Tech blog

Microsoft’s Windows 7 Is The Multi-Touch Heaven

2008-08-07T10:34:00.001-07:00

Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer amazed us with this new video of the future Windows 7. From the graphics’ point of view, this new exciting version makes Vista look like David in front of Goliat. The main feature of the platform that made us so excited is the touch and multi-touch integration, based mostly on Microsoft’s Surface Table.

Video: Multi-Touch in Windows 7

Among the new features unveiled, we can encounter multi-touch gestures in photo galleries, such as flicking, panning and zooming with two fingers; an OSX-like dock; drawing with ten fingers in a multi-touch paint program; a multi-touch piano application, and a program based on Microsoft’s Live Maps and Microsoft Virtual Earth, that allows in-depth mapping.

Windows 7 seems to be a combination between Vista and the Surface Table, as the other features beside the multi-touch ones look fairly alike the ones from Vista. The new platform is expected to launch in about 18 months.

Via

Asus Released Ares CG6155 Gaming Beast

2008-08-07T10:22:00.001-07:00

Asus has just released a Gaming Beast, that will please literally every gamer. The Ares CG6150 has first been unveiled at CeBit and features some of the most powerfull components on the market.

What you get is an Intel Core 2 Extreme QX9650 CPU, that you can overclock to 4.0Ghz, a Blu-ray drive, two gigabit Ethernet ports, up to 4TB of disk space, up to 8GB of DDR3 RAM, Nvidia nForce 790i Ultra SLI chipset with three GeForce GTX280 in SLI, two power supplies and a custom liquid cooling system.

Until now, pricing details haven’t been unveiled, but don’t expect them to stay low.

Source

Future ATI Radeon Cards Will Include GDDR5 Memory

2008-08-07T10:21:00.001-07:00

6 months after Samsung unveiled their GDDR5 memory, AMD announced that the next generation of ATI Radeon graphics cards will be based on the fore-mentioned technology. AMD will name Qimonda as their new partners to supply them with the GDDR5 modules, which will benefit stream processing and also boost gaming performances.

This announcement comes just weeks before the expected public debut of the new ATI Radeon 4000-series GPUs, and ATI officials say that it will be the first commercial implementation of the Graphics Double Data Rate 5 technology. Both ATI and Nvidia will surely offer better performance with the new core GPU designs.

Via

Computer of the future

2008-08-06T08:51:00.001-07:00

Aren’t you tired of your PC? By his ugly shape and the way that it looks? Well, this is exactly what designer Apostol Tnokovski was feeling when he decided to create the smallest PC ever made. It’s not going to be like a PDA, it’s going to be a PC with all conventional components (mouse, keyboard, normal screen).

The concept PC is called E-Ball and it’s shaped like a sphere because in Tnokovski’s opinion this is the best shape in nature and it draws everybody’s attention.

E-Ball will feature a dual core processor, 250-500GB HDD, 2GB of RAM, integrated graphic card and sound card, 2 x 50W speakers, HD-DVD recorder, wireless optical mouse and laser keyboard, LAN and WLAN card, modem, Web cam and integrated LCD projector.

Also, the E-Ball PC supports a paper holder and the paper sheet on the holder could act like a screen where you can watch movies or something. This concept PC will measure 160mm in diameter and it was designed for Microsoft Windows OS, sorry about the others. For the moment there is no word on pricing or when it’s going to be available, however, I am sure that everybody would like to see a small spherical PC like this one.

Transportation Of The Future - The Winglet By Toyota

2008-08-03T09:22:00.001-07:00

Toyota thinks about the future once again as they unveiled the “Winglet” which is “a personal transport assistance robot ridden in a standing position.” The robot was created in order to help people to have a safer and more mobile life therefore it could become an everyday transportation mean.

The Winglet is being developed by Toyota Motor Corporation, or TMC, and it’s “still being refined” as it surely needs some improvements. The robot features a body, an electric motor, two wheels and internal sensors (of course), the latter with the purpose of monitoring your position in order to make some adjustments that will increase or decrease power for stability.

“An unique parallel link mechanism” ensures the movement, you can go forward, backward and it’s simple to turn as you’ll only have to shift body weight therefore the Winglet is “safe and useful even in tight spaces or crowded environments.”

In order to fit everybody’s preferences, Toyota developed three version, “L”, “M” and “S”. These models vary between “practical” and “hands-free sporty”.

TMC will begin testing, technical and consumer trials in Autumn at the Central Japan International Airport near Nagoya, and Laguna Gamagori, and then they will see how the Winglet reacts to crowding and other conditions, and they also want to see how regular people acts around the robot and they will test at the Tressa Yokohama shopping complex in Yokohama City in 2009. Check out the video below and tell us what you think about this device.

Press Release via Akihabara News

Elegant lounge chairs made out of old skateboards

2008-08-02T14:34:00.001-07:00

The recycling business is looking up! This new wave of recycled furniture, made up of second hand household goods has made quite a splash on today’s market. One of the most interesting perhaps is this recycled skateboard chair. Made from 8 second hand skateboards screwed into the chairs metal frame. Neoprene is then sprayed on top of the skateboards to give it that soft leathery feel. Totally rad, yet maintaining those classy upper-crust looks. The price, unfortunately, has not been included, but I would say $250 would not be a bad price. Perfect for inviting your surfer friends over for cocktails!

Plica Concept Threatens iPhone With Two Touchscreens

2008-08-02T14:26:00.001-07:00

I know that probably most of you are enjoying your iPhone 3G and you are very satisfied with it, but when you will this concept you might want to reconsider your thoughts. The cellphone is called Plica which means folding of a body part.

Plica consists of two touchscreens and it looks exactly like a regular cellphone. When the phone is folded in two screens, you will use one as a keyboard and on the other you will be able to see whatever you want to. Also, you can view the images on both screens which means twice the resolution. Plica is very functional kind of like a mini-laptop and it features USB and headphone jacks.

This could really be the iPhone killer as the double touchscreen is really great, the only problem is that this is only a concept. Plica was developed by designer James Piatt and I can’t wait to see this on the market.

VIA LINK

New Xbox 360 Dashboard update gets leaked, shown off

2008-07-28T13:02:00.001-07:00

Sure, we've seen the Xbox 360's forthcoming Dashboard update demoed in a polished presentation and detailed in high res press pics, but if you're like us, you don't really get exciting about something until it's leaked out into the wild and shown off blurry cam-style. The particuarly adventurous can apparently even take their chances and install this new "Xbox Experience" update themselves, but the exact details about where to get it and how to install it are understandably a bit hard to come by. If you do go that route, however, you'll need to make sure you have a modded console with an Infectus 2 Chip in the system and, most likely, a second 360 to fall back on in the event the first bursts into flames. The rest of us will just have to make do with the video after the break.

VIA link

How to float a pin on water

2008-07-28T05:20:00.001-07:00

Do you see that? Do you? It's bloody magic init! If you ever wondered how that Jesus bloke did it, then read on, gentle reader, read on.

First off, stick a bit of bog roll on the top of the water

Drop your pin, or in this case, needle, on top of the bum paper

The paper slowly sinks to the bottom of the glass

Leaving the needle on the surface of the water. Stick 'surface tension' into Wikipedia if you want to understand the messy science. However, it's probably more useful as a "I bet £10 I can balance this pin on the top of your beer" thingie. Or wine, if you're posh or a lady.

Rare Guinness book world record 1978 edition Selling…

2008-07-25T12:02:00.001-07:00

I have a rare edition of Guinness book of world record rare edition

if any interested im buying this book…

contact me : fazlerahim@gmail.com +919795349461

About Jannat (Heaven)

2008-07-25T03:13:00.001-07:00

When Mu'min will enter into Jannah, it will be announced
1. You will remain healthy forever, disease will never come.
2. You will remain alive for ever, death will never come.
3. You will remain in bounties which will never be finished.
Jannat is made with
Bricks of Gold and Silver.
Its cement is of perfumed Musk.
Its chips are pearls and Yaqoot.
Its sand is Zafraan.
There are eight doors ofJannah. These are eight grades of Jannat

1. Jannatul Mava
2. Darul Maqaam
3. Darul Salaam
4. Darul Khuld
5. Jannat-ul-Adan
6. Jannat-ul-Naeem
7. Jannat-ul-Kasif
8. Jannat-ul-Firdous
Food of Jannah
They will eat foods and fruits continuously up to 40 years.
Every bowl will have a new taste.
They will take eructation which will digest the food and there will be perfumed sweating for the digestion of water.
There will be no urine and stool.
Place Name
There will be gardens in Jannah.
Every garden will have the length of about 100 year's journey.
The shadow of these gardens will be very dense.
Their plants will be free of thorns.
The size of their leaves will be equal to ears of elephants.
Their fruits will be hanging in rows.
Jannatul Mava is in the lowest,
Jannat-ul-Adan is the middle &
Jannat-ul- Firdous is on the highest.
Those who love each other for the sake of Allahwill get a pillar of Yaqoot,
On which there will be seventy thousand (70,000) rooms.
These will shine for the residents of Jannah as the sun shines for the residents of Duniya.
There will be rooms in Jannah in such a way that every room will have seventy thousand (70,000)dinning sheets.
On every dinning sheet 70,000 types of foods will be served.
For their service 80,000 young boys will be moving around looking like beautiful scattered pearls.
One bunch of dates will be equal to the length of 12 arms.
The size of a date will be equal to the big pitcher.
These will be whiter than milk, sweeter than honey and softer than butter and free
Of seeds.
The stem of these plants will be made up of gold and silver.
There will also be gardens of grapes. The bunches of grapes will be very big.
The size of a single grape will be equal to a big pitcher.
Someone asked, ya Rasulullah (Sallalahu alaihi wasallam):
will it be sufficient for me and my family. It was answered, it will besufficient for you and your whole tribe.The Dresses of Jannat
The dress of Jannah will be very beautiful.
One will wear 70 dresses at a time.
These will be very fine, delicate, weightless, having different colors.
These dresses will be so fine that the body even the heart will be visible.
And the waves of love in the hearts will also be visible.
These dresses will never become old, never be dirty and will never tear.
There will be four canals in every Jannah.
1. Water
2. Milk
3. Honey
4. Sharabun Tahoora.There will also be three fountains in Jannah:
1. Kafoor
2. Zanjabeel
3. Tasneem
Qualities of People of Jannah
In Jannah, height of every Mo 'min, will be equal to the height of
Hazrat Adam (Alaihissalaam) 60 arms (90 feet).
Beauty will be like that of Hazrat Yousuf (Alaihissalaam)
Age of youth will be like that of Hazrat Esa (Alaihissalaam) 30-33 years).
Sweetness of voice will be like that of Hazrat Dawud (Alaihissalaam).
Tolerance will be like that of Hazrat Yaqoob (Alaihissalaam)
Patience will be like that of Hazrat Ayyub (Alaihissalaam.)
Habits will be like that of Sayyaduna Muhammad (Sallalahu alaihi wasallam)

Intel’s profit rises by 25%, notebooks help

2008-07-22T10:22:00.003-07:00

ntel Corp said on Tuesday quarterly net income rose 25 percent, helped by strong sales of microprocessors used in notebook computers, and gave a revenue forecast that topped expectations. The world’s biggest chipmaker also reported an improved gross margin for the second quarter, but it was slightly below the midpoint of its own forecast range due to price pressures. For the current quarter, Intel said it expects revenue of $10.0 billion to $10.6 billion, compared with the average analyst forecast of $10.0 billion, according to Reuters Estimates.

