Tech Noise--All About Technology

FUEGO NUEVO MEXICAN HANDCRAFTS

2007-10-12T20:43:00.000-07:00

CONSOLIDATION SERVICES

FUEGO NUEVO OFFERS YOU THE CONSOLIDATION CARGO SERVICES.

WE OFFER ALL THE SERVICES YOU NEED TO HIRE A CONSOLIDATION CARGO COMPANY.

THESE ARE THE POINTS WE COVER:

1. WE REALIZE ALL THE ARRANGEMENT OF A CONSOLIDATE EXPORTATION REQUIRES.

• HANDLING OF LOADING & STORAGE: TAKING OVER TO COORDINATE THE RECEPTION, STORAGE AND ALL HANDLING IN THE WAREHOUSE, ALSO, INSIDE OF THE CONTAINER, WE OVERSEE THE LOADING AND THE HANDLING OF THE BOXES.

2. WE DO THE LOGISTICS WITH NO CHARGE.

• SEARCH THE BEST FREIGHT QUOTES WITH SERIOUS AND PROFESSIONAL SHIPPING COMPANIES, WITH FREIGHT COLLECT SERVICES, YOU ARE WHO DECIDE THE BEST OPTION.

• GIVING THE INSTRUCTIONS TO THE SHIPPING COMPANY, WITH THE DETAILS THAT THE CONTAINER REQUIRES. ALL THE ESPECIFICATIONS

• MAKING THE SCHEDULE OF THE SHIPMENT.

3. WE CAN HANDLE YOUR ORDERS:

• YOU GIVE TO US YOUR ORDERS COPY

• CONTACTING TO YOUR SUPPLIERS, AND TRACE HOW IS GOING YOUR ORDER

• NORMALLY, THE SUPPLIER ASK THE 50% OF HIS ORDER, WE COVER THAT 50%, BUT FIRST YOU HAVE TO REALIZE A WIRE TRANSFER OF THE 100% TO COVER THE SUPPLIER PAYMENTS. OUR POLICY WITH THE SUPPLIERS IS TO MAKE A DOWNPAYMENT WHEN YOU MADE THE ORDER AND THE REST WHEN WE RECEIVE ALL THE ITEMS IN THE WAREHOUSE, THAT'S IS TO HAVE A CONTROL OF THE ORDERS, AND FOR YOUR PROTECTION

• OVERSEEING THE ITEMS ARE IN PERFECT CONDITION WHEN ARRIVE TO OUR WAREHOUSE.

• TAKING CARE THE SUPPLIERS RESPECT THE QTY AND DELIVERY DATE.

• CHECK THE PACKING IS SAFE ENOUGH TO PROTECT THE ITEM, IF IT ISN´T, WE REJECT IT.

• WE ARE IN CONTINUOUS CONTACT, SENDING REPORTS OF HOW IS GOING YOUR ORDER.

• MAKING THE PACKING LIST, WERE WE CLASSIFY THE ITEMS, BY SUPPLIER, NO. OF BOX/BULK, WE MARKS THE BOXES BY SUPPLER, TO HAVE A CONTROL, IS EASIER FOR YOU AT THE MOMENT TO CHECK THE MERCHANDISE.

• CONTROLLING OF THE PAYMENTS, WE SEND YOU THE VOUCHER SIGNED BY THE SUPPLIERS WITH AMOUNT WE PAY.

4. MAKING ALL THE CUSTOMS STEP OF ORIGIN SIDE:

• TO SEND INVOICE OF OUR COMPANY, WHERE THERE ARE INCLUDED ALL THE ITEMS THAT YOU BOUGHT TO THE PROVIDERS.

• PROCEED THE ORIGIN CERTIFICATED, FUMIGATION CERTIFICATE (JUST, IF YOU NEED IT), BILL OF LADING, (IN CASE OF MARITIME FREIGHT)

• PACKING LIST (DESCRIPTION, WEIGHT, QTY,).

• DELIVERY ORIGINAL DOCUMENTS: (BILL OF LADING, ORIGINAL INVOICES, ORIGIN CERTIFICATED, FUMIGATION CERTIFICATE (JUST, IF YOU NEED IT)

5. WE CARE, YOU RECEIVE YOUR ITEMS ON TIME.

FOR ALL THIS THINGS, WE ARE YOUR BEST OPTION TO REPRESENTANT HERE IN MEXICO . WE ARE PROFESSIONAL.

MEXICAN HANDCRAFTS

FUEGO NUEVO MEXICAN HANDCRAFTS S.A. DE C.V.

AT and T offers free Wi-Fi hotspot access

2007-07-05T08:58:00.000-07:00

For their broadband customers, that is. While not quite the "Free internet for everyone!" initiative that we'd like to see, it is certainly a boon to anyone with a Pro, Elite, or FastAccess account. But wait, there's more! AT andT phone customers without broadband access will be able to sign up for a low monthly fee of $1.99. The rest of the world is free to jump on as well, though they'll have to pony up $7.99/day for the privileged. Looks like it pays to be affiliated. Those that do sign on will be granted unlimited access to over 10,000 hotspots. While nowhere near as exhaustive as T-Mobile Hotspot coverage, AT andT has a decent footprint, and you can't beat free, can we?

Hottest Gadget - The Apple iPhone

2007-07-04T08:57:00.000-07:00

I had no option but to talk about the “hottest gadget” – The Apple iphone. Everyone is eagerly waiting to see how the iphone will leave its historical mark after Friday’s launch as there is a lot of hype about this gadget.

The iphone has already shown the market that not just the body or the outward beauty of the handset counts, but what is inside is what is most important.

The all-touch-screen device, which lacks a button keyboard, will force users to get accustomed to typing messages on a virtual keyboard instead of regular buttons. The gadget triples as a cell-phone, iPod media player and a wireless web device.

There is nobody who doesn’t know about this product which hasn’t been launched yet. While some of them want to be the first to own the Apple iPhone and others fell that apple is packing too much into a phone and do not want to be an early adopter of this untested product!!

The ultimate question is whether the gadget will be as revolutionary as Apple claims it to be? Well, we will have to wait and watch as to what happens.

Top 10 most prevalent global malware

2007-07-04T08:53:00.001-07:00

1. TROJ_GENERIC

Malware Type: Trojan
This is the Trend Micro generic detection for low-threat Trojans. It also installs itself as a browser helper object (BHO) by creating certain registry keys.

2. ADW_CNSMIN.G

Malware Type: Adware
This adware arrives on a system via the Internet, or bundled with other applications. It does not have a valid End-User License Agreement (EULA).

It is a plugin that can monitor or manipulate a user's Internet activity by adding itself in the Layered Service Provider (LSP). Like most adware, it generates pop-up avertisements.

3. WORM_NYXEM.E

Malware Type: Worm
This worm propagates by attaching copies of itself to email messages that it sends to target addresses, using its own SMTP engine. Through this SMTP engine, it is able to easily send the email message without using other mailing applications, such as Microsoft Outlook.

4. TROJ_GENERIC.Z

Malware Type: Trojan
This is the Trend Micro generic detection for low-threat Trojans.

5. WORM_ANIG.A

Malware Type: Worm
This memory-resident worm propagates by dropping copies of itself in shared network drives. It steals login information and saves the obtained data in a file, which can be retrieved by a remote user. Its keylogger component substitutes the standard Microsoft Graphical Identification and Authentication DLL (MSGINA.DLL) to carry out its information-stealing routine.

6. POSSIBLE_INFOSTL

Malware Type: Susupicious files
This is the Trend Micro detection for suspicious files that manifest behavior and characteristics similar to known variants of the following spyware:

TSPY_LEGMIR
TSPY_LINEAGE
TSPY_QQPASS

7. HTML_NETSKY.P

Malware Type: HTML
This HTML malware arrives as an email with an executable file attachment that is detected by Trend Micro as WORM_NETSKY.P. It exploits a known vulnerability in Internet Explorer versions 5.01 and 5.5 known as the Automatic Execution of Embedded MIME Type. This vulnerability causes Internet Explorer to automatically run executable file attachments in email messages.

8. WORM_NETSKY.DAM

Malware Type: Worm
This is Trend Micro's detection for the damaged samples of WORM_NETSKY variants. It runs on Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000 and XP.

9. POSSIBLE_STRAT-2

Malware Type: Susupicious files
This is the Trend Micro detection for suspicious files that manifest behavior and characteristics similar to known STRATION variants.

10. TROJ_HORST.HF

Malware Type: Trojan
This Trojan usually arrives as a file dropped by other malware or as a file downloaded unknowingly by a user when visiting malicious Web sites.

Source: Trend Micro

Intels Game Contest - Win $10,000 USD Prize

2007-07-03T23:42:00.000-07:00

Intel Game Demo Contest 2007

Mobile Game Competition
Enter your game demo to the Intel® Game Demo Contest 2007. Win Prizes!

Play the Intel's Game Contest @ Win

Whts the prize to be Won...

Between July 1 and Aug 1, 2007 every vote, combined with judges input, will help determine the 10 finalists in each category. Finalists will upload their demos and compete for $10,000 USD first prizes plus a Gateway computer, Garage Games Torque Game Engine, a full suite of Intel® Software Development Products

7 Hi-Tech Gadgets That Can Help You Cheat at Exams

2007-04-14T08:52:00.000-07:00

Cheaters seem to be everywhere these days in sports, in corporate boardrooms, and in the highest levels of government.Cheating is common also among students that's no big secret.Computer technology has made cheating so easy that it serves as a temptation for students who might otherwise toil honestly.Surveys finds that more than 50 percent of students have cheated in their college career.High-tech cheating creates a vicious circle. As technology advances and students get better at using the latest devices, teachers and school officials find it harder to keep up with cheaters. The more that cheating goes uncaught, the freer students feel to do it. With so much new technology emerging every day, it was only a matter of time before schools began to accept it into their classrooms. After all, technology is a big part of a student's life.

Why do so many students cheat ?

This can be a hard question, because every student cheat for a reason.Here I've gathered some of the most common reasons that make students cheat.

1.Because they are lazy or the subject matter is hard to grasp. - This is maybe the most common reason why students cheat.
2.Lack of interest. - People have different interests, and in school you might have to learn things that you don't like, things that are borring or things that you consider useless.For example a student who is interested in math may not care much about history.In conclusion they may view cheating as a harmless way to save time and avoid a headache while getting a better grade.
3.Lack of time. Getting up early to get to school, staying late with teams and clubs, having a job, and doing homework at night means a full schedule for many teens.As a result, they may be tempted to cheat to give themselves more time for a social life or to sleep.

Now that you know the reasons that make students cheat, let's see how to use technology to make your life easier in college/school.

The old ways of cheating using crib notes, whispering answers, and copying from courses are alive and well.But today's complex tests require more data than can fit in the palm of your hand, or on a little crib note.Technology can help this one, though and replace the tiny papers with some tiny gadgets with huge memory.Now let's see some gadgets that can "help" you at exams.

Text Messages - This was the begining of Hi-Tech cheating, since students realised that they can contact people outside the exam room, and receive answers very easily.This method is a little risky because you have to avoid professors seeing you writing on your cell phone, and you must have a good typing speed.

Cell phones with built-in digital cameras - These cell phones are not a luxury anymore.Anybody can have a cell phone with a digital camera.This gadget is not so risky as text messages, and is more quickly.Students just photograph test questions with their cellphone cameras, sent them to friends outside via MMS, and get back the answers in text or image format.

Tiny MP3 players are another possibility.Record notes to yourself, transfer the audio files to your tiny Mp3 player and have them play quietly during the exam.A very popular audio gadget used by students is the well known iPod.iPods are used to hide lists disguised as song titles.If listening is not allowed you can put an earphone up your sleeve, or wear a hood to hide the wires.iPods can also display images and videos, very useful for exams that need graphs.In this category of audio gadgets we can also include walkman's but they are pretty old.

