In 2012, there is no shortage of impressive buildings. Skyscrapers such as the Burj Khalifa reach as far up as half a mile into the clouds, seizing the imagination. But what about buildings that are impressive for a different reason – energy efficiency as opposed to size?

While not technically generating their own power, these buildings are energy-independent from the rest of the grid, or at least closer to energy-independent than many of their neighbors. Instead of sucking power from the pulsating grid, these buildings are harnessing the power of the sun for their own electricity, and some of them seem to do it in a more spectacular way than the other solar-powered buildings in the world.

In other words, some solar-powered buildings are cooler than others. Here are a few around the world that we think you’ll enjoy:

Sanyo’s Solar Ark

Why is it called an Ark? That’s easy to explain. One look at it and you’ll see that it is not only shaped like an ark, but surprisingly self-sufficient similar to the way Noah’s famous Ark was. Located in Gifu, which contains the geological center of Japan, the facility towers 37 meters in the air – but looks fantastic because it’s so wide. The solar panels here collect energy from the sun – some half a million kWh of energy per year – but they also host LED panels that are capable of playing messages to those looking at the building from the outside. So not only is the building a monument to what is possible with solar energy, but it is an attraction in and of itself.

Solar Towers from EnviroMission

Still in the planning stage, it’s hard to resist mentioning the solar towers that are being planned by EnviroMission. The towers themselves are expected to rival the Burj Khalifa for height. These towers aren’t there just for looks, however, they serve the practical purpose of funneling hot air through turbines that are then used to generate power.

The project is expected to cost a lot – as much as three-fourths of a billion dollars – but much of the red tape has already been cleared and EnviroMission has been given the go-ahead for the site.

Masdar City

Also in the building stages, this is an entire city in Arabia.  Check out all their plans here.

The World’s Largest Solar-Powered Office Building

Located in China, this office building, a part of China’s Solar Valley, looks more like an opera house than it does an office building, but that’s by design. In fact, the entire office building is uniquely designed. It’s rare that you’ll find this much office space powered by solar energy. But that’s exactly the case for the 246,000 square feet here, much of which is not dedicated to pure office space but to other amenities such as training facilities, research centers, and even a hotel. There are lots of big solar-powered buildings all over the world; this is the largest one where people actually go to work.

Just take a quick glance around the world and you’ll see similar projects to the ones just mentioned popping up – it leaves you wondering just how cool the next generation of solar-powered buildings will become.

Image Sources: neepster, Jedimentat44, Jan Seifert, capelle79

Meg Jones works with a company that provides solar financing arrangements for green energies that offer long term benefits for customers and the earth.

Our computers and laptops have become extensions of ourselves. But like our bodies, they are susceptible to viruses, injury, and accidents, making locally-stored data extremely vulnerable. At any time they can also be affected by external elements like fire, flood, earthquakes, and even power fluctuations. Our prized files, be it text documents, digital photos, music albums, movies, etc., can all be stolen, lost by accidental deletions, or even through hard drive failure. For all these reasons, it is best to protect valuable data by storing copies of your files through secure online document storage.

Why do we need secure online document storage?

There are many secure online document storage options. They not only help you save documents but permit you to distribute them to others safely and enable you to access them anytime from anywhere. For this, you don’t even have to spend a penny; neither do you have to undertake complicated procedures. There are several online sites which provide affordable, extensive, and secure document storage systems.

Managing, organizing, and sharing documents has never been easier. You do not need any special equipment or software, just log on to the Internet and create a secure account with the portal of your choice. File protection is not the sole service provide by secure online document storage companies. They also give you easy access to your essential and most frequently used files no matter where you are. Whether on your smartphone, laptop, or PC, you can check out your stored data with just a few clicks.

However, with the evolution of the online storage space industry there has been a mushrooming of these companies. In such a scenario, how can you, the user, choose the best company for your online storage needs?

How to choose the best document storage company

While most online storage providers are alike in principle providing you with secure data storage, they can be extremely diverse in terms of the characteristics, capacity, accessibility, and help and support services. To make an informed decision, you need to weigh your options and choose the provider that best suits your needs. For this, it is essential that you do your research and also consult the ensuing checklist which will help you make that decision.

