Tips on buying your mobile 0 comments

An increasing number of people of all ages own mobile phones, enjoying the convenience, freedom and re-assurance they provide.

There is a range of different handsets and contracts available, providing mobile communication solutions to suit consumers

1. What's your budget? Before you do anything else, think about why you want a mobile phone and determine your budget. There are numerous types of call plan, to suit various budgets and needs. There are also services available to help you keep track of what you spend consider whether this would help you and check out what options are available.

2. What are your usage patterns? How often will you be using the phone, at what time of day and what will be your average call length? Will you be using the phone mostly for voice calls, or to SMS friends? Your usage patterns may help determine what type of plan is best for you and your budget.

3. What types of plan are available? There are four basic types of service agreement: fixed-term contracts, monthly plans, pre-paid or leasing. Pre-paid is ideal if you want to ensure you stay within a specified budget - perfect for teenagers. Getting a pre-paid first is also a good way of finding out what your usage is and helping you decide what type of plan might best suit you. Monthly plans allow you the flexibility of receiving monthly bills without signing a long-term contract. Business users may prefer the convenience of fixed-term, while leasing may suit you if you only need a phone and handset for a short time. New capped' plans (available post or pre-paid, depending on mobile carrier) also offer convenience and value and may suit many users.
4. What are the call rates within each plan? Call rates vary from plan-to-plan.

It's important to assess both the rates and the call charge calculation methods when assessing your options. Issues to consider include: How are call charges calculated? On some plans you will be billed per second, on others, per block of time used (usually per 30 or 60 seconds), or, on the newer capped' deals (post and pre-paid), call caps' apply to many services, providing value and certainty; Is there a flag fall (an amount paid for each connection, in addition to call costs)? Are there any special offers (eg cheaper calls off-peak, or to friends on the same network, or for SMS)?

5. What features do you need in a handset? A basic handset will allow you to make calls and send and receive SMS. You'll need a more sophisticated one if you want to use the phone abroad, use MMS, voice recording, make video calls, download video or access the internet. Other features to consider are battery capacity (some handsets run longer between charges than others), ease of use, and your coverage requirements (see coverage'). Consider what you really need or you'll be paying for features you never use. If you already have a handset, are you eligible for other plans?

6. How much flexibility do you need? Consider your need for flexibility - and your budget - before you buy a handset or take out a plan. Are you likely to want the flexibility to upgrade your handset when a new one becomes available? Might you want to change to a different plan in six months? There are many different options for paying for handsets (e.g. up-front, flexi-rent deals, as part of your service agreement), and different plans (whether pre-paid or post-paid) have different terms and conditions for example some include penalties for changing networks, or plans, for example. Read the small print and check you can meet all the minimum conditions of the contract before signing anything.

7. What coverage do you require? Where will you be using the phone only in metropolitan areas, or in the country? The two dominant types of mobile network are GSM and CDMA. Check with the carriers where they have coverage to ensure they can provide the service where you need it before signing up. Your coverage requirements may also affect your handset choice (there are CDMA and GSM handsets).

8. Evaluate the options. Once you've worked out what you need/want, do your homework; shop around and compare what is available, and what will best suit your likely usage and budget.

Inside Graphics 0 comments

Creativity in its different forms tends to fascinate the human specie.Graphics and images published in print media are all designed by professionals.The question remains how do they design these images? What are the software used to craft them?What tools are required to design them?'Inside Graphics',is a website that aims to demystify various graphic designing software.One can find a variety of tutorials including Photoshop, Corel Draw, Flash and other Web Designing tools.Designing digital images and animations will not be a very difficult task after perusing through the tutorials on this website.

Link: www.insidegraphics.com

Digital Blasphemy 0 comments

Digital Blasphemy is another ravishing website that has a collection of posters and images.It has good quality images.Some of them are inspirations from nature and have been capture by photographers,while other categories include some PC designed images.It also offers free download of sample wallpapers while for others one has to undergo a registration process.

Link: www.digitalblasphemy.com

Car-Shaped Mouse 0 comments

Are you looking for extraordinary gadgets to give your desktop a stylish look? Here is an ultra cool mouse shaped like a complete car with tinted windows,allow wheels and blue LED headlights.It features advanced optical technology and its unique configuration makes it suitable for both left and right-hand users.It is a high quality,ergonomically designed mouse with two buttons and a scroll wheel that ensures easy navigation's.So,drive ahead your computer with this attractive and smart handy mouse.

Link: gadgets.in

Internet Connectivity terms made easy 1 comments

ADSL (Asymmetric Digital Subscriber Line)

A method for moving data over regular telephone lines that is much faster than a regular telephone connection.

Bandwidth

The transmission capacity of the lines that carry internet's electronic traffic.

Broadband Technology

Telecommunication devices,lines or technologies that allow communication over a wide band of frequencies and especially over a range of frequencies divided into multiple independent channels for the simultaneous transmission of different signals.Broadband systems allow voice,data and video to be broadcast over the same medium at the same time.

Dial-up

An internet account that connects a PC directly to the internet.These accounts use a software application to connect to an Internet Service Provider (ISP) and establish a TCP/IP link to the internet.

Digital Subscriber Line (DSL).A generic name for digital lines that are provide by telephone companies to their local subscibers that carry a high speeds.

Enhanced Data Rates for GSM Evolution (EDGE) or Enhanced (EGPRS)

It is a digital technology that allows it to increase data transmission rate and improve data transmission reliability.

General Packet Radio Service (GPRS)

It is mobile data service available to users of Global system for Mobile communications (GSM) and IS-136 mobile phones.

ISDN (Integrated Service Digital Network)

A high-speed way to move data over existing phone lines.In theory,it can provide speed of roughly 128000 bits-per second, in practic, most people will be limited to 56000 or 64000 bits-per-second.

TCP/IP (Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol)

A set of protocols defines the flow of information over the internet.

Telnet

An intenet protocol allowing a PC to connect to a host computer and use that computer as if you were locally connected.This often provides the ability to use all the software and capabilities of host computer.

Wi-Fi (Wireless Fidelity)

It is a popular term for a high-frequency wireles local area network.It lets home and office users create wireless local networks,which connect two or more computers to each other through a faster internet line.The Wi-Fi technology is rapidly gaining acceptance as an alternative to a wired local area network (LAN).

WiMax:

It is desinged to extend local Wi-Fi networks across greater distances such as a campus,as well as to provide last mile connectivity to an ISP or other carrier many miles away.In addition, Mobile WiMax offers a voice and higher-speed data alternative to ther cellular networks.

Wireless Local Loop (WLL)

It provides communications to the users via wireless transmission.It is a "last mile system that does not use copper or fiber-optic cable.

How can Firewall Protect your computer ? 0 comments

The first thing necessary is to understand what a firewall is,and what it's function is.The whole point of a firewall is to completely isolate your computer from the internet.Everything that passes in or out of your computer hits this wall to see if it can pass or needs to be blocked.The information that passes through a computer is made up of packets.Each packet passes from one machine to another in a network.So the connections,computer savvy people talk about are merely the passing of packets of information to and from other computers.This is used to send or receive a packet of information no matter if one computer is two feet or another country from destination computer.Every internet packet has to have an adrdress and port to go.It must also have the port and IP address that it is being sent from to be recognized by the other computer.It is the same as having a letter with the address it is going to and the address of who sent it.
Firewall software inspects these packets of information as they try to pass through.As the data arrives at your computer the firewall looks at it before any other program on your computer.If the packet looks suspicious it can deny entry to the rest of the computer so infection can be avoided.A port is only open when the first arriving packet tries to connect.If it is ignored or denied the port is now closed and nothing else can get into it.It is great tool to have because it is very selective about what it will allow in and what it blocks.It can recognize IP addresses and know which ones are safe and which ones are not.What this means is when you are running on a specific port all information can only come through that port and no others.Even if you had a trojan that opened a listening port it would not be detected due to the fact that its port could not be accessed.The firewall would block the signal.

