WONDERLAND

Turntable.fm: The cool kids' Pandora?

2011-06-25T21:12:00.000-07:00

The new music site Turntable.fm lets users DJ songs for their friends -- in real-time.Turntable.fm lets users DJ for their friends, choosing for a big library of songs
Users enter "rooms" where they can hear various kinds of music
Human pick music on Turntable.fm; computers do so on Pandora
The site gets lots of buzz on tech blogs; but there are questions about legality

Everyone knows Pandora -- that popular music-streaming site where robots pick songs for you based on equations.

Well there's a new kid in town: Turntable.fm. And its philosophy is almost perfectly anti-Pandora.

Instead of computers, real people pick the songs, in real-time.

The site turns this process into a concert-like game.

Here's how it works: When you show up, you see a list of all of the "rooms" where DJs are currently playing. You can see what type of music these small online venues typically play, and what song is currently on.

When you click on a room, your avatar -- the people in Turntable.fm are cartoon mice, kids and aliens, which is weird, but go with it for a second -- enters and finds itself standing in a crowd of other people who are in that room at that very moment.

From one to five DJs are standing at a table in front of you, and they take turns picking the songs that will be played in that venue.

If you like their choices, click the "awesome" button. If you're sick of all the Coldplay remixes, there's another button: "lame."

Of course, you can also become a DJ, which is part of the power of the site, writes Peter Kafka on All Things Digital:

"Turntable.fm is a little miracle that does something simple and essential: It lets you play your favorite songs for your friends and strangers on the Web, in real time, for free."

TechCrunch called the site the "new early-adopter addiction."

"The early adopting tech elites are eating this site up, just as they did Twitter, Foursquare, Instagram, and others," Steve Poland wrote on that influential blog. "Barring some awful interference, this app is going to break big and change things."

The site's co-founder, Seth Goldstein, told CNN he would not respond to questions about the service until Turntable.fm opens fully to the public.

For now, one of your Facebook friends has to be on the site already in order for you to get access.

The blog BetaBeat says the site has 140,000 users.

There are questions about Turntable.fm's legality, too.

Turntable.fm DJ's can choose from songs in the site's library, which is hosted by MediaNet, an online platform with millions of songs.

Or you can also upload mp3 files to the site and play those, too.

That part seems questionably legal to some.

Again, from Kafka at All Things Digital:

"The risk for Turntable is the same one every music start-up without label deals faces: Not that a court will find them guilty of something, but that they'll have to spend a lot of time and money on lawyers.

"And while it seems blindingly obvious that Turntable.fm is a great thing for the music business -- it lets music fans tell other music fans about music they like, the best possible advertising -- I wouldn't put it past a label or two to gripe about the service. Particularly if it makes the leap from the digerati into the mainstream."

Give the site a try and let us know what you think in the comments. Does Turntable.fm live up to all the buzz? Or is it just hype?

Hacker group targets Arizona law enforcement

2011-06-25T17:02:00.000-07:00

The hacker group Lulzsec recently hacked into PBS' website, leaving this message to visitors.The group says they released the documents in response to Arizona immigration lawThe group releases numerous documents on ThursdayA law enforcement official says the release put officers and their families in harm's way

(CNN) -- The hacker group LulzSec has alarmed police in Arizona this week after releasing sensitive information about officers.

The group said they posted the information in response to Arizona's controversial immigration law.

"We are releasing hundreds of private intelligence bulletins, training manuals, personal email correspondence, names, phone numbers, addresses and passwords belonging to Arizona law enforcement," the group said in a statement. "We are targeting AZDPS (Arizona Department of Public Safety) specifically because we are against SB 1070 and the racial profiling anti-immigrant police state that is Arizona."

The Arizona Highway Patrol Association said the release of the documents is unsafe for officers.

"Law enforcement officials go to many lengths to protect their identities," states Jimmy Chavez, president of the organization "These individuals maliciously released confidential information knowing the safety of DPS employees, and their families, would be compromised."

The controversial bill, Arizona Senate Bill 1070, passed last year but was quickly challenged in court by the Justice Department. The measure would have required local police, while enforcing other laws, to question the immigration status of anyone they suspected of being undocumented.

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit placed an injunction on parts of the measure in April saying that those parts overstepped Arizona's authority.

In its lawsuit, the Justice Department challenged only six of the Arizona law's provisions, meaning others went into effect in July.

Among the provisions given the go-ahead were a ban on "sanctuary cities," or municipalities with laws or policies that render them relatively safe for undocumented immigrants. A provision making it illegal to hire day laborers if doing so impedes traffic and a provision dealing with sanctions for employers who hire illegal immigrants also went into effect.

Critics: Google hides Gay Pride 'doodle'

2011-06-25T12:58:00.000-07:00

If you Google terms like "gay" or "homosexuality" this month, a rainbow pops up by the search bar.Google creates Gay Pride feature, which critics say is hidden away
Users who search "lesbian," "gay" and other "pride-related" terms see a tiny rainbow
Some criticize the company for not doing a Gay Pride doodle on Google.com

(CNN) -- Google creates "doodles" for all kinds of random occasions.

The search engine changed -- or doodled -- the logo on its home page in celebration of the painter Paul Cezanne's 172nd birthday; Robert Louis Stevenson's 160th birthday; the first day of school in Poland; and Pac-Man's 30th anniversary. All of these, with the exception of Poland, which appeared only in that country, were automatically visible to everyone who visited Google.com.

But for Gay Pride Month -- which, in case you didn't notice the parade in the city center, is happening now -- the company took a much less visible approach.

It's one that's stirred up criticism from the gay community.

There's never been an actual Google Doodle in honor of Gay Pride. Instead, during June, a little rainbow pops up next to Google's search bar only when users search for certain "pride-related" terms, including, "gay," "lesbian," "homosexuality," "LGBT," "marriage equality," "bisexual" and "transgender."

"During the month of June, Google is celebrating lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender (LGBT) Pride," the company said in an e-mail. "For some Pride-related search queries, we are showing a rainbow at the end of the search bar."

So why hide this feature beneath specific searches?

A company spokeswoman did not provide specifics.

"We enjoy celebrating holidays and special events at Google. As you may imagine, it's difficult for us to choose which events to celebrate on our site, and have a long list of those we'd like to celebrate in the future," a statement said.

Critics say Google is hiding the feature to avoid criticism from anti-gay groups, whose members may be less likely to search "pride-related" terms.

The hidden doodle "should keep the six-color rainbow, a symbol universally associated with gay pride ever since San Francisco artist Gilbert Baker created it 33 years ago, from appearing on the pages of those who are still opposed to gay rights. And keep Google from having to deal with any backlash," writes Nicholas Jackson on The Atlantic's tech site.

Jackson, who is gay, calls the fact that Google hasn't created a full-blown doodle in honor of Gay Pride "disappointing."

"Instead of boldly declaring its support of Gay and Lesbian Pride Month, Google added a tiny rainbow to the end of its search bar," he writes.

Instinct Magazine says Google "should be commended" for doing anything:

"Google has lead the tech industry in supporting our community, and the latest addition to its arsenal of inclusion is a welcome boost in the right direction."

What do you think? Let us know in the comments.

Google investors fear long battle against Feds

2011-06-25T08:33:00.001-07:00

Google Inc's logo is seen at an office in Seoul in this May 3, 2011 file photograph.

Microsoft Corp's famous founder may know better than anyone else what the Google Inc chief executive would face if he engages in a protracted legal battle against U.S. antitrust regulators.

Google said on Friday that the Federal Trade Commission has started a formal investigation into its business, raising concerns among investors about a lengthy, distracting probe and potential legal action.

Microsoft suffered that fate in its two-decade fight with the U.S. Department of Justice and state attorneys over charges that it abused its monopoly in operating systems to crush competition in other areas.

After a high-profile trial, Microsoft finally settled the matter in 2002, and only last month emerged from government oversight.

"Bill Gates felt like he was being punished for being successful, and he never really recovered from the antitrust trial," said Michael Cusumano, Professor at MIT Sloan School of Management, who was involved in the trial. "Microsoft has suffered as a result. They're not as aggressive. They definitely lost their edge."

Whether Google's Page will handle the review of his company more dispassionately than Gates remains to be seen. The 38-year-old son of academics is known for a stubborn streak, championing ambitious technology and products whose near-term financial payoffs are not always clear.

Page, along with Executive Chairman Eric Schmidt, have resisted calls to testify before the Senate Judiciary Committee's antitrust subcommittee hearing on competition in the Internet search industry.

Some are concerned that Google's desire to stand firm against government intrusion -- as in its protests against censorship of search results in China -- will lead the company into a long battle that ultimately will do more damage than a quick settlement.

"The amount of time involved is almost beyond human calculation," says Bob Lande, an FTC veteran who now teaches at the University of Baltimore School of Law.

The weight of these legal battles, and uncertain investigations, could tell on the company over time. Google's shares are already under pressure as investors worry about the increasing competition it faces from Facebook and others.

Shares of Google began the year a touch above $600. The shares ended down 1.11 percent at $474.88 on Nasdaq.

"The longer the specter of an investigation hangs over any major company's head, the more it has a negative impact on everything from its ability to do business to its stock price," said Melissa Maxman, co-chair of the antitrust department at law firm Cozen O'Connor.

JUST THE BEGINNING

The company said on Friday that it will work with the U.S. Federal Trade Commission in a review of its business practices, but made clear it did not think it had done anything wrong.

"It's still unclear exactly what the FTC's concerns are, but we're clear about where we stand," Google executive Amit Singhal wrote on a blog post on Google's website.

The FTC is expected to address complaints from Google's rivals that its search results favor the company's own services. Google, which runs an estimated 69 percent of Web searches worldwide, can make or break a company depending on its search ranking.

The European Commission, and the attorney general in Texas launched investigations into similar issues last year, following complaints from companies specializing in market-specific searches, such as price comparison websites for electronics, travel or mortgages.

"This is just the beginning. You've got the EU investigating Google, you've got the Feds investigating Google. The state AGs have Google in the crosshairs. It's not a great position to be in," said Colin Gillis, technology analyst at BGC Partners. "You start having regulators tamper with your core business, that's something to be concerned about."

It is not certain that the FTC's investigation will lead to legal action.

"Typically less than one out of every 10 investigations lead to enforcement. This investigation faces daunting odds," said David Balto, a former FTC policy director.

"The complaints presented to the FTC are from disgruntled advertisers, not consumers. That is not a strong foundation to an antitrust case."

(Additional reporting by Alexei Oreskovic in San Francisco and Bill Rigby in Seattle; editing by Carol Bishopric)

Windows 7 tips and tricks - Find everything faster with powerful search tools

2011-05-29T00:14:00.000-07:00

The Windows® 7operating system was designed in response to user feedback, so it features improvements that make it faster, more reliable, and easier for your government agency to use. Windows 7 also helps provide greater security and manageability for local and remote computers helps improve performance and reliability. We’ve gathered some Windows 7 tips and tricks here to help make you even more productive!

Find everything faster with powerful search tools

Instant recall. Quickly find that file you worked on last week. Rest your mouse pointer over a program name, or right-click an icon on the taskbar—a Windows 7 Jump List appears, displaying the documents you used most recently and most often.

Highlight search queries. Windows 7 Search results highlight words from your query within snippets of file content or the file path so you can find the best results more easily.

The library is open. Libraries make it easy to view, organize, manage, and find files that are stored in more than one place, and they are automatically indexed to allow faster viewing and searching. Use the existing libraries in Windows 7, or create your own.

No stone unturned. Windows 7 search connectors can help you quickly find and organize the information you need—beyond your PC and across certain sites. If you see the Search connector button on your corporate website, double-click it to add a search connector for the site.

Sort search results logically. The content view mode in Windows 7 Search includes labels for all properties for each item (file type, size, file path, date modified, and more), so your search results are easier to interpret

Search results as you type. The Instant Search box in Windows® Internet Explorer® 8 returns search results in real time as you type. And the search results can include pictures and rich text, so it’s even easier to find what you’re looking for.

Cast a wider net. Internet Explorer 8 is working with top search providers, such as Bing, Wikipedia, Yahoo!, and Amazon, to help deliver immediate answers along with available imagery as you type your search query. Search also uses your browsing history to make searching even easier.

Find anything. Finding anything on your PC and external hard disk drives is easy—from programs and documents to songs.

Simply open the Start menu and type in the search box. Select what you want from the list of instant search results.

Increase your cable modem or DSL speed in XP

2010-08-01T04:21:00.000-07:00

This tweak is for broadband cable connections on stand alone machines with winXP professional version - might work on Home version also. It will probably work with networked machines as well but I haven't tried it in that configuration. This is for windows XP only.

This tweak assumes that you have let winXP create a connection on install for your cable modem/NIC combination and that your connection has tcp/ip - QoS - file and print sharing - and client for microsoft networks , only, installed. It also assumes that winxp will detect your NIC and has in-box drivers for it. If it doesn't do not try this. In the "My Network Places" properties (right click on the desktop icon and choose properties), highlight the connection then at the menu bar choose "Advanced" then "Advanced Settings". Uncheck the two boxes in the lower half for the bindings for File and Printer sharing and Client for MS networks. Click OK

1. From the windows XP cd in the support directory from the support cab, extract the file netcap.exe and place it in a directory on your hard drive or even in the root of your C:\ drive.

2. Next, open up a command prompt window and change directories to where you put netcap.exe. then type "netcap/?". It will list some commands that are available for netcap and a netmon driver will be installed. At the bottom you will see your adapters. You should see two of them if using a 3Com card. One will be for LAN and the other will be for WAN something or other.

3. Next type "netcap/Remove". This will remove the netmon driver.

4. Open up control panel / system / dev man and look at your network adapters. You should now see two of them and one will have a yellow ! on it. Right click on the one without the yellow ! and choose uninstall. YES! you are uninstalling your network adapter, continue with the uninstall. Do not restart yet.

5. Check your connection properties to make sure that no connection exists. If you get a wizard just cancel out of it.

6. Now re-start the machine.

7. After re-start go to your connection properties again and you should have a new connection called "Local area connection 2". highlight the connection then at the menu bar choose "Advanced" then "Advanced Settings". Uncheck the two boxes in the lower half for the bindings for File and Printer sharing and Client for MS networks. Click OK.

8. Choose connection properties and uncheck the "QOS" box

9. Re-start the machine

10. After restart enjoy the increased responsiveness of IE, faster page loading, and a connection speed boost.

The Power Of Words | Physics Tricks

2010-07-30T07:53:00.000-07:00

This demonstration challenges common preconceptions about forces, and demonstrates the strength of atmospheric pressure.

Ingredients
• table with flat edge
• ruler
• newspaper

Instructions

1. Lay the ruler over the edge of the table so that ~1/3 of it's length is over the edge.
2. Ask your audience what will happen if you hit the ruler from above.
3. Hit the ruler – as expected it flips off the table.
4. Ask your audience how you might possibly keep the ruler on the table while you hit it, using only newspaper. Hopefully someone will guess that you need to exert an opposing force on the far end of the ruler – you may need to prompt them.
5. Tell your audience that you can only use a sheet of newspaper. Try first by folding up a sheet of newspaper as small as possible and placing it at the back end of the ruler so that it acts as a counterweight. Get an audience member to hit the ruler again – still it flips off the table, this time along with the folded up newspaper!
6. Ask your audience how else you might be able to use a sheet of newspaper to hold the ruler down. If your audience guess the trick, ask them to explain the physics behind the idea. Lay a single sheet of newspaper flat on the table so that the ruler is roughly in the center. When you hit the ruler it will stay on the table!

