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posted by on Oct 10 All PC’s and networking devices use clocks to maintain an internal system time. These clocks, called Real Time Clock chips (RTC) provide time and date information. The chips are battery backed so that even during power outages, they can maintain time. Read the original post:
posted by on Oct 9 Networking home computers is a lot easier than you think. Here’s how you can get it done right now. The rest is here:
posted by on Oct 7 A college or university is more than just a place to learn, it is a home for hundreds and more often thousands of people, a community. Because of the variances of purpose and design of campus facilities, video surveillance can be a tricky business on campus. Network cameras can help make video surveillance stronger and life on campus safer. Network Camera Video Surveillance on Campus
posted by on Oct 6 What is a network time server? A network time server is a hardware device that utilises a single time source and distributes it amongst a network to ensure all computers and devices are telling the same time. What is NTP? Read the original post:
posted by on Oct 3 Network consultants provide many benefits to companies who don’t have their own staff for Information Technology. The duties of network consultants are often very vast, including phone issues, line and data repair, and server-related fixings too. Network consultants are usually hired in for IT outsourcing efforts because a company doesn’t have their own IT staff or the staff on hand doesn’t have the equipment and the knowledge necessary to perform the duties. Read the rest here:
posted by on Oct 3 IT server management is essential for a business that has many servers that need to be running at all times because your staff relies on them. There are many different types of servers which include file servers, back up servers, application servers, database, and more. IT server management includes taking care of the file servers that remain on site at your establishment. See the original post here:
posted by on Sep 27 Filed under: Cellphones, Wireless  Google’s persistent interest in ensuring that the US’ 700MHz spectrum would give rise to a network open to any and all devices reinforced its belief that carriers can and should be nothing more than the proverbial “dumb pipes” — leave the content and hardware to the people who know how to do it and don’t necessarily have a vested interest in the carriers’ bottom line. That attitude foretold that it had some interesting ideas up its sleeves (this is Google, after all), and while it’s never been entirely clear what those ideas are, Android’s “please use it, it’s free” attitude certainly plays a role. Here’s another piece of the puzzle: rather than be tied down to any one carrier, why not keep changing carriers in real time based on whomever’s going to give you the best deal? A new patent filed by Mountain View’s finest proposes exactly that, bringing together heterogeneous technologies — “community-wide” networks like WiFi and WiMAX along with GSM, CDMA, and so on — and an “auction system” that would let the user select (or allow the phone to automatically select) the best deal at the moment depending on their needs (available features or minimum speeds, time limits, and so on). It’s an amazing idea that totally turns the contract concept on its head, and it’s an idea that carriers would fight to the death. We’re not seeing it happening, but hey, Google, we like the cut of your jib. [Via textually.org and New Scientist]
posted by on Aug 7 Filed under: HDTV, Home Entertainment  DirecTV and DISH Network trying to get together again? That’s the idea according to the Wall Street Journal, apparently in response to DISH making “a major strategic shift” after losing 25,000 subscribers in Q2. Of course the last time these two tried U + me = Us back in 2001, regulators put the smackdown on the idea, but apparently DISH CEO Charlie Ergen thinks things may be different now. We can see how a 90% drop in subscriber growth (and a blown satellite or two) could cause anyone to reevaluate things, but as our extensive experience watchnig daytime TV proves, running into a new relationship to escape ones problems never works out long term, but it is interesting to see if either is really willing to stop the constant one-upsmanship and concentrate on taking on the cable (& telco) companies together. [Thanks, Adam]
posted by on Jul 17 Filed under: Cellphones  We’ve been getting scattered reports that Apple’s shiny new toy might not be snagging as many bars as it should for a lot of users. In our own tests, we’ve noticed the iPhone 3G fairing poorly in spots where other 3G devices exhibit strong signals, and the Apple support forums are alive with displeasure over what might be a widespread issue. We’re curious to know what you — the reader — are experiencing. How’s your mileage with the new phone? Let us know in the poll after the break. Continue reading Poll: How’s your iPhone 3G reception?