What Makes Better Direct X10 Better than Direct X9 0 comments

Smaller Size

The new standard brings forward the amalgamation of pixel and vertex shaders in to one of unit.This allows far more efficient transistor count,and hence helps in making graphics cards smaller.

Better Energy Consumption

By creating a standard for a unified shader processor the card consumes lesser energy than an equivalent Direct X9 card.

On-Board Physics Processing

By adding a shader known as Geometric shaders to the total equation,Direct X 10 now equips graphics cards to handle particle physics in real time.This makes the purchase of a Physics Processing Unit almost redundant,which is great news for the gamer on a tight budget.


Aero Glass support

A Direct X 10 card has advanced GUI acceleration features,which allo it to run Windows Vista in its full glory.The Aero Glass interface allows for an expesive looking operating system,which coupled with the faster performance of Direct X 10 cards,gives Windows XP a run for its money.

Neo-Exploration 0 comments

Enter the realm of Neopia,where pets roam wild.Imagine being given a completely new world to explore and all you have to do is play this enchanting game vicariously through your pets,which you will create on your own.You,along with your friends,can play this amazing fantasy land and earn neo-points along the way.Sound exciting?Then what are you waiting for?Logon and Play! Explore the land with your virtual allies.

Link: www.neopets.com

History By The Images 0 comments

Finally,a comprehensive site for all those history buffs out there.This website is an online gallery of digitized images that have had great historical relevance,courtesy of the New York City's public library,this website will surely enhance your reputation among your peers as the supreme history encyclopaedia.Just browse the historical images on offer and be enlightened.Not only does this website provide historical images but one can also find it as an extensive resource for information regarding arts,culture and architecture etcetera.

http://digitalgallery.nypl.org/

Animated Delight 0 comments

This website is a necessary visit for all animated movie fans.Peter lord and David Sproxton created The Aardman animations studio in 1976.For those who specifically admire the stop motion animation Oscar winner Wallace and Gromit,this website will introduce you to the studio that produced such animated blockbusters.The site also contains a gallery of some of their famous character creations.A brief history of the studio's origins is also up for persual.Although the website has been built purely using Flash,the site can also be viewed in html format.

Link: www.aardman.com

Hong Kong's Website the World's Riskiest:Survey 0 comments

Hong Kong websites are the most likely to hit visitors with unwanted ads,viruses and spam,research from McAfee,an internet security company has found.According to McAfee more than 19 per cent of websites using the ".hk" domain name pose a security threat to visitors.China-based sites are the second most risky with 11 percent,while those from Finland and Japan are the two safest.Romanian and Russian sites were also threats to Web Users.Last year,the survey ranked Honk Kong as only the 28th most risky internet location.
The study looked at 9.9 million well-visited websites in 265 countries and ranked them by the amount of adware,spyware,viruses,spam,excessive pop-ups,browser exploits or links to other problem sites.The generic domain name "-info" was considered the most problematic,the survey found,while "-gov" was the safest.
Hong kong and China are often cited as the source of much of the world' spam unwanted e-mail messages that fill computers user's inboxes.

Dim Dim 0 comments

Dimdim started out when a group of people based in different parts of the world want to keep in touch with each other using various communications technologies.However,such tools were expensive and unreliable,so they came up with a free integrated communication service for people who are constantly required to communicate and collaborate.Dimdim is a web meeting service which allows people to share their desktop or slides with each other.You can also talk,listen,chat or broadcast video through your webcam.Dimdim is based on an Open source platform and the hosted service is available for free without having to download any software.

Link: www.dimdim.com

Question to ask yourself when choosing a template 0 comments

If you are novice blogger,feeling extremely overwhelmed by the number of templates available on the Web,here is a small list of questions to help you choose the appropriate template for your blog.While this is definitely not an exhaustive list and you may have something different in mind,should you feel need a place to start,this can help you define basic requirements.

1: Do you want and theme-based layout?With more and more layouts based on themes relating to cartoons and films.,it is absolutely up to you to choose whether or not you want them.If not,you can easily eliminate a lot of templates.

2: Do you want a two- or three-column layout?Plenty of templates of both type are available,but knowing how many columns you want and most importantly,the placement of the columns (right- or left-aligned) will help you sift through templates easily.

3: What is your ideal font type and size?You have to consider an optimum font size and type which is not impossible to read.Keeping the optimum size in mind will help you eliminate more templates.

4: What colour scheme would you like for your blog?Searching by colour on blog template websites can save you lot of hassle.However,remember to eliminate templates with light-coloured font on a light background.

Japan,Sweden,Netherland lead in broadband:Study 0 comments

Sweden and The Netherlands have the best performing broadband internet connections in Europe,helped by investments in high-speed fiber-optic links and upgrades to cable TV networks,a study found.Japan was the global leader by a larger margin in the study,released last month carried out by the universities of Oxford and Oviedo and sponsored by network gear maker Cisco Systems Inc.
The study is based on measurements from Speedtest.net which helps consumers test their broadband connections.A total of 8 million tests were gathered in May,and the study's authors combined data for upload and download speed as well as latency-the times takes for a data packet to travel from source to destination - into a "broadband quality score".
Several industrialized countries,such as Great Britain,Spain,Australia and Italy,offer broadband speeds that on average are just below what is necessary to make good use of broadband applications such as watching videos on Youtube,video chatting and small file sharing,the researchers found.Slovenia and Lithuania also scored in the top 10.The United States and Russia are ranked 16th and 17th,ahead of Bulgaria but trailing behind Finland.
When drawing up the ranking,the study did not take into account how widespread broadband use is how much it costs.

The difference of Male And Female 0 comments

Five reason to believe computers are female

1: No one but the creator understands their internal logic.

2: The native language they use to communicate with other computers is incomprehensible to everyone else.

3: The message "Bad command or file name" is about as informative as, "If you dont know why I am mad at you,then I am certainly not going to tell you."

4: Even your smallest mistakes are stored in long-term memory for later retrieval.

5: As soon as you make a commitment to one,you find yourself spending half your paycheck on accessories for it.

Five reason to believe computers are Male

1: They have a lot of data,but are still clueless.

2: They are supposed to help you solve problems,but half the time they are the problem.

3: In order to get their attention,you have to turn them on.

4: Big power surges knock them out for the rest of the night.

5: As soon as you commit to one,you realize that if you had waited a little longer,you could have obtained a better model.

USB rechargeable shaver 0 comments

If you are feeling dishevelled lately,then the sime and light USB rechargeable shaver may be just the gadget you are looking for.Simply swivel the USB connector to side,plug it into a vacant USB port on your computer and in a few moments,you are ready for a quick shave.The built-in nickel metal-hydride (NiMH) rechargeable battery ensures you dont ever have to fiddle with any alkaline batteries.Weighing just 75 grams,this nifty gadget comes with a cleaning brush to keep the shaving heads spotless for the next shave.This portable USB rechargeable shaver can easily be stowed away in your drawer or briefcase.

Link: www.gadget4all.com/

How is Chrome Different ? 0 comments

1: Chrome can automatically detect some internet browsers installed on a system and,when run for the first time,it imports bookmarks,saved passwords,settings,and browsing history.

2: Thanks to its minimalist users interface,it can,firstly,maximize the screen real estate available for displaying websites and secondly,substantially reduce the amount of clutter present due to very few buttons onscreen.

3: Chrome's main user interface options are strongly reminiscent of Apple's Safari Browser,while the location of the settings is based on the internet explorer interface.The buttons seems to be borrowed from Windows Vista.

