Curious World Of Benchmarking

Curious World Of Benchmarking

As computer hardware continues to improve, it is often hard for even the latest software to actually take advantage of the latest innovations. This means that the most sophisticated computers are generally not being pushed to their full potential. While they can run the newest software with astonishing smoothness and speed, this well within the ability of older computers as well.
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rAutomobile technology operates in a similar manner. The latest and most powerful cars typically use technology that isn't helpful on normal roads. There is almost no practical use for the kind of horsepower that delivers speeds that would guarantee you a trip to the county jail. While there are some niche markets where the cutting edge of performance is legitimately practical, such as race cars and trucks used for carrying equipment, but the typical vehicle owner will never find a legitimate use for such horsepower. Instead, many people who have no realistic use for it purchase costly and unreasonably powerful cars as status symbols.
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rThis tradition can be seen in the progression of computer technology as well. Advanced computer equipment will deliver considerable but essentially gratuitous differences in performance. There are people that will pay untold sums of money to obtain computer hardware that totally outpaces the demands of available software. These users like to show off with unique builds that they believe will deliver ideal computer performance. Among members of this community, competition can run rampant as everyone tries to get the newest and fastest hardware configured to deliver supreme performance capability.
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rThe tricks these fanatical users use to compare their first-class PCs are typically referred to as benchmarking. Computer benchmarking is a method of determining the performance capacity of hardware based on a constant set of variables. For example, a gamer could look at average frame rates while playing a specific game at a certain resolution. This is one kind of benchmark. Some hardware companies will disseminate benchmark statistics as a way to promote the performance of their product. This helps customers figure out which parts to get in the future.
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rThere are also specific programs that are used just for benchmarking. For the most powerful parts, this is the only practical way to check their performance at full capacity. Since even new software does not challenge the latest hardware, these programs are made for the sole purpose of stressing your PC. Rapid calculations and other activities are used to produce comparative statistics by which advanced hardware can be judged.
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rThis may seem to be a peculiar pursuit for many reasonable users. Why buy pricey computer hardware that has no real practical function? The answer is in the competitive nature of the computer hardware enthusiast. For some people, nothing gets the blood pumping like a water-cooled behemoth that attains fantastic benchmarks. The system will probably remain functional for a very long time too. Future programs will run with ease
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rThis insular collective explores the great unknown. They investigate the performance of advanced hardware before most consumer programs get the chance. This allows for the dissemination of useful statistics that might help in future technical support applications. It also helps practical users make wise choices about future hardware upgrades. Most of these advanced pieces of hardware will soon be sold at a much lower price. As a result of this information, the normal user will be able to purchase the hardware the gives the best performance on their favorite software.

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Teach you How To Get Live TV On Laptop computer

Teach you How To Get Live TV On Laptop computer

There are many ways of getting live tv on laptop but they vary in terms of number of channels offered, costs as well as portability. The first method is by getting a PCTV USB device. The second method is by using satellite tv software.

A PCTV device, when plugged in to laptops and connected to a broadband wired connection, enables the laptop computer to stream live television channels. A device like that costs a few hundred dollars and can be found at all major PC hardware stores.

Satellite tv software, on the other hand, is a software that enables your desktop or laptop computer to do get live tv on laptop with a broadband wired or wireless connection. The main difference between this and PCTV device is that with satellite television software, you do not need an external device. That means no extra wires and no need to carry additional hardware in you laptop carrier. You also do not need to worry about losing any device.

Whether you are using hardware/software, both methods have a major advantage over conventional satellite tv programme packages, monthly subscription. There is no monthly payment needed for using PCTV or satellite television software to stream live tv on laptop. You only pay a one-time fee for the purchase hardware or software. One interesting thing to note is that a good satellite tv software will cost you no more than $50.

When comparing the two methods, satellite television software has its strong points. Firstly, it is definitely cheaper and requires no hardware. Secondly, it can offer more than 3000 channels worldwide compared to only hundreds for PCTV device. Lastly, the software works just fine with wireless internet, something that cannot be achieved with the PCTV hardware. That means you can, with the software, be watching live tv on laptop in a restaurant or cafe or anywhere in the world with a WIFI connection.

Read full review on how to get live TV on laptop computer or netbook, and start streaming thousands of live satellite feeds at http://www.squidoo.com/watchonlinetvforfree or CLICK HERE to learn more about it

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Managed and Unmanaged Colocation Services

Managed and Unmanaged Colocation Services

There are few points which should be cared of when you are looking for Colocation servers. Follow some simple steps and get the best out of colocation services. First of all there are two type of Colocation services:   


Managed Colocation Center

Choose a managed colocation Data center if you are not technically skilled. If you have difficulties in managing all the software and technologies associated with Web Hosting then managed colocation center is the best option. In managed colocation centers all the hardware is managed by the data center staff on your behalf. These data centers will not only house your servers but also look after troubleshooting, maintenance  and everything else related is done by the data center staff. Fundamentally you rent a server from the colocation centers. Software installations, re-installations, upgrades is all done by data center itself. You will be free from responsibilities but you will be limited to the précised programs and software e.t.c. Before choosing a colocation center choose wisely considering all your requirements.

Unmanaged Colocation Center

A unmanaged colocation center is only take care of the housing and provide it with required infrastructure as racks. All other factors are taken care of from your side, like you have to provide your own servers, software e.t.c. On the first look this process looks completely disadvantageous as all the arrangements have to be done from your side and like maintenance, upgradation of the hardware or troubleshoot. However this sometimes proves beneficial for your business as you will be completely independent on choosing the type of software and hardware. Check the restrictions and look for the services which are best suited.

