PDA and Laptop Today Blog

Speed Up PC Performance

2012-12-06T08:53:00.000-05:00

>>>>>> Quickest Way To Speed Up Your Slow Running Laptop

By: Cody Kahl of LaptopAdvisor.net
Does your computer seem slower than molasses these days? Do you often find yourself coming to the point of heartache and even yelling a few choice words at your machine? If so, then the simple steps listed in this article are for you.

In this article we will take a look at some of the easiest things that you can do to automatically speed up laptop performance. And as a bonus, all of these tips can be done for free! (continued...)

1. Defrag

- How can defragging your hard drive speed up your notebook? Maybe by explaining how a defrag works, you will see how important it is.

When your hard drive is new and has no data on it, things get stored in blocks easily. When files and/or programs are stored in nice chunks, they can get accessed quickly – This is why your hard drive is blazing fast in the beginning. As time goes on things start to slow down. Files get deleted and this creates empty blocks in the hard drive.

New files and programs will get saved to these empty blocks, only they aren’t all together – They are spread out. When files/programs are spread out among different blocks of storage, they get accessed much slower. Defragmenting your hard drive brings related files and programs back into a nice big block. This is achieved because your computer knows which files and programs are related through their address.

2. Empty Recycle Bin

– This one is pretty self explanatory, and may even seem like a non-issue. Maybe it is, but there are plenty of people that keep their recycle bins full, all the time. If something is in the recycle bin, you might as well empty it.

3. Erase Temporary Files

– The internet as well as your operating system often store temporary files in special folders. These temporary files are just that, temporary, but they often stay on your computer for a number of days or even indefinitely. I don’t recommend going and deleting stuff in folders if you are unsure of what you are doing. Thankfully though, there are many programs out there that will go through and delete unnecessary files for you.

You can set many of them up to run periodically, and they will do many of things talked about in this article. You can find many of these programs on freeware download sites.

4. Spyware & Adware Removal

– Both spyware and adware are real computer killers these days. You have probably been bombarded by offers to buy programs that will get rid of all the junk on your computer – The simple answer is you don’t need to get these programs. You can find freeware ones all over that will work great. I like to use two programs simply because sometimes one will find stuff that the other won’t. My favorites are Ad-Aware by Lavasoft and Spybot – Search and Destroy.

5. Hard Drive Space

– Ok, I’ll admit, this one may not be free. If you have deleted everything off of your hard drive that you possibly can and you still have a shortage of space, you are simply going to need a bigger hard drive. If you have less than 2 gigabytes still available for storage space, I highly recommend getting a bigger hard drive, as a computer with a filled up hard drive will perform very sluggishly.

By periodically doing all of the above you can generally keep your desktop or notebook in tip-top shape, and save your yelling for something else :)

A Final Note

If you still have a slow computer after trying the methods above, you may have registry problems. Don't tackle the registry yourself if you don't have any experience. You can make your computer a lot worse if you don't know what you're doing. Get a professional software program to identify registry errors and repair, optimize and speed up your laptop. Download free registry scanning software here.

ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Cody Kahl is creator and writer of LaptopAdvisor.net – A site dedicated to providing only the best laptop information.

Google Chrome -- Integrated Search and Bookmarks

2008-09-13T12:26:00.000-05:00

Google Chrome is the new, free browser from the world's most popular search engine which is an effort to dethrone Internet Explorer from its lead as the most popular browser.

GoogleInc. posted its biggest gain in four months in Nasdaq trading after introducing a browser to challenge Microsoft's decade-long dominance of the market. The program, known as chrome, will isolate flawed web pages so users can close them without shutting down the entire browser, and will make it easier to run other applications without downloading them to a computer, Google said.

The software opens a new front in Google's fight with Microsoft, whose Internet Explorer controls more than 70/ of the browser market. Google is trying to parlay its success over Microsoft in online searches into an effort to court users who want e-mail, calendars and word processing through a browser instead of products such as Microsoft's Word and Excel.

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"They're looking at the big picture of their business," said David Smith, a Gartner analyst in Bedford, New Hampshire. "They're looking at the speed at which browser development is going and they're trying to accelerate it." Google faces an uphill battle against internet Explorer, Which has led the browser market since it passed Netscape Communications' Navigator in 1999, because the Microsoft program come pre-installed on personal computers. Internet Explorer's lead in the Web browsing market is followed by Mozilla Corp's Firefox with 20/ and Apple's Safari with 6.4/, according to research firm Net Applications of Aliso Viejo, California.

A loss of browser users to Google might curb Microsoft's ability to lure people to its search engine, the default option for Web queries on Internet Explorer. Microsoft, the world's biggest software maker, released a new version of Explorer last week for testing. The software lets users control whether it saves the sites they've visited and can keep Internet sites from tracking user activity.

"The browser landscape is highly competitive," said Dean Hachamovitch, general manager Internet Explorer, in a statement. "People will choose Internet Explorer 8 for way it puts the services they want right at their fingertips, respects their personal choices about how they want to browse and, more than any other browsing technology, puts them in control of their personal data online."

Google is the default search engine on Firefox, Safari and Opera Software ASA's Opera, browsers that represent about 27/ of the market combined. Chrome's address bar may also help Google attract users. It will have a double function, allowing people to type in web site location and offering suggestions for Google searches. That may help keep people from going to Microsoft or Yahoo for their Internet queries, Gartner's Smith said.

Click here to visit the Google Chrome website and download the free browser.

Technorati Tags: Google Chrome,browser,ie,internet explorer,microsoft

WiFi and PDA Phones - Ultimate Empowering Technologies

2008-09-08T06:57:00.000-05:00

The technology of the mobile phones are constantly upgrading and creating buzz among the masses. With these tiny gadgets users can easily perform most of their personal and professional works easily. Moreover, top notch companies are constantly offering the latest models which are enhanced with feature-rich applications and marvellous designs. These gadgets have changed the aspect of wireless communication and enable people to bypass conventional concerns about communicating. WiFi and PDA phones are the latest gadgets which have created ripples in the market with high end functions and beautiful designs. The handsets which are enhanced with the latest technologies are slightly bulky in size and permit users to explore the dimensions of advanced applications.

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WiFi phones basically refers to those handsets which are adorned with this latest technology. There are numerous models in the market these days which are enriched with this WiFi technology. With this innovation users can enjoy wireless connectivity with other compatible devices very comfortably. Moreover, the users of these handsets can experience the joy of transferring and sharing multimedia content and various other such contents with their friends and relatives at a faster pace. Almost all the latest high-end handsets from top notch brands such as Nokia, Sony Ericsson and Samsung etc., come to users adorned with this latest and advanced feature.

PDA phones are considered as the must have personal accessory of people these days. These gadgets are available at very cheap prices and users can also access various high-end applications on these phones. Also, you can enjoy the liberty of storing numerous personal and official files in these gadgets very comfortably. Multiple manufactures have entered into this arena to offer the latest and upgraded personal digital assistants to meet the ever increasing requirements of customers. You can easily flaunt your style and enjoy tons of storage capacity with these gadgets. They are the perfect companion to satiate all the entertainment, professional and personal requirements you may desire. With these phones you can also enjoy talk-time of up to 250 minutes without any interruption. Apart from all the high-end options this device is also adorned with Internet and phone book options.

5 Ways to Speed Up Vista Home Loading

2008-09-07T07:40:00.001-05:00

There are two types of Vista Home versions- Vista Home Basic and Vista Home Premium. The Home Basic is for those with a more conservative budget who will not really use much of their computers except for checking e-mails or news browsing through the web. The Home Premium edition targets a more broad audience as it allows various ways to create, view and edit multimedia. The latter also has that Aero desktop experience that looks very hip!

But whether you are using a Vista Home Basic or a Vista Home Premium, you may want to speed its performance up a tad bit more due to the fact that it is noticeable slower to use this operating system compared to the others you have used before. So how do you speed up Vista Home? Here are 5 ways to do so:

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1. Use the MSCONFIG option

This allows you to disable unwanted and unnecessary programs that load whenever you boot up your Vista Home. The fastest way to do this is by following the instructions below:

Press the Windows button on your keyboard, + "R." A pop-up will show, just type "msconfig" which will lead you to "System Configurations." Select the Startup tab Uncheck the applications you do not want launching with your Vista. The more you check, the faster the start up will be.

2. Disable Sidebar

Vista Home has a quaint feature called Side Bar that gives you easy access to installed gadgets. However, if this seemingly cool feature is disabled, overall functioning of Vista Home will increase. This frees up processing power.

3. Remove Bloatware

If your computer is new, chances are, it has some programs installed to it that came with the PC or laptop. Best to check what your computer currently has installed. Once you have seen applications that you will not use, don't hesitate to uninstall them as this frees up memory.

4. Use Good Ol' Disk Cleanup

Using disk cleanup allows you to delete the temporary files, temporary internet files and compress old files, freeing space on your (C:) Drive. This is a feature that has not changed much since the dawn of Windows and it is as reliable as before as it is now.

5. Use the ReadyBoost option

This is one mighty nice feature of Windows Vista Home. It can use an storage space as a memory cache on a portable storage device to speed up your Vista Home performance. It basically gives your computer a fast memory in retrieving information. You use this by:

Plugging in the thumb drive. Follow these links: Start, Computer, right click on the removable storage device icon, select Properties. Click the ReadyBoost Tab which will show so long as you're device is eligible for this feature, Choose Use this Device and specify the amount of space you want to allocate for this. Click OK.

