS hardware, retailers need to know about them.

A vital element of POS hardware is the cash drawer. It is used to store Money, credit card receipts and other paperwork. Cash drawers receive a signal from the computer or receipt printer. The cash drawer should be compatible with the rest of the system if purchasing the POS hardware separately. Cash drawers should be strong and survive the steady opening and closing. Pole display is an elective POS hardware. It is a lighted display used to display the transaction totals, sum tendered and to display feature modified messages or to show advertisement.

POS Monitors may be a flat-panel LCD monitor or a standard CRT monitor; the LCD monitor may be more expansive than the standard but takes up less space at the checkout counter. POS Touch Screens are easy and faster to use than traditional keyboards and monitors and save counter space. The keyboards serve as a main POS hardware. Keyboards could differ in complexity and technology. They range in choices from a standard 101-key model like you may have on your home PC to industry-specific POS keyboards. Where special functions are required like Grocery stores and restaurants, only programmable keyboards are used.

Bar code scanners are used at many shops and restaurants for checking out the price of the product. They can be of a different size and technology. Hand-held scanners are the most common in use for the small retailers. Bigger stores with important checkout doings may require an embedded scanner, which mostly can be seen in supermarkets. Barcode scanners read a series of numbers and the barcode, decode the information, and send that information to the computer. Credit card readers or swipers may be included in the POS hardware. The Credit Card Reader is used for credit card reading. In addition to credit and debit cards there are some devices, which can work with gift cards and other loyalty programs, these are called signature capture devices. These devices help in making more efficient transactions and lessen the costs and errors linked with deposit documentation.

Conversely, receipt printers are used to print a documentation of the transaction for the customer. Receipt printers may be a Serial dot-matrix printer or a Thermal receipt printer. Dot matrix printers are normally cheaper than Thermal receipt printers but not as durable. However, Thermal receipt printers are very expansive and are suitable for long use.

Source: Free Articles

Every modern notebook is Wi-Fi enabled, allowing internet access from any part of the globe. But while using your wireless notebook, you should be aware of Wi-Fi standards, hotspots, and how to effectively use this technology to make the optimum use of your notebook.

The 802.11g Wi-Fi standard is the latest standard, which your notebook follows when you are online. The Wi-Fi alphabet spaghetti consists of protocols like 802.11, 802.15, 802.16, and 802.20. However, for most notebook users 802.11 would be sufficient with added `a`, `b`, or `g`.

There are protocols like `e`, `h`, `i`, and `n` that are waiting in the wings to make their entry. Nevertheless, as of now, 802.11g is the only protocol that one needs to think when it comes to wireless connectivity. The latest Wi-Fi standard is the 802.11g and offers connection speeds up to 54 Mbps in the 2.4 GHz radio bands, which is five times more than the previous standard 802.11b. It is more stable, more secure, and backward compatible.

Almost all notebooks that are manufactured today are 802.11g Wi-Fi standard ready. This standard is also designed to replace the older Wired Equivalent Privacy or WEP by specifying the Wi-Fi Protected Access or WPA. The WPA will function as an interim solution, until the next standard, the 802.11i network security standard is implemented with a new algorithm called Temporal Key Integrity Protocol, which shall be much more secure and reliable.

However, until the new standard is implemented, the 802.11g is to be followed. There are only two disadvantages with this notebook Wi-Fi standard, that firstly, since it is a new standard, it may not perform as promised; and secondly, with fast emerging latest technologies, it may become obsolete by newer standards before you have the time to benefit from it.

Few tips for a secure Wi-Fi experience:

1 – You should raise the level of your laptop settings. Raise the security settings of software applications like Microsoft Outlook and Internet Explorer. Update them frequently to ensure latest protection from hackers and viruses. You should keep the encryption feature always on to ensure safest browsing with Wi-Fi.

2 – Along with the software, you should also consider updating to better hardware. Hackers have always found 802.11a and 802.11b very easy to hack. However, 802.11g is harder to crack and you should consider upgrading your hardware to a `g` card. An 802.11g is backward compatible with IEEE 802.11b, thus 802.11g can leverage the widespread, international adoption of IEEE 802.11b in products from laptops to PDAs. A personal firewall, such as ZoneAlarm or BlackICE can significantly add up to the security level of your notebook.