SoundBug - Soundbug turns any surface into a speaker, and can attach itself to basically anything it can suction to.Once attached to a flat surface, Soundbug will transmit electronic signals into mechanical energy, causing the flat surface to vibrate and broadcast the sound. http://www.soundbug.biz

Calculators - Programmable calculators can hold text, formulas, even pictures.Texas Instruments says its TI-83 Plus is the "top choice among U.S. high school students," and I can see why. Add-on memory lets you store software, turning your calculator into a pocket notebook. (And the company is happy to point out that the TI-83 Plus is "allowed for use on the PSAT, SAT I, SAT II Math IC and IIC, AP Chemistry exam, AP Physics exam, and AP Calculus exam.")

Wireless Earphones + Microphones - These are tiny earphones that students stick in their ears, and professors can't see them because these earphones are to little, and to well hidden inside the ear.For communication students also have a tiny microphone hidden in their sleeve or other places, to whisper the questions.With this gadget students can conveniently call up when the teacher's not looking carefully.

PocketPC, Palm - and other personal digital assistants (and some calculators, too) allow information to be beamed across a distance via infrared, bluetooth or wireless Internet access ( if your school has ).Even without local wireless access, so many palmtop computers these days have cell-based Web browsers you can dial up from anywhere.Once you are connected you have access to everything you ever wanted.

Invisible Ink Pens - These are perfect for writing down things you need in exam.Ink is invisible to the naked eye, but magically illuminate when exposed to a blacklight.A blacklight is conveniently located on the opposite end of the pen.

These are just some of the gadgets that students use to take better grades.I'm sure that in every campus if we ask students they can tell us more gadgets, because for a good grade, or to pass an exam students can become very, very creative.

IBM Research and the Genographic Project

2007-03-31T09:20:00.000-07:00

Humans are found everywhere on Earth. Yet how did we get here? Where did we come from? And why do we all look so different? IBM and National Geographic are mounting the Genographic Project, an ambitious attempt to help answer these fundamental questions. The five-year study will use one of the largest collections of DNA samples ever assembled to map how the Earth was populated.

The Genographic Project is the brainchild of Dr. Spencer Wells, a pioneer in using DNA samples to map human migratory patterns. Working with Dr. Wells will be researchers from IBM's Computational Biology Center—one of the world's foremost life sciences research facilities—and a global team of prominent research scientists from 10 research centers around the world. Together, they will seek answers to long-standing questions regarding man’s epic migration patterns.

You can contribute your DNA anonymously to the study by purchasing a public participation kit*. By participating in the project, you will learn interesting information about your family’s deep ancestry over the ages.

Top 1: Compaq Presario V2655TS (Rs 39,510)

2007-03-31T08:52:00.000-07:00

Compaq Presario V2655TS (Rs 39,510)

We have run you through almost all of this laptop's specifications in the previous two laptop descriptions, nevertheless we will elaborate on the important points again. We suggest you 'must' look at the comprehensive specification at the last page for ease of comparison.

The V2655TS is the least pricey among the three and also has the least powerful processor (Pentium M 725A) with the clock speed of 1.6 GHz. The memory is adequate with 512MB of 333 MHz DDR memory doing the duty.

The place this one loses out is its 40GB P-ATA hard drive. A computer is one of the most versatile entertainment devices, and if you wish to use it for that purpose, then 40 gigs is way too less storage for all the videos and music you'd like to put on your laptop. But if you strictly want to use your laptop for business alone, then 40 GB should do just fine.

Screen size is similar to the Dell, but with a bit lower resolution at 1280 x 768 pixels. The rest is pretty much standard, 56k Modem, 10/100 LAN, 802.11 b/g wireless LAN, a Combo Drive and a 6 six cell battery which will last you anything between 2 to 3 hours.

Top 2: Dell Inspiron 1300 n-Series (Rs 40,660)

2007-03-31T08:51:00.000-07:00

Dell Inspiron 1300 n-Series (Rs 40,660)

Since Dell allows you to customize laptops online, we have upped the Dell 1300’s configuration to what fits best in Rs. 40,000. The upgrades include changing the hard drive from 40GB to 60GB and a 6 cell battery instead of a 4 cell. The 6 cell battery increases the weight of the laptop by 100 grams making it touch 2.9 Kgs.

When it comes to laptop screens, larger isn't necessarily better. Almost this entire range features a resolution of 1280x800 pixels (except the Compaq V2655TS, it has a 14" screen size with a resolution of 1280 x 768), be it a 14", or a 15". With a bigger screen size, the overall dimension of a laptop increases, which makes it more difficult to lug around. So, the one we like the best here is Dell's 14.1" screen.

Manufacturers realize how rampant piracy is in India. Hence they bundle their laptops with DOS or Linux operating system to reduce the costs knowing that nine out of ten times the user would install a pirated copy of Windows XP. Dell is the only manufacturer which offers Windows XP home bundled with the laptop, whereas Compaq chooses FreeDOS and the Acer comes with Linux.

With regards to the card slot, Dell offers the latest ExpressCard slot whereas the other two offer a regular PCMCIA card slot. ExpressCard slots provide much greater bandwidth (USB 2.0: 480 Mb/s, PCI Express: 2.5Gb/s) and will provide solutions for TV tuners, FireWire400 and 800 ports, Gigabit Ethernet and e-SATA. ExpressCard slots also allow you to use wireless internet cards for accessing internet anywhere on the go. Reliance and Airtel have recently launched ExpressCards.

This laptop comes with a CD Writer/DVD-ROM Combo drive and has a neat nylon case bundled with it. As with the other two laptops, the Dell doesn't come with any additional features like integrated Bluetooth or a built-in card reader. Again, internet connectivity options are standard with a 56k Modem, 10/100 LAN and 802.11 b/g wireless LAN.

Top 3 Laptops at Rs. 40,000...Top 1

2007-03-31T08:46:00.000-07:00

While conceptualizing this feature, our aim was to feature the top three laptops under Rs. 35,000, but after a bit of research, it became clear that such a price point wouldn’t give the optimal mix of performance and value. So, we raised the range to Rs. 40,000, and went on a hunt for the best laptops in that range, which would satisfy everybody from a typical office worker, to a multimedia-freak on a budget.

Among the three laptops featured in this roundup, we have two laptops with Pentium M processors and one with the AMD Turion Processor. The Pentium M series, though two generations behind the new Core 2 Duo series, is still a decent bargain in the value segment. It’s an efficient architecture, and though it isn’t 64bit capable as the AMD Turion, or the Core 2 Duo, considering that most users will be using the standard 32 bit version of Windows XP on these laptops, it’s not much of an issue.

The prices mentioned here are the lowest street prices with taxes and shipping included (but no octroi) to give you a clear idea of the pricing. The laptops in the running are:

Acer Aspire 5004NWLMi (Rs 40,560)

Among the three, the fastest processor belongs to the Acer Aspire. It features a 1.8 GHz AMD Turion 64 ML-34 processor. To give you an idea, its very close in performance to the Pentium M 760, which is a 2 GHz processor with a FSB of 533 MHz whereas the second fastest processor is on the Dell Inspiron 1300, which is clocked at 1.7 GHz with an FSB of 400 Mhz.

The 5004 has a 15.4" screen with a resolution of 1280 x 800 pixels, which makes it the largest for laptops in this category, but also keep in mind that it makes this laptop larger to carry as compared to its 14" counterparts.

If you are using Windows XP as your operating system, we recommend nothing short of 512MB of RAM. This is the only place where Acer, which leads in most of the other specifications falls short, with only 256MB of RAM. We'd recommend you upgrade the RAM if you wish to do anything beyond office documents.

It's the only laptop among the three which features an 8x dual layer dvd writer. With respect to battery life it again leads the pack with an 8 cell battery. It carries a 60GB P-ATA (parallel ATA) hard drive which is the same as Dell's.

Internet connectivity is pretty much standard with a 56k Modem, 10/100 LAN and 802.11 b/g wireless LAN. Additonal features include integrated Bluetooth and 5-in-1 card reader and it comes bundled with a nylon case.

All this puts this laptop way ahead of the competition; with 256MB more RAM, this will be an excellent performer bound to impress.

Oracle, Adobe Rise Ahead of Results

2007-03-30T19:02:00.000-07:00

Oracle and Adobe rallied nearly 3% each Monday ahead of their earnings reports.

Both technology bellwethers will report results after the market close on Tuesday.

Oracle is expected to report a 23% jump in quarterly sales to $4.33 billion, according to Thomson Financial. Earnings are expects to climb by four cents a share to 23 cents.

Analysts believe Adobe will report sales of $655.6 million, flat with the year-ago quarter, and earnings are expected to decline 10% to 29 cents a share. Growth will return in the current quarter with the release of Creative Suite 3 next week.

The broader market posted strong gains Monday on another round of mergers and optimism ahead of Wednesday's Federal Reserve decision on interest rates, even though inflation reports last week suggested that the Fed will have a difficult time cutting interest rates to stem the sub-prime mortgage meltdown.

Oracle shares shot higher in after-hours trading Tuesday after the company's quarterly results solidly beat Wall Street estimates.

Oracle grew sales 27% in the quarter to $4.41 billion, beating $4.33 billion forecasts, and pro forma earnings of 25 cents a share were two cents ahead of estimates. New license sales — an important indicator of future growth — were also stronger than expected, up 17% for databases and middleware and up 57% for applications.

"Not only are we growing faster than BEA, we're now larger than they are in the middleware business," boasted CEO Larry Ellison in a statement, and President Charles Phillips added that the company is closing in on SAP in the applications business.

Oracle shares gained 4% in late trading.

Adobe , meanwhile, saw its shares gain 2% on its numbers.

Adobe's sales of $649.4 million were below $655.6 million estimates, while pro forma earnings of 30 cents a share were a penny better than expected, but traders are looking past the current quarter to new releases such as Creative Suite 3.

"As Adobe prepares for the biggest product launch in our history, we are excited about our opportunities and bullish about our prospects for another year of strong performance," CEO Bruce Chizen said in a statement.

Adobe's current quarter sales out look of $700-$740 million compared favorably to $717 million estimates.

IBM Gives Networking A 16x Boost

2007-03-30T18:42:00.001-07:00

So, 10 gigabit Ethernet too slow for you? How about 160 gigabits?

That's the latest breakthrough from IBM researchers, who have come up with an optical networking chip measuring 3mm by 5mm but has 16 times the throughput of today's networking chips.

Now before you think this will mean more MP3s and dirty videos, think again. First, IBM doesn't expect it to see the market until 2010, and when it does, it will be for massively parallel supercomputers like its own Blue Gene, the fastest supercomputer in the world.

The problem, as IBM saw it, was that networking had reached the limit of sending electrons over wires. By switching to optical networking, data flows as light pulses, which is faster, cooler and uses considerably less power. The chips are five to 10 times more power efficient than what's out today, Marc Taubenblatt, senior manager at IBM Research told internetnews.com.

"We've been aiming at improving high-speed computers. To make ever more powerful computers, we need to connect processing nodes with extreme bandwidth between the nodes. As processors become more capable, they want more bandwidth to feed them and need to be connected with increasing amount of bandwidth, and electrical just isn't able to do the job any more," he said.

To keep up with Moore's Law for microprocessor's, network chips have to grow 10 to 20 times denser than they are now. As it is, Blue Gene was designed to balance the power of its processors and the speed of the network chips. The new optical network processors will allow IBM to take the leash off its processors and run at greater speed, according to Taubenblatt.

