Past Meets the Present! Sistine Chapel Installs LED Lighting

A few years back I was lucky enough to visit the beautiful city of Rome and see some of the iconic places I’ve always dreamed of visiting such as the Colosseum, the Pantheon, and even the Trevi Fountain. Each attraction was stunning in its own way, but the one place that absolutely stopped me in my tracks was the Sistine Chapel at the Vatican. Walking into the large hall, which was covered in gorgeous frescoes, left me in absolute awe. I do, however, remember thinking I wished I was able to see the frescoes a bit clearer, for many of the original colors within the murals were obscured by shadow and poor quality lighting.

But it just so happens I was not the only person who felt this way. In fact, just this past year the Sistine Chapel installed LED lighting thanks to an EU research project called LED4ART. Before the LED installation, the Sistine Chapel used natural light, but that was quickly put to a halt when conservators realized that the UV light was damaging the artwork. Soon after, a standard lighting system was put in place, but this too was not sufficient enough because it was casting an unnatural tinge to the frescoes. Now with the new LED installation, the 16th century artwork of the Sistine Chapel can be rightfully appreciated. The installation includes 7,000 LED fixtures, and because each lamp can be assigned a different color, various sections of the ceiling could be assigned a specific color to highlight and enhance the overall viewing experience.

Aside from the obvious aesthetic appeal of using LED lighting, protecting and preserving the artwork was another major factor behind the new installation. The new fixtures will in no way damage the artwork and was even thoroughly tested in labs to see the effects of the installation over the next 50 years. The LED lighting is also expected to lessen the Vatican’s electricity bill by more than 80%, and this is a major plus, considering the Vatican is visited by over 6 million people a year.

Overall it’s great to see the past working with the present to create a better future. The new LED installations will not only be more aesthetically appealing to the millions of visitors, but it will also benefit the longevity and preservation of the priceless frescoes. Hopefully this trend of using LED lighting will continue to grow and prosper.

PHP: Defining The Present And Future Of Web-Based Development

While the beginning was seemingly humble, PHP development in the modern world has attained epic proportions. In fact, it has evolved to such an extent that it forms the backbone of nearly 70% websites that grace the online world. During its early evolution period, PHP lagged behind in a number of areas. However, with an ardent team of developers and the open source community in support, it has emerged as the preferred programming language for all web-based development procedures. In fact, an increasing number of PHP programmers and developers are increasingly adopting the use of what is regarded in the industry as the “Language of the Web.”

The present development industry looks upon PHP as a reliable, secure and robust development language that is capable of catering to the requirements of websites that are large as well as small with the list also including enterprise web requirements.

So what are the various features that make this language so popular among PHP developers when it comes to website and web-based application development? Let us take a look.

Use of data structures

The use of PHP arrays is extremely simple akin to the ordered hash tables. In order to create a data structure for a programming language, make it highly flexible and as simple as possible, while not compromising on its performance, PHP would be the ideal choice as a programming language.

It is specially designed for the Web

As has been pointed out earlier, nearly 70% of the online world and associated websites run on the PHP language. This extreme and rapid success of PHP is entirely down to the fact that this language was designed specially for the Internet so as to facilitate all related development processes. There is no need for any extra bootstrap functionality in order to make PHP functional on the web.

Sufficient amount of documentation

It has been observed on numerous occasions that when a new programming language is launched, it fails to carve out a niche for itself in the market. This is largely down to a lack of documentation that users can implement and, based on which, develop their applications. PHP is not a programming language that falls into this category as it has a great documentation to go alongside. The Internet is also full of health resources, tutorials and blogs that have been created by a community of PHP enthusiasts. This further adds to the popularity of this web programming language. Discussions on forums are a great resource for PHP developers from where they can get all the help they need with regards their development projects.

Use of standard libraries

This web programming language is loaded with libraries that are complete and consistent, and can also be effectively handled by the PHP programmers. It is helpful in performing low-level yet expensive operations while not involving as much of context switching as seen in some of the other programming languages.

Immense stability

Over the years, PHP has been worked upon time and time again. As a result, it is a highly stable language today powering most of the big brands and their sites around the Web. Facebook is one of the most popular web brands that runs on PHP, handling millions of queries, messages and registration capabilities. The programming language is undeniably stable while it undergoes rapid adaptation for building websites of varying shapes and sizes.

PHP, undoubtedly, is fast gaining ground in the online world. Its open source nature is something that the developers can take great advantage of for creating web solutions designed to meet the needs of small and large businesses as well as enterprises. While there are no security concerns about the programming language, it is down to the PHP developers to integrate security into the applications they develop.

