These days, if you don’t have your business on the internet and visible to the major search engines, you are less likely to be found. MicroEd offers affordable and professional website solutions to help get your business noticed on the web.

We have added some new product information and a better portfolio that we will try to keep updated with recent web related projects.

http://www.microedwebservices.com/

If you have questions regarding anything web related contact us. Also, feel free to come in to our store to speak with someone about our website solutions.

MicroEd has worked hard to improve our website products, so we can offer you everything from high quality eCommerce websites, right through to simple Small Business and Mobile Websites.

Out of the box the two phones are packaged in a very similar fashion. The iPhone comes with a Power Adaptor / USB charger, Manual and Headphones while the Samsung comes with the Battery, Power Adaptor, Separate USB Cable, Manual and Headphones.

Setting up the Samsung entailed removing the back casing, fitting the battery and the SIM card. The iPhone was a little simpler, only requiring a SIM card to get things under-way. It was quite refreshing to see that the iPhone didn’t need iTunes or a connection to a PC or Mac to activate the phone.

Both phones were up and running with minimal fuss. Our first impressions were that the Samsung was really impressive with the iPhone simply being an updated version of the same interface and features.

We sat the two phones beside each other and started working through the typical day-to-day.

Advantages of Android (namely the Samsung Galaxy SII)

• Extremely Light-weight
• Ability to take SD Cards
• Bigger clearer screen (more contrast)
• Quicker and Easier Text input
• Camera appears to be present clearer pictures with more definition and natural colours
• Better desktop management
• Task manager – easy ability to free up memory and resources
• The Back key
• Smarter user interface
• Voice recognition is faster
• Far more functionality in popular applications such as Maps, Calculator, Clock/Timer, Notes, Contacts
• Better notifications and Status
• Price $$
• Renders websites far quicker than the iPhone
• Videos play from websites
• Better functionality when browsing
• Plays Flash content (iPhone will not play flash content)
• Ability to Print
• The Biggest advantage is NO NEED FOR iTUNES!!! – simply drag and drop Music, Videos and Photos

Advantages of iPhone 4S

• Stronger case and chassis
• The quality of the downloadable Apps appears to be better
• Larger out of the box memory (32gb and 64gb)
• Better signal in poor reception areas
• Easier transition for existing iPhone users
• Siri (voice recognition) is quite an extraordinary piece of software and gives a reasonably intelligent response to almost anything you throw at it

Having come from an iPhone 3 the iPhone 4S is a massive improvement in terms of speed, screen quality and overall responsiveness.

iTunes – the bane of my existence..

I don’t think I am alone when I say I hate iTunes. Moving from the iPhone 3 to the 4s didn’t improve my opinion of this agonising, inferior piece of software. The whole experience was excruciating. My wife’s experience with the Android on the Samsung was a much more pleasant one. Moving music and photos to the Samsung was simply a matter of plugging in the phone to the USB port of the PC and dragging and dropping the photos and music folders – its was simple! Three hours later I am still trying to get my music collection and photos onto the new phone. iTunes reported that the music was on the phone but its no-where to be found. After a lot of mucking around trying to move the music track by track, iTunes threw up an error indicating that the file can’t be played on the iPhone…. wait.. but these tracks came from my iPhone 3 ??? [Shakes head - Facepalm]

So which is the better phone?

The Samsung Galaxy S II wins hands down over the iPhone 4S and unfortunately I am now stuck with the iPhone for another 24 months (luckily I get to play with my Wife’s Samsung Galaxy to ease my sanity).

For graphics and gaming, new Asus K53SC notebooks deliver the might of NVIDIA discrete GPUs. The ASUS K53SC Notebook comes with NVIDIA GT 520MX available for dazzling gaming and multimedia output, up to 1GB DDR3 video memory on hand to accelerate visuals.

ASUS K53SC Notebook Features:

Microsoft Windows 7 Professional 64-bit
Intel Core i7 2630QM 2.0GHz Quad Core Processor
Intel HM65 Express Chipset
NVIDIA GeForce GT 520MX with 1GB DDR3 VRAM
4GB DDR3 1066MHz Memory
750GB 5400rpm Hard Drive (Upgradeable to up to 1TB Hard Drive or up to 480GB SSD)
DVD Supermulti Drive
15.6″ HD LED Colourshine (1366×768)
HDMI, VGA Output
802.11bgn
0.3 Mega Pixel Camera
Keyboard with Numberpad
Battery Life: Upto 4hrs 6 cell
Weight: from 2.6kg

Manufacturer Link: http://www.asus.com/Notebooks/Versatile_Performance/K53SC/#overview

The video speaks for itself.

We hope you like the new look and feel. We thought it was time for a new look and the new design makes it easier to maintain.

We have also made the site easier to navigate by splitting the content into News, Articles, Specials and Products. Please feel free to browse the new website to find pages of interesting content.

We hope you enjoy visiting on a regular basis and are always interested in your feedback.

MicroEd Web Services will continue to update this website and its design, as the new system grows.

