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Tuesday, October 16, 2012

Popular Industries for Computer Rentals

There are several industries that take advantage of technology rentals like computers, laptops, projectors, temporary office equipment and audio visual rentals. Many business industries can benefit from them in a wide variety of ways.

For instance, Small to Medium Business Industry Computer Rentals occur on a regular basis. They are perfect for when a computer or laptop malfunctions or breaks down. A small to medium business usually needs a replacement rental so that business continues smoothly, even while their own equipment is damaged. It can give a business time to repair their equipment or get new equipment.

Small and medium businesses are not the only type of industry to commonly rent computers or audio visual equipment. Fortune 500 Industry Computer Rentals are also popular when one of these businesses needs to accommodate a growing staff or is expanding. Technology rentals are also convenient when gearing up for presentations, conferences, trade shows or an event for product launching.

Computer rentals are becoming more of a trend as more companies and businesses are seeing the many benefits they can provide for their specific industry. Find out more Computer Rental Industries.

Components Of A Server Computer

Server Computer

Computer Science

New Finger and Stylus Gestures Could Be Coming to Windows 8

A lot of people are excited about the upcoming operating system from Microsoft known, as of right now, as Windows 8. Windows 8, or whatever it is named upon release, is the highly anticipated successor to the the immensely popular Windows 7 operating system currently out from Microsoft. However, some new developments are leaking their way onto the internet, including the fact that Microsoft has unveiled several patent filings that are pointing to new finger and stylus gestures that could be incorporated into Windows tablets.

These patent filings were actually filed back in 2010 but Microsoft just published them last week. These new patents show that Microsoft believes finger and stylus gestures can work not only separately but together as well in order to offer a user-friendly means of input on new touch screen devices. This new method that would recognize both methods of input would recognize the first method as your finger and the second as your stylus. Using both your finger and your stylus could then create a variety of gestures, a lot of which seem to be geared more toward image editing though could be put to other uses as well.

For example, a copy gesture would allow you to tap on an object with your finger and then move it around with your stylus. A cut gesture would allow you to split an object in half using fingers, a stylus or both at the same time. A brush gesture would assist you in removing part of an image and then storing it somewhere else on the screen. A staple gesture may be used to stack multiple objects or images on top of each other and a stamp gesture would create duplicates of whatever you wanted.

The upcoming Windows 8 operating system for tablets was unveiled by Microsoft at the D9 Conference back in June. Microsoft is expected to release more information and details about the OS at the upcoming Build Conference in September, with a beta possibly ready for developers to test out at that time as well.

Charts and Graphs

What is a Computer Network

Create MySQL Database

Source: CNET - Windows 8 could see new finger and stylus gestures

Rent Computer Peripherals From Rentacomputer.com

Sometimes you only need computer technology for a short time, perhaps to augment your business's computing capacity during peak business seasons. Purchasing technology to meet such a temporary need involves taking on unnecessary expenditures, and inevitably leaves you or your business with a lot of superfluous technology after the need is fulfilled. So renting computer technology makes perfect sense for such ephemeral needs.

Computer Software Companies

What Is Multiplexing

What is CAD - Computer Aided Design

Not only can Rentacomputer.com procure any computer rental you might need, but they can also configure temporary solutions and technology packages that include computer peripherals as well.

What are Computer Peripheral Rentals?

Computer Peripheral Rentals From Rentacomputer.com

Computer peripherals are any accessory items that you might want or need with your computer rental, whether you are renting a laptop, desktop, or tablet computer. Having the right accessory items with your rental can be crucial, and it is often the case that renters do not already have many of the accessories they might need to make their rental function in the capacity that they need it to.

Gigabit Switches

If your you Computer Rental consists of several or more computers that will be operated simultaneously by various users, then you might very well need a gigabit switch. This will allow you to connect your laptop rentals to one LAN source, which is invaluable if you need to have multiple users simultaneously connecting to the web. Our Tech Travel Agents typically recommend either an 8 Port 100/1000 Gigabit Switch or a 24 Port 100/1000 Gigabit Switch, depending on how many computers you are renting.

Wireless Routers

Wireless Routers are also a very important peripheral if you need to wirelessly connect your Computer Rental. These especially become valuable when you are putting together interactive trade show booths, or require event planners and maintenance personnel to stay connected via laptops or tablet computers. Wireless routers are also invaluable if you are setting up a temporary office. Our agents usually recommend a Cisco/Linksys 4 Port Wireless Router.

Computer Cable Locks

Network Security can often be an issue, especially if you are setting up a booth or kiosk with your computer rentals, where a lot of traffic will be passing by. You can ease your worries about the security of your rentals by adding cable locks to your rental configuration, so that you can lock down each unit and protect against theft.

