Thursday 23 April 2015

Tough Times Quotes

Tough Times Quotes

“Pain is your friend; it is your alie. Pain reminds you to finish the job and get the hell home. Pain tells you when you have been seriously wounded. And you know what the best thing about pain is? It tells you you’re not dead yet!” – G.I Jane
Tough times never last, but tough people do.  - Robert H Schuller
“What lies behind you and what lies in front of you, pales in comparison to what lies inside of you.” – Ralph Waldo Emerson
The difference between stumbling blocks and stepping stones is how you use them. – Unknown
A problem is a chance for you to do your best. – Duke Ellington
Never let your head hang down. Never give up and sit down and grieve. Find another way. And don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines.  -Leroy Satchel Paige
I ask not for a lighter burden, but for broader shoulders. – Jewish Proverb
Prosperity is a great teacher; adversity is a greater. Possession pampers the mind; privation trains and strengthens it.  – William Hazlitt
When things are bad, we take comfort in the thought that they could always get worse. And when they are, we find hope in the thought that things are so bad they have to get better. – Malcolm S Forbes
If you don’t like something change it; if you can’t change it, change the way you think about it. – Mary Engelbreit
“If you aren’t in over your head, how do you know how tall you are?” – Unknown
I love those who can smile in trouble, who can gather strength from distress, and grow brave by reflection. ‘Tis the business of little minds to shrink, but they whose heart is firm, and whose conscience approves their conduct, will pursue their principles unto death.  - Thomas Paine
The friend in my adversity I shall always cherish most. I can better trust those who helped to relieve the gloom of my dark hours than those who are so ready to enjoy with me the sunshine of my prosperity. - Ulysses S. Grant
The bravest sight in the world is to see a great man struggling against adversity.  –Seneca
One who gains strength by overcoming obstacles possesses the only strength which can overcome adversity. – Albert Schweitzer
Prosperity makes friends, adversity tries them. – Publilius Syrus
Adversity is a fact of life. It can’t be controlled. What we can control is how we react to it.  – Unknown
“When everything seems to be going against you, remember that the airplane takes off against the wind, not with it.” – Henry Ford
The hardest struggle of all is to be something different from what the average man is. – Charles M Schwab
The true test of a person character is how they stand during test of adversity - Unknown
“Obstacles don’t have to stop you. If you run into a wall, don’t turn around and give up. Figure out how to climb it, go through it, or work around it.” – Michael Jordan
He knows not his own strength who hath not met adversity. – William Samuel Johnson
Prosperity makes friends, adversity tries them. – Publilius Syrus
I learned there are troubles of more than one kind. Some come from ahead, others come from behind. But I’ve bought a big bat. I’m all ready, you see. Now my troubles are going to have trouble with me. – Dr. Seuss
In times of great stress or adversity, it’s always best to keep busy, to plow your anger and your energy into something positive. – Lee Iacocca

Saturday 14 December 2013

Hard Disk Drive (HDD) vs Solid State Drive (SSD)

