Google considers many signals when tailoring search results to a user’s query and Penguin refers to one of those signals. First rolled out in 2012, the Penguin update took into account the links pointing to your site. If those links came from sites that were spammy or had a low quality score, your site would likely drop in rank.
There have been a few updates to the update over the years, including one last September.
Link-related changes in rank now in real-time
Known as Penguin 4, the latest update is also called the Real-Time Penguin Update.
It used to be that changes you made to your site in regard to links – whether good or bad – would not take immediate effect. You had to wait for one of Google’s periodic “refreshes,” where the search engine would factor in changes made to the link profiles of sites across the web and hand out or remove penalties accordingly.
That changed in September. Refreshes will now happen constantly and changes in rank based on links – whether good or bad – will be gradual. No longer do you have to wait months to see changes based on your efforts. And in the event that your efforts prove unfruitful, no longer do you have to make additional changes and then twiddle your thumbs.
Penguin 4 and your SEO strategy
Before Penguin 4, if there was no refresh in the immediate future, your link profile might have been on the backburner. Now, every day you allow a spammy link to weigh you down, rather than remove or disavow it, is a missed opportunity; every quality link your competition acquires helps them eat into your lead or puts them ahead.
It’s a little daunting but it’s also enticing. Because link building is a time-consuming endeavor and its ramifications used to be manifested sporadically, it’s likely been a low priority for you. Fortunately, the same is likely true for your competition.
Now that you can utilize real-time Penguin refreshes to get ahead, it may be time to move link building to the forefront of your SEO strategy. And one quality link goes a long way toward establishing favorable rank.
Penguin 4 has brought about a few other changes as well, including rank adjustment that affects the page in question rather than the whole site. Get acquainted with them all so you can factor them into your link-building strategy, which is perhaps more important now than ever.
There may come a time where you would like to change your blog’s permalinks without losing ranking in the search engines. No longer having your posts appear in search results is probably one of the biggest fears of changing the permalinks for your posts.
When I started Technically Easy I used Google’s Blogger platform. The Blogger platform had many limitations, with on of the limitations being the structure of the permalinks to the blog posts. The limitation was that the author of the blog couldn’t change the permalink structure. All posts had the same permalink structure: “/year/month/postname”.
Back then I didn’t really care about the structure of the permalinks to my blog posts, and even when I switched to WordPress about a year later I didn’t think much about the structure.
Over the past few years, however, I started to think more about my blog posts’ permalinks and whether I should change them to just include the post name and not include the year and month. It wasn’t until recently did I decide to make the permalink change.
The good news is that once I change the permalinks on my blog, my traffic hasn’t decreased. The best part was changing the post permalink on my blog was actually easy and only took a few moments.
Below are the steps I took to change the permalinks on my blog. Keep in mind that the original links to my blog were in the form “/year/month/postname”, and if your is different you will need to determine what you changes you will need to make for your blog.
Change my blog’s permalinks
Changing my blog’s permalinks required two steps. The first step was setting up a redirect from the old permalinks to the new permalinks for each post. The good news is that this only required me to add one line to my .htaccess file on my Web host.
The second step was easy, I just had to change the permalink setting from within the WordPress admin site for my blog.
Let’s look at the first step.
Redirecting the old links to the new links
Out of the two steps to change the permalinks on my blog, this step is probably the most complicated. It requires some knowledge of using regular expressions to parse the old permalink to create the redirect to the new permalink.
To help illustrate how I went about making the change, I will use this post as an example.
Basically what I want to do is to take the post name, and then just append it after my domain name, and remove both the year and month portions of the link.
To accomplish this, I added the following line to the end of my .htaccess file on my host:
This will probably look confusing to anyone not familiar with regular expressions, but I will explain what it does.
RedirectMatch 301
This is Apache’s command to redirect one URL to another, but unlike the Redirect command, this one uses regular expressions to determine the originating URL. The 301 is the indication that the URL is a permanent move, which will tell search engines that the new URL should always be used.
^/([0-9]{4})
This is the start of the regular expression. The ^ character indicates that the URL will start with the slash followed by 4 numbers – the year. This is indicated by the range [0-9] and the {4}. The parenthesis “( )” around this part of the regular expression allows this match to be used later by specifying $1 . The 1 indicates this is the first match.