The optical network chips have 16 channels each for transmission and receiption, as opposed to a single channel for transmission and reception. This allows for 160 Gbits per second of both input and output at the same time.

Because the chip is so tiny and runs cool, it can be placed right next to the CPU on the motherboard, thus minimizing the length that data has to travel when it comes over the wire to be processed.

The optical chip is a joint effort between IBM and DARPA, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. (Just last week DARPA also made news with the announcement it had teamed up with Raytheon on development of the MONARCH chip).

Once it moves beyond the back plane of Blue Gene, IBM foresees a time when it could have great application in the home, where home servers are becoming more popular and more data is flying around on wired and wireless networks.

Unfortunately, it will be a while. While the technology exists today and IBM was able to put it together in the lab, the manufacturing capability doesn't exist, said Taubenblatt. It will take a while to be able to make the chip and then for networking manufacturers to begin making their own chips. IBM doesn't expect to use it in its own products until 2010.

Fred Zeiber, principal with Pathfinder Research, told internetnews.com that networking has already reached its limits in some ways due to the single input/output channel, and that this is no small breakthrough.

"The engineering to put this all together into something practical and small is amazing. Being able to use one chip to do 16 in and 16 out is something that's been extremely difficult to do," said Zeiber. "You get crosstalk and other problems. That's a hell of a lot of stuff going in and out of the chip at one time."

AMD, Intel duel goes slash

2007-03-30T18:11:00.000-07:00

Intel might be the current CPU champ, but AMD's not throwing in the towel. Both companies are expected to announce significant price cuts next month on their existing processors, ahead of quad-core introductions.

Intel is tipped to trim between 20 and 40 percent from the prices of several Core 2 Duo chips, including the Q6600 quad-core model.

For its part, AMD is expected to take up to 30 percent off the Athlon 64+ series and lesser processors.

AMD plans a midyear introduction of the first products in its quad-core Opteron family, code-named 'Barcelona.' The company claims it will deliver an estimated 40 percent performance advantage over "the competition" as well as improved power management through varying the clock speed of individual cores, and reducing voltage levels to the cores while the memory controller runs at full speed.

But by the end of this year, Intel plans to introduce its 'Penryn' family, which takes the Core 2 and Xeon CPUs to the 45mn process and speeds in excess of 3GHz.

Six models will be introduced in dual and quad core versions to cover the spectrum from notebooks to servers.

Like AMD, Intel says the new chips will have improved power management. Penryn chips will be able to switch off unused cores.

Meanwhile, Intel is working on its 'Nehalem' family, designed from the outset for 45nm implementation with the potential for up to eight cores on one chip. In addition, the cores need not be symmetrical - instead, the company will be able produced mixed versions to suit particular applications.

A graphics controller will be included in the same package as the CPU, making it an extremely attractive part for mobile and small form-factor applications.

Nehalem will begin shipping in 2008, followed by the 'Westmere' 32nm family in 2009.

Cisco IP phone flaws discovered

2007-03-30T18:05:00.000-07:00

Cisco Systems issued a warning on Wednesday that some of its IP phones could be compromised, allowing unauthorized individuals to bypass security restrictions.

In the warning, Cisco detailed flaws for two sets of products. One warning identified two versions of the Cisco Unified IP Conference Station, a speaker phone specially designed for conference rooms. The products are the 7935 version 3.2(15) and 7936 version 3.3(12).

Cisco said because of a design error in the HTTP interface, which allows the device to be managed remotely, an administrator's credentials are saved or cached when the device is accessed remotely. So if an unauthorized person tried to access the device at a later time, it would permit access without further authentication.

If an administrator never accesses the device via the HTTP interface, the device is not vulnerable to the authentication bypass attack. Cisco said it's possible to reset the device by powering it down and turning it back on again.

Cisco also identified flaws in several versions of its Unified IP phones, including the 7906G, 7911G, 7941G, 7961G, 7970G and 7971G. These IP phones contain a default user account and password that is used for debugging purposes. Cisco said that because of an implementation error, the default user account cannot be disabled, removed or have its password changed. This means that it's possible for an unauthorized person to remotely access a vulnerable IP phone and take complete control of the device, causing it to become unstable and crash.

Cisco suggests on its Web site that network administrators apply access control lists on routers, switches and firewalls that filter traffic to vulnerable conference stations and IP phones so that traffic is only allowed from stations that need to remotely administer the devices. Cisco also said it will make free software available to address the flaws, but did not say when it would be available. Updates will be posted on its Web site.

While attacks on voice over Internet Protocol systems are rare, security flaws could become a growing concern for network administrators, especially as the number of companies using VoIP technology increases.

VoIP allows companies to use their data networks to carry voice traffic as well as company data, such as e-mail. Not only do companies save money by consolidating networks, but the IP network also allows for a slew of new features to be added to the company's communications. Cisco's IP telephony business has been growing strong over the past few years as more and more companies upgrade their telephone networks to IP.

Toyota Prius could be coming to India

2007-03-15T09:15:00.000-07:00

Japanese automaker Toyota had showcased their hybrid car Prius at the International Engineering Trade Fair in New Delhi.

The company has now said that they are considering the possibility of launching Prius in the Indian market.

However, the car would have to be imported to the Indian market which would practically double the cost of selling the car in the Indian market.

A Toyoshima, managing director, Toyota Kirloskar has said in a statement that the company is studying the Indian market to introduce the hybrid vehicle. He added: “But at current levels of duty, it could cost anywhere between Rs 20-25 lakh.”

The car sells for around Rs. 10 lakh in the US market where it is pretty popular due to its environment friendly status.

The company is also considering asking the Indian government to relax duties on such hybrid cars to promote them in the Indian market.

Sony to Launch Virtual Universe

2007-03-15T08:52:00.000-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) -- Capitalizing on the popularity of social networks and online worlds, Sony will launch its own virtual universe and another 3-D game built almost entirely by players. "Home" is a real-time, networked world for the PlayStation 3 in which players create human-looking characters called avatars. They can buy clothing, furniture and videos to play on a virtual flat-screen television in their virtual apartments.

The concept is strikingly similar to Linden Lab's "Second Life," a Web-based phenomenon with nearly 4.5 million residents. But Sony's world will feature heavy doses of video games for avatars to play, as well as virtual arcades, music, movies and other Sony-approved media downloads.

Sony will launch a beta version in April and officially debut in the fall as a free download on the PlayStation online store.

Sony's second virtual world for PlayStation users is called "LittleBigPlanet" and allows players to build obstacle courses, puzzles and other games for avatars that resemble beanbags _ characters Sony dubs "sack boys."

The game, which requires a combination of cooperation and competition, will debut early next year. A sample version will be available in the fall.

Sony Computer Entertainment America has not released pricing for "LittleBigPlanet." Executives would not discuss how much virtual T- shirts, sofas, televisions or media downloads would cost in "Home."

The games are part of a companywide push that Tokyo-based Sony calls "Game 3.0." Executives who introduced the games Wednesday at the Game Developer Conference in San Fransisco called it an evolution in the video game industry, which began in the 1970s with disconnected consoles and "static" games.

"We're putting power back into the hands of users _ the players themselves," said Phil Harrison, president of worldwide studios for Sony Computer Entertainment

Samsung develops world’s first eight-gigabyte memory chip

2007-03-15T08:49:00.000-07:00

Seoul: Samsung Electronics, the world’s top memory chipmaker, announced Monday, that it has developed the industry’s first eight-gigabyte flash memory card for mobile handsets.

The “moviNAND” can store and process data twice as fast as existing four-gigbyte memory cards, the South Korean firm said in a statement.

Samsung will begin mass-production in this year’s second quarter, the company said.

The new card can store the equivalent of 2,000 songs or map data large enough to run a global positioning system, but it is up to 20 per cent smaller than its industry peers, Samsung said.

Samsung said the new memory card would help make mobile handsets smaller because it is a built-in type that requires no external card slot.

Samsung expects the market for moviNAND to be up to four billion dollars by 2010, the release said.

Install Microsoft Windows Vista in 2 Minutes!

2007-03-14T08:47:00.000-07:00

Here, This is the Best Way to Install Windows Vista, Just Takes 2 Minutes of your time!Enjoy Windows Vista...

funny

2007-03-14T01:48:00.001-07:00

Broadband calling

2007-03-13T07:55:00.000-07:00

In recent years, new ideas have spawned
to make communication easier;
Internet telephony is one of these. A huge
number of people today keep in touch
by making PC-to-PC or PC-to-phone calls.
To take communication to the next level,
technologists have designed mobile phones
that can use broadband to make calls. Of
course, you need a broadband connection to
exploit the benefits of making calls through
the Internet; also, this service has to be
supported by your service provider and the
phone manufacturer.
Motorola, in collaboration with British
Telecom, provides this service on its RAZR
V3B and V560 models, in UK. To avail this
service, the user needs to install a wireless
home hub from British Telecom. However,
calling is restrained to indoors only. This is
of course a glitch in the service, something
which Nokia plans to do away with, although
they have revealed no details about a tie-up
with any service provider. Recently Nokia
launched two handsets—the 6136 and the
N80 that are capable of broadband calling.

Carbon nanotube chips coming soon

2007-03-13T07:52:00.000-07:00

The days of silicon chips are numbered.
And soon they might be replaced by
carbon nanotubes. After a long stretch
of challenges, IBM researchers have
fi nally achieved a milestone by creating
an integrated circuit out a single carbon
nanotube. Integrated chips (IC) are used
to process and store information in a wide
range of electronic devices from PCs to cell
phones.
Initially, the problem was to create
transistors used in ICs. Once that hurdle
was crossed, Big Blue researchers faced the
challenge of fi guring out a reliable way to
assemble the transistors to form an IC.
IBM researchers developed an 18-micron
(less than the thickness of a plastic bag) long
carbon nanotube with a 10-transistor ring
oscillator, a device typically used for testing
new manufacturing technologies. The
success of the research also proved to be
economical as only one nanotube was used
instead of multiple tubes.
The introduction of carbon nanotubes
will have two advantages. Firstly, the data
transfer rate will increase as electrical
current moves more freely and faster
through carbon nanotubes than silicon.
Secondly, it is indeed very small—one
carbon nanotube is 50,000 times thinner
than a strand of hair, which translates to
more data storage in less space and makes
it more energy effi cient and speedier.
It will take time for these chips to
appear as IBM intends to spend more time
on research.

Tip To Sign into more thn one login id simultaneously in yahooo

2007-02-13T17:41:00.000-08:00

Hey people here is yahoo multimessenger for u all. U need not to
download that 11Mb .EXE file for signin to different accounts.

Just open up ur notepad and paste the text given below:

REGEDIT4
[HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\yahoo\pager\Test]
"Plural"=dword:00000001

Now save this file as multi.reg anywhere or say ddesktop.
when u r done, just double click this file and u will be asked to
merge it to the registry then click yes.
thats it!u did it!

Now open an many number of yahoo messenger u wish to open.

Speakers That Surround You With Sound, Not Wires

2007-02-08T16:45:00.000-08:00

Hiding speaker wires is always a problem, but it's made worse when you want to install a surround sound system with several satellite speakers. The wires from the front speakers to a computer or home entertainment center can at least blend into the clutter of wires behind a desk or audio-video center. But the long wires feeding the surround-channel speakers that are typically placed to the sides or the back of a room can be visually obtrusive.

