error-diggs

blackhole- 100 invitations

2005-09-09T23:42:00.000+08:00

Google email named Gmail is now offering 100 invitations to be spread for those who already own, to those who wan to join and feel the feel of having Gmail.

This may the sign that maybe Gmail is going to be updated and leaving the beta version..

blackhole- Filesharers playing P2P hide-and-seek

2005-09-09T23:36:00.000+08:00

blackhole- Help site for hurricane victims

2005-09-09T23:22:00.000+08:00

big impact- Hurricane stories on the Web

2005-09-09T23:14:00.000+08:00

With the mainstream media struggling with the logistics of covering the story, the blogs came into their own, providing gripping first-hand accounts from someone riding out the hurricane, posting updates on the flooding situation and helping put people in touch with stranded relatives.

[[full article]]

big impact- Microsoft to offer Internet telephoning

2005-09-09T23:06:00.001+08:00

big impact- Microsoft to offer Internet telephoning

2005-09-09T23:06:00.000+08:00

best- The positive side of videogames

2005-09-09T22:59:00.000+08:00

online tips- Making sense of tech talk

2005-09-09T22:45:00.000+08:00

blackhole- Game Boy Micro misses the mark

2005-09-08T23:44:00.000+08:00

Nintendo Co’s new Game Boy Micro handheld could have been so much more than a tiny hunk of plastic that plays videogames.

But I’m still searching for a compelling reason to spend US$99 on this machine, the smallest portable gaming system I’ve ever used, when Nintendo itself already offers better products for not much more money.

[[full article]]

blackhole- What you should know about IT crimes

2005-09-08T23:35:00.000+08:00

When someone does something wrong to you using a computer or damage your IT system such as hacking for fun, it can either be a criminal offence or a civil wrong.....

[[full article]]

try ar- Double monitors double the fun

2005-09-08T23:25:00.001+08:00

try ar- Double monitors double the fun

2005-09-08T23:25:00.000+08:00

best- Mario's still on the go

2005-09-08T23:17:00.000+08:00

online tips- Survival tips for Windows XP

2005-09-08T23:07:00.000+08:00

blackhole- Apple and mp3 players secrets

2005-09-06T23:48:00.000+08:00

Apple doesn't make it easy to employ your IPod to duplicate your music collection on both your work and home PCs, but you can do it.

Today's digital audio players and other portable devices often feature two levels of "off." One--a standby mode that allows the player to turn power back on quickly after a period of inactivity--keeps some of the player's circuits active and constantly draining a bit of power.

[[full article]]

blackhole- You Can Call Amazon, EBay, and Other Web Businesses

2005-09-06T23:35:00.000+08:00

Net-based companies like Amazon often make their phone numbers hard to find. Not to worry: A site called Cliché Ideas has dug them up.

[[full article]]

blackhole- High-End Manufacturers Don't Always Make Their Products

2005-09-06T23:22:00.000+08:00

blackhole- Faster Shipping Isn't Always Faster

2005-09-06T23:06:00.000+08:00

Faster Shipping Isn't Always Faster

You Can Kill Messenger

[[full article]]

blackhole- Game Consoles Are Hackable

2005-09-05T04:03:00.000+08:00

blackhole- manufacturing secrets revealed

2005-09-05T03:48:00.000+08:00

You Can Save Big Money on Big-Name Software Packages

That Dead Pixel on Your LCD May Not Be Covered

[[full article]]

blackhole- secret revealed: Your Cell Phone's Been Crippled

2005-09-04T00:19:00.000+08:00

blackhole- Filesharers playing P2P hide-and-seek

2005-09-03T23:33:00.000+08:00

Traffic in the popular file-sharing network BitTorrent has fallen in the wake of a crackdown on piracy, but filesharers have merely shifted to another network, eDonkey, new data released on Monday showed.

Popular movies like Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith have surfaced on the BitTorrent before they even appeared in theatres.

A study by the Cambridge-based Internet analysis firm CacheLogic found that eDonkey is now roughly on par with BitTorrent in the United States, China, Japan and Britain.

It is the dominant peer-to-peer filesharing network in South Korea, which has the world’s highest percentage, of high speed Internet use, and also in Italy, Spain and Germany.

This is almost assuredly a result of the increased legal action toward the once-ignored BitTorrent – a game of P2P hide-and-seek.

Last year BitTorrent was consuming up to third of the Internet’s total bandwidth as users traded huge movie and television files. Hollywood struck back with a slew of lawsuits to shut down websites that provided “tracker” links, which tell the network where to look for files.

The United States has also seen a surprising return to popularity of the Gnutella filesharing network, which had faded after an earlier crackdown by music companies.

Gnutella was once seen as dead so may be off the radar of the music and movie industries. It’s proof that legal pressure from industry groups results in the mass migration of filesharers to an alternative network, whether old or new. This cat and mouse game will continue.

About 60% of the Internet’s total bandwidth consists of P2P traffic.

P2P which is sends data from user to user is often difficult to shut down because networks don’t rely on a centralized server to distribute data.

In a precedent-setting ruling earlier this summer, the US Supreme Court ruled against P2P firm Grokster, saying that because the company’s intent was to encourage copyright infringement, it could be held liable for the movies and music traded on its network.

But any hopes from Hollywood that the Grokster ruling would result in less P2P traffic have not been fulfilled.

The Grokster case did not result in a rapid decline in P2P usage.

-cat and mouse game is on-

blackhole- Extended Warranties Aren't Worth It

2005-09-03T23:09:00.000+08:00

While buying laptops and some other gadgets, often, the salesperson urge or offer you with the promotion on making extended warranty.

But now, you'll know that those offer aren't worth it

[[full article]]

blackhole- Help site for hurricane victims

2005-09-03T22:10:00.000+08:00

When Katrina Blankenship started getting phone calls about the projected path of Hurricane Katrina, she wasn’t quite sure why.

But it was her website, www.katrina.com, that got people’s attention.

So Blankenship converted her personal web design and computer consulting site into a one-stop shop for all things related to helping out the hurricane-ravaged South.

“I was really shocked. I had no idea it would turn into this,” said Blankenship, who lives in Powhatan, 30 miles south-west of Richmond. “The e-mail messages are pouring in. I had about 1,500 come through today.”

Since Aug 28, the website has received about 350,00 hits from places all over the world. And Blankenship, who is working on dial-up Internet connection, has expanded her bandwidth to accommodate all the traffic.

Blankenship, 37, has compiled links to other sites that provide shelter information and victim assistance and developed a forum for people to offer help and to search for missing people. The forum is filled with hundreds of posts: some form people looking for relatives, other from people offering shelter, supplies and even a man from Kabul, Afghanistan, offering to translate documents and information into Middle Eastern languages.

The site even has garnered the attention of people wanting to buy it – one man offered US$500,000 for the domain.

She declined. “It is not for sale, it’s not a monetary-type thing.”

Blankenship said she will keep the website focused on the aftermath of the hurricane for as long as it’s needed before going back to its original purpose.

For Blankenship, converting the site to help with hurricane-related relief was second to actually getting into car and driving south.

“I would give anything in the world in my husband and I can go down there and help,” she said. “I feel guilty laying down in my bed while people are sitting on rooftops trying to stay alive.”

-help those who needs-

blackhole- Manufacturing secret: You Never Have to Pay Full Price

2005-09-03T20:54:00.000+08:00

big impact- Hurricane stories on the Web

2005-09-03T03:42:00.000+08:00

As hurricane Katrina tore across the US Gulf cost, leaving snapped communications in its wake, Internet web logs offered a unique and often dramatic insight of the storm’s destructive fury and aftermath.

With the mainstream media struggling with the logistics of covering the story, the blogs came into their own, providing gripping first-hand accounts from someone riding out the hurricane, posting updates on the flooding situation and helping put people in touch with stranded relatives.

TV stations like CBS affiliate WWL-TV in New Orleans, which was forced to evacuate its studios due to rising waters, turned to its own blog to offer a continuous stream of bulletin updates.

The New Orleans Times-Picayune newspaper joined reporters and editors from NOLA.com, an affiliated website, to produce stories and blogs about the storm.

NOLA.com editor Jon Donley had offered dramatic eyewitness reports of the storm unleashing its fury on New Orleans the day before.

“New Orleans is sinking… I don’t want to swim,” Donley posted as he looked out to see “water, appears about knee deep, and whipped by the steady wind into whitecaps and breaker.”

Kaye Trammel, an assistant professor at Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge received responses from around the world to the dispatches she posted on her site “Kaye’s Hurricane Katrina Blog”.

“The winds continue to swirl around me in my apartment. Reminds me of sound of a tornado,” Trammel posted on Aug 29 as the storm hit.

Another live eyewitness account of the storm’s impact came from John Strain, a social worker in Covington, Louisiana.

“The wind is really picking up now and I hear the roof above me wobble.” Strain wrote in his blog. “The sound is like waterfall of rushing river. It is powerful noise. It is a noise that reminds me how small I am and how big god is.”

A list of most requested search words on Technorati.com, a San Francisco-based search engine that tracks more than 16 million blogs on the worldwide web, showed searches related to the storm occupying the top five spots.

A search under “Hurricane Katrina” offered links to more than 16.000 posting.

try ar- You Too Can Exploit Windows' Bad Security

2005-09-03T03:41:00.000+08:00

The title says it all...

[[full article]]

blackhole- Fraudulent use of technology on the rise

2005-09-03T03:40:00.000+08:00

big impact- Microsoft to offer Internet telephoning

2005-09-03T02:15:00.000+08:00

Microsoft has sent a shudder through the traditional telecoms industry when it announced plans to develop and Internet telephone service, allowing calls from computers to fixed line and mobile phones and other PCs.

The software company is bolstering its expertise through the acquisition of Teleo, a small San Francisco firm that makes Voice-over-Internet Protocol (VoIP). Microsoft intends to integrate the technology into its systems and develop services allowing consumers to make calls from their desktop by the end of the year.

Service offering cheap phone calls via the Internet have been around for a decade of so but the technology is only now beginning to attract big name firms and gain momentum. Yahoo! recently bought Dialpad, another firm that allows users to call over the Internet to traditional phones, with the aim of adding the software to its online portal.

Google has launched Goolge Talk, a more limited offering that allows users to send instant messages and hold live voice conversations with other PC users. AOL has also announced a voice service.

VoIP is cheaper than making a traditional phone call because it uses the Internet, sending the voice in the same was as e-mail or WebPages.

There are an estimated three million people using VoIP services in the biggest market, the United States. IDC, the telecoms consultancy, forecasts that will rise to 27 million b7 2009, putting traditional telephone firms under intense pressure.

Skype is the biggest existing player in Internet telephony. It offers free calls to other Skype software users. The company says that 51 million people use its free service while 2 millions have signed up to pay for connections to traditional phones.

Microsoft already uses VoIP technology in its MSN messenger but does not yet allow calls form PC to fixed line or mobile phones.

The Teleo software was designed to facilitate “click through” dialing of any telephone number that appears on screen, either through a website, via search results or e-mail. It offers calls at 2 cents a minute to most numbers including from the United States to Britain. Microsoft said the software would be integrated into its MSN service, which has 170 million users worldwide.

Some of the traditional telecoms companies have begun fighting back. In Britain, BT is offering customers cheap international calls through an online service called BT Communicator

-Guardian Newspaper Ltd-

blackhole - Useless specs

2005-09-03T02:14:00.000+08:00

these are the specs, that you'll never or should look / consider in you buying; coz they all just useless specs.check them out.

[[full article]]

best- The positive side of videogames

2005-09-03T01:42:00.000+08:00

Videogames have been blamed for making kids fat, introducing them to sex and violence, luring them away from family conversations and shortening their attention spans.

Now a small number of game makers are creating games meant to encourage young players to exercise, focus, monitor their health and even relax.

A computer game called Play Attention is used in school districts around United States to help kids with attention-deficit disorder to focus. A company called Digital Praise – whose motto is “Glorifying God through Interactive Media” – is selling adventure games that teach players about values such as patience and trust.

Konami’s exercise game Dance Dance Revolution, which some players say has helped them lose weight, has spawned a number of imitators.

A Minnesota father has developed a glucose meter called GlucoBoy – which will hook up to Nintendo’s Game Boy – to motivate young people with diabetes by rewarding proper monitoring of blood sugar with videogames.

As politicians renew questions over how the videogames industry police itself, pointing to hidden sex scenes in latest version of Grand Theft Auto, games and devices that explicitly promote healthy behavior still make up a small part of the $10 billion-a-year videogame market.

But they provide a window into what some experts say will become a significant new use of gaming technology.

Healthy games

If well-designed, the games should make parents and kids happy. Sam Groves, 15, says his parents like the nonviolent theme of Dance Dance Revolution – and the fact that the game gets him moving. He has lost 15 pounds since he started playing in December.

Next month, an initiative called Games for Health will hold its second annual conference at the University Of Maryland School Of Medicine, where health care professionals and game creators will discuss ways to collaborate on games that help kids with cancer manage the disease and hospitals distract patients from pain.

So far, the exercise games have been most successful at crossing the bridge between entertainment and health.

More than 2.5 million copies of the home version of Dance Dance Revolution have been sold in the US Sony’s new EyeToy games put players on the screen, encouraging physical activity in the virtual world.

The fun factor

Impressively, most of the kids that play Dance Dance Revolution were straight, were sober, weren’t smoking, and weren’t partying.

Gameplaying has helped students with attention problems to focus in their school work. Wearing a helmet that tracks their brain waves, students try to make objects fly across the screen or build pyramids using only their powers of concentration.

While the district has ho formal data, teachers report that students who have been playing the game for 30 minutes twice a week are paying better attention in class. As for the kids, “they enjoy it”.

-the good side-

blackhole- CPU manufacturing secret

2005-09-03T01:41:00.000+08:00

Here's a CPU manufacturing secret:

[[full article]]

online tips- Making sense of tech talk

2005-09-03T01:40:00.000+08:00

Many of us talk with ease about the Internet, digital cameras and MP3 players. But mention common computer terms such as CPU, memory, megabits, and megabytes, and confusion is sure to follow.