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What to Do in Case of a Corrupt Or Missing DVD RW Driver

What to Do in Case of a Corrupt Or Missing DVD RW Driver

That is a rather difficult question to answer if we did not know what a driver is. Before we explain the driver concept or look at the DVD RW driver as something that can be resolved easily, what we need to know is that this is the most basic and common of problems in the whole conception of the DVD and the computer world, and this is the knowledge that you need to take with you. Simply put, we need to understand what incisively the driver is, and from there, apologise an understanding at how one of the nigh primary constituents of reckoning in reality works, puts across and services with the procedure of the system itself.
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rWhat you necessitate to know is that the driver is a organization that lines information and educations to the information processing system to make the groundwork of the inner workings of the computer hardware itself. The sub routines and subroutines of the hardware can then be performed as and when asked, and this is the basic function of the hardware driver. If you in truth want to put it in the easiest terms achievable, what the driver is, is a translator that processes to help bridge communication between the unique codifications of the hardware and the software system.
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rDrivers can be looked at in two primary terms, which are the legitimate and the animal layers of their performance. Logical process are appropriated for more network based computer hardware, like computer Ethernet devices or even internet routers, while the corporeal levels are of course for those more internalised computer hardware. Penning a scheme driver is not an accessible task, because the mortal who is going to do this would want to recognise how to in reality base one off of some other, hardware and software, based on platforms. For example, Windows would be one of the platforms that we would be tattling about here. A hardware driver wants to be well programmed because if not, it can either crash the system of rules, the hardware or even affect a universal crash as well.
r
rBut basically, the science of the issue helps us to look at the DVD RW driver and notice how it works. It is simply put, a breakdown of communication that must be resolved, and one of the most common ways that we can do this is to replace the driver that is inside and ensure that a new bridge is built between hardware and software. What you need to do is to make sure that you have the latest versions, and any sources of potential conflict can be easily resolved. At the end of the day, a simple problem like this requires that you approach it simply, and there is no need for you to lug your entire system with you to the technician to effect a sort of repair, for something as basic and as elementary as the DVD RW driver issue.

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Pilih Firefox 3.6 Beta 4 atau Opera 10.10..?

Pilih Firefox 3.6 Beta 4 atau Opera 10.10..?

Firefox 3.6 beta memang sudah dirilis beberapa minggu yang lalu, tapi dari rilis itu masih banyak kelemahan dan  kekurangan yang membuat Firefox mencoba memperbaiki segala kekurangan yang ada.

Kini versi perbaikan dari Firefox 3.6 beta 4 ini telah hadir dengan 100 lebih perbaikan yang diklaim telah dilakukan oleh pihak Firefox, termasuk perbaikan pada add-ons, yang merupakan salah satu value yang dipunyai Firefox yang menjadikannya salah satu browser terdepan bersaing dengan Internet Explorer yang ternyata usernya masih jauh lebih besar dibandingkan dengan browser lain.

Kini hampir 70% Add-ons yang sudah compatible dengan Firefox 3.6 beta 4. Beberapa kelebihan lain yang saya kutip dari blog resmi developer Mozilla yaitu:

• Dukungan untuk HTML5 File API (Baru dalam versi ini)
• Perubahan integrasi software dari pihak ketiga dengan Firefox untuk meningkatkan stabilitas
• Kemampuan untuk menjalankan scripts asynchronously untuk mempercepat load halaman
• Mekanisme baru untuk mencegah perangkat lunak yang tidak kompatibel crash dengan Firefox
• Dengan dukungan Personas yang di built in dalam browser, pengguna dapat mengubah tampilan browser mereka dengan satu klik
• Firefox 3,6 akan memberitahukan pengguna tentang plugin apa saja yang sudah tidak up date agar user tetap aman
• Membuka native video kini dapat ditampilkan dengan layar penuh, dan versi terbaru mendukung poster frames
• Support untuk format font WOFF
• Peningkatan kinerja JavaScript, browser secara keseluruhan respon dan waktu startup.
  Dukungan untuk CSS, DOM dan HTML5 teknologi web

Hampir bersamaan dengan perbaikan dari Firefox ini, Opera juga meluncurkan versi terbaru browser mereka Opera 10.10.

Browser ini menawarkan beberapa fungsi utama yaitu Opera Unite, penyatuan web browser dan web server
dalam satu aplikasi, Opera turbo, Opera Synchronize serta tampilan desain yang sangat futuristik, kalau bisa dibilang keren. Opera sendiri mengklaim bahwa dengan versi 10.10 ini mereka mencoba membuat sebuah terbosan untuk memperbarui cara pandang dan cara bekerja web.

Terus terang, yang pertama kali menarik saya untuk mencoba Opera 10.10 adalah tampilan desainnya yang fututistik itu. Gabungan warna abu-abu, hitam dan merah khas Opera membuat mata saya sedikit berbinar. Tapi setelah mencoba saya malah teringat salah satu web browser yang kini mulai ngetrend, yaitu Flock. Side bar serta beberapa aplikasi seperti up-load foto serta streaming dari social network, betul-betul mengingatkan saya pada Flock.