Intel has been benefiting from brisk sales of notebook PCs, which are on track to outpace sales of desktop PCs this year. On Monday, Intel rolled out the latest generation of its Centrino wireless chip after a delay of several months. Shares of Intel ticked higher following the results, after gaining 1.2 percent in regular Nasdaq trading. “I like the revenue outlook and the gross margin outlook,” said Doug Freedman, an analyst with American Technology Research. “The only slight negative is the spending level on marketing and general administration is slightly higher.”

Source : reuters

15 Portable Apps to Help Troubleshoot PC’s

2008-07-22T10:22:00.001-07:00

Avira UnErase (file recovery)

File Recovery tool for Windows 2000 and XP. Install on a PC, then copy the installation folder to your USB thumb drive. Though it’s no longer officially supported, it’s still available for download, and it still works. Download here.
CCleaner (PC optimization)

The popular PC optimization and privacy tool has a Portable Edition that you can download and install on your USB thumb drive. Related tutorial: How to use CCleaner to free up disk space on your Windows PC
ClamWin (anti-virus)

Following the instructions found here, you can carry the open-source anti-virus software ClamWin on your USB pen drive. Great for removing viruses when you’re unable to install anti-virus software on the host PC.
DBAN (secure disk eraser)

DBAN is a self-contained boot disk that securely wipes the hard disks of most computers. Download the USB flash drive version from http://dban.sourceforge.net. Related tutorial: How to completely wipe all the data from your hard drive
JkDefrag (disk defrag)

JkDefrag is a portable disk defragmenter and optimizer for Windows 2000/2003/XP/Vista/2008/X64. Completely automatic and very easy to use, fast, low overhead, with several optimization strategies, and can handle floppies, USB disks, memory sticks, and anything else that looks like a disk to Windows. And it’s open source.
K-MAC (MAC address changer)

Useful for network troubleshooting. Download here.
On-Screen Keyboard (virtual keyboard)

Working on a PC with a broken keyboard? Or one that has keys remapped to the strangest of places? On-Screen Keyboard will come in handy. Note: part of the PortableApps suite.
Portable MV RegClean (registery cleaner)

Registry cleaner for 32 and 64bit Windows. Also allows you to make backups of any registry change made by MV RegClean. Download here.
Portable UnInstall Cleaner (software uninstaller/cleaner)

When a program does not properly uninstall or problems occur in the uninstallation, there will be excess entries in the registry. UnInstall Cleaner can delete these entries so that you don’t take the painstaking job of cleaning the the registry manually. Download here.
Process Explorer (advanced task manager)

Hugely improved version of Windows Task Manager. Download here. Related tutorial: How to get detailed information on each running process in Windows
Restoration (file recovery)

Restoration is another file recovery tool, but this one works on Windows 98/ME/2000/XP/Vista. If you’re trying to recover files in 2K or XP, try Avira UnErase (see above) first.
Roadkil’s Boot Builder (create custom boot sectors)

Boot Builder allows you to create your own custom boot sector from scratch. This utility allows you to recreate or restore boot sectors lost due to virus or other damage to a drive. Boot sectors can be imported/exported to a disk or created from a template. This program supports FAT and NTFS boot sector types.
SpyBot Search and Destroy (spyware removal)

Download SpyBot Search and Destroy, install it on your PC and then follow the instructions found here to make it portable. Related tutorial: How to remove spyware from your PC
System Spec (System Information Utility)

Find detailed information on the PC you’re troubleshooting. Works in Windows 2000 and XP completely, some info won’t be displayed (though it does work) on Windows 98 and ME. Download here.
What Is Transferring (TCP packet sniffer)

What Is Transferring is a portable packet sniffer for Windows 2000/XP. It can capture and display the TCP/IP packets that pass through a network adapte. Very helpful for determining unwanted connections and then viewing what those connections have sent/recieved.

Source

Man arrested for taking over San Francisco network

2008-07-22T10:21:00.001-07:00

A computer engineer has been arrested and accused of hijacking San Francisco’s FiberWAN (Wide Area Network) computer system, which holds details of city payroll files and confidential law enforcement documents. City prosecutors have charged Terry Childs, a 43-year-old computer network administrator, with four counts of computer tampering on the network. They allege he has locked out all passwords except his own and is refusing to hand it over. “Defendant Childs was arrested on Sunday, July 13, 2008 at his home in Pittsburg, California by members of the San Francisco Police Department and was immediately taken into custody,” said the city’s DA office in a statement.

“The felony counts against the defendant were charged the following day by the San Francisco District Attorney’s Office.” City officials are now working on the system to get access and control back and to date Childs is still not helping them. The media are reporting that Childs was facing disciplinary action for poor performance and had set up a software alert if anything changed in his personnel file. He may also have passed password information on to third parties. Childs faces a possible seven years in prison and will be back in court on Thursday.

Google launches Lively, virtual world sim

2008-07-22T10:20:00.003-07:00

A really bad news for Second Life: Google is launching a new service today called Lively, a browser based virtual world add-on that lets users create and customize avatars and worlds, interact with other users, and generally have a richer social interaction than is offered by GTalk today. Worlds can be embedded into web pages, although only Windows users on IE or Firefox can view them, after an add-on download and installation. Mac and Linux users will have to wait for now.

Google has created a number of sample rooms that can be copied and altered, or users can start from scratch and build their own world. Furniture and other items can be added and moved around. Avatars can talk to each other, do things like dance and shake hands, and manipulate objects (in a demo, my avatar was able to blow up drums of toxic waste by double clicking on them. Users can also, of course, chat with each other - GTalk is the underlying chat engine. This isn’t yet a full Second Life competitor. There’s no single world, for example, where users can move around. But it’s easy to see Google evolving this into a single online world. And then, of course, selling advertising into it.

Source: Washington Post

Apple opens iPhone App Store

2008-07-22T10:20:00.001-07:00

Apple on Thursday launched the App Store for the soon-to-be-released 3G iPhone, making a major push at becoming a key player in what’s expected to be the next generation in computing. The online store coupled with the media player-smart phone hybrid completes the company’s platform for a ubiquitous connection between an ultra-portable computer and the Internet. “The iPhone is not a phone. It’s a connected touch-screen computer that goes into your pocket and just happens to make phone calls,” said Michael Gartenberg, analyst for Jupiter Research. Apple entered the market in a big way by introducing through the App Store about 500 applications for the new iPhone, which goes on sale Friday at 8 a.m. local time. For people with the slower original iPhone, Apple on Thursday released firmware version 2.0, which is the same operating system as in the new device.

For $9.99, people can load the OS in the iPod Touch, which is the iPhone without the phone. People can also access the App Store by downloading version 7.7 of the iTunes software, which also was released on Thursday. The latter makes it possible for iPhone buyers to deploy software from their Macs or PCs. In being able to offer hundreds of applications on the first day the 3G iPhone is available, Apple has shown that developers are onboard. About a quarter of the App Store software is free, with 90% of the paid software available for $9.99 or less. Apple, which must first approve applications before they go on sale, takes 30% of the revenue generated from paid software, but does not charge developers offering free applications. Available software includes games, educational program, mobile commerce, and business productivity tools. A third of the applications are games.

400GB optical disc invented by Pioneer

2008-07-22T10:18:00.001-07:00

Got a big archiving project you’ve been itching to do? Pioneer’s latest development could help you keep all your data in one nice, little circular package. The Japanese electronics maker has been working on an optical disc, which, like Blu-ray, can store 25GB of data in a single layer. But Pioneer says it’s one-upped the high-definition format to the sixteenth degree. The company announced today that it has a single disc that contains 16 layers of storage, at 25GB each. That adds up to 400GB of data capable of being stored on a single disc.

Blu-ray comes in single layer (25GB) and dual-layer (50GB) flavors. Pioneer does say that because the lens specification for reading the discs is similar to Blu-ray, “it is possible to maintain compatibility” between its disc and Blu-ray discs. That’s not saying it will be compatible, but it would make sense since Pioneer is one of the original Blu-ray Disc Association members. However, plans for that archiving project will have to be put on pause if you want to use this technology. Pioneer is going to demonstrate it at an industry conference next week, but for now the disc is read-only. Eventually, they’ll add write capability as well.

Source: Cnet

Student Credit Card Info

2008-07-21T11:19:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Student Credit card,cards

Student Credit Card Knowledge Is The Key To Success!

The world of credit cards can be scary. It's even scarier than wearing last season's Uggs. Lots of big words, responsibilities, etc. Student card info is especially important because it is meant for those who are just entering this big, scary world. Once you are forced into making sound financial decisions, it will all become more clear. But in order to do so, you need a little background.

The main difference between a student card and a regular credit card is that the former tends to have a lower credit limit, designed to control spending, and lower interest rates. They are both a little added protection for the inexperienced, perhaps less informed, spender. Probably the most common cards used are the student Visa card and the student MasterCard. The difference between the two is most likely negligible, but you'd need to read up on both and choose the best one for you.