/([0-9]{2})
This match is very similar to the previous one, with the one difference indicating it will match a 2 digit number – the month. You can see the same range [0-9] is used but this time it indicates only two digits with {2}. Once again, this expression is in a set of parenthesis so it can be remembered as $2.
(.*)$
There are three things used for matching in the last part. The first is the .* which will match a single character (.) zero or more times (*), which basically means everything will be matched. This is the actual post name, so any post name will be matched. The next part is to remember the match as $3, since it is surrounded by parenthesis. The $ indicates that only match if the previous is at the end of the string. Since the post name is at the end of the URL, it will be matched.
http://technicallyeasy.net/$3
This is where the new permalink is formed. I basically use the domain name of my blog and append the match from the post – the $3 from the previous item – and then append that value to the end of the domain name.
The above may seem confusing at first, and you are having trouble creating a regular expression for your permalinks, you can use Yoast’s Permalink Tool to help create the regular expression for to redirect your old permalinks.
Changing the permalink settings in WordPress
Once the redirect command is in .htaccess all the previous links will now redirect to the new ones, which will return a 404 – Page not found because WordPress is still setup to use the old permalink structure.
You will now need to fix this through your WordPress admin dashboard. You can use the following steps to change the permalink structure in WordPress:
Log into your WordPress dashboard.
From the options on the left click Settings->Permalinks.
Under Common Settings select a permalink structure or create a custom one. In my case, I just clicked the Post name option.
Click the Save Changes button to use the new permalink structure.
Once the above steps have been done, you old permalinks should now be redirected to the new permalinks without any issue.
With one command added to the .htaccess of my blog, and the permalink setting change in WordPress, I no longer have the year in month in my blog post permalinks. It is debatable as to whether this will have an effect on how my posts perform in search results, but regardless, I do like the more compact look of the permalinks.
There may be a time when the Windows 10 update is stuck on downloading an update and doesn’t progress beyond that point. I have recently experienced this issue on a laptop where Windows Update wouldn’t progress beyond the downloading part of the update.
I did manage to fix the issue and update the laptop. Below are the steps that I used to correct the problem.
Fixing the Windows 10 Update Issue
In order to correct the issue you must first restart Windows into Safe Mode. This will ensure that any necessary files and directories that we need to change are not in use by the Windows update service or other services.
Once Windows 10 has restarted into Safe Mode, the second part is to modify some directories used by the Windows Update that may contain corrupted data.
These two steps are outlined below.
Booting into Safe Mode
To boot Windows 10 into Safe Mode, use the following steps:
Note:
Once you restart you computer into Safe Mode, log in using the administrator account in order to continue with the fix.
Press the Windows Key+I to open Settings. You can also click the Start button and then select Setting.
From the Settings window, click Update & security.
From the options on the left, click Recovery.
Under Advanced startup click Restart now.
After the PC restarts to the Choose an option screen, select Troublshoot > Advanced options > Startup Settings > Restart.
From the Startup Settings screen, press 6 for Enable Safe Mode with Command Prompt.
Fixing the Windows Update Directories
Now that the computer has restarted in Safe Mode and the command prompt window is displayed, do the following:
Once the computer has restarted you can check for any Windows 10 updates using the following steps:
Press the Windows Key+I to open Settings. You can also click the Start button and then select Setting.
From the Settings window, click Update & security.
On the left click Windows Update and then click Check for updates.
Windows Update will now check for any updates and should begin downloading any that are found. It could take some time for the checking to be completed, but once it is done, there should be no issue with downloading the updates.
As a business owner, you’re probably used to be stretched thin and taking on several different tasks at a time. One of your most important assets is your time, and you need to figure out the how your time is used each day to make the most profit.
It’s also essential to look for ways to save time in your daily tasks. The best and most successful business owners use computer technology throughout their company to help increase productivity and save time.
Here are 10 ways your business can save time by incorporating technology into your day.
1. Manage group projects
The first place to help save time and increase effectiveness is in your project management style. Instead of managing a project in person, with various meetings at the office to check on progress, invest in a project management software app, like Asana.
