Cloud Computing

What is Cloud Computing?

  

The 'cloud' is a real buzzword these days, but what exactly is the cloud, how does it impact what you do, and is it anything really new?

  

Cloud computing shares some similarities with an older model of computing called timesharing. A timesharing computer system connects multiple users to a single computer processor through dumb terminals, which have a keyboard and monitor, but leave the computing to the central machine. 

In the simplest terms, cloud computing means storing and accessing data and programs over the Internet instead of your computer's hard drive. The cloud is just a metaphor for the Internet. It goes back to the days of flowcharts and presentations that would represent the gigantic server-farm infrastructure of the Internet as nothing but a puffy, white cumulonimbus cloud, accepting connections and doling out information as it floats.

What cloud computing is not about is your hard drive. When you store data on--or run programs from the hard drive, that's called local storage and computing. Everything you need is physically close to you, which means accessing your data is fast and easy (for that one computer, or others on the local network). Working off your hard drive is how the computer industry functioned for decades and some argue it's still superior to cloud computing, for reasons I'll explain shortly.

The cloud is also not about having a dedicated hardware server in residence. Storing data on a home or office network does not count as utilizing the cloud.

For it to be considered "cloud computing," you need to access your data or your programs over the Internet, or at the very least, have that data synchronized with other information over the Net. In a big business, you may know all there is to know about what's on the other side of the connection; as an individual user, you may never have any idea what kind of massive data-processing is happening on the other end. The end result is the same: with an online connection, cloud computing can be done anywhere, anytime. 

Consumer vs. Business

 Let's be clear here. We're talking about cloud computing as it impacts individual consumers—those of us who sit back at home or in small-to-medium offices and use the Internet on a regular basis.

There is an entirely different "cloud" when it comes to business. Some businesses choose to implement Software-as-a-Service (SaaS), where the business subscribes to an application it accesses over the Internet. (Think Salesforce.com.) There's also Platform-as-a-Service (PaaS), where a business can create its own custom applications for use by all in the company. And don't forget the mighty Infrastructure-as-a-Service (IaaS), where players like Amazon, Google, and Rackspace provide a backbone that can be "rented out" by other companies. (Think Netflix providing services to you because it's a customer of the cloud-services at Amazon.)

Of course, cloud computing is big business: McKinsey & Company, a global management consulting firm, claims that 80 percent of the large companies in North America that it's surveyed are either looking at using cloud services—or already have. The market is on its way to generating $100 billion a year. 

Common Cloud Examples

The lines between local computing and cloud computing sometimes get very, very blurry. That's because the cloud is part of almost everything on our computers these days. You can easily have a local piece of software (for instance, Microsoft Office 365, one of the versions of Office 2013) that utilizes a form of cloud computing for storage (Microsoft SkyDrive in the case of Office). That said, Microsoft also offers a set of Web apps that are close versions of Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote that you can access via your Web browser without installing anything.

Some other major examples of cloud computing you're probably using:

Google Drive:

This is a pure cloud computing service, with all the apps and storage found online. Drive is also available on more than just desktop computers; you can use it on tablets like the iPad $545.00 at Amazon or on smartphones. In fact, all of Google's services could be considered cloud computing: Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Reader, Google Voice, and so on. Upgrade to Google Apps and you can use many of the above with your own domain name attached.

Apple iCloud:

Apple's cloud service is primarily used for online storage and synchronization of your mail, contacts, calendar, and more. All the data you need is available to you on your iOS, Mac OS, or Windows device. iCloud also stores media files.

Amazon Cloud Drive:

Storage at the big retailer is mainly for music, preferably MP3s that you purchase from Amazon.

Hybrid services like Box, Dropbox, and SugarSync all say they work in the cloud because they store a synched version of your files online, but most also sync those files with local storage. Synchronization to allow all your devices to access the same data is a cornerstone of the cloud computing experience, even if you do access the file locally. Likewise, it's considered cloud computing if you have a community of people with separate devices that need the same data synched, be it for work collaboration projects or just to keep the family in sync. For a huge list of cloud-based Web apps, check out the Best Free Web Apps.

