The Optio Z10 has an 8.0 effective mega pixels resolution, and a 7x optical zoom lens that covers focal lengths from 6.3 to 44.1mm
Pentax has announced the launch of its 8 mega pixels Optio Z10 digital camera in the country.
The Optio Z10 has a refraction lens system to prevent the lens from protruding while zooming.
According to Pentax, this optical zoom covers a broad range from wide-angle to telephoto, and offers ultra-high magnification of up to approximately 35.7x when combined with digital zoom.
The Optio Z10 is equipped with a face recognition AF and AE (Auto Focus and Auto Exposure) function, which is capable of detecting faces of up to 15 people at a time, reducing detection time to approximately 0.03 seconds at minimum, claims Pentax.
The Optio Z10 also has an Auto Picture- mode and a Digital SR (Shake Reduction)- mode. In addition, it features an electronic Shake Reduction function that corrects blurring in images during image playback.
The Optio Z10 comes with a high resolution 230,000 pixels 2.5-inches LCD monitor, and a wide viewing angle of 170 degrees from all directions.
Compatible with SD memory cards and SDHC memory cards, the Optio Z10 offers 52MB of built-in memory.
Priced at Rs 20,990, the Pentax Optio Z10 is available exclusively from IDLDPL.
Sunday, December 30, 2007
Saturday, December 29, 2007
Wednesday, December 26, 2007
Trojan.Win32.CP4000
Trojan.Win32.CP4000 is a new warning message that introduced by a rogue anti-spyware program, which is a form of fake malicious software engineered by Internet hackers. It is a variant of Trojan.Win32 or Trojan.Win32.agent.akk
Trojan.Win32.CP4000 used to be a real malware, now fake anti-spyware software like Files Secure which will display Trojan.Win32.CP4000 as a fake popup message or their scan result to trick user to buy the fake anti-spyware program. The fake anti-spyware program usually get installed onto your PC without your permission, through Trojan, malware and virus (or you could get it by installing a fake video codec). fake anti-spyware will display the Trojan.Win32.CP4000 fake system alerts or fake security alerts to trick user to buy the Paid Version of the fake anti-spyware program.
The possible error messages are either “Your browser was infected by Trojan.Win32.CP4000. It’s dangerous for your system (critical files can be lost)! Click OK to download the antispyware program to clean your system!”, or “Your browser was hijacked by Trojan.Win32.CP4000″. As discussed previously, these messages are completely misleading. You can safely remove Trojan.Win32.CP4000 by following our manual removal instructions if you are familiar with regedit and dll files. Good luck!
Download SpyHunter* Spyware Detection Utility
Manual Trojan.Win32.CP4000 Removal Instructions:
Unregister Trojan.Win32.CP4000 DLL Files:
(Learn how to do this)
poswin.dll
isfmdl.dll
pdswin.dll
avicap3.dll
xmljacodec.dll
hggdbab.dll
ddcyvtt.dll
ctl3d3.dll
sprt_ads.dll
browsew.dll
byxww.dll
ssqpp.dll
Find and Delete these Trojan.Win32.CP4000 Files:
(Learn how to do this)
poswin.dll
isfmdl.dll
pdswin.dll
avicap3.dll
xmljacodec.dll
shdocvw.dll
hggdbab.dll
ddcyvtt.dll
ctl3d3.dll
sprt_ads.dll
browsew.dll
byxww.dll
ssqpp.dll
Remove Trojan.Win32.CP4000 Registry Values:
(Learn how to do this)
3e0cee63-f8bc-4485-a745-cc01b2a0e9d9
369A87BB-07DF-4AB6-B23D-B5BF81338572
69B98C68-D2B8-4A4E-9CB7-E85B6F3A7014
70CC76D5-A4EE-4F25-9931-B109A63E298E
E2278F85-4584-4BEE-928C-600B38C385C1
37CEA8AE-2C1F-4F88-8362-0BFFBA53D2FD
82FE0677-75EC-49BF-83E9-A815F68F6212
FBFE32FE-4ED6-4099-A087-8C238B714831
7AB85EC7-22E7-4B5D-89DA-A9EBD1AF3520
977CA316-5487-4EE4-947E-7AC8EFBF60F5
376892AE-1825-4E5F-9F85-23F9640051CC
How to Use the Group Policy Results (GPResult.exe) Command Line Tool
Intended for administrators, the Group Policy Results (GPResult.exe) command line tool verifies all policy settings in effect for a specific user or computer. Administrators can run GPResult on any remote computer within their scope of management. By default, GPResult returns settings in effect on the computer on which GPResult is run.
To run GPResult on your own computer:
- Click Start, Run, and enter cmd to open a command window.
- Type gpresult and redirect the output to a text file :
- Enter notepad gp.txt to open the file.
Administrators can also direct GPResult to other users and computers. Complete parameters of the tool are shown in the table below.
Using GPResult Command Line Tool
| Parameters | Function |
|---|---|
| /s Computer | Specifies the name or IP address of a remote computer. (Do not use backslashes.) The default is the local computer. |
| /u Domain\User | Runs the command with the account permissions of the user that is specified by User or Domain\User. The default is the permissions of the current logged-on user on the computer that issues the command. |
| /p Password | Specifies the password of the user account that is specified in the /u parameter. |
| /user TargetUserName | Specifies the user name of the user whose RSOP data is to be displayed. |
| /scope {user|computer} | Displays either user or computer results. Valid values for the /scope parameter are user or computer. If you omit the /scope parameter, gpresult displays both user and computer settings. |
| /v | Specifies that the output display verbose policy information. |
| /z | Specifies that the output display all available information about Group Policy. Because this parameter produces more information than the /v parameter, redirect output to a text file when you use this parameter (for example, gpresult /z >policy.txt). |
| /? | Displays help at the command prompt. |
Monday, December 24, 2007
IPhone getting ready for UK Release
Steve Jobs unveiled the IPhone to the UK market ready for its release at the end of October on the 31st.The IPhone in the USA is sold with a contract on the AT&T network, i always wondered who would be the UK contract winners for this much anticipated phone. The answer is O2, yes this will be locked to the O2 network (of course there will be unlocking options).
In the UK we are all used to getting phones on contract and with this the phones are usually free. Not with the IPhone, it will still cost you £269 for the phone plus the contract fee’s on top!
Apple may turn down iPod volume
Apple may turn down the volume in the future versions of its iPod over fears that listeners could deafen themselves by playing their music at full volume for too long.
The company fears that rock fans will deafen themselves with a highest volume setting equal to a chainsaw and have led them to develop an automatic volume control.
This is the first time that the company has explicitly expressed fears over the risk the device poses to hearing. According to experts, millions of young people are risking irreversible hearing damage because of the craze for MP3 players.
However, the iPod, like other digital music players, can store enough music to play for several days and has batteries that can last for more than 12 hours at a time.
This leads to owners keeping their earphones in all day, risking growing damage to their hearing.
The next iPods and iPhones could automatically calculate how long a person has been listening to the music, and at what volume, before gradually reducing the sound level, revealed a new patent.
The company fears that rock fans will deafen themselves with a highest volume setting equal to a chainsaw and have led them to develop an automatic volume control.
This is the first time that the company has explicitly expressed fears over the risk the device poses to hearing. According to experts, millions of young people are risking irreversible hearing damage because of the craze for MP3 players.
However, the iPod, like other digital music players, can store enough music to play for several days and has batteries that can last for more than 12 hours at a time.
This leads to owners keeping their earphones in all day, risking growing damage to their hearing.
The next iPods and iPhones could automatically calculate how long a person has been listening to the music, and at what volume, before gradually reducing the sound level, revealed a new patent.
How NORAD (The Santa Radar)Tracks Santa Claus
The NORAD Tracks Santa Web site is the form of a public relations program by the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD). For over fifty years on Christmas Eve NORAD has told stories of how their powerful tracking systems such as the Distant Early Warning Line (DEW Line) detected Santa Claus leaving the North Pole to deliver his presents.This happens every year.
Official NORAD Santa Tracker Website (multi-lingual) & official hotline: 1-877-HI-NORAD
History
In 1955, a Colorado Springs-based Sears store ran an advertisement encouraging children to call Santa Claus on a special telephone hotline. Due to a printing error, the phone number that was printed was the hotline for the Director of Operations at the Continental Air Defense (CONAD). Colonel Harry Shoup took the first Santa call on Christmas Eve of 1955 from a six-year old boy who began reciting his Christmas list. Shoup didn't find the call funny, but after asking the mother of the second caller what was happening, then realizing the mistake that occurred, he instructed his staff to give Santa's position to any child who called in.
Three years later, the governments of the United States and Canada combined their national domestic air defenses into the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), but the tradition continued. Now major media outlets as well as children call in to inquire on Santa's location. NORAD relies on volunteers to help make Santa tracking possible. Many employees at Cheyenne Mountain and Peterson Air Force Base spend part of their Christmas Eve with their families and friends at NORAD's Santa Tracking Operations Center in order to answer phones and provide Santa updates to thousands of callers. About 800 service members and their families volunteer, and shift run from 2 a.m. MST December 24 to 2 a.m. Christmas morning.
In 1997, Canadian Major Jamie Robertson took over the program and expanded it to the Web where corporation-donated services have given the tradition global accessibility. In 2004, NORAD received more than 35,000 e-mails, 55,000 calls and 912 million hits on the Santa-tracking website from 181 countries. In 2005, more than 500 volunteers answered questions. The site now gets well over 1 billion hits.
The fictional background storyline has changed with the world political situation: during the Cold War when the tracking team provided updates via radio announcements, only North America was mentioned and Santa's approach was described in tense terms with interceptor aircraft scrambled to shoot down the "bogie." Only at the last minute would the pilot realize who he was engaging. Now the Web shows that as Santa approaches Newfoundland, a flight of Canadian Air Force fighters (CF-18 Hornets as of 2006) rendezvouses with him to provide an honor guard and ensure that he has no difficulty with the various Air Defense Identification Zones (ADIZ) he must enter.
In 2005 holiday season marked the fiftieth anniversary of NORAD's annual tracking of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.
In 2006, NORAD Tracks Santa began using Microsoft Virtual Earth-style maps that instantly provide Santa's current location.
In 2007, NORAD Tracks Santa will begin using Google Earth to track Santa Claus in 3-D. They will also instantly provide Santa's location.
Hourly updates
The Web site is updated each hour to show a CGI-rendered Santa flying over one or more major cities in the time zone where it is midnight. These are viewable as videos which also include a voiceover from a member of NORAD staff (usually; on the 2005 (and 2006 due to the voiceovers being re-used) site, the video showing him over London had a voiceover by well known British celebrity Jonathan Ross, and 2004 had former Beatle Ringo Starr), explaining his location along with various facts about Santa and the country his is visiting.