SSD vs HDD

Most people now buy laptops for their computing needs and have to make the decision between getting either a Solid State Drive (SSD) or Hard Disk Drive (HDD) as the storage component. So which is best to get, an SSD or HDD? There’s no straight-forward answer to this question; each buyer has different needs and you have to evaluate the decision based on those needs, your preferences, and of course budget. Even though the price of SSDs has been falling, the price per gigabyte advantage is still strongly with HDDs. Yet, if performance and fast bootup is your primary consideration and money is secondary, then SSD is the way to go. We’ll make a comparison of SSD and HDD storage and go over the good, the bad, and the ugly of both.
What is an SSD?
We’ll make no assumptions here and keep this article on a level that anyone can understand. You might be shopping for a computer and simply wondering what the heck SSD actually means? To begin, SSD stands for Solid State Drive. You’re probably familiar with USB memory sticks - SSD can be thought of as an oversized and more sophisticated version of the humble USB memory stick. Like a memory stick, there are no moving parts to an SSD. Rather, information is stored in microchips.  Meanwhile, a hard drive uses a mechanical arm with a read/write head to move around and read information from the right location on a storage platter. This difference is what makes SSD so much faster. As an analogy, what’s quicker? Having to walk across the room to retrieve a book to get information or simply magically having that book open in front of you when you need it? That’s how an HDD compares to an SSD; it simply requires more physical labor (mechanical movement) to get information.
A typical SSD uses what is called NAND-based flash memory. This is a non-volatile type of memory. What does non-volatile mean you ask? The simple answer is that you can turn off the disk and it won’t “forget” what was stored on it. This is of course an essential characteristic of any type of permanent memory. During the early days of SSD, rumors floated around saying stored data would wear off and be lost after only a few years.  Today this is not true; you can read and write to an SSD all day long and the data storage integrity will be maintained for well over 200 years. In other words, the data storage life of an SSD can outlive you!
An SSD does not have a mechanical arm to read and write data, it instead relies on an embedded processor (or “brain”) called a controller to perform a bunch of operations related to reading and writing data. The controller is a very important factor in determining the speed of the SSD. Decisions it makes related to how to store, retrieve, cache and clean up data can determine the overall speed of the drive. We won’t get into the nitty-gritty details for the various tasks it performs such as error correction, read and write caching, encryption, and garbage collection to name a few. Yet, suffice to say, good controller technology is often what separates an excellent SSD from a simply good one. An example of a fast controller today is the SandForce SATA 3.0 (6GB/s) SSD controller that supports burst speeds up to 550MB/s read and write speeds.
Finally, you may be wondering what an SSD looks like and how easy it is to replace a hard drive with an after-market device. If you look at the images below you’ll see the top and undersides of a typically-sized 2.5” SSD. The technology is encased inside either a plastic or metal case and looks like nothing more than a battery might:
SSD Top Side
SSD Bottom Side
The form factor of the SSD is actually the same as a regular hard drive. It comes in a standard 1.8”, 2.5”, or 3.5” size that can fit into the housing and connectors for the same-sized hard drives. The connector used for these standard sizes is SATA. There are smaller SSDs available that use what’s called mini-SATA (mSATA) and fit into the mini-PCI Express slot of a laptop.
What is an HDD?
Hard Disk Drives, or HDD in techno-parlance, have been around for donkey's years relative to the technology world. HDDs were first introduced by IBM in 1956 - yes folks this is nearly 60-year old technology, thank goodness vacuum tubes for TVs didn’t last so long! An HDD uses magnetism to store data on a rotating platter. A read/write head floats above the spinning platter reading and writing data. The faster the platter spins, the faster an HDD can perform. Typical laptop drives today spin at either 5400 RPM (Revolutions per Minute) or 7200RPM, though some server-based platters spin at up to 15,000 RPM!
The major advantage of an HDD is that it is capable of storing lots of data cheaply. These days 1 TeraByte (1,024 gigabytes) of storage is not unusual for a laptop hard drive, and the density continues to grow. Cost per gigabyte is only around $0.075/GB these days for an HDD (based on buying a 4TB model), amazing when you compare it to the $1.00/GB cost for an SSD (240GB model) . If you want cheap storage and lots of it, using a standard hard drive is definitely the more appealing way to go.
When it comes to appearance, HDDs essentially look the same from the outside as SSDs. HDDs predominantly use SATA interface. The most common size for laptop hard drives is the 2.5” form factor while a larger 3.5” form factor is used in desktop computers. The larger size allows for more platters inside and thus more storage capacity. Some desktop hard drives can store up to 4TB of data! Below is an example of what an HDD looks like using the Seagate Barracuda 3TB hard drive:
HDD Top Side
HDD Bottom Side
SSD Vs HDD Comparison
Now it’s time to do some comparisons and determine which might be best for your individual needs - SSD or HDD?  The best way to compare items is a table with a side by side comparison of items in which a green box indicates an advantage:
AttributeSSD (Solid State Drive)HDD (Hard Disk Drive)
Power Draw / Battery LifeLess power draw, averages 2 – 3 watts, resulting in 30+ minute battery boostMore power draw, averages 6 – 7 watts and therefore uses more battery
CostExpensive, $1.00 per gigabyte (based on buying a 240GB drive)Only around $0.075 per gigabyte, very cheap (buying a 4TB model)
CapacityTypically not larger than 512GB for notebook size drivesTypically 500GB – 2TB for notebook size drives
Operating System Boot TimeAround 22 seconds average bootup timeAround 40 seconds average bootup time
NoiseThere are no moving parts and as such no soundAudible clicks and spinning can be heard
VibrationNo vibration as there are no moving partsThe spinning of the platters can sometimes result in vibration
Heat ProducedLower power draw and no moving parts so little heat is producedHDD doesn’t produce much heat, but it will have a measurable amount more heat than an SSD due to moving parts and higher power draw
Failure RateMean time between failure rate of 2.0 million hoursMean time between failure rate of 1.5 million hours
File Copy / Write SpeedGenerally above 200 MB/s and up to 500 MB/s for cutting edge drivesThe range can be anywhere from 50 – 120MB / s
EncryptionFull Disk Encryption (FDE)Supported on some modelsFull Disk Encryption (FDE) Supported on some models
File Opening SpeedUp to 30% faster than HDDSlower than SSD
Magnetism Affected?An SSD is safe from any effects of magnetismMagnets can erase data
If we tally up the checkmarks, the SSD gets 9 and HDD gets 3. Does that mean the that an SSD is three times better than an HDD? Not at all. As we mentioned earlier, it all depends on individual needs. The comparison here is just to lay out the pros and cons for both options. To aid you even more, here are some rules to follow when you decide which drive is best for you:
If:
  • You need lots of storage capacity, up to 4TB
  • Don’t want to spend much money
  • Don’t care too much about how fast a computer boots up or opens programs - then get a hard drive (HDD).
If:
  • You are willing to pay for faster performance
  • Don’t mind limited storage capacity or can work around that - then get a solid state drive (SSD).
Today it still makes sense for a majority of typical buyers just to get an HDD inside a new computer simply due to the much cheaper cost. However, if you are an enthusiast for new technology and having top computing performance is important for you, then of course SSD is the way to go.  Eventually SSD will replace HDD as the standard storage mechanism, certainly in laptops given the advantages they present for a mobile device. We are already seeing this happen with SSD showing up as the default storage device in the new Ultrabook category.  There will always be a market for both HDD and SSD, and the perfect solution may actually be a hybrid blend of both storage solutions. The advent of mSATA SSD devices and hybrid drives that include both SSD and HDD may be the best hope for reaching storage zen and giving you the best of both worlds, but that’s a topic for another day!
Curious about which SSD or hard drive to buy? Be sure to check out our constantly updated leaderboard that has a breakdown of the best SSD in categories like value, mainstream and enthusiast.

