Quote:
THIS TOOK TWO PAGES OF THE TUESDAY USA TODAY - IT IS FOR REAL Subject: PLEEEEEEASE READ!!!! it was on GOOD MORNING AMERICA !!!! It was on the news! Kathy South Alcoa - EHS Maintenance Coordinator Phone: 765/771 - 3547 Pager : 765/420 - 6575 To all of my friends, I do not usually forward messages, But this is from my good friend Pearlas Sandborn and she really is an attorney. If she says that this will work - It will work. After all, What have you got to lose? SORRY EVERYBODY.. JUST HAD TO TAKE THE CHANCE!!! I'm an attorney, And I know the law. This thing is for real. Rest assured AOL and Intel will follow through with their promises for fear of facing a multimillion-dollar class action suit similar to the one filed by PepsiCo against General Electric not too long ago. Dear Friends; Please do not take this for a junk letter. Bill Gates sharing his fortune. If you ignore this, You will repent later. Microsoft and AOL are now the largest Internet companies and in an effort to make sure that Internet Explorer remains the most widely used program, Microsoft and AOL are running an e-mail beta test. When you forward this e-mail to friends, Microsoft can and will track it ( If you are a Microsoft Windows user) For a two weeks time period. For every person that you forward this e-mail to, Microsoft will pay you $245.00 For every person that you sent it to that forwards it on, Microsoft will pay you $243.00 and for every third person that receives it, You will be paid $241.00. Within two weeks, Microsoft will contact you for your address and then send you a check. Regards. Charles S Bailey General Manager Field Operations1-800-842-2332 Ext. 1085 or 904-1085 or RNX292-1085 Charles_Bailey@csx.com Charles_bailey@csx.com I thought this was a scam myself, But two weeks after receiving this e-mail and forwarding it on. Microsoft contacted me for my address and withindays, I receive a check for $24,800.00. You need to respond before the beta testing is over. If anyone can affoard this, Bill gates is the man. It's all marketing expense to him. Please forward this to as many people as possible. You are bound to get at least $10,000.00. We're not going to help them out with their e-mail beta test without getting a little something for our time. My brother's girlfriend got in on this a few months ago. When i went to visit him for the Baylor/UT game. She showed me her check. It was for the sum of $4,324.44 and was stamped "Paid in full" Like i said before, I know the law, and this is for real. Intel and AOL are now discussing a merger which would make them the largest Internet company and in an effort make sure that AOL remains the most widely used program, Intel and AOL are running an e-mail beta test. When you forward this e-mail to friends, Intel can and will track it (if you are a Microsoft Windows user) for a two week time period. First of all, read the mail carefully, what does it say? Is the body of it something that is even plausible? Second, have you heard it from anywhere else? Read your local paper, listen to your radio or watch your newscast. In the case of the merger, you can bet that you would have heard about long before you got the email on it. Lastly, since you heard about this on a computer, why not use a computer to verify the validity of your suspicious mail?A great site to use is Snopes. And when all else fails, you can always google it.By applying these techniques along with a little common sense, you will no longer be a victim of one of these “chain emails.” You will not be cursed by breaking any of these chains. You will now be able to delete these usless items from your inbox and enjoy your email all the more.
Read more!
*Year 2038..Again the replica of Y2K*
Note: This is just for FYI only, Please Don't try
this. This is true and if you do this then your
network based applications will not work.
The Year 2038 Problem
Triaging steps...
1. login to yahoo messenger
2. send instant message to anyone - fine its
working...
3. now, change your system date to
4. Confirm weather your date is changed
5. again send instant message to anyone...
Your YM crashes....
* * * YES ALL NETWORK BASED APPLICATION WILL NOT WORK
NOW * * *
*Why.....
What is it?*
Starting at GMT 03:
It is expected to see lots of systems around the world
breaking magnificently: satellites falling out of
orbit, massive power outages (like the 2003 North
American black out), hospital life support system
failures, phone system interruptions, banking errors,
etc. One second after this critical second, many of
these systems will have wildly inaccurate date
settings, producing all kinds of unpredictable
consequences. In short, many of the dire predictions
for the year 2000 are much more likely to actually
occur in the year 2038! Consider the year 2000 just a
dry run. In case you think we can sit on this issue
for another 30 years before addressing it, consider
that reports of temporal echoes of the 2038 problem
are already starting to appear in future date
calculations for mortgages and vital statistics!
In the first month of the year 2038 C.E. many
computers will encounter a date-related bug in their
operating systems and/or in the applications they run.
This can result in incorrect and wildly inaccurate
dates being reported by the operating system and/or
applications. The effect of this bug is hard to
predict, because many applications are not prepared
for the resulting "skip" in reported time anywhere
from 1901 to a "broken record" repeat of the reported
time at the second the bug occurs. Also, may make
some small adjustment to the actual time the bug
expresses itself. This bug to cause serious problems
on many platforms, especially Unix and Unix-like
platforms, because these systems will "run out of
time".
What causes it?