• Storage Space. The foremost feature of a good secure online document storage company is the allotted storage space. It should give you unlimited storage for free. Occasionally, and especially for organizations, you might need to pay a nominal fee, in which case make such that you are getting the most competitive price.

• Simplicity. Your online storage service provider must offer you the most user friendly storage option. This means that you will not have to waste time in navigation and uploading files.

• Quality. Opt for the company that provides you the best features including easy uploading and sharing of your files, file versioning of the most recent versions, good backup options and auto updating, restoration of deleted files, decent folder sharing, offline syncing, etc.

• File Access and Compatibility. A good online storage provider gives you the facility of storing and accessing any kind of file. It should support any file format and allow you to upload and access your files from multiple devices.

• Support services. The online storage company of your choice should offer troubleshooting and knowhow like step by step manuals, video tutorials, etc. Whenever possible, customer care services should also be provided through a year round, 24/7, dedicated customer helpline and email support.

So what are you waiting for? Do your homework and make an informed decision. Choose the best secure online document storage provider and save space in your PC, laptop, smartphone, or external hard drive. And even better, you will never lose your personal files ever again.

Syeda Tanuja Hussain has worked as a content manager, copywriter, and editorial assistant for Records Management. She loves travelling, designing clothes, and cooking. Having interned with an electronics magazine, she has developed an interest in document storage companies and offsite document storage.

For more on secure online document storage, visit RJS Smart Security.

Even though statistics show that college graduates can earn substantially more over the course of their lifetimes than people with high school educations or less, a college degree is no longer the instant ticket to success that it once was. Case in point, more and more young adults are moving back home with their parents after college rather than getting their own apartments. Many recent grads—even those with master’s degrees—are unemployed or underemployed, taking jobs that do not require a college education, often in industries like retail or food service.

Research has found that the availability of jobs and starting salary range depend heavily on a person’s choice of college major. Students with technology-related majors seem to fare far better than people who graduate with degrees in non-technical areas like the humanities. Why? Simply put, we are living in a technological society and things are changing constantly. Even supermarkets and doctors’ offices have gone digital.

Essential Colleges Courses for Technology Majors

You might not realize it, but you should start preparing for your future job hunt while you’re still in school. Whether you’re planning to become a systems engineer, software developer, computer technician or any other IT professional, here are three college courses that will be vital to your success:

Public speaking. Even though you will probably not be required to get on stage in front of others at work, learning how to get your point across and occasionally influence others with your opinion will come in handy in any technology job. Good communication skills will make you appear polished and professional. This not only comes in handy on job interviews; it can help you train co-workers and clients, collaborate with other people, and even make sales.

Writing. Regardless of the type of technology job you are seeking, you will need good English and grammar skills. This skill set will help you create a dazzling resume. Many people struggle with basic writing and grammar throughout school, and the widespread use of text messages for communication has caused some people’s skills to decline even further simply because they get so used to abbreviating words.

A technology internship. An internship may not be your idea of a “real” college class, but a lot of schools do provide college credit for internships. Traditional classes will provide you with plenty of textbook-based knowledge, but an unpaid internship can provide true on-the-job training and experience. You will learn what it’s like to actually do the job you’re studying for rather than hear a professor talk about. The best part? If you’re a first-rate intern, you might be offered a full-time job after you earn your degree. Worst case, you will meet plenty of people who work in the field. A network of contacts can come in handy, too.

College is often considered “the best years of your life,” but never forget that you are there to learn. Take advantages of all of the opportunities that are presented to you, and take advantage of vital courses for in-demand technology jobs. Your future bank account will thank you.