It can safely be said that PHP is the future as far as web-based development services are concerned. Tailoring it so as to suit the business requirements is an excellent way to start out with the next web-based development project.

The Present and Future Trends of PHP Development

Are you pondering upon the ways to enhance the performance of your on-line business? PHP would be the correct answer for you. It is PHP developers only who can make an effective utilization of resources. This is an era of globalization and the whole web arena is infested with magnates dodging for a milestone ranking of individual companies. Hiring technical experts is very much essential for achieving targeted success in your e-life. Tying up with PHP development can make your business glimmer among your rivals engaging minimal cost structures and multiple benefits. This particular developmental procedure saves most of your million dollar time. Today’s vigorously competitive environment demands the assistance of high rank experts to cope with the market strategies and extract fruitful outcomes.

Unless a company is internationally recognized it is really impossible for it to thrive in such a challenging scenario. Updating daily web page, testing procedures, documentation as well as maintenance are the basic needs of a company and without the presence of a scripting language like PHP all these are really impossible. PHP developers employ the best tools, maintain a categorized framework, a well designed work process and pull out maximum outputs for you. A PHP web development company will set future goals for your business and will engage all the best methodologies to earn maximum benefits for you. PHP developers know all the nooks and corners to pull your business to an optimum level comprising custom web site development in a cost effective way to facilitate clients and ease out business dealings. When you hire a developer of this language he/she must firstly focus upon the targeted customers, market position and the requirements of your company to make your e-business run successfully. It is so user friendly that it can be easily embedded into HTML. In the preceding years there have been various vulnerable security conditions but it can be solved quite easily for optimum performance. This particular language has been consistently proving its excellence for a long time and now its time to accept it throughout the globe. Learning the tit bits of C, Java, C++ will make your task absolutely hassle free otherwise there’s nothing to worry. You can relish the benefits of PHP even through gathering knowledge about it. The versatile nature has made it so much endearing to the users. Its user friendly interface fetches the customers like honey bees. The staggering hours of web development are saved but the quality of the web site is never dispensed with.

Take up PHP development services and give a bright future to your online mission. Don’t take the quality of your site for granted and never be preoccupied with the notion that hiring merely any service with a considerable amount of money will get you your goals. Be smart and picky before plunging into any decision and if you are willing to embrace the PHP service providers you will not be at bay surely! Start off and re-design your present as well as your future.

4 Reasons Why You Should Be Present on Social Media in the Middle East

With the rise of social media in the Middle East, it has become an indispensable way to promote your business, products or services. Many businesses are taking advantage of social networks like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and others to attract new customers and connect with current ones. If you business still didn’t join the social media trend, then you are missing out on a lot and should consider getting started.

Why you should be present on social media?

To reach a wide market: The rise of social media is significantly improving each year in the MENA. In fact, in 2011, 9.5% of the region’s population was active on social networks. Today and after 3 years only, this percentage has increased to 18% which is around 71 million internet users, and it is expected to maintain an important increase in the coming years. This number must be enough reason for any business to promote itself on the different social networks such as Facebook which has around 66 million active users and Twitter with 4 million accounts in the MENA.

To advertise more effectively: Social networks like Facebook and YouTube are, in many ways, great platforms to advertise on. First of all, online advertising gives you the possibility to monitor results and budget spending to make changes whenever needed to improve the effectiveness of your ad results. As for traditional advertising, once the budget and the creative aspects are set, there is no turning back. Secondly, online advertising campaign is cost effective. Thousands of dollars must be spent on billboard advertising or on a 30-seconds TV commercial to reach random viewers. However, a hundred dollar spent on Facebook can reach thousands of targeted viewers. And this is by far the power of online ads. Compared to traditional media whereby you don’t have any control on the profile of the targeted group, online advertising allows advertisers reach the profile a target that would be interested in their messages.

To get closer to consumers: With the growth of businesses’ presence on social media, it has become the reference for customers in need of support. The customer service phone is ringing less in profit of a comment or direct message asking for assistance on Facebook or Twitter. In addition, social networks are turning into comment cards where customers give their feedback about your services. In both ways, taking these reviews into considerations will help you improve your offers and build a personal and professional relation with your fans by socializing with them.

To support your website: In this digital era, a social media strategy is necessary to support and promote a website. Keep in mind that the basic information about the business and its services are usually displayed on the website, while social networks are where all the fun is. Creating interesting campaigns and competitions with prizes, sharing exclusive news and the latest services are an effective way to give your business more exposure and attract more customers in a viral way.

Finally, a well implemented social media strategy generates more traffic to your website giving you a competitive advantage in the search engine ranking. However, it is not the only way to improve your positioning in SERP, but it can help along with a smart search engine optimization.