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Network Security Toolkit – A Linux Distribution For Monitoring Network Traffic

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Network Security Toolkit - A Linux Distribution

Wireshark is a convention analyzer programming fit for looking at the substance of all information parcels on the way to the organization interfaces are utilized. The program gathers the tradition of Ethereal, putting together its activity concerning the experience and innovation created by the “ancestor”.

Wireshark’s right gives a nitty gritty outline of the nearby organization by proposing an easy-to-utilize and quickly justifiable graphical point of interaction. 

Wireshark can recognize the organization conventions utilized for the different sorts of correspondence and show the different exemplifications. This brilliant convention analyzer’s solidarity is its adaptability: because of extraordinary arranging and sifting rules, it rapidly extrapolates the premium information from the recorded data.  Wireshark offers a substantial guide to help specialists distinguish potential weaknesses in the frameworks utilized in the organization (access certifications sent decoded, dubious movement executed by LAN clients, travel of delicate data, etc.).

There are different variants of Wireshark, one for each working framework, be it Windows, Linux or Macintosh operating system X. free bundle that gathers most open-source applications connected with the security world. Among them are Wireshark and an entire series of projects quite compelling to the organization executive: the total rundown can counsel by clicking here. NST is founded on Fedora and offers an alternate Linux dissemination.

We introduced the Organization Security Tool stash in a VMware Player virtual machine for our situation. The upsides of such a methodology are impressive: first, you will have a “virtual PC” that can be utilized to control information traffic between servers associated with the nearby organization and among them and remote machines on the Web.

To begin with, you want to download and introduce the free VMware Player programming. We downloaded the Windows form and introduced it on a Windows 7 machine. Downloading the Organization Security Tool stash ISO will be conceivable by clicking here. It can require a few minutes to finish (the record “gauges” a great deal, around 1.4 GB). The subsequent stage is to begin Vmware Player, click on the Make a virtual machine connect, then, at that point, pick the I will introduce the working framework later choice.

From the following window, you should choose Linux as the “visitor” working framework (the working framework running inside the virtual machine) and Fedora from the Form drop-down menu. At the point when the third screen shows up, you should indicate the organizer on the hard circle where the virtual machine will be put away. At last, it is important to demonstrate the limit of the virtual hard plate on which NST will be introduced. 

In the Greatest plate size box, it is feasible to demonstrate 20 GB leaving the Store virtual circle as a solitary document choice enacted. To finish the technique, you will then, at that point, need to tap on the Completion button. To finish the system, you will then need to tap on the Completion button. To get to the Album/DVD (IDE) area, click the Use ISO picture record, click the Peruse button and demonstrate the following 2.13.0-1713.i686.iso document recently downloaded from the Web. 

This change will permit the items in the NST ISO document for sure. At last, tapping on the Organization connector and picking the Spanned: associated straightforwardly with the actual organization choice, will guarantee that the Linux virtual machine shows up – to the next client frameworks associated with the neighborhood organization – as a “physical” framework. The virtual machine can be begun by affirming the decisions by squeezing the OK button (connect Play virtual machine ).

ALSO READ: Network Security: Rules And Tools

How to scan old photos and transform them into digital

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How to scan old photos and transform them into digital

Here are a few simple tips for acquiring old photos with a scanner or smartphone and turning them into digital images. The photos that we have been taking for years are almost all digital. Google Photos, for example, allows you to better manage your photo archives with the ability to find images depicting specific people or past events in the blink of an eye: Google Photos app to manage your archives and create backups.

But how do we scan and digitally acquire old photos that have already been printed (for example, those contained in albums) and thus save them from the action of time?

It must be said that there are many ways to scan old photos and transform them into digital images: the maximum quality, however, can only be obtained if you have the negatives of the photos.

In the absence of negatives, choosing the correct DPI value before scanning is essential not to lose most of the details of the digitally printed image . Before attempting to acquire old digital photos, we suggest you take the utmost care in cleaning them: using a soft, non-linting cloth, we recommend cleaning each printed photo by removing all traces of dirt, including fingerprints. 

The same cleaning operation must also be carried out on the scanner glass. Even using a smartphone and a suitable application, it will be possible to digitize slides or verify the obtainable result without immediately rushing to buy a slide scanner.

Scanning Old Photos: Some General Tips

Before scanning photos with the scanner, we suggest reading the article Scanning: the best parameters for acquiring photos and text documents from a scanner. It is advisable to pay maximum attention to the configuration of the parameters to acquire photos by the scanner.

To scan old photos correctly positioned on the scanner bed, you must opt for monochrome if you want to acquire black and white images; color, of course, for all the others. Great importance must be placed on the choice of resolution in terms of DPI ( dots per inch or “dots per inch”).

The minimum DPI value to choose is 300 DPI (if you want to print the image in the same format as the original); however, if you wish to try to enlarge it (without demanding too much in terms of size), it is advisable to choose a value of at least 600 DPI (which is good for the subsequent printing of an image up to A4 format) and, if the photo contains many details, you can eventually go up to 1,200 DPI.

300 DPI is a good choice, in general, only for capturing photos intended for web posting; for printing, especially with modern scanners and printers, it is good to go up to 600 DPI or more.

Once the scan is completed, it is advisable to wait to save the image acquired with the scanner immediately: subsequent memorization in JPEG format (it is a lossy format, which causes a partial loss of information following the compression applied) can ruin the scanned photo. 

It is a good idea to work with a RAW image, and only then, once the modifications are complete, save the photo in JPEG format. For old photos acquired from a scanner, use a photo editing program and cut out the area containing the image. Even without turning to PhotoShop, you can use the programs presented in the article Best programs to edit photos, crop the image, optimize it, and save it to disk.

Acquire old photos from smartphones with PhotoScan. A good alternative to the scanner to digitally capture old photos is to use your smartphone.  Although the best results can be obtained with a well-configured scanner, you can also use the Google PhotoScan app ( FotoScan, in Italian), available in Android and iOS versions, to acquire old photos. 

