Three Years of Digital TV in Brazil *

On December 2, 2007, there occurred the first transmission in High Definition TV in São Paulo after a lot of controversy around which technology Brazil would adopt among the European, American and Japanese systems. Three years later, most of the Brazilian capital cities and other large cities have been using this signal, and year-by-year more cities will be using it as well.

What many people don’t know is this new technology arrived in Brazil more than a decade ago, when between 1997 and 1998, universities and private companies celebrated partnerships to study and develop digital TV technology. The government later created more partnerships to encourage research, and finally in 2003 the Brazilian System of Digital Terrestrial TV was created. In 2006, the Forum of the Brazilian Terrestrial Digital TV was founded, responsible for standardizing and harmonizing technologies.

Exactly what is wrong with the current analog system? This model has worked well for decades; however, the main problem is the quality of the resolution of the image. With the advent of computers, we have been conditioned to use monitors where the resolution is much higher than analog TVs, allowing many more pixels (the smallest element of a display device), and providing more quality and details of image. With digital TV not only is the picture resolution improved, but other features as well: the sound may be transmitted on up to six channels; and in the latest improvement, the viewer can interact with the channel by looking at the program menu, or more so, participating directly in the program being presented.

Basically, to have a digital and also a high definition image in your TV at home, you need the digital signal available in your city and a UHF antenna. Most of the newest TVs like plasma, LCD and LED have the signal converter (known as set-top-box) embedded, since most of them are Full HD or at least HD ready. For TVs that are neither HD nor Full HD ready, the signal converter is required, but these will not take advantage of enjoying the new features.

The lack of public interest in digital TV is due not just to the high prices of equipment like new TVs and converters or insufficient coverage. The nonexistence of significant news discourages people to switch to digital transmission. Two features that could promote digital TV nowadays are interactivity and the offering of more content. Today the efforts being made to have this technology take off are huge, and consequently the market is full of opportunities. According to the government’s calendar, the analog signal will be cut off in Brazil in 2016. Therefore, sooner or later, you will be watching your favorite soccer game with the smallest details visible, just like you are on the soccer field.


* Article published on Curitiba in English.

Is Your Information Safe? (end-user) *

As, last month, we talked about information security for companies, this month we will focus more on your personal information, and if you are giving it the attention it deserves. When we talk about personal data protection there are many aspects we supposed to be aware of; the first of which is the password, how complex it should be and also how we remember it. However, to keep the information safe, we also need a combination of upto-date antivirus and personal firewall software, and knowledge against social engineering.

Communities related to information security have observed in the last years that attacks have migrated to end users of the Internet in both residential and corporate environments. This is attributed to several factors, such as more and more userswith broadband access at home  who tend to stay connected, and therefore exposed to attacks, longer. However, these users have not increased the level of their security concerns; depending largely on anti-virus software as their only means of protection. Companies, meanwhile, have directed increased security concern mainly towards their servers, thus making system attacks more difficult. In this scenario, attacks on the end user have become easierand more effective.

Research conducted by IBM revealed that more than 50% of security breaches are related to Internet applications, and that the tendency is to explore and attack the weakest link in the chain; the user, more specifically through the exploitation of vulnerabilities in browsers. Users of online games and Internet banking are the preferred targets, although e-mail is also much exploited as a way to get into the computer. Brazil is the third largest emitter of spam, sending 5.5% of this kind of e-mail, topped only by India, with 7.7%, and the United States, which sends 15.2%.

There are several ways to protect yourself against all misuse. However, the minimum effort you should make to reduce the immediate risk is to create strong passwords mixed with special characters and not share them with anyone, nor write them down. You should also install special software for protection such as antivirus and personal firewall and configure them to work together. Never open suspicious e-mails of doubtful subject, even if you know the sender, and always keep all software up to date. For further information, visit cartilha.cert.br.


* Article published on Curitiba in English.

Is Your Information Safe? (companies) *

The scary subject of information theft or “cybercrime” has been growing recently, nearly as much as Information Technology itself is growing,  articularly in the emerging markets of developing countries like Brazil, where economies continue to register strong performances. With this dynamism, companies and individuals need to be more prepared for cybercrime because larger economies attract criminals, people who make some money illegally through information theft. Cybercriminals may even harm corporations with the publication of strategic data.

Because of the complexity of this subject, I will be addressing each aspect separately. First, we will look at information security for companies, and in next month’s article, we will consider the security of personal information.