With a project management app, you can take your to-do lists and work with you wherever you go and get more done each day. Your team can stay on top of each important job as the project gets closer to completion.
2. Communicate with the team
Another key to saving time in the workplace is to increase your team’s communication. Instead of relying on email or in-office memos, make sure you can communicate with your key team members via other methods as well.
Try various team text messaging apps that help keep everyone in contact and on track.
3. Track productivity
Business owners are sometimes so busy that they don’t realize that they’re wasting time. You can avoid this common problem by investing in technology to help track your workday and task completion. There are also tools available that help you keep an offline tally of your team’s working hours.
This can help you truly understand where all of your time goes. Eventually, you can identify the time wasters and look for viable solutions to help increase your own productivity.
4. Collaborate on shared documents
Collaboration is another big part of saving time in today’s effective workplace. For teams that may be working on shared documents, there’s no better tool than Google Docs to help your employees share, comment, and work together on the same item.
This eliminates the old-fashioned method of passing around a document in its paper form and making corrections or changes.
5. Schedule simple tasks
Your time can be used much more effectively if you start scheduling simple tasks. If your social media plan has you making routine daily posts across your accounts, you may want to use a scheduling app or software to help with the workload.
Write your posts ahead of time, and set them up to be posted at a specific date or time when needed.
6. Take effective notes
Note taking can also be made more effective if you take advantage of today’s technology offerings. Instead of writing your notes out by hand in a notebook, use your smartphone’s capabilities to take pictures, record videos, or type out important details.
That way, when you need to get something done, your notes are close to you and ready to be reviewed.
7. Automate payroll
Business owners must also pay attention to routine tasks that are part of being the head of a company, like payroll. Today, business owners can take the headaches out of complex processes like running payroll by investing in automated payroll solutions, which calculate, track, and deliver paychecks to your employees.
This can mean that your skills and expertise can be used for other important tasks.
8. Sign documents electronically
New technology has also made it possible to sign your important documents electronically. This helps you avoid the multiple steps that used to be required for signing a document, like printing it out, signing it, mailing it, and waiting for a response.
Today, with companies like DocuSign from business leader Keith Krach, entrepreneurs can get their big deals going with the click of a button.
9. Account for spending
Your company’s accounting procedures can also be dramatically improved with the right brand of business accounting software. You can track your expenses, spending, and payments easily without having to spend hours each week transcribing this information into your bookkeeping accounts.
This also helps you save a huge amount of time at tax time since you can usually load your data right into your tax software seamlessly.
10. Manage files effectively
Finally, with cloud-based file management systems, companies around the world are able to quickly find important files and documents without searching through a disorganized paper filing system.
With a cloud solution, your company can avoid having to manage files across numerous devices and simply house everything important in one place.
You can also solve the problem of the increasing demands for storage space since many cloud solutions allow for large amounts of data to be housed.
Today’s business owner has a lot more to manage if he or she wants to experience ultimate success.
You can achieve this lofty goal if you focus on investing in technology solutions that save your company and yourself valuable time in your day and during the year.
After I published my post where I test out the Web download option for restoring my photos from Backblaze, a regular reader of mine had sent me an email asking several questions about Backblaze. One of the questions was about what file types can be backed up with Backblaze.
I indicated that so far I haven’t had an issue backing up any type of file that I needed to backup. All my files have been backed up without a problems and have been doing so for many years.
At the time I replied to the email I didn’t have the number of files or a list of files types I have backed up over the years. It has also been a while since I last looked closely at the number of files and the types of files I have been backing up, so this was a good reminder to do so.
For those that are interested in what can be backed up with Backblaze, then I will provide more clarity into what I have been able to backup.
What files can you backup with Backblaze?
Before going into detail about what file types can be backed up with Backblaze, lets look at how many files I currently have backed up and how much drive space the files use.
The current status of my file backup with Backblaze.
As you can see from the image above, I currently have 164,899 files backed up, and altogether they consume 745,199 MB (745 GB) of storage space. This has increased by about 4 GB since the previous post as I have uploaded some new photos.
Over 160,000 files backed up is quite a lot, so explaining what file types I have backed up off the top of my head is not possible. I do have an idea of the file types, but not an exact list.