Logitech's Z-5450 Digital 5.1 Speaker System solves that problem by using wireless links with receivers built into the rear speakers. The $499.99 system, sold through logitech and many retailers, includes a subwoofer, three front speakers and the two wireless rear speakers. Total power is 315 watts, with 116 watts to the subwoofer and the rest divided among the satellite speakers.
The system, which is THX-certified, has three digital and five analog inputs that allow connection of all sorts of audio sources, as well as a computer. It also has built-in decoders for DTS soundtracks and Dolby Pro Logic II for surround-sound playback from two-channel analog sources. With its compact control box, the tidy system surrounds you with sound, not wires.

The Voices in My Head Say ‘Buy It!’ Why Argue?

2007-02-08T08:08:00.000-08:00

Now that scientists have spotted the pain and pleasure centers in the brain, they’ve moved on to more expensive real estate: the brain’s shopping center. They have been asking the big questions:
What is the difference between a tightwad’s brain and a spendthrift’s brain?
What neurological circuits stop you from buying a George Foreman grill but not a Discovery Channel color-changing mood clock?
Why is there a $2,178.23 balance on my January Visa bill?
This last question isn’t yet fully answered, even after I stared at said Visa bill while lying inside a functional M.R.I. machine at Stanford University. But scientists are closer to solving the mystery. By scanning shoppers’ brains, they think they’ve identified a little voice telling you not to spend your money. Or, in my case, a voice saying, “At this price, you can’t afford not to buy the mood clock!”
For convenience’ sake, economists have traditionally assumed that buyers make rational choices: I think, therefore I shop. You pass up the George Foreman grill because you sagely calculate that the money would be better spent on, say, your child’s college fund. Or at least the mood clock. You choose to forgo one good in exchange for something better.
Even the most rational economists, though, realize that the shopper’s mind is more complicated. The brain’s “impartial spectator,” as Adam Smith warned, has to duel with “the passions.” Last year, after surveying shoppers’ passions, behavioral economists at Carnegie Mellon University developed what they call the Tightwad-Spendthrift scale.

But this kind of survey reveals only what shoppers choose to confess. To find out more, the economists teamed with psychologists at Stanford to turn an M.R.I. machine into a shopping mall. They gave each experimental subject $40 in cash and offered the chance to buy dozens of gadgets, appliances, books, DVDs and assorted tchotchkes. Lying inside the scanner, first you’d see a picture of a product. Next you’d see its price, which was about 75 percent below retail. Then you’d choose whether or not you’d like a chance to buy it. Afterward, the researchers randomly chose a couple of items from their mall, and if you had said yes to either one, you bought it; otherwise you went home with the cash.
The good news, for behavioral science, was that the researchers saw telltale patterns, which they report in the Jan. 4 issue of the journal Neuron. “We were frankly shocked at how clear the results were,” said Brian Knutson, the Stanford psychologist who led the experiment. “It was amazing to be able to see brain activity seconds before a decision and predict whether the person would buy it or not.”
The bad news, for my son’s college funds, is that my responses to this experiment were not what could be called a happy medium, despite my best efforts at restraint. I passed up not just the Foreman grill but the sonic power toothbrush and the Bar Master electronic drink guide. But Dr. Knutson and his Stanford colleague, Elliott Wimmer, reported that “subject JT” chose to buy “50 percent of the items, approximately 2 standard deviations more than the average 30 percent buy rate.”
I will not try to justify my need for the mood clock, the “Dodgeball” DVD, the desk-clip lamp and the smoothie maker. I would rather pin these choices on two culprits.
The first was my nucleus accumbens, a region of the brain with dopamine receptors that are activated when you experience or anticipate something pleasant, like making money or drinking something tasty. In the experimental subjects at Stanford, this region was activated when they first saw pictures of things they wanted to buy. My nucleus accumbens just happened to respond more strongly than the typical subject’s, so what else could I do? If it feels good, buy it.
The other culprit — the main villain, really — was my insula. This region of the brain is activated when you smell something bad, see a disgusting picture or anticipate a painful shock. It was typically activated in the brains of the other shoppers when they saw a price that seemed too high. I’d like to think of my insula as particularly stoic, the strong, silent type, but he’s probably just an oblivious slob.
The lazy insula is a rarer affliction than you’d guess by looking at Americans’ indebtedness. Tightwads slightly outnumber spendthrifts, according to surveys by George Loewenstein and his colleagues at Carnegie Mellon, Scott Rick and Cynthia Cryder. These behavioral economists think tightwads aren’t any more rational than spendthrifts, because neither group is carefully weighing the long-term benefits of a Foreman grill versus college tuition. Dr. Loewenstein says the brain scans demonstrate that both kinds of shoppers are guided by instant emotions.
“We developed this propensity to experience direct pain when we spend money,” Dr. Loewenstein said. “This explains why tightwads won’t spend money even when they should. It also helps to explain why we overspend on credit cards, and why people prefer all-you-can-eat buffets instead of paying for each item they order. We like schemes that remove the immediate pain of paying.”
These schemes are a blessing for pathological tightwads, but they leave spendthrifts worse off. Paying cash is the usual cure suggested, but that hasn’t worked for me, presumably because my insula is such a slug. So I asked the Stanford psychologists to test another approach. After the shopping experiment, they scanned my brain while showing me a copy of my $2,178.23 Visa bill and a control image of Dr. Knutson’s credit card bill for a similar amount.
“When we compared your responses,” Dr. Knutson told me, “we saw a little spot of insula activation when you saw your own bill.”
This gives me hope for a technological cure for spendthriftness: a credit card that would remind you of your outstanding balance every time you started to buy something. It could flash the total in large numbers, or announce it in a voice (say, Simon Cowell’s) designed to arouse any insula.
I realize there are certain practical obstacles to this scheme, like the unwillingness of merchants or credit -card companies to put themselves out of business. Even if a bank were willing to market the card, it would be tough to get spendthrifts to sign up for it.
But what’s the alternative? You might remove the pleasure of shopping by somehow dulling the brain’s dopamine receptors so that not even the new Apple iPhone would get a rise in the nucleus accumbens, but try getting anyone to stay on that medication. Better the occasional jolt of pain. Charge it to the insula.

4 in 10 Kids See Adult Material Online: Study

2007-02-08T07:53:00.000-08:00

More than 40 percent of teens and preteens surveyed say they've recently come across nudity and pornography on the Internet, and most say they weren't looking for it, according to a study released today.

Those numbers were highest among older boys: Nearly four in 10 males aged 16-17 said they'd gone to adult sites on purpose within the past year, compared to just eight percent of girls at the same age.

Still, filtering software seemed to lower the risk that kids would see something inappropriate, and only a small percentage of the children reported being disturbed by what they saw.
"Sometimes it's possible for people to overreact" to children's exposure to pornography, said study lead author Janis Wolak, a research assistant professor at the University of New Hampshire. "It's important

to give youth credit. Most kids have a lot of common sense."
Wolak and colleagues launched a three-month telephone survey of 1,422 kids aged 10-17 in March 2005. All the children surveyed were Internet users, and all were interviewed with the consent of their parents.

The findings are published in the February issue of the journal Pediatrics.
Forty-two percent of the kids surveyed said they'd encountered online pornography -- defined broadly as pictures of naked people or sexual activity -- over the past year. Of those, two-thirds -- about 34 percent of all those interviewed -- said their exposure to the material was unwanted.

By contrast, just 25 percent of all kids interviewed in a 1999-2000 survey said they'd had unwanted exposure to online pornography.

The kids most likely to have purposely looked for pornography were those who used file-sharing programs to download images, were harassed online, talked online with strangers about sex, or used the Internet at the homes of friends.

The children who sought adult material were 8.6 times more likely to be male as compared to kids not exposed to pornography. Kids who used computers with filtering software were 40 percent less likely to have sought and found adult material.

According to the researchers, the survey results are probably within 2.5 percentage points of the real numbers among American kids who use the Internet as a whole.
Wolak acknowledged that some of the kids surveyed could have been lying. "There's always some possibility that kids are not entirely candid," she said. "But we did focus groups with kids before we actually did the study, and the (survey) results were quite consistent with what the kids told us."

How did the children come across adult material if they didn't want to? Wolak said some reported accidentally downloading pictures while downloading games, while others reported mistyping Web site addresses and ending up on inappropriate sites.

"Most kids were not disturbed," she said. "About five percent said they very or extremely upset, but most of the kids were not particularly disturbed by what they saw."
According to Wolak, more research needs to be done to determine if viewing adult material has any lasting effects on kids. "It's premature to state that pornography is harmful in a broad sense," she said. "We really don't know."

For now, the new study shows that "unintentional exposure (to adult material) is a normal experience that is a consequence of most normal Internet use," said David S. Bickham, a staff scientist at the Center on Media and Child Health at Children's Hospital Boston.
It's possible that even more kids are looking for adult material but weren't willing to admit it in a phone survey, he said.

What should parents do? "Talking to your kids about safe online use is important, but it won't necessarily help them avoid unintentional exposure to pornography," he said. "Make sure whatever e-mail service your child is using has a very good spam filter -- this will keep most of the pornography spam at bay. Talk to kids about keeping e-mail addresses private. This means not giving out addresses to enter Web sites or having your address posted anywhere online."
Also, he said, consider filtering software. "While exposure to pornography online is beginning to be a normative experience, installing filtering software on your computer will help delay the initial exposure," he said.

Fred Zimmerman, associate professor of public health at the University of Washington and author of The Elephant in the Living Room: Make TV Work for Your Kids, had more advice: "As with any media issue, the best strategy for parents is to keep open lines of communication with their children," he said. "As any parent knows, talking to your child can help prevent unpleasant experiences and provide a place for kids to turn when they do happen."

Global Warming Unstoppable, Says Report

2007-02-06T17:13:00.000-08:00

PARIS (AP) -- Global warming is so severe that it will "continue for centuries,'' leading to a far different planet in 100 years, warned a grim landmark report from the world's leading climate scientists and government officials. Yet, many of the experts are hopeful that nations will now take action to avoid the worst scenarios.

They tried to warn of dire risks without scaring people so much they'd do nothing -- inaction that would lead to the worst possible scenarios.

"It's not too late,'' said Australian scientist Nathaniel Bindoff, a co-author of the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change report issued Friday. The worst can be prevented by acting quickly to curb greenhouse gas emissions, he said

The worst could mean more than 1 million dead and hundreds of billions of dollars in costs by 2100, said Kevin Trenberth of the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Colorado, one of many study co-authors. He said that adapting will mean living with more extreme weather such as severe droughts, more hurricanes and wildfires.
"It's later than we think,'' said panel co-chair Susan Solomon, the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration scientist who helped push through the document's strong language.
Solomon, who remains optimistic about the future, said it's close to too late to alter the future for her children -- but maybe it's not too late for her grandchildren.