Beberapa keunggulan dari Opera 10.10 ini memang patut diperhatikan terus, terutama tentang web server dan Opera turbo, meski untuk web server, Opera akan berhadapan langsung dengan teknologi cloud yang kini berkembang terus. Opera turbo memungkinkan Opera secara otomatis mengkonversikan situs atau web yang kita buka dalam bentuk Lite, tentu masih ingat dengan Facebook Lite yang menjadi kabar gembira terutama untuk user internet di negara berkembang seperti Indonesia. Opera 10.10 memberikan 3 opsi aplikasi turbo ini.

Persaingan browser memang sama serunya dengan persaingan search engine dan juga persaingan operating system.

Dengan persiapan munculnya versi resmi Google Chrome extension, sepertinya menanti gebrakan apalagi yang akan dilakukan Firefox 3.6 yang masih dalam tahap beta serta Opera 10.10 yang baru diluncurkan akan membuat hari-hari berselancar di Internet akan semakin menarik. Internet Explorer dengan versi 8 mereka akan terus digempur oleh Chrome, Flock, Firefox, Opera, dan tentu saja Safari.

Jadi bagaimana pendapat anda? Firefox atau Opera, atau anda punya pilihan sendiri, tentu saya sangat penasaran dengan pendapat anda.

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Depressed woman loses benefits over Facebook photos

Depressed woman loses benefits over Facebook photos

A Quebec woman on long-term sick leave is fighting to have her benefits reinstated after her employer's insurance company cut them, she says, because of photos posted on Facebook.

Nathalie Blanchard, shown here on a beach holiday during her sick leave. Nathalie Blanchard, 29, has been on leave from her job at IBM in Bromont, Que., for the last year and a half after she was diagnosed with major depression.

The Eastern Townships woman was receiving monthly sick-leave benefits from Manulife, her insurance company, but the payments dried up this fall.

When Blanchard called Manulife, the company said that "I'm available to work, because of Facebook," she told CBC News this week.

She said her insurance agent described several pictures Blanchard posted on the popular social networking site, including ones showing her having a good time at a Chippendales bar show, at her birthday party and on a sun holiday — evidence that she is no longer depressed, Manulife said.

Blanchard said she notified Manulife that she was taking a trip, and she's shocked the company would investigate her in such a manner and interpret her photos that way.

"In the moment I'm happy, but before and after I have the same problems" as before, she said.

Blanchard said that on her doctor's advice, she tried to have fun, including nights out at her local bar with friends and short getaways to sun destinations, as a way to forget her problems.

She also doesn’t understand how Manulife accessed her photos because her Facebook profile is locked and only people she approves can look at what she posts.
Insurer confirms it uses Facebook

Her lawyer Tom Lavin said Manulife's investigation was inappropriate.

"I don't think for judging a mental state that Facebook is a very good tool," he said, adding that he has requested another psychiatric evaluation for Blanchard.

"It's not as if somebody had a broken back and there was a picture of them carrying …a load of bricks," Lavin said. "My client was diagnosed with a major depression. And there were pictures of her on Facebook, in a party or having a good time. It could be that she was just trying to escape."

Manulife wouldn't comment on Blanchard's case, but in a written statement sent to CBC News, the insurer said: "We would not deny or terminate a valid claim solely based on information published on websites such as Facebook." It confirmed that it uses the popular social networking site to investigate clients.

Insurance companies must weigh information found on such sites, said Claude Distasio, a spokeswoman for the Canadian Life and Health Insurance Association.

"We can't ignore it, wherever the source of the information is," she said. "We can't ignore it."

Blanchard estimated she’s lost thousands of dollars in benefits since Manulife changed her claim.

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How bandwidth hungry is your iPhone?

How bandwidth hungry is your iPhone?

Pretty much anywhere you live, it would appear that the iPhone consumes at least 50% of all mobile data traffic. Whereas the Android has a little catching up to do with just 11% of that mobile data bandwidth consumption.

Of course, the iPhone entered the restaurant first and is already on pudding while Android devices are still nibbling at the starters so to speak. Still, that's more than RIM (BlackBerry) on 7% and eclipses Windows Mobile phones which consume just 3%.

Only Symbian devices are seriously in the bandwidth consumption fight on 25% (a drop of 4% from the previous figures) which could be important if you use this as a metric of real world popularity of smartphones. The Palm Pre dropped 5%, for what it is worth, to 5% of traffic.

The figures come from a new report by AdMob, a mobile advertising specialist, which has billions of adverts on more than 15,000 mobile websites and uses the data from its ad-serving network to produce the figures.

Of course, the numbers might show that iPhones are popular but also that they consume a lot of bandwidth thanks to the success of all those apps. And that is proving to be problematical for some networks which are struggling to cope. Here in the UK, by way of example, O2 has recently announced that it will be building 1500 new network sites across the UK in 2010 with a total investment of hundreds of millions of pounds.

Derek McManus, Chief Technology Officer for O2 in the UK, says "In the past 12 months the mobile industry has seen an unprecedented change in demand. To put this in context, watching a YouTube video on a smartphone can use the same capacity on the network as sending 500,000 text messages simultaneously. We are now aggressively accelerating our network growth programme to ensure we have significant headroom for the future..."

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10 Places To Find Free Fonts For Windows And Mac OSX

10 Places To Find Free Fonts For Windows And Mac OSX

If you are designer you may frequently want to try and use different fonts in your designs, though there are 1000s of fonts available, not everyone of them are free. Though font usage and download is not just restricted to designers and many people use them in their day to day life too.

Here are some resources for you to find free fonts that you can use without having to pay any royalty for both Windows and Mac OSX. If you are not accustomed to installing fonts, we have a mini guide at the end of the post that will help you do it.

