As strange as it may seem, the screenwriters for the blockbuster movie Jurassic Park had it right. In the movie, they harvested the DNA of a dinosaur from the blood sucked up by a Jurassic mosquito. The mosquito was stored in hardened amber for millions of years. They then took the DNA and inserted it into the embryo of a modern age frog. When the frog gave birth, it gave birth to a dino. Well... a dino egg that is.
Much in the same fashion, scientists in Japan at the Kyoto University have the same plans. Basically.
They are harvesting the DNA from a mammoth and plan to bring the big hairy guy back! It might seem a bit far-fetched and a bit sci-fi, but it can actually be done. Or at least they think it can. If you consider that scientists have successfully cloned sheep and other animals at this point, being that the mammoth idea works on the exact same principles.. this is entirely possible.
The mammoth cells were harvested from some frozen mammoth skin that has been stored in a Russian mammoth research facility. They have been studying the eating, living and mating habits of the mammoth for years and are considered experts in the field. So for them to be able to look forward to this has just been an amazing trip for them.
What others are considering however are the ethical and moral repercussions of the whole thing. If they can bring back a mammoth, and this actually works.. what next? Some people are worried about possibilities of these types of things "polluting" the rest of the world should a "wild" DNA changed embryo get loose. Or the possibility of some sort of mistake go wrong.. according to those opposed to this there are tons of reasons for this not to move forward.
However the chance for science to study these creatures with the use of modern tools and technologies is just too good to pass up. This is one of the major reasons for this to take place, and the scientists in charge are going to do everything in their power to make sure it happens.
According to scientists at the Kyoto University this should all take place in about 5-6 years time. So not too far out we could be reading about the first mammoth in millions of years walking around the grounds of a large caged in enclosure somewhere in Japan surrounded by scientists just waiting for their chance to poke it with a needle.
Showing posts with label cool stuff. Show all posts
Showing posts with label cool stuff. Show all posts
Saturday, January 22, 2011
Monday, January 17, 2011
Amazon Sells Playstation 3's for $39.99?
Sure! I first heard about it on the channel 5 news in Chicago. They ran a story on it and right after the segment I rushed to Amazon.com to see if it was still on the site. Sure enough, it was! So of course I picked one up. At first I was just curious to see if it would go through the whole buying process and remain $39.99 and it did. I was surprised. Naturally.
Now the question becomes how far will this continue? Will I actually be able to secure this purchase at the price they sold it to me at? Apparently the systems are being sold on Amazon from target. Or at least that is what it says on the bottom of the items page. So I did some searching. Their policy on such things states that should an item's corrected price be higher than the stated price at time of sale then the order will be canceled. Thus saving them from losing the money on the mistake and saving the customer the hassle of fighting a "corrected" price adjustment on their credit cards.
And that right there is the issue at hand. I purchased the PS3 which after tax and shipping came out to about $55. A great deal to be sure. So what happens now? If for instance a week from now they turn around and charge my credit card the correct price I would have grounds for a couple different arguments.
First, that they have no right to charge my card a second time as I only gave them authorization for the original charge. And I know for a fact that the credit card company (any one for that matter) would stand behind me on this one if I had to bring it that far. Secondly, I would then tell Amazon.. "This is how you do business? You charge a customer one price, and then after the purchase has been made you come back and charge the customer another price which is 300% HIGHER than what the customer was originally charged!?!?" Because if that is the case, then what stops them from charging a customer anything they want for any product they sell? Absolutely nothing.
And I am absolutely positive that if they were to engage in such a business practice, there are more than one news outlet that would be very interested in running the story. Imagine all the negative press.
It is almost in their best interest, this has got me thinking, that they would be better off just honoring the in-correct price they had on their site. Sure they will lose money, but they would stand to lose alot more in the potential customer loss from the negative story getting out.
So what is to become of this? We will have to wait and see. At the moment the item is out of stock. But I have multiple receipts and documentation to show what I paid for the PS3. So I have my backup, interested to see what they will have when this comes to a head.
I will keep everyone posted. As things progress I will post updates on my blog here for everyone to follow along with. The prices have since been changed to reflect a more realistic number. Stay tuned for updates.
Friday, January 7, 2011
Tablet Wars, comparing Blackberry Playbook with the iPad and Motorola Xoom.
It seems that the tablet is all the rage these days. Nobody has been talking about any new computers or cell phones lately. But strike up a conversation about the latest tablet and you can get people talking all day long about their favorite. So I decided it was about time to review a couple and discuss what might make one better than the other. We will be talking about the Blackberry Playbook, Apple iPad, and the Motorola Xoom. These are the three major ones either on the market or due to hit the market soon.
Apple does one thing very well. They are great at managing their brand. And by being innovators within the market they continue to keep their brand on top even when it really isn't the best thing out there. Blackberry and Motorola are soon to invade the market with their latest products and the iPad should be worried. The iPad is sleek, skinny and does come with anti-fingerprint coatings. However it is the heaviest of the three. And for all the iPads innovation, they are forced to fight a battle that they will be losing simply because they came out first.
It is common for products that hit the market first. It is a trade off between early sales and giving your competitors time to see what you offer and beat it. In many cases that seems to be what happened here. Blackberry and Motorola did that in many areas.
The Blackberry Playbook will be coming out the first couple months of the year while the Xoom will follow shortly after. With the specs finally released for all three we can now see how they stack up. And after a close review of what they can do and watching a couple videos of the tablets in action, it's close but the Playbook does take the prize in this one.