3 – Whenever you are using your notebook at a Wi-Fi hotspot, make it a point not to send data. While you are surfing, do not type your credit-card number, expiration date, passwords, bank account numbers, etc. Sensitive data are the goldmines for hackers, and they will swipe your bank account before you can finish saying, ` I have been a victim of online identity theft!`

4 – Consider not staying online while working. If the risks outweigh the benefits, then it would be better to stay offline; at least until the new 802.11i standard is not implemented. Even then, the security can be breached, albeit with difficulty. If you do not need Wi-Fi to implement your work, then stay switched off. If you need the Wi-Fi just to send and receive files, then stay connected for only that period. Rest of the time, stay offline.

Precautions to take at a public Wi-Fi hotspot:

Whenever you are in public domain, you need to take precautions, as it is free for all. The Wi-Fi hotspots are available to any and every person, and anybody can be connected. Besides online thefts, there is also the risk of offline thefts.

While in a public hotspot, do not be so absorbed with your notebook, that you fail to notice the people around you. There are persons who are in the business of stealing notebooks, from public hotspots. And they do not operate as individuals but as a gang.

Also, while you are online at a public hotspot, follow simple rules like encrypting files before transferring or emailing them; making sure you are connected to a legitimate access point; and file sharing is turned off. Basic precautions like password protecting your notebook, updating your system regularly, and using anti-virus software should be strictly followed. For further online security, consider using a personal firewall, a virtual private network (VPN), and web-based email with secure http (https).

Having a good Wi-Fi experience directly translates into a satisfying Internet experience. With the above suggestions being implemented, you are guaranteed to have a pleasant online time with your notebook.

This article is under GNU FDL license and can be distributed without any previous authorization from the author. However the author’s name and all the URLs (links) mentioned in the article and biography must be kept.

Source: Free Articles

In so many consumer activities the consumer is told how to use a particular product. In the technology sector, however, this practice is almost discouraged. Once people figure out how a particular technology product works they will use it as they see fit, not how somebody else deems fit.

How it was supposed to be used

One of these particular product areas is family photo sharing. A customer/user can simply upload a photo to an online photo sharing site or album service like Epson online photo albums. Once an image is posted it can be used for family photo sharing or to create a family album. This is how the process was supposed to work, and work well it did. The process, however, was not how the average user saw the process working.

How it is being used

In today’s photo sharing sites marketplace the whole process is undergoing a “fine tuning” of sorts. The online photo albums approach was nice but it did not quite appeal to the individual. The process was more family based. Although there is an ongoing evolution at work, people want an individual approach or an approach that links them up with people of like photo image interests. One particular group likes images of dog noses while another something else. But as is often the case in all other things internet people will flock together and this is what is happening in the photo sharing websites arena.

Top sites

Classifying one photo sharing site against another is difficult, but if looked at from a general numbers and user point of view, an idea of which photo sharing sites rank where can be approximated. Looking at a set of sites from a numbers point of view it is readily apparent that Photobucket is the leader among photo sharing sites. It may or may not be the leading site but in terms of the number of people using the site it is the number one site. For the most part, this ranking is attributed to its primary use as a tool on MySpace.com. Other leaders according to MySpace usage numbers include:

• Image Shack

• Tiny Pick

• Imgdump.net

• Flicker

Two worlds

The differences between a numbers leader like Photobucket and a user interface perspective is the ever changing dynamic between mainstream photo albums and the social networking aspect of photo sharing. Although Photobucket may be the photo sharing choice in the social networking category a package like Flickr can be said to be a leader in the mainstream photo sharing world. These users may be more accustom to using something along the lines of Epson online photo albums.

Meet in the middle

As is usually the case in these technology oriented situations the two will come together to create a common form that all may be comfortable with. Right now, there are many ideas as to what works best. Some photo sharing sites do better in one aspect and others do better in other areas. There is, at the moment, still a flux in the market. Where it will land is not yet certain.

Source: Free Articles

Web testing: a critical step in web application development

We all want our web sites to work well and to make a good impression upon visitors. What can we do to be sure that we provide an excellent web site performance without any unpleasant surprises? The only solution here is to perform web tests where test volume and characteristics of expected traffic are simulated as realistically as possible.

In this article we will explain the importance of web testing and the advantages you get using it. Also we’ll look more carefully on three main types of web tests according to the tasks they perform.

Business view on web testing

Web site response time should be less than 10 seconds. This is shown by the following graph, taken from the “Load time – the three important limits” article by Jakob Nielsen:

Poor performance on the Internet leads to dissatisfied users, and dissatisfied users may leave a web site and never return again. Thus, load testing implemented beforehand and corresponding measures taken to make you response time less than 10 seconds can prevent these losses.

