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Monday, November 23, 2009

Laptops Or Notebooks


Towering demand for laptops or notebooks has made the electronic market widely popular like never before. It is yet another alternative for desktop PC. The exclusive design makes it small, lightweight and easily portable. When at home, you can conveniently carry the laptop to different rooms. It is your companion when traveling or outdoors. Given below are few tips for buying the right laptop!


How do I choose my Laptop?

Basically, a laptop should be selected based on its features and portability. Benefits of using a laptop are entirely dependent on specific needs of users. Generally, it is easily transportable anywhere and any time. Also, this user-friendly device’s price varies according to its features. We have categorized the users, outlining the type of laptops that will suit them.

Home users – For people, who surf the Internet occasionally, a portable laptop with similar features of a desktop PC is a great choice. Home users can look out for either midsize or desktop replacements with 800 MHz processor and 256MB RAM. They are budget-friendly and also offer added features.

Students – Students will prefer a lightweight laptop that can be easily carried from classroom to library. For such users, a thin-and-light or an ultraportable laptop with 256MB RAM, a burner and Pentium M processor is the right choice.

Regular Fliers – Frequent travelers prefer a lightweight laptop whether at airport or in meetings. The smallest and lightest ultraportables with processors in the Pentium-M family, built-in Wi-Fi, 256MB RAM is the right choice.

Business power users – Such users who attend seminars or prepare presentations, a thin-and-light or desktop replacement laptops are appropriate. Powered with 256MB RAM, 40GB hard drive space and an Ethernet card, this is the right kind of laptop that serves all business needs.

Multimedia Author or Gamer – Such users involve in editing audio, video or photos using Photoshop. A desktop replacement with 512MB RAM, a 2GHz or faster processor and 80GB hard drive space is the right choice.

What are the types of laptops available in the market?

Technology has enabled the availability of laptops in various shapes and sizes. Keeping buyer’s perspective in mind, given below are few kinds of laptops.

Ultra portable – These compact laptops mainly suit mobile professionals or frequent business travelers. The smallest of all, it weighs less than 6 pounds with screen size of less than 12 inches.

Thin & light – It is apt for those who mainly consider performance, features and price. This easily portable laptop is great for occasional fliers. It weighs less than 4 pounds with screen size of 12 or 14 inches.

Midsize – Suitable for home and small business users, a midsize comprises of basic computing software that facilitates word processing, storing digital photos, burning CDs, online communication and so on. It weighs up to 8 pounds with screen size of 15 to15.5 inches.

Desktop replacement – Usually, this laptop is used at home and is great for business users. It delivers exclusive computing muscle for serious gaming, multimedia authoring and high-level digital audio/video work. It weighs up to 8 pounds with screen size of 17 inches.

Tablet PC – Such laptops are widely popular for their portability, flexibility and unique features. They allow you to take handwritten notes and navigation through menus, documents and web pages in various styles.

How do I pick a suitable laptop processor?

Generally, processors found in laptops are AMD or Intel made. When others focus on processors’ performance, few consider their battery. With minimal power requirement, laptop processor generates lesser heat than desktop processor. It basically extends battery life and prevents excess heat. For beginners a 2.0GHz Pentium 4-M, 1.7 GHz Celeron-M, or 2200+ Athlon XP Mobile are recommended.

Key features be considered while buying a laptop Laptops with bewildering features tend to confuse you. Once you have decided on its weight & processor, consider other components. Few important ones to be kept in mind while buying are listed below:

Hard drive – This stores all your programs and files. Higher the drive’s storage capacity, more is the data storage. The speed may vary depending on the capacity of the drive. If planning to store operating system, documents or photos, look out for a 20GB or 40GB hard drive. Laptop with 80GB hard drive is suggested for saving large quantity of files like high-resolution images or movies.

Memory (RAM) – Usually, a certain amount of memory (RAM) is required to run programs including operating systems. Look for a laptop with 256MB, 512MB RAM, 1GB RAM or more.

CD & DVD drives – Most laptops have an inbuilt CD/RW, DVD or external Drive. They are connected through USB that is meant for burning disks and watching movies. There are combo drives that read or write to 2 media formats.