Conference Phones

A very handy accessory to have when you need to keep in touch with multiple collaborators is a conference phone, whereby you can speak with the people you need to speak with all at once and expedite project logistics. Our Tech Travel Agents recommend getting a Polycom Soundstation for your conference speakerphone rental.

Wireless Presentation Mouse & Remotes

If you are getting a Laptop Rental for presentation purposes, then you should also consider getting a wireless mouse or remote added to your rental configuration. With these accessories you can have a lot more freedom while giving your presentation, instead of being tied down to wherever your computer is stationed.

Malware on the Rise

Malware is the thing to look out for these days. McAfee claims that they tracked more than six million different unique malware samples in the first quarter alone. Those numbers make the first quarter the most active quarter for malware issues ever.

In a statement, Vincent Weafer, the senior vice president of McAfee Labs, said, "It's been a busy start to 2011 for cybercriminals."

McAfee went on to say that February was the most active malware month. In February, 2011 there were 2.75 million samples alone. According to the company, in March, 2011 there were also more than 350,000 fake anti-virus software samples, which was the highest level in over a year; however, partially in part to the demise of the Rustock botnet, spam is at the lowest level since 2007.

"Even though this past quarter once again showed that spam has slowed, it doesn't mean that cybercriminals aren't actively pursuing alternate avenues," Weafer continued. "We're seeing a lot of emerging threats, such as Android malware and new botnets attempting to take over where Rustock left off, that will have a significant impact on the activity we see quarter after quarter."

The most popular OS for mobile malware is still Symbian, but McAfee reported that Android is gaining on Symbian and came in at number two. McAfee thinks that Android isn’t number one because Google allows for the side-loading of Android apps. This means that it does not have a main spot where it checks apps for any possible suspicious behavior.

Just this past week, Google had to remove more than two dozen apps from their Android Market due to malware issues. NetQuin, a mobile security firm, also identified more than 20 malware filled Android apps that went to the extent of auto-dialing phones to pile up high user fees.

When dealing with spam, McAfee tracked more than 1.5 trillion messages each and every day, but thankfully that number is less than half of what it was just a year ago.

Government agencies across the globe have been working hard to crack down on cybercrime. In September dozens of international cyber-gangsters who were responsible for the creation and spread of the Zeus botnet were arrested. Also, thanks to Microsoft, FireEye (an anti-malware company), the University of Washington and Pfizer (a pharmaceutical firm) Rustock was taken down in March.

In their statement McAfee warned that the creators of the Zeus bot are hard at work merging the Zeus code with the SpyEye botnet. This would affect banking and online transactions, so it could cause some major issues if it isn’t handled.

"There was a strong uptick in new botnet infections toward the end of Q1, most likely due to the reseeding process, where cybercriminals slow down activity in order to spend time rebuilding botnets," McAfee said. "The botnet takedowns have resulted in an increase in the price of sending spam on the underground marketplace, showing that the laws of supply and demand also apply to cybercrime."

So why are people even falling for these threats? Well, cyber-criminals are very sophisticated these days. They make their scams look legit, so it’s hard to tell that it’s a threat sometimes until it’s too late. It seems that the spam that is promoting an actual product seemed to lure in the most people. IGNORE the e-mails advertising iPads and HDTVs. McAfee also noted a rise in “banker” Trojans. They lure people in talking about things like UPS, FedEx, USPS and the IRS. Unfortunately, on top of that, scammers are also taking advantage of crisis events like the Japan earthquake and tsunamis.

It’s just important to pay attention to what you are opening up or downloading before you do it. If you’re careful and take the necessary precautions, you should most likely be able to avoid any issues.

Definition of Malware

Japan's K Computer Remains as the World's Most Powerful Supercomputer

There is a recently released list of the Top 500 most powerful computers in the world, and once again Japan's K Computer takes the number one spot with an increase from 8.162 petaflops to 10.51 petaflops per second. This balances out to 10.51 quadrillion floating-point operations per second. The letter "K" is short for the Japanese word "kei", which symbolizes 10 quadrillion. Coincidence? I think not.

On the Top 500 list from June, the K Computer took the number one spot out of the hands of China's Tianhe-1A system. The Tianhe-1A remains in the number two spot at the moment at 2.57 petaflops. Following in the number three spot is the Oak Ridge National Lab's Jaguar supercomputer. After that, the rest of the list looks pretty much the same as the last, with many companies holding the same spots as they previously did. According to TOP500 editor Erich Strohmaier, "This is the first time since we began publishing the list back in 1993 that the top 10 systems showed no turnover."