The importance of responsible spending with a student credit card is mostly that it has the power to influence your credit rating. Establishing good credit history is vital to your financial future because it is what lenders will look at when deciding to give you a car, house, or any other type of loan. Student credit cards are more limited than regular cards, but can be taken no less seriously for this reason. That is why knowing student card info is necessary. Being well informed about your credit card will help you make more sound financial decisions.

Which Student Credit Card Is Right For You?

The more Student Card Info you possess, the readier you will be to choose wisely. Many opt for Visa student credit cards because their parents have a Visa and are more familiar with it. That is an okay way to assess a credit card company. However, a Visa student credit card may not be right for you just because a visa has worked out for your folks. You need to research the finance charges, interest rates, billing and grace periods, and other information specific to each credit card in order to choose the best one for you. There are many student cards, and I'm sure one has your name on it. Get educated and apply today! The sooner you do, the sooner you can look forward to graduating with credit card debt.

Source

Lung Cancer

2008-07-21T11:13:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Lung Cancer,cancer,health,causes,treatment

What is cancer of the lung?

Cancer of the lung, like all cancers, results from an abnormality in the body's basic unit of life, the cell. Normally, the body maintains a system of checks and balances on cell growth so that cells divide to produce new cells only when needed. Disruption of this system of checks and balances on cell growth results in an uncontrolled division and proliferation of cells that eventually forms a mass known as a tumor.

Tumors can be benign or malignant; when we speak of "cancer," we refer to those tumors that are considered malignant. Benign tumors can usually be removed and do not spread to other parts of the body. Malignant tumors, on the other hand, grow aggressively and invade other tissues of the body, allowing entry of tumor cells into the bloodstream or lymphatic system which spread the tumor to other sites in the body. This process of spread is termed metastasis; the areas of tumor growth at these distant sites are called metastases. Since lung cancer tends to spread, or metastasize, very early in its course, it is a very life-threatening cancer and one of the most difficult cancers to treat. While lung cancer can spread to any organ in the body, certain organs—particularly the adrenal glands, liver, brain, and bone—are the most common sites for lung cancer metastasis.

The lung is also a very common site for metastasis from tumors in other parts of the body. Tumor metastases are made up of the same type of cells as the original, or primary, tumor. For example, if prostate cancer spreads via the bloodstream to the lungs, it is metastatic prostate cancer in the lung and is not lung cancer.

Lung Cancer Picture

The principal function of the lungs is the exchange of gases between the air we breathe and the blood. Through the lung, carbon dioxide is removed from the body and oxygen from inspired air enters the bloodstream. The right lung has three lobes, while the left lung is divided into two lobes and a small structure called the lingula that is the equivalent of the middle lobe. The major airways entering the lungs are the bronchi, which arise from the trachea. The bronchi branch into progressively smaller airways called bronchioles that end in tiny sacs known as alveoli, where gas exchange occurs. The lungs and chest wall are covered with a thin layer of tissue called the pleura.

Lung cancers can arise in any part of the lung, and 90%-95% of cancers of the lung are thought to arise from the epithelial, or lining cells of the larger and smaller airways (bronchi and bronchioles); for this reason, lung cancers are sometimes called bronchogenic carcinomas or bronchogenic cancers. Cancers can also arise from the pleura (the thin layer of tissue that surrounds the lungs), called mesotheliomas, or rarely from supporting tissues within the lungs, for example, blood vessels.

How common is lung cancer?

Lung cancer is responsible for the most cancer deaths in both men and women throughout the world. The American Cancer Society estimates that 213,380 new cases of lung cancer in the U.S. will be diagnosed and 160,390 deaths due to lung cancer will occur in 2007. Lung cancer is predominantly a disease of the elderly; almost 70% of people diagnosed with the condition are over 65 years of age, while less than 3% of cases occur in people under age 45.

Lung cancer was not common prior to the 1930s but increased dramatically over the following decades as tobacco smoking increased. In many developing countries, the incidence of lung cancer is beginning to fall following public education about the dangers of cigarette smoking and effective smoking-cessation programs. Nevertheless, lung cancer remains among the most common types of cancers in both men and women worldwide.

Lung cancer has also surpassed breast cancer in causing the most cancer-related deaths in women in the United States.

What causes lung cancer?

Smoking

The incidence of lung cancer is strongly correlated with cigarette smoking, with about 90% of lung cancers arising as a result of tobacco use. The risk of lung cancer increases with the number of cigarettes smoked over time; doctors refer to this risk in terms of pack-years of smoking history (the number of packs of cigarettes smoked per day multiplied by the number of years smoked). For example, a person who has smoked two packs of cigarettes per day for 10 years has a 20 pack-year smoking history. While the risk of lung cancer is increased with even a 10 pack-year smoking history, those with 30 pack-year histories or more are considered to have the greatest risk for the development of lung cancer. Among those who smoke two or more packs of cigarettes per day, one in seven will die of lung cancer.

Pipe and cigar smoking can also cause lung cancer, although the risk is not as high as with cigarette smoking. While someone who smokes one pack of cigarettes per day has a risk for the development of lung cancer that is 25 times higher than a nonsmoker, pipe and cigar smokers have a risk of lung cancer that is about five times that of a nonsmoker.

Tobacco smoke contains over 4,000 chemical compounds, many of which have been shown to be cancer-causing, or carcinogenic. The two primary carcinogens in tobacco smoke are chemicals known as nitrosamines and polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons. The risk of developing lung cancer decreases each year following smoking cessation as normal cells grow and replace damaged cells in the lung. In former smokers, the risk of developing lung cancer begins to approach that of a nonsmoker about 15 years after cessation of smoking. For more, please read the Smoking and Quitting Smoking article.

Passive smoking

Passive smoking, or the inhalation of tobacco smoke from other smokers sharing living or working quarters, is also an established risk factor for the development of lung cancer. Research has shown that nonsmokers who reside with a smoker have a 24% increase in risk for developing lung cancer when compared with other nonsmokers. An estimated 3,000 lung cancer deaths occur each year in the U.S. that are attributable to passive smoking.

Asbestos fibers

Asbestos fibers are silicate fibers that can persist for a lifetime in lung tissue following exposure to asbestos. The workplace is a common source of exposure to asbestos fibers, as asbestos was widely used in the past for both thermal and acoustic insulation materials. Today, asbestos use is limited or banned in many countries, including the Unites States. Both lung cancer and mesothelioma (a type of cancer of the pleura or of the lining of the abdominal cavity called the peritoneum) are associated with exposure to asbestos. Cigarette smoking drastically increases the chance of developing an asbestos-related lung cancer in exposed workers. Asbestos workers who do not smoke have a fivefold greater risk of developing lung cancer than nonsmokers, and those asbestos workers who smoke have a risk that is 50 to 90 times greater than nonsmokers.

Radon gas

Radon gas is a natural, chemically inert gas that is a natural decay product of uranium. It decays to form products that emit a type of ionizing radiation. Radon gas is a known cause of lung cancer, with an estimated 12% of lung cancer deaths attributable to radon gas, or 15,000 to 22,000 lung cancer-related deaths annually in the U.S., making radon the second leading cause of lung cancer in the U.S. As with asbestos exposure, concomitant smoking greatly increases the risk of lung cancer with radon exposure. Radon gas can travel up through soil and enter homes through gaps in the foundation, pipes, drains, or other openings. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency estimates that one out of every 15 homes in the U.S. contains dangerous levels of radon gas. Radon gas is invisible and odorless, but it can be detected with simple test kits.

Familial predisposition

While the majority of lung cancers are associated with tobacco smoking, the fact that not all smokers eventually develop lung cancer suggests that other factors, such as individual genetic susceptibility, may play a role in the causation of lung cancer. Numerous studies have shown that lung cancer is more likely to occur in both smoking and nonsmoking relatives of those who have had lung cancer than in the general population. Recent research has localized a region on the long (q) arm of the human chromosome number 6 that is likely to contain a gene that confers an increased susceptibility to the development of lung cancer in smokers.

Lung diseases

The presence of certain diseases of the lung, notably chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), is associated with a slightly increased risk (four to six times the risk of a nonsmoker) for the development of lung cancer even after the effects of concomitant cigarette smoking are excluded.

Prior history of lung cancer

Survivors of lung cancer have a greater risk than the general population of developing a second lung cancer. Survivors of non-small cell lung cancers (NSCLCs, see below) have an additive risk of 1%-2% per year for developing a second lung cancer. In survivors of small cell lung cancers (SCLCs), the risk for development of second cancers approaches 6% per year.

Air pollution

Air pollution from vehicles, industry, and power plants can raise the likelihood of developing lung cancer in exposed individuals. Up to 1% of lung cancer deaths are attributable to breathing polluted air, and experts believe that prolonged exposure to highly polluted air can carry a risk similar to that of passive smoking for the development of lung cancer.

See more : Source causes, treatment and more

20 Amazing Facts About Voting in the USA

2008-07-20T08:56:00.001-07:00

Did you know....

1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S.

http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Diebold

2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry.

http://www.commondreams.org/views02/0916-04.htm

http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.

http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/private_company.html

http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml

http://www.wishtv.com/Global/story.asp?S=1647886

5. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be chairman of ES&S. He became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines.

http://www.motherjones.com/commentary/columns/2004/03/03_200.html

http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/031004Fitrakis/031004fitrakis.html

6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, long-connected with the Bush family, was recently caught lying about his ownership of ES&S by the Senate Ethics Committee.

http://www.blackboxvoting.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=26

http://www.hillnews.com/news/012903/hagel.aspx

http://www.onlisareinsradar.com/archives/000896.php

7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush's vice-presidential candidates.

http://www.businessweek.com/2000/00_28/b3689130.htm

http://theindependent.com/stories/052700/new_hagel27.html

8. ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes.

http://www.essvote.com/HTML/about/about.html

http://www.onlinejournal.com/evoting/042804Landes/042804landes.html

9. Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm

http://www.itworld.com/Tech/2987/041020evotestates/pfindex.html

10. Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a paper trail.

http://www.commondreams.org/views04/0225-05.htm

http://www.diebold.com/solutions/default.htm

11. Diebold is based in Ohio.

http://www.diebold.com/aboutus/ataglance/default.htm

12. Diebold employed 5 convicted felons as consultants and developers to help write the central compiler computer code that counted 50% of the votes in 30 states.

http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,61640,00.html

http://portland.indymedia.org/en/2004/10/301469.shtml

13. Jeff Dean was Senior Vice-President of Global Election Systems when it was bought by Diebold. Even though he had been convicted of 23 counts of felony theft in the first degree, Jeff Dean was retained as a consultant by Diebold and was largely responsible for programming the optical scanning software now used in most of the United States.

