Three2Tango » Tech Talk

Brief Note on eCommerce Catalogs

Sam — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 10:07:43 +0000

Catalog is a very important terminology when we talk about electronic commerce. This article will focus on the ATG’s standard product catalog and various terms related to the catalog. The article will describe the terms like – Categories, Products, SKUs etc. Categories are the central portion of the catalog which provides it with a structure, the navigational hierarchy comes only when there is a category. To be simple the categories make the heart of a catalog. An eg: will explain it further. Consider a store which sells different type of products, like groceries, stationery, electronic goods etc, then each of this can be considered a category and thus plays a pivotal role in the catalog. A category can have other categories or products or both under it. A product on the other hand is the end point of the catalog hierarchy. But to be more precise a product is not something the customer will be purchasing. Its a SKU that a customers looks at and purchases. SKU is the acronym for Stock Keeping Units. To differentiate a SKU from Product , consider the following eg:- In our Catalog hierarchy say stationery is a category, and pen is the product. But “Pen” can’t be purchased; only a Parker, Bic, Pierre Cardin can be bought and these are SKUs for the product “Pen”. So essentially a product has various SKUs associated with it representing the size, brand,color etc.

Properties of Category and Products as defined by ATG Commerce Framework

Category Properties
ancestorCategories	Set of categories which are higher in the catelog hierarchy than this category.
childCategories	List of all Categories which comes under this Category.
childProducts	List of all products that are children of the category.
creationDate	The date on which the Category was created.
displayName	Is the name ACC displays for the category.
endDate	Date the category will no longer be available.
parentCategory	Specifies the default parent category for the category .
root	Specifies whether this category is the starting of the hierarchy, its a boolean value.
Product Properties:
ancestorCategories	Generated Set of categories that are higher in the catalog hierarchy than the product.
childSKUs	List of all SKUs that are children of the product.
creationDate	Date on which the product was created.
description	Descriptive text for display with the product.
displayName	Product name displayed by the ACC.
endDate	Date the product will no longer be available.
parentCategory	Specifies the default parent category for the product.

Tiger Text: The New Generation Clandestine Messaging

LG — Wed, 08 Jun 2011 09:24:29 +0000

You are secretly in love??

Afraid of his/her dad catching you red handed with a mobile message as evidence?? –Tiger text at your service

The above can be a TV/Radio ad in coming days. A new service named TIGER TEXT is awaiting its launch. Tiger Text app or rather a service is intended for phones powered by Google Android or Microsoft windows operating systems, i-Phone OS as well as Blackberries are expected to support this stealth messaging. TT allows the user to send messages which can be set to auto delete after a specified period of time, 1 minute to 30 days. The user can select the life span of a message, and the count down starts from the point when the message is read by the receiver. The interesting facility is the expired message will be deleted from both phones and even from the server, once expired there is no way anybody can retrieve the message. One more thing is one cannot forward the message to themselves, thus making the message entirely untouchable. The self destructive message will be a very effective way of secret messaging and brings in safety for any messages which are mend to be private. Though i-Phone provides the app free with the phone it requires a monthly subscription for using the features, 250 text costs 1.49USD.

Due to this covert nature of this application the launch of the service is being delayed in India. Department of Telecommunications (DoT)is finding it difficult to negotiate with Indian Law Enforcement Agencies. As of now no operator is providing this facility in India, but in a matter of time it will be launched in the huge Indian Telecommunication market. In the US Of A the TT App providers promises to co-operate with any legal inquiries upon demand.
Another Cool Feature:
TigerText shows the status of each message with small icons. When the message is received, the sender will see an orange box with a tick mark.When the message is opened by the recipient, the sender will see a green circle with a tick mark. No more “I didn’t get your text”; now you will be able to track the messages you send.
The service has around half a million followers who downloaded it. A stream of business users like bankers and even corporates are using TT. To use it both sender and receiver must have the App. There is an enterprise version which is in demand among various firms which want their employees to be in contact privately. Hollywood-celebrities, television industry, screenwriters etc are among the user groups in demand.

Here are some FAQs i read in an official website on Tiger Text App:

“How does Tiger Text work?
When sending a regular text message or picture over mobile phones, you have no control over how long it will live on the recipient’s phone or the cell phone servers. TigerText is different because, even though it looks and feels like a normal text message, the sender controls when the message is deleted. Reclaim the privacy of your text messages and pics.
Why is it called Tiger Text??
Tigers are notoriously difficult animals to track. TigerTexts are difficult to track as well. ”

So here comes another new technology….