Although it is close with the exception of a couple areas it may still come down to preference and price for many. Not to mention availability. The Xoom will be available exclusively through Verizon. So unless you can unlock it like you can a smartphone, you will not be getting a Xoom unless you have a Verizon account.
Lets take a look at what they can do. First the Blackberry Playbook.
And for the Motorola Xoom:
All three generally have it where it counts. And each one is just a little better or a little worse in area that they comparable in. Let me tell you here what really matters. When you buy one of these your going to be using it to get on the Internet, play some videos, maybe run some spreadsheets or various little applications, among some other odds and ends. The Apple iPad can multi-task to a point. It starts to suffer from memory shortage after having two or three apps running and will start wiping them away. It may continue a download in the background, but that's about it. The only window working at full steam at that point is the one you have on top.
Here is where the Playbook shines. Blackberry has done a masterful job at OS implementation. The Playbook runs seamless even when multi-tasking. Out of the three pads the Playbook is the only one that can run multiple windows all fully. Nothing will run at half speed or half capacity when multi-tasking. So if you need a pad that can run multiple browser windows and still keep your stock ticker or streaming music running without a hiccup in the background this will be it for you.
The Xoom strives to get to the top using little features. Featuring multiple hardware functions such as a gyroscope and barometer it offers a future of possibilities. This plus the fact that their marketing heavily on Verizon's 4G-LTE to be available and supported on the Xoom. This means that for a mobile device you should have no problem either connecting to the Internet or becoming your own personal Hotspotsome cups and your all set.
I wont even get into the pricing because if you can afford one of these things, price does not matter. Personally unless your a business person always on the move and a laptop is a bit too bulky and cumbersome for your liking your really don't need one. Especially if you have a smartphone already. These are essentially underpowered notebooks. And that being the case, how many devices does one person need? Your on a business trip and you have a laptop, smartphone, and a tablet? There is a bit of overkill in that scenario. Can you guess where?
Either way these devices are nice and they do what they promise very well. The Playbook hits the mark a little better. But the Xoom is a close second and based on a preference you might have the Xoom can even be considered number 1. If your looking for sheer power and functionality and a device that can handle pure multi-tasking then the Blackberry is your machine. If you want a device that can give you enough power to handle normal functions of your day to day operations and still look nice playing a video on youtube then go with the Xoom.
Whatever you do, if you are in the market for one of these do NOT purchase an iPad. You will be wasting money much better spent on one of the other two. Your money will will go further with Motorola or Blackberry. Plus you will not have to deal with all the DRM that comes with iTunes and their overhyped and useless music service. Or better yet, save your money and upgrade your smartphone. Alot of those I am seeing today are falling behind the curve and some can do almost as much as a pad! So get a phone and save everyone, including yourself the headaches.
Apple does one thing very well. They are great at managing their brand. And by being innovators within the market they continue to keep their brand on top even when it really isn't the best thing out there. Blackberry and Motorola are soon to invade the market with their latest products and the iPad should be worried. The iPad is sleek, skinny and does come with anti-fingerprint coatings. However it is the heaviest of the three. And for all the iPads innovation, they are forced to fight a battle that they will be losing simply because they came out first.
It is common for products that hit the market first. It is a trade off between early sales and giving your competitors time to see what you offer and beat it. In many cases that seems to be what happened here. Blackberry and Motorola did that in many areas.
The Blackberry Playbook will be coming out the first couple months of the year while the Xoom will follow shortly after. With the specs finally released for all three we can now see how they stack up. And after a close review of what they can do and watching a couple videos of the tablets in action, it's close but the Playbook does take the prize in this one.
Although it is close with the exception of a couple areas it may still come down to preference and price for many. Not to mention availability. The Xoom will be available exclusively through Verizon. So unless you can unlock it like you can a smartphone, you will not be getting a Xoom unless you have a Verizon account.
- 7 inch LCD screen, 1024x600 (1080p) full multi-touch & gesture support.
- 1ghz Dual-Core Processor, 1gb RAM
- 2 Cameras (3mp front / 5mp rear) Full HD - 1080p recording
- Video playback - 1080p, H.264, MPEG, DivX, WMV / HDMI video output
- Audio - MP#, AAC, WMA
- Wi-Fi 802.11 a/b/g/n, Bluetooth 2.1 +EDR
- Micro HDMI, Micro USB, charging contacts
- Open Flexible Application Platform, Support for WebKit, HTML-5, Full Flash, Adobe support, POSIX, OpenGL, Java
And for the Motorola Xoom:
- 1ghz Dual-Core Nvidia Tegra 2 Processor
- 10.1 inch display. 1280x800 Gorilla touch screen
- 1080p video output, HDMI output
- 32 gb internal storage (software update required before it will support SD cards)
- 1gb DDR2 RAM
- 2 Cameras (2mp front / 5mp rear), 720p recording
- Gyroscope, Barometer, E-Compass, Accelerometer
- Wi-Fi (n), Bluetooth 2.1
- Audio - AAC, AAC+, MP3, XMF, AMR, AMR WB, WMA
All three generally have it where it counts. And each one is just a little better or a little worse in area that they comparable in. Let me tell you here what really matters. When you buy one of these your going to be using it to get on the Internet, play some videos, maybe run some spreadsheets or various little applications, among some other odds and ends. The Apple iPad can multi-task to a point. It starts to suffer from memory shortage after having two or three apps running and will start wiping them away. It may continue a download in the background, but that's about it. The only window working at full steam at that point is the one you have on top.