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0312/S00191.htm
http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf

14. Diebold consultant Jeff Dean was convicted of planting back doors in his software and using a "high degree of sophistication" to evade detection over a period of 2 years.

http://www.chuckherrin.com/HackthevoteFAQ.htm#how

http://www.blackboxvoting.org/bbv_chapter-8.pdf

15. None of the international election observers were allowed in the polls in Ohio.

http://www.globalexchange.org/update/press/2638.html

http://www.enquirer.com/editions/2004/10/26/loc_elexoh.html

16. California banned the use of Diebold machines because the security was so bad. Despite Diebold's claims that the audit logs could not be hacked, a chimpanzee was able to do it! (See the movie here: http://www.bbvdocs.org/videos/baxterVPR.mov.)

http://wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,63298,00.html

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4874190

17. 30% of all U.S. votes are carried out on unverifiable touch screen voting machines with no paper trail.

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2004/07/28/sunday/main632436.shtml

18. All -- not some -- but all the voting machine errors detected and reported in Florida went in favor of Bush or Republican candidates.

http://www.wired.com/news/evote/0,2645,65757,00.html

http://www.yuricareport.com/ElectionAftermath04/ThreeResearchStudiesBushIsOut.htm

http://www.rise4news.net/extravotes.html

http://www.ilcaonline.org/modules.php?op=modload&name=News&file=article&sid=950

http://www.scoop.co.nz/mason/stories/HL0411/S00227.htm

19. The governor of the state of Florida, Jeb Bush, is the President's brother.

http://www.tallahassee.com/mld/tallahassee/news/local/7628725.htm

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10544-2004Oct29.html

20. Serious voting anomalies in Florida -- again always favoring Bush -- have been mathematically demonstrated and experts are recommending further investigation.

http://www.yuricareport.com/ElectionAftermath04/ThreeResearchStudiesBushIsOut.htm

http://www.computerworld.com/governmenttopics/government/policy/story/0,10801,97614,00.html

http://www.americanfreepress.net/html/tens_of_thousands.html

http://www.commondreams.org/headlines04/1106-30.htm

http://www.consortiumnews.com/2004/110904.html

http://uscountvotes.org/

NOTE: Some of the data are outdated but much of it is still true. But don't take my word for it.
Do your own research and discover the truth for yourselves. You may freely copy and distribute this copy as long as credit is noted.

Apple’s super MAC OS X menubar items

2008-07-20T08:53:00.001-07:00

access web services

icon
name
description
cost

Amua ★
Control Last.fm radio streams; an alternative to the official player.
free; open source

BloglinesMenu
Display the number of unread items in your Bloglines subscriptions.
free; open source

Delibar
Quickly access your del.icio.us bookmarks.
free

DiggUpdate
View a drop-down list of front page stories on Digg.
free

dotMac Menu
Quickly access parts of your .Mac account and iDisk.
free

FMenu ★
Display Facebook notifications and quickly access parts of the site.
free; open source

Gmail Notifier
Display the number of unread messages in your Gmail inbox.
free

iScrobbler
Automatically send recent iTunes track information to Last.fm.
free

iSeek
Search the Web using various search engines.
unlimited trial; $15

MacBiff
Display if (and in which folders) your IMAP server has new mail.
free; open source

MailCountX
Display the number of unread messages in Apple Mail.
free

MailTicker
Automatically see whether POP3 accounts have new messages.
free

Monocle
Search the web, Spotlight-like, using various engines.
free

MUMenu
View a list of new software on MacUpdate (checked periodically).
free

NetD
Look up word translations between English, Japanese, and Korean.
free

Reader Notifier ★
Display the recent unread items in your Google Reader account.
free; open source

RSS Menu
Be notified of new entries in RSS and Atom feeds.
free

WoW Status
Display the current status of World of Warcraft servers.
unlimited trial; $8

wStock
Display a scrolling stock ticker in your menubar.
free

YMail
Check whether your Yahoo Mail inbox has new messages.
free; open source

launch things

icon
name
description

HimmelBar
Launch applications, organized by folder.
free

MoofMenu
Launch applications, files, folders, and urls.
limited trial; $5

TigerLaunch
Launch selected applications (automatically adds new ones).
free; open source

manage information

icon
name
description

BlogAssist
Format text in the clipboard, especially to help markup blog entries.
unlimited trial; $10

Check Off
Make simple to-do lists and check them off.
free; open source

ClipboardSharing
Share clipboards across your local network.
free

Hallon
Create bookmarks (with notes and due dates) in several applications.
free; open source

High Priority
Create, edit, and delete iCal To Do items.
unlimited trial; $6

Jumpcut
Save and access your clipboard history.
free; open source

Library Books
Display the list of books you have checked out from your library.
free

URLwell
Easily save and access URLs from a drop-down list.
free

VoiceNoteMenu
Record and access voice notes.
limited trial; $12

time and weather

icon
name
description

Alarm Clock ★
Set alarms (with optional music), timers, and stopwatches.
free

Cosmic Debris
Display the probability of an Aurora Borealis event in your area.
free; open source

Countdown Clock
Display the amount of time remaining until a point in the future.
free

FuzzyClock
Display the current time in a “fuzzy”, idiomatic style.
free

JetClock
Display the current time in four different cities around the world.
free

MenuCalendarClock
View a compact monthly calendar.
unlimited trial; $20

Meteo
Display customizable weather forecasts for United States cities.
free; open source

MoonMenu
Display the current phase of the moon.
unlimited trial; $12

PowerController
Set an alarm clock; optionally play an MP3 as the alert.
limited trial; $10

QuakeBar
List recent earthquakes around the world.
free

TinyAlarm
Set a simple alarm clock for the near future.
free

WeatherBug Lite ★
Display the current local temperature and any weather alerts.
free

interface helpers

icon
name
description

Amnesty
Select Dashboard widgets and display them on your desktop.
limited trial; $20

ASM
Switch applications, Classic-style.
unlimited trial; $15

Caffeine ★
Stop your Mac from going to sleep or displaying the screensaver.
free

CoconutWiFi ★
Indicate the existence of any open wireless networks in range.
free

DeskShade
Manage your desktop pictures, lock your desktop, and more.
limited trial; $13

Desktopple
Easily hide all of the icons on your Desktop.
limited trial; $17

Ejector
Eject any or all disks (iPod, CD, USB drive, .dmg file, etc.).
free

IC-Switch
Change your default email, FTP, news, RSS, and web apps.
free

iDiskMenu
Mount and unmount iDisk, WebDAV, and FTP servers.
free; open source

Lab Tick ★
Control your backlit keyboard with a slider.
free

MainMenu ★
Run a variety of maintenance tasks from your menubar.
free

MenuPrefs
Access specific System Preference Panes.
unlimited trial; $5

ProcessWizard
Control the priority of each currently running process.
free

ScreenSaverMenu
Change your screen saver or lock your screen.
limited trial; $5

SharingMenu
Access and modify your Sharing preferences.
free

SoundSource
Switch between audio input and output devices.
free

SpiritedAway
Automatically hide applications after a period of inactivity.
free

SSHKeychain ★
Manage your SSH keys (integrates with Keychain) and forward ports.
free; open source

SwitchResX ★
Extensively manage the resolutions of all your monitors.
limited trial; €14

WindowFinder
Switch between open windows via an itemized list.
limited trial; $10

iTunes

icon
name
description

Barquee
Display customizable iTunes information and control iTunes.
limited trial; $10

ByteController
Control iTunes with customizable buttons and hotkeys.
free

iTunes Doodad
Basic drop-down iTunes controller.
free

M-Beat
Control iTunes with a variety of features.
limited trial; $10

Menuet ★
Control iTunes, rate songs, display artwork, submit tracks to Last.fm, etc.
free

Synergy
Control iTunes and display album artwork.
limited trial; $10

watch your system

icon
name
description

App Stop
Pause CPU usage and set priorities for running applications.
limited trial; $15

Cee Pee You
Display CPU load as a percentage in your menubar.
free

IPMenu
View your current internal and external IP addresses.
free

MemoryCell
Display how much memory the current application is using.
free

MenuMeters
Monitor CPU, memory, disk, and network statistics.
free; open source

Mouse Position Menu
Display your mouse-position coordinates.
limited trial; €15

Server Siren ★
Monitor your web servers and get alerts if they go down.
limited trial; $15

SlimBatteryMonitor
Monitor battery power in a variety of styles.
free

SMARTReporter
Display the “health” status of your hard drive.
free; open source

Temperature Monitor
Display your current processor temperature, where possible.
free

UptimeInMenuBar
Display the amount of time since you booted your computer.
free

other stuff

icon
name
description

BluePhoneElite
Extend your Bluetooth phone with call alerts and other features.
limited trial; $20

Deviant
Link your desktop to any folder, effectively switching the items on it.
free

DropCopy
Easily send files across a LAN by dragging and dropping.
free

Menulator
Calculate a variety of things from your menubar.
free; open source

Mp3Bar
Play MP3s (light CPU load, unlike iTunes).
free; open source

Pinki
Easily create thumbnail icons for image files.
free

Sidekick
Create new Appleworks documents and access recent ones.
limited trial; $10

SkypeMenuX
View and change your Skype user status, launch/quit Skype, and more.
free; open source

Nintendo Wii still atop console sales

2008-07-20T08:05:00.003-07:00

Bloomberg reports that the Nintendo Wii outsold the Sony PS3 and Microsoft Xbox 360 in the U.S. last month. Nintendo sold 666,000 of its Wii consoles in June compared to the 405,500 PS3’s sold and 219,800 Xbox 360’s. It’s interesting to note that the PS3 sold nearly 200,000 more units for the month than the Xbox 360. Both Sony and Microsoft recently increased the size of the hard drive inside their respective consoles to lure new buyers. The minimum hard drive on the PS3 will now increase to 80GB with the Xbox 360 growing to 60GB. NPD Group says 10.9 million Wii consoles have been sold since it launched in November of 2006 – that tally pushes the Wii past the Xbox 360 in total U.S. sales despite the Microsoft’s consoles one-year head start.

