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Friday, October 30, 2009

Happy 40th Birthday, Internet The Internet got started with just two computers linked together in 1969

The Internet got started with just two computers linked together in 1969
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We take it for granted today and it's easy to forget just how new it really is, but the Internet is a very different beast than it was just five years ago. It's now evolving at an amazing pace and soon one third of the world's population will be online. Its beginnings 40 years ago though were a lot more humble.

The actual birth date of the Internet isn't exactly set in stone but one date that is largely regarded as the day it all started is October 29, 1969. Back then computers were the size of rooms and mostly relegated to universities, big companies and military use. And 40 years ago researchers at two universities were trying to connect two of these computers, hundreds of miles away.

This first link was between the University of California, Los Angeles and the Stanford Research Institute (SRI) and the goal of the first test was a very simple one, just logging into the SRI machine. Charley Kline had the task of typing the “login” command. Unfortunately the “interface message processor” crashed on the first attempt and he only got to the 'g' so the first message ever transmitted was “lo.”

This was just the beginning though and a couple of months later the “Internet,” or rather its precursor, Arpanet, reached four nodes as two more universities joined. Twelve years later the number of connected machines jumped to an impressive 213. After that though things started picking up and there was no stopping the phenomenon. By the mid eighties 16 million people were using email but it would be until the early nineties that the Internet as we know it was created with the advent of the World Wide Web followed by the first web browser Netscape.

The Internet boom followed as everyone was suddenly interested in the online landscape. By the year 2000 there were half a billion people using the Internet and the number has more than tripled since. It's hard to find any part of life that hasn't been influenced or affected by the web in some form or another and at the rate at which it is evolving it's hard to predict where it will be in five years’ time, not to mention 40.

NVIDIA's GeForce 3xxM Series Leaks Online

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Despite the fact that the Santa Clara, California-based graphics chip maker NVIDIA has already announced the introduction of its next-generation Fermi architecture, the company has yet to unveil its first consumer products to take advantage of the benefits and features enabled by said architecture. However, this only leaves room for speculations and rumors, as it is with any highly anticipated product. On that note, it appears that the company has recently leaked a couple of its upcoming products from the GeForce mobile segment.

Our colleagues over at Fudzilla have received a rather interesting tip on NVIDIA's future GeForce 3xxM series of notebook graphics solutions. According to a recent post on the aforementioned site, the graphics chip maker has included the names of its new GeForce mobile lineup in the selection tool on its GeForce graphics drivers download page. The list of new GeForce notebook processors includes the high-end GTS 360M, the GT335M and GT 330M for the mainstream segment, followed by the low-end GeForce 310M and 305M models.

Unfortunately, the leak has already been taken down from the website so we will have to take Fudzilla's word on this one. Also, it appears that the leak didn't include the drivers for these five cards, which means we are stuck with only the brand names of these future notebook GPUs. There are speculations that the cards will be based on the new Fermi architecture, but that's something we will need to confirm when NVIDIA gets official with them.

There's a very good chance that the company will initially update its notebook GPU portfolio before providing computer enthusiasts with a choice for a new desktop, Fermi-based GeForce GT300-based graphics card. According to previous rumors, the much-anticipated launch of the new GPU architecture might occur before the end of this year.

Ubuntu 9.10 Officially Released

Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala)
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After six alphas, a beta version and a release candidate, we are pleased to announce that Ubuntu 9.10 is here, today (October 29th), available on mirrors worldwide (see the download links at the end of the article). It is our greatest pleasure to introduce you guys to the highlights of this new release dubbed Karmic Koala. It all began on February 20th, 2009, when Mark Shuttleworth announced the Karmic Koala operating system, the next major release of the popular Ubuntu Linux operating system. Ubuntu 9.10 is also the eleventh release of the Ubuntu OS and will be supported for 18 months on both servers and desktops.

