Tracking Time on your Computer

Tracking Time on your Computer

Copyright (c) 2007 Galleon Systems
An accurate time reference is a fundamental requirement to many computer software applications. Although every Personal Computer incorporates an internal clock, it pays to check that the date and time settings are correct and this should be done routinely, every time the PC is turned on. For critical applications, the time base should be synchronised with a highly accurate external reference source.

Personal Computers are not designed to be perfect clocks. Their design has been optimised for mass production and low-cost rather than maintaining accurate time. Where time is crucial to the application, there are a number of precise external references available that enable computers to maintain accurate system time. This article looks at the various sources of time references to show how they can be utilised to maintain synchronised time on your computer.

Working to a synchronised time base is essential in computer networks. Without any external reference, individual computers will start to drift, anything from a few seconds to a few minutes each day. Clearly such a situation would not be acceptable when processing transactions or performing time critical tasks.

On the Internet this problem has been solved by introducing the Network Time Protocol (NTP). The NTP protocol supports the distribution of accurate time from a highly precise time server to network time clients. Most modern operating systems have the ability to synchronise time with an NTP server. Generally all that is required is the IP address or domain name of Stratum 1 or Stratum 2 NTP servers.

UNIX and LINUX operating Plattform is able to download the complete NTP application from the NTP website.ntp.org NTP is freely available, open source software, available under the GNU public license.

Microsoft Windows XP/2000/2003 and Vista operating systems use a simplified routine designated SNTP client for Simple Network Time Protocol. This is based on a sub-set of the Network Time Protocol, using a simplified NTP algorithm with many of the more complex high precision routines removed.

The Windows operating systems provide facilities for an IP address or domain name of an Internet or Intranet NTP server to be entered in the time properties tab. The SNTP client will then contact the NTP server periodically in order to update and synchronise system time.

Alternative methods will be required for standalone computers and systems which do not have access to the Internet. These can be provided with a local access to national radio time references which are transmitted free-to-air.

All that is required is a small RS232 serial or USB radio receiver, and the PC can obtain continuous accurate time. The Computer Time synchronises to the received time and frequency radio source.

Radio broadcasts are identified by their 'call sign' The UK time transmitter call sign, MSF, is located at Anthorn, Cumbria. Similar arrangements exist in Noth America - call sign WWVB from Colarado. Germany is covered by DCF broadcast from Mineflingen, near Frankfurt. National broadcasts are also available in France, Switzerland, Japan and Canada.

The only shortcoming with national radio time and frequency solutions is that they have a finite transmission range. In general they are limited to geographic boundaries also. Such issues do not apply to the Global Position System (GPS) a satellite based universal navigation system.

Each GPS satellite carries a highly accurate synchronised atomic clock. This enables GPS to provide precise timing information anywhere on the face of the planet. All that is required to receive the transmission is a low cost-cost GPS receiver and antenna with a clear view of the sky. PC connections are similar to the radio transmissions configuration, using a serial or USB port, enabling accurate timing information to be available continuously.

By : Magdalena Sperber
Keyword : Tracking Time on your Computer

Gaming Virtually in Today's World

Gaming Virtually in Today's World

Everybody loves a good game to get rid of the stresses of the day. After a long day of work, a good game of Scrabble can be a lot of fun, as can a game of Monopoly. If one is not keen to rack one's brains too much, one can also go work up some sweat by playing a game of squash or tennis on the lawn.

Unfortunately, most of these games require more than one person. If you have ever played Checkers on your own, you will agree that it can get boring after just a few moves. However, these days, it is tough to always get people to play with you. After all, everybody has their own lives to lead. Everybody has his own share of tensions.

What do you do if you have no one to give you company in playing a game of your choice? You rejoice because you have your computer to play with. Thanks to the rise of video and computer games, we no longer have to sit at home and mope because our football buddies decided they had better things to do. In the worst case, all that one has to do is switch on the computer and turn to a whole host of games.

From word games and shooting games to field sports and casino games, there are hundreds of games that the bored person can turn to for rejuvenation. If you do not have your favorite games already saved on your computer, just search for them on the Internet. There are scores of websites that allow game downloads. Moreover, everyone nowadays seems to be downloading games all the time. Find a game you love, and download it on to your computer. Then you can spend hours just moving the mouse and the cursor keys and reaching newer and newer top scores everyday.

The chess buff who cannot get a good enough opponent can always try his luck against the computer or against a sufficiently skilled online partner. In fact, lots of people are choosing to play chess online these days. Life has certainly become exciting for the game lover.

The Internet provides the game lover with access to all kinds of free online games. There are games based on movies and popular cartoon series. There are games that involve speed and violence. And there are games that involve thinking hard and strategizing. There really seems to be something for everybody.

By : Ajeet Khurana
Keyword : Gaming

Choosing a Business Equipment Liquidator

Choosing a Business Equipment Liquidator

With the increasing popularity of the network in major business operations for many different companies and the effective return of the dot com boom with the emergence of Google and a number of like minded companies, what you are finding more and more nowadays is that choosing a business equipment liquidator is becoming a harder process as time goes by. This is true for two reasons; firstly, it is true because the number of liquidators is getting larger and of course secondly by logic it is also true because the average quality of liquidators is getting smaller. Nowadays, choosing a business equipment liquidator is a lot like choosing a particular web hosting company; a lot of the logical principles are the same and a few of the important points to keep in mind are discussed below.

First and foremost, take a look at the chain of companies that are associated with the business equipment liquidator that you might be interested in. If you are at all familiar with the web hosting business, what you are going to be able to take from that to this as an accurate comparison is that a lot of companies are middle men services. In other words, you might actually be getting a better deal if you figure out who that business equipment liquidator works with and then go and directly do business with that person. A lot of business equipment liquidators however are loathe to give out that kind of information because it hurts their business, so the key ultimately becomes to figure out whether or not your prospective liquidator is an end-user or a middle-man and then make your decisions accordingly.

Secondly, once you have figured out the type of company you will want to be working with and have a list of prospective liquidators, you will want to take a look at the reputation of those liquidators. Again, you can draw a comparison to what you know about checking up on the reputation of web hosting companies. It is extremely difficult to do online and if you see a review that is completely positive, then chances are what you are getting is not the complete story. However, there are some consumer watch groups that make a living out of taking a look at web hosts; something that is rare to find with business equipment liquidators simply because of the nature of the beast. However, now that there are more small businesses are being created because of technology, one can expect this situation to improve in the future. For now, try to find a neutral review that allows you to honestly evaluate each liquidator you might be interested in.

Finally, once you have those two figured out, then and only then should you look at the price. Never look at the price first, because simply put you will get what you pay for in a lot of cases. If you ignore business partnerships and reputation in favor of saving a few bucks up front, chances are you are going to get burned down the road and end up losing more money than you saved in the first place.

By : urlreader
Keyword : Business Equipment

10 Ways To Protect Your Laptop Against Theft & Loss

10 Ways To Protect Your Laptop Against Theft & Loss

Laptop theft is rampant. You have a 1 in 10 chance your shiny new laptop will be stolen. And the real shocker: according to the FBI 97% are never recovered.

And they should know, the U.S. Department of Justice stated in a recent report that the FBI lost 160 laptops in a 44 month period ending in September of 2005. If FBI agents have trouble keeping track of their laptops, imagine what the ordinary person is facing.

The statistics are pretty grim. A laptop is stolen every 53 seconds. Ouch!
With stats like those you have to do everything in your power to avoid becoming a victim of laptop theft. If you keep valuable personal or business information on your laptop the consequences can be even more gruesome and devastating. For laptop hardware can be easily replaced, but your valuable information may be lost forever.

So here are...
10 Practical Ways to Protect Your Laptop Against Theft, Loss or Misplacement.

1. Keep Your Eyes On Your Laptop
Be aware of your laptop at all times especially when traveling. You wouldn't leave a Thousand Dollar Bill lying around unattended would you? So watch your laptop closely.

2. Don't Use An Obvious Laptop Bag
Carry your laptop in regular luggage that doesn't look like it has a laptop. Don't advertise your laptop to any would-be thieves.

3. Use Visual Locks And Restraints
Use visual locks and restraints to secure your laptop and to act as a deterrent. It won't fool hardened thieves but most will opt for a less secure laptop. For example, you can use a product like STOP, this system works by attaching a specially-made security plate to your laptop. This plate is barcoded and registered. It also carries a warning label letting would-be cyber thieves know that the ownership of your laptop is permanently monitored.

4. Use Passwords And Encryption
Use passwords and encryption to protect any sensitive information on your laptop. Again, unless you use very sophisticated encryption it won't fool the experienced hacker or hard-core digital thief but it will slow down and hinder the common criminal.
Set a BIOS Password for your laptop. You have to take advantage of any security option that's on your laptop's OS or operating system. For those using Mac OS X you can encrypt your entire hard drive and set-up a master password in order to view it.
Windows XP & Vista lets you encrypt files and folders. Just right click your data, select properties, open general tab and then advanced to check "Encrypt contents to secure data box".

5. Use Encryption Programs Like Steganos Safe 2007
You can also try something like Steganos Safe 2007. Vital files can be encrypted and it can even turn your USB thumb drive or iPod into a key for unlocking your hard drive.

6. Use Anti-Theft Software Like LoJack
Use anti-theft software that can track and locate your laptop or computer through the IP address once the stolen laptop is used to access the Internet. Use systems like "LoJack For Laptops". It costs Costs around 50 bucks a year but it may be worth that price for your peace of mind alone.

According to the info on their site they recover 3 out of 4 stolen laptops equipped with the LoJack system. It basically places hidden and silent software that reports back the IP address and location of the laptop once it is stolen and the thief connects to the Internet.

7. Use Invisible Ultraviolet Markings
Use invisible ultraviolet markings so that any recovered stolen laptops will be clearly marked as yours to the police. Keeping track of your laptop's serial number is also a good idea and have this number stored in a different place other than on your laptop.

8. Try Remote Data Deletion
If you place important information on your laptop have a remotely controlled self-destruct solution in place. Then your highly sensitive information can be deleted remotely after your laptop is stolen.

