Technews EVERY MONDAY• 25 April 2011 D5

By Jaye C. Bautista
How to clean lens
Being careful what you Google for Part 1 the right way
ummer vacation and typing URLs directly in the address hen I solicited photog-

S W
yes, the kids are get-
ting restless! On the
onset, our school-free
kids enjoy the first
few days of waking
up later, sitting around the house
or simply lazing about. A few
more days of that and they soon
get bored, start to rant and rave at
not being able to do anything. For
kids who have gadgets around the
house to keep them company, idle
time is less. For others, trips to the
mall, the beach or sleep overs at
relatives’ or friends’ houses tempo-
rarily suffice. But for those who opt
to stay home and “nest” round the
computer, hours are spent surfing,
downloading, emailing or being on
the social networking sites. Over
the summer kids look up a ton of
things online. I dug up and came
up with a list of top choices. Sit
back moms and dads, read on and
afterwards, please care to check
out the parental control settings on
your computers.
A few years ago, the company
Symantec released an interesting
list of top 100 most popular search-
es kids do online. Besting the top
three spots were YouTube, Google
and Facebook, now of whom we
know are some of the largest sites
online. Here’s part of that list…
1. YouTube
2. Google
3. Facebook
4. Sex
5. MySpace
6. Porn
7. Yahoo
8. Michael Jackson
9. Fred
10. eBay
While many of the entries aren't
that surprising, several trends
emerged from the list. Searching
via search vehicle such as Google,
Bing, iMesh seem to have replaced
Tech Buys and Goodbyes
Unlike basketball games that
have time-out’s, technology runs
after its own life in coping up with
one trend to another. Consumers
need to satisfy our tech-savvy
hunger, which is why we always
look for organizations that drive
ingenuity and innovation as fast
as possible.
This is exactly why technol-
ogy companies strive to be the
best and the first in launching
latest gadgets, so that they will
be able to set the tone in the mar-
ket. However, no matter how con-
stant the research and develop-
ments may be, some companies
just cannot keep up with their
competitors. As a result, they
buy or sell another company to
leverage on strengths, maximize
opportunities and lessen threats
against a rival company.
Acquiring to Lessen Threats
Hewlett-Packard is one of the
largest information technology
companies in the world today.
bar. This dated list had search en-
gines Google and Yahoo, coming
in at two and seven, and the two
largest social networks Facebook
and MySpace at three and five,
respectively. Apparently, the auc-
tion site eBay is also very popular
among the younger users, coming
in at number 10. If unsupervised,
survey said that kids at some point
do searches of a more “adult” na-
ture, uhuh the porn sites. And then
there’s the clamor to know about
products, reviews and celebrities
lives are also popular with the kids.
While the list was interesting, the
trends that can be extracted from
the searches are even more impor-
tant and one thing that stands out
is the fact that most of the searches
are, in fact, for sites that have ex-
actly the same URL as their names,
like YouTube, Facebook, MySpace,
etc. And if you think that's strange,
consider the fact that Google, the
biggest search engine so the site
where most of the searches in the
top have been performed, came
in at number 2, basically meaning
that kids are searching for Google
on Google.
Years later, this list hadn’t
changed much, with probably the
top three neck to neck. But for the
smaller kids, gaming sites are still
tops specially those that have be-
come more interactive like Habbo
that is both a social networking/
game site then there’s PBS, Car-
toon network I’m betting that a
lot of parents are still unaware of
what their children are actually
searching for and now that school’s
out, let’s expect to see a different
“trending” very soon. Once again,
I stress the importance of keeping
tabs at the sites our kids go to. Is
your child left alone to “google”
whatever for the summer?
Part 2 Up Next...
novative products and services,
upping their revenues to an im-
proved level.
Some other companies who
found themselves better with
the buying of another company
are CBS and Wired. CBS bought
CNet for $1.75B a few years back
in order to put themselves in a
great position not only on televi-
sion media, but also in computer
and print media. Similarly, Wired
bought Ars Technica for $25M,
with the aim to bring readers to a
newer, higher level of expertise.
