Happy New Year from Group Mobile! Check Out Our Year-End Deals!

Check out these great year-end deals Group Mobile is offering on the Getac B300 and Trimble Ranger 3 rugged computers!

Getac B300

Save $1,000 off MSRP while supplies lasts!

Group Mobile is currently offering closeout pricing on 4th Generation B300 models! This computer is loaded with upgrades, including an Intel Core i7-3520M processor, 1400NITs QuadraClear™ sunlight readable LED display with touchscreen, SuperMulti DVD drive, and integrated GPS!

The Getac B300 fully rugged notebook computer is both MIL-STD-810G and IP65 compliant, boasting a Magnesium Alloy design, shock-mounted hard disk drive, vibration and shock resistance, and sealed I/O caps and doors to prevent damage from solid particles and moisture.  

In addition to all the upgrades in this configuration, this laptop also includes many impressive features such as and 4GB RAM for amazing speed and efficiency, a 500GB hard disk drive to store plenty of data, Bluetooth® and 802.11 Wi-Fi for connectivity, a backlit keyboard for working in dark environments, and a 5-year bumper-to-bumper warranty!  

The Getac B300 also has advanced security features to safeguard important data, such as a fingerprint scanner, TPM V1.2, and a cable lock slot. With an extensive list of security, power and connectivity options, as well as 15-hour battery life, the Getac B300 rugged notebook is designed for a productive, worry-free mobile computing experience. Learn more and order your B300 rugged laptop today...

 
Trimble Ranger 3

Save $750 off MSRP and get a FREE Carrying Case with your order until Jan. 3, 2014!

The Trimble Ranger 3 has the mobile computing tools field service workers depend on. Standard features include: an ultra-fast 800MHz processor, 256MB RAM, and 8GB of Flash storage for amazing speed and performance; a 30-hour long-life, hot-swappable battery that can work all day without being recharged; Wi-Fi and Bluetooth for wireless connectivity; an integrated SiRFstarIII GPS receiver for mapping and navigation applications; a compass to capture bearing data; and an accelerometer to capture motion data. The Trimble Ranger also features a high-resolution, sunlight-visible VGA touchscreen display that presents graphics and maps in vivid detail.

The optional Trimble Ranger 3 configurations include an include WWAN wireless connectivity, an integrated 1D laser barcode scanner to track your assets, and a 5MP digital camera with flash and geotagging mode to capture color images in the field with their precise locations stored. 

This rugged handheld computer is truly ready for the outdoors! To learn more and take advantage of this special offer on the Ranger 3, visit 
www.groupmobile.com/product.asp/sku=5188/dept_id=/mf_id=65.

FREE Ranger 3 Carrying Case
Place an order before January 3, 2014 and Group Mobile will also include a free Ranger 3 Standard Carrying Case with your order! 


*Offer good through January 3, 2014

New! – DRS ARMOR X10 Rugged Tablet

The all-new ARMOR X10 Rugged Tablet with Intel® Core Duo™ Mobile technology is one of the most durable, reliable and easy-to-use tablet computers on the market today. Housed in a specially designed aluminum DuraCase™ chassis with ShutOut™ sealing technology, the ARMOR X10 Tablet meets IP 66 level protection from dust, dirt, water and other damaging elements while still offering no-flap input connections and hot-swappable battery access without the need for tools. Click here to read more about the all-new DRS ARMOR X10 Rugged Tablet.

For more information regarding rugged mobile computing visit www.groupmobile.com or call us at 1-866-RUGGED-8.

Character Encoding

In the computer world, we use the term "character". A character is an abstract concept, defined by specific parameters, but is the basic unit of meaning. The "A" Latin is not equal to the Greek "alpha" or Arabic "alif" because they have different backgrounds, come from different languages ​​and are pronounced slightly differently, so we can say that they are different characters. The visual representation of a character called "glyph" and different sets of fonts are called glyphs. Groups of characters belonging to a "set" or "repertoire".