Michael “Big Mike” McCaffery works for Go Dish and likes to help young people find jobs in the technology industry.  If you are interested in conecting further, check out his LinkedIn account.

by Arthur40A

In today’s advanced world of cloud-based computing, website hosting is undergoing tremendous change. Web hosting, once done on actual high powered machines, is now being handled virtually. Virtual Private Servers (also known as VPS) are virtual machines that run server configurations, using Virtualisation Technology. Virtualisation involves running one or more complete and unrelated server environments on a single physical machine. However, with the advent of cloud technology, newer techniques are becoming more popular. Let us take a glance at the changes.

Cloud Servers 

Cloud technologies are now concentrating towards taking data to the cloud. It comes as no surprise that even an entire server can be deployed, run and maintained from a cloud. Although both cloud servers and virtual private servers are essentially running on the same technology, there are some startling differences between them. The main difference is that cloud servers are dynamic in nature. This means that the changes made to a cloud server’s configuration become effective even during runtime. This in turn means that there is virtually no downtime for the websites being hosted on a cloud server. However, the same cannot be said of a VPS. Virtual private servers are limited by the physical machines attributes.

Advantages of Cloud Servers over VPS

Scalability, availability and choice are often seen as the major advantages a cloud server has over traditional virtual private server models.

Scalability: 

With traditional VPS, the scalability of a server directly depends on the node (machine) that the server is currently residing on. This means that scaling can take a hit if the node is not prepared for the same. For example, if the user desires to scale the server’s memory size from say, 6GB to 24GB, it may be only possible if the node itself has 24GB of RAM, and does not have other virtual private servers running alongside the user’s setup.

In case of cloud servers, scaling the server is not an issue at all, as the data is centrally stored and not placed on the node. If a higher or lower scaling is needed, the server is simply moved to a node that suits the user’s needs, even with the active server.

Availability:

When traditional VPS are subjected to scaling (increasing or decreasing resources such as memory processing power, etc.), the servers need to be shut down, so that the physical machines can be upgraded or the virtual settings can be changed. These things require the server to be offline, sometimes for extended periods of time. Moreover, the sites can suffer outage if the RAID solution being employed goes down. Such issues might take days to for rectification.

Cloud servers, on the other hand, need not be shut down, as they possess the ability to make system wide changes during runtime (dynamically). This means that the servers do not suffer even a minute of downtime whatsoever. The advantage of hosting data centrally off the nodes really becomes apparent here. If the node goes down, the server is simply moved to a new node, thus allowing the site to be back up within minutes of going down, and with virtually no data loss.

Choices:

Virtual Private Servers are often sold with fixed limits on pricing, scalability and platforms deployed within. For instance, some traditional VPS service providers may provide server hosting options, with only one or two operating systems to choose from. They may quote upper or lower limits (or both) for the scalability of resources by the VPS. 

Cloud-based servers are not limited by such constraints. The options that the user has at his disposal range from the choice of the operating systems to the scalability.

Of course if the idea of supplying your customers with a bespoke cloud tickles your fancy then also look at the opportunity to become a cloud reseller. Many cloud hosting companies offer this as an option meaning that the reseller can earn commissions simply by selling cloud hosting to their customers. Private label cloud services even allow you to completely skin the cloud user dashboard in your own branding!

It is evident from the above mentioned points that cloud servers have a real advantage over VPS, when reliability, scalability and choices are concerned. Moving to the cloud server is one of the best decisions one can make towards achieving organisational goals and objectives, while still keeping finances and risk factors in check. 

 This article was brought to you by ElasticHosts – an award winning cloud hosting platform.

Read this article at RJS Informer for more on cloud computing & cloud-based document management systems.

With the Internet controlling the major portion of your day-to-day activities, it is very important to protect your privacy online. While there are several companies out in the market trying to analyze your browsing trends and other activities, Google has recently entered into this fray, recording your online activities and using this information on other services. With the entrance of Google into the online privacy discussion, it becomes evident that intrusion of your online privacy is not alone done by phishing or tracking websites but trusted websites like search engines and ad networks are involved too. Here are 4 important tips to protect your privacy while using internet tools.

Never share personal information with strangers
With social networking ruling the internet, advertisers are keenly watching the happenings on social media sites like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn. While communicating with strangers, make sure not to reveal your personal information. Do not accept every friend request. This rule applies to new websites which request personal information. If possible, use a pen name while registering on these sites.