Cloud Hardware

Right now, the primary example of a device that is completely cloud-centric is the Samsung Chromebook Series 3 $238.41 at Amazon, an inexpensive laptop (starting at $249) that has just enough local storage and power to let it run a Web browser, specifically Google Chrome. From there, most everything you do is online: apps, media, and storage are all in the cloud.

Of course, you may be wondering what happens if you're somewhere without a connection and you need to access your data. This is currently one of the biggest complaints about devices like the Chromebook, although their offline functionality is expanding.

The Chromebook isn't the first product to try this approach. So-called 'dumb-terminals' that lack local storage and connect to a local server or mainframe go back decades. The first Internet-only product attempts included the old NIC (New Internet Computer), the Netpliance iOpener, and the disastrous 3Com Audrey. You could argue they all debuted well before their time—after all, dial-up speeds of the 1990s had training wheels compared to the accelerated broadband Internet connections of today. That's why many would argue that cloud computing works at all: the connection to the Internet is as fast as the connection to the hard drive.

Or is it?

Arguments against the Cloud

In a recent edition of his feature "What if ?", xkcd-cartoonist (and former NASA roboticist) Randall Monroe tried to answer the question of "When—if ever—will the bandwidth of the Internet surpass that of FedEx?" The question was posed because no matter how great your broadband connection, it's still cheaper to send a package of hundreds of gigabytes of data via Fedex's "sneakernet" of planes and trucks than it is to try and send it over the Internet. (The answer, Monroe concludes, is the year 2040.)

Cory Doctorow over at boingboing took Monroe's answer as "an implicit critique of cloud computing." To him, the speed and cost of local storage easily outstrips using a wide-area network connection controlled by a telecommunications company—your ISP.

That's the rub. The ISPs, telcos, and media companies control your access. Putting all your faith in the cloud means you're also putting all your faith in continued, unfettered access. You might get this level of access, but it'll cost you. And it will continue to cost more and more as companies find ways to make you pay by doing things like metering your service, where the more bandwidth you use, the more it costs.

Maybe you trust those corporations. That's fine, but there are plenty of other arguments against going into the cloud whole-hog. Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak has decried cloud computing: "I think it's going to be horrendous. I think there are going to be a lot of horrible problems in the next five years." In part, that comes from the potential for crashes. When there are problems at a company like Amazon, which provides cloud storage services to big name companies like Netflix and Pinterest, it can take out all those services (as happened in the summer of 2012).

But mostly, Wozniak was worried about the intellectual property issues. Who owns the data you store online? Is it you or the company storing it? Consider how many times there's been widespread controversy over the changing terms of service for companies like Facebook and Instagram—which are definitely cloud services—regarding what they get to do with your photos. Ownership is a relevant factor to be concerned about.

After all, there's no central body governing use of the cloud for storage and services. The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) is trying, having created an IEEE Cloud Computing Initiative in 2011 to establish standards for use, especially for the business sector. But otherwise, cloud-computing—like so much about the Internet—is a little bit like the Wild West, where the rules are made up as you go, and you hope for the best.

How Cloud Computing Works

Let's say you're an executive at a large corporation. Your particular responsibilities include making sure that all of your employees have the right hardware and software they need to do their jobs. Buying computers for everyone isn't enough -- you also have to purchase software or software licenses to give employees the tools they require. Whenever you have a new hire, you have to buy more software or make sure your current software license allows another user. It's so stressful that you find it difficult to go to sleep on your huge pile of money every night.

Soon, there may be an alternative for executives like you. Instead of installing a suite of software for each computer, you'd only have to load one application. That application would allow workers to log into a Web-based service which hosts all the programs the user would need for his or her job. Remote machines owned by another company would run everything from e-mail to word processing to complex data analysis programs. It's called cloud computing, and it could change the entire computer industry.

In a cloud computing system, there's a significant workload shift. Local computers no longer have to do all the heavy lifting when it comes to running applications. The network of computers that make up the cloud handles them instead. Hardware and software demands on the user's side decrease. The only thing the user's computer needs to be able to run is the cloud computing system's interface software, which can be as simple as a Web browser, and the cloud's network takes care of the rest.