Under the hood of Ubuntu 9.10 (Karmic Koala):

· GNOME 2.28.1 desktop environment;
· Linux kernel 2.6.31.1;
· EXT4 filesystem;
· X.Org 7.4;
· X.Org server 1.6.4;
· Mesa 3D DRI 7.6;
· Compiz Fusion 0.8.4;
· Xsplash 0.8.4;
· New artwork.

The Ubuntu 9.10 feature tour:

· Improved boot times - Once again, the boot speed has been improved through various modern tweaks;
· New default filesystem - EXT4 is now the default file system for new installations;
· New boot loader - GRUB 2 replaces GRUB Legacy to support EXT4 file systems;
· New boot splash theme - Usplash has been revamped. It is slicker, better looking;
· New X-based splash screen - Called Xsplash, it offers a beautiful, animated splash image before and after the login screen;
· Home encryption - Yes! It's back and improved. It can be found on the installer's "Who are you?" step;
· Revamped login screen - GDM (GNOME Display Manager) has a new skin (in tone with the new Xsplash), and has been greatly improved with lots of features;
· 20 new wallpapers - from various photographers around the world;
· Cosmos wallpaper slideshow - includes 9 wallpapers with planets and stars that automatically change every 30 minutes;
· Revamped Human theme - the default theme has a new window border and it now includes the Humanity icon set;
· 5 extra GNOME themes and one extra icon theme - Kin, Impression, Night Impression, Hanso and Turrican GTK themes, and the Breathe icon theme are all available from the default software repositories;
· Easy access to numerous GNOME themes, icons, splash screens, login window themes and desktop wallpapers - By clicking the "Get more backgrounds online" and "Get more themes online" in the Appearance Preferences dialog, you will gain access to many wonderful themes for your GNOME desktop environment;
· XZ compression - available in the default software repositories, the brand-new XZ high-compression algorithm offers smaller archives compared with current alternatives. It replaces LZMA;
· Ubuntu One - enables users to store and share their files online. It can also synchronize their Tomboy notes and Evolution contacts;
· Ubuntu Software Center - It replaces Add/Remove in order to make application management more user friendly. It offers better descriptions and screenshots for many programs. Installing applications has never been easier;
· Better Computer Janitor - the system cleaner utility has a new interface and it's smarter when removing the cruft;
· Better 3D desktop effects - Still in charge of the beautiful Ubuntu desktop effects, Compiz Fusion features additional plugins for better desktop usability;
· New Disk Utility - a tool that offers hard drive monitoring, through S.M.A.R.T. It can also be used for disk formatting and partition management;
· Empathy Instant Messenger - It replaces the great and wonderful Pidgin multi-protocol messenger, with a Telepathy-based client for better GNOME integration;
· Improved document viewer - Evince protects your system from malicious PDF files;
· 25 language translations - including Spanish, French, Brazilian Portuguese, Italian, German, Swedish, Hungarian, English, Simplified Chinese, Russian, Japanese, Dutch, Portuguese, Danish, Finnish, Catalan, Czech, Korean, Polish, Bulgarian, Slovenian, Greek, Traditional Chinese, Galician and Basque;
· New software development tool - Quickly is a new piece of software that helps developers easily build and share applications for Ubuntu;
· Better power management - HAL has been finally replaced by udev and other modern technologies for better handling of your laptop's battery, hotkeys and storage devices;
· Better support for Intel graphics cards - The Intel video driver features the new UXA acceleration method and KMS (Kernel Mode Setting), which improves overall performance (including suspend and resume) and reduces display flickering during boot;
· New input method framework - The new IBus tool replaces SCIM to allow greater flexibility. It is designed for the anthy, hangul, chewing, m17n, rawcode, pinyin and large tables input method engines.