Use VPNs like Ultrasoft for an anonymous browsing session
With Google changing its privacy policy and storing user information, there is a greater need to use internet security tools to browse anonymously. Ultrasoft is an amazing internet proxy server which enables you to browse anonymously. This amazing tool hides your actual IP address and eliminates cookies and tracking counter issues. Internet tools like Ultrasoft are a great bonus for people who use shared computers or internet cafes as they can carry this software and run it from a USB stick. In addition, if you are browsing from locations wherein heavy internet censorship is in force, Ultrasoft enables you to browse websites without any restrictions. Adding to these benefits, Ultrasoft internet security tool is free and easy to use.

Opt out of Google Web tracking policy
Google saves your personal information and browsing trends to display relevant ads targeted to you. If you are not happy with this, it is recommended to opt out of this program. Logon to Google Dashboard to view and manage your personal information stored by Google. Check out all services which use your information and click on the ‘Revoke’ option to block a specific program from accessing your information. Install a plugin to manage ad networks. In addition, there are internet tools which enable you to identify and block tracking counters. These internet security plugins display the number of trackers working on a web page.

Secure your wireless connectivity
If you use wireless connectivity to browse the internet, you are more vulnerable to online threats. Try to encrypt the data using WPA security protocol and a strong password. Install powerful internet tools to guard your system from malicious attacks. As the internet browser is the first thing which gets affected with external attacks, increase the privacy settings of your browser for higher internet security.

When looking for software to disguise her IP address, Louisa Logan came accross Ultrasurf and downloaded it from Soft 32. Her location is now disguised when she surfs the internet.

Matt Cutts states that Google “try to make it so that you don’t have to do SEO and we still find the good content”.

Nine months on from Read Write Web using the headline “Good Content Trumps SEO”, it’s starting to show that content marketing is really working, replacing link building and some of the more black hat SEO techniques. We are not suggesting everyone gives up on SEO – you should still focus on on-site and on-page optimisation – but that many SEO techniques have fallen foul of Google’s algorithm and so we need a new strategy.

Beating the Algorithm Updates

It seems that in 2012, each time Google releases a new product or update they upset the SEO community. Keyword stuffing and link building simply don’t work these days, and the people who have made a lot of money perfecting these tricks aren’t happy. The same people are surprised that Google are actually beginning to punish them for practices they’ve used for years. This really shouldn’t come as a shock.

Last year (August 2011), Matt Cutts responded to a question on why Google favours sites that follow ‘SEO best practice’ over those with fantastic content but don’t consider SEO. The answer to this question is no different to the line Google have touted for years now and should have been a warning for the changes we’ve seen this year. This shouldn’t be a surprise – Google have always tried to rank the most relevant and useful results higher. In the past, basic algorithms made the assumption that if people were linking to a page and the page was full of relevant keywords then that page should appear in search – this has lead to years of abuse through paid backlinks schemes and keywords stuffing (both still occur and are sold by SEO agencies as viable methods of ranking).

As the Panda update demonstrated in 2011 this is no longer the case –  when Google change their algorithm every day, they are refining their search for quality content by adjusting and creating different rules about what constitutes good content. In the same video from August 2011, Matt Cutts claims that “We try to make it so that you don’t have to do SEO and we still find the good content”.

The rules have changed quite radically over the past year. They have forced the SEO community to focus less on link quantity and more about social sharing, community building, great content writing and the relevance, quality and authority of the page from which a link is passed.

Content Marketing in Action – Not SEO!

Forbes published an anti-SEO article which demonstrated content marketing in action. The post prompted a response from Jonathan Allen on Search Engine Watch and so gained a valuable backlink. Because of the controversial nature of Bill Barol’s views, the article was likely to attract responses with links. His article gained linkjuice without any effort at SEO! Bill was going out of his way not to think about SEO, but in writing a blog post that led to mass social sharing and comments on other sites, he did exactly what any SEO should be doing.