Near Field Communication:The Contactless Technology

LG — Thu, 19 May 2011 11:52:16 +0000

NFC or Near Field Communication is an emerging technology widely accepted and supported by world’s leading consumer electronics, mobile device manufacturers, semiconductor producers, network operators etc. The idea is to develop a unique contact less technology which is fast, reliable and cater various demands in the industry. A lot of business prospects revolve around the technology and some are already in place for testing purposes. One might wonder what is the need for NFC when its data rate is Kilo bytes and proximity in centimeters. The trick is NFC is compactible with all other contactless technologies like, bluetooth, WiFi, GSM,3G etc and the end user can facilitate it with a touch; which means quick and simple access. Today wide spread research and development happens around NFC. So here is a few examples which shows NFC in action.

1. Station/Airport
2. Vehicle
3. Office
4. Restaurant
5. Theatre

A sample scenario will give a deep insight into the uses of NFC technology. Read and you will find it interesting,

John woke up a bit late and in a hurry forgot his wallet, thankfully he didnt miss his NFC enabled phone. At the railway station he taps the reader to open the turnstile. A ticket poster helped him get a train ticket by just swiping his phone. Just before boarding the train he found a poster on the station wall, about a concert at the nearest theater. The train was about to go and but he managed to touch the N-mark on the poster with his phone and detailed information about the concert is transferred onto his phone. SMS,3G, internet etc helped him book two seats for the concert.

John reaches office and finds that his id card was in his walet, but his NFC enabled phone came to his rescue again, the phone touch unlocked the security for him. He paid for his lunch using the credit/debit card stored in his phone. Post lunch he had a meeting with business partner, now a days NFC is so common that he exchanged business card with his prospective customer by touching their phones. John finishes his days chores and meets his girl friend at the concert. They enjoyed the concert and later visited a shopping mall where they enjoyed a nice dinner, again credit cards enabled in phone helped him pay the bills. When he reached home he found his phone was missing , he misplaced it somewhere. John immediately placed a call to his mobile service provider and cancels all his NFC services so that his identity is not misused.

I hope the story helped in understanding how NFC is going to revolutionize the mobile phone as well as the wireless gadget market. NFC enabled phones has started hitting the US and UK retail market. Google Nexus S, Samsung Galaxy S II, Nokia C7 etc are the few phone which has the NFC models available. HTC has also announced their NFC enabled gadget towards the 3rd quarter of 2011. Google has hit the market hard with its Gingerbread OS, which has the NFC technology in it. Google NFC has already captured the stage but Nokia with symbian will be in race soon. All we as end users can hope is superior life style and ease in day to day activities.

Windows Azure Platform-An Overview

Vivek — Fri, 11 Mar 2011 19:24:04 +0000

We had earlier posted about Cloud Computing and how it is likely to be the next big thing in the IT industry, if not already. The advantage of Cloud Computing is that data and applications need not be maintained in your own machines or data centers, but use the internet accessible servers. This means that the huge cost in buying the machines, servers and then the cost in maintaining the server can be avoided.

Using the benefits of Cloud computing, one can use applications and software installed from an internet accessible server. It also can be extended to storage of data and providing infrastructural services to applications running at your place. So basically the main services provided by a cloud computing architecture can be summed up into three- Provide applications/software through cloud, provide storage space on the cloud servers and provide infrastructural services and support to applications/software running at your premises. To provide all these services, a platform is required and that is what the Windows Azure Platform is. It basically is the platform through which the developer will access the services and data in the Cloud. It is a group of cloud technologies, each with a task of providing services to application developers. Let’s get down to some details and components of the Windows Azure Platform.

Central to the Windows Azure Platform are the Microsoft Data Centers. The Windows Azure Platform allows users to access the applications deployed and the data stored in the Microsoft Data Centers. These can be thought of as normal Data Centers available in our organizations, only that it’s much bigger in storage capacity and performance. Often the applications are deployed on some data center within the organization and the local machines can access them through the internet or intranet. These Microsoft Data Centers-6 in all, spread across Asia, North America and Europe form the core of the Azure Platform.

The Windows Azure Platform is composed of the following four parts:

Windows Azure: A windows environment for running applications and storing data in the Microsoft Data Centers. More on Windows Azure Platform later.

SQL Azure: Offers cloud-based services for relational data. SQL Azure is composed mainly of three components- SQL Azure Database-a Database Management System which allows users to store data in the Microsoft Data Centers, SQL Azure Reporting-a version of SQL Reporting Services running in the Cloud, and the SQL Azure Data Sync- which allows to sync the data between the SQL Azure database and the SQL server at your premises.

Windows Azure AppFabric: Provides infrastructural services for the applications running in the cloud and at your premises. Common services include caching, provide access control and exposing end points of applications running in the cloud so that they can be accessed.