9. Be Prepared
Create company policies for management of your company's laptops. Have set procedures in place for tracking and reporting of any laptops stolen or misplaced. Be prepared for the inevitable.

10. Backup Backup Backup
Regularly backup any vital information you have on your laptop. Most information will be useless to potential thieves but may be extremely important to you personally or for the running of your business.

No matter if it is through theft or simple misplacement, losing a laptop is a painful experience, one you should avoid at all costs. However, if it does happen to you, be assured you can minimize the pain by having a complete backup of your laptop's contents. In most cases, this information will be much more valuable than the laptop itself.

For hardware can be easily replaced, your personal data and months/years of work may take forever to recover or redo. Sometimes it is lost forever, so BACKUP your information regularly. Keep your laptop and its contents safe and out of harm's way. Simply protect yourself and your laptop by using the tips you have just read.
Copyright (c) 2007 Titus Hoskins

By: Titus Hoskins
Keyword : Protect Your Laptop

ATA vs SATA

ATA vs SATA

Hard Drives: ATA versus SATA

The performance of computer systems has been steadily increasing as faster processors, memory, and video cards are continuously being developed. The one key component that is often neglected when looking at improving the performance of a computer system is the hard drive. Hard drive manufacturers have been constantly evolving the basic hard drive used in modern computer systems for the last 25 years, and the last few years have seen some exciting developments from faster spindle speeds, larger caches, better reliability, and increased data transmission speeds.

The drive type used most in consumer grade computers is the hearty ATA type drive (commonly called an IDE drive). The ATA standard dates back to 1986 and is based on a 16-bit parallel interface has undergone many evolutions since its introduction to increase the speed and size of the drives that it can support. The latest standard is ATA-7 (first introduced in 2001 by the T13 Technical Committee (the group responsible for the ATA standard)) which supports data transfer rates up to 133MB/sec. This is expected to be the last update for the parallel ATA standard.

As long ago as 2000 it was seen that the parallel ATA standard was maxing out its limitations as to what it could handle. With data rates hitting the 133MB/sec mark on a parallel cable, you are inviting all sorts of problems because of signal timing, EMI (electromagnetic interference) and other data integrity issues; thus industry leaders got together and came up with a new standard known as Serial ATA (SATA). SATA has only been around a few years, but is destined to become �the standard� due to several benefits to be addressed in this Tech Tip.

The two technologies that we will be looking at are: ATA (Advanced Technology Attachment) � a 16-bit parallel interface used for controlling computer drives. Introduced in 1986, it has undergone many evolutions in the last 18+ years, with the latest version being called ATA-7. Wherever an item is referred to as being an ATA device, it is commonly a Parallel ATA device. ATA devices are also commonly called IDE, EIDE, Ultra-ATA, Ultra-DMA, ATAPI, PATA, etc. (each of these acronyms actually do refer to very specific items, but are commonly interchanged) SATA (Serial Advanced Technology Attachment) � a 1-bit serial evolution of the Parallel ATA physical storage interface.

Basic Features & Connections

SATA drives are easy to distinguish from their ATA cousins by the different data and power connections found on the back of the drives. A side-by-side comparison of the two interfaces can be seen in this PDF from Maxtor, and the following covers many of the differences�

Standard ATA drives, such as this 200GB Western Digital model, have somewhat bulky, two inch wide ribbon cable with 40-pin data connections and receive the 5V necessary to power them from the familiar 4-pin connection. The basic data cables for these drives have looked the same for years. A change was made with the introduction of the ATA-5 standard to better improve the signal quality by making an 80 wire cable used on the 40-pin connector (these are commonly called 40-pin/80-wire cables). To improve airflow within the computer system some manufacturers resorted to literally folding over the ribbon cable and taping it into that position. Another recent physical change also came with the advent of rounded cables. The performance of the rounded cables is equal to that of the flat ribbon, but many prefer the improved system air flow afforded, ease of wire management, and cooler appearance that come with them.

SATA drives, such as this 120GB Western Digital model, have a half inch wide, 7 �blade and beam� data connection, which results in a much thinner and easier to manage data cable. These cables take the convenience of the ATA rounded cables to the next level by being even narrower, more flexible and capable of being longer without fear of data loss. SATA cables have a maximum length of 1 meter (39.37 inches), which is much greater than the recommended 18 inch cable for ATA drives. The reduced footprint of SATA data connections frees up space on motherboards, potentially allowing for more convenient layouts and room for more onboard features!

A 15-pin power connection delivers the 250mV of necessary power to SATA drives. 15-pins for a SATA device sounds like it would require a much larger power cable than a 4-pin ATA device, but in reality the two power connectors are just about the same height. For the time being, many SATA drives are also coming with a legacy 4-pin power connector for convenience.

Many modern motherboards, such as this Chaintech motherboard, come with SATA drive connections onboard (many also including the ATA connectors as well for legacy drive compatibility), and new power supplies, such as this Ultra X-Connect, generally feature a few of the necessary 15-pin power connections, making it easy to use these drives on new systems. Older systems can easily be upgraded to support SATA drives by use of adapters, such as this PCI slot SATA controller and this 4-pin to 15-pin SATA power adapter.

Optical drives are also becoming more readily available with SATA connections. Drives such as the Plextor PX-712SA take advantage of the new interface, although the performance will not be any greater than a comparable optical drive with an ATA connection.

Performance

In addition to being more convenient to install and drawing less power, SATA drives have performance benefits that really set them apart from ATA drives.

The most interesting performance feature of SATA is the maximum bandwidth possible. As we have noted, the evolution of ATA drives has seen the data transfer rate reach its maximum at 133 MB/second, where the current SATA standard provides data transfers of up to 150 MB/second. The overall performance increase of SATA over ATA can currently be expected to be up to 5% (according to Seagate), but improvements in SATA technology will surely improve on that.

The future of SATA holds great things for those wanting even more speed, as drives with 300 MB/second transfer rates (SATA II) will be readily available in 2005, and by 2008 speeds of up to 600 MB/second can be expected. Those speeds are incredible, and are hard to imagine at this point.

Another performance benefit found on SATA drives is their built-in hot-swap capabilities. SATA drives can be brought on and offline without shutting down the computer system, providing a serious benefit to those who can�t afford downtime, or who want to move drives in and out of operation quickly. The higher number of wires in the power connection is partially explained by this, as six of the fifteen wires are dedicated to allowing the hot-swap feature.

Price

Comparing ATA drives to SATA drives can be tricky given all of the variables, but in general it is the case that SATA drives will still cost just a bit more than a comparable ATA drive. The gap is closing rapidly though, and as SATA drives gain in popularity and availability a distinct shift in prices can be expected. Considering the benefits of SATA over ATA, the potential difference of a few dollars can easily be justified when considering an upgrade. Computer Geeks currently has a limited selection of SATA drives, but several technical sites, such as The Tech Zone and The Tech Lounge, offer real time price guides to see how comparable drives stack up.

Final Words

The current SATA standard provides significant benefits over ATA in terms of convenience, power consumption and, most importantly, performance. The main thing ATA has going for it right now is history, as it has been the standard for so long that it will not likely disappear any time soon. The future of SATA will be even more interesting as speed increases will help hard drive development keep pace with other key system components.

Jason Kohrs Computer Geeks tech tips and computer advice

By : Jason Kohrs
Keyword : ATA vs SATA, ATA defined sata definition, what is ata, what is sata

Apple May Reveal iPods With More Features

Apple May Reveal iPods With More Features

SAN FRANCISCO -- Apple Inc. is expected next week to introduce new versions of its digital music players that have more features, but cost the same. The new gear, say analysts, typifies how the Cupertino, Calif., company is focusing on its core businesses after expanding into the cellphone industry earlier this year with its iPhone.

Last month, Apple unveiled a similar update of its iMac desktop computers, in which it added more features and in some cases dropped the prices.

Apple, in an emailed invitation, would only reveal that it has scheduled the media event for Wednesday in San Francisco.

According to Goldman Sachs analyst David Bailey -- and several Apple fan sites -- the new iPods would be the first to be based on a version of Apple's homegrown computer operating system. They will be about an inch shorter and will be capable of storing more digital media, according to Apple fan sites.

There is also speculation that the new media players will feature some elements, such as a touchscreen, that Apple first introduced in its iPhone.

Separately, Apple appears to be exploring new opportunities to more deeply integrate its products with the entertainment systems inside vehicles. Apple Chief Executive Steve Jobs met recently with Volkswagen AG CEO Martin Winterkorn, according to Hans-Gerd Bode, a spokesman for the German auto maker. German financial magazine Capital reported the two executives discussed a possible "iCar" project that would feature products by Apple, whose iPod music player already has some integration with car stereo systems.

Mr. Bode said "there's nothing going on in the direction of having cooperation" with Apple. An Apple spokeswoman declined comment.

By : BEN CHARNY August 30, 2007; Page D4
Keyword : apple

What Makes a Bad Game?

What Makes a Bad Game?

Many people have many different opinions about what makes a bad game, so I asked some average gamers for their opinions.

"Lack luster effort put in by the developers."

"I think the key element is fun. I can overlook mediocre graphics and story if the underlying game is fun. But if they game is a chore to play, with no enjoyment, what's the point?"

"bad gameplay'

"gameplay and graphics"

"bugs and glitches is always a good recipe for a bad game. Also, horrible presentation can help make it bad. But overall, it's the excecution. If it just plain has bad gameplay or just doesn't work out well, then it can easily make a game bad."

"Lacking in fun factor. With all them fancy normal mapping and physics engines, some developers seem to have forgotten what's truly important."

"A complete and total lack of inspiration, style, or anything unique. This is what makes nearly all bad games bad."

"bad graphics. I hate games with bad graphics."

"Bad fun factor and gameplay. Also, if there is a lot of glitches, it sucks."

"A bad game is a game that isn't fun to play. Everything about a game contributes to the fun factor: graphics, sound, presentation, story, and of course, gameplay mechanics. I hated Star Fox Adventures not because the gameplay was bad, I hated it and called it a bad game because the characters and dialogue were so stupid, it stopped being fun and I couldn't stand it after 20 minutes of turning it on for the first time. So sometimes, a game can be bad because of other factors besides gameplay mechanics.That's my 2 cents worth."

