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I guess when you are a billionaire, finding somewhere new and exciting to go on vacation gets difficult after a while. No such problem for Charles Simonyi, who as part of the original Xerox PARC team helped developed the mouse, the GUI and even laser printing, and went on to …

More than 7 million Sony batteries have now been recalled since the middle of August when Dell made its big 4.1 million battery recall announcement, a figure which has risen to 4.2 million over the weekend interestingly enough. Toshiba has now joined the feeding frenzy by recalling 830,000 laptop batteries; …

Here is my perfect world Mac --> should be used by the regular home user. Macs are easy to use, have all the software a user will ever need incorportated in it. Although not cheap, Macs are built to last. The average user will never have a problem with a …

An elderly woman in Ohio has been pretty much beaten to a pulp by AT&T (not physically, of course, but it almost might well have been). Here's the story: Mandatory phone rentals went out in the 80's when the big phone company breakup went down, right?. There is this woman …

Sometimes, I get wind of something that has all the makings of an April Fool’s Day prank: but not often in September. Which is why I took a second look at the story about an IBM supercomputer in the making, with ambitions to break the petaflop speed barrier, which will …

AOL has announced its [URL="http://developers.aimphoneline.com/"]AIM Phoneline Developer Initiative[/URL] that will allow voice application developers and device manufacturers to create new tools to extend the functionality of the still relatively new AIM Phoneline service. Examples of the new APIs for call personalization (or ringtones as mere non-marketing mortals might say), untethered …

AOL has announced its [URL="http://developers.aimphoneline.com/"]AIM Phoneline Developer Initiative[/URL] that will allow voice application developers and device manufacturers to create new tools to extend the functionality of the still relatively new AIM Phoneline service. Examples of the new APIs for call personalization (or ringtones as mere non-marketing mortals might say), untethered …

For some reason, it's fasionable to abort tables even if a good situation exists for their usage. When did this happen? I like tables, and I don't think they should be overlooked. Most of the time, I create my pages with a huge table holding everything together. Sure, I could …

The following came to mind a while ago in regard to aspiring programmers who visit forums such as this. [COLOR="Silver"][I claim no credit for this, I found it somewhere on the net.][/COLOR] [QUOTE][b]The Magpie's Nest[/b] [i]By Joseph Jacobs[/i] All the birds of the air came to the magpie and asked …

Opera is the only browser that supports a site by site Management compared to other browsers. In Opera, if you click on Tools > Preferences > Advanced > Cookies > Manage Cookies, you will get access the “Server Manager” window showing you a list of all the websites that you …

[B]IT consultants[/B], by the very nature of the job, will face new challenges involving different technologies when moving from project to project or contract to contract. Each new opportunity involves evaluating a clients' requirements, and where necessary re-aligning those expectations or possibly re-defining the scope of the contract and its …

It was just a rumor. I said it was just a rumor. I reported it as a rumor. I had heard a few months ago that a rumor had surfaced about the pricing for Windows Vista. I had heard that the Home Premiun version (the version I would most likely …

Reasons Why I use Opera: Reason 1: Integrated RSS Reader. Opera has the best Integrated RSS Reader I have ever used. I have tried many other RSS Readers, but that of Opera truly rules them out. One thing with the RSS Reader of Opera is that by default, it is …

Well, well, well. Just as I got done ratting out the mobile phone companies for various beat-downs, guess what I found out? Well, actually, I found out two things: one, I found out that I should be glad I don't have a monthly mobile phone service plan. I wouldn't even …

Microsoft has released Windows Vista build 5536.16385 on Windows Connect only. Microsoft calls this a Pre-RC1 Build. This means that this built will have part of the improvements that will be set for RC1. This build is not available for public download. According to first Experiences: 1. Performance has much …

What is up with software version numbering systems? Why no standard? How is it that some fly-by-night app, obviously obscure until the author managed to scrape together enough savvy to get it listed on a software download site, comes out of the gate at version 7.0.33.491 or some other lie …

Thursday 24th August could be a date for your diary if you happen to be in the market for compilers and development tools for the high-performance computing arena. Especially that which nods towards parallelization and optimization functionality in order to squeeze multi-core processors to the max. The [URL="http://www.pgroup.com/"]Portland Group[/URL] have …