Fawnt – Fawnt is a font resource for designers, developers, and anyone that appreciates the web’s highest quality fonts. It currently has 9348 free fonts you can use and download for Windows and Max OSX.

Abstract Fonts – Abstract Fonts has a listing of 11849 free fonts in their database. The site has a nice navigation and user experience with proper categorization of fonts.

Free Fonts – Free fonts has over 12000 free fonts which you can download and use for Windows or Mac OSX. The site has a clean navigation making it easier to browse the fonts.

Dafont – dafont is another nice site to find free fonts, they list over 10000 fonts, most of which are free to use for personal use on Windows and Mac OSX. Licensing terms are clearly marked above the download buttons.

Urban Fonts – Another site which lists over 8000 free fonts. The fonts are segregated into different easy to find categories, and can also be alphabetically browsed.

Font Reactor – Font Reactor lists freeware fonts in graffiti, gothic font, old English fonts etc. Most of the fonts are freeware, but there is no clear indication before downloading, so this adds to a bit of hassle.

Daily Free Font – Daily Free Font is a site that has over 4500 freeware fonts listed in its directory. The licensing terms for font usage is clearly marked.

Font Freak – Font Freak has a database of 5000 free fonts, they store a mix of both free and commercial fonts, so check the licensing before you download the fonts.

Simply The Best Fonts – This site lists thousands of free fonts in well segregated categories, the licensing if clearly marked, telling you whether a font is free or not.

Free-Fonts – This site is more like a search engine for fonts and lists over 55000 fonts in their database, the only problem with the site is that, there is no option to browse the fonts and you need to remember the names of the font to search for it.

How to Install Fonts?

Unzip the files you have downloaded, then follow the instruction for your OS:

Windows Vista : Right-click on the font files > "Install"
Windows XP: Put the font files into C:\Windows\Fonts
Mac OS X: Double-click the font file > "Install font" button

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35 Amazing Softwares That Are Free

35 Amazing Softwares That Are Free

Many good softwares are either too costly or simply unaffordable, but that does not mean every good software out there requires you to shell out absurd amounts of money. There are 100s and 1000s of softwares that are completely free and perform as good as if not better than their paid counterparts.

This is the 700th post for us and we thought to make it worthwhile for you. In this post we will look at more than 35 amazing softwares that can be used for different purposes and are absolutely free to use.  These softwares provide you solutions that make your computing life much better without costing you a penny.

Productivity Suites

OpenOffice.org

One of the best alternatives available for Microsoft Office Suite, OpenOffice.org has not only received several awards and accolades, it is one of the best alternatives to managing your document, spreadsheets, presentations and more.

With Open Office you can do everything you can with Microsoft Office and with the software being open source you can expect 100s and 1000s of cool software engineers contributing to make it better.

Download OpenOffice.org | Learn more about OpenOffice.org

Other worthwhile mentions

• Zoho


• Google Docs 

Thunderbird

Maintaining several email accounts in a single place has always been a forte associated with Microsoft Outlook. Thunderbird on the other hand is a alternative which is as good as Outlook if not better, providing you with the many of the same features to manage multiple email accounts at no cost at all.

Thunderbird lets you manage your POP and IMAP accounts with ease. Thunderbird also allows you to extend the basic functionality by allowing you to add useful add-ons and extensions making it just too good to resist.

Download Thunderbird | Learn more about Thunderbird

Dia

A good software is always conceptualized by defining the exact way in which it should work with process diagrams and flowcharts. If you have been paying out of your pocket for Microsoft Visio it is high time you switched to Dia a open source software that allows you to create structured diagrams and flowcharts for free.

Download Dia for Windows | Learn more about Dia

Sunbird

Though not one of the most talked about product, Sunbird definitely is a great alternative to managing your appointments and events without having to use Microsoft Outlook.

And if you would frown about having to use two different applications to manage emails and calendars you should definitely try out Lightning that combines Thunderbird with Sunbird to create a great productivity application.

Download and learn more about Sunbird

Browsers, Instant Messengers, Remote File Management, Shell and Linux Emulation

Firefox

Firefox is not only the best open source browser available today, it also provides you with a much safer and faster browsing experience. It is really much better than Internet Explorer and not many would say otherwise.

Well if you have been reading us for sometime you may already know how much we love Firefox. You can definitely check out the ultimate list of tips and tricks for firefox 3 and while your at it don’t forget to see the Firefox extensions we have put up for you.

Download Firefox 3 | Learn more about Firefox

Other worthwhile mentions

• Flock


• Maxthon


• Opera


• Avant Browser

Digsby

Digsby is much more than just a just a multi-protocol IM client. With Digsby you can communicate with your friends over AIM, Yahoo, MSN, GTalk and more without having to install separate clients, as well as check your emails from multiple providers.

If that was not enough you can also use Digsby to update your social networking statues in Facebook, Twitter and MySpace.

Download Digsby | Learn more about Digsby

Other worthwhile mentions

• 8hands


• Meebo


• Pigdin


• Miranda IM

WinSCP

Remote file management is always a challenge and though there are several softwares out there our preferred one is WinSCP, a incredible and versatile software that makes file management quite a breeze.

WinSCP is not only allows you to transfer files but they do it by providing you a way to securely do them, using the SFTP protocol instead of the regular FTP protocol.