Here is where the Playbook shines. Blackberry has done a masterful job at OS implementation. The Playbook runs seamless even when multi-tasking. Out of the three pads the Playbook is the only one that can run multiple windows all fully. Nothing will run at half speed or half capacity when multi-tasking. So if you need a pad that can run multiple browser windows and still keep your stock ticker or streaming music running without a hiccup in the background this will be it for you.
The Xoom strives to get to the top using little features. Featuring multiple hardware functions such as a gyroscope and barometer it offers a future of possibilities. This plus the fact that their marketing heavily on Verizon's 4G-LTE to be available and supported on the Xoom. This means that for a mobile device you should have no problem either connecting to the Internet or becoming your own personal Hotspotsome cups and your all set.
I wont even get into the pricing because if you can afford one of these things, price does not matter. Personally unless your a business person always on the move and a laptop is a bit too bulky and cumbersome for your liking your really don't need one. Especially if you have a smartphone already. These are essentially underpowered notebooks. And that being the case, how many devices does one person need? Your on a business trip and you have a laptop, smartphone, and a tablet? There is a bit of overkill in that scenario. Can you guess where?
Either way these devices are nice and they do what they promise very well. The Playbook hits the mark a little better. But the Xoom is a close second and based on a preference you might have the Xoom can even be considered number 1. If your looking for sheer power and functionality and a device that can handle pure multi-tasking then the Blackberry is your machine. If you want a device that can give you enough power to handle normal functions of your day to day operations and still look nice playing a video on youtube then go with the Xoom.
Whatever you do, if you are in the market for one of these do NOT purchase an iPad. You will be wasting money much better spent on one of the other two. Your money will will go further with Motorola or Blackberry. Plus you will not have to deal with all the DRM that comes with iTunes and their overhyped and useless music service. Or better yet, save your money and upgrade your smartphone. Alot of those I am seeing today are falling behind the curve and some can do almost as much as a pad! So get a phone and save everyone, including yourself the headaches.
Wednesday, January 5, 2011
PS3 Hacked again! This time for good?
Sony's Playstation 3 console has remained the unhackable console. From the 3 major game system developers offerings, the PS3 is the only one that could not be hacked to allow installation and play of homebrew software and/or pirated games. Until now. That's right, the system has once again been hacked, and unlike the last time almost a year ago, it looks like this one will stick.
Last year a hack was released that was said to "jailbreak" the console to allow installation of Linux which would then allow the user to install any homebrew application they chose or at that point run pirated games, namely Playstation 2 titles. Although the system was widely known to be unhackable amongst the hacker circles around the net, Sony's decision to remove Playstation 2 playability, which was a hallmark of the early versions of the system, angered many amongst the systems followers. This alone drove many to try and find a way to make it possible if only to install and play Playstation 2 games. And it appeared that was accomplished when the PSJailbreak was released last year. However, Sony was on the ball and almost as soon as it was released Sony also released a firmware update that made the hack useless.
Unlike the Xbox 360, Sony's Playstation 3 has a reputation for releasing firmware updates on a regular basis to update and improve it's system. These firmware updates include everything from system fixes to additions of new features that make the console very enticing to buyers and users alike. However, that same dedication to the console that so many of its user love is also the same trait that kills the efforts of hackers. And although in general some hackers are looked upon as the scourge of industry, there are many who do the computer world a great service.
Since the release of firmware version 3.21 has dashed the hopes of many by making the last hack useless, there is news of a stronger hack being released. The same person who was behind the first hack and since stopped his efforts and then jumped back into the race has claimed to have hacked the system yet again. And this time, without giving Sony a chance to repair what he has done. Not that anything is broken mind you. George Hotz, the infamous "IPhone Hacker", the 17 year old kid who was the first to unlock the Iphone for use with any service carrier is the mind behind this latest PS3 hack. This time, unlike the first hack, the PSJailbreak, this one would require a hardware change in order to remove the hack.
This hack works on the basis of a simple mechanism. A lock code. Sony uses what they consider a number key to tell the PS3 that firmware someone is installing onto the console is legitimate and un-modified. If the lock key matches what the system has in it's internal memory all is considered good in the world and the system allows the installation to proceed. If the key is incorrect, then the installation is not allowed to continue. Simple really. But the key itself, is not. Because of the complexity of today's encryption systems keys such as this one can be almost unbreakable. And it is said that the one Sony uses would take all the computing power in the world to even make a dent. And even if you were able to do so, it would take hundreds of years to even come close to doing that. But apparently someone at Sony took for granted some of its other software may be utilized to help get at the Playstation 3's key.
It seems there is a constant number that is used in some of its other software that should by all rights be a random digit. This use of a non-random number in that software allowed another team of hackers to use simple algebra to get at those keys. This knowledge was made public (well public amongst the hacker community that is) and Hotz grabbed the method and used it in his now renewed work on the PS3 system. Using this method he was able to gain access to the Playstation 3's key and as such is able to write to the systems memory which will allow him to install any homebrew software he wants. A Hack is born.
