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Sharp-eyed members of vr-zone forum posted "leaked" pictures of the upcoming Nvidia 8800 GT. The card is manufactured by MSI.



One of the forum moderator in a ninja mode posted the performance of this card. The GT outperforms the existing 8800 GTS models in some tests. And what's more if the post is true, it outperforms the Radeon HD 2900 XT in ALL but ONE test.

This card will surely bring headache in the AMD/ATI camp.

"The development marks an important step in the evolution of nano-electronics and could lead to the production of the world’s smallest radio"

Almost 1,000 times smaller than current radio technology, thousands of times smaller than the diameter of a human hair.

Researchers in University of California used it to transmit classical music wirelessly from an iPod to a speaker several metres away from the music player.

The study marks the first time that a nano-sized detector has been demonstrated in a working radio system.

Full details of their findings will be published next month in the American Chemical Society's Nano Letters.

BEIJING, Oct. 22 (Xinhua) -- China is planning to launch its first moon orbiter at around 6 p.m. on October 24 from the Xichang Satellite Launch Center in Sichuan Province.

"The satellite will be launched between October 24 and 26 and our first choice is around 6 p.m. on October 24," a spokesman for the China National Space Administration (CNSA) said.

The circumlunar satellite, which has been named Chang'e I after the legendary Chinese goddess who, according to legend, flew to the moon, and the carrier Long March 3A have passed all pre-launch tests and have been transported to the launch site.

The lunar probe is expected to enter earth-moon transfer orbit on October 31 and arrive in the moon's orbit on November 5.

More: here

Scientists have unveiled plans in controlling one of the forces of nature - the hurricane.

The first approach from Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), which has only been tested only using a computer simulation, is to "paint" the tops of hurricanes black by scattering carbon particles – either soot or black particles from the manufacture of tyres – from aircraft flying above the storms. The particles would absorb heat from the sun, leading to changes in the airflows within the storm. Satellites could also heat the cloud tops by beaming microwaves from space.

The second approach simulated by scientists at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, is by sowing clouds with microscopic dust to cool the hurricane's base, also weakening it. The dust would attract water but would form droplets too small to fall as rain. Instead, they would rise and evaporate, cooling hot air at the hurricane base.

Two teams, one goal. I just hope it doesn't have any side effects.

A tattoo that changes
The SKIN; Tattoo project investigates the use of 'electronic' ink that would allow people to have dynamic tattoos with an infinite number of display options. In much the same way as make-up is put on and taken off to suit the occasion, a tattoo could alter whenever desired. The tattoos could even change in response to gestures or emotions, which opens up novel ways of communicating and interacting with others.

Skintile The Electronic Sensing Jewelry
Electronic Sensing Jewelry has been conceived alongside a European project, STELLA, (www.stella-project.de) developing stretchable, flexible electronic substrates that integrate energy supply, sensors, actuators, and display.

Skintile the Electronic Sensing Jewelry further explores emotional and physiological sensing. It is a new genre of product; a generation of wireless, stick-on body sensors that re-define traditional body adornment.


It explores a range of functionalities in new product forms that are playful, sensual, mood affected, bio activity stimulated, and arousal enhancing. It is a semi disposable, bio compatible, non-allergenic, breathable, mass customizable, self contained body worn accessory.

More Designs: here

“If you had a device like this in your shoes when you walked, you would be able to generate your own small current to power small electronics”

Brilliant scientists have discovered a way to make small generators to create electricity on their own, enabling us to hopefully one day replace batteries.

Enough electricity could be generated to power a small biosensor implanted within the human body which has great benefits since typical batteries cannot be used in the body because of toxic materials like lithium and cadmium.

Get ready for a big change. By 2010 your mobile phone may be powered by water. Samsung Electro-Mechanics has developed a micro-fuel cell and hydrogen generator that runs on H20.



The micro-fuel cell can generate up to 3watts of electricity and could power a handset for 10 hours, twice as long as rechargeable batteries.