Windows Media Player 11 to RTM Sept. 14. Yes, you read it right: http://www.thehotfix.net/comments.php?catid=1&shownews=1022 What happens when you dogfood a software for a long period of time: Well the piece of software that you were currently dogfood quickly becomes obselete and requires an update. This is exactly what happened to …

What Caused Microsoft to Create DirectX10? It all started with the Windows Error Reporting Tool. Microsoft was collecting hundreds of Bugs per day only for its Operating System. Microsft Found out that 70% of all errors and bad user Experience in Windows XP comes from Graphic Display drivers. First, Microsft …

I was born in London, and although I no longer live there (having swapped the rat race for a life of rural seclusion) I am a regular business visitor. Unsurprisingly then, I tend to travel a lot by the good old London Black Cab. While more expensive than taking the …

It scares me that, even if I do the duty to protect my personal information, some IT "professional" might be asleep at the switch and be the leak that sinks my ship. So, just when I thought I was going to go a whole day without feeling beat-down, I ran …

So lately the Apple Fanboys have been talking about this software called Parallels which can emulate Windows inside of Mac OS X. However is this really good or bad for Apple? In the short term I would say yes, but in terms of long term success Microsoft will be hands …

Here are some little words that I have found about the progress of some of the most Exciting Software Development Stories. First of all, the most awaiting Operating System, Windows Vista has reached the RC1 Milestone. After the Beta1 and the recent Beta2, the development process has got “branched” to …

When you are the world's biggest PC maker, your problems tend to be on the large scale when they hit. Such is the case of what the US Consumer Products Safety Commission is calling the biggest recall in the history of the consumer electronics industry. The problem is that a …

OK, so that would just be silly, would it not? Nobody in their right minds would accept a job working in IT on Mars. Yet so far 70 people have applied to the [URL="http://www.imbp.ru/Mars500/Proj_M500-e.html"]Mars-500[/URL] project in Russia, for the unusual position (literally) of an IT Manager willing to be sealed …

[B][U]Windows Live Writer[/U]:[/B][INDENT]Windows Live Writer beta is now available to download at [URL="http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/"]http://windowslivewriter.spaces.live.com/[/URL].[/INDENT] Windows Live Writer is a desktop application for composing blog entries onWindows Live Spaces or other blog services. Some features include a WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) editor along with an HTML editor and …

I was caught up in the travel nightmare that has been unraveling in the UK this week, the result of a major gambit in the ongoing ‘war on terror’ being foiled. Like many business travelers, I had been due to fly, short haul across into mainland Europe, when the news …

Sometimes, the cleverest of folk say the dumbest things. Case in point, I am sure that Dr. Maressa Hecht Orzack is very clever, as a clinical psychologist at McLean Hospital in Massachusetts you would have to assume as much. So why has she claimed that as many as 40 percent …

Microsoft's patch-the-patch policy and practice has just rubbed a hole in their own breeches that they need to patch! First, the snafu over WGA (which supposedly just wants to make sure you have a legitimate copy of Windows before you are allowed to update or get other cool stuff for …

Rockstar Games is no stranger to controversy, after all the Grand Theft Auto series of hugely successful video games revolve around the concept of robbing and killing your way to victory. But with the confirmation that it will release the long delayed ‘Bully’ in October, originally slated for a PS2 …

More bad news from the Las Vegas Black Hat Convention, this time for the blogging community. Most RSS reader software is vulnerable to malicious JavaScript insertion attacks, and web based readers are not immune either. With typical JavaScript based attacks targeting passwords and personal data, it is something that should …

No, it is not a trick question and, yes, your security could be compromised by the fact that you trust your printer almost implicitly. At the Black Hat Security conference this week, Brendan O’Connor proved just how insecure embedded software can be, by exploiting a vulnerability affecting Xerox printers and …

So many of us C forum old timers have answered the same basic questions so many times that even our occasional attempts to be humorous or creative with them seem to get dull. You'd think that by the end of week one that a programmer new to C would have …