When you type something on the keyboard, or upload a file, how does the computer know what to display? That's what the character encoding. The text on the computer really is not composed of letters, is a series of pairs of alphanumeric values. The character encoding acts as a key to interpreting these values ​​correspond to which characters, so much as the spelling indicates which sounds correspond to which letters. The Morse code is a kind of character encoding. It indicates how long and short groups of units (such as beeps or light) should be interpreted to form characters. In Morse code, the characters are only in English letters and numbers. There are many character encodings for computers that translate letters, numbers, accent marks, punctuation marks, international symbols, and so on.

There are many different character encodings, and there are many valid reasons for this. Which character encoding to use depends on what you need us. If you communicate in Russian, it makes sense to use a character encoding that supports well the Cyrillic alphabet. If you communicate in Korean, it will serve well to represent a Hangul and Hanja. If you are a mathematician, I want one that has all the mathematical and scientific symbols, as well as Greek and Latin glyphs. And, if you want all these documents can be viewed by anyone, you'll want an encoding that is fairly common and easily accessible.

• Unicode - encoding standard that aims to universality. It now comprises 93 different scripts organized into blocks, with many others in the works. The Unicode works differently than the other set of characters in that, instead of hard-coding a glyph, each value is directed to a "code points". These are the hexadecimal values ​​that correspond to the same characters, but the glyphs are provided independently by the programs, such as web browsers. These code points are commonly depicted as follows: U +0040 (which translates into "@"). Under the specific encodings are UTF-8 Unicode and UTF-16. The UTF-8 tries to maintain maximum compatibility with ASCII. It is 8 bits, but it allows all the characters through a mechanism of replacement and multiple pairs of values ​​carattere.L 'UTF-16 waiver of the perfect compatibility with ASCII for a more complete compatibility with the standard 16-bit.

• ASCII - The American Standard Code for Information Interchange is one of the oldest character encodings. It was originally designed on the basis of the telegraphic code and has evolved over time to include more symbols and some non-printing control characters are now obsolete. It is probably the basic coding that you can have in modern systems, as it has a limited Latin alphabet without accents. The 7-bit encoding allows only 128 characters, which is why there are several unofficial variants in use throughout the world.

• ISO-8859 -The group of the most widely used character encodings of the International Organization for Standardization is the number 8859. Each specification is designated by a code number, often preceded by a descriptive abbreviation, such as ISO 8859-3 (Latin-3), ISO 8859-6 (Latin / Arabic). It is a superset of ASCII, which means that the first 128 values ​​are the same as the encoding of ASCII. However, it is an 8-bit code, and then allows 256 characters and includes a much wider array of characters, each with specialized encoding of a different set of criteria. The Latin-1 includes many accented letters and symbols, but was recently replaced with a revised set called Latin-9, which includes updated glyphs such as the Euro symbol.

• ISO-10646 - this is not an actual encoding is only one set of Unicode characters that has been standardized by ISO. It is especially important because it is the repertoire of characters used by HTML. It lacks some of the more advanced features that allow the comparison provided dall'Unicode and writing from right to left as well as from left to right. However it works very well for use on the Internet because it allows the use of a wide variety of scripts and allows the browser to interpret the glyphs. This makes it a little 'easier localization.

Sampel ASCII Table

However, there are drawbacks in the use of each set. ASCII is limited in its marks, it does not work very well for text typographically correct. Often you copy / paste from Word just to have some strange combination of glyphs? This is the drawback of ISO-8859, or more correctly, its interoperability with the alleged code page specific to the operating system (I'm talking about you Microsoft!). The main disadvantage dell'UTF-8 is the lack of adequate support in editing and publishing by applications. Another problem is that browsers often do not correctly interpret and display the order of bytes in a UTF-8 encoded character. This results in unwanted display of glyphs. And of course, claim to use a coding and use the characters of another without declaring / referenced correctly on a web page makes it very difficult for browsers display the pages correctly and for the search engines index them properly.

For their own documents, manuscripts and so on, you can use whatever it takes to get the job correctly. As for the web, however, it seems that most people agree on how to use a version of UTF-8, which does not use the byte order mark (byte-order mark), but not unanimously accepted. As you can see, each character encoding has its own use, context, strengths and weaknesses.