This is my first Arduino POV project. POV – Persistence of vision is the phenomenon of the eye by which an afterimage is thought to persist for approximately one twenty-fifth of a second on the retina.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persistence_of_vision

Put simply; it’s a programmable sign. You can have it display any message or picture you set. We are basically flashing the 5 LED lights in sequence while a motor turns the lights around. Because the arm is moving at speed you are seeing the lights 20 times per a second in differing sequences tricking the eye into seeing it as a banner.

Displaying the Message "MICROED"

Aim of the Project

Put simply, its a programmable sign. You can have it display any message or picture you set. We are basically flashing the 5 LED lights in sequence while a motor turns the lights around. Because the arm is moving at speed you are seeing the lights 20 times per a second in differing sequences tricking the eye into seeing it as a banner.

Parts List

1 x Arduino Compatible Processor (I used a KitTen from freetronics only $26.95 AUD http://www.freetronics.com/products/kitten)
5 x SMD LEDs or 5 x LED
5 x 1K Resistor
1 x 8 pin 90-degree locking header

Battery, LEDs and Arduino Mounted on the propeller ready for testing

1 x 40 pin terminal strip
1 x 9v Battery Clip
1 x 2.1mm dc power line female connector
Connecting Wire (I used an old IDE Cable)
2 x Small PCB Board
1 x Ruler or suitable board for arm
1 x Small DC Motor (used Tape Player motor)
1 x 9v Battery
1 x dead 9v Battery for counterweight
Suitable Base (old CDROM)

Tools

Soldering Iron
Hot Glue Gun (my best friend)

Technical Background Required

Some basic understanding of electronics and Programming can be handy but not necessary.

Assembly

Take an old IDE cable and split off 6 wires.

Mount your LED’s on one of the small PCB boards. If you use SMD tape then you can simply cut the strip up and stick them on the board.

Solder a piece of cable across the negative side of all the LED’s and then the other connecting leads for the positive sides of the LEDs.

Solder the other end of the cable to the 90 degree locking header.

Now take the other PCB board and solder the 90 degree header on one end of the PCB and the terminal strip to the other end of the PCB board.

Solder the Terminal Strip to the other side and other end of the board.
Solder the individual resistors.

Solder your 9V battery clip to the DC power line connector.

The Base and Arm

Hot Glue a suitable DC motor to the CDROM unit (or any suitable heavy base).

Hot glue your battery, Arduino board and LED’s to your ruler/arm.

Hot Glue the arm to your DC Motor.

You may need to counterweight one side of the ruler/arm to prevent vibration; an old 9v battery is suitable. To check you have counterweighted the arm correctly turn the project on its side and the arm should balance out parallel to base. If one side falls then you need to adjust your counterweight.

Testing

Connect your LEDs to your Arduino using your newly created LED interface board, Plug the interface board in so that the terminal strip connects from pin 2 on the interface board.

Use the LED_Test code to test that the LED’s are firing correctly. LED_Test.pde

The LED_Test program simply cycles through each inpidual LED so that you can check that everything is working correctly.

Displaying a Message

If the above test has been successful then you are ready to display your first message.

Try loading the POV_Banners.pde sketch into your Arduino.

I made use of the character generator by DanielJA (nice simple concept)

Improvements to be made…

The addition of a hall sensor would allow me to steady the text and control the scrolling and prevent it scrolling backwards but unfortunately that is going to have to wait for another rainy weekend.

Many of these infections disguise themselves as genuine AntiVirus programs such as Microsoft Security Centre which in some cases makes it very difficult for the user to identify.

The ultimate goal of these attacks are to do you out of money. Many people unknowingly provide their Credit Credit details only to find that this doesn’t remove the infection and in some cases makes it worse and they are then coaxed into upgrading to the “Pro” version which costs even more.

AntiVirus companies are working frantically to protect people from this infection but there are so many variants are being released that they are typically one step behind the attackers.

Fake AnitVirus 2011

Our advice is:

• Make sure you are protected by a paid and well known AntiVirus subscription such as ESET or Trend
• Surf Smart – stick to well-known sites
• Don’t click on advertising links or anything that looks gimmicky
• If you see an AntiVirus alert that appears to be fake then simply click on the X in the top right hand corner of the browser. Don’t respond to any of the prompts on the screen
• If you appear to be infected then seek professional advice

Further reading:
http://www.zdnetasia.com/lizamoon-continues-to-plague-sites-62208229.htm
http://community.websense.com/blogs/securitylabs/archive/2011/03/31/update-on-lizamoon-mass-injection.aspx?loc=interstitialskip

The automated evacuation recommendation came through about 11am by SMS and we started to move out but all roads north,south,east and west were closed so we decided to sit it out until the water went down far enough to leave through a backroad.

Flooded Caboolture-Morayfield Road Video

Last week the Northern Times ran the following article on the SCAM

If you are contacted by scammers then we advise shutting down your machine and seeking advice.

To report an incident please contact Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Tech Support SCAM - Northern Times Jan 7 2011.