Friday, May 29, 2015
Wednesday, May 27, 2015
Wednesday, May 20, 2015
Monday, May 11, 2015
Childrens Ebooks are on the Rise!
Recently there has been a rise in children’s ebooks. Publishers have assumed that parents would be less willing to hand a tablet over to their kids than a board book or paperback, but that, too, is fast changing. In fact, digitial children’s books are up 36 percent – a change that should give printers pause.
“It is great to see digital growth continuing and developing in more sectors of publishing. The rise in children’s digital sales, while perhaps unsurprising given 71 percent of households now own a tablet, is testament to the innovation taking place in children’s publishing and the engaging content being produced,” said Richard Mollet, Chief Executive of the UK Publishers Association.
There was also some growth in the textbook space with 20 percent more digital book purchases by schools. Interestingly, however, only 4 percent of the “total school book budget” is spent on digital, a fact that will become more important as we enter the era of the connected classroom. In short, however, ebooks are holding their own
Monday, May 4, 2015
How does Airplane Wi-Fi work?
Airplanes use many of the same towers and satellites that deliver data to our smartphones, connecting to towers on the ground, or to satellites, or to both.
Air-to-ground (ATG) connectivity is ostensibly faster, since the towers on the ground are closer. This is what Gogo primarily uses. Gogo is the company that linked to those AirCell phones you used to see in the backs of headrests. Now, it powers wifi on a majority of the major US airlines.
If you’re buying wifi on an airplane these days, there’s a good chance you’re buying it from Gogo, though it isn’t the only provider. Some airlines, like JetBlue and Southwest, manage proprietary wifi systems using other technology. Gogo is also increasingly using a newer technology called ATG-4 that takes advantage of multiple antennas—four of them, arranged strategically along the fuselage—to grab signals and offer faster speeds.
Chart via Gogo
The Gear That Makes It Possible
They may be using the same equipment that people on the ground use, but airplanes need to hold onto network signals as they zip through the air at around 550 miles per hour.
Because an airplane is moving through the stratosphere at such high speeds, the antenna must constantly maintain a connection to any given tower or satellite. It doesn’t help that the satellites themselves are orbiting the Earth at 18,000 miles per hour. At a certain point, the antenna will have to find a new tower or satellite. Some antennas do this with motors that pan and tilt to catch a signal.
Many companies are trying to come up with better solutions. One obvious solution is to build a better antenna with fewer moving parts that can sit right on top of the fuselage without a bulky bulge. Ideally, the antennas won’t move at all. Instead, these next-gen systems take advantage of beamforming, or spatial filtering technology, that uses multiple antennas to create a more focused and precise signal. Some of the best wifi routers for your home offer beamforming signal processing technology, too!
Friday, May 1, 2015
Google can find your lost Android Phone
Google recently brought parts of the Android Device Manager to Google search. When you're signed in to the same Google account on your phone and PC, all you have to do is type "find my phone" into Google and your top result will be a live Google Map with the locations of your Android devices.
The new feature only allows you to call your phone. You can't use the Google search result to wipe your device or lock it like you can inside Android Device Manager.
The impact on you at home: For those times when you're pulling up couch cushions desperately trying to find your smartphone or tablet, the new feature will come in handy. Officially, you can only find your device in Google on a PC. But if you need to use your tablet to find your phone (or vice versa), you can use Chrome for Android'sRequest desktop site option to the get new search feature to work on your mobile device.
How it works
Although it sounds easy enough, using Google search to find your phone isn't quite as simple as typing in a query and waiting for the top result (although it's close).
As with ADM, you need to sign in again for security purposes the first time you search for "find my phone." Once that's done, Google search will reveal the locations of your Android devices.
The location map includes a drop-down menu in the top right corner to choose which of your Android devices you'd like to find. Once you've asked Google to find the location of your phone, you'll see a notification on your phone or tablet letting you know Android Device Manager requested its location.
Google's search feature is pretty smart too. It will work if you type in "find my phone" or "find my tablet." "My phone is lost" worked, too. More specific searches like "find my Nexus 5" didn't bring up the new feature.
The new search feature is live now on Google.com, but your Android devices also need the latest version of the Google app before "find my phone" will work.
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