Shopping Guide and Reviews

Fragrance lamps have quite the history. The original fragrance lamp has been around since the 1800′s. These special types of lamps have been known by many different names, including fragrance lamps, effusion and perfume lamps, even catalytic lamp. The term catalytic lamp is used because it is catalytic combustion technology that enables the lamp to work. This technology was first put to use in the 1800′s for use in both hospitals and morgues. It was in the year 1897 that a French gentleman named Maurice Berger patented the technology that fuels (no pun intended) fragrance lamps).

The purpose of a fragrance lamp is to eliminate bad orders. It has often been thought that bad smells come from molecules which are unstable, and that the low-temperature combustion that a fragrance lamp provides is able to speed up the decomposing of those molecules. Those molecules can then be converted from bad smells into harmless substances like water and carbon dioxide. In addition to removing bad odors and providing a nice scent (which is provided by fragrance lamp oils), fragrance lamps and their innovative combustion process can also eliminate up to eighty-five percent of the bacteria that is normally present in a room for up to thirty hours.

These days, fragrance lamps aren’t used for medical purposes. Nowadays, they are designed to diffuse aroma into the air while the combustion process that goes on within the lamp helps to purify it. Many of these aromas come from fragrance lamp oils that are made from natural ingredients and oils, while others may come from more synthetic materials and oils. So, how does a fragrance lamp work? Well, the whole process begins by taking the stone burner that is in the mouth of the lamp and lighting it. Within a few minutes, the burner is thoroughly heated, and the flame may be blown out. The burner continues to stay heated as the low-temperature process of catalytic combustion begins, and diffused aromatics are released.

The great thing about fragrance lampss is that they operate efficiently without an open flame, so they are safe around furnishings, children and pets. With a lower heating temperature during operation, aromatics are diffused more openly and efficiently into the air, without being scorched or over powering. For more information on fragrance lamps, you can browse the internet and specialty home furnishing stores that carry them. In addition to fragrance lamps, you’ll be able to find other related items, including fragrance lamp oils that come in a variety of scents.

Mobile phones are now considered as an indispensable part of human life. People have started paying attention to even minutest of the details, while fetching one of these gadgets. They are no longer meant to assist in communication. Entertainment, data transfer and connectivity, photography are some of the requirements that these gizmos are expected to cater to. Cut-throat competition in the market has turned out to be quite favourable for the users, as most of the phone manufacturing companies such as Nokia, Samsung and Sony Ericsson come up with the latest handsets every now and then, offering the individuals ample choice.

In 2010, a lot of widgets, fully-loaded with the latest features and ultra-modern applications are going to hit the market. Needless to say, that these would be backed by revolutionary technologies. While some of these mobile phones have already been announced, others are expected to be made official really soon. Some of the coming soon phones 2010, that people are eagerly waiting for, are Nokia N96i, Samsung Z600 and Sony Ericsson W999i.

The Nokia N96i has already become the talk of the town. It is expected to have enticing features and terrific applications. It comes with a double slide design and one of the best screens, that is rotating in nature. Its 2.4” TFT screen gives a beaming view, with a capacity to display up to 262,000 colours. Despite having a metallic body, it just weighs 110g. It is equipped with a 5.5MP camera that lets you capture amazing pictures. On the entertainment front, it supports MP3 and MP4 file formats, among others. For transferring data to another compatible device or vice versa, users can put to use the Bluetooth facility that comes along. With a 256MB microSD card, this is surely another mind-blowing invention from Nokia.

Samsung Z600, one of the coming soon phones in 2010, weighs 115g and measures 89 x 48 x 23.5 mm. It comes with a 2.1” TFT screen that has a resolution of 176×208 pixels and displays up to 256K colours. It is embellished with a 2MP camera. It provides you with ample of storage space, as it comes with an internal memory of 70MB. Data and connectivity options galore with this gizmo. It supports 3G (UTMS), Class 10 GPRS, Bluetooth, infrared and USB. In addition, this java-enabled phone has a WAP 2.0 browser, that allows the users to access the world wide web. Entertainment reaches a new high, with its integrated media player that supports MP3, AAC and AAC+ file formats.

Last, but not the least, the Sony Ericsson W999i comes a 2.0 mega pixel camera that brings along a host of performance-enhancing features such as 4x digital zoom. Apart from performing its usual functions, the camera can also be put to use to place video calls. Statistically, it weighs 110g and measures 97.4 x 49 x 20mm. It offers you 32MB of user memory. Its long-lasting battery that supports a GSM talk time of up to 9 hours, makes it one of the highly sought after coming soon phones in 2010.