There's a good chance you've already used some form of cloud computing. If you have an e-mail account with a Web-based e-mail service like Hotmail, Yahoo! Mail or Gmail, then you've had some experience with cloud computing. Instead of running an e-mail program on your computer, you log in to a Web e-mail account remotely. The software and storage for your account doesn't exist on your computer -- it's on the service's computer cloud.

Cloud Computing Architecture

When talking about a cloud computing system, it's helpful to divide it into two sections: the front end and the back end. They connect to each other through a network, usually the Internet. The front end is the side the computer user, or client, sees. The back end is the "cloud" section of the system.

The front end includes the client's computer (or computer network) and the application required to access the cloud computing system. Not all cloud computing systems have the same user interface. Services like Web-based e-mail programs leverage existing Web browsers like Internet Explorer or Firefox. Other systems have unique applications that provide network access to clients.

On the back end of the system there are various computers, servers and data storage systems that create the "cloud" of computing services. In theory, a cloud computing system could include practically any computer program you can imagine, from data processing to video games. Usually, each application will have its own dedicated server.

A central server administers the system, monitoring traffic and client demands to ensure everything runs smoothly. It follows a set of rules called protocols and uses a special kind of software called middleware. Middleware allows networked computers to communicate with each other. Most of the time, servers don't run at full capacity. That means there's unused processing power going to waste. It's possible to fool a physical server into thinking it's actually multiple servers, each running with its own independent operating system. The technique is called server virtualization. By maximizing the output of individual servers, server virtualization reduces the need for more physical machines.

If a cloud computing company has a lot of clients, there's likely to be a high demand for a lot of storage space. Some companies require hundreds of digital storage devices. Cloud computing systems need at least twice the number of storage devices it requires to keep all its clients' information stored. That's because these devices, like all computers, occasionally break down. A cloud computing system must make a copy of all its clients' information and store it on other devices. The copies enable the central server to access backup machines to retrieve data that otherwise would be unreachable. Making copies of data as a backup is called redundancy.

Cloud Computing Applications

The applications of cloud computing are practically limitless. With the right middleware, a cloud computing system could execute all the programs a normal computer could run. Potentially, everything from generic word processing software to customized computer programs designed for a specific company could work on a cloud computing system.

Why would anyone want to rely on another computer system to run programs and store data? Here are just a few reasons:

                Clients would be able to access their applications and data from anywhere at any time. They could access the cloud computing system using any computer linked to the Internet. Data wouldn't be confined to a hard drive on one user's computer or even a corporation's internal network.

          It could bring hardware costs down. Cloud computing systems would reduce the need for advanced hardware on the client side. You wouldn't need to buy the fastest computer with the most memory, because the cloud system would take care of those needs for you. Instead, you could buy an inexpensive computer terminal. The terminal could include a monitor, input devices like a keyboard and mouse and just enough processing power to run the middleware necessary to connect to the cloud system. You wouldn't need a large hard drive because you'd store all your information on a remote computer.

       Corporations that rely on computers have to make sure they have the right software in place to achieve goals. Cloud computing systems give these organizations company-wide access to computer applications. The companies don't have to buy a set of software or software licenses for every employee. Instead, the company could pay a metered fee to a cloud computing company.

        Servers and digital storage devices take up space. Some companies rent physical space to store servers and databases because they don't have it available on site. Cloud computing gives these companies the option of storing data on someone else's hardware, removing the need for physical space on the front end.

         Corporations might save money on IT support. Streamlined hardware would, in theory, have fewer problems than a network of heterogeneous machines and operating systems.

        If the cloud computing system's back end is a grid computing system, then the client could take advantage of the entire network's processing power. Often, scientists and researchers work with calculations so complex that it would take years for individual computers to complete them. On a grid computing system, the client could send the calculation to the cloud for processing. The cloud system would tap into the processing power of all available computers on the back end, significantly speeding up the calculation.

Cloud Computing Concerns

Perhaps the biggest concerns about cloud computing are security and privacy. The idea of handing over important data to another company worries some people. Corporate executives might hesitate to take advantage of a cloud computing system because they can't keep their company's information under lock and key. 

