Your Smartphone Will Replace Your Car Keys by 2015

Your smartphone has the potential to replace nearly everything else in your pockets, so why not your car keys? 

Hyundai is working to do just that, with an embedded NFC tag that allows you to open your car, start the engine and link up to the touchscreen with a simple swipe.

Because the system can recognize different smartphones, it can customize the in-car experience to suit each driver’s seat, mirror and infotainment settings.

Once the phone is in the console, it links up with the 7-inch touchscreen mounted in the dash, and Hyundai is employing the Car Connectivity Consortium’s MirrorLink standard to automatically import contacts, navigation destinations, streaming audio and apps.

Despite forging dozens of automaker partnerships, MirrorLink hasn’t caught on with many manufacturers yet. That’s mainly due to concerns about driver distraction and how certain apps would be ported to the integrated screen, modifying the user interface to suit a more driver-focused experience. But that’s about to change as MirrorLink begins gaining momentum.

Hyundai and its connectivity partners at Broadcom are working to get this NFC- and MirrorLink-driven technology to market in its next generation of products, with the automaker claiming to have many of these systems in place by 2015.

Google will start charging for Google Apps

Google is ending availability of a free version of its Google Apps online application suite for small businesses, saying it wants to provide a stronger and more uniform experience to users.

The Internet giant said Thursday in a blog post that now even small businesses with ten or fewer users will have to pay to use its online app platform, a group that up until now has been free. All businesses will now be charged US$50 per user, per year, for the service.

Google Apps will remain free for individual users, as well as existing business customers that currently use the free version.

A blog post Thursday by Clay Bavor, director of product management for Google Apps, said the service is used by "millions of businesses." 

Since launching a paid version of its online product in 2007, Google has gradually scaled down the size of businesses that can use it free of charge. In 2009, the limit was set at 50 users, and in 2011 it was lowered to ten users, prior to ending the free portion of the service. 

Secret Gmail Feature...Must try it out today

There's a Google Mail feature one should seriously use.
Because copying an entire chain of messages after your reply doesn't make any sense when people can scroll down to see all the messages, chained one after the other. What makes sense is to only provide the snippet that you are actually replying to. You need to do the following:

1. Select the text you are replying to in Gmail.

2. Hit the reply button.

3. Boom! Only the selected text will be quoted. Reply at will.

This is common in all mail programs, but most people don't know it exists in Gmail too.
So start using it, please. Pass it around and enjoy the love of your correspondents, who will be grateful forever for your neat replies.

Google Glass & Microsoft's Glasses

Google is working on computerized glasses. They're called Google Glass.

It turns out Microsoft is working on something similar.

There's a big difference between what Microsoft is working on and Google Glass.

The most recent word out of Google is that Google Glass isn't going to use "augmented reality" – where data and illustrations overlay the actual world around you.

Google Glass is actually just a tiny screen you have to look up and to the left to see. 

Microsoft's glasses seem to utilize augmented reality. In a patent illustration we've embedded below, you can see that the glasses put data on top of a live action concert and a ballgame. Microsoft is working on could end up replacing the smartphone as the dominant way people access the Internet and connect to each other.

Both gadget concepts are very interesting. 

Computers have been getting smaller and closer to our faces since their very beginning.

First they were in big rooms, then they sat on desktops, then they sat on our laps, and now they're in our palms. Next they'll be on our faces.

(Eventually they'll be in our brains.)

If Microsoft and Google are working on computerized glasses, so would be Apple. 

Here's the patent illustration from Microsoft:

And here's what Google Glass looks like:

Comparing Web-Based Word Processors

The next major jump in computing is Cloud Computing. In cloud computing users access web-based applications via their web browsers. Today's most popular web-based application is Google Docs, but there are many more available. Below given are other web-based applications which the users can compare. Google Docs is a web-based office suite composed of three key components: the Google Docs word processing program, Google Spreadsheets spreadsheet program, and Google Presentations presentation program. Any one can access Google Docs using a web browser on any computer with an Internet connection, and it's totally free.

Google Docs is the most popular web-based word processor available. It works well and easily. Basic formatting is very simple, storage space for documents is generous, and sharing/collaboration version control is a snap. But, Google Docs doesn't include all the functionality you find in Microsoft Word. Google Docs lacks sophisticated page formatting (no two-column documents, for example), mail merge, macros, and the like—some of which can be found in competing web-based word processing programs. If you're a Microsoft Word power user, Google Docs may disappoint.

Zoho Writer  easily moves ahead of Google Docs in the web-based word processor race. You get all the standard editing and formatting features, as well as page numbering, headers and footers, footnotes and endnotes, table of contents, and other advanced features not found in all other web-based word processors. Zoho Writer also offers robust sharing and collaboration features, just as you find with Google Docs.

ThinkFree Write  is a Java-based online word processor that is similar to Microsoft Word 2003 interface. Each new document opens in its own window, with a Word-style pull-down menu and toolbar. The editing and formatting functions are also quite Word-like, complete with styles, editing marks, fields, an autocorrect function, and so forth.

