Bargain Travel Agency

YouTube has launched a new tool, known as video speed dashboard, which allows broadband users to test the speed of their connections. The tool helps to check the performance of the broadband connection so that you can determine whether your current connection is able to cope with streaming videos through the website.

The website offers a “my_speed” section where people can discover their average video speed measured over a month, as well as compare it with other people’s broadband speeds globally. The numbers presented in the dashboard will be calculated by measuring the speed at which a YouTube video is received by the browser. The final figures are arrived by averaging the speeds over the period of 30 days. But in order to collect accurate data you must use the same Internet browser during the period of calculation.

Even though a faster broadband connection leads to quick downloads, but it is certainly not the sole factor affecting streaming speed. The speed also depends on the distance to the server the video is being sent from.

The video speed dashboard, however, will not help to improve the speed of the broadband connection, but the service is likely to prove vital to consumers who want evidence that their current speeds are not fulfilling their needs. If you find another ISP providing much better speeds, then go ahead and switch your broadband subscription.

If you need to know more about broadband, or the various ISPs, look at broadbandgenie.co.uk. I found some useful information on, and offers from O2 Broadband; it is worth a look at the website for and their comparative table of broadband UK providers, which includes an analysis of their products and services.

Many people have friends and family scattered all over the country (or the world for that matter), and keeping in touch via telephone can become pretty expensive. Most of my loved ones live far away, so to avoid long distance charges I always saved my calling for the weekend when cell phone minutes are free.

Although I love the portability of having a cell phone and will never give it up, I really hate the thought of paying $40 a month (or more) for a secondary phone service. Even though there are plenty of monthly minutes on my plan, I think about overage charges every time I use the darn thing. Waiting for the “free nights and weekends” time to make long distance calls saves money, but it’s really inconvenient. I wanted to be able to call anyone at any time and not have to worry about minutes or fees, so I gave internet phone service a try.

I cautiously subscribed to broadband phone service a few months ago, thinking “$20 a month for unlimited local and long distance calling sounds too good to be true”. My main concern was the call quality, since I tried VoIP a few years ago and found it too choppy and cumbersome to bother with. Boy was I pleasantly surprised! Within the first week of using Packet8 internet phone service, I called the phone company and had my land line telephone disconnected. My internet phone acted and sounded just like my old “ma bell” service, and I could make all the long distance calls I wanted (any time I wanted) for no additional charge! My first month’s minutes totaled over 2000, and I still only paid around $23 ($19.95 + taxes and fees).

Broadband phone service has changed my life. I call long distance friends and family nearly every day now, and talk as long as I want to. I no longer worry about long distance charges or cell phone minutes, and actually saved more money by reducing my cell rate plan down to the bare minimum. I no longer have to plan my long distance calls around “nights and weekends”, and I’ve become much closer to my family because we talk more. As an added bonus, I can use the conference calling feature and talk to two people at once! Thanks to my VoIP service, everyone I call saves money. When someone wants to talk to me, they call and let my phone ring once. The free caller-id tells me who called and I call back using my “unlimited long distance”. A good friend recently told me that her long distance bill is now under $20 a month thanks to my internet phone.

Internet phone service isn’t for everyone, but if you make frequent long distance calls it will pay for itself immediately. VoIP is saving me around $45 a month (over $500 a year!). As an added benefit, you can spend so much time talking to far off loved ones that it feels like they live next door!

© 2005 Debbie Jacobsen, all rights reserved.

Debbie Jacobsen is an information technology professional and author of SaveOnPhoneService.com - an informative website about Broadband Phone Service. If you are interested in learning more about the benefits and features of VoIP, please visit: http://www.saveonphoneservice.com

Following the huge success of Apple’s iPhone, a number of changes are being witnessed in the mobile phone markets. One of these changes is that top brands are revising their ideas about bringing out a number of models in one range and beginning to believe that focussing on one or two popular models is the way to win the race.

Typically, manufacturers go for introducing a range of handset models very similar to one another, with perhaps minor differences in features. This is a marketing strategy aimed at capturing as many customers as possible by having a whole range of products within a price range to choose from.

This ideology has been turned upside down by latest market research, which shows a huge 3% global share of the market for Apple’s iPhone. This is a huge chunk of the market for a single handset. With this data, other manufacturers are also reconsidering their traditional approach and wondering if promoting one product is a better way to succeed in the highly competitive market.

Companies like Nokia are reportedly aiming at reducing production and marketing costs and concentrating on one or two top selling handset models. However, it is expected that this strategy will be employed with the high-priced models like Smartphones for now, while many options will be available in the low-cost range. Motorola has already implemented this idea and is going to cut back on its model range that will hit the markets next year.

Going by user parlance, already the high-priced handset market is dominated by those preferring only a few models like

iPhone, Palm Pre and Blackberry. As far as the consumer is concerned, he/she is already implementing this strategy while buying.

With the ever growing popularity if such handsets and the increased use of mobile broadband devices, competition is fierce. Mobile Broadband Genie can help if you are new to mobile broadband, or simply wish to

compare mobile broadband deals and service providers.