Closing to Focus on Strengths
Do you remember back in
2005 when Google Video and
Youtube were going at it? Since
Youtube essentially won, Google
eventually bought it in 2006 to
end the competition. Although
that was the case, Google kept
the Video – until this April 2011,
when they finally announced the
closure of the service. It’s not
a surprise at all. Besides, why
raphers for their top
tips, I was reminded
of how important the
fundamentals are to
strong shots and how
often they go overlooked.
Take, for instance the note from
Jung Wi of Allure West Studios, who
teaches photography seminars as
well as specializing in wedding pho- time. Just throw it in the wash-
tography. His tip was, "Clean your ing machine," Mr. Heiner said.
lens. " He said, "You would be sur- The old standby, disposable lens
prised by all the dirty lenses I see wipes, is still available and ac-
before every class." ceptable, but never, ever use pa-
But even something as simple as per products. "They are very, very
wiping a lens can be done the wrong rough and can scratch the surface
way, with disastrous results. I spoke of the lens," said Mr. Heiner. "Even
to Steve Heiner, the senior technical bathroom tissue, it seems soft, but it
manager at Nikon, for advice on lens isn’t." Always start in the middle of
cleaning. There is more to know than the lens and wipe in concentric cir-
you might expect. Air blowers, which have whimsical cles, pushing any gunk to the outside
Lenses in general have several fins that prevent them from rolling of the lens, where a tiny bit of residue
coatings designed to let more light in out of reach. can be swiped up.
by canceling reflection. Most are in- 2) Brush up. Another option is 4) The solution solution. For per-
tegral to the glass; some may be ap- to use a lens brush to sweep dust sistent spots on the lens, you might
plied on top. The coatings are tough from a lens, but be careful in han- need a cleaning solution. Don’t buy a
but not indestructible, and they are dling the brush. "You never want to bottled product that is mostly water
especially susceptible to scratches. touch a brush," said Mr. Heiner. "It’s and detergent. "You make a bigger
The problem is, wiping a lens can the worst thing you can do because mess," said Mr. Heiner. The slowly
make the grit you are removing act the oils from your hands get on the drying water and sticky detergent
like sandpaper. Here’s the right bristles." Oils can be especially hard can actually attract more dirt. Use
way. to remove from the lens. Mr. Hei- generic, fast drying denatured al-
1) Take the air. Start by blowing ner cited the Staticmaster brush as cohol applied sparingly to the cloth,
as much dust away as you can with one that is often used, but it is much never to the lens. "If you put it on the
air, but not just any air. "We do not more expensive than an air bulb. lens, it can get inside." Don’t have
recommend that you use any high 3) Friendly fibers. In most cases any alcohol? A perfectly good substi-
pressure air," said Mr. Heiner. Air all you need is a good lens cloth. tute for light cleaning is "a good huff
from compressors can be laced with They are now made of microfiber, of breath across the lens," said Mr.
small bits of oil that is hard to get off but get a good one. How do you de- Heiner.
a lens. Canned air uses refrigerants, termine quality? "It’s hard to be ab- Finally, if you really have to wipe
which can shoot a gust of damaging solutely certain, so try to use a repu- the lens and don’t have the proper
freezing air. "I’ve seen people blast table manufacturer." Cloths from 3M tools, a little cautious improvisation
the lens and break the element," Mr. are available for around $5. One wipe is probably fine. "I’ve been guilty of
Heiner said. The preferred product will last a long time, but you have to using my shirttail on occasion," said
is a squeeze bulb. Favorites of pho- take care of it. "Make sure you wash Mr. Heiner, "but I keep it to a mini-
tographers are the Giottos Rocket- your microfiber cloth from time to mum." (NYT)
Magellan's Sony's MDR-DS6500 wireless
eXplorist Pro 10 headphones -- surround sound
does GIS data in style
collection
Sony's latest MDR-DS6500 setup offers up a
slew of surround sound modes, including Dolby
Magellan is at it once
Digital, Sony's Virtualphones Technology, a
again with the Pro
100-meter (330-foot) operating range, and
10. Running Windows
automatic tuning. Sony's also promising
Mobile 6.5 and powered
20 hours of listening for
by dual AA disposables,
every three hours the
the eXplorist Pro has a
things spend on
three-inch 240 x 400
their charging
color transreflective
dock.
display -- so on-screen
site surveying is as
easy in direct sunlight
as it is in the dark of
night. The device comes
with a 533 Mhz CPU,
128MB of RAM, 4GB of
onboard memory, and
room for more bits and
bytes via microSD. A
3.2 megapixel camera,
three-axis compass,
pressure altimeter,
and a barometer round
out the geographic
measurement gear, and
a Bluetooth radio.
