An Optical fiber (or optical fibre) is a flexible, transparent fiber made of high quality extruded glass (silica) or plastic, slightly thicker than a human hair. It can function as a waveguide, or “light pipe”, to transmit light between the two ends of the fiber. The field of applied science and engineering concerned with the design and application of optical fibers is known as fiber optics. Optical fibers are widely used in fiber-optic communications, which permits transmission over longer distances and at higher bandwidths (data rates) than other forms of communication.

3 Different Speed of Optical fiber

Advantages :-

• Bandwidth - Fibre optic cables have a much greater bandwidth than metal cables. The amount of information that can be transmitted per unit time of fibre over other transmission media is its most significant advantage. With the high performance single mode cable used by telephone industries for long distance telecommunication, the bandwidth surpasses the needs of today's applications and gives room for growth tomorrow.
• Low Power Loss - An optical fibre offers low power loss. This allows for longer transmission distances.  In comparison to copper; in a network, the longest recommended copper distance is 100m while with fibre, it is 2000m. 
• Interference - Fibre optic cables are immune to electromagnetic interference. It can also be run in electrically noisy environments without concern as electrical noise will not affect fibre.
• Size - In comparison to copper, a fibre optic cable has nearly 4.5 times as much capacity as the wire cable has and a cross sectional area that is 30 times less. 
• Weight - Fibre optic cables are much thinner and lighter than metal wires.  They also occupy less space with cables of the same information capacity.  Lighter weight makes fibre easier to install. 
• Safety - Since the fibre is a dielectric, it does not present a spark hazard. 
• Security - Optical fibres are difficult to tap.  As they do not radiate electromagnetic energy, emissions cannot be intercepted.  As physically tapping the fibre takes great skill to do undetected, fibre is the most secure medium available for carrying sensitive data. 
• Flexibility - An optical fibre has greater tensile strength than copper or steel fibres of the same diameter.  It is flexible, bends easily and resists most corrosive elements that attack copper cable. 
• Cost - The raw materials for glass are plentiful, unlike copper.  This means glass can be made more cheaply than copper.

Disadvantages :

• Cost - Cables are expensive to install but last longer than copper cables.
• Transmission - Transmission on optical fibre requires repeating at distance intervals. 
• Fragile - Fibres can be broken or have transmission loses when wrapped around curves of only a few centimetres radius. However by encasing fibres in a plastic sheath, it is difficult to bend the cable into a small enough radius to break the fibre. 
• Protection - Optical fibres require more protection around the cable compared to copper.

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Hard disks eventually fail which stops the computer from working. Regular 'head' crashes can damage the surface of the disk, leading to loss of data in that sector. The disk is fixed inside the computer and cannot easily be transferred to another computer. The write head also can get damaged  if the hard disks temperature to high.

Since HDD using spinning disk, storing and accessing data is slow and limited. Normally HDD spinning at 7,200 rounds per minute for HDD 3.5″ and 5,400 rounds per minute for HDD 2.5″. However, there is also a speed of HDD 10,000 rounds per minute and 15,000 rounds per minute on the market, but is not widely used because it is expensive.

Size difference between HDD 2.5" | SSD

HDD 2.5" | SSD thickness

HDD 2.5" | SSD

Hard Drive is entering to the evolution stages which proven by SSD technology. SSD is stand for " Solid-State Drive ". It contains no actual "disk" of any kind, nor motors to "drive" the disks. Iis a data storage device using integrated circuit assemblies as memory to store data persistently. SSD technology uses electronic interfaces compatible with traditional block input/output (I/O) hard disk drives, thus permitting simple replacement in common applications. Also, new I/O interfaces like SATA Express are created to keep up with speed advancements in SSD technology.

Unlike HDD, SSD writing/reading data much fastest than HDD because it used chip to store data. There's no spinning plate. There's many review that proven SSD is worth for gaming and graphic editing jobs. In additional, transferring a large file take a short time rather than HDD. SSDs use significantly less power at peak load than hard drives, less than 2W vs. 6W for an HDD. Their energy efficiency can deliver longer battery life in notebooks, less power strain on system, and a cooler computing environment. This can make your laptop battery last longer. As an energy-efficient storage upgrade for your desktop or laptop, SSDs require very little power to operate that translates into significantly less heat output by your system.

You'll notice, there's some noise on HDD while you're opening a large application like Photoshop, Sony Vegas. With no moving parts, SSDs run at near silent operation and never disturb your computing experience during gaming or movies, unlike loud, whirring hard disc drives. 

Inside SSD

Did you know why MacBook Pro was categorized as faster notebook now?

SSD is the secret, Apple had used SSD since 2008. As Apple had used SSD early, that's the reason why Macbook Pro categorized as faster notebook nowadays.

