Using a Computer

Technology brings families together

2010-05-08T20:59:00.000-07:00

In the old days, non-interactive mediums like the television put a barrier between family members, each member wanting to watch their own separate shows. But modern technology, like cell phones, computers, and the Internet have created new mediums for increasing social interaction and bringing families together. Parents who have connected with their kids via the various new mediums said they've resigned themselves to doing it the new way. Modesto resident Trinity Balmonte said she always texts her 16-year old daughter, Cassy, because she knows it's faster than calling. "I definitely think that Facebook is a positive thing," said Balmonte. "But we need as parents to be more proactive. We can't just trust that our good kids will stay good kids. We can never just let them go. They are always still learning from their parents."
Kansas City

While the frequent complaint about the Internet is that it makes us more isolated, some families have instead harnessed the power of social media and emerging technologies to become even closer. "It's so easy to send a picture or a video," said Edward, a Modesto Junior College student and hairstylist at Plush Hair Studio, about keeping in touch with his parents. "I feel I'm more open to them now because it's so easy to update them. And it feels good to share." In fact, Edward said his parents being tech savvy has helped bridge the generation gap between them. "If you see an older person than you who is up-to-date with technology, you'll feel more connected," he said. "I feel like if my parents had the cheapest cell phone that didn't have online access or text, we'd have nothing in common."

Twitter usage

2010-04-08T00:45:00.000-07:00

Washington Post article on the best usage of Twitter, apart from following celebrities:

Twitter can actually be a fun, informative, and even practical tool--provided you follow the right people. I do care what famed astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson (@neiltyson) has to say, because it's usually interesting and educational. So he's among the select few Twitter users I follow.

As the coach of my daughter's soccer team, I need a quick and easy way to contact all the parents in case of scheduling changes, rained-out games, and the like. By getting everyone to "follow" me (and receive my tweets via text message), it's a snap to communicate with the group.

Or would you rather follow beautiful Doutzen Kroes? She says, "I'm witnessing a beautiful sunrise here in Tuscany!!"

Computer Science award

2010-03-01T15:56:00.000-08:00

Brent Waters, assistant professor of computer science at The University of Texas at Austin, has been awarded a 2010 Sloan Research Fellowship. Sloan Research Fellowships are awarded every year by the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation to stimulate fundamental research by early-career scientists and scholars of outstanding promise. The two-year fellowship will provide Waters with funds to support his research.

Waters' research is laying the foundation for managing encrypted computer data in cloud services (no more personal computer), where data is stored at third-party locations outside of the owner's control. Third-party storage sites are high value targets for an attacker, and Waters' research is helping build an entirely different vision for encryption, called functional encryption.

Utexas

Cell phone hacking

2010-02-10T17:36:00.000-08:00

Apple recently issued a patch for the iPhone and iPod Touch software that plugs five holes, that could allow an attacker to take control of the device remotely. Hackers could gain control if the iPhone or iPod Touch user opened malicious audio or image files, or accessed a malicious FTP (File Transfer Protocol) server, Apple said. The popularity of the Blackberry, iPhone and other smarphones makes them a lucrative target for hacking. Recently Paris Hilton’s cell phone was hacked. The cyber crooks got hold of the numbers of all her celebrity friends.

Brazilian model Ana Beatriz Barros with her cell phone....be careful of what you download! Mobile phone apps, email attachments, and the like could contain malicious code.

Chinese mind control

2010-01-24T23:15:00.000-08:00

Internet pornography is all in the mind. Sure it's unrealistic and degrading to women, but all attempts to weed out the extreme porn have not worked. And it goes against human freedom to completely eradicate such expressions of natural love, whether they be artistic or cheesy. But the dictators in China have other ideas. Not content with the mind control they exercise on political views, the Chinese authorities are cracking down on Internet smut. Their Ministry of Education has now required that primary and secondary schools make regular inspections of school websites and install software filters on students' school computers.

In addition, the announcement said students should be taught not to make or spread lewd content online, not to enter profitable Internet cafes, not to access websites with lewd content and not to play lewd cyber games. Some teenagers suggested that the Chinese mind control campaign is as futile as lighting a candle in bright sun-shine, because they could have fun at Internet cafés. Wang Tao, a secondary school student who had just rushed out from a small hidden Internet café on Jintai Road, Beijing, told the Global Times that his classmates seldom use school computers to surf the Web. "We play World of Warcraft. It's impossible to play on the school's computers. So we play the game here," he said.

Twitter Influence

2010-01-17T17:47:00.001-08:00

Check your influence and visibility on Twitter using tools like Twinfluence, Twitter Grader, TwitterScore, Topsy, and Buzzom. They calculate your influence on Twitter from the number of followers you have, how influential those followers, and the ratio of people who follow you against the numbers you follow. Other measures are the frequency of your Tweets and their strength, which is measured by the number of retweets. The detailed analysis of these Twitter tools is on PC World.

Meanwhile Twitter's global and humanitarian influence became apparent in the awful Haiti earthquake. Even as the communications infrastructure in Haiti was destroyed, Twitter and other social networking websites posted horrific details of the carnage and brought home the seriousness of the humanitarian crisis. Twitter provided updates on where clean drinking water is available in Port-au-Prince and where people are still trapped under rubble and debris. Haiti native singer Wyclef Jean used Twitter to enable text message donations for the survivors. Another local celeb, Carel Pedre, was tweeting immediately after the 7.0 magnitude quake using his Twitter site as a bulletin board to help find missing Haitians.

Credit Card and Holiday Season insurance

2009-11-15T21:49:00.000-08:00

According to the National Retail Federation the average person will spend $683 on shopping during this holiday season. To control expenditure and stay on budget people prefer to use debit cards because they link directly to your bank account, while with credit cards you tend to spend what you don't have. Then there is the risk of credit card fraud. The Herald Net reports that using debit cards may not be good enough insurance from overspending.

Both debit and credit cards offer protections against unauthorized use, but legally and in common practice there are more safeguards for credit card holders. That’s because if you lose the debit card, thieves could have access to your entire bank balance. It’s not clear that using a debit card will help you stick to your budget. Several studies have found that carrying cash — especially large bills — helps curtail spending, but there’s little evidence that translates to debit.

Guarding the PIN while using a debit card at the ATM is particularly important, because if a thief uses it, any spending or withdrawals that result may not be covered. Avoid shopping on sites that don’t have a bright green banner in the address bar when you’re checking out. That green banner indicates the site meets the industry standard for online safety.

Touchscreen computer Windows 7

2009-11-12T01:43:00.000-08:00

People use touchscreen technology on computers when they use an ATM, receive boarding passes at the airport, or print pictures at a photo kiosk. And now Microsoft's new operating system for computers, Windows 7, has in-built ability to manipulate the display screen with one or more fingers and finger paint, play music, spin a globe or enlarge and rotate photos. Acer, Asus, Dell, Fujitsu, Gateway, Hewlett-Packard (HPQ), Lenovo, Sony, Toshiba and other PC makers have or will shortly trot out touch-ready computers with Windows 7.
USA Today

The demand for touch-screen PCs is rising. Amy Leong, research director at the Gartner research firm, says the number of touch-screen PC units shipped will surpass 6 million in 2010, nearly quadrupling 2008 shipments. She says about 10% of the new PC models coming this year will support touch technology. According to iSuppli forecasts, the global market for touch-screens will reach $6.4 billion by 2013, up from $3.4 billion in 2008.

Sciphone cheap but unreliable

2009-10-31T20:44:00.001-07:00

Sciphone is a cheap iPhone clone manufactured in China, which runs on Google's android software. The latest version is the Sciphone N19, which has a 2MP camera, compatibility with GSM 900/1800 MHz bands, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth connectivity, a 2.8" touchscreen display at 320 x 240 resolution, 128MB ROM and an equal amount of RAM, and a microSD memory card slot. And it costs $150:

With the limited features it offers, the Sciphone has other drawbacks, like the absence of manuals and firmware. Some of the older versions of the Sciphone are the i68 and the G2 Dream. Mostly average phones, they are understandably popular in the Far East.

New BlackBerry Storm

2009-10-28T01:51:00.000-07:00

The new BlackBerry Storm comes to the markets today. BlackBerry Storm 2 will go on sale on Wednesday for $ 280, Verizon is offering a $100 mail-in-rebate, due to which price will come down to $ 180. According to Verizon Wireless, Customers will be receiving mail-in rebate in the form of a Visa debit cards and not in check. Data plans begin at $29.99 for the BlackBerry Strom 2 when added to Verizon’s any nationwide voice plan. The new BlackBerry Storm is considered a vast improvement over the previous phone with its new features like BlackBerry OS 5.0, improved touchscreen and in-built Wi-Fi.

Brazilian model Isabeli Fontana doing business with her BlackBerry phone. Some of the features of the new BlackBerry Storm 2 are: 3.2 MP camera with autofocus and video recording technology, 256 MB flash memory, 2GB in-built media storage and 16GB via memory card which includes microSD/SDHD, Rechargeable and removable 1,400 mAhr battery, and in-built GPS chip for maps.

Twitter quitter

2009-10-19T17:10:00.000-07:00

Celebrities are quitting Twitter. Miley Cyrus started it all with her famous YouTue video clip, belting out a rap song on why she became a Twitter quitter. Miley said it became weird to post her daily routine online, and share it with millions. The Washington Post reports that other celebrity Twitter accounts are lying dormant like that of Hugh Jackman's, since May when he was Twittering like crazy to promote his then-new film "X-Men Origins: Wolverine."

Meanwhile singer Courtney Love has also become a Twitter quitter while outspoken Lily Allen (above), who first shut down her anti-file sharing blog, also reportedly made her last Tweet: "I am a neo-luddite, goodbye."

Gmail reliability

2009-10-08T02:05:00.000-07:00

Google executives say that their Gmail service is currently running at a 99.9 percent reliability rate. Speaking to reporters on the recent outages affecting Gmail, Google's Sergey Brin said that one outage could have been resolved in five to 10 minutes, but the company made errors that extended recovery time to an hour. Brin said the company is also working to group customers so one outage has a limited impact.

Meanwhile IBM has launched LotusLive iNotes, an on-demand e-mail, calendaring and contact management system meant to compete with Gmail. LotusLive iNotes is based on technology IBM purchased from the Hong Kong company Outblaze. Sean Poulley, vice president of online collaboration at IBM, said that no company can guarantee a 100 reliability rate for on-demand applications. But IBM has a long-standing track record of running "the world's mission-critical systems," he said.

Cyber crime new threats

2009-10-02T19:34:00.000-07:00

In its Cybercrime Intelligence Report, anti-virus provider Finjan details how cyber-criminals are using Trojans, such as the URLzone bank Trojan, and new anti-fraud detection tactics to sidestep quick identification of the crime by both banking customers and the banks themselves. According to this report, cyber-criminals can buy an online crime toolkit, such as LuckySploit, for anywhere from $100 to $300. These kits contain exploit code and a management interface for injecting attack software into Web sites.

First, the crooks managed to either infect a legitimate Web site, or setup a fraudulent site to lure victims. Second, they must have presumably managed to sidestep any anti-virus that was installed. Third, bypass one-time-password authentication by making certain that the attacker has commandeered the browser session during a banking transaction. They then fake the statement presented to the consumer online. And, finally, craft transactions so that they avoid detection by the anti-fraud controls the bank may have in place. That sophistication reveals the level of motivation, and skill, banks and consumers are up against.

Information Week

Free Microsfot anti-virus

2009-09-22T01:48:00.001-07:00

Microsoft's new anti-virus and anti-spyware software pack, titled Microsoft Security Essentials, will be released soon. Microsoft has touted the software as a basic anti-virus, anti-spyware product that consumes less memory and disk space than commercial security suites like those from vendors such as Symantec and McAfee. Microsoft Security Essentials will run on Windows XP SP2 or later, Windows Vista and Windows 7. But be warned: If you're running a pirated copy of these operating systems on your computer then there's no free anti-virus software for you!

Facebook popular

2009-09-16T02:18:00.000-07:00

Facebook has passed the 300 million-member mark worldwide, as well as turned free cash-flow positive ahead of schedule, the company's CEO, Mark Zuckerberg, announced Tuesday. Facebook now generates enough cash from business operations to cover the cash it spends on capital expenditures. "This is important to us because it sets Facebook up to be a strong independent service for the long term," Zuckerberg said.

Facebook is also becoming more popular with its tag feature. Facebook already allowed users to tag photos to identify other Facebook contacts. But now users can also tag posts and status updates, with their contacts, allowing the latter to follow and search for events more closely. The new tagging is actually borrowed from Twitter, a rival social network. Twitter users use the ‘@' symbol followed by the name of other Twitter users as a means of tagging the user and providing a link to that user's profile.

Twitter advertising

2009-09-14T02:43:00.000-07:00

Twitter has finally opened its millions of user generated profiles and content to advertising. Twitter, the two-year-old venture capital-backed company that lets people send an unlimited number of 140-character messages, is just now beginning to ramp up efforts to monetize, or gain revenue from, its popular site. "We leave the door open for advertising. We'd like to keep our options open, as we've said before," founder Biz Stone wrote on Twitter's official blog.