The counterargument to this position is that the companies offering cloud computing services live and die by their reputations. It benefits these companies to have reliable security measures in place. Otherwise, the service would lose all its clients. It's in their interest to employ the most advanced techniques to protect their clients' data.

Privacy is another matter. If a client can log in from any location to access data and applications, it's possible the client's privacy could be compromised. Cloud computing companies will need to find ways to protect client privacy. One way is to use authentication techniques such as user names and passwords. Another is to employ an authorization format -- each user can access only the data and applications relevant to his or her job.

Some questions regarding cloud computing are more philosophical. Does the user or company subscribing to the cloud computing service own the data? Does the cloud computing system, which provides the actual storage space, own it? Is it possible for a cloud computing company to deny a client access to that client's data? Several companies, law firms and universities are debating these and other questions about the nature of cloud computing.

How will cloud computing affect other industries? There's a growing concern in the IT industry about how cloud computing could impact the business of computer maintenance and repair. If companies switch to using streamlined computer systems, they'll have fewer IT needs. Some industry experts believe that the need for IT jobs will migrate to the back end of the cloud computing system.

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14 People Controls the Whole Internet with 7 Smart Keys !!!

This may seem very funny but its true that 14 people controls the whole Internet with 7 smart keys. These people are highly trusted staffs of the organization Internet Corporation for Assigned Names and Numbers (ICANN). ICANN is responsible for the coordination of the global Internet’s systems of unique identifiers and also ensuring its stability and security which includes coordination of the Internet Protocol address spaces IPv4 and IPv6 and assignment of address blocks to regional Internet registries, for maintaining registries of Internet protocol identifiers and for the management of the top-level domain name space which includes the operation of root name servers.

For instance, type 173.252.110.27 into your browser and you’ll be taken to the world’s best social network “Facebook”. But www.facebook.com is easier for people to remember. ICANN maps the numbers which is easier for computers to use with words which is easier for humans to use.

If somebody were to achieve management of ICANN’s info that person would rule the web. for example, the person might send folks to faux bank websites rather than real bank websites and hack in people’s bank account details and gain full access of all transactions which is dangerous.

On the opposite hand, if a catastrophe happened, the ICANN info may need to be remodeled. therefore ICANN came up with the way to try and do that while not entrusting an excessive amount of management to a specific person but instead it selected seven folks to be key holders Associates and gave every one an actual key to the Internet. It selected seven more folks to be backup keyholders which made it fourteen folks in total.

The physical keys unlock safety deposit boxes stashed round the world. Within those boxes are sensible keycards. place the seven smartcards along and that will form the “Master key.” The master is absolutely some code, a parole of types, which will access the ICANN database.

4 times a year since 2010 the 7 keyholders meet for the key ceremony wherever they generate a replacement master, i.e. a replacement parole.The security to be admitted to the ceremony is intense, Ball reports, and involves passing through a series of fastened doors mistreatment key codes and hand scanners, till coming into an area therefore secure that no electronic communications will escape it.

The cluster conducts the ritual, then each person files out of the room one by one, and then they all head to a restaurant and party.

Is it not Mind Blowing ! Definitely it is !!!

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CryptoLocker: Deadliest threat ever to affect PCs

“CryptoLocker, a malicious ransomware, has emerged as a potent threat to PCs around the globe.”

A malicious malware called CryptoLocker has become the scariest threat to PC's around the world. A ransomware by its application and use, CryptoLocker raked in around 5 million dollars in the last 4 months of 2013, that earlier took nearly a year for cyber attackers to acquire.

Johannes B. Ullrich, chief research officer at the SANS Institute stated that "A compromised personal computer for a botnet or Distributed Denial of Service attack is worth about a buck to a byte bandit." He added that cyber-criminals can easily make 100 dollars and more with the ransomware.

Garth Bruen, a fellow with the Digital Citizens Alliance, a consumer safety group focused on online crime, stated that the people selling the software were the same people who infected the machine, which later came to be known as ' scareware '.

What makes the malware different from other malicious software is that it uses strong encryption. Files and documents on machines infected with the Trojan are scrambled using AES 256-bit encryption. CryptoLocker holds the victim's PC hostage till they pay a ransom amount.