"Boring gameplay, crappy graphics, weak story."

"One of the things that annoys me most about games is when they don't have a lot of interactivity or the game just wastes your time with repetitive elements. (Final Fantasy VII, I'm looking at you! ). I don't like games like linear RPGs where you just tell your party what to do and go to the next place to find the next person to talk to in between hours of random battles. I guess this could also apply to some FPS on consoles where the autoaim is out of control (007 Agent under Fire)."

"A lot of things make a game bad. And these factors change for most people. For me, what makes a bad game is a lack of story, bad controls and games that are either too hard or too easy. There are a few other minors but those are the big ones."

There are so many factors that contribute to a bad game A shortlist in no particular order (IMHO)

- bugs, glitches, exploits, and holes
- bad story
- poor graphics, sounds, physics (where applicable)
- bad level design
- bad NPC AI (enemy or friendly)
- bad UI / gameplay controls
- bad use of checkpoints / save points / no quicksave
- slow load times between levels (or environments)
- lack of innovation, cliched, repetitive levels
- lack of challenge

"It's just lazy game design I guess."

* Unintuitive controls
* Lack of originality
* Having the "been there, done that" feeling.
* Insane difficulty
* Complete lack of challenge
* A poor game-saving system
* Sequels having less features, or gameplay than previous installments.

By : Tony Camara
Keyword : Free Online Games,video game review,online game review,game review

Are You Using A Dial-Up ISP for SEO?

Are You Using A Dial-Up ISP for SEO?

If you are using a dial-up internet service provider for SEO, it could be costing you a lot of time and money. This is especially true if most of your search engine optimization work is off-site optimization, including building links by submitting your websites to directories and submitting your articles to article directories.

I was submitting my articles and websites to directories using a dial-up internet service provider for several months. The work was very tedious and time consuming. Then, later using a cable internet service provider, what took me almost 3 months to do with the dial-up internet service provider, I was doing in a week with the cable internet service provider.

Going from a dial-up internet service provider to a DSL internet service provider can drastically improve the amount of work you can do in a certain amount of time also. Say, for example, your current dial-up connection speed averages around 30 kilobits per second and you switch to a DSL internet service provider. that has an average connection speed of 300 kilobits per second. The new DSL ISP is ten times faster than your dial-up connection. So, you would be able to do around ten times as much work.

By : Brian Shoemaker
Keyword : internet,service,provider,providers,isp,isps

Apple rethinks its DVD stance

Apple rethinks its DVD stance

At the press event unveiling iLife ’08, Steve Jobs called the new version of Apple’s suite of digital lifestyle apps “the biggest enhancement to iLife since we invented it many, many years ago.” The same could not be said of iDVD ’08. Compared to its suitemates, the DVD-authoring app saw only modest changes—improvements to performance and encoding as well as new themes—and took up only 30 seconds of Jobs’ 45-minute iLife preview.

The scant attention paid to iDVD ’08 is a far cry from past versions of application. iDVD’s launch in 2001 gave consumers the power to create their own DVDS and helped Apple solidify its leadership position in digital video.

But times have changed, and not just for iDVD—this spring, when Apple introduced a revamped version of its Final Cut Studio suite, it did so without introducing any changes to DVD Studio Pro, the high-end version of iDVD.

If Apple is moving away from DVD—and the lack of attention shown both its DVD-authoring apps suggest that the company is—it’s only because it’s following the lead of its customers, executives insist.

“The market is moving away from the DVD,” said Rob Schoeben, Apple’s vice president of applications product marketing. “'We have a great solution for making DVDs and we fine tuned it for this release. If you want to make a DVD, we can help you make a really good one.”

But increasingly, customers don’t want to do that. With broadband connectivity becoming more widespread and video-sharing sites like YouTube growing in popularity, people aren’t looking to put their video on a disc—they want it on the Web.

“People view digital distribution as less of a hassle,” says Gartner research vice president Mike McGuire, who agrees with Apple’s Schoeben that the change is “customer-driven.”

Credit high-speed Internet connections and faster computers for getting people accustomed to receiving information immediately—wherever, whenever they want it. That need for immediate gratification has now come to media, as well.

“What people really want to do is share their content in a much better way,” Schoeben said. ".Mac Web Gallery is immediate, fast and easy. The market has moved away from DVDs and we have delivered a solution."

Apple embraces digital distribution

This shift away from DVDs is not just happening among Mac users, but all over. Ross Rubin, director of analysis at market-research firm NPD, sees more established forms of media giving ground to the “emerging phenomenon” of digital distribution.

Consumers visiting YouTube are quite content to watch a two-minute video taken from a digital camera or cell phone because it meets their expectations. Apple has been able to take advantage of the popularity of YouTube by incorporating it into two of its newest products: Apple TV and the iPhone.

But Apple is addressing this growing demand in other areas as well. Consider its .Mac online services. For years, Apple has enabled its users to publish content on the Web through .Mac. Homepage and photo galleries published through iPhoto are almost as common as computers these days.

However, changes in iLife ’08—not to mention new .Mac features—offer a glimpse into how serious Apple is about enabling distribution for its customers. Highlighting its announcement was the .Mac Web Gallery, a new way for users to share photos and videos online.

Utilizing Web 2.0 technologies, .Mac Web Gallery gives users the ability to build professional looking Web pages to show-off all of their important media. What’s more, it’s immediate.

“With .Mac Web Gallery, in a short period of time users can be viewing better than DVD quality media,” Apple’s Schoeben said. “This new world is a lot faster and makes a better experience for the viewer.”

Apple also gave .Mac users 10GB of storage space to keep all of the media they expect will be uploaded and viewed online. That is 10 times the amount of space available previously.

What about pros?

But DVD authoring goes beyond just consumers. The professional market will be using DVDs for many years to come, NPD’s Rubin said. And that makes the lack of a DVD Studio Pro update even more puzzling—especially with some users expecting support for Blu-ray disk burning to appear in Apple’s pro DVD-authoring tool.

Schoeben declined to discuss features in future product releases, but did point out that DVD Studio Pro does have support for the HD DVD format. What’s more, Apple belongs to the Blu-ray organization, which is responsible for promoting the next-generation optical disc format.

iDVD not going away

Back on the consumer front, digital distribution might be all the rage these days, but that doesn’t mean the DVD doesn’t continue to enjoy widespread use. A recent study from NPD found that consumers are slow to move away from their existing DVD players because those devices still work for them.

And while Apple may be sitting back on the new formats, its competition isn’t. With the release of CS Production Premium Suite, Adobe is hoping to capture Blu-ray-craving customers with Premiere Pro CS3. Together with its companion product Encore CS3 for Mac, Premiere lets you author once and then output to Blu-ray Disc, DVD and Flash SWF for the web.

For that reason, don’t expect Apple’s DVD products to fade away, even as the company emphasizes digital distribution.

“iDVD plays a role,” Schoeben said. “There are times when iDVD is the killer app for many people

By : Jim Dalrymple
Keyword : DVD,iDVD

Microsoft DRM tool locked out genuine users

Microsoft DRM tool locked out genuine users

Microsoft's Windows Genuine Advantage servers experienced severe disruption over the weekend, stopping users validating their Microsoft software.

Windows Genuine Advantage (WGA) is the mechanism that Microsoft uses to validate genuine copies of the Windows XP and Windows Vista operating systems. Without WGA approval, users are unable to use many of the features of the operating systems.

The problem arose at the weekend when users of genuine Microsoft software found that their software could not be registered or that some parts of it became unusable, because WGA believed it to be counterfeit. A small storm brewed up in internet forums as users found themselves locked out. InformationWeek reported that around 12,000 users were affected.

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The problem was short-lived. It hit late on Friday evening but by the early hours of Saturday morning the problem was fixed, according to a blog posting by Alex Kochis, Microsoft's senior product manager for WGA. Kochis said the problem was with Windows Vista validations which had been "failing on genuine systems".

"It looks now as though the issue has been resolved and validations are being processed successfully," Kochis wrote.

WGA has been at the centre of controversy before. Last year, users became critical of the way in which WGA runs validation tools to check whether a copy of Microsoft software is genuine. Most of the criticism concerned the way in which the software pushes out as a "high priority" update alongside security fixes. There were also complaints about the way the WGA software collects information from PCs.

By : Colin Barker ZDNet UK Published: 28 Aug 2007 17:32 BST
Keyword : Microsoft,WGA

iPhone unlocking video hits Web

iPhone unlocking video hits Web

A video showing the founder of a Belfast, Northern Ireland company unlocking the iPhone hit the Web early Wednesday U.K. time as proof that software exists that can unlock Apple Inc.'s device for use with carriers other than AT&T Inc.

In the six-minute video, posted on the iphoneunlocking.com blog, John McLaughlin, founder of Uniquephones, is seen with a PC and an iPhone unlocking the device using software from his company.

In the video, McLaughlin takes the SIM (Subscriber Identity Module) card out of a Vodafone Blackberry device and puts it into the iPhone. He then makes two phone calls using the device. The video was shot at his house in Northern Ireland, he said.

The video, which was shot at McLaughlin's house in Northern Ireland, is of poor quality, as noted in his blog entry. "Sorry about the focus, it was done late night using a Nokia N95, but you'll see the process," he wrote.

Uniquephones already unlocks phones from many manufacturers, including Nokia Corp. and Motorola Inc., and about 60 percent of its customers are in the U.S.

The video is the second time someone has tried to prove a software-only method exists to unlock the iPhone. AT&T has a long-term contract with Apple to be the exclusive U.S. wireless carrier for the phone, a fact that has irked iPhone users who want to have the option of using another carrier's service. The iPhone isn't yet available officially outside the U.S.

The race to unlock the iPhone began as soon as the device hit stores June 29. Beginning last Friday, reports began to surface that a teenager in New Jersey had won. Seventeen-year-old George Hotz, who has since traded his unlocked iPhone for a new car, unlocked the phone via software and hardware modifications, the latter of which required soldering. However, most observers agreed that not many users would want to tinker with such an expensive device this way.