Twitter kept its new clause on advertising open-ended, and stressed it was subject to change. "The services may include advertisements, which may be targeted to the content or information on the services, queries made through the services, or other information," the terms read. "The types and extent of advertising by Twitter on the services are subject to change."

"In consideration for Twitter granting you access to and use of the services, you agree that Twitter and its third-party providers and partners may place such advertising on the services...."

Reuters

Internet Addiction

2009-09-05T23:52:00.000-07:00

Internet addiction is not recognized as a separate disorder by the American Psychiatric Association, and treatment is not generally covered by insurance. But there are many such treatment centers in China, South Korea and Taiwan — where Internet addiction is taken very seriously — and many psychiatric experts say it is clear that Internet addiction is real and harmful. In the United States the center, called ReSTART, is somewhat ironically located near Redmond, headquarters of Microsoft and a world center of the computer industry. It opened in July and for $14,000 offers a 45-day program intended to help people wean themselves from pathological computer use, which can include obsessive use of video games, texting, Facebook, eBay, Twitter and any other time-killers brought courtesy of technology.
AP

This photo taken Sept. 1, 2009 shows reSTART Internet Addiction Recovery Program co-founder Cosette Dawna Rae talking with a client, who wished not to be named, on his first day at the program's facilities in Fall City, Wash. reSTART is the first residential treatment program of its kind in the United States. (AP Photo/Stephen Brashear)

Embedded PC System

2009-08-27T19:48:00.000-07:00

American Portwell Technology has announced its WEBS-1010, an ultra-compact, fanless, noiseless embedded PC system based on the Intel Atom Z530/Z510 processor. The system, which measures 4 x 4.5 x 1.05in and weighs 13oz, includes Intel US15W SCH and GMA 500 chipset; 1Gb onboard DDR2 SDRAM; 2.5in SATA HDD or SSD; DVI output up to 1920 x 1080; 802.11G wireless option and Gigabit Ethernet; high definition 2.0 audio; programmable IR receiver and support for Microsoft Windows XP Embedded; and Windows XP, Windows Vista, Windows 7 and Linux operating systems.

The WEBS-1010's fanless design makes it suitable for mission-critical applications. It is noiseless and completely silent if built with a SSD Falsh Drive, the company said.

Electronics Talk

Cyber bullying conviction

2009-08-21T18:16:00.000-07:00

In a historic first a cyber bullying case has resulted in conviction and a jail term for the female cyber bully. 18-year old Keeley Houghton used to bully Emily Moore for four years since they were in school together. This bullying sometimes extended to physical assault. The bullying then extended to the Internet when Keeley Houghton posted death threats on her Facebook page. "Keeley is going to murder the bitch. She is an actress. What a ******* liberty. Emily ****head Moore."

Daily Mail

Keeley Houghton (above) was sentenced to three months in a young offenders' institution after pleading guilty to harassment. She was also given a restraining order banning her from contacting Emily in person, via the internet or in any other manner for five years.

Twitter pointless

2009-08-16T17:08:00.000-07:00

Twitter is mostly used for pointless babble and conversations between people, a study shows. Marketing intelligence firm Pear Analytics found that 40% of the tweets flowing on the site were about someone eating a sandwich or some other "pointless babble," and 37% were parts of conversations. A distant third were re-tweets, or messages with "pass along value," accounting for 9% of traffic; followed by self promotion, 6%, spam, 4% and news 4%.

Information Week

iPhone bank deposits

2009-08-12T01:44:00.000-07:00

USAA already released an iPhone application in May that allows members to check their bank balances, transfer money, find nearby ATMs and make other inquiries using their iPhones (and it's not the only one). Mobile banking is expected to grow. But thisnew check-depositing process will add a new dimension to the group's existing services. The iPhone check-depositing process won't be the first time USAA has offered offsite deposits from back customers, though. Back in February 2007, the bank introduced a process in which customers could scan their checks into their home computers and then transmit the images to the back for deposit.

After using the new iPhone application, customers won't have to send the deposited checks to the bank later, but are advised to void the documents or save them for safekeeping, according to The New York Times report. Due to concerns about fraud and theft, only customers who are able to obtain credit accounts or have insurance with USAA will be eligible to use the new service.
PC World

Cyber bullying

2009-08-04T18:14:00.000-07:00

The use of social networking is rife among schoolchildren: almost half of eight to 17-year-olds now have an online profile, according to a survey conducted by OFCOM last year. But these social networking sites, like facebook, MySpace, or Bebo, have become platforms for cyber bullying. The relative annonymity of the Internet gives a lot of scope for such bullying; recently 15-year-old Megan Gillan had committed suicide by taking a fatal overdose of painkillers after being the victim of cyber bullies who tormented her via the website Bebo:

Daily Mail

The Archbishop of Westminster expressed concern that an over-reliance on cyber friendships was impeding children's ability to develop ways of interacting in the real world. It is surely no coincidence that, despite the ready availability of tens of thousands of cyber-friends, among young people loneliness remains a major problem. The charity ChildLine counsels 5,500 children for loneliness every year.

Someone using your computer

2009-08-02T01:17:00.000-07:00

The Seattle Times answers an interesting query from one of its readers. "I am the only one using my computer. I turn off my computer around 11 p.m. For the past month I have been receiving a pop-up that says: Other people are logged onto this computer. Shutting down Windows might cause them to lose data. Do you still want to continue shutting down? I have McAfee security and I'm running Windows XP. Do I have anything to be concerned about? Barbara Logue

A: Yes, I'd be concerned. It's a little difficult to diagnose your specific problem, since there's a lot of information I'd need that's not in your letter. You don't say what specific McAfee product you're using and whether you're also running a firewall. And you don't mention whether you're connected to a network or the Internet.

But let's stick to the basics. The message you're getting tells you that someone has logged in to your computer using a user account other than the one you used to log in with. That person could be logging it at your keyboard, elsewhere on your network or over the Internet.

The first thing I'd suggest is going to the Control Panel and clicking on the User Accounts icon to see what user accounts are listed for your computer. You should change passwords for all user accounts, though remember that you'll need to be logged in a system administrator to do so. You may want to delete any accounts other than the one you use.

Even if this step solves the problem, however, you'll want to make sure you've got a firewall running since cracking passwords is not a major hurdle to a hacker. Firewalls are designed to prevent other users from doing such things as connecting to your computer remotely.

Spam rise global

2009-07-29T17:55:00.000-07:00

By country, the amount of worldwide spam originating from the United States has dropped steadily over the past three quarters, but the U.S. still leads in spam production at 25.5 percent of the global market. Brazil, Turkey, India, and Poland have also seen sizable increases at producing spam. According to McAfee's second-quarter Threats Report, spam and malware levels in the second quarter of this year, shot up 80 percent compared with the first quarter:

Some of the reasons for this global rise in spam: More home users are setting up their PCs as remote access machines and as Web hosts, leaving those PCs increasingly vulnerable. Another major threat reported by McAfee is AutoRun malware, which is triggered automatically when a person plugs in a USB stick, memory card, or other external device. The Trojans PWS-OnlineGames and PWS-Gamania and two viruses named W32/Sality and W32/Virut have propagated through removable cards and drives.

The openness of social networking sites often puts them at risk. On Facebook, people freely access different applications that require a username and password, so those apps can easily tap into their accounts. McAfee also saw an increase this past quarter in the "popular" Facebook malware Koobface. Then there is Twitter spam. In April, the site was hit by a JavaScript worm that exploited a hole to infect user profiles. The same month, a French hacker was able to gain access to the account of a Twitter product director.
Cnet News

Twitter services

2009-07-26T01:53:00.000-07:00

Twitter will likely introduce a bundle of paid services later this year for businesses to use to do things like verify their accounts and analyze traffic to their Twitter profiles, according to Anamitra Banerji, manager of commercial products at Twitter. Some people think of Twitter as a broadcast platform. But Twitter says that instead, the service is for building relationships and listening to and responding to comments about your company. It is also a way to ask questions and float ideas in real time, the company says.
NYT
Twitter unveiled Twitter 101, a series of Web pages and a downloadable slide show that explain what Twitter is and how businesses can use it, along with case studies of a few companies that use Twitter.

Microsoft ships Windows 7

2009-07-23T00:19:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has announced that the finished version of Windows 7, its new computer operating system, has shipped to suppliers, prior to a full release on October 22. The new operating system will go on sale in three versions, Home Premium (£80), Professional (£190) and Ultimate (£200). UK users who place advance orders before August 9 can claim a discount of almost 50 per cent on these prices. Windows 7 replaces the previous operating system Windows Vista with all its problems, and the more stable but still older Windows XP.

Times Online
Windows’ dominant market share has fallen from above 90 per cent in the face of increasingly stiff competition from less costly rivals. Apple Inc, whose iPod touch and iPhones have helped propel the company to an unprecedented 10 per cent OS market share, will release Snow Leopard, the latest version of its OS X operating system in September. The new system, designed to run only on Apple machines, promises speed enhancements and refinements; its lack of dazzling new features is reflected in the planned upgrade price of £29.

The internet search giant Google, meanwhile, recently announced that it will enter the operating system market with Chrome OS, a freely distributed system designed primarily for use on netbooks. John Curran, the Director, UK Windows Business Group is adamant that Windows 7 will restore Microsoft’s position as top dog: “When netbooks started out, we had a zero per cent share of the market. We have in the last 18 months responded with Windows XP Home, which delivers a better experience on netbooks than Vista. We are now at 90 per cent, and Windows 7 can run across the entire range of netbook hardware.”

Twitter more popular than Google

2009-07-21T00:39:00.000-07:00

A new study says that all of the mentions that microblogging service Twitter got from the media, like TV, newspapers, radio, or the Internet, in the past month is worth $48 million! News-monitoring service VMS estimates there have been 2.73 billion impressions in the past 30 days, with TV responsible for 57 percent of the value, newspapers 37 percent and magazines 5 percent. "This is huge. It's very, very high," Gary Getto of VMS told Advertising Age. "In fact, we looked at online coverage of Twitter vs. Google. Twitter is running significantly higher than Google and I didn't think anything was more popular than Google."

This is only in the last month though, and Google is definitely more well-known and popular in terms of usage than Twitter. It's just that there has been a Twitter craze in the past few months with all the celebrity Twitter followers. But not all celebrity profiles on Twitter are real; most are just Twitter spam. Popular actress Megan Fox (showing her Marilyn Monroe tattoo on the right arm) said in the news recently, "I don't have a Twitter...neither does Shia, and I don't know anyone who Twitters!"

So all the Megan Fox pages on Twitter are fakes. The Transformers star is certainly more popular on Google!

Mobile phone virus and malware

2009-07-14T18:22:00.001-07:00

There are many more virus programs infecting PCs than mobile phones, but there are many more ways of getting virus programs into mobile phones than into PCs. Cell phones can get virus infections and malware programs from SMS/MMS messages, downloaded mobile apps, memory sticks, from PCs, bluetooth connections, email and web surfing. Despite these vulnerable points, there has not been a major mobile phone virus attack yet, because of the multiple types of operating systems. A virus program is written for a particular type of operating system, thus a virus on a symbian mobile will not infect an iPhone. As of now the mobile phone market has multiple operating systems, like the iPhone OS, Windows Mobile, Symbian, Google Android, and Palm Web OS.

Virus and malware contained in messages are usually filtered by the network operator but mobile phone virus security software is essential for complete protection. McAfee, Trend Micro, Kaspersky, SMobile, FortiGuard and FSecure all provide security software for mobile phones. Prevention is better than cure; so don't click on erotic/celebrtiy links contained in messages. A virus program can send out multiple messages from an infected phone quickly inflating the bill or drain the mobile phone's battery. In the future more dangerous viruses may use an infected phone to launch attacks on the network.

Mobile banking problems prospects

2009-07-05T20:44:00.000-07:00

There are 3.3 billion mobile phones in the world today, compared to only 900 million PCs. Yet mobile banking is not taking off with the expected momentum, and even those users who sign up for the service do not access all its features. The prospects for mobile banking seem bright, because number of banks offering mobile banking will double from less than 300 to more than 600 by the end of 2009. But the problem is even this figure of 600 is less than 10 percent of U.S. institutions, while each individual bank offering mobile banking services does not report encouraging customer adoption rates (usually less than 10 percent). Those customers that do adopt mobile banking limit the functionality to balance inquiries or funds transfers.

Mobile banking does offer greater security than Internet banking, because there are fewer Mobile viruses than computer viruses. In the US the most popular instrument for mobile banking is the iPhone and the iPod Touch. Apart from funds transfer you can also make bill payments, and get important alerts on your account, with mobile banking. Despite all this many people are not comfortable dealing with their finances "on the go" and would prefer to be in the privacy of their homes, in front of a computer, while tackling important financial data.

Michael Jackson virus

2009-07-03T01:06:00.000-07:00

As Michael Jackson is remembered around the world, computer security experts warn of increasing levels of viruses and spam using the name of Michael Jackson to snare unsuspecting users. One e-mail carrying the subject line "Remembering Michael Jackson" has a zip file attached that infects victims if downloaded. "The e-mail, which claims to come from sarah@michaeljackson.com, says that the attached ZIP file contains secret songs and photos of Michael Jackson," Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos, wrote on a blog. "However, the reality is that opening the attachment exposes you to infection - and if your computer is hit you will be spreading the worm onto other Internet users."