Yet getting such terms straight will help you communicate more effectively in this digital age, and learning the concepts is a breeze.

Q: I got a new computer at work. I told a colleague that I got a new CPU, and he said. “No, you got a new computer”. What’s the difference between CPU and computer?

A: The term CPU is an acronym that stands for Central Processing Unit.

Specifically, it refers to the main chip inside your personal computer. You’ve probably heard of Intel’s Pentium 4 processor.

That’s a CPU, a Central Processing Unit. It constitutes the brainpower of any personal computer.

Some loosely use the word CPU in reference to the entire box that houses the CPU and all the other components that make up your PC.

It is technically incorrect to do so, which is why you colleague corrects you.

That box and all the components are more properly refer to as “the computer”.

Q: What’s the difference between memory and hard drive space?

A: The word “memory” when used in reference to a computer is typically short for “random access memory” of the physical memory chips that reside inside you PC.

Those memory chips are separate from your hard drive, and it’s important to understand the difference.

There are two components within your personal computer that hold data: the memory and your hard drive.

When you install software onto your computer, you’re actually copying files from the installation CD or disc onto your hard drive, where the data is stored until you specifically delete it.

When you open an already-installed application on your computer, your operating system reads files stored on your hard drive and copies those files into random access memory (RAM), a set of computer chips that are inside your computer.

The data remains active within those memory chips until you close program or turn off your PC.

Why does the computer have to copy data from the hard drive to RAM? The reason is that RAM allows access to data much faster than does a hard drive, which is a comparatively slow mechanical device that could not keep up with the quick pace of data retrieval that you expect when working on a computer.

So when, referring to the “memory” in you computer, know that you should be talking about the actual memory chips in your PC.

If you wish to talk about how much storage space you have on your computer, then you should refer to how large a hard drive is.

Computer these days typically come with hard drives of about 80GB to 400GB. The amount of memory installed in computers today generally runs between 512MB and 2GB.

Q: What’s the difference between a graphics card and video card?

A: There’s no difference. Those are just two different terms for the same thing: the component in your PC that supplies video to your monitor.

Graphics card are one of the most commonly upgraded components of the personal computer, primarily because manufacturers are constantly improving the speed at which images can be displayed on your PC.

Such as speed is generally of little importance to people who primarily use the computer to browse the Web, read e-mail, and carry out typical office tasks.

But for fans of games and other programs that rely upon fast-moving images, video speed matters.

Q: What’s the difference between a megabyte and a megabit? I learned that my phone company rates its Internet connection speed in Mbps, which they say means megabits per second. Is that as fast as a megabyte per second?

A: there are eight bits in one byte. The prefix “mega” means “a thousand”, but the ration remains the same. One megabyte per second equals roughly eight megabits per second. It’s generally accepted to use abbreviation Mbps for “megabits per second” (note the small b to denote bit) and MBps, with a capital B, for “megabytes per second”, but advertisers often confuse the two.

Naturally, transferring data at 1 megabyte per second would be much faster than transferring it at 1 megabit per second – about eight times faster.

Confusion arises in part because peripherals such as disk drives are typically rated in megabytes per second, while network speeds, including you Internet connection, are rated in megabits per second.

So don’t be fooled into thinking that you Internet connection rated at 512Mbps is transferring data at 512 megabytes per second. That would be some serious throughput that not even today’s top disk drives can match.

-quick FAQ-

zoneH- bypassing windows password

2005-09-03T01:39:00.000+08:00

blackhole- Game Boy Micro misses the mark

2005-09-03T01:38:00.000+08:00

Nintendo Co’s new Game Boy Micro handheld could have been so much more than a tiny hunk of plastic that plays videogames. Less than a year after the innovative Nintendo DS arrived with dual screens, a microphone and wireless multiplayer capability, the company is set to release the diminutive Micro in the United States on Sept 19.

But I’m still searching for a compelling reason to spend US$99 on this machine, the smallest portable gaming system I’ve ever used, when Nintendo itself already offers better products for not much more money.

Is it for tech-savvy fashionistas who can’t afford Sony Corp’s sleek but pricey PlayStation Portable? Collectors who insist on owning every flavour of Game Boy ever made?

Perhaps grown-ups who think they’ll somehow look more professional playing Astro Boy on a Micro?

Well, that last one is at least plausible. But if you wanted to really grab the market, why not integrate cellphone functionality, wireless connectivity for multiplayer gaming or even digital audio player?

As it stands, the Micro is nothing more than a redesigned Game Boy Advance SP reduced to a palm-sized rectangle akin in dimensions to a candybar cellphone.

The Nintendo faithful already have a pretty small system in the Game Boy Advance SP – and it costs US$20 less. Likewise, for US$50 more than a Micro, you can buy a snazzy DS and play new Interactive games exclusively for that system, as well as Game Boy Advance games.

That said, the Micro includes several improvements over the aging Game Boy Advance SP (which itself retooled, enhanced version of the plain-old Game Boy Advance). Instead of a flip-open, side-lit 32,000-color liquid-crystal display, the Micro uses a backlit screen that’s much brighter and sharper. But at only 2in diagonally, the flatscreen strained my eyes.

At 2.8oz, the Micro has almost half the heft of the square-shaped Game Boy Advance SP. It measures just 4in long and under 1in thick.

One thing that has long bugged me about my SP is that you have to buy separate adaptor to use headphones. The Micro remedies that annoyance with a standard headphone jack included.

As with SP, battery life is excellent on the Micro, with about 10 hours between charges. And the Micro uses the same 32-bit processor and can play hundreds of games in the Game Boy Advance library.

But isn’t compatible with new DS tittles.

On the fashion front, the Micro comes with swappable faceplates available in camouflage and other patterns, and though it felt a bit cramped in my hands. I prefer it to my SP because its tiny size makes it incredibly easy to take with me.

Still I can’t get rid of the nagging feeling that puny Micro is a giant missed opportunity.

-micro fun-

blackhole- What you should know about IT crimes

2005-09-03T00:10:00.000+08:00

When someone does something wrong to you using a computer or damage your IT system such as hacking for fun, it can either be a criminal offence or a civil wrong.

When a criminal offence is committed (such as hacking to steal money), the court case is handled typically by state prosecutors against the criminals and the punishment often includes fines or jail sentences.

A civil claim, in turn, deals with a legal claim made by one party against the other in their private capacities. An example is when a movie company sues a peer—to-peer operator for facilitating the sharing of files they do not own and therefore, do not have the right to distribute.

Usually, a civil claim involves one party trying to get the other party to stop doing something or one party asking for payment in the form of damages for a wrong act.

Civil court cases do not involve the public prosecutor or a jail sentences. But in many countries, the violation of copyright is also criminal offence.

In court cases involving computers of IT systems in general, the wrong, whether criminal or civil in nature, is likely to be committed either:

1- against the computer as the target itself; or
2- using the computer to commit an offence. In either case, the computer is often used as a repository or incriminating evidence or data.

For a crime to take place, there has to be criminal intent and action to give effect to that intention. Thinking about committing online theft of money, for example, is not a criminal offence until the crime itself is carried out. An attempt to commit a criminal offence, even if it fails, it is a criminal offence.

In most jurisdictions, it is a paramount rule that if there is no evidence, the accused party cannot prosecuted (if it is a crime) or sued (if it is civil wrong).

To succeed in a court action, evidence must be produced in court. Whether or not any evidence can be brought into the court to be shown to the judge (for the jury in some countries) is governed by rules relating to admissibility of evidence.

Take the example of an intrusion. If the evidence relating to the intrusion is not properly handled, such as when the log files are illegally collected, it may become inadmissible in court.

Once the evidence in admitted, the weight given to the evidence needs to be gathered, computer forensic professionals must be involved.

Computer forensic law is a branch within IT security law that deals with the management of “digital” or “electronic” evidence. Computer forensic law deals with the legal aspects of computer investigation.

In involves the analysis of digital evidence covering the identification, examination, preservation and presentment of electronic evidence in a manner that would allow such evidence to be admitted in a court of law.

The reason why lawyers are involved in what is essentially a technical realm is that, when there is legal proceeding, evidence has to be produced in court to prove a case.

So, computer forensic professionals need to work with lawyers to ensure that what they have collected and analyzed can be presented in court.

The presentation of such evidence in a court has to comply not only with the rules of procedure in a particular country but the substantive law dealing with the admissibility and weight given to such evidence.

Enforcement and investigation officers involved in computer-related crimes should therefore understand the requirements of the law.

-The writer is author of E-security Law & Strategy (www.mlj.com.my) and a visiting associate professor at a local university. He is also an associate fellow at the Center for Asia-Pacific Technology Law & Policy in Singapore

-know about IT crimes-

try ar- Double monitors double the fun

2005-09-02T02:21:00.000+08:00

Many computers gamers are left with the feeling that just one computer monitor isn’t enough.

Plotting strategy, keeping a handle on the overall gameplay, and chatting with other players all require plenty of screen space.

Dual display gaming or surround gaming can help. When several monitors are linked together to create a board view of the action and to allow enough space for various applications to be run without loosing a sense of the grand scheme, good things can happen.

Put to work with a flight simulator, the virtual pilot can use one monitor to look out the cockpit window and the other to monitor the flight instrument panel.

For real-to-life auto racing, as many as three monitors may be needed to stimulate the view through the windshield as well as through the two side windows.

The dashboard then has more than enough space on one of the monitors.

Take two

A few difficulties need to get ironed out before you can get started with a multi-monitor game. Your graphics card is the first. Several graphics cards are available with two output ports. These must be controlled separately, however. Things get tricky, though, when only one of the output ports is digital.

Even the best monitor then ends up stuck into an analogue output port, with a loss of image quality.

Also, only few games are currently designed for dual display gaming.

Programming to accommodate two or more monitors is expensive for manufacturers, and the target group is too small at this time.

Titles that can run on several monitors come primarily from the simulation, racing, first-person shooter, and war games genres.

The current edition of the motorcycle racing classic MotoGP3 from THQ allows for the machines to shot around the racing tracks over several monitors.

Those taking advantage of online gameplay can go up not just against the computer, but also competitors off the Net.

Fight Simulator 2004 from Microsoft is similarly prepared for dual display gaming. The gamer can choose between standard routes and airplanes as well as seaplanes that can be used to land on lakes, rivers, or the ocean.

To celebrate 100 years of aviation history, this current version of the flight simulator also offers historical models.

The highlights include the Spirit of St Louis, the vehicle of choice for flight pioneer Charles Linderbergh for his historic trans-Atlantic flight.

Double happiness

PCs are not only devices that cam employ several monitors for gaming. Even small mobile consoles are getting into the act.

The name Nintendo DS, for example, stands for “dual screen”. The monitors are located one above the other and are connected by a joint. Technology that you might recognize from video cameras is at work there.

Large consoles are rarely used on multiple televisions. You would need three screens, three consoles, and three copies of the game.

Multi-screen games are not a really hot topic. Dual display of surround games is too expensive, too complicated, and not really ready for the masses. Monitors are still expensive and you need at least two of them.

Not to mention the fact that hardcore gamer would need to find place for two screens on his desk.

-hardcore gamers?-

best- Mario's still on the go

2005-09-01T23:20:00.000+08:00

Almost anyone who lived through the mid 1980s knows that plumbers aren’t just handy. They’re entertaining too.

The run-and-jump game Super Mario Bros with virtual plumbers Mario and Luigi came delivered with the Nintendo Entertainment System video console, known as NES for short.

The grey, rectangular boxes represented the first experience for many videos gamers in a realm that at that time involved rough pixels, tinny synthetic sounds, and two-dimensional landscapes.

The NES is now considered the granddaddy of the multi-media obsessed, and sometimes ridiculed, Nintendo Generation.

When the console hit stores in Europe and the United States in 1985, it struck a nerve with many consumers.

Unlike other expensive and fragile units, players saw in it a family-compatible toy for the living room or the playroom.

It was cheap and stable device that everyone could operate.

For its manufacturer, Japan’s Nintendo, the NES represented a global breakthrough. Including the sister device sold in Asia as “Famicon” more that 60 million units were sold during 1994.

Outside of Japan, the NES was without competition: Nintendo climbed in the ring just as many others were leaving.

A rash of low-quality newcomers to the field had led to a collapse of the videogame market in the West.

Many firms cut back on their business or migrated to home computers. The NES brought on an ‘astonishingly quick” comeback for the sector.

Perhaps the biggest arguments in favor of the machine are the excellent games that it spawned: gamers on many more modern consoles have a sense that there’s not enough good and original games.

NES gives both. That’s what makes the consoles so timeless. A number of games franchise that found their original success on the NES – Donkey Kong, The Legend of Zelda or Super Mario – are still being continued on current consoles.

Others constantly enjoy new versions in retro design. A dozen NES classics are currently available for the Game Boy Advance, for example. Yet there are genuine commercial reasons for this careful tending of tradition: studies have shown that pixelated hero Mario is just as well known to children as Mickey Mouse or Bugs Bunny.

The NES itself has long since given way to more powerful successors. Yet many fans have been unwilling to part with their copy, in some cases because it was the first console of their own.

Others enjoy the challenge of finding something new, Nintendo reports that more the 500 NES games were published, and meaning that even the most passionate fan is unlikely to have played them all in their entirety.

Some 20 years after their first release, the consoles have held on to an astoundingly large fan community: there are still a lot of people who play NES, and not just for nostalgia.

Devices, software and accessories like the light pistol and the fitness mat are routinely listed at online auction houses.

A console with the basic game package can usually he had for US$50 on eBay.

For an uncommon and well-preserved game, collectors will sometimes pay twice that much.

-fun plumber-

blackhole- Embracing tech to keep kids safety

2005-09-01T23:18:00.000+08:00

online tips- Survival tips for Windows XP

2005-09-01T23:00:00.000+08:00

The difference between using Windows XP and struggling with it often comes down to knowledge.