After installing and launching PhotoScan, place the photo within the frame displayed within the application and press the button to acquire the image. You will see four white dots appear within the frame: align the mobile device on the four dots so that they turn blue. 

At each of the four points, PhotoScan will take a new shot of the printed image: the goal is to collect as much information as possible on the photo to be transformed into digital and eliminate annoying reflections and shadows. At the end of the acquisition, PhotoScan automatically optimizes the photos, improving the quality of the result and performing the necessary cropping/rotation. The images are then saved in the smartphone’s memory.

Some Tips To Get Better Results With PhotoScan 

  1. Work in an open area and on a flat surface
  2. Adjust the positioning of the photo to be acquired to reduce shadows and reflections
  3. Position the photos to be acquired on a surface with a uniform color
  4. Always keep the smartphone parallel to the photo and the surface on which one is lying down
  5. If reflections persist, try turning on the flash (not the ideal setting but worth a try)

Portable Photo Scanner: Smartphone And Photomyne

Photomyne is an alternative app to PhotoScan that allows you to achieve the same goals by offering a few more features and possibilities. Let’s say that Photomyne is not a completely free app right away: some tools can be used after an in-app purchase, but the main features can be used at no cost. Furthermore, all the application features can be used for 7 days from the installation.

When starting the app for the first time, it is important to wait to touch the Subscribe button immediately (for around 19.99 euros a year): in fact, it is optional to activate any subscription to try out how the application works. Photomyne facilitates the digital acquisition of any printed photo and allows you to scan multiple images simultaneously. Think of the case in which you want to digitally transform several photos pasted on the same page of an album.

Slide And Negative Scanner

You can try the free HELMUT Film Scanner app to turn old negatives into digital photos without special hardware. It takes the user by the hand and guides him in the negative acquisition and optimization phase, allowing him to act on brightness, contrast, levels, color balance, color, saturation, etc.

HELMUT Film Scanner can handle black and white negatives, color negatives, and color positives. To get interesting results, ensure the negative is placed on a clear surface and evenly lit. 

For example, you can use an overhead projector or place the negative on glass through which sunlight filters. A further solution consists in placing the negative on a notebook screen set at maximum brightness and then opening a completely white screen (for example, you can use the Windows Notepad window enlarged to full screen). HELMUT Film Scanner allows you to scan the negative and turn it into a digital photo that can be stored directly in your photo gallery. A series of “ad hoc” tools allow you to improve the quality of the scan.

ALSO READ: Google Messages Uses The RCS Protocol: What And How It Works

Internal Hard Drive, Which One To Buy?

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Internal Hard Drive, Which One To Buy

SSD drives are the best solution for speeding up the operating system’s loading and optimizing any machine’s read and write performance, whether a desktop or a notebook. However, an internal hard drive is always the most suitable solution to store large amounts of data.

Both because the cost per gigabyte of a traditional hard disk is considerably lower than that of an SSD and because SSDs – although durability is no longer their problem – ensure an overall number of writes (before presenting a problem ) significantly lower than magneto-mechanical hard drives.

An SSD was therefore created to accommodate the operating system and applications, but for data storage (think of the number of writes that are required daily on one’s files …), it is good to prefer – or, indeed, to support as a secondary unit – to traditional hard drives. An internal hard disk can be physically installed inside a desktop or notebook PC, configured on a workstation or server in RAID mode ( Avoid data loss: how to configure RAID ), possibly connected via USB cable – externally – using an adapter or mounted in a NAS server called to store large amounts of data.

In the article Hard disk or SSD, characteristics and differences, we have highlighted the main differences between hard disks and SSDs. In contrast, in the in-depth study Moving operating system to SSD, we have explained how to transfer the operating system and applications to an SSD, starting from a hard disk internal. Therefore, if you use an SSD as the main drive, combining it with an internal hard drive as a secondary storage medium is an excellent idea: Installing a second hard drive: why and how to do it.

Internal Hard Disk, What Are The Main Features

There are a few useful parameters to choosing an internal hard disk. The first is the format – 3.5 or 2.5 inches – which must be chosen according to the type of system that will house the internal hard disk. On desktop PCs, it is possible to install a 2.5-inch hard disk using a special adapter ( this sled allows, for example, to install two units; otherwise, you can fall back on this even more “basic” adapter ).

The second parameter to be taken into consideration is, of course, the size of the hard disk: a 2 Terabyte (2000 GB) hard disk is today the best choice because it generally allows you to combine reliability (see below), practicality (you can store large amounts of data) and price.

Then there is the parameter rotation speed of the hard disk platters, expressed in revolutions per minute (RPM). 

If 5400 RPM internal hard drives were once the most popular, the best-performing ones are now at 7200 RPM. A third version – at 10,000 RPM – is also available, although the price is decidedly higher, and the maximum capacity generally is at most 1 Terabyte or 1,000 GB. If you choose a hard drive with many revolutions, this should be mainly intended to house the operating system and applications. Otherwise, for simple data storage (subject to some exceptions), a cheaper 5400 RPM hard disk may be fine (purchasing an SSD for the operating system and programs instead).

Finally, the interface used to connect the hard disk is important. Most recent internal hard drives all use the SATA III interface, which – with compatible motherboards – allows for data transfers of up to 6 Gbps or 750 MB/s. However, the SATA III interface is compatible with the previous SATA standards: a “latest fashion” hard disk can easily be connected to older motherboards (provided they have a SATA connector). Still, its performance will be limited to 3 or 1.5 Gbps (SATA 2.0 and SATA 1.0).

In this regard, it is good to remember that older motherboards cannot recognize modern large-capacity hard drives (already, with drives larger than 2.19 TB, you can encounter quite a few difficulties). The platters of a hard disk are constantly moving to reduce the time required for data transfer. When the operating system requests a specific file, the hard disk determines which platter and track it is stored to move the head to the correct position ( seek time ). 