Another way of spreading a computer virus is by disguising it under an image. So if you get a cool image in your email of Michael Jackson as above, do not click on it! Cluley said that the malware also spreads via USB memory sticks. Another e-mail promises an exclusive look at a YouTube video of the "last work of Michael Jackson," but instead installs a malicious program that steals passwords.

One charger to charge them all

2009-07-01T00:34:00.000-07:00

Ten cell phone companies including Apple, LG, Motorola, Nokia and Sony Ericsson have signed up to offer a common charger, which will be based on a Micro-USB connector. Such universal chargers will improve energy efficiency and reduce energy consumption. However they will only work with data enabled phones, which will become widely available in Europe and the UK after 2010. The EU industry commissioner, Günter Verheugen, said, "Consumers will be able to charge mobile phones anywhere from the new common charger. This also means considerably less electronic waste because people will no longer have to throw away chargers when buying new phones."

Photograph: Dan Chung/The Guardian

Hottest girls on Apple

2009-06-28T18:28:00.000-07:00

The Hottest Girls app that was available on the Apps Store, was rated 17+ for Frequent/Intense Sexual Content or Nudity. Originally the app had a gallery of gallery of 2200+ sexy bikini babes and lingerie models, to which topless girls were added later. In spite of the adult disclaimer, the approved app landed at the apps store, only to be removed the very next day.

Techtree

This was the action that once again labeled the Apps Store handlers, if any, to be incompetent. However, the situation was clarified by Apple spokesperson Tom Neumayr: "Apple will not distribute applications that contain inappropriate content, such as pornography. The developer of this application added inappropriate content directly from their server after the application had been approved and distributed, and after the developer had subsequently been asked to remove some offensive content. This was a direct violation of the terms of the iPhone Developer Program. The application is no longer available on the App Store."

However other apps that contain nudity continue to reside at Apple's App Store.

Microsoft Security Essentials

2009-06-23T21:57:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has released a limited beta version of Microsoft Security Essentials, a free antivirus application for users of Windows XP, Vista, or the new Windows 7. The new app, which will replace Windows Live OneCare, aims to cover the basic security needs of home users, and its easy-to-use interface appears to be taking the right approach to the task. When you launch Microsoft Security Essentials, the program downloads and installs Microsoft's most up-to-date virus definitions and then scans your system. Once installed, the software keeps current by automatically downloading new virus definitions daily via Windows Update.

The Microsoft Security Essentials interface is clear-cut and cleanly designed. At the top of the window, you'll see your computer's protection status--protected, partially protected, or unprotected. Everything else appears in four tabs: Home (which shows you an overview of your settings, and has a Scan Now button), Update (where you can manually update your virus-definition files), History (which logs all of the malware cleaned from your system) and Settings (self-explanatory).

Washington Post

New Twitter search

2009-06-20T19:16:00.000-07:00

Twitter has its own search engine, which the team at Twitter plans to update, to include web pages linked to in Twitter posts. But there is competition from third-party search engines; the latest as per CNET News is Crowd Eye. Ken Moss, who led the search engineering team at Microsoft for five years, has spent the last months building CrowdEye, a real-time search engine that aims to allow users to better mine Twitter to get a pulse on hot topics. This new Twitter search engine also features a list of the most popular links on a topic and a tag cloud of associated terms:

As you can see above the popular links are on the Iran elections and baseball. Ken Moss said that searching Twitter is also useful for things like finding the latest viral video or a solution to a new software bug. Crowd Eye also has its own Twitter account linked at the bottom of their search engine home page.

Kate Moore text messaging champion

2009-06-18T00:47:00.000-07:00

15-year old Kate Moore of Des Moines, Iowa, is America's text messaging champion. She won the the LG US National Texting Championship beating 20 other contestants and overcoming challenges such as texting blindfolded and texting while maneuvering through a moving obstacle course. All contestants had to type in phrases on their LG handsets exactly as they appeared on nearby LG plasma screens with no typos or abbreviations, trying to be quicker than their opponents. Kate Moore says that she normally sends 400 to 470 texts a day, but is adamant that such relentless messaging does not disrupt her regular routine. Kate Moore keeps good grades, performs in school plays, and socializes with her friends in the real world. Below Kate Moore's brunette mother, left, holds up her victorious blonde daughter's hand after Kate won the 2009 LG US National Texting Championship Tuesday, June 16, 2009 in New York. Moore, of Des Moines, won $50,000 in the competition. (Reuters Photo/Eric Thayer):

This is the third text messaging championship hosted by LG. The first winner was also a teen girl! 13-year-old Morgan Pozgar won $25,000 cash in 2007. The second year's winning champion was 20-year old Nathan Schwartz who got $50,000.

Word documents for iPhone

2009-06-16T00:42:00.000-07:00

Documents To Go is a new iPhone application that lets you view, edit, create, and send Microsoft Word documents on your iPhone. The App Store has two versions for $5 and $10; the latter allows the iPhone user to send and receive MS Word documents as file attachments through Microsoft Exchange email. And with the InTact Technology of Documents To Go, Word documents edited or created on the iPhone look exactly like those in your desktop version of Microsoft Word.

For keeping the documents in your phone and desktop synchronized, a desktop application provides 2-way file sync using a Wi-Fi connection. Additionaly Documents To Go incorporates Apple's built-in viewing technology to help you view other files, such as Excel & PowerPoint, on your device.

Websites like Twitter

2009-06-11T19:05:00.000-07:00

Twitter is not the only micro-blogging and social networking website. There many alternative websites that provide similar service without some of the problems plaguing Twitter. These websites are mostly free from Twitter spam and fake profiles because they are as yet not so well known. One of the best Twitter alternatives, and considered a potential Twitter killer, is Plurk:

Plurk has all the features of Twitter including real-time search, posting from mobile phones, and a timeline of posts. Unlike Twitter you can slide the timeline to an older period without changing pages. Plurk also has a Karma feature, which adds points if you post updates, and deducts points for spam or inactivity. Plurk is popular in the Philippines.

Jaiku is a micro-blogging website owned by Google. Jaiku badges can be embedded into your blogs or sites for displaying your posts. Replies to other's posts are on the same page, and not on your profile page as in Twitter. Updates can be sent via mobile phones or instant messaging. Google has stopped in-house developments on Jaiku but has made its source code open for others to develop.

Tumblr gives the functionality of a full blogging service. It has customized themes for profile pages, and allows you to post links, photos, video, and audio clips. Tumblr also lets you post audio messages with a phone call, but only to a US number.

Ping.fm is a useful service that lets you update all your social networking sites, including Twitter and Plurk, simultaneously. Ping.fm accepts text and image messages from mobile phones via MMS and SMS, through instant messaging, or by email and other applications.

FriendFeed is based around following all your social networking sites updates, including Twitter, and also the feeds of all your friends’ profiles. FriendFeed even lets you join groups with like-minded people. Another useful service is Twine that lets you create topic pages, with links text or videos, which others can follow.

Twitter without SMS

2009-06-08T20:11:00.000-07:00

The social networking and micro-blogging website Twitter was aimed at cell phone users for posting updates via sms. In the US, UK, and Canada, people can send and receive tweets via SMS at no extra charge, apart from the normal cost of text messaging service. To send tweets without sms there is an application called TwitterBerry for all BlackBerry phones. Download this BlackBerry app and install it; once the program is started you are asked to log in with your Twitter username and password. TwitterBerry then downloads your updates and displays them in a mini-Twitter screen, with the bar on top asking: "What are you doing?"

At the bottom are the characters available: 140, which countdown as you type your tweet. The menu key brings up many other options. The latest version of TwitterBerry is integrated with TwitPic, letting you post photos with your tweets. A similar app for the iPhone is Twitter, while Tiny Twitter is for windows mobile based phones.

Open panel cool computer

2009-06-06T16:56:00.000-07:00

Good ventilation is key to cooling a computer in the hot weather. I discovered by accident that removing one panel from the casing really helps the cooling process....by more than 10°C! I use SpeedFan, one of the free programs to detect and repair hard disks, for monitoring temperatures. With the casing closed the chip temperature ranged between 51°C and 68°C. But with the panel kept open the chip temperature now stays between 39°C and 48°C:

The temperature difference is only for the chip; the other temperature ranges, like for the hard disk, stay the same. A computer with an open panel does not look cool but it does stay cool! And lower temperatures mean better system performance, longer life for the CPU, and lower consumption of electricity.

British Telecom broadband promise

2009-06-04T02:09:00.000-07:00

British Telecom (BT) has upgraded its broadband network to offer home and business users download speeds of up to 20Mbps and uploads of up to 1Mbps. The shift to ADSL2+ technology brings BT's speeds closer to those of competitors such as Virgin Media, which for a higher price offers speeds of up to 50Mbps to some of its cable customers. Until Wednesday, BT's maximum download speed was 8Mbps using ADSL2 technology, which was promised as "up to 8Mbps" while the actual speeds for most consumers were never more than 2Mbps! So up to 20Mbps now means that these consumers will get actual speeds of 4Mbps.

Prices are unchanged, although existing customers wanting the faster speeds will need to restart their contract with BT, with a minimum term of one or two years.
ZDnet

PSP Go

2009-06-03T01:34:00.000-07:00

A 3.8-inch screen, 16 gigs flash memory, Bluetooth support and all digital content, makes the PSP Go 43% lighter than the PSP-3000. Sony says the PSP Go will go on sale in October and cost €249 (£214) in Europe and $249 (£149) in North America. The new handheld is seen by many as a direct rival to Nintendo's DSi, which went on sale in April this year.

Sony also announced a number of new games at the event for both PSP and PS3, including Little Big Planet, Motorstorm, Metal Gear Solid, God of War III, and Final Fantasy XIV. The firm also said that it was reducing by 80% the cost of PSP developer kits - the tools external companies require before they can produce software that will work on the PSP operating system - to encourage third party developers to produce more games for the handheld device.

Internet Fax

2009-06-02T01:18:00.000-07:00

In the 1970s and 80s fax machines provided a useful service for transmitting documents securely over large distances, in electronic form, to be printed out by the receiver using their fax machine. Even after the birth of the Internet and email, faxing is still needed for sensitive documents and confidential memos, and fax machines are common in businesses. Individual users though don't need a fax machine to send a fax, they can do it using a computer!

Most computer owners probably have a scanner, and a phone/fax modem. The document to be faxed is copied to the computer using the scanner. Then it is imported into the fax software, which is free and pre-loaded on Windows XP and Vista, and can be downloaded for other operating systems. Find your fax software in Control Panel>>>Printers and Faxes. Type the telephone number where the fax is to be sent; now connect to the Internet and click send.

If your computer connects to the Internet through a cable modem or wireless you can still send a fax without a fax machine. In this case you do not need fax software on your computer; but you have to sign up with an Internet faxing service. Some of these services are free while others charge a small fee, which is still better than buying a fax machine. Faxes are sent and received by email, using the secure Internet Fax service, which maintains a number for your fax account. Internet fax is secure and private; no one else in either the sender's or recepient's office can access the document. It is also convenient to read faxes on email when on business trips.

Science experiments on a computer

2009-05-28T23:21:00.000-07:00

Students can now conduct science experiments, like dissecting in biology, on a computer reports the Winona Daily News. The virtual dissection looks strikingly realistic. Points and clicks slice open an image of a pig, parts of the animal can be magnified, and text identifying areas of the chopped body appear at the bottom of the screen. Plus, there’s a larger margin of error. "If you do something wrong with a real pig, there’s no going back," said Kelly Conner (below left), who chose the virtual method.

In the photo (Melissa Carlo/Winona Daily News) 17-year old Kelly and her lab partner Chelsey Burros dissect a virtual pig fetus during Sandra Bussian’s human biology class at Winona Senior High School. "I didn’t really want to touch them," explained Chelsey. "I definitely didn’t want to crack any ribs."

Virtual chemistry experiments are known more in advanced studies, where programs create a computer simulation of the physical chemistry experiment. In high school virtual chemistry as a teaching aid is in the form of videos made of the physical chemistry experiment.

Twitter spam

2009-05-27T02:12:00.000-07:00

Many popular Internet services are measured by their success or failure in fighting spam and scams. Social bookmarking sites like Stumbleupon and Digg have loads of spam, as do social networking sites like Facebook and MySpace. The latest Internet fad is Twitter and it is already having to fight off spam. A Twitter account @twittercut sent a flood of messages promising users a quick boost in followers; leading them to a website where they were asked to reveal their passwords. And nearly 13,000 users fell for this phishing scam!

Spammers are using automated programs to generate thousands of unsolicited messages and following thousands of unsuspecting users. It's called "follow spam" and it gets the spammers lots of eyeballs and clicks on their urls. Twitter now allows one user account to follow up to 2000 other users; but if less than 10% follow back, then that account cannot add more followers.

Spammy followers can also bombard users with messages pushing their products or services. "Our team is working on determining the best modes for combating spam to protect the quality of our product," said a Twitter spokeswoman. "We take spamming seriously and are working to suspend any accounts we feel are harassing the community."