Download WinSCP | Learn more about WinSCP

Other worthwhile mentions

• Filezilla

uTorrent

If you are looking to download files using torrents, look no farther than uTorrent, one of the best softwares to manage torrents. Not only is it lightweight it also can be managed using the browser by accessing the uTorrent site and the best part is it runs out of the box without requiring any installations.

Download uTorrent | Learn more about uTorrent

Other worthwhile mentions

• Vuze

Free Download Manager

Managing your downloads with browsers have never been that easy and download managers definitely allow you to download files in a much better way. Free Download Manager allows you to download files from multiple sources, accelerating your download process, along with allowing you to pause and resume them.

Free Download Manager makes your download management much better and also comes with inbuilt support to download torrent files.

Download Free Download Manager | Learn more about Free Download Manager

Other worthwhile mentions

• Internet Download Manager


• FlashGet

Putty

Ever wanted to manage Linux servers from your Windows machine using shell. Putty is one of the best way to access shell environment. As far as we know there is not competition to Putty.

If you have been using Putty, don’t forget to check out how you can manage your putty sessions in a database and work in a tabbed interface or minimize it to a tray so that you are not overwhelmed with the number of open windows.

Download Putty | Learn more about Putty

Cygwin

Ever wanted to emulate a Linux system on your Windows PC or just wanted to practice few skills before you actually installed Linux as you main system? Cygwin is one of the best Linux emulator you will ever find using which you can get your hands dirty without worrying about screwing up a actual operating system.

Download Cygwin | Installation Instructions | Learn more about Cygwin

System Management, File Management, System Maintenance, Anti-virus, Anti-spyware and Firewalls

Having paid for a software like Windows does not mean that you get the best of everything, there are several pieces of softwares that help you maintain your system so that it runs properly for a long time and is optimized to the T.

AVG Free Anti-virus

Symantec no doubt has a huge market in the anti-virus industry with Norton, with support from computer manufacturers who bundle the trial version of Norton in factory shipped desktops and laptops, that obliviouslydoes not mean it is the best.

Norton has had huge complaints of considerably slowing down PCs and using considerable system resources. AVG on the other hand is a real good alternative which is free and does not tax you system as much as Norton does. The latest version of AVG also comes with several new features such as Anti-spyware, Anti-rootkit and more.

Download AVG 8 | Learn more about AVG

Other worthwhile mentions

• Avast
• Comodo
• ThreatFire

CCleaner

Your PC accumulates several temporary files and traces that are not useful to you. These temporary files and traces slows down the PC along with taking up unwanted disk space.

CCleaner is a cleaning robot for your computer, which is smart enough to know which places to look for unwanted files and traces. CCleaner can also cleanup several applications along cleaning temporary and unwanted files created by Windows.

Download CCleaner | Learn more about CCleaner

Defraggler

Your PC is not the smartest thing in the world and it has a tendency to spread fragments of files all over the place. Defraggler allows you to sort out the mess and make your PC run faster and much better. The good thing about defraggler is that it allows you to choose the files you want to defrag making the process much more easier and faster.

Download Defraggler | Learn more about Defraggler

Comodo Firewall Pro

Windows inbuilt Firewall is good but not really one of the best things around, there are several alternatives which you can definitely try out but our personal favorite is Comodo

which packs in all the features of a professional version as a free software.

Download Comodo Firewall Pro | Learn more about Comodo Firewall Pro

Other worthwhile mentions

• ZoneAlarm
• PC Tools Firewall Plus

 
Recuva

“Oops I deleted that important file” is a statement many users have right after using Shift + Delete option for a file.If you thought that you could never recover the deleted file you are in for a surprise. There are several softwares that will allow you to recover deleted files.

Recuva is one of the best alternative that is available today, not only is it very reliable, you will not have to spend a penny for it as it is completely free.

Download Recuva | Learn more about Recuva

Imaging Tools, Graphics, 3D Software, Image Managers

Gimp

Gimp is undoubtedly the best alternative available for Photoshop. Edit your images with ease without having to worry about paying a fortune for Photoshop. Gimp also can be used in conjunction with plugins bringing a host of new features to the core software.

Download Gimp | Learn more about Gimp

Other worthwhile mentions

• Paint.net

Blender

Creating 3D applications is not that easy but even more harder is spending thousands of dollars to get a software that allows you to create 3D animations.

Blender is a great application to work with 3D modeling with a great interface at a unmatchable price, Free.

Download Blender | Learn more about Blender

Picasa

Picasa is definitely one of the best tools available for managing your photos. With Picasa you can import your pictures from your camera and edit them to change contrast, remove red eyes and more. You can also upload your pictures to your online album and share them with family and friends without having to upload each and every file individually.

Download Picasa | Learn more about Picasa

Other worthwhile mentions

• IrfanView
• Windows Live Photo Gallery

Video Softwares, Audio Softwares, 3D Softwares

VLC Player

VLC Player is one of the best video softwares available to view different files and formats. VLC player supports multiple codecs out of the the box allowing you to play almost all kinds of file formats without having to install any additional softwares or codecs.

Download VLC Player | Learn more about VLC Player

Miro

Miro allows you to convert your PC into a Internet TV. You can use it to watch Internet video channels and play any video file. You can play files from YouTube and more and you can play almost any types of file with it including HD videos.

Download Miro | Learn more about Miro

PicLens

PicLens is a Firefox add-on that transforms your browser into full screen 3D browser allowing you to browse images and videos in full screen.

Learn more and download PicLens

Audacity

Audacity is one of the best free tools available for audio editing and recording for several operating systems.