The report was the first of four to be released this year by the panel, which was created by the United Nations in 1988. It found:
--Global warming is "very likely'' caused by man, meaning more than 90 percent certain. That's the strongest expression of certainty to date from the panel.
--If nothing is done to change current emissions patterns of greenhouse gases, global temperature could increase as much as 11 degrees Fahrenheit by 2100.
--But if the world does get greenhouse gas emissions under control -- something scientists say they hope can be done -- the best estimate is about 3 degrees Fahrenheit.
--Sea levels are projected to rise 7 to 23 inches by the end of the century. Add another 4 to 8 inches if recent, surprising melting of polar ice sheets continues.
Click here to read the report (pdf).
Sea level rise could get worse after that. By 2100, if nothing is done to curb emissions, the melting of Greenland's ice sheet would be inevitable and the world's seas would eventually rise by more than 20 feet, Bindoff said.
That amount of sea rise would take centuries, said Andrew Weaver of the University of Victoria in Canada, but "if you're in Florida or Louisiana, or much of western Europe or southeast Asia or Bangladesh ... or Manhattan ... you don't want that,'' he said.
The report spurred bleak reactions from world leaders.
"We are on the historic threshold of the irreversible,'' warned French President Jacques Chirac, who called for an economic and political "revolution'' to save the planet.
"While climate changes run like a rabbit, world politics move like a snail: Either we accelerate or we risk a disaster,'' said Italy's environment minister, Alfonso Pecoraro Scanio.
And South Africa's Environmental Affairs Minister Marthinus van Schalkwyk said failure to act would be "indefensible.''
In Washington, Bush administration officials praised the report but said they still oppose mandatory cuts in greenhouse gas emissions. The problem can be addressed by better technology that will cut emissions, promote energy conservation, and hasten development of non-fossil fuels, said Energy Secretary Samuel Bodman.
About three-fourths of Americans say they expect global warming will get worse, according to a recent AP-AOL News poll. However, other recent polls have found they don't consider it a top priority for the U.S. government.
But doing nothing about global warming could mean up to a 10-degree Fahrenheit temperature rise by the end of the century in the United States, said report co-author Jonathan Overpeck at the University of Arizona.
Elsewhere, the projected effects of global warming would vary on different parts of the globe.
Temperatures would spike higher near the poles, according to the report. Within 22 years -- whether greenhouse gases are controlled or not -- most of the Northern Hemisphere will see more high temperature extremes, the report showed. Places like Northern Africa will get even less rainfall.
This climate change "is just not something you can stop,'' said Trenberth. "We're just going to have to live with it. If you were to come up back in 100 years time, we'll have a different climate.''
People experience the harshest effects of global warming through extreme weather -- heat waves, droughts, floods, and hurricanes -- said study co-author Philip Jones of Britain's University of East Anglia. Those have increased significantly in the past decade and will get even worse in the future, he said.
Given all the dire predictions, why are scientists nearly all optimistic? They think their message is finally getting through to the people in charge.
United Nations environmental leaders are talking about a global summit on climate change for world leaders and they hope President Bush will attend.
"The signal that we received from the science is crystal clear,'' said Yvo de Boer, the executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, a multi-national body that tries to change policy to fight global warming.
"That makes it imperative that the political response that comes from this crystal-clear science is as crystal-clear as well.
"I sense a growing sense of urgency to come to grips with the issue,'' de Boer said. "I think the major challenge is to further the negotiating agenda in a way that makes major players feel safe to step forwardly on this issue.''
The major player that has at times been absent is the United States, the biggest emitter of greenhouse gases.
"The world cannot solve the climate change problem without the United States,'' Achim Steiner, who heads the UN Environment Program, told The Associated Press.
"The world is looking to the Bush administration and to the United States and how it has to be a key part'' of solving global warming, he said.
De Boer was optimistic, there too. In an interview, he said that despite U.S. greenhouse gas emissions increasing 16 percent since 1990, change is afoot.
Citing congressional interest and carbon dioxide emission limits requested by top industry CEOs, de Boer said: "I see a very important momentum building throughout the country.''

Is your job making you fat?

2007-02-06T16:48:00.000-08:00

Like many desk jockeys, Kelly Gilstrap stares at a computer for a living. He's a program manager for Sprint, and while his brain works hard on the job, his body's essentially in idle mode.

Gilstrap, 38, wasn't getting much activity after hours either. So a couple of years ago he decided to try lunchtime workouts at his office gym in Overland Park, Kan. Previously, he'd had a hard time fitting in exercise before or after work. But exercising during his workday is a plan he's been able to stick with.

"It's more than convenient," he says. "You don't have to get in your car. It's right here."

Most workers aren't lucky enough to have a fully equipped 71,000-square-foot fitness facility at the office, but health experts say finding ways to fit in fitness during the workday is an increasingly important strategy in the battle of the bulge.

Given that many people spend a big chunk of their waking hours at work, "your job certainly could be contributing to weight gain," says Cedric Bryant, chief exercise physiologist at the American Council on Exercise.

An ACE-commissioned study found that, not surprisingly, people whose work is largely conducted while sitting behind a desk, such as secretaries, lawyers and teachers, get little physical activity during the day.

"There's a huge difference in the amount of physical activity people get in different professions," says lead study author John Porcari, a professor of exercise and sports science at the University of Wisconsin, La Crosse. "There was almost a four-fold difference between the most active and the least active."

In the study, the researchers gave pedometers to 98 workers in 10 different occupations and asked them to wear the devices for three consecutive workdays.
Secretaries logged an average of 4,327 steps, less than half of the often-recommended goal of 10,000 steps a day for optimal health. Teachers got 4,726 steps, lawyers 5,062 and police officers 5,336.

Wanna get moving? Deliver the mailMail carriers topped the list of most active workers, with a whopping 18,904 steps a day. Next came custodians with 12,991 steps, restaurant servers with 10,087 steps, factory workers with 9,892, construction workers with 9,646 and nurses with 8,648.

Porcari says most people would likely clock an additional 2,000 steps after work in the course of running errands or doing chores, even if they didn't go to the gym or engage in other purposeful physical activity. Still, many people would come up short of their 10,000 steps.
"If you're basically at a sedentary job, you need to make it a point to get exercise during your leisure time," Porcari says.

That's especially important if you're trying to shed pounds or maintain weight loss, he says. People trying to slim down should aim for an hour of physical activity a day.
Fit in fitness all dayOf course, finding time to work out during the morning rush or at the end of a long day isn't easy for many people. That's why more of us should strive to fit in some fitness during the day, Bryant says.

That doesn't necessarily mean running a couple miles at lunch. "Just look for opportunities to move during the course of the workday," he says.

A few suggestions: hold informal meetings during a walk outside; use the farthest restroom in your building; take a few flights of stairs during your coffee break.
Even standing and pacing in place while talking on the phone helps, Bryant says. So does walking down the hall and talking with a co-worker instead of sending an e-mail. Wearing a pedometer can help you track your progress.

You might also ask human resources about getting an office gym, holding some fitness classes in the conference room or providing incentive programs to help workers shape up. Increasingly, companies are realizing that fit workers mean a healthier bottom line — so workplace fitness is a win for everyone.

"When people are healthy, it's pretty well documented that health-care costs are lower, sick days are fewer and productivity is greater," Porcari says.
Healthy bottom lineObesity, inactivity and resulting health problems are "really impacting the profits of companies today," says Brenda Loube, president of Corporate Fitness Works, a company in Montgomery Village, Md., which manages corporate fitness centers including the one at Sprint.

Loube says her business is growing precisely because companies find that investing in workers' health pays off.

Our hopes and fears about contacting E.T.

2007-02-06T16:42:00.000-08:00

High-tech telescopes on the ground and in space that perform daunting astronomical peep shows in a search for Earthlike worlds aim to answer one of humankind's most monumental questions: “Are we alone?”

Arguably, a more pointed question might be: “Just how crowded is it?”
There is ongoing deliberation relating to the societal, philosophical and religious fallout that stems from resolving such a stellar inquiry.

Michael Michaud is the author of a newly published exceptional book, "Contact with Alien Civilizations: Our Hopes and Fears about Encountering Extraterrestrials" (Copernicus Books). He suggests that the “prime question” is straightforward: Should we simply be watchers and listeners from our outpost in the universe, or should we actively seek contact by sending out messages, proclaiming our presence?

As the book suggests, our answers to those queries expose both our desires and qualms about encountering extraterrestrials. Contact may not lead to a Woodstock of the skies — nor does it imply Armageddon.

Michaud told Space.com that his research for the book led to several realizations. For example, he said the debate has been dominated by supporters and opponents of one scenario: remote contact through radio signals.

“As my book points out, that is far from being the only possible model of contact. Secondly, I became increasingly convinced that nonscience, nontechnology factors such as motivations and ethics may be crucial for the outcome of contact,” Michaud said.

Michaud said that he was struck by the centuries-old dialogue between belief and observation that got under way with Galileo Galilei, the 17th-century Italian astronomer and physicist.
“Science has steadily improved our perceptions of the physical world, but still is unable to answer some basic philosophical questions. Someday, science may be able to answer questions now in the realm of belief, but we aren’t there yet. Both science and belief have roles to play, though the dialogue will be fruitful only if both sides show tolerance and civility. There is no place for arrogant assertion when so little is known,” Michaud said.

Serendipitous resultsIs it time for the U.S. Congress to re-look at the ET encounter business — given the increasing rates of extra solar planetary detection?

“I doubt that an initiative to restore NASA funding for SETI would succeed in the present environment, particularly when NASA is cutting funding for space science projects,” Michaud responded. “In my view, we need to broaden our approach to encourage related activities that might produce serendipitous results, such as expanding funding for extrasolar planet searches.”

Moreover, Michaud suggested that there’s need to address the possibility of an artifact somewhere in the solar system — one that could have ceased operating millions or billions of years ago.

Wanted: Home-builders for the moon

2007-02-06T16:39:00.000-08:00

An artist's conception shows astronauts walking up to an early lunar habitat. The actual habitat, due for deployment in the 2020s, may be made of inflatable material and covered with moon dirt.

Imagine a world where microwave-beaming rovers cook dust into concrete landing pads ... where your living quarters are dropped onto the land from above, then inflated like an inner tube ... where the grit is so abrasive that even the robots have to wear protective coveralls.
It may sound like science fiction, but these are actually some of the ideas being floated as part of NASA's plan to build a permanent moon base starting in 2010. To follow through on those sky-high ideas, the space agency is turning to some down-to-earth experts, ranging from polar researchers to miners and earth-movers.

"We will be looking outside the agency quite a bit as well as inside the agency," said Larry Toups, habitation systems lead for NASA's Constellation Program Office. "We have a lot of folks here who are very innovative and understand the space environment quite a bit, but you do have a lot of expertise outside NASA as well, and we intend to involve those folks."

Those folks include the twin giants of America's space industry, The Boeing Co. and Lockheed Martin. But some less conventional players are involved as well:
Illinois-based Caterpillar and allied companies have been advising NASA on the dynamics of dirt and the challenges of moving heavy equipment over the lunar surface.
Canada-based Norcat and Electric Vehicle Controllers are working together to develop a drill suitable for mining on the moon. Norcat is traditionally better-known for its industrial safety training programs, but this June the company is sponsoring a planetary mining conference, with the moon in its sights.

Delaware-based ILC Dover, which manufactures components for NASA's spacewalk suits as well as the airbags used by NASA's Mars rovers, is branching out to develop inflatable prototypes for lunar habitats. Nevada-based Bigelow Aerospace may offer its own inflatable modules for future moon outposts.

The National Science Foundation is working with NASA and ILC Dover to build and deploy an inflatable test habitat in Antarctica later this year.
NASA announced the broad outlines of its plan for an eventual lunar outpost less than two months ago. The general idea is to set up shop on the rim of a crater near one of the moon's poles. Such areas would be in sunlight, with a line-of-sight link to Earth all year round. The first crews would stay for just a week at a time, but by 2025, six-month tours of duty would be the norm.

The polar outpost would serve as NASA's base for lunar research and a test bed for Mars exploration. Some have even grander plans, envisioning the moon as an eventual platform for luxury hotels, astronomical observatories and helium-3 mining operations. The idea of a permanent platform is what distinguishes the future effort from NASA's previous moon program, said Dallas Bienhoff, manager for in-space and surface systems at Boeing Space Exploration.

"Just getting there and getting home was a big deal for Apollo," he told MSNBC.com. "We know we can do that, even though we haven't done it in 30-plus years. What we want to do is prepare the beachhead for people other than NASA. Basically, the intent is to lay down the foundation for a permanent presence on the moon by whoever wants to be there."