Peepel WebWriter is part of a multi-application web-based office suite. The Peepel interface is a lile unusual: The document you're editing appears in its own window, on top of the larger home window that holds the toolbar and tabs that you use to edit and format the document. Peepel offers some interesting features, like the ability to edit documents offline if you don't have an Internet connection.

iNetWord  is a web-based word processor applicaion. iNetWord features a tabbed interface, with each open document appearing on its own tab. here is a support for page backgrounds, borders, page numbering, tables, images, and so on. It even consiss of predesigned templates for documents.

Glide Write  is part of the Glide Business suite of web-based applications. Glide Write is an elegant word processor that integrates seamlessly with other Glide applications, including email and chat. In addition, Glide documents can be viewed on a number of smart phones, including the iPhone, T-Mobile Sidekick, and a handful of Treo and BlackBerry models.

Docly is an interesting application, designed especially for professional writers. Docly offers a minimalist interface approach to editing and formatting. Its focus is on copyright management, including the ability to assign a document a Creative Commons license or a traditional "all rights reserved" license. This means that not only can you share and publish your Docly documents, you can also offer them for sale.

Buzzword is Adobe's entry into the web-based word processor marketplace. Unlike Google Docs, Buzzword runs in Flash, which might be problematic for users with older PCs or those with slow Internet connections. Flash implementation gives Buzzword a snazzy interface and some advanced editing and formatting features.

Buzzword interface is head-and-shoulders above the interface of Google Docs. Buzzword provides full text and paragraph formatting, headers and footers, page numbering, endnotes, and keyboard shortcuts, none of which are currently available with Google Docs. You also get a running word count, inline spell-checking as you type, the ability to insert comments, and a history of revisions made to a file.

C# - Inheritance

nheritance is one of the main features of an object-oriented language. C# and the .NET class library are heavily based on inheritance. The telltale sign of this is that all .NET common library classes are derived from the object class, discussed at the beginning of this article. As pointed out, C# doesn’t support multiple Inheritance. C# only supports single inheritance; therefore, all objects are implicitly derived from the object class.

Implementing inheritance in C# is similar to implementing it in C++. You use a colon (:) in the definition of a class to derive it from another class.

 

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C# - Events & Indexers

In C# events are a special type of delegate. An event member of a class provides notifications from user or machine input. A class defines an event by providing an event declaration, which is of type delegate.
The following line shows the definition of an event handler:

public delegate void EventHandler(object sender, System.EventArgs e);

The EventHandler takes two arguments: one of type object and the other of type System.EvenArgs. A class implements the event handler using the event keyword.

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C# - Classes

You saw a class structure in the “Hello, C# World!” sample. In the C#, you define a class by using the class keyword, just as you do in C++. Following the class keyword the class name and curly brackets ({. . .}), as shown here:

class Hello

{

static void Main()

{

Console.WriteLine("Hello, C# World!");

}

}

Note: C# classes don’t end semicolon (;) as C++.

Once a class is defined, you can add class members to it. Class members can include constants, fields, methods, properties, indexers, events, operators, instance constructors, static constructors, destructors, and nested type declarations. Each class member has an associated accessibility, which controls the scope of the member and defines whether these members are accessible outside the class. 

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C# - Control Statements

Control flow and program logic are of the most important parts of a programming language’s dynamic behavior. In this section, I’ll cover control flow in C#. Most of the condition and looping statements in C# comes from c and C++. Those who are familiar with java will recognize most of them, as well.

The if . . .else Statement 

The if . . .else statement is inherited from C and C++. The if . . .else statement is also known as a conditional statement. For example:

if (condition)

statement

else

statement

The if. . .section of the statement or statement block is executed when the condition is true; if it’s false, control goes to the else statement or statement block. You can have a nested if . . .else statement with one of more else blocks. 

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C# - Expressions and Operators

An expression is a sequence of operators and operands that specify some sort of computation. The operators indicate an operation to be applied to one or two operands. For example, the operators + and - indicate adding and subtracting operands.


For example, the operator + and- indicate adding and subtracting one object from another, respectively. Listing 22 is a simple example of operators and operands.

Listing below shows - The relationship between operators and operands

using System;
class Test
{
static void Main()

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C# - Attributes & Variables

Attributes enable the programmer to give certain declarative information to the elements in their class. These elements include the class itself, the methods, the fields, and the properties. You can choose to use some of the useful built-in attributes provided with the .NET platform, or you can create your own. Attributes are specified in square brackets ( [. . .] ) before the class element upon which they’re implemented. 

Variables

A variable represents a strong location. Each variable has a type that determines what values can be stored in the variable. A variable must definitely be assigned before its value can be obtained. In C#, you declare a variable in this format: 

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C# - Types

As mentioned earlier in the article, C# supports value types and reference types. Value types include simple data type such as int, char, and bool. Reference types include object, class, interface, and delegate. A value type contains the actual value of the object. That means the actual data is stored in the variable of a value type, whereas a reference type variable contains the reference to the actual data. Value Types Value types reference the actual data and declared by using their default constructors. The default constructor of these types returns a zero- initialized instance of the variable. The value types can further be categorized instance of the variable. The value types can further be categorized into many subcategories, described in the following sections.

Simple Types
Simple types include basic data types such as int, char, and bool. These types have a reserved keyword corresponding to one class of a CLS type defined in the System class.LEARN MORE>>>>