SAN JOSE, CA–(Marketwire – November 2, 2009) -

Highlights / Key Facts:

• Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) has scheduled a conference call on Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 1:30 p.m. (Pacific Time) to announce its first quarter fiscal year 2010 financial results for the quarter ending Saturday, October 24.
• Financial results will be released over Marketwire after the close of the market on Wednesday, November 4, 2009.
• To listen via the Internet:
  Cisco offers a live and replay audio broadcast of the conference call with corresponding slides at www.cisco.com/go/investors.

Select Product Announcements from Q1 FY10:

• Cisco expanded its Cisco TelePresence™ portfolio with the single-screen, single-camera Cisco TelePresence System 1100 for multipurpose rooms. Cisco TelePresence services now reach more than 150 countries on five continents, with service providers AT&T, BT, Orange, NTT, Tata Communications, Telefonica, Telstra and Telmex each now having announced commercial intercompany Cisco TelePresence service offerings.
• Cisco announced its Borderless Networks Architecture strategy, together with announcing its new Integrated Services Router Generation 2 (ISR G2), which helps businesses and service providers simplify and scale delivery of on-demand, networked business services such as video and collaborative applications.
• Cisco launched Cisco IronPort™ Web Usage Controls, a product designed to provide real-time content categorization to accurately identify up to 90 percent of “dark web” sites.
• Cisco and salesforce.com announced the Customer Interaction Cloud, a combined solution that uses a connector to integrate salesforce.com’s Service Cloud 2 with Cisco Unified Contact Center’s functionality, empowering small and medium-sized companies to run their customer service function completely in the cloud.

Global Highlights from Q1 FY10:

• Cisco, Intel, Microsoft, the government of Kenya and the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) launched a joint project to help improve the quality of education in Kenyan schools through the use of information and communications technology (ICT).
• Cisco expanded its effort to help cities explore how ICT can help address climate change and energy challenges, through the launch of a new Connected Urban Development Alliance with The Climate Group.

Select Global Customer Announcements from Q1 FY10, by Theater:

United States and Canada:

• Tutor Perini Corporation, a leading civil and building construction company, is consolidating five data centers into one new facility which utilizes the Cisco Unified Computing System™ as its computing platform.
• Pelco by Schneider Electric and Cisco announced a strategic technology agreement to pursue the joint development of new high-definition (HD) Internet Protocol (IP) video security cameras built upon Pelco’s award-winning Sarix™ technology platform.
• The Miami Dolphins National Football League franchise announced the deployment of Cisco TelePresence and Cisco StadiumVision™ systems to help fans “Live the Game” at Miami’s Land Shark Stadium.
• In Ontario, Canada, fibre-optic network provider Atria Networks completed a network upgrade based on the Cisco ONS 15454 Multiservice Transport Platform and dense wavelength-division multiplexing (DWDM).

Asia Pacific:

• MRCB Land, Cisco and Datacraft announced a collaboration to transform Kuala Lumpur’s KL Sentral Park district into a smart and sustainable urban center in Malaysia.
• Cisco and the Chongqing (China) municipal government signed an MOU outlining a strategic relationship to advance IT manufacturing, spur green tech innovation and develop Smart + Connected Communities solutions.
• In India, integrated telecommunications service provider Bharti Airtel, and Cisco formed a strategic business alliance to help drive network-enabled growth for Indian enterprises.
• Cisco and Gale International expanded their relationship on Smart + Connected Communities under development in Korea’s Songdo International Business District, with the aim of creating a repeatable model for smart, sustainable cities of the future.
• Telstra in Australia deployed the Cisco ASR 9000 Series aggregation Services Router as its carrier Ethernet platform for a range of bandwidth-intensive, content-based services.

Emerging Markets:

• Turkish service provider Turkcell deployed a joint solution from Cisco and Openet to provide a flexible charging system for Turkcell’s general packet radio service (GPRS) mobile data network.
• In Mexico, Telefonos de Mexico (TELMEX) launched Telepresencia Administrada TELMEX, a plan to market intercompany Cisco TelePresence services in Latin America.
• Kenya’s Ministry of Information and Communications Technology launched the first network-enabled Pilot Pasha Centre in Kangundo with the aim of enhancing the livelihoods of local citizens and encouraging new micro-enterprises.
• In Argentina, Garrahan Hospital enhanced its telemedicine experience with Cisco and Telefónica, with the objective of offering remote health care support and services in different Argentine provinces.
• Video-delivery expertise available from Cisco has powered the launch of a new video-on-demand service for Polish telecommunication operator ASTER.

Europe:

• Austrian software company Tiani Spirit deployed a health care information-exchange solution at the Klinikum Wels-Grieskirchen hospital.
• German electricity company Yello Strom launched an energy-saving smart grid pilot to create an intelligent energy system that communicates over an IP network.
• Swedish telecommunications provider TeliaSonera is deploying a point-to-point fiber network based on the Cisco IP Next-Generation Network (IP NGN) architecture.
• Arnold Clark Automobiles, Europe’s largest independent auto dealer, is using Cisco networking products, integrated together with a network-based vehicle tracking solution from Aeroscout, to transform car sales and service in Stafford, United Kingdom.
• TV 2 Norway selected a Cisco MPEG encoding and IP video system platform for its new high-definition digital terrestrial television (HD-DTT) play-out facility in Bergen.