4: While testing the beta version of the browser,We found that each tab in Chrome runs its own process and crash protection is a great addition.However,the memory footprint of an opened tab is exorbitant (15-20 mb per tab).There are various opinions and views online regarding memory and CPU usage by this software.
The browser also features a process management utility called "Task Manager" accessible via the Developer options or by pressing (Shift) + (Esc) keys.This shows a list of currently open tabs and plug-ins along with the associated memory,CPU and network usage.

5: Some other issues with Chrome include the inability to turn off Javascript or only allow specific websites to use it; inability to turn off Flash;delayed scrolling on webpages;lack of any extensions;privacy issues saves browsing habits;security vulnerabilities

There are also built-in tools for web developers,such as "inspect element' option,which not only displays every element of a webpage but also shows the size and time to load it.

Computer Figure Out the meaning of words 0 comments

The internet got smarter last month with the release of a semantic map that teaches computers the meanings behind words and gives the machines a vocabulary far larger than that of a typical US college graduate.

Cognition Technologies began licensing the map of software creators interested in having programs "understand" words based on tenses and sentence context in much the same way as the human brain does.The semantic map is reportedly the world's largest, and gives computers a vocabulary more than 10 times as extensive as that of typical US college graduate.

The coming third generation of life online is predicted to feature intuitive artificial intelligence applications that work swiftly across broadband internet connections.When applied to internet searches,semantic technology delivers results oriented or what people seem to be seeking instead of simply matching the words used to online content.

Cogniton's semantic map is already used in a LexisNexis Concordance "e-discovery"software to sift through documents amassed during evidence phases of trials.Cognition's Caselaw program uses the technology to mine more than a half-century of US federal court decisions for legal prcedents,according to the company.

The semantic map is also employed in a widely-used medical database.Cognition says it has also "semantically enabled" globally popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia.A web 3.0 target is to develop artificial intelligence "agents" that mine mountains of information on the internet for material that suit the interests of the people they serve.

File Type Tips 0 comments

File types - DOC - XLS - PDF - JPG - GIF - BMP etc.


What are file types?

File name has 2 parts in it. First one is file title and second is file extension. File extension represents file type. For example "computer.jpg" is a complete file name. Word "computer" is file title and after dot "jpg" is extension. Extension ".jpg" represents that this is a JPEG image or photo file. You must aware of few famous file types or extensions. Here are few examples of famous file types.

DOC

DOC is extension of Microsoft Word's document. You need to install Microsoft Word for read a DOC file. If you don't have installed Microsoft Word in your Windows system then you can use Microsoft's Word Viewer 2003 for view/read DOC file.

XLS

XLS is extension of Microsoft Excel's work book. You need to install Microsoft Excel for read a XLS file. If you don't have installed Microsoft Excel in your Windows system then you can use Microsoft's Excel Viewer 2003 for view/read XLS file.

PDF

PDF if "portable document format". After fame of DOC document there was a problem in images and fonts when DOC document file is transferred to another environment or computer. If another computer doesn’t have installed fonts containing DOC document then DOC file changes its formats and styles. User is unable to read DOC file due to unavailability of fonts that are used in DOC file. To avoid these kinds of problems PDF invented. PDF can contain and embed images and fonts in it and also provide password protected security for reading and writing. PDF also take care about file size.

JPG

JPG is an image or photo file. JPG is standard compressed images file. In the beginning of GUI windows interface and image files there was only BMP (Bitmap) file but BMP doesn’t take care about file size. In other words JPG is latest and standard compressed format of BMP file.

Windows SMTP Server 0 comments

Free Windows SMTP Server of Relay - No need to use ISP's SMTP servers.

Windows SMTP Server is own and free SMTP server like ISP’s SMTP server. Now you can send free emails using your own SMTP Server. There is no need to use your ISP’s email server. Windows 2000 Server and Windows XP Server 2003 have complete authentication and relay for SMTP. If you are home user or have installed Microsoft Windows XP Professional on your computer or laptop then you don’t have Server operating system on your computer but don’t worry Microsoft Windows XP Professional can perform as SMTP server either.

Following are complete instructions for install and enable SMTP server on your Microsoft Windows XP Professional system.

* Open Windows Control Panel
* Click on Add/Remove Programs
* Click on Add/Remove Windows Components
* Select Internet Information Services (IIS) and click on Details button
* Check on SMTP Service and Click on OK button

After this process Microsoft Windows will ask Microsoft Windows XP Professional CD-Disk. Insert Windows XP Professional CD and install SMTP Services on your Windows. After completing installation process your Windows is ready to perform as SMTP Server. Now you can use your computer as SMTP Server. Open your Email client like Outlook Express or Microsoft Outlook and configure your email but don't forget to mention SMTP server as "localhost" or "127.0.0.1" without any authentication.

Send unlimited emails to anywhere and enjoy.

What is Google PR or Page Rank? 0 comments

What is Google PR or Page Rank?

Google PR or Page Rank is a way of Google to measure any website. Page rank’s range is from 0 to 10. If your site has PR0 so your site has no value for Google. If your site has PR10 so your site is most important for Google and Google will send you more traffic via search result. You can check your site’s Page Rank from This Page or if you have installed Google toolbar for Internet Explorer or Firefox then you can see Page Rank for current URL like this.

Eco Friendly Hairdryer from BaByliss 0 comments

An eco friendly hairdryer that is great value, will save you money on electricity, dry your hair fast and give you a smoother than normal finish - unbelieveable but true!

The Babyliss Eco Dry is a lightweight hair dryer that saves you half the energy of a normal 2000W hair dryer.

I love being impressed by the products I review - and much to my surprise this one did. Whilst you might normally associate a powerful hair dryer with weight, this one is incredibly light. I was equally surprised by just how much power comes out of this neat hair dryer with quite a blast. Indeed it did dry my hair fast and what's more my hair was smoother than usual - and whereas I can't normally control the kink - for a change the result was incredibly straight.

BaByliss makes it's confident claim on energy saving having tested in laboratory conditions to test guidelines to produce a drying rate equal to or better than well know 2000W dryers. The BaByliss Eco Dryer is uses just 1000 watts. The energy saving, they say, is equivalent to making 7 cups of tea or 11 slices of toast (I guess this depends on the length of your hair!!)

The smooth hair results from the use of ionic technology. The Eco Dryer produces a stream of negative ions which act to neutralise static charge. This smooths the scales on the cuticles with a shiny result. I do confess I noticed just how remarkably smooth my hair was before I read this up in the product blurb!

The dryer has a nozzle attachment for straight effects. This can be removed if you are going for the tozzled look. There are two speeds and a 'cool shot' button to cool the hair and set the button.

The Babyliss Eco Dry is a snip at £19.95 from John Lewis :

Strike school pupils to miss three weeks as row sours further 1 comments

The Education Board embroiled in the Movilla High School crisis has revealed that an offer to have the boy at the centre of the dispute assessed by an educational psychologist was rejected as relations with striking teachers soured further yesterday.

The South Eastern Education and Library Board (SEELB) Chief Executive Stanton Sloan hit out at the NASUWT for announcing to the media that strike action is set to continue. However, the union claimed the SEELB had refused to negotiate on proposals they had put forward.

The school is set to break for Halloween. When it is over pupils will have been out of class for three weeks. The 25 teachers took to the picket line last Monday after their pay was docked for refusing to teach a student who is accused of assaulting a teacher. The pupil is due to appear in court in November on an assault charge.

Yesterday teachers at Movilla pledged to continue with their strike action.

The NASUWT claims the SEELB refused to negotiate on three proposals put forward by the union despite the arrangements they suggest — which include moving the pupil to another school — all being used before in Northern Ireland and the UK.