The Nintendo Wii is still all but impossible to find in many areas of the country, something Nintendo keeps promising to remedy with increased production of the consoles. The gaming industry as a whole is booming right now with total industry sales rising by 53% to $1.69 billion in June, up from $1.1 billion in June of 2007. Bloomberg reports that console sales have grown 54% to $615.1 million from $399.2 million last year despite. NPD analyst Anita Frazier says that total sales for the gaming industry in 2008 are likely to reach $22 billion.

Amazon to offer streamed movies and TV

2008-07-20T08:05:00.001-07:00

Amazon.com has opened the Amazon Unbox, removing the need to download content and instead streaming it to customer’s televisions sets. Called Amazon Video on Demand, it is expected to be introduced Thursday, The New York Times reports. Apple’s iTunes store and Amazon’s initial foray required customers to download movies before they could begin watching them. Amazon Video on Demand streams the content, eliminating the wait. To access the service, potential users will have to purchase a $300 Internet video link, which is offered by Sony Bravia. Currently, Sony is the only company to support the service, but Amazon is working with other vendors to come on board. Amazon’s initial offering will include 40,000 movie and television titles.

Amazon joins Netflix, Microsoft and Apple in the digital video fray, as each company continues to expand their footprint in the living room. Apple iTunes is a well-known entity and, paired with the recently updated Apple TV, has a head start. However, the competition for streaming video is stiffening. Microsoft and Netflix recently announced a partnership that will allow users to stream video through their Xbox. Customers must have an Xbox Gold membership to take advantage of the 10,000 movies and television shows that the pairing will offer.

Why The Joker is Batman's greatest nemesis

2008-07-19T23:22:00.001-07:00

DESPITE FIERCE competition from a colorful Rogues Gallery that is arguably the best in comics, The Joker will continue to stand alone as Batman's No. 1 adversary.

"That seems to be the case," said Image Comics' Erik Larsen. "Not for any thematic reason - he's not a mirror image of Batman or any of that nonsense - it's more a sense of him being the coolest character of the lot."

"No doubt," said 12 Gauge Comics' Keven Gardner. "Batman is order and The Joker lives to create chaos."

"I think it would be fair to term Joker as Batman's nemesis," said comic-book historian Matt Morrison. "There's a subtle distinction between an archenemy and a nemesis, but in this case, it's an important one.

"A nemesis traditionally is the hero's exact opposite, both in goals and methodology. Batman uses logic to maintain order. Joker manipulates emotion to bring about chaos. [It also] refers to an enemy that cannot truly be beaten, and in that case The Joker is truly a nemesis."

Indeed, The Joker is one of a handful of villains that have been around for as long as their heroic adversaries. The reason is simple. Many believe other villains simply pale - pun intended - in comparison with him.

"The best villains are dark reflections of the heroes," said comic writer Peter David ("Fallen Angel").

"The Joker is the purest distillation of the anti-Batman, particularly if you buy into the notion that Batman is basically nuts. Batman wears a mask and channels his particular insanity into helping the public.

"The Joker likewise covers his face but channels his insanity into destroying the public. They recognize in each other the direction each of them could have gone but for their respective circumstances."

"Simply put, The Joker is the perfect balance for Batman," said Morrison. "

"He's the total package." said Gardner. "He looks great. His lines are great. The Joker just rocks."

Considering all the death and destruction he has caused, there are many who wonder why Batman doesn't simply end the threat of The Joker once and for all - and Morrison explains why that can never happen.

Not killing him makes Batman more heroic, especially given how many people close to him have been hurt or killed by the character in the comics, said Morrison.

"The Joker knows Batman has a code against killing bad guys and that the minute he finds the right button to press - the minute he can goad Batman or Jim Gordon or any good person who believes in law and order into killing him - that is when he'll be proven right.

"It won't matter that he's dead because he'll have won his battle and made his point about how violence is the answer and chaos is the blueprint of the world.

Google Adsense is Down

2008-07-19T14:42:00.001-07:00

Refresh Your Favorite Operating System Mac OX

2008-07-19T07:12:00.001-07:00

Technorati Tags: Aplpe,Mac,Tips

This simple process will revitalize your Mac, bringing back the zippy performance it displayed on day one.
A brand-new Mac is a beautiful thing. But if you've had your Mac for more than two years, chances are it's not running quite as fast as the day you bought it. "Not quite as fast" may even be a wild understatement. Some say the two-year mark activates a Mac's built-in obsolescence programming, and secret code goes to work ravaging the organized infrastructure that constitutes the operating system. A concept that's a bit more believable is that, over time, data and more data piles on top of other data (Mac users, at least at first, tend to think of their computers as "set it and forget it" tools), and eventually the system simply becomes bogged down by the mass of information. From the user's perspective, what ultimately happens is that after two years you start to see the spinning beach ball more and more. Before you know it, you're beginning to spend the better part of your day with that infamous multicolored ball. (full story Link)

Build Microsoft’s Windows Xp SP3 Recovery Disc

2008-07-19T07:10:00.001-07:00

Think you can use your original Windows XP disc to restore your PC? Think again.
Odds are your computer came with a recovery disc, a CD with all the programs and drivers that were installed on your PC's hard drive when it was new. And odds are you have absolutely no idea where that disc is.
The good news is that it probably doesn't matter. First of all, the recovery media most PC manufacturers provide is designed for a singular purpose: to restore your computer to the state it was in when you bought it. This process typically involves wiping your hard drive (say bye-bye to your spreadsheets and vacation photos) and then reinstalling Windows and the handful of programs originally included with your system. Unless you're simply preparing the whole kit and caboodle to sell on eBay, this is probably not something you will ever need.
Second, the hardware drivers on your recovery CD are almost certainly out of date, either made obsolete by newer and better versions available online, or simply irrelevant to new hardware you've subsequently installed.
nstead of fretting about the old recovery CD you lost (or perhaps never got), why not take a few minutes and make one of your own?
Ideally, a recovery disc should act as a safety net should anything disagreeable happen to your PC's hard drive or its data. (Think crash, virus, spyware attack, driver corruption, and so on.) A good recovery disc allows you to reinstall Windows to fix a minor problem or rebuild your PC from scratch to recover from a major one.

Here's the problem: Once you upgrade your XP installation to Service Pack 3, Windows won't ever allow you to install an older version (including earlier editions of XP) without either wiping the hard drive clean or installing to a different drive. Even if you do install "fresh," you'll still have to then endure a separate SP3 upgrade. The solution is to create a new hybrid installation disc from whatever installer CD you have and a special version of SP3, using a process known as slipstreaming (etymology: fluid mechanics, or the "Hope and Fear" episode of Star Trek: Voyager.)

Source : full story Link)

Breakthrough Nanotechnology Will Bring 100 Terabyte 3.5-inch Digital Data Storage Disks

2008-07-19T07:05:00.001-07:00

Have you ever dream of 100 terabyte of data per 3.5-inch disk? New patented innovation nanotechnology from Michael E. Thomas, president of Colossal Storage Corporation, makes it real.
Michael invented and patented the world's first and only concept for non-contact UV photon induced electric field poling of ferroelectric non-linear photonic bandgap crystals, which offers the possibility of controlling and manipulating light within a UV/Deep Blue frequency of 1 nm to 400 nm.
It took him 14 years to find a practical conceptualization that would work to advance the storage industry; 3D Volume Holographic Optical Storage Nanotechnology, for which Michael holds the patents. He was invited to present this fascinating discovery to the National Science Foundation in February 2004.

for changing matter at the molecular level is one of the World's only new enabling technologies, having many hundreds of electro-optic applications.
Atomic Holographic Nanotechnology will allow for the first time a functional method for programmable molecular lenses that will allow incoming light to be rejected, modified internally, or allowed to pass unaltered through a transparent lens known as disk, tape, card, drum, film, etc.
By being able to program optical lenses, many applications based on light and color can be developed, such as holographic storage, bio-terror detection devices, optical electronics, security products, and hundreds of other products never seen before on the world's markets.
The small size of ferroelectric transparent structures makes it possible to fabricate nano-optical devices, such as volume holographic storage, having both positive and negative index of refraction that will allow molecular particles of an atomic size to be modified, controlled, and changed to perform a specific function, desired task, used for low cost accurate chemical / biological matter detection, and reprogrammed to accept new non-volatile data and molecular functions.

The expected cost of the Atomic Holographic DVR disc drive will be from $570 to $750 with the replacement discs for $45.
One 10 terabyte to 100 terabyte 3.5 in FEdisk would be EQUAL to a 10,000 to 100,000 Gigabyte disk drive. That's greater 1,000 times any State of the Art hard disk technology with 100 Gigabytes on one disk. 2 EXABYTES of NEW data is generated every year world wide, and growing.
Michael is a 30-year pioneer in the development of peripheral storage technologies and a holder of various patents.
“In 1974 I was making 5 Megabyte disk packs - the biggest at that time in the world. At the same time, IBM, Burroughs, Honeywell, and other Computer professionals said no one would ever need that much storage,” says Michael. “In 1989 Bill Gates (the Chairman of Microsoft) said that the personal computer would never need more than 256 Kbytes of cache memory and 40 megabytes of hard drive storage. Today's PC has on average 1-2 megabytes of cache and 20 to 60 gigabyte hard drives. The need for new storage technology is evident to only to those having backgrounds in data storage.”
Colossal Storage Theory of Operation of Patented Technology
“I gave up two times because I was not able to work thru a concept of non-volatile, non-destructive readout,” says Michael. “I finally had a break thru when reviewing Einstein/Plank and Niels Bohr Atomic Theories.”
He found that by using an Ultra Violet Photon and an Electric Field it was possible, theoretically, to use the electrons (write current) to make the binary state molecule transition back and forth between the two states. The "Atomic Switch" was born.
The concept of an atomic or molecular switch by "Photon/Laser Induced Electric Field Poling" existed. By using UV photons of lesser quantum energy it was possible to use diffraction and interference from the binary states of the molecule.