Time_t is a data type used by C and C++ programs to
represent dates and times internally. (Windows
programmers out there might also recognize it as the
basis for the CTime and CTimeSpan classes in MFC.)
time_t is actually just an integer, a whole number,
that counts the number of seconds since January 1,
1970 at 12:00 AM Greenwich Mean Time. A time_t value
of 0 would be
(one second after midnig ht)
some example times and their exact time_t
representations:
Date & time time_t representation
By the year 2038, the time_t representation for the
current time will be over 2 140 000 000. And that's
the problem. A modern 32-bit computer stores a "signed
integer" data type, such as time_t, in 32 bits. The
first of these bits is used for the positive/negative
sign of the integer, while the remaining 31 bits are
used to store the number itself.
The highest number these 31 data bits can store works
out to exactly 2 147 483 647. A time_t value of this
exact number, 2 147 483 647, represents Janu ary 19,
2038, at 7 seconds past
So, at
time_t used in a 32-bit C or C++ program will reach
its upper limit.
One second later, on
GMT, disaster strikes. When a signed integer reaches
its maximum value and then gets incremented, it wraps
around to its lowest possible negative value. This
means a 32-bit signed integer, such as a time_t, set
to its maximum value of 2 147 483 647 and then
incremented by 1, will become -2 147 483 648. Note
that "-" sign at the beginning of this large number. A
time_t value of -2 147 483 648 would represent
So, if all goes normally,
suddenly become
across the globe, and every date calculation based on
this figure will go haywire. And it gets worse. Most
of the support functions that use t he time_t data type
cannot handle negative time_t values at all. They
simply fail and return an error code.
Read more!
For Tips on Internet Explorer , Firefox , MS Word , Windows , Linux
1 Comments Published by prethi .
***WINDOWS
DMA Mode on IDE Devices
Changing the CD – ROM setting to DMA will reduce the number of CPU
cycles the CD – ROM consumes. Go to Device Manager > IDE ATA / ATAPI
Controllers > Primary IDE Channel. Set the Device I setting to "DMA if
available". Repeat for Secondary Channel if you have device attached.
Turn Off System Restore
XP keeps a backup of system files in the System Volume Information
folder. This eats up valuable space on your hard, drive. If you don't
want Windows to back them up; Go to Control Panel > System > System
Restore. Check " Turn of System Restore". Delete the System Volume
Information Folder.
Control Your Mouse Using Your Keyboard
You can control your mouse pointer using the numeric keypad. Press Alt
+ left Shift + Num Lock. Click the Setting button in the Dialog Box
the appears. Check "Use MouseKeys". Click Settings again and change
them as desired. With Mousekeys on, pressing 5 simulates a left click.
Windows Explorer shortcuts
Alt+ Enter View and objects properties.
Shift + Delete Deletes and object immediately (Bypasses
the Recycle Bin)
F6 Switches between left and right
panes on a window.
Ctrl + Esc Displays the Start Menu
Windows Key Shortcuts
Ctrl + WIN + F Display Find: Computer
WIN + Break Display the System Properties dialog box
WIN + Tab Cycle through buttons on the taskbar
WIN + F Display Find: All Files
Speed Up the Start Menu
Go to Start > Run > Regedit. Navigate to the following key.
HKEY_CURRENT_USER \ Control Panel \ Desktop. Scroll down in the right
panel and double-click on 'mensuhowdelay'. In the Value Data box,
change the defoult value for the menu speed from 400 to a lesser
number.
Add or Romove Destinations in the Send to menu
The Send To menu appears when you right-click on an object. You modify
this menu by modifying the Send To folder. Generally this folder is
found in "C:\Documents and Settings\
Add / remove shortcuts here to add / remove destinations in the menu.
Disable list of startup programs
To disable the list of startup programs,go to User configuration >
Administrative Templates > System > Logon and enable "Do not process
the run once list". This prevents programs from starting up
automatically, thus giving you a faster boot up time.
Clean Your Prefetch to Improve Performance
Prefetch is a new technique in XP. However, after using XP for some
time, the prefetch directory can get full of junk and obsolete links
in the Prefetch catalog, which can slow down your computer noticeably.
Open (system drive): / windows / prefetch, delete those junk and
obsolete files, reboot.
Disable MSN Messenger form starting automatically
Go to Start > Run > gpedit.msc. Navigate to User configuration >
Administrative Templates > Windows Components > Windows Messenger.
Click on 'Do not automatically start windows messenger initially' and
enable this rule. This will shorten your boot up time, and also save
memory.
Remove the shortcut arrow from desktop icons
Go to Start > Run > Regedit. Navigate to HKEY_CLASSES_ROOT \ Inkfile.
Delete the Is Shortcut registry value. You may have to restart Windows
XP
TOP LINUX MS OFFICE FIREFOX INTERNET
EXPLORER
***Internet Explorer
Internet Explorer Shortcuts
Shift + CLICK Open link in new window
Ctrl + TAB Move forward between frames
F6 Change Address bar and page focus
Alt + Home Go to your Home page
More Internet Explorer Shortcuts
CTRL + F Find on this page
CTRL + D Add the current page to your Favorites
CTRL + W Close current browser window
CTRL + N Open a new window
Customise Internet Explorer Interface
Go the Start > Run > gpedit.msc. Navigate to User configuration >
Internet Explorer Maintenance > Browser User Interface. Add the name
you want to see on the browser. You can add a customized animated logo
and change the background of the toolbar by going to 'Browser toolbar
costomisation.