How does it work?
It all comes down to air pressure. Atmospheric pressure is exerting a downward force on the single sheet of newspaper. The area of a single sheet of newspaper is fairly large, therefore the downward force of the atmospheric pressure exerted on the newspaper is strong enough to counter the upward force of hitting the ruler. It didn't work with the folded-up newspaper because the surface area over which the atmospheric pressure could act was far too small.

Tips for Success
For optimal effect, make sure as little air as possible is under the newspaper by smoothing it out flat prior to hitting the ruler.

Serving Suggestions
This works well with audiences of all ages, but does require a sturdy table or bench, so is best suited for performing when an audience has already been gathered.

Did You Know?
During the scientific revolution it was common to think of air pressure in terms of the total weight of a column of air pressing down on a unit area. In 1643 Evangelista Torricelli, a pupil of Galileo, inverted a mercury filled glass tube, sealed at one end, into a basin also containing mercury. He found that the weight of air over the basin was sufficient to support a column of mercury to a height of 76 cm. This invention is the basis of using ‘millimetres of mercury’ as a unit of air pressure.

All About Movie Tags (What Is A Dvdrip, Cam Etc.)

2010-07-04T22:58:00.000-07:00

CAM -
A cam is a theater rip usually done with a digital video camera. A mini tripod is sometimes used, but a lot of the time this wont be possible, so the camera make shake. Also seating placement isn't always idle, and it might be filmed from an angle. If cropped properly, this is hard to tell unless there's text on the screen, but a lot of times these are left with triangular borders on the top and bottom of the screen. Sound is taken from the onboard microphone of the camera, and especially in comedies, laughter can often be heard during the film. Due to these factors picture and sound quality are usually quite poor, but sometimes we're lucky, and the theater will be fairly empty and a fairly clear signal will be heard.
TELESYNC (TS) - A telesync is the same spec as a CAM except it uses an external audio source (most likely an audio jack in the chair for hard of hearing people). A direct audio source does not ensure a good quality audio source, as a lot of background noise can interfere. A lot of the times a telesync is filmed in an empty cinema or from the projection booth with a professional camera, giving a better picture quality. Quality ranges drastically, check the sample before downloading the full release. A high percentage of Telesyncs are CAMs that have been mislabeled.

TELECINE (TC) -
A telecine machine copies the film digitally from the reels. Sound and picture should be very good, but due to the equipment involved and cost telecines are fairly uncommon. Generally the film will be in correct aspect ratio, although 4:3 telecines have existed. A great example is the JURASSIC PARK 3 TC done last year. TC should not be confused with TimeCode , which is a visible counter on screen throughout the film.

SCREENER (SCR) -
A pre VHS tape, sent to rental stores, and various other places for promotional use. A screener is supplied on a VHS tape, and is usually in a 4:3 (full screen) a/r, although letterboxed screeners are sometimes found. The main draw back is a "ticker" (a message that scrolls past at the bottom of the screen, with the copyright and anti-copy telephone number). Also, if the tape contains any serial numbers, or any other markings that could lead to the source of the tape, these will have to be blocked, usually with a black mark over the section. This is sometimes only for a few seconds, but unfortunately on some copies this will last for the entire film, and some can be quite big. Depending on the equipment used, screener quality can range from excellent if done from a MASTER copy, to very poor if done on an old VHS recorder thru poor capture equipment on a copied tape. Most screeners are transferred to VCD, but a few attempts at SVCD have occurred, some looking better than others.

DVD-SCREENER (DVDscr) -Same premise as a screener, but transferred off a DVD. Usually letterbox , but without the extras that a DVD retail would contain. The ticker is not usually in the black bars, and will disrupt the viewing. If the ripper has any skill, a DVDscr should be very good. Usually transferred to SVCD or DivX/XviD.

DVDRip - A copy of the final released DVD. If possible this is released PRE retail (for example, Star Wars episode 2) again, should be excellent quality. DVDrips are released in SVCD and DivX/XviD.

VHSRip -Transferred off a retail VHS, mainly skating/sports videos and XXX releases.

TVRip -TV episode that is either from Network (capped using digital cable/satellite boxes are preferable) or PRE-AIR from satellite feeds sending the program around to networks a few days earlier (do not contain "dogs" but sometimes have flickers etc) Some programs such as WWF Raw Is War contain extra parts, and the "dark matches" and camera/commentary tests are included on the rips. PDTV is capped from a digital TV PCI card, generally giving the best results, and groups tend to release in SVCD for these. VCD/SVCD/DivX/XviD rips are all supported by the TV scene.

WORKPRINT (WP) -A workprint is a copy of the film that has not been finished. It can be missing scenes, music, and quality can range from excellent to very poor. Some WPs are very different from the final print (Men In Black is missing all the aliens, and has actors in their places) and others can contain extra scenes (Jay and Silent Bob) . WPs can be nice additions to the collection once a good quality final has been obtained.

DivX Re-Enc -A DivX re-enc is a film that has been taken from its original VCD source, and re-encoded into a small DivX file. Most commonly found on file sharers, these are usually labeled something like Film.Name.Group(1of2) etc. Common groups are SMR and TND. These aren't really worth downloading, unless you're that unsure about a film u only want a 200mb copy of it. Generally avoid.

Watermarks -
A lot of films come from Asian Silvers/PDVD (see below) and these are tagged by the people responsible. Usually with a letter/initials or a little logo, generally in one of the corners. Most famous are the "Z" "A" and "Globe" watermarks.

Asian Silvers / PDVD -
These are films put out by eastern bootleggers, and these are usually bought by some groups to put out as their own. Silvers are very cheap and easily available in a lot of countries, and its easy to put out a release, which is why there are so many in the scene at the moment, mainly from smaller groups who don't last more than a few releases. PDVDs are the same thing pressed onto a DVD. They have removable subtitles, and the quality is usually better than the silvers. These are ripped like a normal DVD, but usually released as VCD.

Formats

VCD -
VCD is an mpeg1 based format, with a constant bitrate of 1150kbit at a resolution of 352x240 (NTCS). VCDs are generally used for lower quality transfers (CAM/TS/TC/Screener(VHS)/TVrip(analogue) in order to make smaller file sizes, and fit as much on a single disc as possible. Both VCDs and SVCDs are timed in minutes, rather than MB, so when looking at an mpeg, it may appear larger than the disc capacity, and in reality u can fit 74min on a CDR74.

SVCD -
SVCD is an mpeg2 based (same as DVD) which allows variable bit-rates of up to 2500kbits at a resolution of 480x480 (NTSC) which is then decompressed into a 4:3 aspect ratio when played back. Due to the variable bit-rate, the length you can fit on a single CDR is not fixed, but generally between 35-60 Mins are the most common. To get a better SVCD encode using variable bit-rates, it is important to use multiple "passes". this takes a lot longer, but the results are far clearer.

XVCD/XSVCD -
These are basically VCD/SVCD that don't obey the "rules". They are both capable of much higher resolutions and bit-rates, but it all depends on the player to whether the disc can be played. X(S)VCD are total non-standards, and are usually for home-ripping by people who don't intend to release them.

KVCD Thanks for lardo4life for the info
KVCD is a modification to the standard MPEG-1 and MPEG-2 GOP structure and Quantization Matrix. It enables you to create over 120 minutes of near DVD quality video, depending on your material, on a single 80 minute CD-R/CD-RW. We have published these specifications as KVCDx3, our official resolution, which produce 528x480 (NTSC) and 528x576 (PAL) MPEG-1 variable bit rate video, from 64Kbps to 3,000Kbps. Using a resolution of 352x240 (NTSC) or 352x288 (PAL), it's possible to encode video up to ~360 minutes of near VCD quality on a single 80 minute CD-R. The mpeg files created will play back in most modern standalone DVD players. You must burn the KVCD MPEG files as non-standard VCD or non-standard SVCD (depends on your player) with Nero or VCDEasy.

DivX / XviD -
DivX is a format designed for multimedia platforms. It uses two codecs, one low motion, one high motion. most older films were encoded in low motion only, and they have problems with high motion too. A method known as SBC (Smart Bit-rate Control) was developed which switches codecs at the encoding stage, making a much better print. The format is Ana orphic and the bit-rate/resolution are interchangeable. Due to the higher processing power required, and the different codecs for playback, its unlikely we'll see a DVD player capable of play DivX for quite a while, if at all. There have been players in development which are supposedly capable, but nothing has ever arisen. The majority of PROPER DivX rips (not Re-Encs) are taken from DVDs, and generally up to 2hours in good quality is possible per disc. Various codecs exist, most popular being the original Divx3.11a and the new XviD codecs.

CVD -
CVD is a combination of VCD and SVCD formats, and is generally supported by a majority of DVD players. It supports MPEG2 bit-rates of SVCD, but uses a resolution of 352x480(ntsc) as the horizontal resolution is generally less important. Currently no groups release in CVD.

DVD-R -
Is the recordable DVD solution that seems to be the most popular (out of DVD-RAM, DVD-R and DVD+R). it holds 4.7gb of data per side, and double sided discs are available, so discs can hold nearly 10gb in some circumstances. SVCD mpeg2 images must be converted before they can be burnt to DVD-R and played successfully. DVD>DVDR copies are possible, but sometimes extras/languages have to be removed to stick within the available 4.7gb.

MiniDVD -
MiniDVD/cDVD is the same format as DVD but on a standard CDR/CDRW. Because of the high resolution/bit-rates, its only possible to fit about 18-21 mins of footage per disc, and the format is only compatible with a few players.

Misc Info

Regional Coding -
This was designed to stop people buying American DVDs and watching them earlier in other countries, or for older films where world distribution is handled by different companies. A lot of players can either be hacked with a chip, or via a remote to disable this.

RCE -
RCE (Regional Coding Enhancement) was designed to overcome "Multiregion" players, but it had a lot of faults and was overcome. Very few titles are RCE encoded now, and it was very unpopular.

Macrovision -
Macrovision is the copy protection employed on most commercial DVDs. Its a system that will display lines and darken the images of copies that are made by sending the VHS signals it can't understand. Certain DVD players (for example the Dansai 852 from Tescos) have a secret menu where you can disable the macrovision, or a "video stabaliser" costs about 30UKP from Maplin (www.maplin.co.uk)

NTSC/PAL -
NTSC and PAL are the two main standards used across the world. NTSC has a higher frame rate than pal (29fps compared to 25fps) but PAL has an increased resolution, and gives off a generally sharper picture. Playing NTSC discs on PAL systems seems a lot easier than vice-versa, which is good news for the Brits An RGB enabled scart lead will play an NTSC picture in full colour on most modern tv sets, but to record this to a VHS tape, you will need to convert it to PAL50 (not PAL60 as the majority of DVD players do.) This is either achieved by an expensive converter box (in the regions of £200+) an onboard converter (such as the Dansai 852 / certain Daewoos / Samsung 709 ) or using a World Standards VCR which can record in any format.

News Sites -
There are generally 2 news sites for film release for p2p and they are:

nforce - VCD Help
Code:
http://www.vcdhelp.com/

Code:
http://www.nforce.nl.

About Release Files

RARset -
The movies are all supplied in RAR form, whether its v2 (rar>.rxx) or v3 (part01.rar > partxx.rar) form.

BIN/CUE -
VCD and SVCD films will extract to give a BIN/CUE. Load the .CUE into notepad and make sure the first line contains only a filename, and no path information. Then load the cue into Nero/CDRWin etc and this will burn the VCD/SVCD correctly. TV rips are released as MPEG. DivX files are just the plain DivX - .AVI

NFO -
An NFO file is supplied with each movie to promote the group, and give general iNFOrmation about the release, such as format, source, size, and any notes that may be of use. They are also used to recruit members and acquire hardware for the group.

SFV -
Also supplied for each disc is an SFV file. These are mainly used on site level to check each file has been uploaded correctly, but are also handy for people downloading to check they have all the files, and the CRC is correct. A program such as pdSFV or hkSFV is required to use these files.

Usenet Information

Access -
To get onto newsgroups, you will need a news server. Most ISPs supply one, but this is usually of poor retention (the amount of time the files are on server for) and poor completition (the amount of files that make it there). For the best service, a premium news server should be paid for, and these will often have bandwidth restrictions in place.

Software -
You will need a newsreader to access the files in the binary newsgroups. There are many different readers, and its usually down to personal opinion which is best. Xnews / Forte Agent / BNR 1 / BNR 2 are amongst the popular choices. Outlook has the ability to read newsgroups, but its recommended to not use that.

Format -
Usenet posts are often the same as those listed on VCDQUALiTY (i.e., untouched group releases) but you have to check the filenames and the description to make sure you get what you think you are getting. Generally releases should come down in .RAR sets. Posts will usually take more than one day to be uploaded, and can be spread out as far as a week.

PAR files -
As well as the .rxx files, you will also see files listed as .pxx/.par . These are PARITY files. Parity files are common in usenet posts, as a lot of times, there will be at least one or two damaged files on some servers. A parity file can be used to replace ANY ONE file that is missing from the rar set. The more PAR files you have, the more files you can replace. You will need a program called SMARTPAR for this.

Scene Tags

PROPER -
Due to scene rules, whoever releases the first Telesync has won that race (for example). But if the quality of that release is fairly poor, if another group has another telesync (or the same source in higher quality) then the tag PROPER is added to the folder to avoid being duped. PROPER is the most subjective tag in the scene, and a lot of people will generally argue whether the PROPER is better than the original release. A lot of groups release PROPERS just out of desperation due to losing the race. A reason for the PROPER should always be included in the NFO.

SUBBED -
In the case of a VCD, if a release is subbed, it usually means it has hard encoded subtitles burnt throughout the movie. These are generally in malaysian/chinese/thai etc, and sometimes there are two different languages, which can take up quite a large amount of the screen. SVCD supports switch able subtitles, so some DVDRips are released with switch able subs. This will be mentioned in the NFO file if included.

UNSUBBED -
When a film has had a subbed release in the past, an Unsubbed release may be released

LIMITED -
A limited movie means it has had a limited theater run, generally opening in less than 250 theaters, generally smaller films (such as art house films) are released as limited.

INTERNAL -
An internal release is done for several reasons. Classic DVD groups do a lot of .INTERNAL. releases, as they wont be dupe'd on it. Also lower quality theater rips are done INTERNAL so not to lower the reputation of the group, or due to the amount of rips done already. An INTERNAL release is available as normal on the groups affiliate sites, but they can't be traded to other sites without request from the site ops. Some INTERNAL releases still trickle down to IRC/Newsgroups, it usually depends on the title and the popularity. Earlier in the year people referred to Centropy going "internal". This meant the group were only releasing the movies to their members and site ops. This is in a different context to the usual definition.

STV -
Straight To Video. Was never released in theaters, and therefore a lot of sites do not allow these.

OTHER TAGS -

*WS* for widescreen (letterbox)
*FS* for Fullscreen.