The changing state of the molecule and the diffracted photons allowing for a group of light and dark lines to be characterized as data. 3D Volume means reading and writing billions of bits at one time in Volume (x,y,z).
There are still a lot of research and development unknowns for this new and fascinating atomic holographic optical storage, but Michael believes that he has created a revolutionary concept to keep pace with requirements of mass data storage, for the next millennium.

What to Install After a Fresh XP Install

2008-07-18T09:18:00.001-07:00

his post is more of a note to me so I know what to do when I need to install XP again, as I have just un-installed Vista after a months use and gone back to XP.

The honest truth is Vista is a very poor OS, even Microsoft admits that Vista is broken, Microsoft own vice president Mike Nash couldn't get things done in Vista.

I had a lot of problems with Vista, most of my games didn't work with Vista, I have a £100 printer that's as good as a brick because it's not compatible and copying files to a USB device took forever. I haven't got the best PC in the world but its still a pretty good PC and got a Windows Experience Index Score of 4.1, but when I was running Vista it was very slow and painful to use.

I did like the look of Vista and some of the new features, like the Sidebar the fast search results and the start menu, so I found away to get these features in XP without losing performance and stability.

How to give XP some of the features Vista has.

Themes.

Install royale-noir first then Royale-Remixed, when "Display Properties" window opens after installing Royale-Remixed choose the "Media Center Edition 2006" theme then open "Appearance tab" and choose "Royale" then under "Color Scheme" choose "Royale Noir".

The Royale-Noir theme uses the same resources as the default XP theme so it won't bog down the system, this is the best theme to use if you would like to use a dark UI. The Royale-Noir theme was actually developed by the Microsoft design team and that's why you don't need to use the Uxtheme patch to use this, you can read more about the theme here.

Programs.

Alky for Applications 1.1, needed for Vista Sidebar.
Vista Sidebar This is the same sidebar as used in Vista and only uses 10mb of ram.
Windows Search 4.0 Give you very fast search results
Vista Drive Icon Shows you the drive's free space with a smooth colored horizontal bar.
ViStart a Vista start menu clone but can cause explore.exe to crash, so use at your own risk.
Windows Live Photo Gallery This is the same Photo Gallery as used in Vista

To add additional gadgets to the Vista Sidebar you need to add them manually, download the gadget that you want from Windows Live and use a program like WinRAR/7-Zip to extract the contents to a folder, then name the folder to what ever the gadget is called then put .Gadget to the end of the name e.g. BBCRadio.Gadget

Then all you need to do is place that folder to C:\Program Files\Windows Sidebar\Shared Gadgets

If you are using SP3 and don't mind playing about with the system files, you can replace the Uxtheme.dll file with this patch and use this theme to give you a better Vista look.

Free programs for a complete OS after XP is installed.

These are the programs I install, you may not need to install all of them so check out the program first to see if its a program you would use.

Adobe AIR not needed if you don't use AIR apps.
avast! Best free antivirus, IMHO, with screensaver mode, or you could use AVG.
Advanced WindowsCare Personal 3 A good program to maintain a PCs health.
AutoPatcher Windows updates, add-ons and programs. Make sure you tick the add-ons to download them.
Alt.Binz Needed to download NZB files.
CCleaner A good cleaner
Comodo Firewall Best free firewall, IMHO.
DAMN NFO Viewer Needed to view info in NFO.
DivX Web Player Needed for web content.
DVD Shrink A good program to rip DVD-9s to DVDs.
FileHippo.com Update Checker Checks online for update's for installed programs.
Firefox Best web browser, or you could use Opera.
Windows Media Player Firefox Plugin Needed for Firefox.
(IE) Flash Player Needed for web content.
(Non-IE) Flash Player Needed for web content.
Foxit Reader Best lightweight PDF reader.
FastStone Screen capture program.
Frostwire Open Source P2P program.
Hotspot Shield Lets you view US only sites outside the US, ie. Hulu.
IrfanView Photo editor
JkDefragGUI A very good Defrag program with screensaver mode.
Java Runtime Environment Needed for web content and programs.
K-Lite Mega Codec Pack Needed for video and sound.
KompoZer A great program for web authoring.
MediaCoder Good program to convert videos for mobile phones, PSP and iPods.
MediaPortal with the TVSeries plug-in and the SpinSafe skin. Needed for TV tuner cards.
Notepad++ Not needed, but a better program then the default installed notepad.
OpenOffice.org Needed for office docs.
Pidgin Needed for IM.
QuickTime Alternative Needed for web content and video.
RadarSync Checks online for update's for installed programs and drivers.
Revo Uninstaller A proper uninstaller program.
Shockwave Player Needed for web content.
Silverlight Needed for web content.
Skype Best VOIP program.
SMPlayer Good video player that's better then VLC, IMHO. If you like VLC you may want to check out Kantaris
Songbird A great music manage that works with iPods and media device's.
Spybot Search & Destroy Needed to scan and remove spyware.
Spyware Terminator Needed to guard against spyware.
ted: torrent episode downloader Good program to automatically download TV torrents.
Thunderbird Good email program.
Unlocker Shows you why you can't delete/move a file.
Vuze Needed for torrent files.
WinRAR Needed for compressed files, or you could use 7-Zip, but I prefer Winrar.

Not free but worth the money.

Nero An all in one burning and coveting program, plus many other features.
PowerISO

If there is a program you still need that isn't listed have a look at my list of free software, there maybe something there that might help.

FOR more Goto: LINK

Apple On an iCloud

2008-07-17T07:15:00.000-07:00

A look how Apple store your data online

here was a time when, if you said you were under a cloud, all your acquaintances suddenly discovered they had pressing business elsewhere and, come December, you were dead short of Christmas cards.

But with computers, when we talk of clouds we mean somewhere in cyberspace where you can store information or reach for it over the global communications network.

Apple has built a cloud of its own, called MobileMe, an online service that uses mobile phone networks and wi-fi, either hot spots or domestic networks as well as landline broadband, to push emails, calendar events and other information between iPhones, iPod touches, Macs and PCs.

MobileMe is a subscription service that replaces and revolutionises the .Mac (pronounced dot-Mac) system I have used all over the world for years. It costs $A119 a year ($179 for a five-user family pack), which gives you access to everything plus 20GB of storage on Apple's servers for your movies, photos, disparaging emails from Great Aunt Maude and other essential stuff. A 60-day free trial is available.

On an iPhone or iPod touch you need iPhone firmware 2.0 and iTunes 7.7 (downloadable from apple.com, where you can also sign up for MobileMe). If you are already a dot-Mac subscriber, you will have been signed up automatically. You can keep your @.mac.com email address but you also get the same username at me.com.

MobileMe is a further example not only of Apple's ability to make difficult things easy and spread the doctrine of constant connectedness, but also of how the Mac is invading the PC environment.

Macs are now selling at a rate three times faster than PCs, according to Ron Johnson, Apple's head of global retail sales, and they are moving steadily into the business arena.

Axel Springer AG, a huge German publishing company with 150 newspapers in 30 countries and 10,000 employees, is currently replacing its 12,000 PCs with 12,000 Macs; towers, iMacs and MacBooks. It makes Springer Apple's second-largest customer, behind Google.

While you cannot run Mac or iPhone applications on a PC and MobileMe will not talk to Windows Mobile devices, you can use MobileMe to synchronise data on a Mac, an iPhone or an iPod touch with a PC.

The data is stored in your corner of the MobileMe cloud, aka Apple's servers on what is essentially still the old iDisk arrangement, but under MobileMe your iDisk is more accessible; drag and drop on the desktop.

If you make changes, they are pushed to every device you have given access to your MobileMe account. Or you may log in from any internet connected computer, using the new me.com website.

MobileMe will talk to Outlook on Windows and, of course, to MacOS X's Mail, iCal and Address Book. If you make an entry in iCal on, say, your iPhone, and if your other devices are connected via wi-fi, a mobile phone network, or a broadband line, the iCal calendars on every device you have listed (and Outlook if you also use a PC) are automatically synchronised. Similarly, emails show up on all the devices you have linked to the cloud.

Via me.com, you can get to Web 2.0 style applications to share photographs and other files and expect many more will be created as Macintosh and iPhone developers get going.

This has led the socially mobile and surreptitious to worry whether, should they (in the joy of the moment!) carelessly use their iPhone to take pictures of their girlfriend in a bikini at Noosa, would their wife instantly see the incriminating images pushed to the domestic iMac? Even good technology has traps.

The other worry for Australians might be the cost of pushing all that data around a mobile network. But, to be optimistic, greater traffic should mean lower prices and better plans.

The concept of synchronising devices and sharing information is far from new, of course.

Big companies use Microsoft's Exchange, which works well with expert management, but for ordinary folk is like learning Icelandic while knitting bed socks out of barbed wire.

Apple boss Steve Jobs has called MobileMe "Exchange for the rest of us", which is a fair analogy, but in my view underplays the seamless user friendliness we should expect from Apple's latest and, in many ways, most significant move in thinking differently and changing the world.

Apple is now harnessing the burgeoning wireless networks to seriously challenge some entrenched technology - Microsoft and Google for just two - by showing there is an easier, more efficient way.

Apple has an advantage because MobileMe can do it by wireless as well as online. But, before the end of the year, in the US, if not elsewhere, Google will respond to the iPhone challenge with Android. Progress.

MACFILE

Is the growing popularity of the Mac likely to make it more vulnerable to the evil and, these days probably criminal, purveyors of viruses, internet robots, electronic Trojan horses and other kinds of malware?

A couple of weeks ago a virus watch outfit called Intego announced that it had found two Mac Trojans likely to do damage. It said that one, "PokerGame", pretended to be a free card game but could steal your data, passwords and get control of your computer to propagate more malware. The other malware interfered with AppleScript.

If you remember your Greek mythology you will know that the Trojan takes its name from the wooden horse used by the Greeks to infiltrate and lay waste to Troy. In short, Trojans look neat but have nasty things inside. The Trojans' mistake was to think the horse was a gift.