Google isn’t trying to banish SEO but is simply making it less effective (even damaging) for SEOs  to continue using many techniques that have worked in the past. They are telling us that what they want in the organic search results is the most relevant and best quality content for any given search term. In fact Google has never claimed anything else.

Whether we like it or not, social signals definitely are important. They effect personalised search results and have a positive effect on your ranking.

The content marketing industry is taking off, and it’s hard to fake good content. Many are trying of course – selling fake Google+1′s and Facebook likes, tweets and rubbish content. It can’t be a great long term plan though – there are ways to detect bought social shares and why spend money building up a fake fan base? If you took the money spent on buying likes and instead spent it on time building up a strong social following then you not only get the ranking benefits of social shares but have also boosted brand reputation and have a direct social marketing channel. Those fake 10000 followers on Twitter certainly aren’t going to buy anything from you.

The only sure way to avoid a possible drop in ranking, further down the line when they discover a way of detecting mass produced fake signals, is to write good content. It’s the only real sure bet.

Rethinking Strategy

Most SEO firms will have to refocus on thinking of creative ways in which to find good authoritative resources in which to place great content (with links of course). They also need keep their sites, or those of their customers, fresh and updated with more great content that will catch the imagination of potential sharers. They will need to focus on developing relationships with sharers, bloggers and website content managers.

Content Marketing IS now the backbone of SEO. Google have got what they wanted, a reduction of spam, link farms and content farms and a transformation of the SEO industry into one which needs to focus on how to make the internet more interesting for people. Not such a bad thing. Takes away much of the pointless robotic techniques and replaces them with much more creative tools and techniques.

Content Spam

Unfortunately, as with any new technique, the spammers are already circling. Worryingly, today I received an email from a reputable local SEO company asking how much we charge per link to host guest posts. This is happening more and more – companies looking for quick wins are spinning articles, adding links and trying to get other webmasters to publish them with financial incentive. If they think we will only accept the post if it they pay then that immediately flags it up as a low quality post. If the content’s good, we should be paying them not vice versa!

Aaron Charlie just doesn’t stop writing for Silicon Beach Training in Brighton, who run Content Marketing workshops alongside their SEO courses – preparing marketers for long term strategies.

Amazon Web Services runs things as diverse as Pinterest, Netflix and the reservation system of Intercontinental Hotels. Its big impact, however, may be in the developing world. People on cheap mobile phones now use supercomputing in California before they have decent running water. It will only get cheaper and bigger.

Remember when everyone in the tech industry sort of took a step back, looked at Pinterest, and said, whoa, this whole digital moms demographic might have some legs to it? Well, as it turns out, moms aren’t just out there pinning recipes and home decor to their Pinterest boards – they’re heavy-duty digital consumers across all channels, including not only social media, but also in e-commerce and on mobile.

According to the findings of a new report released today by mobile ad network Mojiva, moms are heavily engaged with their tablets and phones. One third own a connected device. They spend 6.1 hours per day on average on their smartphones – that’s more than magazines, TV or radio, to put it in perspective. 62% use shopping apps and 46% took action after seeing a mobile ads. This an active, active group of users to target here.

Mojiva wanted to find out how engaged today’s moms were on mobile, and, like most of the U.S. population, their time spent on mobile is increasing. There are 85 million mothers in the U.S. according to Census data, says the firm, and of those who are mobile, they’re spending 6.1 hours per day on their smartphones. That number seems a little high, but to be fair – it’s an average and the more addicted mobile users could be throwing things off a bit. (In fact, 51% say they’re “addicted” to their smartphone).

In addition, Mojiva found that mobile web usage is 40% higher today than in 2009 for these connected moms – but that’s also more likely because of the increased rollout of mobile websites and phones that can access them. More important are the engagement numbers below.