RECODE -
A recode is a previously released version, usually filtered through TMPGenc to remove subtitles, fix color etc. Whilst they can look better, its not looked upon highly as groups are expected to obtain their own sources.

REPACK -
If a group releases a bad rip, they will release a Repack which will fix the problems.

NUKED -
A film can be nuked for various reasons. Individual sites will nuke for breaking their rules (such as "No Telesyncs") but if the film has something extremely wrong with it (no soundtrack for 20mins, CD2 is incorrect film/game etc) then a global nuke will occur, and people trading it across sites will lose their credits. Nuked films can still reach other sources such as p2p/usenet, but its a good idea to check why it was nuked first in case. If a group realise there is something wrong, they can request a nuke.

NUKE REASONS :: this is a list of common reasons a film can be nuked for (generally DVDRip)

** BAD A/R ** :: bad aspect ratio, ie people appear too fat/thin
** BAD IVTC ** :: bad inverse telecine. process of converting framerates was incorrect.
** INTERLACED ** :: black lines on movement as the field order is incorrect.

DUPE -
Dupe is quite simply, if something exists already, then theres no reason for it to exist again without proper reason.

All about ftp must read

2010-07-02T07:24:00.000-07:00

Well, since many of us have always wondered this, here it is. Long and drawn out. Also, before attempting this, realize one thing; You will have to give up your time, effort, bandwidth, and security to have a quality ftp server.
That being said, here it goes. First of all, find out if your IP (Internet Protocol) is static (not changing) or dynamic (changes everytime you log on). To do this, first consider the fact if you have a dial up modem. If you do, chances are about 999 999 out of 1 000 000 that your IP is dynamic. To make it static, just go to a place like http://www.myftp.org/ to register for a static ip address.

You'll then need to get your IP. This can be done by doing this:
Going to Start -> Run -> winipcfg or www.ask.com and asking 'What is my IP?'

After doing so, you'll need to download an FTP server client. Personally, I'd recommend G6 FTP Server, Serv-U FTPor Bullitproof v2.15 all three of which are extremely reliable, and the norm of the ftp world.
You can download them on this site: http://www.liaokai.com/softw_en/d_index.htm

First, you'll have to set up your ftp. For this guide, I will use step-by-step instructions for G6. First, you'll have to go into 'Setup -> General'. From here, type in your port # (default is 21). I recommend something unique, or something a bit larger (ex: 3069). If you want to, check the number of max users (this sets the amount of simultaneous maximum users on your server at once performing actions - The more on at once, the slower the connection and vice versa).

The below options are then chooseable:
-Launch with windows
-Activate FTP Server on Start-up
-Put into tray on startup
-Allow multiple instances
-Show "Loading..." status at startup
-Scan drive(s) at startup
-Confirm exit

You can do what you want with these, as they are pretty self explanatory. The scan drive feature is nice, as is the 2nd and the last option. From here, click the 'options' text on the left column.

To protect your server, you should check 'login check' and 'password check', 'Show relative path (a must!)', and any other options you feel you'll need. After doing so, click the 'advanced' text in the left column. You should then leave the buffer size on the default (unless of course you know what you're doing ), and then allow the type of ftp you want.

Uploading and downloading is usually good, but it's up to you if you want to allow uploads and/or downloads. For the server priority, that will determine how much conventional memory will be used and how much 'effort' will go into making your server run smoothly.

Anti-hammering is also good, as it prevents people from slowing down your speed. From here, click 'Log Options' from the left column. If you would like to see and record every single command and clutter up your screen, leave the defaults.

But, if you would like to see what is going on with the lowest possible space taken, click 'Screen' in the top column. You should then check off 'Log successful logins', and all of the options in the client directry, except 'Log directory changes'. After doing so, click 'Ok' in the bottom left corner.

You will then have to go into 'Setup -> User Accounts' (or ctrl & u). From here, you should click on the right most column, and right click. Choose 'Add', and choose the username(s) you would like people to have access to.

After giving a name (ex: themoonlanding), you will have to give them a set password in the bottom column (ex: wasfaked). For the 'Home IP' directory, (if you registered with a static server, check 'All IP Homes'. If your IP is static by default, choose your IP from the list. You will then have to right click in the very center column, and choose 'Add'.

From here, you will have to set the directory you want the people to have access to. After choosing the directory, I suggest you choose the options 'Read', 'List', and 'Subdirs', unless of course you know what you're doing . After doing so, make an 'upload' folder in the directory, and choose to 'add' this folder seperately to the center column. Choose 'write', 'append', 'make', 'list', and 'subdirs'. This will allow them to upload only to specific folders (your upload folder).

Now click on 'Miscellaneous' from the left column. Choose 'enable account', your time-out (how long it takes for people to remain idle before you automatically kick them off), the maximum number of users for this name, the maximum number of connections allowed simultaneously for one ip address, show relative path (a must!), and any other things at the bottom you'd like to have. Now click 'Ok'.
**Requested**

From this main menu, click the little boxing glove icon in the top corner, and right click and unchoose the hit-o-meter for both uploads and downloads (with this you can monitor IP activity). Now click the lightning bolt, and your server is now up and running.

Post your ftp info, like this:

213.10.93.141 (or something else, such as: 'f*p://example.getmyip.com')

User: *** (The username of the client)

Pass: *** (The password)

Port: *** (The port number you chose)

So make a FTP and join the FTP section

Listing The Contents Of A Ftp:

Listing the content of a FTP is very simple.
You will need FTP Content Maker, which can be downloaded from here:
http://www.etplanet.com/download/application/FTP%20Content%20Maker%201.02.zip

1. Put in the IP of the server. Do not put "ftp://" or a "/" because it will not work if you do so.
2. Put in the port. If the port is the default number, 21, you do not have to enter it.
3. Put in the username and password in the appropriate fields. If the login is anonymous, you do not have to enter it.
4. If you want to list a specific directory of the FTP, place it in the directory field. Otherwise, do not enter anything in the directory field.
5. Click "Take the List!"
6. After the list has been taken, click the UBB output tab, and copy and paste to wherever you want it.

If FTP Content Maker is not working, it is probably because the server does not utilize Serv-U Software.

If you get this error message:
StatusCode = 550
LastResponse was : 'Unable to open local file test-ftp'
Error = 550 (Unable to open local file test-ftp)
Error = Unable to open local file test-ftp = 550
Close and restart FTP Content Maker, then try again.

error messages:

110 Restart marker reply. In this case, the text is exact and not left to the particular implementation; it must read: MARK yyyy = mmmm Where yyyy is User-process data stream marker, and mmmm server's equivalent marker (note the spaces between markers and "=").
120 Service ready in nnn minutes.
125 Data connection already open; transfer starting.
150 File status okay; about to open data connection.
200 Command okay.
202 Command not implemented, superfluous at this site.
211 System status, or system help reply.
212 Directory status.
213 File status.
214 Help message. On how to use the server or the meaning of a particular non-standard command. This reply is useful only to the human user.
215 NAME system type. Where NAME is an official system name from the list in the Assigned Numbers document.
220 Service ready for new user.
221 Service closing control connection. Logged out if appropriate.
225 Data connection open; no transfer in progress.
226 Closing data connection. Requested file action successful (for example, file transfer or file abort).
227 Entering Passive Mode (h1,h2,h3,h4,p1,p2).
230 User logged in, proceed.
250 Requested file action okay, completed.
257 "PATHNAME" created.
331 User name okay, need password.
332 Need account for login.
350 Requested file action pending further information.
421 Too many users logged to the same account
425 Can't open data connection.
426 Connection closed; transfer aborted.
450 Requested file action not taken. File unavailable (e.g., file busy).
451 Requested action aborted: local error in processing.
452 Requested action not taken. Insufficient storage space in system.
500 Syntax error, command unrecognized. This may include errors such as command line too long.
501 Syntax error in parameters or arguments.
502 Command not implemented.
503 Bad sequence of commands.
504 Command not implemented for that parameter.
530 Not logged in.
532 Need account for storing files.
550 Requested action not taken. File unavailable (e.g., file not found, no access).
551 Requested action aborted: page type unknown.
552 Requested file action aborted. Exceeded storage allocation (for current directory or dataset).
553 Requested action not taken. File name not allowed.

Active FTP vs. Passive FTP, a Definitive Explanation

Introduction
One of the most commonly seen questions when dealing with firewalls and other Internet connectivity issues is the difference between active and passive FTP and how best to support either or both of them. Hopefully the following text will help to clear up some of the confusion over how to support FTP in a firewalled environment.

This may not be the definitive explanation, as the title claims, however, I've heard enough good feedback and seen this document linked in enough places to know that quite a few people have found it to be useful. I am always looking for ways to improve things though, and if you find something that is not quite clear or needs more explanation, please let me know! Recent additions to this document include the examples of both active and passive command line FTP sessions. These session examples should help make things a bit clearer. They also provide a nice picture into what goes on behind the scenes during an FTP session. Now, on to the information...

The Basics
FTP is a TCP based service exclusively. There is no UDP component to FTP. FTP is an unusual service in that it utilizes two ports, a 'data' port and a 'command' port (also known as the control port). Traditionally these are port 21 for the command port and port 20 for the data port. The confusion begins however, when we find that depending on the mode, the data port is not always on port 20.

Active FTP
In active mode FTP the client connects from a random unprivileged port (N > 1024) to the FTP server's command port, port 21. Then, the client starts listening to port N+1 and sends the FTP command PORT N+1 to the FTP server. The server will then connect back to the client's specified data port from its local data port, which is port 20.

From the server-side firewall's standpoint, to support active mode FTP the following communication channels need to be opened:

FTP server's port 21 from anywhere (Client initiates connection)
FTP server's port 21 to ports > 1024 (Server responds to client's control port)
FTP server's port 20 to ports > 1024 (Server initiates data connection to client's data port)
FTP server's port 20 from ports > 1024 (Client sends ACKs to server's data port)

In step 1, the client's command port contacts the server's command port and sends the command PORT 1027. The server then sends an ACK back to the client's command port in step 2. In step 3 the server initiates a connection on its local data port to the data port the client specified earlier. Finally, the client sends an ACK back as shown in step 4.

The main problem with active mode FTP actually falls on the client side. The FTP client doesn't make the actual connection to the data port of the server--it simply tells the server what port it is listening on and the server connects back to the specified port on the client. From the client side firewall this appears to be an outside system initiating a connection to an internal client--something that is usually blocked.

Active FTP Example
Below is an actual example of an active FTP session. The only things that have been changed are the server names, IP addresses, and user names. In this example an FTP session is initiated from testbox1.slacksite.com (192.168.150.80), a linux box running the standard FTP command line client, to testbox2.slacksite.com (192.168.150.90), a linux box running ProFTPd 1.2.2RC2. The debugging (-d) flag is used with the FTP client to show what is going on behind the scenes. Everything in red is the debugging output which shows the actual FTP commands being sent to the server and the responses generated from those commands. Normal server output is shown in black, and user input is in bold.

There are a few interesting things to consider about this dialog. Notice that when the PORT command is issued, it specifies a port on the client (192.168.150.80) system, rather than the server. We will see the opposite behavior when we use passive FTP. While we are on the subject, a quick note about the format of the PORT command. As you can see in the example below it is formatted as a series of six numbers separated by commas. The first four octets are the IP address while the second two octets comprise the port that will be used for the data connection. To find the actual port multiply the fifth octet by 256 and then add the sixth octet to the total. Thus in the example below the port number is ( (14*256) + 178), or 3762. A quick check with netstat should confirm this information.

testbox1: {/home/p-t/slacker/public_html} % ftp -d testbox2
Connected to testbox2.slacksite.com.
220 testbox2.slacksite.com FTP server ready.
Name (testbox2:slacker): slacker
---> USER slacker
331 Password required for slacker.
Password: TmpPass
---> PASS XXXX
230 User slacker logged in.
---> SYST
215 UNIX Type: L8
Remote system type is UNIX.
Using binary mode to transfer files.
ftp> ls
ftp: setsockopt (ignored): Permission denied
---> PORT 192,168,150,80,14,178
200 PORT command successful.
---> LIST
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for file list.
drwx------ 3 slacker users 104 Jul 27 01:45 public_html
226 Transfer complete.
ftp> quit
---> QUIT
221 Goodbye.

Passive FTP
In order to resolve the issue of the server initiating the connection to the client a different method for FTP connections was developed. This was known as passive mode, or PASV, after the command used by the client to tell the server it is in passive mode.

In passive mode FTP the client initiates both connections to the server, solving the problem of firewalls filtering the incoming data port connection to the client from the server. When opening an FTP connection, the client opens two random unprivileged ports locally (N > 1024 and N+1). The first port contacts the server on port 21, but instead of then issuing a PORT command and allowing the server to connect back to its data port, the client will issue the PASV command. The result of this is that the server then opens a random unprivileged port (P > 1024) and sends the PORT P command back to the client. The client then initiates the connection from port N+1 to port P on the server to transfer data.

From the server-side firewall's standpoint, to support passive mode FTP the following communication channels need to be opened:

FTP server's port 21 from anywhere (Client initiates connection)
FTP server's port 21 to ports > 1024 (Server responds to client's control port)
FTP server's ports > 1024 from anywhere (Client initiates data connection to random port specified by server)
FTP server's ports > 1024 to remote ports > 1024 (Server sends ACKs (and data) to client's data port)

In step 1, the client contacts the server on the command port and issues the PASV command. The server then replies in step 2 with PORT 2024, telling the client which port it is listening to for the data connection. In step 3 the client then initiates the data connection from its data port to the specified server data port. Finally, the server sends back an ACK in step 4 to the client's data port.

While passive mode FTP solves many of the problems from the client side, it opens up a whole range of problems on the server side. The biggest issue is the need to allow any remote connection to high numbered ports on the server. Fortunately, many FTP daemons, including the popular WU-FTPD allow the administrator to specify a range of ports which the FTP server will use. See Appendix 1 for more information.

The second issue involves supporting and troubleshooting clients which do (or do not) support passive mode. As an example, the command line FTP utility provided with Solaris does not support passive mode, necessitating a third-party FTP client, such as ncftp.

With the massive popularity of the World Wide Web, many people prefer to use their web browser as an FTP client. Most browsers only support passive mode when accessing ftp:// URLs. This can either be good or bad depending on what the servers and firewalls are configured to support.

Passive FTP Example
Below is an actual example of a passive FTP session. The only things that have been changed are the server names, IP addresses, and user names. In this example an FTP session is initiated from testbox1.slacksite.com (192.168.150.80), a linux box running the standard FTP command line client, to testbox2.slacksite.com (192.168.150.90), a linux box running ProFTPd 1.2.2RC2. The debugging (-d) flag is used with the FTP client to show what is going on behind the scenes. Everything in red is the debugging output which shows the actual FTP commands being sent to the server and the responses generated from those commands. Normal server output is shown in black, and user input is in bold.