Tricks like knowing how to start XP when things go wrong and how to rid your machine of performance-snapping. Background programs can help you avoid heartburn and get back to work when others will be calling technical support.

Q: What is Safe Mode and how do I use it?

A: Safe Mode in Windows XP without all of the device drivers and background processes that might cause the operating to malfunction.

Safe mode is an essential troubleshooting tool. If you install a new video driver, for example, and immediately thereafter your system fails to start properly, you’ll need to enter safe mode in order to remove the driver and get back to working order.

Safe mode only loads those tasks and processes that are absolutely essential to running Windows.

Entering safe mode is anything but intuitive, however. So it’s a good idea to write down the steps and put them somewhere where you’ll have them when you need them.

First, reboot you computer. While your computer is going through its initial startup phases, either hold down the Ctrl key or press the F8 key.

In practice, it can be difficult to tap or press these keys at exactly the right moment, and it apparently takes finding the right moment on some computers.

When you get it right, a startup screen will appear instead of the normal Windows splash screen.
On the startup screen, you’ll see an option for loading Safe Mode. Choose that, and press Enter.

An alternative way to enter safe mode is to instruct Windows XP to start in this mode the next time that you boot your computer.

To do this, launch the System Configuration, Utility by pressing Start button, clicking Run, and in resulting run dialogue, typing ‘msconfig” (without the quotation marks). Press Enter and the Configuration Utility starts.

Click the BOOT.INI tab, and check the box labeled /SAFEBOOT. Now when you reboot, XP will start in safe mode and keep doing so until you uncheck this option.

Keep in mind that within safe mode, many of your normal applications will not function properly, because some of their necessary components will not have been loaded.

So stay in safe mode only long enough to perform a specific task. Reboot and enter Windows normally as soon as you’re finished.

Q: My Windows XP computer takes forever to start, and I believe it’s because of the entire programs that start automatically. How can I remove these?

A: You’re probably right. When you first got your computer, or your first installed Windows XP, you probably notice how fast everything seemed.

But that speed demon slowly, over time, turns into a slug, and one reason is because off all the programs that wiggles themselves into your Windows XP startup routine.

To make matters worse, it’s often difficult to discover exactly what is loading behind the scenes when you start your Windows XP computer.

Start by opening the Windows Start menu, clicking Run and typing “msconfig” in the Run dialogue box, and then pressing Enter. The Msconfig tool launches.

Click the Startup tab, and you’ll see a long list of programs that start automatically each time you boot your PC.

You’ll recognize the names of the some, and you can freely deselect anything that you know you do not want to start each time your PC does.

Don’t worry: if you deselect something that should start, you can always return to this dialogue box, and reselect the item.

You should check you Startup folder. Click Start, Program Files, Startup, and take a look at the programs that are listed there.

Each of those items starts when your computer does, and each takes time to load. If you’d like to remove something, simply right-click it, and choose Delete from the pop-up menu.

You should revisit this menu from time to time, as tiny process and programs have a way of sneaking back into the Startup folder.

Also, don’t forget about spyware, which can slow down you PC measurably as it loads itself surreptitiously and monitors your activities.

Downloads and use Ad-Aware, Microsoft’s Windows Antispyware, and other spyware detection and removal software. You’ll find a list of popular programs at Antispyware Tools (www.mnsi.net/~jhlavac/security/spyware.htm).

Q: How do I remove Windows components when they’re not listed in the Add/Remove section of Control Panel?

A: The Add/Remove section of the Windows Control Panel allows you ro remove any program that was installed using a Windows-compliant installer.

You an also click the Add/Remove Windows Components dialogue box to access another dialogue box that allows you to remove Windows-specific applications such as Windows Messenger, Outlook Express, MSN Explorer, and more.

-quick tips-

blackhole- Finding effective ways to charge for online content

2005-09-01T22:58:00.000+08:00

Everybody knows that online stuff is free, which is rather a problem for companies that want to provide quality content, but don’t have a budget that will enable them to give it away.

Those who want to offer expensive content, and who have not been able to persuade audience to pay for this, can resort to alternative funding methods.

[[full article]]

blackhole- Apple and mp3 players secrets

2005-09-01T16:39:00.000+08:00

You Can Use an IPod to Move Music

Apple doesn't make it easy to employ your IPod to duplicate your music collection on both your work and home PCs, but you can do it.

If you have a Windows machine, simply plug in your IPod, find it listed in Windows Explorer, and make sure your machine can view hidden files.

Open the 'IPod_Control' folder and copy the 'My_Music' folder to your PC. Import those tracks into ITunes and put them in order there. Select Edit, Preferences, and choose the Advanced tab. Select a location for your music library by clicking the Change button, and then check Keep iTunes Music folder organized.

Utilities such as the $15 IPodRip--available for PCs and Macs from The Little App Factory--can help automate this process.

You Can Get a Human on the Phone

Follow the directions at Paul English's Find-A-Human IVR Phone System Shortcuts site to reach a human operator at any of more than 60 cell phone, PC, and travel firms.

MP3 Players Run Down Too Fast

Today's digital audio players and other portable devices often feature two levels of "off." One--a standby mode that allows the player to turn power back on quickly after a period of inactivity--keeps some of the player's circuits active and constantly draining a bit of power.
That's what Jan Schuppius and several other members of Creative Labs' MP3 support forum found was reducing the battery life on their Zen Micro players from 12 hours to fewer than 6 hours. (Click here for their analysis.)

Creative fixed that problem in early July with a firmware update that lowered the standby time to 4 hours before the device shuts down fully, but I found the same drawback with an IRiver H10 I've been testing.

Device manufacturers could follow Creative's lead in lowering standby time or correct this issue by permitting users to completely power down their players. Given the choice, many would opt for longer battery life.

-Apple and mp3 players secrets-

blackhole- You Can Call Amazon, EBay, and Other Web Businesses

2005-09-01T16:15:00.000+08:00

You Can Call Amazon, EBay, and Other Web Businesses

Sometimes the best e-mail and chat support in the world is no substitute for a conversation with a real person.

But that kind of talk isn't cheap, so to cut costs, Net-based companies like Amazon often make their phone numbers hard to find.

Not to worry: A site called Cliché Ideas has dug them up:

* Amazon: 800/201-7575
* EBay: 800/322-9266

Security Center Can Be Muted

I keep my Windows system pretty well secured, but somehow that doesn't prevent Windows' Security Center from informing me that 'Your computer might be at risk' every morning when I turn on my computer.

That message gets old fast. To banish it for good, go to Start, Control Panel, Security Center. Then click Change the way Security Center alerts me in the resources box and uncheck all of the boxes on the resulting screen.

-quick tips-

online tips- quick short tips

2005-09-01T16:00:00.000+08:00

Spammer turn interest to snowflaking
spammers started making every message different -- sometimes radically different, using a technique called snowflaking.

Microsoft Windows: Finding a Window That's Off the Edge of the Screen
Even a window at the top of the pile can be nearly invisible. A window can be moved anywhere on the Windows Me desktop, including off the screen. In fact, you can inadvertently move 99 percent of a window off the screen, leaving just a tiny corner showing

Sending a "Sorry, I'm Away" Message
tell Yahoo! Mail (and other e-mail) to automatically reply to all who send you e-mail while you're away.

Killing the Messenger
Many people think of Windows Messenger as an intrusive time sink, only marginally more annoying than having a swarm of killer bees take up residence on a motherboard.

Using CSS Versus Deprecated HTML
tips tuning websites.

[[full article]]

blackhole- High-End Manufacturers Don't Always Make Their Products

2005-08-31T11:50:00.000+08:00

It's tough to know who really makes anything these days.

In an era of shrinking profit margins, major companies such as Dell and HP often save money by outsourcing much of the design and assembly of their products to a small number of less-well-known (and usually overseas) companies--sometimes the same companies that supply cut-price competitors.

For example, most vendors selling LCD monitors don't make their own LCD panels.

Dell buys the panel in its 24-inch wide-screen 2405FPW from Samsung; HP gets the panel in its L2335 monitor from Philips. A handful of companies provide the basic engines for most CD and DVD recorders, as well.

Does this mean that, say, your NEC monitor is no better than the Brand X model made with the same panel, or that your Sony DVD burner is no different from a no-name burner made with the same optical-drive engine?

Not necessarily. The answer depends mainly on the type of product you're buying.

With LCD monitors, for example, vendors have many ways to add features and enhance the overall quality of the product.

A company like Dell or HP can afford to invest a lot more than a no-name outfit can in the industrial design, the physical adjustment options, and the user interface for tweaking the monitor's setup.

For more commoditized products--items such as optical drives, where the form factor is constrained and where prices have dropped so low that there's little profit margin for manufacturers to compete over--the big-name vendors don't have as great an advantage.

Of course, there will still be important differences in various vendors' warranties, tech support, and software bundles; however, the performance of two products based on the same engine should be quite similar.

-not all good buys come from the big companies-

blackhole- Limitations when using XP 64-bit

2005-08-31T11:39:00.000+08:00

blackhole- secrets revealed

2005-08-31T06:00:00.000+08:00

Faster Shipping Isn't Always Faster

Everyone wants new books, CDs, and DVDs delivered yesterday.

But for some folks, standard shipping may be just as fast as expensive two-day service. Try this experiment with a recent release you can stand to wait for.

Use free or standard shipping, and check the package-tracking link to see what location handles the order (most of your orders probably ship from the same place). Most new releases ordered in San Francisco ship from Reno or Fernley, Nevada--and they arrive in two days without expedited shipping.

You Can Kill Messenger

Unchecking these boxes is the first step in removing Messenger.

Know anyone who uses Windows Messenger as their instant messaging client? Me neither.

Yet many of us have it sitting in our system tray anyway, because it often resurfaces even after you banish it using its own tools (select Tools, Options, click the Preferences tab, and uncheck 'Run Windows Messenger when Windows starts' and 'Allow Windows Messenger to run in the background').

You can, however, give Messenger the boot permanently; Click here for detailed instructions.

-extra information-

blackhole- Oh, bring back my Blackberry to me

2005-08-31T05:29:00.000+08:00

As electronic products shrink in size, they grow in allure, not only to consumers but also to thieves. Lightweight and easy to conceal handhelds, laptops and music players are sleek, valuable and often carried around as casually as a set of keys.

Because they can just as easily wind up in the wrong hands, a growing number of tracking-and-recovery services and other forms of coverage are available to help protect the gadget owner.

[[full article]]

blackhole- Game Consoles Are Hackable

2005-08-31T04:59:00.000+08:00

Today's game consoles are powerful, crammed with useful technology, and (to habitual PC buyers) relatively inexpensive, so it's no surprise that hackers are constantly finding new ways to make them do more than just play games.

The Xbox, for example, is essentially a PC with specialized graphics and audio hardware and a CPU that's a few generations old. With some dedicated hacking you can install Linux on it and use it as a PC.

See Xbox Linux Project's step-by-step guide for answers to any questions you might have. (I did not find a similarly simple way to turn an Xbox into a Windows PC.)

Within a week of its release, Sony's PlayStation Portable had been hacked to let the user customize its background images and browse the Web using a secret browser built into the game Wipeout Pure.

The PSP Hacks site has the story on this and other PSP hacks, including the continuing effort to allow the device to run home-brewed software. At press time Sony had just released a firmware upgrade that adds a Web browser and customizable background images, but locks out the latest home-brew hacks. Count on hackers to find a way around that eventually.

-hackers hack-

online tips- Migrating e-mail addresses

2005-08-31T04:08:00.000+08:00

Changing your e-mail address can be burdensome. If you’ve been using e-mail for years, chances are good that hundreds of people have your email address, and some of them you may not want to lose contact with. So you have to be methodical when changing an e-mail address.

Read on to learn how

[[full article]]

blackhole- manufacturing secret revealed

2005-08-31T03:00:00.000+08:00

You Can Save Big Money on Big-Name Software Packages

OEM: These three little letters, which stand for "original equipment manufacturer," can save you more than 50 percent on key software (see chart at left).

Designed to accompany commercial systems, OEM editions have increasingly become available in stores such as Directron and Newegg.

These stores are only supposed to sell OEM software with associated hardware--so for an operating system, you'd have to be buying parts for an entire PC. But most vendors let online stores sell OEM editions to anyone who buys a nonperipheral part--even a mouse, for example.

OEM software typically ships without a box, printed manuals, or the tech support you'd get with a retail version. But in return you save some serious coin.

That Dead Pixel on Your LCD May Not Be Covered
Some monitor vendors are better than others when it comes to handling minor defects in their products. Any small anomaly in the manufacturing process can result in a dead or stuck pixel--a dot that stays bright or dark no matter what's being displayed.

And since a typical 19-inch LCD has nearly 4 million tiny red, blue, and green subpixels, it's no surprise that some vendors balk at replacing a monitor if it has only a dead pixel or two.

But standards are improving. Philips's Perfect Panel guarantee and Asus's warranty for its V6V notebook display pledge replacements if even one pixel is dead.

Most vendors' LCD monitor warranties specify a minimum number of pixels that must be malfunctioning before they'll replace your display.

Usually you can unearth a manufacturer's dead-pixel policy by searching its site for "dead pixels" or "pixel criteria." You might also find the policy in a PDF of the monitor's manual.

ViewSonic, for example, will replace a 14- to 15-inch monitor with more than four dead pixels; a 17- to 19-incher with seven dead pixels; and a 20-inch or greater monitor with more than ten stuck subpixels.

Dell will replace monitors with six or more "fixed pixels"; NEC requires ten "missing dots." Most makers will also consider replacing a monitor that has a few dead pixels in a concentrated area.

-secret revealed-

zoneH- Making sense of pharming

2005-08-31T02:50:00.000+08:00

First there was spam, viruses, hoaxes and Trojan horses. Then there were online scams and phishing. Now there’s pharming.

If you’ve heard of this new form of spoofing, read on.