Subsequently, there is the additional time between the moment the head is positioned on the correct sector within the track (latency) and the moment the data transfer begins. Hard drive speed is usually expressed in the maximum amount of data the storage device can read/write sequentially per second. This value is usually between 150 and 220 MB/s, while for reading/writing small files, the performance drops to 1-2 MB/s.

The storage of many small files is the Achilles heel of hard drives. SSDs solve most problems but are more expensive: if the cost per gigabyte for hard disks is around 3.5 euro cents for SSDs, it rises to 30-34 cents for 250 GB models and 26-27 cents for those with 1 or 2TB capacity. Any product that absorbs electricity returns a large part of it as heat. 

Hard drives are no exception, and it is good to remember that the less capacious models are characterized by an energy consumption of around 6 W, while those with greater capacities can reach 11 W. Great attention must be paid to their positioning inside the PC so that the heat produced by the hard drives can be easily dissipated.

The size of the hard disk cache has no impact on the drive’s performance in usual activities such as word processing, gaming, or watching a video. The larger hard drives have a larger cache: 64 or 128 MB, while 32 MB are now only present on older models. The operating system manages the cache where the most frequently requested files are usually kept. When choosing a hard disk, especially if it will be installed in a NAS or a Mini PC – in situations where the silence of the system matters a lot – it is also advisable to check its noise level in dB.

Reliability Of An Internal Hard Drive

SSDs experience malfunctions at a much lower frequency than traditional internal hard drives. Still, when these occur, there is a much higher probability of losing data (see More Reliable SSDs, the conclusions of a 6-year study ). With an SSD and an internal hard drive, backing up your data is paramount. The reliability of an internal hard drive is a separate chapter.

They are obtaining objective and objective data on the potential life span of a particular hard drive model complex. Of course, the problems on hard drives made by various manufacturers over time are known, but each model makes its own story. Some excellent data that allow you to “get an idea” about the behavior of the internal hard drives of various manufacturers are those that BackBlaze publishes on a more or less quarterly basis.

BackBlaze is a US company that offers cloud backup solutions and uses just under 100,000 magneto-mechanical hard drives in its data centers. An excellent sample, therefore, which allows you to know – over time – which and how many hard drives “kick the bucket”.The data periodically published by BackBlaze must, in any case, be evaluated with all the necessary precautions: the cloud provider uses more or less cheap consumer or semi-professional hard drives inside data centers. 

Therefore, the workload to which internal hard drives are subjected differs from what the same products are called upon to support on the consumer or professional side. The reports gradually published by BackBlaze are collected on a single page, which can be consulted at this address. The table we reproduce below is interesting and summarizes the “performances” recorded by the various types of internal hard drives in October-December 2017. 

Once again, the extensive HGST hard drives come out very well. The model that stands out for reliability is a 4 TB capacity HGST hard disk (HDS5C4040ALE640), which recorded 0.19% of failures (only 3 disks out of over 6,000 used and “squeezed” to the maximum by Backblaze).

Overall, HGST hard drives emerged victorious, showing signs of failure in no more than 0.79% of used drives. 

The only exception is an 8 TB model (1.54% failure rate), but the number of hours worked must be bigger to consider the judgment sufficiently reliable. Black jersey for Western Digital hard drives, which Backblaze has almost abandoned: the 3 TB and 6 TB models have failed by more than 4.5% of the total. It should be noted that Western Digital, a company that once acquired the assets of Hitachi HGST, has decided to abandon the historic HGST brand: The HGST brand will no longer exist. From now on, only Western Digital hard drives.

Therefore, it will be more difficult to recognize hard drives designed and manufactured by HGST, not Western Digital. Some internal hard drives are presented as green or low power: that is, they use a mechanism that aims to minimize energy consumption by “parking” the drive head after a period of inactivity.

When an I/O activity is requested, the hard disk must return the head to the correct position. In the long run, frequent operations of this type can significantly reduce the life of the hard disk.

And this is precisely why most hard disk manufacturers remember that green or low-power internal hard disks must never be used in enterprise environments where the RAID technique is used.

The reduced “life cycle” of these internal hard drives was also immediately noticed by BackBlaze, who explicitly mentioned them in their reports. That said, only rely on a bit of hard drive, at least if it is intended to host important data, which cannot be expendable for any reason. And while hard drives capable of automatically managing a backup copy on the cloud are emerging ( Seagate Duet, hard drives that create backups on Amazon Drive ), the best way to avoid losing data is to set up your own NAS server.

Configured in at least RAID 1 mode, the NAS server will automatically copy its data to multiple hard drives. In this way, if one of the hard disks should break, the data will always be stored on the other hard disks or in any case, they can be reconstructed using the accessory copies.

Buying multiple internal hard drives and connecting them to a single NAS server is an excellent strategy to avoid data loss.

A NAS server can be built in total autonomy by assembling different hardware, or you can orient yourself on devices supplied by various manufacturers ( Synology, QNAP, Netgear, Seagate, Western Digital,…). These products are usually marketed without disks: purchasing and connecting two or more internal hard disks will be possible depending on the number of slots.

  1. Building a professional NAS server
  2. NAS server, Synology’s DS216 tested for you

It is important to remember that the internal hard drives intended for NAS servers must have very specific characteristics to count on a good duration. In the article Which hard drives to choose for the NAS server, we presented the various lines of hard drives from each manufacturer expressly designed for NAS. Western Digital WD Red, Seagate IronWolf, HGST Deskstar NAS and Toshiba N300 are the names to prefer when you have to buy internal hard drives to insert in the slots of NAS systems. A few words about the various series of internal hard drives

Western Digital WD Black

The range of hard drives is designed for creatives, “enthusiasts”, and gamers. They have a five-year warranty and excellent performance: up to 227 MB/s, 7200 RPM, and 128 MB cache.