In 2006, the videos described Santa
1. taking off from the North Pole and proceeding south along the International Date Line
2. visiting Auckland, Picton, and Cloudy Bay, New Zealand
3. passing over the Sydney Opera House as he enters Australia
4. passing Fuji-san and a 500 series Shinkansen "bullet train" in Japan
5. flying along the Great Wall of China and into Siberia
6. crossing the Hump (the Himalayas in Nepal)
7. passing the Taj Mahal in India
8. climbing to an altitude of some 240 miles (385 kilometers) to visit the International Space Station
9. admiring the "onion dome" architecture of Moscow (though passing through quickly, because the Eastern Orthodox Church prefer to give presents on Epiphany)
10. passing the Egyptian Pyramids and the Sphinx heading toward Cairo[19]
11. covering Italy while admiring the Colosseum in Rome, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and the canals of Venic
12. traveling north over the castles of Bavaria and into the rest of Germany
13. circling the Eiffel Tower in Paris
14. leaving North Africa and the Canary Islands for London (announced by Jonathan Ross of the BBC)
15. rendezvousing in mid-Atlantic Ocean with an unidentified Ohio-class submarine
16. coming into Rio de Janeiro past Cristo Redentor
17. touring Machu Picchu
18. entering the United States Northern Command by transiting up the coast of Florida past Kennedy Space Center
19. delivering to New York City while admiring the Statue of Liberty and Central Park before continuing into Quebec
20. flying through the Gateway Arch at St. Louis
21. pausing in Manitoba at Reindeer Lake
22. passing over NORAD's Cheyenne Mountain Operation Center before continuing to Alberta and Saskatchewan
23. orbiting Seattle's Space Needle and proceeding to California
24. finishing his mission at Hawaii
Notably, most of the videos posted on the 2006 site are the same ones (both in visuals and voiceover) as the ones posted on the 2005 site. Previous years have used the same visuals, but different voiceovers.
In 2004
1. Lifting off from the North Pole
2. visiting Auckland, Picton, and Cloudy Bay, New Zealand
3. Visiting Sydney, Australia
4. Japan
5. Visiting the Great Wall of China
6. Visiting the Himalayas Mountains in Nepal
7. Visitng India and the Taj Mahal
8. Santa visitng the Persian Gulf
9. Santa visiting Russia
10. Santa visiting Egypt and the International Space Station
11. Visiting Greece and flying over the olympic stadium
12. Visiting the Coliseum
13. Visiting the Eiffel Tower in Paris
14. Beatle celebrity Ringo Starr tells us about Santa in England
15. Santa in the Atlantic Ocean
16. Santa in Brazil passing Christ the Redeemer
17. Santa in Canada then heading to South
18. Santa delivering gifts in Maine
19. Santa in New York
20. Santa in St. Louis
21. Santa in Manitoba
22. Santa in Colorado Springs
23. Santa in Seattle
24. santa ends his mission in Hawaii
NORAD Account of Tracking
NORAD details its fictional tracking system:
Detecting Santa all starts with the NORAD radar system called the North Warning System. This powerful radar system has 47 installations strung across the northern border of North America. NORAD makes a point of checking the radar closely for indications of Santa Claus leaving the North Pole on Christmas Eve.
The moment our radar tells us that Santa has lifted off, we use our second mode of detection, the same satellites that we use in providing warning of possible missile launches aimed at North America. These satellites are located in a geo-synchronous orbit (that's a cool phrase meaning that the satellite is always fixed over the same spot on the Earth) at 22,300 miles above the Earth. The satellites have infrared sensors, meaning they can detect heat. When a rocket or missile is launched, a tremendous amount of heat is produced - enough for the satellites to detect. Rudolph's nose gives off an infrared signature similar to a missile launch. The satellites can detect Rudolph's bright red nose with practically no problem. With so many years of experience, NORAD has become good at tracking aircraft entering North America, detecting worldwide missile launches and tracking the progress of Santa, thanks to Rudolph.
The third detection system we use is the Santa Cam. We began using it in 1998 - the year we put our Santa Tracking program on the Internet. NORAD Santa Cams are ultra-cool high-tech high-speed digital cameras that are pre-positioned at many places around the world. NORAD only uses these cameras once a year - Christmas Eve. The cameras capture images of Santa and the Reindeer as they make their journey around the world. We immediately download the images on to our web site for people around the world to see. Santa Cams produce both video and still images.
The fourth detection system we use is the NORAD jet fighter. Canadian NORAD fighter pilots, flying the CF-18, take off out of Newfoundland to intercept and welcome Santa to North America. Then at numerous locations in Canada other CF-18 fighter pilots escort Santa. While in the United States, American NORAD fighter pilots in either the F-15 or F-16 get the thrill of flying with Santa and the famous Reindeer Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph. About a dozen NORAD fighters in Canada and the United States are equipped with Santa Cams.
Corporate Sponsorship
The WHOIS lookup for noradsanta.org indicates that domain is owned by Analytical Graphics, Inc. In 2006, NORAD officials specifically thanked Island Web Studios, America Online, Akamai, Analytical Graphics, Globelink Language and Cultural Services, Qwest Communications, Verizon, and Microsoft Virtual Earth for help with the program[1]. In 2007, the primary sponsorship is Qwest Communications and Google Corp.
Official NORAD Santa Tracker Website (multi-lingual) & official hotline: 1-877-HI-NORAD
History
In 1955, a Colorado Springs-based Sears store ran an advertisement encouraging children to call Santa Claus on a special telephone hotline. Due to a printing error, the phone number that was printed was the hotline for the Director of Operations at the Continental Air Defense (CONAD). Colonel Harry Shoup took the first Santa call on Christmas Eve of 1955 from a six-year old boy who began reciting his Christmas list. Shoup didn't find the call funny, but after asking the mother of the second caller what was happening, then realizing the mistake that occurred, he instructed his staff to give Santa's position to any child who called in.
Three years later, the governments of the United States and Canada combined their national domestic air defenses into the North American Aerospace Defense Command (NORAD), but the tradition continued. Now major media outlets as well as children call in to inquire on Santa's location. NORAD relies on volunteers to help make Santa tracking possible. Many employees at Cheyenne Mountain and Peterson Air Force Base spend part of their Christmas Eve with their families and friends at NORAD's Santa Tracking Operations Center in order to answer phones and provide Santa updates to thousands of callers. About 800 service members and their families volunteer, and shift run from 2 a.m. MST December 24 to 2 a.m. Christmas morning.
In 1997, Canadian Major Jamie Robertson took over the program and expanded it to the Web where corporation-donated services have given the tradition global accessibility. In 2004, NORAD received more than 35,000 e-mails, 55,000 calls and 912 million hits on the Santa-tracking website from 181 countries. In 2005, more than 500 volunteers answered questions. The site now gets well over 1 billion hits.
The fictional background storyline has changed with the world political situation: during the Cold War when the tracking team provided updates via radio announcements, only North America was mentioned and Santa's approach was described in tense terms with interceptor aircraft scrambled to shoot down the "bogie." Only at the last minute would the pilot realize who he was engaging. Now the Web shows that as Santa approaches Newfoundland, a flight of Canadian Air Force fighters (CF-18 Hornets as of 2006) rendezvouses with him to provide an honor guard and ensure that he has no difficulty with the various Air Defense Identification Zones (ADIZ) he must enter.
In 2005 holiday season marked the fiftieth anniversary of NORAD's annual tracking of Santa Claus on Christmas Eve.
In 2006, NORAD Tracks Santa began using Microsoft Virtual Earth-style maps that instantly provide Santa's current location.
In 2007, NORAD Tracks Santa will begin using Google Earth to track Santa Claus in 3-D. They will also instantly provide Santa's location.
Hourly updates
The Web site is updated each hour to show a CGI-rendered Santa flying over one or more major cities in the time zone where it is midnight. These are viewable as videos which also include a voiceover from a member of NORAD staff (usually; on the 2005 (and 2006 due to the voiceovers being re-used) site, the video showing him over London had a voiceover by well known British celebrity Jonathan Ross, and 2004 had former Beatle Ringo Starr), explaining his location along with various facts about Santa and the country his is visiting.
In 2006, the videos described Santa
1. taking off from the North Pole and proceeding south along the International Date Line
2. visiting Auckland, Picton, and Cloudy Bay, New Zealand
3. passing over the Sydney Opera House as he enters Australia
4. passing Fuji-san and a 500 series Shinkansen "bullet train" in Japan
5. flying along the Great Wall of China and into Siberia
6. crossing the Hump (the Himalayas in Nepal)
7. passing the Taj Mahal in India
8. climbing to an altitude of some 240 miles (385 kilometers) to visit the International Space Station
9. admiring the "onion dome" architecture of Moscow (though passing through quickly, because the Eastern Orthodox Church prefer to give presents on Epiphany)
10. passing the Egyptian Pyramids and the Sphinx heading toward Cairo[19]
11. covering Italy while admiring the Colosseum in Rome, the Leaning Tower of Pisa, and the canals of Venic
12. traveling north over the castles of Bavaria and into the rest of Germany
13. circling the Eiffel Tower in Paris
14. leaving North Africa and the Canary Islands for London (announced by Jonathan Ross of the BBC)
15. rendezvousing in mid-Atlantic Ocean with an unidentified Ohio-class submarine
16. coming into Rio de Janeiro past Cristo Redentor
17. touring Machu Picchu
18. entering the United States Northern Command by transiting up the coast of Florida past Kennedy Space Center
19. delivering to New York City while admiring the Statue of Liberty and Central Park before continuing into Quebec
20. flying through the Gateway Arch at St. Louis
21. pausing in Manitoba at Reindeer Lake
22. passing over NORAD's Cheyenne Mountain Operation Center before continuing to Alberta and Saskatchewan
23. orbiting Seattle's Space Needle and proceeding to California
24. finishing his mission at Hawaii
Notably, most of the videos posted on the 2006 site are the same ones (both in visuals and voiceover) as the ones posted on the 2005 site. Previous years have used the same visuals, but different voiceovers.