From price, SSD price more expensive with limited capacity. SSD with 120GB size can reached about RM450-RM700 but it worth it :)

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November 5, 2013 is a holiday all over Malaysia.  It’s the Islamic new year according to the Islamic calendar. It was interesting to know about its origins, as it is not really celebrated by partying as is usually done.

There are many stories in the Islamic faith and the beginning of the Islamic calendar is not an exception.  It began with the  Hijrah or migration of the prophet Mohamed PBUH from Mecca to Medina around 622 AD,  and therefore it has been named the hijri calendar.   This migration was an important turning point in Islamic history, as it is in Medina, then called Yathrib, that Muslims were able to establish the first real Muslim community with social, political and religious orders.  The Prophet PBUH was so welcomed by the people of Madina that they went out to greet him with stalks of palm trees singing the beautiful song of Tala’ al badru Alina, (the moon has come to us), which is still sung until today.  The Prophet PBUH has always remembered the graciousness and generosity of the Medina people and always spoke highly of their gentility, in contrast to the torture and difficulties Muslims faced in Mecca.

The calendar was first introduced by caliph Umar ibn el Khattab around 638 AD.  It has 12 lunar months which are determined by the sightings of the crescent moon and counted with Arabic months.

Opening the TV on that day, there will be many religious songs playing and movies depicting  the early history of Islam.  It is not really a time for partying as much as it is a  time of reflection on and remembrance of a faith that changed the fate of mankind.

Ya Rabbi, berkahilah umurku....
Jadikanlah di setiap episode waktu bermanfaat selalu...
dan jadikanlah kekuranganku sebagai kekuatanku,
dan kelebihanku sebagai aksi syukurku,
Luruskanlah niat kami untuk selalu mengharap ridhaMu

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Designing a great website may seem like a daunting challenge, but as long as you keep the basics in mind, you will find the process interesting and enjoyable. There's more to it than just looking good! We'll show you the basics, and some general guidelines to help you design websites that keep people coming back.

To start design a website, you must mastered the CSS & it's tricky.
CSS (Cascading Style Sheets) is a style sheet language used for describing the presentation semantics (the look and formatting) of a document written in a markup language. You can read more about it, here.

Identify which content-management system (CMS) that you're gonna design for. There's many web CMS. This is the popular platform this time.

> Wordpress <

WordPress is a free and open source blogging tool and a content-management system (CMS) based on PHP and MySQL, which runs on a web hosting service. Features include a plug-in architecture and a template system. WordPress is used by more than 18.9% of the top 10 million websites as of August 2013. WordPress is the most popular blogging system in use on the Web, at more than 60 million websites.

*You must mastered HTML, CSS & PHP to started design a templates for this CMS.

> Blogger <

Blogger is a blog-publishing service that allows private or multi-user blogs with time-stamped entries. It was developed by Pyra Labs, which was bought by Google in 2003. Generally, the blogs are hosted by Google at a subdomain of blogspot.com. Up until May 1, 2010 Blogger allowed users to publish blogs on other hosts, via FTP. All such blogs had (or still have) to be moved to Google's own servers, with domains other than blogspot.com allowed via custom URLs. Unlike Wordpress, Blogger cannot be installed in a web server. One has to use DNS facilities to redirect a blogspot domain to a custom URL.

*You must mastered HTML, CSS & XML to started design a templates for Blogger.

> Own CMS <

To build own CMS is not an easy jobs. You'll need a year to develop & design your own CMS and I don't recommend this to those who're just step into Designing career. To develop your own CMS, you can use either PHP platforms or ASP platforms and the important thing is you must make sure there's no " holes " on your CMS, to prevent " hackers " to stole your database or files. The advantages use your own CMS is, you can create a custom website. For an example, chatbox.

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Tips :

1. Don’t bombard the viewer with cutesy, gimmicky graphics. Flash animation, bright colors, patterned backgrounds, and music that auto-plays each time a page loads were fun to experiment with in the 90s but will send today’s web-users running. Stick with simple backgrounds that contrast with the text color for maximum readability.
2. Though you’re welcome to design the layout based on your own personal vision or things you’ve admired on other sites, it may be easier to purchase a ready made template.
3. To accommodate hearing and visually-impaired visitors, you can caption video, transcribe audio, and include a note about accessibility. Though tables can be an efficient way of organizing information, visually-impaired visitors who use a screen-reading program may not hear the material in column order.
4. To keep from wasting visitors’ ink, use a separate style sheet to format your site for printing.
5. Turn off background images when you set up the printing parameters.
6. Use black text on a white background.
7. Remove the menu bar and any unneeded images.
8. You can always use CSS to make suitable distances between paragraphs.

Warning :
Avoid plagiarism and observe all copyright laws. Don’t add random images from the web, or even structural elements without permission. Whatever you include on your website must be both legal and ethical.