Firefox 9 Ready for Android Tablet

The last official release of Firefox is now 9.0.1 and this version at the moment are few clear differences compared to 9.0, although the differences should be relevant to the resolution of a bug that is best documented at the time of writing this news ; the link for more information reference this . Within twenty-four hour Mozilla will make available an automatic update for those who have already installed Firefox versions 8 and 9. Here are the download links for Firefox and Thunderbird in the latest versions

The developers of the Mozilla Foundation have just released a new release of Thunderbird, an email client of the most popular and appreciated. Thunderbird 9 on users' PCs brings interesting news: the software is based sull'engine Mozilla Gecko version 9 offers improved support for Personal thus increasing the ability to customize the interface.

From notes rlascio mention the possibility to hide the menu bar for Windows users called with the Alt key, are also reported general improvements to the graphical interface with the resolution of various bugs. 9 The release of Thunderbird is more or less simultaneously with the distribution of the first update for Firefox 9, web browser made ​​available in recent days.

The browser is able to maximize the usable area of ​​the screen and for the management of tabes was expected to show a solution only when you need it, so to maximize all the space left for navigation. 9 in Firefox is also exploited the action bar of Android to integrate the tools most widely used: in this way the user has at his disposal only the graphical elements of which may need while using the browser. In other words, 9 with Firefox on Android tablet were banned tinsel and little-used tools, highlighting the essential.

From the notes release also says that the developers have improved HTML5 support integrating such as the ability to use the webcam available on the device. Firefox 9.0 for Android is available on the marketplace Journal. As is clear from the notes of release, the developers have done a great job to improve the ' usability of tablet using the Mozilla browser. The size of the panel and the need to manage the various instruments using only the fingers and impose targeted choices important, but as you can see from the video follows the final result is very interesting.

In recent days we have dealt with several times of the activities of Mozilla for the first release of Firefox 9 , then the availability of Thunderbird 9 in conjunction with the first update to Firefox, and only a short while ago we posted some details on the agreement signed between Google and the Mozilla Foundation. We continue this long list with the news today regarding the announcement of Android tablet device 9 for Firefox.

All About Warranties

Three Year Warranty
Almost all of the rugged computers come standard with a 3 year warranty, while most commercial, plastic computers come standard with only a 1 year warranty. Not only does this save you a lot of money in case of a failure, but it also speaks to the quality that is built in to a rugged computer. If they were not extremely reliable, the rugged computer manufacturers could not afford to provide a 3 year warranty.

Extended and Expanded Warranties
Warranty extensions can be acquired to extend the warranty from three years to four years or five years. Also, some warranties can be upgraded to include "no-fault" warranties, on-site warranties, or 24 hour turnaround warranties. Extended warranties can also be acquired on major peripherals and docks which are not included in the computer's warranty, or are only warranteed for one year.

Read more about Rugged Computing in our Guide here! For more information regarding rugged mobile computing visit www.groupmobile.com or call us at 1-866-RUGGED-8.

Getac V200 Fully Rugged Convertible Closeout Specials

Getac V200 Fully Rugged Convertible with 4GB RAM, 2MP Bottom Camera, & High Power WiFi - While Supplies Last!
Take advantage of reduced pricing on the fully rugged Getac V200 convertible notebook. This model includes an Intel i7 processor, 4GB RAM, 320GB hard drive, 1200 NITs touchscreen display, 802.11 wireless, Bluetooth, bottom 2MP camera, and 5-year warranty!  Order here.
MSRP $4,299. Group Mobile's price $3,299!


Getac V200 Fully Rugged Convertible with GPS, Gobi, & Pass-Through - Ready for Immediate Shipment!
Take advantage of reduced pricing on the fully rugged Getac V200 convertible notebook. This model includes an Intel i7 processor, 4GB RAM, 320GB hard drive, 1200 NITs touchscreen display, backlit keyboard, 802.11 wireless, Bluetooth, Gobi, GPS, pass-through antenna, 2MP camera, and 5-year warranty!  Order here.
MSRP $4,849. Group Mobile's price $4249 — Save $600!