You can record live audio, convert tapes into digital recordings, cut, copy, splice or mix sounds together and more.

Download Audacity | Learn more about Audacity

Development Tools, Editors

Eclipse

Eclipse is one of the best development IDE available for building robust enterprise applications, embedded software development and more with support for several languages.

The Eclipse project has been supported by several well know companies and also has a very large open source community to help develop and test the product.

Learn more and download Eclipse

Other worthwhile mentions

• Apatna Studio Community Edition

Notepad++

Notepad++ is not just a mere notepad replacement, it will allow you to modify several file types and has been getting better by the day with new features like auto complete and more.

If you are stuck with notepad this is definitely one software you should give a try.

Learn more and download Notepad++

Other worthwhile mentions

• Notepad2
• Programmer’s Notepad

CD / DVD Writing Softwares, DVD Ripping, Virtual CD / DVD

Handbrake

Handbrake is a DVD Ripper that will allow you to rip DVD files and convert them to MPEG-4 format for Mac OS, Linux and Windows.

Download and learn more about Handbrake

CDBurnerXP

CDBurnerXP is a free application to burn CDs and DVDs, including Blu-Ray and HD-DVDs. It also includes the feature to burn and create ISOs, as well as a multilanguage interface.

Download CDBurnerXP | Learn more about CDBurnerXP

MagicDisc

Several softwares and games can be downloaded as image files like ISO, BIN etc. If you do not have a CD / DVD writer those files may be practically useless to you. With MagicDisc you can easily mount those image files as Virtual CD / DVDs and install the software, copy them and do more.

Download MagicDisc | Learn more about MagicDisc

Utilities

Foxit PDF Reader

Foxit PDF Reader is no doubt one of the best alternative to the Adobe PDF reader. It is much more faster and robust than the reader provided by Adobe.

There are several features that you make you completely ditch Adobe PDF reader, if you have not already done that.

Download Foxit PDF Reader | Learn more about Foxit PDF Reader

7Zip

7Zip is one of the best open source software which allows you to manage several types of archives with simplicity and ease. 7Zip supports all the popular archive formats such as zip, rar, gzip, tar and more.

It is by far a much better alternative to the dominating WinZip and WinRar softwares that require you to purchase licenses.

xPlorer2 Lite

Windows explorer is definitely not the best to manage files, with you have to open several windows just to perform a simple task of copying and pasting files.

xPlorer2 Lite is a very handy utility when it comes to managing files in Windows. The tabbed interface saves you lot of times and hassles simplifying the task of managing files.

Download xPlorer2 Lite | Learn more about xPlorer2 Lite

 

Launchy

Loading applications has never been more easier than it is with Launchy. This is probably one of the best software that makes your life much more easier when it comes to opening applications without having to go through the pain of creating a desktop shortcut or searching for them.

Download and learn more about Launchy

Google Desktop

If you thought Google only worked online then you are in for a surprise. Google Desktop

is one of the best indexing and desktop search tools for your PC with results as accurate as their web based search.

With Google Desktop Search you can search your files, emails, chat conversations and more. The handy sidebar also allows you to add gadgets so that you can access information quickly and easily.

Download and learn more about Google Desktop

Windows Live Writer

One of the best tools to manage your blogs offline, Windows Live Writer has grown to become one of the most loved applications from Microsoft.

You can manage multiple weblogs and post to them with ease, save drafts online and offline, edit images, add watermarks to them and more.

Download and learn more about Windows Live Writer

 

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Google Rilis Chrome Untuk Mac Dan Linux

Google Rilis Chrome Untuk Mac Dan Linux

Google baru saja mengumumkan rilis beta dari produk browsernya Google Chrome untuk platform Mac dan Linux. Namun sayangnya rilis engine Chromium ini ditujukan untuk para developer di Google Code dan bukan untuk end-user.

Hal ini disebabkan Google Chrome (dan Chromium) di versi Mac dan Linux masih belum sempurna dan masih dalam tahap pengembangan dan testing. Bahkan Google juga menyarankan kepada pengguna agar jangan dulu mengunduh dan menggunakan Google Chrome kecuali sudah siap untuk kecewa. Bahkan plugin Adobe Flash saja belum berjalan dengan baik.

Dengan dirilisnya kode Chromium ini ke publik (open source) maka setidaknya penantian untuk rilis Chrome di Mac dan linux tidak akan lama lagi. Meskipun masih banyak hal yang harus dikerjakan untuk Chrome, namun pengembangan untuk versi Mac dan Linux ini direncanakan memiliki beberapa fitur tambahan juga.

Juru bicara dari Google juga menyatakan bahwa pihaknya tidak ingin ada end-user yang mengalami crash atau efek lain dari versi unstable ini, namun jika anda tertarik untuk membantu mencoba Google Chrome dan juga siap menghadapi crash sana-sini, silahkan unduh dan coba.

Saya sih sudah mengunduhnya dan menginstallnya di Ubuntu Jaunty saya, dan untungnya sampai saat ini belum ada crash sama sekali. Masalahnya ya karena belum support Flash jadi agak repot kalau ingin menonton YouTube :D Saya sudah mencoba menggunakan Chrome di Gmail dan Twitter dan beberapa situs lain dengan extensive Javascript execution dan semuanya berjalan dengan lancar, bahkan postingan ini saya tulis diatas browser Chrome juga.