More: here

The Sphelar takes on a spherical shape, which makes it capable of power generation with greater efficiency and flexible applications. This tiny solar cell measuring a mere 1 mm across holds huge potential, standing ready to contribute to the realization of everything from ubiquitous network society to clean-energy society.



The traditional flat panel solar cell will become history. The purpose of this rounded solar panels is still the same - to capture energy. But the difference is that it doesn’t have to precisely face the sun to capture energy. It can generate electricity from sunshine coming in any direction.

Vista Service Pack 1, still in beta, has been released to selected beta testers. If you can't wait for the final Service Pack (I don't care what's your reason), here's a tip to get it. This is from ghacks.net, and several sites reports that this simple registry tweak is fool proof at the the time of writing this post - unless MS finds a way to fix it.

Downloading Windows Vista Service Pack 1 from Windows Updates:

• Download Windows Vista Service Pack and unpack it to your system.
  
• Run SP1Beta_Hack.cmd with administrator privileges and Windows Updates afterwards. It should show KB935509 which you should download and restart afterwards.
  
• Run Windows Updates again, it should display KB937287. Download and restart your PC afterwards.
  
• Run Windows Updates for a third time. Download the now appearing KB938371, restart your computer.
  
• Finally, visit Windows Updates again and you should see the Service Pack 1 Beta for Microsoft Windows Vista available for download.
  

Removing the Evaluation Copy message:

• This is fairly easy to accomplish. Run watermark_fix.reg first
  
• Rename user32.dll.mui to user32.dll.mui.old in C:\Windows\System32\en-US\
  
• copy user32.dll.mui from the archive to that location
  
• Reboot Windows Vista
  

Warning: Do not blame me or this blog if something bad happened to your system. I'm just posting what I've digged on the net. :)

According to ZDNet, the Vista "out of memory" error pops up when a user tries to copy 16,400 files or smaller groups of files that add up to 16,400 between reboots. 

After that, a range of other errors can occur such as menus and tabs disappearing within the Windows environment and even reboots and BSODs.



The problem is common to users running Kaspersky security products though the root of it is the kernel leak. Both Microsoft and Kaspersky know the issue for months and only now Microsoft issued the patch to solve the problem. You have to request online just to obtain the said patch.

IDF Taiwan 2007 - The Inquirer reports that Charles Wirth a.k.a Fugger, owner of xtremesystems.org, overclocked Intel's 3.2 GHz FSB1600 Yorkfield Extreme with the same 200-pound cooling gear (pic below), and broke the 5.8 GHz barrier. The previous record was 5.56GHz on a 3GHz X9650 Yorkfield Extreme.



Over at VR-Zone's forum, Shamimo, the forum's moderator and overclocking genius hits 6Ghz with 429 FSB. "Funny thing doesn't boot into windows at 6 gig", he said. But runs superpi 1M at 5.97gig: 22seconds! Running through a loop of 3D Mark at 5.8Ghz, with just 595/1350.

Amazing chip, really!

Is this the promised "new earth" written in the bible? Scientists have discovered a warm and rocky "second Earth" circling a star, a find they believe dramatically boosts the prospects that we are not alone.



Researchers detected the planet orbiting one of Earth's nearest stars, a cool red dwarf called Gliese 581, 20 light years away in the constellation of Libra.

Measurements of the planet's celestial path suggest it is 1½ times the size of our home planet, and orbits close to its sun, with a year of just 13 days. The planet's orbit brings it 14 times closer to its star than Earth is to the sun. But Gliese 581 burns at only 3,000C, half the temperature of our own sun, making conditions on the planet comfortable for life, with average ground temperatures estimated at 0 to 40C.

More info: here

Did you know that the keyword "sex" is the most frequently searched word in Egypt, India and Turkey. That is according to the statts provided by Google Inc.

Germany, Mexico and Austria's most used keyword in searching is "Hitler" while "Nazi" scored the most hits in Chile, Australia and the United Kingdom. In Canada it is "hangover".