Load Internet Explorer Fast
Edit your link to Start IE to have –nohome after it. "< System
Drive>: \ Program Files\Internet Explore\IEXPLORE.EXE" –nohome. This
will load IE very fast because it dosent't a web page while it is
loading. To go to your homepage after it has loaded, just click on the
home button. (Or hit Alt + Home)
TOP WINDOWS MS OFFICE FIREFOX LINUX
***Firefox
Fire Fox Shortcuts
New Tab Ctrl + T
Next Tab Ctrl + Tab or Ctrl + Page
Down
Previous Tab Ctrl + Shift + Tab or Ctrl +
Page Up
Open Address in New Tab Alt + Enter
Suffixing extensions in Firefox
IE automatically suffixes. Com to an address if you press Ctrl + Enter.
Firefox expands this feature to include. Net and. Org extensions as
well.
For complete. net address Shift + Enter
For complete. org address Ctrl + Shift + Enter
TOP WINDOWS MS OFFICE LINUX INTERNET
EXPLORER
***Linux
Cut and Paste
You can highlight any text anywhere using the mouse and instantly
pastely paste it by pressing mouse button 3 ( or both buttons on two
button nice).
Applications also support selecting text and pressing Ctrl + C to copy
it or Ctrl + X to cut it to the clipboard. Press Ctrl + V or Shift –
Insert to Paste.
Some more Cut and Paste
When using the full screen window manager screen you can enter "scroll
back mode" with Ctrl + A + Exc. You can move the cursor with the arrow
and mark text by pressing the Space Bar at the beginning and end of
the text you want. The text you selected can now be paseted with Ctrl
+ A
TOP WINDOWS MS OFFICE FIREFOX INTERNET
EXPLORER
***Microsoft Office
Cut and Paste
To quickly select and entire sentence in Word, hold down Ctrl and
left-click anywhere in the sentence, or just triple-click anywhere to
do the same. Double-clicking just selects a single word.
Adding Footnotes
If you use Footnotes a lot in Microsoft Word, you don't need to reach
to your mouse and click Insert / Footnote each time you want to add
one. Just hold down the Alt and the Ctrl keys and press F.
Selecting Cells in Word Tables
. To select a column, hold down the Alt key and click in
the column you want to select
. To select a row, click in the fist cell of the row you
want to select and them press Alt. + Shift + End.
Add Accents to Character
Go to Start>All Programs>Accessories>System Tools>Character Map.
Select thecharacter and click Select. Copy it into your document. In
Microsoft Word, dry holding down Ctrl key and hit '(single quote) key.
Type the letter to be accented. E.g. a for a`, d for o`, e for e`, I
for I`, u for u`, y for y`.
TOP WINDOWS LINUX FIREFOX INTERNET EXPLORER
Read more!
An Indian discovered that nobody can't create a folder anywhere named as"con" This is something pretty cool...and unbelievable... At Microsoft thewhole Team, including Bill Gates, couldn't answer why this happened! Does any one knows y.......................There are also afew other similar issues which u may come across a fewand the reason are as followsWe cannot also create a folder with the following names Com1Com2Lpt1Lpt2Lpt3Lpt4 There are some more like thatTry to rename or create a folder using any of the following names... AuxNulCon Reason: con = console =Linux equivalent of (/dev/tty) nul = Null file = Linux equivalent of (/dev/null) aux = printer / auxillary device. From old DOS days these are all special filenames. For Example if you say "type filename > con" the file will be printed on console "type filename > null" nothing will happen (like /dev/null inLinux) - an infinite sink "type filename > aux" File will go to printer. you can even write code in "C" like open("aux",2) and write tothe printer just like that ! In DOS, you use a command copycon, this is the same "con" we aretalking about. So Windows doesn't allow you to create folders or files with these namesso that there is no confusion between that file and this convention. You need not worry. This system is followed only for upwardcompatability to support C codes already written for DOS. Soon thisproblem will vanish. P.S: Linux was smart enough to create a separate /dev/ directory whereyou put all your special files and a mkdev program to create devicefiles ;-)) Read more!
2. Now start the Task Manager Processor tab and sort the list in descending order on Memory Usage.
You will notice that Winword.exe will be somewhere at the top, using multiple MBs of memory.
3. Now switch to Word and simply minimize it. (Do not use the Minimize All option of the task bar).
4. Now go back to the Task Manager and see where Winword.exe is listed. Most probably you will not
find it at the top. You will typically have to scroll to the bottom of the list to find Word.
Now check out the amount of RAM it is using. Surprised? The memory utilization has reduced by a huge amount.
5. So where is the tip of the year? Simple-minimize each application that u are currently not working on by
clicking on the Minimize button & u can increase the amount of available RAM by a substantial margin.