Notice the difference in the PORT command in this example as opposed to the active FTP example. Here, we see a port being opened on the server (192.168.150.90) system, rather than the client. See the discussion about the format of the PORT command above, in the Active FTP Example section.

testbox1: {/home/p-t/slacker/public_html} % ftp -d testbox2
Connected to testbox2.slacksite.com.
220 testbox2.slacksite.com FTP server ready.
Name (testbox2:slacker): slacker
---> USER slacker
331 Password required for slacker.
Password: TmpPass
---> PASS XXXX
230 User slacker logged in.
---> SYST
215 UNIX Type: L8
Remote system type is UNIX.
Using binary mode to transfer files.
ftp> passive
Passive mode on.
ftp> ls
ftp: setsockopt (ignored): Permission denied
---> PASV
227 Entering Passive Mode (192,168,150,90,195,149).
---> LIST
150 Opening ASCII mode data connection for file list
drwx------ 3 slacker users 104 Jul 27 01:45 public_html
226 Transfer complete.
ftp> quit
---> QUIT
221 Goodbye.

Summary
The following chart should help admins remember how each FTP mode works:

Active FTP :
command : client >1024 -> server 21
data : client >1024 <- server 20 Passive FTP : command : client >1024 -> server 21
data : client >1024 -> server >1024

A quick summary of the pros and cons of active vs. passive FTP is also in order:

Active FTP is beneficial to the FTP server admin, but detrimental to the client side admin. The FTP server attempts to make connections to random high ports on the client, which would almost certainly be blocked by a firewall on the client side. Passive FTP is beneficial to the client, but detrimental to the FTP server admin. The client will make both connections to the server, but one of them will be to a random high port, which would almost certainly be blocked by a firewall on the server side.

Luckily, there is somewhat of a compromise. Since admins running FTP servers will need to make their servers accessible to the greatest number of clients, they will almost certainly need to support passive FTP. The exposure of high level ports on the server can be minimized by specifying a limited port range for the FTP server to use. Thus, everything except for this range of ports can be firewalled on the server side. While this doesn't eliminate all risk to the server, it decreases it tremendously.

Advanced Shellcoding Techniques

2010-06-26T22:28:00.000-07:00

This paper assumes a working knowledge of basic shellcoding techniques, and x86 assembly, I will not rehash these in this paper. I hope to teach you some of the lesser known shellcoding techniques that I have picked up, which will allow you to write smaller and better shellcodes. I do not claim to have invented any of these techniques, except for the one that uses the div instruction.

The multiplicity of mul

This technique was originally developed by Sorbo of darkircop.net. The mul instruction may, on the surface, seem mundane, and it's purpose obvious. However, when faced with the difficult challenge of shrinking your shellcode, it proves to be quite useful. First some background information on the mul instruction itself.

mul performs an unsigned multiply of two integers. It takes only one operand, the other is implicitly specified by the %eax register. So, a common mul instruction might look something like this:

movl $0x0a,%eax
mul $0x0a

This would multiply the value stored in %eax by the operand of mul, which in this case would be 10*10. The result is then implicitly stored in EDX:EAX. The result is stored over a span of two registers because it has the potential to be considerably larger than the previous value, possibly exceeding the capacity of a single register(this is also how floating points are stored in some cases, as an interesting sidenote)So, now comes the ever-important question. How can we use these attributes to our advantage when writing shellcode? Well, let's think for a second, the instruction takes only one operand, therefore, since it is a very common instruction, it will generate only two bytes in our final shellcode. It multiplies whatever is passed to it by the value stored in %eax, and stores the value in both %edx and %eax, completely overwriting the contents of both registers, regardless of whether it is necessary to do so, in order to store the result of the multiplication. Let's put on our mathematician hats for a second, and consider this, what is the only possible result of a multiplication by 0? The answer, as you may have guessed, is 0. I think it's about time for some example code, so here it is:

xorl %ecx,%ecx
mul %ecx

What is this shellcode doing? Well, it 0's out the %ecx register using the xor instruction, so we now know that %ecx is 0. Then it does a mul %ecx, which as we just learned, multiplies it's operand by the value in %eax, and then proceeds to store the result of this multiplication in EDX:EAX. So, regardless of %eax's previous contents, %eax must now be 0. However that's not all, %edx is 0'd now too, because, even though no overflow occurs, it still overwrites the %edx register with the sign bit(left-most bit) of %eax. Using this technique we can zero out three registers in only three bytes, whereas by any other method(that I know of) it would have taken at least six.

The div instruction

Div is very similar to mul, in that it takes only one operand and implicitly divides the operand by the value in %eax. Also like, mul it stores the result of the divide in %eax. Again, we will require the mathematical side of our brains to figure out how we can take advantage of this instruction. But first, let's think about what is normally stored in the %eax register. The %eax register holds the return value of functions and/or syscalls. Most syscalls that are used in shellcoding will return -1(on failure) or a positive value of some kind, only rarely will they return 0(though it does occur). So, if we know that after a syscall is performed, %eax will have a non-zero value, and that the instruction divl %eax will divide %eax by itself, and then store the result in %eax, we can say that executing the divl %eax instruction after a syscall will put the value 1 into %eax. So...how is this applicable to shellcoding? Well, their is another important thing that %eax is used for, and that is to pass the specific syscall that you would like to call to int $0x80. It just so happens that the syscall that corresponds to the value 1 is exit(). Now for an example:

xorl %ebx,%ebx
mul %ebx
push %edx
pushl $0x3268732f
pushl $0x6e69622f
mov %esp, %ebx
push %edx
push %ebx
mov %esp,%ecx
movb $0xb, %al #execve() syscall, doesn't return at all unless it fails, in which case it returns -1
int $0x80

divl %eax # -1 / -1 = 1
int $0x80

Now, we have a 3 byte exit function, where as before it was 5 bytes. However, there is a catch, what if a syscall does return 0? Well in the odd situation in which that could happen, you could do many different things, like inc %eax, dec %eax, not %eax anything that will make %eax non-zero. Some people say that exit's are not important in shellcode, because your code gets executed regardless of whether or not it exits cleanly. They are right too, if you really need to save 3 bytes to fit your shellcode in somewhere, the exit() isn't worth keeping. However, when your code does finish, it will try to execute whatever was after your last instruction, which will most likely produce a SIG ILL(illegal instruction) which is a rather odd error, and will be logged by the system. So, an exit() simply adds an extra layer of stealth to your exploit, so that even if it fails or you can't wipe all the logs, at least this part of your presence will be clear.

Unlocking the power of leal

The leal instruction is an often neglected instruction in shellcode, even though it is quite useful. Consider this short piece of shellcode.

xorl %ecx,%ecx
leal 0x10(%ecx),%eax

This will load the value 17 into eax, and clear all of the extraneous bits of eax. This occurs because the leal instruction loads a variable of the type long into it's desitination operand. In it's normal usage, this would load the address of a variable into a register, thus creating a pointer of sorts. However, since ecx is 0'd and 0+17=17, we load the value 17 into eax instead of any kind of actual address. In a normal shellcode we would do something like this, to accomplish the same thing:

xorl %eax,%eax
movb $0x10,%eax

I can hear you saying, but that shellcode is a byte shorter than the leal one, and you're quite right. However, in a real shellcode you may already have to 0 out a register like ecx(or any other register), so the xorl instruction in the leal shellcode isn't counted. Here's an example:

xorl %eax,%eax
xorl %ebx,%ebx
movb $0x17,%al
int $0x80

xorl %ebx,%ebx
leal 0x17(%ebx),%al
int $0x80

Both of these shellcodes call setuid(0), but one does it in 7 bytes while the other does it in 8. Again, I hear you saying but that's only one byte it doesn't make that much of a difference, and you're right, here it doesn't make much of a difference(except for in shellcode-size pissing contests =p), but when applied to much larger shellcodes, which have many function calls and need to do things like this frequently, it can save quite a bit of space.

Conclusion

I hope you all learned something, and will go out and apply your knowledge to create smaller and better shellcodes.

Accessing The Entire Internet On Your 3G Phone, U8110, E616 etc.

2010-06-25T22:36:00.000-07:00

If you have a phone thats with the provider 3G theres a simple trick to allow you to access the entire internet on its browser without having to go through 3 services and only what they want to allow you access to view.

Simply do the following.Menu - 9 (for settings) - 5 (for access points) - Edit the 3 Services
Change the APN (down the bottom) from 3services to 3netaccess
Restart the phone
And you can now access the entire internet through your phones browser.

Remember you'll have to change it back if you want to access 3 services.
Changing it in the browser doesn't seem to work.

I have tried this on my U8110 and it worked perfectly

Things to note:

* Remember that you are charged for all downloads (.4c per kb on most plans) so if your cautious about your phone bill id advise staying away from sites with loads of pictures.
* Also, some people have had trouble where they have accessed a site with too much information on it and the phone has either froze or reset. The phone is not harmed by this but its advisable you dont go to large sites on it for this or the above reason. If your phone freezes and you cant turn it off simply take the battery out and put it back in.

The Letter “Z” Will Be Removed from the English Alphabet

2010-05-11T08:21:00.000-07:00

Surprising as it sounds, it looks like the English alphabet will be losing one of its letters on June 1st. The announcement came from the English Language Central Commission (ELCC).
Here is a quote from the press release:
After carefully considering and debating the matter for over two years, the ELCC came to the conclusion that the letter “Z” should be removed from the English alphabet. The main objective of this change is to simplify the phonetic aspect of the language, and to unify the American and British spellings.
What will happen to the words that have the letter “z” in them? It depends on the word. According to the ELCC, words that started with a “z” will now start with an “x”. Examples include:
• zero becomes xero
• zoo becomes xoo
• zone becomes xone
• zodiac becomes xodiac
Words that featured a “z” with the “s” sound, on the other hand, will now be officially written with the “s” (i.e., unifying the American and British spelling). Examples include:
• visualize becomes visualise
• analyze becomes analyse
• materialize becomes materialise
What do you think about this change? Will it really simplify the English language, or will it make things more confusing?
Source: http://www.dailywritingtips.com/the-letter-z-will-be-removed-from-the-english-alphabet/

A Web Standards Checklist, How to make a proper website ?

2010-04-28T09:06:00.000-07:00

A web standards checklist

The term web standards can mean different things to different people. For some, it is 'table-free sites', for others it is 'using valid code'. However, web standards are much broader than that. A site built to web standards should adhere to standards (HTML, XHTML, XML, CSS, XSLT, DOM, MathML, SVG etc) and pursue best practices (valid code, accessible code, semantically correct code, user-friendly URLs etc).

In other words, a site built to web standards should ideally be lean, clean, CSS-based, accessible, usable and search engine friendly.

About the checklist

This is not an uber-checklist. There are probably many items that could be added. More importantly, it should not be seen as a list of items that must be addressed on every site that you develop. It is simply a guide that can be used:
* to show the breadth of web standards
* as a handy tool for developers during the production phase of websites
* as an aid for developers who are interested in moving towards web standards

The checklist

1.Quality of code

1. Does the site use a correct Doctype?
2. Does the site use a Character set?
3. Does the site use Valid (X)HTML?
4. Does the site use Valid CSS?
5. Does the site use any CSS hacks?
6. Does the site use unnecessary classes or ids?
7. Is the code well structured?
8. Does the site have any broken links?
9. How does the site perform in terms of speed/page size?
10. Does the site have JavaScript errors?

2. Degree of separation between content and presentation

1. Does the site use CSS for all presentation aspects (fonts, colour, padding, borders etc)?
2. Are all decorative images in the CSS, or do they appear in the (X)HTML?

3. Accessibility for users

1. Are "alt" attributes used for all descriptive images?
2. Does the site use relative units rather than absolute units for text size?
3. Do any aspects of the layout break if font size is increased?
4. Does the site use visible skip menus?
5. Does the site use accessible forms?
6. Does the site use accessible tables?
7. Is there sufficient colour brightness/contrasts?
8. Is colour alone used for critical information?
9. Is there delayed responsiveness for dropdown menus (for users with reduced motor skills)?
10. Are all links descriptive (for blind users)?

4. Accessibility for devices

1. Does the site work acceptably across modern and older browsers?
2. Is the content accessible with CSS switched off or not supported?
3. Is the content accessible with images switched off or not supported?
4. Does the site work in text browsers such as Lynx?
5. Does the site work well when printed?
6. Does the site work well in Hand Held devices?
7. Does the site include detailed metadata?
8. Does the site work well in a range of browser window sizes?

5. Basic Usability

1. Is there a clear visual hierarchy?
2. Are heading levels easy to distinguish?
3. Does the site have easy to understand navigation?
4. Does the site use consistent navigation?
5. Are links underlined?
6. Does the site use consistent and appropriate language?
7. Do you have a sitemap page and contact page? Are they easy to find?
8. For large sites, is there a search tool?
9. Is there a link to the home page on every page in the site?
10. Are visited links clearly defined with a unique colour?

6. Site management

1. Does the site have a meaningful and helpful 404 error page that works from any depth in the site?
2. Does the site use friendly URLs?
3. Do your URLs work without "www"?
4. Does the site have a favicon?

1. Quality of code

1.1 Does the site use a correct Doctype?
A doctype (short for 'document type declaration') informs the validator which version of (X)HTML you're using, and must appear at the very top of every web page. Doctypes are a key component of compliant web pages: your markup and CSS won't validate without them.
CODE
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/doctype/

More:
CODE
http://www.w3.org/QA/2002/04/valid-dtd-list.html

CODE
http://css.maxdesign.com.au/listamatic/about-boxmodel.htm

CODE
http://gutfeldt.ch/matthias/articles/doctypeswitch.html

1.2 Does the site use a Character set?
If a user agent (eg. a browser) is unable to detect the character encoding used in a Web document, the user may be presented with unreadable text. This information is particularly important for those maintaining and extending a multilingual site, but declaring the character encoding of the document is important for anyone producing XHTML/HTML or CSS.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/International/tutorials/tutorial-char-enc/

More:
CODE
http://www.w3.org/International/O-charset.html

1.3 Does the site use Valid (X)HTML?
Valid code will render faster than code with errors. Valid code will render better than invalid code. Browsers are becoming more standards compliant, and it is becoming increasingly necessary to write valid and standards compliant HTML.
CODE
http://www.maxdesign.com.au/presentation/sit2003/06.htm

More:
CODE
http://validator.w3.org/

1.4 Does the site use Valid CSS?
You need to make sure that there aren't any errors in either your HTML or your CSS, since mistakes in either place can result in botched document appearance.
CODE
http://www.meyerweb.com/eric/articles/webrev/199904.html

More:
CODE
http://jigsaw.w3.org/css-validator/

1.5 Does the site use any CSS hacks?
Basically, hacks come down to personal choice, the amount of knowledge you have of workarounds, the specific design you are trying to achieve.
CODE
http://www.mail-archive.com/wsg@webstandardsgroup.org/msg05823.html

More:
CODE
http://css-discuss.incutio.com/?page=CssHack

CODE
http://css-discuss.incutio.com/?page=ToHackOrNotToHack

CODE
http://centricle.com/ref/css/filters/

1.6 Does the site use unnecessary classes or ids?
I've noticed that developers learning new skills often end up with good CSS but poor XHTML. Specifically, the HTML code tends to be full of unnecessary divs and ids. This results in fairly meaningless HTML and bloated style sheets.
CODE
http://www.clagnut.com/blog/228/

1.7 Is the code well structured?
Semantically correct markup uses html elements for their given purpose. Well structured HTML has semantic meaning for a wide range of user agents (browsers without style sheets, text browsers, PDAs, search engines etc.)
CODE
http://www.maxdesign.com.au/presentation/benefits/index04.htm

More:
CODE
http://www.w3.org/2003/12/semantic-extractor.html

1.8 Does the site have any broken links?
Broken links can frustrate users and potentially drive customers away. Broken links can also keep search engines from properly indexing your site.