Chile is in the first place for searching "gay" followed by Mexico and Columbia.

This country of mine is in the list too. It is on the first place for searching "Love" followed by Australia and US.

Philippines is on the top list again for searching "Homosexual" followed by Chile and Venezuela.

Here's the top searches in order - from first to third.

• "Jihad" — Morocco, Indonesia, Pakistan
  
• "Terrorism" — Pakistan, Philippines, Australia
  
• "Hangover" — Ireland, United Kingdom, United States
  
• "Burrito" — United States, Argentina, Canada
  
• "Iraq" — United States, Australia, Canada
  
• "Taliban" — Pakistan, Australia, Canada
  
• "Tom Cruise" — Canada, United States, Australia
  
• "Britney Spears" — Mexico, Venezuela, Canada
  
• "Homosexual" — Philippines, Chile, Venezuela
  
• "Love" — Philippines, Australia, United States
  
• "Botox" — Australia, United States, United Kingdom
  
• "Viagra" — Italy, United Kingdom, Germany
  
• "David Beckham" — Venezuela, United Kingdom, Mexico
  
• "Kate Moss" — Ireland, United Kingdom, Sweden
  
• "Dolly Buster" — Czech Republic, Austria, Slovakia
  
• "Car bomb" — Australia, United States, Canada
  
• "Marijuana" — Canada, United States, Australia
  
• "IAEA" — Austria, Pakistan, Iran

VR-Zone and Expreview reports that Nvidia is set to introduce 3-way SLI and that is on the 12th of November.



These are the few requirements to get 3-way SLI up and running:

• 3-way SLI drivers
  
• a 680i SLI or the upcoming 780a/780i SLI board with at least 3 PCIe x16 slots.
  
• GeForce 8800 Ultra or GeForce 8800 GTX cards as these cards have 2 SLI connectors on each card. Even the upcoming G92 cards will not support since it has only 1 SLI connector.
  
• a 3-way SLI bridge card.

ME has been used on Windows, which means Millennium Edition. The poor thing! Dubbed as "millennium bug" because of so many bug that it crashes a lot. Windows 98 is even better!

Now, ME is being used again. But this time on a popular Linux distro - Ubuntu. Known for its solid foundation - Debian -, this distro has been customized. And the result is ME - Muslim Edition.

This distro targets our Muslim brothers. UbuntuME has Islamic softwares installed - prayer times, Quran study tool, web content filtering tool etc., and its design has been changed to reflect Islam.

Visit: UbuntuME

As the time of writing, the counter on Gmail log-in page is at 2913.047816 -- and still counting. If you're a frequent user of Gmail, you could easily notice the counter has speed-up.

Gmail announced on its blog they're speeding the counter. "To make good on our promise, today we're announcing we are speeding up our counter and giving out more free storage", as quoted on the blog.

This is I think in response to Yahoo's unlimited storage and Hotmail's 5GB storage. Competition is realy good. :)

View: Official Gmail Blog

In 1965, Intel co-founder Gordon Moore made a prediction, now popularly known as Moore's Law. It states that the number of transistors on a chip doubles about every two years.

Things are about to change. The battle now is on core. Single, dual, quad core cpu's populate the market. But a very odd thing happened inside AMD. Instead of doubling the cores, AMD announced they were coming out with a triple-core processor in the Phenom family of processors in Q1 2008. Still according to reports, AMD plots 8 to 16-core super-CPU for 2009 codename Bulldozer.

AMD's Triple-Core (codename Toliman) is Phenom 7-series and plans to launch the new processor family by Q1 next year.

AMD has come out with the industries first native quad-core processor with Barcelona, unlike Intel's quad-core cpu which is actually two dualie "glued" together.

The idea of triple-core goes like this. Engineers at AMD tests the quad-core cpu core-by-core. If for example, three cores functions at 2.6GHz and the other one at 2.0Ghz, the engineers have to decide. Should they make it a 2.0GHz Quad-core or should they make it a 2.6 Triple-core?

