Computer Terms: Ever Google Someone?

Hackers, bloggers and spam -- what does it all mean? Transcript of radio broadcast: 24 November 2007

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Now, the VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES.

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Computer technology has become a major part of people’s lives. This technology has its own special words. One example is the word mouse. A computer mouse is not a small animal that lives in buildings and open fields. It is a small device that you move around on a flat surface in front of a computer. The mouse moves the pointer, or cursor, on the computer screen.

Computer expert Douglas Engelbart developed the idea for the mouse in the early nineteen sixties. The first computer mouse was a carved block of wood with two metal wheels. It was called a mouse because it had a tail at one end. The tail was the wire that connected it to the computer.

Using a computer takes some training. People who are experts are sometimes called hackers. A hacker is usually a person who writes software programs in a special computer language. But the word hacker is also used to describe a person who tries to steal information from computer systems.

Another well known computer word is Google, spelled g-o-o-g-l-e. It is the name of a popular search engine for the Internet. People use the search engine to find information about almost any subject on the Internet. The people who started the company named it Google because in mathematics, googol, spelled g-o-o-g-o-l, is an extremely large number. It is the number one followed by one hundred zeros.

When you Google a subject, you can get a large amount of information about it. Some people like to Google their friends or themselves to see how many times their name appears on the Internet.

If you Google someone, you might find that person’s name on a blog. A blog is the shortened name for a Web log. A blog is a personal Web page. It may contain stories, comments, pictures and links to other Web sites. Some people add information to their blogs every day. People who have blogs are called bloggers.

Blogs are not the same as spam. Spam is unwanted sales messages sent to your electronic mailbox. The name is based on a funny joke many years ago on a British television show, Monty Python’s Flying Circus. Some friends are at an eating place that only serves a processed meat product from the United States called SPAM. Every time the friends try to speak, another group of people starts singing the word SPAM very loudly. This interferes with the friends’ discussion – just as unwanted sales messages interfere with communication over the Internet.

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This VOA Special English program, WORDS AND THEIR STORIES, was written by Jill Moss. I'm Faith Lapidus.

Source: http://voanews.com

Diet and Lifestyle Recommendations

Diet and Lifestyle Recommendations

A healthy diet and lifestyle are your best weapons to fight cardiovascular disease. It’s not as hard as you may think! Remember, it's the overall pattern of your choices that counts.

Make the simple steps below part of your life for long-term benefits to your health and your heart.

Use up at least as many calories as you take in.

Start by knowing how many calories you should be eating and drinking to maintain your weight. Don’t eat more calories than you know you can burn up every day. Increase the amount and intensity of your physical activity to match the number of calories you take in. Aim for at least 30 minutes of moderate physical activity on most days of the week or — best of all — at least 30 minutes every day. Regular physical activity can help you maintain your weight, keep off weight that you lose and help you reach physical and cardiovascular fitness. If you can’t do at least 30 minutes at one time, you can add up 10-minute sessions throughout the day.

Eat a variety of nutritious foods from all the food groups.

You may be eating plenty of food, but your body may not be getting the nutrients it needs to be healthy. Nutrient-rich foods have vitamins, minerals, fiber and other nutrients but are lower in calories. To get the nutrients you need, choose foods like vegetables, fruits, whole-grain products and fat-free or low-fat dairy products most often.

• Vegetables and fruits are high in vitamins, minerals and fiber — and they’re low in calories. Eating a variety of fruits and vegetables may help you control your weight and your blood pressure.
• Unrefined whole-grain foods contain fiber that can help lower your blood cholesterol and help you feel full, which may help you manage your weight.
• Eat fish at least twice a week. Recent research shows that eating oily fish containing omega-3 fatty acids (for example, salmon, trout, and herring) may help lower your risk of death from coronary artery disease.

Eat less of the nutrient-poor foods.

The right number of calories to eat each day is based on your age and physical activity level and whether you're trying to gain, lose or maintain your weight. You could use your daily allotment of calories on a few high-calorie foods and beverages, but you probably wouldn’t get the nutrients your body needs to be healthy. Limit foods and beverages high in calories but low in nutrients, and limit how much saturated fat, trans fat, cholesterol and sodium. Read labels carefully — the Nutrition Facts panel will tell you how much of those nutrients each food or beverage contains.