Seagate Barracuda Pro

Large-capacity hard drives offer improved performance over traditional Barracudas. They have a 256 MB cache and can reach 220 MB/s in sequential reading while optimizing small file management—five-year guarantee.

HGST UltraStar He Helium

HGST’s UltraStar He series is “the best of the best” that can be found on the market. Hard disks of this type are filled with helium, a gas that reduces friction and energy consumption to a minimum, increasing speed and data density without contraindications.

Seagate FireCuda

A line of Hybrid Hard Drives (SSHD) that accelerate hard drive performance using a small 8GB flash memory managed directly by the drive firmware and not by the operating system. Performance is thus improved by saving frequently used files in this area.

ALSO READ: Anatomy Of A Landing Page That Converts

Google Messages Uses The RCS Protocol: What And How It Works

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Google Messages Uses The RCS Protocol

The Google Messages app embraces the RCS protocol, allowing you to send “rich” messages containing multimedia files, freeing yourself from traditional SMS and MMS. End-to-end encryption is still missing.

After having recorded several flops on the side of instant messaging apps, Google recently confirmed that it wants to focus only on the Messages application, which until yesterday could only be used to manage SMS and the by now superseded MMS, and now heralds many new features.

The main innovation introduced in Google Messages for Android is the support for the RCS ( Rich Communication Services ) protocol. RCS is not an invention of Google: it is a protocol already approved in 2008 by the GSM Association (GSMA) but remained essentially unused until more recently. The RCS protocol is an evolution of traditional SMS because it combines various services while managing authentication, authorization, registration, pricing and routing. 

With RCS, users can receive sending and reading receipts, send photos and videos (even in high resolution), know if the interlocutor is answering, and involve several participants in the conversation. The RCS standard was born under the wing of the GSMA to work on mobile phone networks assuming cooperation on the part of the telecommunications operators.

In the second half of 2019, several mobile operators agreed to cooperate to accelerate the adoption of RCS. In Italy, however, only Vodafone supports it (source: GSMA data updated to 4 May 2020 ). At least in the current state and officially (it is not certain that other operators have not adapted in the meantime, even for a limited number of users).

Why Google Decided To Use The RCS Protocol: What It Is And How It Works

What did Google do? The Mountain View company had the idea of ​​embracing the RCS protocol to implement it directly in its Messages app. In this way, this application embraces a GSMA standard, effectively ignoring individual mobile phone operators’ implementation of the same protocol. Suppose RCS is not directly supported on the mobile network of the telecommunications operator chosen by the user. 

In that case, the Google Messages app will still use the data or WiFi connection to sort communications. Google’s Jibe Mobile platform acts as an “intermediary” between the various users (regardless of whether they use the Google Messages app or, in any case, an RCS-compatible mobile network and client).  Jibe provides in-cloud support to sort messages via RCS when using a mobile network that does not yet support the protocol. 

As seen in the presentation video we have republished, Google explains that it could take years for individual telephony providers to adopt a protocol like RCS. The company founded by Larry Page and Sergey Brin instead tries to force things by using the suitable link to the implementation of RCS on the cloud, thus making it possible to send “rich” messages (therefore containing texts of any size but also images and multimedia files) relying on the data network and WiFi.

To access the RCS settings, start the Google Messages app, go to the settings and then touch the Chat features item. It will read ” Connected ” when your device can send and receive RCS messages through the Google Messages app. The ” Activate chat features ” option allows you to use the data network and WiFi connection, when available, to send and receive “rich” messages using the RCS protocol.

You can also choose whether or not to send read receipts and show a typing indicator (to let various contacts know when you are replying to their messages). If an RCS message is not delivered to the recipient, Google Messages will try to send it again via SMS/MMS by default. Still, you can refrain from a new attempt using traditional SMS and MMS or ask before sending again by SMS /MMS. Furthermore, by default, Google Messages downloads files transmitted via RCS weighing up to 105 MB: it is possible to lower the threshold (to consume less mobile data) or completely disable the automatic download of files.

When composing a new message with the Google app or replying to someone else’s communication, it is important to check what the icon in the lower right corner looks like. If it shows SMS or MMS, the message will be sent using the traditional methods; if the SMS and MMS indications are not displayed, however, it means that the sending of the message will take place via the RCS protocol on the data network or via WiFi at no additional cost (it is important to make sure you have updated the Google Messages app to the most recent version; release 5.7.097 or later).

The Google Messages app pings the selected contact’s terminal to ascertain whether or not the RCS protocol is supported. There is no centralized database like, for example, Apple iMessage.

At this address, you can find more information on the functioning of the Google Messages app.

For example, Google reminds you that if you change your smartphone and move the SIM to another device, you must remember to deactivate chats via RCS in the Messages app.

Otherwise, the message-sending and receiving functions could remain active on the old one—terminal for up to 8 days. From a security point of view, all communications via RCS are client-server encrypted, and since June 2021, Google Messages has used end-to-end encryption.

If the recipient is not online, Google will keep the data on its servers until it is possible to deliver the messages. However, the company has specified that the communications will be kept on the cloud only for the time strictly necessary. Applications such as WhatsApp, Telegram (limited to the “secret chat” feature), Signal and Apple iMessage use end-to-end encryption instead.

WhatsApp has repeatedly been the target of harsh criticism from Pavel Durov, creator of Telegram: WhatsApp is unsafe: Pavel Durov accuses the Facebook app again. WhatsApp is criticized for its not very open attitude (with the code remaining proprietary and even obfuscated to make it difficult for third parties to analyze it), which would have favored the use of vulnerabilities and zero-days that remained unresolved for a long time.  The new functions of Google Messages can also be used from the web to send and receive communications from the browser (also via PC): Send messages and SMS via mobile phone.

ALSO READ: How IO-Link Speeds Up Sensor Engineering

Leaving Your Smartphone On Charge All Night: A Bad Practice?

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Leaving Your Smartphone On Charge All Night

Indeed, even today, many find out if leaving a cell phone charged for the time being is a legitimate or mistaken system. Large numbers of us have a propensity for stopping our cell phone into the wall attachment just before bed and passing it on to charge for the time being.

