How To Beat Carnival Games

Either beat the games or save your money and buy the 'prize' yourself.

Link:
http://www.blifaloo.com/info/beat-carnival-games.php?showall=true

Elk Cloner was the first

ELK CLONER, 1982: Regarded as the first virus to hit personal computers worldwide, "Elk Cloner" spread through Apple II floppy disks and displayed a poem written by its author, a ninth-grade student who was designing a practical joke.

Read about the other notorious computer viruses over the past 25 years.

Link:
http://www.physorg.com/news107790295.html

IDEA: Search engine query repository and bookmarking service

Overview
Create a bookmarking system where the user no longer bookmarks a single website but instead is bookmarking a highly perfected (over time in the system) search engine query. What this does is prevent the annoying 'page not found' you get when you recall a bookmark. Instead you are always presented with the best possible websites for your topic.

The system would allow for, and encourage, tweaking queries for even better results. This allows your bookmarked queries to become better through the community using the site.

A community member would be able to request a query update where the original query creator would have the option of appending the change or branching the query into a related branch query. Related branch queries are a mechanism to see what other queries had be spawned from your original, perfected query.

Features

• Easily store and recall search queries in all major browsers
• With your account you can make a query public or private
• Public queries can be searched, viewed and modified by other users
• Modified queries requests are sent to you so you can chose to update your query with a better, advanced query
• Queries can be branched, or spawned, from an existing query. All query branches can be followed to see how a query has developed over time
• Complete user account management
• IE and Firefox toolbars to easily 'capture' queries
• Queries could attempt to tweak themselves by the user providing a target webpage. The system would then try and create the best possible query that brings the webpage, and like results, into the top spots in the designated search engine.
• Browser toolbar could have a Query Suggestion button where the system reads the page and attempts to create a query based on the pages content and the system knowledge of advanced query creation.
  

Imagine how many pages will be indexed in 5 or 10 years and as pages indexed increase it would make sense that bookmarked pages would increase also. By bookmarking a query you greatly reduce your bookmarks since a single query, on a topic, can replace large groups of page bookmarks.

Obviously a lot needs to be worked out but this is the basis for the website. First on block is a big thing and so far nobody else is doing this. I think this is a great idea and I just don't have the time to implement so I thought I would release the idea and see what happens.

Discussion going on now at DonationCoder about this idea

Email me if you develop it and donations accepted :-)

Content Aware Image Resizing

Read more here:
http://.../Fascinating-algorithm-to-resize-pictures/

PHP Link Directory

phpLD is now the most widely used directory script on the internet. Our customers have tested the script on over 25,000 websites, and we have been able to produce a script that works in nearly all PHP hosting environments.

Link:
http://www.phplinkdirectory.com/

30+ Firefox Add-ons for Web Developers & Designers

Firefox has cool add-ons which make the job of website designers and developers much easier. Here is our list of 30+ excellent Firefox add-ons that every web developer and designer should know about.

Link:
http://.../30-firefox-add-ons-for-web-developers-designers/

VBA Macros get a productivity boost with MZ-Tools

MZ-Tools 3.0 is a freeware add-in for Visual Basic 6.0, Visual Basic 5.0 and the Visual Basic For Applications editor (provided by a VBA-enabled application such as those in Office 2000 and higher) which adds several productivity features to the IDE.

I have used MZ Tools since a very early release back in VB6 days. This is one of those things that if you work in a Visual Studio IDE or create macros in Word / Excel you will wonder how you ever did without.

Link:
http://www.mztools.com/v3/features.aspx

XYplorer: A multi-tabbed file manager for Windows

XYplorer is a multi-tabbed file manager for Windows, featuring a very powerful file search, versatile preview facilities, a highly customizable interface, and a large array of unique ways to efficiently automate frequently recurring tasks. It's innovative and it's fun!

XYplorer is a portable file manager. It does not require any installation, stores all data in the program's folder, and running it does not change your system or registry.

Read a review:
http://www.donationcoder.com/...