Do note that although it may have some bad reviews, Vista Home is a really good operating system, you just have to learn where to tweak it a bit to get the results you want.

Kris Mainieri is an accomplished Computer Tech focusing on innovative and unique ways to help people take their computing performance to a whole new level free.

CPU Temperature Monitor: CoreTemp

2008-03-03T08:39:00.001-05:00

Is your laptop hotter than a griddle? Does it suddenly shut down while running and seem to run slowly at times?

These are signs that your computer system is overheating.There are a couple of things you can do to try to cool down your over-priced heater to a reasonable operating temperature. But just exactly what is happening inside your computer?

Why do computer systems overheat?

Computer CPU's, the chip at the heart of every computer system, are comprised of millions of tiny transistors that go on and off billions of times per second. If you can imagine you wall switch doing that, think of the heat that would be generated. The same thing is happening inside your CPU and this flip-flopping is generating the heat that you feel coming off the PC.

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Because computers are reaching the maximum number of transistors that can be put on one chip, CPU manufacturers are adding multiple processors running in tandem. These are known as multi-core processors and they are the current standard. Most home computers sold these days are dual-core but quad-core processors are coming out and the trend is to add more processors. This means more transistors and in turn, more heat is being generated.

Fortunately, CPU's come with a built-in shut-off switch that will suddenly shut down your PC before it fries from overheating. They also come with fans that sit on top of the CPU with sensors that turn on whenever the heat goes over a preset limit but repeated overheating could still permanently fritz your CPU. Then there's also the issue of possibly losing your work due to unexpected shut-downs. Obviously, ways are needed to make sure that this does not happen too often.

If you own a desktop computer, you can try adding additional heat sinks and fans that are more robust than the standard cooling fans that come with your system. If you have a laptop, about the only way you can add additional cooling is to buy a fan platform. This is just a base platform with cooling fans built in that sits under your laptop. Regardless of whether you use a desktop or laptop, make sure to check the cooling vents on your machine for dust that can accumulate inside. This may involve disassembly in order to remove any excess. You don't want anything to disrupt the air-flow inside your computer housing.

If you want to see just how hot your CPU is getting, you can download a small free utility called CoreTemp.

CoreTemp allows you to monitor the CPU temperature in the system tray. How is this useful? It can tell you when your system is reaching it's temperature limits so that you can shut down some programs or just save your data before the system shuts down due to overheating. You can also generate a log which can be useful for trouble-shooting overheating issues.

Your computer may also slow down noticeably during periods when the temperature is high. This is because heat inside the transistors causes increased resistance, which slows down normal operations.

Currently, the best way to counter this is to have fans that cool the system down. Hopefully, technologists will come up with a better way to make CPU's run cooler in the first place, so that added precautions will eventually become unnecessary.

Technorati Tags: CPU,overheating,cooling,fans,CoreTemp,temperature

Downgrade Vista to XP with Virtual PC 2007

2008-03-01T15:48:00.001-05:00

The Free and Easy Way to Downgrade from Windows Vista to XP

If you have Windows Vista installed on your laptop or PC and yearn for the good old days of Windows XP compatibility and miss the familiar interface, there is a solution that will cost you nothing but your time to do it.

It involves the creation of a virtual PC on your existing machine using Virtual PC 2007 software by Microsoft. A virtual PC is the just what it sounds like. A completely separate computer that runs in software on the same system as your original PC. What this means is that, you can have Windows Vista running on one virtual PC and Windows XP on the other. Both at the same time. This way, you can have the compatibility of Windows XP today and still enjoy the new software coming out that takes advantage of Windows Vista. Once installed correctly, you'll be able to switch back and forth between operating systems just as easily as you switch between programs now.

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The beauty of this arrangement is that it works either way. If you have XP, you can add Vista without losing your Windows XP operating system.

*Note: Before making any system changes, be sure to backup your data to an external drive or other external data storage. Anytime you make major changes to your system, always take this precaution. It will save you a world of pain.

Of course, free only means no money. Creating 2 machines has cost in terms of PC memory, hard drive space and performance. The following chart shows the minimum requirements of adding a separate PC on your computer.

Operating System	Min. Memory	Min. Disk Space
Windows XP Home Edition	128 MB	2 GB
Windows XP Professional	128 MB	2 GB
Windows Vista Enterprise	512 MB	15 GB
Windows Vista Business	512 MB	15 GB
Windows Vista Ultimate	512 MB	15 GB

Keep in mind that these are only minimum requirements. Installing applications in a guest OS increases requirements. Increasing memory beyond the minimum can result in significant performance increases.

A vital thing to remember before choosing a virtual machine is that you'll need lots of RAM installed on your system. More RAM than you ever thought of needing before. While you'll probably have enough CPU cycles to spare, you need enough RAM for both operating systems to run comfortably. As long as you have double your comfortable minimum, you should be fine.

To really have optimal performance and take advantage of this setup, you should have at least 2GB RAM, and many gigs of hard drive space. I recommend you strongly consider a 4 GB setup if you plan on running lots of apps simultaneously and plan on using up an extra 20 gigs of drive space.

Also worth noting is that installations of Windows XP or Vista will require their own product keys, regardless of whether your host computer is also running it. Since the virtual PC will see whatever hardware your virtual machine portends to have, it will assume that it is a new computer in need of new activation. You'll also need a licensed copy of Windows XP to be legitimate. Fortunately, unlike Vista, XP's EULA doesn't forbid virtual machines. Only Vista Business and Ultimate can be legally run in a virtual environment. Any other flavours of Vista could cause issues if you need official support.

Microsoft has a blog for Virtual PC 2007 that you should check out before making any changes to get a better feel for what the benefits are of switching to a virtual OS and the kinds of issues you may face in running 2 OS's at once.

Technorati Tags: downgrade,Vista,XP,Windows,virtual PC 2007

Yahoo, AOL, MSN IM and Push To Talk VoIP

2008-02-28T10:20:00.001-05:00

Free Nextel Style Push-to-Talk for Windows Mobile or Symbian PDA

Have you ever wanted to have one of those cool Nextel style walkie-talkie style phones but just didn't want to become a Nextel subscriber? Well now you can enjoy that cool push-to-talk on any connected PDA or Symbian phone. It's perfect for Wi-Fi enabled PDAs and phones and also works on your laptop or desktop PC.

Palringo is a unique and free Instant Messaging program with push-to-talk VoIP functionality that runs on Windows Mobile phones, Symbian phones, and PCs. Palringo allows you to instantly exchange text, photos and audio Instant Messages with an individual contact or even a group.

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This multi-platform support allows you to stay connected with your contacts whether you're working at your PC or on the go with your mobile device.

In addition, Palringo lets you send photos, vocal messages and exchange text IMs with other IM systems such as AIM, Yahoo!, Google Talk, MSN Messenger, and a host of others. Its superb IM interoperability ensures you can at least IM other popular IM programs.

The niftiest feature is the push-to-talk (PTT) feature, which lets you instantly VoIP your buddies like a walkie-talkie or a Nextel phone.

One-way at a time communications is desirable in situations where you just have brief messages or need to broadcast something to several people all at once. That's what makes the walkie-talkie ideal for coordinating teams and other groups.I can foresee Palringo being very addictive for teenagers -- but also a useful feature for mobile sales teams.

They're currently working on a Java version, which will add even more supported devices. It doesn't offer full VoIp features like Skype - it's strictly an IM and PTT application, but for anyone that needs a great IM client and needs to contact groups of people, it's ideal because it's light-weight and portable across devices and networks.

Technorati Tags: Yahoo,AOL,MSN,IM,VoIP,Nextel,Windows Mobile,Symbian,PDA,Palringo,PTT

Nokia N95 and Fring

2008-02-25T11:04:00.001-05:00

Integrated Wi-Fi Means Free Fring Calling Plus More

At PDA Today, we're free calling fanatics and the Nokia N95 is a handset that makes it a cinch to take advantage of free services like Fring to keep you connected at the lowest possible cost, even free.

The Nokia N95 brings a range of multimedia ingredients together, such as a fantastic display, outstanding photo and video capability and high-speed connectivity, making it the ultimate multimedia computer,” said Anssi Vanjoki, Executive Vice President, Multimedia, Nokia. “This single device - which fits easily in your pocket - can replace stand-alone devices that you no longer need, whether it’s your music player, your digital camera, PDA or navigation device. Most importantly, the Nokia N95 is with you and connected when you want to use it.”

Nokia's N95, is an all-in-one multimedia computer with a pioneering 2-way slide concept, Wireless 802.11b/g capability, integrated GPS functionality, a 5 megapixel camera and support for high-speed mobile networks, making it easier to watch and record videos, listen to songs, take high-quality photos, browse the internet, or catch up on email while on the move.