Windows Azure Marketplace: The Azure Marketplace allows users to find, try and buy the already built applications and data. The Marketplace is composed of a DataMarket and a n AppMarket

With the Windows Azure Platform, developers are provided with all means to use the benefits of Cloud Computing. Whether it be deploying and using applications in the cloud, storing data in the Cloud or providing infrastructural services, the Windows Azure Platform helps you.

Cloud Computing

Vivek — Thu, 09 Sep 2010 03:57:50 +0000

Cloud Computing is the next big thing in the Computer Industry since the web. Cloud Computing would allow users to accesss applications installed on another machine and work on it. So instead of installing,say a Microsoft Visual Studio on your local machine, You could actually log on to a web based service and use the software installed in some other machines. The advantage of this would be a great reduction in operational costs. In today’s scenario, you would need the application to be installed in your machine, which would mean that you will have to get a license for this.So if 10 people are going to work on the same software, most probably, you will have to get 10 licenses for it. By using the Cloud Computing architecture, all you will need to buy is one license and allow the same application to be used by multiple clients. Hardware and Software demands will decrease on the user’s side. Probably all you will need is an interface to connect to the server on which the application resides.We could say that Cloud Computing is an extention of the many web based applications we currenly use-like Emails and even web based games, where we are not really installing the application in or local machine,instead just using the applications available online.
The Cloud Computing architecture consists of a client side(front end) and a cloud(the network or backend). The client side here would be the user’s machine and the interface to connect to the Cloud Computing network. The interface for the web based applications we use today would be the web browser.The back end would consist of a network of computers ,servers and data storage mechanisms. Based on the demand for the applications, mostly there will be one dedicated server for each application. Data Storage mechanisms are also important part of the architecture. Usually backup storage will also be available.
The applications that could run on a Cloud Computing network would be limitless. Privacy and Security could be potential concerns for the use of the architecture. But with the huge economic advantages the architecture provides, Cloud Computing is becoming more and more popular.

Google introduces the Google Buzz

Vivek — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 06:12:32 +0000

Google’s latest product is making a buzz these days.Google Buzz brings a Gmail UI to a real time web and is being introduced as a feature of Gmail. Not everyone would have got it now.Google says it will be rolled out to everyone very soon.So expect a whole new experience of Gmailing or Buzzing.

Google Buzz’s features include creation of automatic friends list.People who you email you often or chat often are automatically added to your friends list.So its not like creating a new profile in a social networking site and start adding friends from scratch.That should keep people interested!!.

The main feature is the fast sharing features in the Buzz. We can share our status,pictures,videos and all stuff just as you do it in
Twitter.Other features include public and private sharing,inbox integration and the “Recommended Buzz” where you can see stuff of friend-of-friends.Also we can import our stuff from Twitter and facebook to share with our friends.

The real time updates seems to be pretty neat and fast not like the orkut where our scraps do take some time to appear.Google says that with Google Buzz you can see the stuff that is most important to you in real time as it happens and true to its word,Buzz seems to be working really well in this regard.

Google Buzz also should offer a whole new experience when used with your mobile as mobiles add a new component to share-your location.Another feature that should encourage you to use the Buzz in your mobile phone is voice posting,of course you will need something like the IPhone or some high end model phones for that.The Buzz layer on the Google maps also allows you to see buzzes near you. See the Google blog about Buzz on mobiles here.

For more information on the Google Buzz visit Google’s official posting on the Buzz here.

Google Buzz seems to be Google’s attempt to take on Twitter and Facebook. Whether it will really make a difference remains to be seen. Maybe in places where the Twitter is not so dominant, the Buzz could be a really good app to have.

GoodBye Mininova- Mininova goes legit after losing legal battle

Vivek — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 09:05:13 +0000

After PirateBay was earlier forced to delete all its illegal torrents, its Mininova who is forced to take the same decision.PirateBay was earlier caught in a legal battle,one that is apparently still going on even after they sold the site to some other organisation, Mininova has been forced to delete all ‘illegal’ torrents after it lost a legal dispute with te Dutch anti piracy outfit BRIEN.This decision means that Mininova will delete all the contents linking to copyright material.In failing to do so they could face a fine of upto 5 million euros.

So over the past few months, we have lost PirateBay and now Mininova. So if you guys want to download free material via torrents,make it fast. Because all the other torrent sites may also be dead in a few months.Anyways, thanks Mininova for all the free content you provided us. Mininova will be limiting itself to its Content Distribution torrents for now and is considering an appeal at the moment.Its highly unlikely that the legal battle can be won.So GoodBye Mininova!!It seems that It wont be long before we will have to say GoodBye to torrents!!
Read the story about the demise of yet another torrent site at the official blog of Mininova.