Depending upon the number and type of applications you use together, the difference can be as much as
50 percent of extra RAM and all this is free of cost!There is nothing unusual happening.
In any multitasking system, minimizing an application means that it won't be utilized by the user right now.
Therefore, the OS automatically makes the application use virtual memory & keeps bare minimum amounts of the code in physical RAM.
Read more!
This C program won the first prize in International obfuscated C code contest (IOCCC) held recently. can u guess the output of this prog?
4 Comments Published by prethi .
main(int t,char _,char *a)
{
return!0
}
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
output:
On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me
a partridge in a pear tree.
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me
two turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.
On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me
three french hens, two turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
five gold rings;
four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.
On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
six geese a-laying, five gold rings;
four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.
On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me
seven swans a-swimming,
six geese a-laying, five gold rings;
four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.
On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming,
six geese a-laying, five gold rings;
four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.
On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
nine ladies dancing, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming,
six geese a-laying, five gold rings;
four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.
On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
ten lords a-leaping,
nine ladies dancing, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming,
six geese a-laying, five gold rings;
four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.
On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me
eleven pipers piping, ten lords a-leaping,
nine ladies dancing, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming,
six geese a-laying, five gold rings;
four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me
twelve drummers drumming, eleven pipers piping, ten lords a-leaping,
nine ladies dancing, eight maids a-milking, seven swans a-swimming,
six geese a-laying, five gold rings;
four calling birds, three french hens, two turtle doves
and a partridge in a pear tree.
Press any key to continue
It uses recursion with pointers. see if u cud trace the flow.
Read more!
Fujitsu PDS6101 60-inch Plasma Flat Screen TV: Leading the Way in the 60-inch Segment
1 Comments Published by prethi .
Claiming to be the ultimate can be a bit presumptuous. But when you are known to be an innovator it is hard not to say that you are the ultimate. Coming out with the first color 42-inch plasma TV in 1996 and producing the first high-definition plasma display in 1999 has made Fujitsu a permanent fixture in the top spots of the plasma TV hierarchy. When it comes to plasma TV, the Fujitsu plasma TV is leading the way, especially in the 60-inch segment.
The Fujitsu PDS6101 60-inch plasma flat screen TV is one of the many Fujitsu plasma flat televisions that has led the way for other plasma TV manufacturers. It defines what many people are looking for in a plasma TV, picture quality and striking good looks.
This 60-inch Plasmavision SlimScreen wonder has a contrast ratio of 700:1 allowing for fine definitions between dark and light and has a brightness of 600 cd/m2 which makes it great for different indoor and outdoor applications even at extreme brightness.
Incorporating various features, the Fujitsu PDS6101 60-inch plasma flat screen TV utilizes Fujitsu's AVM or Advanced Video Movement digital video processor that gets rid of flicker and motion artifacts, reproduces natural movements and improves vertical resolution. A processor to achieve optimum output also enhances DVD and HDTV signals.
The Fujitsu PDS6101 60-inch plasma flat screen TV has comprehensive convergence to allow compatibility for various video sources. Combining quality and beauty, this is a plasma TV that has a proud heritage which you can now be a part of.
| Other quality Fuji plasma televisions |
Read more!
Mention video surveillance and most people think of video cameras mounted in the corners of train stations and banks or private detectives video taping an erring spouse for a messy divorce case. The truth is that the history of video surveillance is much more complex and goes back much farther than most people realize.
If you consider video in the simplest of terms, video surveillance began with simple closed circuit television monitoring. As early as 1965, there were press reports in the United States suggesting police use of surveillance cameras in public places. In 1969, police cameras were installed in the New York City Municipal Building near City Hall. The practice soon spread to other cities, with closed circuit television (CCTV) systems watched by officers at all times.
Analog beginnings spur video surveillance
When video cassette recorders hit the market, video surveillance really hit its stride. Analog technology using taped video cassette recordings meant surveillance could be preserved on tape as evidence. The seventies saw an explosion around the world in the use of video surveillance in everything from law enforcement to traffic control and divorce proceedings.
England installed video surveillance systems in four major Underground Train Stations in 1975 and began monitoring traffic flow on major highway arteries about the same time. In the United States, the use of video surveillance wasn’t quite as prevalent until the 1980’s for public areas, but store owners and banks quickly understood the value of it.
Businesses that were prone to theft, including banks, mini-marts and gas stations, began mounting video surveillance systems as a deterrent and in hopes of apprehending thieves, particularly in high crime areas.
The insurance industry also found video surveillance compelling – worker’s compensation fraud, bogus accident claims and a variety of other cases began to turn in the industry’s favor when they could provide tapes of supposedly disabled workers doing the limbo at a family reunion.
For the private citizen, analog technology was primarily used in the 1970’s and 1980’s for capturing the worst side of human nature – cheating spouses and poor parenting. Private detectives were able to provide more graphic and compelling evidence of affairs and parental stupidity with film than with still shots, and video tapes became frequent evidence in family court.