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Specifications
General
Network HSDPA / GSM 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900
Announced 2006, September
Status Coming Soon
Size Dimensions 99 x 53 x 21 mm, 90 cc
Weight 120 g
Display Type TFT, 16M colors
Size 240 x 320 pixels, 2.6 inches
Ringtones Type Polyphonic (64 channels), Monophonic, True Tones, MP3
Customization Download
Vibration Yes
Memory
Phonebook Yes
Call records Yes
Card slot microSD (up to 2GB), hot swap, 128 MB card included
- 160 MB internal memory
Data
GPRS Class 10 (4+1/3+2 slots), 32 - 48 kbps
HSCSD No
EDGE Class 32, 296 kbps; DTM Class 11, 236.8 kbps
3G HSDPA
WLAN Wi-Fi 802.11 b/g, UPnP technology
Bluetooth Yes, v2.0, A2DP
Infrared port Yes
USB Yes, v2.0, Pop-Port
Features
OS Symbian OS 9.2, S60 rel. 3.0
Messaging SMS, MMS, Email, Instant Messaging
Browser WAP 2.0/xHTML, HTML
Games Downloadable
Colors Silver
Camera 5 MP, 2592 x 1944 pixels, Carl Zeiss optics, autofocus, video(VGA 30fps), flash; secondary CIF videocall camera
- Built-in GPS navigation
- Installed Maps application covering over 100 countries
- Dual slide design
- Java MIDP 2.0
- MP3/AAC/AAC+/eAAC+/WMA player
- 3.5 mm audio output jack
- Stereo FM Radio
- Organiser
- Office document viewer
- T9
- Push to talk
- Voice dial/memo
- Built-in handsfree
Battery
Standard battery, Li-Ion 950 mAh (BL-5F)
Stand-by Up to 220 h
Talk time Up to 6 h 30 min

Technorati Tags: Nokia,N95,fring,VoIp,Skype,Wi-Fi

Free Phone Calls on the Bus

2008-02-25T08:56:00.001-05:00

Wi-Fi Bus Connects Streets of San Francisco and Wi-Fi Callers

Using a Skype or Fring account and a Wi-Fi enabled phone on a Wi-Fi equipped bus allows you to make free calls while you ride around town.

We've seen Wi-Fi installed in planes, trains and automobiles, but San Francisco will soon be launching the first Wi-Fi bus. Developed by Cisco Systems and Muni, the local transportation authority, the city's new "Connected Bus" is outfitted with free Wi-Fi for riders, as well as touch screens displaying wait times and useful map information. Muni CEO Nathaniel Ford explains, "This is definitely not your grandmother's bus in terms of technology and capability."

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According to the San Francisco Chronicle, some local citizens think the program is an unnecessary waste of resources, while others think the bus, debuting this upcoming Monday, will be a big hit and draw new riders to the system. If the Wi-Fi capability proves popular, then it can be implemented into new buses for as little as $10,000 a pop.

Laptop use on the bus would probably be awkward, but it seems great for checking e-mail and quickly finding directions to local restaurants on smartphones and other Wi-Fi mobile devices. We can't wait for the Connected Trolley.

Technorati Tags: free phone calls,skype,fring,voip,wi-fi

Free Phone Calls With Fring

2008-02-23T10:46:00.003-05:00

Video Shows How To Make Free Calls Using Fring Client

The nice thing about Fring is that it bridges the gaps in the phone system and makes free calling and messaging more practical and easier than ever.

The video below shows how Fring can operate with NO SIM in your phone or PPC phone PDA. A lot of phones and PDAs are now supported and the company is constantly beefing up the software and service.

Recently, the staff at Fring have released a new version for S60 devices and UIQ fairly close to each other. Both versions sport the same new features, which include:

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File transfers from your handset (only with MSN users, though)
Chat that's much closer to a PC-like experience
Additional languages (French, Spanish, German, Chinese, Italian, Russian)
More privacy settings
Fringtones and vibrate

Of course, Fring still does what it was originally designed for: making VoIP calls from your mobile handset.

Technorati Tags: fring,free phone calls,VoIP,Skype

Faster Search for Nokia Smartphones

2008-02-22T13:32:00.004-05:00

Google Speeds Up Searches for Nokia N and E Series Smartphones

Google just began offering a new free app that greatly speeds up searches for smartphones running on Nokia's S60 3rd Edition platform.

By running through software running natively on the phone instead of through a web browser, your searches will speed up by an average of 40 percent, which they show in Google's video demonstration. Once it's installed, the software places a Google search box directly on your smartphone's home screen.

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The point of the shortcut is to allow users to perform a search without having to launch their smartphone's web browser to start the process and, by an extension, speed things up considerably.

Type a query into the box and press search to launch your smartphone's browser, which should quickly provide the results of your query, as long as a wireless connection is present, of course.

Unfortunately, Google's search box is only available to Nokia smartphones with a 'Ctrl' or 'pencil/edit' key—otherwise you must access the applet through the regular S60 application launcher.

Google's search box for S60 smartphones is based on a new, more localized mobile search engine Google introduced a few weeks ago. The overall interface's been revamped as well.

Nokia plans to bundle this new software with its latest smartphones: the N96, N78, 6210 Navigator, and 6220 classic.

Judging from the research, there is as much as a 40 percent reduction in the average time to complete an initial search. You can see just how much faster it is in this video:

Technorati Tags: Nokia,Phones,Google,Faster Search

SkyDrive Storage Increased to 5GB

2008-02-22T09:33:00.001-05:00

Access Files and Data From Anywhere for Free

SkyDrive provides free, password-protected online file storage and sharing. It's a convenient way to make sure your files are available to you from any computer, without having to carry them around on a flash drive. For many people such as computer consultants and other mobile professionals, this makes a lot of sense. If you need to access software, documents or photos from anywhere this may be a real solution for you.

New in this release:

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Free online storage is increasing from 1GB to 5 GB
Now available in many more places around the world (see if it's available where you live)
Faster and more reliable service
Not in beta anymore--this time it's official!

It's very easy to use, so go ahead and try it out.

Microsoft has been beefing up its online resources lately and SkyDrive takes its place in the ever-growing collection of Windows Live offerings (Hotmail, Mail, Photo Gallery, Calendar, Spaces, Writer, Messenger, Events, Toolbar, and OneCare Family Safety). With file storage and sharing on SkyDrive, you have one more tool to help you manage your online world.

Technorati Tags: skydrive,windows live,storage,share files

3D Graphics From New Camera Chip

2008-02-21T14:29:00.001-05:00

3D Pictures Will Open Up New Graphics Opportunities

If you've ever wanted to remove an unwanted background from a digital picture or create 3D artwork, you may soon be able to do so using images shot with your new 3D camera.

Researchers at Stanford University have come up with a chip which can record pictures in 3D. Unlike normal camera sensors, the three megapixel chip array uses overlapping 16x16 arrays of pixels. Known as "sub-arrays", each has its own lens.

Because these arrays get their images from slightly different angles, 3D information can be recorded by examining the differences between the images, very similar to the way the human brain captures depth information from comparing the stereoscopic images from our two eyes.

Continued...

Adobe has shown a similar setup, but it uses a large number of lenses grouped together in an arrangement similar to a fly's eye. The Stanford chip would be smaller and thus easier to mount in a camera lens housing . The 3D information is currently stored simply as metadata in the image, so software could easily be designed to, for instance, eliminate busy backgrounds from photographs.

When images taken by the multi-aperture device are processed by specialized software, differences in location are measured from each mini-lens, and then combined into a photograph containing a depth map. This procedure allows the same image to appear at different angles, provided the subject has depth to begin with (for example, it's not a flat surface).

Let's hope that the product development cycle is short for this exciting new technology.

Technorati Tags: 3d graphics,camera,new chip

Soyntec Wiffinder Bag

2008-02-20T08:08:00.001-05:00

Wi-Fi Gadget Finds Access Points and Totes Your Laptop

Searching for a Wi-Fi signal has become an everyday ritual for many of the ‘always connected’ mobile crowd. For those in need of a solution to searching for signals, check out the newly launched Wiffinder bags from Soyntec.

The Wiffinder 400 Executive Case fits laptops up to 15.4-inches and features an integrated Wi-Fi finder with a signal strength indicator.

The integrated WiFi signal detector works with 2.4 G, 802.11b/802.11g networks and also features a clock. Press a button and the detector will look around for a signal that will allow you to get online.

Sony Mylo Com-2

2008-02-19T09:39:00.002-05:00

Second Generation Wi-Fi gadget

If you just want an affordable way to chat and keep in touch with your contacts using cheaply available wireless access, this Wi-Fi device may be just the ticket. Half way between a PDA and a laptop, it has a lot of the features that many people are using these days.

Like the first-generation Mylo, the COM-2 ($299) is a Wi-Fi gadget that lets users surf the Internet, send instant messages and play MP3 music files. With an 800-by-480-pixel touch screen, it looks and feels a lot like Sony's PSP handheld gaming system and is significantly better than the original model that debuted back in 2006.

Continued...

The COM-2 does double-duty as a 1.3 megapixel camera, and the slide-out QWERTY keyboard now features backlighting, allowing users to chat or surf in the dark (though the shortcut buttons on the touch screen's sides don't illuminate). It supports the 802.11b and 802.11g wireless protocols and uses 1 gigabyte of internal memory, that can be upgraded to 8 GB through a Memory Stick Duo/PRO Duo expansion slot.