Ports – Ensure that all peripherals and gadgets can be well connected with your laptop. A USB 2.0 or FireWire is required to connect MP3 player, digital camera or camcorder. Most of the devices also work with USB 1.1.

Screens – People who choose a lightweight laptop tend to compromise with the display. Laptop with larger display is suggested for those interested in multimedia or 3D games.

Networking & Wi-Fi – Connecting to Internet is easy with laptop featuring built-in Ethernet support, a PCMCIA network interface card, or Wi-Fi (802.11b or 802.11g) support.

Graphic Card – It processes video by freeing up memory (RAM) for other system operations.

What other accessories should I concentrate on?

Given below are the major accessories to be considered when buying a laptop.

Mouse option – Generally, laptops do not feature a traditional mouse but there could be a mouse option. Nowadays, all laptops come with a touchpad, nub or both.

Bluetooth – It is a short-range wireless networking technology that is supported by some laptops. A bluetooth-enabled PDA or cell phone will allow you to talk and exchange data wireless.

Extra Battery – If you are entirely dependent on battery, ensure that you have a spare that can be carried along.

Docking Station – With this, you can connect your laptop to a standard keyboard, mouse, monitor & printer.

Carrying Case – It is always advisable to have a laptop carrying case for safe and convenient transport purpose.

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5 Tips For Finding The Best PDA Phones On The Market

The PDA phone revolution is here. Only a few years ago, many of us used to carry around a cell phone as well as a PDA, and suffered form the "too much a handle" syndrome. The PDA as well as the cell-phone manufacturers saw this development, and sensed that people need something else. Their answer was to come out with aPDA phone , or a smartphone. This sophisticated device integrates a PDA with a cell phone and allows you to stay on to of things without getting over-whelmed. The smart phone will enable you to:

1. Keep one calendar instead of two.

2. Talk to people on the phone and check things on your email on the web at the same time. This saves a lot of time and returned phone calls.
3. Carry less

4. Upgrade just one device instead of two, when it's time to upgrade.

5. Look sharper than ever!

So after we talked about the many advantages of having a smartphone, how do you find the Best PDA Phones and choose the one for you?
There are quite a few smartphone manufacturers - iPAQ, Palm-Treo and BalckBerry to name a few.
When ever you look for a PDA phone, pay attention to theses parameters:

1. Is it compact and light? some smartphones are just heavy and awkward to handle. You don't need that. Go for a light and thin device that won't be a burden.

2. Is it easy operate? Some PDA phones have complicated menus that require you to invest a lot of effort. Take a good look at how thePDA phone in operated and look for one that is easy.

3. Does it use standard software? - most smartphones are. But just check to be sure. You don't want a smartphone that is "spoiled" and needs special software and accessories to operate at a basic level. For instance, prefer one that uses an operating system like the Palm OS.

4. Is the phone working well? There is a fine balance between the PDA and the Phone parts in any phone PDA. The Best PDA Phones balance that well and both parts work perfectly, and are fully integrate. Make sure yours does.

5. Do you feel comfortable with it? Perhaps the most important one of all. If you're not comfortable with the device, it deosn't really matter if it's considered the best in the market, does it? Choose the one you feel good about.

Taking a good look at the variety of smartphonmes as well as reading reviews and consulting with owners is good practice. It will ensure you come up withthe Best PDA Phones on the market, from which you can choose yours.

Source: Free Articles

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Sunday, November 22, 2009

Laptop vs Desktop

Many people have trouble in deciding whether they are best going for a laptop or desktop, there are certain characteristics that you can look out for to help make that decision for you.

The best thing about a laptop is being able to move it around with ease, if you work from home and in an office you can use the same laptop so that all your files are in one place which saves time in transferring them every day. A decent laptop can be considerably cheaper than a desktop as most of the peripherals are included such as screen, keyboard, mouse, wi-fi connection, etc. Another factor that gives the laptop the edge over the desktop is the built in battery, if you were to have a power cut you would not lose any data. You can run your laptop direct from the mains and in the event of a power surge or power cut its inbuilt battery would kick in and allow you to carry on working until that runs out. You are always best keeping the battery topped up as you never know when you might need it.