More:
CODE
http://validator.w3.org/checklink

1.9 How does the site perform in terms of speed/page size?
Don't make me wait... That's the message users give us in survey after survey. Even broadband users can suffer the slow-loading blues.
CODE
http://www.websiteoptimization.com/speed/

1.10 Does the site have JavaScript errors?
Internet Explore for Windows allows you to turn on a debugger that will pop up a new window and let you know there are javascript errors on your site. This is available under 'Internet Options' on the Advanced tab. Uncheck 'Disable script debugging'.

2. Degree of separation between content and presentation

2.1 Does the site use CSS for all presentation aspects (fonts, colour, padding, borders etc)?
Use style sheets to control layout and presentation.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-style-sheets

2.2 Are all decorative images in the CSS, or do they appear in the (X)HTML?
The aim for web developers is to remove all presentation from the html code, leaving it clean and semantically correct.
CODE
http://www.maxdesign.com.au/presentation/benefits/index07.htm

3. Accessibility for users

3.1 Are "alt" attributes used for all descriptive images?
Provide a text equivalent for every non-text element
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-text-equivalent

3.2 Does the site use relative units rather than absolute units for text size?
Use relative rather than absolute units in markup language attribute values and style sheet property values'.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-relative-units

More:
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-relative-units

CODE
http://www.clagnut.com/blog/348/

3.3 Do any aspects of the layout break if font size is increased?
Try this simple test. Look at your website in a browser that supports easy incrementation of font size. Now increase your browser's font size. And again. And again... Look at your site. Does the page layout still hold together? It is dangerous for developers to assume that everyone browses using default font sizes.
3.4 Does the site use visible skip menus?

A method shall be provided that permits users to skip repetitive navigation links.
CODE
http://www.section508.gov/index.cfm?FuseAction=Content&ID=12

Group related links, identify the group (for user agents), and, until user agents do so, provide a way to bypass the group.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10-TECHS/#tech-group-links

...blind visitors are not the only ones inconvenienced by too many links in a navigation area. Recall that a mobility-impaired person with poor adaptive technology might be stuck tabbing through that morass.
CODE
http://joeclark.org/book/sashay/serialization/Chapter08.html#h4-2020

More:
CODE
http://www.niehs.nih.gov/websmith/508/o.htm

3.5 Does the site use accessible forms?
Forms aren't the easiest of things to use for people with disabilities. Navigating around a page with written content is one thing, hopping between form fields and inputting information is another.
CODE
http://www.htmldog.com/guides/htmladvanced/forms/

More:
CODE
http://www.webstandards.org/learn/tutorials/accessible-forms/01-accessible-forms.html

CODE
http://www.accessify.com/tools-and-wizards/accessible-form-builder.asp

CODE
http://accessify.com/tutorials/better-accessible-forms.asp

3.6 Does the site use accessible tables?
For data tables, identify row and column headers... For data tables that have two or more logical levels of row or column headers, use markup to associate data cells and header cells.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-table-headers

More:
CODE
http://www.bcc.ctc.edu/webpublishing/ada/resources/tables.asp

CODE
http://www.accessify.com/tools-and-wizards/accessible-table-builder_step1.asp

CODE
http://www.webaim.org/techniques/tables/

3.7 Is there sufficient colour brightness/contrasts?
Ensure that foreground and background colour combinations provide sufficient contrast when viewed by someone having colour deficits.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-colour-contrast

More:
CODE
http://www.juicystudio.com/services/colourcontrast.asp

3.8 Is colour alone used for critical information?
Ensure that all information conveyed with colour is also available without colour, for example from context or markup.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-colour-convey

There are basically three types of colour deficiency; Deuteranope (a form of red/green colour deficit), Protanope (another form of red/green colour deficit) and Tritanope (a blue/yellow deficit- very rare).

More:
CODE
http://colourfilter.wickline.org/

CODE
http://www.toledo-bend.com/colourblind/Ishihara.html

CODE
http://www.vischeck.com/vischeck/vischeckURL.php

3.9 Is there delayed responsiveness for dropdown menus?
Users with reduced motor skills may find dropdown menus hard to use if responsiveness is set too fast.

3.10 Are all links descriptive?
Link text should be meaningful enough to make sense when read out of context - either on its own or as part of a sequence of links. Link text should also be terse.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-meaningful-links

4. Accessibility for devices.

4.1 Does the site work acceptably across modern and older browsers?

Before starting to build a CSS-based layout, you should decide which browsers to support and to what level you intend to support them.
CODE
http://www.maxdesign.com.au/presentation/process/index_step01.cfm

4.2 Is the content accessible with CSS switched off or not supported?
Some people may visit your site with either a browser that does not support CSS or a browser with CSS switched off. In content is structured well, this will not be an issue.

4.3 Is the content accessible with images switched off or not supported?
Some people browse websites with images switched off - especially people on very slow connections. Content should still be accessible for these people.

4.4 Does the site work in text browsers such as Lynx?
This is like a combination of images and CSS switched off. A text-based browser will rely on well structured content to provide meaning.

More:
CODE
http://www.delorie.com/web/lynxview

4.5 Does the site work well when printed?
You can take any (X)HTML document and simply style it for print, without having to touch the markup.
CODE
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/goingtoprint/

More:
CODE
http://www.d.umn.edu/itss/support/Training/Online/webdesign/css.html#print

4.6 Does the site work well in Hand Held devices?
This is a hard one to deal with until hand held devices consistently support their correct media type. However, some layouts work better in current hand-held devices. The importance of supporting hand held devices will depend on target audiences.

4.7 Does the site include detailed metadata?
Metadata is machine understandable information for the web
CODE
http://www.w3.org/Metadata/

Metadata is structured information that is created specifically to describe another resource. In other words, metadata is 'data about data'.

4.8 Does the site work well in a range of browser window sizes?
It is a common assumption amongst developers that average screen sizes are increasing. Some developers assume that the average screen size is now 1024px wide. But what about users with smaller screens and users with hand held devices? Are they part of your target audience and are they being disadvantaged?

5. Basic Usability

5.1 Is there a clear visual hierarchy?
Organise and prioritise the contents of a page by using size, prominence and content relationships.
CODE
http://www.great-web-design-tips.com/web-site-design/165.html

5.2 Are heading levels easy to distinguish?
Use header elements to convey document structure and use them according to specification.
CODE
http://www.w3.org/TR/WCAG10/wai-pageauth.html#tech-logical-headings

5.3 Is the site's navigation easy to understand?
Your navigation system should give your visitor a clue as to what page of the site they are currently on and where they can go next.
CODE
http://www.1stsitefree.com/design_nav.htm

5.4 Is the site's navigation consistent?
If each page on your site has a consistent style of presentation, visitors will find it easier to navigate between pages and find information
CODE
http://www.juicystudio.com/tutorial/accessibility/navigation.asp

5.5 Does the site use consistent and appropriate language?
The use of clear and simple language promotes effective communication. Trying to come across as articulate can be as difficult to read as poorly written grammar, especially if the language used isn't the visitor's primary language.
CODE
http://www.juicystudio.com/tutorial/accessibility/clear.asp

5.6 Does the site have a sitemap page and contact page? Are they easy to find?
Most site maps fail to convey multiple levels of the site's information architecture. In usability tests, users often overlook site maps or can't find them. Complexity is also a problem: a map should be a map, not a navigational challenge of its own.
CODE
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20020106.html

5.7 For large sites, is there a search tool?
While search tools are not needed on smaller sites, and some people will not ever use them, site-specific search tools allow users a choice of navigation options.

5.8 Is there a link to the home page on every page in the site?
Some users like to go back to a site's home page after navigating to content within a site. The home page becomes a base camp for these users, allowing them to regroup before exploring new content.

5.9 Are links underlined?
To maximise the perceived affordance of clickability, colour and underline the link text. Users shouldn't have to guess or scrub the page to find out where they can click.
CODE
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040510.html

5.10 Are visited links clearly defined?
Most important, knowing which pages they've already visited frees users from unintentionally revisiting the same pages over and over again.
CODE
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/20040503.html

6. Site management

6.1 Does the site have a meaningful and helpful 404 error page that works from any depth in the site?
You've requested a page - either by typing a URL directly into the address bar or clicking on an out-of-date link and you've found yourself in the middle of cyberspace nowhere. A user-friendly website will give you a helping hand while many others will simply do nothing, relying on the browser's built-in ability to explain what the problem is.
CODE
http://www.alistapart.com/articles/perfect404/

6.2 Does the site use friendly URLs?
Most search engines (with a few exceptions - namely Google) will not index any pages that have a question mark or other character (like an ampersand or equals sign) in the URL... what good is a site if no one can find it?
CODE
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/search-engine-friendly-urls

One of the worst elements of the web from a user interface standpoint is the URL. However, if they're short, logical, and self-correcting, URLs can be acceptably usable
CODE
http://www.merges.net/theory/20010305.html

More:
CODE
http://www.sitepoint.com/article/search-engine-friendly-urls

CODE
http://www.websitegoodies.com/article/32

CODE
http://www.merges.net/theory/20010305.html

6.3 Does the site's URL work without "www"?
While this is not critical, and in some cases is not even possible, it is always good to give people the choice of both options. If a user types your domain name without the www and gets no site, this could disadvantage both the user and you.
6.4 Does the site have a favicon?

A Favicon is a multi-resolution image included on nearly all professionally developed sites. The Favicon allows the webmaster to further promote their site, and to create a more customized appearance within a visitor's browser.
CODE
http://www.favicon.com/

Favicons are definitely not critical. However, if they are not present, they can cause 404 errors in your logs (site statistics). Browsers like IE will request them from the server when a site is bookmarked. If a favicon isn't available, a 404 error may be generated. Therefore, having a favicon could cut down on favicon specific 404 errors. The same is true of a 'robots.txt' file.

B-Membrane: The Computer of Tomorrow

2010-01-27T06:51:00.000-08:00

The B-Membrane looks nothing like a conventional computer, more like a spaceship or space station, but it is indeed a PC, able to project an image of your desktop on any surface you can point its omni-directional projector at, thus rendering even the slimmest LCD monitor useless. It also has a membrane keyboard and mouse that appear only when you need them too, and an optical drive
The B-membrane isn’t useless even when it is shut-down, its smart projector turns it into an ambient light-effects system to spice up the look of your crib. Conceived by Korean designer Won-Seok-Lee, the “B-membrane” is one of the most interesting PC prototypes I’ve ever seen.

World's First Microprocessor (1971): Intel 4004

2010-01-26T06:39:00.000-08:00

In November, 1971, a company called Intel publicly introduced the world's first single chip microprocessor, the Intel 4004 (U.S. Patent #3,821,715), invented by Intel engineers Federico Faggin, Ted Hoff, and Stan Mazor. After the invention of integrated circuits revolutionized computer design, the only place to go was down -- in size that is. The Intel 4004 chip took the integrated circuit down one step further by placing all the parts that made a computer think (i.e. central processing unit, memory, input and output controls) on one small chip. Programming intelligence into inanimate objects had now become possible.

Critical Fix Patch For Internet Explorer All Versions – KB978207

2010-01-25T06:33:00.000-08:00

Microsoft has recently released a critical patch KB978207 which fixes a major venerability in all the versions of Internet Explorer from 5 to 8. As the exploit has been there in all the browsers you should install this patch to fix it.

If you have the setting enabled that windows will automatically download an install updates, then you it will get installed through windows update and for those who do not have this settings turned on better download this patch and install it to fix the bug in your internet explorer.

This security update resolves seven privately reported vulnerabilities and one publicly disclosed vulnerability in Internet Explorer. The more severe vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user views a specially crafted Web page using Internet Explorer.

Note: This security update is rated Critical for all supported releases of Internet Explorer: Internet Explorer 5.01, Internet Explorer 6, Internet Explorer 6 Service Pack 1, Internet Explorer 7, and Internet Explorer 8 (except Internet Explorer 6 for supported editions of Windows For Internet Explorer 6 for supported editions of Windows Server 2003 as listed, this update is rated Moderate.

Patch download site –

http://www.microsoft.com/technet/security/bulletin/ms10-002.mspx

Please chose your Browser version and download / install the patch

A very small tut for RealMedia

2009-12-08T05:08:00.000-08:00

You may find this helpful if you donwload hundreds of short episodes in rm format like me and tired of double-click to open next files.

Very easy. Use notepad to open a new file, type this inside:
file://link to file1
file://link to file2
(type as many as you want)
Close file. Rename it to FileName.rm

Then you`re done!!!!

Ex:
I put my playlist file here: C:\Movies\7VNR
And the movie files are in C:\Movies\7VNR\DragonBall

Then inside my playlist file I`ll have something like this:

file://DragonBall/db134.rm
file://DragonBall/db135.rm
file://DragonBall/db136.rm
file://DragonBall/db137.rm
file://DragonBall/db138.rm

A Basic Guide to the Internet

2009-12-02T06:09:00.000-08:00

The Internet is a computer network made up of thousands of networks worldwide. No one knows exactly how many computers are connected to the Internet. It is certain, however, that these number in the millions.

No one is in charge of the Internet. There are organizations which develop technical aspects of this network and set standards for creating applications on it, but no governing body is in control. The Internet backbone, through which Internet traffic flows, is owned by private companies.

All computers on the Internet communicate with one another using the Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol suite, abbreviated to TCP/IP. Computers on the Internet use a client/server architecture. This means that the remote server machine provides files and services to the user's local client machine. Software can be installed on a client computer to take advantage of the latest access technology.

An Internet user has access to a wide variety of services: electronic mail, file transfer, vast information resources, interest group membership, interactive collaboration, multimedia displays, real-time broadcasting, shopping opportunities, breaking news, and much more.

The Internet consists primarily of a variety of access protocols. Many of these protocols feature programs that allow users to search for and retrieve material made available by the protocol.

COMPONENTS OF THE INTERNET

WORLD WIDE WEB

The World Wide Web (abbreviated as the Web or WWW) is a system of Internet servers that supports hypertext to access several Internet protocols on a single interface. Almost every protocol type available on the Internet is accessible on the Web. This includes e-mail, FTP, Telnet, and Usenet News. In addition to these, the World Wide Web has its own protocol: HyperText Transfer Protocol, or HTTP. These protocols will be explained later in this document.

The World Wide Web provides a single interface for accessing all these protocols. This creates a convenient and user-friendly environment. It is no longer necessary to be conversant in these protocols within separate, command-level environments. The Web gathers together these protocols into a single system. Because of this feature, and because of the Web's ability to work with multimedia and advanced programming languages, the Web is the fastest-growing component of the Internet.

The operation of the Web relies primarily on hypertext as its means of information retrieval. HyperText is a document containing words that connect to other documents. These words are called links and are selectable by the user. A single hypertext document can contain links to many documents. In the context of the Web, words or graphics may serve as links to other documents, images, video, and sound. Links may or may not follow a logical path, as each connection is programmed by the creator of the source document. Overall, the Web contains a complex virtual web of connections among a vast number of documents, graphics, videos, and sounds.