The K Computer, which is installed at the RIKEN Advanced Institute for Computational Science (AICS) in Kobe, Japan in partnership with Fujitsu, uses 705,024 SPARC64 processing cores. If you want to know just how many that is, it is more than the rest of the top five on the list combined. In addition to that, the K Computer uses 12.66 megawatts of power, four times more than its nearest competitor. This is also more than the 9.89 megawatts of power the computer recorded in June. However, despite these high numbers, the K Computer is still one of the most efficient supercomputers on the list, delivering 830 Mflops per watt.

The K Computer was installed in 672 racks back in June. An expansion of 800 cabinets allowed the 10 petaflop achievement to be accomplished. Just a week ago, Fujitsu announced the expansion possibilities of the K Computer as it could possibly grow to a theoretical 23 petaflops.

Aside from the rankings remaining unchanged, other characteristics evolved with the November 2011 list. The entry point for being on the Top 500 list is now at 50.9 teraflops with the combined performance across all 500 supercomputers being 74.2 petaflops, an increase from the 58.7 petaflops recorded in June. Gigabit Ethernet is still the most popular internal system interconnect, being used in 223 systems. However, InfinfBand use increased to 213 systems.

Average power consumption continued to rise with 29 systems on the list confirmed at using more than one megawatt of power. The most energy efficient supercomputers are BlueGene/Q with 2,029 Mflops per watt. IBM just filed a patent for a massive supercomputer that could potentially reach 107 petaflops. In total all of the systems that reported in on power consumption combined for more than 159 megawatts.

Computer Software Companies

What Is Multiplexing

What is CAD - Computer Aided Design

Components Of A Server Computer

Server Computer

Computer Science

Source: Data Center Knowledge - K Computer Still the Most Powerful Supercomputer

A Walk in the Clouds to Unlimited Storage

Do you get tired of constantly having to upgrade to a bigger hard drive? Wouldn’t it be awesome if you could have unlimited disk space? What if you could access your files from anywhere and any device? As a photographer I can’t tell you how invaluable this would be! Photos take up lots and lots of space. To get a good quality print just one photo can take 5mb of space and when you are dumping 150 photos onto your hard drive after every shoot, it doesn’t take long to fill it up.

A new beta software just might be the solution. It’s from a startup called Bitcasa; when you install it, the capacity of your computer's hard drive becomes, essentially, infinite! It is currently only available for Apple computers but a Windows version is in development; and plans of apps for mobile devices are in the works as well.

Bitcasa creates the illusion of unlimited hard drive space but the files are kept on a cloud server. Your computer will respond to opening any file as if it is local and there would be no wait for downloads, even videos!

Using a storage service is not a new concept. Dropbox, SkyDrive, Google Docs, Amazon and countless others have been offering online storage for some time. But Bitcasa is not like any of those services. It doesn’t move files around or sync. Bitcasa doesn’t know what the file is, what the name is, what the contents are or anything about the file itself. It only deals in bits and bytes, the 1′s and 0′s of digital data. Data is encrypted on the client side. This is kind of like contemplating the universe for me because I am amazed that my photos can go from a picture to zeros and ones and back again.

Bitcasa is only $10.00 a month! Ten dollars for unlimited space? How can that be? Bitcasa CEO Tony Gauda says $10/month still gives the company large margins. The fact is, 60% of data is duplicate. For example, if I have an MP3 of the Foo Fighters new single and someone else has it too, those would be made up of the same zeros and ones. I think that’s amazing! Also times are hard so if $10.00 a month is hard to squeeze from your budget, a less than unlimited free version is on its way. Bitcasa will be free while in limited beta trials.

Hard Disk Partition

What Is A Cluster

What Is NTFS File System

Hard Disk Drive

Microsoft Kinect for PC Coming Soon

On Tuesday, November 22 Microsoft announced that it is working on getting its Kinect motion-sensing device ready to use on PCs that run Windows. The company currently sells Kinect for its Xbox 360 gaming console; however, it is hard at work and says that it will have the PC version ready by early 2012.

"Coupled with the numerous upgrades and improvements our team is making to the Software Development Kit (SDK) and runtime, the new hardware delivers features and functionality that Windows developers and Microsoft customers have been asking for," wrote Craig Eisler, general manager of Kinect for Windows, in a blog post.

"Simple changes include shortening the USB cable to ensure reliability across a broad range of computers and the inclusion of a small dongle to improve coexistence with other USB peripherals," Eisler continued. "Of particular interest to developers will be the new firmware which enables the depth camera to see objects as close as 50 centimeters in front of the device without losing accuracy or precision, with graceful degradation down to 40 centimeters. 'Near Mode' will enable a whole new class of 'close up' applications, beyond the living room scenarios for Kinect for Xbox 360. This is one of the most requested features from the many developers and companies participating in our Kinect for Windows pilot program and folks commenting on our forums, and we're pleased to deliver this, and more, at launch."