As you make daily food choices, base your eating pattern on these recommendations:

• Choose lean meats and poultry without skin and prepare them without added saturated and trans fat.
• Select fat-free, 1 percent fat, and low-fat dairy products.
• Cut back on foods containing partially hydrogenated vegetable oils to reduce trans fat in your diet.
• Cut back on foods high in dietary cholesterol. Aim to eat less than 300 milligrams of cholesterol each day.
• Cut back on beverages and foods with added sugars.
• Choose and prepare foods with little or no salt. Aim to eat less than 2,300 milligrams of sodium per day.
• If you drink alcohol, drink in moderation. That means one drink per day if you’re a woman and two drinks per day if you’re a man.
• Follow the American Heart Association recommendations when you eat out, and keep an eye on your portion sizes.

Also, don’t smoke tobacco — and stay away from tobacco smoke

Source: http://www.americanheart.org

Banking in 2009: challenges in the offing

Banks which did not aim at hot credit growth, but focused on restructuring loaning and trying to reduce bad debts in 2008, will meet less difficulties in 2009, experts say.

Credit not the biggest earner

According to the State Bank of Vietnam, total outstanding loans in 2008 only rose by 21-22% over the end of 2007, while the allowed level was 30%. Only small banks relied on credit, while bigger banks have been seeking income from diversified sources.

When the capital mobilisation cost soared, a lot of banks incurred losses from loaning. As exporters could not borrow money from banks in US$, banks had to rack their brains to find ways to boost credit. Eximbank then announced it would lend to businesses in VND at the interest rates applied for US$ loans, if exporters committed to sell dollars to the bank at negotiated prices.

Many banks reaped big profit from foreign exchange trading in the market. The interbank exchange rate increased by 5.4%, and the commercial banks’ transaction exchange rate rose by 8-9% in comparison with the end of 2007.

According to HSC Securities Company, the income from foreign currency trading activities of Asia Commercial Bank in 2008 brought in 40% of total income.

As for the Military Bank, the income from foreign currency trading in the first half of 2008 alone was four times higher than that of 2007 as a whole.

The capital of VND7,610bil pumped by foreign strategic partners in May-July helped the input capital cost of Eximbank become more competitive than other rivals. According to Dao Hong Chau, Deputy General Director of Eximbank, the bank’s main sources of income came from foreign currency trading and foreign currency loaning.

The bond market brought a considerable sum of income to banks. The banks which bought cheap bonds in May could earn the profit of up to 30-40%.

Regarding other services, despite big efforts, banks could not make big changes in diversifying services with income from services accounting for only 5-7% of total income. Even East Asia Bank (EAB), a well known overseas remittance and card service provider, only saw fees accounting for 10% of total income.

Challenges on the horizon in 2009

With the sharp falls of the real estate market, the bad debt of the banking sector had reached VND43,500bil by the end of the year, or 3.5% of total outstanding loans.

Analysts say that an increase of bad debt ratio in 2009 is possible.

They say that banks will still face a lot of difficulties in 2009 caused by the adjustments in the monetary policies of the State Bank of Vietnam which aim to push up production and business, and prevent economic slowdown.

The central bank is believed will control credit quality more strictly making it difficult for credit to become as hot as it was in 2007.

In the immediate time, the interest rates are expected to go down as per instruction of the Prime Minister. This will make bank interest rates become less attractive in the eyes of investors in comparison with stock and gold investments. Therefore, banks will have to seek solutions to retain clients.

In 2009, domestic banks will have to officially enter into fierce competition with 100% foreign-owned banks, which will force them to expand their networks, improve technology, diversify services.

Therefore, analysts have every reason to believe that 2009 will be the year that ‘filters’ banks.

Source: http://english.vietnamnet.vn

500 biggest companies honoured in Hanoi

he ceremony to announce the top 500 Vietnamese companies in 2008 and the VNR500 forum ‘Big enterprises and the economic prospects in Vietnam in 2009’ took place on January 2, 2009 at the National Convention Centre in Hanoi.

VietNamNet's Editor-in-Chief Nguyen Anh Tuan delivered the opening speech

The ceremony attracted the participation of former Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan, Professor Robert Kaplan from Harvard Business School, Dr Dinh Van An, Head of the Central Institute of Economic Management (CIEM), Nguyen Dinh Cung, MA, also from CIEM, and representatives of hundreds of enterprises.

This is the second consecutive year VietNamNet newspaper and VietNam Report Company have joined forces to announce the top 500 Vietnamese companies: The leading businesses in Vietnam in terms of turnover and operation scale.

Speaking at the conference, Nguyen Anh Tuan, Editor-in-Chief of VietNamNet, stressed that despite having to face a lot of difficulties in 2008, Vietnamese enterprises still recorded encouraging achievements. Tuan said that the difficulties have urged businesses to improve themselves to become stronger and more adaptable in the process of global integration.