Synthesis Innovations introduces new business software
o better serve the re- ing of vehicle maintenance, driver lessly from front-end to the back of-

But it wouldn’t be successful as
it is if it only relied on its basic
computers and printers, which it
is very known of.
As of date, it has acquired
more than 100 companies since
1981, ranging from less than
$10M to more than $100M.
Among the biggest and most
popular acquisitions are Com-
paq (personal computers), 3Com
(computer networking), 3PAR
(data storage), and Palm Inc.
(smartphones). These acquisi-
tions have placed HP in better
ranking and higher revenues, as
compared to when it was operat-
ing just in itself.
In the same manner, our
most-abused and used Google
has acquired around 90 com-
panies since 2001. By looking at
their list of buys, it seems like
Google wants to be a one-stop
shop for everything we online
junkies need. Their acquisitions
have not only diversified their
portfolio, but also led to more in-
keep two similar services, when
the other one is just a vestigial
tail for Google?
On the other hand, Cisco also
gave a stunning announcement
that their Flip Video line of digital
cameras is saying farewell even
if it became a success. Why? Be-
cause they have realized that the
company is still a network infra-
structure business after all, so
efforts on sales, marketing, re-
search and development should
be focused on maintaining their
core product on top of the line.
As they say, “if you can’t
beat them, buy them.” But buy-
ing isn’t just all that. Acquiring a
company means that one compa-
ny acknowledges the other com-
pany’s core competency. It also
means that they want to work it
out together to complement the
existing core competencies in
order to produce an improved,
quality-oriented, and most com-
plete product or service. (Glenn
Richmond Ong)
T
quirements of the
micro, small and en-
terprises, Synthesis
Innovations make
available new business
software to automate operations in
the transport shipping and transport
industry as well as systems in retail,
credit and parcel delivery. These
software packages offer efficiency,
accuracy and flexibility with upgrad-
ed features that outdates the manual
flow of day-to-day business transac-
tions.
For Public Utility Bus opera-
tors, the SYNC Transport is capa-
ble of seamless extraction of data
from ticket-generating devices and
produce day trip summaries in a
cost-effective, precise transport
management system. Thus, data is
easily validated and human errors
efficiently abated.
Designed for fleet operators and
dispatchers, the SYNC Cargo ac-
complishes a series of tasks involved
in the management of delivery ve-
hicles. This Fleet Management Sys-
tem functions to achieve monitor-
management and assignment, and
management of fuel, speed and dis-
tribution.
SYNC Parcel comes handy with
its efficient tracking solution. As a
courier management system, this
software manages the delivery of
parcel and monitors client accounts
automatically. The tracking mecha-
nism utilizes barcode registration,
invoicing and administration of phys-
ical management, analysis report,
data security and other features.
"Our commitment to the small
businesses pushes Synthesis Inno-
vations to consistently develop and
come up with business solutions that
are simple, innovative and affordable.
With these industry-based software
packages, we give SMEs the option
to automate, achieve higher pro-
ductivity and compete well in their
respective markets," says Kendrick
Ang, vice-president for Business De-
velopment of Synthesis Innovations.
To fit the retail business opera-
tions, the SYNC POS was developed
as a "Point-of-sale" system capable of
managing the selling process seam-
fice.
With an accessible interface,
cashier transactions, generation of
sales and terminal report up to in-
ventory management comes more
scalable and consistent in handling.
SYNC Credit promises to be the
complete solution to loan account
servicing including mortgages, re-
ceivables, leases and other lines of
credit.
This out-of-the-shelve computer
software of the SYNC line come in
modular types thus enabling users
to integrate different software suites
with ease. Highly-adaptable to any
company processes, these software
packages can easily be customized
to conform to existing systems and
database.
SYNC Software is designed and
developed by Synthesis Innova-
tions Inc. with offices at 4th floor,
BJS Building, P. Domingo St., Brgy.
Kasilawan, Makati City. For product
inquiries, contact Synthesis Inno-
vations or for additional info, go to
www.sync.ph or find us in Facebook
– Synthesis Innovations, Inc.