Is this a good practice, or could it be smarter to act unexpectedly? Isn’t leaving the battery generally fueled for a long time, in any event, when it has arrived at 100 percent independence, a possible issue?

Suppose immediately that the quantity of charge and release cycles is restricted: this boundary is normal to all lithium-particle (Li-Particle) batteries and is a limited number. All cell phone producers express that their gadgets permit 300 to 500 re-energize cycles, after which the battery duration will decrease. Assuming the independence of the cell phone’s battery is consumed significantly when you re-energize it, its broad span will be diminished by around 50% of the cycle.

Leaving the cell phone to charge for the time being doesn’t influence the number of charge cycles since they may decrease when the telephone is utilized. Apple makes sense of well how a battery re-energize cycle ought to be seen accurately: As per Wiens, 400 re-energize cycles can be arrived at in about eighteen months from the principal utilization of a cell phone, and it would surely not be the short-term re-energizes that would lessen the existence of the batteries (presently badly designed because they are coordinated into the body of the phone without the chance of a straightforward substitution).

The notable charging gadget producer, Anker, added that each cell phone for quite a long time has now had an exceptional incorporated chip that forestalls re-energizing once it arrives at the 100 percent limit. Given the telephone is bought from a confirmed and genuine retailer, everything looks great, leaving the cell phone charged for the time being. Notwithstanding, the harsh foe of battery duration is the temperature

Assuming you intend to leave your cell phone charged the entire evening, put it on a cool surface that doesn’t make heat dispersal troublesome. It should be kept from charging the telephone on top of the covers, under a pad, or in a cabinet. The battery temperature shouldn’t surpass 35-38 °C together not to have issues and not cause a decrease in battery duration. On Android telephones, this can be checked by essentially introducing Droid Data and afterward choosing the Battery tab at the top.

Numerous producers, particularly those offering quick charging frameworks, have created advances that prevent overheating at the battery level (the intensity will create at the wall charger level). Apple shows unequivocally that past 35°C, issues can happen with the batteries: it is sensible to expect a comparable way of behaving for iPhones and cell phones from different makers.

Likewise, as Battery College makes sense of, even the virus can be unsafe: over and over, re-energizing a cell phone at freezing temperatures can prompt the age of a metal plating on the anode of the battery, which remains forever present, making it unusable temporarily. Term.

Wiens likewise noticed that the most widely recognized objections about cell phone battery duration connect with the peculiarity by which the cell phone neglects to charge past a specific limit esteem or closes somewhere near itself at a rate remaining charge over 0-2%.

In these cases, it is important to assess the battery substitution regardless of whether you can attempt to do the alleged alignment: the technique comprises releasing the gadget up to 0% and afterward charging it. In the article Charging the wireless battery: the missteps to stay away from to make it last longer, we have gathered the primary ideas for keeping your cell phone battery lively.

A great appeal to keep away from issues in what’s in store is, regardless, not to bring the cell phone battery to 0%, in some measure as a propensity. The council will move to re-energize the cell phone battery when the leftover independence drops to around 15%. Let the cell phone switch off with the battery at 0% to complete a potential adjustment.

An incredible way to recharge your cell phone around evening time isn’t to utilize quick charging advancements but to allow the battery to re-energize leisurely. Along these lines, the charger and, like this, the battery will work with lower voltages: Quick battery charger: what changes with the different gadgets.

Considering everything, the “memory impact” that assembled the old nickel batteries (NiMH and NiCd) has nothing to do with Li-Particle batteries. Lithium batteries last less when they go downhill because of their ability: they corrupt so much that an at this point “dated” telephone doesn’t arrive at a full charge (as at the hour of the primary use); however, they stop at 80% or even less. BatteryUniversity refers to it as an “elderly person condition.”

ALSO READ: How The iPhone’s Always-On Display Changes With The Following Apple Update

BIRT: Open Source Recipe For Reporting And Business Intelligence

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BIRT Open Source Recipe For Reporting And Business

BI is the acronym for “Business Intelligence,” which refers to that category of software capable of transforming data into business support information. These solutions “do not generate data” but instead make it possible to enhance the company’s information assets by offering all the tools to analyze, visualize, organize, and understand data.

We have repeatedly talked about Crystal Reports (see these documents ), the leading business intelligence and reporting software.

This article presents “a pretender to the Throne” from the open-source world. Its name is BIRT ( Business Intelligence and Reporting Tools ). It “goes hand in hand” with Eclipse, a development platform created by a consortium of large companies such as Ericsson, HP, IBM, Intel, MontaVista Software, QNX, SAP, and Serena Software.

Developed in Java, Eclipse provides the developer with the tools for creating various kinds of software in Java, C++, or other languages ​​, thanks to the application of special plug-ins.

Although BIRT has now had the disadvantage of winking at developers a little too much (while generally, those who use business intelligence tools are not…), the product – starting from the release of the second version – is very grown up. In BIRT, for example, new reports are available, and the possibility of using a greater number of graphs is given. Finally, it is easier to create templates to be reused later.

In short, BIRT is entering the world that has always been dominated by Crystal Reports, which, however, remains even richer and more complete. An essential requirement for installing BIRT is the presence of the Java runtime environment (JRE) on the system (we recommend checking that you have installed the most updated version, free from security vulnerabilities). The latest version of the JRE from Sun can be downloaded by referring to this page.

Downloading and starting the setup of the “All-in-One” version of BIRT (see this page ) will install, in addition to BIRT, also the Eclipse IDE, the “Graphic Editor Framework” (GEF) – plug-in for Eclipse used for displaying the graphical interface – and the “Eclipse Modeling Framework” (EMF) – used by BIRT for generating graphs – essential requirements.BIRT can also be translated into our language by downloading and applying the appropriate “language pack” (see this page for download). 