Twitter now also has a captcha code at the account creation stage to prevent automated programs from creating fake accounts. The other spam problem will be fake Twitter accounts in the names of celebrities and companies, created by unscrupulous users; these will probably be weeded out using the report and disable method. Kanye West wrote on his blog about a fake Twitter account set up in his name. And gorgeous Cheryl Cole, the top sexiest female celebrity for 2009, had a fake Twitter account in her name which attracted 30,000 users! The scam was uncovered when the people behind the fake account led users to an adult website.

Japanese attack YouTube

2009-05-23T20:18:00.000-07:00

YouTube, the video-sharing website owned by Google, was busy deleting thousands of Internet Pornography videos after it was hit by an organised attack yesterday in a prank known as "Porn Day". Members of the 4Chan message board, which features Japanese anime and manga, have claimed responsibility for uploading the explicit videos in a simultaneous coordinated attack by members from around the world.

YouTube bans pornography from its videos, but reduces the definition to mere nudity, in which case it has gone ahead and deleted even medical surgery videos. Demonstrations of self-examination for breast or testicular cancer. Even demonstration videos helping users in self-examination of breasts to detect breast cancer in women, or self-examination of testicles for detecting testicular cancer in men, have been deleted!

Meanwhile a YouTube spokesperson said, "We were aware of yesterday's issue and removed the videos as they were brought to our attention through our flagging system, as we would any videos that violate our community guidelines. In addition, any account we discover that has been set up specifically to attack YouTube was also disabled."

Cooling a Laptop

2009-05-20T20:33:00.000-07:00

Cooling a computer is all about ventilation, where the fans blow out the hot air, while the cooled air is sucked in through the vents. Cooling a laptop is difficult because the motherboard, hard disk, DVD drive, etc are all crammed into a small space. And keeping it too long on your lap will make the temperature worse, because of your body heat. Dutch firm Nexus Technology has a unique and patented liquid cooling solution. The TDD-9000 is a soft black velvet blanket with a gel-like liquid inside. The patented liquid has unique heat dissipating characteristics and does not need any power. "When you put the laptop cooling pad on your lap you will feel your lap turn colder within 10 seconds," says Michael van der Jagt, CEO of Nexus Technology. The cooling pad is 15.7" long and 11.4" wide; it weighs a mere 506 grams and can be folded up.

Tests show that a laptop reaches a temperature of 50°C after 40 minutes on a regular surface, while on the TDD-9000 it reaches only 36°C in 40 minutes. The pad can be made effective repeatedly by simply lifting it up and shaking it. The Nexus TDD-9000 liquid cooling pad will be available from mid-June 2009 and will sell for $23.00.

Cool Vista effects on XP

2009-05-18T19:51:00.000-07:00

It is easy to get cool effects of Vista, like the 3-dimensional windows and sidebar widgets, on your desktop without taking on the problems of Windows Vista. The Shock Aero 3D v.097 software will give your XP desktop the Aero Flip feature with some added effects; like changing the camera position to alter the angle and positioning of the stack of 3D windows. The same Windows Vista keyboard shortcut: Windows+Tab flips the displayed windows in 3D:

To get the sidebar widget just download the Google Desktop; it will insert a clock, a slideshow of images from your pictures folder, and the latest news in the sidebar. From the plugins section of Google Desktop you can add gadgets to your desktop like small games, fancy clocks, calendars, and potted plants.

Downloading torrent files copyright

2009-05-16T17:59:00.000-07:00

Torrent software is used for downloading and uploading digital files of movies, music, TV shows, video games, software, books, magazines, and pictures. This is done without the need to physically upload a large file to a central server; a person with the original file simply makes it available on a torrent network, creating a "seed". The other members of that network, called "peers", are able to download bits and pieces of that file from the original person's computer to their own, which is then simultaneously uploaded to other members. This creates a wave, hence the name or torrent, of downloads and uploads which distributes the file rapidly across thousands of computers. Users who download the complete file also become "seeds" and the more seeds a torrent file has, the faster its download. Last month a unedited version of the new movie X-Men Origins: Wolverine was leaked on the Internet and downloaded by more than 4.1 million users across the world, using torrent software and networks:

In the old days (pre-2000) you needed to be a member of a file-sharing peer-to-peer network, but now there are plenty of free networks and free torrent software like µTorrent and BitTorrent. All you need to do is download and install the software on your computer. You can then use a search engine like Google to directly find a torrent of a movie; or use torrent search engines like BitTorrent. There are plenty of free torrent networks like isohunt, torrentreactor, and bushtorrent. They each have a search facility where you type in a keyword and all the torrent files with that keyword are displayed.

Copyright holders of movies, music, software, and video games have been filing lawsuits against file-sharing networks. Recently the founders of the Swedish network Pirate Bay went on trial for copyright violation and were awarded a guilty verdict; even though their defense was that their website, like all torrent networks, only provides an index of torrent files whiel the original file remains on the computers of individual users.

Mininova, the largest torrent indexer, have announced that they would start experimenting with a new content removal tool that enables copyright holders to easily remove and ban torrents from their site. The company Apple refused to approve a BitTorrent application for its App Store, which would turn a user's iPhone into a remote control for BitTorrent downloads on their computer. The great number of torrents are of course related to Internet Pornography, which creates problems for the pornographic industry. But even if you're not looking for copyright-infringing movies or games, and you're not a porn addict, there are plenty of legally available goodies to find and share on torrent networks.

Cell phone case carry and charge

2009-05-15T20:49:00.000-07:00

A cell phone case protects your phone from dust and scratches; a case with a clip helps you to carry the phone by clipping it to your belt, strap, or pocket. But the new case-mate fuel also comes with a rechargeable lithium polymer battery so that you can charge the phone while carrying it. The case-mate fuel for the iPhone 3G provides a recharge for 9 additional hours of talk time or 7 hours of Internet use. The BlackBerry case delivers up to 7 additional hours of talk time or 20 more days of standby.

The case mate fuel sells for $79.99 and is ideal for those using their cell phones on the go. Now instead of charging their phones, users will have to charge the battery in their cases, once they've used it to recharge their phones. The case mate fuel has an on/off button so that you only charge your phone when its really low on power.

Dust-proof keyboard

2009-05-14T00:49:00.000-07:00

Cherry's new G86-52400 industrial keyboard offers IP54 dust-proof and water-resistant rating. Whereas most keyboards don't last beyond 5 million keystrokes on average, the G86-52400 endurance goes to 25 million operations, ensuring industrial users high reliability and reduced maintenance concerns; it has a two year warranty. The dust-proof keyboard is 11.8" long, 6.3" wide, and 1" thick. The small footprint of the G86-52400 makes it ideal for space-constrained applications in rack-mount servers, in-vehicle computing and medical diagnostic equipment. The keyboard has a USB 2.0 interface. The keycap legends are created by laser, so foreign language versions can be created in a simple customization process.

The G86-52400 dust-proof keyboard business solutions

Pirated software in Britain

2009-05-12T20:34:00.000-07:00

According to the latest annual global IDC software piracy study, 27% of all software in British computers is pirated. The new report, released by the Business Software Alliance (BSA) suggests that taking a CD of Adobe Photoshop or Windows from a mate and installing the software on your computer is pretty easy. Not to mention the cash saved, which is so crucial in the downturn. Why don't these people install free sotware like the open office version of microsoft office?

"Much more needs to be done by the industry and the government to warn businesses and consumers of the risks associated with under-licensed software, from a legal, financial and operational point of view," said Alyna Cope, spokesperson for the BSA UK country committee. "Software piracy hurts our knowledge-based economy by weakening the very foundation on which it is built - respect for intellectual property and innovation."

Losses due to the use of pirated software in Britain amount to £1.49 billion in 2008. Globally the losses amount to $50 billion, with $9 billion in the US where piracy rates are the lowest at 20%.

Twitter maintenance and updates

2009-05-10T23:53:00.000-07:00

If you're a Twitter follower you would have noticed that the communications and micro-blogging website was down for maintenance on Friday. Twitter is undergoing a major database update to improve system performance, and one more hour of planned maintenance is due on Monday at 6 am Pacific time. Twitter co-founders Mr. Biz Stone and Mr. Evan Williams are in 100 most influential people listed in Time Magazine. In the photo below from the New York Times the two are seen with Twitter employees and other technology hot-shots; not in the photo is Jack Dorsey chairman and founder of Twitter. (Photo: Peter DaSilva for The New York Times) From left, co-founder and creative director of Twitter Biz Stone, Small Batch Inc. co-founder Bryan Mason, Digg founder Kevin Rose, co-founder and chief executive officer of Twitter Evan Williams, director of product management at Twitter Jason Goldman and Vice President of Operations at Twitter Santosh Jayaram hanging out at Bourbon & Branch:

In February 2009, Twitter grew at a rate of 1,382 percent; since Oprah joined on April 17, traffic to Twitter jumped 43 percent. Twitter is currently free and doesn't make money; but it has high-profile investors like Union Square Ventures, Digital Garage, Spark Capital, Bezos Expeditions (led by Jeff Bezos of Amazon), Institutional Venture Partners and Benchmark Capital. Twitter recently raised $35 million in another round of funding.

This is why Biz Stone and Evan Williams, appearing on ABC's "The View" as part of Twitter's media campaign that has also included appearances on Oprah and The Colbert Report, could say confidently "No. We are not for sale." Twitter is in demand because of its growing number of users, and a huge database created by those users. The real-time news posted on Twitter may lead more people to search for updates to developing stories on Twitter rather than Google. Twitter's effectiveness in real-time information was seen in last year's terror attacks in Mumbai, India. Many people caught up in the attacks used Twitter to let friends/family around the world know they were safe. They also posted real-time updates of the situation, which were far better than what the traditional media could transmit.

Twitter has its own search engine called Summize. Santosh Jayaram said Twitter would update and expand its index to include web pages linked to in Twitter posts. Jayaram also said that Twitter would institute a reputation ranking system for its users, in order to help Twitter's search engine rank search results. This news will surely spur other tech and web companies to try and get a piece of Twitter!

Wikipedia unreliable

2009-05-07T20:34:00.001-07:00

An Irish student showed how Wikipedia is unreliable as an editable online encyclopedia, by posting a fake quote by French composer Maurice Jarre on his wikipedia page. The composer passed away in March and newspapers who published his obituaries reproduced that fake quote verbatim!

Shane Fitzgerald, 22, a final-year student studying sociology and economics at University College Dublin, told the Irish Times he placed the fake quote as an experiment when doing research on globalisation. "I didn't expect it to go that far. I expected it to be in blogs and sites, but on mainstream quality papers? I was very surprised by that," he said. The hoax remained undiscovered for weeks until he e-mailed the newspapers that had been deceived to tell them that they had published an inaccurate quote.

Wikipedia has some good articles and write-ups that are used by many people around the world for reference. But it is unreliable because anyone can edit and change those articles. For a hoax to be successful the person editing a Wikipedia article only needs to add a single line or sentence. This usually passes scrutiny from the Wikipedia editors looking after that article. As another example of a hoax passing for fact, have a look at gorgeous Australian model Miranda Kerr:

Her wikipedia page claims that beautiful Miranda Kerr who dresses in lingerie and catwalk attire, "is also Persian, Serbian, Turkish, and Filipino". The source of this claim is listed in the wiki references as an Iranian newspaper, which itself credits a dubious "freewebs site"! It has been repeatedly denied by the Aussie model's agency, who say that she is descended from white immigrants to Australia. And yet this unreliable "fact" of her ethnic background stays on unreliable wikipedia and is reproduced in blogs and websites!

Computer Science students contest

2009-05-06T22:38:00.000-07:00

The Battle of the Brains is the largest computer contest of its kind in the world. 19-year old Jacob Steinhardt, a freshman at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology said, "Our team placed first in North America, and we got seventh overall, which was a silver medal. The first-place medal was St. Petersburg Institute of Technology [from Russia]."

Each team of computer science and engineering students has to solve 11 programming conundrums in five hours. Battle of the Brains spokesman Doug Heintzman said, "Some of the world's best computer scientists and engineers formulate the questions and submit them to a panel. And the panel decides which questions will be at the competition."

"We might ask students to imagine that they were designing a port of entry and that there were container ships that had certain different capacities, that were arriving on a certain schedule," he says. "And they had to optimize the transfer of containers from the ships to trains that were going to take them off. Or to design the interior of an airport to facilitate the transfer of passengers from incoming flights to outgoing flights."

About 22,000 students from the fields of computer science, engineering, optics, mechanics, and IT, representing 88 countries competed in the regionals stage of the competition in October.

VOA News

The winning team of students from St. Petersburg University. photo:David Hill

Following President Obama's call for Americans to consider being smart as cool, the MIT students should be topping the headlines in newspapers and dominating the talk shows and late night shows. Instead the antics of Miss California, her views on gay marriage, and her nude photos are choking the media outlets.....and people can't get enough of her! It is still not cool to be smart sadly.

Buying online Internet Merchants

2009-05-05T19:11:00.000-07:00

Internet Merchants like Ebay and Amazon have opened a global market for online sellers and customers. The market size keeps increasing, as does the number of internet merchants, but not just in the west which has till now powered the growth in ecommerce. The Chinese auction website Taobao.com, one of the largest Internet shopping platforms in China, showed a total trade volume of 100 billion Yuan in 2008. From simple books, CDs, and DVDs, customers are buying car parts, clothing, furniture, cosmetics, electronic goods, and even food and groceries online!