I'm going to let up on the beat-down for today, and instead give you a [B]heads up[/B]. There is a company (and a service) that's been quietly kicking Google's butt (if you can believe that). The butt being kicked is not Google itself, but rather GMail, Google's wildly popular email …

If your neighbour was borrowing your wireless Internet connection, without your permission, and you wanted to teach them a lesson, what would you do? [URL="http://www.ex-parrot.com/~pete/upside-down-ternet.html"]Pete [/URL]decided to have some fun with a fairly simple Squid proxy and turned their online life upside down. Literally. What Pete did was split the …

According to [URL="http://www.spreadfirefox.com"]Spread Firefox[/URL] the Internet Explorer alternative has been downloaded 200 million times. Which sounds impressive enough, until you factor in the small matter of downloads not being the same thing as actual users? Yet while Spread Firefox admits as much and reminds us that the 200 million figure …

Here we go with the mobile phone beat-down again: Cingular Wireless, in a move boiling over with distasteful corporate hubris, has had the unmitigated effrontery to announce that they are going to charge folks with "older phones" an additional five bucks a month (OK, $4.99, but who's splitting hairs here?) …

How can so many people be so wrong all at the same time? That is the question I am left asking myself following the 410 to 15 vote in favor of the Deleting Online Predators Act of 2006 (also known as HR5319 or DOPA.) The answer is, of course, that …

I'm not going to mention any real names in this article (to protect the innocent as well as to protect the innocent (me) against the guilty), but if you've been keeping up, you know that right now, the highest rated spyware removal program, according to the most well-known reviewers and …

How much money does Microsoft need? As much as possible would appear to be the answer, considering that it has announced a $1.50 fee to download the Office 2007 Beta as from August 2nd. Claiming a requirement to cover server costs as a result of the 3 million people that …

I'm going to proceed from the assumption that those of you who are reading this article are at least somewhat technically savvy. I was going to further assume that none of you (or at least very few) have ever been victimized by spyware or a virus, but that stretches reality …

Recently I was at work and I needed to do some css stuff and I did most of it in notepad because the current machine I was on didnt have dreamweaver(and yes it isnt necessary) and so rather than wait for someone to find a copy of dreamweaver and its …

Well I suppose it will be Apple’s worst ever Christmas gift. For months people have been anticipating a music player from Microsoft commonly known as iPod Killer (for no apparent reason). Well the iPod killer has been finally confirmed and has been code-named as Zune (strange name?). It is expected …

Intel officially announced the introduction of 10 Core 2 Duo and Core Extreme microprocessors for desktops, workstations and notebooks. Intel said it has over 550 customer system designs underway, with the CPUs built on 65 nanometre technology. Machines using the desktop chips will be available in early August, while notebooks …

File Sharing site Kazza is now to become a legal downloading service after a lot of legal battles. The company will also be paying $100mill to the record industry. Over the past year 20 million music songs have been downloaded illegally and many company's are losing a lot of money …

While Intel had announced awhile back that they would be making a Core 2 Duo chip AMD said they were already working on a Quad-core. Then more recently Intel announced that they would be making a Quad-core chipset as well this year so whats the difference. Well they both are …

VMware has bashed Microsofts partnership with XenSource and upcoming opensource virtualization software company. They are saying that is a "one way street" and that they are betraying their opensource roots. The deal allows better intergration for para-virtualization of Windows on the Xen software. I find this odd seeing as how …

Is it just me, or is there a rather severe dearth of knowledgeable help at technology stores? I don't think I've ever seen a larger number of know-nothing, computer tech wannabes working at stores where technology products are sold. And God forbid you should go to an office supply store …

[I]OK. I rarely get into such endless and passionate discussions. [/I] However, having "USED" Linux for the past 2 years (emphasis on past-tense, I now dual-boot but rarely use Linux), I would like to state my view and receive feedback. [B]Why I do not use Linux:[/B] #1. Wireless card is …

In what could be an important week for anyone with the slightest interest in online chat, Microsoft and Yahoo began a limited public Beta which sees users of the two IM systems being able to talk to each other for the first time. My inside man tells me that the …