Following “careful consideration”, the NASUWT said it is withdrawing a proposal for the pupil to be taught in isolation at Movilla High. This leaves the options of the boy moving to an alternative individual education programme or another school.

The union’s statement added: “NASUWT resolves many problems of this type on a routine basis without the necessity of recourse to industrial action. It is entirely the fault of the SEELB that relationships with the Movilla employer have broken down.”

It added that the union’s representatives are available for further talks with the board “as soon as our employer tables constructive proposals for negotiation”.

But Mr Sloan hit back angrily, saying he was “gravely disappointed” the union had announced their plans through the media.

“At an early meeting with the Labour Relations Agency, both sides agreed that no comment would be made through the media. This has been honoured by the board.”

He then said the board made an offer for an independent assessment to be carried out by an educational psychologist on the boy’s needs. The pupil would have remained out of school while the assessment was being carried out and both sides would have to accept its findings.

Mr Sloan added: “The union has requested copies of the educational psychologist’s report. Such a report contains sensitive personal data and the release would clearly be a breach of data protection legislation and human rights and cannot be agreed to.”

Fred Brown, of the union, said they rejected the deal because they would not be able to see the report on the boy.

"We couldn't possibly accept the recommendations under those circumstances," he said.

Parents hit out at Ruane over exam ‘shambles’ 0 comments

Caitriona Ruane came under fire from angry parents and teachers during a debate on future school transfer arrangements in the Sinn Fein heartland of west Belfast

The Education minister was criticised by parents of P6 pupils — whose children will be the first to transfer under the new system after the 11-plus is scrapped later this year — during last night’s event at St Mary’s University College on the Falls Road.

The panel discussion organised by the West Belfast Partnership Board was attended by more than 200 people and also featured grammar school spokesman Sir Kenneth Bloomfield, former secondary school principal Michelle Marken and Professor Tony Gallagher, head of the School of English at Queen’s University.

One P6 mother walked out of the hall during the discussion shouting at the minister: “You are failing our kids by the way. Just so you know.”

Another emotional parent said: “My son is not being traumatised by the transfer procedure. He is being traumatised by the lack of answers that we are getting. He asked me as I was leaving tonight: ‘Mummy will you ask am I going to be sitting the test?’ I just need a yes or no answer.”

A father of another P6 child said: “This is an absolute shambles. I feel such anger that I do not have a clue what is going to happen to my child next year.”

A teacher, also the parent of a nine-year-old, said: “This is more than a vacuum. It is a mess and chaos and I think what the Department of Education is doing is close to child abuse.”

The minister outlined her proposal to phase out academic selection over three years, but admitted that this needs cross-party support within the Assembly.

If no political agreement is reached she said non-academic admissions criteria would be set by schools’ board of governors but confirmed the education system would be unregulated.

“Unionists have sought to make it as difficult as possible to go down the Executive route,” Ms Ruane claimed. “In the absence of legislation I have to plan for all eventualities and that is what I am doing. We will manage the change and set fair admissions criteria for schools.

“If there is no political agreement, we will also manage enrolment numbers to make sure that secondary schools do not suffer the brunt of demographic decline. Your children will get a good education and a much better education than under the current system.”

Speaking to the Belfast Telegraph after the debate, one woman said: “I came with a group of P6 mothers and I expected answers but we didn’t get any. We are extremely frustrated and would have liked the minister to clearly answer our questions.

“Because of the current political vacuum there is no forum where this issue can be sorted out. They are using our children as pawns in a political battle between the two main political parties and children are the ones that are suffering.”

Sir Ken, who represents 30 grammars already working on establishing their own entrance tests, said: “The minister threatens us all the time with various legal sanctions but we are not complete fools and have taken very heavyweight legal advice.

“Unless the Executive and then the Assembly makes academic selection unlawful, it will remain lawful. There is no prospect of the consensual agreement in the Assembly that would be needed for this.

“We would prefer the politicians to hammer out an agreement. We are establishing a common entrance test only because of the vacuum in policy.”

Ms Marken, former principal of St Joseph’s College, said: “It is a fallacy that only grammar schools can provide a good education. It is also folklore that secondary schools are filled with unruly pupils and inferior teachers.”

Sony adds duo to digital photo frame collection 0 comments

Sony has added its first ever 10 inch model to its S-Frame series of digital photo frames.

The 10 inch DPF-D100 is also joined by the smaller, 8 inch DPG-D80, both of which feature high quality SVGA resolution LCD displays and will be the first digital photo frames from Sony that come with an aspect ratio of 4:3.

Sony adds that the new models also boast an advanced image processing feature that "quickly decodes and displays images".

This tech can handle images up to 48 megapixels in size.

Both the DPF-D100 and DPF-D80 come with 200MB of internal memory, but are also compatible with Memory Stick PRO, Memory Stick PRO Duo, SD, MMC, Compact Flash, Microdrive and xD-Picture cards.

Other features include an automatic orientation sensor, 10 different slide show variations, clock and calendar views and an automatic power on/off setting.

The DPF-D80 and DPF-D100 digital photo frames will be around $180 and $280.

Sony Reader PRS-505 e-book – First Look 0 comments

Full review

30 July 2008 - Digital books are finally coming of age having been talked about at great length. But can Sony’s offering impress? Pocket-lint got hands-on with the new Sony Reader for a First Look.

Wrapped in a leather cover, you could easily mistake the Reader for a Moleskine notebook or diary and doesn’t look out of place on your mahogany desk. The cover conveniently stays shut thanks to a couple of magnets. The overall impression you get is not of something barging into the book world with its fancy ways, but casually introducing itself without being too pretentious. The Reader doesn’t forego classic styling to boast about its technological credentials (from the outside at least), and that is something of its appeal.

The inside of the cover was a light grey, not so far removed from colour of the reader itself, and this isn’t just convenient design, it means that you aren’t distracted from the screen – it serves, in a sense, to make the Reader feel more like a book.

The Reader powers on using a slide switch on the top, next to the memory slots for Sony’s Memory Stick Pro, and standard SD card, which, let’s face it, is probably going to see more use. But we’ll come back to these.

Also adorning the face of the Reader are numbered buttons from 1 to 0 down the right-hand side of the screen. Across the bottom are a number of controls, a main four-way controller and "enter" button, the Menu button, the Zoom control, Bookmark and page turn controls. Tucked tidily away on the right edge of the device are additional page turn buttons so you could say the reading surface is a little busy.

The duplication in controls is again a deliberate move to give you an option, the right edge buttons fall into a convenient place to allow you to shift through pages in a natural holding position; the same could be said of the page turners located bottom left – if you are holding the book by the virtual spine, then you can use these with a thumb.

Into the menu itself and you are presented with a number of ways to browse your books – by title, author, collections and so on. Of course the first option is simply to "Continue Reading" should you have found your way back into the menu rather than just closing the cover on the page you were on.

Menu navigation is either by the four-way controller, or you can use the right-hand numbered buttons to shortcut straight to the option you want and this principle works throughout the menus. The number buttons also allow you to type in a page number and go directly to that point, but more on this later.

Menu navigation can be a little slow unfortunately, and at times we found that the cursor had jumped down the page following too many button presses, probably because of the rate at which the E Ink page changes. Plenty has been written about E Ink on this site and elsewhere, so we won’t cover that ground here.

Bookmark, as it suggests, allows you to virtually fold over the corner of a page to mark your position in a book – this then falls into the Bookmarks section of the menu. If two of you are reading different novels, you can just go straight back into your reading via a bookmark – or show the page to someone else, perhaps on a collaborative project. That said, there didn’t appear to be a keyword search, which would open up a range of possibilities for the Reader.