One of the good things about buying online is the ability to find bargains, deals and to bid for items. Most internet merchants have a buy one take one free offer, or a low-price offer, for stuff that is expensive in the store. However some unscrupulous merchants cover up the cost on a low-price item by charging extra for shipping and handling. Other internet merchants draw in customers with low prices only to reveal that the actual premium item and all the accessories with it, come for a higher price.

A reliable internet merchant should have a contact address and phone number, and a written return policy, for it to be trusted by customers. A reptable merchant should also have a secure payment procedure so that your credit card details and other personal information is not stolen.

Wrist injury from keyboard mouse

2009-05-03T18:55:00.000-07:00

Repetitive Stress Injury (RSI) is a neuro-musculoskeletal disorder affecting those parts of the body, which stay in the same position for long hours. Naturally computer users are affected by RSI, getting constant aches and pains in their lower back, neck, shoulders, wrists; even eye strain which happens from staring constantly at the computer screen is considered RSI. The most common injury for computer users, resulting in constant pain and tingling, is to the wrist and hand. Called Carpal Tunnel Syndrome (CTS), it is caused by compression of the median nerve in the wrist, when it stays bent while gripping the mouse or constantly raised and without support on the keyboard (photo from healthissueonline).

Apart from people using computers in their offices, computer professionals, and PC gamers also suffer from wrist injury and CTS. Buying ergonomic keyboards to prevent such injuries is an expensive proposition and not always effective. Wrist rests filled with gel, provide a soft cushion for the wrist and forearm. The wrist rest fits nicely in front of your keyboard, is vry cheap, and is designed to last years....but in actual use the cloth enclosing the wrist rest starts to wrinkle and tear within a year.

Smaller wrist rests and pads filled with gel are also available for the mouse. They have a rubber base to prevent the wrist rest from sliding around. A makeshift alternative to gel filled wrist rests is to use rolls of bubble wrap.

Portable CD player with FM radio

2009-05-01T23:52:00.000-07:00

If you prefer to buy and listen to CDs rather than buy and download mp3 songs, or if you have a collection of previously bought or gifted music cds, then the Philips AX2460 Portable CD Player is essential for you. The portable CD player has an LCD display with LED indicators showing battery status, CD functions, DBB, ESP, time, and song title. It also comes with AE500 FM radio headphones and supports the FM radio band in the 87.5 - 108 MHz transmission frequency.

You can listen to both original CDs as well as CDs that you burn using your computer. Many people prefer a portable CD player to iPods and other mp3 players because of the better sound quality.

Convert cassettes to mp3

2009-04-30T01:37:00.000-07:00

Before the digital age, people bought music recorded on audio cassettes, and listened to them in their players and in an iPod-ancestor called "the walkman". If you have such audio cassettes lying around with years and years of music recorded on them, now you get a special gadget to convert that precious music into mp3 and other digital formats, which you can store on your computer or burn to a CD.

Behold the MV-CM001U, a USB gadget, from Japanese company Novac:

It costs only $80.20 but unfortunately CNET Asia reports that it is compatible with only Japanese versions of Windows XP or Vista.

Therefore in the rest of the world we are stuck with the old method of converting casettes to mp3 using the computer's sound card. Located at the back of the cabinet, it has three ports colored green (connected by wire to you computer speakers), red or pink (for a microphone), and blue (for line-ins). This last line-in port is connected with the line-out port on your cassette player; also called the headphone jack. The connection is made using a male-male audio cable.

You also need software like Audiograbber or Audacity to record. Once you play the cassette you should be able to hear the sound in your speakers using the software, and proceed to record each song as a separate file or the entire cassete as one big file, which you can edit later. If the sound is inaudible or screechy use the microphone port instead.

Samsung smartphone Android software

2009-04-28T01:25:00.000-07:00

The snazzy new smartphone by Samsung, the i7500, will be powered by Google's Android cell phone software. It will be released in Europe in the month of June. Samsung has released details of its smartphone: it has a 5 megapixel digital camera, 8 GB of onboard memory and support for all the major video and audio formats.

Powered by Android the Samsung i7500 is closely integrated with Google Mobile services, like Google Search, Google Maps, Gmail, YouTube, Google Calendar, and Google Talk. The smartphone is 11.9 millimeters thick, with a 3.2-inch AMOLED 480p touch screen, 7.2Mbps tri-band HSDPA 3G wireless and WiFi connectivity.

T-mobile, which manufactures the G1 phone powered by Adroid software, reports selling a million units in the United States. T-mobile has plans of selling the G1 phone in Europe sometime in May. An updated version of Google's cellphone software, Android 1.5 or Cupcake, is due in coming months. Among its new features are video support, faster GPS, stereo Bluetooth, a faster Web browser, a software-based screen keyboard, and user interface changes. T-mobile's G1 phones for Europe will be powered by this updated Android software.

IBM computer jeopardy

2009-04-27T02:32:00.000-07:00

IBM plans to announce Monday that it is in the final stages of completing a computer program to compete against human Jeopardy! contestants. If the program beats the humans, the field of artificial intelligence will have made a leap forward. IBM scientists previously devised a chess-playing program to run on a supercomputer called Deep Blue. That program beat the world champion Garry Kasparov in a controversial 1997 match (Mr. Kasparov called the match unfair and secured a draw in a later one against another version of the program).

"The big goal is to get computers to be able to converse in human terms," said the team leader, David A. Ferrucci, an IBM artificial intelligence researcher. "And we’re not there yet."

The IBM researchers and the producers of Jeopardy said they were considering whether to have an animated avatar that would appear on a computer display. They haven't decided yet what gender it should be. "We’ve only begun to talk about it," said Harry Friedman, the executive producer of Jeopardy! "We all agree that it shouldn’t look like Robby the Robot."

New York Times

Windows System Restore

2009-04-25T18:44:00.000-07:00

Windows System Restore runs in the background in both XP and Vista, recording the state of the Operating System. If a newly installed program or malware has infected your system, you can restore your operating system to an older date, when it was working properly.

You can access System Restore from the Start Menu by navigating from All Programs >>> Accessories >>> System Tools >>> System Restore. By default, System Restore creates a restore point every 24 hours and uses about 12% of your hard disk space to store the information. You can also create a manual restore point, before installing a new program or game, with your own description so in case there are problems with that program you can immediately restore the system.

If the system has crashed so badly that you can't even boot into XP or start it in safe mode, then restart the computer and keep the "F8" key pressed till a menu is displayed. This will then offer a start-up option called "Last known good configuration".

For Windows Vista, System Restore can also be accessed through the installation DVD, in the Windows Runtime Environment (RE) which offers other recovery tools like "Startup Repair", "Windows Complete PC Restore", "Windows Memory Diagnostic Tool", and "Command Prompt". Insert the Windows Vista DVD into the computer and restart it, a message will be displayed asking you to press any key to boot from the CD or DVD. Follow the simple instructions like "language to install" and "time and currency format", click next and then "repair your computer".

Xbox 360 games free

2009-04-23T16:51:00.000-07:00

Microsoft has just announced that it plans to create an Xbox-360 "Elite Game of the Year bundle", to replace the previous Resident Evil 5 Xbo-360 Elite bundle. The new version of the Elite will contain the same black Xbox-360 with a 120 GB hard drive, and comes with two free games, Halo 3 and Fable II. For the first time we get high-quality Xbox-360 games for free! The new Xbox-360 Elite bundle is for $399, the standard price of the Elite console.

But for this price you will also receive one black wireless controller, a wired headset, an Ethernet cable, and an HDMI cable to connect your Xbox-360 to a TV or monitor. The bundle also comes with a free Netflix trial, through which players can get movies streamed directly to their Xbox-360 consoles. Microsoft has said that the Xbox 360 Elite Game of the Year bundle will initially be released in May and that the offer will be limited.

Xbox-360 issues and repair

2009-04-22T18:21:00.000-07:00

Microsoft spent $1.15 billion to repair defective Xbox 360 gaming consoles in 2007. For most issues with Xbox-360, Microsoft provides a repair and replacement warranty of one year. But most users report experiencing the dreaded "red ring of death", which is three flashing red lights on the console, where the color is normally yellowish-green:

For the repair of consoles with the red ring of death, Microsfot provides a warranty for up to three years after the purchase date. There are also DIY guides, with videos, available to show you how to repair your Xbox-360 at home. But beware; once you open your consoles with a screwdriver, you end all chances of getting it repaired or replaced by Microsoft.

More importantly the red ring of death is caused by the failure of hardware components on the otherboard; like CPU, GPU, memory. This failure could be caused by an error in manufacturing that particular console, something as simple as soldering joints together, or by a bad or damaged component, and even a missing hardware component.

Therefore rely on Microsoft customer service to repair/replace an Xbox-360 with issues. If you're outside the warranty period the cost of repair will be $100 for contacting Microsoft online, and $200 for customer service by phone.

Set up your Google Profile

2009-04-21T20:52:00.000-07:00

The California-based Internet search giant Google, began on Tuesday featuring self-created Google profiles, which show up as results on their search pages.

"It's no secret that from time to time many of us have searched on Google for our name or someone else's," Google software engineer Brian Stoler wrote in a posting at the Internet firm's website. "When searching for yourself to see what others would find, results can be varied and aren't always what you want people to see. We want to make that better and give you more of a voice."

Set up your Google profiles, with basic bio and pictures that you don't mind sharing with the world. You can also display your contact and business information to allow others to get in touch with you. Link to your other online profiles on Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, or your own website and blog, from this Google Profile page. The one good thing about this is the need for a Google account to set up the profile; this will prevent people from setting up fake profiles or pretend celebrity profiles like on Facebook and MySpace.

Typing URL

2009-04-19T19:08:00.000-07:00

Typing the URL of a retailer into a browser window, search and e-mail marketing continue to be the top methods consumers use to get to retail web sites, according to the E-tailing Group 8th Annual Merchant Survey. Customers typing in the URL of a retailer accounted for 27% of the average retailer’s e-commerce sales in 2008, the survey finds. Paid search accounted for 17%, natural search 13% and e-mail marketing 12%. 192 retailers were surveyed between January and March.

Internetretailer

Those typing urls directly into the browser's address bar should beware of typing mistakes that can lead them to unsafe websites!

Twitter follower

2009-04-18T18:43:00.000-07:00

Hollywood star Ashton Kutcher beat news network CNN in getting a million followers on Twitter. Girfriend Demi Moore is said to have stopped a fellow Twitter user from committing suicide. Ashton Kutcher was a guest on Oprah Winfrey's show Friday, and the talk show host herself logged into Twitter and posted her first "Tweet":

( Photo Credit: Screenshot by Stephen Shankland/CNET)

Within hours of joining Twitter, Oprah was commanding 125,000 followers! The Twittering craze is sweeping the media with such stories, and every celebrity has to say whether they Twitter or not. But despite this craze only 10% of the Internet users in North America are on Twitter.

Users sign up for free at twitter.com and write short messages or "tweets" which are read by their network of friends and contacts, who are your "followers". It is thus a way of blogging but with a limited number of words (140 characters); hence the technical term for services like Twitter is "micro-blogging". The service is free and so far there is no advertising on Twitter.

Celebrities and other famous people get the most number of followers, but websites, businesses, and news services also have their Twitter accounts to keep their followers updated. Twitter has a search feature so you can find people with similar interests and add to your list of contacts. It is micro-blogging combined with social-networking; and with only short messages posted, very convenient for those surfing the web with their mobile phones. Twitter is a craze with a growing number of followers, much like YouTube or Facebook when they first came about.

Porn addicts

2009-04-17T16:03:00.000-07:00

The 5'6" 109-pound Tamara Sky from Puerto Rico, with a figure of 33-24-34, posed as a Playboy Playmate in 2007. While this photo of Tamara in a bikini is very tame, the Latina model was nude in other photos. And cavorted and twisted her body in sexually provocative poses.....but she is no porn star and makes a living as a DJ.

There was a time when people satisfied their sexual curiosity and desire by viewing such photos in Playboy or Hustler, but now 70% of boys have their first experience with sex through more graphic online porn. Internet pornography has made it easy to satisfy sexual curiosity, but it also exploits untamed sexual desire and raging hormones in teens, while creating extremely unrealistic expectations among porn addicts.

Winnipeg Sun
Tanya Enberg

Edmonton-based psychologist Doris Vincent calls the Internet-based entertainment the "crack cocaine of porn." Almost her entire practice consists of men seeking help for sexual addiction --many of them well educated, successful white-collared business men.

"How many times can you try crack cocaine on an occasional basis?" Vincent asks. "Porn is designed to offer you something once, and the next time, it isn't so exciting so we try something a little further on the edge."

Her clients are on the brink of losing their partners and, often, their families. "He wants to be alone with the computer and close the doors. It's not safe to dabble with this. It's a slippery slope toward addiction." Part of the problem is the growing accessibility of X-rated material, which once required some effort, like going to an adult store to buy a video.

Porndemic, a documentary by 58-year-old Robin Benger, explores the fastest growing branch of any addiction movement, Sex Addicts Anonymous. "I assumed that porn was oppressive to women, and that they would all be skeletal, plasticized bimbos, but they weren't," says Benger. "It's a very obvious thing that people assume, that the women are there against their will and that the men are all gung ho, -- but I'd have to say that 80% of the people I met were in porn willingly."