This announcement about the PC version of the Kinect comes on the exact same day that Microsoft officially acquired VideoSurf. Microsoft acquired the company, which was founded in 2006, for $70 million. It hopes to incorporate the California-based company’s online video search technology into the Xbox Live system.

According to a statement released by the companies on Tuesday, November 22, VideoSurf "offers a back-end computer vision technology that 'sees' frames inside videos to make discovering content fast, easy and accurate."

"VideoSurf's content analytics technology will enhance the search and discovery of entertainment content across our platform," said the director of Xbox Live for Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Business Alex Garden. "This holiday we will launch voice search across our entertainment partners on Xbox Live. Over time, as we integrate VideoSurf's technology into our system, we are excited about the potential to have content tagged in real time to increase the speed and relevance of the search results.”

According to Microsoft, the acquisition would "make it easier for world-class video partners to take full advantage of advanced features such as voice search enabled by Kinect for Xbox 360."

Microsoft also said that in the next few months it will bring "nearly 40 world-leading TV and entertainment providers to Xbox Live." These will include Bravo, Comcast, HBO GO, Verizon FiOS, and Syfy in the U.S.; BBC in the U.K.; Telefónica in Spain; Rogers On Demand in Canada; Televisa in Mexico; ZDF in Germany; and Mediaset in Italy.

"Microsoft's Interactive Entertainment Division is at the leading edge of connected entertainment," said Lior Delgo, the CEO and co-founder of VideoSurf, in the statement that they released with Microsoft. "We are incredibly excited to be working together on our mutual passion for creating amazing consumer experiences and reinventing how consumers search, discover and enjoy content on their televisions."

Google Play

Sample Cover Letters

Source: PCMag - Microsoft Preps Kinect for PCs Hardware, Firmware

HP Releases Seven All-in-One PCs

Even though Hewlett-Packard might stop selling WebOS devices and move its PSG (Personal Systems Group) into a separate company, they haven't been stopped from unveiling seven new PC's today. They updated their Omni, TouchSmart and HP Pro lineups. These PC's all have starting prices ranging from $400 to $900. So even though they might not be keeping their PSG division around (which is responsible for desktops and laptop PCs), they are making it clear they still plan to be a leader in the PC market. HP plans on all-in-one PCs becoming a huge seller next year and even cited that they expect interest to grow from 9.9 percent to 15.7 percent in the next 12 months.

The first two PCs they are rolling out are the Omni 120 and the Omni 220. The Omni 120 has a 20-inch screen and will offer up to 750 GB of hard drive space and your choice of an AMD or Intel processor. The 21.5-inch Omni 220 will have a unique cantilever design and will have Intel's 'Sandy Bridge' core processors. The Omni 220 will be available September 11 starting at $800 dollars, followed by the Omni 120 becoming available September 21 with a starting price tag of $400.

HP also plans to release four new TouchSmart PCs around the same time. The TouchSmart 320 has a 20-inch screen and won't be in stores until October 2 with a starting price of $600. The 21.5-inch Touchsmart 420 and 23-inch Touchsmart 520 will be available September 11 with starting prices of $700 and $900. All of the PCs come with touchscreen displays and include Beats Audio technology.

The fourth TouchSmart being launched is the Touchsmart Elite 7320 Business PC. This all-in-one computer comes with a 21.5-inch HD LED back-lite display. You will be able to choose a Core i3, i5, or i7 processor and HP plans to launch this model September 21, starting at only $850.

The last all-in-one PC, which has no confirmed launch date but should hit stores sometime in October, is the HP Pro 3420. This computer network features a 20-inch display, Core i3 processor, up to 8GB of RAM, and up to 2TB of hard drive space. The starting price of this PC is set to be $600.

Source: PC World - HP Announces Seven New All-in-One PCs

School Computers to Be Replaced by School iPads in 2016

With the technological age in full force, computers have become a staple in schools. Every single grade it seems is using computers for learning and entertainment while teaching. But, could the age of classroom computers be over? Is there a new piece of technology that will undoubtedly dethrone the computer in the classroom? Maybe, as many think tablets will eventually replace desktop computers in classrooms.

A recent survey of district tech directors discovered that all of them were testing or deploying tablet devices. What's more is that the survey also discovered that these directors expect tablets to outnumber computers in the classroom by the year 2016.

Analyst for Piper Jaffray Gene Munster recently surveyed 25 educational IT directors at a conference about the integration of technology in classrooms. Munster's survey, which was titled "Tablets in the Classroom", revealed that all 25 directors were using Apple's iPad in their schools while none of the participants were testing or deploying Android-based tablets. Munster went on to explain that this trend in education may be due to a familiarity with Apple devices among students and school employees.