On the same day, a company called iPhoneSimFree.com and McLaughlin both claimed to have the first software-only unlocking method, but iPhoneSimFree.com was the first to show it to a credible third party, an editor of Engadget.com.

McLaughlin had planned to post his company's method for unlocking the iPhone to the Web site iphoneunlocking.com last Saturday, but it didn't go up. He said he feared legal action by AT&T Wireless if he posted the software because of a phone call he received at 3:00 a.m. in Belfast from a representative of O'Melveny & Myers LLP, an international law firm calling on AT&T's behalf. McLaughlin claimed the caller said Uniquephones.com would be distributing and infringing upon the copyright of Apple's intellectual property if he began selling the software to iPhone subscribers.

As of Tuesday, McLaughlin said he is still undecided whether he will distribute the software, but that the video at least proves to naysayers that his company has unlocked the iPhone.

By : http://www.pcworld.com/article/id,136511-page,1/article.html
Keyword : iPhone

Buying a Plasma or LCD TV FAQs

Buying a Plasma or LCD TV FAQs

This article focuses on frequently asked questions by buyers of plasma and LCD televisions.

Q: Does the "plasma" in plasma televisions need to be recharged or replaced over time?

A: No. The plasma gases are sealed in individual cells when they are manufactured. There is no way to recharge or replace the gases. However, plasma TVs, when used normally, will last you many, many years (up to 20 years) so you don't have to worry about the screen burning out for a long time.

Q: Are plasma and LCD TVs difficult to install?

A: While you may want to hire a professional electrician to help you with wiring if you are installing your plasma or LCD television on a wall, you can also easily place the television on a stand yourself and place it anywhere you like.

Q: Do plasma and LCD TVs give off radiation?

A: All electronic devices, including televisions, must comply with FDA guidelines (in the United States) and CSA guidelines (in Canada) on radiation emission before being permitted to be sold to the public. While there is radiation emission in the form of ultraviolet light, the amount is negligible and you are unlikely to be affected by it watching the television from normal distances.

Q: What are anamorphic widescreen DVD movies?

A: There are two common ways of recording wide format movies on a DVD: letterbox and anamorphic. Letterbox refers to a video played with horizontal black bars on the top and bottom of the picture. Anamorphic recordings are also commonly labeled �Enhanced for 16:9 TVs�. Anamorphic recordings have over 30% more vertical resolution than letterbox format and elimates or significantly reduces the black bars found in letterbox pictures in order to fit to the screen size of 16:9 televisions.

Q: Do LCD�s have a burn-in problem?

A: No. Unlike CRT and plasma TVs, liquid crystal displays do not use phosphor and thus have no problems with a still image becoming permanently stored on the screen. Instead, LCD TVs use a backlight on a colored, transluscent liquid crystal screen.

Q: Can I use a game console such as Sony Playstation 2, Nintendo Game Cube or Microsoft XBOX with my LCD TV?

A: Yes. If you intend to use a game console and/or watch standard TV broadcasts over cable, satellite or antenna, an LCD TV is a superior choice over plasma televisions. The repetitive image from games and unused black-filled borders will damage a plasma TV by burning a permanent image into the phosphor.

Q: Will leaving my LCD TV on cause the image to degrade?

A: No. Unlike plasma TV�s, this LCD TV does not exhibit aging over time. The brightness of the image remains the same because LCD televisions use a florescent backlight.

Q: Can I mount my LCD TV straight into drywall or plaster?

A: No, drywall or plaster alone will not offer enough support. A structural beam or stud must be used as the anchor for the wall mount.

By : Philip Liu
Keyword : hdtv,plasma,lcd,tv,television,high,definition,rear,projection,digital,aspect,ratio,pulldown,inputs

About Playing Cards

About Playing Cards

There are a wide variety of playing cards. Some card decks are game specific particularly Pinochle cards, Bridge Decks, and Poker decks. Other card games are King�s Corner, Solitaire, Gin Rummy, War, Old Maid and Slap Jack.

There are various categories of games that can be played using playing cards. There are fortune telling cards such as Tarot cards, Author cards, and book cards. There are historical fact games, special interest games and a wizard card game.

There are educational card decks such as Arithmetic flash cards, Trivia fact cards, and many more. There are self help card decks such as blessing cards, affirmation cards, conversation cards, and corporate training card decks.

While it is not a game strictly speaking, building a house of cards is fun. The foundation is two card placed facing each other on the short end of the card and a card is place on either side of the two cards. As you move out you can also move up in height. Sounds easy right...NOT!!!! The slightest breath of air can tumble your card castle in seconds. The secret is to not breathe, have a window open, or anyone in the room with you. Since that isn�t possible, you need to be extremely light handed while building your card house.

Card decks have the number and the suit imprinted on the front with some kind of a design on the back. They are printed with a plain matte finish, a glossy finish or no real finishing at all. Laminated card decks are best because they will last much longer than other types of decks.

By : Jerry Smith
Keyword : About Playing Cards

What Are GPS Systems and What Are They Good For?

What Are GPS Systems and What Are They Good For?

GPS systems all started out in the army in the year 1970. In the army, many soldiers needed navigation systems to know their directions around other countries. Without this device it would be really hard for them to find their way around. This device has saved much of the soldiers time in war and has also saved them many lives. GPS systems are very powerful devices and are a great navigation system to use to get around. So what exactly are GPS systems?

GPS which stands for global positioning system, according to dictionary.com is: A system of satellites, computers, and receivers that is able to determine the latitude and longitude of a receiver on Earth by calculating the time difference for signals from different satellites to reach the receiver.

GPS systems have gone for beyond just serving the army. They now serve just about everyone. These navigation systems help drivers find there way through city streets and help hikers find their way through the rough terrains of the mountains. They also help pilots find their way around the skies as well as helping mariners find their way around the great sea. The GPS systems technology can help serve anyone in need of it.

GPS systems are especially a great thing to have for men, and I�m sure all women would agree. As everyone knows men don�t ask for directions. If a man is just to cool to ask for directions he could simply use his navigation system and would never get lost and of course would never have to ask for directions again. This saves the time of the wife who always would have to end up asking for directions. If you really think about it, using the GPS to get directions is a form of asking for directions, but shhhh don�t tell any man this.

When you decide to buy a GPS system for yourself, I would recommend any Garmin GPS. Garmin�s are the number one brand name for GPS�s and I�ve heard nothing but good things from people who have bought them. By all means do your research on all different types of GPS systems but at the end you�ll realize that no other navigation system can beat the Garmin brand.

By : Shakib Nassiri
Keyword : gps, gps system, navigation system, communication, consumer electronics, electronics, outdoors,

What are GPS Cell Phones?

What are GPS Cell Phones?

Fads come and go. But when it comes to technology, every trend is a worthwhile experience.

Take the case of mobile phones. From the plain call and text features, the cell phone industry has definitely gone a long way.

Today, cell phones are made more innovative by applying technologically advanced applications such as GPS or Global Positioning System. Equipped with this remarkable device, cell phones can now operate beyond their basic functions.

With the GPS system, cell phones can be used as a tracking device that enables people find the right places or even hunt down a relative or friend on his exact location.

GPS or Global Positioning System is a device used to pin down people�s specific location anywhere on earth. The central hub of the system depends on �24 satellites� that move around the earth two times a day.

The identification of certain locations was made possible using fully operational devices that includes a series of receivers and satellites.

The information gathered by the satellites are being transformed back to the earth using exact timing indicators to receivers such as GPS cell phones. In this way, the hunted person�s exact location is identified based on altitude, latitude, and longitude measurements.

Back then, the magnitude of GPS were only utilized in navigational purposes as well as for �land surveying,� and map-making. But since the proliferation of the new technology, the utilization of GPS has significantly increased.

Today, GPS-enabled cell phones are being used beyond their usual features. With the help of GPS, people can now locate new addresses and navigate a new place without the difficulty of turning to your maps every now and then.

With GPS, cell phones can demonstrate the exact areas where to turn right or left. Hence, the need for a true GPS tracking device is lessened as more and more cell phone companies are gradually employing the utilization of GPS.

In fact, it was the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), which had instructed various cell phone companies to equip their new mobile phone models with GPS �tracking mechanisms.� The agency said that with GPS-enabled cell phones, the user�s location could easily be tracked within 300 feet anyplace on earth.

This proposal of the FCC had been based on cases where people are using their cell phones to call 911 during emergencies. FCC further explained that the utilization of GPS cell phones would expedite responses to any one who will need such assistance.

However, the initial reactions of most cell phone companies is slightly on the negative side. They believe that using �GPS chips� will only add to the cost of each product. Today, cell phones are literally being given away free when purchased on regular mobile service plans.

Nevertheless, the probability of earning additional incomes were seen by other cell phone companies. They know how information-hungry people are nowadays ever since the Internet technology had dominated the communications industry.

Even if it means egotistical commercial gains, most cell phone companies believe that the utilization of GPS cell phones are important in today�s modern world.

One of the probable profits that the commercial market can gain is the distribution of graphical advertisements on mobile phones with the help of GPS. Hence, it is not surprising if one day, your cell phones will turn into small posters or advertisements notifying you of the latest event in town.

Indeed, with the introduction of GPS cell phone in the market today, people will have to change their units again just to cope up with the ever-changing world of the communication industry.

From 3G or the third generation technology to GPS, cell phones have definitely gone a long way since it was created for a simple call. With these features in your phones, what more can you ask for?

By : Rhon Dafin
Keyword : Gps, Global positioning System, Mobile Phones, Cell Phones

Animated Clip Art

Animated Clip Art

Animated clip art is very realistic and can be seen anywhere on the World Wide Web today. They can serve as decorations on your web pages, online greetings and electronic messages. Clip art also helps you create professional-looking emails, logos, mascots, letterheads, presentations, videos and even short films.

Animations are made up of sequences of still images called cells. The cells are arranged in order so that when they are displayed on the screen or in a consecutive series, they create the illusion of motion. The images replace one another very rapidly to fool the eye into seeing continuous movement. Animations play out over 14 frames per second. A typical animated clip art moves at 4 to14 frames per second.