So, while we can say that no Macintosh viruses are at work on the internet, Trojans are not viruses and are there to trap unwary users. They don't do damage if you don't open them and let the nasties out. There are hundreds of them in the PC world, many purporting to be free videos on online porn sites.

While no one discounts the dangers to Macs, the feeling is that provided people use common sense and trash stuff they don't recognise, the risk is pretty low.

Source: SMH Australia

Apple apologizes for MobileMe transition problems

2008-07-17T07:00:00.000-07:00

Apple this morning sent an e-mail apologizing to customers of its MobileMe service who experienced a tough few days. And to soothe ruffled feelings, Apple said it would extend their MobileMe subscription by a month.

MobileMe is Apple's new service that keeps your contact information, e-mails, etc. up to date across all your devices, including the iPhone and computers. MobileMe replaces Apple's .Mac service. The full letter to MobileMe customers can be found on an Apple discussion group here.

Bill Evans, a spokesman for Apple, confirmed the news, which was reported this morning by Macworld and Engadget. He would not say how many people were affected.

"The .Mac to MobileMe transition was a lot rockier than we had hoped, but everything is now up and running," he said. "We want to apologize to our loyal customers and express our appreciation for their patience by giving all current subscribers an automatic 30-day extension to their MobileMe subscription free of charge."

The apology comes days after Apple struggled with its iPhone 3G launch. On Friday, some people who downloaded the company's free software update to their older iPhones found the device rendered unusable. And those waiting for the iPhone 3G outside stores around the world saw lines stall as activation of the new devices through Apple's iTunes periodically came to a halt.

The MobileMe and iPhone problems are part of the company's "teething troubles," said Shiv Bakhshi, an analyst at the research firm IDC. "Apple is trying to enable a connected universe, and the greater the number of nodes, the more the opportunity for failure, which means more testing and working out the bugs becomes critical."

source : LA TIMES

How To How to Really Make Money on the Internet With an Amazon.com Affiliate Site

2008-07-16T06:12:00.000-07:00

You've probably heard before a lot of hype about how much money you can make with affiliate programs. Maybe you've even set up a site yourself, only to find that after buying the domain, a few bucks a month in hosting, software or a web designer to design your site, etc., that the piddly affiliate fees hardly even covered your cost. Well, here's the hype-free way to really make money with an Amazon.com affiliate site. And it'll only take a day to make the site. The secret? Low cost, low effort.

Difficulty: Hard

Time Required: One day

Here's How:

If you don't already know it, learn some basic HTML. You have to do this to keep your costs down and still get what you want. Even if the site is basically laid out for you, you're going to need to know how to insert images, create hyperlinks, and do some basic text formatting. Our HTML Guide offers a free 10-week HTML class and a great collection of beginning HTML tutorials. Get over any anxiety you have about this. Just do it. You'll thank me for it later.
Decide on your topic. You're going to be doing product reviews and recommendations, so pick a topic that you enjoy and know something about. If you can't stay passionate about the topic, that will show, and it also won't hold your interest. Choose a narrow enough niche to be distinctive, e.g., bands from your city, left-handed guitarists, music for a certain kind of dancing, authors of a certain religion, books about arts & crafts, etc.
Choose your domain name. Make it keyword-rich, not clever. Think how people will find your site in the search engines. Here are some ideas (all available, by the way):
Music: BandsFromTexas.com, BandOutOfBoston.com, SouthpawGuitarists.com, ClassicPsychedelia.com, Non-Stop-Hip-Hop.com, Merengue-Music.com
Books: Mormon-Authors.com, Arts-and-Crafts-Books.com, Books-by-Stephen-King.com, ClassicBusinessBooks.com
Others: Best-Baby-Toys.com, MomsMags.com, FelliniMovies.com
Register your domain name. If you're not technically inclined at all, register your domain wherever you set up your hosting in step 5. Otherwise, you can save a few bucks by choosing a lower-cost provider. Not a big deal for one or two sites, but it can be for ten or twenty. I use GoDaddy, who have great domain management tools and are less than $10 a year. The least expensive I've found from a reputable source is 1&1, whose price is under $6 a year (last I checked).
Set up your web hosting. This is where most people get burned. For this kind of site, you do not need $10 a month web hosting! Check out Discount-Hosting.com for no-frills hosting with adequate functionality and bandwidth, for around $10 a year! If you want more features, or especially if you're planning to run multiple sites, see GeekHosting.com Multidomain-Hosting.com. or
Install weblog software. "Weblog, you say?" Yes. It will give your site all the structure you need, plus make it easy to quickly post new content. My pick is WordPress, which is open source (i.e., free), easy to install and use, and yet very powerful. Download it and follow their installation instructions. Turn on notifications to Weblogs.com and Blo.gs. In WordPress, this is under Options | RSS/RDF Feeds, Track-Ping-backs.
Make it pretty. Free templates for WordPress are available at Not That Ugly. Choose a style you like and then tweak it to suit your tastes and the theme of your site.
Set up categories. Most blog software allows you to create sub-categories to help organize your entries. This will help visitors narrow in even more specifically on their interests. For example, BandsFromTexas.com might have one group of categories for genre — rock, country, blues, etc. — and another for city of origin — Austin, Dallas, Houston, San Antonio, etc.
Sign up as an Amazon Associate. It's simple and free. Just visit Amazon and click on the Join Associates link at the bottom of the page (here's a direct link for your convenience). Your site should already have at least the basic setup done, even if you don't have any content there yet.
Create your blog posting bookmarks/links. There are two links that are going to be essential for you to make this easy. First is the blog posting link. In your blog software, on the posting page (see their instructions), at the bottom of the page there should be a "bookmarklet". Click on the link (and hold the mouse) and drag it up to your Links toolbar in your browser (assuming Internet Explorer), or your Favorites menu. This will allow you to blog a product with one mouse click.
Create your Amazon Build-A-Link bookmark/link. This will make it easy to build the link with your affiliate ID built in. Log in to Associates Central, look in the left navigation sidebar, go to Build-A-Link, and under Static Links, find Individual Items. Click and drag this onto your Links toolbar or Favorites menu.
Build your first link. Go to Amazon and find the product you want to review. Scroll down to Product Details and find the ASIN or ISBN. Double-click on the number itself to select it, then right-click and choose Copy. Click on your Amazon Build-A-Link link. Right-click in the search field and choose Paste. Change the selection from Served Link to You Host. Click Go. Your selection should show up. Click Get HTML. Choose the kind of link you want, select the highlighted text and copy it.
Blog your review. Now click on your blog posting link (Press It! by default in WordPress). If you're using WordPress, you should now see two pieces of link code in your posting form, the first one ending with "Associates Build-A-Link >< /a >". Delete through that point. The second part is a link to the product with your Amazon Associate ID built in. Now just write your product review, choose the appropriate categories for it, and hit Publish.
Build out your site. Before you promote your site, you want to have some substantial content there. Write several product reviews. Have at least 2-3 in each category you've created. You may also want to make a categories for articles, news, and commentary about your topic. The more content your site has, the better. And the great thing is that while you're writing all this, the search engines are getting notified automatically, assuming you turned on the notifications mentioned in step 6.
Promote your site. The best free way to do this is to communicate with other bloggers writing about similar topics, and to participate in online communities where your topic is discussed. See the Online Business Networking category for ideas, as well as the Internet Marketing category.

Tips:

You have to learn some basic HTML and basic concepts about running a web site. It's just not that hard. If you have to rely on purchased software, you won't be able to get exactly what you want, you won't know what to do when things go wrong, and you'll end up spending money you don't need to. Spend the time to learn it. It will be well worth the investment.
I slightly recommend music over books and other products, mainly because you can listen to the clips of an entire album in about 10 minutes and get a good enough feel for it (without buying it) to do a short review. If you have another topic that you're passionate about, great, but make sure you have a unique angle on the topic. People can get reviews about a lot of those consumer products anywhere. You need to give them a reason to come to your site.
To draw repeat visitors, create a newsletter. Frequency should depend on how often you're posting new content. Start with monthly. EZezine will let you send up to 1,000 messages a month for free, with no ads. By the time you exceed that, you should be able to justify paying for the service.
To pick up some extra pennies, sign up for Google AdSense. It probably won't generate a lot of revenue, but it's free to sign up and completely effortless to maintain.
Set reasonable expectations for earnings. You've only invested $20. You're going to make 5% on most products. That means that you need to sell $400 worth of stuff to make back your investment. To make $20 an hour, what you write must generate $400 worth of purchases. You get credit for other purchases made while at Amazon besides just the product you linked to, so it's not as hard as it may sound. It won't make you rich, but it's not hard to be profitable, and it builds over time.

What You Need:

A credit card with about $20 available.

Sony Ericsson Feng Leaked Photos

2008-07-15T08:49:00.000-07:00

Sony Ericsson Feng Leaked Photos -- linkThis is the Sony Ericsson Feng in the leaked picture above. I don't know if there's a Shui from Sony Ericsson, but if I was Sony Ericsson I'd create one. There can't be a Feng without a Shui, can it? This phone will be announced on July 22nd and we also like to call it the W302. The Feng will be a walkman version of the S302 phone. You must have lost interest by now. The S302 was an entry to mid range phone. Not the spectacular iPhone competitor you wished for. So the W302 will be similar to the S302. No high hopes for this one either. Besides the music capabilities, the Feng will have a 176x220 display and a 2 megapixel camera to go with that. Powered by the A2 software platform, this simple phone will be quite useful if you're looking for a fast, fun cell phone. [Link to story]

9 Basic Tips to Succeed in Affiliate Marketing

2008-07-14T09:10:00.001-07:00

You should have heard about affiliate marketing, it is one of the low cost ways to make money on the Internet. Anyone can earn income through affiliate marketing regardless of their experience in internet marketing, as long as they have the passion and patience to learn and work on affiliate marketing.
This article will provide you 9 important basic tips for succeeding in affiliate marketing.
1. Select a specific niche. Make sure that there are affiliates already making money in the niche as this indicate that the niche is profitable. Then join affiliate programs that are offering products or services appeal to the niche market. It is suggested not to join too many affiliate programs at the beginning to avoid losing focus.
2. Do research and investigation on the affiliate programs before joining them. You should only join rewarding and reliable affiliate programs. The products must be targeted to your niche market and in good quality so that you are able to promote and sell them with less refund rate.
3. You can promote affiliate products without a website. But, it is highly recommended that you build a niche website with interesting content focuses on promoting your affiliate products.
4. Create a budget for your marketing campaigns. Know clearly how much you want to spend on promoting your website and affiliate programs.
5. Traffic and conversion are the keys to generate affiliate commission. You will need to spend most of your time to learn and work on these two aspects. So, be prepared to work hard.
6. Your potential buyers often need supporting information before buying an item. You may write reviews about your affiliate products and 'how to' articles with your affiliate links included in the content. This is one of the effective ways to direct your visitors to your merchant's site and make a purchase.
7. For long-term profit in affiliate marketing, you have to build a list. Some of the methods you can apply to grow a list are offer free gift, free newsletters, free e-courses and participating in a give away event. When you have a opt-in email list, you can regularly contact your target prospects and recommend your affiliate products to them.
8. Your credibility is important. You should often send helpful and interesting information to your opt-in list subscribers. Provide your real name and an email address on your website so that the potential prospects know there is a real person behind the website and contact you anytime when they have question.
9. Most affiliate programs allow you to recruit affiliates under you (sub-affiliates). You will earn more commission if you grow your own network of sub-affiliates. If you have found a few hard working sub-affiliates, you can expect to share a steady commission from the affiliate sales generated by them.