Luckily, Backblaze does provide a high-level report that lists the type of files that I currently have backed up with them. It isn’t specific, but it does group my files into several categories.
The file type report is shown below.
A report of the file types backed up with Backblaze.
The report Backblaze provides groups the files into several categories, depending on the file extension. It then adds the total size of each category and displays it in the report. I’ll explain what I have stored in each category starting from the largest to the smallest.
Photos
As I expected, the largest type of file I have backed up are photos (541 GB), since I am always taking photos. There are different types of photos in this category, including JPEGs, RAW, and TIFF files. My Canon shoots both RAW and JPEGs at the same time, and most of the other JPEGs are those that I have automatically backed up from my Android phone and my wife’s iPhone.
This is the most important category of files because these files contain a history of my family, and the files can’t be reproduced if they were lost. This is the main reason why they are backed up with Backblaze.
Movies
This category includes files with many different file types. Movie file types are more diverse than photo file types since many different video formats have been used throughout the years. In this category I have older AVI files that were created with a standard-definition camera. Newer files include MOV from Apple devices, MP4 from my Android smartphone, and MTS from my HD camera.
There was a surprise here. When I ripped my Blu-ray discs for my Plex media server, I copied some MKV files into a folder that I originally didn’t include with Backblaze. At some point, Backblaze had included that folder and backed up the MKV files. I don’t really need those files backed up, but since they have been uploaded I’ll leave them for now.
Other
This category is the catch-all category for files that don’t fit into any of the other categories. Files in this folder will include data files that aren’t documents, spreadsheets, presentations, etc. I am not entirely sure what files are in this category as I do backup several computers to my server, including my wife’s Windows 8.1 laptop which could have many files that fall into this category.
Much like the movies category some files that are organized into this category is a result of Backblaze finding a folder with files that needed to be backed up. On my C drive on the server I have Python 2.7 installed. Backblaze automatically selected that folder to backup and now backs up all the Python source files. I don’t need that directory backed up, so I will probably go and exclude it in the future, but it does show that if you forget to include a folder, Backblaze may automatically find it and back it up for you.
Music
The bulk of files in this category are the songs my wife has purchased from her iTunes account. Both DRM-protected and non-DRM-protected music files are backed up without any problems. Other music files that are backed up include MP3 and FLAC.
Zip and Archives
This category is self-explanatory – any compressed files types – ZIP, RAR, 7z, etc. are included here. Apparently, I have over 9 GB of compressed files, which is not entirely surprising as I do have backups from past computers that I have zipped up into a single file.
Documents, Presentations and Spreadsheets
I am grouping two categories together since they basically contain anything related to office-type files. This is mainly my wife’s data as she is constantly creating documents and presentations. She apparently has quite a number of files on her laptop that I have backed up to the server, and these files go back to her school days several years ago. There are also probably duplicate files as she has upgraded laptops over the years and I have copied her files from one laptop to the newer laptop.
Anyway, any document that can be created by an office application is backed up by Backblaze.
Financial Information
This one is confusing. While I do backup my financial data, I always have it encrypted in a container, which is automatically backed up and is probably counted in the Other category. I am not sure what file(s) are in this category, as I don’t have any financial data stored outside of an encrypted container. Files from my wife’s laptop have probably been categorized here, or Backblaze determined that one of my encrypted containers contains financial information from the name of the container. Either way, 64 MB of financial data is backed up.
Browser Favourites and Bookmarks
Since I backup my wife’s laptop, this includes all of here Web browser favourites and bookmarks. These are important to her, so it is nice that they can be restored if issues occur with her laptop.
What isn’t backed up
Pretty much any file type that we need to have backed up can be backed up with Backblaze. With that being said, there are many files that Backblaze won’t backup. Backblaze provides a small list of file types that it won’t backup by default:
ISO (Disk Images)
DMG (Mac Disk Image)
VMC VHD VMSN (Virtual Drives)
SYS (System Configuration & Drivers)
EXE (Application Files)
For some of the above file types you won’t need to worry as they are usually installed by an application and don’t need to be backed up. Some files, such as virtual drives, you may want to backup, especially if you have created a virtual machine and don’t want to lose the drives associated with that machine.
