I came across this cool YouTube video that teaches you to fold a shirt in under 2 seconds. No kidding! I have always struggled to fold my shirt the right way. This video has taught me a new way of folding a shirt quickly.

Watch the video below.

The post How to fold a shirt in under 2 seconds appeared first on Linux And Friends.

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If you use a computer, much less log on to the Internet, you will have dealt with using passwords to keep your account secure. In today’s world, most people have an online presence. You use the Internet to log into your bank account, you have possibly created a Facebook and Twitter account. And if you are like me, you might even have registered with umpteen other websites. For all this to happen, there is a common criteria – that being you need to create a password for each account you create – to keep it safe from others.

But have you given a thought to the safety of your password ? If you are wondering how easy it will be to break a password, look no further than this article.

Fortunately, if you follow a few rules, it is quite easy to create a hard to crack, strong password.

How to make your password strong

For your password to be strong, it should be a string consisting of upper and lower case characters, white spaces, numbers and special characters.

An example of strong password is – ‘Hter 12T my@’ . It contains upper case and lower case characters, numbers, white spaces, and a special character (@). This makes it a strong one which will take at least a few hundred years to crack with today’s computing power.

If the website or application does not accept white spaces in your password(s), you can replace white space with an underscore ‘_’.

Use multiple passwords

Do not use the same password for all your user accounts. For example, you can use one password for logging into your bank website, a different password for your Facebook account, yet another password for your Twitter account and so on.

Now the question is how do you remember so many complex passwords ? You record it some place safe. Not a notebook or a paper though. There are special software called password managers that allow you to store all your usernames and related passwords in one encrypted file. This means that you have to remember only one master password instead of several ones.

A password manager that is quite popular is the free, open source software KeePass.

KeePass is a versatile software available for multiple platforms including Windows, Linux, Mac OS X, iPhone, Windows Phone, Android, even your ubiquitous Java enabled feature phones. You can download KeePass from this page.

On the other hand, if you prefer an online service to store all your passwords in a secure manner, then you can take a look at LastPass. It is a Freemium service, meaning – most of the features are free but if you need mobile support for LastPass, you need to pay them a nominal amount. In my experience, LastPass is equally good.

Change your passwords regularly

Make it a habit to change your passwords on a regular basis – perhaps after a couple of months. Also take precautions like never logging into your accounts from a public place such as a cyber cafe.

If you follow these steps, you can stay secure 99% of the time and sleep easy. Of course, there is always the risk of websites getting hacked and all the passwords and usernames being stolen by miscreants. That of course is beyond our control.

So tell me, how strong is your password ?

The post How Strong is your Password ? appeared first on Linux And Friends.

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This is a video of solving the Rubik Cube. Ravi Fernando a Stanford University student, amazingly solves the Rubik cube while juggling.

Ravi is not a stranger to solving Rubik’s cube and has regularly participated in official Rubik’s Cube events. However, solving the Rubik’s cube simultaneously while doing a different task, in this case juggling is multitasking at its finest.

At first you don’t realize that he is solving the Rubik’s cube. However, if you watch carefully, he is indeed giving the Rubik’s cube a rapid twist each time before throwing it back up into the air. At the end of the video, he shows you the fully solved Rubik cube. A remarkable feat indeed!

Watch the video of Ravi Fernando solving the Rubik cube while juggling below.

The post Video : Solve Rubik Cube While Juggling appeared first on Linux And Friends.

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This is a review of the Intel DG41TY motherboard which is an entry level motherboard that supports the following Intel processors – Intel Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Duo, Pentium Dual-Core, Celeron Dual-Core, and Celeron 400 sequence processors that use LGA775 socket.

A little after three years, the motherboard of my computer – an Intel DG31PR became faulty with the USB and on-board Audio not working. I realized that it was time to replace my motherboard.

The following are the specifications of my PC.

• 2GB DDR2 RAM @ 800 MHZ bus speed.
• Intel Core 2 Duo processor that requires LGA 775 Socket.
• 320 GB SATA hard disk
• A DVD writer that plugs in an IDE connector.

I didn’t have any plans to replace the processor or the memory which were working fine.

So the mother board I wished to buy should support my Intel Core2 Duo processor and the memory card. It should also have at least one IDE connector, and multiple Serial ATA (SATA) connectors.

After some research, I zeroed in on the Intel DG41TY desktop board.

Later I learned that any “41 series” motherboard is compatible with Intel Core2 Duo processor, and will have the 775 socket.

I chose DG41TY because it was the cheapest motherboard available from a reputable manufacturer. Of course there were local varieties like the ones manufactured by a company called Zebronics which were available cheaper, but I did not want to take a chance with my money.

Intel DG41TY Motherboard Review

I bought the Intel DG41TY motherboard for Indian Rs 3150 (Including tax) which in US dollars translates to ~ $60.

What is included in the box

Intel DG41TY Motherboard – Inside the box.

The box contains the following -

• Intel Desktop Board DG41TY
• SATA cables – 2 nos
• ATA 100/66 cable – 1 nos
• Board and back panel I/O layout stickers
• Quick reference guide, and
• Intel Express installer driver and software DVD

Intel DG41TY motherboard

The DG41TY Motherboard Features

Following are the features of the Intel DG41TY desktop board.