So what now? Sony has yet to comment on the news and Hotz says he has no plans to use the key for piracy. His intentions are purely academic he claims. And that is all fine and good. And as noble as that all sounds it does not stop anyone else. It is kind of like what you tell a teenager who is just starting to drive. "You have to watch out for the other guy". That is what Sony needs to worry about here. The "other guy". The community of users who own PS3's will not lose anything. In actuality they will most likely gain from this. Those who are a bit computer savvy and can make their way around DOS a bit should have the knowledge to install such a hack once it is made public. Then they can play homebrew and possibly Playstation 2 games. Which remember, was allowed on older versions of the console and has since been removed to save production costs. I myself have a launch PS3 console, so I have no need for such a hack except for maybe the homebrew applications. But take my word for it, most homebrew is not worth the trouble. And if Sony takes a similar stance to Microsoft people may be in trouble. When the Xbox 360 was hacked Microsoft banned all those who had installed the hack on their system from Xbox
Wednesday, December 29, 2010
Barcodes, Barcodes and more Barcodes.
My upcoming story, The History (and Future) of the Barcode will be posted soon. I am introducing it this way because I am also in the process of implementing a barcode system on my sites as well. Select articles that I write are being published at a couple various select websites and publications. Because of this I will start including a scanable barcode along with every article I publish. This will allow for easier tracking by myself, as well as anyone who wants to can reach me or my sites by scanning the barcode with their mobile device (cellphone, etc..). Because these codes are becoming more readily available and useable by the masses, I see this as a sort of wave of the future. That may be a bit strong of a way to put it, but regardless they are catching on quickly. So I will implement them. I am always trying to be in-step with what is happening on the technology front and have done a good job of doing so throughout my life.
So.. my upcoming article will explain some of this as well as give you guys a decent review of the history of that wonderful little code. Also, start being on the lookout for these codes everywhere. Blackberry for example unveiled a program not too long ago, mid-summer, that was a barcode treasure hunt of sorts. They announced that they would put some 2D barcodes in various public venues such as summer concerts, large public gatherings, and sprouting events just to name a few. Scanning these barcodes with your Blackberry would either enter you into a contest, bring you to a special website, or automatically win you some sort of modest prize. It made people start to take notice. And because of this (and other various promotions) a couple applications started sprouting up on Blackberry Appworld and other places. So now that the software and technology is in place and available for many people to utilize, the codes can really start to be of some use to people.
Be on the lookout. At first I will just have some 2D barcodes on the site that just link to contact information as well as links to my websites and various articles I publish. But as time goes on these barcodes will start to become a bit more varied. And as I come across some barcodes that may be from other companies running contests or things of that nature I will either post the barcode here on the site, or give you a link to that barcode so you can go to the site and scan it there. So stay tuned. This could turn out to be a rather big deal. And I will do my best to keep you informed of anything that happens. Again... look for the Barcode article to be posted soon. Within the next couple of hours.
So.. my upcoming article will explain some of this as well as give you guys a decent review of the history of that wonderful little code. Also, start being on the lookout for these codes everywhere. Blackberry for example unveiled a program not too long ago, mid-summer, that was a barcode treasure hunt of sorts. They announced that they would put some 2D barcodes in various public venues such as summer concerts, large public gatherings, and sprouting events just to name a few. Scanning these barcodes with your Blackberry would either enter you into a contest, bring you to a special website, or automatically win you some sort of modest prize. It made people start to take notice. And because of this (and other various promotions) a couple applications started sprouting up on Blackberry Appworld and other places. So now that the software and technology is in place and available for many people to utilize, the codes can really start to be of some use to people.
Be on the lookout. At first I will just have some 2D barcodes on the site that just link to contact information as well as links to my websites and various articles I publish. But as time goes on these barcodes will start to become a bit more varied. And as I come across some barcodes that may be from other companies running contests or things of that nature I will either post the barcode here on the site, or give you a link to that barcode so you can go to the site and scan it there. So stay tuned. This could turn out to be a rather big deal. And I will do my best to keep you informed of anything that happens. Again... look for the Barcode article to be posted soon. Within the next couple of hours.
Thursday, December 23, 2010
Scientists discover the first evidence that many universes may exist!
Many of you may have heard the term ‘Multiverse’ over the last couple of years. And if any of you have spent any amount of time surfing the History or Discovery channel lately you may have been exposed to the ‘Multiverse Theory’ there as well. If you have not, then stick around. I will attempt to explain to you what that theory or idea is as well as to shed some light on what scientists have recently discovered. Because if what they theorize is indeed true, and what they found indeed really there, then the way of life as we know it may be in for a real shock!
I am first breaking this story for one of my blogs, The Aggregate Universe. On this site, we take news that occurs in today’s high tech and scientific world and break it down for the average every day guy or gal who has a genuine interest in that sort of thing, but may not have the vocabulary or the patience to stick around and follow some of the stories that break every day in the world of science. There is rarely a slow news day in the science world. And much like with computers and the high tech gadgets that we follow here at The Aggregate Universe, they usually become obsolete a couple days after their release. Science news is much the same because one day there is a new theory given to the world and a couple days later it is either disproven or a new discovery is made to help prove it. We try to follow that news and give it to you in a way that you can understand. Who says you have to wear a white lab coat and glasses with a pocket protector for your pens in order to know what is going on in deep space.
