Category: Interesting Reads

Repair your laptop display on your own

I’ve never needed to do this to a laptop, but I’ve done it to a cell phone.  The process is pretty much the same, you’re just working with more expensive parts.   🙂

The worst thing that can happen to a portable computer owner – aside from having his wife or girlfriend leave him or his hard disk go up in smoke – is irreparable damage to its built-in, but relatively sensitive liquid crystal (LCD) display. (No, I’m not putting women on the same pedestal as hard disks, what are you thinking?) This might happen because of an entirely innocuous-seeming mishap, such as leaving a pencil lying on the notebook’s keyboard and failing to remove it before closing the clamshell. A firm slap on the top deck to force the unit closed and presto you’ve got a serious problem with your LCD! Another common misadventure involves cracking the screen when you or a colleague trip over a portable’s power or network cables, hurling the computer to the floor with a sickening crunch. Ouch!

[tags]LCD, laptop, DIY repair[/tags]

Six versions of Windows Vista announced

This is all over the techie world, so no specific reference here.  Microsoft announced six versions of Windows Vista yesterday.  Full details available at Microsoft.

  • Windows Vista Business
  • Windows Vista Enterprise
  • Windows Vista Home Basic
  • Windows Vista Home Premium
  • Windows Vista Ultimate
  • Windows Vista Starter

Business, Enterprise, and Premium will support the new Aero user interface.  The Windows Vista Starter version will be offered in emerging markets.  This specifically means Microsoft is working to provide a lower cost version of Windows in areas with entry level computing equipment and generally lower technology availability.

[tags]Microsoft, Windows Vista[/tags]

 

 

XFire sure seems popular

While trying to catch up with all kinds of geek/techie/gaming news today, I found this article at TwitchGuru about the XFire instant messenger/gamer tracker.  After reading the article, I’m actually a little surprised to see how popular XFire is.  I used the program about 3 years ago, maybe even 4.  Perhaps I just didn’t have enough gaming friends to appreciate it, but I didn’t find it particularly useful or in any way more outstanding than ICQ/MSN/AIM/whatever.  That said, I can see the usefulness – maybe I got in too early to benefit from the unique twist XFire offers.

If you haven’t tried XFire, and you have a lot of gaming buddies, try downloading it and using it.  Once installed, you can see what game someone on your buddy list is playing.  You can get stats on your buddies.  You can use the program to send snapshots if you see something in-game that makes you think you just have to grab a picture.  I may even install it and try it again.

How fast has Xfire grown? On average, nearly 300,000 new users register and download the software each month, which means Xfire adds approximately 10,000 new customers every day. Xfire has become so hot so quickly that Fortune Magazine’s David Kirkpatrick recently wrote that Xfire “could be the next MySpace.” It’s an accurate comparison. The best way to think of Xfire is as a combination of a social networking site and an instant messaging platform. In addition to allowing users the ability to text message or voice chat with other Xfire members, the software allows users to create an entire online community. “We wanted to find a better way for people to interact through video games and be able to communicate with one another,” Fong says.

[tags]XFire, Instant Messaging, Social networks, gaming[/tags]

Malware for sale

It had to happen sooner or later.

PandaLabs uncovers a complex malware creation system designed to spy and steal personal data

After Panda ActiveScan detected a malicious code designed to spy on infected computers and capture data, a complex espionage system has been uncovered

This system sells made-to-measure Trojans to hackers for US$ 990

Although this code is checked to avoid detection by different antivirus solutions,  TruPrevent™ Technologies have managed to detect it

The author’s website guarantees that if the Trojan is detect by an antivirus solution, it will be changed

I miss working in the security field.  I remember seeing predictions of this some time ago.  Of course, here is what these folks have to be asking now - is this something new, or has this been around a while and we’re just now finding it?  Also, one has to ask how the money transfer is taking place.  If someone is paying for this, there has to be an exchange of money somewhere.  I’m guessing that’s how people are going to try to track down the programmer in question.