Producing hypertext for the Web is accomplished by creating documents with a language called HyperText Markup Language, or HTML. With HTML, tags are placed within the text to accomplish document formatting, visual features such as font size, italics and bold, and the creation of hypertext links. Graphics and multimedia may also be incorporated into an HTML document. HTML is an evolving language, with new tags being added as each upgrade of the language is developed and released. The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), led by Web founder Tim Berners-Lee, coordinates the efforts of standardizing HTML. The W3C now calls the language XHTML and considers it to be an application of the XML language standard.

The World Wide Web consists of files, called pages or home pages, containing links to documents and resources throughout the Internet.

The Web provides a vast array of experiences including multimedia presentations, real-time collaboration, interactive pages, radio and television broadcasts, and the automatic "push" of information to a client computer. Programming languages such as Java, JavaScript, Visual Basic, Cold Fusion and XML are extending the capabilities of the Web. A growing amount of information on the Web is served dynamically from content stored in databases. The Web is therefore not a fixed entity, but one that is in a constant state of development and flux.

For more complete information about the World Wide Web, see Understanding The World Wide Web.

E-MAIL

Electronic mail, or e-mail, allows computer users locally and worldwide to exchange messages. Each user of e-mail has a mailbox address to which messages are sent. Messages sent through e-mail can arrive within a matter of seconds.

A powerful aspect of e-mail is the option to send electronic files to a person's e-mail address. Non-ASCII files, known as binary files, may be attached to e-mail messages. These files are referred to as MIME attachments.MIME stands for Multimedia Internet Mail Extension, and was developed to help e-mail software handle a variety of file types. For example, a document created in Microsoft Word can be attached to an e-mail message and retrieved by the recipient with the appropriate e-mail program. Many e-mail programs, including Eudora, Netscape Messenger, and Microsoft Outlook, offer the ability to read files written in HTML, which is itself a MIME type.

TELNET

Telnet is a program that allows you to log into computers on the Internet and use online databases, library catalogs, chat services, and more. There are no graphics in Telnet sessions, just text. To Telnet to a computer, you must know its address. This can consist of words (locis.loc.gov) or numbers (140.147.254.3). Some services require you to connect to a specific port on the remote computer. In this case, type the port number after the Internet address. Example: telnet nri.reston.va.us 185.

Telnet is available on the World Wide Web. Probably the most common Web-based resources available through Telnet have been library catalogs, though most catalogs have since migrated to the Web. A link to a Telnet resource may look like any other link, but it will launch a Telnet session to make the connection. A Telnet program must be installed on your local computer and configured to your Web browser in order to work.

With the increasing popularity of the Web, Telnet has become less frequently used as a means of access to information on the Internet.

FTP

FTP stands for File Transfer Protocol. This is both a program and the method used to transfer files between computers. Anonymous FTP is an option that allows users to transfer files from thousands of host computers on the Internet to their personal computer account. FTP sites contain books, articles, software, games, images, sounds, multimedia, course work, data sets, and more.

If your computer is directly connected to the Internet via an Ethernet cable, you can use one of several PC software programs, such as WS_FTP for Windows, to conduct a file transfer.

FTP transfers can be performed on the World Wide Web without the need for special software. In this case, the Web browser will suffice. Whenever you download software from a Web site to your local machine, you are using FTP. You can also retrieve FTP files via search engines such as FtpFind, located at /http://www.ftpfind.com/. This option is easiest because you do not need to know FTP program commands.

E-MAIL DISCUSSION GROUPS

One of the benefits of the Internet is the opportunity it offers to people worldwide to communicate via e-mail. The Internet is home to a large community of individuals who carry out active discussions organized around topic-oriented forums distributed by e-mail. These are administered by software programs. Probably the most common program is the listserv.

A great variety of topics are covered by listservs, many of them academic in nature. When you subscribe to a listserv, messages from other subscribers are automatically sent to your electronic mailbox. You subscribe to a listserv by sending an e-mail message to a computer program called a listserver. Listservers are located on computer networks throughout the world. This program handles subscription information and distributes messages to and from subscribers. You must have a e-mail account to participate in a listserv discussion group. Visit Tile.net at /http://tile.net/ to see an example of a site that offers a searchablecollection of e-mail discussion groups.

Majordomo and Listproc are two other programs that administer e-mail discussion groups. The commands for subscribing to and managing your list memberships are similar to those of listserv.

USENET NEWS

Usenet News is a global electronic bulletin board system in which millions of computer users exchange information on a vast range of topics. The major difference between Usenet News and e-mail discussion groups is the fact that Usenet messages are stored on central computers, and users must connect to these computers to read or download the messages posted to these groups. This is distinct from e-mail distribution, in which messages arrive in the electronic mailboxes of each list member.

Usenet itself is a set of machines that exchanges messages, or articles, from Usenet discussion forums, called newsgroups. Usenet administrators control their own sites, and decide which (if any) newsgroups to sponsor and which remote newsgroups to allow into the system.

There are thousands of Usenet newsgroups in existence. While many are academic in nature, numerous newsgroups are organized around recreational topics. Much serious computer-related work takes place in Usenet discussions. A small number of e-mail discussion groups also exist as Usenet newsgroups.

The Usenet newsfeed can be read by a variety of newsreader software programs. For example, the Netscape suite comes with a newsreader program called Messenger. Newsreaders are also available as standalone products.

FAQ, RFC, FYI

FAQ stands for Frequently Asked Questions. These are periodic postings to Usenet newsgroups that contain a wealth of information related to the topic of the newsgroup. Many FAQs are quite extensive. FAQs are available by subscribing to individual Usenet newsgroups. A Web-based collection of FAQ resources has been collected by The Internet FAQ Consortium and is available at /http://www.faqs.org/.

RFC stands for Request for Comments. These are documents created by and distributed to the Internet community to help define the nuts and bolts of the Internet. They contain both technical specifications and general information.

FYI stands for For Your Information. These notes are a subset of RFCs and contain information of interest to new Internet users.

Links to indexes of all three of these information resources are available on the University Libraries Web site at /http://library.albany.edu/reference/faqs.html.

CHAT & INSTANT MESSENGING

Chat programs allow users on the Internet to communicate with each other by typing in real time. They are sometimes included as a feature of a Web site, where users can log into the "chat room" to exchange comments and information about the topics addressed on the site. Chat may take other, more wide-ranging forms. For example, America Online is well known for sponsoring a number of topical chat rooms.

Internet Relay Chat (IRC) is a service through which participants can communicate to each other on hundreds of channels. These channels are usually based on specific topics. While many topics are frivolous, substantive conversations are also taking place. To access IRC, you must use an IRC software program.

A variation of chat is the phenomenon of instant messenging. With instant messenging, a user on the Web can contact another user currently logged in and type a conversation. Most famous is America Online's Instant Messenger. ICQ, MSN and Yahoo are other commonly-used chat programs.

8 People Can Use The Same Msn Dial Up Account

2009-11-29T04:29:00.001-08:00

its easy really. want to have an entire family on dial-up with just one bill?
step one. purchase 20 dollar a month subscription to MSN unlimited access dial up. This will include an MSN 9 cd which you will need. With the software installed, fill up your secondary account slots with new users. Make sure you pick @msn if it gives you the choice, hotmail email addresses will not work.
say the secondary account is johnsmith@msn.com type in the Dial up connection
USER : MSN/johnsmith
PASS: ******* (whatever)
connect to your local msn phone number and the other people you gave secondary accounts to will be able to do the same, while you are connected. Its a sweet deal considering everyone is paying about 2 bucks a month for internet access, especially if you cannot get broadband. if you wanted to sell off the access to people you could actually make money doing this.. but i do not suggest it.
I used to be an msn tech and this was a little known secret even to most of the employees.
After you do this you do not need the software any more. I would suggest keeping it on to micromanage everyone else's accounts. and for the simple fact that if they don't pitch in, cut them off HEHEHE
i'm on broadband now so i dont care if i tell you my little secret. anyone else knew of this?

250+ Tech books online.txt

2009-11-28T22:52:00.000-08:00

1
10 minute guide to lotus notes mail 4.5
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

2
10 minute guide to Microsoft exchange 5.0
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

3
10 minute guide to outlook 97
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

4
10 minute guide to schedule+ for windows 95
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

5
ActiveX programming unleashed
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

6
ActiveX programming unleashed
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

7
Advanced perl programming
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

8
Advanced PL/SQL programming with packages
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

9
Adventure in Prolog/AMZI
www.oopweb.com

10
Algorithms CMSC251/Mount, David
www.oopweb.com

11
Alison Balter's Mastering Access 95 development, premier ed.
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

12
Apache : The definitive guide, 3rd.ed.
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

13
Beej's guide to network programming/Hall, Brain
www.oopweb.com

14
Beyond Linux from Scratch/BLFS Development Team
http://book.onairweb.net/computer/os/linux/Administration/Beyond_Linux_From_Scratch/

15
Borland C++ builder unleashed
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

16
Building an intranet with windows NT 4
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

17
Building an Intranet with Windows NT 4
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

18
Building expert systems in prolog/AMZI
www.oopweb.com

19
C programming language
http://book.onairweb.net/computer/pl/C/The_C_Programming_Language_by_K&R/

20
C Programming/Holmes, Steven
www.oopweb.com

21
C++ Annotations
www.oopweb.com

22
CGI developer's guide
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

23
CGI manual of style
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

24
CGI manual of style online
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

25
CGI programming
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

26
CGI programming unleashed
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

27
CGI programming with Perl, 2nd.ed.
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

28
Charlie Calvert's Borland C++ builder unleashed
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

29
Client/server computing, 2nd.ed.
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

30
Client-server computing, 2nd.ed.
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

31
Common LISP, the language/Steele, Guy
www.oopweb.com

32
Compilers and compiler generators : an introduction with C++/Terry, P.D.
www.oopweb.com

33
Complete idiot's guide to creating HTML webpage
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

34
Computer graphics CMSC 427/Mount, David
www.oopweb.com

35
Configuring and troubleshooting the windows NT/95 registry
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

36
Creating commercial websites
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

37
Creating web applets with Java
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

38
Crystal Reports.NET
http://www.crystalreportsbook.com/Chapters.asp

39
Curious about the internet
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

40
Curious about the internet?
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

41
Dan appleman's developing activeX components with Visual Basic 5
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

42
Dan appleman's developing activex components with Visual Basic 5.0
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

43
Data structures CMSC420/Mount, David
www.oopweb.com

44
Database developer's guide with visual basic 4, 2nd.ed.
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

45
Database developer's guide with Visual Basic 4, 2nd.ed.
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

46
Database developer's guide with Visual C++ 4, 2nd.ed.
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

47
Database developer's guide with Visual C++ 4, 2nd.ed.
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

48
Design and analysis of computer algorithms CMSC451/Mount, David
www.oopweb.com

49
Designing implementing Microsoft internet information server
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

50
Designing implementing Microsoft proxy server
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

51
Developing for netscape one
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

52
Developing intranet applications with java
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

53
Developing personal oracle 7 for windows 95 applications
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

54
Developing personal Oracle 7 for windows 95 applications
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

55
Developing professional java applets
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

56
Developing professional java applets
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

57
DNS and BIND
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

58
Doing objects with VB.NET and C#
http://vbwire.com/nl?6814

59
EAI/BPM Evaluation Series: IBM WebSphere MQ Workflow v3.3.2 & EAI Suite by
> Middleware Technology Evaluation Series, Phong Tran & Jeffrey Gosper
http://www.cmis.csiro.au/mte/reports/BPM_IBMwebsphereMQ332.htm

60
Effective AWK programming
http://book.onairweb.net/computer/os/shell/Effective_AWK_Programming/

61
Enterprise javabeans, 2nd.ed.
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

62
Exploring java
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

63
GNOME/Sheets, John
www.oopweb.com

64
Graph theory/Prof. Even
www.oopweb.com

65
Hacking java
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

66
How intranets work
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

67
How intranets work
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

68
How to program visual basic 5.0
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

69
How to use HTML 3.2
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

70
Html : The definitive guide
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

71
HTML 3.2 & CGI unleashed
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

72
HTML 3.2 and CGI professional reference edition unleashed
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

73
HTML by example
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

74
Internet firewall
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

75
Intranets unleashed
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

76
Introduction to object-oriented programming using C++/Muller, Peter
www.oopweb.com

77
Introduction to programming using Java/Eck, David
www.oopweb.com

78
Introduction to socket programming
http://book.onairweb.net/computer/network/An_Introduction_to_Socket_Programming/

79
Java 1.1 unleashed
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

80
Java 1.1 unleashed, 2nd.ed.
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

81
Java 1.1 unleashed, 3rd.ed.
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

82
Java 114 documentation
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

83
Java AWT reference
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

84
Java by example
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

85
Java developer's guide
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

86
Java developer's guide
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

87
Java developer's reference
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

88
Java developer's reference
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

89
Java Distributed computing
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

90
Java enterprise
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

91
Java enterprise in a nutshell
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

92
Java foundation classes in a nutshell
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

93
Java fundamental classes reference
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

94
Java in a nutshell
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

95
Java in a nutshell, 3rd.ed.
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

96
Java language reference
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

97
Java security
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

98
Java servlet programming
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

99
Java unleashed
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

100
Java unleashed
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

101
Java, 2nd.ed.
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

102
_JavaScript : the definitive guide
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

103
_Javascript manual of style
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

104
_Javascript manual of style
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

105
Josh's GNU Linux Guide/Joshua
http://book.onairweb.net/computer/os/linux/Administration/Josh's_GNU_Linux_Guide/

106
Late night activex
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

107
Late night activeX
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

108
Laura lemay's 3D graphics in and VRML 2
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

109
Laura lemay's activex and _VBScript
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

110
Laura lemay's graphics and web page design
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

111
Laura lemay's guide to sizzling websites design
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

112
Laura lemay's _javascript 1.1
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

113
Laura lemay's web workshop activex and _VBScript
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

114
Laura lemay's web workshop Graphics web page design
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

115
Laura lemay's web workshop _javascript
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

116
Learning perl
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

117
Learning perl on win32
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

118
Learning the kornshell
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

119
Learning unix
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

120
Learning vi
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

121
Linux from Scratch/Beekmans, Gerard
http://book.onairweb.net/computer/os/linux/Administration/Linux_From_Scratch/

122
Linux in a nutshell, 3rd.ed.
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

123
Linux kernel/Rusling, David
www.oopweb.com

124
Linux network administrator's guide/Dawson, Terry
www.oopweb.com

125
Linux system administrator's survival guide
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

126
MAPI, SAPI and TAPI developer's guide
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

127
Mastering access 95 development
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

128
Microsoft access 97 quick reference
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

129
Microsoft access 97 quick reference
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

130
Microsoft backoffice 2 unleashed
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

131
Microsoft excel 97 quick reference
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

132
Microsoft excel 97 quick reference
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

133
Microsoft exchange server survival guide
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

134
Microsoft frontpage unleashed
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

135
Microsoft word 97 quick reference
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

136
Microsoft word 97 quick reference
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

137
Microsoft works 4.5 6-In-1
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

138
More than 100 full-text e-books
http://www.allfreetech.com/EBookCategory.asp

139
Ms backoffice administrator's survival guide
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

140
Ms backoffice unleashed
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

141
Mysql and msql
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

142
Netscape plug-ins developer's kit
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

143
Official gamelan java directory
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

144
Oracle built-in packages
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

145
Oracle PL/SQL built-in pocket reference
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

146
Oracle PL/SQL language pocket reference
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

147
Oracle PL/SQL programming guide to Oracle 8 features
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

148
Oracle PL/SQL programming, 2nd.ed.
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

149
Oracle unleashed
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

150
Oracle unleashed
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

151
Oracle web applications PL/SQL developer's introduction
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

152
Patterns of enterprise application architecture/Fowler, Martin
http://www.awprofessional.com/catalog/product.asp?product_id={574D77DF-6ED2-BC5-A6A8-02E59CA7482D}