If you would like to backup the above file types, Backblaze does allow you to remove the exclusions so those files can be backed up.
Is there a limit to the size of file Backblaze can backup? The answer is no.
Backblaze doesn’t impose a file size limit when backing up files. If a file is 20 GB in size, the entire 20 GB file will be uploaded by Backblaze to their servers. If you would like Backblaze to prevent large files from being backed up, you can set the file size limit within Backblaze.
By default, the limit is set to “No limits”, which means backup all files regardless of size.
Conclusion
I have over 160,000 files backed up with Backblaze, and there are many different file types that I need to have backed up. While there are some file type exclusions within Backblaze, I find that such exclusions haven’t prevented any of my data from being uploaded to the Backblaze servers.
If I find that the exclusions do prevent some of my important files from being backed up, I can always remove those exclusions and then Backblaze will continue to backup my files automatically.
The one thing that I have always wondered about, and for some reason I haven’t tested out the feature, is how the process of restoring my files would work. Restoring my files successfully whill help me feel confident that the files I restore from Backblaze will be the same as the files I backed up.
After all, a backup process is only as good as its restore process.
I have decided to begin testing out restoring my data files from Backblaze to ensure that I will be ready in case I need to restore any of my files. Waiting until something does happen to my files is not the best idea.
Restore Methods
Backblaze provides three options when it comes to restoring files. I decided to restore my files using two of the options. The two options I will test will be:
1. Web restore with zip download.
This method basically allows me to select files using their Web interface and then Backblaze will zip the files and let me download the zip file from my account in a Web browser or from their download utility. This post will examine the results of this method. This method is suited for smaller restores and not for my entire library of files.
2. USB hard drive.
To restore all my files, I will use this method. For $189 Backblaze will copy my files to a hard drive and then mail the hard drive to me. From there I can restore my files from the hard drive. I can get my money back if I return the hard drive to them. This method allows a maximum of 4 TB of files to be restored. I will explore this method in a future post.
The third option is using a USB flash drive which has a file restore maximum of 128 GB. Since the first two options are enough for me to restore either a subset or all of my data, I won’t be looking at the USB flash drive option.
My current backup status
All of my important files – meaning files I never want to lose – are backed up with Backblaze. I chose Backblaze mainly because of the promise of backing up unlimited data for $5/month. The amount of data I backup increases every year, so if it wasn’t for the flat $5/month rate, online cloud-based backup would be too expensive for me.
To see what I mean, here is my current file backup status.
The current status of my file backup with Backblaze.
As you can see from the screenshot above, I currently have the following backed up:
Files
Total Size
164,418
741,973 MB or 741.97 GB
Since this post will look at restoring files through the Web and download application from Backblaze, I won’t be able to restore all of my files. Instead I will focus on a small subset for this test.
Preparing the file restore from the Backblaze Web interface
Let’s begin with the restore of some files.
Using the Web interface is simple enough. I basically log into my Backblaze account and select the “View/Restore Files” option from the menu on the left. By default, the Web option is selected as the restore method, so I then use the folder tree at the bottom of the Web page to select the folders and files I want to restore.
Once I have selected my files I click the “Continue with Restore” button and that’s it. Backblaze will now prepare the zip files with the files I selected and then notify me, by email, when it is ready for download.
Note:
Backblaze will inform you if your download will be too large. The Web option is used mainly for restoring a small number of files. For any restore that is over 20 GB in size, they recommend the USB flash drive or USB hard drive options instead.
When I click the “My Restores” option from the menu on the left I can see my restore is currently being prepared.
My Backblaze restore is being prepared.
After about ten minutes of waiting I receive an email from Backblaze indicating that my zip file is ready to be downloaded. I returned to my account and to the same “My Restores” page and noticed that my zip file was now available for restore.
At this point I also can see that the size of the zip file is 3.39 GB so I have a rough idea of how long it may take to download and how much drive space I will need.
My Backblaze restore is available for download.
Now that my restore was ready it was time to download and see if the files are what they should be – meaning they are an exact duplicate of the original files.
Restoring the files
When downloading from the Web interface, Backblaze provides two ways of downloading the zip file: using the download button on the Web page, or using their Backblaze Downloader utility.