Link:
http://www.xyplorer.com/index.htm

Scriptomatic 2.0

A completely new version of the famous Scriptomatic, the utility that writes WMI scripts for you. (And, in the process, teaches you the fundamental concepts behind writing WMI scripts for yourself.) Unlike its predecessor, Scriptomatic 2.0 isn’t limited to writing just VBScript scripts; instead, Scriptomatic 2.0 can write scripts in Perl, Python, or JScript as well. In addition, Scriptomatic 2.0 gives you a host of new output formats to use when running scripts, including saving data as plain-text, as a stand-alone Web page, or even as XML. Scriptomatic 2.0 handles arrays, it converts dates to a more readable format, and it works with all the WMI classes on your computer; on top of all that, it also writes scripts that can be run against multiple machines.

Link:
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/details.aspx...

Some Simple SQL Rules to Live By

Just in case you have only touched the very basics of SQL this article can help to make sure what you are doing is at least correct, in the Author's eyes.

Link:
http://weblogs.sqlteam.com/jeffs/archive/2006/03/14/9289.aspx

Now that's a display!

Engineers at the University of California, San Diego have constructed the highest-resolution computer display in the world - with a screen resolution up to 220 million pixels.

The new HIPerSpace system between Irvine and San Diego is joined together via high-performance, dedicated optical networking that clocks in at up to two gigabits per second (2Gbps). The systems use the same type of graphics rendering technology, from industry partner NVIDIA. The "graphics super cluster" being developed at UCSD consists of 80 NVIDIA Quadro FX 5600 graphics processing units (GPUs). "The graphics and computational performance of these cards is quite astounding," said Kuester. "Putting the theoretical computational performance of the cluster at almost 40 teraflops.

Link:
http://.../220_million_pixels_on_new_system_at_ucsd.html

The Regex Coach - interactive regular expressions

The Regex Coach is a graphical application for Windows which can be used to experiment with (Perl-compatible) regular expressions interactively.

If you're like me any little bit helps when it comes to Regular Expressions and The Regex Coach does indeed help.

Link:
http://weitz.de/regex-coach/

The Tenth Dimension

Confused?

Google Sky lets you see a galaxy far, far away

Google Earth just keeps getting better. This time it adds Google Sky which lets you explore the universe. From see distant galaxies to putting the planets in motion, Google Sky hits a homerun with me.

Link:
http://earth.google.com/sky/skyedu.html

Screenshots:
http://earth.google.com/gallery/kml_listing.html#csky#s1#e10

Google Likely Bidder in 700MHz Auction

After lobbying the FCC to ensure open access stipulations for the upcoming auction of 700MHz spectrum last month, Google indicated at a conference in Colorado late Tuesday that it would likely submit a $4.6 billion bid for a portion of the spectrum to be auctioned off. The frequencies would be made available following the successful transition of television signals from analog to digital.

Link:
http://.../Google_Likely_Bidder_in_700MHz_Auction/

Online interactive SQL Designer

Link:
http://ondras.zarovi.cz/sql/demo/

GeeXboX turns your computer into a Home Theater PC

GeeXboX is a free embedded Linux distribution which aims at turning your computer into a so called HTPC (Home Theater PC) or Media Center. Being a standalone LiveCD-based distribution, it's a ready to boot operating system than works on any Pentium-class x86 computer or PowerPC Macintosh, implying no software requirement. You can even use it on a diskless computer, the whole system being loaded in RAM.

Despite his tiny ISO image size, the distribution comes with a complete and automatic hardware detection, not requiring any driver to be added. It supports playback of nearly any kind of audio/video and image files and all known codecs and containers are shipped in, allowing playing them through various physical supports, either being CD, DVD, HDD, LAN or Internet.

Link:
http://geexbox.org/en/index.html

Wal-Mart Begins Selling Music in MP3

Wal-Mart said Tuesday it will begin offering MP3 tracks from its music download service through arrangements with labels EMI and Universal.

Link:
http://.../WalMart_Begins_Selling_Music_in_MP3/

USB Drive Apps: PC Repair System

Basically a suit of tools that will fit on a USB drive as small as 32Meg to assist in the repair of a PC. Very much along the lines of Portable Apps but more geared towards fixing rather that function.