The drawback in many cases was that after a while, owners and employees would become complacent and not change the tapes daily or the tapes would wear out after months of being re-used. There was also the problem of recording at night or in low light. While the concept was good, the technology hadn’t yet peaked. The next step was the Charged Coupled Device camera (CCD), which used microchip computer technology. These new cameras broadened the practical applications of video surveillance by allowing low light and night recording possible.
In the 1990’s another advancement in the history of video surveillance made great strides in practicality – Digital Multiplexing. When digital multiplexer units became affordable it revolutionized the surveillance industry by enabling recording on several cameras at once (more than a dozen at time in most cases). Digital multiplex also added features like time-lapse and motion-only recording, which saved a great deal of wasted videotape.
By the mid-1990’s, ATM’s across the United States and in most parts of the world had video cameras installed to record all transactions. After the first attack on the World Trade Center in February of 1993, the New York Police Department, FBI and CIA all install surveillance cameras throughout the area. Soon many countries are also using either CCTV or video taped surveillance to cover major sporting events that could be potential hot spots, including the World Cup Soccer games at Giants Stadium in 1994.
Digital makes video surveillance faster, clearer, more efficient
Digital video surveillance made complete sense as the price of digital recording dropped with the computer revolution. Rather than changing tapes daily, the user could reliably record a month’s worth of surveillance on hard drive because of compression capability and low cost.
The images recorded digitally were so much clearer than the often grainy images recorded with analog that recognition was immediately improved for police, private investigators and others utilizing video surveillance for identification purposes. With digital technology you could also manipulate the images to improve clarity even further by adding light, enhancing the image, zooming in on frames, etc.
The second wave of increased video surveillance corresponded with the emergence of digital in the United States. From 1997 on, police departments across the country installed more and more video surveillance cameras in public buildings, housing projects and areas like New York’s Washington Square Park. The NYPD also began using mobile surveillance vans at political rallies and other large gatherings (including festivals and parades) under the auspices of the Technical Assistance Response Unit (TARU).
In-home use soars with advent of nanny cams
As more women went back to full-time careers in the 90’s, digital video surveillance manufacturers found a niche market that hadn’t previously been tapped – monitoring what was going on at home when parents were gone. The nanny cam was a huge success, providing a way for parents to observe what nannies and housekeepers were really doing while at home with the kids.
The popularity of these cameras pushed the industry to develop ever-smaller, higher resolution cameras that could be hidden almost anywhere. The result was a boon to industry development, with new versions of digital video surveillance cameras coming out nearly every month.
9/11 redefines video surveillance for the future
Nothing changed the concept of or the public’s awareness of video surveillance as much as the tragic events of September 11, 2001 when the World Trade Center was attacked by terrorists. Where once people saw video surveillance as an issue that might never affect them, it was now an issue of immediate and lasting importance.
Software developers began refining programs that would enhance video surveillance, including facial recognition programs that could compare various key facial feature points in order to match recorded faces to known mug shots or photographs of terrorists or criminals. While the earlier versions weren’t always reliable, the later versions became more refined and were phased into use by law enforcement in some areas. In May of 2002, the United States Parks Service installed face recognition software on the computer video surveillance cameras at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.
That same year, the Sydney International Airport in Australia installed SmartGate, an automated border crossing system used for all airline crew members. Using photo biometrics, the video surveillance systems scans the crew member’s face and compares it to the passport photo and confirms the match in less than ten seconds, speeding the border process markedly.
In December of 2003, Royal Palm Middle School in Phoenix, Arizona installed face recognition video surveillance as a pilot program for tracking missing children and registered sex offenders. It has split the community, but is supported by many in favor of it as a potential way to track abductors and child molesters.
The Internet revolution in video surveillance
The internet has enabled video surveillance to be instituted virtually anywhere and be watched from anywhere in the world. With satellites bouncing signals around the globe, you can now watch anyone anywhere from your laptop. The eye in the sky is a reality with digital streaming video.
Sadly, the least common denominator in streaming video is the peek-a-boo industry of amateur porn sites that have proliferated on the web, but these real-time streaming videos use the same technology as many genuine surveillance operations.
Streaming video is set up as a remote system so that you can monitor your site from anywhere in the world with Internet access because the images are video archived on a remote web server. The quality is outstanding, with high compression (1800:1 in some cases) for storage and features like motion-activation and email alerting when there is activity if you wish. The Internet has truly revolutionized video surveillance by removing all boundaries for viewing anywhere in the world.
What does the future hold for video surveillance?
The newest trendy, must-have fun gadget for consumers these days is the picture phone that can instantly send snapshots and streaming video to family and friends with just a click. What those fun television ads don’t say is that those telephones can just as easily be used for video surveillance. Nearly everyone has a cell phone in their hands these days, so someone standing on a street corner is so unremarkable that virtually anyone could be filming you without your knowledge.
Rather than mounting obtrusive cameras, future law enforcement agencies may begin using these phones as integrated devices, combining video surveillance with public phones in one package for 24/7 public watch dogging. Police officers and federal agents may eventually be issued phones with streaming video so that they can immediately send pics of suspects they are tailing back to a database for matching against a face recognition program. When new Amber alerts are issued, video clips could be sent to all law officers quickly and efficiently.