The Downloader utility is a portable application that you extract anywhere on your desktop. From there you just run the executable, enter your Backblaze login information and it will go and download the last zip file that was prepared for your account.
I wasn’t sure which option would be faster. I have a 100 mb/s (12.5 MB/s) Internet connection, although I do manage to get 120 mb/s (15 MB/s) when downloading games from Steam, so I wasn’t sure what to expect when downloading through Backblaze.
In any case, I tested both options to see if there was any download performance difference.
Download from the Web
Using the “Download” button on the Web form from my Web browser (Google Chrome), I began to download the zip file.
The download speed jumped between 2.5 MB/s to 8.5 MB/s with the average around 4 MB/s. This is a lot slower than I was expecting, but I was more concerned with the fact that my files were an exact duplicate of the originals, so speed wasn’t a major concern for me.
It took just over 15 minutes to download the 3.39 GB zip file from Backblaze using Google Chrome. This worked out to an average of 31.38 mb/s (3.9 MB/s) on my 100 mb/s connection. It wasn’t bad, but not great either.
I wondered if the Downloader utility would be faster, so I downloaded the zip file again using that utility.
Download using Backblaze’s Downloader utility
I downloaded the zip file containing the Downloader utility, unzipped the file and then ran the executable. I entered my Backblaze credentials and left all the other options at their default values. I clicked the “Sign in to Start” button and let the utility do its job.
The utility displays a progress bar during the downloading activity as well as the amount transferred and the transfer speed.
The Backblaze Downloader downloading my zip file restore.
The Backblaze Downloader took 19 minutes to download the same zip file. This worked out to an average of 25.72 mb/s (3.2 MB/s) download speed. This was slower than using the Web browser to download the zip file.
Bear in mind, however, that in order to get a completely accurate picture of the download speeds, I would have needed to run both download tests multiple times. Since I am less concerned with download speeds as I am with actually getting my files, I didn’t perform any additional tests.
Verifying my restored files
Once I unzipped the zip file containing the files I selected to be restored, I could actually see the number that I had selected. I basically selected an older directory (10 years old) to be restored but I was unsure of how many files were in that directory.
The files in the directory were JPEG files, so the zip file size was very close to the uncompressed size because JPEG files are already compressed to begin with. There were also some RAW image files from my old Canon G2 camera I was using back in 2006.
In total 1,417 files were in the folder, and the files were 3,636,151,770 bytes (3.6 GB) in size. This represents a very small sample size compared to how many files I actually have backed up. The table below shows the number of files and sizes that I restored and the percentage of the total backed up.
Files
Size (bytes)
1,417 (0.86% of 164,418)
3,636,151,770 (0.49% of 741,973,000,000)
While it is a small sample size, it does allow me to test out restoring a smaller number of files, and also files that have been backed up to Backblaze for many years – since I first started using their backup service.
The most important aspect of restoring files is to determine if the files restored have no issues and that they match the originals byte-for-byte.
To verify the files I performed two tests:
I randomly opened image files to ensure that they could be opened without any issue. Opening all 1,417 files in many directories would take a while, so I would use the second test to verify all files.
Create a SHA256 hash of each restored and original file and compare the hashes to see if they are identical. If one byte in a restored file was changed, then that file would have a completely different SHA256 hash than the matching file.
I randomly selected files to open – both JPEG and RAW – and had no issues opening any of the files. I even displayed the thumbnails of directories in Windows Explorer and all thumbnails were displayed without any problems. So far so good.
I then ran a small application I created that would generate the SHA256 hash for both the restored and original files. After all the hashes were calculated and compared, the application would display a message box that indicated if any files were identical, different, or missing. Since I selected a single directory to be restored, I can easily ensure that all files were restored and none were missing.
After several minutes of creating the hashes and performing the comparison I was relieved to see that my application indicated all 1,417 files were matched successfully and that no file was missing from the original files.
This indicated that the restoration of 10 year old files from Backblaze was 100% successful.
Conclusion
I have been using Backblaze for many years to automatically backup my files in the cloud. During that time I haven’t tested their restore option, and I didn’t want to wait until I lost my files in order to use their restore option.