[[full article]]

blackhole- secret revealed: Your Cell Phone's Been Crippled

2005-08-31T00:19:00.000+08:00

Cingular generally doesn't give out unlock codes for its phones.

To tether you to their service, carriers "lock" phones so you can't use them on a competitor's network.

And sometimes carriers disable other features as well. But with a little time and effort (and spare change), you might be able to unlock your phone regardless of whether your carrier cooperates. Be aware, though, that doing so might invalidate your phone's warranty; read the fine print.

Why do carriers do this?

Money. Service providers generally charge less for phones than third-party vendors do, and they need to recoup that money.

So, for example, some carriers make it difficult for you to employ Bluetooth to let your phone act as a dial-up modem for a notebook or handheld (presumably to push you toward expensive over-the-air data services).

Locked GSM phones also cost you money when traveling, as you can't swap out your SIM (Subscriber Identity Module, the tiny card that holds the phone number and other information specific to your handset) for one from a local carrier, which generally will charge less than most U.S. carriers do for overseas roaming.

The easiest and most common unlocking technique is to enter special numbers on the dial pad--typically an unlock code plus your handset's International Mobile Equipment Identifier (IMEI), Electronic Serial Number (ESN), or Master Subsidy Lock code (MSL).

Some phones, including Samsung and Sony Ericsson models, you can unlock only by connecting them to a PC using special cables and software.

The safest way to get your unlock code is from your carrier. T-Mobile, for example, will provide codes 90 days after you subscribe. Cingular generally doesn't help customers unlock phones, but makes exceptions on a case-by-case basis, says spokesperson Ritch Blasi.

Sprint won't unlock phones--period. (Verizon Wireless says its CDMA handsets are unlocked.)

If your carrier refuses to help, third parties will sell you unlock codes for about $30 and up; a Google search for "unlock phone" produces links to Bongo Wireless, GSM Locker, and Mobile Fun.

Many of these outfits are Web-based, but independent brick-and-mortar shops are preferable because you can walk in and talk to a person if there's a problem. Whatever company you use, make sure it's legit:

Find a contact number, and call a sales rep to get details such as cost and service guarantees. If the unlock code doesn't work, will you get your money back? What will the company do if the unlocking procedure breaks the phone?

A Google search will also lead you to forums and blogs where fellow cell phone users share unlocking secrets--for example, Howard Forums (registration required) and Treonauts, which provides unlocking tricks for Cingular's Palm Treo 650.

Some blog sites also help you circumvent restrictions on Bluetooth file transfers. For example, IrishEyes and RussellBeattie.com publish instructions on how to unleash some of the Bluetooth powers of Verizon's Motorola V710 handset.

-secret revealed-

big impact- Why Apple did it

2005-08-31T00:18:00.000+08:00

blackhole- Extended Warranties Aren't Worth It

2005-08-30T23:05:00.000+08:00

You know the drill:

You're ready to pay for a new PC, HDTV, or peripheral, and take it home. But first you must suffer through your intrepid salesperson's 20-minute rap on why you'd be a fool to leave without buying an extended warranty. These plans are rarely a good deal.

Retailers push extended warranties hard because they're almost pure profit.

By buying one, you're betting that your product will break, that the extended warranty will cover the damage, and that repairing the product would cost more than you paid for the extended warranty--an unlikely scenario.

Extended warranties typically cost between 10 and 30 percent of a product's purchase price, so if these criteria don't hold true for one in every three to ten tech products you buy, routinely purchasing extended warranties will be a losing proposition for you.

Financial planners recommend making your purchase using a credit card that extends the manufacturer's warranty, and then putting the cost of the extended warranty into a repair or replacement fund. Often, by the time you need that money, you'll probably have saved enough to replace the nonworking tech product.

If you still want the extended service plan, read the fine print carefully; don't rely on the salesperson's assurances.

Recognize that you're paying more for peace of mind (being prepared for the off chance something does go wrong) than service.

And look for service plans that really do help. For example, some plans for rear-projection HDTVs cover the cost of replacing the backlight bulb, which you'll eventually have to do anyway.

-secret revealed-

try ar- Remote help via the Internet

2005-08-30T22:53:00.000+08:00

When problems with your PC go beyond your own computer knowledge, expert assistance is called for.

With the help of remote control technology, a technological fairly godmother can theoretically be sitting on the other side of the world.

[[full article]]

blackhole- Manufacturing secret: You Never Have to Pay Full Price

2005-08-30T22:51:00.000+08:00

With so many ways to shop online, finding the best deal can be difficult--even at a major retailer such as Dell.

The Bottom Line: If you're patient, or even just willing to look around, you should never have to pay full price for most tech products. Here are the favorite tips:

* When shopping at Dell, always check both the Home & Home Office and the Small Business sections. Prices for the same item often differ because independently operated business units manage these sections. Neither one consistently offers better deals, so when looking for specific items, check both areas periodically.

* If the product you're looking for isn't on sale, wait. Dell rotates promotional offers with blinding speed. Dell-branded products go on sale more often than items by other manufacturers do, but none of the products I tracked stayed at full price for longer than three weeks.

* The maximum discounts have seen Dell offer--around 35 percent on its own items--are rare. But discounts of up to 20 percent on Dell-branded products and 10 percent on third-party items appear frequently.

* Deals on desktop and notebook PCs can be tough to evaluate, since Dell may also offer specials or free upgrades for included components (typically RAM, hard drives, and optical drives), making it difficult to calculate total savings on a system purchase.

But sometimes you can find both discounts and free upgrades: In late July, for example, Dell offered a 34 percent discount on its XPS Gen 5 desktop, as well as a free upgrade from 512MB to 1GB of RAM.

* Check sites such as StealDeals.net and Techbargains .com, which track day-to-day bargains on lots of shopping sites and which also list coupon codes that can augment the deals you find.

Not all deals are as good as they initially sound. Dell, for example, sometimes offers as much as $750 off notebooks that originally cost $1500 and up. But check the configuration and prices for notebook components carefully: Often the cost of adding RAM or a DVD burner will rise sharply during the deal period, cutting into your savings.

And before heading to a brick-and-mortar store, check the prices on its Web site at home, because local managers for chains such as Best Buy sometimes run in-store promotions that can produce prices different from those you'd see outside the store.

-secret revealed-

blackhole- Online programs for quick revision

2005-08-30T22:50:00.000+08:00

After hours of study at school and tuition, only the truly dedicated go for the study burn; most of the rest of humanity settle for quiet hour of Scooby Doo or MTV.

If you have a computer at home, there are few tricks and tools that can help you organise useful revision time fairly painlessly. Among the best-kept secrets in the world are Luzius Schneider’s Quiz and Calculus programs

[[full article]]

blackhole- Useless Specs

2005-08-30T19:37:00.000+08:00

Digital Zoom

Not all zoom is created equal.

While optical zoom uses the camera's lens to increase magnification, digital zoom uses software built into a camera to magnify a subset of an image captured by a lens.

The software does this by upsampling (or interpolating) pixels--generating new image data based on samples from the original pixels. That process can degrade the quality of the photo, making it blurry and pixelated.

Optical zoom is the important number to look for.

Response Time and Contrast for LCDs

An LCD's response time is supposed to tell you how well a monitor will respond to fast-moving images.

Unfortunately, LCD manufacturers measure response times in so many different ways that the figures they quote are pretty much useless, as found out in "LCD Specs: Not So Swift."

And contrast ratios aren't much use either. There are monitors that underperformed their ratings by more than 50 percent.

Speaker Wattage

Speaker manufacturers have a bag full of tricks they can use to inflate the power ratings of their speakers.

But wattage should be pretty low on your list of deciding factors, especially for PC speakers. As any audiophile will tell you, there's no substitute for a good listening test when you're shopping for speakers.

So put down the spec sheet, pick up a CD you're familiar with, and listen before you buy.

If you insist on comparing speaker specs, look for a figure labeled Watts RMS that's broken down by channel instead of combined into a number representing total system power.

Burst Transfer Rate

Hard-drive marketers like to push big numbers, such as a drive's burst transfer rate.

But that number has little meaning. A typical Serial ATA drive can transfer bursts of data at 150 MBps when exclusively writing to or reading from its cache. But that doesn't happen often.

A drive's sustained transfer rate or internal transfer rate (usually around 65 MBps), has more bearing on performance.

-things that the manufacturer don't want you to know-

blackhole- update

2005-08-30T18:03:00.000+08:00

try ar- You Too Can Exploit Windows' Bad Security

2005-08-30T18:00:00.000+08:00

PC's firewall, antivirus scanner, spyware remover, pop-up blocker, and spam filter all agree:

Windows is sorely lacking in PC security.

That situation may not change until Windows Vista (formerly Longhorn) comes out sometime next year. Meanwhile here are a few ways to turn Windows' poor security to your advantage.

If you ever have to reinstall Windows, you'll need the license key that came with your copy.

But that string of 25 random letters and numbers isn't always handy. You'd think that in a world where you can't use Windows without activating it, the code required to do so would be a well-guarded secret, but thanks to lax Windows security, a 252KB download--Magical Jelly Bean Software's free Keyfinder 1.41--will recover your license key in a snap.

Just download and run the app, and write down your key.

While your license key might be written down somewhere, your Web site passwords probably aren't.

Set your Windows to remember a bunch of yours so that you don't have to figure out the right log-in and password every time you go to, say, Amazon.com.

Still,your only record of the password is asterisked out on Amazon's site.

Because Windows doesn't do much to secure those stored passwords, you can get them back using another download.

Revelation 2 from Snadboy Software will reveal any asterisk-hidden passwords. (It's free, although the site asks for a donation if you keep the software.)

A $15 utility called Aqua Deskperience pairs a similar password-revealing ability with some useful features such as a convenient screen grabber and the ability to copy text from any application (including those where a copy command isn't available).

Finally, if the password you've forgotten is your Windows XP administrator password--required for operations such as booting into Safe Mode--Microsoft has a knowledge base entry that will help you reset the password.

-You Too Can Exploit Windows' Bad Security-

try ar- Google revamps desktop search program

2005-08-30T17:29:00.000+08:00

blackhole- CPU manufacturing secret

2005-08-30T17:02:00.000+08:00

Here's a CPU manufacturing secret:

Most CPUs can be overclocked to run at least a bit faster than usual, giving your PC a free speed boost. And on some rare occasions, low-end chips are capable of running just as fast as much more highly priced CPUs.

But while overclocking can speed up your system, note that you must take care to properly cool your PC, or you might damage the CPU--and most system warranties won't cover that damage.

The big speed jumps usually come along when Intel or AMD has transitioned to a new manufacturing process and is getting great yields on even its high-end chips.

When that happens, slower CPUs that use the same technology are ripe for overclocking.

The classic example: Intel's Celeron 300A chip, a 300-MHz CPU that overclockers routinely ran at 450 MHz. Check in periodically with enthusiast sites like Anandtech (and HardOCP--they go wild when those situations arise.

To overclock most of today's CPUs, you bump up your computer's bus speed, either through the system's PC Setup (or BIOS) program or via a Windows-based utility such as NVidia's NTune.

Each time you increase the speed, you should use a utility like Motherboard Monitor to check the CPU's temperature while you stress the system by encoding video or playing a 3D game.

If the core temperature rises above 60 degrees centigrade, or if you experience any system instability (crashes, corrupt graphics, etc.), roll back to the next-lowest setting and stay there.

-secret revealed-

best- Movie downloads to make it big

2005-08-30T04:17:00.000+08:00

best- Microsoft rolling out two Xbox versions

2005-08-30T03:04:00.000+08:00

blackhole- BTX form factor to make PCs smaller, cooler

2005-08-30T01:53:00.000+08:00

zoneH- bypassing windows password

2005-08-29T23:59:00.000+08:00

As long as you have your Windows XP CD, you can get back into your system using a simple but effective method made possible by a little known access hole in Windows XP.

This method is easy enough for newbies to follow – it doesn’t require using the Recovery Console or any complicated commands. And it’s free -

Here’s how with a step-by-step description of the initial Repair process included for newbie’s.

1. Place your Windows XP CD in your cd-rom and start your computer (it’s assumed here that your XP CD is bootable – as it should be - and that you have your bios set to boot from CD)
2. Keep your eye on the screen messages for booting to your cd Typically, it will be “Press any key to boot from cd”
3. Once you get in, the first screen will indicate that Setup is inspecting your system and loading files.

4. When you get to the Welcome to Setup screen, press ENTER to Setup Windows now

5. The Licensing Agreement comes next - Press F8 to accept it.

6. The next screen is the Setup screen which gives you the option to do a Repair.

It should read something like “If one of the following Windows XP installations is damaged, Setup can try to repair it”

Use the up and down arrow keys to select your XP installation (if you only have one, it should already be selected) and press R to begin the Repair process.

7. Let the Repair run. Setup will now check your disks and then start copying files which can take several minutes.

8. Shortly after the Copying Files stage, you will be required to reboot. (this will happen automatically – you will see a progress bar stating “Your computer will reboot in 15 seconds”

9. During the reboot, do not make the mistake of “pressing any key” to boot from the CD again! Setup will resume automatically with the standard billboard screens and you will notice Installing Windows is highlighted.

10. Keep your eye on the lower left hand side of the screen and when you see the Installing Devices progress bar, press SHIFT + F10. This is the security hole! A command console will now open up giving you the potential for wide access to your system.

11. At the prompt, type NUSRMGR.CPL and press Enter. Voila! You have just gained graphical access to your User Accounts in the Control Panel.

12. Now simply pick the account you need to change and remove or change your password as you prefer.

If you want to log on without having to enter your new password, you can type control userpasswords2 at the prompt and choose to log on without being asked for password. After you’ve made your changes close the windows, exit the command box and continue on with the Repair (have your Product key handy).

13. Once the Repair is done, you will be able to log on with your new password (or without a password if you chose not to use one or if you chose not to be asked for a password). Your programs and personalized settings should remain intact.

I tested the above on Windows XP Pro with and without SP1 and also used this method in a real situation where someone could not remember their password and it worked like a charm to fix the problem.

