Asian Americans Who Have Made a Difference - King of Waves
Orlando Named 2010 Top North American Golf Destination by International Golf Association
Tech. Tip 6: WolframAlpha: Searching for Answers Beyond GOOGLE
Tech. Tip 5: Netbook vs. Laptop
Tech. Tip 4: Windows 7: High Hopes for Microsoft's Newest Operating System
Tech. Tip 3: Lock Up Your Servers!
Posted 05/07/2010
King of the Waves
Duke Kahanamoku came to be known as the father of international
surfing, but the Hawaiian native made his first splash as a swimmer at
the 1912 Olympics in Stockholm, Sweden. Born in Honolulu in 1890,
Kahanamoku struck gold by setting a world record in the 100-meter
free-style and earned a silver medal in the 200-meter relay. He won two
more golds at the 1920 Antwerp Olympics, a silver at the 1924 Paris
Olympics, and a bronze at the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. Kahanamoku's
swimming and surfing talents caught the attention of Hollywood, and over
the course of nine years, he appeared in nearly 30 movies. Kahanamoku
went on to serve as sheriff for the City and County of Honolulu for 26
years. When the legendary swimmer and surfer died at the age of 77, he
was remembered for his athletic talent and sportsmanship.
Posted 12/29/2009
This “Tech.Tip” column is normally devoted to technological tricks and tips. But now that the gift-giving season is over, we thought we would go “Old School” and suggest something positively retro: Take out your pen and stationery, and handwrite your Thank You notes.
“Why can’t I just email or call and say ‘Thanks’?”, you ask. Well, you could. Any Thank You is better than none. However, if you want to bump it up a bit, a handwritten Thank You note shows more effort, thought and care and is appreciated far more by the recipient.
Some general guidelines:
1. Your handwriting must be legible. In this age of texting and typing, many of us find our penmanship
skills may have degraded. You can
compensate for this by: (1) write a bit slower (fast writing often results in chicken scratch); (2) relax your grip on your pen (your writing will flow more smoothly); (3) revert to basic print letters if your cursive writing is poor;
(4) tilt your stationery at a slight angle - - it will make your print
letters look more italicized; and (5) practice your pensmanship online, such
as at www.handwritingsuccess.com
or www.handwritingthatworks.com
2. Use decent
quality stationery or purchase some Thank You cards from any drugstore or
retail shop. Photocopier paper or,
worse yet, using your kids’ lined composition notebook paper, does not make a
good impression.
3. Relax when you
write and use good lighting. Don’t
strangle the pen or hunch over your desk, especially if you have a lot of Thank
You’s to send out. Your fingers, hand,
neck, shoulders and eyes will appreciate it when you use good posture and
lighting.
4. Specifically
mention the gift and why you appreciate it (even if you don’t) or how you will
be able to use it later on or why it is unique.
5. Keep the note
short. Four to five sentences is
sufficient. For close family and
friends, there is, of course, no limit.
6. Send it out
timely: The rule of thumb is to send a
Thank You note within two or three weeks of the gift. (Exceptions: For a job interview, send out within 24 hours. For a wedding followed by a long honeymoon,
send out upon your return.) However, a
late Thank You is always better than none at all.
7. Out of stamps? Go to www.stamps.com or http://www.usps.com/onlinepostage/welcome.htm and print your postage or shipping labels from your computer. No more trips to the Post Office. Now start writing!
Posted 12/07/2009
IAGTO Chief Executive Officer Peter Walton said, "This is outstanding recognition for an aspect of the
"
The selection for winning destinations is made through votes cast by
over 300 golf tour operators from 50 countries who consider customer
satisfaction; quality of golf courses and accommodation; value for
money; support from suppliers, tourist boards and airlines;
professional conduct of suppliers; and accessibility to tee times.
North American finalist destinations nominated for the award included
With
177 golf courses, 23 golf academies, host to more professional tour
competitions than any other city and home to the Golf Channel,
top-rated professional players and course architects, Orlando is one of
the few places in the world that can confidently meet the needs of any
type of travelling golf group. Golfers of all levels, interests and
budgets will find a fitting golf experience in
About IAGTO
IAGTO (International
Association of Golf Tour Operators) is the global trade organization
for the golf tourism industry. Established in 1997, IAGTO's membership
comprises 1330 accredited golf tour operators, golf resorts, hotels,
golf courses, receptive operators, airlines, tourist boards, approved
media and business partners in 77 countries including, at its core, 330
specialist golf tour operators in 50 countries. It is estimated that
IAGTO's operators control over 80% of golf holiday packages sold
worldwide outside of
Posted 11/27/2009
Want to see what the early stages of "Artificial Intelligence" might look like? Welcome to WolframAlpha, a next-generation search engine, which was launched in May, 2009. Here's what it looks like:
WolframAlpha is the creation of British physicist and software genius Stephen Wolfram, and it is more than another search engine. As brilliant as Google is for quickly scouring the Internet for possible links to your question, WolframAlpha goes beyond that. It presents answers in the form of text, charts, graphs, and maps. It runs several algorithms to try and figure out what you're really asking, analyzes your question by looking at context and even your geographic location, and crunches numbers using Mathematica (software that Wolfram created 20 years ago).
