NEW TO THE TOUCH

Summary

When Steve Jobs first demonstrated the pinchthe two-finger gesture for zooming in and out of photos and Web pages on the iPhone, he not only shook up the mobile phone industry the entire digital world took notice Touch interfaces are not new. People use them every day to get money from ATMs or to check into flights at airport kiosks. Academic and commercial researchers have been working on multitouch technology for years Multitouch interfaces are potentially more versatile than single-touch interfaces. They allow you to use one or more fingers to perform special gestures that manipulate lists or objects on a screen without moving a mouse, pressing buttons, turning scroll wheels, or striking keys. They take different actions depending on how many fingers they detect and which gestures a user performs. Multitouch gestures are easier to remember than commands Apple has made a concerted effort to provide multitouch features in all of its product categories, but many other consumer technology companies have adopted multitouch for some of their products. Synaptic, a leading supplier of touchpads for laptop makers who compete with Apple, has announced that it is incorporating several multitouch features into its touchpads. A number of Microsoft Windows PCs have touch screens, with a few Windows laptops emulating some of the multitouch features of Apple computers and handhelds. Microsofts Surface computer runs on Windows 7 and lets its business customers use multitouch in a table-top display. Customers of hotels, casinos, and retail stores will be able to use multitouch finger gestures to move around digital objects such as photos, to play games, and to browse through product options. The Dell Latitude XT tablet PC uses multitouch, which is helpful to people who cant grasp a mouse and want the functionality of a traditional PC. They can use a finger or a stylus instead. The Android operating system for smartphones has native support for multi-touch, and handsets such as the HTC Desire, Nexus One, and the Motorola Droid have this capability. The TouchSmart makes it possible for home users to engage in a new type of casual computing putting on music while preparing dinner, quickly searching for directions before leaving the house, or leaving written, video, or audio memos for family members. Both consumers and businesses have found other uses as well. According to Alan Reed, HPs vice president and general manager for Business Desktops,

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1 What problems does multitouch technology solve?

Multi-touch is a method of input on a touch screen that allows two or more fingers to be used on the screen at one time. Apple's iPhone is famous for introducing multi-touch to the cell phone world by using it to allow pinching and stretching gestures on the screen to control zooming. Multi-touch is something typically associated with capacitive touch screen displays rather than with more common resistive touch screen displays. Helps people with disabilities - Helps autistic students to speak to and communicate with others. Replace the use of mouse and keyboard - For users who cannot grasp a mouse and want the functionality of a PC. (e.g the Dell Latitude XT tablet.) Minimize clutter with portable device - Such as the Android operating systems for smart phones has support for multi-touch. Users can manage emails, contacts, calendars and hold virtual meetings through a built-in webcam and microphone.

2 What are the advantages and disadvantages of a multitouch interface? How useful is it? Explain.
Advantages

Extremely good for object manipulations - Touch, drag, pinch to zoom in and out, slide finger up and down or sideways as if they were physical objects without moving a mouse, pressing buttons or striking keys. For example,Perceptive Pixel offers pressure-sensitive multi-touch displays that can sense an unlimited number of simultaneous touches with accuracy and precision. Their displays come bundled with the right software and have applications in broadcasting, medical imaging, data exploration, digital storyboarding, industrial design and more. More versatile than single-touch interfaces - as opposed to the single-touch screen, which recognizes only one touch point. Multitouch interface allows one or more fingers to perform gestures to manipulate objects.

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Multi touch gestures are easier to remember than commands - Based on ingrained human movement that do not have to be learned. touch is ideal for consuming/presenting information. Because it is a more natural interface, it increases user productivity. Collaborative use - before the multitouch technology was invented, even with computer display connected to an external projector and another mouse, it was impossible for more than one person to make edits when pulling together a PowerPoint presentation. There is now an operating system that would support a minimum of dual input for group conversations on a single workstation. Made editing easier as more than one person can make edits to a project or presentations at the same time.

Disadvantages There are some disadvantages for the multi touch that might be a problem to some and to others might be only a simple accommodation to new technology.