This security hole allows access to more than just user accounts. You can also access the Registry and Policy Editor, for example. And its gui access with mouse control. Of course, a Product Key will be needed to continue with the Repair after making the changes, but for anyone intent on gaining access to your system, this would be no problem.

And in case you are wondering, NO, you cannot cancel install after making the changes and expect to logon with your new password.

Cancelling will just result in Setup resuming at bootup and your changes will be lost.

Ok, now that your logon problem is fixed, you should make a point to prevent it from ever happening again by creating a Password Reset Disk. This is a floppy disk you can use in the event you ever forget your log on password. It allows you to set a new password.
(you should keep the disk safely, as anyone can get access if the disk fall to bad person)

Here's how to create one if your computer is NOT on a domain:

Go to the Control Panel and open up User Accounts.
Choose your account (under Pick An Account to Change)
and under Related Tasks, click "Prevent a forgotten password".
This will initiate a wizard. C
lick Next and then insert a blank formatted floppy disk into your A: drive.
Click Next and enter your logon password in the password box.
Click Next to begin the creation of your Password disk.
Once completed, label and save the disk to a safe place How to Log on to your PC Using Your Password Reset Disk

Start your computer and at the logon screen, click your user name and leave the password box blank or just type in anything.
This will bring up a Logon Failure box and you will then see the option to use your Password Reset disk to create a new password.

Click it which will initiate the Password Reset wizard. Insert your password reset disk into your floppy drive and follow the wizard which will let you choose a new password to use for your account.

Note: If your computer is part of a domain, the procedure for creating a password disk is different.

other trick (much easier) is using NT password-related topic

-saving your day-

try ar- home users: building webpages with Nvu

2005-08-29T23:51:00.000+08:00

Home users who want to build their own webpages instead of using somebody else’s prefab templates haven’t had great options.

Microsoft’s US$199 FrontPage is a clunky product that produces clunky pages, and higher-end products such as Adobe’s GoLive and Macromedia’s Dreamweaver, each US$399, are far too complicated and expensive for home use.

Nvu (pronounced “n-view”), www.nvu.com provides a much-needed alternative.

[[full article]]

blackhole- Fraudulent use of technology on the rise

2005-08-29T22:17:00.000+08:00

Nothing is impossible with today’s technology.

In the mobile phone space, taking pictures has been made easier, secretive and pervasive with the increased multimedia functionalities of the phone. Within minute, you can take a picture of your new care and send the image to your friend anywhere using you camera phone.

Not everyone is excited about the increased sophistication of camera phones, especially those whose pictures were taken surreptitiously by camera phone users.

Soon when video and sound recording become mainstream features of camera phones, there is bound to be more mischief. That’s the reason why tourists are forbidden to bring their camera phones to some tourist attractions in certain countries. It is fraudulent use of camera phones that has triggered alarm bells in many countries.

As with any new development, some elements of the population find anti-social uses for technology always at the expense of those who are vulnerable.
The potential for misuse is considerable when you consider that camera phones can be taken into places where cameras are banned such as courtrooms, changing rooms and showers, research labs, military facilities, hospitals and jails.

Furthermore, perpetrators have the capacity to “snap and send” in silence since images can be instantly sent to the Internet of another phone, enabling users to publish the images to a wide audience or to transmit commercially-sensitive information.

When you consider that mobile phones are rapidly moving towards integrated video and sound capabilities and enhanced computing functionality, you’re not just talking about a camera, but a sophisticated surveillance device.

For example, when you invite a tradesperson into you home to quote on a job, you look at the phone clipped to his belt and call it a tool of trade. But consider that he could now record and send to the Internet the contents of your closet or your drawers of the way you live.

We can’t just assume it will sort itself out. We need guidelines protocols and maybe technology to control these features or alert us when they’re in use.
-regulations and guidelines to protect the people-

blackhole- update

2005-08-29T22:14:00.000+08:00

Sony adds Web browser to PSP
Sony Corp is adding Internet access to its PlayStation Portable

Intel targets power-efficiency and raw speed
Intel Corp is combining its desktop and notebook microprocessor architectures, as the world’s largest chipmaker shift its focus to power efficiency from raw speed.

Software to make Podcast mobile
A California company is hoping to tap into the growing podcasting craze with software that enables mobile phone users to stream audio directly from their home computer.

Comics in cell phone

Hitachi unveils 1TB DVD recorder
Japan Hitachi Ltd unveiled the world’s first hard disk drive/digital versatile disc (DVD) recorder that can store one terabyte (TB) of data or enough to record about 128 hours of high-definition digital broadcasting.

[[full article]]

blackhole- Finding effective ways to charge for online content

2005-08-29T19:41:00.000+08:00

Everybody knows that online stuff is free, which is rather a problem for companies that want to provide quality content, but don’t have a budget that will enable them to give it away.
These days much of online content is provided by commercial ventures, and managers want to know how their sites are contributing to the bottom line before they invest in commissioning quality content.

Some content sells without much of a problem. Web sites offering financial advice or high-quality education materials, for example, can command subscription fees. Adult materials are also big business, and likely to remain so.

But for the average corporation, persuading people to pay for content is a difficult business. Not only is there the mindset that everything online should be free, but there are so many free information sources, that anyone with a few minutes on hand can probably find what they want with the help of a (free!) search service.

Managers who want to offer expensive content, and who have not been able to persuade audience to pay for this, can resort to alternative funding methods.

Some offer free memberships, using the opportunity to gather personal data and feedback to help beef up their advertising, public relations and product development departments.
But this type of data mining tends to work just once. When someone is signing up, they may play fair and fill out forms honestly, divulging real names, real ages, real incomes, and real feedback on the sites, company and products.

But many users don’t trust companies, and will not give out real personal information at all.

As sorting out true information from false can be a real headache, leaving space to third-party advertisers may be a more effective method for recouping the price of creating content.

The fly in the ointment is that most users don’t like ads. Many have developed “blind spot” to banner advertising, and use software to kill pop-up ads. The challenge to modern online advertisers is to get and keep the attention of the audience.

A nice example of how this can be done is shown at Salon.com, a US magazine online that offers news, political, social and arts articles. Like most magazines Salon prefers visitors to pay a subscription fee. However, they offer an alternative system for casual browsers. Anyone interested in reading an article is faced with a page that reads “Join Salon premium or watch a brief ad”.

The brief ads come in all sorts of form. Some are slide shows consisting of still images that have to be clicked through, others are flash presentations, and some consist of video clips offered in QuickTime, Windows Media Player and MPEG files. But all ads here have one thing in common: they can take less than 20 seconds to load over a dial-up connection.

Of course, the system isn’t foolproof. At the moment my speakers don’t work so I couldn’t hear the audio files that were an integral part on one ad. Like a TV ad, sponsors can’t be sure who is watching and who has walked away to make a cup of coffee.

However, unlike traditional media ads, users can click through to the advertiser Web site whenever they like.

But the real bonus is this: I watched three ads in their entirety and I can remember the names of all three sponsors.

Advertisers should consider that, in the right places, rich media ads can create a tremendous response. Hooking up advertisers with a Web sites offering premium content might offer a win-win situation for advertisers, Webmasters and audience alike.

-how to charge for online content-

best- Talk is cheap with VoIP

2005-08-29T18:01:00.000+08:00

VoIP, or Voice over Internet Protocol, is the most popular means of sending telephone calls across the Internet instead of using traditional telephone network.

It is yet another killer application for broadband, and can also save your money.

[[full article]]

online tips- quick short tips

2005-08-29T00:34:00.000+08:00

Spammer turn interest to snowflaking

Spammers have become more sophisticated over time (as you've probably noticed). When they started sending messages in large volumes, they sent identically formed messages, which weren't all that difficult for larger organizations and ISPs -- with thousands of recipients -- to identify and block.

But then the spammers started making every message different -- sometimes radically different, using a technique called snowflaking. With snowflaking, the spammer automatically tweaks each message so that no two spam messages are exactly alike, just like -- you guessed it -- snowflakes. When every message is unique, centralized spam filters have a difficult time blocking large volumes of messages the way they used to.

All it takes to snowflake a batch of spam messages is a little extra programming. On the way through the assembly line, the spammer just needs to sprinkle a few hundred random words from a dictionary, or a few paragraphs from some cheap romance novel, into each message. Gag on this, spam filters!

Microsoft Windows: Finding a Window That's Off the Edge of the Screen

Even a window at the top of the pile can be nearly invisible. A window can be moved anywhere on the Windows Me desktop, including off the screen. In fact, you can inadvertently move 99 percent of a window off the screen, leaving just a tiny corner showing. Clicking on the window's name in the taskbar won't be much help in this case, unfortunately. The window's already on top, but it's still too far off the screen to be of any use.

* If you can see any part of the rogue window's title bar -- that thick strip along its top -- hold the mouse button down and drag the traveler back to the center of the screen.

* Sometimes, a window's title bar can be completely off the screen. How can you drag it back into view? Start by clicking on any part of the window that shows. Then hold down your Alt key and press the spacebar. A menu appears from nowhere. Select the word Move, and a mysterious four-headed arrow appears. Press your arrow keys until the window's border moves to a more manageable location and then press Enter. Whew! Don't let it stray that far again!

Sending a "Sorry, I'm Away" Message

Suppose you go away on a business trip or vacation and Quentin Tarantino sends you an e-mail message. The world-famous director wants you to be in his next movie. Snubbing the director and missing your big chance at movie fame is, of course, unthinkable. To keep that from happening, you can tell Yahoo! Mail to automatically reply to all who send you e-mail while you're away. Yahoo! calls this kind of response a vacation response.

Follow these steps to compose a vacation response and tell Yahoo! Mail how long to keep sending it:

1. Choose Mail, Options or click the Mail Options link to go to the Mail Options window.

2. Click the Vacation Response link (you may have to scroll down the window to find it).

3. In the Vacation Response window, write the response and declare how long to send it.

4. Click the Turn Auto-Response On button.

If you change your mind about responding, return to the Vacation Response window and click the Turn Auto-Response Off button.

Killing the Messenger

Many people think of Windows Messenger as an intrusive time sink, only marginally more annoying than having a swarm of killer bees take up residence on a motherboard. Bosses hate it because somewhere between 70 and 99 percent of all the Windows Messenger traffic on business computers consists of vapid personal time-wasting conversations.

This is a perfect lead in to one of the most frequently asked questions about Windows XP: How do you get rid of Windows Messenger, completely, so that it doesn't start itself automatically, announce to the world at large when you're online, and start going garururump at the most annoying times?

Although it's true that you can turn off most of Windows Messenger's most annoying attributes by choosing Tools, Options and deselecting most of the check boxes on the Preferences tab, many people want to get rid of Windows Messenger completely.

While you can't get rid of Windows Messenger entirely -- Windows XP keeps vestiges of it around no matter how hard you try -- it's easy to take the program off your Start menu and basically drive a stake through its heart:

1. Choose Start, Control Panel, Add or Remove Programs. Then click the icon marked Add/Remove Windows Components. You see the Windows Component Wizard.

2. Deselect the Windows Messenger check box, and then click Next.

3. When the wizard is done, click Finish. All visible evidence of Windows Messenger should be well and truly gone.

If you change your mind and want Windows Messenger back, follow the same three steps, but in Step 2, select the Windows Messenger check box

Using CSS Versus Deprecated HTML

Cascading Style Sheets (CSS) provide you with more flexibility and allow you to control alignment, color, line height, kerning, and so forth in ways that HTML never could. Using CSS also allows you to separate formatting from content and fosters cleaner markup, better maintainability, and easier troubleshooting. No two ways about it: CSS is better.

However, there is a slight catch. CSS support appeared in Web browsers in the late 1990s. By now, most users have upgraded to browsers that support CSS fully. However, studies show that about 10 percent of users have not upgraded and may not upgrade soon. That means that you must decide whether that 10 percent falls into your target audience. If so, plan accordingly.

For example, if you are creating an intranet site strictly for viewing by your co-workers, you can safely use CSS by requiring that all users use Internet Explorer (IE) 5.0 or a newer version. However, if you're creating a site that will be accessible to the public at large, you can't control which browser your visitors use. A visitor who still uses IE 4.0, for example, can't view content that is controlled by CSS -- the text appears to run together without any visible formatting.

Therefore, the best way to accommodate both old and new browsers is by using a CSS style sheet and deprecated HTML formatting tags. The CSS style sheet overrides HTML formatting tags in newer browsers, so those deprecated tags work only when the browser doesn't recognize CSS. It's not an elegant solution, but it works!

-just some quick tips-

zoneH- Attention hackers: Uncle Sam wants you

2005-08-29T00:01:00.000+08:00

As scam artists, organised-crime rings and other miscreants find a home on the Internet, top federal officials are trolling hacker conferences to scout talent and talk up the glories of a career on the front lines of the information wars.

“If you want to work on cutting-edge problems, if you want to be part of the truly great issues of you time ... we invite you to work with us,” Assistant Secretary of Defence Linton Wells told hackers at a recent conference.

[[full article]]

blackhole- Embracing tech to keep kids safety

2005-08-28T23:54:00.000+08:00

Worried by a spate of high-profile attacks on children, parents are turning to the most advanced technology to make sure their kids will never be missing for a moment or stabbed by a knife.

From knife-proof clothing to schoolbags equipped with global positioning systems (GPS), parents are leaving nothing to chance despite living in one of the world’s safest countries.

Afraid that bad man are out to stab their children – a fear made more palpable after the 2001 slashing deaths of eight students in school by a madman – parents now have a defence in knife-resistant clothing.

The long-sleeve T-shirts, sweaters and coats look like any other attire, but they are billed as resistant to slashes inflicted with the force of an adult male.

The secret of the clothing marketed by Madre Security, based in southern Japanese city of Fukuoka, is glass fibre of the extra-strong Spectra polyethylene fibre developed by US technology firm Honeywell.