What's inside PC Repair System:

• DCoT Menu
• Active@ ISO Burner
• AutoCompress
• Brute Benchmark
• CCleaner
• CDmage
• DriveImage XML
• Double Killer
• DTaskManager
• encopy
• Eraser
• ERUNT
• explore2fs
• File Assassin
• Filemon
• Hash
• HDDScan
• ICE ECC
• LC ISO Creator
• LSASecretsView
• NTREGOPT
• Patcher
• PMMon
• ProcessExplorer
• ProduKey
• Regmon
• Restoration
• Roadkil’s CommTest
• Roadkil’s Disk Image
• Rootkit Revealer
• SequoiaView
• System Information for Windows
• TweakUI
• Universal Extract
• Virtual CD Control Panel
• What Changed?
• Why Reboot?
• WirelessKeyView

Anyone else remember Rocky's Boots

Am I the only one that played this game? A quick discussion over at DC brought back memories of Rocky's Boots. Funny thing is the graphics were actually decent for back in the early 80's.

Rocky’s Boots was a visual simulation that made it possible for upper-grade-school students to design simple digital logic circuits, using a joystick to move around circuit symbols on the screen and plug them together. The circuit components were AND gates, OR gates, NOT gates, and flip-flops. The colors orange and white were used to show the logic states ‘1’ and ‘0’ of the components, so that as the circuit operated, the signals could be seen propagating through the circuits, as if the electricity was liquid orange fire flowing through transparent pipes.

Link:
http://www.warrenrobinett.com/rockysboots/

My wish list on Amazon

I figured nobody would buy anything off the list so I picked out the most expensive things that I would want.

Link:
http://www.amazon.com/gp/registry/wishlist/2IZCUAAFXJPGJ

Eleven steps to buying a domain name that doesn't suck

Eleven steps to buying a domain name that doesn't suck: "Whether you're a multinational Internet retailer or a lone human just entering the Web world, there are many things to consider when purchasing a new domain name, not the least of which are core SEO (search engine optimization) parameters. Following is a list of considerations I'd supply to either entity mentioned above or anyone in between. Some may seem ridiculously obvious, but a friendly reminder won't hurt."

Link:
http://news.com.com/8301-10784_3-9759544-7.html?part=rss

Javascript based Percentage Bar / Progress Bar Creator

Sometimes, when we are building websites and web applications, we need a percentage bar / progress bar to show the progress of a specific task. However, it is very difficult to find a working and easy solution without using Flash. Therefore WebAppers have created a simple Javascript based Percentage Bar / Progress Bar which is inspired by Bare Naked App. Bare Naked App taught us how to display Percentage Bar with 2 images only by using CSS. And then I used a little bit of Javascript to make it more interactive. You can use it anywhere you can think of. Use your Imagination, I am sure you will find it useful somewhere.

Link:
http://www.webappers.com/progressBar/

Who's editing Wikipedia

WikiScanner will let tell you who's editing Wikipedia.

Link:
http://wikiscanner.virgil.gr/

Xinu shows how well your website is performing

Xinu lets you quickly check your PageRank, backlinks and much more. This is a great way to see how your website is performing in the web world. Be aware that some information may not be 100% accurate so use this as more of a guide.

Link:
http://www.xinureturns.com/

Google improves its Robots.txt tools

We've improved Webmaster Central's robots.txt analysis tool to recognize sitemap declarations and relative urls. Earlier versions weren't aware of sitemaps at all, and understood only absolute URLs; anything else was reported as Syntax not understood. The improved version now tells you whether your sitemap's URL and scope are valid. You can also test against relative URLs with a lot less typing.

Link:
http://.../new-robotstxt-feature-and-rep-meta-tags.html

Need a quick and easy file manager for PHP?

Then check out File Thingie (great name).

File Thingie is a small web-based file manager written in PHP. It is intended for those who need to give others access to a part of their server's file system when FTP is not practical. Through File Thingie you and your users get access to the most common functions

Link:
http://www.solitude.dk/filethingie/

Talk like a Googler: parts of a url

Let’s dissect the parts of a URL (uniform resource locator). I’ll tell you how we typically refer to different parts of a URL at Google...

Link:
http://www.mattcutts.com/blog/seo-glossary-url-definitions/

Better blogger templates

Some new and different blogger templates to give your blog a more unique look.