Eyes on Touch screen interfaces are nearly all eyes on. You cannot type by touch while your eyes are occupied elsewhere like most cases of 12-17 year old kids than can text and type without looking. With an all touch-screen interface you generally cannot start, stop, or pause your MP3 player, for example, or close and answer your phone by reaching into your pocket, purse, or briefcase like you usually do since you don't have a one mechanical key to memorize it's location and operate eyes free. This risks serious accidents for example if someone tries to operate a multi touch car radio while driving.

Hands on Handheld devices that rely on touch screens for input require two hands to operate: one to hold the device and the other to operate it. Thus, operating them generally requires both eyes and both hands. Unlike the usual phones that can be operated and held using one hand: one hand to hold the device and a finger of the same hand to operate it.

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Fingers on Your finger is not transparent: the smaller the touch screen, the more you obscure what is being pointed at. That is why a stylus or pointer should be used: it is very skinny and accurate in such a way that nothing on the screen gets obscured. There is a reason we dont rely on finger painting: even on large surfaces, writing or drawing with the finger is generally not as effective as it is with a brush or stylus. And on small surfaces, it is even more ineffective to try and draw or write with a finger. This is a disadvantage as for note taking and writing as well as for applications for drawing and design since it is ineffective, a stylus should be used instead to replace the keyboard on a multi touch surface. Prices Prices of such devices might be too high at the beginning as it is for every new emerging technology. That might be a disadvantage and people might refrain to buy it and be afraid to try new stuff but eventually prices will continually decrease year after year until the product reaches every customer it can in order to spread the new technology Advantages Ability to adapt to almost any imaginable problem that its should solve. Disadvantages Size of finger. Complicate the occlusion problem, as several fingers, hands or devices are clouding even more parts of the touch screen than on single-touch device.

Ability to rapidly perform complex tasks Finer touches can be varied in pressure sensitivity and angle (on several axes) and hands can be used to express a variety of gestures by tilting, flicking and catching of forming any conceivable kind of sign. Imply not only multiple hands or devices but also multiple persons.

Inconvenient in drawing and writing Caused risk. The multiple device mostly rely on touch screen rather than touch tablets without display, you always need to be able to look at the surface and get discern able display information. Limitation to the handicapped

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Useful

Multi touch in businesses Multi touch has several uses in the business model of todays technological era. There are several connections that todays case study will have to emphasize on. Examples are such as:

Mobile applications Tools for sales teams, technicians, medical staff, logistics tracking, banking, insurance, and teaching: professional mobile apps are popping up in all industry sectors, particularly for tablets. Here are some of the latest to appear on the market: An in-store digital sales companion developed by SFR (Vodaphone) for its in-store sales representatives. With access to catalogues, prices, special offers, real-time updates, etc., the sales reps now have new ways to pitch and sell products and services via an attractive interface. What do LOral, the French boy scouts and Bouygues have in common? They all use the services of Urban Gaming, a French company that claims to turn the city into a playground with touch-screen tablet-based team-building and incentive activities. Equipped with tablets with serious game apps, the teams are let loose in a city as part of a team -building exercise with a difference.

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The long-neglected office-based workers Touch-screen devices are huge at the moment: tablets enhance users image and are ideal for mobile staff and executives. But what about staff who are chained to their desks all day? The future will doubtless see an increase in interactive desks, i.e. touch-screen features but copied onto a physical desk, with all the advantages of interactive, paperless functions. Microsoft and Samsung have already begun with the launch of Surface 2, a 40 multi-touch table that can be laid horizontal or mounted on to four legs and costing around 6,000. It can be used for anything from medical imaging to air patrol configuration and post-flight debriefing (as demonstrated by Dassault at this years Paris Air Show). Canadian company ExoPC is also working on a 40multi-touch interactive desk that is compatible with Windows 7 and can be hooked up to a monitor. ExoDesk will be on sale for around 1,000

3. Describe three business applications that would benefit from a multitouch interface
The usefulness of multitouch interface are the change of interaction, engagement with other new possibilities and the enhancement of teamwork. There are three business applications that would benefit from a multitouch interface are the reading digital material (e-books / e-mail), electronic signature software and project quote estimate.