Internet Explorer 9 -First Details

Vivek — Tue, 24 Nov 2009 06:00:06 +0000

With Firefox and Chrome doing very well, Internet Exxplorer is losing ground in the total browser market share.Latest surveys indicate that the open sourced Firefox browser has racked up one fourth of the total browser market share.Add to this the Chrome and the Safari 4.0 browsers and there is reason to believe that Microsoft are feeling the heat in the race for dominance in the browser market shares.As of now, IE are still on top when it comes to percentage of users(largely due to Windows being shipped in with the IE pre installed) but the gap between IE and the others are fast closing down.Also European Union recently expressed Anti Thrust concerns about Windows shipping in with a pre installed browser and hence the Windows 7 is now shipped with a ballot screen allowing users to pick the browser of their choice.The fierce competition and the set back from the EU’s anti thrust campaigns have made Microsoft worry and a reaction was expected.The reaction- the Internet Explorer 9. Microsft announced the Internet Explorer 9 at the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference in Los Angeles.

The IE9 promises a performance boost and better javascript engine. The IE9 will be the first browser to use hardware accelerated rendering for graphics and text. That would mean that Webmaster wont need to modify their code to get performance gains.The Javascript engine has been one of the weak spots in IE but is receiving a major overhaul in IE9. The Acid3 test suites gives IE9 a rating of 32/100. This is impressive when you consider the fact that IE8 was able to get a rating of only 8/100. A jump of 4 times already is a good sign but the fact is that this is very low compared to its competitors. Firefox 3.6 beta already has a rating of 92/100 while the Safari scores 100/100,Opera 85/100 and Chrome scores a perfect 100/100.
Go to Acid3 website to test your browsers performance rating .
All versions of the IE fail the Acid3 test as their scores are very low.Even the already discontinued Netscape Navigator browser scores better than IE at 53/100.However IE9 is much closer to its competitors in the SunSpider test.

The use of hardware accelerated rendering would mean that the IE9 will rely heavily on the PC hardware with the processing moving to the machine’s graphics chip.Other major tweaks include support for HTML5 and rounded edges on textboxes.Though Microsoft has not given an exact date of launch, The IE9 is not expected until 2011. With Firefox coming with 3.6 soon and Safari and Chrome also doing well, i wont be suprised if the IE loses its top position on the market by 2011.
Read the official Microsoft blog on the IE9.

Tweet or else face Arrest!!!

Vivek — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 08:51:21 +0000

In a bizarre incident in Canada, a man was arrested for failing to tweet!!!THe person-a music executive in Canada. The arrest was made because the man failed to help the police disperse a crowd who had assembled to greet a teenage pop singer.

When thousands of people had gathered to greet the teenage star Justin Bieber,it soon led to pushing and shoving. This is when the police asked the the records company Def Jam to send out a tweet asking for calm.Now when the company failed to do so, the police arrested the vice president of the company for charges under endangering the welfare of children and obstructing governmental administration. The incident just proves that how much Twitter has grown and how much it is a part of life in the western countries.
Read the Entire story here

Google SPDY aims to make the web 2x Faster

Vivek — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 09:02:16 +0000

Do you find that loading web pages is very slow,even after getting the fastest Broadband Internet connections?Well,many sites have to load so much content that they are ultimately very slow and you end up disgusted and using the “F” word more often than not. Well all this could change in the future with Google(who else)’s coming up with a new application layer protocol to transfer content over the web.

This new protocol named as SPDY (pronounced as SPeeDY) is designed to speed up the content movement over the internet and supposed to be awful lot faster than the familiar HTTP protocol.This speeding up will be done by minimising the latency(or simply put as minimising the time required to sent an empty message from the server to the client browser) through the use of multiplexd streams,request prioritization and header comparison.The SPDY is being developed by Google’s Chromium development team,who were responsible for the Chrome browser. If the sucess of the Chrome web browser is to be taken into account,the SPDY project will sure be the next big thing in the IT world.

Early research tests conducted on the top 25 sites indicate that the pages load 55% times faster than HTTP.That is a 2x Faster web.The SPDY was unveiled on 12th November with a post to the Google Research Blog. Check the link to find out more about SPDY.As for the web user,i think interesting times are ahead and hopefully we wont be tearing our heads off at how slow the website is,in the future.I really hope that Google develops this new protocol at the earliest and make it available to the Net community.

We applaud Google for this experiment.First the chrome browser,the chrome OS in the nearby future and now an all new protocol for the web,Google is going all out to improve the web experience!!!