Very clever indeed. I don't think Intel can spoil this thing by simply "glue-ing" a single and dual-core cpu.

Another first from AMD. :)

IBM's Symphony is not in harmony with Openoffice.

While IBM is reporting that its new Symphony suite of office productivity tools is downloaded by 100,000 users, John McCreesh, the marketing executive of OpenOffice.org said he was annoyed that Symphony became the default application for all his OpenOffice.org files. The product installs itself without asking.

Not only that. Upon digging further with the help of an engineer, he discovered that the program was actually "a very old version 1.x release of OpenOffice.org", with a new interface and rebranding.

Visit: Symphony Homepage

TOKYO — With steely arms sprouting cables and wires, the WAO-1 robot looks nothing like a relaxation device.

The WAO-1 robot, which stands for Waseda Asahi Oral Rehabilitation Robot 1, is being developed initially for patients with jaw-related medical problems who require facial massages as part of their treatment, according to project leader Atsuo Takanishi.

The robot's arms are fitted with ceramic spheres the size of golf balls, and the spheres roll over the skin.



The arms' movements are controlled by a complex set of algorithms designed to emulate massages, while six sensors at the base of the arms measure and adjust the pressure applied by the spheres, Takanishi said.

More: FOXNews

According to the latest AMD roadmap leak and compiled by VR-Zone, expect three Phenom CPUs to appear this year, all of them in the 9000 series. Sadly, gamers won't see a 3.0GHz Phenom FX this year.

Phenom FX-82 will be clocked at 2.6GHz or higher while the faster FX-8x model could hit 3GHz. FX-82 DVT samples will be available in Q4 while production will kick off in Q1 2008 while FX-8x DVT sample and production is slated for Q2 2008.

Phenom 9600 and 9500 clocked at 2.4GHz and 2.2GHz respectively will be the first quad-core Phenom processors to hit the market in Nov. Phenom 9700 clocked at 2.6GHz will come along slightly later in Dec. A faster iteration of the quad-core Phenom will come along in Q2 2008 while DVT samples will be available in Q1. Most likely, it will be called Phenom 9800 and clocked at 2.8GHz.

Vixta is a Fedora-based Linux distribution designed to be user-friendly and eye-catching, similar in look and feel to Windows Vista. One of their goal is ABN - AbsolutelyNo Config.

Application bundled with it is Konqueror - the equivalent of Explorer, OpenOffice instead of MS Office, and Firefox of course for browsing the web. Absolutely not WGA infected!



I think the similarity of interface and name will cause problem to this start-up distro. Expect MS lawyers to file lawsuit against them, similar to what had happened to Lindows. Microsoft argues that the Lindows name is misleading and due to the trademark lawsuit, Lindows changed its name to Linspire.

I just hope this "good-looking" distro will last.

Visit/Download: Vixta

October is a busy month for major linux distributions. Opensuse released version 10.3 followed by Ubuntu accepting pre-order cd through ShipIt. Now Mandriva 2008 and Linspire 6.0 has been released. Mandriva installation files are available for download on their site and via torret too.

Linspire on the other hand is available for purchase and download from the company's online store (US$49.95).

French scientist Albert Fert and Peter Grunberg of Germany have won the 2007 Nobel Prize for physics.

The Nobel panel in Stockholm awarded Albert Fert of the University of Paris-Sud, in Orsay, France; and Peter Grunberg, of the Julich Research Center, in Julich, Germany, each with the medal and split the $1.5 million prize for the discovery of giant magnetoresistance.

The knowledge has allowed industry to develop sensitive reading tools to pull data off hard drives in computers, iPods and other digital devices. It has made it possible to radically miniaturise hard disks in recent years.

The rumor has been confirmed. A report circulated over the net saying Google shows phone prototype to vendors.

Google is showing the prototype to cell phone manufacturers and network operators as it continues to hone the technical specifications that will allow the phone to offer a better mobile Web browsing experience than current products.