So on that note, we bring you the theory of the Multiverse. In many ways the theory is exactly what it sounds like. Multi meaning many, obviously, and verse from universe. But in more common terms you may better understand the idea as multiple dimensions. The idea of multiple dimensions has been around for years. Both in Hollywood and many science fiction stories. The idea states that you have the dimension that we all live in and are familiar with, but then right next to you without you even being able to see it, hear it or touch it, is another dimension much like our own except for a few major differences. For example, in one dimension you are you. And everything is as you see it today. In the next dimension everything is exactly like your known dimension except you have four arms! And the idea is that there are an unlimited number of these dimensions, all slightly different in certain ways. Now this takes a bit of the sci-fi approach, but the idea is somewhat similar. Multiple dimensions, multiple universes. Each the same, yet different.
Now of course nobody knows what any other universe may hold, so everyone is allowed to guess and make up their own mental images. However.. here is what we do know. Or at least, what some scientists are trying to figure out and prove. The term ‘Multiverse’ was coined in the year 1895 by the American philosopher and psychologist William James. Sometimes called ‘Parallel Universes’ or ‘Parallel Dimensions’, the various universes that are said to make up the ‘Multiverse’ consist of a set of universes that together comprise everything that exists. The entirety of space, time, matter, energy and all the physical laws and constants that describe and define them.
Recently while on the journey of research and discovery about the Big-Bang and Pre Big-Bang science, a team of scientists from the UK, Canada and the U.S. revealed that they may have discovered something. What they discovered may seem like nothing to the average citizen, but to those in the science world or their circle of peers actually turns out to be a big deal. They found four statistically unlikely circular patterns in the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) that could resemble ‘Bruises” incurred by our universe as it collided with other universes. Now how is this significant? Let me explain in a bit more depth about where this all stems from.
The CMB or Cosmic Microwave Background is background radiation that exists everywhere in the universe and they believe it has been there since our universe was a baby. Only 300,000 years old. As such, scientists can use information found in this background radiation to explain many different things. One of these things is the various temperature fluctuations that occur in the universe. Scientists are now using the information on these fluctuations to prove the Big-Bang theory. Showing how the temperature either fluctuates randomly or in a uniform manner helps to explain cosmic inflation and therefore the beginning of the universe from a single point into what it is now, and as such the result of a ‘Big-Bang’.
Now, that all being said, these four circular patterns found in the CMB are thought to be collisions, or those ‘bruises’ mentioned earlier and are brought on by other ‘Bubble’ universes colliding with our own. This is because the temperature fluctuations that have so much to do with the Big-Bang also bring about an idea that the inflation or dramatic growth spurts cause universes to form a sort of bubble or balloon or some other irregular circular shape. And these sometimes have a tendency to collide with one another. And when they do, they create a ‘Big-Bang’ which in turn creates another universe and shows the results of that birth as the patterns that the science team had found.
So essentially you have multiple universes out there. These universes are separated by a very thin margin. And as of yet, no one knows what this separation is or what it is made of or if it even exists. Remember this is all theory so far. But these universes are all separated and when they get too close, they collide and you have an explosion on the scale of what has never been seen before. Much like what the Big-Bang is thought to be. When this explosion happens you have the creation of another universe as everything expands at a very fast rate from the point of the collision. This continues at an endless rate until this universe then collides with another, thus helping to create yet another universe. And this is where we are right now. We are living inside one of these universes of which there are many. And of course the sizes and scale of what we are talking about is just un-imaginable. But this is the so-called Multiverse.
This search for the explanation of our existence has gone on since the beginning of man. Much in different ways, considering the technological and philosophical level of society. But it has existed since our first thoughts and will continue to exist until we either figure out the answer or perish from this existence. But a few scientists have what they think is an explanation of how it all started and they think they have evidence of that fact. Whether they do or not we may never know. For all we know their theory about the multiverse may be the farthest thing from reality. But I give them credit for trying. This is what we must continue to do. We must continue to look for the answers in the face of adversity and regardless of criticism. It is only those who will ask questions that will ever get any answers!
Sunday, December 19, 2010
Windows 7 Tips, Tricks (and the occasional Hack).
And here we are again with yet another installment in our ongoing series of Windows 7 goodness. In our past articles we touched on a couple neet tricks that you can accomplish with some simple text and a couple easy clicks here and there. All useful. Today we will continue that trend and give you some Windows 7 goodies that are easy to setup and another that will require a bit more complexity. You can consider it a more "advanced" trick, but if you follow the steps I will give you, anyone can make it work. So without any further delay, here we go.
Tip # 4: With this tip we will be entering the wonderful world of Internet Explorer. Although many people (myself included) use Firefox, Internet Explorer is still a very capable browser. And if you take advantage of some of it's more advanced settings, it can rival some of the best around. And maybe even reclaim it's spot on the "Best Internet Browser" list. Today we will discuss Internet Explorer "Add-Ons" and the features they can add to your browsing experience.
There are many different ways to utilize today's add-ons. I could literally type pages and pages of descriptions if I was to try and explain all the different add-ons. But that is not the point of this series. I am here to point out the advantages of doing this the right way. First of all adding this to your Internet Explorer is as easy as downloading anything else you would download. Today's Windows is not like the previous versions, because when you download an add-on for Explorer it will get installed automatically for you. So what you need to know how to do is manage your add-ons. And that is very simple. Just find the Tools drop down menu on the far right side of Internet Explorer and click it. In that menu you will see an option that reads: Manage Add Ons. Clicking on that will load a separate window that will show you all your add ons broken up into separate categories. From here you can Enable or Disable the add-ons and even Remove them as well. Do yourself a favor and get familiar with this menu and all its functions. Because if you do, you will be one step closer to customizing Internet Explorer to do exactly what you want and need it to do. As I mentioned a minute ago, there are different categories of add-ons that you should know. They are: Accelerators, Search Providers, Toolbars and Extensions, and InPrivate Filtering. There are actually a couple more. But you need not worry about those at this point because they are a bit more advanced and really not important for what we are discussing here. Let us instead go into the categories mentioned above.