• MicroATX form factor
• Supports 1333 / 1066 / 800 MHz System bus
• Supports dual-channel DDR2 800 / 667 SDRAM memory (8 GB max)
• Supports the following processors – Intel Core 2 Quad, Core 2 Duo, Pentium Dual-Core, Celeron Dual-Core, and Celeron 400 sequence processors.
• PCI Express x16 Graphics connector
• 4 SATA connectors
• One ATA 100/66 connector
• 2 PS/2 ports – one each for the mouse and keyboard.
• Parallel port for attaching a printer
• VGA port for connecting the monitor
• DVI-D port
• 4 USB-2 ports
• 1 Ethernet port
• Audio port

Intel DG41TY board features

When compared with the DG31PR, the DG41TY desktop board offers two additional ports namely a parallel port and a DVI-D port.

Back side of DG41TY motherboard

The software included in the DVD consists of – Drivers for the motherboard, Intel Integrated Assistant, Antivirus (Kaspersky & Kingsoft), Media player (DivX for Windows), Diskeeper Home Edition, Laplink PCmover Express, Norton Internet Security, Skype, TypePad, Kingsoft Powerword, and a bunch of games.

For the record, if you are using Windows Vista, Windows 7, Windows 8, or any modern Linux distribution, all the drivers are included with them and you may not need to use the drivers from the DVD. I didn’t use the DVD at all as Ubuntu and Windows 7 detected the onboard Audio, USB, and other interfaces with out any problem.

DG41TY Motherboard fully connected

The DG41TY motherboard comes with UEFI boot which means it supports Windows 8 as well. However, UEFI boot is disabled by default and you need to enter BIOS configuration screen and enable it explicitly.

Intel offers a 3 year limited warranty in India for the DG41TY Desktop board. However, the procedure for getting the warranty is a bit sketchy. When I inquired at the shop, I was told it involves a tedious process of filling up forms and sending it to Intel. The shop offered me an unofficial 1 year warranty instead. Which means within one year if anything were to happen to the motherboard, the shop where I bought the motherboard will replace/repair it for me. Fair enough.

The performance of the DG41TY desktop board is marginally better than the erstwhile DG31PR motherboard. The Windows Experience Index gave DG41TY a score of 3.4 where as for the DG31PR motherboard, it was 3.3 – all other things remaining the same.

Windows Experience Index for DG41TY motherboard

This means you will be able to enjoy playing simple games. The game Half Life plays quite well. However, this is not a gamers’ motherboard and you may not be able to play the more processor / graphics intensive games that are being developed currently.

End note

Intel DG31PR motherboard has been discontinued. So if you are trying to replace it with another, Intel DG41TY Desktop board is a good fit. While you may not get drastic improvements in performance, on a feature to feature basis, the DG41TY desktop board is compatible with the DG31PR motherboard. Don’t forget that this board also supports all the old Intel processors which use the LGA775 socket. So if you are thinking of replacing the motherboard of your old computer having say an Intel Pentium or even a Celeron processor, then the Intel DG41TY motherboard is a good buy.

The post Intel DG41TY Motherboard Review appeared first on Linux And Friends.

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Lance Armstrong – the 7 times winner of Tour De France – who was later pronounced guilty of doping and stripped of all his medals, will you be able to forgive him ?

As a bicycle enthusiast, I am fascinated by professional cycle races. I have always watched the Tour De France when ever I could. And Lance Armstrong was right at the top of my list of most worthy professional bike racers.

The doping stigma changed all that. I felt let down that the person whom I cheered and rooted for all along had an unfair advantage over his fellow cyclists in winning the Tour De France races because he took banned substances.

In a just broadcast high profile interview with Oprah Winfrey, Lance Armstrong admitted to taking banned performance enhancing drugs to win races. You can watch the main video clips here.

However, even though Lance Armstrong’s doping is the most high profile cases, it may be the tip of the iceberg. It is perceived that many professional bikers do take banned drugs to enhance their performance. If this is true, it will take the sheen off cycling races, especially Tour De France.

Doping or not, guilty or not, Lance Armstrong has made lots of money in the process – his net worth is purportedly $125 million. He has a Twitter account with over quarter million followers. He heads is the founder of the non-profit organization Livestrong that helps cancer patients. He no longer heads the organization as clarified by this official statement.

But does that absolve him of his wrong doing ? Does it negate his cycling sins ?

I was reading Dave Moulton’s blog and he puts it right on the money -

In any race, or in any sport for that matter, there are only a handful of competitors capable of winning; the rest make up the field, and without them there would be no race, or no game. There would be no Tour de France if there were only 20 top riders, there has to be a field of 150 riders for the top 20 to emerge from.

Back in Roman times, Gladiators fought to the death. Fun for the spectators; not so much for the competitors. Modern sports are combat without killing, or war without tears. Sports should teach children that life is a struggle, and it takes hard work and dedication to get ahead. But you can still have fun doing it.

It should also teach children about fair play; it is not okay to cheat, or bully your way to the top, with a win at all costs attitude. People who do that in real life are called “Assholes.”

I concur with what Dave Moulton says 100%.

The post Lance Armstrong’s Doping – Will you forgive him ? appeared first on Linux And Friends.

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