The prototype cell phone that could reach markets within a year, and plans to offer consumers free subscriptions by bundling advertisements with its search engine, e-mail and Web browser software applications.

Are you willing to listen to ads before making or accepting a call in exchange with the free subscription? Another question, how long will the ads be? I just hope its not loooong like the ads shown in the Pacquiao-Barrera fight.

CHIBA, Japan (AP) - It's like a personal trainer. It's with you wherever you go. The phone, unveiled this week at the CEATEC electronics show outside Tokyo, has an inbuilt motion sensor that detects body movement and calculates how many calories you burn. The sensor can tell whether you're walking, running, climbing stairs, or resting.

The phone can take your pulse, check your body fat, time your jogs and tell you if you have bad breath. It even assesses stress levels and inspires you with a pep talk.

No more WGA for Internet Explorer 7. Previously, to download Internet Explorer 7, users had to authenticate to WGA. That is Microsoft's tactic to prevent users with pirated copies of Windows from running/installing IE7.

Microsoft said that it had dropped the requirement for WGA for security reasons. But I see it in a different way. It think its rival Mozilla Firefox is eating its browser share.

To increase or take back its share, Microsoft finally dropped that nasty WGA. Good for them, but I'm happy and I'll stick with Firefox and Opera. This blog is best viewed using those browser. :)

StarCraft II is the ultimate competitive real-time strategy game, and the sequel to the hit original, StarCraft. The game will include three completely distinct and balanced races, the Protoss, Terran, and Zerg, which have been overhauled and re-imagined with a number of new units for each, as well as new tricks for some of the classic units that are returning.



When is the game coming out?
At this point, it's too early to provide an initial estimate on the release date. As with all Blizzard games, we will take as much time as needed to ensure the game is as fun, balanced, and polished as possible.

How will StarCraft II be different from StarCraft?
StarCraft II will run on a vibrant new 3D-graphics engine that will be capable of rendering beautiful landscapes as well as massive individual units and army sizes. Also introducing a number of distinct new units to the Protoss, Terran, and Zerg, and even some of the familiar units that return in StarCraft II will have new tricks up their sleeves, which will give the game its own unique flavor.

In addition, Battle.net will be overhauled with some new and exciting features to enhance online play and competition, while the campaign will also offer some unique aspects for players who enjoy single-player content. More details on all these aspects in the months to come.

Visit: starcraft2.com

Ubuntu's ShipIt system has started accepting pre-orders for "Gutsy Gibbon", the upcoming Ubuntu 7.10.

Ubuntu is available free of charge and they can send you CDs of the latest version (7.10 "Gutsy Gibbon") with no extra cost, but the delivery may take up to ten weeks. So if you have a fast internet connection, you should consider downloading the CD images.

Pre-order CDs: here
Download: here

A company called Fushion io has developed a super fast solid-state flash hard drive. The product under the ioDrive name, is actually a PCIe card and will start at 80 GB and will scale to 320 and 640 GB next year. By the end of 2008, Fusion io also hopes to roll out a 1.2 TB card.



The card as reported here, has 160 parallel pipelines that can read data at 800 megabytes per second and write at 600 MB/sec. When tested on a benchmark set for the worst case scenario by using small 4K blocks and then streaming eight simultaneous 1 GB reads and writes, the ioDrive clocked in at 100,000 operations per second, thrashing the performance of a regular hard drive.

Though this blog focus on Science & Technology especially on computers, sometimes I create post which is of public interest in this country of mine. Our Pambansang Kamao (National Fist), defeated Mexican legend Marco Antonio Barrera via unanimous decision in 12 rounds of action.

The news of victory spreaded like a wildfire over the internet, radio, and text messages (SMS) even before the opening bell of round one of the much awaited rematch which was aired at GMA TV.

Pic courtesy of Fightnews.com

The problem with shows like this, it is overloaded with TV commercials. The fight which started at 10am ended five minutes before 4pm, Sunday in the Philippines. The excitement is gone, if you watched it on local channel. If you want to see it without ads, go and pay on a local cinema or if you know a friend who is subscribed in a cable or satellite tv, go over to their place and watch with them.