According to Munster, "Within the next five years, our respondents expect to have more tablets per student than they currently have computers." Considering iPads represent a majority of the tablets in schools, Munster believes that the word "tablet" is synonymous with "iPad". The school districts that were represented in the survey currently have about 10 students per every computer. However, in the next five years, IT directors expect that number to drop to about six students per iPad. Devices, like the iPad, are more desirable over computers in the classroom because they provide a more individualized learning experience than traditional computers.

Tim Cook, the new CEO of Apple, stated earlier this year that demand for the iPad is strong among education customers. Back in February Georgia Senate President pro tem Tommie Williams proposed a plan to replace conventional textbooks in middle schools with the iPad. Williams met with Apple to talk about a plan to make the iPad a central component in the state's education system.

The iPad is slowly creeping its way into schools. Many students can rent the devices from their campus library in college and some schools, like the ones surveyed by Munster, are actually using them in the classroom. If expectations are correct, students in 2016 are going to have some fun times in the classroom.

What is CAD - Computer Aided Design

Source: School Library Journal - IPads to Outpace Computers in Schools by 2016, Poll Says

Quanta Sues AMD Over "Faulty" Chips

The world's largest contract maker of notebook computers, Quanta Computer Incorporated, has filed a lawsuit against Advanced Micro Devices Incorporated (AMD) for what Quanta is calling a breach of contract. Quanta is accusing AMD of selling the company defective products and thus seeks compensation.

AMD and its ATI Technologies Incorporated unit sold chips to Quanta that did not meet the company's tolerances and were unfit for particular purposes, the company noted in a federal court filing in San Jose, California. The chips Quanta purchased were used in notebooks Quanta manufactured for NEC which caused the computers to malfunction and crash according to the court filing.

In a statement from Quanta that is found in the court documents says, "Quanta has suffered significant injury to prospective revenue and profits." Quanta is seeking a trial by jury as well as damages for the faulty chips. AMD, which accumulates over $6 billion in annual revenue, is the second largest maker of computer processors, bested only by Intel, which has a staggering $50 billion annual revenue.

The lawsuit also claims breach of warranty, negligent misrepresentation, civil fraud and interference with a contract. "AMD disputes the allegations in Quanta's complaint and believes they are without merit," AMD spokesman Michael Silverman said in a statement. "AMD is aware of no other customer reports of the alleged issues with the AMD chip that Quanta used, which AMD no longer sells. In fact, Quanta has itself acknowledged to AMD that it used the identical chip in large volumes in a different computer platform that it manufactured for NEC without such issues."

In addition to NEC, Quanta makes computers on contract for HP, Dell and Acer. The company's shares increased 1.9% in Taipei today before news of this lawsuit went public, and the case has been filed as Quanta v. Advanced Micro Devices, 12-cv-12, U.S. District Court, Northern District of California.

Acid Rain - Best Information Water

Mobilize Aluminum

Source: Bloomberg - Quanta Sues AMD Over Allegedly Unsuitable Chips for NEC Notebook Computers

Mozilla Launches Firefox 9.0.1 Right After Firefox 9 Due to Bugs

Just one day after it released Firefox 9, Mozilla quickly released an update after backing out of a bug fix that was causing users on Mac, Linux and Windows computers to experience browser crashes. Mozilla released Firefox 9.0.1 on Wednesday which made many people think that it was fake due to the fact that it released right behind version 9.

According to a post on the Mozilla support forum, "Seeing links for [Firefox 9.0.1], why is it being released? Or is it a hoax?" Other discussions on the support forum's threads included messages from users asking whether or not Mozilla actually updated the Firefox browser and if so, why?

Mozilla did not specify in the release notes of v9.0.1 why it needed to re-release the browser though developers did note that the update was prompted by crash reports, specifically for Mac users, though Windows and Linux users also experienced crashes. According to a statement from Alex Keybl, one of the engineering Project Managers on Mozilla's Release Team, "We built Firefox 9.0.1 with bug 708572 backed out. We've pushed Firefox 9.0.1 for all platforms. Although, we think Windows is mostly unaffected, we still decided to move forward with Windows-v9.0.1."

In order to rectify the problem, one that caused crashes whenever users ran certain add-on toolbars (like the one distributed by the Dallas Cowboys), the developers at Mozilla removed a patch that had been applied previously. The rush update that occurred on Wednesday was the second by Mozilla in the last 30 days. Mozilla shipped Firefox 8.0.1 back on November 21 to deal with a large number of crashes with Mac OS X. The crashes were eventually traced back to an Apple update of Java that occurred earlier in the month.

Anybody who upgraded to Firefox 9 in between the time of its release and the release of 9.0.1 can update to the new version by choosing "About Firefox" from the Firefox menu on the Mac or "About Firefox" from the Help menu under the Firefox button on Windows and then approving the new version's installation after it has completed downloading.