In 2004
1. Lifting off from the North Pole
2. visiting Auckland, Picton, and Cloudy Bay, New Zealand
3. Visiting Sydney, Australia
4. Japan
5. Visiting the Great Wall of China
6. Visiting the Himalayas Mountains in Nepal
7. Visitng India and the Taj Mahal
8. Santa visitng the Persian Gulf
9. Santa visiting Russia
10. Santa visiting Egypt and the International Space Station
11. Visiting Greece and flying over the olympic stadium
12. Visiting the Coliseum
13. Visiting the Eiffel Tower in Paris
14. Beatle celebrity Ringo Starr tells us about Santa in England
15. Santa in the Atlantic Ocean
16. Santa in Brazil passing Christ the Redeemer
17. Santa in Canada then heading to South
18. Santa delivering gifts in Maine
19. Santa in New York
20. Santa in St. Louis
21. Santa in Manitoba
22. Santa in Colorado Springs
23. Santa in Seattle
24. santa ends his mission in Hawaii
NORAD Account of Tracking
NORAD details its fictional tracking system:
Detecting Santa all starts with the NORAD radar system called the North Warning System. This powerful radar system has 47 installations strung across the northern border of North America. NORAD makes a point of checking the radar closely for indications of Santa Claus leaving the North Pole on Christmas Eve.
The moment our radar tells us that Santa has lifted off, we use our second mode of detection, the same satellites that we use in providing warning of possible missile launches aimed at North America. These satellites are located in a geo-synchronous orbit (that's a cool phrase meaning that the satellite is always fixed over the same spot on the Earth) at 22,300 miles above the Earth. The satellites have infrared sensors, meaning they can detect heat. When a rocket or missile is launched, a tremendous amount of heat is produced - enough for the satellites to detect. Rudolph's nose gives off an infrared signature similar to a missile launch. The satellites can detect Rudolph's bright red nose with practically no problem. With so many years of experience, NORAD has become good at tracking aircraft entering North America, detecting worldwide missile launches and tracking the progress of Santa, thanks to Rudolph.
The third detection system we use is the Santa Cam. We began using it in 1998 - the year we put our Santa Tracking program on the Internet. NORAD Santa Cams are ultra-cool high-tech high-speed digital cameras that are pre-positioned at many places around the world. NORAD only uses these cameras once a year - Christmas Eve. The cameras capture images of Santa and the Reindeer as they make their journey around the world. We immediately download the images on to our web site for people around the world to see. Santa Cams produce both video and still images.
The fourth detection system we use is the NORAD jet fighter. Canadian NORAD fighter pilots, flying the CF-18, take off out of Newfoundland to intercept and welcome Santa to North America. Then at numerous locations in Canada other CF-18 fighter pilots escort Santa. While in the United States, American NORAD fighter pilots in either the F-15 or F-16 get the thrill of flying with Santa and the famous Reindeer Dasher, Dancer, Prancer, Vixen, Comet, Cupid, Donner, Blitzen and Rudolph. About a dozen NORAD fighters in Canada and the United States are equipped with Santa Cams.
Corporate Sponsorship
The WHOIS lookup for noradsanta.org indicates that domain is owned by Analytical Graphics, Inc. In 2006, NORAD officials specifically thanked Island Web Studios, America Online, Akamai, Analytical Graphics, Globelink Language and Cultural Services, Qwest Communications, Verizon, and Microsoft Virtual Earth for help with the program[1]. In 2007, the primary sponsorship is Qwest Communications and Google Corp.
Google Earth Santa Tracker Starts Tonight!
During 2005 and 2006, Google Earth was used by Google to help track Santa as he delivered presents around the world. This year, Google will be tracking Santa again in Google Earth. And, there is some other content for Santa you can view in Google Earth right now:
-
Official Santa Tracker - This year Google officially teamed up with Norad (the US North American Air Defense Command), which has been tracking Santa on their radar system for many years, to officially provide tracking for Santa in Google Earth. Of course, Santa won't begin his trip until December 24th, so the tracking won't begin until Christmas Eve. But, you should visit the NoradSanta.org web site to see some games and other information related to the tracking system.
-
Santa's Route - You can check out Santa's route right now
in Google Earth based on information from Travel by GPS. Click on the "Points" folder and select "Tools->Play Tour" from the GE menu to see a really cool flying tour of the route. Pretend you are Santa! You can E-mail Travel by GPS a placemark from Google Earth for the location of your house, and they will add your house to the route. Click here for more information. -
Santa from Space -
In 2005, one of the Google Earth Community members called 'ear1grey' posted an amazing discovery. He found a huge picture (36 miles tall) of Santa. He made a nifty Google Earth file for kids so they could go find the Santa by following the red nose of Rudolf the reindeer. Download this file and then turn on the "Little world" in your "Temporary Places". Look in the nose of Rudolf for Santa.
Thursday, December 20, 2007
Apple kills Think Secret blog
Apple has killed the Think Secret site, following long legal negotiations. The site says:
As part of the confidential settlement, no sources were revealed and Think Secret will no longer be published. Nick Ciarelli, Think Secret's publisher, said "I'm pleased to have reached this amicable settlement, and will now be able to move forward with my college studies and broader journalistic pursuits."
The student-run site published information about unannounced products, which Apple doesn't think qualifies as journalism: it's "misappropriating trade secrets". The rich and secretive American megacorporation attacked Think Secret after it scooped everybody on the Mac Mini with a post that began:
December 28, 2004 - With iPod-savvy Windows users clearly in its sights, Apple is expected to announce a bare bones, G4-based iMac without a display at Macworld Expo on January 11 that will retail for $499, highly reliable sources have confirmed to Think Secret.
The new Mac, code-named Q88, will be part of the iMac family and is expected to sport a PowerPC G4 processor at a speed around 1.25GHz. The new Mac is said to be incredibly small and will be housed in a flat enclosure with a height similar to the 1.73 inches of Apple's Xserve. Its size benefits will include the ability to stand the Mac on its side or put it below a display or monitor.
Shocking stuff. No wonder Apple wanted it closed down. Apple only likes highly-controlled leaks, whereby it gives "exclusives" to a handful of compliant publications, such as Newsweek.
According to The Mac Observer:
After a brief stint at a different domain, Think Secret was officially launched on May 3, 1999 by Nick dePlume (a.k.a. Nick Ciarelli) at the tender young age of 13. When he was sued, he was still a teenager, aged 19, attending Harvard, a fact that added to Apple's image of being a bully for pursuing the case. Until that time, few realized that the one of the most highly regarded "Mac rumor sites" on the Internet was published by such a young person.
Monday, December 17, 2007
Google debuts Knol, "author-driven knowledge" project , takes aim at Wikipedia
Google today announced Knol, which would appear to be their response to online knowledge repositories like Wikipedia and Mahalo:
" Earlier this week, we started inviting a selected group of people to try a new, free tool that we are calling “knol”, which stands for a unit of knowledge. Our goal is to encourage people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it. The tool is still in development and this is just the first phase of testing. For now, using it is by invitation only. But we wanted to share with everyone the basic premises and goals behind this project.
The key idea behind the knol project is to highlight authors. Books have authors’ names right on the cover, news articles have bylines, scientific articles always have authors — but somehow the web evolved without a strong standard to keep authors names highlighted. We believe that knowing who wrote what will significantly help users make better use of web content. At the heart, a knol is just a web page; we use the word “knol” as the name of the project and as an instance of an article interchangeably. It is well-organized, nicely presented, and has a distinct look and feel, but it is still just a web page. Google will provide easy-to-use tools for writing, editing, and so on, and it will provide free hosting of the content. Writers only need to write; we’ll do the rest."
Knol is a new user tool that invites people to write authoritative articles on particular subjects, a move that could put the internet search giant in direct competition with the popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia.It was made available this week to a small group of users in a trial, said Google's vice-president engineering, Udi Manber, in a Thursday evening post on Google's official blog.
"We believe that many do not share that knowledge today simply because it is not easy enough to do that," wrote Manber. "Our goal is to encourage people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it."
Google said it would provide tools for writing, editing and provide free hosting of the content. Authors would receive credit for their work and could choose to include Google ads on their pages, with authors getting a share of the revenue generated from those ads.
Multiple articles — called knols — on the same subject would be allowed. The articles would be ranked according to a reader voting mechanism.
"Once testing is completed, participation in knols will be completely open, and we cannot expect that all of them will be of high quality," wrote Manber. "Our job in Search Quality will be to rank the knols appropriately when they appear in Google search results."
Wikipedia has been criticized in the past for allowing anonymous contributions to the site, a policy that some have argued encourages vandalism of entries and discourages experts from writing for the website.
In March 2007, the online encyclopedia suffered a blow to its reputation when it was revealed an editor who had represented himself as a university professor was in fact a 24-year-old from Kentucky with no higher-education credentials.
Knol wouldn't be the first project to try to address this perceived shortcoming.
Earlier this year, Larry Sanger, Wikipedia's former de facto editor in chief, launched a rival online encyclopedia called Citizendium, one that would be written and edited by experts in their fields.
Sanger told CBC News that while Knol would provide authorship, its voting-by-the-masses model was unlikely to attract genuine experts.
"The notion that anyone may write a 'knol,' and be compared and ranked by 'the crowd' — not by expert peers — is apt to attract relatively little notice from experts who are very careful about where they publish," he said in an e-mail Friday.
Knol is unique, though, in that it makes the content part of Google's ad-generated business, as opposed to Wikipedia and Citizendium, which are non-profit organizations.
Sanger said such a policy wouldn't go over well with the "free culture crowd" who have made Wikipedia popular.
But he said that as a business model, it might be successful.
"Other web companies have had reasonably good success making money with such web services, and Google might make a lot of money with theirs."
Knol also marks Google's latest attempt to move into areas on the web traditionally dominated by social media, where content is created, or directed, by users. This fall, the company announced plans to build a software platform for sharing applications across the web in a manner similar to social networking site Facebook.
It also announced plans to test a way to alter search results based on user-generated voting, similar to how news aggregrator websites such as Digg and Reddit rank articles.
" Earlier this week, we started inviting a selected group of people to try a new, free tool that we are calling “knol”, which stands for a unit of knowledge. Our goal is to encourage people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it. The tool is still in development and this is just the first phase of testing. For now, using it is by invitation only. But we wanted to share with everyone the basic premises and goals behind this project.
The key idea behind the knol project is to highlight authors. Books have authors’ names right on the cover, news articles have bylines, scientific articles always have authors — but somehow the web evolved without a strong standard to keep authors names highlighted. We believe that knowing who wrote what will significantly help users make better use of web content. At the heart, a knol is just a web page; we use the word “knol” as the name of the project and as an instance of an article interchangeably. It is well-organized, nicely presented, and has a distinct look and feel, but it is still just a web page. Google will provide easy-to-use tools for writing, editing, and so on, and it will provide free hosting of the content. Writers only need to write; we’ll do the rest."