For more information regarding rugged mobile computing visit http://www.groupmobile.com/ or call us at 1-866-RUGGED-8.

AMD Radeon HD 7970

Present a short preview of the features of the Radeon HD 7970, the only one in which can reveal details in advance of the moves with which AMD will change its offer to the market in early 2012.

At the close of 2010, with the launch of the Northern Islands and the family of Radeon HD 6900, AMD introduced a first ex-design with the past with Southern Islands the distance is even more pronounced because of the big model of the architecture of the heart. After a year of stagnation for the entire field of 3D graphics, especially in the niche of products dedicated to high-end gamers and more advanced users and enthusiasts, the news that AMD has in place are really a lot.

Start from the production process with the jump from 40 to 28 nanometers that has allowed to cram into the silicon of the Radeon HD 7970 Tahiti well 4.312 billion transistors. This production technology allows the graphics processor to operate at a frequency of 925 MHz while still leaving considerable room for growth, margin will be just that the playing field on which the partners of AMD will be able to indulge themselves with the factory overclocking, so as to offer the avid gamer products higher performance than standard.In terms of memory, suggest the introduction of the controller with a 384-bit wide bus (six-channel 64-bit) supports five GDDR5 memory operating frequency of 5.5 GHz equivalent to a theoretical maximum bandwidth of 264 Gbytes / s.

Full of new architecture
With Southern Islands AMD introduces a new generation of architecture identified as self-explanatory as the Graphics Core Next present the overall scheme referring to the reading test in the next issue of PC Professional for an analysis in detail. The core architecture has 32 ​​drive bays, each of which integrates 64 stream processors for a total of 2,048. Right here w find one of the most interesting because the designers have abandoned the approach AMD Vliw5 and Vliw4, used respectively for the Radeon HD 6800 series to 6900 and for those in favor of something more flexible and less structured. A Compute Unit is organized into 4 units inside SIMD ( Single Instruction Multiple Data ), each of which contains 16 stream processors, in turn, operated by a single programmable scheduler. Alongside the SIMD units are 4 texture units and a structure of registers and cache completely redesigned for high performance not only with typical workloads of video game graphics engines, but also with multimedia applications, computing, productivity and scientific.

Performance, but always under control consumption
Among the many new features stand out the new control technologies and energy efficiency related to the placing of double-flow performance, a product of this caliber, is the first goal in the ladder of priorities. Hence that behind names such as AMD and Powertune ZeroCore lie Power monitoring and control of power supply voltages, currents, consumption, frequency and temperature without interruption while the GPU is active. The operating frequency is handled with extreme granularity so as to offer maximum performance within the parameters of maximum consumption. When the control system detects a situation of static image rather than being idle at preparation of the system here is the emerging energy-saving solutions: from 24 watts down to less than 3 watts thanks to the effective shutdown of the GPU, the maintenance of the circuit only refresh the memory controller and PCI Express. All this not only when you have one card in the PC, but also in the case of Crossfire configurations.

Facebook for all according to Vodafone

The Blue Vodafone aims to fulfill a very specific task: to allow mobile access to Facebook in the most immediate way possible, even to those who are unaccustomed to using a smartphone. The price of 79 euros including VAT appear to be targeting this product especially to the young, the Blue Vodafone is indeed the solution for Facebook currently cheaper than available today. The messaging is typically the ideal ground for this model, which has a QWERTY keyboard is fairly effective. Blue is the result of a joint development between Vodafone Italy and Facebook, that developed in a phone fully integrated with the structure and functions of the popular social networks.

Your profile is available just turned the phone and it remains visible on the home screen. The operating system, in Italian, is the owner, you can only install applications in Java.
The frame is compact, despite the full keyboard, and the materials are robust. The thickness of only 12 mm makes it possible to easily carry the phone in his trouser pockets. The keyboard is well designed, has rows of spaced keys and typing is fast enough. A programmable button can be associated with different functions. Just below the display is a small optical trackpad for navigation help.