The dedicated Zoom button allows you to flip through three different font sizes – called small, medium and large surprisingly enough – depending on how much information you want on the page. The page numbering also then changes, so you’ll have to be careful using the aforementioned direct page selection to make sure you end up on the right page 214, for example. Again, this might be useful for referring to pages with research buddies, so long as the text size is also recorded.

Lurking at the bottom of the menu you’ll gain access to the other features – a picture browser and MP3 player. We slipped in the SD card from a camera and it automatically refreshed to display image thumbnails from the card – yes, it is only in greyscale and not great quality, but if you want to put in a few shots of the wife and kids for those long business trips then they’ll take on something of a regal appearance.

The audio playback works with the headphone socket on the bottom of the Reader, with a volume control, meaning you can listen to music whilst reading, for that complete in-flight experience, shutting out the world around you.

The E-Ink screen should be familiar to all those interested in ebooks, and whilst I was sceptical, I actually found it an enthralling experience. Easy on the eye, the only comment would perhaps be that once you add the bezel of the device to the white space of the virtual page, it can feel a little cramped: we would have liked a bigger screen (the Reader has a 6-inch display), perhaps at the expense of the numbered buttons down the side.

Verdict

The Sony Reader is one of many ways of consuming the written word, but doesn’t feel out of place. It won’t replace that feeling of running your fingers along a shelf of well-loved books, but it is a better experience than reading a PDF book on your notebook computer.

Lurking in the pre-loaded content were titles you probably meant to read long ago and perhaps now will. Of course, during our First Look we didn’t get to experience loading new content or explore the delivery options, but from what we have seen, the Sony Reader looks like it has the makings of a classic.

The Sony Reader is available to pre-order from Waterstones.

Logitech secures homes with new camera system 0 comments

Logitech reckons you can set-up its new video security system in just 15 minutes.

And it also claims that the system is a fraction of the cost of rival security set-ups, and you don't have to configure a network or run any new wires.

The system comprises three cameras - one of which you can choose to come with the system - and then buy the others separately. The system can take up to six cameras.

They are the outside camera, internal camera - which stick to glass - and then the covert camera.

The system is based around Logitech's wireless video HomePlug technology, which connects and transmits video data over your home’s existing electrical wiring.

To get the system running, users have to install the Logitech Command Center PC software, connect the USB receiver and then plug in their cameras.

Logitech adds that the HomePlug encrypts the video from the cameras, so it’s secure.

The software allows you to watch live video or review recorded video.

The cameras also detect motion and record video directly to your PC’s hard drive, and the interface allows you to set how much memory you are going to allocate to the videos.

Another nifty feature - users can log into a password-protected online account to view live video online from an Internet-connected PC or a Windows Mobile mobile phone.

The Logitech Outdoor Video Security Master System is £249 and then it is £199 for each additional camera.

We got a demo of the system at the UK launch so make sure you watch out for the video.

Related links

Link - Logitech

OWC Unveils Blu-Ray Burner 0 comments

OWC (Other World Computing) have announced their latest product, the OWC Mecury Pro Blu-Ray Drive. You can connect it to your computer via FireWire 400/800, USB 2.0 and eSATA. Not only will it read Blu-Ray but write it as well, along with DVD, DVD-RAM, CD-R and CD-RW. This Blu-Ray drive will be compatible with both Macs and PCs and will work alongside iDVD, etc.

The OWC Mercury Pro Blu-Ray drive will set you back $400, but as it’s the first of it’s kind prices should drop once other manufacturers jump in.

Netflix Adds Two More Blu-ray Players To Their Instant Streaming Service 0 comments

Just when you thought you found the perfect Blu-ray player, the LG BD300, Netflix goes and teams up with yet another Blu-ray player manufacture and blesses it with Netflix streaming. So how do you score this wonderful unlimited streaming action? Via a free Firmware upgrade of course, but it’s only available to owners, or soon to be owners of Samsung’s BD-P2550 and BD-P2500 Blu-ray players. Additionally, Netflix says they expect to add this feature to other Samsung products.

And this whole time I thought there were some special hardware components inside the LG BD300 that enabled Netflix streaming. I wonder how LG feels? It’s been just days since the release of the LG BD300 and they can’t be none too happy.

The upgrade, which isn’t posted yet, is available here

Another Official ‘Quantum of Solace’ Sony Laptop Emerges 0 comments

A few weeks back we reported that this year’s Bond - or 007 in some circles - had chosen the Sony Viao Z series laptop as his computer of choice. Either Sony changed their mind or we totally got the facts wrong. For fear of sounding stupid, I’m gonna place the blame squarely on Sony and their money hungry execs. Instead, it looks like they’ve NOW opted, or Bond has opted for the recently released Sony Vaio TT Notebook as his espionage machine of choice. Like all doulbe ‘O’ gear, it’s carbon fiber casing is branded with the infamous ‘007′ insignia, comes with a leather carrying sleeve, noise canceling headphones and is limited to a production of 100 units.

If you wanna snag one go here, but it’ll cost $2,400.

Firefox Minefield Fastest Browser On Planet? 0 comments

Watch out Google Chrome, there’s a new player in town and its name is…Firefox? Mozilla’s Minefield browser figures to be the fastest gun in the west (or east) and initial reports indicate that it’s true. It’s still in alpha phase but Minefield absolutely blazes with a javascript engine that’s 10% faster than Chrome. Yup, the word you’re looking for is ’smoked’.

Download the latest build here.

Recover your (MMC) Memory card password 0 comments

It may happen that you have forgot your mms password, may be because you have not used it for a very long time or simply you just want to recover the password. I hope the following methods will work well for you. Just try out these methods and leave come comments and help us in serving you better.

Method 1:

1. The foremost thing you need to do is install the system explorer or file explorer tool.

2. The next thing you need to do is to navigate to mmcstore file in the system folder in c drive.

3. Just open the file using any hex code editor.

4. The file on opening will show some information along with the password of your mmc.

5. Just to save yourself from any future trouble you can also save the file as text file which can be opened by any text editor.

Method 2:

This method is well suited if you can’t get any hex code editor. What you need to do exactly is just connect the phone to your pc and navigate to the same file. Then you need to copy the file on your desktop and open it with any editor, for instance notepad or Microsoft word. Once it is opened the file will show the password. Just let us know did this method server your purpose and leave back your comment.

Free blogging and IM with Mobispine 0 comments

Mobispine is a very easy to install application and has a very easy to understand user interface with which you can enjoy instant messaging along the benefits of blogging.
Key features:
1. The chat feature in Mobispine is fully stuffed with quite a lot of utilities. You can send audio, video attachments, manage your contacts, send the list to the contact you want to and many more features which are left for you to discover.
2. You can also send the message directly to your blog by simply typing the message by selecting the new message option. Add any audio/video content you want to add and then simply send is to a blog.
3. Mobispine also ensures minimum bandwidth usage as it has been optimized to bandwidth consumption as low as possible. The developers of Mobispine have put in some serious effort in making this application.
4. The best part is that Mobispine is available as a free and full download with no hidden extra costs.
5. Mobispine is available in many languages and you can download Mobispine in any language you want for free.

Tweet from your mobile phone with Tiny Twitter 0 comments

The latest and the hottest application around is twitter and there are many reasons you get addicted to twitter. With twitter you can send messages which are posted as tiny blogs on your twitter page and in this way you keep in touch with your friends and with your blog no matter where you are. With Tiny Twitter mobile application you can do this all from your mobile phone.

Key features of Tiny Twitter:

1. You can send messages and you can also check your feeds but the minimum requirement is that you need to have a windows mobile phone.
2. Tiny Twitter also has a word count which lets you know how many more characters you can write as you are writing your so called nano blog.
3. Whats really cool with this new and updated Tiny Twitter is that you can also add media into your blog which was earlier available as feature in the full twitter application.
4. If you want to enter your precise location with Tiny Twitter you can do that also.
5. However Tiny Twitter has got a new look and better designed user interface which offers full functionality but it still lacks out on many of the other features.