It’s clear that with digital technology and streaming video we’ve moved into the era of being able to conduct comprehensive video surveillance and store the resulting evidence indefinitely. We can reach around the world or across the street with surveillance equipment, but we are still making advances, as the new video cell phones clearly illustrate. The future is sure to see even greater strides that will eventually become part of the history of video surveillance.
Read more!
Have you ever needed to perform search / replace operations on multiple files in a folder and all its subfolders? Have you ever needed to search / replace text in a list of files? How about carrying out multiple search / replace operations on a single file based on search / replace pairs specified in a text file? This article shows how to do each of these common search / replace operations using TEXTools--and believe it or not--in only 7 lines of batch code!
To carry out each of these tasks, we'll be utilizing TEXTools (TCL.exe) from a batch file. TEXTools is the perfect compliment to batch file programming as it greatly extends the power of batch files. Without implementing a single for loop, a TEXTools endowed batch file can nonetheless easily process multiple files. This is made possible because batch files can be constructed on-the-fly by another batch file and then called by that batch file, (its kind of like a train that builds its track as it goes). The reason that a for loop isn't needed here to process multiple files is simply because TEXTools can take a list of files that need to be processed and translate that list into a batch file that, when run, results in the processing of each of the files. For example, suppose we wanted to carry out some relatively complex text editing operations on the following list of files:
myfile.txt
yourfile.txt
theirfile.txt
...
One way to do this would be to place the editing logic into a batch file called procfile.bat and then process each file--one after the other--using procfile.bat like this:
procfile.bat myfile.txt
procfile.bat yourfile.txt
procfile.bat theirfile.txt
...
That's great if you only have 3 files, but what if you have 100 or even 1000 files to process? That's where TEXTools comes into the picture. If batch files are just text and they can be constructed on-the-fly, then why not use TEXTools to turn our list of filenames into a batch file that, when run, results in the processing of each of the files? If a batch file like procfile.bat is going to be employed in the process anyway, then we're already half-way to our goal. What we want is for the list of file names to be preceded by "procfile.bat" with one change--procfile.bat needs to be called. Now we have a batch file that will do all the work for us:
call procfile.bat myfile.txt
call procfile.bat yourfile.txt
call procfile.bat theirfile.txt
...
Of course, this is the kind of thing that TEXTools excels at doing. Adding the text, "call procfile.bat " to the front of every line in a text file containing hundreds of file names--in order to create and execute an on-the-fly batch file is a snap:
type ListOfFiles.txt | tcl InsStr 1 'call procfile.bat ' >t$1.bat
call t$1.bat
We're now ready to tackle our assignment except for one missing puzzle piece. We need our procfile.bat. Ours needs to take as arguments a file name, a search text and a replacement text:
ProcFile
Internally, ProcFile.bat will edit the given file by replacing all occurrences of
type %1 | tcl "ReplStr '%2' '%3'" >t$1.txt
type t$1.txt >%1
In reality, we need a bit more than this though. What if the search text or replacement text is specified having embedded blanks? This can only be done at the command prompt by using surrounding double-quotes like so:
ProcFile myfile.txt "red car" "blue car"
The problem is that these surrounding double-quotes are part of the parameter as far as Windows is concerned. As far as we're concerned however, they're not and so we must get rid of them. Again, this is a simple matter using TEXTools:
echo %2| tcl "ReplStr '#22' '' | InsStr 1 'set search='" >t$1.bat
echo %3| tcl "ReplStr '#22' '' | InsStr 1 'set replace='" >>t$1.bat
call t$1.bat
These three magical lines simply remove the surrounding double-quotes from each of the search / replace parameters that are passed into ProcFile. Not that the parameters themselves are altered in any way. Their unquoted contents are merely copied into environment variables! Note again the use of an on-the-fly batch file to accomplish this. Laying down tracks...
So now, our ProcFile.bat looks something like this:
:: Remove any surrounding double-quotes from the search/replace text...
echo %2| tcl "ReplStr '#22' '' | InsStr 1 'set search='" >t$1.bat
echo %3| tcl "ReplStr '#22' '' | InsStr 1 'set replace='" >>t$1.bat
call t$1.bat
:: Perform text replacements on this file...
type %1 | tcl "ReplStr '%search%' '%replace%'" >t$1.txt
type t$1.txt >%1
Bear in-mind that this is a bare-bones implementation of ProcFile.bat. Normally, you'd include some logic to abort execution if all parameters weren't supplied, etc. but this is just a demonstration. For the actual batch files, see the "Search and Replace" examples available in the TEXTools download package (installed beneath the "Sample Scripts" folder) and also available online at www.fireflysoftware.comTEXToolsexamples.htm. Now, on to bigger and better things...