The device adds AOL's messaging software and still supports Yahoo Inc's Yahoo Messenger, Google Inc's Google Talk and Skype, which is eBay Inc's Voice-over-Internet-Protocol service. And you can also watch YouTube videos with the Adobe Flash Lite 3 player and employ desktop widgets to run Google searches and track who's online.

iPhone Contest and Survey

2008-02-18T07:50:00.001-05:00

StreamingMedia.com CDN Survey and Contest

If you, or your company are creating video content and then distributing this content through enterprise-level Content Delivery Networks (NOT YouTube) then you might want to know of a contest StreamingMedia.com is running until March 1st, 2008.

You just complete an online questionnaire of 24 questions which takes about 2 minutes. Upon completion, you’re eligible to win a free iPhone. Survey results will also be made available to all who participate and are interested.

While the contest doesn’t seem to present any exclusions, a quick read of some of the questions strongly implies that the promotion is being offered in large part to learn more about the site’s subscriber base.

So, unless you are in or around CDN for video, you might want to not think so much about entering.

fring - VoIP for PDA and Windows Mobile Phones

2008-02-14T15:51:00.001-05:00

Talk and chat for free with fring mobile voip. Connect to Skype, Google Talk, MSN Messenger, Twitter & SIP contacts from anywhere.
(Click for WM5 & 6 Screenshots)

"fring" is a free software program and service for Windows Mobile 5, 6 and Symbian phones that uses VoIP to allow you to make cheap and free calls and instant messages. If you're looking for a way to bring down the cost of making a phone call, fring may be the solution you've been seeking.

It's a unique offering that for the first time brings together connections to Skype, SIP, GoogleTalk, MSN Messenger, plus the sub-blogging service Twitter. You can choose whatever SIP service you like, including the GizmoProject, VoipCheap, VoipStunt, Free World DialUp and others, and even use SIP on fring with otherwise non-SIP enabled devices. These services come together on your mobile handset to give you the best possible chances to keep your phone costs low.

The arrangement works over over 3G, GPRS and Wi-Fi networks regardless of your carrier. All you need is your carrier's data plan or a hotspot and you';re good to go to make a free or low cost VoIP call. It allows you to conserve you airtime and save it for circumstances when no Wi-Fi connection is available. In addition, fring to fring calls are entirely free which makes buddy-to-buddy communications a snap. If you have a lot of friends, you'll love fring.

Continued...

To begin a conversation, you simply pick a contact and hit the green button, or go to options and then click either call or chat to begin a communication session. Does it get much easier than that?

fring allows you to organize all your IM and phone contacts in one place and rather than using SMS, you can chat freely using Messenger. For $30 per year you can use your SkypeOut account to make free calls to any phone in North America and low cost international calls.

If you have a lot of IM contacts, you can not only see when your friends are online, you can also see if they're typing or not. It makes the chat feel more like a real conversation instead of waiting in limbo as they type their responses.

I've been a Skype user for years now and have all my phone numbers and contact information located there, so fring is a big plus in helping me to keep all this information together and make it available when I use the other services. The beauty of Skype (besides VoIP) is that it's very much like GMail in that, your information does not exist on your device. You can access it from anywhere and on any device including your laptop, so it's always available no matter what circumstances you find yourself in. All you need is an Internet connection and it's always handy. That's a big advantage for a person on the go and fring is a perfect tool to get the most out of the security and convenience this offers.

The beauty of the chat feature of fring as compared to SMS, is that you can view your entire chat conversation in real-time on your handset and reduce the high accumulated costs of SMS.

However, fring does have some annoying aspects. Such as when you have 4 contacts named simply Joe and there's no way to distinguish them. It's a real oversight and needs to be corrected. Fortunately, it should only be a problem if you have too many people with the same identifying name on you list.

I laud the creators of fring for their efforts to create a different means for people to talk at much lower costs. The cellphone industry needs to be reigned in and taken to task for not providing cost effective services for people and businesses to use. Products like fring (if they become widely enough used) can put pressure on these companies and force them to lower the cost of phone calls for everyone. Hopefully, enough people will adopt fing, and services like it, quickly so that this can become a reality sooner rather than later.

Technorati Tags: voip on pda,fring,free calls,cheap calls

How to Remove Spyware and Adware

2008-02-13T10:08:00.003-05:00

Do you have a spyware infestation? Do you know what actions to take once your laptop or PC is infected with spyware, ad-ware or viruses?

It's estimated that around 90 percent of computer systems are infected with some form of spyware, ad-ware or virus. With odds like that, it's very likely that your computer either now has, or will soon manifest signs of a system take-over.

What is Spyware and What Does it Do?

Spyware is generally defined as software that secretly takes advantage of vulnerabilities in a user’s computer system to the benefit of an unseen third party. The name spyware comes from the fact that the software often records information about your computer and transmits that information covertly to a remote server or intruder. Spyware can make your laptop or PC slow down, crash, get infected with viruses and worms and even cause hard drive erasure. This is on top of collecting sensitive data like your passwords, logins and banking or credit card details.

Continued...

Spyware often comes bundled together with Ad-ware and browser hijackers. Ad-ware displays advertisements and hijackers secretly change your browser settings. An example of Ad-ware is a pop-up generator, which opens advertisements in pop-up browser windows, even when you're not searching the Web. Having recently had a severe encounter with Ad-ware on my own laptop, I can personally atest to the disruption, inconvenience and loss of sanity they can cause.

My system suddenly seemed possessed and would pop up cryptic error messages every 10 minutes or so. These messages were not true errors, but they were meant to give me the impression they were. An icon would later appear in my system tray which when clicked, started Internet explorer and opened to an anti-spyware site that offered to fix the problem with their own custom spyware removal software for around $30. I won't tell you the name of the site because I don't want anyone else to possibly get an infection but this company was obviously responsible for the problem in the first place. Of course, I didn't fall for this conspicuous sales ploy and if the same thing ever happens to you, DON'T buy anything from them. These slime-balls should never be allowed to profit from their "hold your system hostage" style tactics. Not only that, but they may be setting you up for another round of infections.

These pop-ups were difficult to locate and remove and what made things even more scary was that I also found malicious Trojans and Keyloggers on my system.

Anyway, I eventually removed my infestation but not until after several days of trying different Spyware/Ad-ware removal programs.

I'll get into how to remove these nasty bugs in a moment. First let's focus on how to spot the signs that your system may be the victim of an unwanted infestation.

7 Signs of Spyware Infestation

You're observing inexplicable slowdowns and crashes, especially when searching the Internet or running a security or anti-virus program
Your Internet web browser opens to an unknown homepage, returns unanticipated search results, or directs you to an unsolicited website
You find that your mouse, keyboard, monitor, or CD/DVD drive is unresponsive or acting unpredictably
Pop-up or pop-under browser windows are opening when you are not surfing the Web, or are opening so often as to be distracting
Your security or anti-virus programs are not functioning, and/or you cannot visit security-related web sites (eg. www.symantec.com)
A program or application that you've tried to uninstall reappears when you reboot your computer
Your PC seems to "have a mind of its own" and is difficult or impossible to control

Do you have some or all of these signs? If you do, you definitely have a spyware/malware situation on your hands and need to take action to identify and remove them before they do damage to your system.

Ways to Remove Spyware

1. Reformat Your Hard Drive

I DON'T recommend you start with this method, but the easiest and most obvious way of removing malicious pests from your PC is to reformat your hard disk. In the event that you turn on your PC and the infestation is so rampant as to make using your computer unbearable and removal impossible (and some infestations are), you may need to seriously consider this option. In this scenario, simply slide a Windows XP or Vista CD into your ROM drive, re-boot, and go through a complete reinstallation of Windows. Don’t forget to enter your BIOS/CMOS and change your boot sequence so your CD-ROM drive boots before your hard drive. Backup your data but don't backup programs, since they are very likely infected. If you copy these files back onto your clean system, it could become infected all over again. You'll need to reinstall your favorite programs from the original disks once Windows has finished reinstalling. This is a last ditch case though and should only be considered if no other solution works for you. Of all the ways, it is the ONLY way to truly be sure your system is virus free. It's brutal but it's effective.

2. Try Free Spyware Removal Software

If you’ve simply got a few small issues and your computer still runs properly, then you can opt to clean up your hard drive with any number of programs. There are many, many free ones out there, but the ones I suggest would be Lavasoft Ad-Aware and Spybot: Search and Destroy. Both of these programs are free and can be downloaded via their respective web sites.

The most user-friendly program of the two is Ad-Aware If you're a newbie or don't really "get" computers, it's a suitable free solution. It will locate and remove just about all the malware out there. None of the solutions I tried detects every spyware out there. That's because there's so many of them, no one company can encompass them all. But this is good and it's free.

Spybot is a program for more advanced users. It's one of the best, but if you have trouble understanding and coping with PC problems, you might have difficulty figuring out how to use Spybot effectively. It's definitely not for the computer illiterate. If you have time, you can always read the readme files or the Spybot forums and gradually work your way through it. But if you're in a hurry or just not very good with computers, you probably need a faster and easier solution.

3. Paid Solutions

Everyone likes a freebie and I'm no exception. Many times freebies offer the only solution for the messed up spyware invading your system. Free solutions are usually offered by individuals or small groups (2-3 people) that have made it a personal goal to keep spyware at bay. Spybot is one of those programs.

The only thing about free solutions is that you have to ask yourself one important question. If a software program is free, how can you be sure that the people that make and update the software have all the resources they need to do the best job of cleaning and protecting your computer system against these dangerous threats?