The laptop does have its downsides such as having a small screen compared to some of the monitors available in today’s world. A good laptop can be expensive and if broken you may not be able to repair it if the component it inbuilt to the main board itself. If you were to get a 2 GHz processor in your laptop it would not be the same as a 2 GHz processor in your desktop, they run at about a 30% slower speed so you would need to compensate for that factor.

If you’re considering a desktop then you will know it has many benefits over a laptop. They are slightly more powerful compared to the equivalent laptop and are easily upgradeable and can be repaired with ease if a certain component was to fail. The average desktop will last significantly longer then any laptop as they don’t break as easily and can be upgraded to support today’s technology.

The main downside to a desktop is the fact it’s not portable, if you want to move it around it causes a lot of hassle disconnecting all of the peripherals etc and reconnecting them once you get to your destination. Another is the fact of not having an inbuilt battery, if you were to have a power cut you would lose any unsaved data. You can buy an external battery to counter act this.

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Researching The Windows 7 Desktop

Windows 7 exhibits its tools, commands, and structure with a graphical user interface (GUI). Graphical user interfaces include the following types of elements: Desktop - The basic display area against which you can change icons representing programs, folders, and files. Icon - A visual representation of a program, folder, file, or other object or function. Pointing device - A device such as a mouse that controls a pointer with which you can take objects viewed on the screen. Window -A frame, usually resizable, within which the computer runs a program or displays a folder or file. Menu - A list from which you can provide an instruction by clicking a command. Dialog box A fixed-size window in which you modify instructions by typing information or pick out from the available options. The desktop background you see when you log on to Windows for the first time might be one of the photographic backgrounds that comes with Windows 7 or, if you bought your computer with Windows 7 already installed, the original equipment manufacturer (OEM) might have specified a brand-specific desktop background.

Windows 7 desktop background draws a fish underwater, with the sun’s rays shining down through the surface of the water above. In either case, you can modify the background to one of the many beautiful photographs or artistic renderings that come with Windows 7, to a solid-colored background, or to one of your own photos or graphics. With any background other than a solid color, you can have the background connect to a different image as often as every 10 seconds. Most of the graphics in this book were captured against a plain white desktop background so as to not take away from the screen element.

Depending on your Windows 7 settings and the programs installed on your computer, you might have one or more icons on your desktop. Windows 7 allots an icon to every item you see on your computer to make it easier to describe files, storage locations, and programs. The icon might represent a file type such as a document, a text file, or a database or storage component such as a folder, hard disk drive, or CD drive, or it might shows the default program for opening a file. This visual representation can make it easier to find a file or program you’re awaiting for. When an icon represents a link, or shortcut, to an item stored somewhere else, an arrow appears in its lower-left corner. Below each icon on the desktop is the name of the item it represents. If the name is too long to fit onto two lines, it is shortened by an ellipsis when not selected and viewed in full when you click it. When you point to an icon, a ScreenTip containing identifying information appears.

Pointing to a program shortcut, for example, shows the position of the file that starts the program. Pointing to a file shows the file name, type, size, and modification date. You can start a program, open a folder or file, or jump to a network location or Web site by double-clicking the attached icon or shortcut. One of the icons Windows places on the desktop is a link to the Recycle Bin, which is where Windows temporarily stores files you delete. When the Recycle Bin is empty, the icon depicts an empty trash can, after you delete items, the icon shows pieces of paper in the trash can. You can recover deleted files from the Recycle Bin, or you can empty the Recycle Bin and permanently delete the files to free up space on your hard disk.

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How to Upload Music from an MP3 Player to Windows Media Player

Many portable media/audio devices are great for storing music and data, but after you put the information onto them, how do you go about getting it off again? This how-to will explain how one might go about doing this the best way.

