Using Action Center and Activating Windows

Windows 7 has a redesigned desktop with many additional customization options. By default, when you log on, the operating system displays an Action Center summary icon in the notification area. This icon has a flag with a red circle with an X in it. Action Center is a program that monitors the status of important security and maintenance areas. If the status of a monitored item changes, Action Center updates the notification icon as appropriate for the severity of the alert. If you move the mouse pointer over this icon, you see a summary of all alerts. If you click this icon, Windows displays a dialog box with a summary listing of each alert or action item that needs your attention. Click an alert or action item link to open your default Web browser and display a possible solution. Click the...

Gossip and the Evolution of facebook

Why did our ancestors evolve the ability to use language? According to the gossip theory, it was to form group alliances. This contrasts with the more popular theory that language evolved in order to convey information and also with the view that language is just a side-effect of the evolution of more advanced forms of thinking.Because our evolutionary ancestors were not as adept at getting food in the forests as other animals around at the time, they were forced to move out into the savannahs to find food. Many explanations have been offered for this, including the fact that our ancestors were not able to digest unripe fruit, while their competitors for food did have this ability. This move to the savannah led to greater predation, since they were out in the open and in better view of predators...

Facebook - The Privacy Virus

How many times have you heard someone (probably someone over forty) say, �Kids these days don�t care about privacy�? Facebook is their Exhibit A: over four hundred million users and growing, telling the world all sorts of scandalously personal details. And it�s not just keg stands, either. There are things federal law considers so private it�s illegal to ask you about them in a job interview. Age. Sex. Birthplace. Religion. They�re all questions on the first page of the Facebook profile form. Yea, verily, privacy is dead and the kids these days killed it.It�s a neat theory, except for one inconvenient detail: the actual behavior of Facebook users. If �privacy� is on the list of words nobody uses any more, Facebook users didn�t get the memo. College students spend the wee hours of weekend nights...

Android 2.3 Gingerbread (and Beyond)

The most recent release of Google�s Android mobile operating system code named Gingerbread may be looking to replace your credit card. Android 2.3 is the first iteration of the OS to support near field communication (NFC) chips, meaning that you could use a smartphone running Gingerbread as a �swipable� payment device. Among Gingerbread�s other intriguing new features are native support for Voice over IP calling, manual control over front facing and back facing cameras, simpler cut and paste controls, and improved power management.The Samsung Nexus S (available both unlocked and in combination with a T Mobile contract) is the first cell phone to offer Gingerbread out of the box, but it most assuredly won�t be the last. Prepare for a wave of Android 2.3 loaded smartphones to reach stores by...

Who Uses facebook and Why?

Since Facebook was founded in 2004, the Social Network Site (SNS) has profoundly altered our lives. Facebook now has over four hundred million active users worldwide, with half of them logging in on a daily basis. With about thirty percent of those users being from the United States, and the US population now about three hundred and eight million people, that means one out of every three Americans�men, women, and children�is a Facebooker.This figure may not seem that much when compared to the number of people that have access to the Internet in the US. According to the most recent report of the Pew Internet and American Life Project, over two thirds of American adults have Internet access, and many of them also report that they have broadband access at home (65 percent White, 46 percent Black,...

11 Uses for an Old PC

Just because you bought a new PC doesn�t mean you must throw away the old one. Here�s how to make the most of an older computer.You�ve finally bought a new PC. It has a boatload of memory, lots of cores, and a fast, modern graphics card. But now your old computer sits in a corner and you feel guilty about the whole idea of throwing it out. After all, it�s perfectly functional. Here are a few ways to put that old system to work. 1. Convert It into a ServerIf you have a home network with family members on it, reusing the PC as a NAS (network attached storage) box or even as an actual server may be just the ticket. However, it�s not simply a matter of plugging an old PC into a network connection. Most desktop systems aren�t configured to be effective servers or storage systems. For one thing,...

Google in the Cloud

Google is believed to manage one of the two or three largest server farms in the world. Recently, it has begun making its infrastructure available to others for a fee. Its widely used offerings, in addition to search, include Google Apps for Business, Google Maps, Google Finance, and Google Voice. More recently, it has introduced Google App Engine, and in its own unique way, it is now a general cloud services provider. Google is aiming to be an enterprise cloud vendor. Its approach to development in the cloud may be summarized as:� Stand on our tall shoulders (Use Google�s extensive code base)� Develop your applications in Java, PHP, or Python� Use the GQL datastore as an alternative to SQL� Let Google worry about resource allocation, load balancing, and ScalabilityGWT, Google App Engine and...

What Are The Storage And Connectivity Options With Current Tablets?

Storage is an important consideration when purchasing a tablet. How much will depend on your needs, and what you intend to do with the tablet. If you are gaming, shooting videos, downloading movies, you will require more storage than if you are primarily reading books and surfing the net. Tablets today come with storage capacity from 4 GB to 64 GB. Many tablets, however, also have a slot for a memory card, increasing the storage capacity to 32 GB in most cases. Tablets need to have some way to connect with the Internet to perform even the basic functions we expect; checking e-mail, surfing the web, streaming books and videos. Most tablets on the market now are Wi-Fi capable. This means that you must be within range of a wireless network for connection to the Internet, whether it is on...

The Paranoid�s Guide to Facebook

Over HALF A billion people use Facebook. It�s the largest phenomenon of human connection in history, not to mention the biggest thing on the Web. But even though we love using Facebook and other social networks, we hate the privacy and security drawbacks. Here are some steps that you can take to keep your information private on Facebook.Five Steps to Privacy1 - Disable Facebook Places:Using Facebook Places has benefits. But when you broad cast your location, you expose vulnerabilities, inviting an ill intentioned person to swoop in. If you use Facebook Places, note that the defaults let �Every one� see your profile which means everyone on the Internet. Go to the Account tab and select Privacy Settings. From there, indicate who should and shouldn�t see your profile, and how much others may...

PCI�s Origins and Competitors

PCI started as an industry initiative that aimed to overcome the limitations of the then-current PC bus (ISA bus). Initially proposed by Intel, it was developed by a group that included systems manufacturers, component vendors, suppliers of add-in cards and peripherals, and software companies.Competition for the bus at the time included IBM�s MicroChannel Architecture (MCA), introduced on their PS/2 personal computer systems and the EISA bus, promulgated by a PC manufacturers� group.MCA, unlike the open ISA bus, was a protected piece of IBM intellectual property; the result was that it only ever appeared in IBM products.EISA suffered from a different problem; since it was backwards compatible with the venerable ISA bus, it embodied a number of compromises which limited its advantages over...