Components Of A Server Computer

Server Computer

Computer Science

Source: Computer World - Mozilla re-releases Firefox 9, backs out fix causing crash

The Inevitable Sadness of AMD

It would seem that the arms race between AMD and Intel has ended, and the victor is Intel. The most recent news to come out of AMD’s headquarters is that they are going to stop researching and producing high-end CPU’s. AMD will instead change the focus of their computer company.

The first rumors out were speculating that AMD was out of the desktop processor game completely and moving towards mobile devices, but the day after these rumors appeared AMD made a statement saying that they will not be stopping their entire line of processors, but not moving forward with new high-end equipment. These statements are coming off the fresh “failure” of the bulldozer chipsets which had so much potential. AMD has also announced that they laid off nearly twelve percent of their workforce. In AMD’s statement they stated that they will be focusing on their x86 processor models and mobile technology moving forward.

Consumers are now left with major questions: Who will step in the ring and try to contend with Intel? How long until the first anti-trust lawsuit against Intel appears? Who will drive Intel to continue on its track record of excellence and force them to be competitive in their pricing? It does not seem like a feasible option for any processor company at this time to do so.

Cleaning Your Computer For Broadband

Replace Router

Sources:Softpedia.com - AMD Not Competing with Intel Anymore, Goes Mobile Softpedia.com - AMD Still Committed to x86, Whatever That Means Mercurynews.com - AMD struggling to reinvent itself

Upgraded Samsung Series 7 Gamer Laptop Set to Hit U.S. in April

Us laptop gamers here in the states have been pretty envious of our European brothers as they have had the privilege of buying the Samsung Series 7 Gamer notebook since last spring. Well, this spring (April, to be specific) that envy dies and becomes reborn as jubilation as Samsung will be shipping the Series 7 Gamer to us Yanks while giving it a nice increase in specs at the same time.

The 17" gaming laptop will still have the same aesthetics, as well as the same external features, as its European counterpart, including the 2.1 speaker setup with down-firing Subwoofer, super-bright screen and that big knob thingy that switches the device between power modes, like the Gaming Mode, which clocks up the CPU turbo mode, changes the keyboard backlighting, disables the Windows key and a few other things. The only real external difference is the lack of a 3D display option and the addition of a DisplayPort output.

Crack this bad boy open and you will be able to find the differences. On the inside the Series 7 Gamer gets a nice new set of parts. The second generation Intel Sandy Bridge Core i7 processor is gone, replaced by a quad-core third-generation Intel Ivy Bridge Core i7 processor instead. In addition to that, the graphics have received an increase from the Radeon HD 6970M to the upcoming GeForce GTX 670M. You will still have a Blu-ray drive as well as the 2TB hard drive so nothing's new there.

You will be able to grab this mobile gaming giant when it is released in April for a reasonable $1,799, or whenever Intel's high-end Ivy Bridge chips and Nvidia's next-generation GPUs are ready to go, which we hope is by April because, honestly, we can't hold out on this laptop forever.

Function of Transmitter

What Is PDA - Personal Digital Assistance

Applications For Multimedia

Source: PC World - Samsung to Bring Series 7 Gamer to the U.S., With Upgrades

Amazon's Cloud Allowing Windows Server to Run Free

If you are wanting to run Windows Server via Amazon's Cloud Service for free, the time has come for your wish to be granted. That's right, enterprise companies now have the ability to run Microsoft's Windows Server for as many as 750 hours in Amazon's cloud completely free using the Amazon Web Services (AWS) Free Usage Tier according to a statement released by the website on Saturday.

This announcement will allow enterprise companies that already run applications on Windows Server to give Amazon's cloud service a test drive completely free of charge. Enterprise users will be able to select from a wide array of pre-configured Amazon Machine Images without Microsoft Windows Server 2008 R2. The Windows Server images run on a Micro instance (virtual sever) that includes 613 MB of memory as well as 32-bit or 64-bit support.

The Free Usage Tier was launched back in 2010 but has only recently become available with Linux. Enterprise companies now have the opportunity to run both operating systems simultaneously for as long as 750 hours per month for one year. After that, these companies will have to pay regular fees that start as low as $0.02 per hour for Linux and $0.03 per hour for Windows.

If a company exceeds its usage limits, additional fees will be incurred. For instance, if you have two different server instances active for 400 hours a piece for the entire month, you have gone over your monthly usage by 50 hours. The first 750 hours will still be free, but you will have to pay the standard price for the 50 hours extra you used. In addition to that, the tier also includes limited use of Amazon's load balancer, storage services and the SimpleDB mysql database.