Animated clip art has developed from two- to three-dimensional images. Animations are composed on a computer that utilizes a complex set of mathematical calculations to develop an object that appears from many possible angles in a given set of conditions. The shape, shading and linear perspective that result are very accurate. Therefore, the images appear to have depth, and their movements are realistic and natural.

Animated clip art is saved in graphic file formats such as GIF, MNG, SVG and Flash, which allow them to be viewed on a computer or on the Internet. You don?t need to install additional software to view them. Animated images work with all popular editing software.

Animated clip art is classified into categories. These categories include nature, business, technology, animals, sports, emotions, holidays, occasions. It is easy to search for images as most of them are grouped by keywords or search terms. There is also animated clip art for Halloween, Christmas, Valentine?s Day and other special occasions.

Sample PowerPoint templates and video backgrounds are available online to help you learn how to use the animations. Over 300,000 3-dimensional animated clip art files are compiled into 12 CD-ROMs or into a single DVD-ROM that can be seen on clip art websites. Just browse through their catalogues for price rates or subscription rates inquiries.

Make sure you choose websites that provide high-quality, royalty-free and copyright-safe animated clip art.

By : Kristy Annely
Keyword : Clip Art, Free Clip Art, Birthday Clip Art, Wedding Clip Art

3 Tips to Fix Unreliable Wireless Connections

3 Tips to Fix Unreliable Wireless Connections

Generally speaking, wireless computer connections are reliable. However, nothing is perfect, and sometimes you may lose your connection or experience a weak signal. There are many factors that impact the reliability of your wireless connection.

For example, if your wireless adapter is too close to a 2.4 GHz wireless telephone, you may notice a decrease in your computer?s wireless single strength. Why? Because the phone and the computer reside on the same frequency and can interfere with each other?s performance.

Handy Repair Checklist for Wireless Interruptions

1. First check to see if your cable or DSL is actually working. Usually located in your basement, most modems have four lights. You have a live Internet connection if the ?data? or ?status? light is on. If it?s off, or flashing, your cable is out.

2. If your cable/DSL is working, then reboot your computer. Sometimes, if your cable/DSL goes out for even 10 seconds, your computer and the wireless router may no longer be able to talk to each other. By rebooting your computer, a new IP address is assigned, allowing them to once again communicate.

3. If your desktop is wireless and you?ve moved the wireless adapter [the box that sits next to the computer with antennas], then you may need to move the adapter until you find a stronger signal.

By : Sharron Senter
Keyword : wireless connections,wireless adapters,personal computers,technology

Backup Your Hard Drive Manually Or Automatically

Backup Your Hard Drive Manually Or Automatically

Are you regularly backing up the hard drive on your PC? It has been said that there are two kinds of people ... those who have had a hard disk crash and those who will. I'll tell you some easy ways to protect your data.

And I present my qualifications by saying that I have experience with data storage and backup. And you know the definition of experience right? Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted!

Let me begin by saying that I have used many different kinds of backup devices over the years. I have used cassette tapes, floppy disks, tape cartridges, disk cartridges, writable CDs, writable DVDs, and external drives. And I still recommend some form of this kind of backup today. For today's high-capacity disk drives, you can't go wrong by backing up, at the least, your critical data on some external media. Because even if you don't use your PC to store sensitive personal or financial data, there are still configuration settings for your PC you may not want to lose.

Now you can buy hardware and software that automatically starts backups and cycles backup media in and out of the backup device as necessary. But that tends to be pricy and best left to servers. I'll leave that topic for another time.

If your system has a drive that supports writable CDs or DVDs you can manually backup your hard drive on this type of media. Writable CDs and DVDs can hold from 650 megabytes (MB) up to 4 gigabtyes (GB) and more of data. Your CD or DVD writer probably came with software that lets you drag copies of data from the hard drive to the CD or DVD drive folder. Or it may even include some automatic backup software. One disadvantage of CDs and even DVDs is that hard drives today typically won't fit on one of these. With hard drives in the range of 10-200GB are common. And it's not unusual to see 250GB drives now. Another disadvantage is the write speed. Even with high-speed CD or DVD writers it can take a long while.

Another option is an external disk drive. Large sizes are available which makes it possible to backup your entire hard drive in many cases. And the hard disk drives are very fast. You can copy an entire drive quickly.

However many people find it difficult to make data backups on a regular schedule. I'm a people! I mean I'm a person and I just can't seem to make the time for backing up my data.

So I'll tell you what I do. I use mirrors! Not smoke and mirrors ... just mirrors. In my machine I have two hard disk drives ... not to double my storage capacity, but to provide a continuous backup of my hard drive. Every time my computer writes to the disk drive, it actually writes the same data to two different disk drives. They are a mirror image of one another. Most Windows computers since Windows NT have had this capability.

The first, and most painful part, is to get two hard drives in your system. I usually buy my computers that way, but I have added hard drives later. It's not exorbitantly expensive though. Hard drives, even large hard drives, are reasonably priced these days. It's usually best to have the two hard drives the same size (or you waste space in some form). And I like to have the drives from the same manufacturer (but maybe I'm just anal). I say painful, because you, or someone will have to open up your PC and put a second drive in if doesn't already have one. If you don't feel qualified to do this, check with your nearest PC store. Most will do it for you, for a fee, or for free if you buy the hard disk there. They may even perform the next step which is to set up the mirror.

After that, you go to the Control Panel, select Administrative Tools, then select Computer Management, then click on Disk Management. You right-click on the existing or "old" volume and select "Add Mirror", then right-click on the new disk that will host the mirror and select "Add Mirror". This will establish a mirror and initially copy the data from the "old" drive to the "new" mirror. Thereafter, the data is automatically written to both drives when changes or updates occur. You can also view the status of your mirrored volumes to make sure the mirrors are healthy and all your data is backed up. On Windows systems you may not see the options for mirrors until you have a new unused drive in your system on which you can create a mirror. There are detailed instructions for your version of Windows on Microsoft's site.

I recommend to all my friends to set up mirrored disks. I've had a couple of friends call to tell me they had a a hard disk crash. Instead of a catastophic loss of data, this turned into a minor inconvenience while we recovered the data from the other disk. They expressed undying gratitude and told me they would be eternally indebted ... because they couldn't pay me anything!

By : Mike Furlong
Keyword : hard drive, hard disk drive, backup, back-up, ATA hard drive,external hard drive, USB hard drive

An Introduction to HD-DVD

An Introduction to HD-DVD

High density digital versatile disc is a digital optical media format which is being developed. HD DVD is similar to the competing Blu-ray Disc. It is currently in a format war with the Blu ray disc proposed by the Blu ray disc association.

HD DVD has a single layer capacity of 15GB and a double layer capacity of 30GB. The surface layer is 0.6mm thick which is the same thickness of surface layer as standard DVDs.

HD DVD media is less expensive to manufacture than Blu ray discs which require re-tooling of DVD production lines. Another advantage over Blu ray is the common disc structure with DVDs which therefore allows for full backwards compatibility of HD DVD drives which will be able to play both DVDs and CDs. However it is now likely that Blu ray drives will be backwards compatible with DVDs.

HD DVD provides the large capacity storage needed for all sorts of recorded content, including high definition movies and music as well as computer data and files.

There are two kinds of of HD DVD discs for content, the 15GB single layer disc and the dual-layer disc with double capacity, a full 30GB. Using the latest compression technologies, the 30Bg disc can store up to 7 hours of images. Today' DVD has a capacity of 4.7GB and store only 2 hours of standard definition content.

HD DVD discs have a data transfer rate of 36.55Mbps which allows the 24Mbps data stream of digital television broadcasts to be seamlessly recorded.

Using HD DVD in the every day world will have numerous advantage over other optical media technologies. The resilient HD DVD disc has a protective layer which removes the need for a protective cartridge, allowing the development of slim computer drives. The added bulk of a disc cartridge would have also caused any laptops using a cartridge based optical media disc to increase substantially in size to allow for the extra room the drive would need.

By : Chuck Red
Keyword : HD-DVD,

The iPhone Has Been Unlocked: Apple, AT&T, Deal With It

The iPhone Has Been Unlocked: Apple, AT&T, Deal With It

A few weeks ago I asked if it was possible to unlock an iPhone. According to the guys at Engadget, the iPhone has been successfully unlocked. The jig is up.

Here is a look at this amazing breakthrough:

It's high noon, Apple and AT&T -- we really hate to break it to you, but the jig is up. Last night the impossible was made possible: right in front of our very eyes we witnessed a full SIM unlock of our iPhone with a small piece of software. It's all over, guys.

The iPhoneSIMfree.com team called us up to prove their claim that they cracked Apple's iPhone SIM lock system, and prove it they did. (No, we don't have a copy of the unlock software, so don't even ask us, OK?) The six-man team has been working non-stop since launch day, and they're officially the first to break Apple's SIM locks on the iPhone. It's done. Seriously. They wouldn't tell us when and how they would release it to the public, but you can certainly bet that they'll try to make a buck on their solution (and rightly so). We can hardly believe the iPhone's finally been cracked. No, scratch that -- we just can't believe it took this long.

While Engadget goes out of it way to try to legally distance itself from these claims, I think its pretty clear that the iPhone can now be used on almost any GSM network.

Here is a short list of tips on how to use an unlocked iPhone:

* The unlock process took only a couple of minutes. From our end it was totally painless.

* Once you put your new, non-AT&T SIM in the device, you have to go through the usual activation process. This can, of course, be done by anyone anywhere with the right tools (like iASign or iActivator)

* We tested with an active T-Mobile SIM -- after the hack was finished and we reactivated we immediately got full bars and the T-Mobile carrier info popped up in the top bar.

* Everything is otherwise the same, except the menu system now has a couple more options. The root menu has Carrier settings where you can select your preferred network if you don't want to roam.

* The General -> Network menu now has an EDGE network settings area where you can input your carrier's APN and username / password. We put in our T-Mobile info, and were immediately online. (Apparently these hidden menus were added in the 1.0.1 update, they tell us. How convenient!)