posted by on Jun 30 Filed under: Laptops, Peripherals  Not exactly a huge upgrade, but that MicroU2E from last year has been revved to support 1.5v ExpressCards — and with more volts comes more supported devices. It’s still about fifty bones, should you need one for your MacBook (Air) or whatever other ExpressCardless machine you’ve got kicking around. [Via Macsimum News]
posted by on Jun 20  In less than a week Bill Gates will step down of his day to day??responsibilities??of Microsoft to a part time work at Microsoft. He will work full time on his charity??foundation, founded by his wife, after he steps down known as the Bill and Melinda??Gates Foundation.Gates started Microsoft in 1975 with Steve Ballmer, Gates childhood friend. Gates was chairman and CEO of Microsoft from 1986 to 2000 until Steve took over as CEO. It started with the days of MS-DOS, Microsoft first??operating??system called Microsoft Disk??Operating??System, to Windows and XBox and Microsoft Office.??Microsoft’s??Chief Technical Officer Ray Ozzie will assume title of chief software architect, and Microsoft’s CTO for advanced strategies and policies Craig Mundie will immediately take the new of chief research and strategy officer and will assume Gates’ responsibilities for Microsoft’s research and incubation efforts. Ray Ozzie and Craig Mundie will report to Steve Ballmer after Bill Gates leave.?? Related Articles: Read the rest here:
posted by on Jun 20  People who know my wife Christine and I know that we are huge cruise fans. We have been married for almost 6 years and have had the chance to take two cruises. Our first was our honeymoon in 2002 and was quite a whirlwind, as you can imagine. Our second was when our son was almost 2 years old and was something that we had planned for a long time in advance. We were lucky enough to be taken by my parents with the whole family. Being the geek that I am, I do a lot of research online. So off I went looking around and stumbled upon CruiseCritic. At the time it was laid out as most sites were and offered some very good information. Today it still looks quite similar (a little outdated) but still has a ton of content. I would recommend anyone to head on over to the forum and chat it up. There are thousands of cruisers in there who are very passionate about their pastime and love to offer their knowledge and opinions on almost anything relating to a cruise vacation. A new site, and what sparked this article has popped up on the scene. socruise is a new website billing themselves as “your social cruise community”. It seems like they are trying to bring cruisers closer together on the ship as well as on the website. I am curious to see how it will stack up to CruiseCritic however; as they have been around a long time. One of CruiseCritic’s forum sections has over 200 000 threads and over 3.17 million posts. That’s an astronomical number of people posting and it will be hard for any site to chip away at that. Still, there is another angle to this. I am tempted myself to start posting on socruise none the less. I have a strange feeling that once the core group of posters at CruiseCritic gets wind of socruise, they will bring people over and most will participate in both groups. Something else to note, given this is a geek blog and a post about cruising… There is something for the geek interested in cruising. Has anyone heard of Geek Cruises? Now known as InSight Cruises they have been putting together cruises for like minded people for years. Started by Neil Bauman and Theresa Mazich in 2000 with their first cruise called Perl Whirl, they are now the place to go and sign in for a cruise. One day I might be able to convince Christine to head out on one of these. For now, I will take any cruise I can get Happy cruising! Related Articles: Continued here:
posted by on Jun 20  In Part I of this article, we started to look at how to edit a predefined IPSec policy in Vista. An element of this process may include editing or creating IPSec rules. Creating an IPSec rule is relatively simple because the Create IP Security Rule Wizard walks you through the process. You can launch the wizard from the Rules tab within the IPSec policy’s properties window. On the first page of the Wizard, you’ll be asked whether to specify a tunnel endpoint (and the IP address of the endpoint if you elect to use tunneling). The next page of the Wizard prompts you to select an IP filter list for the type of IP traffic to which the rule will apply. You can select to apply the rule to all ICMP traffic or all IP traffic. Alternatively, you can select the Add button to create a custom list (this selection brings up another Wizard within the Wizard: the IP Filter Wizard). Next, you select a filter action. The default actions are:
The next page of the Wizard lets you choose the network type(s) to which the rule must be applied: LAN, remote access, or (the default) all network connections. Next, you can choose the initial authentication method. The default is Active Directory (Kerberos v5). However, Kerberos can only be used if the computer is a member of a domain. If it’s not, you’ll need to select another method. Alternatively, you can choose to use a certificate (you’ll have to specify the issuing certification authority) or a preshared key (in which case you must enter the character string that makes up the key). This completes the Wizard, and when you click Finish, your new rule will appear in the IP Security rules list on the Rules tab of the policy’s properties sheet. You can check or uncheck it to specify whether it is to be used. Once you are finished editing your policy, you can close the properties window. The final step will be to assign the policy. Related Articles: Credit:
posted by on Jun 20  After writing ‘5 tips on: Building a computer - Part 1‘, many people gave extra tips in the comments section. I couldn’t really fit any more than 5 tips on the post, as it would have been too long. Well, i present to you part 2, which includes the tips received in the comments section of part 1. So, here are another 5 tips on building a computer. 1 - RAM. Make sure you don’t buy too much RAM. If you have a 32-bit operating system installed, the system does not give anything more than 2GB of RAM for programs to use. Any more RAM is allocated to things like Windows and the BIOS. I would suggest not buying any more than 2GB if you are running 32-bit, as programs installed cannot use anything more than 2GB. Any more RAM above 2GB would be pretty much wasted. Also, there are at present 3 types of RAM. DDR, DDR2 and DDR3. Find out what type of RAM your motherboard can take before you buy RAM. 2 -?? Tidy your case up! After fitting the components and plugging in the wires and cables, your case will become cluttered. This is bad for the air flow inside your computer. Components get VERY hot, and having good air flow is essential. The best way to improve air flow is to invest in some cable ties, and bunch up all the loose wires. Secure the wires to the sides of the case or drive bays inside the case so they are out of the way, and not all over the computer, decreasing air flow. 3 - Make sure your power supply (PSU) has enough connections. Your PSU will have several wires coming out of the main power unit. You should connect those wires to your components to give them power. There are many different connections on the wires. You should have at least 1 CPU fan connection; a small, four-pin connection on its own. You should have a 20-pin motherboard connection, with a little 4-pin motherboard connection next to it, possibly on the same wire, just in case your motherboard takes a 24-pin connection. You should also have some PCI connections, more than 1. And finally, you should have some PATA (Parallel-ATA, or just ATA) and SATA (Serial-ATA) connections. SATA are the small, flat connections, and there should be at least 4 of them. The PATA connections are a little thicker than the SATA connections, and there should be about 4 of them as well. Note that PATA devices, or IDE devices, need PATA power connections, and SATA devices need…you guessed it…SATA connections. Make sure your power supply has enough connections for your devices! 4 - Discharge yourself of static electricity. Computer parts are very sensitive to static electricity. Static electricity can accumulate when you are building your computer, especially when you are wearing socks and standing on carpet! Static electricity can short out your components, and render them useless. To stop this, touch something metal every couple of minuets, such as a radiator. Also, try to work on a wooden floor and don’t wear socks. You can also buy anti-static wrist straps to earth yourself whilst you work. 5 - Don’t electrocute yourself! This is a no-brainer people…unplug your computer from the mains before even thinking of touching any component. In fact, to be on the safe side, unplug everything from your actual computer case, including peripherals. There should be nothing connected to it, so no power can possibly reach the components. Of course, there are even more tips on building a computer, and these tips only scratch the surface. Do you have any more tips? If so, leave a comment and share them! Related Articles: View original here:
posted by on Jun 20  While Firefox 3 is making headlines with the number of downloads and the technical writers are singing the praises of the newer, better, shinier browser, Firefox 3 is annoying me. The simple reason is that some of the add-ons, which I have come to depend upon, do not work. For me, that drawback is major. It disrupts work and concentration. Firefox could compile a list easily. It could list all the add-on that would not work with the new browser. This list could be constantly revised as developers updated their work and make their particular add-on compatible with the new version. Certainly, the developers of the most popular add-ons will update soon and have their extensions work with the new version of Firefox. Until then, for some of us, it is just a load of muttering about how we “should have waited… should have waited… should have waited”. Catherine Forsythe Related Articles: Read more from the original source:
posted by on Jun 20  When looking to build something, whether it???s a computer or an engine, a desk or a chair, metal, electrical, or wood, I find it very helpful to look at the work of someone else. I don???t do this to copy their work, as I find something that I need, or want, to be different. Instead, I use what I see as a starting point, to change to my needs or tastes. What I will do here is give the reader a few ideas of mine, to copy if they wish, or to step off from my ideas to something greater. A while ago, I spoke of the Via PC-1 concept motherboards, and how great a start they would be for a Home Server (using Windows Home Server, for instance), or a media center, or an HTPC. It seems that for some unknown reason, the PC-1 motherboards are not available ??? with no excuses given, nor any bad reviews that would cause them to be discontinued. In fact, the motherboard was used in the Everex PC that was sold in great numbers by WalMart at Christmas. The board was a micro ATX form factor, and as such, would not fit into the smallest cases, designed for miniITX. That should not have caused problems for most, but still there seems to be no reasons for the disappearance.