He also learned that his 14-year-old son had already seen X-rated clips on a computer.

Free Windows XP support ends

2009-04-16T22:04:00.000-07:00

Microsoft dropped free support this week for Windows XP and Office 2003, and customers now have to pay for Windows incident reports, design changes and warranty support, as well as free bug fixes not directly related to security issues. Windows XP and Office 2003 customers previously got this assistance for free. However Microsoft will continue offering free security updates for XP until August 2014.

For consumer customers, the price of per-incident support can vary depending on how the consumer purchased the software; however, consumers in the U.S. can generally expect to pay $59 per incident for e-mail, chat and/or phone support. The price for per-incident support for business customers will vary depending on the support issue and the type of support agreement they have with Microsoft.

Although many users may be unhappy, John Biglin, CEO of the management and technology services consulting firm Interphase Systems, said he doesn't think Microsoft is in the wrong. "Microsoft continues to invest in improving its operating systems, and XP, in a lot of ways, is an aging operating system. It was released back in the beginning of this decade," he said. "Migrating to a newly evolved desktop operating system is something that's inevitable." Biglin said at least 90 percent of Interphase's clients use XP.
GovTech
By Hilton Collins

Internet pornography

2009-04-15T16:47:00.000-07:00

A study entitled, "Red Light States: Who Buys Online Entertainment?" conducted by Harvard Business School professor Benjamin Edelman found that in 2006 the revenue from Internet pornography was a whopping $2.8 billion. This was more than the revenue generated by the pornography business from strip clubs and brothels. Only pornographic videos sold from shops and online, generated more revenue to the tune of $12.8 billion. But while video profits are declining Internet porn revenue is on the rise.

One of the reasons for the prevalence of Internet pornography is the ease with which any adult business can be set up online. The Internet allows even individual porn stars to create websites, sell their own videos, and even perform live shows. Consequently the number of individuals doing porn has multiplied many times than was possible in the traditional adult entertainment business. Another reason is the very low cost of producing and selling porn; all fantasies can be fulfilled for less than $20 a month.

The Internet also provides complete annonymity; therefore even religious people who feel the urge to indulge their sexual fantasies only need to turn to the Internet. Another disturbing trend is the preference for indulging in online fantasies to actual meaningful relationships with a spouse. The online porn industry faces many of the same problems as traditional media; piracy of videos and competition from free pron. There several software programs designed to prevent children from accidentally opening a pornographic website.

Free computer training

2009-04-14T17:52:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Corporation has announced that it would be giving away more than 30,000 vouchers over the next 90 days to help unemployed people in Washington state get new computer skills. The vouchers will entitle them to take computer classes for free — either in person or online — and take Microsoft certification exams at no or low cost.

The vouchers are part of a new national program Microsoft announced at the National Governors Conference in February. Elevate America hopes to offer job training to as many as 2 million Americans over the next three years. The free computer training will be for Microsoft software, from basic technology literacy to intermediate-level courses on programs such as Excel and PowerPoint.

Associated Press

Speech to text

2009-04-13T20:58:00.000-07:00

Windows Vista has a built-in speech recognition software. When you plug in a microphone into the sound card's port, which is either red or pink colored at the back of your computer, a "speech recognition options" box should open up. If it does not then open it manually from Start>Control Panel>Hardware and Sound>Manage Audio Devices>Recording. Check "mic in" and click ok. If you're using a headset it will be plugged into the USB port.

Follow the on screen instructions till the software gives the message: "Your microphone is now set up". Click next, select 'enable document review', click next again, click 'view reference sheet', and 'common speech recognition commands'. If this step does not work for your microhone, you need to manually adjust the volume and Microphone Slider, and then go through the above process.

You learn the speech recognition commands by using the 'take speech tutorial' option. With this tutotial you learn speech commands while the speech-to-text software learns how you pronouce words. Go through the tutorial by saying 'next' in your microphone insted of clicking with the mouse. A further tutorial is available in the 'speech recognition options' titled 'train your computer to better understand you'. You can use speech-to-text software in MS Word, Notepad, or Internet Explorer.

Photo editing software

2009-04-11T17:14:00.000-07:00

Editing your collection of photos, whether downloaded from the web or uploaded from your camera, is a common task for most computer users. There are many free and costly photo editing software programs to help in changing the look of your photos; or for creating your own wallpapers, avatars, and artwork. First there are the in-built photo editing software programs like MS Paint in Windows. This lets you do simple editing like rotating or resizing the photo, and adding colors or shapes to it. For more complex photo editing there is Microsoft Photo Editor, which comes in-built with Microsoft Office; with this software you can crop the image, change its brightness, or add effects like in this image of beautiful Doutzen Kroes:

Other photo editing software that can be downloaded to your computer include the popular IrfanView an image viewer and converter with features like thumbnail option, scanning, painting, slideshow, toolbar skins, cropping and cutting, batch conversion/editing, multipage editing, etc. Adobe Photoshop, while powerful, is expensive and takes up too much memory of your computer.

Nintendo DS games illegal copying

2009-04-10T16:53:00.000-07:00

While piracy of the Windows operating system for computers and laptops has been known for ages, it has spread now to gaming consoles. The Nintendo DS, which is the most widely selling and popular handheld video gaming device, has seen the downloading and illegal copying of its games. Japan's Daily Yomiuri reports that memory cards from China, which can unlock the Nintendo DS' function that prevents gamers from using copied programs, are available for sale in South Korea:

These memory cards (above right) resemble the Nintendo DS game cartridge (above left) and people can use them to copy and share games illegally distributed via the Internet. 1.4 million memory cards believed to have been sold by pirates in South Korea. According to Nintendo of Korea, illegal copying of Nintendo DS game software is also reported in Brazil, China, Hong Kong, Mexico and Spain.

HP light new laptop

2009-04-08T19:06:00.000-07:00

HP's new laptop, the HP dv2, disguises itself as a netbook but performs like a notebook. The HP dv2 is light at 1.70Kg, has a 12.1-inch BrightView LED screen, and a 160GB hard drive. Its thickest portion is only 32.7mm. The laptop also comes with an external DVD burner, which can be upgraded to a Blu-ray player:

HP's dv2 laptop comes pre-loaded with Windows Vista Home Premium, it has 2GB of RAM, and is powered by the AMD Athlon Neo MV-40 CPU. The dv2 laptop is quoted as having 5 hours' battery life. This HP laptop has two USB ports, an HDMI slot, DVI and Ethernet connection, all on the right side, while on the left it has an in-built memory card reader, microphone port, headphone port, one more USB port and the power socket. The entry level HP Pavilion dv2 is out now for £499, while the version with a 320GB hard drive costs £599, and the one with 4GB of RAM and a 500GB hard drive is for £699.

Read the complete user review at Techradar

Computer Speakers

2009-04-07T21:55:00.000-07:00

Any piece of music, or the audio in a program or video game, is stored as a software file on your computer. When such files are played the computer's sound card converts the software into electric signals, which are further converted to sound vibrations by the speakers attached to your computer. Therefore the audio quality of the final output sound depends on the quality of the speaker, even if you have a fancy USB sound card.

Most laptops and netbooks have in-built speakers; people who put money into buying desktop computers hardly have time to waste on speakers. Since home entertainment systems have become widely available, and video games are played increasingly on consoles, why get a fancy set of speakers for the computer?

The cheapest computer speaker produces mono sound, but most common is the stereo speaker, which also has buttons to modulate the volume, bass, and treble. More expensive computer speakers include amplifiers, satellites, woofer, subwoofer, surround sound, and a full graphic equaliser. Audio connections of sound cards have a green port for the speakers, a red port for microphones, and a blue port for other line-ins.

Increasingly people prefer to use portable headphones, earplugs, and earphones over conventional speakers.

USB sound card

2009-04-05T17:52:00.000-07:00

Creative recently released a USB sound card, the Sound Blaster X-Fi Go!, that can be used on all notebooks and desktop computers by plugging it in a USB port. The USB sound card can be used right away but for better performance install the accompanying software and drivers. The small device also doubles as a 1GB flash drive, allowing you to transport music, photos, video, or any other files.

photo courtesy Techspot

Creative's USB sound card comes with a user manual, a set of headphones with microphone, and an USB extension cable. USB sound cards have been around for some time and are better than the older internal sound cards, which are in-built on the motherboard. The latter are subject to a lot of electronic interference which causes distortion and background noise. The USB sound card is portable and can be shared with other computers that have trouble with their sound.

AT&T Netbooks

2009-04-04T18:22:00.000-07:00

Just as it does with cell phones, the phone company AT&T will provide customers with a small netbook for $49.99 if they sign up for home and wireless broadband service plans totaling at least $60 per month. That offer is being tested at official AT&T outlets in Atlanta and Georgia— AT&T doesn't sell home broadband service in the Philadelphia area. For those signing up for wireless broadband only, the netbook costs $100.

The available netbooks are Acer Aspire One (above), the LG Xenia and Dell’s Inspiron Mini 9 and Mini 12. Netbooks are very popular because of their light weight and less consumption of power, while providing all that a laptop or computer is capable of.

AT&T stores in both Atlanta and Philadelphia will be selling more expensive laptops as well, ranging up to a Lenovo X200 for $850 when bought with the wireless broadband plan. The market price of this Lenovo laptop is $1,120.

Computer rage

2009-04-03T16:37:00.000-07:00

A study of 126 people by researchers at the University of Bolton found the majority of people became angry three or four times each month, and more than ten per cent reported anger occurring ten times or more. Overall, around 54 per cent of people had expressed this anger in verbal aggression towards their computing equipment. But 40 per cent of the participants had actually engaged in physical aggression towards the computer.

People reported that computer rage was most often linked to two triggers: unsatisfactory work progress and time pressures.

As someone who has been using a computer for several years, I can pinpoint exactly when computer rage takes hold. When a power outage or a system re-boot leads to data loss, specially when you're on the Internet typing a lengthy blog or forum post and have to start from scratch! Other ocassions for computer rage: when the computer hangs for no reason, when the system is infected by a virus, when the hard disk crashes, when your personal information is stolen, etc.

Luckily the researchers in this study have concluded that verbal expressions of computer rage are okay, and even beneficial, for letting of steam and relieving stress. It's when you resort to physical violence, like hitting the keyboard in frustration or grabbing and shaking the monitor, that computer rage afffects your health.

Uninterruptible Power Supply

2009-04-02T17:11:00.000-07:00

An uninterruptible power supply device (UPS) provides a continuous electric current to the PC, because any loss of power for more than 10 milliseconds will cause the PC components to malfunction, shut down, and re-boot. Any open programs on your computer will lose the data you've been working on; apart from that the time lost in restarting the PC and your programs leads to a loss in productivity. The backup power is provided by a battery, either in-built to the UPS or external (see photo), and when the power from the mains is restored the battery is re-charged.

Uninterruptible power supply devices are available with varying battery power and in different types. The most common is an offline UPS, which provides backup power when the mains power fails. Online UPS' are more expensive as they continually supply power from the battery, which is charged from the mains but is never switched on/off with power failure or restoration. Such UPS devices are used to power high-end equipment like servers, which host web pages and files of the world wide web, and cannot afford to be offline.

A line interactive UPS monitors the changes in voltage from the mains and starts using battery power to boost that votltage if it falls low. Such devices come bundled with power management software so that you can control the UPS from your computer.

April Fools' day virus

2009-04-01T17:05:00.000-07:00

The April Fools' Day computer virus threatens to disable millions of PCs. It is a worm called Conficker C and it infects computers using any version of the Microsoft Windows operating system. AJ Lasaracina, Geek Squad Supervisor at Best Buy in Holyoke, says, "It disables all network connections, meaning you cannot go online at all."

This April Fools' day virus could seize control of your computer, steal personal information like bank account and credit card numbers, and even use your computer as a zombie to extract similar information from other machines.

The experts say the best way to protect your computer from this April Fools' virus and anything else that comes along is to stay current. The Geek Squad recommends keeping your virus protection software and windows up to date by running the latest updates. To avoid downloading a bogus program, it is best to only load software you buy in a store.

If you are worried about your computer, the Geek Squad is offering free check ups at Best Buy. Meanwhile Microsoft is offering a $250,000 reward for information that leads them to the creator of this April Fools' virus.

ABC
Elizabeth Corridan

Windows Vista keyboard shortcuts

2009-03-31T17:11:00.000-07:00

Keyboard shortcuts are a combination of hot keys, which are a quick substitute to using a mouse. Some Windows Vista keyboard shortcuts are the same as in older versions of Windows:

Alt+Tab = flip through all open program windows on your desktop.

Ctrl+C = copy

Ctrl+V = paste

Ctrl+X = cut

Ctrl+Z = undo previous action

Ctrl+N = open new document

Ctrl+P = print document

For Windows Vista the important key is the "Windows logo" between the Ctrl and Alt eys on the keyboard:

Pressing this Windows key will open the Start Menu. Some other shortcuts with this key:

Windows+D = access the desktop

Windows+E = Windows Explorer

Windows+Pause = display your PC's system configuration

Windows+Tab = flip displayed windows in 3D

Windows+spacebar = display gadgets

Shortcuts for the Windows Photo Gallery:

Ctrl+F = Fix pane

Ctrl+> = rotate a picture clockwise

Ctrl+< = rotate a picture anti-clockwise

- and + = zoom out or zoom into a picture

You can create keysboard shortcuts to other programs. Right-click the program icon and select Properties from the resulting pop-up menu. A properties dialog box will appear, and within the shortcut tab you'll see a text box labelled "Shortcut key." Type in the key combination you would like to use to open that application and click Apply. Do not use a shortcut key combination that's already used by Windows Vista itself.