In recent years, information technology and communication have evolved rapidly, causing organizations to use greater efficiency and speed in decision making. In this context, the importance of using security mechanisms for storage of information is vital to the survival and competitiveness of all organizations. In the past, the issue of information security was much simpler because the files containing the information were printed on numerous papers and folders and therefore could be locked up physically. But with the arrival of computers, this issue of information security became more complex because today most computers connect to the Internet, therefore opening the door to security vulnerability. Additionally, data in digital format are portable, and this fact makes these information assets attractive to thieves. And there’s more - many unsafe conditions can affect information systems such as fire, floods, electrical problems, dust, fraud, misuse of systems, social engineering, war, kidnapping, etc.

Unfortunately, what we are seeing today is that many companies don’t give due weight to the issue of information security. To deploy effective information security within an organization, issues such as risk analysis, definition of security policy, and a contingency plan must be addressed. However, often there is no awareness of the security issuefrom senior management. Or, if they are aware of the risks, they believe the costs of adequately protecting their information are too high. Therefore, they believe the best solution is to reduce as much as possible any risk to data while maintaining integrity and availability within the information systems.

One of the most important and fragile areas with information security is people because everything is interconnected, from the contingency plan to the security policy, which is linked to user awareness, and so on. Technical solutions don’t address all security, so it is necessary that concepts relevant to security are understood and followed by everyone in the organization, irrespective of hierarchical levels. We will talk more about the security of your personal information next month.


* Article published on Curitiba in English.

The Smaller Computer: Smartphones *

Not long ago, we were used to navigating on the Internet or checking e-mails only through computers, but today the technology is changing. The engine of these changes is a gadget called a Smartphone, which is revolutionizing the world of mobile phones. Nowadays becoming more and more popular, these devices have the same processing capacity that computers had a few years ago. Simultaneously, they are becoming smaller, thinner, faster and cheaper, and it won’t be long before they replace many functions we currently perform with computers. Smartphones will quickly win over many cell phone users by providing more services and will completely alter the concept of cell phones, making them much more than a simple phone with voice and text messaging.

The fact is Smartphones have already become a reality for many business executives because fastpaced companies seek not just a handset for reading e-mail, but additional capabilities like integrating databases, CRM and ERP. In this way, corporations are increasing productivity and providing more flexibility in decision making. Smartphones are successful not only within corporate environments, but they are also gaining more users who are fascinated by the idea of being online 24 hours a day. Millions of Smartphone users enjoy the luxury of continually checking the weather forecast or the stock market, reading news, updating social networks, listening to songs, or even watching a movie in high definition. All of these activities are being encouraged by pricing systems that are not as costly as they once were.

In 2009, more than two million Smartphones were sold in Brazil, according to the consulting company IDC, and the number is predicted to double in 2010. Remember, it wasn’t long ago that people were happy to have cell phones with a digital camera embedded, but now people want to be more connected to the Internet and have more information available all the time and anywhere. With this fertile market, technology giants like Google, Microsoft, Apple and Nokia are fighting a close race to offer the best hardware, operating system, and application development and services. Many technology experts predict the Smartphone is only the beginning of mobile computing. The future may be a screen larger or smaller, in your pocket or in the refrigerator - the choice will be yours. If you don’t have one today, don’t worry, it’s just a matter of time.


* Article published on Curitiba in English.

The Broadband Internet Access *

The Internet is one of the technologies that most people cling after the cell phones. However, less than 50% of the population in Brazil can afford the privilege to have high speed Internet at home, or even to have Internet access, mainly because of the lack of investments in infrastructure and because of the high taxes. Even so, year after year the number of people having the broadband Internet access is increasing, not as fast as other countries, but the government already has signaled its concern about having a plan of investment for the next years.

The reason of the investment is because Brazil has one of the highest prices of broadband Internet in the world, creating a huge barrier for the most disadvantaged people to access the Internet. Nevertheless, over 60% of the population has contracted less than 1 Mbps (Megabit per second) speed, which makes the service one of the lowest Internet speeds comparing to other countries where the average speed reaches 10 Mbps to 60 Mbps, like Japan. Recently, the USA and Australia have announced an investment plan to have an average speed of 100 Mbps access.