The Blue Vodafone keeps its promises: the use of Facebook is very intuitive and the hardest part is probably the inclusion of your username / password the first time you turn on your phone. The notifications of status updates and messages are automated, or you can configure the programmable key to do the update manually.

Apart from the simplicity and cost, the Blue Vodafone has other advantages. Indeed, it has very limited features and functionality. The lack of 3G connectivity and Wi-Fi is felt much, making the viewing of streaming video (often found on the pages of their friends) very difficult. The camera returns 2 Mpixel color washed out and lacking contrast, the videos are recorded at low resolution and framerate low. For Web browsing is the Opera Mini browser, but only 200 MHz processor makes a lot of trouble with complex pages. He is better with music, thanks to the integrated MP3 player, FM radio and the ability to add a Micro SD card on which to store the songs.

The lack of advanced sensors and connectivity (Bluetooth is present and the only micro-USB port, but lacks the data cable in the package) is reflected positively on the life of the battery, you can easily gain the day of use.
The Blue Vodafone may just be good to those who only plan to use Facebook, check emails and listen to music, for all others it is better to spend a few tens of euros more and adopt the Smart, a real Android smartphone offered far more powerful and complete always from Vodafone to 99 Euro VAT included.

NPAs

We had a meeting this morning about National Progression Awards (NPAs).

My team are developing a large suite of NPAs (19 in total). There are currently seven available to centres (such as PC Passport and Digital Literacy) and another 11 under development (with one not yet started).

We had hoped to validate three before Christmas but this was delayed due to a last minute hitch (the industry representative on the validation panel was unable to attend). The three delayed awards are:

1. Still Images, Audio and Video (SCQF Levels 4 and 5)
2. Animation (SCQF Level 5).

We have re-arranged the validation event to mid-January.

The other awards are quite far along the development cycle and will be validated in February (three more) and March (the last three).

The NPA that is about to commence is called NPA in Social Software and includes a new unit from the suite of Digital Culture units.

I'm confident we'll have the full suite of NPAs available to centres by May of next year.

Contact Shirley if you want more information.

Need to Finish Your Holiday Shopping? Here are Some Last Minute Gift Ideas from Group Mobile at Incredible Prices!

Place your order by December 23rd before 1:00 p.m. PST and choose overnight delivery to receive your order by Christmas!

Getac B300
MSRP $4,697. Group Mobile's price $3,697.
Save $1,000 while supplies lasts!

Take advantage of reduced pricing on 4th generation models of the fully rugged Getac B300 laptop. This model includes an Intel i7 processor, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive, 1400 NIT touchscreen display, backlit keyboard, SuperMulti DVD drive, 802.11N wireless, Bluetooth, PCMCIA Type II + Express Card, SmartCard reader, fingerprint scanner, GPS, and a 5-year warranty! Learn more about the 4th generation Getac B300...

fliTablet
Buy one fliTablet floor tablet stand at regular price 
and get a second stand half off!

The fliTablet™ hands-free tablet floor stand is compatible with the original iPad, iPad 2, iPad 3, Kindle Fire 8.9" models, Samsung Galaxy 10.1" models, Panasonic Toughpad, Motion CL900 series tablets, Trimble Yuma 2, Getac Z710, and many other lightweight tablet computers. The fliTablet enables you to comfortably use your tablet computer in a variety of positions and settings — all hands free! Tablet computer not included. Learn more about the fliTablet hands-free tablet floor stand...

*Offer ends December 31, 2013. Visit the Configure & Buy page to add an additional fliTablet Stand.

Group Mobile 7" Fully Rugged Android Tablet 
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This fully rugged Android tablet available at Group Mobile is compact and durable enough to stand up to business outside the four walls. It offers unique features for ultimate flexibility and field workforce efficiency including Wi-Fi, Bluetooth® wireless, and optional integrated 3.75G WWAN. It is a great rugged solution for mobile business demands. Learn more about the Group Mobile 7" Fully Rugged Android Tablet...

*Offer good through December 31, 2013.