Whether your question involves finance, sports, statistics, the weather, or anything else you can throw at it, WolframAlpha will produce several thoughtful "answers" or suggestions to your question. Think of Google as the librarian who points you to a stack of books to go look for your answer, and think of WolframAlpha as the nerdy assistant who actually pulls the books, spits out graphs and charts, and suggests other "answers" to related questions you weren't even thinking about.
As the name "Alpha" implies, Wolfram states this is just the beginning of his attempt in a decades-long project to create a system to compute all human knowledge.
WolframAlpha certainly is not perfect and needs some tweaking. If you were to enter the query "Asian American population of Orlando, Florida", for example, it will show you "related" results such as the city population of Orlando plus other cities (Pine Hills, Altamonte Springs, Sanford, etc.) But this isn't what we were looking for.
WolframAlpha's strength lies in computational analysis, so it is more helpful when you enter numbers or more specific names and places. And it can be somewhat entertaining. For example, enter your date of birth, city of birth, and "sky chart", and you get a fascinating look (to some) of how the stars were aligned when you were born. Want to know how nutritious "2 slices of pepperoni pizza" are? Curious about the Orlando weather forecast? Need to know how many calories is expended by a 40 year old female 5'6" and 160 pounds walking for 30 minutes? Want to see where the International Space Station will be, overhead, on Christmas Day, 2009, at 7:31 a.m.?
This is an important first step toward artificial intelligence. We can't wait to see what WolframBeta will look like!
To see a video of how WolframAlpha works, click here: WolframAlphaVideo.
Posted 11/06/2009
NETBOOK VS. LAPTOP: WHICH ONE IS RIGHT FOR YOU?
The Holiday Season is fast approaching, and great bargains are available for the careful consumer looking to purchase a new laptop or netbook. Whether you are in the market for yourself or for a gift-purchase, you should understand some pros and cons of both items:
What’s the Difference? Think cost, capabilities, and size and weight:
● Netbooks are smaller and lighter than laptops, which is one advantage for people on the go. A typical netbook weighs less than three pounds and has a 10-inch display monitor.
● Netbooks have slower processors and less RAM, which may lead to slower playback time for video clips or stuttering when you are running several programs at once.
● Netbooks cost about $300 while a laptop (also sometimes called a notebook) might cost twice that much, or more for higher-end models.
● Netbooks are perfect for basic tasks, such as e-mailing, word processing and Web surfing. However, if you will be spending lots of time as a gamer, designer, watching movies (DVD or online), or running several programs at once, buy a laptop. Even low-end laptop models, such as the Gateway MD ($550), feature large screens, faster processors, and lots of memory so you can run several programs at once.
● Netbooks are equipped with batteries that can last twice as long as a laptop/notebook. Typical battery life is about 6.5 hours for a netbook. The batteries last longer because netbooks don’t have optical drives, such as a hard disk drive with moving parts. Instead, they are equipped with Solid State Drives (no moving parts), which increases battery life.
● Most netbooks can run either Linux or Windows XP. However, with the recent rollout of Windows 7, check carefully to determine if your netbook is compatible, or even preloaded with, Windows 7. Microsoft’s newest operating system demands higher memory and speed (1-GHz processor & 1GB of main memory and 128MB of interface memory), so you may have to opt for a laptop instead if you want Windows 7’s full functionality and speed.
● Netbooks don’t allow you to watch a CD or DVD because they have no optical drive.
● Got big hands or poor vision? Opt for the laptop with the larger keyboards and display screen.
● CAUTION: Laptops are slimming down. Skinny is in. A new generation of ultrathin and affordable laptops is now available. HP’s dv2z laptop is 3.8 pounds with lots of computing power ($600; www.hp.com). The Acer Aspire Timeline 3810T is 3.5 pounds and runs cooler than most laptops ($600; www.us.acer.com). And the MSI X340 is a 13-inch laptop weighing only 2.9 pounds ($900; www.msimobile.com).
● Bottom line: Netbooks are smaller, usually lighter, cheaper, and simpler than laptops/notebooks. When in doubt, visit your electronic retailer to test and compare your options. Happy Holidays!
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