Dan seperti di versi Windows, Chrome ini memang salah satu browser paling cepat dan juga ringan. Namun ya saya baru menggunakan Chrome ini kurang lebih 1 jam, jadi mungkin belum bisa terlihat bug-bug itu di komputer saya.

Untuk anda yang ingin mencobanya silahkan unduh disini, install di Linux anda dan sampaikan pendapat anda di kolom komentar.

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iPhone exploit in the wild and stealing user data

iPhone exploit in the wild and stealing user data

Over the weekend news broke that a worm had started infecting Jailbroken iPhones in Australia. Nobody really took the exploit too seriously as all the 'ikee worm' did was change the phone wallpaper to a picture of 80's pop singer Rick Astley in a kind of warped tribute to the RickRolling Internet meme of last year.

However, I warned at the time that "as code variants continue to appear it is only a matter of time, and probably not that much of it, before a malicious party uses it to deliver a payload that is a whole lot more troublesome than Rick Astley" and my gloomy prediction has now borne fruit.

One researcher, Peter James of Mac security specialists Intego, has revealed that a new exploit is taking advantage of the same vulnerability that the ikee worm did, the often unchanged default SSH password of Jailbroken iPhones. iPhone/Privacy.A, as Intego have creatively named it, will allow hackers to "silently copy a treasure trove of user data from a compromised iPhone: e-mail, contacts, SMSs, calendars, photos, music files, videos, as well as any data recorded by any iPhone app".

The hacker would first need to install the tool onto a computer which would then scan for any Jailbroken iPhones connected to the networks it discovers, and assuming that the root password has not been changed it can then quietly go about its business. Although there is a chance of the thing being installed on a computer in shop, for example, and scanning for devices within range as people mill about, the actual overall risk is pretty low.

For a start it requires a Jailbroken device, either iPhone or iTouch, and it is estimated that something less than 10% have actually been modified in this way. Although this does mean a couple of million or so devices at risk, you also have to bear in mind that many of those who have gone through the Jailbreak process will be of a technical mindset. Exactly the people who read the newsfeeds, who frequent forums such as DaniWeb, who will be all to aware of ikee and the need to change the default SSH root password. All of the time the number of devices that are at risk is being reduced.

So perhaps the 75% of people who took part in a Sophos poll which asked if the ikee worm author had done iPhone users a favour by alerting them to a significant problem in a harmless way and agreed that he had were right after all. Better to get a grinning pop star on your iPhone as a wake up call to a vulnerability than have your data stolen right off the bat. That said, the ikee worm also alerted the bad guys to the vulnerability and it has not taken them long to get right out there and exploit it.

Personally I would have preferred it if the ikee chap had approached Apple with the discovery and let them get it patched before going public. That kind of disclosure is the responsible way to do it and, assuming that Apple acted quickly enough, the problem could have been corrected without any data stealing tools or faded singers being involved. Of course, Apple might say that if you breach the terms and conditions of usage of your hardware device by modifying it in this way then you deserve everything you get.

Certainly, as far as the Apple campaign against Jailbreaking goes this kind of bad publicity is actually pretty good for the company. It can, quite rightly, proclaim that legitimate users have nothing to fear and warn that the security risk is just one more reason that they should not be tempted down the Jailbreak road.

That said, some researchers are also warning that non-Jailbroken iPhones could be compromised if the bad guys look away from this particular access route and start exploiting other avenues such as the SMS hacking trick revealed at Black Hat earlier in the year.

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Google Tries Transparency with New Dashboard

Google Tries Transparency with New Dashboard

If  we went into an “evil room” and had an “evil light” shined on us, and we then behaved in an “evil” way we would be destroyed… there is a fundamental trust between Google and its users.”
~Eric Schmidt, Google CEO

Google released an exciting new product today called the Dashboard. I don't usually call Google products exciting because it makes me sound like I'm writing their marketing literature, but the Dashboard provides a way to see an overview of all your activity across every Google product you use. And if you're like me, that's a lot. Instead of guessing what information Google has, you can now see it all in one convenient place.

Getting To The Dashboard

Accessing the dashboard is a simple matter. Follow these steps:

1. Go to Google.com.
2. Click Settings > Google Account Settings and your account page opens.
3. At the top of the page in the right column labeled Personal Settings, click View Data Stored with Account (next to the Dashboard label). The Google Accounts page opens with all of the information across each of your Google accounts.

Why It's Great

I always loved that quote at the top of this post from Google CEO, Eric Schmidt above. It suggests that for some reason we should just trust Google with our data. It's an absurd notion of course, and even more so in that ridiculous quote, but Google Dashboard is a good first step. It gives users a one-stop shop to see all of their data and settings.

As individuals interested in accessing and understanding data, this is a huge step forward. For businesses, it's even more important, especially from a regulatory and compliance point of view. It gives everyone, big or small, access to their data in a simple fashion, which is as it should be.

Google's Free Tools Are Attractive and Scary

When I saw Marissa Mayer's presentation recently on the Google's new social search, one thing jumped out at me. You have to give Google information about your social networks in order for the search engine to display social search results. This seemed like a huge thing to ask users, and it goes directly to the heart of the problem many people have with Google. Yes, the tools are wonderful and free and available wherever you go, but any thinking person has to wonder about the portfolio of information that Google has on each of us -- our mail, our search history, what we read and the pictures we take, the videos we watch and the ones we add, and on and on it goes. And the social search would mean Google would have access to our friends too (whom we associate with).