The Pacquiao-Barrera main event have a more than 1-hour airtime, and that is for the tv commercials alone! Three national anthem and in between those anthems is a 5 minute commercial. The shortest tv commercial in between rounds is 4 minutes and more than 8 minutes for the longest.

That is the price you'll pay if you're not on a PPV channel. :)

There is a report at Fudzilla which according to their sources, AMD's Quad Core Phenom FX, will launch a 2.8 if not even a 3.0+ GHz in 2007. This will finally give Intel a good reason to reconsider its roadmaps, they add.

Over at The Inquirer, they managed to capture pics of working RV670, Phenom system. AMD Phenom, RD790 and RV670 are all supposed to arrive in at the same time, the report said.

AMD is calling its CPU+GPU+Chipset package "Spider". Feast on this pics:

Starting January 1, 2008, Intel will change the brand of its processor offerings to consolidate and simplify its line-up according to a report on vnunet.com

Intel's vPro and Viiv platforms will be known as Core2 vPro and Core2 Viiv. These are Core2 based microarchitecture.

The Centrino, Centrino Duo and Centrino Pro lines, which had appeared under five different logos, will now be known as Centrino and Centrino vPro.

At the high end, the Xeon brand will remain the same, while the Itanium 2 brand will be shortened to Itanium. The Core2 family, as well as the Pentium and Celeron brands, will remain the same.

Two handy utilities, similar in interface. The goal is the same, to provide info about a system's CPU and GPU. And some additional info too about the motherboard model, memory module info, etc.

CPU-Z is a freeware detection program base on the Panopsys hardware detection engine.

Some features:

• Processor name and vendor
  
• Core stepping and process
  
• Processor package
  
• Processor current core voltage
  
• Internal and external clocks, clock multiplier
  
• Partial overclock detection
  
• Processor features, including supported instructions sets.
  
• L1 to L3 cache information : location, size, speed, technology.
  
• Motherboard information : name, vendor, BIOS, chipset, memory, AGP.
  
• Memory information : size, type, timings, specifications
  

Download: CPU-Z 1.41

GPU-Z is a lightweight utility designed to give you all information about your video card and GPU

Main Features

• Support NVIDIA and ATI cards
  
• Displays adapter, GPU and display information
  
• Displays overclock, default clocks and 3D clocks (if available)
  
• Validation of results
  
• No installation required
  
• Support for Windows 2000 / XP / Vista (both 32 and 64 bit versions are supported)
  

Download: TechPowerUp GPU-Z v0.0.6 (still in beta)

Novell has announced the release of openSUSE 10.3: "Novell today announced the availability of openSUSE 10.3, the newest version of the award-winning community Linux distribution. Enhancements to openSUSE 10.3 include the newest versions of the GNOME and KDE desktop environments, including a KDE 4 preview. OpenOffice.org 2.3 makes sharing files easy, and the newest version of AppArmor protects the Linux operating system and applications from attacks, viruses and malicious applications. OpenSUSE 10.3 also now includes MP3 support out of the box for Banshee and Amarok, which are the default media players in openSUSE. In addition, openSUSE 10.3 offers the latest open source applications for developing applications, setting up a home network and running a web server."



Download Mirrors: here
View: Release Notes
More info: here

A Filipino is being acknowledged as the inventor of the Lunar Rover, or more popularly known as the Moon Buggy which was used by Neil Armstrong, but until now, no Pinoy have set a foot on the moon. The space race belongs to Russia and US, and China is joining them.

NASA has a 2020 deadline for returning Americans to the moon. China would like to beat that.

The Soviets beat the United States at getting a satellite, and a man, into space. Now, the Chinese may get to the moon before the U.S. can make a return visit.

"I personally believe that China will be back on the moon before we are,'' NASA Administrator Michael Griffin said in a low-key lecture in Washington two weeks ago, marking the space agency's 50th anniversary, still a year away.