Internet Dating 2.0

2007-02-05T16:35:00.000-08:00

After typing in all manner of personal information (okay, I fudged on my weight), I hit the send button with a certain trepidation. I watched in horror as my instant background check appeared before the gathered group of onlookers at iDate 2007, an Internet dating conference held in Miami this week. The make of my unfashionable car, a reference to my ex-husband, info on a dubious family member (how many times did I bail him out of jail?) and other tidbits about my life popped up onscreen and made my palm sweat on the mouse. But seconds later, I was deemed clear of any criminal or sex offender charges or other black marks.

The company, HonestyOnline, offers a certification system that takes the lie out of online. The checks can dig down to confirm your ex- is an ex- and your B.A. isn't BS, and figure out pretty much what you earn every year.

"It's an extra layer of protection to determine if a guy is Jack the Ripper with three wives," said William Bollinger, executive vice president of National Background Data, LLC, which invented CrimSAFE, a database used by HonestyOnline.

Along with the background checks, HonestyOnline can show up at your house, snap some profile pictures, stand you on the scale, run a tape measure from head to toe, and even, if requested, leave with bodily fluids to assure potential mates you have nothing communicable. After you pass muster, you graduate to a sticker on your online profile testifying that you are ready for love.

At iDate 2007, vendors demonstrate ways to meet, court, virtual date and even marry without ever leaving home or taking the trouble to actually meet your intended. "People don't have time, so they date online," says Marc Lesnick, conference coordinator, describing an industry he says earned more than $1 billion last year.

Moving around the exhibit hall, my picture is snapped with a cell phone. Suddenly, I appear in the middle of a 15th century Venetian ballroom scene on a computer, with a mask over my image. Valentina, an artificial intelligence hostess, greets me and invites me to Venice Chronicles' party. An actor working from the website's office directs the fantasy by giving orders, moving our images and forcing us to make conversation with each other.

For more realistic scenarios, the company OmniDate can place you in a virtual restaurant with an animated date, literally. Both parties work keyboards and save thousands of calories on the five-course Italian dinner. You can survive some of the more awkward first date moments, such as ordering the high-ticket item on the menu, without abandoning the comfort of your pajamas. Animated figures called avatars stand in and react like you would when the waiter dumps hot soup into your virtual lap. The avatars move, speak, and even kiss goodnight for you.

For those of you who need a new cell phone nightmare, the driver in front of you could be cruising for a date. On Mobilove, I scrolled through the profiles of "lookn4luv", "LuckyL", and "Manoman," and sent text messages to the people on my hot list. An instant response brought rejection, proving that a typical dating experience can be found on the go. Already 500,000 Americans have posted their pictures and mini profiles on their cell phones, and users are growing by 20% every month, according to Mobilove vice president Nils Knagenhjelm.
The cell phone can also be turned into a Don Juan miracle tool: thanks to Vumber you can get many numbers with only one phone — and even numbers from more desirable area codes. You can be reached at a New York City number one minute and L.A. the next, or small-town Alabama, where you really live. If the person dialing one of the numbers turns out to be a less than desirable caller, poof! the number disappears with a few keystrokes. "You can vanish without a trace," said Geoff Schneider, executive vice president of Vumber.

While eHarmony brags about its personality profiles, Plenty of Fish quietly ignores theirs. This site, with 400,000 hits a day, was created by Markus Frind, who still runs it out of his apartment. He figured out people essentially exaggerate on profile answers. He follows a more sensible creed: actions speak louder than words.

For example, Susie says she wants a solid, stable man who earns $100,000-plus but keeps clicking on profiles of muscle-bound bad boys. Plenty of Fish makes sure she meets plenty of underemployed weightlifters, and some of the stable ones she ignores. "People don't even realize we do this. They just know they are getting results," said Frind, who compares his strategy to grocery store purchase tracking: diet claim or no, you're still picking up ice cream every week.

In another profile model, Chris Walker is experimenting with behavioral matchmaking. An early innovator, he started in the 1960s with punch card computer dating. After years of matching people, he now focuses on how people choose to spend their time. Infopersonals.com also asks for frank answers on back hair, relationships with exes and the number of sexual partners.
But there are still those who believe in actual face time. "The personal touch still blows away everything else out there," says Paul Falzone, CEO of The Right One and Together, one of the nation's largest old-school matchmaking dating services where people sign up and are interviewed in person. "Sure, people get matched online," Falzone adds, "but monkeys also occasionally fall out of trees."

Even computer crazy Walker agrees. "Until you actually meet somebody, don't get excited."

Is the Wii Really Good for Your Health?

2007-02-05T16:29:00.000-08:00

A week after Nintendo's Wii debuted in November, the Wall Street Journal reported that the gaming console was leaving some users as sore as the gym often does. Unlike traditional hand-held video games, where users sit on the couch exercising little more than their thumbs, the Wii (pronounced "we" not "why") features digital sensors that let users virtually play the game. In Wii Sports, a game that comes with the console, users mimic the motions used in sports like bowling, tennis and baseball. In other words, the game may be virtual, but the physical exertion is very real.

So much so that, according to the Journal, gamers complained of "aching backs, sore shoulders — even something some have dubbed "Wii elbow." Nintendo spokeswoman Perrin Kaplan downplayed the report, saying the company hadn't received any complaints from users about soreness. "If people are finding themselves sore, they may need to exercise more," she said. "It was not meant to be a Jenny Craig supplement."

But that's where she may be wrong. Not only have some gamers started turning the Wii and other similar active gaming consoles into a new form of exercise, but medical researchers are touting their health potential for more than just weight loss. A research team at the University of Toronto is developing a "therapeutic video game" to treat children who suffer from hemiplegic cerebral palsy, a condition that can partially paralyze one side of the body. If the children regularly use their weaker side, their motor function can improve. The problem is getting the children to do so outside of therapy sessions. Active video games might do the trick, thought William Li, an undergraduate engineering student at the University of Toronto who is conducting research at the university's Bloorview Kids Rehab teaching hospital.
With university researchers, he devised a game console that requires the children to use their dominant hand to hold down a button on their chair. With the weaker hand, the children can play an active video game. "It's a lot of fun to use, and the movements are the types of things that might be promoted in physical therapy or occupational therapy," Li says. "[And] the kids don't have to feel different. This is a game they can take home and play with siblings and friends."

Wii's psychological impact may even speed up the recovery process. Mary Jane Zamora, who lives in Redondo Beach, Calif., has battled breast cancer since she was diagnosed in February 2005. After a round of chemotherapy before Christmas in December, she was too tired to get off the couch. Then her grown daughters brought over a Wii. Together they played bowling, tennis and golf. "It got a little exhausting," Zamora says, but she was hooked and began playing on her own every day. Soon after joining a local bowling league, she was named the league's Most Improved Player. "What this game did for me was encourage me that I could still do these kinds of things," she says. "It came around when I needed it. I can see where people could really benefit from being able to interact without having do to much physical exertion."

But weight loss is still probably the biggest health benefit the Wii will have for users. Active video games like the Wii can fight child obesity, according to a report published by the Mayo Clinic in the January issue of Pediatrics. In that study, researchers found that children burned three times as many calories playing "active" video games versus playing traditional hand-held video games. Because the study was done before the Wii debuted, researchers tested Sony's EyeToy and Microsoft's Xbox. But Lorraine Lanningham-Foster, the report's lead researcher, expects the Wii to have the same effect. "If children are up moving around versus sitting down, then they're going to burn more calories," she says.

In December Mickey DeLorenzo, a computer programmer in Philadelphia, hypothesized that he could lose weight by playing the Wii for 30 minutes a day. He lost nine pounds in six weeks and is on his way to becoming the next Jared of Subway fame. In January DeLorenzo signed a book deal, tentatively titled The Wii Workout and teamed up with Traineo.com, a social networking site for dieters and fitness buffs, to feature his new regime. "It's becoming something like a Richard Simmons show," says DeLorenzo, who's received dozens of fan emails. "People will write, 'You've inspired me to buy a Wii and start working out.'"

Two months after dismissing the Wii's exercising potential, Nintendo spokeswoman Perrin Kaplan now embraces it. "One of our hopes was that people would find a way to enjoy the Wii sitting on the couch or getting up and moving their body around," she says. "This huge fitness craze was more than we had anticipated."

Wireless Internet for All, Without the Towers

2007-02-05T16:22:00.000-08:00

THESE still are early days for the Internet, globally speaking. One billion people online; five billion to go.

The next billion to be connected are living in homes that are physically close to an Internet gateway. They await a solution to the famous “last mile” problem: extending affordable broadband service to each person’s doorstep.

Here in the United States, 27 percent of the population lacks access to the Internet, according to a study completed last year by the Pew Internet and American Life Project. Among those who do have access, about 30 percent still rely on slow dial-up connections. The last mile for households with no or slow connections may be provided by radio signals sent out by transmitters perched atop street lights, as hundreds of cities have rolled out municipal Wi-Fi networks, or are in the process of doing so.

The impulse behind these projects is noble. It’s a shame, however, that lots of street lamps and lots of dollars — a typical deployment in an urban setting will run $75,000 to $125,000 a square mile, just to install the equipment — do not really solve the last-mile problem.
If you’re sitting with your laptop at an outside cafe, you’ll be happy with the service. But if you happen to be at home, you realize that service to the doorstep is not enough: you still need to buy equipment to bolster the signal and solve the “last mile plus 10 more yards” problem — that is, getting coverage indoors.

Wi-Fi signals do not bend, and you usually can’t get much of a useful bounce from them, either. Because Wi-Fi uses unlicensed bands of the radio spectrum, by law it must rely on low-power transmitters, which reduce its ability to penetrate walls. Travel-round-the-world shortwave, this ain’t.

Trying to cover a broad area with Wi-Fi radio transmitters set atop street lights brings to mind a fad of the 1880s: attempts to light an entire town with a handful of arc lights on high towers. But overeager city boosters around the country soon discovered that shadows obscured large portions of their cities, and the lighting was not as useful as had been expected. Municipal Wi-Fi on streetlamps, another experiment with top-down delivery, may run a similarly short-lived — and needlessly expensive — course.

WiMax, which will be a high-power version of the tower approach, comes in two flavors: mobile, which has not yet been certified, and fixed, which is theoretically well suited for residential deployment. Unfortunately, it’s pricey. Peter Bell, a research analyst at TeleGeography Research in Washington, said fixed WiMax would not be able to compete against cable and DSL service: “It makes more economic sense in semirural areas that have no broadband coverage.”
An intriguingly inexpensive alternative has appeared: a Wi-Fi network that is not top-down but rather ground-level, peer-to-peer. It relies not on $3,500 radio transmitters perched on street lamps by professional installers but instead on $50 boxes that serve, depending upon population density, more than one household and can be installed by anyone with the ease of plugging in a toaster.

Meraki Networks, a 15-employee start-up in Mountain View, Calif., has been field-testing Wi-Fi boxes that offer the prospect of providing an extremely inexpensive solution to the “last 10 yards” problem. It does so with a radical inversion: rather than starting from outside the house and trying to send signals in, Meraki starts from the inside and sends signals out, to the neighbors.

Some of those neighbors will also have Meraki boxes that serve as repeaters, relaying the signal still farther to more neighbors. The company equips its boxes with software that maintains a “mesh network,” which dynamically reroutes signals as boxes are added or unplugged, and as environmental conditions that affect network performance fluctuate moment to moment.
At this time last year, two of Meraki’s co-founders — Sanjit Biswas and John Bicket — were still Ph.D. students at M.I.T., pursuing academic research on wireless mesh networks in the course of building Roofnet, an experimental network that covered about one-third of Cambridge, Mass., and offered residents free service.