Company expenditures on a Web site’s support should be adequate to site’s expected traffic. Ideally, you want to spend enough, and no more, allocating resources where they’ll generate the most benefit. For example, you don’t need to upgrade your Web servers if customers experience most delays in the database server or in some scripts. Thus, to maximize your ROI, you should determine when and how to upgrade IT infrastructure. Web testing can measure performance of your web system and its components allowing you to invest with maximum effectiveness.

Technical view on web testing

Complete web testing of a system before going live is the primary step to get assured of an entire web application’s ability to work properly. It can help address such issues like readiness of your web server for the traffic you are expecting and for the increasing number of users, the ability to survive a massive spike in user traffic, your server hardware sufficiency and so on. After performing web tests you’ll be able to find bottlenecks in your systems before they happen in a production environment.

Neglecting performance problems can lead not only to poor end-user experience, but even application crashes. Many bugs can only be found when the system is placed under load. You won’t be able to discover these bugs by testing the system as a single user during the development process. That is why testing of web systems under load is really important.

Performance, load and stress testing – what’s the difference?

• Performance testing is the process of identifying how an application responds to a specified set of conditions.
• Load testing is a type of testing where realistic (or hyper-realistic) workloads are specified and simulated. The load testing goal is to determine the maximum time (from a usability and customer experience standpoint, not a technical one) it should take for all page elements to load.
• The goal of stress testing is to estimate the maximum load that your web server can support. The point is that most performance issues arise only when the server is stressed with a high user load, because many important bugs simply do not surface unless you deal with very large entities such as thousands of users, thousands of mail server mailboxes, multi-gigabyte tables in databases, deep file/directory hierarchies on file systems, etc.

Performance Testing Load Testing Stress Testing

Purpose
You do performance testing in order to find any bottlenecks in your web-application code and eliminate them.

You do load testing in order to verify that your application can meet your desired performance objectives with a comfort for the users.

You do stress testing in order to observe how the system reacts to failure and how to improve it.

How it works?
Performance tests verify each part of the web server or the web application to discover how to optimize them. Most often this is done by testing various implementations of single web pages/scripts to check what version of the code is the fastest. All the activities take a white-box approach – the system is inspected and monitored “from the inside out” and from a variety of angles.
Load testing uses the best estimate of the traffic your website needs to support to guarantee that the maximum number of users will see your web pages and feel comfortable with your site. This is done by running regression tests against the system at a maximum load.
Stress tests simulate “brute force” attacks that apply excessive load to your Web server. “Real world” situations like this can be created by a massive spike of users – caused by a large referrer (imagine your website being mentioned on national TV…).

When to perform?
The best time to execute performance testing is at the earliest opportunity. Performance test at an early stage provides opportunity to prevent serious performance problems and to find bottlenecks before load testing.
Run load testing just after your eliminated the bottlenecks in your code (after performance testing).
It is recommended that a stress test is performed after a load test phase.

Web testing software – how does it work?

There is a wide range of web testing software which have different features and, of course, different price. Choosing a tool most suitable for one’s business often becomes rather difficult. You should consider what you need exactly to spend your money most effectively. When choosing a web testing tool you’d better try to find one that simulates real load conditions more effective than others do. This approach is much more efficient than producing stress test by sending many identical requests to the server. Usually it’s performed by simulating many different users coming from different IP addresses, each with their own parameters: cookies, input data for various page forms, name and password, connection speed and their own specific path through the site. Let’s take a closer look at some features of web testing tools.

Virtual users and profiles

Web testing software emulates the activity of human users with the help of virtual users. Each virtual user emulates the actions of a single real user. A test run can contain hundreds or even thousands of virtual users to let you emulate the load experienced by a web site when the corresponding number of real users browse it. User profiles describe the behavior of virtual users. This allows to emulate a real workload on a tested server. A workload (or test volume) is the total amount of activity placed on the tested web application. It consists of a certain number of virtual users who process a defined set of transactions in a specified time period. For each user profile, you should specify web pages that will be requested (visited). It can be easily done with the help of recording tool.

Recording tool

Usually web testing software lets you create profiles for virtual users by recording your own actions when you browse the web site. You should perform all the steps of the virtual user for which you create the profile. The system then reproduces these steps during test run. All you have to do is to make some requests by clicking on necessary links like you do when surfing web pages in your browser. You can use this scenario later as many times as you want.