Steps

  1. First and foremost, not all mp3 players are created equal. There are popular ones, like the iPod (in all its incarnations) and, more recently, the Zune, and there is a much more diverse category of mp3 players and portable audio devices made by other manufacturers besides Apple and Microsoft. Creative, RCA, Philips, Sony, and iRiver, just to name a few, produce some fairly good quality mp3 players and portable media devices.
  2. These different brands and the fact that they're not all the same are mentioned because in essence, before determining how to get the files onto, and similarly, off of the player, you should know what kind of player you have, and a few things about it. Does it have internal memory? Is it a hard-drive based player? Is there software packaged with the device? You should find answers to all of these questions before proceeding.
  3. Windows Media Player is a program for Windows only, so none of these steps will consider the idea of getting music off of an mp3 player and onto the hard disk of any other kind of system except windows-based PCs.
  4. If you have an iPod, you will probably already have iTunes installed on your computer, to work with the files on your iPod. Unfortunately, iTunes limits you severely on how you're able to work with getting the music onto and off of your iPod. With iTunes 7, you're able to back up your entire library to a CD or DVD. You could then use this CD or DVD to recopy the music back onto your hard drive and import it into Windows Media Player's library. An easier method might be to get Windows Media Player to recognize your iPod directly. However, this sort of compatibility is directly contradictory to the Apple and Microsoft's respective software designs. The iPod by design requires you to use iTunes and not Windows Media Player. Windows Media Player will probably never support the iPod.
  5. # If you have another brand of mp3 player, it's important to know whether or not it has internal flash memory, has a flash memory card in it, or is a hard-drive based player like the iPod. Many Creative mp3 players look, feel, and function like USB flash drives. You can plug them directly into a free USB port on your PC, wait for Windows to recognize the disk, and you should be able to find your music on your player through Windows Explorer. You can then copy it and import it into Windows Media Player. Some require a connection cable, usually from a mini-USB plug to the standard size. If you do not have this, it is most likey required in order to transfer music between the computer and the mp3 player.
  6. Finally, many hard-drive based mp3 players require special drivers that must be installed so that Windows knows how to work with them. Generally these are bundled with the player itself, and can be installed easily from, for example, a CD. If you have since lost or damaged the original driver disc, you may be able to get the installation program necessary to install the drivers from the manufacturer's website. The details of which vary per manufacturer. After installing the drivers, connect the mp3 player to your computer with the appropriate cable (it's almost always best to use the cable that came with the player, if one didn't come with it, use any brand you trust) and Windows should recognize the player and set it up for use.
  7. More often than not, Windows will recognize mp3 players as either removable disks, or possibly portable media devices. Windows will usually also bring up a menu of tasks when you connect your player, which list things such as "Synchronize with Windows Media Player" and "Take No Action". Cancel or close such a window if it appears. If your mp3 player appears as either a removable disk or an MTP Device/Portable Media (audio) player, Open "My Computer", then right-click on the icon that corresponds to the device and select "Explore". Sometimes Windows may allow you to "Open" the device, which may do the same thing. Once you do this, you are now browsing through the files on the device as you would files in any folder. Copy the ones you want into a place on your hard drive (for example, "My Music") and then, once finished, open Windows Media Player. You should have Windows Media Player 10 or 11 for this particular method. If you have an older version, upgrade. It's free, it's easy, there's more features. No reason not to. In Windows Media Player, select "Add to Library", and then you can choose single files or an entire folder. Pick the ones you want to import, and Windows Media Player will import them into your media library. If the music is stored in "My Music", Windows Media Player may import it automatically when the program starts.
  8. In the unlikely event that you have a Sony PSP, the steps are mostly the same, except, after connecting the cable from the PSP to the computer (and powering on the PSP) but before opening the device in Windows Explorer, you have to set the PSP to USB Connection mode. On the PSP, arrow left to Settings, arrow up to "USB Connection" and press X. Now the PSP is in USB Connection mode. Windows should mount the device as a removable disk, and you will be able to browse the folders stored on your memory stick.


Tips

  • Most mp3 player manufacturers, like Apple, want portable media devices to be read-only. This could be an effort to prevent filesharing or piracy. For this reason, copying music from your mp3 player onto your hard drive is usually a task that is off-limits with most media-centric software.
  • The Apple iPod or iTunes may convert the music that gets transferred onto the iPod into another format besides mp3. When importing this music into Windows Media Player, Windows Media Player may not have the correct codec to play the music properly. You may need to download the appopriate codec from either Microsoft but most likely a third party in order to use the music you have transferred. Alternatively, you can re-encode the music after transferring it off of your iPod before importing it into your Windows Media Player library.