Source : make money

Microsoft’s Windows 7 : Multi Touch Windows

2008-07-14T09:01:00.001-07:00

Apple Launches iPhone v2.0 OS

2008-07-13T12:40:00.001-07:00

The launch of the iPhone 3G has everyone excited, but what about those few who decided to stick with the original? Fear not, for v2.0 (OS) is now available for download from Apple.

However, as great as it may be that a few of the 3G’s goodies will now be incorporated into your first-gen iPhone, Apple has stated that should you install the v2.0 OS into your existing handset without backing up your data (for which you can use iTunes) you’ll lose all of it.

The update procedure is fairly simple. Connect the handset to the PC, open up your iTunes application, and simply click on the update button that appears in the iPhone menu in iTunes. Do remember to back up your data first. The final step is to just sit back and wait.

According to reports, a few users have had some issues with the update, but hopefully those will be rectified by Apple ASAP.

You can download the update file here.

Source: Tech2

Will Smith's 'Hancock' Soars To Top Of Box Office, Marking His Fifth July 4 #1

2008-07-13T08:28:00.001-07:00

The Box-Office Top Five
#1 "Hancock" ($66 million)
#2 "WALL-E ($33.4 million)
#3 "Wanted" ($20.6 million)
#4 "Get Smart ($11.1 million)
#5 "Kung Fu Panda" ($7.5 million)

It's American as apple pie: a Fourth of July weekend spent gulping down hot dogs, hamburgers and the latest Hollywood extravaganza starring the one star who is always money in the bank, Will Smith. Yes, once again, the nation celebrated its independence by contributing a whole lot of cash — $107.3 million since its July 2 opening, and $66 million over the weekend — to the opening haul of a Will Smith film. This time the mad money went to "Hancock," the Peter Berg-directed superhero flick that finally put Smith in spandex.

After flirting with superhero flicks for years (Smith told MTV he'd briefly considered starring in "Superman Returns"), it was the boozing misanthropic character of John Hancock that wooed Smith into the genre that always seemed to be a no-brainer for him. And in a summer that's already seen impressive grosses by the likes of "The Incredible Hulk" and "Iron Man," is it really any wonder that a superhero flick starring the world's biggest star would make for a big success?

Still, "Hancock" had to surmount poor reviews from critics. Michael Phillips of The Chicago Tribune wrote that it "can offer only an A-list headliner in a D-list project." Clearly, audiences disagreed, as the film increased its gross markedly from Friday ($18.8 million) to Saturday ($26.1 million), always a strong indicator of good word of mouth. (Read what Kurt Loder had to say about "Hancock" here.)

Thanks to the impressive gross, Smith kept up his currently unrivaled streak at the box office. "Hancock" is his eighth-consecutive #1 opener and also his eighth to earn at least $100 million. And if that's not impressive enough, "Hancock" marks the fifth huge July 4 weekend opening for a Smith-starrer. Previously, "Men in Black," "Men in Black II," "Independence Day" and "Wild Wild West" led the charge. But this one was his highest opening gross ever for the weekend.

In a distant second, in its sophomore outing at the box office, was the latest beloved film from Pixar, "WALL-E." With $33.4 million over the weekend, the animated flick has now grossed an impressive $128 million. Another holdover from the week before will soon be crossing the $100 million barrier, the inventive Angelina Jolie actioner, "Wanted," which made $20.6 million in week two. Rounding out the top five were "Get Smart" at $11 million and "Kung Fu Panda" at $7.5 million.

Source : MTV

Ten Free Mac OS X Programs that Make the PC to Mac Switch a Breeze

2008-07-13T02:39:00.000-07:00

With more and more attorneys adopting Macs throughout their offices every day and the business world raving about the cost effectiveness of Mac OS X, today Macs are an accepted and feasible alternative to Windows in the legal community. Having recently made the switch to a Mac myself, I’ve put together a list of the top ten free Max OS X programs that made switching from a PC to a Mac a breeze.

1. Quicksilver
Quicksilver is a program launcher that uses simple commands to rapidly bring up any program, file, folder, or website. Quicksilver learns what files and programs are most often accessed and adapts so that those items are pulled up almost instantaneously when the user starts typing the name of the item in the Quicksilver interface.

For example, in screenshot below, I pulled up the Quicksilver interface with a single keystroke and then by typing in “ex” brought up Excel. Using the tab key I was able to bring up specific commands such as the option to open a specific excel document, move a document to another folder, or email a specific file. Quicksilver is very intuitive and allows users to execute specific commands so quickly that using the built-in OS X dock to open a program seems slow by comparison.

2. Anxiety

Anxiety brings the iCal task list to your desktop. It provides easy access to your to-do list so that tasks can be added or marked as complete without opening your full calendar. Anxiety stays in sync with iCal and disappears when not in use.

3. Caffeine

OS X has a great power saving feature built-in: after a short period of inactivity the screen automatically dims. Caffeine allows you to turn this feature on and off with a single click so that presentations can be run without interruption. It also prevents your Mac from going to sleep or starting the screensaver.

4. Growl

Growl provides unobtrusive notification messages from various programs that run on OS X, including Adium, Firefox, and iTunes. They simply pop up as semi-transparent notifications on the top right corner of your screen and then disappear.

5. Adium

Adium is by far the best instant messaging program I have ever used. You can seamlessly send messages to your friends using various protocols including AOL Instant Messenger, Yahoo Messenger, Google Talk, and MSN Messenger. Adium also supports tabbed conversations so you can keep all your conversations in a single window.

6. Smultron

While there are a number of free text editors available for OS X, my favorite is Smultron. Smultron allows you to have multiple documents open at the same time in an easy-to-use tabbed interface. Another popular free text editor for OS X is TextWrangler while users who want a word processing application with features closer to what Word or Pages offers, Bean is worth checking out.

7. Skim

Skim is a PDF reader that is cut above Preview, the default viewer in OS X, because of Skim’s enhanced markup capabilities. You can easily add notes, highlight portions the document, and quickly jump from one marked-up section to the next through a convenient side panel. Skim also allows you to create presentations and then run the presentations using the Apple Remote.

8. VLC
VLC is media player that supports most modern digital video formats including the DVD format and various streaming protocols. Installing VLC will save you the trouble of having to find a compatible player every time you need to play a new media format.

9. iStat Menu

One of my favorite features in Vista is the pop-up calendar that is displayed when you click on the time in the taskbar. iStat Menu brings that feature to OS X. It also allows you to display multiple time zones, open your iCal calendar, and add additional menus that display everything from the temperature of your Mac to the remaining space on your hard drives.

10. Rachota

Rachota allows users to track the time spent on various projects. Rachota can also summarize how much time was spent on each project and provide helpful time-maximizing tips.

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20 Amazing Facts About Voting in the USA

Did you know....

1. 80% of all votes in America are counted by only two companies: Diebold and ES&S.

2. There is no federal agency with regulatory authority or oversight of the U.S. voting machine industry.

3. The vice-president of Diebold and the president of ES&S are brothers.

4. The chairman and CEO of Diebold is a major Bush campaign organizer and donor who wrote in 2003 that he was "committed to helping Ohio deliver its electoral votes to the president next year."

5. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel used to be chairman of ES&S. He became Senator based on votes counted by ES&S machines.

6. Republican Senator Chuck Hagel, long-connected with the Bush family, was recently caught lying about his ownership of ES&S by the Senate Ethics Committee.

7. Senator Chuck Hagel was on a short list of George W. Bush's vice-presidential candidates.

8. ES&S is the largest voting machine manufacturer in the U.S. and counts almost 60% of all U.S. votes.

9. Diebold's new touch screen voting machines have no paper trail of any votes. In other words, there is no way to verify that the data coming out of the machine is the same as what was legitimately put in by voters.

10. Diebold also makes ATMs, checkout scanners, and ticket machines, all of which log each transaction and can generate a paper trail.

11. Diebold is based in Ohio.

12. Diebold employed 5 convicted felons as consultants and developers to help write the central compiler computer code that counted 50% of the votes in 30 states.

14. Diebold consultant Jeff Dean was convicted of planting back doors in his software and using a "high degree of sophistication" to evade detection over a period of 2 years.

15. None of the international election observers were allowed in the polls in Ohio.

16. California banned the use of Diebold machines because the security was so bad. Despite Diebold's claims that the audit logs could not be hacked, a chimpanzee was able to do it! (See the movie here: http://www.bbvdocs.org/videos/baxterVPR.mov.)

17. 30% of all U.S. votes are carried out on unverifiable touch screen voting machines with no paper trail.

18. All -- not some -- but all the voting machine errors detected and reported in Florida went in favor of Bush or Republican candidates.

19. The governor of the state of Florida, Jeb Bush, is the President's brother.

20. Serious voting anomalies in Florida -- again always favoring Bush -- have been mathematically demonstrated and experts are recommending further investigation.

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