"I think when that happens, Americans will not like it. But they will just have to not like it."

The U.S. is "more technically advanced. We certainly could be back on the moon faster than the Chinese, but we don't have the political will and therefore the resources to do it,'' said Joan Johnson-Freese, head of the Naval War College's national security decision-making department.

Full Story: here

It is a single slot card.



Due to be released in about three weeks, the G8P/G92 or better yet, the GeForce 8800 GT clock speed are set to hover around 600 MHz for the GPU and 1800 MHz for the memory but, at least the core may be set to a higher level so as to better counter AMD upcoming RV670-powered Radeon HD 2950.

More pics/info: here

The picture says it all! :)







Source: here (needs some translation)

Here are some other suggestions, culled from a range of sources, for devising passwords that are both secure and easy to remember:

• Use the calendar. Type in the month, year and a few letters to identify the account, such as "sep06Budgt." The following month, change "sep" to "oct." No repetitions. No-brainer.
  


• Add characters. Take the name of the account or website, then add, say, the last four digits of a familiar phone number (though never your own). That might produce "bizblog9485."
  


• Use mnemonics on random passwords. If you get a password assigned, don't change it — just find a way to remember it. Say you got "4tgGw39DK." That could become, "For the great Google warrior 39 Donna Karens." Not poetry, but say it a few times and it turns into a mental tattoo. You can get random character strings from free online utilities like Passnerd.com and BizFormBar.com.
  


• Combine small, misspelled words. To make a password easier to remember, use words starting with the same letter and perhaps related meaning (hyheihallo), then perhaps capitalize the first letters (HyHeiHallo) or break the words up with numbers (Hi1Hei2Hallo3), or substitute numbers for some letters (h1h3ihall0).
  


• Use first letters of a phrase. "mygolfhandicapis6," for example, would become "mghi6."
  


• Devise a code. Nothing techy here, just a simple scrambling system. For example, if your password phrase is "MyHandicapIs6," move one key to the right for each character: "
  


• Keypad scramble. Take a name or phrase you can easily remember, then type it using the phone keypad. "MyHandicapIs6" could become “my4263422747six."
  


• Scramble words. For instance, alternate the letters of each word, so "MyHandicapIs6" could become "MHI6yasndicap."
  


• Use special keys. Hold down the shift or alt key as you type part of your password. With the Alt key down on every third character, our handicap password becomes "my·anðicåpis§."
  


• Add spaces. Assuming the company's or website's password protocol allows it, it's a good way to foil dictionary searches. You might have "myhan dicapi s6."
  


• Remove vowels. "Mhndcps6."

Aside from these tips, you can also download free program such as  Acerose Password Vault. You install it on your computer, create one strong password that logs you into the program, then the software automatically generates and/or remembers all your other passwords.
Read full article: CBC News

COLUMBUS, Ohio - Ohio State University researchers say a breakfast byproduct could play a role in a new way of powering cars.

The researchers say they've found that eggshells can help produce hydrogen for fuel cells that mix the gas with oxygen to create energy for running a vehicle. Instead of exhaust, all that's emitted is water vapor.

The current process for obtaining hydrogen also produces carbon dioxide, a greenhouse gas. Ohio State engineering professor L.S. Fan says his team has found that when eggshells are added to the process, they absorb the carbon dioxide.

He says they would need to be buried afterward to keep the gas out of the atmosphere.

Fan says using eggshells also would save egg processors money now spent to dump their eggshells in landfills.

Source: The Columbus Dispatch

The Magical Jelly Bean Keyfinder is a freeware utility that retrieves your Product Key (cd key) used to install windows from your registry. It has the options to copy the key to clipboard, save it to a text file, or print it for safekeeping. It works on Windows 95, 98, ME, 2000, XP, Server 2003, Windows Vista, Office XP, Office 2003, and Office 2007.

Upon running this small utility, it quickly displayed the product key of Windows, Office and Winamp Pro. A nice and handy tool.