But first, a few demographic details: over 60% of the moms toting smartphones are aged 25 to 44 and over 77% are Caucasian, followed by Hispanic (12.4%), Black (11.5%), Asian/Pacific Islander (5.6%) and Native American (1.2%). Household income, not surprisingly, increases the likelihood that the moms are mobile, with those in households over $100K more likely than others to be smartphone owners. However, here’s something interesting – households with income of $25K-$50K have just about the same mobile penetration levels among moms as those with household income of $50K-$75K. In other words, mobile is just a fact of life for these middle-class mothers. 40% of the mobile demographic has a university degree or higher, 50% work full-time and 62% work.

The really interesting numbers here are the engagement levels. Even moms without smartphones spend 2.5 hours on average per day on mobile. One-third of moms own a connected device (a non-smartphone). Of these, 9.8% own an iPad, 9.5% own a Kindle and 5.7% own an iPod Touch. And they like to shop from their tablet, too. In surveying 1,500 tablet-owning moms, 97% made a purchase using their tablet in the last month. That’s huge. 31% log more than 10 hours per week on their tablet but log less than 2 hours on their PCs. This is also reflective of the overall trend in the industry that is seeing tablets eat away at PC market share (and quickly). Despite this, many retailers have been shown to be slow to adapt, and are without tablet-ready websites or iPad apps. That leaves room for new companies to come in and give iPad shopping startups a shot, like Pickie for example, or Fab.com., Gilt, Shopmox, etc.

Plus, 62% of connected moms report using a shopping app, and 46% say they want to receive info on their mobile device while in a store.

Also not surprising to those who watch trends in this group closely, moms are heavy social media users as well. Half of connected moms use social media on their mobile. 81% of these are fans of a brand, 86% post status updates, and 84% comment on social media. That also offers brands and retailers a lot of opportunity to connect with this group to encourage purchases and other types of engagement – like re-posting and sharing.

This is fascinating data – especially if you’re looking to capitalize on one of the most engaged demographics out there with your new startup, app or e-commerce venture. For more info, or to access the complete report which sources some of the above data from research firms like Nielsen, Edison, and others, contact Mojiva.

The overwhelming majority of web-based services today rely on Linux. More and more of these companies are joining the Linux Foundation, the “nonprofit consortium dedicated to fostering the growth of Linux.” The Linux Foundation provides a neutral ground for companies and users to discuss and collaborate on Linux’s development, so it makes sense for companies with large Linux footprints to get involved. Linux Foundation members include IBM, Intel, Google, HP, Oracle, and a raft of other names you’ll recognize. Twitter will be joining up next week.

With tens of thousands of Linux servers, Twitter will be joining The Linux Foundation to support its mission of promoting, protecting and advancing Linux. “Linux and its ability to be heavily tweaked is fundamental to our technology infrastructure,” said Chris Aniszczyk, Manager of Open Source, Twitter. “By joining The Linux Foundation we can support an organization that is important to us and collaborate with a community that is advancing Linux as fast as we are improving Twitter.”

Aniszczyk will be keynoting at the Linux Foundation’s LinuxCon event next week with a presentation titled “The Open Source Technology Behind a Tweet.” I’ll be there. You should be, too.

Also joining the Linux Foundation are Inktank, a company that provides development and support of the Ceph distributed filesystem, and Servergy, manufacturers of efficient Power Architecture ™-based, enterprise-class Linux machines.

The disconnect between smartphone-based Instagram and the Internet is relatively infuriating. For one, you can’t scroll through your friends’ photos, and perhaps more importantly, your can’t license your pictures so that anyone who wants can use them on the web.

But a new service called I Am CC has fixed that. Set up much like Flickr, I Am CC lets you grab all your Instagram pictures and license them under a Creative Commons license. This means that anyone on the web can use them (I can, for instance, use one of your photos as a lead image on TechCrunch), with the credit always going back to you.

Unlike Flickr, however, you can’t pick and choose which Instagram pics will get licensed. It’s an all-or-nothing type deal.

After giving the service access to your Instagram account, you’ll sign up for a three-month Creative Commons license, meaning that anything you Instagram for the next three months is available to the world. You can shut down I Am CC at any time, but anything that’s already been licensed cannot be revoked.

[Image credit: Matt Brennan]

[via LifeHacker]