Saturday 23 November 2013

Hosting locations of the world’s top one million websites

Hosting locations of your favorite websites


After going through the list of websites, we compiled the numbers and came up with some interesting facts. In total, we found 7,936 cities that between them host the top one million sites in the world.
We plotted all these hosting locations on an interactive map of the world, with the cities with one or more sites in the top million list marked with blue dots. The size of the dots signifies how many sites are hosted in each city.
Be aware that the map might take a while to load. You can also download the map as a picture.

The top 100 web hosting cities

Clicking around on the world map to see if there’s a top website where you live is great fun, but we also wanted to present a list of the cities in the world that host the most top websites.
Remember that the million websites are hosted in almost 8,000 cities. However, it should be noted that the top 10 cities combined account for 223,206 sites or just over 22% of the top million.
The top three cities combined account for about 10% of the top million websites.
What city hosts the biggest number of these top websites? Houston, Texas, in the United States, singlehandedly harbors over 50,000 of these sites, making it the number one city. Mountain View, California, is in the number two slot with almost 30,000 sites.
hosting locations cities top million pingdom
Then, here are the 100 cities that host the most of the sites in the top million:
The top 100 web hosting cities
Number of websitesCityCountry
150,598HoustonUnited States
229,594Mountain ViewUnited States
324,822DallasUnited States
423,210ScottsdaleUnited States
521,808San AntonioUnited States
620,691ProvoUnited States
714,871AshburnUnited States
813,214San FranciscoUnited States
913,125ChicagoUnited States
1011,273BeijingChina
1110,006New YorkUnited States
129,412Los AngelesUnited States
138,170LansingUnited States
147,588TokyoJapan
157,538MontrealCanada
167,380Culver CityUnited States
177,349BreaUnited States
186,605OsakaJapan
196,296AtlantaUnited States
206,063AmsterdamThe Netherlands
214,546MoscowRussia
224,250BurlingtonUnited States
233,823WayneUnited States
243,627AbseconUnited States
253,491AustinUnited States
263,451SeattleUnited States
273,449OrlandoUnited States
283,361BerlinGermany
293,176ColumbusUnited States
303,146Saint LouisUnited States
313,088ShanghaiChina
322,907ParisFrance
332,819DenverUnited States
342,804SunnyvaleUnited States
352,659BangkokThailand
362,619EnglewoodUnited States
372,607ProvidenceUnited States
382,601TorontoCanada
392,579San JoseUnited States
402,525GuangzhouChina
412,366TampaUnited States
422,293LondonUnited Kingdom
432,283PhoenixUnited States
442,248HangzhouChina
452,196TempeUnited States
462,189San DiegoUnited States
472,181FremontUnited States
482,176McleanUnited States
492,097PittsburghUnited States
501,957NanjingChina
511,937Fort LauderdaleUnited States
521,920NewarkUnited States
531,795ScrantonUnited States
541,787TaipeiTaiwan
551,775MediaUnited States
561,735NassauBahamas
571,703SeoulSouth Korea
581,693AnaheimUnited States
591,692PlanoUnited States
601,632HerndonUnited States
611,520GloucesterUnited States
621,484Las VegasUnited States
631,457Santa RosaUnited States
641,448FulshearUnited States
651,441WalthamUnited States
661,428Kansas CityUnited States
671,417Arlington HeightsUnited States
681,395MiamiUnited States
691,361SanayiTurkey
701,352JacksonvilleUnited States
711,282MissoulaUnited States
721,262HanoiVietnam
731,240ChengduChina
741,217Santa MonicaUnited States
751,186MumbaiIndia
761,181WilmingtonUnited States
771,179RestonUnited States
781,173HenanChina
791,160WeehawkenUnited States
801,158ChesterfieldUnited States
811,150Buenos AiresArgentina
821,136CharlotteUnited States
831,107FarmingtonUnited States
841,102OrangeUnited States
851,102MatawanUnited States
861,087LenexaUnited States
871,066Simi ValleyUnited States
881,046Hong KongHong Kong
891,021Palo AltoUnited States
90989Saint PetersburgRussia
91973SydneyAustralia
92968KievUkraine
93967WashingtonUnited States
94965Ann ArborUnited States
95948Ho Chi Minh CityVietnam
96934SecaucusUnited States
97920Garden CityUnited States
98913Porto AlegreBrazil
99908CliftonUnited States
100898MarsTurkey