Link:
http://www.geckoandfly.com/blogspot-templates/

Vista Hands On #17: Solving a pesky resource problem

Have you experienced any of these problems with Windows Vista? After opening a large number of programs and windows, you try to launch a new program or open a new browser tab or even switch back to an already running program and instead:

• You get a strange “out of memory” message, despite the fact that you’re using only a fraction of the RAM installed on your system.
• The window opens but its contents refuse to load.
• The window opens, but menus are missing, dialog boxes are empty, or buttons don’t work.

Read on how to fix:
http://blogs.zdnet.com/Bott/?p=269

Do you like Horror movies?

Then check out the Horror and Sci-Fi news mashup site I put together. I did it for myself because I wanted something I could quickly navigate to to see what happening in the world of horror.

Pass it along to anyone who you think may be interested.

Link:
http://scarymind.com/

Is Outsourcing Right for Your Business?

Many businesses still are very hesitant to embrace outsourcing as a means to growing their practice and increasing productivity. To help you decide whether outsourcing is right for your business consider the following common questions:

Q: How can I be sure private client data will be secure?

A: Superior security measures and processes; make sure you have a signed service agreement (including confidentiality guarantees). Some important security features to look for when choosing a vendor are if they support a paperless monitored work environment. Consider network security such as if their site is encrypted and uses a firewall. Also, verify how they hire their employees. Do they adhere to stringent background checks and do they require a particular level of education or training?

Q: Is it against the law or code of ethics to utilize outsourcing?

A: No, as long as disclosures are made to the client. There is typically a provision in most privacy statements that disclose that the firm may be a need to disclose client information to third parties who provide help in servicing their accounts. Most firms reference outsourcing directly or indirectly in their privacy statement in order to comply with the Graham Leach Bliley Act. In either case, as long as the taxpayer is assured that his/her return will be reviewed by the firm's tax department prior to filing, they generally respond favorably to outsourcing.

Q: How can I be assured that the work being done meets the high quality standards that I guarantee my own clients?

A: Again, investigate whether the vendor employs a skilled staff. Verify that the vendor performs quality checks and audits by seasoned U.S. staff and conducts rigorous and continual ongoing training of the tax and accounting team.

Q. How can I ensure outsourcing will be successful for me?

A. Communication with vendor. In the end, it is up to both the vendor as well as the client to make sure the lines of communication are open. The more the vendor understands the needs and work flow of the client and the more the client understands the outsourcing process, the better the relationship will be for both parties.

BuPro USA is the leader in outsourcing services for accounting and tax professionals. BuPro USA is a U.S. and Indian based company that helps accounting and tax professionals become more efficient and manage their work more effectively. Their proprietary technology platform makes the outsourcing process easy to use for all accounting and tax professionals; no matter their size or business mix. Key benefits include: a lower stress work environment, better quality, lower costs and better end-client relations. BuPro USA is a privately held company based in Ferndale, MI. For additional information, please visit http://www.BuProUSA.com or contact us at: info@BuProUSA.com

Article Source: http://EzineArticles.com/?expert=Allison_Marrs

InsiteCreation 2008 is a very nice ASP.NET CMS System

Thanx to Cheryl Wise for bringing this ASP.NET CMS system to my attention.

For ASP.NET its probably one of the cleanest CMS systems I have come across. They have done a great job with the interface aspect of the CMS system. This is where a lot of CMS systems lose their users, in ugly and confusing admin areas.

I much prefer PHP, but for those who like ASP.NET this is a must to check out.

Right into the features:
http://www.insitecreation.com/insitecreation.aspx

Add a little color to your electronic device with ColorWare

ColorWare Inc., established in 2000, is an industry leader in altering the color of existing products. The idea behind ColorWare started with transforming the ubiquitous beige computer into a custom-colored work of art.

A simple idea that can give your hardware a personal touch. Check it out.

Link:
http://www.colorwarepc.com

Clearview to replace Highway Gothic

The typeface is the brainchild of Don Meeker, an environmental graphic designer, and James Montalbano, a type designer. They set out to fix a problem with a highway font, and their solution — more than a decade in the making — may end up changing a lot more than just the view from the dashboard. Less than a generation ago, fonts were for the specialist, an esoteric pursuit, what Stanley Morison, the English typographer who helped create Times New Roman in the 1930s, called “a minor technicality of civilized life.” Now, as the idea of branding has claimed a central role in American life, so, too, has the importance and understanding of type. Fonts are image, and image is modern America.