Professor Kaplan with his presentation

Professor Kaplan gave a presentation about the Balanced Scorecard model, of which he is the father. The Balanced Scorecard is considered one of the most effective business administration models in the 20^th century, and has been widely used by the world’s leading groups.

Former Deputy Prime Minister Vu Khoan said at the conference that honouring businesses is a good way to encourage them. “I find VND500 very necessary and significant,” Khoan said.

When asked if naming 500 enterprises was too much for a national economy in which small- and medium-size enterprises were the majority, Khoan said that naming 500 from among 360,000 operational businesses was not ‘too many’. However, Khoan said that the criteria for hounouring businesses should focus more on quality than scale.

Dinh Van An, Head of CIEM, while talking about difficulties Vietnamese businesses will face in 2009, identified six favourable conditions which he believes will help businesses overcome the difficulties.

An said that the macroeconomic management capability of the government has improved considerably. In 2008, the government several times made suitable adjustments of economic growth targets and launched suitable policies to help the economy overcome difficulties.

However, as Nguyen Dinh Cung pointed out, in order to survive the difficulties and become stronger, enterprises need to improve their corporate governance skills. Cung said that bad corporate governance is the main factor hindering the development of big enterprises in Vietnam.

Source: http://english.vietnamnet.vn

Happy New Year!

Happy New Year!

President Nguyen Minh Triet's New Year greetings.

Hanoi: Splendid flower street

A street of flowers is being built on Dinh Tien Hoang Street, along the Hoan Kiem Lake in Hanoi’s centre, to celebrate the New Year through photos.

Workers and craftsmen are working on the last phase to have a flower road.

Dozens of flower varieties will show off their beauty in the centre of Hanoi.

The flower road will feature cultural identity of the North, the South and the Central Region: A northern-style bridge in the photo.

Fishing boat of the central region.

The symbol for southern canals and fishing.

Tu Cau flower comes from the Central Highlands city of Da Lat.

Hundreds of wind bells used to decorate the flower street.

The symbol of Dong Son bronze drum.

The giant flower gate, which will be recognized as a national record.

Many bamboo frames will be displayed with flowers.

An artisan is busy with his work.

Thousands of pieces of grass to cover the flower street.

Thousands of pieces of grass to cover the flower street.

Source: http://english.vietnamnet.vn

Sleepless night for football fans

ousands of people rushed to Hanoi and HCM City’s downtowns, with flags and cheers, after the winning match of the national squad last night.

Hoan Kiem Lake last night.

Hanoi: A forest of flags around Hoan Kiem Lake

At 10:00 pm, the streets around Hoan Kiem Lake were completely red with thousands of people holding flags and flowers, shouting “champion Vietnam.” Hundreds of motorbikes, carrying young people with flags, flowers, and banners, ran slowly through the major streets, to the cheers of thousands of people.

Many people lifted “Vietnam-Thailand: 2-0” boards, showing their hope that Vietnam would defeat Thailand for 2-0 in the final match of AFF Cup 2008.

On the bank of Hoan Kiem Lake, a ten-member group, called ATW of the “Art Football” forum, performed football techniques to the sound of popular football songs, like “I love football” and “Italian Summer.” Many foreign visitors shared their happiness with Vietnamese fans.

By 12:00 pm, traffic and mobile police patrolled major streets to ensure order and prevent motorbike races. “It is easy to understand why people flocked to the markets. However, we have to prevent any bad circumstances. I hope tonight everybody will celebrate the national squad’s victory in safety,” said Lieutenant colonel Vu Van Ngoan, Hanoi Police.

ATW group performed football techniques to the sound of popular football songs.

Around the Hoan Kiem Lake

HCM City: also sleepless

The Youth Cultural House and Turtle Lake were the destinations of football fans in HCM City. This area was also covered with flags, banners and flowers.

The Ben Thanh market area was a sea of people and motorbikes. They drove through major streets, like Le Loi, Nguyen Hue, Cach Mang Thang Ta, Dong Khoi and Tran Hung Dao, to cheer and celebrate the national team’s victory.

Many traffic police officers were present to maintain traffic order.

On Dong Khoi and Pham Ngu Lao roads, hundreds of foreign tourists were surprised about the special atmosphere.

VietNamNet’s correspondents captured the moment of joyfulness in Hanoi and HCM City.

Source: http://english.vietnamnet.vn