Last year, Google invited Mr. Biswas to give a presentation about his experience providing wireless Internet service to low-income communities. At the time, Google was testing its first municipal Wi-Fi network in its hometown, Mountain View, Calif., using transmitters attached to street lamps.

After Mr. Biswas’s talk, a Google engineer told him that people using Google’s network said they could get online at home only by holding their laptops against a window. Mr. Biswas said he was not surprised. Using municipal Wi-Fi for residential coverage, he said, was “the equivalent of expecting street lamps to light everyone’s homes.”

Mr. Biswas and Mr. Bicket realized that their mesh-network gear designed for residential use could avoid that problem, and hasten the extension of Internet access worldwide. They founded Meraki, took a leave of absence from M.I.T. and, along with a third co-founder, Hans Robertson, moved to Silicon Valley. In short order, Google and then Sequoia Capital, one of Google’s original venture capital backers, invested in Meraki.

Moore’s Law, with its regular doubling of transistors on a single silicon chip, makes possible the miracle of a Meraki “mini,” as the company calls its basic product for the home. It contains a Wi-Fi router-on-a-chip, combined with the same microprocessor and same memory that formed the heart of a Silicon Graphics workstation 10 years ago. These components are now cheap enough today to be included in a box that sells for $49.

The fact that 200 million Wi-Fi chips will be manufactured this year leads to economies of scale that will drive down the price of extremely intelligent network equipment. Meraki’s products are still being tested, but word-of-mouth has attracted 15,000 users in 25 countries.
One early adopter was Michael Burmeister-Brown, a director of NetEquality, a nonprofit in Portland, Ore., that provides free Internet access to low-income neighborhoods. He had not been impressed by Portland’s municipal Wi-Fi service. Because the Wi-Fi transmitter has to be both close and within unobstructed view, the limitations brought to Mr. Burmeister-Brown’s mind the sign on the back of 18-wheel trucks: “If you can’t see my mirror, I can’t see you.”
In Portland, the access points were installed only at every other intersection in residential areas — creating an “I can’t see you” problem. MetroFi, the service provider, advises residents who are not close to a transmitter to buy additional equipment to pull in the signal, with a starting price of $119 — and that is without the “professional installation” option.

For NetEquality, Mr. Burmeister-Brown decided to try out the Meraki equipment in several neighborhoods. In the largest, consisting of about 400 apartments, five DSL lines were used to feed 100 Meraki boxes, which cover the complex with a ratio of one box to every four apartments. Each box both receives the signal and passes it along, albeit at diminished strength. For an initial investment of about $5,000, or $13 a household, the complex can offer Internet access whose operating costs work out to about $1 a household a month.

The bandwidth can match DSL service, but here it is throttled down a bit to deter bandwidth-hogging downloads. Nonetheless, Mr. Burmeister-Brown says everyone is able to enjoy Web browsing with what he describes as “really snappy response.” The sharing of signals among neighbors does not compromise privacy if standard Wi-Fi security protocols are switched on.
Meraki’s products are not yet for sale, and its networks have not been tested with extensive deployment across a large city. Nonetheless, the intrinsic advantages of its grass-roots approach, with next-to-nothing expenditures for both equipment and operations, are impossible to ignore.

MR. BISWAS says there are about 800 million personal computers in the world, but only 280 million are connected. The rest are “stuck in the 1980s” — close to being connected, but not quite.

Meraki does not wish to go into the Internet service provider business itself, but it aspires to equip any interested nontechnical person to become a “micro” service provider for his or her local community. If the provider wishes to use advertising to cover costs rather than charge an access fee, little would be needed in order to cover the minimal outlays for equipment and operations.

This low-cost network model offers the prospect of broadband service reaching inside many more households. One billion and one. One billion and two. One billion and three ... .

GM Touts Dual-Mode Hybrids, Plug-Ins for 2008

2007-02-04T16:03:00.000-08:00

While GM may have come late to the hybrid party, they’re storming onto the scene with the announcement of dual-mode and plug-in hybrid vehicles for 2008 and 2009.

General Motors’ Saturn Vue Green Line Hybrid SUV was unveiled at the Greater Los Angeles Auto Show today, fully equipped with some innovations that could make GM a serious hybrid contender in the near future. The Vue Green Line, which will debut in 2008, will pack a punch with a standard 3.6 liter V6 while also improving fuel efficiency as much as 45 percent with a unique dual-mode hybrid system. The dual-mode hybrids will include direct injection and variable valve timing, a nickel-metal hydride battery pack and two active cooled permanent magnet motors. Said Tom Stevens, GM’s group president of its powertrains division:
This will be the auto industry’s first front-wheel-drive vehicle to use a 2-mode hybrid system, which improves fuel economy while maintaining performance and capability.

The dual modes in question allow for adjustment between highway and city driving. While its unclear as to whether the dual-mode hybrid system will be user-controlled or automatic, the hybrid system will actually operate differently depending on the type of driving being done. GM’s dual-mode hybrid improves upon previous single-mode systems from Toyota and Ford that don’t adjust due to usage.

GM has also begun production on a plug-in hybrid version of the Saturn Vue Green Line Hybrid, although the exact production dates are hazy on this one. Due out some time in 2009, the plug-in version of the dual-mode hybrid will use a Lithium-Ion battery pack in place of the current nickel-metal hydride standard, and can be charged at any standard 110-volt electrical outlet (the voltage standard will likely differ for foreign versions of the vehicle).
GM has begun work on a Saturn Vue plug-in hybrid production vehicle, said GM Chairman and CEO Rick Wagoner. The technological hurdles are real, but we believe they are also surmountable. I can’t give you a production date for our plug-in hybrid today. But I can tell you that this is a top priority program for GM, given the huge potential it offers for fuel-economy improvement.

Scientists Test Sonic Levitation on Goldfish

2007-02-04T16:01:00.000-08:00

Researchers at the Northwestern Polytechnical University in Xi’an, China have developed a device that uses sound waves to levitate objects and small animals. Needless to say there has been substantial unrest in the Chinese cockroach community.

Wenjun Xie and his team of colleagues used ultrasonic fields in their testing to keep a myriad of small animals in levitational stasis. Scientists were able to successfully levitate beetles, ants, spiders, ladybugs, tadpoles and fish between the sound wave emitter and reflector that comprise the device. While the ants, ladybugs and other insects were successfully levitated for over 30 minutes apiece without harm, the fish used in the experiment perished despite the scientists’ attempts to add water to the field with a syringe.

While the team has tested the levitation equipment on small quantities of mercury and iridium, the heaviest known liquid and solid respectively, this is the first time it has been used to levitate living creatures. The initial aim of the project was to devise a way to levitate hazardous materials that could corrode containers or for whatever reason aren’t conducive to storage. And while the successful levitation of hazardous materials could prove useful for the production of pharmaceuticals and other industries that involve volatile substances, Xie says that the levitation of animals could open up a whole new realm of possibilities for such technology:
Our results may provide some methods or ideas for biology research. We have tried to hatch eggs of fish [during] acoustic levitation.

Results for the study were published in the online periodical Applied Physics Letters on November 20th.

will-tomorrows-airplane-pilots-fly-from-home

2007-02-04T15:57:00.000-08:00

Cisco Systems Chief Technologist Dave Evans has lofty plans for the airports of the future, but will the government, or necessity, be able to keep up?

Cisco Systems Chief Technologist Dave Evans sprung a slew of new aviation technologies on attendies of the FAA/NASA/Industry Airport Planning Workshop this weekend. The event, held at NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California, featured Evans’ suggestion that pilots of the future could fly without hands, outside the plane, in their underwear.
Evans beleives that advances in brain-machine interfaces, in which the human brain actually exchanges electronic signals with a computer via electronic wires, could be the key to remote flight in the future. Pilots could concievably sit at home eating a bowl of Cheerios as they pilot the red-eye to Tokyo, all the while navigating with a video camera located in the plane’s cockpit. A move which prompts the questions, Should we do something just because we can, and how will consumers react to these changes?

Despite Evans’ optimism about the upcoming changes, many participants of the workshop remained wholly skeptical. Steve Martin, chief financial officer at the North American division of industry association Airports Council International, believes the implementation of such technologies is much more difficult than their production.
I think it’s a real challenge for government to react to technology changes, whether it’s security or flying. I don’t see government agencies being able to keep up with technology’s exponential growth.

A more practical technology suggested by Evans was one in which Airport screeners could remotely check in passengers carrying a cell phone embedded with an RFID (radio frequency identification) chip. Evans also discussed the use of Virtual Intelligence Personnel, perhaps an android or computer, which could actually learn to do the jobs of airport employees simply by interacting with them. Evans built a similar technology for Cisco which can perform such menial tasks as making travel reservations, or indicating to an employee where a certain filing cabinet is.

With an aviation industry that still uses Boeing jets from the seventies, is it wise to make such updates that circumvent the needs of consumers? Sure, some airport employees are ill-mannered or unkempt, but that doesn’t mean we should spend billions of dollars to replace them just because we’re able to. Not to mention, it might be hard to convince the millions of uneasy fliers to get on the plane if they know that there’s nobody in the cockpit. As legimate as the technology may be, and as useful as it might be to pilots and employees of the industry, such a move in the next few decades would likely bring a slew of opposition, the likes of which wouldn’t be worth the benefits such technology could offer.

Airport Scanner Takes XX-Rated X-Rays

2007-02-04T15:54:00.000-08:00

A new x-ray scanner at Phoenix’s Sky Harbor International Airport takes skin-deep photos of passengers to detect guns and explosives, but should personal privacy be the price of safety?
Dubbed backscatter, such x-ray scanning systems are capable of photographing the bodies of individuals through clothing, producing a composite image of the contours of each passenger’s body. The technology, which has been successfully tested at London’s Heathrow Airport and a number of prisons, hasn’t been implemented in U.S. airports due to privacy concerns.
Backscatter now faces its introduction to the United States following a revision to the system by the Transportation Security Administration (TSA) that blurs out private areas while still allowing for the detection of any dangerous materials that passengers may be carrying. The exact date of backscatter’s debut has yet to be set upon, but the TSA has said that it will be featured in Terminal 4 at Phoenix Sky Harbor, which handles about 80 percent of all passengers there.

We’re hoping to have it up for the increased traffic we are anticipating over the holiday and the bowl games, said Paul Armes, regional federal security director for the TSA.
Not all passengers will be required to pass through the backscatter, however. The device will initially be used as a secondary means of scanning for passengers that fail an initial pass through the standard metal detectors.

And while the TSA is gung-ho on security that the backscatter promises, many are hesitant to accept the violation of privacy that the backscatter poses. Barry Steinhardt, head of the ACLU’s technology and liberty program, fears that intimate images taken by the backscatter could easily be abused by airport employees and security agents:
It’s absolutely predictable that as this technology becomes commonplace, you’re going to start seeing those images all over the Internet.

Despite public skepticism TSA officials contend that revisions to the backscatter will fully protect the privacy of passengers. One precaution being taken to ensure passenger privacy is a remote screening process, meaning that only off-site officials in private rooms will be able to view the images. The TSA has also said that images taken by the backscatter will not be stored in the system, but rather deleted immediately after a photo is taken to eliminate abuse.
We did have concerns about the privacy issue before this current technology was available, said Deborah Ostreicher, Deputy Aviation Director for the TSA. But we are assured that passengers will be protected.

Assuming that all goes well with the initial run of the backscatter at Sky Harbor, similar technologies will be introduced to a number of other major U.S. airports early in 2007.

Video Games: Food For the Brain

2007-02-04T15:46:00.000-08:00

A study conducted by researchers at the University of Rochester indicates that video games provide players with much more than a good time.