Christmas party

We had our Christmas party yesterday. It began in the customary way, with a secret Santa in the office, before we headed off to the Merchant City for our Christmas lunch. Some of you may recognise Santa as the man who normally organises examinations in English.

There are a few sore heads today, but everyone made it in to the office. We stop this afternoon until Thursday, 5 January.

Thanks for taking the time to read the blog. Our readership has steadily grown over the years, and it is now one of the main channels of communication between SQA and centres. The team wish you a happy Christmas and a peaceful New Year.

Bobby, Caroline & Lois Hilary

Merry Christmas

The team's Christmas Party was held yesterday so a few of us are feeling a bit sensitive this morning.

The photo shows Santa drawing the Secret Santa before we left for our meal. I was lucky enough to get gold coins.

We close today until Wednesday, 5 January. The team wish everyone a relaxing and happy holiday.

Evaluation of the Heads of Computing event

After every major event, I organise a survey to gauge attendees' satisfaction with the event.

I did a survey after the recent Heads of Computing event. Nineteen attendees (around 50%) completed the questionnaire. The results can be seen here.

Overall, the response was very good, with almost 80% of respondents considering the event "good" or "very good" and 95% expressing overall satisfaction with the event. But we'll look at the criticisms and try to address these next time.

Merry Christmas

We stop for Christmas tomorrow and return on Tuesday, 5 January. It's that time of the year when you reflect on the past year.

One of the highlights was the addition of Hilary to the team, who joined us in June. Hilary replaced Shirley, who many of you know well, but she is full-time and Shirley was part-time, meaning that the team grew. As you probably know, my portfolio is roughly split between Caroline, who takes care of HNs, PDAs and vendors, and Hilary, who takes care of NC, NPAs and SVQs. The team tries hard to be known and visible to the sector and, I think, many of you have got to know Hilary already.

We've had a fairly productive year. Several NPAs were developed, the HND Interactive Media was completed, and a complete suite of SVQs was developed. Two special projects also occupied us - one linked to FITs and one linked to CEOP. The CEOP one was particularly pleasing since we have carved out something of a reputation in the Internet Safety/child protection area.

The HMIe report on the sector (the Aspect report) came out in November and was quite complimentary about SQA's work. In spite of the sector's well known problems (with uptake, achievement and teaching), I believe that the subject has had something of a resurgence in terms of popularity, with early indications about student registrations sounding very positive.

There have been disappointments too. The same report that complimented the range of qualifications also pointed out that there remains too much assessment. I also think that we still take too long to develop qualifications (the HNC/D Computer Games development has slipped a little). And, although the readership of this blog has steadily risen, it's not used interactively, with very few people using it to provide feedback.

I usually provide the names of people for you to contact -- but not today... we'll be enjoying Christmas with family and friends for the next couple of weeks. Have a good one too.

Choose a processor

The heart of every personal computer is its processor, which is why when you go to buy one is absolutely essential to choose one that is good and above all to make our case, first of all, though I want to dispel a myth useful to lower the price of your new laptop. When you look at the processor, avoid trying to force things out of the last model, this for a few main reasons: firstly the price, if a product has just come out of course will cost much more, then this second technological world is constantly changing then you will have the "latest model" only for a short time, do not always follow the technology, but you have to buy what you need, and finally, the latest processors will also be many times more powerful but are also those who consume more battery your laptop, so if you have to work very much avoided using the battery model very "greedy" in terms of energy consumption.

It is easy to choose a processor, the main two houses that produce them, the AMD and Intel, usually they say that Intel is more expensive while AMD are cheaper and equally-performing, the second this writer is not true Each model has its specific characteristics of both price and is therefore an AMD can pay more but be more of a handsome Intel or vice versa.

In any case, when you go to check the processor of your new laptop, without waiting to see the model on the market and release date, you must always keep an eye on two essential parameters, the number of cores and the working frequency, which is expressed in Ghz.

The Core are in short computing cores of a processor, the latest models have different core but keep in mind that, generally more cores mean more power, but it always depends on the work you do with your laptop, often In fact, we can accommodate dual-core models without problems even if they are recent.