Knol is a new user tool that invites people to write authoritative articles on particular subjects, a move that could put the internet search giant in direct competition with the popular online encyclopedia Wikipedia.It was made available this week to a small group of users in a trial, said Google's vice-president engineering, Udi Manber, in a Thursday evening post on Google's official blog.
"We believe that many do not share that knowledge today simply because it is not easy enough to do that," wrote Manber. "Our goal is to encourage people who know a particular subject to write an authoritative article about it."
Google said it would provide tools for writing, editing and provide free hosting of the content. Authors would receive credit for their work and could choose to include Google ads on their pages, with authors getting a share of the revenue generated from those ads.
Multiple articles — called knols — on the same subject would be allowed. The articles would be ranked according to a reader voting mechanism.
"Once testing is completed, participation in knols will be completely open, and we cannot expect that all of them will be of high quality," wrote Manber. "Our job in Search Quality will be to rank the knols appropriately when they appear in Google search results."
Wikipedia has been criticized in the past for allowing anonymous contributions to the site, a policy that some have argued encourages vandalism of entries and discourages experts from writing for the website.
In March 2007, the online encyclopedia suffered a blow to its reputation when it was revealed an editor who had represented himself as a university professor was in fact a 24-year-old from Kentucky with no higher-education credentials.
Knol wouldn't be the first project to try to address this perceived shortcoming.
Earlier this year, Larry Sanger, Wikipedia's former de facto editor in chief, launched a rival online encyclopedia called Citizendium, one that would be written and edited by experts in their fields.
Sanger told CBC News that while Knol would provide authorship, its voting-by-the-masses model was unlikely to attract genuine experts.
"The notion that anyone may write a 'knol,' and be compared and ranked by 'the crowd' — not by expert peers — is apt to attract relatively little notice from experts who are very careful about where they publish," he said in an e-mail Friday.
Knol is unique, though, in that it makes the content part of Google's ad-generated business, as opposed to Wikipedia and Citizendium, which are non-profit organizations.
Sanger said such a policy wouldn't go over well with the "free culture crowd" who have made Wikipedia popular.
But he said that as a business model, it might be successful.
"Other web companies have had reasonably good success making money with such web services, and Google might make a lot of money with theirs."
Knol also marks Google's latest attempt to move into areas on the web traditionally dominated by social media, where content is created, or directed, by users. This fall, the company announced plans to build a software platform for sharing applications across the web in a manner similar to social networking site Facebook.
It also announced plans to test a way to alter search results based on user-generated voting, similar to how news aggregrator websites such as Digg and Reddit rank articles.
Saturday, December 15, 2007
Fixing MBR (Master Boot Record) using Windows Vista Bootable Disk
* Boot up your computer using Microsoft Windows Vista Bootable disk. (Check your BIOS setup)
* When you see the first Windows Vista installation screen appear, please configure your 'language' preferences.
* When prompted, click 'Repair your computer'.
* Startup Repair will automatically detect a problem. When prompted, click 'Repair and restart', and then restart your computer from the Windows Vista bootable disk. If Startup Repair does not automatically detect a problem, continue to the next step.
* Click 'Repair Your Computer'.
* Click Command Prompt from the System Recovery Options.
* BootRec.exe provides the following command-line options:
* /FixMbr. Re-writes the master boot record (MBR) of the system partition to start Windows Vista. This won’t overwrite the existing partition table.
* /FixBoot. Writes a boot sector onto the system partition to start Windows Vista.
* /ScanOs. Scans all disks for Windows Vista installations and displays them to you. Oddly, this didn’t work for me, even on a test system that was starting just fine.
* /RebuildBcd. Scans all disks for Windows Vista installations and prompts you to pick the ones you want to add to the BCD.
* Type 'BootRec.exe /fixmbr' and press Enter.
Basically your Linux GRUB will go away. We recommend you look at GUID Partition Table.
* When you see the first Windows Vista installation screen appear, please configure your 'language' preferences.
* When prompted, click 'Repair your computer'.
* Startup Repair will automatically detect a problem. When prompted, click 'Repair and restart', and then restart your computer from the Windows Vista bootable disk. If Startup Repair does not automatically detect a problem, continue to the next step.
* Click 'Repair Your Computer'.
* Click Command Prompt from the System Recovery Options.
* BootRec.exe provides the following command-line options:
* /FixMbr. Re-writes the master boot record (MBR) of the system partition to start Windows Vista. This won’t overwrite the existing partition table.
* /FixBoot. Writes a boot sector onto the system partition to start Windows Vista.
* /ScanOs. Scans all disks for Windows Vista installations and displays them to you. Oddly, this didn’t work for me, even on a test system that was starting just fine.
* /RebuildBcd. Scans all disks for Windows Vista installations and prompts you to pick the ones you want to add to the BCD.
* Type 'BootRec.exe /fixmbr' and press Enter.
Basically your Linux GRUB will go away. We recommend you look at GUID Partition Table.
Google Integrates gmail chat with AOL
I just read Official Gmail Blog: Gmail + chat + AIM = crazy delicious.
It says "
Today we are happy to tell you about a new feature we've started to roll out which will enable you to sign into your AIM account and chat with your AIM buddies right inside Gmail. When you log in to AIM through Gmail chat, your AOL buddies will appear in your chat list with friends from your Google Talk network, and you will see the yellow "running man" logo to the right of your AIM friends' screen names. To your AIM friends it will look like you are logged in to AIM as usual.
Having more friends to chat with is always more fun and we hope you enjoy this new feature, which we are rolling out today to English Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2 users."
I tried my ICQ account and it worked so you can use your ICQ # and pass instead of AIM.
It says "
Today we are happy to tell you about a new feature we've started to roll out which will enable you to sign into your AIM account and chat with your AIM buddies right inside Gmail. When you log in to AIM through Gmail chat, your AOL buddies will appear in your chat list with friends from your Google Talk network, and you will see the yellow "running man" logo to the right of your AIM friends' screen names. To your AIM friends it will look like you are logged in to AIM as usual.
Having more friends to chat with is always more fun and we hope you enjoy this new feature, which we are rolling out today to English Internet Explorer 7 and Firefox 2 users."
I tried my ICQ account and it worked so you can use your ICQ # and pass instead of AIM.
Friday, December 14, 2007
Useful Windows Keyboard Shortcuts
Control + Shift + Escape
Instantly brings up Task Manager. Always handy for troubleshooting, and especially useful in a Domain environment, where the traditional Ctrl+Alt+Del brings up a Windows Security panel.
WinKey + D
Shows the Desktop, minimizing all windows. Press it again, and all your windows are restored. This shortcut is superior to WinKey+M, as it retains all window positions.
WinKey + L
Locks your workstation. Incredibly useful if you work in IT, and frequently need to leave your PC at a moment’s notice.
Alt + Tab
Switches between open windows. To scroll “backwards” use Alt + Shift + Tab. Sometimes quicker than using the taskbar, sometimes not ;)
WinKey + Break (sometimes labeled Pause)
Opens up Systems Properties quickly.
WinKey + R
Opens up the Run command.
Alt + F4
Close the current window. Also, Ctrl + F4 closes the current tab in Firefox and IE7, and many other applications which feature Tabbed navigation.
Control + Tab
Switches tabs in Mozilla Firefox / Internet Explorer 7 (and a lot of other programs that use Tabs). To go backwards, use Control + Shift + Tab.
Opens explorer window
F6
puts cursor in location bar in explorer window
CTRL-L
does same in Firefox
CTRL-K
jumps to google search bar in Firefox
CTRL-PgUp/PgDw
Changes tabs in Excel
F2
Edits a file name in Explorer
Note: WinKey is short for Windows Key. It’s the key with the Windows symbol on it, usually between the Ctrl button and the Space Bar :)
use ctrl + up/down to change the search engine after using ctrl + K to jump the the search bar.
Also in the firefox address bar, use the following hotkeys to search diffrent sites:
search wikipedia = wiki searchterm
search google = google searchterm
search ebay = ebay searchterm
you can also add, a search term for any custom engines you add.
oh and finally, you can type any search term into the firefox address bar, to search google's im feeling lucky, e.g i no longer type out the web address www.smh.com.au rather, i just type smh and hit enter.
How to bring run command to start menu on windows vista
You know it used to be on the start menu in Xp. You can still bring it up by hitting Windows-R but if you want it back where it belongs - on your start menu, do the following:
1. Right click on your task bar and select Properties.
2. Click on the Start Menu Tab and then select Customize.
3. Scroll through the list and check the box next to Run Command.
4. Hit OK .
1. Right click on your task bar and select Properties.
2. Click on the Start Menu Tab and then select Customize.
3. Scroll through the list and check the box next to Run Command.
4. Hit OK .
Thursday, December 13, 2007
Nokia N82 now in India
Now, the latest Nokia Nseries handset N82, optimized for photography, navigation, and internet connectivity, is available in the country
Featuring 5-megapixel camera, xenon flash, Carl Zeiss optics, and internet connectivity, the Nokia N82 incorporates all the multimedia computer features common to Nseries handsets.
The camera features autofocus with a dedicated autofocus assist lamp and promises fast consecutive shots, and DVD-quality video capture.
With the high-speed Wi-Fi connectivity and one-click upload, you can upload images and videos even while continuing to use the device for other purposes.
The N82 features a powerful Assisted-GPS (A-GPS) and pre-installed Nokia Maps, which enables you to explore and locate new places across the globe. The standard sales kit of Nokia N82 includes a free voice guided navigation trial for 3 months: you'd have to purchase additional features such as city guides and extended navigation subscription.
The N82 comes with a new content driven 3D multimedia menu and includes a convenient orientation sensor, which rotates the user interface automatically between horizontal and portrait modes. (This feature is also available on Apple iPhone and Sony Ericsson W910i.)
The N82 is bundled with a 2GB microSD card that can store up to 900 high-resolution photos or up to 84 minutes of high quality video.
The Nokia Nseries N82 is available for Rs 28,379.
Featuring 5-megapixel camera, xenon flash, Carl Zeiss optics, and internet connectivity, the Nokia N82 incorporates all the multimedia computer features common to Nseries handsets.
The camera features autofocus with a dedicated autofocus assist lamp and promises fast consecutive shots, and DVD-quality video capture.
With the high-speed Wi-Fi connectivity and one-click upload, you can upload images and videos even while continuing to use the device for other purposes.
The N82 features a powerful Assisted-GPS (A-GPS) and pre-installed Nokia Maps, which enables you to explore and locate new places across the globe. The standard sales kit of Nokia N82 includes a free voice guided navigation trial for 3 months: you'd have to purchase additional features such as city guides and extended navigation subscription.