Included applications:

Accessories:

· Calculator 5.28.1 (an arithmetic, scientific or financial calculator);
· Character Map 2.28.0 (permits to insert special characters into documents);
· Baobab 2.28.1 (disk usage analyzer);
· Gedit 2.28.0 (a small and lightweight text editor with intuitive spell-checker);
· Seahorse 2.28.1 (passwords and encryption keys manager);
· Gnome Screenshot 2.28.1 (saves images of your desktop or individual windows);
· Gnome Terminal 2.28.1 (allows you to use the command-line);
· Tomboy 1.0.0 (desktop note-taking application).
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Review imageGraphics:

· F-Spot 0.6.1.3 (photo manager);
· The GIMP 2.6.7 (image editor);
· XSane 0.996 (scan, copy and fax images).

Internet tools:

· Empathy 2.28.1 (multi-protocol instant messenger);
· Evolution 2.28.1 (powerful e-mail client);
· Firefox 3.5.3 (the ever-popular web browser);
· Vinagre 2.28.1 (remote desktop viewer);
· Terminal Server Client 0.150 (rdesktop, vncviewer, wfica, xnest frontend);
· Transmission 1.75 (lightweight BitTorrent client);
· Ubuntu One 1.0.2 (online file storage).
Office tools:

· Dictionary 2.28.1 (a tool to search word definitions and spelling in an online dictionary);
· OpenOffice.org Suite 3.1.1 (spreadsheet, presentation, drawing and word processor).

Sound and Video:

· Brasero 2.28.1 (CD/DVD burning application);
· Totem 2.28.1 (DVD-Video, DivX, XviD, WMV, MOV player);
· Rhythmbox 0.12.5 (Last.fm, radio and music player/organizer);
· Sound Recorder 2.28.1 (audio recording tool).

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Swine Flu Vaccine: Take It or Leave It

The WHO is arguing that people should take the new swine flu vaccine, whereas other experts believe that is not advisable
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While the World Health Organization (WHO) is painting a dire image of the new influenza outbreak, there are voices that say the situation is not nearly as bad as official announcements would have it. Regardless of where the truth lies, the main question on everybody's lips now is whether they should be getting the new vaccine or not. There are scientists who urge you to do so, and there are those who argue that you should avoid the shot at all costs. Here are some of the viewpoints in this debate.

“Influenza vaccines are one of the most effective ways to protect people from contracting illness during influenza epidemics and pandemics. Other preventive and treatment measures include anti-viral and other drugs, social distancing and personal hygiene. These measures must be used both prior to development of a pandemic vaccine and following the availability of a vaccine, expected in limited supply at first,” a statement released on the WHO website says.

“Licensed vaccines, including influenza vaccines, are held to a very high standard of safety. Likewise, all possible precautions will be taken to ensure safety of new pandemic vaccines and results from clinical trials, currently ongoing or soon to be initiated, will be taken into consideration by the regulatory authorities in their decision to license pandemic vaccines,” another statement adds.

At this point, there are numerous controversies circulating the Internet as to whether the new shots are indeed effective in combating the swine flu (viral strain A-H1N1), or if they do more harm than good. Epidemiologists draw attention to the fact that getting a vaccine will not necessarily protect you from the effects of the virus. Antibodies are, indeed, produced, but, if the viral strain mutates before entering your body (and it does so very often), then those antibodies are rendered completely useless.

The media is also pushing forth the notion that the new vaccines are “safe.” However, this is debatable, critics say, because the drugs have not been subjected to extended testing, such as other types of medicine are before they are allowed for public use. The chemicals that go in the shots are obtained from engineered viruses, which carry small amounts of the new viral strain. When the immune system is exposed to it, it develops antibodies that render it resistant to its effects later on. The long-term effects of the new vaccines are, however, not known yet.

There are, of course, those who say that the vaccines are straight-out bad for you. Patricia Doyle, PhD, highlights the unusually negative side-effects of the vaccines administered during the 1976 swine-flu epidemic, when those who were given specific medication developed a neurological disorder called the Guillain-Barre Syndrome (GBS). “Following the 1976 program of vaccination against swine influenza in the US, a retrospective study found a possible eight-fold increase in the incidence of GBS,” Dr. Rustam Al-Shahi Salman and Professor Patrick Chinnery, both from the Association of British Neurologists, say of the new vaccine.