Using a Recursive File Search
Now that we have a batch file that performs text replacements on a single file, how can we employ it to process all files in a given folder and its subfolders? The key to this lies in the DIR command. When used with the /b and /s switches, the DIR command lists (fully qualified) all files in a folder (and all its subfolders) that match a given file specification. Imagine that... a list of all the files in a given folder and its subfolders that match say, the file specification, "work*.txt"! In practical terms that translates into a gem like this:
dir %1 /b /s | tcl "InsStr 1 'call ProcFile.bat #22' | AppendStr '#22 %2 %3'" >t$2.bat
call t$2.bat
Here's a batch file (say, "Recursive.bat") that can be called as follows:
Recursive work*.txt "this" "that"
Here, it would replace all instances of "this" with "that" in all files (in the current folder and subfolders) matching "work*.txt". Not bad for 7 lines of batch code, eh?
Using a List of Files
If the files to be edited are listed in a text file, the batch code needed to process them is almost identical to the above:
type %1 | tcl "InsStr 1 'call ProcFile.bat #22' | AppendStr '#22 %2 %3'" >t$2.bat
call t$2.bat
The only difference is in where the list of files originates. With this approach, all you need is a list of files in a text file to process. Such a batch file might be called like this:
ProcFileList FileList.txt "this" "that"
This would replace all instances of "this" with "that" in all of the files listed in FileList.txt.
Using a List of Replacements
This last example of search and replace performs multiple edits on a single file by utilizing a file containing multiple search / replace pairs. Again, a call to ProcFile is all that is needed:
type %2 | tcl "InsStr 1 'call ProcFile.bat %1 '" >t$2.bat
call t$2.bat
Such a batch file as this might be called ProcReplList.bat. Here's how it would be called to perform multiple search / replacement operations on MyFile.txt using the search / replace pairs found in Replacements.txt:
ProcReplList MyFile.txt Replacements.txt
Note: Each of the above search / replace examples can be found online at www.fireflysoftware.comTEXToolsexamples.htm or inside the TEXTools download package, (installed beneath the "Sample Scripts" folder).
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WHEN I was first learning about the Internet, one of the most difficult concepts to grasp was that it belonged to no one. There was no central authority managing the network. Nobody owned or controlled it. Not even Bill Gates. And because it belonged to no one, it belonged to everyone, and millions of Web sites flourished, the small growing right alongside the giants. In this hothouse environment, small, nimble companies quickly grew into giants in their own right to challenge traditional, Old World corporations.
This egalitarian approach also gave rise to an unprecedented exercise of free expression, where anyone could make his voice heard by thousands or even millions, by creating a blog and going online.
All that’s going to change, if large American carriers have their way.
In the United States, the big telecommunications carriers AT&T, Verizon and Comcast want to start charging large, “first-tier” online companies such as Yahoo, Google, eBay and Amazon more money for a premium service that will ensure their pages get to you faster. On the other hand, smaller companies and individual bloggers who can’t pay for the premium service will have to take their chances with the regular service and hope visitors will still be able to find their way to their Web sites.
This pay-to-play approach would be akin to the carriers dividing the Internet into business class and economy, with those who can afford it getting better food and service, more comfortable seats and all the perks, and those who can’t getting cramped seats and crappy meals.
The principle under attack is called network neutrality, and it’s based on the notion that the network doesn’t care about what kinds of bits are being transported or who is sending them; it will move them to their destination through their broadband pipes with the same speed and efficiency, without discrimination.
The issue is particularly hot in the United States, where the carriers say a tiered service would allow them to fund new broadband investments, while critics of such an approach are lobbying the US Congress to pass laws to protect network neutrality.
Robert Reich, professor of public policy at the University of California at Berkeley and former labor secretary in the Clinton administration disagrees.
“The pipe companies claim that unless they can start charging, they won’t be able to invest in the next generation of networks,” he says. “Well that’s ridiculous. They’re already making lots of money off consumers connected to the Internet. They just figure they can make more money charging the big content providers for the best service.”
Tim Berners-Lee, the inventor of the World Wide Web, has also spoken out in favor of network neutrality and against the idea that “if I want to watch a TV station across the Internet, that TV station must have paid to transmit to me.”
The forces lining up on both sides of the debate are formidable.
Aligned with the giant carriers are their big network equipment suppliers such as 3M, Cisco, Corning and Qualcomm. The cable companies, too, oppose legislation to ensure network neutrality.
Ranged against these companies are the big online players, Microsoft and the Save the Internet Coalition (http://www.savetheinternet.com), which groups more than 700 organizations from the leftwing Moveon.org to the rightwing Gun Owners of America.
For now, as Berners-Lee observes, network neutrality is a US-only issue. But the United States is such a dominant force on the Internet that what happens there will clearly have an impact elsewhere. For that reason alone, those of us who care about keeping the Internet an open marketplace of ideas ought to support network neutrality and hope that battle is won in the United States.
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1. What is the purpose of this machine?
This is one question everyone should ask themselves before buying a Media Center PC. Be honest with yourself because this answer dictates the answers to the rest of the questions.
The purpose of your Media Center should be just that. As a Media Center. Movies, music, pictures, internet, and anything else you want to do. The Media Center is not intended to do your taxes, or write your term paper. Do not get us wrong, it is completely capable of doing these tasks. The point of this question is to narrow down what kind of hardware you will need to do what you want your machine to do. Keep this in mind. What do you want your Media Center PC to do?