Flexible load level definition

You can either choose a constant load level for the whole test time, or increase the load after the specified time intervals during the test, or periodically increase/decrease the number of users by introducing 2 phases changing one another: one with a low load level and another with a high load level. You also specify the duration of test run and the number of virtual users for each profile. Overall load significantly depends on the type of users, so you can change it by introducing new types of users making them “slow” or “fast”.

Test reports and graphs

Summary reports and graphs are useful to determine the presence of any problems in the overall performance. It’s better to choose a web testing tool that provides you with the highest level of detail in report. When using a good web testing application you can check through more detailed reports down to the level of separate user profiles and pages to find specific bottlenecks. All reports are usually created in HTML format, so you can easily share them with your colleagues. Some tools also support saving test results in MS Excel compatible format.

Conclusion

Web testing software gives you an assurance of reliability and stable work of your web sites or applications. Of course, you always can neglect purchasing testing software and hope that everything would be ok. But in that case nobody guarantees that one day your web site won’t crash. So, web testing tool is a worthy purchase, isn’t it?

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com

When buying a new flat-screen television, having the right TV wall brackets are as important as the type of television you buy. Please don’t forget about this, as it is definitely the most important consideration. You have several options, such as having your television flat-mounted or giving it the ability to move or swivel. Your TV wall brackets will provide an important foundation needed to keep your new investment from falling off the wall and breaking. While in the past your television sat on the floor, today’s new televisions are lightweight and easily mounted anywhere you choose. Your television salesperson should be your partner in finding your new model, and you need to know the appropriate questions to ask. If you buy a clearance model, go through the trouble of mounting of it, and then decide later to get the latest and greatest one, you are simply wasting your time and ruining your new TV wall brackets. This is your most important investment and should be treated that way.

When shopping, be sure to get a complete picture of what your television’s warranty covers. A lot of times the labor is included in installation but not the hardware. Many times you are covered when doing your own installation, and you may trade your TV for a new one if you mess up your own install and end up breaking it. This is important. If a satisfaction guarantee comes with your warranty, you usually have a set time period to turn in your television if you are not happy for ANY reason. You can do your own installation on your new TV. You want to shop around and make sure you find the best TV wall brackets available. While you were thinking of mounting your TV flat on the wall, you should be aware that there are other options available such as having a movable arm or a swivel. The movable arm is especially useful if you live in a large open living space.

Be sure to know what you need. Measure your space and do your homework. Also take a look at the aesthetics that your space requires, such as design, color, and other considerations such as backlighting. A lot of TV wall brackets are hidden, so their design is not important. This allows you to focus completely on the television. Research the wall brackets themselves as well. Look online at the prices and what is available. Features usually determine how they are categorized (swivel, movable arm, flat mount), as well as the weight of your television. Newer televisions are now very lightweight, so find out how much your new unit weighs before buying hardware. Shopping online will be helpful as you can compare prices and features before you buy. Installing your new TV wall brackets yourself can be very rewarding as you can look at your unit daily and remind yourself what a great job you’ve done. Once you’ve done your research on the one you want including the TV wall brackets, you can shop with confidence, knowing you’re buying what you need. This is important. Remember that buying a flat-screen television and getting the right TV wall brackets is the most important investment you can make.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com

You have probably heard the expression: “You can’t be too rich or too thin.” Well, now you can also add: “You can’t have too much memory.”

Actually, that last phrase is little misleading because when buying RAM (Random Access Memory) for your computer you can have too much if your computer doesn’t have the hardware to handle or utilize all of your RAM. But for the most part, as any computer user will quickly realize, when it comes to computers you can’t have too much memory.

Therefore, when buying a laptop or computer, memory should be one of your main considerations. Go for the highest amount you can afford simply because the more RAM you have, the faster your computer will run.

Besides, many of today’s software applications place ever increasing demands on your system’s memory. You have peripherals such as webcams, digital cameras, DVD players, USB hard drives… throw in extremely complicated webpages and PC based video games… all needing more and more RAM. Who knows what the immediate future will bring and what extra demands will be made upon your system’s memory.

The Tricky Issue of Shared Memory

Keep in mind, that unless you have a high end graphics video card with its own memory, your system’s memory will more than likely be shared between your Processor (CPU) and your graphics chip (video memory). Which means when your computer uses its own memory for your operating system, software applications, peripherals… your memory is quickly used up if this memory is also shared to run your video/graphics – and your system will report significantly less memory than what you originally thought you had.