Source: Computer World - Windows Server now runs for free in Amazon's cloud

Friday, October 12, 2012

Firefox 16 Re-released After Fix of Flaw

One day after suddenly pulling the latest version of it's popular web browser off of their website, Mozilla has re-released Firefox 16 for download. Mozilla pulled the latest version of Firefox from their install page as a result of a discovered security flaw. The security flaw apparently allowed harmful and malicious websites to track and identify which websites the user had visited. This flaw was discovered by security researcher Gareth Heyes, who then publicly disclosed the vulnerability.

While Mozilla has stated that there is no evidence of this flaw "in the wild", Mozilla on Wednesday recommended that users who upgraded to version 16 downgrade back to 15.0.1. By noon Thursday however a new version, 16.0.1, was available for download, and according to Mozilla is now safe to download and use. Anyone that had already downloaded version 16 was upgraded to this newer version, along with an update for the Android version, released Wednesday night.

The good news for Mozilla is that this security flaw appears to be minor, and was one that they were able to quickly fix. Their browser Firefox, an open-source, free web browser, has enjoyed continued growth and success since it's release in November of 2004, and now holds 22% of the global browser market share. With the continued competition from poplar web browsers such as Internet Download Manager Explorer and Google Chrome, Mozilla has to ensure that their browser is safe and secure for users. It remains to be seen if any more security flaws will be discovered with the updated version, but for now it appears to be working well for Firefox.

Read:

Breast Cancer Symptoms and Signs

Breast Cancer Risk Factors

Source: CNET - Mozilla rereleases Firefox 16 after fixing critical flaw

Thursday, October 4, 2012

PC Satisfaction Increased by Tablets?

Recent news on PCs have been mostly negative with most people in the tech industry saying that the PC is dead, due in large part to the incredible rise of the tablet PC. Many people have been saying that tablets are killing the PC business and that it is only a matter of time before tablets completely make PCs obsolete. However, recent reports are suggesting that tablets may actually be boosting the rate at which consumers appreciate their PCs.

Personal server computer satisfaction increased by 2.6% this year, giving it a record high score of 80 on the American Consumer Satisfaction Index (ASCI). According to the index, the reason for this satisfaction increase is probably due to rise in tablet use among consumers.

When you think about it, this seems a little contradictory, though ASCI founder Claes Fornell has a theory. Fornell's theory is that when unsatisfied PC users move to Apple and other tablet makers, only the most loyal and happy users are left using traditional PCs, such as Dell, HP and Acer computers. That actually makes a lot of sense. If all the unsatisfied people switch to tablets, then only the happy and satisfied customers are left to take the surveys.

There may be an additional reason that tablet growth has increased PC customer satisfaction. Tablets typically sql server as an ancillary device, meaning they are viewed as second in importance to a PC. If this is true then tablets, instead of taking the place of a PC, are used solely for the tasks that they are best at, like surfing the internet, watching movies or checking Facebook. This leaves PC users fully aware of everything that their PC offers and everything that their tablet doesn't, further increasing their satisfaction.

Source: PC World - Tablets might actually be increasing PC customer satisfaction

Thursday, September 20, 2012

Microsoft Issues Fix It Patch for Internet Explorer Vulnerability

Microsoft has just released what it is calling "Fix It" software that was designed to protect Windows users from a critical hole in Internet Explorer that was being exploited by hackers. While this is all well and good, it isn't the big fix that everybody has been waiting for. Instead, this is merely a temporary fix until Microsoft releases a cumulative update for Internet Explorer.

According to Trustworthy Computer Director for Microsoft Yunsun Wee, the Fix It tool "is an easy, one-click solution that will help protect your computer right away. It will not affect your ability to browse the web, and it does not require a reboot of your computer. This will not only reinforce the issue that the Fix It addressed, but cover other issues as well, including four other critical remote code execution issues."

This isn't some minor hole, however. In fact, the vulnerability is so severe that the German government and security experts have been advising people to avoid using Internet Explorer altogether until the vulnerability is patched entirely, which won't happen until the larger update is released. That update, which has a severity rating of Critical, should come out any day now, meaning users won't have long to wait until they can get back to viewing the internet in peace.

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This vulnerability, more specifically, was uncovered within the past week and could very well compromise the PCs of every single Internet Explorer user who visits a malicious site. The flaw itself is being actively exploited to deliver a back-door Trojan known as Poison Ivy. My recommendation is that you download the patch as soon as it is available so as to not risk any critical harm befalling your PC.

Source: CNET - Microsoft issues fix for IE hole; full update coming Friday

Thursday, August 9, 2012

Microsoft Drops Metro, Calls Everything Windows 8 Now

It appears as if Microsoft has entered into a naming dispute with European partner Metro Group over the design language for the company's upcoming operating system, Windows 8. Metro has long been used by Microsoft in reference to Windows 8 but, instead of fighting it out with Metro Group, Microsoft has simply decided to change the name. The new name that the company is using is none other than Microsoft 8 itself. Wow, what a change.