A modern job search campaign is by nature quite complex. While the web has offered a variety of new channels, it also creates increased competition for choice jobs and potential challenges for job hunters.

Job hunting needs to be thought of as a personalized, very aimed marketing operation where you are the product. Your resume is an advertisement. Your extended network of contacts is your inside source for information and job leads.

So where does the net fit in? At AA-Careers, we recently posted a job on Craigslist and got hundreds and hundreds responses in a calendar week. For a single position. That’s increased competition for jobs.

Had the right person called us before we ran the ad, they could have secured the job prior to running in to all that competition. How? By finding someone who knows someone at our office who became aware of the job prior to posting. Everyone was aware of the job for at least 7 days before it was posted. Who in your network might know of a job that’s coming available soon?

Be careful how you submit your application as well. When we did an analysis of the 650 resumes, we found a large number of errors. 63% of the applicants were easily taken out with a fast-paced triage process. How? The same way any HR professional would. By rejecting resumes where the objective didn’t match our job description. By rejecting candidates whose cover letters gave us reasons not to hire them, like "I know I’m overqualified but I really need a job". By eliminating candidates whose documents that didn’t open properly. And by eliminating candidates who didn’t bother to spell check their cover letter and/or resume.

So the great news is that job sites give you a feel of what companies are hiring, and for what kinds of jobs. But once those positions are posted, the competition is intense. You can still compete, if you have a well written resume, designed to appeal directly and clearly to the recruiter. And if you have practiced interviewing – so you don’t stumble at a critical point.

Another downside to be aware of is how quickly and easily you can be checked on on the net. As we Googled several candidates, we ran into some MySpace comments that were in questionable taste. Nothing crazy, but enough to rock our thoughts about who to employ.

AA-Careers provides a all-inclusive set of services for Bay Area job seekers, providing our clients a personal career consultant, a managed job hunting campaign, modern tools like a personal website, video, highly targeted resume, and much more. Let us know if we can help you.

Be careful out there, and good hunting!

T-Mobile has decided to shift its focus for the coming festive season and stall the offering of low-priced laptops that have been so popular over the last few months.

As a reason for the decision, the company explained that many people already have laptops, and so they would not be interested in getting subsidized laptops from the company.

A spokesperson from the company said that the focus would bow be on the new gift packs that have been designed in a way that would enable people to gift mobile broadband connections on Christmas and New Year.

However, this would not mean that the laptop deals offered by the provider would come to a sudden end, as according to the spokesperson, they would still be available with some of the sources, though there would be no direct renewal of the stock from the provider itself.

The proposed gift packs will contain 30 days, three months and yearly packages of unlimited mobile broadband usage for specific amounts, i.e., for £19.95 dongle and top up £2, for £44.03 and for £146.80 respectively. This would not just provide customers with a different type of gift for the festival season but also give them a range of offers to choose from.

The Digital Britain report, which was unveiled recently, has suggested provision of mobile broadband for travellers in London Tubes to ensure that they can continue with their regular online work on their mobile devices.

Making the UK a big part of the global digital economy is one of the stated intentions of the Digital Britain report. To guarantee that Britain remains well connected throughout the 2012 Olympic Games, which are already being called the most digitalized Olympics ever, further stress has been put on the idea.

The current availability of the internet in Tubes in London is not good as it works only on the main lines and often gets disconnected and stops working. Improvement in network has been suggested many times prior to this but the government refused saying that the country does not have enough financial stability to make an investment. The last time this happened was in March 2009 when the government cited the economic downturn to postpone the project.

However, the Digital Britain report seems to have signalled a shift in the government’s stand. However, the government is still looking for help from the mobile broadband operators to make the project a reality. It will be interesting to see how the companies react to this suggestion. Not on mobile broadband yet, need to learn more?… click pay as you go internet for mobile broadband for a dedicated mobile broadband website.

According to a report publicly released in the UK by the famous research group Booz & Company, mobile broadband may be among the many industries to take a hit thanks to reduced spending by consumers. This could spell hard times for telecom firms, who so far have been seeing increasing revenues even while other businesses struggle to stay afloat.

The respondents to Booz & Company’s survey revealed that communication and media budgets have been cut by nearly a quarter of the consumers, and a similar number is likely to follow in their footsteps over the next half of the year.

BT and a few other broadband providers are offering package deals which seem to have helped them retain their existing customers and attract new ones. According to the survey, 45% users of telecom indicated that bundling their media services was high on their priority list.

While a quarter of the respondents were considering giving up mobile phones altogether, 23% thought that cancelling their television or broadband connection was a good method of cost cutting. Other options considered by some were to change to a mobile broadband pay as you go package to lower their monthly outgoings.

The head of Booz & Company’s UK division, Michael Peterson, had some useful advice to offer to telecom providers. He mentioned that operators should conduct a review of their offerings for a short-term horizon, and should also overhaul their business strategies as a long-term measure. Customers are becoming more intelligent about how their purchases are made, so businesses must also change plans accordingly.