Accelerators are not really anything that speeds up your browsing as you may think by its name. It does make things faster, but in a different sense of the word. Accelerators basically take text that gets highlighted while your are on a web site and by selecting the text you can find maps, define a word, or use a particular accelerator to open another web site or program to handle other functions. So basically an accelerator is something that opens another function depending on what the accelerator you have installed is meant to do, like open a map to an address by simply clicking on the highlighted text on the page.
Search Providers are precisely what you would expect them to be. Everyone is familiar with Google and Bing and some of the others. But by having them installed as an add-on will give you those search providers in a little text bar at the top right side of the Internet Explorer window. Of course different providers have different features and things that people either like or dislike. And by using them as an add-on gives you the option of searching for things on the net directly with your browser instead of having to actually go to the website of that provider, like google.com for example.
ToolBars and Extensions extra toolbars, animated mouse pointers, stock tickers, and pop-up ad blockers are all things that this add-on does for your browsing. By installing these types of add-ons you can really change the way your Internet Explorer functions. Personally I do not use any of these things because to my they tend to clutter up my experience. But lots of people really like these and enjoy for example a mouse pointer that functions in a way that is well... funky.
InPrivate Filtering is a good one. This basically hides what you are doing when you are on the Internet. Internet Explorer really does a good job of saving information and pages in an effort to make things faster the next time you happen to visit that site. Utilizing its page cache and cookies, Internet Explorer saves tons of information about your browsing experience. However, this can be a bad thing as well. Lets say your searching the Internet for something that you consider private. Well you find what you were looking for, get on a web page or two, read what you wanted to read and then get off the net. You think that your safe right? Not really. A person like me can come along and I can (with a few simple clicks) review everything you just read on the net. So what you were hoping to keep private, I now know about and can spread to all your friends and loved ones! Pretty scary eh? Well there are alot of things like that on a computer that people don't know about but that is a story for another day. InPrivate Filtering is a series of add-ons that you can install that will prevent that from happening. These add-ons can insure that what you do on the net is safe from prying eyes. Because lets face it. Today there are more than one person in almost every household that use a certain computer.
That is it for add-ons. At least for now. I will probably at some point write an article about specific add-ons. Add-ons that are "special" so to speak. But for now I just wanted to point out what add-ons are and what they can do for your browsing experience. Become familiar with them and with managing them. Open the Manage Add-ons windows a couple times and play around with the add-ons already installed on your computer. Once you become familiar with that, you can go to Microsoft's Add-On Central where you can find many, many more add-ons in all different shapes and sizes. Try a few on for size and see how you like or don't like them. You can always remove the ones that don't work for you. Microsoft's Add-On site can be found here.
Trick #2 Taskbar and Jumplists. With the advent of Windows Vista and then Windows 7 Microsoft put an emphasis on the Taskbar. For those who are not aware, the Taskbar is the bar at the very bottom of your screen. In Windows 7 it can be made into a very useful tool. Depending on who the manufacturer of your computer is and where you bought it, your taskbar may have a few different icons on it. My suggestion would be to wipe it clean. To do so right-click on each icon and "unpin" it from the taskbar. Once the Taskbar is empty you can now add only the programs you want to it. And why would you do this? Because the Taskbar is a very useful tool if used properly. It allows you to quickly load any program on your computer without having to search for its shortcut or find it in the Start Menu. And for certain software, having it on the Taskbar provides you with what is called a Jumplist. A Jumplist is a list of documents or such that you have recently loaded into that particular program. For example the Notepad. If you have that pinned to your taskbar and you hover over it with your mouse pointer and then right-click, you will be provided with a list of recently loaded documents. Pretty useful. The Taskbar is useful in a similar way with any program. With any program you have pinned to the Taskbar, hovering over that programs icon with your mouse pointer will provide you with a preview of what that program has loaded or is running currently. For example I have Microsoft Outlook 2010 pinned to my taskbar. When I have Outlook open but minimized it stays on the Taskbar as an icon. Now if I take my mouse pointer and hover over its icon a preview thumbnail will pop up showing me what I am working on. If I have a couple emails open but minimized, the Taskbar will show a preview window for all of the open emails. It is a useful tool especially when you have multiple windows open and your working on all of them.
Anything can be pinned to the Taskbar. And that is what makes it so wonderful. All you have to do is find the program you want on the Taskbar and right-click on it. In the context menu that comes up you will see the option to "Pin This To The Taskbar". So like I said, if you want to utilize it to it fullest potential wipe your Taskbar clean and pin whatever you use the most to it. Once you do you will see how it has helped save you time when all you have to do is load the application from the Taskbar as opposed to finding it in the Start Menu's bloated list.
Thanks for reading. But that is all we have for this installment of Tips and Tricks for Windows 7. There is much more to come as I have a big list of things to write about for this and more come in every day. So if you have a Tip or Trick for Windows 7 that you want to be added shoot me an email. If you send me one that I don't already know about or already have on my Master List you can win a free Blackberry app! That's right, our first Aggregate Universe dedicated contest! Send me a Windows 7 Trick that is not on my master list of tricks and you can win a Blackberry app from Crackberry's Appstore! I will name the app later as this idea just came to me as I was concluding this article.. way to be organized Tony! Look for the article detailing the contest to be posted soon. That's it for now.