* Visual voicemail isn't in the cards -- sorry. That was, of course, to be expected because it's a special AT&T network-specific feature right now. When you hit the voicemail button you are taken immediately to your carrier's default voicemail line though, and that works just like it would on any other phone.

* Everything is confirmed as working on a non-AT&T network: SMS send / receive, Internet (including Safari, Mail, Google maps, etc.). YouTube doesn't work out of the box, but that's to be expected. If you're not on AT&T you have to manually activate YouTube -- here's the guide on how to do that. (YouTube is the only app you have to activate like this.)

* We know, it's kind of crazy, but this isn't a hoax.

Go to the Engadget post to see the rest, including an explanatory video.

What does this mean for Apple and AT&T? I think it means that these companies may have to rethink their exclusivity agreement. It only took hackers two months to open and unlock the iPhone. Assuming Apple and AT&T can figure out how to relock it, it's likely that it will only take another two or three months for some mobile geeks to open the device up again.

When Apple started advertising the iPhone, it promised that the iPhone would offer the full Internet. Well, an unlocked iPhone is a device that is certainly more open to the full Internet. It looks like the iPhone may be living up to its hype in some ways that Apple and AT&T never intended.

by : Stephen Wellman, Aug 24, 2007 01:50 PM
Keyword : Ipod,Apple

Hundreds take a byte from Apple

Hundreds take a byte from Apple

People began queuing outside the store on Friday morning
Hundreds of people have flocked to the opening of Apple's first Scottish store.
The company behind the iPod and iMac opened its new retail centre in Glasgow's Buchanan Street at 0900 BST.

The first 1,500 people entering the shop were greeted by staff applauding and cheering and were handed a free t-shirt.

The new £1m store, which will employ 59 people, is the company's 10th in the UK and 190th worldwide.

The first customer had travelled over from the US especially for the opening and had been queuing since Friday morning.

I'm a Mac loyalist and am just curious to see how this store compares to the ones in London and the US

Tom Lundberg

Steve Cano, senior director with Apple International, said: "When we went for dinner last night there were about 12 or 13 people queuing but by 5am this morning there were hundreds so we brought coffee out to them.

"This is our first store in Scotland and its very special to have one in this historic building with great customers. We love being in Buchanan Street."

Apple customers, known for their fierce loyalty to the brand, have been known to queue days in advance of the stores opening elsewhere around the world.

The Glasgow store features youth workshops and a "genius bar", where customers are given one-to-one attention by Apple experts.

The store features a "genius bar" where Apple experts are on hand

Shoppers can also "test drive" new products, including 45 Macs and 50 iPods.

One shopper, 17-year-old Stephen Bissett, from Glasgow, said: "I was actually only in the queue for 45 minutes but was prepared to wait for hours.

"It was a good atmosphere though. People were chatting about all the Apple stuff. There are a lot of people really dedicated to Apple products.

"As soon as I heard there was a store opening in Glasgow I knew I'd be there on the opening day."

Tom Lundberg, 40, a politics lecturer at Glasgow University, who is originally from Seattle, said: "I've been a Mac user for about 20 years.

It was a bit strange when we came in and the staff were clapping and cheering but it was fun

Louise Thomson

"I'm a Mac loyalist and am just curious to see how this store compares to the ones in London and the US, and to see the new iMac in the flesh."

Alison Brady, 38, from Glasgow, said she was looking forward to seeing the store's glass spiral staircase.

"It's fantastic," she said. "Apple has a glass staircase in all its stores and I was especially interested as I used to work at a glass company.

"I've been to the Apple store in New York so wanted to see this one. I'm thinking about updating my iPod and will probably come back quite a bit."

Kris Goodman and his girlfriend, Louise Thomson, both 21, from Barrhead, also gave their approval.

The company spent £1m converting a furniture store

"It was a bit strange when we came in and the staff were clapping and cheering but it was fun," Louise said.

The company is understood to have spent more than £1m converting the Category A property, which previously housed a home furnishing store.

Throughout September the store will host a series of events, including five in-store concerts featuring Scottish bands.

The concerts will be recorded and posted on the iTunes music store a week later.

Three days after the opening, The Dykeenies are scheduled to perform the first of the live shows from the store.

By : http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/glasgow_and_west/6961413.stm
Keyword : Apple

Find All The GPS Systems Information You Need

Find All The GPS Systems Information You Need

Are you looking for some GPS systems information? Then come to see us. We have been providing technical courses and advanced GPS training on GPS systems information since a long time ago. We offer more than 20 courses on professional GPS and all you want to know about GPS systems information.

But, first than anything, what is exactly a Global Positioning System (GPS)?

It is a satellite-based navigation system made up of a network of 24 satellites placed into orbit by the U.S. Department of Defense. At first, GPS was going to be used by military applications, but later in the 1980s, the government allowed it to be available for civilian use. It doesn?t matter the weather conditions, GPS keeps working anywhere in the world and the whole day. It is not necessary any subscription fees or setup charges to use GPS.

The second question would be: How it works?

GPS satellites circle the earth twice a day in a very precise orbit and transmit signal information to earth. GPS receivers can calculate exactly where the user is by taking this information and using triangulation. In other words, the GPS receiver compares the time a signal was transmitted by a satellite with the time it was received. The time difference tells the GPS receiver how far away the satellite is. And by repeating this procedure with a few more satellites, the receiver can determine the user's position and show it on the unit's electronic map.

A GPS receiver can calculate the latitude and longitude and track movement if it is locked on to the signal of at least three satellites. And it can determine the user?s latitude, longitude and altitude using four or more satellites. But it doesn?t end with this, because once we have the user's position, the GPS unit can calculate other information, such as speed, bearing, track, trip distance, distance to destination, and much more. So not just you can know where exactly somebody is, but also you can know a lot of things about that person, and it doesn?t matter where in the world that person may be.

There is so much more GPS systems information and a lot of things you can learn to understand and use a GPS system correctly and you can find all of them just by looking for us.

Browse our list of course schedules, course descriptions, locations, and the incredible low prices and discounts we have for you. We also have an extensive selection of books, software, and equipment for GPS users of all types.

By : J Herrera
Keyword : more gps, gps systems, ppa gps

Anti Jam GPS

Anti Jam GPS

If we go to war with China the first thing they will do is knock out as many of our satellites as possible. Many secret SPY satellites in the Military will be safe now up there and there equipment in their UAVs, ground vehicles and command and control centers because they have special Anti-Jamming GPS systems with bleeding edge top of the line and state of the art counter measure technologies. You are probably thinking to yourself who thinks of this stuff anyways? Well you know men and there toys and when the US Military wants something no matter how seemingly impossible someone will find a way.

This time that someone was a little company Harris Corp that has about $3 billion in annual sales and over 12,600 employees as of yesterday and they have teamed up with another little company; The Boeing Company, maybe you have heard of them. Harris Corp will provide to the net-centric battlespace smart munitions anti-jam technologies. This means no one gets away and no smart bombs go astray and that our enemies have only one option before meeting their maker and that is to pray.

Now you are probably saying to yourself, ?Hey self, that would be cool in my SUV!? Just think never lose an XM Radio connection or have to worry about interference on your urban assault vehicles GPS. Indeed that would be cool and it will inevitably become standard equipment on all in-car system by 2010 through the gracious gifts of transfer technologies or hand me down research from the US of A. Never a lost signal or missed tune, you got to love it. Think on this.

By : Lance Winslow
Keyword : SUV, anti-jamming gps, jam, xm radio, boeing company, harris, net-centric, us military

Microsoft recalls Xbox 360

Microsoft recalls Xbox 360 wireless racing wheel
Hot wheels add immersion with smoke and burning smell

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Microsoft is to provide customers with a free retrofit to its Xbox 360 Wireless Racing Wheel.

The action follows a very small number of incidents of a malfunction in the device, in which a component in the wheel chassis may overheat and release smoke when the AC/DC power supply is used to charge the wheel.

Microsoft has stressed that the action is precautionary and voluntary, and that there have been no reported incidences of fire, personal injury or property damage resulting from the failure.

A spokesman for the Xbox team told vnunet.com that the problem lies within the power supply and not the wheel itself. Customers who contact Microsoft will be sent a replacement power supply to rectify the problem.

Owners of the peripheral should stop using the AC/DC power supply until they have obtained their retrofit. They may continue to operate the wheel using battery power.

However, while operating in battery mode the force feedback feature will not be available. But once retrofitted, owners may run the wheel using AC power and reactivate this feature.

Microsoft has created a Wireless Racing Wheel recall web page which contains information about the problem and a link to a form that users can fill out and send in to Microsoft, at which point they will receive further details about the retrofit.

The company is working with the relevant regulatory agencies such as the US Consumer Product Safety Commission to make sure that the malfunction is properly dealt with, and has warned that this may affect delivery dates to suppliers.

By : Ian Williams, vnunet.com 24 Aug 2007
Keyword : Microsoft,xbox 360

7 Ways To Save On Your InkJet Printing Costs

7 Ways To Save On Your InkJet Printing Costs

Inkjet printers are not only getting better, they're also getting less expensive. Why is that?

The inkjet printer manufacturers have built their business around the supplies rather than the printer itself. They make the printers as inexpensive as possible, sometimes selling them at cost, or less and making long term profits from the inkjet cartridges.

Manufacturers regularly warn about using generic cartridges, and highly recommend their own. Truth be told, there is very little difference between the two and you can regularly save over half of your current manufacturer branded cartridge purchases.

To help keep your inkjet supply costs low, here are seven tips that will keep you under budget:

1. When printing inter-office, internal, personal or draft documents, use the "draft" and "grayscale" options in your printer settings. This will save on both black ink was well as color ink. Save color and standard black for your final document print.

2. Select inkjet printers that use separate black and color inkjet cartridges like the Canon "i" series. Many of these printers have 2 black and 4 color cartridges that allow you to replace only the colors that are running low, not just the one 'color' cartridge as many printers often do. This saves on long term cartridge costs and lengthens the time between cartridge replacements.

3. Purchase "generic" cartridges made for your printer. These are of similar quality to the manufacturer's brand, and often at less than half the price.