Windows Vista problems and solutions

2009-03-29T18:58:00.001-07:00

If you bought a PC in the last two years, chances are that it came pre-installed with the Windows Vista operating system. Unfortunately it has proved to be a failure, despite all its groovy features, because of many problems. Vista takes up twice the amount of space on the hard disk as XP, about 600 MB. Vista is a strain on a computer's CPU and RAM and, because it is geared towards graphics and video management, it takes a lot of time to load and execute programs.

While Windows Vista has many problems, it doesn't make sense to dump it if you've spent money buying the software and installing it on your computer. There are solutions to Vista problems!

One of the cool features of Windows Vista is the Instant Search function, which helps you find programs and files, and is started directly from the Start Menu (or by hitting the "windows" key, between ctrl and alt, on your keyboard). However the massive index of files that is built up, and which is constantly being updated, is a drain on your computer's resources and slows it down. Therefore speed up your computer by limiting Instant Search to items in the Start Menu: Click on Start and type indexing, select "indexing options" and modify, remove all ticks except "Start Menu and Users". Next click "users" and remove the tick here as well.

Background programs are another drain on Vista's performance. Click Start and type "msconfig", on the "Startup" tab remove any programs that you don't need, like Nero, Acronis, Quicktime, and Windows Defender. The last program is in-built to fight the computer virus menace, but most people prefer to use free regularly updated anti-virus programs like AVG or Avira.

In the same System Configuration utility, remove background services which consume resources from the "Services" tab, like Terminal Services, Remote Registry, Tablet PC Input Service, Windows Error Reporting Service, Network List Service, Offline Files, Print Spooler, Diagnostic Policy Service, Distributed Link Tracking Client, IP Helper, Cryptographic Services, IKE and AuthIP IPsec Keying Modules, IPsec Policy Agent, Network Location Awareness, Program Compatibility Assistant, Shell Hardware Detection, Windows Image Acquisition (WIA), and Windows Time. Click OK and restart.

One of the resource-consuming features is the interface called Aero, which gives the snazzy Flip 3D effect. You can adjust its settings to improve performance, or just turn off the damn thing! Right-click the screen, select "Window color and appearance", select "Windows Vista basic" and click OK.

The "Readyboost" feature in Windows Vista gives you the option of using a flash drive to improve system performance. Insert the flash drive in the USB port and from the options displayed, choose "speed up my system". In the properties box click "use this device" and move the slider to the extreme right.

VoIP saving money

2009-03-28T16:39:00.000-07:00

Web telephony or Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP) is a money saving alternative over traditional telephony, and has always been lucrative for Internet surfers. It takes voice signals and packages them into digital parcels, which are sent over the Internet at no extra cost. These packages are then unscrambled in your computer, so what is essentially a data transmission again becomes a voice call. One way of getting VoIP is by using software, which sets up a digital phone on your computer, also called a softphone. Your computer must have a microphone, speakers or a headset, or a USB phone. You can then make free PC-to-PC phone calls using a Internet Telephony provider like Skype in Europe or Vonage in the US. This method of VoIP requires users at both ends to be subscribers to the same provider.

Other VoIP services like VoicePulse provide users with adapters to hook up their phones to their existing broadband connections. They offer unlimited local and long-distance calling for as little as about $16 a month. Naturally the cable and phone companies weren't happy about this and began offering their own digital phone services. The first was AT&T, the largest U.S. long-distance provider, in 2003. About half the USA's 3 million VoIP customers now get their service from cable companies.

The problem with VoIP is there are still some quality issues at peak times, like voice delay. Plus you don't get all of the advantages unless the person you are calling is also using VOIP. Because so few companies and people out there are using the technology, most businesses don't consider it necessary to shift, even though VoIP saves lots of money in the long run.

You don't need a PC to make VoIP calls. Phones like the the Siemens Gigaset S685IP (above) connect directly to the Internet using Wi-Fi and Ethernet. At the back of this wall-mountable box are the power and analogue landline phone connectors, while the Ethernet connector is at the side.

VoIP has been most successful in the mobile phones market. The phones must have a software called Session-Initiated Protocol, which enables the digital exchange of voice data. Unfortunately only a fraction of handsets come with SIP and there is resistance from telecom companies to lettign consumers find alternative money saving ways of making phone calls. Jaxtr has launched the Jaxtr-on-the-go service that lets people make calls from their phones even if it's a mobile without Web browsing or a POTS landline.

TV viewing still number one

2009-03-27T17:36:00.000-07:00

Multi-Channel News
Kent Gibbons
A $3.5 million Video Consumer Mapping study, done for the Nielsen-funded Council for Research Excellence, by Ball State University's Center for Media Design and Sequent Partners has found that TV viewing is still the leading media activity among adults 18 and older. Most video viewing is still done on the TV, despite the spread of Web video, video-equipped mobile devices and other media. Adults 18 and older overall watch about 309 minutes of live TV per day, compared with 14.6 minutes of DVR or TiVo playback, 22.9 minutes of DVD or VCR viewing or 6.5 minutes playing console games.

Content was broken into four categories of screens: traditional television (including live TV as well as DVD/VCR and DVR playback); computer (including Web use, e-mail, instant messaging and stored or streaming video); mobile devices such as a BlackBerry or iPhone (including Web use, text messaging and mobile video); and "all other screens" (including display screens in out-of-home environments, in-cinema movies and other messaging and even GPS navigation units).

Using a computer is the second-leading media activity (142.5 minutes per day), surpassing radio, even in major city areas, where commuter times can be long and drive-time radio remains popular. Print media consumption trails TV, computer and radio.

Blogger is number one

2009-03-26T17:13:00.000-07:00

Neswire reports that Comscore, a global internet information provider, has released its ranking of the top websites for 2008. Blogger, the Google-owned bloging platform (blogspot.com), continues to hold the number one spot at 221 Million unique visits.

At number two was Facebook with 200 Million unique visits. It was the most popular social networking site with MySpace trailing behind. Similarly Wordpress blogs come behind Blogger.

The split between two blogging platforms and two social networking sites occupying the top slots in these traffic rankings indicates the interest of users who have embraced the new media. It appears that blogging and connecting with friends are the two services in highest demand. The blogging sites serve the needs of creatively-driven people who want to post original content on the web, either in the form of journal-like personal narratives, or in forms of commentary and reporting that some have referred to as "citizen journalism". On the other hand, Facebook and MySpace serve the needs of user who want to form social connections on the web, whether it be around common interests, causes and activism, or real-life, off-line relationships.

Photo-hosting sites like Yahoo-owned Flickr, and sites where users share content like Tagged and Imeem appear further down the list. Link-sharing sites Digg and Reddit do not appear in the top 20.

Blogging Blogger Blogspot

2009-03-24T19:27:00.000-07:00

Blog is short for "Web Log", intended originally to be an online diary, but is much more than that today. Anyone can write blogs about anything. Blogging, which is the act of posting a blog, can be done under your real name and identity or annonymously or under an assumed name.

The word blogger, with a small 'b', is the term for a person doing blogging. Blogger with a capital 'B' is the software platform which creates the design, page layout, fonts and colors of your blog. Blogger is free to use by anyone with a Google account, which is also free to obtain. Blogger blogs are hosted by default at Blogspot; your blog will end with the address .blogspot.com or you can buy your own separate domain name and still use Blogger software to create the blog.

Another free blogging platform is Wordpress; unlike Blogger it is downloaded to your computer. You also need to buy a domain name, and a place on the web to host your blog. Wordpress is very popular among professional bloggers for all its tools, plugins, and widgets and it can be downloaded from Wordpress.org. There is a free hosted version called Wordpress.com where you can experience this blogging software but without the many tools that come with the downloadable Wordpress.

Then there are community based blogging platforms and hosts like LiveJournal, Xanga, Blog-city, and Moveable Type. These have free ad-supported version and paid versions. But they do not have the universal popularity of Blogger and Wordpress.

In fact Blogger is the most popular software platform, and Blogspot the easiest to use web space host, for the absolute beginner.

The power of blogging

2009-03-23T17:53:00.000-07:00

CNN
By Christopher Elliott
Tribune Media Services

When Carl Larson tried to check a regulation-size box on a recent JetBlue flight, an unfriendly ticket agent demanded that he fork over $50 because it contained a folding bike. He insisted on charging the airline's "bike fee" even though it was folded in a regulation-size bag.

So Larson blogged about the experience on the Bicycle Transportation Alliance's site, calling the airline's policy "ridiculous." The story was picked up by another blog, bikeportland.org. Then it made its way onto another site called the Consumerist. It didn't take long for JetBlue to fold. Not only did the airline refund Larson's $50. It changed its rules, too.

"Customers traveling with folding bikes in a bag that fits within the standard checked bag weights and dimensions will not be charged the bike fee and will be treated like any checked bag," a representative told him.

Other industries also feel the heat from the power of blogging:

Debbie Dubrow fired up her laptop after her car rental agency offered her "aged, unclean, and in many cases broken" car seats for her child. The resulting blog post was devastating. "It eventually led ABC News to pick up and investigate the story," she told me. "Its impact reached far beyond a single news broadcast, though." Indeed, the company pledged to clean up its act, and California agreed to revisit its child safety-seat laws.

"Blogging has a sense of authority and authenticity that other media doesn't have," says Rebecca Goldberg, a hotel design expert and editor-in-chief of Boutique Design magazine. She's been tracking the influence of bloggers on the hotel industry, and says it grows with each year.

Other travelers -- particularly those booking their hotels online -- feel that blogs are more believable than what they read in a newspaper or watch on TV. "If I read something in a blog," she says, "it reads more like advice and less like a promotion for the hotel."

Cooling a computer

2009-03-22T21:40:00.000-07:00

A computer's electronic parts emit heat. The more they are used the greater the heat generated; and the more powerful these parts the more heat they emit. In a computer the CPU heats up the most, followed by the graphics card. Higher-capacity hard disks can also heat up quickly. Excess heat can cause the parts to malfunction, can make the computer hang, and can even permanently shut it down.

Most computers use traditional methods of cooling, like a heat sink to absorb the chip's heat and a noisy fan to dissipate hot air. The computer case should be made of metal instead of plastic, and should have enough room inside so that the air does not heat up too much too quickly.

Liquid cooled computers are popular among high-end users. Some function like car radiators and use water, others use things like industrial coolants and mineral oil (above) in cooling your computer. These cooling systems are still too expensive and not yet available for the ordinary computer user.

USB port issues

2009-03-21T17:20:00.000-07:00

The Universal Serial Bus (USB) ports connect computers and laptops with peripheral devices like flash drives, digital cameras, webcams, iPods, external drives, and mobile phones.

USB ports became standard on most computer since the mid-1990s; they were easier to use than serial ports and parallel ports because you could plug in and unplug devices without restarting your PC. USB ports could also support different devices on the same port at different times, without the computer or laptop needing to be reconfigured. The most important reason for using USB ports were the faster transfer of data they supported.

Since the year 2000 USB 2.0 ports were standard in most computing devices; they allowed for a transfer rate of 480 megabits per second. USB ports are also used to charge devices like mp3 players.

One of the USB port issues was compatibility; computers fitted with older USB 1.0 or 1.1 ports did not support devices that used the USB 2.0 technology. The other issue with USB ports was driver support.

The new USB 3.0 technology will not have these issues. For one USB 3.0 ports will be backwards compatible; an older port can support a device with USB 3.0 and vice versa. And second USB 3.0 is said to be capable of delivering transfer speeds of 5 Gigabits per second, which is ten times the speed of USB 2.0. This high speed data transfer will make it easier to connect an external SSD drive to your computer or laptop. Transferring high-definition movies to and from your computer will also become easier. The new specification also adds better power-management features for charging devices and saving power.

Products with USB 3.0 support will likely enter the market by 2010.

MySpace photo editing

2009-03-21T00:48:00.000-07:00

CNET News
Social networking site MySpace has introduced web-based image-editing tools so that members can edit their photos even after they have been uploaded to the site. FotoFlexer can perform basic editing tasks (cropping, resizing, flipping, red-eye removal), as well as distortion, color effects, and some decoration and "bling" features (always important).

So far, FotoFlexer on MySpace is available only to U.S. users. The tools will roll out internationally soon, however. This move makes sense for MySpace. Not only does image editing tie in nicely with its longstanding express-yourself, customize-anything vibe, but it's also a way to keep users on the MySpace domain.

DVD use and repair

2009-03-19T17:06:00.000-07:00

Digital Video Disc (DVD) use is now universal for movies, music, and data storage because of their high capacity (more than 4GB). DVD writers are standard in most computers and laptops, or are cheap enough to be installed, and DVD players are standard in home entertainment systems.