There are voices that point out that the new vaccine has also never been tested on expectant mothers and on children, which are two of the groups that are primarily to be vaccinated against the new strain. The effects of the vaccines on these people are unknown, and the weird thing is that governments and pharmaceutical companies are not showing the risks of the therapy, just the benefits. They continuously peddle the fact that the new vaccine was finished in only a few months, but did the speed of the manufacturing process sacrifice quality?

NVIDIA and AMD to Be Affected by TSMC's 40nm Yield Problems

AMD and NVIDIA could see shipment delays due to issues with 40nm yields
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The world's two leading vendors of graphics processing units, NVIDIA and AMD, are expected to be faced with GPU shipment delays due to new 40nm yield issues that have recently been reported by the Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Company (TSMC). Although these issues are expected to be solved within the quarter, the two chip makers, which have either launched their latest GPUs or are about to announce their new 40nm-based products, could be affected by the reported problems.

According to a recent news article on Digitimes, TSMC's chairman and CEO Morris Chang has announced that the reported issues with the 40nm process technology are expected to be solved by the end of this quarter. The problems, which have led to a 40% drop in yield rates for the 40nm node, are related to certain chamber matching issues. TSMC's main customers for said manufacturing technology are GPU vendors NVIDIA and AMD. While the latter's new generation of 40nm-based graphics cards have already been launched on the market, the Santa Clara, California-based NVIDIA is yet to formerly introduce the much-anticipated 40nm-based GT300 chips, according to previous rumors.

There were a number of reports regarding TSMC's 40nm yield issues over the course of the past months, although, back in July 2009, at an investors conference, Chang said that the yield rates for said process had improved to 60%, compared to the 20-30% in the second quarter of 2009. This has affected AMD, which launched its first 40nm card with the introduction of the Radeon HD 4770, the world's first graphics card with a 40nm GPU.

In related news, TSMC announced that the strong demand for 40nm and 65nm technologies had led its 2009 capex to rise further and it expected it to be around US$2.7 billion. The company revealed that the 45nm/40nm process accounted for 4% of its Q3 revenue, compared to the 1% announced in the first and second quarters.

HP TouchSmart tx2z with 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD

HP TouchSmart tx2z with 4GB RAM, 320GB HDD now $450 off with coupon

In the market for a multitouch tablet? HP's TouchSmart tx2z, both the readers' and editors' choice for Tablet PC of the Year in the 2008 Engadget Awards, currently has two stackable discounts totaling $450, dropping the price here to a much more manageable $650. That includes an AMD Turion X2 Dual-core processor, 4GB RAM and a 320GB hard drive. Offer expires tomorrow, so hit up LogicBuy soon via the read link for details and the promo code.








Nokia have released a new Linux-based mobile computer/phone device called the N900. It sounds very cool. Here's a quick feature list thrown together from the official site and a few other places:

- 800x480, 3.5" touch-sensitive display
- "Up to" 1GB RAM, 32GB built-in disk, microSD card slot
- slide-out QWERTY keyboard
- Mozilla-engine web browser
- full multi-tasking support (meaning you can run applications in the background)
- GPS (and GeoIP tagging of photos)
- 5MP camera
- Adobe Flash support
- Bluetooth, FM transmitter
- Runs Maemo, an open source Linux-based OS with all the freedom you could want.
- Approximately USD$710

No jailbreaking, no filtered AppStore, root access and software freedom - it sounds pretty good on paper and the actual device looks nice

Maemo 5, the OS it runs on is totally Open Source , this is what sets it apart from the Iphone the most to me, no restrictions on what you install do or change. Its not a smart phone its basicaly a Linux laptop in your pocket, with a Mozilla based web browser and flash support. but it also works as a phone

Check out the full tech spec:
And full feature list:
Video of it in action: v=RP5R-5NX1BE&eurl=http%3A%2F%2Fwww%2Eausgamers%2
Ecom%2Fnews%2Fread%2F2779835&feature=player_embedded

AMD unveils Eyefinity and next-gen Radeon GPU

AMD's making quite a hullaballo with its next generation ATI graphics parts. The company held a press conference to unveil the new graphics processors but didn't spill all the beans just yet. Outside of some really big numbers that we can mention, the new GPUs support a brand new feature called Eyefinity, a method by which to connect up to six monitors to a single video card.