[More...]

So download the mobile Tiny Twitter and let the world know what you are upto.


Download Tiny Twitter

To see the list of supported phones

http://tiny-twitter.en.softonic.com/java/compatible-devices

Scosche Passport Makes New iPods Work with Older Firewire Dock Chargers 0 comments

Chances are, if you have an iPod integration system from a year or two back, it will not be compatible with the iPhone 3G, Nano 4G, or Touch 2G. The Scosche Passport is the first solution to this problem, an adapter that negotiates power, audio and video from new iPods to car iPod hookups. That purpose alone is pretty cool, but we think that it might work to make old iPod docks compatible as well. We'll get our hands on one to test.

Intel starts shipping X25-E enterprise-class solid-state drives 0 comments

Intel today announced that it has started shipping its highest-performing solid-state drive (SSD), the Intel X-25E Extreme SATA Solid-State Drive, aimed at server, workstation and storage systems. Unlike mechanical drives, the SSDs contain no moving parts and instead feature 50nm single-level cell (SLC) NAND flash memory technology. According to Intel, the Intel X25-E increases system performance by 100 times over hard disk drives as measured in Input/Output Per Second (IOPS).

Space Invaders themed alarm clock to wake you up into the 80s 0 comments

Looks like the makers of Space invaders did something good with all the quarters that it gobbled up in my youth. Taito, the original makers of the classic arcade title, have come out with an alarm clock that is a tribute to the highly successful game of that time. As an alarm clock it does what it’s supposed to do with its clock, calendar, snooze button it also wakes you up with the sounds of the space invaders game.

SteriPEN - water sterilizer gadget for travelers 0 comments

If you travel often, you'll probably know that drinking water from unknown sources can be hazardous for your health. No matter how clean it seems, it can be home for many hazardous bacteria. That's why such water needs to be boiled every time before drinking. But what if you can't boil it, maybe because you don't have any kettle or ability to heat it? This modern gadget will help you make it safe for drinking, without boiling at all!

This interesting piece of modern technology, named SteriPEN, is made especially for that purpose - to eliminate any bacteria and viruses that can live in water. It makes this work using UV rays, which are proven to be deadly for those microscopic enemies. SteriPEN is very easy to use - turn it on, take off the lid and place one end into a glass of water. After short time, all viruses should be eliminated for sure. Water is safe for drinking and you have no need to carry your kettle around.

If you have some doubts that this is an effective way of disinfecting, let those researches convince you. UV rays were used for disinfection for nearly 90 years. It was used in hospitals, city water systems and bottling plants. SteriPEN has been tested by four universities, and results were amazing - it destroyed 99.9999% of bacteria, 99.99% of viruses and 99.9% of protozoa. This sterilizing pen was tested against different stomach hurting life forms such as E. coli, Salmonella Typhimurium, Poliovirus, Rotavirus, Klebsiella terrigena, Streptococcus faecalis, Bacillus subtilis, common yeast, Coliphage MS2, Giardia and Cryptosporidum, and it won against every one of them.

One of the advantages this gadget brings is that you can take it everywhere you go; it is small and convenient to carry around in your pocket because of its small weight - only 225g. SteriPEN purifies half a liter of water in just 48 seconds, so you won't wait too long to drink that shiny and crystal clear (at first sight) water.

SteriPEN would be a must-have for people who like to travel, and who care about health. It is a no-brainer that it is wiser to avoid drinking from risky rivers, lakes or springs - if it is infected by viruses or bacteria, there may be heavy consequences. Even if you are equipped with such gadgets as this, don't forget that it is always better to drink from the safe and clean sources of water.

A Basic, Simple Guide for Buying Digital Cameras 0 comments

It has been more than one and a half century since the process of photography has been invented. Some call it a science, most argue it is an art. Though the nineteenth century was filled with experimenters, the twentieth century was filled with people who really fell in love with the art of photography. All one did was, save money, lots of it, buy a good camera, click nice pictures, develop them and them show it to other people.

Atronic and Cantor Gaming Sign Exclusive Deal 0 comments

Cantor Gaming and ATRONIC, a leading global slot machine manufacturer, have entered into a second agreement that gives Cantor Gaming exclusive use of a wider range of games for online and handheld use. This deal will launch ATRONIC slots content in Cantor's handheld and online gaming formats. The new online and handheld games are based on popular ATRONIC slot games, such as the classic SPHINX(TM) theme.

Analog Devices unveils audio codecs 0 comments

Analog Devices (ADI) has extended its line of audio processing products with a pair of codecs for portable audio electronics that deliver long battery life without compromising audio quality. The ADAU1361 and ADAU1761 24-bit audio codecs are suited for wireless handsets, portable media players, portable navigation devices, digital still cameras and other mobile audio and telephony applications The ADAU1361 achieves greater than 100dB signal-to-noise ratio (SNR).

How to access network computer 0 comments

If you are on network and want to access other network computers and their Files/Folders (If they shared) then you need to know their computers name or computer IP address. Via computer name of computer IP address you can access files. here are the details

How to get my computer name
01. Click on "Start" menu.
02. Click on "Run Command".
03. Type "cmd" (without quotes) and press Enter.
04. Windows XP "Command Prompt" utility will appear.
- a. Type command "HostName" (without quotes).
Your computer name will appear.

Access other computers
To access other computers you should know their names. now here are the steps..
01. Click on "Start" menu.
02. Click on "Run Command".
03. Type "\\IPAddress or ComputerName" and press Enter.



After this process target computer will open and you can see shared folders and access their files.

How to share files and folders 0 comments

Sharing of Files and Folders is very easy on Microsoft Windows XP. If your computer is on network and you want to share your files and folders with other users of network then you must share your folder. Here are the steps to share folder over network.

1. Right click on Folder.




2. Click on "Sharing and Security" option.



3. Select "Share this folder" option.

Note: If you want to set write permissions for network users then click on "Permissions" button. After set write permissions network users can copy their files into this folder and can delete files and folders in this folder.

Internet Connection Sharing 0 comments

Internet Connection Sharing is a built-in feature of Windows 98, ME, 2000, XP and Vista. If you have private network at your school or office. ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) is best feature to share internet on your private network. ICS shares every protocol and service to the client computers provided by ISP. Some ISPs provide SMTP server access and some not so exact services and protocol will forward to the client computers.

How to configure ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) on Windows XP
Here are steps for share internet connection using ICS.
Step 1
Set your LAN (Connected Network Card with Private Network) IP as 192.168.0.1
Step 2
Open internet connection properties



Step 3
Select Advanced Tab
Step 4
Click and check on "Allow other network users to connect through this computer's Internet connection"

That's All! Internet Connection Sharing is enabled. Client computers will get IP address automatically and internet will run on every computer of private network. ICS (Internet Connection Sharing) is simple to configure.

Windows Registry Tips 0 comments

What is Windows Registry?

Microsoft Windows Registry is a Windows database that stores Windows settings for applications and hardware devices for one or more users. If you are an advanced windows user then you can change Windows settings by changing Windows registry. Registry contain information that continually updates during Windows operations like user profiles, applications installed on Windows, types of documents that each can create, property settings for folders, application icons, what hardware exists on system and the ports that being used by hardware etc.
If you have plan to edit or update your registry then take backup your system and registry.

How to backup and restore the registry in Windows?

If you want take backup automatically by Microsoft's Guided Help then click on http://support.microsoft.com/?scid=aw;en-us;322756&eula=1 and download registry guided help.