1 The reading digital material such as e-books and e-mail should be supported with pinch zoom function, easy to drag or double click and QWERTY on screen keyboard that supported multitouch for 2 handed typing.

2 The electronic signature software should manage the document workflow, safely and securely complete documents with legally-binding signatures in minutes from everywhere, anytime and can send, track, chart and sign document.
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3 The project quote estimate should have construction field estimator, make quotes for clients and use 19 different calculators and estimators to estimate materials and costs.

4. What management, organization, and technology issues must be addressed if you or your business was considering systems and computers with multitouch interfaces?
The management, organization, and technology issues must be addressed if my business was considering systems and computers with multitouch interfaces such as the employees who are not technology-savvy, psychological resistance to change, growing technology with the introduction of new and better gadgetry, high costs, redundancy with similar feature different gadgets and intrusiveness with negative impression.

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Computing goes green

Summary:-

The data center facilities are heavy consumers of energy. In 2010, out of the total energy used worldwide, 1.1% to 1.5% being used in the data center facilities. There is also increase in the number of servers in the corporate, from 5.6 million to an estimated 12 million in United States between 2000 and 2007. These also results in an increase in the electricity bill for data center, jumped from $1.7 billion to $2.7 billion in the United States, and from $3.2 billion to $7.2 billion in all over the world. The companies have to spend more on the cooling their data centers. The cooling costs rises the utility bill for 100,000 square-foot data center to $5.9 million. All these additional power consumption has a negative impact on the environment. Various options are available for cooling the data centers, like overhead air conditioners. But it can costs a lot for an organisation and also not a environment friendly. Another option is Liebert Xd. It is placed directly on the server rack and conditions the air with waterless refrigerant pipes. Other important option is from Degree Control Company. It installs floor tiles equipped with watts of power. The most economic and highly effective tool for the cooling the servers is Virtualisation. With Virtualisation, a system administrator could combine several physical systems into virtual machines on one single, powerful system, thereby unplugging the original hardware and reducing power and the cooling consumption.

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Question 1:- What business and social problems consumption cause?

does data center power

Answer:A study by a physicist at Harvard, estimated that the average Google search realised 7 grams of Carbon Dioxide. Obviously, it badly affects the environment. Some of the organisations spends more money to keep their data center cool, than they spend to lease the property. This things has a negative impact on the operating cost of the organisation as-well-as for the environment. The heat generated from all of these servers causes the failure of the equipment so that, the organisation faces lots of problems.

Question 2:- What solutions are available for these problems? Which are the most environment-friendly ? Answer:-

There are various solutions are available for the cooling of the data centers. Some of that are the overhead air conditioners, which are widely used amongst the organisations. This is very costly and is not much environment friendly solution. Another cooling solution is called Liebert XD which placed directly on the top of server racks. It conditions the air with pipes which contains waterless refrigerant. Virtualisation is a highly effective tool for more cost effective and green computing, as it reduces the number of servers required to run a firms applications.
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Question 3:- What are the business benefits and costs of these solutions?

Answer:The overhead air conditioners costs very high. At Pomona Valley Hospital at California, with 6000 square foot data center costs $500,000 for overhead air conditioners. However, there is less benefits comparing to the environment. Without the cooling systems, the firms were suffering daily breakdowns of servers and storage drives, which negatively affects the f irms turnover. With the help of the Virtualisation, the cost of cooling reduced significantly and also saves the power.

Question 4:- Should all firms move towards green computing? Why or Why not? Answer:Yes, all the firms have to move towards green computing. In the context of the environment, power saving is very important. In todays scenario, the cooling systems generate lots of Carbon Dioxide in the environment. A study by a physicist from Harvard , estimated that the average Google search realised 7 grams of Carbon Dioxide in the environment, which is too much dangerous for the good of the society. With the implementation of the green computing, there is less consumption of the electricity and so that, the environment remains safe. Also, the organisations can decreases their operating costs with the help of the green computing.