The Global Positioning System (GPS) is a satellite-based navigation system made up of a network of about 18-24 satellites placed into orbit. GPS was originally intended for military applications, but in the late 1970s, the government made a system available for civilian use. GPS works in any weather conditions, anywhere in the world, 24/7. There are no cost for the use.

How it works

GPS satellites circle the earth twice a day in the same orbit and transmit signal information to down to mother earth. GPS take this information and use triangulation to calculate the user’s exact location. The GPS receiver compares the time a signal was transmitted by a satellite with the time it was received. The time difference tells the GPS receiver how far away from the satellite it is. Now, with this distance measurements from a few more satellites, the receiver can determine the user’s position and display it on the unit’s electronic map.

A GPS receiver must be locked on to the signal of at least three satellites to calculate a 2d position (latitude and longitude) and track movement. With four or more satellites in view, the receiver can determine the user’s 3D position (latitude, longitude and also altitude). Once the user’s position has been determined, the GPS unit can calculate other information, such as speed, track, trip distance, distance to destination, sunrise and sunset time and a lot more.

How accurate is GPS?

Today’s GPS receivers are extremely accurate, thanks to parallel multi-channel design. Garmin’s 12 parallel channel receivers are quick to lock onto satellites when first turned on and they maintain strong locks, even in dense foliage or urban settings with tall houses. Certain atmospheric factors and other sources of error can affect the accuracy of GPS receivers. Garmin® GPS receivers are accurate to 15 meters on average.
Newer Garmin GPS receivers with WAAS (Wide Area Augmentation System) capability can improve the accuracy to less than three meters on average. No additional equipment or fees are required to take advantage of WAAS. Users can also get even better accuracy with Differential GPS (DGPS), which corrects GPS signals to within an average of three to five meters. The U.S. Coast Guard operates the most common DGPS correction service. This system consists of a network of towers that receive GPS signals and transmit a corrected signal by beacon transmitters. In order to get the corrected signal, users must have a differential beacon receiver and beacon antenna in addition to their GPS.

The GPS satellite system

The 18-24 satellites that make up the GPS space segment are orbiting the earth about 12,000 miles above us. They are constantly moving, making two complete orbits in less than 24 hours. These satellites are travelling at speeds of roughly 7,500 miles an hour.

GPS satellites are powered by solar energy only. They have backup batteries onboard to keep them running in the event of a solar eclipse, when there’s no solar power. Small rocket boosters on each satellite keep them flying in the correct path.
Here are some other interesting facts about the GPS satellites (also called NAVSTAR, the official U.S. Department of Defense name for GPS):

• The first GPS satellite was launched in early 1978.

• A full constellation of 24 satellites was achieved in late 1994.

• Each satellite is built to last about 10-15 years. Replacements are constantly being built and launched into orbit.

• A GPS satellite weighs approximately 1,500 pounds and is about 16 feet across with the solar panels extended.

• Transmitter power is only 50 watts or less.

What’s the signal?

GPS satellites transmit two low power radio signals, designated L1 and L2. Civilian GPS uses the L1 frequency of 1575.42 MHz in the UHF band. The signals travel by line of sight, meaning they will pass through clouds, glass and plastic but will not go through most solid objects such as buildings and mountains.

A GPS signal contains three different bits of information a pseudorandom code, ephemeris data and almanac data. The pseudorandom code is simply an I.D. code that identifies which satellite is transmitting information. You can view this number on your Garmin GPS unit’s satellite page, as it identifies which satellites it’s receiving.

Almanac data, which is constantly transmitted by each satellite, contains important information about the status of the satellite (healthy or unhealthy), current date and time. This part of the signal is essential for a good position view.

Sources of GPS signal errors

Factors that can degrade the GPS signal and thus affect accuracy include the following:

• Ionosphere and troposphere delays The satellite signal slows as it passes through the atmosphere. The GPS system uses a built-in model that calculates an average amount of delay to partially correct for this type of error.

• Signal multipath This occurs when the GPS signal is reflected off objects such as tall buildings or large rock surfaces before it reaches the receiver. This increases the travel time of the signal, thereby causing errors.

• Receiver clock errors A receiver’s built-in clock is not as accurate as the atomic clocks onboard the GPS satellites. Therefore, it may have very slight timing errors.

• Orbital errors Also known as ephemeris errors, these are inaccuracies of the satellite’s reported location.

• Number of satellites visible The more satellites a GPS receiver can “see,” the better the accuracy. Buildings, terrain, electronic interference, or sometimes even dense foliage can block signal reception, causing position errors or possibly no position reading at all.

• Satellite geometry/shading This refers to the relative position of the satellites at any given time. Ideal satellite geometry exists when the satellites are located at wide angles relative to each other. Poor geometry results when the satellites are located in a line or in a tight grouping.

• Degradation of the satellite signal Selective Availability (SA) is an intentional degradation of the signal once imposed by the U.S. Department of Defense. SA was intended to prevent military adversaries from using the highly accurate GPS signals. The government turned off SA in May 2000, which significantly improved the accuracy of civilian GPS receivers.

16 years as an officer in the Norwegian army. See my pages: http://www.gps-info.org/ and http://www.lincoln-navigator.org/

Comments Off