Link:
http://...r=2&oref=slogin&oref=slogin

Facebook Home Page Code Leaked!

Not much to say except you can see the source code driving the homepage of Facebook.

Link:
http://facebooksecrets.blogspot.com/

Professional Legal Documents for Free

Over 300 free professional legal documents and forms available to download as Microsoft Word documents (.doc) ready for you to print.

This is great!

Link:
http://www.prolegaldocs.com/

11 Super Awesome Photoshop Movie Effects

In honor of some of our favorite summer blockbusters (Harry Potter and Transformers), we bring you our 10 11 most-favorite movie-effect tutorials. From Scarface to Sin City to Pirates of the Carribean to 300, we’ve got 11 great ways to go Hollywood on your photos. Read on!

Link:
http://.../best-movie-effect-photo-tutorials-photoshop/

Web Marketing: Standard Ad sizes

Couple of good sources for what the standard sizes are for web marketing material (images, movies, Flash).

On Wikipedia:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Web_banner

Interactive Marketing Units:
http://www.fearnwebdesign.com/php/pages/advertising.php

Scrollovers

Scrollovers are a way to quickly and easily add flair to your web pages, giving your users an experience they weren't expecting.

Integration of Scrollovers into your web site couldn't be easier, even if you’ve already built the site that you want to include Scrollovers on. In just minutes you will be able to have them appearing on your own pages.

Link:
http://www.scrollovers.com/

Options to hide your email address from spam bots

Wired magazine has a small article on how to protect your email address from spam bots when publishing on your website.

Link:
http://...page_name=hide_your_e_mail_address_from_spam_bots

Microsoft Unveils Microsoft Money Plus

Building on the company’s 17-year history of delivering award-winning financial management solutions, Microsoft Corp. today launches Microsoft® Money Plus, the latest release of the popular Money product line. Money Plus debuts innovative new tools that enable consumers to effortlessly manage all their finances. With customizable “Insights,” Microsoft Money Plus delivers important financial information right to the desktop, without the need to open the Money program. Consumers can personalize Insights to alert them when they are close to preset spending limits or when bills are coming due and can also quickly and easily check accounts to see balances and cash flow.

Link:
http://www.microsoft.com/...MoneyPlusPR.mspx

That's alot of font

80 Beautiful Typefaces For Professional Design is another great article by Smashing Magazine which talks about 80 of the best, in their opinion, fonts to be used by professional designers. What I like the most out of the articles written by Smashing Magazine is their use of screenshots and graphics in the articles. They use a lot of graphics in the articles which means that even if you don't have the time to read the articles you can get something out it just by skimming through it.

Keep up the great work and looking forward to the next article.

Link:
http://...beautiful-fonts-typefaces-for-professional-design/

PayPal Security Key

This is a quick post about a physical security key you can get to better protect your PayPal account. Very nice option.

Link:
http://www.sarahintampa.com/.../high-security-w.html

Data Visualization: Modern Approaches

Data presentation can be both beautiful, elegant and descriptive. There is a variety of conventional ways to visualize data - tables, histograms, pie charts and bar graphs are being used every day, in every project and on every possible occasion. However, to convey a message to your readers effectively, sometimes you need more than just a simple pie chart of your results. In fact, there are much better, profound, creative and absolutely fascinating ways to visualize data. Many of them might become ubiquitous in the next few years.

So what can we expect? Which innovative ideas are already being used? And what are the most creative approaches to present data in ways we’ve never thought before?

Let’s take a look at the most interesting modern approaches to data visualization as well as related articles, resources and tools.

Very cool article to scan through.

Link:
http://.../data-visualization-modern-approaches/

Portable Apps

Now you can carry your favorite computer programs along with all of your bookmarks, settings, email and more with you. Use them on any Windows computer. All without leaving any personal data behind.

This is basically a collection of free software that all runs from a USB drive (Flash drive) so you can take it with you when you're on the go. See below for a list of software.