4. Purchase "remanufactured" cartridges compatible with your printer. These are cartridges collected from the original owner, cleaned and re-filled with the same ink.

5. Purchase a cartridge "refill kit". You'll receive a kit that will allow you to refill the ink in your cartridge rather than a new cartridge. This is a great way to recycle and the quality is high and costs low.

6. Purchase your cartridges in bulk to save on shipping costs and discounts are sometimes available on larger single purchases.

7. Order your cartridges online to save time and money. Many local stores don't carry the generic versions and costs are normally substantially lower online.

Using any combination of the tips above will save you both time and money and help you manage your inkjet printing supply needs easily.

By : Mark Idzik
Keyword : inkjet, cartridges, refill, ink, jet, inkjets, money, save

Adding USB 2.0

Adding USB 2.0

The process of adding USB 2.0 ports took no time and the backup system is mighty fast. If you add USB 2.0 ports with a PCI port card, then you'll still have your USB 1.1 ports, so whatever is plugged into those can stay.

Rob Foster from the UK sent me a port PCI USB card since he had a few extras. Thanks again, Rob. When installing hardware or devices, most situations require loading the software FIRST before doing anything else. This one didn't - so be sure to check this out before attempting to put the card in. Before starting the process, be sure you have an open PCI slot, a standard slot that has one big connector with a small one behind it.

Turn off the computer, if it is not already. Take off the CPU case. How this is done depends on the CPU. If you lost or misplaced the manual, I'm sure your computer manufacturer has info online. Google it, if needed. Slide the PCI card into the open PCI slot.

At this point, you can cover up the CPU, but some people leave it off until turning on the computer and checking all is OK. When turning on this little feller, it found the new card right away and worked. I didn't even have to run the software. The card came with four USB ports, one of which holds the backup system. It took under two hours to back up the computer (get size), faster and easier than the tape back up.

Well, it only took a year or so to get around to adding the USB 2.0 ports as that's about how long the back up system has been sitting here taunting me.

By : Meryl K. Evans
Keyword : usb computer hardware upgrade

All About DVD Part 4: DVD-Audio and SACD

All About DVD Part 4: DVD-Audio and SACD

New sound formats: DVD-Audio and SACD

When Audio-CD format emerged, most music producers and music lovers were absolutely sure that Audio CD provides the best quality sound possible and nothing else will ever be required. However, some audiophiles instantly refused to accept new Audio CD and reverted back to old vinyl disks. At first no-one took them seriously, however, as the time passed an increasing number of listeners started to notice, especially when comparing CD albums with the same records on vinyl, that CDs are not capable to transmit full range of sound. Eventually it becomes clear that there are scientific reasons behind this, namely dynamic range and sampling rate.

Dynamic range is the difference between the loudest and softest sounds in audio record. Sound data is recorded on CD in 16-bit PCM format and therefore its dynamical range does not exceed 96 decibels. And the upper range for human ear is 120Db. The difference is obvious. While the lack of dynamic range might be hard to notice for the pop music, but for something like symphony orchestra sound engineers often have a problem with too soft or too loud instruments which are beyond dynamical range and therefore lost in record.

Apart from dynamic range it also became clear that Audio CDs have insufficient sampling rate. Digital record consists of small pieces called samples, each of them contains information about sound in particular point in time. The more samples are per unit of time, the higher is the quality of record. Basically, sample is a digital analogue of sound oscillation and for that reason they are measured by using the same unit, hertz (Hz). The maximum frequency of sound that humans can hear is around 20 thousands hertz (20 kHz). To reproduce sound accurately, the sound information have to be digitized with sampling rate higher than a human can hear.

During Audio-CD development it was believed that doubling this rate - up to 44.1 kHz would be sufficient. But for some records part of sound was lost and turned into noise. Especially often that happened for classical music and jazz, with high-frequency instruments such as violin and flute being the most unlucky ones. It is scientifically proven now that for the most accurate sound the sampling rate has to be not lower than 64 kHz. This, of course, is far beyond Audio CD capabilities.

To address these issues the DVD-Audio format was developed. It took more time to approve than DVD-Video, as DVD-Forum had to justify between two alternative technologies: one from Toshiba and the other from Sony-Philips (they also developed Audio CD) alliance. The problem was to decide, which format was better. Both of them successfully solved the drawbacks of Audio CD.

Toshiba simply improved existing PCM standard and turned it into 24-bit one. The dynamic range grew to 144db and sampling rate soared up to 192 kHz. These values exceed human ear capabilities by a good margin. This format also had support for multi-channel sound.

Sony and Philips took another route and invented new single-bit audio format called DSD (Direct Stream Digital). The idea was to read data from disk in significantly smaller quantities (one bit at a time, compared to 16 bits for Audio CD and 20-24 bits for DVD-Audio) but with insane sampling rate - 2.8224 MHz. Similar principle is actually employed in the vinyl audio pickup. Due to this the dynamical range for new format grew to 120db. Apart from that multi-channel support was added along with compatibility with Audio CD. The latter was achieved by adding second layer with sound in Audio CD format. If such disk is inserted in generic Audio-CD player, it will be played just like any Audio CD, with all limitations of that format.

At the end, in 1999 Toshiba finally prevailed. This was due to several reasons. First of all, DSD soundtrack is hard to make even in studio environment. Second, when this technology first appeared, there was no special equipment that could support it. All existing devices were able to work with PCM sound only, and DSD required conversion. This eventually reduced the benefits of DSD to zero. Toshiba, however, selected DVD as a medium for the new format, which made it possible to create audio disks in this format even at home. The situation with Sony-Philips creation was completely different. It had to be recorded on special disks, which were similar in appearance and sizes to normal DVD, but totally different otherwise. These disks also required special equipment for printing and recording. All of these were the reasons why Toshiba received rights for the DVD-Audio brand-name.

But that didn't stop Sony and Philips and they decided to introduce their own format - regardless of DVD-Forum decision. The new format was called Super Audio Compact Disc. As a result, there was no single standard and neither SACD nor DVD-Audio managed to even get close to ordinary Audio-CD sales volumes.

The difference in sound between SACD and DVD-Audio wasn't spotted even by most "advanced" audiophiles.

Let's examine each of the technologies in details:

DVD-Audio

Since DVD-Audio standard is based on ordinary DVD, such disk can be double-sided or double-layered or a combination of these two. Unlike SACD, a sound can be recorded on DVD-Audio in different quality and in various formats, stereo or multi-channel. Sampling rate for DVD-Audio can vary from 44.1 kHz up to 192 kHz (however sound can only be stereo at 192 kHz, as it is simply not enough space for multi-channel sound of that quality). Generally, DVD-Audio is able to deliver 1000 times more accurate sound when compared with Audio CD!

To be able to fit multi-channel uncompressed sound (which usually takes lots of space) developers have used special lossless compression technology called MLP (Meridian Lossless Packing), which in some ways is similar to PC archiving packages such as Zip or RAR.

In order to be compatible with generic DVD players, DVD-Audio disks can contain copy of the soundtrack encoded in Dolby Digital and DTS on the other side of the disk. Such disks are known as Hybrid DVD-Audio disc - HDAD. Sometimes it is possible to encounter disks that have only Dolby Digital or DTS encoded soundtracks, however, such disks hardly have anything to do with DVD-Audio.

Apart from this, several sound-recording companies have developed in 2004 a new format called DualDisc. Essentially it is a double sided disc, one side of which is single- or double layer DVD and the other side is plain CD. The CD format used in such disk is slightly different form normal CD. Standard thickness of CD or DVD disk is 1.2mm. Audio CD layer occupies all that space, and DVD requires only half of it, or 0.6mm. Therefore it is not possible to create a disk with both proper DVD and CD layers as it would be 2mm thick and won't fit in any drive. Due to this reason the developers decided to cheat a little bit and reduced thickness of Audio CD layer to 0.9mm. As a result, it is possible to play DualDisc on most players, but it is still too thick and doesn't fit in most cars CD. In addition to this it can damage some Hi-End equipment, and will also void the warranty. Another interesting effect of making Audio CD layer thinner is the inability to record anything to it via normal CD recording methods due to spherical aberrations. This means that laser is not able to focus on data pits and "see" only blurred image which cannot provide any actual data. The problem was solved my making pits bigger, however their amount reduced. As a result, the capacity of disc has dropped and instead of standard 74 minutes such disks contain only 60, and there are only 525 MB available instead of 650.

Most probably DualDisc technology won't last long. There actually is a new technology to replace it - Onedisc/DVDplus. German engineers managed to create hybrid medium with standard thickness - 1.2mm. More importantly, the capacity of CD side doesn't suffer; it still is able to contain 650mb of data or 74 minutes of audio. The developers of this standard, however, do not share their secrets, and how exactly did they managed to overcome obvious problems is still a mystery. Many recording studios have purchased license for this technology and Onedisc will probably soon appear on shop shelves.

Beside audio data, DVD-Audio disc is able to hold any type of DVD-Video data. It can be video, menu, slides, etc (it is also possible to put sound in DVD-Audio format on DVD-Video disk). The standard also provides new technology for storing text information, some sort of replacement for CD-Text. Disk can contain titles, lyrics, information about performers, etc. Text can be viewed on TV or audio player screen. Just as DVD-Video, DVD-Audio can provide a selection of several languages for text info.

DVD-Audio copy protection is also worth mentioning. After famous DVD-Video hack manufacturers decided to postpone DVD-Audio until better protection becomes available. This better protection was CPPM (Content Protection for Pre-recorded Media), which include several different protection measures:

1. According to the new standard, DVD-Audio data is encrypted. Unique set of keys can only be kept in legal player device (that is, DVD-Audio player that comply with CPPM requirements). In case if keys do not match the disk (for example when DVD-Audio player is manufactured without appropriate license), it will not be possible to decrypt the data and DVD-Audio disk simply won't play.

Theoretically, it is possible to copy such keys by hacking the device, but practically it is rather useless as if stolen keys would be revealed, all later releases of DVD-Audio disks simply won't support them. And most manufacturers perform monthly revision of keys.