Due to the difficulty in providing broadband service in all Brazilian cities, with low cost, especially for low-income families, the government is considering an investment plan called National Broadband Plan to be announced soon, providing the use of existing fiber networks with the state’s participation in the implementation of policies that achieve the goal of mass broadband, either through a state-owned operator, or through subsidies to private enterprises. The government also argues about the need or not of government intervention to democratize Internet access in Brazil. As one of the possibilities of the plan is the reactivation of Telebrás, state agency established in 1972 responsible for standardizing and modernizing the telephone services in the country.

A World Bank study analyzed the influence of expansion of the Internet in 120 countries and concluded that each 10% of improvement in broadband services automatically generated a 1.3% increase in economic growth of a nation. From this study, we can note such importance of the National Broadband Plan for the country and how much Brazil still has to expand in the next years.


* Article published on Curitiba in English.

The Lack of Qualified IT Workforce *

With the economy growing despite the crisis two years ago, the demand for qualified IT professionals is getting higher and higher and the companies across the world are suffering with the lack of qualified workforce in the market. One of the reasons is the “boom“ of the economy that is coming from other sectors, in special emergent countries mainly from industries and production with advanced technology embedded requiring qualified knowledge. And secondly, with the advent of the Internet, the access to information is getting much easier and the trend is to have much more information published every day using the Internet as an efficient channel to move the business, forcing the market to have qualified professionals in many areas of IT such as system analyst, developers, network analyst, security, database administrators and support.

According to the research conducted by the Institute of Engineering and Technology of United Kingdom has showed that almost 50% of the companies in the research hired professionals last years from other countries as a way to circumvent the lack of local professionals. More than this, the lack of qualified workforce gets worse when required a second language to have business with other countries. The English language became the international language and about 80% of the whole information in IT is in English, so that makes it one more filter to classify candidates.

As a way to supply this problem, many companies are looking for talents on universities, hiring young graduates and investing on training. Many companies share the idea that is more important to have talents instead of technical skills, and the trainings can be focused on areas the company needs. But for some specialists, they say that something needs to be done to inspire more people to IT area, since the perspectives for the next years are to keep growing and requiring more and more qualified people.

In Brazil, big international IT companies are already investing on outsourcing projects mainly because many companies overseas have high demand for IT solutions with lower costs, as well as the issue of not having enough workforce available. Moreover, in the last years Brazil became well known around the world because of the creativity of our computer programmers, which is very important to develop high quality solutions for the customers. For the next years, the prospects are promising to have big companies landing here. So are you ready to catch these opportunities?


* Article published on Curitiba in English.

Electronic Invoice *

The current system of issuing tax documents in Brazil is a traditional system, maintained by hybrid systems to issue invoices by manual, which involves the booklet of tax documents; mechanized systems, which still relies on the traditional typewriter; and Information Systems that fill forms electronically and integration with other systems of the company.

A new project was created in 2005 by the Brazilian government called “NF-e” that means Electronic invoice, in order to improve fiscal controls, combat tax evasion and therefore provide increased tax collection. After the advent of digital signatures certification of companies and people, the idea of deploying a national model for electronic tax document to replace the traditional systematic issuing paper took shape. The legal validity of digital signatures guaranteed by the sender to send the tax document, promote the integration of surveillance systems in the three spheres of government, federal, state and municipal governments, since it provides for the standardization and sharing of information, tax accounting and integrating all the proceeding on invoices. The taxpayer also receives benefits, as it will reduce costs with the issue and storage of paper documents, simplifying and standardizing the requirements and information sent to the various states.

In 2007, the government introduced the mandatory use of NF-e to companies for fuel and cigarettes sector. Each year the government began requiring the use of NF-e to other sectors with industrial activity, wholesale or distribution, outputs of goods destined for other states and supplying goods to the government. For the coming years, the government will require to issue electronic invoices including businesses of all sizes and sectors.

The process is quick, since the issuing company generates an electronic file via an IT system that contains the data and digitally signed. The electronic file is transmitted over the Internet to the Department of Finance (SEFA), which validates and authorizes the issuance of NF-e. The SEFA sends a code for releasing the NF-e and the taxpayer can release the transport of goods or product, through the issuance of a tax document issued on plain paper in a single track, which will contain the data and key access for consultation of NF-e on the Internet.

The main difficulty in implementing the NF-e is the dissemination of culture to break traditional paradigms. The documentary evidence is the paper, which will be replaced by electronic data and safely stored in a data center with legal validity, signed with the Digital Certificate. Another important point is the spread of Internet as an obstacle to the consolidation of F-e in certain regions of the country.