New threats arise every day by the dozens and staying on top of them is a full time undertaking. The people that provide the free solutions are doing a fine job, but do they have enough manpower to be effective against the daily onslaught of new enemies? We all have to eat, so how do they spend their time when they're not working on spyware solutions? Will they still be there tomorrow to provide protection if they make little or no money doing it?

Clearly, to be really effective, we need to not only clean up our current spyware mess but we also need to do our best to protect ourselves from future infection. The best people to do that in my opinion, are the people who are paid to do the job. It's the only way to be sure that adequate resources are made available to meet the massive challenge of properly updating the spyware/malware database to make sure it's able to protects us against future threats.

LavaSoft offers a good paid solution called Ad-Aware Pro and it's reasonably priced. It's a well known solution with a good reputation. It's the upgrade of their free offering and offers enhancements to improve protection of your system.

Final Note:

If you try the software mentioned above and still can't get rid of your problems, you may need the solution that I personally used to help me remove the spyware infection I mentioned earlier. Of all the software I tried to remove the problems from my system (both free and paid), this was the only one that was able to identify ALL the spyware, ad-ware and trojans on my system and remove them. Once I used it to clean my system, my problems disappeared and have not returned since. This may or may not work for you like it did for me but if you still have any doubts that all your problems have been resolved, visit this site and try the free scan. It can't hurt to get a second opinion when it comes to these nasty pests that are so difficult to detect and erase. Why take a chance that you're still open to abuse of your computer system?

My personal method of dealing with spyware these days is actually is 2 pronged. I use my primary spyware remover and then back it up with an Ad-Aware scan just to be sure they both agree that my system is clean. It's slightly more expensive but this method gives me maximum protection and peace of mind. If you've ever had a bad spyware infection, you'll understand just how important that is.

Windows XP - Will Vista Kill Support?

2008-02-11T13:23:00.001-05:00

If Microsoft has its way, you won't be able to buy XP after June 30th, 2008. According to some sources, the public wishes otherwise.

Like all new operating systems, Windows Vista ushered in a new era of incompatibility for existing Windows users. In spite of this, Microsoft plans to start retiring Windows XP on June 30th. Some users, however, want to keep XP alive for years to come so that they can continue to work reliably and efficiently.

Continued...

According to a Popular Science report, there's a grassroots effort to force Microsoft to keep selling XP to customers in shrink-wrapped packages and to OEMs. What's behind this movement? Just to clarify, it's not really a “grassroots” movement. It's actually being orchestrated by InfoWorld, an online news publication.

That said, with 71,386 people signed up as of noon Jan. 30th, 2008 to the Save Windows XP petition, clearly the movement is tapping into a well spring of resentment opposing Vista operating system upgrades.

That's bad news for Vista but it's not in any way surprising. Windows XP works well enough for me and millions of other people all over the world. Why should we give up all the great applications we've relied upon for years only to find out they're either crippled or refuse to run at all on Vista?

There really is not a compelling reason to switch to Vista for most people. If you want the cool 3D Vista task switcher that previews your apps, you can just buy TopDesk for $20 and XP will do the same thing. Nothing special there.

If XP's not fast enough and you need more speed, then buy more RAM, a faster hard drive or clean up your PC and install anti-spyware software. These methods will work and It'll be much cheaper and less frustrating than trying to deal with the plethora of driver issues that many XP users are reporting when they make the switch to Vista.

What Microsoft doesn't want us to realize and accept is that there's nothing wrong with us wanting to stay with a tried and true operating system or program. Windows 2000 and 98, for example, still have their business users, even though neither operating system has been supported by Microsoft for several years now. The difference this time around is how little success Microsoft has had in getting users to switch to Vista.

It's such a bad operating system that web sites are turning up that show people how to DOWNGRADE their Vista systems to XP. And the Apple folks are having a field day showing their Vista vs Apple guys commercials. Vista is spawning a slew of Apple converts! Talk about shooting yourself in the foot with a marketing program gone wrong.

I'm not saying there's no room for improvement in Windows XP. Dual processor support is a much needed feature but you're going to have to do a lot better at convincing me to change. Some fancy whiz-bang interface features or some less-than-practical security features are not going to do it for me. There's just not enough benefit to make me want to change.

Clearly, Microsoft has dropped the ball with Windows Vista.

Anyway, I won't be hopping on the Vista band wagon anytime soon. If you have Vista and like it, that's great. But I need the reliability and ease of use that for now, belongs to Windows XP.

Obviously, Vista or perhaps the upcoming Vista replacement Windows 7, will eventually replace most XP systems. Change is good but not if that change creates problems that never existed in the first place. So let's hope that Microsoft delays killing XP support at least until it can make Vista a worthy choice for upgraders.

Technorati Tags: Windows XP,Vista,upgrade,petition

eBooster: ReadyBoost for Windows XP

2008-02-02T21:40:00.001-05:00

eBooster breathes new life into your old Windows XP machine.

MDO Ltd. has brought out eBoostr, saying it's a complete substitute for Microsoft's ReadyBoost technology for Windows XP machines. The software is now available for a test-drive and bestows ReadyBoost-like technology to older, but still useful Microsoft Windows XP PCs, providing many of the same benefits to the end user.

eBoostr betters the speed of a PC or laptop without having to upgrade its internal components or the operating system. Using USB flash pen memory drives or flash memory cards, permits Windows XP to access hard drives to a much lesser extent. This results in upgraded performance and responsiveness of Windows XP and all running applications.

Continued...

The booting of your operating systems and program startup get much faster thanks to the smart caching mechanism. It seems to make use of XP's prefetch data to cache files on a faster flash drive. Then, if there's a system reference to the file, the eBoostr service directs access to the cached version instead of the drive.

System Requirements

Windows XP (32 and 64 bit support), Windows 2000 , Windows 2003
USB 2.0 port version or memory card reader
Flash drive or memory card with at least 2.5 MB/sec random read speed

Besides the added functionality, eBoostr also allows the use of up to four flash devices to speed up a system. That's a lot of extra capacity though I can't see anyone needing this. Still it's nice to know the option is always there if you need it.

The software also supports slower, less expensive flash memory and cards, providing an inexpensive way to upgrade a computer's performance.
eBoostr also promises noticeable performance benefits even to PCs that already have additional RAM installed.

I'm a laptop user and the added power savings on laptops increases your battery life when on the go, due to reduced disk activity. This will also extend the life of your drives saving you additional costs and inconvenience.

The cost is just under $30 and of course, you'll need some flash memory making it an economical option for extending the useful life of your XP machine.

eBoostr software is easy to install and very intuitive. The trial version has no time expiration and you can evaluate it for as long as you wish but it only boosts your system for 4 hours from boot up. It's available in 16 languages so people all over the world should have no trouble installing and using it.

eBoostr is an efficient, money-saving and is technically the most simple solution to the problem of insufficient RAM or slow hard disks.

Final Note:

If you use eBoostr and still have speed issues, you may need to do further system optimization. For useful tips on speeding up your PC or laptop, see this post about speeding up laptops.

Technorati Tags: eboostr,caching,ram,vista,microsoft,xp,software,review,performance,speed

Instant Messaging Acronyms and Abbreviations

2008-01-31T08:42:00.001-05:00

Instant messaging acronyms can be as cryptic as a serving of Spaghettios or Alphabet soup.

If you ever get an instant message or text message from someone that just comes out looking like jibberish, this guide will be here to help you translate the text chat lingo into plain old English.

It's useful for instant messaging, e-mail, Internet and online gaming chat rooms, discussion boards and cellphone text messaging.

The guide provides the definitions of more than 500 frequently used chat abbreviations and acronyms. Bookmark it so that you can use it whenever you need to refer to it.

Continued...

If you know of any text messaging abbreviation that should be included in this list, please contact us.

Numbers & Characters A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Click here for Smiley Faces & Emoticons

Abbreviation
Meaning

Numbers & Character

?
I have a question

?
I don't understand what you mean

?4U
I have a question for you

;S
Gentle warning, such as "Hmm? what did you say?"

^^
Meaning read line or message above

<3
Meaning sideways heart (love, friendship)

<33
Meaning heart (more 3s is a bigger heart)

@TEOTD
At the end of the day

.02
My (or your) two cents worth

121
One-to-one (private chat initiation)

143
I love you

19
Zero hand (online gaming)

20
Meaning 'location'

2G2BT
Too good to be true

2MI
Too much information

404
I don't know

411
Meaning 'information'

420
Lets get high

420
Meaning "Marijuana"

4COL
For crying out loud

4EAE
Forever and ever

4NR
Foriegner

^5
High-five

555
Sobbing, crying. (Mandarin Chinese txt msgs)

55555
Crying your eyes out (Mandarin Chinese txt msgs)

88
Bye-bye (Mandarin Chinese txt msgs)

9
Parent is watching

A3
Anytime, anywhere, anyplace

AAF
As a matter of fact

AAK
Asleep at keyboard

AAMOF
As a matter of fact

AAMOI
As a matter of interest

AAP
Always a pleasure

AAR
At any rate

AAS
Alive and smiling

AASHTA
As always, Sheldon has the answer (Bike mechanic Sheldon Brown)

AATK
Always at the keyboard

ABTA
Meaning Good-bye (signoff)

ACD
ALT / CONTROL / DELETE

ACK
Acknowledge

ADAD
Another day, another dollar

ADD
Address

ADN
Any day now

ADR
Address

AEAP
As early as possible

AFC
Away from computer

AFAIK
As far as I know

AFK
Away from keyboard

AFPOE
A fresh pair of eyes

AIGHT
Alright

AISB
As it should be

AISB
As I said before

AISI
As I see it

AITR
Adult in the room

AKA
Also known as

ALCON
All concerned

AML
All my love

AOTA
All of the above

AOYP
Angel on your pillow

ASAP
As soon as possible

A/S/L
Age/sex/location

ASL
Age/sex/location

ASLA
Age/sex/location/availability

AT
At your terminal

ATM
At the moment

ATSITS
All the stars in the sky

ATSL
Along the same line (or lines)

AWC
After awhile crocodile

AWOL
Away without leaving

AYDY
Are you done yet?