The N82 comes with a new content driven 3D multimedia menu and includes a convenient orientation sensor, which rotates the user interface automatically between horizontal and portrait modes. (This feature is also available on Apple iPhone and Sony Ericsson W910i.)
The N82 is bundled with a 2GB microSD card that can store up to 900 high-resolution photos or up to 84 minutes of high quality video.
The Nokia Nseries N82 is available for Rs 28,379.
Saturday, December 8, 2007
Weird Memory Sticks
Phillips Electronics in collaboration with Swarovski made the 'Active Crystal' collection of USB memory. These are really fancy.
This is platinum USB drive hand set with 350
white diamonds. It even comes with a solid
platinum chain and you can have it for $38,000.
Thursday, December 6, 2007
Facebook founder apologised over beacon
The founder of social networking site Facebook Mark Zuckerberg has apologised to users for the way it launched a social advertising system.
Called Beacon, the system tracks web shopping on partner sites outside Facebook and then sells adverts to the social network based on purchases.
After complaints the site was invading privacy, Facebook changed Beacon from an opt-out system to opt in.
Mr Zuckerberg has said users can now switch off Beacon completely.
The company relented after concerted pressure from privacy advocates and leading technology writers in the blogosphere.
But some writers have questioned whether the switch-off option goes far enough.
The Facebook apology highlights a growing debate surrounding privacy and advertising in the online space.
Many privacy advocates are concerned about the use of "web beacons" to monitor the surfing habits of users and to what use that information is put by websites and advertisers.
Facebook's system raised concern with some users because it meant friends could see which websites and which products they were buying online.
The adverts were presented as personal recommendations to users because people in their friends' list were, in effect, endorsing brands and products by purchasing items.
More than 40 companies, including Coca Cola, Blockbuster and Sony Pictures, signed up to Beacon when launched.
Microsoft is to withdraw an anti-piracy tool from Windows Vista
Microsoft is to withdraw an anti-piracy tool from Windows Vista, which disables the operating system when invoked, following customer complaints.
The so-called "kill switch" is designed to prevent users with illegal copies of Vista from using certain features.
But the tool has suffered from glitches since it was introduced with many Windows users claiming that legal copies of Vista had been disabled.
Microsoft says its efforts have seen a drop in piracy of its software.
In a statement released by the company, Microsoft corporate vice president Mike Sievert, said: "Users whose systems are identified as counterfeit will be presented with clear and recurring notices about the status of their system and how to get genuine copies."
Microsoft has described the new approach as a "change of tactics". It said efforts to tackle piracy had seen numbers of fake copies of Vista at half the level of XP, the previous Windows operating system.
The change will take effect with the release of Service Pack 1, a major update to Windows Vista.
Customers who buy a copy of Windows Vista or have the operating system (OS) installed when they buy a new PC are required to validate the OS with Microsoft.
An online tool, called Windows Genuine Advantage, checks the authenticity of the OS to determine if it was legally acquired.
The tool can "lock" Vista from further use if it believes it is an unauthorised copy. But many users have complained that the system is not working because legally bought copies result in error messages.
It was introduced in 2006 as a voluntary option, but became mandatory with the release of Vista, and had problems from the day it was introduced. Mr Sievert added: "It's worth re-emphasising that our fundamental strategy has not changed.
"All copies of Windows Vista still require activation and the system will continue to validate from time to time to verify that systems are activated properly."
Microsoft said it had pursued legal action against more than 1,000 dealers of counterfeit Microsoft products in the last year and taken down more than 50,000 "illegal and improper" online software auctions.Tuesday, December 4, 2007
Nokia predicts 25% of entertainment by 2012 will be created and consumed within peer communities
Nokia identifies Circular Entertainment as a coming trend as consumers get collaborative
Espoo, Finland -- Up to a quarter of the entertainment consumed by people in five years time will have been created, edited and shared within their peer circle rather than coming out of traditional media groups. This phenomenon, dubbed 'Circular Entertainment', has been identified by Nokia as a result of a global study into the future of entertainment.
The study, entitled 'A Glimpse of the Next Episode', carried out by The Future Laboratory, interviewed trend-setting consumers from 17 countries about their digital behaviors and lifestyles signposting emerging entertainment trends. Combining views from industry leading figures with Nokia's own research from its 900 million consumers around the world, Nokia has constructed a global picture of what it believes entertainment will look like over the next five years.
"From our research we predict that up to a quarter of the entertainment being consumed in five years will be what we call 'Circular'. The trends we are seeing show us that people will have a genuine desire not only to create and share their own content, but also to remix it, mash it up and pass it on within their peer groups - a form of collaborative social media," said Mark Selby, Vice President, Multimedia, Nokia.
Selby continues, "We think it will work something like this; someone shares video footage they shot on their mobile device from a night out with a friend, that friend takes that footage and adds an MP3 file - the soundtrack of the evening - then passes it to another friend. That friend edits the footage by adding some photographs and passes it on to another friend and so on. The content keeps circulating between friends, who may or may not be geographically close, and becomes part of the group's entertainment."
Tom Savigar, Trends Director at The Future Laboratory added, "Consumers are increasingly demanding their entertainment be truly immersive, engaging and collaborative. Whereas once the act of watching, reading and hearing entertainment was passive, consumers now and in the future will be active and unrestrained by the ubiquitous nature of circular entertainment. Key to this evolution is consumers' basic human desire to compare and contrast, create and communicate. We believe the next episode promises to deliver the democracy politics can only dream of."
Of the 9,000 consumers we surveyed:
- 23% buy movies in digital format
- 35% buy music on MP3 files
- 25% buy music on mobile devices
- 39% watch TV on the internet
- 23% watch TV on mobile devices
- 46% regularly use IM, 37% on a mobile device
- 29% regularly blog
- 28% regularly access social networking sites
- 22% connect using technologies such as Skype
- 17% take part in Multiplayer Online Role Playing Games
- 17% upload to the internet from a mobile device
As part of the research we have identified four key driving trends; Immersive Living; Geek Culture; G Tech and Localism. These trends are currently sitting on the edge, but as these trends become more mainstream, they will have a collaborative, creative effect on the way people consume entertainment and, we predict, will lead to the Circular Entertainment phenomenon.
Immersive Living
Immersive Living is the rise of lifestyles which blur the reality of being on and offline. Entertainment will no longer be segmented; people can access and create it wherever they are.
Geek Culture
This triumph marks a shift as consumers become hungry for more sophisticated entertainment. Geek Culture rises, consumers will want to be recognized and rewarded - the boundaries between being commercial and creative will blur.
G Tech
G Tech is an existing social force in Asia that will change the way entertainment will look. Forget pink and sparkly, it is about the feminization of technology that is currently underway. Entertainment will be more collaborative, democratic, emotional and customized - all of which are 'female' traits.
Localism
The report uncovered a locally-minded sprit emerging in entertainment consumption and Localism will become a key theme of future entertainment. Consumers will take pride in seeking out the local and home-grown.
The extensive research identifies the trends, along with the technologies, that will be pivotal in the next episode of entertainment. In conclusion, the results of the survey lead Nokia to believe in the next episode; entertainment will be circular.
Notes to editors
The research took place between July and September 2007. 9,000 consumers, who are active users of technology and own a mobile device [not restricted to Nokia] aged 16-35 were questioned. In addition 17 correspondents from the Future Laboratory's LifeSigns Network were interviewed. LifeSigns network is a community of 3,000 'superconsumers' thinkers, doers, creators and authors of culture. Interviews were also conducted with 10 leaders in different areas of entertainment who provided us with in-depth proven insights into this subject and what lies ahead. Experts were chosen from the areas of radio, internet, gaming, device developments, mobile telecoms, music, computing, legislation and marketing.
Freeware Guide
Audio
Audacity - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Pro Tools]
A free Sound Recorder and Editor. Record live audio convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs, edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, and WAV sound files. Cut, copy, splice, and mix sounds together. Change the speed or pitch of a recording and more.
Songbird - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = iTunes]
A free software media player. Songbird is a combination of a desktop web player, a digital jukebox and web browser. It is an alternative to proprietary media players such as iTunes.
TagScanner - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Tag&Rename]
A free Powerful MP3 Tag Scanner and Editor. It can edit tags of several progressive audio formats, rename files based on the tag information, generate tag information from filenames. Supports ID3v1, ID3v2, Vorbis comments and APEv2 tags. TagScanner Features:
- Advanced TAG editor with batch functions
- Supports MP3, OGG, Musepack, Monkeys Audio, FLAC, AAC, OptimFROG, SPEEX, Wave Pack files
- Supports ID3 1.0 / 1.1 / 2.2 / 2.3 / 2.4 tags, APE v1 and v2 tags, Vorbis Comments
- Supports for ID3v2 Lyrics and Attached pictures
- Import tag information from an online database (freedb)
- Powerful playlists editor
- Write extended playlists like Winamp or Sonique
- Playlists export to HTML, Excel and CSV (for MySQL)
Winamp - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Windows Media Player]
A free Streamlined Music and Video Player that is simple to use. Besides high-quality sound, it sports a smart playlist editor, 10-band graphic equalizer with user-definable presets that can automatically load specific files and a mini-browser for tuning into web radio and TV (be warned: certain channels are for adults only). Its four resizeable sections give you control over how the player looks, while you can customize it further using the thousands of available skins, color schemes and visualization plug-ins.
A free Sound Recorder and Editor. Record live audio convert tapes and records into digital recordings or CDs, edit Ogg Vorbis, MP3, and WAV sound files. Cut, copy, splice, and mix sounds together. Change the speed or pitch of a recording and more.
Songbird - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = iTunes]
A free software media player. Songbird is a combination of a desktop web player, a digital jukebox and web browser. It is an alternative to proprietary media players such as iTunes.
TagScanner - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Tag&Rename]
A free Powerful MP3 Tag Scanner and Editor. It can edit tags of several progressive audio formats, rename files based on the tag information, generate tag information from filenames. Supports ID3v1, ID3v2, Vorbis comments and APEv2 tags. TagScanner Features:
- Advanced TAG editor with batch functions
- Supports MP3, OGG, Musepack, Monkeys Audio, FLAC, AAC, OptimFROG, SPEEX, Wave Pack files
- Supports ID3 1.0 / 1.1 / 2.2 / 2.3 / 2.4 tags, APE v1 and v2 tags, Vorbis Comments
- Supports for ID3v2 Lyrics and Attached pictures
- Import tag information from an online database (freedb)
- Powerful playlists editor
- Write extended playlists like Winamp or Sonique
- Playlists export to HTML, Excel and CSV (for MySQL)
Winamp - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Windows Media Player]
A free Streamlined Music and Video Player that is simple to use. Besides high-quality sound, it sports a smart playlist editor, 10-band graphic equalizer with user-definable presets that can automatically load specific files and a mini-browser for tuning into web radio and TV (be warned: certain channels are for adults only). Its four resizeable sections give you control over how the player looks, while you can customize it further using the thousands of available skins, color schemes and visualization plug-ins.