For adults who are concern themselves about the company they keep, the knife-resistant clothing is also available in grown-up sizes.
Other high-tech gadgets on the market include schoolbags equipped with GPS – the satellite system used by the US military – to ensure they can be tracked at all times.

The technology can also be fun for children. Toy maker Tomy Co Ltd is selling alarms in the shape of the popular Pokemon characters.

The small cartoon figure is attached to a backpack, and when the child senses danger he or she can pull off the Pokemon character’s head, sounding an alarm noise.

A school has begun trial system under which children carry a microchip-embedded tag as small as a matchbox. Antennas at watchpoints catch the tag’s radiowaves and send e-mail to the children’s parents letting them know they are safe.

The tag also has an alert button, triggering a stream of message that give the children’s name and location to their parents, guardians who volunteer in the programme, and a security company.

Of course there has been demand for private security services from wealthy people, but it is only recently that ordinary people began to show interest.

-high-tech kid-

big impact- work the Wiki way

2005-08-28T22:07:00.000+08:00

There’s growing group of “wild enthusiasts” who both contribute and reap the benefits of open-source references.

“Wiki” is the Hawaiian word for “quick” but has been adopted by netizens as a prefix that, when used, denotes a collaborative effort – a project containing the work of the many.

The most popular of these projects is Wkipedia (www.wikipedia.org), an open-source encyclopaedia. It’s a brilliant resource that has proven to be handier than your average reference.

Urban Dictionary (www.urbandictionary.com) is an essential resource for those wondering what the hell all the cool kids are talking about these days.

[[full article]]

blackhole- Limitations when using XP 64-bit

2005-08-28T18:32:00.000+08:00

When 64-bit computing for the desktop was mooted by Advanced Micro Devices, its detractors said it was unnecessary. Among the reason cited were 64-bit processors for the desktop were pricey, and only high-end applications such as computer-aided design/computer-aided manufacturing and three-dimensional modelling could properly benefit from it.

A few years later, AMD’s 32-bit-compatible Athlon 64 processors are not only competitively priced, and in certain cases cheaper than 32-bit processors, but also tend to outperform comparable 32-bit processors based on a variety of benchmarks for 32-bit computing.

However, it will be a while before the average consumer (both end users and corporate user alike) can benefit from 64-bit computing, simply because there are not many applications that require upwards of four megabytes of addressable memory.
For that reason, many applications will run 32-bit mode even though they may be installed and executed on Microsoft’s newly released Windows XP 64-bit.

In fact, those applications may run slower if they are run in 64-bit mode, assume that everything else remains equal.

Imagine 32-bit computing as a fully laden one-tonne truck. And imagine 64-bit computing as a fully laden two-tonne truck. Although the one-tonne truck would not be able to carry as much as the two-tonne truck, it would have superior acceleration and manoeuvrability.

Of course, as processors become more powerful and applications more demanding in terms of addressable memory, 32-bit computing would be inadequate for handling the speed and graphics requirements of future 64-bit desktop applications.

But for now, it is better to run most applications in 32-bit mode even though they are being run on Windows XP 64-bit. And this is exactly why applications found in Windows XP 63-bit such as Outlook Express, Windows Media Player and Windows remain 32-bit.

This is also why software developers who are users of memory-hungry workstation applications an computer gaming enthusiasts are among the handful of people who stand to benefit immediately from Windows XP 64-bit.
For this select group, the problem lack of 64-bit driver support for a whole range of devices (printers, scanners, joysticks, etc) would be something worth enduring, considering the speed improvements that gain from 64-bit computing.

However, due to the inherent lack of driver support as well as backward compatibility problems with current 32-bit applications, it is advisable for all who intend to user Windows XP 64-bit to dual-boot. In the event that important applications do not run properly on Windows XP 64-bit, you can always revert to Windows XP by rebooting

-64bit era?-

zoneH- Scammers going 'spear-phishing' now

2005-08-28T17:04:00.000+08:00

Online criminals trying to pry passwords and other sensitive information out of companies have started using phony e-mail message to pose as powerful executives of the targeted organisations.

Known as “spear-phishing”, the technique is an ingenious wrinkle on the “phishing” e-mail scams that try to trick consumers into giving up bank account information and other sensitive details that can be used in identity theft.

[[full article]]

blackhole- Oh, bring back my Blackberry to me

2005-08-28T16:05:00.000+08:00

Recently, the New York police reported that a recent increase in subway crime was primarily attributable to thefts of portable devices, largely music players. But the phenomenon is not limited to the subway, and is not always reflected in crime statistics.

Indeed, only 6.7% of owners recovered stolen handheld computers, laptops or smartphone (cellphone organisers that are often connected to the Internet), according to a 2004 study by Brigadoon Software, which makes programs that help track and recover stolen devices. FBI statistics indicate that only 3% of stolen laptops are recovered.

Homeowners and renters’ insurance usually covers there items, but deductibles – typically US$500 to US$1000 – are generally more than the cost or the gadgets.

There is also Safeware (www.safeware.com), a company offering theft and damage insurance for computers and smaller gadgets. In New York, a US$2000 laptop can be insured for US$64 a year and a music player for US$52, both with no deductible.

A good option for cellphones and smartphones is coverage from the carriers, for about US$5 a month on top of the service fee.

Customers without insurance who need new phones are often surprised at what they cost. To sell service contracts, carriers offer phones at a sizable discount, but replacing then can be cost hundreds of dollars.

Stolen items move quickly, with the help of the Internet. Property can be sold in online auctions or bazaars trough unmonitored transactions. Stolen computers can fetch as much as US$800 and used iPoss may be listed for upward US$ 200, cellphones are sold as little as US$35 “unlocked” meaning they can be programmed with a new number and carrier.

Call track-and-recover software, the technology assumes that the stolen machine will eventually he hooked up to the Internet, and once online it is programmed to send a signal indicating its Internet Protocol address. That may allow thief to be traced through an Internet service provider.

It’s hell to call your customers and tell them their personal information has been compromised.

Trust Digital and similar companies produce software that protects information on laptops and devices like smartphones by either encrypting the data, locking the device or remotely wiping out everything on it. It is the information that needs protection.
Caution, of course, can be the best protection against theft. But many owners of portable gadgets feel that much of their appeal is taking them everywhere, with little thought.

Some computer finders and their fees

These are among the “track and recover” services that can help retrieve a lost of stolen computer.

Computrace
(www.co mputrace.com)
The computer reports it location to the service every time it is connected to the Internet. The company guarantees that if it does not recover your lost computer within 30 days, it will reimburse up to US$1000 of its cost.
Price: US$49.99 a year for a personal computer.

Stealth Signal
(www.steal thsignal.com)
The software can find lost computers around the world and delete files remotely. The system cannot be detected by antivirus programs and can bypass 90% of all corporate and personal firewalls
Price: US$ 49 a year for a personal computer, discounts for additional years or computers.

CyberAngel
(www.th ecyberangel.com)
If a user enters the wrong password a few times, the software sends a signal once it is connected to the Internet It blocks access to your remote network server or online accounts and forbids data transfer from that computer to another device.
Price: US$59.95 a year for a PC, discounts for additional years or computers.

PC PhoneHome
(www.pcphonehome.com)
If stolen, the computer sends a message to a predetermined e-mail address. The owner notifies the police and PC PhomeHome’s tracking service providers tracking and recovery support.
Price: US$29.95 for the life of the computer. MacPhoneHome is a comparable programs for Macintosh computers.

SyNET
(www.synet.biz)
From SyNET, nTracker software sends a message with the computer’s location to an e-mail address set by its owner. The user then must enlist law enforcement to help track it down.
Price: US$49.99, for a licence to use the software in one computer

Users are advised to check first as not all these services may be in your country.

-it is the information that needs protection-

best- Nintendogs, a superb substitute

2005-08-28T15:58:00.000+08:00

From Digimon to Tamagotchi, there are dozens of choices for the virtual pet lover. The latest, Nintendogs, is exclusive for the Nintendo DS handheld game machine.

available in Japan for months, Nintendogs is a lifelike digital rendering of perhaps the most university admired off all domestic animals – puppies.

[full article]]

online tips- Migrating e-mail addresses

2005-08-28T14:56:00.000+08:00

Q: I maintain an AOL account simply because I distributed my AOL e-mail address to some vital personal and business contacts years ago, and I still get important mail there occasionally. I never use the AOL service for anything other than e-mail, however. How do you suggest to proceed? I can’t contact all of the people and institutions who have the AOL address because I don’t remember them all.

A: This is fairly common problem for people who have been working with e-mail for the past 10 years or so, whether they use AOL or another service.

First set up a new e-mail account. It’s worth taking some time to think about this new e-mail account, so that you don’t run into the same problem years down the line. If e-mail is critical to your life, you should probably take the trouble to set up an e-mail address that will not change, regardless of which Internet service provider you’re using.

That many mean setting up a personal domain or personalised e-mail address with a service such as GoDaddy.com (www.godaddy.com).

With a personal domain, such as www.yourname.com, you can create your own e-mail addresses and keep them for as long as you maintain the domain name. Domain name are inexpensive these days. You can set up a domain for the next 10 years, set up some e-mail addresses, and never have to worry about your e-mail address changing again.

During the migration, plan to keep your old e-mail account open for a few months. Send an e-mail change notification to everyone in your old e-mail account’s address book. Then, set up “auto-forwarding” on your old e-mail account so that any mail it receives is automatically forwarded to your new e-mail address.

Most e-mail services have some type of forwarding feature. If not, you’ll have to manually check the old e-mail address from time to time.

Now, whenever you receive a forwarded message in the new account, respond to the sender and ask that he or she update your e-mail account. Occasionally, you’ll receive an e-mail message from a business to which you cannot respond directly by e-mail. In this case, you’ll need to take whatever means necessary to contact the business so that your e-mail account is updated appropriately.

Recreate your old e-mail address book, and move any folders of stored mail from the old e-mail account to the new one. Specific directions for copying stored messages you should find with you old e-mail provider. In the case of AOL, you may not have many stored message. Early versions of AOL, limited the amount of spaces you could use to store message.

Q: How can I back up my Outlook Express address book? Over the years, I’ve accumulated thousands of e-mail addresses. If I lost them all, it would be a minor tragedy.

A: You’re not alone. Your e-mail address book represents hours of time spent entering e-mail addresses, at the least, at the least. Luckily, backing it up is fairly easy. First, exit Outlook Express. Then, decide where you would like to keep the backed up copy of the address book. Next, click the Windows Start button, and choose Search … For Files and Folders, of hold down the Windows key on your keyboard and tap the letter F. Doing so brings up the Search dialogue box.

In the search dialogue box, place your mouse cursor in the box labelled “All or part of the file name”, and type “.wab” without the quotation marks. Then click the Search button.

Let the search continue until it’s finished. Any files ending in “wab” will appear in the Search Results section of the Search dialogue box. Select all of the “wab” files (choose Edit … Select All), copy the files to the clipboard (Edit ... Copy), navigate to your backup drive or folder, and copy the files there (Edit … Paste).

To restore the backed up file, open Outlook Express, click the File menu, and select Import – Address Book.

Follow the on screen prompts to import the backed file that you created. - dpa

-migrating your e-mail-

big impact- Google move to organise all the word's information: the story

2005-08-28T14:24:00.000+08:00

Google the Internet powerhouse has an immodest stock price and an equally immodest goal: to organise the entire world’s information.

It has run into several hurdles along the way, however, as copyright holder objected to their works being duplicated in the Google database without payment or permission.
The latest to cry foul are book publishers, who are up in arms cover Google’s plan to make a digital copy of all the volume in three major university libraries.

[[full article]]

zoneH- Making sense of pharming

2005-08-28T13:41:00.000+08:00

What is pharming?

Pharming is a cute little term for a relatively old concept that is domain spoofing. A number of security vendors have bandied the term for a couple of new phishing techniques. Some of these techniques don’t seem to have been used yet, and remain largely hypothetical.

How is it different from phishing?

A traditional phishing attacks relies upon users being duped into clicking on a link to a bogus banking website to capture confidential data.
Pharming has been used as a term to describe attacks by malware on the Windows HOSTS file, so that when users types in the web address of his or her bank he or she is instead taken to the pharmer’s bogus website.

Another pharming technique is to hack and “poison” DNS (Domain Name System) servers by redirecting your web request elsewhere. As far as the browser is concerned, it is connected to the right site. This has been happening for years and is nothing new.

However, the rise in online shopping, electronic banking and online bill payments have created a huge potential profit for criminals to gain credit card and bank account numbers from unsuspected parties. Having said that, ISPs (Internet Service Providers) and managers of DNS servers are now much better protected – hence the desire by pharmers to attack users directly instead.

Is the DNS poison on a server or a user’s computer?

It is on the server and occurs because of software vulnerability.

How do the hackers install the software?

In the case of attacking end-users, pharmers use Trojans such as some variants of the BankerTrojan to force end-users’ PCs to redirect the browser when certain target URLs are detected. The Trojan usually arrives as an attachment to an unsolicited e-mail, which the end-user inadvertently opens.

How can computer users protect themselves from pharming?

Attacks against the HOSTS file by malware can be prevented by running an up-to-date antivirus and antispyware software, and exercising caution over which programs you decide to run. It is also good idea to ensure that you have security patches in place as well as run a reputable firewall to stop it.

Is pharming to become a large problem in the future?

We can expect to see a rise in phishing and pharming attacks as long as there remains a large number unprotected computer. Unfortunately, many organisations are still very lax in their application of IT security software and in adoption and enforcement of safe computing practices.

-pharming-

big impact Blu-Ray and HD DVD,

2005-08-28T13:20:00.000+08:00

Sony come out with Blu-Ray backed by Matsushita, Dell and Samsung, while Toshiba with HD DVD has support from NEC and Sanyo.

But there are other things to know and aware, so that you'll have the right impact.

[[full aritcle]]

big impact- Why Apple did it

2005-08-28T05:30:00.000+08:00

Apple's extraordinary decision to swap its PowerPC underpinnings for Intel architecture has Mac fans gasping in disbelief while the rest of the world wonders what the fuss is about.