According to sources from Microsoft, anything currently or formerly known as a Metro-Style application (regardless of the hyphen) will henceforth be referred to as a Windows 8 application. In addition to that, references to the Metro user interface will be replaced by a Windows 8 user interface and instead of using Metro design, Microsoft and everybody else involved with the project will use the term Windows 8 design.

This news doesn't seem to be a big secret though as some OEMs seem to have gotten the message. Lenovo's new promo page for the new Windows 8 Thinkpad Tablet Online 2 has no mention of the word Metro anywhere on it. Instead, the heading Windows 8 apps is used. However, some at Microsoft are still using the Metro term in certain situations.

Some divisions at Microsoft were still using Metro to refer to the tiled interface with bold Segoe-font typographic elements. Metro became a nickname to refer to the new look and feel of Windows 8, as well as a way to refer to apps built using the new WinRT programming interface. It also seems as if Microsoft is going to use the Windows 8 name change with its Windows Phone as well. That means the Metro interface on Windows Phone will now be known as the Windows 8 interface.

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Source: ZDNet - Microsoft: Don't call it Metro. Call it 'Windows 8'

Thursday, July 26, 2012

Blackhole Exploit Sucks in Twitter Users

According to the security firm Sophos, who seems to be on top of every single major spam attack that happens on the internet these days, a widespread spam attack that links to malware has weaseled its way onto Twitter. The tweets that are trying to lure unsuspecting users in include things like: "It's you on photo?" or "It's about you?" In addition to that, the tweets and URLs typically include a user's Twitter handle. Many of the links that Sophos has discovered include a .RU domain name.

According to Head of Sophos' U.S. Labs Richard Wang, "The attack itself is very simple, relying on people's natural curiosity about anything they think mentions them. Including the target's Twitter username in the link is an added hook to reel people in." Twitter added through a spokesman's email saying, "We're aware of the issue and we're working to resolve it."

The links in the tweets themselves lead to a Trojan that ultimately redirects users to Russian websites that contain the Blackhole exploit kit, according to Sophos. The Blackhole exploit kit first emerged back in 2010 and is widely used in spam attacks. The version of the kit that is floating around Twitter targets vulnerabilities in Adobe Reader and Shockwave Flash, Sophos discovered.

If you feel that you have been affected by the spamming attacks, or you just want to take precautions against it in general, then you can protect yourself by updating your anti-malware software, patching your operating system and making sure your browser and browser plugins are up-to-date. In addition to that, you could just be smart and not click on anything on Twitter that you don't recognize.

Source: Components Of A Server Computer World - Twitter suffers malware spam outbreak

Thursday, July 12, 2012

Yahoo Gets Hacked, Quickly Follows Up with a Patch

Yahoo recently announced that it has fixed the vulnerability in its system that led to the unauthorized release of more than 450,000 email passwords from users of Yahoo Voices. According to a blog post by Yahoo, "We have taken swift action and have now fixed this vulnerability, deployed additional security measures for affected Yahoo! users, enhanced our underlying security controls and are in the process of notifying affected users. In addition, we will continue to take significant measures to protect our users and their data."

The released data only affected those users who joined Associated Content before May 2010, the same time Yahoo acquired the company. According to Yahoo, "This compromised file was a standalone file that was not used to grant access to Yahoo systems and services." The next time the affected users sign into their Yahoo account, they will be asked to answer a series of authentication questions to change and validate account details, according to Yahoo.

The company added, "At Yahoo we take security very seriously and invest heavily in protective measures to ensure the security of our users and their data across all our products. We sincerely apologize to all affected users." Those affected users encompass 453,491 people whose emails and passwords were posted online by hacker group D33DS Company according to internet security firm Sophos. In a recent response to Sophos, D33DS Company stated, "We hope that the parties responsible for managing the security of this subdomain will take this as a wake-up call, and not as a threat."

Sophos recently released a new blog post that highlighted some of the insecure passwords many of the Yahoo hack victims were using. This included 1,666 people who used "123456" as their password and an additional 780 users who used "password" as their password. Among the other top choices were passwords like "welcome", "ninja", "sunshine", "princess" and "qwerty". I suddenly don't feel as bad for these people as I used to.

Yahoo isn't the only one who got hacked this week. Nvidia recently announced that it shut down its Developer Zone after it got hacked. That hack may have allowed the hacker to gain access to password information as well. In addition to Nvidia and Yahoo, Phandroid also got hacked, this one occurring on its Android forums.

Source: Samsung PC Mag - Yahoo Patches Email Vulnerability