CD/DVD
CDBurnerXP Pro - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Nero]
A free CD/DVD-Writer program. The program can write CD-R, CD-RW DVD+R/RW DVD-R/RW discs. CDBurnerXP Pro Features:
- Write CD-R, CD-RW DVD+R/RW DVD-R/RW discs (as Data, Video and Audio)
- Burn audio-CDs with and without gaps between tracks - Burn on the fly / Burn-proof
- Supports most IDE, USB, Firewire and SCSI drives
- Rip Audio-CDs to harddrive, obtain track-information (ID3-tags) from Internet
- Burn and create ISO-files
- Convert WAV to MP3 and vice versa
- Create Bootable Discs and more.
Notes - Double-layer DVD is not currently supported. Burning video-DVDs is limited.
DVD Flick - Download - Home Page
A free tool to convert various PC video formats to a DVD that can be played on pretty much any standalone DVD player. Supported file container formats are, amongst others, AVI, MPG, MOV, WMV, ASF, FLV, Matroska and MP4. Supported codecs are amongst others, MPEG-1\2\4 (XVid, DivX, etc.), Windows Media Audio\Video. MP3, OGG Vorbis, H264, and On2 VP5\6.
ImgBurn - Download - Home Page
A free tool that enables you to burn CD/DVD images with ease. All the latest drives are supported (including booktype / bitsetting on many of the major ones). Advanced functionality can be found in the ImgBurn context menus.
VLC Media Player - Download - Nightly Builds - Home Page - [Equivalent = PowerDVD, WinDVD]
A free Multimedia DVD Player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, MP3, OGG, ...) as well as VCDs and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network. Supports Full Region Free DVD playback with a RPC1 compatible DVD drive.
A free CD/DVD-Writer program. The program can write CD-R, CD-RW DVD+R/RW DVD-R/RW discs. CDBurnerXP Pro Features:
- Write CD-R, CD-RW DVD+R/RW DVD-R/RW discs (as Data, Video and Audio)
- Burn audio-CDs with and without gaps between tracks - Burn on the fly / Burn-proof
- Supports most IDE, USB, Firewire and SCSI drives
- Rip Audio-CDs to harddrive, obtain track-information (ID3-tags) from Internet
- Burn and create ISO-files
- Convert WAV to MP3 and vice versa
- Create Bootable Discs and more.
Notes - Double-layer DVD is not currently supported. Burning video-DVDs is limited.
DVD Flick - Download - Home Page
A free tool to convert various PC video formats to a DVD that can be played on pretty much any standalone DVD player. Supported file container formats are, amongst others, AVI, MPG, MOV, WMV, ASF, FLV, Matroska and MP4. Supported codecs are amongst others, MPEG-1\2\4 (XVid, DivX, etc.), Windows Media Audio\Video. MP3, OGG Vorbis, H264, and On2 VP5\6.
ImgBurn - Download - Home Page
A free tool that enables you to burn CD/DVD images with ease. All the latest drives are supported (including booktype / bitsetting on many of the major ones). Advanced functionality can be found in the ImgBurn context menus.
VLC Media Player - Download - Nightly Builds - Home Page - [Equivalent = PowerDVD, WinDVD]
A free Multimedia DVD Player for various audio and video formats (MPEG-1, MPEG-2, MPEG-4, DivX, MP3, OGG, ...) as well as VCDs and various streaming protocols. It can also be used as a server to stream in unicast or multicast in IPv4 or IPv6 on a high-bandwidth network. Supports Full Region Free DVD playback with a RPC1 compatible DVD drive.
File Utilities
Cabos - Download + 
- Home Page - [Equivalent = LimeWire]
A free Gnutella file sharing program based on LimeWire and Acquisition. No Spyware. No Adware. Guaranteed. Cabos provides a simple sidebar user interface, firewall to firewall transfers, proxy transfers, Universal Plug and Play, iTunes + iPod integration and more.
FileZilla - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Cute FTP]
A free, fast FTP and SFTP Client with lots of useful features and an intuitive interface. Used to send or retrieve files from an FTP server.
Flexible Renamer - Download - Home Page
A free powerful file/folder renaming utility. It offers a Window Explorer style interface and a variety of renaming options, including options to remove numbers or strings, replace strings, insert numbers, translate letters and much more.
IZArc - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = WinZip]
A free archive utility that supports many archive formats like: 7-ZIP, A, ACE, ARC, ARJ, B64, BH, BIN, BZ2, BZA, C2D, CAB, CDI, CPIO, DEB, ENC, GCA, GZ, GZA, HA, IMG, ISO, JAR, LHA, LIB, LZH, MDF, MBF, MIM, NRG, PAK, PDI, PK3, RAR, RPM, TAR, TAZ, TBZ, TGZ, TZ, UUE, WAR, XXE, YZ1, Z, ZIP, ZOO. With a modern easy-to-use interface, IZArc provides support for most compressed and encoded files, as well as access to many powerful features and tools. It allows you to drag and drop files from and to Windows Explorer, create and extract archives directly in Windows Explorer, create multiple archives spanning disks, creating self-extracting archives, repair damaged zip archives, converting from one archive type to another, view and write comments and many more.
Notepad++ - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Notepad, EditPlus]
A free source code editor (and Notepad replacement), which supports several programming languages (C++, HTML, Java, Javascript, VB/VBS, SQL ect..) running under the MS Windows environment.
WinMerge - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = ExamDiff]
A free visual text file differencing and merging tool for Win32 platforms. It is highly useful for determining what has changed between project versions, and then merging changes between versions.
- Home Page - [Equivalent = LimeWire]A free Gnutella file sharing program based on LimeWire and Acquisition. No Spyware. No Adware. Guaranteed. Cabos provides a simple sidebar user interface, firewall to firewall transfers, proxy transfers, Universal Plug and Play, iTunes + iPod integration and more.
FileZilla - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Cute FTP]
A free, fast FTP and SFTP Client with lots of useful features and an intuitive interface. Used to send or retrieve files from an FTP server.
Flexible Renamer - Download - Home Page
A free powerful file/folder renaming utility. It offers a Window Explorer style interface and a variety of renaming options, including options to remove numbers or strings, replace strings, insert numbers, translate letters and much more.
IZArc - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = WinZip]
A free archive utility that supports many archive formats like: 7-ZIP, A, ACE, ARC, ARJ, B64, BH, BIN, BZ2, BZA, C2D, CAB, CDI, CPIO, DEB, ENC, GCA, GZ, GZA, HA, IMG, ISO, JAR, LHA, LIB, LZH, MDF, MBF, MIM, NRG, PAK, PDI, PK3, RAR, RPM, TAR, TAZ, TBZ, TGZ, TZ, UUE, WAR, XXE, YZ1, Z, ZIP, ZOO. With a modern easy-to-use interface, IZArc provides support for most compressed and encoded files, as well as access to many powerful features and tools. It allows you to drag and drop files from and to Windows Explorer, create and extract archives directly in Windows Explorer, create multiple archives spanning disks, creating self-extracting archives, repair damaged zip archives, converting from one archive type to another, view and write comments and many more.
Notepad++ - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Notepad, EditPlus]
A free source code editor (and Notepad replacement)
WinMerge - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = ExamDiff]
A free visual text file differencing and merging tool for Win32 platforms. It is highly useful for determining what has changed between project versions, and then merging changes between versions.
Graphic
Blender - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = 3DS Max]
A free fully integrated 3D graphics creation suite allowing modeling, animation, rendering, post-production, real-time interactive 3D, and game creation and playback with cross-platform compatibility.
BRL-CAD - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = AutoCAD]
A free powerful Constructive Solid Geometry (CSG) solid modeling computer-aided design (CAD) system with over 20 years development and production use by the U.S. military. It includes an interactive geometry editor, parallel ray-tracing support for rendering and geometric analysis, path-tracing for realistic image synthesis, network distributed framebuffer support, image-processing and signal-processing tools.
CDisplay - Download - Home Page
A free CBR/CBZ (Comic Book Archive file) Viewer. It allows sequential image viewing one at a time, or two at a time just like comic pages.
GIMP - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Adobe Photoshop]
A free Image Manipulation Program for Photo Retouching, Image Composition and Image Authoring. It is not a replacement for Adobe Photoshop but currently is the best free alternative.
Inkscape - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Adobe Illustrator, Corel Draw]
A free vector graphics editor, with capabilities similar to Illustrator, Freehand, CorelDraw, or Xara X using the W3C standard Scalable Vector Graphics (SVG) file format. Supported SVG features include shapes, paths, text, markers, clones, alpha blending, transforms, gradients, patterns, and grouping. Inkscape also supports meta-data, node editing, layers, complex path operations, bitmap tracing, text-on-path, flowed text, direct XML editing, and more. It imports formats such as JPEG, PNG, TIFF, and others and exports PNG as well as multiple vector-based formats.
IrfanView - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = LView Pro]
A free Simple Image Viewer, Editor and Converter that supports all major graphic formats, including BMP, DIB, JPEG, GIF, animated GIF, PNG, PCX, multi-page TIFF, TGA, and more. In addition, it features drag-and-drop support, directory viewing, TWAIN support, slide shows, batch conversion, and modifications such as, resize, color depth, crop, blur, and sharpen. Includes support for Adobe Photoshop Filters.
- Do not install the Google Toolbar or Google Desktop Search during installation.Paint.NET - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Paint Shop Pro, Adobe Photoshop]
A free image editing and photo manipulation software. It supports layers, unlimited undo, special effects, and a wide variety of useful and powerful tools. Originally intended as a free replacement for the MS Paint software that comes with Windows, it has grown into a powerful yet simple tool for photo and image editing.
Picasa 2 - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = ACDSee]
A free Picture organizer and editor that helps you instantly find, edit and share all the pictures on your PC. Every time you open Picasa, it automatically locates all your pictures (even ones you forgot you had) and sorts them into visual albums organized by date with folder names you will recognize. You can drag and drop to arrange your albums and make labels to create new groups. Picasa makes sure your pictures are always organized. Picasa also makes advanced editing simple by putting one-click fixes and powerful effects at your fingertips.