Because of their storage capacity DVDs are excellent in backing up data. However like hard disks, DVDs also deteriorate in quality over time and with repeated use. Most DVD manufacturers claim that their discs will last decades, if stored properly. But actual data suggests a much shorter lifespan of between 5-10 years; some discs burned on a home computer begin to deteriorate after only two years of use.

DVDs and CDs sold in the market are mass-produced using expensive publishing machines:

These discs last longer than DVDs that are "burned" using a DVD drive.

There are many ways to repair DVDs, or recover data from DVDs that are damaged or corrupt. The free Unstoppable Copier allows you to copy data from discs that show errors, have bad sectors, or scratches. Another software program, available in free and low-cost versions, is ISOBuster which can recover data from a CD, DVD, or Blu-ray Disc. CDRoller is a more expensive but easy to use program for recovering data from damaged optical media.

Apart from these software programs, there are disc repair machines available for home users that can remove scratches and smudges. There are also more expensive professional DVD disc repair machines available at your local computer hardware store.

SSD flash drives

2009-03-18T18:46:00.000-07:00

Solid State Disk (SSD) drives, are an emerging alternative to the traditional hard disk drives. Compared to the constantly spinning hard disks, SDD drives use flash technology, and are composed of either nonvolatile NAND flash or volatile synchronous DRAM memory. SSD flash drives have no moving parts and can significantly reduce heat, storage device wear and tear, and power consumption.

Computer users have been familiar with simple flash drives, also called USB drives, memory sticks, or thumb drives. These are about 3 inches in size and have a storage capacity of between 1GB and 16GB and are plugged into the computer or laptop's USB port. The modern mp3 players, iPods, mobile phones etc also use flash technology for storage.

Solid State Disks have increased in capacity and are available in sizes from 32GB to the newest 256GB; they are built by traditional HDD manufacturers like Samsung (above). The cost of increasing storage capacity in hard disks is non-existent, a 20GB drive costs about the same as a 120GB drive, but this is not so for SSD drives whose price increases exponentially with size. Until recently they were also way more expensive than hard disks, and computers installed with SSD drives added $1000 to the total cost. Samsung predicts that the price will come down in the next few years.

In all other respects SSD flash drives are better than hard disks. They have no mechanical parts and make no noise, they are faster than hard disks, their weight and size is less, and they are believed to last longer than hard disks. But most importantly they consume less electricity and dissipate less heat; adding substantially to the computer user's power savings.

Over the next few years most new laptops, netbooks, and notebooks will come pre-installed with SSD flash drives. Newer models of desktop computers will also make the switch to flash storage once the prices come down.

Deleted files recovery

2009-03-17T16:36:00.000-07:00

When you delete a file from your computer, it is taken to the "recycle bin", and to ensure permanent deletion you must empty this recycle bin. After you've emptied the recycle bin there is no way of getting the file back.....or is there?

What happens in reality is that the space occupied by that file is made available for use by Windows, but the file still exists on the hard disk! Unless you're using your computer and downolading or creating new data that file will continue to exist as long as the space is not used. File recovery software can search the hard disk for files that are still present after they were deleted by mistake.

Deleted files and lost data can also be the result of hard disk damage and disrepair which creates "bad sectors". These files and data can also be recovered through file recovery software. Here again the chances of recovery are high as long as the disk has not been used after the data loss. In case of disks with bad sectors, or lost disk partitions, it is also advisable to use file recovery software that comes with its own bootable CD, and is not free.

Free software can still do a good job of recovering lost data and files. PC Inspector File Recovery first scans the hard disk and lists the detected partitions; in the next scan it detects the files that can be recovered. Other free file recovery software are Recuva, Undelete Plus, and SoftPerfect File Recovery. Damaged or corrupt files can be recovered using PC Tools File Recovery or Recover My Files; neither of these is free.

If you have sensitive data that you don't want other people to recover from your disks, then use special software to ensure permanent deletion like Eraser.

Hard disk care and repair

2009-03-16T16:55:00.000-07:00

Hard disk drives, called hard disks or hard drives for short, contain all the important information of our computers. Like the operating system, programs, system files, downloaded files, documents, photos, videos, video games etc. The hard disk becomes overloaded as this information keeps accumulating, which slows down and affects its performance.

Windows XP and Vista have in-built programs like "Disk Cleanup" and "Disk Defragmentation" to tackle this problem. Both of these programs are located at Start>>>>All Programs>>>>Accessories>>>>>System Tools or alternatively you can open the "My Computer" folder, right-click the drive you want checked, and select "properties". Disk Cleanup is located in the "General" tab, while Disk Defragmenter is under "Tools". Disk Cleanup will empty your recycle bin, remove temporary internet files (only from the Internet Explorer browser), downloaded program files, and temporary files; if you are using another browser then empty its cache and cookies separately.

Over time the hard disk slows down because the loads of information is located in different areas. "Disk Defragmenter" collects and places all data in an orderly manner to improve the performance of your hard disk.

Among other problems affecting hard disks are bad sectors; these appear mostly on old drives. If the computer is not shut down properly, or there is a power failure, or a power surge, the disk develops bad sectors. You can use Scan Disk located at Start>>>>All Programs>>>>Accessories>>>>>System Tools or access it under "Tools" by right-clicking the drive in "My Computer" and selecting properties.

Free programs to repair hard disks

Sudden changes in temperature and humidity can damage your hard disk, to the point that it can no longer be repaired. But there is a way to prevent this in the form of expensive software, which detects temperature and fan speed; unfortunately this is not in-built into XP or Vista and has to bought. Luckily for you everything is free on the Internet!

A free program called "SpeedFan" monitors temperatures in both the hard disk and the CPU. It can also cotrol CPU frequency and cooling fan behaviour to moderate temperatures and help you in saving power. Another free program is "SmartDefrag", which is an alternative to Disk Defragmenter, and contains additional options to care for your hard disk.

Finally there is HD Tune. This free software scans the disk for errors, monitors temperature, and lets you review the SMART (Self-Monitoring Analysis and Reporting Technology) properties of your hard drive.

The normal life span of a hard disk is believed to be 5 years or 20,000 working hours, but using in-built programs or free software listed above, this lifespan can be extended and can make your user experience trouble free. SSD flash drives are alternatives to hard disks, but as yet they are too expensive for the general user.

Free version Microsoft Office

2009-03-16T01:44:00.000-07:00

Microsoft Office is an essential part of the Windows experience. Unless you bought a computer pre-installed with both XP and Office, you know that these are separate software packages. And you also know how expensive Microsoft Office is....specially if you have paid licensing fees for installing Microsoft Office in your workplace.

A free version of Microsoft Office, called Open Office, exists. It can be downloaded from: Open Office and installed on your computer/computers. It contains every version of the Microsoft Office package:

Writer is the name for the Open Office version of MS Word
Calc helps you create spreadsheets like MS Excel
Impress is just like MS PowerPoint
Base helps in creating database applications in the same way as MS Access
Draw provides basic image creating and editing functions like MS Paint.

The software is easy to understand and get used to because it uses some of the same keyboard shortcuts as in Microsoft Office; like ctrl+v for paste and ctrl+s for save. You can also open your existing Microsoft Office documents and files in the equivalent Open Office program....and vice versa. If you create documents in Open Office Writer and send them by email to a friend, they can open and view those documents in Microsoft Word.

Open Office scores over Microsoft Office in one respect. It lets you create pdf files, without any separate installation of software like Adobe Acrobat. Installing Open Office makes sense for large corporations and government departments that run thousands of computers; they end up saving millions of dollars in licensing fees and maintenance expenses.

It also make sense for you the home user. But if you already have Microsoft Office installed, you can still download and install Open Office just to try it out. Both softwares can exist on the same computer!

Open Office is another example of how everything's free on the Internet.

Finding jobs with YouTube

2009-03-14T17:10:00.000-07:00

Ice hockey's Tampa Bay Lightning's marketing director was laid-off but began finding jobs thanks to a video resume posted by his teenage son on YouTube. Within 24 hours, they've already gotten a couple hundred e-mails and a couple of job leads, the father said. 14-year old Ben Gullett says, "I came up with the idea that my dad is a good marketing guy and that I love him and I'm going to be here for him."

In the black-and-white video, the Brandon teen holds up signs that tell viewers about his father. The video goes on to say that Mark Gullett had worked for nine years with the Lightning ice hockey team and was a vice president of marketing.

Standing outside in front of a tree, Ben Gullett holds up signs that read, "Now he needs me and YOU! To help find a job. OK?" He also describes his father as smart, creative and hardworking, "But most importantly he is my Dad. I love you Dad."

YouTube is the online video hosting and sharing service that lets anyone upload videos for a global audience. You need a Google account to upload videos, but anyone can view videos. Among YouTube's massive catalog are music videos, movie clips, TV shows, ads, home movies, audio recordings, etc which have been captured on video or converted to the Flash video format.

iPod Shuffle 3G

2009-03-13T17:34:00.000-07:00

Apple's third-generation iPod Shuffle was announced just yesterday with 4GB of storage, a battery the size of a dime, and a total weight of 11 grams. The controls, somewhat controversially, have been moved to the earbud cord, with VoiceOver speech technology for navigation.

The 4GB memory makes the iPod Shuffle 3G, not just a music player, but a storage device for files, pictures, and videos. For this you need to connect the iPod shuffle to your computer using the USB cable that comes with it, and in iTunes select iPod shuffle from the list of devices. Then click the Summary tab and in the Options section, select "Enable disk use" and apply.

By default, iPod shuffle is set to sync all songs and playlists when you connect it to your computer. You can also add and delete songs manually but must remember to firts eject the shuffle from iTunes before disconnecting it from the computer when you're done.

The iPod shuffle 3G music player can also be disassembled with ease. Start by prising open the rear cover by inserting an iPod opening tool into the side crevice. Inside there is only one screw to loosen and the iPod Shuffle comes apart as seen here:

Photo from iFixit. For size comparison they placed the iPod Shuffle parts next to a dime.

Power saving

2009-03-12T21:15:00.000-07:00

Power saving features are installed in most operating systems. In the case of Windows XP, right-click on the computer screen and select "properties". Go to "screen saver" and click the power button in the "Monitor Power" section. if you are using a computer for long hours, it's likely that you will take up some time in between for chores, meals, or other activities. In this time you can set the computer to hibernate, or leave it on stand-by, which are power saving features that restart your computer screen just as you left it. "Turn off monitor" and "Turn off hard disks" are other power saving features for the short periods of time you are forced to leave the computer, like attending a phone call or answering the door.

The "screen saver" feature is pointless on modern CRT monitors. However an LCD monitor uses about one-third the power of CRTs. Similarly laptops use less power than desktop computers, and netbooks use less power than laptops.

Power strips, also known as surge protectors, save computers and other electronic devices from power surges and lightning strikes, by blocking or diverting excess current. Even when many of these devices are switched off, they continue drawing power as long as they're plugged in. According to the US Department of Energy this drainage of "vampire power" costs each consumer an average $130 a year, and more than $4 billion a year for America as a whole.

Computer peripherals like laser printers and fax machines use 300 watts when printing, 85 watts when on standby, and 10 watts when idle. Cell phone chargers, DVD players, DVRs, plasma TVs, and UPS (uninterrupted power supply) also use "vampire power" when switched off. All these devices should be unplugged for power saving. Since this is so inconvenient, smart power strips control electricity use and automatically cut power to devices drawing vampire power. Power strips may help in power saving but they also draw power when the connected devices are switched off.

Uses of backlit keyboards

2009-03-11T17:06:00.000-07:00

Backlit keyboards are standard in the keypads on mobile phones, but is there any point to backlit keyboards on computers and laptops? In this respect Apple's Mac has been ahead of the PC platform. Though backlit keyboards are manufactured separately for use in PCs.

So what are the uses of backlit keyboards?

A backlit keyboard is useful in environments where the lighting is dim, like airplanes, studios or conference halls. It is also useful for those who can't type without looking down at the keyboard. The backlit keys are also fine if you're working late at night and don't wish to disturb others....but the downside of working in the pitch dark and staring at the computer screen and peering down at a bright keyboard is eye strain!

The main disadvantage of a backlit keyboard is that it draws extra power. And besides, if you're an expert at typing on a keyboard, then you won't need the minimal advantage that a backlit keyboard offers in certain limited circumstances.

TV on a computer

2009-03-10T22:11:00.000-07:00

Watching television broadcasts on your computer has been possible for several years. What you need is a TV tuner card inserted in your computer's hardware to receive the TV signals. Then you need software to watch, record, and do other multi-media tasks with the TV broadcasts. In the early days most TV tuner cards were internal, requiring some hardware knowledge to install them. But now there are many external cards, which are simply plugged into one of your computer's USB ports. These cards are more powerful, giving you the ability to zoom or enlarge the TV image, pause and record, display multiple channels at the same time. They also come with remotes.

Whether internal or external, the choice of buying a TV tuner card should be made depending on the kind of TV signals in your area. Whether analog broadcast and cable, or HDTV digital signals. With the transition to digital television after February 2009, you should buy a TV tuner card capable of receiving digital broadcasts.

After you're watching and recording TV shows on your computer consider the legal issues. Internet piracy of TV shows and movies is rampant; once an episode of a popular show is viewed in the US, people record it and upload the video (minus advertising) on torrent sites or video sharing sites. This allows people anywhere in the world to watch that show without waiting for their networks to beam it after months, or even years.