I managed to successfully restore 1,417 of my files that were a total of 3.6 GB in size without any problems. The download speeds, however, were a little disappointing, but as I mentioned earlier, my main concern was ensuring the files I restored were exact duplicates of the originals without any missing files.
This goal was achieved.
Next, I will restore all of my files using the USB hard drive method and then compare 100% of my files to the original to see if a complete backup of my files can also be successful.
Being able to restore all of my files successfully is now my goal.
Cars, TVs, laptops, internet routers, smartphones or any other electronic device – what’s common between all of these? Semiconductors. There are millions of semiconductors in practically any electronic equipment that you pick up.
They have revolutionized the technology and electronic landscape.
Semiconductors are materials that have electrical conductivity between conductors like metals and insulators like ceramics. The extent of electricity a semiconductor allows depends on the material and its mixture content.
Semiconductors can be insulators at low temperatures and conductors at higher temperatures. Semiconductors play an important role in our lives from the time we wake up, until we go to sleep.
Semiconductors are undoubtedly the present of machines and technology. Now they are all set to redefine machine design in the future and make our lives even more comfortable. Read on to find out how.
These microchips are the core of all electronic systems. Social infrastructure, today is heavily dependent on and propelled by technology. Semiconductors are the future of technology.
With constant research and upgrading happening in semiconductor manufacturing and functioning, we are going to see an overall improvement in all aspects of our life, and especially infrastructure.
Energy, communications, transportation, and health care sector will see massive developments. What this translates for you is a quicker, and more efficient medical network with better care and organization facilities.
Cars will be another sector where semiconductors will assume a central role. The semiconductor content in vehicles is increasing, with mid-range cars containing $350 worth of semiconductor content.
New semiconductor technology will enhance the use of trains, internet and bank ATMs. The industrial sector will adopt semiconductor technology governed logistics systems that will be more efficient, help save energy, and promote preservation of global environment.
Semiconductors are going to enhance our driving experience. A significant aspect of this will be noticed in car-mounted semiconductors. There already exists several types of car-mounted semiconductors.
In the future, more semiconductors will be used for ADAS (Advanced Driver Assistance Systems). The overall driving experience will go notches higher with ADAS applications like Lane Departure Warning (LDW), Forward Collision Warning (FCW) , Automative Emergency Braking (AEB) and more.
All of these features will be driven by advancement and growth in the semiconductor segment. Ultimately the quest is to create automated, driverless vehicles on a large scale.
This will require advanced sensors, powerful processors and sophisticated connectors, all of which require semiconductors.
Reduce dependence and usage of inorganic-based electronics
The conventional form of electronics that we know of are the inorganic-based electronics that are expensive and have heavy power consumption.
Organic electronics such as displays, photovoltaics, electronic components and circuits fare better than inorganic electronics as they are cheaper, sturdy, optically transparent, lightweight, and most importantly, have very low power consumption.
Organic displays in electronics will move into an interesting realm in the coming future. Think wide viewing angle, low operating voltage, high brightness and fast response time.
There is a lot of ongoing research in the field of Organic Field Effect Transistor (OFET) devices and Organic Light Emitting Diodes. The results can be highly exciting and foray into an absolutely diverse range of applications.
Organic Field Effect Transistors are the electrical building blocks of organic electrical circuits. They are used in displays, electronic artificial skin, smart digital gadgets and human-machine interface. Semiconductors are at the center of organic electronics. In simple terms, digital support and technological solution processing will become less expensive, and more accessible.
As a consequence of all the research and development in semiconductors, the benefits will trickle down to the masses, and we will have more advanced and less expensive electronics.
Semiconductors are the essential component of electronic devices. Semiconductors can be insulators at low temperatures and conductors at high temperatures.
They are classified into two categories: intrinsic and extrinsic. Intrinsic semiconductors are pure and are poor conductors. When we add small amounts of impurity to this element, it turns into an extrinsic semiconductor.
When the types of extrinsic semiconductor come together, they generate devices with special electrical properties which allow control of electric signals. We would literally have a world without smart electronics if semiconductors were not discovered.
It is true that vacuum tubes can be used to replace them, but they can never make the devices as reliable, fast, cheap and compact as semiconductors.