Download: here

The third largest PC maker and manufacturer of Thinkpad laptops - Lenovo, prepares to introduce budget PCs aimed at entry-level users. The company would bring to the Philippines -- on a test-market basis -- a PC priced below $200 per unit - less than P10,000 at current exchange rates.

This would be done “within the year.”

It was not clear what would be the specs of the said PC, what processor and other parts but the report states that the said sub-$200 PC would be a device with the basic functionality required by everyday computer users.

Full story: here

A prototype pillow developed/invented by Daryoush Bazargani, a computer science professor, was on display during a health conference in Germany. The professor said he invented the pillow because he snores too.

The pillow which is connected to a computer stops snoring by shifting the head's sleeping position until the noise stops. The computer's function is to analyze noise. It will then reduce or enlarge air compartments within the pillow to facilitate nasal airflow to minimise snoring as the user shifts during sleep.

The ergonomic pillow can also be used for neck massage too. 

You don't need laptop to go mobile anymore. Thanks to an application called Mojopac. Capture your PC’s files, programs and settings, and stores them on an iPod or similar gadget.

Plug the device into another Windows XP computer, and your desktop appears, with all your programs and files exactly as you left them—and ready for action.

Mojopac takes up just 30 megabytes, which means it will fit on most flash drives.

Watch how it works: here.

Sony's upcoming XEL-1 11-inch OLED based TV will be on sale this coming December. Since it is the first, it will come with a high price for sure. Price will go down when it enters mass production, that will be at the end of this decade.

It seems that Sony is making good on its promise to deliver the first commercial Organic LED (OLED) based TV in 2007. The new XEL-1 (organic EL based panel) will be the first to go on sale on Japan this December for around $1735. The new ultra thin (3mm) 11-inch display will boost a remarkable contrast of 1,000,000: 1 (or higher) compared to around 20,000:1 on today's high end Plasma displays. The high contrast will result in much deeper (more realistic) black color and should also allow to view the TV in a brightly lit room.

The XEL-1 has a small 11-inch display, 960 x 450 resolution, HDMI, USB and Ethernet connections as well as 2 x 1W speakers. This configuration is not intended to replace a 50' full HD home-theater display but could used as a high quality screen for a small bedroom or office. If successful however, larger version from Sony (and possibly other manufacturers such as Samsung, Pioneer and Philips) could reach the market in 2008-2009 offering real alternatives to LCD and Plasma displays.

Microsoft is an amazingly transparent company. Google is not. Any peek is a good peek.

These are the words from a blogsite. And from the title of the post, "Life at Google - The Microsoftie Perspective", it looks like it's from an ex-Google employee who is now at the MS camp or an MS employee trying to bring down Google.

Well, whoever that person is, it's up to you to decide if the post is true or not.

View: No2Google blog

Clearlooks has been the default theme for many distro using Gnome. One of them is Fedora. Clearlooks is the default for a long time.

Now, Nodoka theme will try to give Fedora a new distinct and modern appearance. By modifying the Murrine engine, an extremely fast rendering theme was born.

Created by Martin Sourada, a student of General Physics at the Charles University in Prague and lives in Czech Republic, European Union.

More screenshots: here

Experience virtual world courtesy of AMD. The first 800 visitors will get free T-shirt with AMD logo of course. :)



Register here: Virtual Experience 2.0

This Mini PC from Fujitsu not only saves space. What's more, it saves power. It uses up to 30 percent less power than standard PC, saving at least 90 kWh a year in electricity.

The Esprimo Q5020, is a compact desktop system that ships in a chassis little larger than a DVD drive.


View site: here

360Desktop reorganizes the standard Windows desktop into a panoramic, revolving pane of glass thousands of pixels long.

Grab all of your favorite web apps and content — web widgets, RSS feeds, AJAX start pages, or any part of any web page — and make them available any time, in an expanded photo-panoramic desktop.

Watch it in action:



Visit site: here