I seriously doubt this is new, although it’s probably not a very old (in tech-world terms “mature”) service.  Still, this will likely grow more popular as other skilled programmers realize they can make real profits from doing bad.  But any that would offer a guarantee to reprogram said malware if it is discovered (as this one was) will have to charge more to stay ahead, fiscally speaking.  This is what you would call a growth industry, and like all growth industries, pricing will be high until it matures.  (via ArsTechnica)

[tags]Maleware, Virus for hire[/tags]

Funeral Homes Sold Body Parts in ‘Ghastly’ Case

I’m not even sure I can say much about this. I’ll have to just put some of the information from the article down instead.

NEW YORK (AP)—The owner of a biomedical supply house and three others were charged with selling body parts for use in transplants in a scheme a district attorney called “something out of a cheap horror movie.”

Prosecutors said Thursday the defendants made millions of dollars obtaining bodies from funeral parlors in three states and forging death certificates and organ donor consent forms to make it look as if the bones, skin, tendons, heart valves and other tissue were legally removed.

Science myths

Here’s an interesting set of myths and truths in science. I’ll just start with the first one I saw:

It takes seven years to digest gum

While it may prove a bit more difficult to break down than organic foodstuffs, chewing gum gets no special treatment from the digestive system. Doctors figure this old wives’ tale was invented to prevent kids from swallowing the rubbery substance.

and another interesting one for anyone with kids:

The five second rule

Having an arbitrary rule justifying the consumption of food dropped on the floor within a certain time frame is convenient, especially when said food is a brownie. Unfortunately, tests (and logic) confirm that germs will stick to most foods right on contact.

[tags]Science, myths[/tags]

Unsurprising headline of the day…

This from Live Science:

Sex Still Satisfying For Men In Their 50s

Call Guiness. I don’t think anyone could have predicted that! More from the article:

Despite weakened sex drives and flagging erections, men in their 50s enjoy sex almost as much as those in their 20s.

The 30s seem to be a time of disappointment.

Researchers in Norway surveyed 1,185 men aged between 20 and 79 about various aspects of their sex lives, including drive, erections and ejaculations. The men were asked to rate their satisfaction with each aspect on a scale of zero to four, with four representing good sexual function and no problems.

The average scores for men in their …

20s: 2.79
50s: 2.77
30s: 2.55
40s: 2.72

As a man in his 30s, let me just say I’m not so sure I’d call the 30s a time of disappoinment. This study makes it look like the 40s and 50s could be better, but calling the 30s a time of disappointment sounds like a headline grab to me.

[tags]Science, Sex, Satisfaction[/tags]

What did George Washington look like?

A brief article about some interesting work — reconstructing George Washington’s looks at several times throughout his life. Includes a fascinating video. (via Blue’s News)

“The most difficult part of the challenge in a way was morphing backwards when there are no images of the 19-year-old,” said recreation team member, Ivan Schwartz. “Our 19-year-old mystery man — the man who would become leader of the country.”

The team recreated Washington at age 57 when he was president; at age 45 when he commanded troops in the Revolutionary War and as a teenage surveyor.

[tags]George Washington, President[/tags]

Sound following robot

Wow, this is really cool. A LEGO Mindstorms robot with the capacity to follow sound. (via MAKEzine)

Paul-Nicolas created this nice robot that is capable of following the sound of a radio or a music instrument or a human voice. It follows the ideas developed on this site concerning the interaural time detection (ITD) (binaural sensor and high speed sampling).

[tags]LEGO Mindsprings, Robot[/tags]

Another HTPC article

I put up a different, but similar article recently.  Here’s a post at Engadget that’s something of a guide on building your own home theatre PC (HTPC) for under $1,000.

We’ve seen a lot of home theater PCs lately and being in need of a new workstation, we decide to build one of our own. We started planning by looking around to see what others had done.

[tags]HTPC, Engadget[/tags]

Potential PDF replacement?

In another of the many “I’m not sure how I stumbled across this” sites I stumble across, I’ve been reading about Unipage tonight.

What is Unipage?

Unipage is a way to store a complete web page as just one file.

All of the page’s images, formatting, and even functionality are kept together instead of as separate files.

To create a Unipage from any web page or page on your computer, you need the Unipage Unifier program.

[tags]PDF replacement, Unipage[/tags]