After years of sticking to the PowerPC architecture and proving the rumour-mongers wrong, Apple finally succumbed to industry and marketing pressure, abandoning the Apple-IBM-Motorola alliance (responsible for the PowerPC architecture) to elope with Intel and their gigahertz-spewing Pentiums.
Apparently, hell froze over and someone spotted the pig that flies.

While the PowerPC is widely-regarded by industry experts as a well-designed architecture, it suffered several setbacks throughout its life.

Most notably, production problems meant that the PowerPC G4 was stuck at 500MHz for over a year while Intel’s Pentium III surged past the 1GHz barrier. This was the beginning of Apple’s troubles.

Four years later, IBM came to the rescue with the 64-bit PowerPC 970, which is also known as the G5.

Although IBM missed the initial target of hitting 3GHz within a year of shipping (a target which it has yet to hit, actually), the G5 was still touted as a success, providing vastly improved performance over the G4, while giving the platform a fresh new roadmap for the future.

Suddenly, things were looking great for the PowerPC platform.

Moving away from personal computers, IBM also scored a hat trick in the videogames industry, supplying Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo with processors based on PowerPC technology for use in the upcoming Xbox 360, PlayStation3 and Revolution consoles respectively.

It seemed as if IBM could do no wrong.

And then, Apple announced the alliance with Intel. What happened?

At a glance, Apple’s switch to Intel processors seems rather baffling.

After all, the PowerPC roadmap shows lots of promise in terms of raw power, with faster clock speeds and multi-core designs in the pipeline.

The truth is that IBM has always been into server processors, while Motorola (now Freescale Semiconductor) was more interested in the embedded chip market.

In any case, neither party seemed interested or motivated to ramp up the performance of their processors the way Intel did.

With IBM’s inability to reliably produce faster G5 processors using the smaller 0.09-micron manufacturing process, Apple was probably reminded of the Great Wall of Motorola that prevented them from catching up with Intel.

So, in a way, it makes sense to go with the chip company that’s setting the benchmarks.

But more importantly, Intel offers a far more varied processor line-up, catering to all manner of portable and desktop solutions.

In any case, it’s probably better than scaling down IBM’s server processors for use in notebook computers.

Pentium don't suck, really

In an ironic twist of fate, Apple is now relying on the very Intel processors that it has spent the past decade labelling as “rubbish”. In fact, they haven’t stopped the propaganda yet.
At the time of writing, Apple’s website still has a section full of benchmark results that show you why you shouldn’t use Intel processors (look under the “Performance” tab of the Power Mac G5 page).

After being told for 10 whole years that PowerPCs are the superior choice, Apple is going to have a gala time convincing the Mac faithful otherwise.

On a more serious note, the big challenge for Apple is to ensure that the Mac OS X operating system is at least as good as (or better than) Microsoft Windows on the Intel platform in terms of performance.

This is because, for the first time in history, Macs and PCs will be using similar hardware and can be compared directly in benchmarks without the common excuse of “hardware differences.”

Apple’s extensive transition strategy may help alleviate fears among existing Mac owners about their computers going obsolete in a couple of years.

The Rosetta technology is a masterstroke – allowing Intel-powered Macs to run native PowerPC code at a slight performance penalty.

Now, we can only hope that it runs fast enough on lesser Pentium chips (a 3.6GHz Pentium 4 was used in the keynote demonstration).

Regardless of its performance, Rosetta is fated to be a short-term solution and will fade into insignificance once PowerPC Macs become a thing of the past.

The Universal Binaries are a great solution since they allow applications to be compiled for both PowerPC- and Intel-based Macs – guaranteeing optimum performance regardless of the processor type.

But (and this is a big “but”), it will only work if the developers bother to compile for both platforms.

Most software companies will probably do this in the short term, maybe only for a couple of major releases. This is all they need to do, really, considering the two-year release cycle for most software suites and the typical four- to six-year upgrade cycle for Macs.

This is all good news.

Most of us – me included – doubted the switch would happen simply because we never thought that Apple would have technologies like Rosetta and Universal Binaries ready by now.

Kudos to Apple for doing their homework.

However, you’re probably out of luck if you hope to use your PowerMac G5 for another eight years or so.

Is the PowerPC really gone

Considering that Apple was able to maintain two Mac OS X code bases in concurrent development with minimal overhead, it’s not hard to imagine that they will continue the trend even if they don’t ship PowerPC versions in retail.

One area where the PowerPC architecture may remain is in the server market.

While a G5 may not be suitable for a notebook, it’s a great server processor: It has low power consumption, lower costs and high performance, as evident in Apple’s Xserve G5 1U rack-mount servers.

Multi-core versions of the PowerPC 970 will be even better.

Unlike the desktop Pentium processors, it’s also a 64-bit design, which will find buyers in highly specialised fields of engineering, science and medicine.

You can watch the webcast of Apple CEO Steve Jobs pleading the case of the company's move to the Intel architecture at developer.apple.com. -BY H. AMIR KHALID-

-Apple did it-

blackhole-Some games make boys bad

2005-08-28T05:21:00.000+08:00

Some games make boys bad

most studies done on violence and videogames support the conclusion that violent games can increase aggressive behaviour in children and adolescents especially boys.
An analysis of 20 years of research shows that the effects can be both immediate and long-lasting

[[full article]]

Online programs for quick revision

2005-08-28T04:18:00.001+08:00

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blackhole- Online programs for quick revision

2005-08-28T04:18:00.000+08:00

You know cramming the night (or even the morning) before an exam takes longer and is less effective than a few short periods of calm study in the weeks before, but at the end of a long day do you break out the books and settle down to watch something incredibly on the idiot box?

After hours of study at school and tuition, only the truly dedicated go for the study burn; most of the rest of humanity settle for quiet hour of Scooby Doo or MTV.

If you have a computer at home, however, there are few tricks and tools that can help you organise useful revision time fairly painlessly. Among the best-kept secrets in the world are Luzius Schneider’s Quiz and Calculus programs at ht tp://www.luziusschneider.com/Engindex.html

Calcul is designed to help you improve your arithmetic. Click on Choice on the menu bar and then select what sort of arithmetic you want o practise: addition, subtraction, multiplication, division or fraction.

Click on New and answer the questions. There is a voice telling you if your answers are right or wrong, and there is a pie chart to show your percentage of correct responses.

Once you have feel of the program (and that takes about 10 seconds), you can start to adjust the settings. You can limit the complexity of the questions by setting a limit to the numbers used (between one and 10, or between one and five for younger kids).

You can also set the program to mix up the different types of arithmetic you want to practise or to pile on the pressure by setting a time limit for a correct answer. And if your family likes to play games, the program let you play against each other.

Calcul runs on any Windows platform and takes less than five minute to download over the dial-up connection.

Quiz allows you to make your own interactive revision quiz and to drill and test yourself on a regular basis. It allows you to create various multiple-choice quizzes, complete hints, tips and commented answers, as well as fill-out-the-blanks quizzes.

The program is ideal for helping you memorise vocabulary, lists of events and dates, scientific formulae and other basics.

Quiz is much more sophisticated than Calcul, but if you approach it by taking a look of how it works first then writing your own program, you will master it in 30 minutes. And the payoff is definitely worth it.

Scheneider wants people to share quizzes, so there is a database of ready-made materials available from the site. Some are great, others are just average.
Finally, if you are reading this before checking out the site, be warned that Schneider is an enthusiastic Christian. There are few links leading to religious message on the site, and the Quiz program has some Hebrew and Greek language sample quizzes, too.

-DIY, quick revision program-

online tips - connections conundrums

2005-08-28T04:13:00.000+08:00

Computers are all about connections: connecting to one another, connecting ideas to one another. But what about simply connecting one computing device to another?

Oddly enough, that’s where things can get tricky. Should you, for example, choose USB (Universal Serial Bus) or Firewire to connect a printer, hard drive, or scanner, when you have a choice?
Read on for an answer to this and other questions about connecting to your PC

[[full article]]

try ar- Remote help via the Internet

2005-08-24T15:03:00.000+08:00

You know you’re having a bad day on your PC when your software refuses to follow orders, your mouse is malfunctioning, and your increasing desperate pounding of the keyboard is not solving a thing.

When problems with your PC go beyond your own computer knowledge, expert assistance is called for.

With the help of remote control technology, a technological fairly godmother can theoretically be sitting on the other side of the world.

If you have doubts about Windows XP, then remote support is the solution.

With the help of an assistant called up via “Help and Support” in the Start Menu of Windows XP, an MSN Messenger report or an e-mail message can be created to invite a friendly expert to join a communal computer session.

This mail sends the IP address of the user’s machine and a password.

Windows then opens up the barriers that normally prevent exterior users from logging in, but only for a time span set by user.

The user then need only click on the mail, and the connection is established.

A separate chat channel allows both to discuss the problem while looking at the same desktop.

Where desired, the invitee can restricted to simply looking and commentating. He can also be allowed to take control of the machine.

The mouse point then moves as if controlled by an invisible hand. Remote support only works problem-free if both machines are using Windows XP.

Remote help is not necessarily suited for serious crashes.

The computer would need to be able to function enough that the remote control software can be used.
Remote support is helpful, if a new e-mail programs needs to be set up.

The chance to use remote help is not simply limited to the XP operating system, though: software called Netmeeting can help for older Windows versions.

The software, which was originally developed for video-conferencing, serves the same basic functions as XP’s remote help. It’s a bit trickier to use, however.

VNC (Virtual Network Computer) software, an open source creation, can also aid users on almost any platform.

Remote control functions can also be helpful in another area.

Users who are on the go have forgotten important files at home can access their home computer using another computer on the Internet.

Windows XP Professional calls this the “remote desktop” function. The home version of XP lacks the option.

Unlike remote help, the screen on the home computer turns black during remote access.

The main problem with remote control of a computer is transmission of the monitor contents. To lessen the amount of data to be transmitted, the remote control software lowers the number of colours depicted. This rules out the video and image editing.

Applications that do not rely accurate colour can be used without problem, though.

An ISDN (Integrated Services Digital Network) connection is enough to be establish a sufficient connection in a pinch.

There are few other questions. It’s still not entirely clear just how safe remote control sessions are protected from third parties.

Microsoft claims that the data are encrypted with 128 bits, but refuses to give more details. Furthermore, what good is the best remote control software if no one is home to turn on the computer?

The answer is power strips that can be controlled using a cellphone or the Internet, although these cost several hundred euros.

If the computer freezes up, though, the power strips at least allow the user to reset the machine and start again. - dpa

-getting help online-

zoneH- high-tech password-cracking methods

2005-08-24T14:57:00.000+08:00

Password-cracking utilities take a set of known passwords and run them through a password-hashing algorithm. The resulting hashes – or an encrypted form of a data set – are then compared at lightning speed to the password hashes extracted from the original password database. When a match is found between the newly generated hash and the hash in the original database, the password has been cracked. It’s that simple.

Two high-tech password-cracking methods are dictionary attacks and brute-force attacks.

[[full article]]

blackhole- update

2005-08-24T14:30:00.000+08:00

Camera phones: realistic morphing

An application that MNC wireless will be launching soon is Moblife P-Unit, an entertainment app which allows users to put mugshots in an illustrated background or even give the person in the photo a new “look”.

Mobile P-Unit deals with face morphing and it’s quite high-tech in that it really recognise where the face in the photo fits and also where the facial features are.

In lot of face-morphing technologies the software just basically changes your face. It doesn’t really recognise where your eyes, nose and mouth are.

How do you use it? Simply take a photo, log in to the WAP browser on the phone, go to www.mobilife.tv, choose a service mask (mask me, greetings, facial make-over, cosplay (costume play), comic me or morph me), upload the photo, and the result will be sent back to the user.

MNC wireless believes Moblife P-Unit will be popular with users who are thinking of going for plastic surgery as the “facial mae-over” option will allows them to see what they might look with bigger eyes or a sharper nose.

US celcos seek profit in music services

First there were musical ringtones. Then came “ring-back” tones – tunes that play while a caller waits for someone to pick up a mobile phone.

Now cellphones are offering streaming music, with access to online music stores on the way.

The wireless industry is making a big push into the music business, taking cues from Apple Computer Inc’s iPod and from its own success selling more than 182 million mobile phones.

Verizon Wireless in the United States said recently it would offer a music-store service and a music-player cellphone around year-end.

Cingular Wireless LLC is considering a similar deal with Motorola Inc and Apple’s iTunes music store; Napster Inc and Sweedish phone maker Ericsson plan a similar joint venture.

Apple really pioneered digital music and has created such success that everyone’s eyeing it and wants a piece of it.

But there are pros and cons to making cellphone multitask as music players.

The success and profitability of other add-on functions, such as picture messaging, ringtones and various entertainment services, is bolstering the case that the cellphone could become the Holy Grail of consumer electronics: the all-in-on device.
Cellphones will do the music market what they have already done to the camera market.

Playing music can limit the phone’s battery life. It’s also difficult to replicate the iPod’s simplicity on cellphones.

Cellphones headsets often come with one earbud, for example, a potential turn-off for consumers who want to listen to music in stereo.

MyGamma creating a new buzz in town

A new trend is catching on among mobile phone users: being part of a mobile community such as MyGamma.

Just like its online cousins – Friendster, myspace etc. – MyGamma allows users to express themselves and interact with each other. The only difference is these are all done with a WAP-enabled mobile phone.

There may be many websites but there aren’t many WAP sites and people with WAP phones rarely know where to go.

MyGamma has all the functions offered by online community sites.

Apart of that, there are features on the MyGamma site that are not available on any other online community sites.

One of them is the “virtual marriage” feature where users get “married” and are entitled their own “living room” and “bedrooms”.

A user can propose to an online friend and when the other party accepts, they are considered married.

As not all marriages are made in heaven, couples can file a “divorce”. They can also automatically divorce if there has not been any interaction between them within 30 days of marriage.