Internet
AM-DeadLink - Download - Home Page
A free tool that detects dead links and duplicates in your Browser Bookmarks. If a Bookmark has become unavailable you can verify it in the internal preview and delete it from your Browser. Additionally you can download Favicon for all your Favorites and Bookmarks. AM-Deadlink works with Internet Explorer, Opera, Mozilla and Firefox.
Feedreader - Download - Home Page
A free RSS news aggregation solution that provides robust, state-of-the-
Pidgin - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Trillian]
A free multi-protocol Instant Messaging Client formerly known as 'Gaim'. Users can log in to multiple accounts on multiple IM networks simultaneously. This means that you can be chatting with friends on AOL Instant Messenger, talking to a friend on Yahoo Messenger, and sitting in an IRC channel all at the same time. Pidgin supports many features of the various networks, such as file transfer, away messages, typing notification, and adds tabbed conversations. It is compatible with the following protocols:
- AIM
- Google Talk
- ICQ
- IRC
- MSN
- Yahoo!
- Other (Bonjour, Jabber, Gadu-Gadu, GroupWise, QQ, Sametime, SILC, SIMPLE, XMPP and Zephyr networks)
GMail Drive - Download - Home Page
A free internet based file storage system. GMail Drive creates a virtual file system on top of your Google GMail account and enables you to save and retrieve files stored on your GMail account directly from inside Windows Explorer. GMail Drive literally adds a new drive to your computer under the My Computer folder, where you can create new folders, copy and drag'n'drop files to. Utilize the 2.5GB+ of GMail storage like an attached drive. A GMail account is required.
Notes - If you are using the ZoneAlarm Security Suite (Not just the Standard or Pro versions of the Firewall), Web Filtering (Parental Control) has to be disabled for Windows Explorer or the drive will not be accessible. There are some limitations since this interacts with Google's GMail system, such as the total filename size must be less than 40 characters and the maximum file size that can be transferred is 10 MB. Changes in the GMail system may break the tool's ability to function. Make sure you are using the latest version, otherwise be patient and wait for a new version to be released. This usually only takes a few days.
PuTTY - Download - Home Page
A free SSH, Telnet, rlogin, and raw TCP client.
Thunderbird - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Microsoft Outlook]
A free e-mail client. Thunderbird makes e-mailing safer, faster, and easier than ever before with the industry's best implementations of features such as intelligent spam filters, built-in RSS reader, quick search, and much more.
TightVNC - Download - Home Page - VNC Guide - [Equivalent = Remote Desktop]
A free remote control software package derived from the popular VNC software. With TightVNC, you can see the desktop of a remote machine and control it with your local mouse and keyboard, just like you would do it sitting in the front of that computer.
Notes - Windows Defender will detect TightVNC as "Remote Control Software". After you install TightVNC, run a Windows Defender scan and when it is finished make sure to select "Review items detected by scanning". Under "Scan Results", "Action", select "Always allow".
Music
Power Tab - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Guitar Pro]
A free tablature-authoring tool for Windows. It allows for the creation of tablature scores that can be printed out and played back via MIDI. Features standard music notation and symbols as well as all of the popular tablature symbols. Can import MIDI tracks, and can export to ASCII Text, HTML and MIDI format 1 files.
Synthesia - Download - Home Page
A free piano tutor. Ever wanted to learn how to play the piano? Synthesia let's you play any kind of music by following along with notes that fall down your computer screen. No sheet music reading required.
Office
OpenOffice - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Microsoft Office]
A free Office Suite, compatible with all other major Office Suites, including Microsoft Office.
Writer is a powerful word processor. - [Equivalent = Microsoft Word]
Use it for creating professional documents, reports, newsletters, and brochures. You can easily integrate images and charts in documents, create everything from business letters to complete books with professional layouts, as well as create and publish Web content.
Calc is a powerful spreadsheet program. - [Equivalent = Microsoft Excel]
It can turn boring numbers into eye-catching information. Calculate, analyze, and visually communicate your data quickly and easily. Use advanced spreadsheet functions and decision-making tools to perform sophisticated data analysis. Use built-in charting tools to generate impressive 2D and 3D charts.
Impress is a powerful presentation graphics program. - [Equivalent = Microsoft PowerPoint]
A truly outstanding tool for creating effective multimedia presentations. Your presentations will truly stand out with special effects, animation and high-impact drawing tools.
Draw is a powerful drawing program. - [Equivalent = Microsoft Paint]
Use it to produce everything from simple diagrams to dynamic 3D illustrations and special effects.
Base is a powerful database program. - [Equivalent = Microsoft Access]
Create and modify tables, forms, queries, and reports, either using your own database or Base's own built-in HSQL database engine.
AbiWord - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Microsoft Word]
A free standalone word processor that is able to read and write all industry standard document types, such as OpenOffice.org documents, Microsoft Word documents, WordPerfect documents, Rich Text Format documents, HTML web pages and many more.
Convert - Download - Home Page
A free unit conversion program that will convert the most popular units of distance, temperature, volume, time, speed, mass, power, density, pressure, energy and many others, including the ability to create custom conversions.
FreeCalc - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Windows Calculator]
A free replacement for the existing Windows Calculator. Adds a printable/savable transaction tape, sizable display, tray icon, digit groupings, color schemes, double and triple zero keys, visible memory value, and an always-on-top setting.
GanttProject - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Microsoft Project]
A free project scheduling application written in Java and featuring gantt chart, resource management, calendaring, import/export (MS Project, HTML, PDF, spreadsheets)
Hott Notes - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Sticky Notes]
A free sticky notes reminder program for your desktop. Not only can you post sticky note reminders, you can make checklists, set alarms, draw on your notes, and archive.
jGnash - Download +
- Home Page - [Equivalent = Quicken]A free personal finance application written in Java. The purpose is to make tracking your personal finances easy, but provide the features required by the advanced user. jGnash supports several account types, including investment accounts. jGnash has support for split transactions, nested accounts, scheduled transactions, commodities, and currencies. jGnash can import QIF files, excluding investment accounts and transactions. Data is stored in an XML format so it is easy to manipulate and read the data external to the program. jGnash also has scripting support to add custom reports and functionality.
Mozilla Sunbird - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Outlook Calendar]
A free stand alone calendar application that allows you to assign events and tasks.
Office Converters and Viewers - Download - Home Page
Free converters and viewers for Microsoft Office files. Converters allow you to open files created by people using different versions of your Office programs. Viewers provide a means for people who don't have Office programs to see your work. You can provide them with the appropriate viewer along with your Office files.
PDF Creator - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Adobe Acrobat]
A free tool to create PDFs easily from nearly any application by simply printing to the PDFCreator printer driver.
Scribus - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Microsoft Publisher, QuarkXPress]
A free desktop publishing (DTP) application. As a DTP tool it supports professional publishing features, such as CMYK color, separations, ICC color management and versatile PDF creation. Scribus also has additional features not normally found in a DTP tool such as vector drawing tools with SVG support and it even has support for OpenType Fonts.
Tax Software - Home Page
A list of free file US Tax Software. If the amount is not specified, free file services are limited to taxpayers with an adjusted gross Income of $52,000 or less; or otherwise as noted fees for state tax returns may apply; however, some companies offer free state tax return preparation and e-filing.
TypeFaster Typing Tutor - Download - Home Page
A free typing tutor that teaches you how to touch-type. Once you can touch-type you will not need to look at the keyboard to find the letters you want to type.
Windows Fax - Home Page - [Equivalent = WinFax]
A free fax service built into Windows XP. Although you don't need a fax machine, you'll need a phone line, a modem, and a scanner to send and receive faxes from your computer.
Video
GSpot - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = MediaInfo]
A free utility that let's you see what codecs a video file is using and can tell you if you have the codec needed to play it. Features include the ability to establish what video codecs (audio and video) are required to play an AVI file, determine whether these codecs are installed on your system, and isolate problems associated with these codecs.
Jahshaka - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Adobe After Effects]
A free video editing, effects, and compositing suite supporting real-time effects rendering.
JLC's Internet TV - Download - Home Page
A free program for watching free online TV channels. It automatically finds over 1400 channels and has an online updater to keep the channel list updated.
K-Lite Codec Pack - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Codec Pack All in 1]
A free Collection of Codecs and Related Tools. Codec is short for Compressor-Decompre
- It it always very up-to-date with the latest versions of the Codecs
- It is very user-friendly and the installation is fully customizable
- It has been very well tested, so that the package doesn't contain any conflicting Codecs
- It is a very complete package, containing everything you need to play your movies.
MediaPortal - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Windows Media Center Edition, TiVo]
A free application ideal for turning your PC / TV into a very advanced Media Center. MediaPortal allows you to listen to your favorite music & radio, watch and store your videos and DVDs, view, schedule and record live TV as a digital video recorder and much much more.
VirtualDub - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Adobe Premiere]
A free video capture/processing utility. It lacks the editing power of a general-purpose editor such as Adobe Premiere, but is streamlined for fast linear operations over video. It has batch-processing capabilities for processing large numbers of files and can be extended with third-party video filters. VirtualDub is mainly geared toward processing AVI files, although it can read (not write) MPEG-1 and also handle sets of BMP images.
Windows Movie Maker - Download - Home Page - [Equivalent = Adobe Premiere]
A free video editor included with Windows XP (Windows Update will include the latest version). It gives you the tools to create, edit, and share home movies. Compile and edit a movie from video clips with drag-and-drop functionality. Add special effects, transitions, title options, music, and narration with ease. Share your movie over the Web or master it to DVD media. You can also save your movie back to the DV tape in your camera.
Others
Celestia - Download - Home Page
A free space simulation that lets you explore our universe in three dimensions. Unlike most planetarium software, Celestia doesn't confine you to the surface of the Earth. You can travel throughout the solar system, to any of over 100,000 stars, or even beyond the galaxy.
FreeMind - Download - Home Page
A free mind-mapping application written in Java. The operation and navigation of FreeMind is faster than that of MindManager because of one-click "fold / unfold" and "follow link" operations.
GenealogyJ - Download +
- Home Page - [Equivalent = Family Tree Maker]A free a viewer and editor for genealogical data, suitable for hobbyist, family historian and genealogy researcher. GenealogyJ supports the GEDCOM standard, is written in Java and offers family tree, table, timeline views and more.
Google Earth - Download - Home Page
A free 3D virtual globe that combines the power of Google Search with satellite imagery, maps, terrain and 3D buildings to put the world's geographic information at your fingertips.
- Do not install the Google Toolbar during installation.GraphCalc - Download - Home PageA free graphing calculator that allows you to create, display, and modify 2D and 3D equations. You can modify and display up to six equations, change the range and resolution of the plotted graphs, and manipulate the axes and tick marks to allow easy analysis of the drawn graphs. This program has four render modes and two shading models.