2. Contents of DVD-Audio are also bound to the physical medium. This is achieved by recording "digital watermarks" on the disk. This hidden information contains disk details and the information about how many times this disk can be copied. Watermarks are recorded with intervals of several seconds and if the player discovers that watermarks doesn't match medium it instantly stops playback.

Apart from this, if DVD-Audio player is equipped with Firewire (iLink) digital out, it won't be possible to use it for illegal copying too. All outgoing information is encrypted and because of this it only will be possible to connect the cable to an amplifier or receiver that supports encryption. It will not be possible to connect player to the PC and therefore won't be possible to copy digital output.

SACD disks come in three flavors - single layer, double-layer and hybrid.

In case of SACD hybrid disks have two layers. Bottom layer has Audio CD data and upper semi-transparent layer contains SACD data. If such disk is inserted in normal CD player, there will be no problems with playback - the player simply won't notice the upper layer.

Single- and double-layered disks contain only SACD data, also known as HD (high definition). Each HD layer takes the same space as standard DVD layer - 4.7 GB. Sound can be recorded in mono, stereo or multi-channel formats. Some SACD player can read only mono or stereo disks, and it will take a special device to read multi-channel disks. In most cases, however, there are both multi-channel and stereo versions present. Each type of soundtrack has its own space on the disk - stereo data is recorded closer to the center of the disk, multi-channel data comes next and additional data (such as photos or lyrics) is recorded close to the edge. Each sound zone contains at least 74 minutes of sound. There are, however, purely multi-channel disks with several hours of audio on them.

In ordered to reduce size of data, SACD developers had used DST (Direct Stream Transfer) compression. This compression is similar to MPL and resembles PC archiving utility. It operates by compressing repeating sequences of bits and can achieve significant reduction in size without any losses.

Just as DVD-Audio does, SACD has complex set of copy protection measures:

1. SACD disks are not compatible with computer DVD drives, which makes illegal copying at home impossible.

2. Disk contents are inaccessible until special lead-in SACD-Mark is read. This label is located in a hidden area of the disk and contains information essential for the playback. Only certified devices can read and decrypt it.

3. Disk contents are also protected by PSP-PDM (Pit Signal Processing-Physical Disc Mark) watermarks. By changing pits (tracks) width it is possible to write additional info on the disk (for example, key from encrypted soundtrack). These watermarks can be reproduced only on special licensed equipment. Without them the playback will stop after only few seconds. Besides, it is possible to create a visible picture on working surface of the disk - for example, company logo, thus the original disk can be recognized even with naked eye. To avoid compatibility issues, the second layer in SACD is protected as much as any normal Audio CD is.

For audio output mainly analog out is used, but encrypted digital out via Firewire (iLink) is also possible, just as in DVD-Audio. Coaxial and optics outputs are not supported at all.

Summary

Most probably, both formats will still remain an expensive technology for true music fans and audiophiles. Majority of consumers already made their choice in favor of medium-independent music format - MP3. So it is highly possible that DVD-Audio and SACD will remain the top audio quality available, as any higher quality doesn't have much sense and will be too expensive to reach.

By : Artem Chlegov
Keyword : dvd-audio,sacd,super audio cd,onedisc,dsd,cppm,onedisk,pcm,mlp,meridian loseless packing

All About DVD Part 3: Blue-Ray and HD-DVD

All About DVD Part 3: Blue-Ray and HD-DVD

New storage formats: DVD-HD and Blue-Ray

On the first glance, DVDs have just finished becoming common and are the best option available. But developers do not agree, trying to invent new needs for poor users. This time HDTV (High Definition Television)is considered to be the new technology that no video lover can live without. Compared with common TV, HDVT has several times bigger screen resolution and is technically able to display much more fine details. Of course, all this is available on special HDTV-ready TV sets only. Another problem is concerned with storage of HDTV video, as even the DVD-18 standard with its largest capacity among DVD swill not be able to store several hours of HDTV quality video.

Fortunately, developers of DVD have mastered so-called "blue" laser, which wavelength is only 405nm. By using this laser it becomes possible to achieve much higher data density compared with DVD disks that use "red" laser with wavelength of 650nm. This new technology would allow to store up to 200 GB of data on a multi-layered disk.

Unfortunately, the new formats war has sparked even before the end of the development of actual devices, with the same old players on the field: Sony and Philips with Blue Ray standard and Toshiba, NEC and Sanyo with HD-DVD format.

HD-DVD

HD-DVD (High Definition DVD), as clearly visible from its name, is official heir to the DVD format, approved by DVD Forum. This format is 100% compatible with both CD and DVD, not only from home user perspective but also on manufacturing level. Manufacturing HD-DVD will not require huge investments in new equipment, and this was the reason why such big companies as Intel and Microsoft decided to support it. Microsoft, for example, promised full support of HD-DVD in its new Windows Vista that should be released next year.

One single layer of HD-DVD disk has the same thickness as DVD layer (0.6mm) and can contain up to15 GB of data. This means that HD-DVD won't have any troubles supporting dual-layered and double-sided disks, besides; Toshiba announced the development of triple-layer HD-DVD, where one side of the disk would contain 45GB. The theoretical capacity limit for HD-DVD is, therefore, 90GB.

Along with MPEG-2, compression technologies such as MPEG-4 and Video Codec 1 (VC1, format based on Windows Media 9) will be used. HD-DVD Video disk swill have more advanced capabilities for interactivity than DVD-Videodisks. For example, it would be possible to play several different video clips in picture-in-picture mode, and it also would be possible to connect more than one remote control to the HD-DVD player in order to play videogames together. Internet access will also be included in all HD-DVD devices, so it would be possible to follow web-links straight from disk menu or to download new soundtrack or subtitles from the net. And these are only few of new features.

Internet connectivity is also demanded by the new encryption for HD-DVD and Blue Ray disks - AACS (Advanced Access Content System). Each disk is validated with online database prior to playing. If the disk appears to be counterfeit, the playing device will be locked. It is not clear, however, what to do in countries where Internet is not available in every household. There is certain possibility, though, that Blue Ray and HD-DVD will become luxury, just as SACD and DVD-Audio before them. Alternatively, it could become common only in distant future, when Internet will be available even in African deserts.

Despite stricter copy protection, manufacturers most probably will not add regional codes to HD-DVD as it provides more troubles than benefits, and although movie production companies still insist on keeping regional protection, most of DVD-Forum officials are against it.

Recordable HD-DVD are named in the same way as DVD: HD-DVD-R (recordable) and HD-DVD-RW (rewritable).

Blue Ray Disc

Blue Ray Disc (BD) standard is promoted by Blue Ray Disc Association (BDA), an organization formed for this particular purpose. By throwing away the compatibility with CD and DVD it became possible to achieve much higher capacity than HD-DVD. One layer of BD can contain23.3GB, 25GB or 27GB of data. As the layer thickness is much lower than the one of DVD and is only 0.1 mm (compared to 0.6mm for HD-DVD), it is possible to manufacture multilayered disks with high number of layers. The theoretical capacity of Blue Ray disk is 200GB. Unfortunately, manufacturing of these disks will require purchase of brand new equipment.

Initially Blue Ray disks could only be used with cartridges (same as DVD-RAM) because of poor protection from physical damage, but now this issue seems to be solved and plastic cartridges are not needed anymore. Codecs used to store video in Blue Ray standard are the same as the ones used for HD-DVD (Mpeg-2, Mpeg-4 and VC1). This is not surprising as Blue Ray and HD-DVD were designed to store existing formats of video, while in case with DVD new codecs were developed specifically to cater for new type of disks.

Blue-Ray disks have more advanced menu compared to DVD-Video. The menu offers more functionality and is generally written in Java language. Blue Ray devices require Internet connection just as HD-DVD ones do, and Blue-Ray disk menu also supports integration with Internet. As it was said before, Internet will be also required for AACS protection. Apart from AACS, Blue Ray also implements two unique protection measures - ROM-Mark and BD+Rom-Mark. ROM-Mark is a special hidden label on the disk, similar to watermark in DVD-Audio. It can not be copied and disks couldn't be played without it. BD+ technology is designed to check whether or not Blue Ray player was hacked, and in case if it is true, it will download new firmware from Internet in order to fix in appropriate modifications.

Blue Ray disks naming is slightly different from usual. Read-only disks are called BD-ROM, recordable are called BD-R and rewritable are named BD-RE (Rewritable).

Future Perspectives

Only time will tell if one particular format will prevail or if there will be a complete mess with formats again. At the moment both alliances are trying to do something to attract customers and manufacturers. Blue Ray is leading at the moment. Due to the more advanced copy protection and higher capacity Blue Ray Association managed to attract most of film production companies. Another plus for Blue Ray lies in the fact that PlayStation 3 will use Blue Ray disks and therefore will be able to play Blue Ray Video disks too. Apple Computers is also going to include Blue Ray drives in its computer packages. Apart from all of this, Blue Ray devices appeared on the market much earlier than the competitors.

HD-DVD may attract users because of its back compatibility with previous formats. Besides, manufacturers will not have to spend much effort and money to make disks of this type. HD-DVD is also supported by some major studios, such as New Line Cinema, Paramount Pictures, Universal Studios ? Warner Bros (however some of them support both formats) and IT giants such as b>Intel and Microsoft.

Summary

Unfortunately, multi format drive that could support both Blue Ray and HD-DVD will be very expensive and difficult to manufacture due to large differences in technology behind new standards. However, several companies already have announced the development of such devices. If they succeed, we can hope that new formats will be widely accepted very soon. If not, there is a certain chance that HD-DVD and Blue Ray will share the destiny of DVD-Audio and SACD and only few chosen ones will use them. Besides, it is still not clear whether or not consumers actually need high definition image. And if you take into account that many people often transform DVD into smaller AVI files and use them for viewing at PC, it becomes possible to assume that HD-DVD and Blue Ray manufacturers will have a hard time promoting their formats. Video-on-Demand also does not add popularity to them.

So, which format will prevail still remains a mystery.

By : Artem Chlegov
Keyword : dvd,hd-dvd,HD-DVD-R,blue ray disc,blue ray,blu-ray,hdtv,high definition,high definition television