Acquisitions and Investments:

• Cisco announced a definitive agreement to acquire Starent Networks, a leading supplier of IP-based mobile infrastructure solutions targeting mobile and converged carriers.

• Cisco announced a definitive agreement for Cisco to launch a recommended voluntary cash offer to acquire TANDBERG, a global leader in video communications.

Significant Partner Announcements from Q4 FY09:

• Cisco announced the launch of Cisco Channel Education Specializations to help customers identify Cisco Learning Partners that offer advanced training expertise in specific, sophisticated network technologies.
• Cisco launched a new small business partner profitability initiative, expanded its small business product portfolio with new network security and collaboration technologies, and extended zero-percent financing offers for small businesses in the United States, Canada and Europe.

Video:

• Paul Mountford, president, Emerging Markets for Cisco discusses key highlights from the first quarter of fiscal year 2010: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VBQbiQWU8q4

Complete Conference Call Details:

Date: November 4, 2009
Time: 1:30 PM (PT); 4:30 PM (ET)

To Listen via the Internet:
We are pleased to offer a live and replay audio broadcast of the conference call with corresponding slides at www.cisco.com/go/investors.

To Listen via Telephone: (Due to the limited number of lines available, we encourage you to dial in approximately 30 minutes prior to the start of the call).

888-848-6507
212-519-0847 (for International Callers)

RSVP: No RSVP is necessary

Replay: A telephone playback of the Q1 FY 2010 conference call is scheduled to be available beginning at 4:30 PM (PT) on November 4, 2009 through 4:30 PM (PT) on November 11, 2009. The replay will be accessible by calling 866-357-4205 (International callers: 203-369-0122). The call runs 24 hours per day, including weekends.

An archived version of the webcast will be available on Cisco’s Investor Relations website at www.cisco.com/go/investors.

About Cisco

Cisco (NASDAQ: CSCO) is the worldwide leader in networking that transforms how people connect, communicate and collaborate. Information about Cisco can be found at http://www.cisco.com. For ongoing news, please go to http://newsroom.cisco.com.

Cisco, the Cisco logo, Cisco Systems, Cisco IronPort, Cisco StadiumVision, Cisco TelePresence, Cisco Unified Computing System, and IronPort are registered trademarks or trademarks of Cisco Systems, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and used by them or by affiliates under license in certain other countries. All other trademarks mentioned in this document are the property of their respective owners. The use of the word partner does not imply a partnership relationship between Cisco and any other company. This document is Cisco Public Information.

Like everything else that changes and has trends, so does technology. In a sense, that makes it no different from fashion, cars or anything else that comes and goes. Yet unlike those things, technology is always evolving. Newer and better all the time, smaller, faster, higher capability and capacity than the last. Here I will list what is predicted to be hot sellers for 2009 in the ever changing world of technology, while everybody’s pocketbooks/wallets are hurting.

This year, it has been predicted to have booming PC sales, and if its anything like last year-laptops will also have a rising sales. With more and more people trying to have their own small businesses during these tough economic times, they will seek out the latest and fastest PCs. They also will seek out all in one printers to help complete their new at home offices and to save space. We’re likely to see prices drop though, as stores will be forced to lower them in order to survive. It will be a good year for the buyer and bad for the stores.

With the DTV switch coming up and analog going out, we can expect to see Digital TVs prices dropping as well. Like all technology, once it comes main stream, prices drop. Also cable company’s may lose even more customers as more stations and sub-stations will be popping up.

Smart phones and PDA’s may flop, with issues from Blackberry and Iphones people may get turned off. Also with their high prices for services don’t help the wallet.

Mp3 players becoming more mainstream, Ipods might lose the lead. With their high prices and issues known with the newer models, might help lesser known brands gain in sales.

Video Game consoles will likely do well, Xbox and Playstation both have lowered their prices and Wiis are selling very well. Also two new consoles are coming out this year from lesser known GP2X and Zeebo.

Microsoft’s Windows new OS, Windows 7 is in BETA stage and might come out as soon as this year.

Open source software and freeware will be more in demand as people don’t have the money to splurge on pricey software.

Social Networks will still be popping up with no end in sight, the companies who run them can make good money on it.

Blogging and citizen journalism will be growing and making a larger splash in the media world. Perhaps even hurting TV, newspaper and radio in news.

And that’s the prediction for the trends of technology this year 2009. Nobody knows for sure what this year will hold, but we sure can hope for the best.