Yes, you read that right - six monitors. No limitations either. Feel free to hookup six gigantic 30" displays if you want. Not all the new video cards will support six outputs, but three seems to be the new minimum. ATI's reasoning behind enabling support for so many monitors actually makes a lot of sense. While most of us can't afford a single 30" LCD (let alone six of them), grabbing three 20" LCDs can cost as low as $400. Six quality displays can easily be had for less than $1000 if you want to go all out.



Outside of giving you an absurdly large desktop space, ATI states that the new GPU will actually be able to drive insane resolutions in-game. You don't have to imagine what World of Warcraft would look like at 7680x3200, because you can actually do it. Game compatibility might be an issue, but ATI assured us that more than a few games work well out of the box, and that simple patches can enable many others.



ATI let loose two figures to allay concerns that their GPU can't possibly run games at such absurd resolutions. The new GPU will have 2.15 billion transistors, and will be capable of over 2.5 TFLOPs. To put those numbers in perspective, ATI's current generation Radeon HD 4890 has less than half as many transistors, and is capable of around 1 TFLOPs. We got to toy around on Left 4 Dead for a bit, and at the risk of sounding effusive, it rocked. Silky smooth and ridiculously large.



We'll see how the new GPU performs soon enough, and whether it's capable of driving more graphically demanding games with high quality settings at such insane resolutions. Until then, have sweet dreams of large multi-monitor displays and stupidly high resolution gaming.
Tips Tricks  How to maximize your netbook's performance



Dear Reader,
The advent of netbooks has recently taken the PC market by storm. Unfortunately, these mini-notebooks are a little slower than their full PC cousins, but with the right tweaks, you can squeeze the last bit of speed and functionality out of these small machines. This newsletter shows you the best ways to optimize your netbook.
7 great tips and tricks to optimize your netbook:
1. Use a lightweight Media Player and codec pack to play all your favorite videos and music (e.g. Cole2k Codec Pack and Media Player Classic HC 1.2).

2. Uninstall programs you no longer use, especially trial software, as these can clutter up the drive. TuneUp Uninstall Manager of our TuneUp Utilities 2009 helps you immensely with that, because it tells you which programs you regularly use and which you don't.
TuneUp Uninstall Manager
3. Defrag the hard drive to better manage your data and keep your computer running fast. We recommend using TuneUp Utilities 2009 to safely and consistently do this on a regular basis.

4. Reduce the user interface of Internet Explorer, Firefox, and other Web browsers to better utilize the smaller “real estate” on your netbook. Right-click on the upper menu bar of your browser and uncheck unnecessary menu items.

5. Go back to the classic Windows look and feel. Animations can hinder the system's performance. To do that, right-click on your desktop and go to “Properties” (XP) or “Personalize” (Vista). Under the “Design” entry, select the classic design and hit “OK.”

6. Disable unnecessary devices, such as Bluetooth, FireWire, and Wi-Fi, to save battery power.

7. Don't run too many applications at the same time. Multitasking is better suited for a laptop, whereas netbooks are designed for basic use such as word processing and simple Web browsing.


YOU CAN DOWNLOAD TUNEUP UTILITIES FROM HERE CLICK THIS LINK

Unlock ALL Versions in your Windows 7 ISO


1. Make a copy of your .iso for safe keeping..
2. Open the .iso in ultraISO

3. Browse to the "sources" folder

4. Remove the file "ei.cfg"

5. Save the .iso
6. Burn at 2x