The GHz is always in short, a way to indicate very roughly the speed, the more Ghz usually means more speed running even if this parameter also includes other values. Finally, they are also to be considered for purchase and consumption of the cache size.

With these parameters, you can definitely make you a good idea of ​​the value of the processor that fits the laptop you want to buy, of course, all this should be compared with the type of work you are doing with the laptop you buy, and mind you one thing, the final price of the product you buy depends on the processor goes up, so if you want to pay almost certainly say that you are buying a processor model with highly evolved, however, we invite you to follow the suggestions given.

Apple MacBook

If you are looking for a good laptop can be a very good idea to rely on a MacBook, Apple, with its native operating system, creates several problems for years to its competitors. Let's talk about reliable and fast computers that have created a dense crowd of fans and have divided, indeed literally split in two, the computer world.

To complete our offer information we could not talk about these laptops, more than at other times trying to outline the advantages and disadvantages. The MacBook is immune to viruses in their configuration, they are fast and reliable, also Apple provides a very complete service for its customers. Many people criticize the fact that not all programs are compatible with the Apple operating system, but this is not always true, most programs are compatible and also the most widely used Windows operating systems can be installed on the latest MacBook models. Add to this the aesthetic, without any doubt Apple products are among the most fascinating from a purely stylistic point of view.

The disadvantages lie in the impossibility to use programs of all types as with windows systems, but the problem is almost entirely overcome, however, remains a small number of programs can not be used. The use of Mac-illiterate may also have some initial problems, but get carried away with this operating system is anything but difficult.

In short, buy a MacBook, available in many models with different prices, it's definitely a good idea, powerful, reliable, safe, respectable, which are portable in some models can reach heights of technical excellence and stylistic.

What good is a notebook you can use everywhere if you can't see the screen everywhere?

The General Dynamics Itronix GoBook VR-2 Semi Rugged laptop just won two awards for its new DynaVue technology. Military and Aerospace Electronics gave the GoBook VR-2 the Editors Choice 5 star award stating that "The DynaVue touchscreen display technology does not rely on adding light to improve visibility but focuses rather on a light-filtering technology that improves contrast ratio, color, sharpness and detail." LAPTOP also gave the GoBook VR-2 the best laptop of the year award stating "General Dynamics Itronix answers that challenge with the GoBook VR-2, which incorporates groundbreaking DynaVue display technology for the best outdoor readability we've seen on any laptop. By cleverly bumping up the contrast ratio and balancing it with the right amount of brightness, workers can use the VR-2's 13.3-inch touchscreen even in direct sunlight."

Click to learn more...

Rugged Computers for Business Travelers

Group Mobile offers several business rugged laptops, which are designed with the Business Traveler/Road Warrior in mind. Business rugged laptops are stronger and more durable than commercial plastic laptops. The business rugged laptops have magnesium alloy cases, shock mounted hard drives, long battery life and spill proof keyboards without compromising functionality, style and weight.


Visit our Business Travelers Computers page or call us at 1-866-784-4338 to learn more about these rugged computers.

HN Computing update letter

I sent an update letter to centres today (it will be dispatched to centres on 6 January). The letter includes details about assessment exemplars, an update on the HND review and the final version of the credit transfer table.



Most of the SQA team are about to stop for their Christmas holidays (SQA stops on Thursday but some staff are taking annual leave or TOIL before then). We return on 5 January.



Have a good holiday.

HNC/D Computing and Networking QDT meeting

Some time ago, I wrote that there was a dedicated blog to keep you up-to-date with the review of HNC/D Computing and HNC/D Networking. We held the third meeting of the QDT yesterday. The blog has a full report.

I don't plan to post many more messages about this development on (this) main blog so please bookmark and read the dedicated blog if you want to keep up to date with what's going on.

Blogger has recently introduced new templates for reading blogs via a mobile device (such as a smartphone or tablet) and I have enabled that functionality on these blogs. So, if you're reading this on your phone, I hope that it looks good!