153
PC week : the intranet advantage
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

154
Perl 5 by example
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

155
Perl 5 quick reference
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

156
Perl 5 unleashed
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

157
Perl 5.0 CGI web pages
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

158
Perl cookbook
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

159
Perl for system administration
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

160
Perl in a nutshell
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

161
Perl quick reference
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

162
Peter norton's complete guide to windows NT 4 workstations
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

163
Presenting activex
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

164
Presenting activex
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

165
Presenting javabeans
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

166
Presenting javabeans
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

167
Programming perl
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

168
Programming perl, 3rd.ed.
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

169
Programming the Perl DBI
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

170
Red hat linux unleashed
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

171
Running a perfect intranet
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

172
Running Linux, 3rd.ed.
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

173
Sams teach yourself java 1.1 in 24 hours/
http://book.onairweb.net/computer/sams/Sams_Teach_Yourself_Java_1.1_Programming_in_24_Hours

174
Sams Teach yourself java in 21 days/Lemay, Laura
http://book.onairweb.net/computer/sams/Sams_Teach_Yourself_Java_in_21_Days/

175
Sams teach yourself linux in 24 hours/Ball, Bill
http://book.onairweb.net/computer/sams/Sams_Teach_Yourself_Linux_in_24%20Hours/

176
Sams teach yourself shell programming in 24 hours
http://book.onairweb.net/computer/sams/Sams_Teach_Yourself_Shell_Programming_in_24_Hours/

177
Sams teach yourself TCP/IP in 14 days
http://book.onairweb.net/computer/sams/Sams_Teach_Yourself_TCP-IP_in_14_Days(SE)/

178
Sed and awk
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

179
Sendmail
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

180
Sendmail desktop reference
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

181
Slackware linux unleashed
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

182
Special edition using java, 2nd.ed.
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

183
Special edition using _javascript
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

184
Special edition using _javascript
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

185
Special edition using _Jscript
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

186
Special edition using lotus notes and domino 4.5
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

187
Special edition using Microsoft SQL server 6.5, 2nd.ed.
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

188
Special edition using Microsoft visual Interdev
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

189
Special edition using perl 5 for web programming
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

190
Special edition using perl for web programming
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

191
Special edition using Visual Basic 4
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

192
TCP/IP
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

193
Teach yourself activex programming in 21 days
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

194
Teach yourself C++ in 21 days
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

195
Teach yourself C++ in 21 days
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

196
Teach yourself CGI programming with Perl 5 in a week
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

197
Teach yourself database programming with VB5 in 21 days, 2nd.ed.
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

198
Teach yourself database programming with visual basic 5 in 21 days
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

199
Teach yourself HTML 3.2 in 24 hours
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

200
Teach yourself HTML 3.2 in 24 hours
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

201
Teach yourself internet game programming with java in 21 days
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

202
Teach yourself java 1.1 programming in 24 hours
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

203
Teach yourself jave in café in 21 days
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.tm

204
Teach yourself Microsoft visual Interdev in 21 days
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

205
Teach yourself Microsoft visual Interdev in 21 days
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

206
Teach yourself oracle 8 in 21 days
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

207
Teach yourself perl 5 in 21 days
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

208
Teach yourself perl 5 in 21 days, 2nd.ed.
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

209
Teach yourself SQL in 21 days
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

210
Teach yourself SQL in 21 days, 2nd.ed.
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

211
Teach yourself TCP/IP in 14 days
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

212
Teach yourself TCP/IP in 14 days, 2nd.ed.
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

213
Teach yourself the Internet in 24 hours
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

214
Teach yourself the internet in 24 hours
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

215
Teach yourself _VBScript in 21 days
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

216
Teach yourself _VBScript in 21 days
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

217
Teach yourself visual basic 5 in 24 hours
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

218
Teach yourself Visual Basic 5 in 24 hours
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

219
Teach yourself Visual J++ in 21 days
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

220
Teach yourself web publishing with HTML 3.2 in 14 days
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

221
Teach yourself web publishing with HTML in 14 days
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

222
Thinking in C++
http://www.mindview.net/Books

223
Thinking in C++/Eckel, Bruce - Vol.I, 2nd.ed.
www.oopweb.com

224
Thinking in C++/Eckel, Bruce - Vol.II, 2nd.ed.
www.oopweb.com

225
Thinking in Enterprise Java
http://www.mindview.net/Books

226
Thinking in Java, 2nd.ed.
www.oopweb.com

227
Thinking in Java, 3rd.ed. (pdf)
http://www.mindview.net/Books

228
Tricks of the internet gurus
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

229
Tricks of the java programming gurus
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

230
Unix and internet security
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

231
Unix hints and hacks/Waingrow, Kirk
http://book.onairweb.net/computer/os/unix/Administration/UNIX_Hints_&_Hacks/19270001..htm

232
Unix in a nutshell
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

233
Unix kornshell quick reference
http://book.onairweb.net/computer/os/shell/Unix_KornShell_Quick_Reference/kornShell.html

234
Unix power tools
http://www.hk8.org/old_web/

235
Unix shell guide
http://book.onairweb.net/computer/os/shell/The_UNIX_Shell_Guide/

236
Unix unleashed
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

237
Unix unleashed
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

238
Unix unleashed Internet Ed./Burk, Robin
http://book.onairweb.net/computer/os/unix/Administration/UNIX_Unleashed(Internet_Edition)/fm.htm

239
Unix unleashed, System administrator's Edition
http://book.onairweb.net/computer/os/unix/Administration/UNIX_Unleashed_System_Administrator's_Edition/toc.htm

240
Unix Unleashed/Sams Publication
http://book.onairweb.net/computer/os/unix/Administration/UNIX_Unleashed/

241
Upgrading PCs illustrated
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

242
Using windows NT workstation 4.0
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

243
_VBScript unleashed
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

244
_Vbscript unleashed
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

245
Visual basic 4 in 12 easy lessons
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

246
Visual basic 4 unleashed
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

247
Visual Basic 5 night school
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

248
Visual basic programming in 12 easy lessons
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

249
Visual Basic programming in 12 easy lessons
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

250
Visual C++ 4 unleashed
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

251
Visual C++ programming in 12 easy lessons
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

252
Web database developer's guide with visual basic 5
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

253
Web database developer's guide with visual basic 5
http://www.emu.edu.tr/english/facilitiesservices/computercenter/bookslib/

254
Web programming desktop reference 6-in-1
http://www.parsian.net/set1252/pages/books.htm

Get Google Wave Free

2009-11-27T00:42:00.000-08:00

Google Wave is the next online service by Google aiming to change the way we communicate, share and make friends online. Reading from Google: “Google Wave is an online tool for real-time communication and collaboration. A wave can be both a conversation and a document where people can discuss and work together using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more.” However, such a service is not open for everybody to sign-up. In fact, you need an invitation. Useless to say, somebody has already got the great idea to make money out of this by selling invitations on eBay. But why buying something which comes for free? Here is the link to get Google Wave invitation for free!
Google Wave lets you communicate online by using richly formatted text, photos, videos, maps, and more. Furthermore, you can share, edit, modify, play and later rewind the wave to see who said what and when.
If you want to get a free invitation for Google Wave, here is the link to get it!

23 Ways To Speed WinXP

2009-11-26T20:05:00.000-08:00

Since defragging the disk won't do much to improve Windows XP performance, here are 23 suggestions that will. Each can enhance the performance and reliability of your customers' PCs. Best of all, most of them will cost you nothing.

1.) To decrease a system's boot time and increase system performance, use the money you save by not buying defragmentation software -- the built-in Windows defragmenter works just fine -- and instead equip the computer with an Ultra-133 or Serial ATA hard drive with 8-MB cache buffer.

2.) If a PC has less than 512 MB of RAM, add more memory. This is a relatively inexpensive and easy upgrade that can dramatically improve system performance.

3.) Ensure that Windows XP is utilizing the NTFS file system. If you're not sure, here's how to check: First, double-click the My Computer icon, right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties. Next, examine the File System type; if it says FAT32, then back-up any important data. Next, click Start, click Run, type CMD, and then click OK. At the prompt, type CONVERT C: /FS:NTFS and press the Enter key. This process may take a while; it's important that the computer be uninterrupted and virus-free. The file system used by the bootable drive will be either FAT32 or NTFS. I highly recommend NTFS for its superior security, reliability, and efficiency with larger disk drives.

4.) Disable file indexing. The indexing service extracts information from documents and other files on the hard drive and creates a "searchable keyword index." As you can imagine, this process can be quite taxing on any system.

The idea is that the user can search for a word, phrase, or property inside a document, should they have hundreds or thousands of documents and not know the file name of the document they want. Windows XP's built-in search functionality can still perform these kinds of searches without the Indexing service. It just takes longer. The OS has to open each file at the time of the request to help find what the user is looking for.

Most people never need this feature of search. Those who do are typically in a large corporate environment where thousands of documents are located on at least one server. But if you're a typical system builder, most of your clients are small and medium businesses. And if your clients have no need for this search feature, I recommend disabling it.

Here's how: First, double-click the My Computer icon. Next, right-click on the C: Drive, then select Properties. Uncheck "Allow Indexing Service to index this disk for fast file searching." Next, apply changes to "C: subfolders and files," and click OK. If a warning or error message appears (such as "Access is denied"), click the Ignore All button.

5.) Update the PC's video and motherboard chipset drivers. Also, update and configure the BIOS. For more information on how to configure your BIOS properly, see this article on my site.

6.) Empty the Windows Prefetch folder every three months or so. Windows XP can "prefetch" portions of data and applications that are used frequently. This makes processes appear to load faster when called upon by the user. That's fine. But over time, the prefetch folder may become overloaded with references to files and applications no longer in use. When that happens, Windows XP is wasting time, and slowing system performance, by pre-loading them. Nothing critical is in this folder, and the entire contents are safe to delete.

7.) Once a month, run a disk cleanup. Here's how: Double-click the My Computer icon. Then right-click on the C: drive and select Properties. Click the Disk Cleanup button -- it's just to the right of the Capacity pie graph -- and delete all temporary files.

8.) In your Device Manager, double-click on the IDE ATA/ATAPI Controllers device, and ensure that DMA is enabled for each drive you have connected to the Primary and Secondary controller. Do this by double-clicking on Primary IDE Channel. Then click the Advanced Settings tab. Ensure the Transfer Mode is set to "DMA if available" for both Device 0 and Device 1. Then repeat this process with the Secondary IDE Channel.

9.) Upgrade the cabling. As hard-drive technology improves, the cabling requirements to achieve these performance boosts have become more stringent. Be sure to use 80-wire Ultra-133 cables on all of your IDE devices with the connectors properly assigned to the matching Master/Slave/Motherboard sockets. A single device must be at the end of the cable; connecting a single drive to the middle connector on a ribbon cable will cause signaling problems. With Ultra DMA hard drives, these signaling problems will prevent the drive from performing at its maximum potential. Also, because these cables inherently support "cable select," the location of each drive on the cable is important. For these reasons, the cable is designed so drive positioning is explicitly clear.

10.) Remove all spyware from the computer. Use free programs such as AdAware by Lavasoft or SpyBot Search & Destroy. Once these programs are installed, be sure to check for and download any updates before starting your search. Anything either program finds can be safely removed. Any free software that requires spyware to run will no longer function once the spyware portion has been removed; if your customer really wants the program even though it contains spyware, simply reinstall it. For more information on removing Spyware visit this Web Pro News page.

11.) Remove any unnecessary programs and/or items from Windows Startup routine using the MSCONFIG utility. Here's how: First, click Start, click Run, type MSCONFIG, and click OK. Click the StartUp tab, then uncheck any items you don't want to start when Windows starts. Unsure what some items are? Visit the WinTasks Process Library. It contains known system processes, applications, as well as spyware references and explanations. Or quickly identify them by searching for the filenames using Google or another Web search engine.

12.) Remove any unnecessary or unused programs from the Add/Remove Programs section of the Control Panel.

13.) Turn off any and all unnecessary animations, and disable active desktop. In fact, for optimal performance, turn off all animations. Windows XP offers many different settings in this area. Here's how to do it: First click on the System icon in the Control Panel. Next, click on the Advanced tab. Select the Settings button located under Performance. Feel free to play around with the options offered here, as nothing you can change will alter the reliability of the computer -- only its responsiveness.

14.) If your customer is an advanced user who is comfortable editing their registry, try some of the performance registry tweaks offered at Tweak XP.

15.) Visit Microsoft's Windows update site regularly, and download all updates labeled Critical. Download any optional updates at your discretion.

16.) Update the customer's anti-virus software on a weekly, even daily, basis. Make sure they have only one anti-virus software package installed. Mixing anti-virus software is a sure way to spell disaster for performance and reliability.

17.) Make sure the customer has fewer than 500 type fonts installed on their computer. The more fonts they have, the slower the system will become. While Windows XP handles fonts much more efficiently than did the previous versions of Windows, too many fonts -- that is, anything over 500 -- will noticeably tax the system.

18.) Do not partition the hard drive. Windows XP's NTFS file system runs more efficiently on one large partition. The data is no safer on a separate partition, and a reformat is never necessary to reinstall an operating system. The same excuses people offer for using partitions apply to using a folder instead. For example, instead of putting all your data on the D: drive, put it in a folder called "D drive." You'll achieve the same organizational benefits that a separate partition offers, but without the degradation in system performance. Also, your free space won't be limited by the size of the partition; instead, it will be limited by the size of the entire hard drive. This means you won't need to resize any partitions, ever. That task can be time-consuming and also can result in lost data.

19.) Check the system's RAM to ensure it is operating properly. I recommend using a free program called MemTest86. The download will make a bootable CD or diskette (your choice), which will run 10 extensive tests on the PC's memory automatically after you boot to the disk you created. Allow all tests to run until at least three passes of the 10 tests are completed. If the program encounters any errors, turn off and unplug the computer, remove a stick of memory (assuming you have more than one), and run the test again. Remember, bad memory cannot be repaired, but only replaced.

20.) If the PC has a CD or DVD recorder, check the drive manufacturer's Web site for updated firmware. In some cases you'll be able to upgrade the recorder to a faster speed. Best of all, it's free.

21.) Disable unnecessary services. Windows XP loads a lot of services that your customer most likely does not need. To determine which services you can disable for your client, visit the Black Viper site for Windows XP configurations.