* You must be logged on as Administrator account
* You must be running an English version of Windows XP Home Edition, Windows XP Professional, Windows XP Media Center Edition, or Windows XP Tablet PC Edition to install and to use this Guided Help.

Manual steps to back up the registry

1. Click Start, click Run, type %SystemRoot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe, and then click OK.
2. On the Welcome to System Restore page, click Create a restore point, and then click Next.
3. On the Create a Restore Point page, type a name for the restore point and then click Create.
4. After the restore point has been created, click Close.

Note If System Restore is turned off, you receive a message that asks whether you want to turn on System Restore now. Click Yes. Then, in the System Properties dialog box, click to clear the Turn off System Restore check box, click OK, and then repeat this step.

Manual steps to restore the registry

1. Click Start, click Run, type %SystemRoot%\system32\restore\rstrui.exe, and then click OK.
2. On the Welcome to System Restore page, click Restore my computer to an earlier time (if it is not already selected), and then click Next.
3. On the Select a Restore Point page, click the system checkpoint. In the On this list select the restore point area, click an entry that is named "Guided Help (Registry Backup)," and then click Next. If a System Restore message appears that lists configuration changes that System Restore will make, click OK.
4. On the Confirm Restore Point Selection page, click Next. System Restore restores the previous Windows XP configuration and then restarts the computer.
5. Log on to the computer. When the System Restore confirmation page appears, click OK.

Get visitors IP address 0 comments

If you want to get your web site visitor's IP address then PHP provides you complete solution for this. I made a function to get IP address of visitor.

function visitorip() {
if (getenv('HTTP_CLIENT_IP')) $ip = getenv('HTTP_CLIENT_IP');
elseif (getenv('HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR')) $ip = getenv('HTTP_X_FORWARDED_FOR');
elseif (getenv('HTTP_X_FORWARDED')) $ip = getenv('HTTP_X_FORWARDED');
elseif (getenv('HTTP_FORWARDED_FOR')) $ip = getenv('HTTP_FORWARDED_FOR');
elseif (getenv('HTTP_FORWARDED')) $ip = getenv('HTTP_FORWARDED');
else $ip = $_SERVER['REMOTE_ADDR'];
return $ip;
}

echo "Your IP address is ".visitorip();
?>
In result web site visitor's ip address will appear. In example above i made a function named visitorip() will check all conditions for getting ip and will return ip address. echo command of PHP will receive ip address will display on page.

Get current URL in php 0 comments

PHP programmers need sometimes current page URL to show or save in database. There is no built-in function exist in PHP to get current page url. I made a function to show current page URL.

I used the following built-in $_SERVER array in this function. If you want to show all element return by $_SERVER array then you can use these commands.

echo "

";
   print_r ($_SERVER);
   echo "

";
?>

All elements by $_SERVER will appear in your browser window.

I made function which returns current page URL:

function currenturl() {
$s = empty($_SERVER["HTTPS"]) ? '' : ($_SERVER["HTTPS"] == "on") ? "s" : "";
$protocol = strleft(strtolower($_SERVER["SERVER_PROTOCOL"]), "/").$s;
$port = ($_SERVER["SERVER_PORT"] == "80") ? "" : (":".$_SERVER["SERVER_PORT"]);
return $protocol."://".$_SERVER['SERVER_NAME'].$port.$_SERVER['REQUEST_URI'];
}

function strleft($s1, $s2) {
return substr($s1, 0, strpos($s1, $s2));
}
?>

Example using function above:

echo currenturl();
?>

Download Free video / audio software 0 comments

Even those serious computer users use their computer to listen to songs or view video clips during their leisure. The Windows Media Player in your windows OS will allow you to use and open both audio and video files. However if you have other popular video and audio software you can handle these multimedia files more efficiently. You can also use your audio and video cds more effectively.

Free Audio Software

1. Music Match Jukebox is an essential and handy audio software which you must have in your computer. You can use audio files using this software. Music match jukebox also can convert your audio cds into MP3 songs and you can create mp3 cds. Likewise you can convert mp3 files to audio cd format. You can also use this software to print labels for your CDs and CD boxes as well as the table of contents for cds. You can download Music Match Jukebox from www.musicmatch.com
2. If you do not have WinAmp audio software then you are strongly encouraged to download WinAmp from www.winamp.com and install it. WinAmp can also playback video.
3. 'Audio Catalist' is another audio software that can convert audio cd format files and wave format files to mp3 format. You can download audio catalyst from www.xingtech.com

Free Video Software

1. VCD cutter is a very handy video software. When you are viewing a video on screen, you can use VCD cutter to save this whole video or part of the video to your hard disk. If you just want to copy the audio from the video file you are watching you can also do it using VCD cutter. You can also use VCD cutter to add audio to video files. VCD cutter can also convert AVI video format files to MPEG format. You can download VCD cutter from http://www.topdownloads.net/software/view.php?id=9743
2. TMPGENC is a free software that you can download from www.tmpgenc.net TMPGENC allows you to convert any video format to another video format. For example you can convert AVI format to DAT format or DAT format to MPEG format and so on.
3. EasydivX is another free video software which can be downloaded from http://easydivx.does.it You can save video from your DVDs into your hard disk converting them to AVI or MP3 formats,
4. Power DVD XP is another free video software that handles all the existing dvd formats and can be downloaded from www.gocyberlink.com

How to create cover page in MS Access? 0 comments

Many generate reports using Access 97, Access 2000, Access 2002 and Access 2003 software. Then they take print outs of these reports. But only then will they realize that it would be nice if there was a 'cover page'. Generally, a cover page will have details such as the Objective of the report, Abstract, Recipients details, Report Title and any other information about the author.

Usually, many create 'cover pages' for reports generated in MS Access in MS Word. Then they distribute the report generated in MS Access together with the cover page created in Word. If you distribute the printed copy then you can combine these two documents and then distribute together. But if you need to send an email to others then you will have to attach two files as attachment and the recipient will have to open two files one in Word and the other in Access.

Instead of attaching two files if you could just send one file (.MDB) won't it be better. This is possible only if you can create a cover page using MS Access.

Steps to create cover page in MS Access

In a report, there are many sections such as 'Report Header', 'Page Header', Details' and 'Page Footer'. The Report Header will only appear in the beginning of the report. Similarly the Report Footer will only appear at the end of the report. Page Header and Page Footer will appear at the top and bottom of each page respectively. The 'Details' section will appear in each line.

To create a cover page in MS Access you will have to carry out the following four activities.

1. You have to open the Access Report in 'Design View'
2. Increase the height of the 'Report Header' to occupy the whole page
3. The contents of the coverpage has to be typed in this 'Report Header' section
4. Insert a 'Page break' at the end so that the report starts from the next page.

What is Koffice ? Koffice vs MS Office 0 comments

Those who use Windows Operating System, use Microsoft's Office suite of applications which comprises of MS Word, MS Excel, MS PowerPoint etc. The Microsoft Office software is very useful but not available free. For those who wonder if there is any free office software then you can try switching to Linux from Windows. In Linux, KOffice is a free and wonderful office software suite. Not only KOffice, you can also try the free OpenOffice in linux.

KDE is a linux desktop environment and KOffice is the short form of KDE Office which runs in this environment. You can get details about the KOffice at www.koffice.org

Here are the applications that constitute KOffice.

KWord

KWord is similar to MS Word and is a word processor. You can use KWord to create documents.

KSpread

KSpread is similar to MS Excel and is a spreadsheet application. You can use KSpread to do mathematical calculations and create charts.

KPresenter

KPresenter is similar to MS PowerPoint and is a Presentation software. You can use KPreseter to create slide shows.

In addition to the three applications mentioned above, KOffice also contains KChart, KPlato, Krita, Kontour, Kformula, Kugar, Kivio.