• Firefox Accessibility Extension - Make Firefox more accessible
• On-Screen Keyboard Portable - Easily access an on-screen keyboard
• Virtual Magnifying Glass Portable - A full-featured screen magnifier
• Notepad++ Portable - A full-featured text editor with syntax highlighting
• Nvu Portable & KompoZer Portable - The easy-to-use Nvu web editor
• XAMPP - Apache, mySQL, PHP, phpMyAdmin, etc in one package
• Mines-Perfect Portable - a classic hunt-for-mines game with advanced features
• PokerTH Portable - classic Texas Hold Em style poker at its best
• Sudoku Portable - the wildly popular and addictive puzzle game
• GIMP Portable - Photo and Image Editor
• FileZilla Portable - the full-featured FTP client
• FireFTP Extension (for Firefox) - a lightweight extension
• Gaim Portable - chat with AOL, MSN and Yahoo users in an easy-to-use interface
• Miranda IM Portable - chat with AOL, MSN and Yahoo users in a customizable interface
• Mozilla Firefox, Portable Edition - the award-winning web browser that's safe and secure
• Mozilla Thunderbird, Portable Edition - the handy email client
• Nvu Portable & KompoZer Portable - the easy-to-use webpage editor
• PuTTY Portable - lightweight telnet and SSH client
• Sage Extension (for Firefox) - A full-featured RSS extension
• Audacity Portable - A simple audio editor and recorder
• MPlayer Portable - Full-featured movie player with support for most video formats
• VirtualDub Portable - video processing and capture utility
• VLC Media Player Portable - An easy to use media player that plays most audio and video formats
• AbiWord Portable - a lightweight word processor compatible with Microsoft Word files
• Lightning Extension (for Thunderbird) - A lightweight extension for your calendar and tasks
• Mozilla Sunbird, Portable Edition - Calendar and task management with a familiar interface
• Mozilla Thunderbird, Portable Edition (Address Book) - Email client's built-in address book with import/export functions
• OpenOffice.org Portable - word processor, spreadsheet, presentations with Microsoft compatibility
• Sumatra PDF Portable - a lightweight PDF viewer
• Mac-on-Stick - Run Mac OS Classic 7 portably
• 7-Zip Portable - File archiver and compressor
• ClamWin Portable - Antivirus on the go
• Command Prompt Portable - Simple link to a customizable command prompt
• Eraser Portable - securely delete files and data
• KeePass Password Safe Portable - Secure, easy-to-use password manager
• PortableApps.com Backup - integrated backup utility bundled with the platform
• PortableApps.com Menu - integrated start menu bundled with the platform
• Toucan - backup, sync and encrypt for advanced users
• winMd5Sum Portable - check md5 sums to verify files on the go

The way I look at is, why not. I have a lot of extra space on a USB drive I carry around so why no load it with some software.

Don't forget to support them with a donation (even $1 USD helps them).

Link:
http://portableapps.com/

HOWTO: View answers on Experts Exchange

If you have ever done a search for a technical issue then you may have come across Experts Exchange and noticed that the answers are all masked. The only way to see the answers was to signup for an account to have the answer unlocked.

Masked Answer Sample:
http://www.experts-exchange.com/Networking/Q_21660493.html

There is a way to see the answers that works pretty well. I should note that this is for reference only and should not be used to bypass their signups.

Steps

1. Download and install the Google Toolbar
2. Ensure the Page Rank and Page Info button is on the toolbar (located under More Buttons on the Option Dialog)
3. Navigate to the Experts Exchange page you want to view
4. With the page loaded click the down arrow next to PageRank button the Google Toolbar and select Cached Snapshot of Page

That's it. The cached snapshot displays the unmasked answers. Why? Because it would appear, in my opinion, that Experts Exchange breaks the guidelines of Google by serving a different page to the GoogleBot (Google's crawler) then it does to its website users. GoogleBot receives pages with unmasked answers so they can be indexed.

Unlocked Sample:
http://...%2FNetworking%2FQ_21660493.html

Google Recipe Search

Sample recipe search

Notice the Ingredient and Cuisine drop downs at the top of the search results.

Slowly over time I have switched away from other website and use Google exclusively for searches. They just keep adding more features that makes searching much easier. Try searching for a movie (detailed result) through Google - cool huh?

Mozilla Releases Hacker Tools

Mozilla is beginning to give away programs used by both the good guys and the bad guys to discover critical program vulnerabilities.

The programs, called fuzzers, have so far been for internal use only. Fuzzers poke at programs in search of vulnerabilities that can arise when an application receives data it doesn't expect.