The digital age brought up the advent of electronic invoice and businesses will migrate to the electronic processing and online data, leading to no longer use the Jurassic booklet of invoices and copies. It will also help to reduce the bureaucracy and save time to meet the requirements of tax authorities in their thousands of rules and regulations. When completed, it will be a singular success for all governments, because tax authorities will have greater control in collection, combating tax evasion and a significant growth in the volume of taxes collected, and will be a very important assumption that the load taxes need to be reduced. For more information, visit the portal www.nfe.fazenda.gov.br and www.fazenda.pr.gov.br.


* Article published on Curitiba in English.

Cloud Computing *

The denomination of Cloud Computing is becoming more and more common, but started to be more popular around 2008. Basically, the idea of Cloud Computing is to be a service to use anywhere, independent of platform, through the Internet with the same ease of having them installed on our own computers.

We are used to have applications installed on our computers, as well as store files and data. In the corporate environments is somewhat different, since it is easier to find applications available on servers that can be accessed from any terminal using the network. The main feature of this model is to permit the use of those resources in an “offline” mode, because they are used within the local network. But on the other hand, it’s restricted to the local network. Moreover, as a limitation, it may require a license of certain software for each computer.

The constantly changing of the computer technology and telecommunications is making the access to the Internet wider and increasingly fast, and this scenario is providing the perfect situation for the popularization of Cloud Computing. Thus, this concept is becoming known around the world including Brazil.

With the Cloud Computing, many applications as well as related files don’t need to be installed or stored on the user’s computer. They will be available on the “cloud”, i.e., on the Internet. The supplier will be in charge to perform all activities related to the application, like development, maintenance, update, backup, etc., and the user just need to have Internet access and know how to use the application.

A classical example of this model is the webmail, where the users can access from anywhere. Another reality of this practice is Google Docs, a service where users can edit text, create spreadsheets, and prepare slide presentations, store files and others, all online without the need of having programs installed on their computers. What the user needs to do is open an Internet browser, access the service and start working, no matter which operating system or computer is being used.

There are many other advantages of Cloud Computing: data sharing and collaborative work (which becomes easier, since all users access applications and data stored in the same place - the cloud); reduction of IT costs, once that is paid only what is used; for critical applications, the supplier can offer high availability as a kind of service, so the users don’t need to know about the infra-structure details, just hire the service. In addition, many applications are already made considering this concept.

However, some other aspects need to be taken in account, like the idea of leaving certain information stored on computers of others (for instance, service providers) or some issues such as the dependency problem of Internet access: what to do when the connection is dropped?

Anyway, the concepts of Cloud Computing are very new, and many experts disagree about the real concepts. It seems that they disagree that the concepts are very new. But many companies are working in various solutions for this new trend. In the near future, this technology will change the way we use computer.


* Article published on Curitiba in English.

Visit Brazil on YouTube *

The Brazilian Tourist Board (Embratur) and YouTube have created a brand new channel on YouTube to promote tourism in Brazil. The channel features over 85 Brazilian tourist videos geotagged with Google Maps. The channel “Visit Brazil” hosted on YouTube is the first to integrate two technologies from Google: Maps and YouTube.

The channel, exclusive in the world, includes videos of Brazilian tourist destinations combined with simultaneous navigation on Google Maps. The videos have been placed in a number of categories, including Sun and Beach, Culture, Ecotourism, Sport and Business and Events. It debuts with 88 videos. In addition, there are testimonials from celebrities and tourists who have visited the country, with subtitles in 68 languages. In the first half of 2010, the channel will allow the addition of videos and statements sent by Internet users. A moderating team will determine which of them will be included.

With this innovative approach from Google, promoting Brazilian tourism comes out ahead. The channel provides a foreigner who is considering a trip to Brazil a chance to investigate various Brazilian destinations and no doubt decide to travel to Brazil from what he sees. According to research made by Embratur, of the total number of tourists who came to Brazil in 2008, 27.6% used the Internet as their main source of information for their trip.

Embratur is betting that with the coming of the 2014 World Cup and 2016 Olympics adding to the growing interest in the country, digital media will occupy a strategic role in disseminating information to tourists who visit Brazil before, during and after these sporting events. Visit the website www.youtube.com/visitbrasil and check out what Brazil wants to show to the world.


* Article published on Curitiba in English.