Jarvis, of SecureWorks states that the CryptoLocker crew is known for maintaining good customer relations. “They’re honoring people who do pay the ransom. In most cases they’re sending the decryption keys back to the computer once they receive payment successfully,” he explained. “We don’t know what the percentage of people who successfully do that is, but we know it’s part of their business model not to lie to people and not do it."

McAfee's latest report states that ransomware is becoming an increasing problem with more number of incidents reported in the first half of 2013 than in all previous periods combined. The 2013 Norton report highlighted that India has emerged as the ransomware capital of Asia Pacific.

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Best Budget Smartphone : Xolo Play T1000

Review

PROS

Crisp display and good viewing angles

Smooth multitasking

Great gaming performance

Decent images in well-lit conditions

Good build

CONS

Camera performance is bad in low-lit situations

Phone gets a bit hot after heavy use

Older gen Android 4.1 Jelly Bean

MRP : B15899

 Summary

If playing games on the go is an absolute requirement and you are looking for a smartphone around the Rs. 15,000 budget, then the Xolo Play T1000 is the go to device for you. If gaming isn't your primary concern, you have a large library of budget phones around the Rs. 15,000 price point to choose from including the Xolo Q1000, Canvas HD, Zen Ultrafone 710HD to name a few.

Phones have come a long way since the dawn of the Nokia 1100. Nokia was the first to launch a dedicated gaming phone with the launch of the Nokia N-GAGE. The phone was brilliant for gaming with a dedicated D-Pad and textured buttons. I personally think its design was the best for a gaming phone, better than the Sony Xperia Play, the PlayStation designed phone that had two touchpads that worked as analogue sticks and were more gimmicky rather than features which added utility.

Keeping the standard 4.7-inch form factor in mind, the Xolo Play boasts of last year’s Tegra 3 chipset, and is being marketed as a gaming smartphone.

At a Glance

Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, 4.7-inch display and a quad-core processor are the first things that you will notice about the device. Here is a quick look at the specifications of the smartphone when compared to the other offerings in its price range.

So, apart from the Tegra 3 processor combined with the older generation Android OS, the rest of the specifications of the Xolo Play are at par with the competition.

Design

               One thing that we have really appreciated about Xolo smartphones in the past is that despite being budget smartphones, they are extremely well built. The Xolo Play follows suit in this direction. The face of the device has a 4.7-inch display with a 1280x720p resolution. The glass on the face of the smartphone is edge to edge. There are three capacitive buttons below the display.

The rear of the Xolo Play has a rubberized matte finish that adds to the grip of the device and gives it’s a nice smooth feel. The rear panel of the smartphone clamps around the borders of the device so the rubberized finish spans the border as well.

In terms of connectivity option, we have the microUSB port and the headphones jack on the top of the smartphone and the power button and the volume rocker on the right.

Overall the design of the Xolo Play picks up from the tried and tested and is something that we appreciate.

UI and Preloaded Apps

The UI of the Xolo Play T1000 is stock Android and that is a good thing. The only downside is that the device runs on Android 4.1 Jelly Bean, which is a bit old. The smartphone also has its own custom ROM. The keyboard is stock Android and you also get the stock browser for browsing the Internet.

Coming to the preloaded apps, you have the Tegra Zone app on the Xolo Play T1000, which gives you access to a large library of games. You also have a Xolo Power app that is good for managing the battery life and apps on the smartphone. The app gives you the ability to setup a synch frequency, night mode, low battery mode and more. You also get access to Xolo Secure app, which gives you the ability to back up your personal data to the cloud.

Overall, the Xolo Play has a stock Android UI that we really like. The interface is simple and the preloaded apps too are something we appreciate.

Please Note:

You can’t transfer apps from the built-in storage to the SD card like you would traditionally do on an Android smartphone. Here, you can go to settings->storage and choose the SD card as your primary storage.

Performance

The biggest competitors to the Xolo Play are the budget quad-core smartphones that are powered by the MediaTek MT6589 chipset. Here is a quick look at the benchmark scores to see how the Xolo Play performs in front of the competition.