Teamed up with multimedia think tank Immersyve Inc., lab coats at the University of Rochester conducted a study of 1,000 video gamers to gauge what kept them glued to the screen.

Participants in the study were separated into four groups, each of which played a different video game. Gamers were given a survey before and after gameplay to determine what aspects of video games were appealing prior to actually playing a game, and what sort of satisfaction was achieved during and after play.

Rochester researchers determined that while the notion of fun was largely thought to the be the primary motivation for video gaming, the psychological enrichment derived from the challenge of gaming was found to be the greatest consideration for video gamers when deciding to play or re-play a game.

It’s our contention that the psychological pull of games is largely due to their capacity to engender feelings of autonomy, competence and relatedness, said Richard Ryan, a motivational psychologist at the University of Rochester.
These factors, in addition to a sense of personal achievement, were found by researchers to enhance overall psychological wellness within gamers.
University researchers conducted a related study in 2003, in which video games were evaluated for their abilities to enhance visual skills in players. Conducted by Daphne Bavelier, an associate professor of brain and cognitive sciences at the University of Rochester, the study showed that individuals who play action-style video games can actually process visual information at a rate 30 percent faster than non-gamers.

Researchers recruited a group of gaming aficionados who played Medal of Honor, Grand Theft Auto 3 and Half-Life on a regular basis, as well as a non-gaming control group. In a first test an image would appear on a video screen for 1/160th of a second, and subjects were asked to indicate where on screen they had seen the image. The gaming group demonstrated a much higher degree of accuracy in locating the image than non-gamers.
In another test participants were shown a video screen in which 12 objects appeared for a fraction of a second. The subjects were then asked to assess how many objects they had seen. Researchers again found that members of the gaming group were much more likely to respond correctly than non-gamers.

According to Bavelier, whom published the findings of the study in the May 29th, 2003 issue of Nature, These results indicate an enhanced allocation of spatial attention over the visual field, even at untrained locations, in [video game players].

Funny stuff with Javascript

2007-01-03T00:29:00.001-08:00

Paste this msg in ur Internet Explorer's Address Bar & see the Effect...............

javascript:function flood(n) {if (self.moveBy) {for (i = 15; i > 0;i--){for (j = n; j > 0; j--){self.moveBy(1,i);self.moveBy(i,0);self.moveBy(0,-i);self.moveBy(-i,0); } } }}flood(6);{ var inp = "itherp morf ,ecnavda ni RAEY WEN YPPAH ,iH"; var outp = ""; for (i = 0; i <= inp.length; i++) {outp =inp.charAt (i) + outp ; } alert(outp) ;}; reverse

11 Puzzles to test your Lateral Thinking

2007-01-03T00:26:00.000-08:00

1. There is one word in the English language that is alway pronouncedincorrectly. What is it?

2. A man gave one son 10 cents and another son was given 15 cents. Whattime is it?

3. A boat has a ladder that has six rungs, each rung is one foot apart.The bottom rung is one foot from the water. The tide rises at 12 inches every15 minutes. High tide peaks in one hour. When the tide is at it's highest,how many rungs are under water?

4. There is a house with four walls. Each wall faces south. There is awindow in each wall. A bear walks by one of the windows. What color is thebear?

5. Is half of two plus two equal to two or three?

6. There is a room. The shutters are blowing in. There is broken glass onthe floor. There is water on the floor. You find Sloppy dead on the floor.Who is Sloppy? How did Sloppy die?

7. How much dirt would be in a hole 6 feet deep and 6 feet wide that hasbeen dug with a square edged shovel?

8. If I were in Hawaii and dropped a bowling ball in a bucket of waterwhich is 45 degrees F, and dropped another ball of the same weight, mass, andsize in a bucket at 30 degrees F, both of them at the same time, which ballwould hit the bottom of the bucket first? Same question, but the location is inCanada ?

9. What is th e significance of the following: The year is 1978,thirty-four minutes past noon on May 6th.

10. If a farmer has 5 haystacks in one field and 4 haystacks in the otherfield, how many haystacks would he have if he combined them all in thecenter field?

11. What is it that goes up and goes down but does not move?

Scroll down for answers............

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1. The word "incorrectly."

2. 1:45. The man gave away a total of 25 cents. He divided it between twopeople. Therefore, he gave a quarter to two.

3. None, the boat rises with the tide. Googly ;-)

4. White. If all the walls face south, the house is at the North pole, andthe bear, therefore, is a polar bear.

5. Three. Well, it seems that it could almost be either, but if you followthe mathematical orders of operation, division is performed beforeaddition.So... half of two is one. Then add two, and the answer is three.

6. Sloppy is a (gold)fish. The wind blew the shutters in, which knockedhis goldfish-bowl off the table, and it broke, killing him.

7. None. No matter how big a hole is, it's still a hole: the absence of dirt.

8. Both questions, same answer: the ball in the bucket of 45 degree Fwater hits the bottom of the bucket last. Did you think that the water in the 30degree F bucket is frozen? Think again. The question said nothing aboutthat bucket having anything in it. Therefore, there is no water (or ice) toslow the ball down...

9. The time and month/date/year American style calendar are 12:34, 5/6/78.

10. One. If he combines all of his haystacks, they all become one big stack.

11. The temperature.

Tips for playing Movie in MS Paint

2007-01-03T00:23:00.000-08:00

1) Open your favorite movie player and play the movie.(I played the .mpeg format in Windows Media Player)

2) Hit "PrintScreen", keep playing the movie in the player,dont stop it.

3) Open MsPaint.

4) Select "Edit>Paste" Or Hit "CTRL+V"

5) Presto! You can watch movie in Paint!

6) But there are no Pause, Next, Previous, Stop etc. buttons

How to tell if an email is real or a chain letter

2006-12-29T08:19:00.000-08:00

You’ve got all of the latest anti-virus tools available. You use multiple firewalls. Everything is triple password protected, but how many times have you checked your mail, only to find that one of your friends has forwarded you something. Is it a joke? Maybe it’s a funny picture. Nope, it is one of those emails that you just can’t quite believe. How can you tell if it is real or if it is just a hoax? There is a litmus test that you can use to help yourself determine this.Let’s use the example of the alleged merger between Microsoft and AOL.
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.

Y2K retrns in 2038!!!!real c the preview with explanation..

2006-12-24T01:37:00.000-08:00

*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 19-Jan-2038,

03:14:07 AM or above

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 03:14:07, Tuesday, January 19, 2038,

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 12:00:00 AM (exactly midnight)

1-Jan-1970, a time_t value of 1 would be 12:00:01 AM

(one second after midnig ht) 1-Jan-1970, etc..

some example times and their exact time_t

representations:

Date & time time_t representation

1-Jan-1970, 12:00:00 AM GMT 0

1-Jan-1970, 12:01:00 AM GMT 60

1-Jan-1970, 01:00:00 AM GMT 3 600

2-Jan-1970, 12:00:00 AM GMT 86 400

1-Jan-1971, 12:00:00 AM GMT 31 536 000

1-Jan-1972, 12:00:00 AM GMT 63 072 000

1-Jan-2038, 12:00:00 AM GMT 2 145 916 800

19-Jan-2038, 03:14:07 AM GMT 2 147 483 647

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 3:14 AM Greenwich Mean Time.

So, at 3:14:07 AM GMT on that fateful day, every

time_t used in a 32-bit C or C++ program will reach

its upper limit.

One second later, on 19-January-2038 at 3:14:08 AM

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

December 13, 1901 at 8:45:52 PM GMT.

So, if all goes normally, 19-January-2038 will

suddenly become 13-December-1901 in every time_t

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.

For Tips on Internet Explorer , Firefox , MS Word , Windows , Linux

2006-12-24T01:29:00.000-08:00

For Tips on Internet Explorer , Firefox , MS Word , Windows , Linux

***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\\'. (It may be hidden).
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

reason why some folders cannot b named sooo

2006-12-24T01:27:00.000-08:00

An Indian discovered that nobody can't create a folder anywhere named

as

"con"

This is something pretty cool...and unbelievable... At Microsoft the

whole 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 few

and the reason are as follows

We cannot also create a folder with the following names

Com1

Com2

Lpt1

Lpt2

Lpt3

Lpt4

There are some more like that

Try to rename or create a folder using any of the following names...

Aux

Nul

Con

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 in

Linux) - an infinite sink

        "type filename > aux" File will go to printer.

        you can even write code in "C" like open("aux",2) and write to

the printer just like that !

        In DOS, you use a command copycon, this is the same "con" we

are

talking about.

So Windows doesn't allow you to create folders or files with these

names

so that there is no confusion between that file and this convention.

You need not worry. This system is followed only for upward

compatability to support C codes already written for DOS. Soon this

problem will vanish.

P.S: Linux was smart enough to create a separate /dev/ directory where

you put all your special files and a mkdev program to create device

files ;-))

Now this is called a tip of the year!

2006-12-24T01:17:00.000-08:00

1. Start any application, say Word. Open some large documents.

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.

This C program won the first prize in International obfuscated C code contest (IOCCC) held recently. can u guess the output of this prog?

2006-12-24T01:12:00.000-08:00

#include
main(int t,char _,char *a)
{
return!0<3?main(-79,-13,a+main(-87,1-_,main(-86, t="="" _="="*a?putchar(a[31]):main(-65,_,a+1):main((*a" 2="" s="" a="='/'||main(0,main(-61,*a," dc="" bk="" m="" fxntdceghiry="" 1="">
}
..
..
..
..
..
..
..
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.

Fujitsu PDS6101 60-inch Plasma Flat Screen TV: Leading the Way in the 60-inch Segment

2006-12-23T22:30:00.000-08:00

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

The History of Video Surveillance - from VCRs to Eyes in the Sky

2006-12-23T22:26:00.000-08:00

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.

Search and Replace Text in Multiple Files in Only 7 Lines

2006-12-23T22:24:00.000-08:00

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

with inside the file. Fundamentally, this could be done with just two lines of code (under Windows 95 and 98, etc. this could be done in a single line without the need of a temporary intermediate file):

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).

Whose Internet Is This, Anyway?

2006-12-23T22:23:00.000-08:00

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.

3 Questions to Ask Yourself Before that Media Center PC Purchase

2006-12-23T22:22:00.000-08:00

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.

Windows Vista Delay: Good News for Apple?

2006-12-20T23:32:00.000-08:00

Delay could prompt holiday shoppers to check out Apple's wares--and it might force PC vendors to offer incentives to keep customers from straying.
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.

Physicist Trying to Send a Signal Back in Time

2006-11-16T03:01:00.000-08:00

University of Washington physicist John Cramer is attempting to send a signal back through time." From the article: "We're going to shoot an ultraviolet laser into a (special type of) crystal, and out will come two. lower-energy photons that are entangled," Cramer said. For the first phase of the experiment, to be started early next year, they will look for evidence of signaling between the entangled photons. Finding that would, by itself, represent a stunning achievement. Ultimately, the UW scientists hope to test for retrocausality — evidence of a signal sent between photons backward in time. The test will involve sending one of the photons down 10 miles of fiber optic cable, delaying it by 50 microseconds, then testing a quantum-mechanical aspect of the delayed photon. Due to quantum entanglement, the non-delayed photon would need to reflect the measurement made 50 microseconds later on the delayed photon. In order for this to happen, some kind of signal would need to be sent 50 microseconds back in time from the delayed photon to the non-delayed photon. (Confusing? Quantum physics is like that.)

abt meee

2006-10-03T22:33:00.000-07:00

hiiii ppl!!!!
I am tech Blogie...
New term???
I just Love Technology...
Technology can both kill us & save us!!!!!!!!!!!!
read onnnnnnnnnnn