However, it should be noted that several days may pass before the translation of a new version of BIRT, which has just been made available, is released. To apply the “language pack,” it is sufficient to open the compressed zip file and then extract its contents in the folder where Eclipse is installed. You will have to make sure, therefore, by selecting the Windows menu, Preferences, then the Report section (Prospectus design), and Preview (Preview) that “Italian (Italy)” is displayed in the drop-down menu relating to the international settings. Starting to try out the use of BIRTH, first of all, it is necessary to create a new work project and then a new report (called “prospectus” in the “Italianised’ ‘ version of the product). BIRT proposes using several basic templates for the report you are about to create.

In the right part of the window, BIRT displays a window summarizing the steps leading to the creation of the report (choice of a data source, creation of a dataset, linking data to the elements making up the report). The main window of BIRT shows the structure of the report. The “tab” called “Main page” or (“Master page”) can be used to manage the header and footer of the report. The “Scripts” tab can add code to be executed when particular events occur. Clicking on “Preview” makes it possible to check how the final report will look while the code that generates the report under development is inserted in “XML Source.”

ALSO READ: Organize Work In The Company With SugarCRM

How IO-Link Speeds Up Sensor Engineering

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How IO-Link Speeds Up Sensor Engineering

If intelligent sensors and actuators are to be integrated into an automation system, IO-Link is ideal for communication. But what tangible benefits does the technology offer? What is the ROI? 

The airy industrial hall has a transfer station with two production robots, with an optical distance sensor in the middle. The core of the latest customer project from the automation company Aerne Engineering is already working. Of course, the finished system for positioning and processing plastic products should also work error-free and efficiently at the customer’s site. 

This requires, among other things, powerful sensors that solve specific challenges in the best possible way. These include, for example, deep black or reflective surfaces that make object recognition difficult. In the past, selecting and testing suitable sensors was often even more cumbersome, but modern offerings with sensor handling supported by IO-Link are now convincing. The time savings can be up to 30 per cent with complex analogue measurements.

User-Friendly Communication With Smart Sensors Via IO-Link

A smart sensor provides the primary measurement data and performs significantly more thanks to the integrated microcontroller. Its extended functions can optimize the measurement physics for specific applications, evaluate the measurement signal and provide additional device and environment information. They make controlling systems and machines even more robustly and flexibly possible. 

IO-Link enables efficient communication with smart sensors and intuitive parameterization in this case. For this reason, Baumer also makes IO-Link available as a standard for all sensor technologies as a communication or parameterization interface. At Aerne Engineering, the special machine construction division focuses on various new challenges. As a result, there are always new metrological application challenges that we have to solve quickly. This often calls for new approaches that enable highly efficient and fast solutions. Object recognition plays a major role in customer orders for factory automation. 

This requires sensors that reliably detect products such as baked goods, transport crates, plastic pipes or metal parts. Surfaces and materials make special demands on sensor performance and parameterization, which are difficult for sensors to detect. This can be transparent packaging, highly reflective steel or deep black plastic products.

ALSO READ: Logistics Technology: Startups To Keep An Eye On

The Software Supports Sensor Engineering

It is a manufacturer-independent engineering tool developers can use to find the right IO-Link sensor for their application more quickly. To this end, it supports users in all phases of sensor selection and commissioning:

  1. Select sensor: Before purchasing an IO-Link device, interested parties can quickly and easily check whether the selected sensor provides the desired functions. For this purpose, the Baumer Sensor Suite offers unrestricted and direct access to all publicly available IODDs (IO Device Descriptions). In addition, it visualizes the IODD in a format that is easy for humans to read and quickly understand. All this is supplemented by an importer for local IODDs managed in their own library.
  2. Evaluate: Once you have found suitable sensors, you can evaluate them in a second step using the stored data on the computer, i.e. without a real sensor, and further narrow down the selection.
  3. Parameterization: You only need the physical sensor for parameterization. You connect the sensor to the computer and see what the sensor sees. The direct visual feedback allows the IO-Link sensor to be parameterized intuitively. For example, Patrick Kurer selects the Windows mode for the Switching Signal Channel (SSC) function and conveniently defines the switching points via the graphical interface without entering individual parameter data.
  4. Testing: After parameterization, tests must prove the system works properly. In the specific example of the transfer station above, the question is: Does the sensor reliably detect the transfer object under all lighting conditions? The control program usually has to be adapted for these test runs. The Baumer Sensor Suite makes this step redundant. Precise digitally measured values ​​​​facilitate implementation in the controller.

Anatomy Of A Landing Page That Converts

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Anatomy Of A Landing Page That Converts

Those associated with showcasing, particularly advanced advertising, know the significance of creating successful presentation pages. These are specific kinds of site pages that have a particular reason.

Let’s see better what these presentation pages are, how to foster them, and how to make them viable to accomplish your business objectives.

What Is A Landing Page?

Not all site pages are similar: the landing page contrasts from a blog article, as a contact page varies from the item sheet of an online business. Variety isn’t simply connected with the satisfied yet additionally to the construction and configuration, comprehended as the origination, arranging, and arrangement of the different components inside the page, as indicated by the goal to be accomplished. Concerning pages, we are discussing website pages that typically expect to obtain leads (contacts) or complete a deal. 

Whether they are greeting pages planned for lead age (a crush page ), in this manner situated towards information securing, or those available to be purchased (a deals page ) to close an exchange, these pages should prompt client change. You can discuss arrival points, assuming you address the issue of changes. Points of arrival are not data pages and are not experiences for their own good but are utilized exactly for change to push the client to make a move. The change rate is the principal KPI with which the capacity of a point of arrival is estimated and permits you to assess how much the page permits you to accomplish the objective for which it was made.

The Template That Works

In light of what we have just said, what is the most effective structure (template) for creating a landing page? Given the final objective of these pages, they must be developed in a clear, precise, and immediate manner, providing the user with all the information he needs to satisfy his need to the point of convincing him to leave his data, filling in the appropriate form, or to proceed directly with the purchase. The landing page template must therefore have the following:

  1. A short and catchy title;
  2. A subtitle describing the main information;
  3. An image or video capable of capturing attention;
  4. A clear call to action that invites the user to take action.