AYEC
At your earliest convenience

AYOR
At your own risk

AYSOS
Are you stupid or something?

AYT
Are you there?

AYTMTB
And you're telling me this because

AYV
Are you vertical?

B8
Bait (person teased or joked with, or under-aged person/teen)

B/F
Boyfriend

B/G
Background (personal information request)

B4
Before

B4N
Bye for now

BAK
Back at keyboard

BAS
Big 'butt' smile

BAU
Business as usual

BB
Be back

BBC
Big bad challenge

BBIAF
Be back in a few

BBIAM
Be back in a minute

BBIAS
Be back in a sec

BBL
Be back later

BBN
Bye, bye now

BBS
Be back soon

BBT
Be back tomorrow

BC
Because

BCNU
Be seeing you

BCOS
Because

BD
Big deal

BDN
Big darn number

BEN
Big evil grin

BF
Boyfriend

BF
Best friend

BFF
Best friends forever

BFFL
Best friends for life

BFD
Big freaking deal

BFG
Big freaking grin

BFN
Bye for now

BG
Big grin

BGWM
Be gentle with me

BIBO
Beer in, beer out

BIF
Before I forget

BION
Believe it or not

BIOYN
Blow it out your nose

BISFLATM
Boy, I sure feel like a turquoise monkey! (unverified)

BLNT
Better luck next time

BM&Y
Between me and you

BOL
Best of luck

BOLO
Be on the look out

BOOMS
Bored out of my skull

BPLM
Big person little mind

BRB
Be right back

BRD
Bored

BRT
Be right there

BT
Bite this

BTA
But then again

BTDT
Been there, done that

BTW
By the way

BWL
Bursting with laughter

BYOB
Bring your own beer

BYOC
Bring your own computer

C&G
Chuckle & grin

CD9
Code 9, Meaning "parents are around"

CIAO
Coffee in, coffee out

CICO
Good-bye (Italian word)

CID
Crying in disgrace

CMAP
Cover my a** partner (online gaming)

CMIIW
Correct me if I'm wrong

CMON
Come on

CNP
Continued (in) next post

COB
Close of business

COS
Because

C/P
Cross post

CP
Chat post (or continue in IM)

CR8
Create

CRB
Come right back

CRBT
Crying really big tears

CRS
Can't remember stuff

CSG
Chuckle, snicker, grin

CTC
Care to chat?

CU
See you too

CU
See you

CU2
See you

CUA
See you around

CUL
See you later

CULA
See you later alligator

CUL8R
See you later

CWYL
Chat with you later

CYA
See you

CYAL8R
See you later

CYE
Check your e-mail

CYO
See you online

DD
Dear (or Darling) daughter

D/L
Download

DL
Download

DL
Down low

DLTBBB
Don't let the bed bugs bite

DEGT
Don't even go there

DH
Dear (or Darling) husband

DIIK
Darned if I know

DIKU
Do I know you?

DM
Doesn't matter

d00d
Dude

DQMOT
Don't quote me on this

DS
Dear (or Darling) son

DTS
Don't think so

DV8
Deviate

DW
Dear (or Darling) wife

DYOR
Do your own research (common stock market chat slang)

EBKAC
Error between keyboard and chair

EF4T
Effort

EG
Evil grin

EMA
E-mail address

EMFBI
Excuse me for butting in

EMSG
E-mail message

ENUF
Enough

EOD
End of day

EOL
End of life

EOM
End of message

EVA
Ever

EZY
Easy

F
Meaning female

F2F
Face to face

F2T
Free to talk

FBM
Fine by me

FC
Fingers crossed

FFS
For 'freak' sakes

FICCL
Frankly I couldn't care a less

FISH
First in, still here

FITB
Fill in the blank

FOMC
Falling off my chair

FOMCL
Falling off my chair laughing

FRT
For real though

FTBOMH
From the bottom of my heart

FTW
For the win

FUBAR
Fouled up beyond all recognition

FUBB
Fouled up beyond belief

FWIW
For what it's worth

FYEO
For your eyes only

FYA
For your amusement

FYI
For your information

G
Grin

G
Giggle

G/F
Girlfriend

G2CU
Good to see you

G2G
Got to go

G2R
Got to run

G9
Genius

GA
Go ahead

GAL
Get a life

GB
Goodbye

GBU
God bless you

GDR
Grinning, ducking, and running

GD/R
Grinning, ducking, and running

GFI
Go for it

GF
Girl friend

GFN
Gone for now

GG
Gotta Go

GG
Good Game (online gaming)

GGP
Got to go pee

GIAR
Give it a rest

GIC
Gift in crib (online gaming)

GIGO
Garbage in, garbage out

GJ
Good job

GL
Good luck

GL/HF
Good luck, have fun

GLNG
Good luck next game

GMBA
Giggling my butt off

GMTA
Great minds think alike

GN
Good night

GNSD
Good night, sweet dreams

GOI
Get over it

GOL
Giggling out loud

GR8
Great

GRL
Girl

GR&D
Grinning, running and ducking

GT
Good try

GTG
Got to go

GTRM
Going to read mail

GTSY
Great (or good) to see you

H&K
Hugs & kisses

H2CUS
Hope to see you soon

H8
Hate

HAGN
Have a good night

HAGO
Have a good one

HAND
Have a nice day

HB
Hurry back

HF
Have fun

HHIS
Head hanging in shame

HOAS
Hold on a second

HRU
How are you?

HTH
Hope this helps

HUB
Head up butt

HV
Have

IAC
In any case

IAE
In any event

IANAL
I am not a lawyer

IB
I'm back

IC
I see

ICAM
I couldn't agree more

ICBW
It could be worse

ICEDI
I can't even discuss it

IDK
I don't know

IDTS
I don't think so

IDUNNO
I don't know

IG2R
I got to run

IGN
I (I've) got nothing

IGP
I got to (go) pee

IIRC
If I remember correctly

ILBL8
I'll be late

ILU
I love you

ILUM
I love you man

ILY
I love you

IM
Instant message

IMAO
In my arrogant opinion

IMHO
In my humble opinion

IMNSHO
In my not so humble opinion

IMO
In my opinion

IMS
I am sorry

IMTM
I am the man

IMU
I miss u (you)

INAL
I'm not a lawyer

IOMH
In over my head

IOW
In other words

IRL
In real life

IRMC
I rest my case

ITYK
I thought you knew

IUSS
If you say so

IWALU
I will always love you

IYKWIM
If you know what I mean

IYO
In your opinion

IYSS
If you say so

j00r
Your

JAC
Just a sec

JFF
Just for fun

JIC
Just in case

JJA
Just joking around

JK
Just kidding

JMO
Just my opinion

JP
Just playing

JTLYK
Just to let you know

JW
Just wondering

K8T
Katie

k/b
Keyboard

KB
Keyboard

KB
Kick butt (online gaming)

KEWL
Cool

KEYA
I will key you later

KEYME
Key me when you get in

KISS
Keep it simple, stupid

KIT
Keep in touch

KOC
Kiss on cheek

KOL
Kiss on lips

KOTC
Kiss on the cheek

KOTL
Kiss on the lips

KNIM
Know what I mean?

KPC
Keeping parents clueless

Abbreviation
Meaning

l33t
Leet, meaning 'elite'

L8R
Later

L8RG8R
Later, gator

LD
Later, dude / Long distance

LEMENO
Let me know

LERK
Leaving easy reach of keyboard

LGH
Lets get high

LHM
Lord help me

LHO
Laughing head off

LIK
Meaning liquor

LMAO
Laughing my a** off

LMBO
Laughing my butt off

LMIRL
Lets meet in real life

LMK
Let me know

LOL
Laughing out loud

LOLH
Laughing out loud hysterically

LOLO
Lots of love

LQTM
Laughing quietly to myself

LSHMBH
Laugh so hard my belly hurts

LTNS
Long time no see

LTS
Laughing to self

LWOS
Laughing without smiling

LY
Love ya

LYLAS
Love you like a sis

M8
Mate

MEGO
My eyes glaze over

MFI
Mad for it

MIRL
Meet in real life

MMK
Meaning okay? (as a question)

MNC
Mother nature calls

MorF
Male or female?