Right from the old RedHat to the latest linux distros such as SuSe, Mandrake, Debian etc, you will find KOffice. KOffice is available in both RPM format as well as tar.bz2 format. You can download KOffice at www.koffice.org and install it in your linux computer.

It is important to note that you can use your existing documents created in MS Word or Excel in KOffice. You can open MS Word documents in KWord. Similarly you can open Workbooks created in MS Excel in KSpread.

KWord features

If you are familiar with MS Word then it is easy for you to change and adapt to KWord. Most of the menus and tool bars are similar in both MS Word and KWord. Even functionalities are almost the same.

You can format letters, paragraphs, pages just like in MS Word. In short all that you can do in MS Word, you can also do in KWord.

You can insert Footnote, Endnote, Hyperlink and others in KWord. Similarly header, footer, page numbers also can be inserted.

Spelling correction and 'Auto Correction' features are available in KWord.

Just like the MS Word, KWord also has the 'Multi columns' feature which enables showing the document in many sections or vertically.

KSpread features

Like Excel, KSpread also has many worksheets in a workbook. You can do your calculations in each of these worksheets. You can use formula and functions in cells.

You can create charts based on data in selected cells. You can create many types of charts. You can convert one type of chart to another type.

You can use the data in a spreadsheet as a small database. You can sort the data based on acending or descending order of numbers or text.

How to find information about only the best gadgets released? 0 comments

When you want to look some information about gadgets in the Internet, it is easy to get lost in huge quantity of "junk" news that are overwhelming on the most of the gadget-themed blogs. Interesting and worth paying attention for gadgets easily got buried under tons of minor news articles, that are either non informative or uninteresting.

This is why it is important to know websites that filter information about new gadgets to bring only the most interesting ones, just like Gadget Advisor. If you want to look for an interesting piece of electronics, read about latest novelties - this website could be your best guide. These guys review only the best from the gadget world - from the network media player to universal remote control. They even take closer to computer theme and make interesting articles regarding online backup services comparison and other cool stuff.

If you appreciate your time, you will not filter news that you want to read only by yourself. Let the blogs like Gadget Advisor to do this job for you. It is surely the faster and most convenient way to stay sharp and be informed about new interesting and curious gadgets.

New hybrid scooter concept from Peugeot 0 comments

Nowadays, when everybody is concerned about energy crisis and ecological problems, appear many interesting concept vehicles that are designed to be more ecologically clean and efficient. Amounts of hybrid cars that run both on fuel and electricity are increasing every year, which is a very good tendency. Even scooters didn't avoid "environmentalisation", and appear many concepts of scooters that run completely on electricity or on a hybrid engines. This time, well-known French car manufacturer Peugeot decided to present their vision on the environment-friendly scooter.

This concept is interestingly combined from many previous ideas, taken from other manufacturers. It combines best sides of BMW C1, Piaggio MP3 and Toyota Prius - roof, windshield and driver protection from the first, two front wheels from second and hybrid engine from third. Thanks to the hybrid engine, it can operate in three modes - fuel-only, hybrid or electric-only mode. Front wheels are equipped with two 4hp electric engines - one for each wheel, while rear wheel is driven by 25hp 125cc combustion engine. It is designed to primarily use electric engines and to turn off rear wheel engine if it is not necessary, for example in traffic jams. Another interesting feature is system of recuperative braking which charges batteries while braking, so batteries are constantly recharged while driving in a city. Electric engine usage radically improved consumption of fuel - new concept scooter "eats" only 1 l of gas for 190 km! There is no information about battery capacity, so it is unknown, how far it will go in electric mode before batteries run dry.

Peugeot made an interesting move - they want to play on the recent wave of ecologically friengly vehicles, and their concept looks great. Even if it is only an idea now, it has big chances to be mass produced. As was proved by BMW C1, scooter with a driver protection and windshield is a very good way to stimulate usage of small scooters instead of cars. Maybe this conceptual scooter will be able not only to reduce the fuel consumption and air pollution, but it will help in decreasing traffic jams that occur in big cities very often.

The Best of the best" gadget reviews 0 comments

There is a lot of information that we are interested on the Internet. We can find everything from news to jokes, from newspapers to videos online. However, it is very difficult to filter out all the information that appears on the web.

This is where websites like Gadget Advisor come in handy. They filter out the information for us and give us only the best examples of electronics and gadgets produced. For example, engadget specializes on giving us the information about almost every gadget or electronic devices produced, as opposed to filtered information about the most interesting and cool stuff like these network media player and universal remote control.

Here is where you can find all sorts of reviews from gadget reviews to online backup services. The best way to get good information from the internet is reading blogs like Gadget Advisor that give the fullest and newest information about gadgets.

What is Star Office? MS Office Vs Star Office 0 comments

The competitors of Microsoft always celebrate when there is any case against Microsoft or if a free Software is launched similar to Microsoft's Products. But those who are unbiased should always weigh the pros and cons of any software before judging the winner.

Sun Micro system's Star Office is the direct competitor of Microsoft's MS Office. Star Office software was free until its 5th version. Therefore Star Office was well received by computer users. Better still the features in Star Office was more or less similar to MS Office.

But from Star Office Version 6, it was not free. However it is still far cheaper than MS Office. Here we will see the features available in Star Office and see its Pros and Cons.

Components in Star Office

Star Office Version 7 consists of Writer (a word processor), calc (a spreadsheet), adabas (a database), draw (a drawing program) and Impress (a presentation software).

You can use Star Office in Windows 98/NT/2000/XP, with Pentium processor, 64MB RAM and 256 MB free hard disk space.

Writer

1. If you have ever worked in MS Word, it is very easy for you to use Writer. You can even save the file you create in Writer as a 'Word 97/2000/2002/6.0' document. Similarly you can open a .Doc file using Writer.
2. You can also save your document in Writer as RTF, Text or HTML format.
3. You can insert tables, images and charts in Writer. Similar to MS Word, Writer also has Auto text and Auto Correct features. Auto Complete facility is also available. Which means when you type the first two or three letters of a word, Writer will prompt you with the full word. This reduces typing time.
4. Spelling checker and grammer checker are also available in Writer. You can also send the document created in Writer through email.
5. Writer can also convert the document you create into a PDF file.

calc

1. Similar to MS Excel, calc is a spreadsheet application. If the text you typed in a cell cannot fit inside the cell then 'calc' will display a small red arrow at the end of the cell.
2. You can save the file you created in calc as MS Excel file or to a dbase database. You can also open Excel files in Calc.
3. You can use the data in calc file to mail merge in writer document. You can also generate many beautiful charts.

Adabas

Comparing to MS Access database, adabas is a very simple database. Very less features are available. However adabas can open ODBC, JDBC and MySQL databases. An adabas database cannot exceed 100MB storage size. Another restriction is that only three users can access the adabas database over the network. Due to all these difficulties not many people like adabas. Adabas doesn't have distributed database facility

Impress

Impress is a presentation software like MS PowerPoint. Animation and Transition effects are some of the features available in Impress. Plenty of templates are available in Impress. Therefore anybody can create a presentation using Impress very easily. You can also convert an Impress presentation into a HTML format and publish it in your website.

Draw

1. Compared to MS Paint, Star Office Draw is more powerful and has many additional features. It is sure that everybody will like the Draw application. You can use Star Office draw to create Vector graphics, Animated GIF and even 3D graphics.
2. Draw is also capable of handling many different image formats. You can create buttons and images in GIF, JPG or PNG format and use it in your website. You can also convert the graphics that you create in Draw into PDF, HTML or even shockwave flash format.

Pros of Star Office

* Very cheap.
* Star Office Draw software is very powerful.
* Conversion to PDF is also a plus

Cons of Star Office

* Star Office adabas database is very inferior