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Web design books made from dead trees, eh? Things from the past! Haven’t you heard we’ve got that spangly new internet thing now?

But when you’ve been glued to a screen all day, it can be great to sit back in a comfy chair, armed with a beverage of your choice and a fantastic web design book that can educate and illuminate.

Additionally, the finest examples provide advice and insight in a manner that few single-shot website articles can compete with. (Handily, for those who get the shakes when away from a screen for more than two minutes, many web design books are now also available in digital – hurrah!)

We asked leading designers, developers and web industry folk to reveal their favourite web design books. The resulting selection is a collection of the very best insight into cutting-edge design and development techniques, inspirational texts, and beautiful volumes to admire. SPOILER ALERT: Responsive web design features quite prominently.

> Adaptive Web Design <

Gustafson’s web design book helps you understand the history, mechanisms and practical application of progressive enhancement. Jeffrey Zeldman, Happy Cog founder, heartily recommends the book: “Coined by Steven Champeon of the Web Standards Project in the early 2000s, ‘progressive enhancement’ is the key idea behind standards-based web design. Both a method and a philosophy, it yields experiences that are accessible to all. Through mastery of progressive enhancement, we stop designing for browsers and start designing for people. No one has done a better, clearer, or more thorough job of illuminating progressive enhancement in all its richness than Aaron Gustafson … nor is anyone likely to.”






> A Practical Guide to Designing for the Web <

Boulton’s well-known in the web community for his work with layout, and this no-nonsense guide teaches techniques for designing sites using the principles of strong graphic design. Balancing practical tips and inspirational insight, he explores typography, colour and layout from a web design perspective.

“This is a great introductory book that covers design fundamentals, rather than code, tools and techniques,” says developer and author Oliver Studholme.







> Adapt: Why Success Always Starts with Failure <

The premise behind this book is that everything we know about solving problems is wrong, and we should instead learn to rapidly experiment and adapt. Although not directly related to the web industry, Adapt’s general themes are beneficial to all, thinks social software consultant and writer Suw Charman-Anderson: “Harford provides examples of how trial and error can be a more effective way to solve complex problems, and how trials can be structured to produce the best results. Illustrated with examples such as the development of the Spitfire, and the financial crisis, Harford explores what environments encourage innovation and how that innovation can then be adopted and expanded.”






> CSS3 for Web Designers <

Cederholm’s book aims to show how CSS3 is a “universe of creative possibilities”, providing insight into web fonts, advanced selectors and the many visual enhancements the technology can bring to web pages.


Eric Meyer, An Event Apart partner and co-founder, says: “With Dan you know you’re getting great visual design with a fun theme, wrapped around great technical information. This book delivers big time.” Meyer also recommends Jeremy Keith’s HTML5 for Web Designers as a companion volume, saying it will “get you up to speed with HTML5 in no time”.





> DOM Scripting <

It’s increasingly common for websites to be rich in functionality provided by JavaScript. Keith’s book is intended to offer designers – rather than programmers – a guiding hand, showing them how to add stylish, usable enhancements to websites. Author and speaker Jonathan Snook told us: “Jeremy Keith’s book has been out for a while now but I still believe that it provides a great foundation for anybody wanting to get into JavaScript development.”








> Grid Systems in Graphic Design <

Web layout is becoming increasingly complex, and although it’s moving away from print-oriented fixed canvases, print-like grids and a strong sense of typography are required now more than ever. “Grid Systems is my number one go-to book for practical advice on typographic hierarchy and grid systems beyond the web,” says web designer and front-end developer Dan Eden. “Every page is chock-a-block with examples and reasoning for decisions made, and while the book presents a strong focus on print design, you’ll find huge crossovers into the digital realm.”








> JavaScript Patterns < 

Although libraries such as jQuery provide the means to work with JavaScript without really knowing a great deal about the language, savvy web developers delve deeper. Developer Remy Sharp says “everyone should have read Douglas Crockford’s Good Parts by now,” and he considers “JavaScript Patterns an excellent next step towards writing better JavaScript”. Along with boasting plenty of hands-on examples, the book also tells you what to avoid, so you don’t hamstring your own creations.









> Responsive Web Design < 

Marcotte’s book assists you in catering for mobile browsers, tablets, netbooks and also massive widescreen displays, creating sites that anticipate and respond to your users’ needs. The book details techniques and principles behind fluid grids, flexible images and media queries. “Just like web standards, responsive design isn’t something you should sit on the fence about, until being asked by a client. Instead, good designers and developers should be thinking responsively about every new project that comes their way,” explains Andy Budd, Clearleft managing director. “So if you haven’t jumped on the responsive-design freight train yet, do so now, with this book to guide you, before you get left behind.”

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