MOOS
Member of the opposite sex

MOS
Mother over shoulder

MSG
Message

MTF
More to follow

MTFBWU
May the force be with you

MUAH
Multiple unsuccessful attempts (at/to) humor

MUSM
Miss you so much

MYOB
Mind your own business

n00b
Newbie

N1
Nice one

NADT
Not a darn thing

NALOPKT
Not a lot of people know that

NBD
No big deal

NBFAB
No bad for a beginner (online gaming)

NC
Nice crib (online gaming)

NE
Any

NE1
Anyone

NFM
None for me / Not for me

NH
Nice hand (online gaming)

NIFOC
Naked in front of computer

NIMBY
Not in my back yard

NLT
No later than

NM
Nothing much / Never mind

NMH
Not much here

NMU
Not much, you?

NO1
No one

NOOB
Meaning someone who is bad at (online) games

NOYB
None of your business

NP
No problem

NR
Nice roll (online gaming)

NRN
No response/reply necessary

NT
Nice try

NVM
Never mind

NW
No way

NWO
No way out

O
Opponent (online gaming)

OIC
Oh, I see

OL
Old lady

OM
Old man

OMG
Oh my God

OMGYG2BK
Oh my God, you got to be kidding

OMW
On my way

OO
Over and out

OOH
Out of here

OOTD
One of these days

OOTO
Out of the office

OP
On phone

ORLY
Oh really?

OTB
Off to bed

OTFL
On the floor laughing

OTL
Out to lunch

OTOH
On the other hand

OTT
Over the top

OTTOMH
Off the top of my head

OTW
Off to work

OVA
Over

P
Partner (online gaming)

P911
Parents coming into room alert

PAW
Parents are watching

PCM
Please call me

PDH
Pretty darn happy

PDS
Please don't shoot

PDQ
Pretty darn quick

PITA
Pain in the a**

PLMK
Please let me know

PLS
Please

PLU
People like us

PLZ
Please

PM
Private Message

PMFI
Pardon me for interrupting

PMFJI
Pardon me for jumping in

PMSL
Pee myself laughing

POAHF
Put on a happy face

POS
Parent over shoulder

PPL
People

PROLLY
Probably

PRON
Meaning pornography

PRT
Party

PRW
People/parents are watching

PTL
Praise the Lord

PTMM
Please tell me more

PXT
Please explain that

PU
That stinks!

PZ
Peace

Q
Queue

QIK
Quick

QSL
Reply

QSO
Conversation

QT
Cutie

RL
Real life

RLY
Really

RME
Rolling my eyes

ROFL
Rolling on floor laughing

ROFLMAO
Rolling on the floor, laughing my a** off

ROTFL
Rolling on the floor laughing

ROTFLUTS
Rolling on the floor laughing unable to speak

RSN
Real soon now

RTFM
Read the freaking manual

RUOK
Are you okay?

S2R
Send to receive (meaning send me your picture to get mine)

SAL
Such a laugh

SC
Stay cool

SETE
Smiling Ear-to-Ear

SH
Same here

SHID
Slapping head in disgust

SICNR
Sorry, I could not resist

SIG2R
Sorry, I got to run

SIS
Snickering in silence

SIT
Stay in touch

SLAP
Sounds like a plan

SMHID
Scratching my head in disbelief

SNAFU
Situation normal all fouled up

SNERT
Snot nosed egotistical rude teenager

SO
Significant other

SOL
Sooner or later

SOMY
Sick of me yet?

SorG
Straight or Gay?

SOT
Short of time

SOTMG
Short of time, must go

SOWN
Someone with me

SPK
Speak

SRSLY
Seriously

SPST
Same place, same time

SRY
Sorry

SS
So sorry

SSDD
Same stuff, different day

SSIF
So stupid it's funny

SSINF
So stupid it's not funny

STR8
Straight

STW
Search the Web

SUITM
See you in the morning

SUL
See you later

SUP
What's up?

SWAK
Sent (or sealed) with a kiss

SWAT
Scientific wild a** guess

SWL
Screaming with laughter

SWMBO
She who must be obeyed. Meaning wife or partner

SYL
See you later

SYS
See you soon

T+
Think positive

TA
Thanks a lot

TAFN
That's all for now

TAM
Tomorrow a.m.

TAU
Thinking about u (you)

TBC
To be continued

TBD
To be determined

TBH
To be honest

TC
Take care

TCB
Take care of business

TCOY
Take care of yourself

TDTM
Talk dirty to me

TGIF
Thank God it's Friday

THX
Thanks

THNX
Thanks

THNQ
Thank-you

TIA
Thanks in advance

TIAD
Tomorrow is another day

TIC
Tongue-in-cheek

TILIS
Tell it like it is

TLK2UL8R
Talk to you later

TMB
Text me back

TMI
Too much information

TMOT
Trust me on this

TMWFI
Take my word for it

TNSTAAFL
There's no such thing as a free lunch

TNT
Til next time

TOJ
Tears of joy

TOY
Thinking of you

TPM
Tomorrow p.m.

TPTB
The powers that be

TSNF
That's so not fair

TSTB
The sooner, the better

TTFN
Ta ta for now

TTTT
These things take time

TTYAFN
Talk to you awhile from now

TTYL
Talk to you later

TTYS
Talk to you soon

TU
Thank you

TY
Thank you

TYT
Take your time

TYVM
Thank you very much

^URS
Up yours

UCMU
You crack me up

UFN
Until further notice

UGTBK
You've got to be kidding

UKTR
You know that's right

UL
Upload

UR
Your / You're

URH
You are hot (U R Hot)

URTM
You are the man

UV
Unpleasant visual

UW
You're welcome

VEG
Very evil grin

VFF
Very freaking funny

VFM
Value for money

VGC
Very good condition

VIP
Very important person

VM
Voice mail

VN
Very nice

VNH
Very nice hand (online gaming)

VRY
Very

VSF
Very sad face

VWD
Very well done (online gaming)

W/
With

WAM
Wait a minute

WAN2TLK
Want to talk

WAREZ
meaning pirated (illegally gained) software

WAS
Wild a** guess

WAYF
Where are you from?

W/B
Write back

WB
Welcome back

WBS
Write back soon

WC
Who cares

WCA
Who cares anyway

W/E
Whatever

W/END
Weekend

WE
Whatever

WH5
Who, what, when, where, why

WIBNI
Wouldn't it be nice if

WDALYIC
Who died and left you in charge

WDYK
What do you know?

WDYT
What do you think?

WIIFM
What's in it for me?

WISP
Winning is so pleasurable

WITW
What in the world

WIU
Wrap it up

WK
Week

WKD
Weekend

WRT
With regard to

W/O
Without

WOMBAT
Waste of money, brains and time

WRK
Work

WRUD
What are you doing?

WTB
Wanted to buy

WTF
What the **** ?

WTG
Way to go

WTGP
Want to go private (talk out of public chat area)

WTH
What the heck?

WTM
Who's the man?

WU?
What's up?

WUCIWUG
What you see is what you get

WUF?
Where are you from?

WWJD
What would Jesus do?

WWYC
Write when you can

WYD
What (are) you doing?

WYGAM
When you get a minute

WYHAM
When you have a minute

WYLEI
When you least expect it

WYSIWYG
What you see is what you get

X
Kiss

XD
Meaning "really hard laugh" (where D is a smiley mouth)

XOXOXO
Hugs & Kisses

XLNT
Excellent

YA
Your

YBIC
Your brother in Christ

YBS
You'll be sorry

YCMU
You crack me up

YF
Wife

YG
Young gentleman

YGTBKM
You've got to be kidding me

YGG
You go girl

YIU
Yes, I understand

YKWYCD
You know what you can do

YL
Young lady

YMMV
Your mileage may vary

YR
Your

YR
Yeah right

YRYOCC
You're running your own cuckoo clock

YSIC
Your sister in Christ

YSYD
Yeah sure you do

YT
You there?

YTG
You're the greatest

YW
You're welcome

YWHNB
Yes, we have no bananas

ZOT
Zero tolerance

ZUP
Meaning "What's up?"

ZZZZ
Sleeping (or bored)

Smiley Faces - Showing Emotions In Text Chat

A 'smiley face', frequently called a smiley or emoticon, is utilized in textual conversations to communicate an emotion within a text message. Showing emotions within text messages helps the receiver to accurately translate the intention and meaning of the message you've sent them.

To create a smiley face you use your standard keyboard characters and punctuation marks in sequences that look like facial expressions might. When viewing text smiley faces, they are all sideways. Here are some basics to get you started in understanding what the faces are:

The close bracket represents a sideways smile )
Add in the colon and you have sideways eyes :
Put them together to make a smiley face :)
Use the dash - to add a nose :-)
Change the colon to a semi-colon ; and you have a winking face ;) with a nose ;-)
Put a zero 0 (halo) on top and now you have a winking, smiling angel 0;) with a nose 0;-)
Use the letter 8 in place of the colon for sunglasses 8-)

Some chat and instant message programs will automatically translate text smiley faces into graphical emoticons. In AOL Instant messenger (AIM), for example, if you type out the characters to make a "happy face" followed by "sad face" followed by "cool sunglasses" you would enter the following characters:

:) :( 8-)

Once you've entered the text however, AIM converts the smiley text to graphics, if it can recognize the smiley pattern, and what you see on the screen in your AIM window will look like this:

Livescribe Pulse Smartpen

2008-01-30T07:25:00.001-05:00

LiveScribe Pulse Smartpen is a new device that lets you store audio with your notes as you write and play them back later by simply clicking a link on your note paper.

