Do you know that Windows Vista can turn your spare blank discs into drag-and-drop bins for extra files? The Online Tech Tips blog shows you how to do it.
Writable CDs and DVDs are used as flash drives, to where you can add files continously rather than having to burn the CD. This can be useful as backup solution.
No. This is not about Google’s health. It’s about a new service from Google.
This is Google Health’s description in the log in page:
Google Health puts you in charge of your health information. It’s safe, secure, and free.
- Organize your health information all in one place
- Gather your medical records from doctors, hospitals, and pharmacies
- Keep your doctors up to date about your health
- Be more informed about important health issues
Google stores your information securely and privately. We will never sell your data. You are in control, you choose what you want to share and what you want to keep private.
But it’s almost useless in India. The only aspect of some use to those in India is to store our health information in the site.
Sometimes, don’t you feel it will be better to compose in a new window so that you can refer to some details in an email when you do it?
Its just a matter of pressing the shift key while clicking compose. A new window will pop-up where you can compose the email.
You can follow the same trick while forwarding or replying. Just press the shift key while clicking the reply or forward buttons below the email. That’s it.
Do companies such as Adobe and Microsoft have ‘hidden agenda’?
The founder of Mozilla Europe, Mr Tristan Nitot, thinks so. He has been quoted by Zdnet says companies building Web sites should beware of proprietary rich-media technologies like Adobe’s Flash and Microsoft’s Silverlight.
He described the nature of the Web at the moment as open, but suggested that running on top of the Web are trying to take over”.
Referring specifically to Flash and Silverlight, he said that “people depend on the vendor to provide them with the runtime [browser plug-in that runs the code].”
“So far there has not been a problem,” Nitot said. “Both Adobe and Microsoft have been willing to give [Flash and Silverlight away] for free. But maybe they have an agenda. They’re not here for the glory; they’re here for the money.”
Currently both Microsoft and Adobe make money from their respective web multimedia software by selling developer kits, but there are now a number of open-source projects for developing Flash and less mature, but still active, efforts to create open-source Silverlight development software.
Nitot gave two historical examples of Microsoft and Adobe withdrawing or withholding products from certain platforms: Microsoft’s discontinuation of Internet Explorer for Unix and Mac, and Adobe’s long-standing refusal to “provide a recent version of Flash for Linux users”. He suggested that web developers should be asking those companies whether they are “sure that Silverlight and Flash will always be available on all platforms [and] run decently on all platforms.”
“You’re producing content for your users and there’s someone in the middle deciding whether users should see your content,” Nitot said. “If Adobe or Microsoft decides to compete with you and you’re using their technology, you cannot compete.”
“If you consider proprietary technologies, think hard; are you really trading convenience in the short term with independence in the long term?” Nitot asked. He conceded that “if you want to have a commercially viable website, in most cases you need Flash,” but continued: “In HTML 5 there will be video and audio; you won’t need Flash for video and audio”. HTML 5 is currently a work in progress. Although the specification can be used in some cases now, it is not likely to reach completion until 2010 at the very earliest.
I have a very conservative approach to programming and what makes a good programmer, and this article by David Chisnall in InformIT is written very clearly. Your personal list might change, but his approach to his specific choice, if used as a guide, will ensure that your choice is as effective as his.
Yes, I know, quite a few links from InformIT today, but this ws too good to resist. As you can see, this article is more than a year old.
David Chisnall posits that the more programming languages you know, the better. The point is not to stuff your head with language rules. Rather, he explains how being able to read multiple languages, even if you never code in them, can help you to select the best possible tool for each coding need — and understand the limitations of the tools you’re using.
Working in a newspaper publishing media company, it is only natural that I am keenly interested in eBooks and eBook readers and how they might change the way people consume news. You might be interested because: 1) you want to know how you might consume news in the future (more of you); and 2) you want to know how your business (media or IT services for media clients) might change (some of you).
InformIT has a well-written and comprehensive article on eBook readers:
When predicting the future of any given technology, I always claim that the easiest way of getting good results is to consider the ideal form factor for a device. In this regard, eBooks are no different.
Andrew Stewart and Adam Shostack delve into some of the most apparent failures of information security and explain how a new approach to looking at infosec may be necessary.
Sample Chapter is provided courtesy of Addison Wesley Professional
First you had floppies. Then you thought CDs were great. DVDs changed all that. Next came Sony’s Blu-Ray. If you think you can have a breather, forget it.
Lurking round the corner is the holographic drive. It doesn’t sound as sexy as Blue-Ray, but it will surely put Blu-Ray look like some ancient invention.
Consider this. Blu-Ray discs can hold some 25GB of data. But holographic drives can store hundreds of gigabytes of data onto a disc the size of a standard DVD/CD.
How does it work?
Holograms use 2 coherent laser beams - a reference beam and an illumination beam - to create an interference pattern that is recorded on photo sensitive media. Shine a laser on the recorded interference pattern and the original image is reconstructed in glorious 3D. As the laser moves around - or you do - you see the image from different perspectives.
Holographic storage has a couple of neat properties.
- A small fragment of a hologram can reconstruct the entire data image. The fragment won’t let you move as far around the image, but for 2D images, like a photograph, it means a scratch isn’t fatal.
- Data density is theoretically unlimited. By varying the angle between the reference and illumination beams - or the angle of the media - hundreds of holograms can be stored in the same physical area.
Another factor: photographic media has the longest proven lifespan - over a century - of any modern media. Since there’s no physical contact you can read the media millions of times with no degradation.
InPhase Technologies is set to release its first holographic-based storage device in May, dubbed the Tapestry, and it touts a disc capacity of 300 GB with up to 50 years of archive life–which certainly kicks butt over the usual 2 to 3 years I’ve been getting from my hard drives. And Richard Grigonis over at TMCnet adds:
The Tapestry can handle a 20 MBps-120 MBps transfer rate and can access data in milliseconds. It’s less expensive than any magnetic hard drive RAID solution. The device supports four levels of error correction, so you won’t be losing any data unless you nuke the device or throw it into an active volcano.
However, as per usual, there’s a price to pay for early adoption, and this one’s a doozy: $18,000 for the Tapestry drive and $180 for the 300 GB discs. Suffice it to say, my wife can breathe a sigh of relief to know that this won’t be coming home with me any time soon. But it’s definitely an exciting step into the future (if you’re one, like me, who gets excited over data storage).
This is something every (Windows) mobile user must have.
This software backs up almost all your data - including photos, videos, contacts, SMS etc - storing them in a secure account.
Mobile sync is not new. But one could sync and back up only some data such as contacts or calendar. But what Dashwire offers is much more. Dashwire also enables one to edit contacts or send SMS from the computer, store Internet Explore favourites.
“We mirror your mobile phone to the Web and it allows users to be able to access, manage and share all of their phone content,” explains Chief Executive Ford Davidson. “It is one view of their mobile phone. Any picture that is captured automatically uploads, so it removes the hassle of users trying to figure out how to get their media content from the phone to the Web.”
The photo sharing functionality allows one to share photos via SMS, e-mail, and social networking sites such as Facebook, Flickr, Twitter, and Bebo.
Dashwire also offers mobile to mobile transfer service. This means, if I lose my mobile, I can get the synced data in my new (Windows) mobile.
You have to download and install a client in your mobile to enable this.
For more details, you can read Dashwire’s press release here .
Click here for a video tour of Dashwire’s functionalities.
Click here if you don’t like video and would prefer a ‘normal’ tour.