These microchips are what are responsible single-handedly for the miniaturization of electronic devices, higher accessibility, and affordable pricing.
After all, who can forget that the first computer was almost the size of two double-decker buses, and even as recent as 1984, we were buying phones that were 2lbs and 30 minutes talk time for as high as $4000.
The technological landscape has become way more powerful, and in the coming years, it’s only going to get better, faster, more convenient and cheaper, with more prevalent and advanced use of semiconductors.
Semiconductors play an important role in the defense and security of the country, and they will continue to do so. This can be substantiated through USA’s example.
This particular development enables the military to execute spectrum-dependent military capabilities like communication and radar without allowing the enemy to disable or jam them.
This will be a huge strategic advantage for US military, and will help the US maintain global military leadership.
Conclusion
Besides all the above technological advancements and digital comforts, semiconductors are also important as they are an integral part of the economic growth of the company.
From global semiconductor manufacturer giants like Intel and Samsung to recent Asian market leader in semiconductor and electronic components distributor, DigSemi, the semiconductor industry generates a massive amount of jobs.
The salaries are also relatively higher than other industries and they contribute to a large chunk of the country’s exports too.
Cloud storage seems like a popular, convenient, and cheap way to store and access your files from anywhere. Many popular smartphones don’t come equipped with expandable memory, so questioning cloud storage isn’t an option.
Find out why expandable memory can be a preferred alternative to cloud storage and why you may want to consider a smartphone with this ability for your next purchase.
1. No monthly fees
Similar to many popular internet services today, storing files in the cloud comes with a monthly fee. While that fee may stand at only $10 a month, the costs add up quickly when considering your other monthly bills and subscriptions.
Many will argue that expandable memory is more expensive and harder to access, but when purchasing a micro SD card, you pay a one-time fee and can easily switch the card for use among your devices.
2. Access to files from anywhere — even without Wi-Fi connectivity
Let’s say you have a long flight or are driving through an underdeveloped area. You open up your mobile device to play your favorite tracks, but you don’t have internet access, and your music is stored in the cloud.
It looks like you’ll be marching to the beat of your own drum.
With expandable memory options, you have the power to reach all your media files, even in remote areas where Wi-Fi and mobile data services can’t be reached.
Having this feature will save you much of the frustration that comes from not being able to access your files when you need them the most.
3. No privacy leaks
While you may not be a highly publicized personality with sensitive data, you — as we all do — probably have some private files you’d rather keep to yourself.
Storing your data on the internet makes it more vulnerable to being leaked to the public, a situation that can easily be eliminated by implementing expandable memory use. Making the simple decision to store information physically, rather than digitally, adds an extra cushion of protection to your private life.
4. Easily expandable
Some cloud users might argue that micro SD cards don’t offer enough storage space. However, cards come in a variety of storage sizes, and if you run out of space, purchasing an extra card is cheap and easy.
Plus, many smartphones and tablets support expandable memory options, so you won’t have to feel limited when making a purchase.
5. Freedom of choice
Purchasing a smartphone with the option to expand beyond the internal memory provided is always the best choice. If you use cloud storage as a home for your files, you shouldn’t eliminate devices with expandable options from your wish list or dismiss the benefits that physical storage provides.
Being able to make choices over ways you use your devices is great, but when you purchase devices that allow for internal or cloud storage only, you give up the option to make choices.
Purchasing a mobile device, such as the new Galaxy S7, will give you the choice to store your files using expandable memory options or online storage services.
An added benefit when making this choice is that you can always have a double storage space for your information for added protection.
6. More memory, less to remember
Many of us live through hectic schedules; some days we wish we had expandable memory for ourselves. Having an expandable memory feature on your mobile device, however, can help free up some space in your mind.
Eliminating monthly fees not only helps your wallet, but also allows you to not worry about remembering to make those payments again. Missing payments can add unwanted fees and harm your credit.
You’ll also never have to remember a password when working with micro SD cards. Who needs another password to remember?
Whether you want to have added security attached to your files, one less monthly subscription to worry about, or the freedom to access your files in areas where they were once inaccessible, having expandable memory is the best option to simplify your life.
When purchasing your next device, be sure to choose smart and select a device that supports expandable memory options.
