PC & IT 01 (May 08 - Oct 08)

[winston]

It's Good to Know: How to Stop Wi-Fi Thieves

When you pay good money for a wireless connection, it's annoying to discover that your cheap neighbor is using your connection every day. Instead of getting his own, he'd rather just leech off yours, slowing down your connection in the process. You can use a password to block wi-fi thieves, but there's a way to do it that's a lot more fun.

"Upside-Down-Ternet" is a service that was designed by and for folks who cannot stand wi-fi parasites. It doesn't stop people from using your connection. Instead, it makes everything they view on their screen appear upside-down and backward. And if the thought of that isn't enough to put a smile on your lips, you can also redirect every site they attempt to access to a different one that you set up. Use your imagination.

(Source: PC World)

[kennynah]

and hopefully, this service doesnt end up getting sued for invasion of privacy....

afterall, in the USA, a house thieve who slips, falls and injures himself while stealing, can sue the house owner under tort..a lack of care of duty...i am not kidding..

now you know the reason why thieves who trespass a private property usually end up being shot dead at sight by the owner of that private property.. the owner's mantra is...kill or potentially get sued by the thieves, if they break a nail trying to crank open that safety lock.

[blid2def]

"Porn mode" comes to FF 3.1

Mozilla adds privacy mode to Firefox 3.1 plans
Pressured by rivals, Mozilla hopes once-yanked privacy tools ship with 3.1 beta

By Gregg Keizer

September 11, 2008 (Computerworld) Mozilla Corp. will respond to rivals Google Inc. and Microsoft Corp. with a private-browsing mode in Firefox, according to notes posted on its Web site, and is on track to deliver one in 3.1, the version that will likely go beta next month.

Sometimes pegged with the catchy moniker of "porn mode" in a nod to the most obvious use, browser privacy modes limit or entirely eliminate what the application records of its travels across the Internet. Typically, URLs are not recorded in the browser history, cookies are not saved and other evidence is purged from the computer at the end of the session.

Full report: http://www.computerworld.com/action/art ... Id=9114486

[kennynah]

so.....when are they shipping ? i'm excited...hahaha...

[blid2def]

I think somewhere around end of the year...

[kennynah]

however strong it maybe...how to stand for 3.5months???

[ishak]

Circuit behind the Internet Age turns 50 years old
AFP, 13 Sep 2008

The computer chip industry on Friday celebrated the 50th birthday of the integrated circuit, a breakthrough that set the stage for the Internet and the Digital Age.

A half-century ago a young engineer named Jack Kilby first demonstrated an integrated circuit he designed while working through the summer at his Texas Instruments job because he didn't have enough vacation time for a holiday.

Mr Kilby used a sliver of conductive germanium to connect a transistor and other bits, dubbing the soldered assembly an 'integrated circuit' (IC).

Engineer Robert Noyce was designing his own IC 'in parallel' at Fairchild Semiconductor but didn't debut his creation until about six months later. Mr Noyce went on to found US chip making giant Intel in 1968.

While Mr Kilby was the first to demonstrate an IC, Mr Noyce came up with a design that could be mass produced, according to Leslie Berlin, project historian for Stanford Silicon Valley Archives and author of a book about Mr Noyce.

'It was an idea whose time had come,' Mr Berlin said. 'There were efforts all over the world to make something like an integrated circuit.'

History gives Mr Noyce and Mr Kilby shared credit for inventing the circuit that transformed the world of electronics.

'The IC was an idea so revolutionary, so life-changing, we don't even remember the world before it came along,' Texas Instruments chief executive Rich Templeton said at a ceremony honouring Mr Kilby.

'And we can't imagine life without it.'

The year Mr Kilby demonstrated his circuit, computers were colossal machines that filled rooms and were commanded by coded punch cards.

Televisions featured black-and-white pictures and few channels. The only telephones were wired in place. There were no iPods, flat-screen televisions, Internet searches or laptop computers.

Integrated circuits replaced vacuum tubes; bulky bulbs that guzzle electricity, spew heat and burn out.

The circuits became building blocks for microprocessors, the increasingly powerful and compact chips that are the brains behind the Internet and most of today's 'smart' electronic devices.

'It's been only 50 years, but think of the dramatic improvements in everything we do around the world today,' Intel spokesman Bill Calder said.

'In the scheme of inventions, certainly the integrated circuit has to be one of the greatest inventions of our time. This world of bytes we live in today would not be possible without them.'

Mr Berlin says that integrated circuits are at the core of the microchip industry mantra of 'smaller, faster, cheaper' and can likely be found in anything with an on-off switch.

Mr Kilby was awarded a Nobel Prize in physics in 2000 for his invention. It is believed a Nobel Prize would have also been given to Mr Noyce, who died in 1990 at the age of 62. Mr Kilby was 81 when he died in 2005.

'The integrated circuit has proved to be the single most important driver of increased productivity and economic growth in history,' said Semiconductor Industry Association president George Scalise.

'The integrated circuit provides the critical technology for countless electronic devices that enable people everywhere to lead more productive lives.'

The semiconductor industry is on track to post US$265 billion in sales this year, according to Mr Scalise.

Templeton described Mr Kilby as quick to credit successors for turning integrated circuits into the power driving Internet Age technologies.

It is said that he responded to people making 'a big fuss' over his work by quoting fellow Nobel Prize winner Charles Townes: 'When I hear that kind of thing, it reminds me of what the beaver told the rabbit as they stood at the base of Hoover Dam: 'No, I didn't build it myself, but it's based on an idea of mine.'

'Texas Instruments is planning a new research centre to be christened 'Kilby Labs'.

'Jack Kilby was a hero, an artist, a philanthropist, a genius and a real believer in the power of the imagination,' Templeton said.

'And his invention is a reminder of the responsibility that we, as engineers, have in making ours a better world.'

When once asked by a mother what can be done to help children invent new things, Mr Kilby reportedly replied 'Read them fairytales'.

[ishak]

Top 10 ways to reduce computing energy use

1. Use computer and monitor power management. Doing so can save nearly half a ton of CO2 and more than $60 a year in energy costs.
2. Don’t use a screen saver. Screen savers are not necessary on modern monitors and studies show they actually consume more energy than allowing the monitor to dim when it’s not in use.
3. Buying a new computer? Make energy efficiency a priority while shopping for your PC and monitor. Look for the Energy Star label or browse the Climate Savers Computing product catalog.
4. Turn down the brightness setting on your monitor. The brightest setting on a monitor consumes twice the power used by the dimmest setting.
5. Turn off peripherals such as printers, scanners and speakers when not in use.
6. Fight phantom power; plug all your electronics into one power strip and turn the strip off when you are finished using your computer.
7. Use a laptop instead of a desktop. Laptops typically consume less power than desktops.
8. Close unused applications and turn off your monitor when you’re not using it.
9. Use a power meter to find out how much energy your computer actually consumes and to calculate your actual savings.
10. Establish multiple power schemes to address different usage models. For example, you can create a power scheme for playing music CDs that shuts off your hard drive and monitor immediately, but never puts your system into standby mode.

[la papillion]

GD, those are very good ways to save electricity thks!

[blid2def]

GD, those are very good ways to save electricity thks!

You credit wrong guy lah. It's ishak, not me.