For it to work, the landing page template must first be highly responsive and usable from any device (desktop, mobile, tablet). Given the immediacy of the landing page communication, limiting the length of these pages is useful to avoid them being endless and long-winded. The user does not have to scroll constantly to find the information. To make a somewhat difficult comparison, perhaps we could say that the landing page is like the telephone operator who calls to have a contract signed after a commercial consultant has “worked” the user, convincing him.

The Information Must Be Contained, Essential, Direct, And Convincing

Upon landing, the reason why the user ended up on that page, i.eThe benefit he can obtain must be visible right away. The following blocks offer the essential information so the user is convinced to act and not abandon the page. Suppose the title, as always, has the aim of capturing attention.

In that case, the body of the landing page can be exploited to illustrate the needs that that product/service can satisfy and the benefits that the customer will obtain from the moment the action is completed, and how it differs from those offered by competitors (Unique Selling Proposition, USP). Finally, the contact form or the one for entering payment data must include a few essential fields to facilitate completion.

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Organize Work In The Company With SugarCRM

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Organize Work In The Company With SugarCRM

Regarding open-source solutions for the business environment, the most common names are SugarCRM and Compiere. The first is a CRM platform ( Customer Relationship Management ) based on PHP and widely extensible thanks to the application of plug-ins developed by third parties and easily available on the Net; the second is instead a solution that combines CRM and ERP ( Enterprise Resource Planning ) functions, developed in Java.

In the course of this article, we will focus attention on SugarCRM. The Californian company that follows its development offers the download, via its website, of an open-source solution that meets the needs of many companies, especially small and medium-sized enterprises. Alongside the “open” version, more advanced paid solutions (“Professional” and “Enterprise”) are also offered, which are directly supported.

Through SugarCRM, it is possible to manage all aspects related to marketing and customer relations of the company. SugarCRM incorporates the three fundamental aspects of a good CRM: the “operational” one (allows you to automate business processes that require direct contact with the customer), the “analytical” one (allows the extraction of data relating to customers that allow them to get to know them better); the “collaborative” one (it favors the integration between the activities of the various employees of the company).

To test the functions offered by SugarCRM, it is sufficient to set up a test workstation on which Linux or even Microsoft Windows is installed. SugarCRM was born to operate natively on the so-called “LAMP” platform, i.e., on a software configuration based on the Linux-Apache-MySQL-PHP “quartet.” Such a configuration certainly guarantees better results from a performance point of view, although it is still possible to use SugarCRM even on Windows systems.

To store the data, SugarCRM relies on a MySQL database: it is, therefore, essential that it is installed and configured. The presence of PHP is also required. The package relating to the latest open-source version of SugarCRM (only PHP pages that make up the product) can be downloaded from this page (about 10 MB).

If, on the other hand, you have a Windows test machine on which neither Apache nor MySQL, nor PHP is present, you can download the version that also includes these elements (see this section on the official product site ).Suppose you have no way of sacrificing a workstation for testing purposes. In that case, you can consider adopting virtualization software such as Microsoft’s Virtual PC (free), VMWare Workstation (or the same VMWare Player, free), VirtualBox, or other similar solutions (we suggest you refer to our articles ).

The installation of SugarCRM, including Apache, MySQL, and PHP, is completed in minutes. It is sufficient to indicate whether or not the MySQL database should be populated with some demonstration data and whether the services related to Apache and MySQL should be automatically started each time Windows is accessed so that SugarCRM is always accessible and usable. The setup procedure also requires the IP assigned to the server or the domain name used and the address to be offered to the user each time he accesses SugarCRM via browser. 

For testing purposes, you can leave the proposed localhost address unchanged, 127.0.0.1. During the installation, you are also asked for the passwords to be set to protect access to SugarCRM and MySQL. At the end of the product installation, you can immediately access the SugarCRM control panel by typing admin as the username and the password chosen during installation.

The next step is choosing the time zone: select “Europe/Rome” for India and press the Save button. At this point, the entire interface can be translated into Indian. By default, the SugarCRM installation package does not offer this possibility. By downloading and installing a special “language pack,” you can still achieve the goal. The reference page dedicated to the SugarCRM localization project in Italian can be reached by clicking here. To proceed with the download of the necessary files, click on the “File” tab and then download the most recent “language file” (e.g., it_it_4.5.1.langpack.zip ).

To translate the interface into Indian from the SugarCRM administration panel, click the Admin button – in the top bar -on the Module Loader link and finally on the Install from local file tab.

After pressing the “Browse” (or “Browse”) button, you will have to select the zip file you just downloaded and stored on your hard disk. After pressing the “Upload” button, the line relating to the localization file must appear in the list of modules in the installation queue after a few seconds. 

Press the Install button, displayed in the last column on the right. As a next step, it is good to ensure all the boxes are checked by clicking on Show details. At this point, you can click on the Commit button. At the end of the operation, SugarCRM will display the Upgrade applied successfully confirmation message (clicking on Show Details shows the list of installed files).

Finally, after pressing the Admin button in the top toolbar, referring to the Locale settings link, then to the Default language drop-down menu, you must choose the IT Italian item and press the Save button at the bottom of the window. Here it is advisable to make the appropriate corrections relating to the currency used, the thousands separator, etc. By logging out (button in the top toolbar), you will notice how the authentication window appears immediately translated into our language.

If, by logging in again, the interface should still appear in English, delete the browser’s cache (temporary files) and the cookies associated with SugarCRM. Through the SugarCRM interface, it is possible to manage relationships with customers, assign tasks to company personnel (everyone can access SugarCRM comfortably from their workstation using their user account), define meetings, work to be done, contacts to call, and define negotiations and profit opportunities.