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Salesforce.com : software-as-a-service goes mainstream

Summary:-

Salesforce.com is one of the top 100 companies listed by the Forbes Magazine. The Salesforce.com provides CRM (customer relationship management) solutions in the form of software-as-a-service. The Salesforce.com was founded by the former Oracle executive, Marc Benioff, in 1999. It has now over 43000 corporate customers and over 1 million subscribers in all over the word. Salesforce.com is a service provider, which provides on demand model of software distribution to the clients. It takes 0 to 3 months for the implementation. The system is accessible via standard web browser. It continually updates its software. The customizing feature is also available there. The salesforce.com faces significant challenges as it continues to grow and refines its business. The competition, from traditional industry leaders are one of the major competitor for the Salesforce.com. Another challenge for Salesforce is to expand the business into other areas. One way is partnership with Google, called Google Apps, like Gmail, Google Docs, Google talk, etc. allows the customers to accomplish more tasks via web. Another major challenge is, the subscribers of the Salesforce, depend on the service all the time. But sometimes failure occurs occasionally. So, the companies have to depend on the software as- a- service. So the solution is, the Salesforce provides assurance about the system reliability and also they offers PC applications, so that the subscribers can work offline as-well.

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Question 1:- What are the advantages and disadvantages of the software-as-aservice model? Answer :It gives more visibility across the entire organisation so that, the firm can focus on entire service delivery. The software-as-a-service model is very easy to manage, very easy to use, and most importantly very easy to scale the figures that are collected. It can be used to merge the companies. It eliminates the need of the large capital investment in the system and also the lengthy implementation in the corporate. There is no need of purchase of any hardware. The major disadvantage is the subscribers have to depend on the service available. Occasionally, there might be some problems with the service. So the organisations faces many problems regarding the day-to-day activities.

Question 2 :- What are some of the challenges facing Salesforce as it continues its growth? How well will it be able to meet those challenges?

Answer :The major challenge for the Salesforce.com is the increased competition. The traditional industry leader as-well-as the new comers are giving tough competition to the Salesforce. Like Microsoft, SAP, Oracle, they have shut down their subscription based versions of the CRM products. Another challenge is to expand the business model into other areas. The solution is, Salesforce has a partnership with Google and provides facilities, like Gmail, Google Talks, Google Docs, so that the customers accomplish more tasks using the web. The Salesforce.com subscribers depend on the service, being available all the time. But sometimes, outages occurred, and the companies or the subscriber faces the problems. So, the Salesforce provides the assurance about the service, as-well-as offers the PC applications, so that the users can work on the application offline also.

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Question 3:- What kinds of businesses could benefit from swiching to salesforce and why?

Answer :Financial services, Media companies, Communication industries, Retail sectors, government organisations etc. are the most beneficial of the Salesforce.com. Through the Salesforce, the companies are able to quickly and easily collaborate around the documents and the information, like sales opportunities and the marketing campaign leads. It gives complete visibility into the wordwide customers support and helps to improve the service while reducing the cost.

Question 4 :- What factors would you take into account in deciding whether to use Salesforce.com for your business?

Answer :First thing that have to be take into consideration is about the companys capacity to expand. The Salesforce will be benefited to the companies as it boost in the sales or services of the company. The availability of the service model for the company is also an important factor that also has to be taking into consideration. The facilities of the internet should also available in the organisations so that the subscribers can use the Salesforce application online.

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Bibliography

Kennth c. Laudon / Jane p.Laudon, Pearson, 12th Edition, 2012.

Ken Laudon / Jane Laudon ,Pearson, 11th Edition, 2010.

http://www.econo-blog.com/blog/multi-touch-devices-and-apps-forbusinesses/?lang=en (Accessed on 26/03/13)

www.salesforce.com (Accessed on 25/03/2013)

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