Tip # 4: With this tip we will be entering the wonderful world of Internet Explorer. Although many people (myself included) use Firefox, Internet Explorer is still a very capable browser. And if you take advantage of some of it's more advanced settings, it can rival some of the best around. And maybe even reclaim it's spot on the "Best Internet Browser" list. Today we will discuss Internet Explorer "Add-Ons" and the features they can add to your browsing experience.
There are many different ways to utilize today's add-ons. I could literally type pages and pages of descriptions if I was to try and explain all the different add-ons. But that is not the point of this series. I am here to point out the advantages of doing this the right way. First of all adding this to your Internet Explorer is as easy as downloading anything else you would download. Today's Windows is not like the previous versions, because when you download an add-on for Explorer it will get installed automatically for you. So what you need to know how to do is manage your add-ons. And that is very simple. Just find the Tools drop down menu on the far right side of Internet Explorer and click it. In that menu you will see an option that reads: Manage Add Ons. Clicking on that will load a separate window that will show you all your add ons broken up into separate categories. From here you can Enable or Disable the add-ons and even Remove them as well. Do yourself a favor and get familiar with this menu and all its functions. Because if you do, you will be one step closer to customizing Internet Explorer to do exactly what you want and need it to do. As I mentioned a minute ago, there are different categories of add-ons that you should know. They are: Accelerators, Search Providers, Toolbars and Extensions, and InPrivate Filtering. There are actually a couple more. But you need not worry about those at this point because they are a bit more advanced and really not important for what we are discussing here. Let us instead go into the categories mentioned above.
Accelerators are not really anything that speeds up your browsing as you may think by its name. It does make things faster, but in a different sense of the word. Accelerators basically take text that gets highlighted while your are on a web site and by selecting the text you can find maps, define a word, or use a particular accelerator to open another web site or program to handle other functions. So basically an accelerator is something that opens another function depending on what the accelerator you have installed is meant to do, like open a map to an address by simply clicking on the highlighted text on the page.
Search Providers are precisely what you would expect them to be. Everyone is familiar with Google and Bing and some of the others. But by having them installed as an add-on will give you those search providers in a little text bar at the top right side of the Internet Explorer window. Of course different providers have different features and things that people either like or dislike. And by using them as an add-on gives you the option of searching for things on the net directly with your browser instead of having to actually go to the website of that provider, like google.com for example.
ToolBars and Extensions extra toolbars, animated mouse pointers, stock tickers, and pop-up ad blockers are all things that this add-on does for your browsing. By installing these types of add-ons you can really change the way your Internet Explorer functions. Personally I do not use any of these things because to my they tend to clutter up my experience. But lots of people really like these and enjoy for example a mouse pointer that functions in a way that is well... funky.
InPrivate Filtering is a good one. This basically hides what you are doing when you are on the Internet. Internet Explorer really does a good job of saving information and pages in an effort to make things faster the next time you happen to visit that site. Utilizing its page cache and cookies, Internet Explorer saves tons of information about your browsing experience. However, this can be a bad thing as well. Lets say your searching the Internet for something that you consider private. Well you find what you were looking for, get on a web page or two, read what you wanted to read and then get off the net. You think that your safe right? Not really. A person like me can come along and I can (with a few simple clicks) review everything you just read on the net. So what you were hoping to keep private, I now know about and can spread to all your friends and loved ones! Pretty scary eh? Well there are alot of things like that on a computer that people don't know about but that is a story for another day. InPrivate Filtering is a series of add-ons that you can install that will prevent that from happening. These add-ons can insure that what you do on the net is safe from prying eyes. Because lets face it. Today there are more than one person in almost every household that use a certain computer.
That is it for add-ons. At least for now. I will probably at some point write an article about specific add-ons. Add-ons that are "special" so to speak. But for now I just wanted to point out what add-ons are and what they can do for your browsing experience. Become familiar with them and with managing them. Open the Manage Add-ons windows a couple times and play around with the add-ons already installed on your computer. Once you become familiar with that, you can go to Microsoft's Add-On Central where you can find many, many more add-ons in all different shapes and sizes. Try a few on for size and see how you like or don't like them. You can always remove the ones that don't work for you. Microsoft's Add-On site can be found here.
Trick #2 Taskbar and Jumplists. With the advent of Windows Vista and then Windows 7 Microsoft put an emphasis on the Taskbar. For those who are not aware, the Taskbar is the bar at the very bottom of your screen. In Windows 7 it can be made into a very useful tool. Depending on who the manufacturer of your computer is and where you bought it, your taskbar may have a few different icons on it. My suggestion would be to wipe it clean. To do so right-click on each icon and "unpin" it from the taskbar. Once the Taskbar is empty you can now add only the programs you want to it. And why would you do this? Because the Taskbar is a very useful tool if used properly. It allows you to quickly load any program on your computer without having to search for its shortcut or find it in the Start Menu. And for certain software, having it on the Taskbar provides you with what is called a Jumplist. A Jumplist is a list of documents or such that you have recently loaded into that particular program. For example the Notepad. If you have that pinned to your taskbar and you hover over it with your mouse pointer and then right-click, you will be provided with a list of recently loaded documents. Pretty useful. The Taskbar is useful in a similar way with any program. With any program you have pinned to the Taskbar, hovering over that programs icon with your mouse pointer will provide you with a preview of what that program has loaded or is running currently. For example I have Microsoft Outlook 2010 pinned to my taskbar. When I have Outlook open but minimized it stays on the Taskbar as an icon. Now if I take my mouse pointer and hover over its icon a preview thumbnail will pop up showing me what I am working on. If I have a couple emails open but minimized, the Taskbar will show a preview window for all of the open emails. It is a useful tool especially when you have multiple windows open and your working on all of them.