All of this is a bit scary, so you'll have to pardon me if I don't trust Eric Schmidt's assertion that they won't ever step into that "evil room." But for starters, the Dashboard at least gives us insight into what information that Google has on us its databases, and gives us the opportunity to change our privacy settings and to delete services we don't want anymore. It may not be a panacea for paranoia, but it's a start, and I'll take it.

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A Linux Free For All

A Linux Free For All

Have you searched for Linux distributions that are 100% free? Did you find more than one that suited your needs? Well, here's a list of nine from which you can choose your favorite. Free means freedom to alter, redistribute, sell or release as a different product with no restrictions on you or your new distribution.

1. BLAG - Blag is an operating system. Blag has a suite of graphics, internet, audio, video, office, and peer to peer file sharing applications. Based on Fedora, Blag has just about everything you'd ever need for productivity and fun.

2. Dragora - Dragora is an independent distribution of GNU/linux based on the concept of the simplicity. It aims to be a multipurpose, stable and powerful operating system while maintaining the simplicity of Unix. The initial release of Dragora was June 13, 2008. Dragora GNU/Linux 1.1 was released October 8, 2009.

3. Dynebolic - A GNU/Linux distro that focuses on audio/video production with a host of applications such as Jack, SuperCollider, Csound, Fluxus and of course Pure Data with a great collection of externals (PDP, PiDiP, Gem, GridFlow, RRadical, PixelTango).

4. gNewSense - a GNU/Linux distribution based on Debian and Ubuntu, with sponsorship from the FSF. This is the distribution that Richard Stallman himself uses--so you know it's good because he could use any of them.

5. Kongoni - Kongoni is the Shona word for a Gnu (also known as a Wildebeast) the animal which inspired the name of the GNU operating system. The name represents the spirit and history of Kongoni, a GNU/Linux operating system of African origin. Kongoni is a desktop-oriented operating system with a strong belief in being truly free software. This means that Kongoni will neither include nor ship any software not under a license approved by the Free Software Foundation.

6. Musix GNU+Linux - Based on Knoppix and oriented toward audio production, Musix contains a giant repository of free software. Don't let the website fool you; Musix is available in a variety of languages including English.

7. Trisquel GNU/Linux - Based on Ubuntu, with all proprietary and non-free software removed, Trisquel is a free and easy to use operating system with multi-language support.

8. Ututo - The first fully free distribution recognized by the GNU Project. This one is Gentoo based and is actively developed in Argentina.

9. Venenux - VENENUX GNU/Linux is a free/libre operating system primarily for people in Ibero-America. It aims to cover the needs of any type of user, with software for almost every necessity while remaining fast and easy to install. VENENUX is the fruit of the work of a group of people of different Hispanic countries.

There are a few distributions that come close to free but still contain non-free and proprietary software, allow you to install non-free software or advertise non-free software during the installation process. These will be listed in an upcoming post so watch carefully for that. In the meantime, if you can check out these nine very capable distributions and report back to me on how you like them.

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My 5 Favorite Free iPhone Apps

My 5 Favorite Free iPhone Apps

One of the great things about the iPhone is of course the App Store, which is a growing eco system of interesting applications. I tend to stick to the free ones, and not long ago I went and downloaded a bunch of new freebies. These are my favorites from that bunch:

Louvre

This is one cool app for art lovers. It opens to a picture of the outside of the Louvre with famous (or infamous, depending on your perspective) glass pyramid, then displays a cover flow with the different parts of the app. You can explore Louvre artwork, take a tour, or explore rooms inside the museum. It's amazing, comprehensive and the navigation is elegant and simple. You can even bookmark favorite places, so you can find your way back easily.

Nasa

If you want to keep up with news from Nasa, this app is a must-have for Nasa fans. It has information on missions and includes images and educational video. For instance, this month it features a video on the Crab Nebula, which is visible in the November sky using a telescope. Like the Louvre app, it's fun and educational, but it also is a very smart move by Nasa because it lets people know what they're doing with our tax dollars (and a lot of it is pretty neat, let me tell you).

ESPN Score Center

I don't know how I missed this one before because it's an essential application for any (American) sports fan. It takes a while to load the first time you open it (I mean several minutes), but once it's ready to go, you can customize the interface to include only the sports you're interested in. What's more, you can define your favorite teams, so they appear prominently at the top of the list of the scores. It also has a ticker with the latest sports news (like you see on ESPN Sports Center) at the bottom of the screen. You cycle through the different sports by dragging across the screen to reveal the next page (in a similar fashion to the Weather app when you add multiple cities). The navigation is not quite as elegant as some of the others, but it's very useful for keeping up with the latest sports news.

The Weather Channel

The standard iPhone Weather app gives you temperature and a general forecast, but if you want a more detailed weather picture, this app is for you. The first time you load it, it asks if it can find your location and then customizes the weather for your location without having to enter any information. You can see the current weather details, an hourly, 36 hour or 10 day forecast. What's more you can view the weather map, video and severe weather alerts for your area.

Yelp

I've been using the Around Me app to find restaurants, but a friend recently recommended Yelp and it offers a similar functionality, but with the user reviews front and center. Once again, it asks to find your location so you can use it wherever you are, then click one of the selections such as Restaurants to find the ones in your vicinity. You can filter by distance, price and whether it's open. I would also like to filter by restaurant type and which ones reviewers liked best (number of stars), but in spite of these limitations, it provides a good starting point for finding food or other stores in an area. Also includes a "Talk" client where you can post questions to people who happen to be online.

So there you have it: my five recent free favorites. Leave a comment and let me know some of yours.

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