NASA World Wind - Download - Home PageA free graphically rich 3D virtual globe with advanced atmosphere and sun shading effects. World Wind combines NASA imagery generated from satellites that have produced Blue Marble, Landsat 7, SRTM, MODIS and more.
Power Calculator - Download - Home PageA free Graphing Calculator that allows you to evaluate functions as well as perform many different types of conversions.
Sky Chart / Cartes du Ciel - Download - Home PageA free program that enables you to draw sky charts, making use of the data in 16 catalogs of stars and nebulae. In addition the position of planets, asteroids and comets are shown.
Stellarium - Download - Home PageA free planetarium for your computer. It shows a realistic sky in 3D, just like what you see with the naked eye, binoculars or a telescope. It is being used in planetarium projectors. Just set your coordinates and go.
Virtual Moon Atlas - Download - Home PageA free program for Moon observation and survey. Study any lunar formations using a feature database and pictures library.
Monday, December 3, 2007
First hackers sighted in high speed mobile phone arena
T-Mobile has installed a firewall on its GPRS network in the States after a small number of users complained of receiving hacker probes when using its high-speed mobile service.
The issue came to light after Mike Palmer, the technology director for the broadcast division of AP, spotted numerous probes against his PC while using T-Mobile's GPRS network, Computerworld reports.
T-Mobile admitted to Computerworld that around 100 users were affected by the issue, prior to the recent introduction of a firewall on open segments of its GPRS network. Palmer told reporters that he's not spotted probes since then.
Like DSL broadband, GPRS networks offer an always on connection - hence a greater need for firewall protection both from service providers and end users than for dial-up connections. If mobile operators haven't this technology in place already, they ought to review their security policies pretty darn quick.
"GPRS is an 'always on' service, with your IP address being propagated to a greater or lesser extent
throughout the wireless network," Neil Barrett, technical director at security consultants Information Risk Management told us. "I'm not aware of any personal firewall products for GPRS-enabled handhelds, and I'd have to suggest that there's a market there waiting for someone to rip into."
Barrett said if a user's GPRS has a Bluetooth connection to a laptop, which has a personal firewall installed, that partially addresses the security issue. But that's not the only issue to consider.
Since GPRS services are normally paid for by the volume of traffic used, hacker probes could end up costing end-users money as well as threatening their security.
The issue came to light after Mike Palmer, the technology director for the broadcast division of AP, spotted numerous probes against his PC while using T-Mobile's GPRS network, Computerworld reports.
T-Mobile admitted to Computerworld that around 100 users were affected by the issue, prior to the recent introduction of a firewall on open segments of its GPRS network. Palmer told reporters that he's not spotted probes since then.
Like DSL broadband, GPRS networks offer an always on connection - hence a greater need for firewall protection both from service providers and end users than for dial-up connections. If mobile operators haven't this technology in place already, they ought to review their security policies pretty darn quick.
"GPRS is an 'always on' service, with your IP address being propagated to a greater or lesser extent
throughout the wireless network," Neil Barrett, technical director at security consultants Information Risk Management told us. "I'm not aware of any personal firewall products for GPRS-enabled handhelds, and I'd have to suggest that there's a market there waiting for someone to rip into."
Barrett said if a user's GPRS has a Bluetooth connection to a laptop, which has a personal firewall installed, that partially addresses the security issue. But that's not the only issue to consider.
Since GPRS services are normally paid for by the volume of traffic used, hacker probes could end up costing end-users money as well as threatening their security.
Hacker penetrates T-Mobile systems
A sophisticated computer hacker had access to servers at wireless giant T-Mobile for at least a year, which he used to monitor U.S. Secret Service e-mail, obtain customers' passwords and Social Security numbers, and download candid photos taken by Sidekick users, including Hollywood celebrities, SecurityFocus has learned.
“ On July 28th the informant gave his handlers proof that their own sensitive documents were circulating in the underground marketplace they'd been striving to destroy. ”
Jacobsen could access information on any of the Bellevue, Washington-based company's 16.3 million customers, including many customers' Social Security numbers and dates of birth, according to government filings in the case. He could also obtain voicemail PINs, and the passwords providing customers with Web access to their T-Mobile e-mail accounts. He did not have access to credit card numbers.
The case arose as part of the Secret Service's "Operation Firewall" crackdown on Internet fraud rings last October, in which 19 men were indicted for trafficking in stolen identity information and documents, and stolen credit and debit card numbers. But Jacobsen was not charged with the others. Instead he faces two felony counts of computer intrusion and unauthorized impairment of a protected computer in a separate, unheralded federal case in Los Angeles, currently set for a February 14th status conference.
The government is handling the case well away from the spotlight. The U.S. Secret Service, which played the dual role of investigator and victim in the drama, said Tuesday it couldn't comment on Jacobsen because the agency doesn't discuss ongoing cases-- a claim that's perhaps undermined by the 19 other Operation Firewall defendants discussed in a Secret Service press release last fall. Jacobsen's prosecutor, assistant U.S. attorney Wesley Hsu, also declined to comment. "I can't talk about it," Hsu said simply. Jacobsen's lawyer didn't return a phone call.
T-Mobile, which apparently knew of the intrusions by July of last year, has not issued any public warning. Under California's anti-identity theft law "SB1386," the company is obliged to notify any California customers of a security breach in which their personally identifiable information is "reasonably believed to have been" compromised. That notification must be made in "the most expedient time possible and without unreasonable delay," but may be postponed if a law enforcement agency determines that the disclosure would compromise an investigation.
Company spokesman Peter Dobrow said Tuesday that nobody at T-Mobile was available to comment on the matter.
Cat and Mouse Game
According to court records the massive T-Mobile breach first came to the government's attention in March 2004, when a hacker using the online moniker "Ethics" posted a provocative offer on muzzfuzz.com, one of the crime-facilitating online marketplaces being monitored by the Secret Service as part of Operation Firewall.
"[A]m offering reverse lookup of information for a t-mobile cell phone, by phone number at the very least, you get name, ssn, and DOB at the upper end of the information returned, you get web username/password, voicemail password, secret question/answer, sim#, IMEA#, and more," Ethics wrote.
The Secret Service contacted T-Mobile, according to an affidavit filed by cyber crime agent Matthew Ferrante, and by late July the company had confirmed that the offer was genuine: a hacker had indeed breached their customer database,
At the same time, agents received disturbing news from a prized snitch embedded in the identity theft and credit card fraud underground. Unnamed in court documents, the informant was an administrator and moderator on
On July 28th the informant gave his handlers proof that their own sensitive documents were circulating in the underground marketplace they'd been striving to destroy. He'd obtained a log of an IRC chat session in which a hacker named "Myth" copy-and-pasted excerpts of an internal Secret Service memorandum report, and a Mutual Legal Assistance Treaty request from the Russian Federation. Both documents are described in the Secret Service affidavit as "highly sensitive information pertaining to ongoing USSS criminal cases."
At the agency's urging, the informant made contact with Myth, and learned that the documents represented just a few droplets in a full-blown Secret Service data spill. The hacker knew about Secret Service subpoenas relating to government computer crime investigations, and even knew the agency was monitoring his own ICQ chat account.
Myth refused to identify the source of his informational largesse, but agreed to arrange an introduction. The next day Myth, the snitch, and a third person using the nickname "Anonyman" met on an IRC channel. Over the following days, the snitch gained the hacker's trust, and the hacker confirmed that he and Ethics were one and the same. Ethics began sharing Secret Service documents and e-mails with the informant, who passed them back to the agency.
Honeypot Proxy
By August 5th the agents already had a good idea what was going on, when Ethics made a fateful mistake. The hacker asked the Secret Service informant for a proxy server -- a host that would pass through Web connections, making them harder to trace. The informant was happy to oblige. The proxy he provided, of course, was a Secret Service machine specially configured for monitoring, and agents watched as the hacker surfed to "My T-Mobile," and entered a username and password belonging to Peter Cavicchia, a Secret Service cyber crime agent in New York.
Cavicchia was the agent who last year spearheaded the investigation of Jason Smathers, a former AOL employee accused of stealing 92 million customer e-mail addresses from the company to sell to a spammer. The agent was also an adopter of mobile technology, and he did a lot of work through his T-Mobile Sidekick -- an all-in-one cellphone, camera, digital organizer and e-mail terminal. The Sidekick uses T-Mobile servers for e-mail and file storage, and the stolen documents had all been lifted from Cavicchia's T-Mobile account, according to the affidavit. (Cavicchia didn't respond to an e-mail query from SecurityFocus Tuesday.)
By that time the Secret Service already had a line on Ethics' true identity. Agents had the hacker's ICQ number, which he'd used to chat with the informant. A Web search on the number turned up a 2001
The trick with the proxy honeypot provided more proof of the hacker's identity: the server's logs showed that Ethics had connected from an IP address belonging to the Residence Inn Hotel in Buffalo, New York. When the Secret Service checked the Shadowcrew logs through a backdoor set up for their use -- presumably by the informant -- they found that Ethics had logged in from the same address. A phone call to the hotel confirmed that Nicolas Jacobsen was a guest.
Snapshots Compromised
Eight days later, on October 27th, law enforcement agencies dropped the hammer on Operation Firewall, and descended on fraud and computer crime suspects across eight states and six foreign countries, arresting 28 of them. Jacobsen, then living in an apartment in Santa Ana in Southern California, was taken into custody by the Secret Service. He was later released on bail with computer use restrictions.
Jacobsen lost his job at Pfastship Logistics, an Irvine, California company where he worked as a network administrator, and he now lives in Oregon.
The hacker's access to the T-Mobile gave him more than just Secret Service documents. A friend of Jacobsen's says that prior to his arrest, Jacobsen provided him with digital photos that he claimed celebrities had snapped with their cell phone cameras. "He basically just said there was flaw in the way the cell phone servers were set up," says William Genovese, a 27-year-old hacker facing
The swiped images are not mentioned in court records, but a source close to the defense confirmed Genovese's account, and says Jacobsen amused himself and others by obtaining the passwords of Sidekick-toting celebrities from the hacked database, then entering their T-Mobile accounts and downloading photos they'd taken with the wireless communicator's built-in camera.
The same source also offers an explanation for the secrecy surrounding the case: the Secret Service, the source says, has offered to put the hacker to work, pleading him out to a single felony, then enlisting him to catch other computer criminals in the same manner in which he himself was caught. The source says that Jacobsen, facing the prospect of prison time, is favorably considering the offer.
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