USA and Top 20 web hosting countries

The US hosts 43% of the world’s top 1 million websites

us flag

It should come as no surprise that the United States is the world leader in hosting websites. But just how many of the world’s top sites are hosted in the US? Following ourstudy of web hosting in Africa, we now broaden the perspective and can announce that 43% of the world’s top 1 million websites are hosted in the United States

Top 20 web hosting countries

After checking the IP addresses of the top 1 million websites as ranked by Alexa, we put them in order of how many websites are hosted in each country. You can read a bit more about our methodology at the end of the article.
In total, we identified 191 countries as hosting one or more sites in the top 1 million, with the following 20 in the top:
Top 20 web hosting countries
As you can see, the US is in a clear lead with 431,214 sites, followed by Germany with 82,152, China with 49,730, UK with 37,829, and France with 35,777. In 20th place we find South Korea with 5,659 websites hosted out of the top 1 million.
This is certainly a long tail if there ever was one :)

Europe vs US

With the US in such a commanding lead, it would, of course, be interesting to see how it compares to other parts of the world. One of the obvious comparisons would be with Europe. Here’s what that comparison looks like:
Web hosting: Europe vs US
Even compared to the countries in Europe combined, the US is still considerably larger, with 431,214 sites compared to the 313,252 in Europe.
You may have noted that Europe and the US together claim around 75% of the top 1 million sites.

Top 100 countries

Here are the top 100 countries, which host the most sites in the top 1 million:
Top 100 web hosting countries
CountryNumber of sites hosted
1United States431,214
2Germany82,152
3China49,730
4United Kingdom37,829
5France35,777
6Japan35,138
7Russia31,134
8Netherlands24,214
9Canada18,218
10Italy13,293
11Spain13,047
12Brazil10,481
13Poland9,989
14Turkey7,721
15Australia6,669
16Ukraine6,537
17Czech Republic6,257
18India6,255
19Hong Kong5,730
20Korea (South)5,659
21Sweden5,243
22Singapore4,276
23Thailand4,190
24Ireland4,122
25Denmark4,037
26Switzerland4,022
27Romania3,746
28Viet Nam3,434
29Hungary3,135
30Indonesia3,002
31Taiwan2,741
32Iran2,704
33Austria2,442
34Argentina2,312
35Malaysia2,289
36British Virgin Islands2,245
37Belgium2,064
38Norway1,887
39South Africa1,852
40Israel1,729
41Portugal1,724
42Bulgaria1,713
43Finland1,707
44Pakistan1,421
45Bahamas1,385
46Lithuania1,214
47Slovakia1,208
48New Zealand1,046
49Mexico1,038
50Chile867
51Latvia857
52Slovenia790
53Belarus754
54Greece712
55Kazakhstan688
56Estonia635
57Luxembourg591
58Croatia491
59Columbia412
60Panama379
61Serbia365
62Philippines325
63Saudi Arabia322
64Venezuela316
65Cyprus313
66Peru311
67United Arab Emirates279
68Azerbaijan277
69Egypt276
70Moldova235
71Georgia223
72Uzbekistan213
73Costa Rica196
74Mongolia191
75Iceland188
76Mauritius180
77Ecuador129
78Sri Lanka119
79Cayman Island107
80Bangladesh105
81Macedonia103
82Morocco97
83Curacao96
84Uruguay95
85Bosnia and Herzegovina92
86Kuwait92
87Armenia88
88Dominican Republic88
89Kyrgyzstan79
90Seychelles56
91Kenya54
92Qatar54
93Jordan52
94Liechtenstein52
95Bolivia51
96San Marino51
97Puerto Rico50
98Nigeria49
99Syria49
100Belize48

Will the rest catch up to the US?

Alexa may not be the definitive list to go by, but, at the very least, it should give a good indication of what the real numbers are. We doubt anyone is surprised that the US is in the lead, but it’s interesting to see how the countries seem to jockey for positions. Also, we just looked at the top 1 million sites, which is just a small fraction of all websites that exist.
We will keep an eye on this issue and see how it develops over the coming months and years.