That’s why many computer gamers will buy expensive Graphics Cards with lots of dedicated video RAM or built-in video memory. This way you can turn off the shared memory and free up your system’s memory for maximum power. While you can change or configure your shared memory thru your computer’s BIOS settings, many experts suggest you leave this setting alone since it is already optimized for best video/display performance. In other words, you could screw up your display resolutions unless you know exactly what you’re doing.

So buying extra RAM or high-end Graphics Cards will always be a safer option; if not the cheapest route to take. Often these gamers will even connect two or more GPUs (Graphics Processing Units) together in a SLI configuration so they will have enough memory and graphics processing power for all their highly demanding video graphics and games. SLI (Scalable Link Interface), PCI Express (Peripheral Component Interconnect Express), FSB (Front Side Bus) are all ways of handling/transferring RAM and your data quickly to the components that need it within your computer. That’s why RAM speed is also important for smoother running applications and games.

How Much Memory Should You Get?

When buying any system there is usually a limit to how much memory your device can hold or take. These days the amount of RAM is increasing, many systems can now take from 1 to 8 Gigs of RAM. You should ask or check the specs for the computer or laptop you’re buying and it will display the installed memory for you, plus it will also tell you the maximum memory that can be installed.

Today’s laptops and computers require a large amount of RAM, Windows Vista alone is recommended at 1 Gig of RAM, but many computer users have found using 2 or 3 Gigs of RAM will help to make Vista run more smoothly, if that’s possible. Although you can run Windows XP on 128MB of RAM, you should use 256 MB or more for best results. For the Mac OS X system you will need a minimum of 128 MB but for optimal performance try 512 MB. Linux will work nicely on a system with only 4 MB of RAM.

Of course, the devil is in the details, if you only want to use your computer for simple computing, browsing the web, reading and sending emails… then your memory requirements will be minimum, why waste your money on RAM that you will not be using. So if your memory requirements are very low, you can save yourself some money by going with the minimum amount of RAM, just make sure it is enough to run your computer (OS, CPU and Videos) smoothly. Always keep in mind, in most cases, you can simply install extra memory in the future if you should need it.

Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com

Five Gadgets Every Student Needs to Avoid a Computing Disaster It’s only the beginning of August but already time to start shopping for the high tech necessities every student is going to need to succeed at school. Whether you’re buying someone’s first laptop computer, upgrading the old one, or looking for advice on essential gadgets for today’s student, Here are some suggestions for what to buy along with some tips on good deals.

Source: www.amazines.com

Secure Digital memory cards (SD Cards) are tiny and easy to use memory storage devices, which can be utilized for a wide range of host devices.  The SD card is compatible, has broad inter operability and already supported by more than 665 companies worldwide. 

This tiny, easy to use card offers a multitude of powerful advantages by linking an assortment of digital equipment through its easy connectivity and does not require the use of a PC.  The omnipresent network era has emerged and its key is the SD Memory card.

The SD memory card measures 24 mm x 32 mm x 2.1 mm.  It is slim, compact and easy to handle and can be moved between different appliances.  An SD memory card compatible device plays music, video clips and movies without a drive mechanism unlike in CD and DVD players, using decoder software.  Due to this, the product designers get new creative freedom to make the equipment more compact. 

SD memory cards are now available in several capacities and new 2, 4 and 8 GB cards are in the making.  Large capacity of SD memory cards are used in various digital content type and high quality video.  SD memory cards have high-speed data transfer capacity which is essential especially in large volume of data. 

The content protection technology for the SD memory card developed by 4C is the key to enable a new distribution system for music, movie and other media since it gives a high level of protection against unlawful piracy.  This protection is enhanced in SD memory card through built-in ‘key revocation’ technology.  Copying from PC to the SD memory card is constrained to three copies in compliance with the SDMI specification.  With SD memory card, expansion of networking is also possible. 

There are mini SD cards and micro SD cards that are used in mobile phones.  Mini SD cards are of the size of a stamp whereas the micro SD card is 15 mm long and 11 mm wide – small to the extent of keeping at the tip of the finger.  Even though mini SD cards and micro SD cards are small, they have all the features of a SD card including copy protection.

The salient features of the SD cards are their security feature having a high level copy right protection function, of compact and perfect size for audio players and mobile phones, speed with about 10MB per second and in addition a protection switch to prevent accidental erasure.

SD memory card is a smart device that fix into any standard input/output slot and plugs straight into a normal USB slot.  SD memory cards do not need adaptors, cables or wire to transfer data to the PC.  SD memory card is necessary when traveling or taking work home from the office.

articlesbase.com