22.) If you're sick of a single Windows Explorer window crashing and then taking the rest of your OS down with it, then follow this tip: open My Computer, click on Tools, then Folder Options. Now click on the View tab. Scroll down to "Launch folder windows in a separate process," and enable this option. You'll have to reboot your machine for this option to take effect.

23.) At least once a year, open the computer's cases and blow out all the dust and debris. While you're in there, check that all the fans are turning properly. Also inspect the motherboard capacitors for bulging or leaks. For more information on this leaking-capacitor phenomena, you can read numerous articles on my site.

Following any of these suggestions should result in noticeable improvements to the performance and reliability of your customers' computers. If you still want to defrag a disk, remember that the main benefit will be to make your data more retrievable in the event of a crashed drive

20 Great Google Secrets

2009-11-26T06:18:00.000-08:00

Google is clearly the best general-purpose search engine on the Web.

But most people don't use it to its best advantage. Do you just plug in a keyword or two and hope for the best? That may be the quickest way to search, but with more than 3 billion pages in Google's index, it's still a struggle to pare results to a manageable number.

But Google is an remarkably powerful tool that can ease and enhance your Internet exploration. Google's search options go beyond simple keywords, the Web, and even its own programmers. Let's look at some of Google's lesser-known options.

Syntax Search Tricks

Using a special syntax is a way to tell Google that you want to restrict your searches to certain elements or characteristics of Web pages.
Google has a fairly complete list of its syntax elements at

www.google.com/help/operators.html

Here are some advanced operators that can help narrow down your search results.

Intitle: at the beginning of a query word or phrase (intitle:"Three Blind Mice") restricts your search results to just the titles of Web pages.

Intext: does the opposite of intitle:, searching only the body text, ignoring titles, links, and so forth. Intext: is perfect when what you're searching for might commonly appear in URLs. If you're looking for the term HTML, for example, and you don't want to get results such as

www.mysite.com/index.html

you can enter intext:html.

Link: lets you see which pages are linking to your Web page or to another page you're interested in. For example, try typing in

link:http://www.pcmag.com

Try using site: (which restricts results to top-level domains) with intitle: to find certain types of pages. For example, get scholarly pages about Mark Twain by searching for intitle:"Mark Twain"site:edu. Experiment with mixing various elements; you'll develop several strategies for finding the stuff you want more effectively. The site: command is very helpful as an alternative to the mediocre search engines built into many sites.

Swiss Army Google

Google has a number of services that can help you accomplish tasks you may never have thought to use Google for. For example, the new calculator feature

(www.google.com/help/features.html#calculator)

lets you do both math and a variety of conversions from the search box. For extra fun, try the query "Answer to life the universe and everything."

Let Google help you figure out whether you've got the right spelling—and the right word—for your search. Enter a misspelled word or phrase into the query box (try "thre blund mise") and Google may suggest a proper spelling. This doesn't always succeed; it works best when the word you're searching for can be found in a dictionary. Once you search for a properly spelled word, look at the results page, which repeats your query. (If you're searching for "three blind mice," underneath the search window will appear a statement such as Searched the web for "three blind mice.") You'll discover that you can click on each word in your search phrase and get a definition from a dictionary.

Suppose you want to contact someone and don't have his phone number handy. Google can help you with that, too. Just enter a name, city, and state. (The city is optional, but you must enter a state.) If a phone number matches the listing, you'll see it at the top of the search results along with a map link to the address. If you'd rather restrict your results, use rphonebook: for residential listings or bphonebook: for business listings. If you'd rather use a search form for business phone listings, try Yellow Search

(www.buzztoolbox.com/google/yellowsearch.shtml).

Extended Googling

Google offers several services that give you a head start in focusing your search. Google Groups

(http://groups.google.com)

indexes literally millions of messages from decades of discussion on Usenet. Google even helps you with your shopping via two tools: Froogle
CODE
(http://froogle.google.com),

which indexes products from online stores, and Google Catalogs
CODE
(http://catalogs.google.com),

which features products from more 6,000 paper catalogs in a searchable index. And this only scratches the surface. You can get a complete list of Google's tools and services at

www.google.com/options/index.html

You're probably used to using Google in your browser. But have you ever thought of using Google outside your browser?

Google Alert

(www.googlealert.com)

monitors your search terms and e-mails you information about new additions to Google's Web index. (Google Alert is not affiliated with Google; it uses Google's Web services API to perform its searches.) If you're more interested in news stories than general Web content, check out the beta version of Google News Alerts

(www.google.com/newsalerts).

This service (which is affiliated with Google) will monitor up to 50 news queries per e-mail address and send you information about news stories that match your query. (Hint: Use the intitle: and source: syntax elements with Google News to limit the number of alerts you get.)

Google on the telephone? Yup. This service is brought to you by the folks at Google Labs

(http://labs.google.com),

a place for experimental Google ideas and features (which may come and go, so what's there at this writing might not be there when you decide to check it out). With Google Voice Search

(http://labs1.google.com/gvs.html),

you dial the Voice Search phone number, speak your keywords, and then click on the indicated link. Every time you say a new search term, the results page will refresh with your new query (you must have JavaScript enabled for this to work). Remember, this service is still in an experimental phase, so don't expect 100 percent success.

In 2002, Google released the Google API (application programming interface), a way for programmers to access Google's search engine results without violating the Google Terms of Service. A lot of people have created useful (and occasionally not-so-useful but interesting) applications not available from Google itself, such as Google Alert. For many applications, you'll need an API key, which is available free from
CODE
www.google.com/apis

. See the figures for two more examples, and visit

www.pcmag.com/solutions

for more.

Thanks to its many different search properties, Google goes far beyond a regular search engine. Give the tricks in this article a try. You'll be amazed at how many different ways Google can improve your Internet searching.

Online Extra: More Google Tips

Here are a few more clever ways to tweak your Google searches.

Search Within a Timeframe

Daterange: (start date–end date). You can restrict your searches to pages that were indexed within a certain time period. Daterange: searches by when Google indexed a page, not when the page itself was created. This operator can help you ensure that results will have fresh content (by using recent dates), or you can use it to avoid a topic's current-news blizzard and concentrate only on older results. Daterange: is actually more useful if you go elsewhere to take advantage of it, because daterange: requires Julian dates, not standard Gregorian dates. You can find converters on the Web

CODE
http://aa.usno.navy.mil/data/docs/JulianDate.html

, but an easier way is to do a Google daterange: search by filling in a form at

www.researchbuzz.com/toolbox/goofresh.shtml or www.faganfinder.com/engines/google.shtml

. If one special syntax element is good, two must be better, right? Sometimes. Though some operators can't be mixed (you can't use the link: operator with anything else) many can be, quickly narrowing your results to a less overwhelming number.

More Google API Applications

Staggernation.com offers three tools based on the Google API. The Google API Web Search by Host (GAWSH) lists the Web hosts of the results for a given query

(www.staggernation.com/gawsh/).

When you click on the triangle next to each host, you get a list of results for that host. The Google API Relation Browsing Outliner (GARBO) is a little more complicated: You enter a URL and choose whether you want pages that related to the URL or linked to the URL

(www.staggernation.com/garbo/).

Click on the triangle next to an URL to get a list of pages linked or related to that particular URL. CapeMail is an e-mail search application that allows you to send an e-mail to google@capeclear.com with the text of your query in the subject line and get the first ten results for that query back. Maybe it's not something you'd do every day, but if your cell phone does e-mail and doesn't do Web browsing, this is a very handy address to know.

16x Dvd+-rw Dl Dvd Writer Comparison Guide

2009-11-26T06:14:00.000-08:00

Since the introduction of double layer DVD writers, the interest has been quite overwhelming and is why we keep bringing you reviews of these highly popular drives. The anticipation has now turned into down right obsession and it has become a key component in any current or new system build, thanks to the declining prices and continued media hype. Manufacturers are quite aware of the fascination and is why they have each been releasing their own products which excel in at least one area of the testing methodology used in most reviewsThis has led to some confusion as to which drive is best suited for the individuals needs. Today, we compare four 16x double layer drives and highlight both the strong and weak points in order to give you a better idea of which drive is best suited for you.

In this comparison guide, we will be looking at four of the top 16x drives to hit the market, the Pioneer DVR-108, NEC ND3500A, Lite-On SOHW-1633s and the new LG GSA-4160B. We will cover everything from design and features to performance and price. Let's begin with a quick look at each of these drives.

As far as the front bezel design goes, the LG-GSA4160B is by far the most attractive drive of the bunch. However, for those who are looking for a headphone jack, the Lite-On drive is the only DL writer offering a headphone jack, as well as volume control. The Pioneer and NEC drives, in my opinion, are the ugliest drives, with a very plain look that just wants to make you hide the drive period. Although we only obtained the 4160B in black, all these drives are offered with both white and black bezels. If you opt for the more expensive Pioneer "XL" model, it has the most impressive looks of any drive in the market. However, this will come at a very hefty price tag, considering they contain different firmware as well that offer a few extra features.

So, we have determined which is the sexiest-looking drive, but what about performance? I've done some extensive testing on each model to determine which is indeed the most impressive of the bunch. But before we show you performance results, let's briefly look at the features and what they have to offer.

Features

Each one of these drives has there disappointments when it comes to features. Let's compare each to see what they really offer.

DVD Writing

DVD+R DVD-R DVD+RW DVD-RW
LG GSA-4160B 16x 8x 4x 4x
Lite-On SOHW-1633s 16x 8x 4x 4x
NEC ND-3500A 16x 16x 4x 4x
Pioneer DVR-108 16x 16x 4x 4x

While all these drives are indeed 16x models, only two will write to both formats at this speed. The LG GSA-4160B and the Lite-On SOHW-1633s only support 8x DVD-R writing. So if you are one who only prefers this format, the NEC or Pioneer would be the best choice. All of these drives support writing to DVD re-writable media at 4x.

DVD+R9 Double Layer Writing

Write Speed
LG GSA-4160B 2.4x
Lite-On SOHW-1633s 2.4x
NEC ND-3500A 4x
Pioneer DVR-108 4x

The major disappointment with both the LG and the Lite-On 16x drives is the lack of 4x double layer writing support. Pioneer and NEC seem to be the only manufacturers to jump in and release second generation double layer drives supporting much faster 4x writing. In fact, the jump from 2.4x to 4x is quite substantial as we will show you a bit later in this comparison.

DVD-RAM Support

Supported Read Write
LG GSA-4160B YES 5x 5x
Lite-On SOHW-1633s NO NO NO
NEC ND-3500A NO NO NO
Pioneer DVR-108 YES 2x NO

Now this is where both the LG GSA-4120B and GSA-4160B shine above the rest. In fact, it is what has made these drives the most popular DVD writers on the market. Unlike the rest in the roundup, it is a triple format burner, offering full support for DVD-RAM media. The other drives do not support it, with the exception of the Pioneer DVR-108 which supports reading of DVD-RAM discs at 2x. I personally don't see the point in offering only read capabilities, but it's at least one extra feature added to distinguish it from the rest. Fast 5x support of the LG GSA-4160 will actually be tested a bit later in this article.

CDR Writing

CDR CDRW
LG GSA-4160B 40x 24x
Lite-On SOHW-1633s 48x 24x
NEC ND-3500A 48x 24x
Pioneer DVR-108 32x 24x

The fastest CDR writers of the bunch are the Lite-On SOHW-1633s and the NEC ND-3500A. With their support for 48x writing, they make a great all-in-one drive for many users. The only drive lacking in this lineup is the Pioneer DVR-108. Why they opted for only 32x writing is still quite puzzling and is actually why I have found that many are choosing the NEC over the Pioneer. The LG GSA-4160B should not be left out of consideration though. We will show you later that the difference in write times between 40x and 48x is not much to brag about.

Bitsetting Support

One feature I've found that is most important for many users is bitsetting support. Let's compare these drives and see what they offer.

DVD+R/RW Support DVD+R DL Support
LG GSA-4160B NO NO
Lite-On SOHW-1633s YES NO
NEC ND-3500A NO YES
Pioneer DVR-108 NO YES

The LG GSA-4160B does not offer bitsetting support out of the box. However, it is very likely that you will be able to obtain support through an excellent third-party tool called DVDInfo Pro. Right now, they only support the GSA-4120B, but I'm confident with the author that support for this drive will be likely. LG firmware is very hard to hack, however some select few have been able to do so. Using Lite-On's booktype utility, you can change the booktype of DVD+R/RW media, however, the firmware does not automatically change booktype of DVD+R DL discs to DVD-ROM like the NEC and Pioneer models do.

Additional Features

As far as other features go, all these drives have a 2MB buffer but offer some sort of buffer under-run protection, which all work exceptionally well. This is especially useful if you will be burning discs at 16x, which I personally don't recommend just yet. As our individual tests of these drives revealed, burning at this speed is quite unstable, with the exception of the Lite-On SOHW-1633s.

10 Fast and Free Security Enhancements

2009-11-24T04:06:00.000-08:00

Before you spend a dime on security, there are many precautions you can take that will protect you against the most common threats.

1. Check Windows Update and Office Update regularly (http://office.microsoft.com/productupdates); have your Office CD ready. Windows Me, 2000, and XP users can configure automatic updates. Click on the Automatic Updates tab in the System control panel and choose the appropriate options.

2. Install a personal firewall. Both SyGate (www.sygate.com) and ZoneAlarm (www.zonelabs.com) offer free versions.

3. Install a free spyware blocker. Our Editors' Choice ("Spyware," April 22) was SpyBot Search & Destroy (http://security.kolla.de). SpyBot is also paranoid and ruthless in hunting out tracking cookies.

4. Block pop-up spam messages in Windows NT, 2000, or XP by disabling the Windows Messenger service (this is unrelated to the instant messaging program). Open Control Panel | Administrative Tools | Services and you'll see Messenger. Right-click and go to Properties. Set Start-up Type to Disabled and press the Stop button. Bye-bye, spam pop-ups! Any good firewall will also stop them.

5. Use strong passwords and change them periodically. Passwords should have at least seven characters; use letters and numbers and have at least one symbol. A decent example would be f8izKro@l. This will make it much harder for anyone to gain access to your accounts.

6. If you're using Outlook or Outlook Express, use the current version or one with the Outlook Security Update installed. The update and current versions patch numerous vulnerabilities.

7. Buy antivirus software and keep it up to date. If you're not willing to pay, try Grisoft AVG Free Edition (Grisoft Inc., www.grisoft.com). And doublecheck your AV with the free, online-only scanners available at www.pandasoftware.com/activescan and http://housecall.trendmicro.com.

8. If you have a wireless network, turn on the security features: Use MAC filtering, turn off SSID broadcast, and even use WEP with the biggest key you can get. For more, check out our wireless section or see the expanded coverage in Your Unwired World in our next issue.

9. Join a respectable e-mail security list, such as the one found at our own Security Supersite at http://security.ziffdavis.com, so that you learn about emerging threats quickly and can take proper precautions.

10. Be skeptical of things on the Internet. Don't assume that e-mail "From:" a particular person is actually from that person until you have further reason to believe it's that person. Don't assume that an attachment is what it says it is. Don't give out your password to anyone, even if that person claims to be from "support."