Warnings

  • Some media players, like the Zune, embed DRM (Digital Rights Management) information onto each and every piece of data that get transferred to them. For this reason, you may encounter issues when importing or attempting to play the music you have imported into Windows Media Player because you do not have the appropriate license(s). Unfortunately, there are fewer and fewer options for dealing with this issue. The best way to ensure that DRM will not ruin your music-importing day is to have the licenses before you import. Getting around DRM is another how-to altogether.
  • Windows may recognize your mp3 player when you connect it via USB (or another method) but will give an error message saying that the device was not set up properly. Sometimes reinstalling the drivers for the device will solve the problem, other times, you may have to update the drivers. In extreme cases, you may have to update the drivers for either your motherboard or your USB device inside your computer before certain devices will set up properly.
Source : www.wikihow.com
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BIGGEST SECURITY HOLE IN INTERNET


Gap BGP is not only a hot Internet users, but also Internet Service Provider company, even nor router manufacturer worried.

RESEARCHER pair of Internet security has demonstrated a new technique that can infiltrate into the traffic Internet secretly like intelligent agents United States, the National Security Agency. New techniques utilize routing protocol BGP (Border Gateway Protocol), make the hacker can monitor the Internet traffic that are not protected anywhere in the world, and even modify Internet traffic before it reaches the goal. The demonstration is the latest attack security weaknesses in some of the core Internet protocols. Protocol - protocols were developed on a large scale in the 1970s with the assumption that every node in
reliable network. The world has been reminded of when in July 2008 when a Internet security researcher, Dan Kaminsky, that reveals the gap dangerous to the system control. The Security researchers argue that the safety demonstration meruapakan a major weakness in Internet. According to Peiter "Mudge" Zatko, a computer scientist and former member of L0pht hacking group, who testified in Congress in 1998 that he could cripple Internet network just in time 30 minutes by using attacks similar to BGP, and in secret Zatko also told agents the U.S. government how BGP can be used for tapping. Anyone with a BGP router can disrupt traffic
data to the IP address. The assault only interfere traffic data to the address you want to be attacked. Use BGP attack methods can be used for corporate spy, a spy state, or even
intelligence agents to search data via the Internet without having to cooperation with the ISP. Intercepts using BGP has long been a theoretical weakness, but no demonstrations until Anton "Tony" Kapela, Director of Data Center and Network in 5Nines Data, Alex Pilosov, CEO Pilosoft, showed their technique at the conference of hackers, DEFCON. The pair of security researchers these successful hijack Internet traffic on the conference network and switching to a system in the city of New York before routing returned to DEFCON in Las Vegas. These techniques, do not use gap in BGP, but only use how BGP works. Kapela told Wired.com that the BGP technology there is no gap, no protocol error and no errors in the software
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AMD BROKEN DIVISION

No secret that AMD is experiencing a crisis. Apart from the video card industry that they can reclaim from nVIDIA, but AMD is still one step behind Intel. AMD still trying to block the processor speed of Intel's 45 nm with their first, Shanghai, which seeks to be released along with second-generation 45 nm Intel processors, Nehalem. To deal with processor chip market
increasingly stringent, AMD finally decided to divide the two companies. One company will continue to run the chip design business and continue to use AMD's name, the other
will use the name of the Foundry Company will produce chips. Two separate companies will be working side by side, but still conduct business independently. In addition, two companies that came Abu Dhabi has decided to invest their money for U.S. $ 5.7 billion to make AMD better. The majority of the money injected from Abu Dhabi, the two companies will later be flowing into the Foundry Company, which will create a new factory in Albany, New York. AMD retains 44.4% stake in Foundry Company, and the largest shares held by Advanced Technology
Investment Company. Advanced Technology, a company that didrikan by wealthy Abu Dhabi government, has promised an initial investment of U.S. $ 2.1 billion. Advanced Technology was not the only company that wants AMD. Mubadala Development Company, which bought 8% stake in AMD last November 2007, will pay U.S. $ 314 million to buy 58 million shares of AMD, or approximately 19.3% of the total AMD. Later Mubadala and Advanced Technology will continue to work together to complete the purchase agreement with AMD.
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