It makes recording business meetings, lectures, speeches or any other audio a real breeze. It lets you associate audio with your notes as you write on special dotted paper, and stores those notes inside it electronically. Other devices currently on the market, only capture data onto your PC but the Pulse is the first to link intelligent audio capability with data entry giving you an efficient way to save and replay your notes while you're on the go.

This opens up new possibilities for tools that enhance personal productivity, learning, communications, and entertainment and could possibly launch a new era in mobile computing.

Continued...

Somewhat bigger than a Montblanc style pen, Livescribe’s smartpen was developed to substitute the common, workaday pen as a computer user’s main writing tool. Employing new breakthroughs in memory, storage, microprocessors, connectivity and component size, the smartpen is an innovative, advanced paper-based computing device, with both audio and visual feedback, hefty processing capabilities and substantial built-in storage of up to 2 GB.

The "mobile-computing platform", as described by LiveScribe founder Jim Marggraff, consists of:

the Smartpen, a fountain-pen-sized computer with audio/visual feedback and memory for handwriting capture, audio recording and applications
paper with Dot Positioning System technology that creates interactive documents using plain paper printed with microdots
software applications, including audio/ink capture, handwriting recognition and Internet connectivity
and tools for consumers and developers to create, publish and share new applications and content online

Basically, how Pulse works is this:

While taking notes during a discussion or lecture, the smartpen records the conversation and digitizes the handwriting, automatically synching the ink and audio. By later tapping the ink, the smartpen replays the conversation from the exact moment the note was written. This makes it easy to find an exact quotation without having the bother of scanning the audio of a lengthy discourse using traditional means. Shortening the time it takes to find these audio tracks is bound to save a lot of time for many people who report and write for a living.

This makes it an ideal tool for students, lawyers, doctors, journalists, bloggers and no doubt plenty of other professionals who need a more natural way to transcribe, record and find information quickly while on the go.

From a practical point of view, the only thing that concerns me about this great new techno toy is the cost of the special paper and ink used by the pen. The pen itself is inexpensive with 1 GB and 2 GB models going for $149 and $199 respectively but the last thing I want to do is get bogged down with pricey consumables. I didn't see any pricing regarding that on their website, so I can't report on it just yet but have you checked out the price of ink cartridges for printers lately? Anyway, before you decide to try this new toy out, be sure to check out those prices so you don't get roped into expenses you didn't count on.

Regarding the paper itself, I would have liked to have seen some form of writing tablet accessory that would replace the paper in some cases. This would eliminate some additional expense and save a few trees in the process. Perhaps, the company will take that into consideration in the future.

One last note for any developers out there, the LiveScribe has an SDK and CDK that will be released by mid 2008, so if you're interested in possibly doing some development for this new platform, check out their website and sign up for the developer program.

Here is a YouTube video courtesy of CNET that shows Jim Marggraff, the founder of LiveScribe, demonstrating the use of the LiveScribe Pulse Smartpen.

Livescribe Pulse Video On YouTube

Technorati Tags: smart pen,livescribe,pulse

YouTube Mobile

2008-01-29T08:01:00.001-05:00

YouTube Mobile first debuted in November of 2006 as a deal to deliver a handful of video clips through the VCast service of Verizon Wireless. Last year it created a mobile Web site accessible on many Sprint and AT&T phones that only carried a tiny sliver of YouTube content. And it has another subset on the iPhone. That short-coming has recently been corrected with their new mobile website for cellphone users that want to view YouTube videos on the go. And it doesn't matter which carrier you use. Any carrier with a data plan will suffice.

The company has just unveiled a new mobile service at m.youtube.com that will carry MOST of YouTube’s catalog which includes tens of millions of videos. The site will also have the personalization and community features that it lacked previously, so that users will be able to log in and subscribe to certain channels or have easy access to their favourite videos. And you’ll be able to upload videos directly from your mobile device.

“The mobile experience will be much closer to the Web experience,” said Hunter Walk, a YouTube product manager.

Continued...

This is an interesting and exciting way to use YouTube since you can see, shoot and share your videos on the fly making it a speedy way to report the action happening right in front of you. Bloggers and journalists should find this feature especially handy. Look for this feature of YouTube to become the new way to report and view the news. Once cellphone data services drop in price, that is. And then there's those tiny screens but you can always add the video to your favorites and then view it later on your PC or laptop.

But before you get too excited, don't forget to upgrade your cellphone plan to an unlimited data plan. You want to avoid the whopping charges for downloading videos that you';re sure to incur when watching a lot of videos online with a regular plan.

Watching videos on mobile phones remains a niche activity at the moment. YouTube said its mobile site will be accessible from devices that are capable of streaming video and that run on 3G networks. According to the company, globally that’s about 100 million devices, a small fraction of the more than 3 billion cell phones in use around the world. What’s more, many of those devices, especially overseas, run on limited data plans, so watching videos can prove expensive, as YouTube notes on its mobile Web site: “YouTube Mobile is a data intensive application. We highly recommend that you upgrade to an unlimited data plan with your mobile service provider to avoid additional charges.”

There are 2 ways to watch videos. One is web based and the other is software based. In order to use the software you need to own a Nokia N73, N95, E65, 6110, 6120 or Sony Ericsson k800 and w880. If you use the web based version you will need to be able to have a 3gp player installed which shouldn't be an issue for most mobile phones.

For now, the new site will be free of all ads. Mr. Walk said the new site is intended to get existing users of YouTube mobile to spend more time on the site and to increase the YouTube mobile audience. “We want more and more people try mobile video for the first time,” he said.

Technorati Tags: YouTube Mobile,YouTube Video,Video,Mobile,Cellphone

Free Internet TV - Miro

2008-01-27T13:05:00.001-05:00

Free Internet TV using Miro is as easy as using your TiVo. Miro makes it a simple matter for you to boot up your laptop or PC and watch a 10-20 minute video about something amazing while having a bite of breakfast.

I've been using Miro for several weeks now and frankly I'm not sure how I got along without it. It's become THE answer for me when it comes to finding, saving, sharing, organizing and viewing online video content. It's a welcome addition to my software toolkit and the fact that it's free and open source just sweetens the pot.

Continued...

Miro was formerly known as "Democracy Player". I didn't know about it then, but I guess the concept was and still is to provide free Internet TV and video for everyone. That's a noble concept and one I support. We don't need another Time-Warner media giant controlling what we see and raking in billions from advertisers. Commercial television is for the birds and everything now is "Pay this" and "Pay that". This is TV without advertising. Well, almost anyway. Video makers sometimes put a watermark or an ad clip at the beginning or end of their presentations. But there's none of the annoying "We'll find out after this commercial" stuff you see on game shows like Deal or No Deal.

A lot of the content is just individuals and small companies looking for an audience but there are some big guys as well. National Geographic, Wired Magazine, Reuters and lots of others. There's over 2500 channels and you can make your own channels from YouTube searches and RSS feeds. There's almost unlimited free video content to be enjoyed by just about everyone.

The YouTube search feature is what I like the best. I just search on a topic like "Polar Bears" and presto I'm presented with loads of polar bear videos. If I want to make this search into a channel, I just right-click and turn it into the "Polar Bear Channel". Then whenever I start-up the program, Miro will automatically search for new Polar bear videos and give me the option to play them or not. Nothing could be simpler or more efficient.

Other features include:

full torrent support, so you can download and view torrents in the same app
folder watching to manage only the hard-drive folders you specify for new videos
resumable playback so you can continue viewing where you left off
channel surfing, which organizes video feeds by topic
video sharing and hosting
and assistance in creating and publishing your own videos

The player incorporates VLC, which is the open video player that can play pretty much every file-format available on the net today.

The only thing lacking in Miro is the support of more commercial TV networks. That's only natural though, since there's really no money in it for the big concerns. Miro doesn't really replace commercial television but I can tell you that I have enjoyed just about everything I've watched so far. And as far as learning is concerned, Miro takes the prize hands down. I've learned more about my areas of special interest in a couple of weeks using Miro than I have in a couple of years of TV viewing. And it's stuff I can use in a lot of cases. If there's a student in your family, this is a no-brainer.

It's available for the Mac, Windows and Linux, with all versions being released at the same time. You can download it here. You'll need a beefy processor for video playback and large hard drive to store the videos you want to save. I use an external drive myself and I recommend that you use one too.

Miro makes Internet TV and video less frustrating and more enjoyable because it gives you a way to quickly and easily mine the vast video resources available on the Internet. If you're looking for an alternative to commercial and pay TV that gives you more viewing options for free, I highly recommend you download it and try it out for yourself.

Windows 7 First Leaked Screenshot

2008-01-26T08:15:00.001-05:00

There's no telling how accurate this screenie might be, and it's obvious that this screenshot won't be giving us any enlightening details about Windows 7, but we couldn't pass on the chance to publish an image that claims to be the first from a super-secret test build of Windows 7 distributed solely to "key partners." So, is there anything to see here? Not that we can tell, but from the looks of things we're looking at a copy of Vista with the name "Windows 7 Ultimate" pasted on. There's no telling what's happening under the hood. We can only hope and pray that the Windows 7 release is not going to be just a high priced Vista upgrade that forces you to have all your system drivers reinstalled. If you upgraded to Vista from Windows XP, this nightmare should sound familiar to you.