All the above seem to be gone from the U.S. market. So instead, why not try a miniITX board? It fits better with a set of audio and video components because of the size of the cases possible. Intel has just come out with a board for our consideration. It uses a very low power CPU, based on the Core architecture, and comes soldered into the PCB. It only has provision for 1 DIMM, but since DDR2 memory is available in capacities up to 2GB per stick, the memory capacity is 2GB. Although the video is built in, the possibility is there for using one of the flavors of Vista on the machine, although the better choice would be Windows XP Media Center Edition. The choice of case is critical. All components must fit, but also, the system must look good from the outside, because it is after all, part of the Home Theater.
The case chosen necessitates the use of a notebook-style DVD drive, so if you want to have a Blu-ray drive included another choice of case is needed. Apex has 2 other models that look approximately like the MD-100, and are only slightly larger. The Apex case is more expensive than some, but it is well built, like the rest of the line. This manufacturer has cases also sold under the name Supercase, so if you see the same model number, with the Supercase designation, it would be identical. For this case, I would choose a notebook DVD-RW from Samsung or Toshiba, simply because of the reliability that those brands offer. If you are going with a full sized drive, in another case, I would consider the Samsung drives first, as they are very reliable, and very quiet, showing no problems with firmware glitches. Although moving toward the highest capacity hard drive would be the move most would make, I would say that anything these days over 500 GB should get you by well. Also, since the video capabilities, and the CPU will not do 1080p Blu-ray very well, it might be a really nice dual duty system for the bedroom, functioning as a general purpose PC, along with a media server ??? I can see myself computing with a wireless keyboard and mouse, on the foot of the bed, with this being connected to a 32??? LCD. Nice enough as a budget system, a bedroom system, or for those pampered youngsters going off to college, a dorm system. For those wanting a bit more, a PCI (not PCIe) video card can still be had, and could do fairly well ??? this could possibly carry off 1080p, if the machine was carefully set up. It would require a PCI riser card, which is available for about $25. Actually to go for the true HTPC, with DVR capabilities, of course a tuner is needed. For every purpose but gaming, this sub-$800 PC would get the job done in style. (and as I said, you now have some ideas to build on!) - Technorati Tags: HTPC - Intel Atom - Apex - Supercase - Samsung - PCI tuner Related Articles: View original here:
posted by on Jun 20  For us Netflix users, it seems that the king of DVD mailings is opting to make some changes,?? in the hopes of improving customer service.???? Netflix is going to eliminate additional profiles on customers accounts. These additional profiles can be used by anyone in a customers family, to add additional queues to the primary account. By trimming down the queues, Netflix believes that all customers will benefit.