Anything can be pinned to the Taskbar. And that is what makes it so wonderful. All you have to do is find the program you want on the Taskbar and right-click on it. In the context menu that comes up you will see the option to "Pin This To The Taskbar". So like I said, if you want to utilize it to it fullest potential wipe your Taskbar clean and pin whatever you use the most to it. Once you do you will see how it has helped save you time when all you have to do is load the application from the Taskbar as opposed to finding it in the Start Menu's bloated list.
Thanks for reading. But that is all we have for this installment of Tips and Tricks for Windows 7. There is much more to come as I have a big list of things to write about for this and more come in every day. So if you have a Tip or Trick for Windows 7 that you want to be added shoot me an email. If you send me one that I don't already know about or already have on my Master List you can win a free Blackberry app! That's right, our first Aggregate Universe dedicated contest! Send me a Windows 7 Trick that is not on my master list of tricks and you can win a Blackberry app from Crackberry's Appstore! I will name the app later as this idea just came to me as I was concluding this article.. way to be organized Tony! Look for the article detailing the contest to be posted soon. That's it for now.
Monday, November 29, 2010
Our Contest reviews and listing.
In an effort to help our online community we are going to do what some may consider a "public service". Although those words always seem to make me laugh simply because it conjures up visions of public officials squandering our tax money.. lol
What we are going to do is be sort of a contest hub for our readers. We will use our resources to scour the net for contests, review these contests and post the ones worthy of sharing web space with our articles. We will do everything we can to check the rules and all the fine print to ensure the contests are legit. We will then give you all the pertinent information that you need to make an educated decision as to whether you would like to join or not. So we will let you know if your email will be added to a marketing list. If your information is safe. And where exactly your information will be going. We do have some resources to get this information for you. And if for some reason we cannot find out, we will let you know, we wont sponsor the contest, or we will just leave it out of our lists.
As they come through our review system they will get posted on our contest page. We will also have various updates posted on our sidebars to the left or right of our posts. So check back frequently or better yet bookmark our site so that you don't forget to check back often. Not only to check for new news on a contest you may have already joined, but to check for new ones. The great thing about this is that you have already got us looking through any contest we list on this site. So hopefully we can at least save you some time by finding the contests as well as going through the rules and pointing out any flaws or advantages you may have. Another thing is that all contests listed on our site here will be related to technology. Or something new in nature. You're not going to see any contests to win a basket or something like that!
Check the navigation sidebar to the right for a quick link to the contest page of the blog and it will take you right to our contest list. This will surely grow as time goes on. We will also publish other reminders and contest details on the left sidebar as well.
So stay tuned, bookmark us, and check back often. You don't wanna miss anything.
What we are going to do is be sort of a contest hub for our readers. We will use our resources to scour the net for contests, review these contests and post the ones worthy of sharing web space with our articles. We will do everything we can to check the rules and all the fine print to ensure the contests are legit. We will then give you all the pertinent information that you need to make an educated decision as to whether you would like to join or not. So we will let you know if your email will be added to a marketing list. If your information is safe. And where exactly your information will be going. We do have some resources to get this information for you. And if for some reason we cannot find out, we will let you know, we wont sponsor the contest, or we will just leave it out of our lists.
As they come through our review system they will get posted on our contest page. We will also have various updates posted on our sidebars to the left or right of our posts. So check back frequently or better yet bookmark our site so that you don't forget to check back often. Not only to check for new news on a contest you may have already joined, but to check for new ones. The great thing about this is that you have already got us looking through any contest we list on this site. So hopefully we can at least save you some time by finding the contests as well as going through the rules and pointing out any flaws or advantages you may have. Another thing is that all contests listed on our site here will be related to technology. Or something new in nature. You're not going to see any contests to win a basket or something like that!
Check the navigation sidebar to the right for a quick link to the contest page of the blog and it will take you right to our contest list. This will surely grow as time goes on. We will also publish other reminders and contest details on the left sidebar as well.
So stay tuned, bookmark us, and check back often. You don't wanna miss anything.
Saturday, November 27, 2010
Epic Marble Run for kids room!
You got to see this!
This father has more than just a bit of free time. Steve Moseley built this run for his son that wraps around the perimiter of the room. With rockers, gravity feeds, loops, and kinetic steppers he spared no expense getting this thing cookin.
Although it will take a bit more then just your average wood working tools and skills, he did provide some decent instructions for anyone who actually wants to try this in their abode. Good luck!
This father has more than just a bit of free time. Steve Moseley built this run for his son that wraps around the perimiter of the room. With rockers, gravity feeds, loops, and kinetic steppers he spared no expense getting this thing cookin.
Although it will take a bit more then just your average wood working tools and skills, he did provide some decent instructions for anyone who actually wants to try this in their abode. Good luck!
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