2. What kind of software should my Media Center PC use?
This is a question that is up for much debate. However, your answer to this question and the previous question will answer the last question. There are 2 basic thoughts on this, either Windows OS, or Linux OS. It really depends on your comfort level and what you want to accomplish with your Media Center PC. Lets breakdown strong points and weak points of each.
Windows • Strong Point : Known for its point and click ease
• Strong Point : Works with most if not all hardware
• Strong Point : Allot of software options to go with
• Weak Point : Hefty price tag. For Media Center Edition you are looking between 100-200 dollars just for the software
• Weak Point : Known for their security issues. Updates, after updates, after updates.
• Weak Point : Must run virus software and firewall software. This is a must for security.
Linux OS
• Strong Point : Extremely stable. No need to reboot ever. After updates, you just restart the program you are running and the update is applied. No reason to restart the system.
• Strong Point : Extremely secure. No need to run virus software or firewall software. This makes it use less resources hardware wise. Thus making it run on lower end PC's.
• Strong Point : Extremely configurable. If you dont like something, change it. Literally anything in Linux you can change and optimize and tailor to your hardware, reducing hardware requirements further.
• Strong Point : Completely 100% free. Not only is the OS free, most software you run on the OS is free. Yes, that is right, free.
• Weak Point : If you have never used Linux, it can be hard to setup and get running the first time.
• Weak Point : Not as much software available as Windows. There is software available for anything you want to do. Just not as much as Windows.
3. How much should I pay for my Media Center PC?
This question is answered by the first 2 you asked yourself. The requirements of Linux are much lower to do the same thing as Windows. Think about this. The Tivo runs with a 54Mhz processor. Now ask yourself this. Why would you want to spend thousands of dollars on the latest and greatest hardware out there, when it would be a lot cheaper for you to use different hardware? You could spend 2000 dollars and upwards on a new Dual Core system with 2 gigs of ram, a monster video card, and the best of everything. What do you gain though? It wont play the HD any better. It wont make your picture look better. You gain no benefits. You could spend a little and get a Media Center PC that does anything you want, or you could spend alot and get the same Media Center PC that does the same things. Its up to you.
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Microsoft's decision to delay the consumer versions of Windows Vista until early 2007 could encourage some holiday computer buyers to get Macs instead, industry analysts say.
"This gives Apple the biggest competitive advantage they've had in history from Microsoft," veteran technology consultant Rob Enderle, founder of the Enderle Group, said of the delay announced earlier Tuesday by Jim Allchin, co-president of Microsoft's Platform and Services Division.
Allchin told a hastily convened teleconference that Microsoft would release volume-licensed versions of Vista by year's end, as previously announced, but that consumer versions--including those preloaded on new PCs--would not be available until January 2007.
Allchin said that Microsoft was not worried about competition from Apple, but Enderle said that Microsoft may be underestimating Apple's potential, especially since the company is expected to introduce some appealing new products in time for the holiday season.
"I don't think anybody over there is really taking the Apple stuff seriously," Enderle said. "That's a mistake."
IDC analyst Bob O'Donnell agreed that a Vista-less holiday season would benefit Apple. But he added, "You have to keep it in perspective. Even if they [Apple] gain a full percentage point of market share because of this, that still only moves them to three-and-a-half, four-and-a-half percent market share."
Vista for Nonexistent Buyers
Both Enderle and O'Donnell said that it was ironic that Microsoft is making Vista available in late 2006 to volume licensing customers, since these are typically large corporations that may not migrate to Vista until 2007 or 2008 anyway. Corporate IT departments wouldn't have budgeted for a 2006 deployment, Enderle said.
O'Donnell speculated that announcing the volume-license availability in 2006 was a face-saving ploy that allowed Microsoft to say that it was meeting its earlier commitments to deliver Vista by year's end.
But the holiday season is by far the biggest technology-buying quarter of the year for consumers, and O'Donnell said that Vista's delay is bad news for PC vendors who were counting on the new OS to boost holiday sales. "They're going to have to do something--maybe a free coupon for an upgrade to Vista or something like that--to lessen the blow," he said.
Major vendors had no immediate word on any such plans--or for the matter, on the impact of Vista's delay. "We don't speculate on financial performance," Dell spokesperson Tom Kehoe said. "As a company we remain ready to ship Vista when it's available and are excited to do so."
"HP does not publicly disclose details about unannounced products or the terms of our partner agreements," spokesperson Melissa Stone said in an e-mail statement. "HP continues plans to support Microsoft's upcoming Windows Vista operating system across the company's consumer and business product lines."
Allchin said that Microsoft decided to delay release of consumer versions of Vista in order to meet industry demands for a firm product roadmap and to keep the playing field level for all of its PC manufacturing customers, but he did not elaborate.
Enderle said that he believes Microsoft could have made the consumer versions of Vista the direct vendors to direct-market vendors like Dell in late 2006 but decided not to do so because this would have given Dell an unfair advantage over competitors such as Hewlett-Packard, which need more time to get Vista PCs into retail stores.
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