I’m not sure how this is going to improve the customer experience for any Netflix user. If fact, this could just piss folks off and have them try another service. In a time of economic uncertainity, it could be a bad time to make any changes at all. I know of several of my family members who are changing services just to cut costs. Netflix is taking a chance making this move now. But what do you think? Is this going to change the way you use Netflix? Comments welcome. Related Articles: Read the original here:
posted by on Jun 20
5 Things you need to know before building, buying, or repairing a computer. I have a question, why are there only 5 things I ever need to know about anything??? I wonder if there is a lot more I need to know or are the 5 things I need to know scratching the surface and not really deep enough to help me. I decided to make my own 5 things post that I am sure you will find very useful or at least interesting. 1st thing you need to know; if you are going to build your own system, think of what you will be doing with it now and in the future. Say you are a casual user and you check e-mail, surf the web and play spider solitaire or Zuma, you might think well I do not need something really powerful for that right? Well maybe right now but what happens if you decide to start doing photo editing, watch movies, play a few more newer games, or you found a good program you want to use but the new system is not powerful enough. Always think of the future when you are building a new computer, I really dislike when I spent money to build the system just to turn around and have to shell out more money to upgrade it. 1 ???? thing you need to know; when building a new system make sure you understand the specifications of the motherboard so you do not buy useless hardware that will not work with it. Also read the manual, you do not know how many times I have helped people to fix their systems because they did not read the manual. 2nd thing you need to know; if you are going to buy a new computer from a respected retailer please read up on the type of system you want before going to the store. There is a constant turnover of salespeople at major retailers and so training can be lacking. Some salespeople know less about the product you are looking for then you do so if you have any questions please try to get them answered from the manufacturer. Please do not think I am disrespecting all retail salespeople, some are really good. 2 ?? thing you need to know; stick with major OEM brands, like Dell, HP, Gateway, Toshiba, and Lenovo. Some places sell generic white box systems and sometimes they can be a mixed bag of hardware, kind of like a grab bag of stuff that could be of low quality. 3rd thing you need to know; if you plan on repairing the system you currently have, ask yourself if the system is worth repairing? If you have had the system for 4-5 years then it is better to throw it away and get a new one. The price of new computers is pretty low compared to a few years ago and so for a little more than the price to fix the old one you can have a new one that is a lot faster and will serve you for the next 4-5 years. If the problem is something you can fix then fix it yourself and save the money you would have spent for gas. The internet is your friend, if you have a computer problem you want to get fixed then search for the answer, trust me someone else out there has had the same problem you do and there may be a quick solution. If the computer is the only one in the house and you cannot use the internet, the public library has a few you can use to find the answer. 3 ?? thing you need to know; always back up everything on your computer that you want to keep. My system is backed up twice a week, who knows when that bugger is going to die on me. The reason I say this, sometimes the only answer to fixing a problem is reinstalling Windows. Software issues can be hard to track down and if you have searched the net, talked to repair people and see no other solutions except take it to a repair and spend lot of money or reinstall Windows, just reinstall Windows. 4th thing you need to know; there is no one who is right all the time. We all make mistakes and might give information that fixed our problem but will have others chasing their tail. Please weigh the information you get, and always ask for second opinions, we all know there are plenty of people with opinions ready to give. 4 ?? thing you need to know; never settle for a computer or service that just does the job. I do not know how many times I was ready to pull out my hair because someone bought a piece of hardware that was not sufficient to handle their needs or the system had subpar hardware that had a glitch I could not figure out. This causes all sorts of headaches and really makes computer people unhappy. Spend the little extra to get a good quality part or replacement so it will handle all of your needs and then some. A good deal that is pretty cheap and saves you lots of money may ultimately cost you twice as much in the long term. 5th thing you need to know; building, buy or repairing a computer can be fun and a learning experience. Do not let it be a life lesson in humility because of misinformation, a hasty decision, or not researching. We all can be enticed into making a hasty purchase only to regret it later so always be prepared will all of the information you can get your hands on before undertaking anything. I also want to add you can do anything if you put your mind to it. I hope you enjoyed this as much as I have, until next time. Kineo Related Articles: View original here:
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Breakfast at sea, on a private balcony with only the blue ocean in front of me and my wife beside me has to be one of my favorite things.