Through its well-organized interface, SugarCRM also allows you to manage customer support by opening special “tickets,” which can be assigned to various employees. All the various possibilities made available by SugarCRM can be collected within projects (further subdivided into “tasks” to be assigned internally in the company) not to lose the global vision of the entire set of activities they do, a leader with unique objectives.

SugarCRM also has a centralized archive that allows you to manage all company documentation. To ensure you always use valid and up-to-date documents, users can set revisions and deadlines for them. SugarCRM can then integrate directly with e-mail and act as an e-mail client (just set the data relating to the incoming and outgoing mail server). In the case of outgoing mail, for sending emails, it is possible to opt between using the “sendmail” component of PHP or specifying the data relating to an SMTP server.

Each user authorized to use SugarCRM (the administrator must create an account for each user) can organize their activities, calls to be made, appointments, tasks to be performed, follow-up on negotiations with customers, and so on. Knowing the PHP language, being SugarCRM released as an open-source product, it is possible to adapt its operation to your needs. The modification that can be downloaded by clicking here, for example, allows you to link one or more documents to the various projects open on SugarCRM. 

This is a particularly useful feature in many business contexts which strangely needs to be integrated, by default, in the open-source CRM. If you intend to apply it in such a way as to obtain the additional “Documents” panel within the file of every single project (it will then be possible to combine one or more documents already loaded in the “Documents” section of the CRM with every single project), it is sufficient to copy the PHP files present in the .zip file into the corresponding SugarCRM subfolders. 

Since the change affects the relationships between the tables (as well as intervening in the layout of some product pages), after applying it (we suggest you first make a full backup of the SugarCRM installation directory and of the entire contents of the MySQL database), it is essential to click on Administer then on Update (subsection “System”) and finally on Rebuild relationships.

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How To Do Digital Marketing For Services

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How To Do Digital Marketing For Services

The internet has brought a wide possibility of publicizing your business to people nationwide. They are tools and resources — many free — that help your business get closer to the customer and build a relationship with them. However, we see many product-oriented strategies. Is it then possible to do digital marketing for services?

As much as online strategies draw a lot of attention to products, it is possible to do a complete digital marketing plan for services. Here are 7 essential tips:

7 Tips For Doing Digital Marketing For Services

Check out what can’t be missing from your digital marketing planning:

Show Your Work

An important factor in digital marketing for services is the possibility of showing your work in practice. Resources such as Instagram stories allow the profile owner to show a little of his day-to-day business. It’s a way of showing how a company or job works.

The Importance Of The TCLE

If you are an architect or engineer, you want to show how work is done before and after a renovation. Those who work with aesthetics will show the client even more explicitly. But before showing any such image, it is important that he authorizes this display.

Authorization prevents the customer from complaining about an unauthorized display. With the document, you can prove that both parties were in agreement. Therefore, before any posting showing third parties not part of your company, ask them to sign the informed consent form (TCLE). The company and each participant must retain a copy.

Teach About Your Industry

More than showing its performance, teaching about its importance is one of the greatest advantages of digital marketing for services. The more potential customers understand your business, the more they care about what you do and the amount you charge.

For example, a blog and an Instagram profile allow you to go deeper into your business. In feed photos, you can use the caption space to explain a concept related to your service. On the blog, it is possible to approach the themes more densely.

Find out what your customers want to know.

Before approaching subjects related to your segment, you need to know what your client is curious to know. This can be done through keyword searches on Google Trends and other tools. Even the poll or question box in stories can help with this: quickly and directly, you will get different responses from your followers.

Define Your Ideal Client

Your service shouldn’t be offered to anyone; after all, those who sell to everyone don’t sell to anyone. This does not mean rejecting customers, but all digital marketing for services should focus on a customer profile. It’s what we call a persona, the archetype of your ideal client.

The persona concept is so specific that it receives a name, age and profession. All communication and elaborate strategies are thought of her. Therefore, this profile must be easily accessible to everyone so they do not forget its main characteristics.

So what does a person need to have?

  • name, age and sex;
  • occupation and income;
  • region and type of residence (do you live alone or with your family? Do you have pets?)
  • marital status;
  • hobbies and lifestyle;
  • habits, beliefs and challenges;
  • internet consumption time and main networks used;
  • your influencers;
  • what technologies it uses;
  • where you usually seek information;
  • decision criteria when choosing between one architect and another;
  • What are your main “pains” (problems) related to architecture?

It sounds like a lot of work, but the more information you have, your persona will be more accurate.

Remember that a service provider can have more than one persona, but ideally, that number should be at most three. If you provide services to a company, you can also make a persona for it, but with adaptations aimed at the legal entity.

Produce Rich Content

In digital marketing for services and products, content is the key currency to attract and retain followers. If he perceives value in the texts, images, podcasts and videos you produce, he will follow and even share your profile with other people.

The interesting thing is to offer beyond what the follower is expecting. So, also include in your strategy the production of rich materials, such as e-books and webinars, in which you can delve even deeper into a given subject.

Invest In Paid Advertising

Do you know when you need a certain service, and you search Google for someone who does something nearby? For example, you want to start practicing martial arts and type “jiu-jitsu São Paulo” in the search engine. The results will show you the gyms and instructors closest to your address. This is also digital marketing for services.

When the results appear with “advertisement” next to it written in green, it means that the business owner has invested in paid advertising. This helps get faster results for your business, as it reaches an audience interested in your service.

Other types of paid advertising are social media ads. Each of them has an ad production tool. You can create from scratch or boost an existing post. The most interesting thing is that all of them also have the option to create a user profile to which you intend to send the ad. Thus, the boost becomes more accurate.

Seek Help

Digital marketing planning for services takes time and strategy. As seen, there are several resources for you to explore and find your potential customer. But you don’t have to do it all alone.

A digital marketing agency has experts who understand service-oriented strategies. People are responsible for producing content, processing images, creating a visual identity, monitoring social networks, creating paid posts and much more.

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