As you can see from the above benchmark scores, the Xolo Play scores at par with the competition. In the 3D Mark Icestorm Extreme and the SmartBench Productivity benchmark however, it scores relatively high.

Coming to the other performance aspects of the smartphone, the interface is really smooth and so is the touchscreen. Navigating apps, playing games, browsing the Internet, the interacting with interface on the Xolo Play’s display was great. The screen size and form factor is very Nexus 4 like, which we liked.

The keyboard is stock Android and is well laid-out. The device is comfortable to type on too. Playing games, watching videos or navigating the browser, the navigation experience on the Xolo Play is good.

The 4.7-inch display has a 1280x720 pixel resolution giving it 318ppi pixel density. The IPS panel has really good viewing angles and the text images; games all look crisp on the smartphone.

AVI and MP4 files ran smoothly on the Xolo Play and the video from the MKV files ran but the audio wasn’t recognised. Navigating the timeline of the videos, changing orientation, all was smooth on the native player without any hiccups.

Coming to the camera performance of the Xolo Play T1000, in low-lit conditions, the performance is bad. In well-lit conditions, there are points where the detail is good where the text is large. Where the text in focus is small, there is loss of detail. Since it’s raining in Delhi, the outdoor weather is quite gloomy. We clicked images of the streets; plants and more and the result was really good. Enlarge the image to 100% and you still have quite some details retained and that is a very good thing.

In terms of its battery life, the Xolo Play has enough juice to get through the day with average use. In our continuous video playback test, where the device is set to full brightness and full volume, the Xolo Play lasted for six and a half hours and that is really good. You can get good battery life from the smartphone with effective power management tools.

Gaming Performance

Since the device is marketed as a gaming device, we decided to push the Xolo Play and play a LOT of games on it. We played some Dead Space, Into the Dead, Real Racing 3, Conduit HD, Dead Trigger and more. We are happy to say that not only did the games run smoothly, but at they are graphical great performers on the smartphone as well. The graphics of the game were sharper and textures were smoother than we have seen on any other budget Rs. 15,000 smartphone. Also, unlike the MediaTek MT6589 chipset based competition, the Xolo Play can play Real Racing 3.

While gaming for a long duration, the smartphone did heat up. Even though the Xolo Play runs on last generation’s Tegra 3 chipset, it still outperforms the current-generation MediaTek-powered smartphones available in the market.

Bottom Line

If playing games on the go is an absolute requirement and you are looking for a smartphone around the Rs. 15,000 budget, then the Xolo Play T1000 is the go to device for you. Its gaming performance is better than the MediaTek powered smartphones available and its overall performance as a smartphone is good as well. It has a simple yet sturdy design and a comfortable UI. If gaming isn’t your primary concern, you have a large library of budget phones around the 15k price point to choose from including the Xolo Q1000, Canvas A116 HD, Zen Ultrafone 710HD to name a few.

Specifications

Basic Information
Manufacturer	Lava
Model	XOLO Play T1000
Launch Date (Global)	2013-07-15
Operating System	Android OS
OS Version	4.1
Type	Smartphone
Display
Screen Size (in inches)	4.7
Display Technology	HD IPS OGS Display
Screen Resolution (in                      pixels)	1196 x 720
Display Features	Multi Touch
Camera
Camera Features	Front Facing camera,                            Video Recording
Camera Megapixel	8
Front Camera                                  Megapixel	2
Battery
Battery Capacity(mAh)	2000
Features
Sensors	GPS, Accelerometer
Keypad Type	Touch Screen Keypad
Connectivity
Wireless Connectivity	3G Internet, WiFi, Bluetooth
Interfaces	MicroUSB
Headphone Port	3.5mm
Technical Specification
CPU	Nvidia Tegra 3
CPU Speed	1.5 Ghz
Processor Cores	Quad
RAM	1 GB
GPU	ULP GeForce Graphics
Memory
Storage	8 GB
Removable Storage                          (Yes or No)	Y
Removable Storage                            (maximum)	32 GB

(-:........Thanks for being a Patient Reader

"Credit for Graphic Contents goes to ThinkDigit"

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