Another feature on the site is the Gamma Life Ladder game. Here, users play a popularity game by receiving gifts from online friends bought with Gamma Money.

Users can also keep a blog on MyGamma. The moblog or mobile blog feature allows users to share their own thoughts, ideas and pictures instantly of their phones instead of having to look for a computer to upload them.

For more information, check out www.mygamma.com.my

Playing LAN games over the Internet

Many games that are playable over the Internet have their own servers that can act as game lobbies. Here, gamers look for game hosts that can accommodate them in terms of number of players and ping rate.

Sometimes, games would require the use of Game Spy, a games lobby of sorts for bringing online gamers together. As such, a lot of game developers have opted to include Game Spy as part of their offering instead of developing their own games servers.

Game Spy can also be used to find gamers who are interested in playing old games that no longer have game lobbies of their own.

Very clever this Game Spy thingy. Thus, not surprisingly, it has competitor called Computer Gaming Alliance (CGA) by Holdfast which believes behaves much like Game Spy.

However, CGA is slightly different, in that it is aimed at games that are played by means of local area network (LAN) mostly such as Counter-Strike, WarCraft, StarCraft, Need for Speed and FIFA.

For that matter, the way you access a game for playing online using Holdfast’s CGA is via the LAN option. So theoretically, you can bypass a game’s requirement of paying fees to the game publisher if you want o play via the Internet.
Anyway, Holdfast has over 90 million subscribers and the highest record for simultaneous online users is over 410,000 people.

The beta version of CGA is downloadable for free, and if you do not mind playing online with hosts located outside of your region, you do not have to pay a single cent to use CGA to play online.

However, the beta version does not come with an uninstall option. So you will have to resort to some amount of techno-voodoo to get rid of it.

Also, if you require faster ping rates, it is best that you play using host servers located within the your region. And for that, you would need the CGA starter pack (you need to pay for it), which is inclusive of login identification and first month subscription. Thereafter, you need to pay a monthly fee.

-update-

online tips- Cutting cost via open source tools

2005-08-24T14:24:00.000+08:00

proprietary software already expensive for most users, still the price don't seem to get any lower. this proprietary software don't give the users freedom to implement the system/application according to their needs, and urging users to upgrade when a new version is available.

One such alternative is adopting open source applications. There are mature open source applications available.

[[full article]]

try ar- Google revamps desktop search program

2005-08-24T14:00:00.000+08:00

Google Inc updated its software for searching PC hard drives and the Internet, giving the free program a new look and adding tools that deliver personalised information based on a user’s web surfing habits.

Google Desktop 2 available as a public beta test is the company’s latest volley against Microsoft Corp and Yahoo! Inc as all three races to expand their presence on all PC desktops.

The latest Google offering includes several twists. Beyond providing search results, it monitors the user’s behaviour and presents relevant information in a resizable and moveable vertical window called the Sidebar.

One module aggregates e-mail messages from a variety of accounts, including Google’s Gmail service or the user’s Internet provider. Others display stock prices, personalised news headlines, weather reports and what’s popular on the Web.

Another module pulls Really Simple Syndication (RSS) feeds from websites that have been visited and offer that service. Unlike other feed aggregators, the user need not take any action for a feed to be added.

For the novice, it’s very easy. They don’t even have to know what RSS feeds are. They’ll just start seeing them in the Sidebar. Advanced users can go in and customize to their hearts; delight.

A photo module displays pictures from the local PC. It also pulls pictures from web-based galleries that have been visited.

Some features, including personalised news, involve sending details of its users surfing habits back to Google. No personally identifying data is transmitted, and users can opt out.
The program has several tools for finding information buried on local and network drives as well as the Internet. The Sidebar has its own search box and it adds a new toolbar to Microsoft’s Outlook e-mail program for quick access to mail messages.

After the initial indexing of all content on a drive – a process that takes place when the PC is not being used, subsequent indexing takes place in real time. That means a file can be found as soon as it’s been saved to the disk.

The Sidebar search box also finds applications, which can be launched directly from the results list that appears as words are typed in. It’s similar to the Spotlight feature of Apple Computer Inc’s Mac OS X and the built-in search of Microsoft Windows Vista, which is expected to be released next year.

Google, which has come under fire for making private information a bit too easy to find, said it has now disabled the caching of secure websites – an option that can be enabled if the user desires.

It also recommends against using the desktop program tool on computers in Internet cafes or in case where many people share the same operating system account.

Google Desktop 2 also offers ability to encrypt – or scramble – the index to protect it from being read by unauthorised parties.

The software works on computers running Windows 2000 or Windows XP, Mac OS X is not supported.

For more information go to http://desktop.google.com - AP

-Google Desktop 2-

blackhole- Protecting against power surges

2005-08-24T13:56:00.000+08:00

I’ve been spending some of my time off moving, which is to vacation what a state prison is to a five-star hotel.

Still, rooting through two decades’ worth of electronic detritus, trying figure out what to keep and what to throw out can be instructive.

Here’s one lesson I learned quickly: the devices that are supposed to protect your computer and other sensitive equipment against electronic damage might not be doing their job.

In fact, of the two dozen power strips with surge suppressors that I unearthed around our old house as we packed up for the move to a new one, only three still sported lights showing that their protective circuitry was active.

This is particularly important in places when thunderstorms, power outages and brownouts are all too common.

All can result in power surges that can fry the insides of your electronic equipment.

So let’s talk about how to keep that equipment safe.

[[full article]]

best- Movie downloads to make it big

2005-08-21T15:10:00.000+08:00

Entertainment on your home computer is about to become more than just games and music.

Within a year, computer owners should be able to download movies as well as television shows and watch them on TV.
The first steps in cutting out the trip to Blockbuster are already being taken, although the web content is till “locked” to the PC.

However, industry experts predict this block will be removed next year and content downloaded from the web will be able to be burned on to DVDs and watched on television.

Early starter

The most significant move in the British market will come this November, when Sky will allows its movie subscribers to download films from a catalogue, including those being broadcast that month and a library of 200 others.

It will also start allowing sprots subscribers to download match highlights, interviews and news broadcasts.

But piping the Sky service to the post came the launch of BoxOffice365.com from Internet start-up British Internet Broadcasting Company (BiBC).

Is has signed deals with ITN, Universal Music, Virgin and Sanctuary Group to offer music and comedy for £1.50 to £3 for single episodes or £6.99 to £14.99 for a full DVD’s content.

Paul Hague, BiBC managing director, claims the service is talking to the big movie houses, but they were concerned about piracy.

“We’re talking to the distributors and once they realise how popular legal downloading can be, I’m sure they’ll make their content available”, he predicts.

“Our content is available in Windows Media Player 9 format so it can be played on the PC, but, if you have Microsoft Media Centre, you can send the content to it via WiFi (Wireless Fidelity) so you can watch it on television”, he said.

Distributor backing

One British movie distributor has already shown enough confidence in online TV to allow the country’s first simultaneous premiere of a film in the cinema and online.

The deal between distributor Dogwoof Digital and online portal Tiscali meant EMR, starring Jeremy Edwards and Jemma Walker, could be downloaded from the moment the curtain went up at its London premiere.

More are expected to follow shortly, assures Tiscali editor Richard Ayers.

“We think that what has happened for music online this year will happen for films next year”, he claims.

“So we’ve to got another low budget British film that we’ll be making available for download before the end of the year and we’ve also got a selection of shorts, including 10 titles each month that will be shown at the Rain Dance festival we sponsor.

“We can’t see it happening for massive new releases for a year or more, but we’re getting the ball rolling and providing an extra revenue stream for films that wouldn’t get as much DVD shelf space or rental potential as a Hollywood blockbuster”, Ayers said.

Building blocks

Although the Hollywood studios are deeply concerned about piracy, Intel’s entertainment and media global alliances manager, Hintendra Naik, reveals the chip manufacturer is involve in a project to allow movies to be downloaded and then burned onto a DVD so it can be watched on TV.
It has made an investment in ClickStar, an online movie distribution company set up by actor Morgan Freeman, which claims its download and burn service will launch in Britain during the second quarter of next year.

“Morgan Freeman has seen the Net as a huge opportunity”, said Naik.

“He wants to show Hollywood they’ve more to gain by making it easy to download films legally than allowing the illegal downloads to go on unchallenged.

“It’s exactly what make music industry has gone through. They now have an extra channel and we’re convinced film sales will too.

“The crucial part is that ClickStar will allow users to make DVDs so they can be watched on the television because not many people want to watch film on their own in front of the computer screen”, Naik said.

Ultimately, Naik predicts the DVD option will not be as important, because homes will have an “entertainment PC” or similar hub sitting underneath the television that can be use WiFi to display films stored on a PC in another room.

But until such device catch on, be believes the ability to burn a DVD will be crucial – Guardian Newspaper Ltd.

-movie downloads to make it big-

big impact- podcast: homemade broadcasts threaten mainstream radio

2005-08-21T14:37:00.000+08:00

Mainstream radio, a beloved institution across the United States, is under serious threat from homemade shows downloaded to personal music players.

The so-called podcasts, recorded by amateurs worldwide, are finding web-based audiences of thousands, usually with no advertising other than word of mouth or online recommendation.

It is the newest form of DIY media, after the blog, to challenge traditional outlets.

[[full article]]

best- Microsoft rolling out two Xbox versions

2005-08-21T14:30:00.000+08:00

When Microsoft Corp’s new Xbox videogames console comes out this fall, consumers will be able to choose between a fully loaded system and a more basic version without a hard drive, wireless controller and other features.

The premium Xbox 360 console will sell for US$399.99 in the United States, Canada and Mexico – nearly triple the price of the current system – and 399.99 euros in continental Europe.

Meanwhile, the scaled-back version, dubbed Xbox 360 Core System, will go for US$299.99, and 299.99 euros in Europe.

Various accessories, like 2GB detachable hard drive and wireless controller that will come standard with the premium version, will be sold separately and can be added to the less expensive Core console.

Other features that can be added to that console include a wireless controller and TV remote, a headset for the Xbox Live online service, and an Ethernet cable for high-speed Internet connections.

On target

Microsoft said it remains on target to ship the new Xbox to stores in North America, Europe and Japan this holiday season, ahead of Sony’s PlayStation3, which is slated to replace the market leading PlayStation2 sometime next spring.

Historically, there’s been one price point and one configuration. You got it whether you wanted or not.

Microsoft isn’t worried consumers will wince at the price hike. Both versions will support high-definition visuals and play music and movies, among other feature that weren’t built into original Xbox, which cost US299 four years ago. The price has since dropped to US$150.

Microsoft sells its current console at a loss, because its original goal with the Xbox was mainly to break into the lucrative gaming market. It makes money-selling games, but doesn’t expect its home and entertainment division to post profits regularly until 2007.

The core console won’t be able to play games designed for the original Xbox, unless a consumer shells out US$99.99 to add a hard drive.
Microsoft has been asking developers working on new games to make them so they can be played on both fully loaded and basic versions.
The company has not yet said how much it will charge for the new Xbox in Japan, where the original console has struggled to compete with PlayStation2.

-smart move?-

try ar- Setting up Wi-Fi network

2005-08-21T14:21:00.000+08:00

Setting up your own wireless playground??

This installment of the column is about getting a Wi-Fi network, or wireless local area network (WLAN), up and running.

and as an addition, with security in mind.

[full article]]

blackhole- BTX form factor to make PCs smaller, cooler

2005-08-21T14:03:00.000+08:00

Fast cars need more than just a powerful motor. They need a car body that can handle the strain as well. The same is true for PCs: processors and other components have grown significantly smaller recent years, but overall dimensions for computers have remained roughly the same.

That may now change with new format called BTX (Balanced Technology Extended).

For private users, however, a switchover probably isn’t worth the money just yet.

The switch to the new BTX PC format is the next logical step on the way to quicker and more compact computers.
Intel involved in the development of the standard, which sets norms for the shape of casings as well as the construction in the PC interior.

BTX is intended to replace the existing ATX (Advanced Technology Extended) standard. It offers one significant benefit: better ventilation for PCs, which therefore helps them run cooler.

The demands on a PCs cooling system in particular have risen.

The development of more powerful PC components has led to increased heat from a computers’ inner working, with the current batch of processors typically generating more heat than a hotplace.

An overheated PC is somewhat like an overheating car – eventually it will stop working for good.

Proper cooling, by contrast, ensures a longer service life and more stability for the PC system.

New order

To achieve effective cooling, the BTX formats put the PC components into a somewhat different order than before.

One new item is a special thermal module that is responsible for improved air circulation in the casing. This reduces the number of fans, which in turn reduces noise levels.
There are three different BTX formats in all: a standard BTX form factor developed for power PCs; a Micro BTX intended for standard desktop computers, and Pico-BTX for mini PCs and laptops.

Other changes from the old format affect the power supply, the casing, and the motherboard.

The new slots will also allow for newer technology like the PCI Express port to become standard.

A change at this point would mean unnecessary costs for the consumer.

BTX elements have to this point been relatively expensive. Furthermore, few complete BTX systems are available on the market as of yet.
In the long term, consumers will not be able to avoid switching over.

As more and more new BTX components flood the market, fewer and fewer will fit the old standard.

Anyone who prefers to run top end machine will likely make the switchover sooner rather than later.

Even so, the investment seems questionable for normal PC users. Computer systems develop so quickly that many users make new purchase every few years anyways.

ATX still alive

Advanced users who prefer to build their own machines can also continue to but ATX parts without fear.
It is not yet clear whether and when Intel will succeed in pushing BTX technology onto the market. ATX users will certainly be able to find sufficient supplies from Intel competitors like AMD through 2006.

there are also still questions as to whether the theoretical advantages of the BTX format will make a big difference in real practice.

The stability of a PC system, its service life, and noise levels typically depend not on the PC format, but rather than the quality of the components.

By all accounts, the ATX PC format seems unlikely to disappear from the market anytime soon.

It’s likely that the two formats will simply co-exist with one another.

-smaller and cooler PC-