Link:
http://blogs.pcworld.com/staffblog/archives/005059.html

Mozilla Security Blog:
http://blogs.mozilla.com/security

A beginner's guide to BitTorrent

Despite the fact that BitTorrent has been around for a good 6 years now, the lightning fast file sharing protocol hasn't completely taken off in the mainstream. Since we post a decent amount about BitTorrent around here, we figured it was just time we put out a beginner's guide to BitTorrent. This is the guide you can send to your friend next time he gets that glassy look in his eyes when you mention BitTorrent and how quick and easy it makes downloading albums educational, public domain videos and other large files.

Without going into too much detail, here's a crash course in the file sharing protocol that is BitTorrent (feel free to skip to the How to find and download a file with BitTorrent section if you're not all that interested in the details).

Link:
http://lifehacker.com/.../a-beginners-guide-to-bittorrent-285489.php

10 things you can do when Windows XP won't boot

When your computer hardware appears to power up okay, but the Windows XP operating system won't boot properly, you have to begin a troubleshooting expedition that includes getting into the operating system, determining the problem, and then fixing it. To help you get started on this expedition, here are 10 things you can do when Windows XP won't boot.

Link:
http://articles.techrepublic.com.com/...

SideJacking: Stealing information when you connect to someone else's WiFi

Users may think that their personal data is safe when they use a secure login page online, but that's quite far from the truth. In fact, everything from the contents of your e-mail, who your friends and acquaintances are, and almost anything else you can think of could be easily exposed by hackers if browsed via WiFi network, security firm Errata Security pointed out in a recent paper presented at this year's Black Hat 2007 and seen by Ars Technica.

Link:
http://...-report-sidejacking-session-information-over-wifi-easy-as-pie

Server location, cross-linking, and Web 2.0 technology thoughts

Server location, cross-linking, and Web 2.0 technology thoughts: "Before you begin cross-linking sites, consider the user's perspective and whether the crosslinks provide value. If the sites are related in business -- e.g., an auto manual site linking to an auto parts retail site, then it could make sense -- the links are organic and useful. Cross-linking between dozens or hundreds of sites, however, probably doesn't provide value, and I would not recommend it."

Link:
http://.../server-location-cross-linking-and-web.html

Is it Rocketboom or is it Memorex

WebbAlert, with Morgan Webb, appears a lot like Rocketboom. The difference is that the information is much more main stream and cutting edge (as far as what's hot in the blog world). Interesting enough that I may follow the video blog for a bit and see where it goes. Will it keep my interest over time? Not sure yet.

Link:
http://www.webbalert.com/

Comodo Free Firewall is better than what comes with WinXP

Unfortunately, most firewalls leak. But Comodo's Firewall is unique in that it passes all known leak tests to ensure the integrity of data entering and exiting your system. Comodo has put firewall through all kinds of sophisticated tests to ensure its firewall powerful enough to ward off these attacks with default settings. No other firewall has had to work this hard.

Features from Comodo's website:

• PC Magazine Online's Editor's Choice
• Secures against internal and external attacks
• Blocks internet access to malicious Trojan programs
• Safeguards your Personal data against theft
• Delivers total end-point security for Personal Computers and Networks

I was a long time user of Sygate's personal firewall but when it was acquired by Symantec no more updates were provided and the firewall and all future development just died. I continued using Sygate until locating Comodo, and so far, has proved to be a great firewall.

Link:
http://www.personalfirewall.comodo.com/

Organized collection of Javascript Libraries

Very nicely organized collection of Javascript Libraries. Now if they would only provide a description under each title. Either way I like it and have bookmarked it.

Link:
http://javascriptlibraries.com/

How To: Bulletproof Server Backups with Amazon S3

We all know that it is important to keep recent backups of anything you value at all, so why not automate the process? Until I started tinkering with S3, my server backup process involved manually downloading and compressing the contents of my server and storing the compressed file on my hard drive. That usually took longer than I’d like so I wouldn’t do it terribly often. The main benefit of backing up with S3 is that you take advantage to your server’s high-speed connection and bypass the need to download files over your connection, as well as safely store files somewhere other than your own server.

Link:
http://.../how-to-bulletproof-server-backups-with-amazon-s3/