jay tech info
Saturday, February 28, 2004
PocketScope: Discover new worlds from the palm of your hand.
PocketScope: Discover new worlds from the palm of your hand.: "Fitting easily in the palm of your hand, the PS-150 PocketScope� enlarges slides by 150x with a resolution of less than 2 microns. Its single precision lens can resolve individual bacteria, a task normally needing 300x! (See the image quality) Safe, durable, and easy to use, the PS-150 is ideal for school, field, or home use. Compatible with permanent, temporary, and wet-mount slides and our favorite, the Gel Well slide.
The PS-150 PocketScope� is a superb 21st century microscope, now available at a 17th century price!
To see the quality of this remarkable instrument, visit our PhotoMicrograph Gallery. Every image there was photographed directly through the PS-150 PocketScope�. Here is one example:
A radiolarian shell - click to see more photos!
The PS-150 PocketScope� delivers extraordinary power and value:
* The superior 150X lens shows detail normally requiring 300X!
* Its bright image uses ambient light. No electric power is required.
* Designed for student safety: the slide is securely held inside the PS-150!The PS-150 uses standard slides, enclosed for safety. Look at the
* Anatomy of the PS-150 to see how. Uses standard microscope slides and
* prep methods. The upright image (not upside down) moves in the same direction as the slide!
* Lightweight, crash-proof,
low maintenance, and virtually indestructible.
* (In our durability tests the PS-150 has been stepped-on by a 250 pound man, sat on, and dropped from a height of 18 feet onto concrete, all without damage to the PocketScope or the slide!) The PS-150 can be used with permanent slides,
* temporary mount slides , and wet mount slides! Our favorite type is the Gel Well slide, that can keep cultures alive for up to five weeks! Children can be taught to use the PS-150 with just a minute or two of instruction. The online PS-150 PocketScope� Instructions show how easy it is to use. Truly pocket-sized, it measures only 5.6 inches long, 2.75 inches wide, and 0.8 inch thick (142mm x 70 mm x 20 mm) and weighs barely more than 3 ounces (89 grams)! Because of its size, the PS-150 PocketScope
* � offers unparalleled flexibility and portability, making it the preferred microscope for use in either the classroom or the field. The body and working parts of the PS-150 PocketScope � are manufactured from high strength, high impact UV stabilized polymers for superior durability. The PS-150 comes with a
* Satisfaction Guarantee and a full 90 Day Warranty Increases student hands-on science time!
View, print, or download our four-page PS-150 PocketScope� Brochure (PDF format) to see more benefits and specifications.
Thinking about getting a QX3? See how the PS-150 PocketScope� and the QX3 compare at our PS-150 vs. QX3 page. You can easily convert the PocketScope into an excellent video microscope with the ToUcam camera and PocketLum illuminator."
Thursday, February 26, 2004
Creative Nomad Muvo2 4gb MD DOWNGRADE ;) Step by step: Storage and Media Forum: Digital Photography Review
Creative Nomad Muvo2 4gb MD DOWNGRADE ;) Step by step: Storage and Media Forum: Digital Photography Review: "As late as two days ago, the Muvo2 4gb coming out of Creative Labs own online shopping are not soldered. This rumor has been floating around. As of now, it is unsubstantiated by any individual, even anecdotally.
Here's how to downgrade it to 1gb and end up with a 4gb MD and a very nice 1gb MP3 player for the price of the Muvo2 (Currently $299) and whatever you paid for your 1gb MD. Please be aware that there are reports that it will not work with a solid state CF. I have not independantly confirmed this."
Tuesday, February 24, 2004
[WinDVD: How to play DVD from hard disk?] - Digital Video Forum - Archives
[WinDVD: How to play DVD from hard disk?] - Digital Video Forum - Archives: "I'd like to store a complete DVD to my hard disk and then play it in WinDVD. The only way I've been able to get this to work is to store it as an .ISO and mount it in a virtual drive using Daemon Tools. Is there a better way, i.e. is there any format that I could store the *complete* DVD on my hard disk that will be recognized by WinDVD?
TIA!
Posted by: setarip
Place all of the DVD-related files (.IFOs, .BUPs, .VOBs) into a folder named VIDEO_TS (MUST be all capitals) on your hard drive..."
Moving from Linux to Windows Desktop?
Moving from Linux to Windows Desktop?: "You will see cygwin (which others will recommend) totally left out of the recommendations. That is because I find it slow and oversized and I am not a huge fan of it.
#1. Get FlashDesktops, you have to pay for it, but it is utterly wonderful. Multiple desktops on windows as fast as Xwindows. http://flashdesktops.com/
#2. Get UxUtils, NATIVE ports of lots of great unix apps. http://unxutils.sourceforge.net/
#3. Get The Bat!, it is a wonderful email client, fast, simple, can be totally driven by keyboard. http://www.ritlabs.com/en/products/thebat/
#4. Get FireFox, it is a wonderful browser on linux AND windows (I actually prefer the windows version). http://www.mozilla.org/products/firefox/
#5. Get gVim, vim is great on linux, great on windows too! http://www.vim.org/
#6. Get OpenOffice, great on both platforms. http://www.openoffice.org/
#7. Get WinSCP, a wonderful SCP/SFTP client for windows. http://winscp.sourceforge.net/eng/
#8. Get Putty (and friends), wonderful ssh client and other utils. http://www.chiark.greenend.org.uk/~sgtatham/putty/
#9. Get everything from sysinternals, a ton of wonderful stuff here, too much to mention, but will let you track every file access, every registry write, every debugging message. Look around, it gives you control of your box like you expect on a *nix. Ton of great command line tools too. http://www.sysinternals.com/
#10. ClearTweak, a tool to let you customize your ClearType settings (a must for LCDs). http://www.ioisland.com/cleartweak/
#11. Daemon Tools, lets you mount up to 4 ISO's as drives, and can emulate security protection. http://www.daemon-tools.cc/portal/portal.php
#12. Memstat XP, lets you monitor memory usage in tray, small and simple. http://memstat.sourceforge.net/
#13. NetMeter, lets you monitor network usage in the tray, small and simple. http://readerror.gmxhome.de/
#14. TrayMeter, lets you monitor cpu usage in the tray, small and simple. http://www.thmundt.com/traymeter/
#15. TweakUI, get control over some things you might want (like hover-to-focus, autologin, other). http://www.microsoft.com/windowsxp/pro/downloads/p owertoys.asp
#16. WinRoll, lets you roll up windows just like in lots of windows managers on linux. http://www.palma.com.au/winroll/
#17. XP Log Reader, lets you watch the XP firewall logs. http://www.winxpcentral.com/windowsxp/fwlog.php
#18. WinRAR, unzip anything you want, supports tar.gz, zip, rar, arc, and much more. http://www.rarlab.com/
#19. Beyond Compare, best tool for comparing directories or files, great for syncing backups. http://www.scootersoftware.com/
#20. Nero, the best CD writer for windows. http://www.nero.com/us/index.html
#21. WinDVD, watch movies! http://www.intervideo.com/jsp/Home.jsp
#22. WinImage, create images from CDs, very easy, very clean. http://www.winimage.com/"
Yahoo! Mail - jayrtfm4@yahoo.com
Yahoo! Mail - jayrtfm4@yahoo.com: "Fred, I'm a middle school science teacher, and my school just purchased a portable wireless computer lab (16 laptops and a wireless hub on a rollaround cart that can be 'checked out' to any teacher). Due to the fact that the laptops have Win98 (support to be phased out) installed on them coupled with the fact that middle school students will be using them, I've convinced my principal to let me 'tweak' the setup for optimum long-term performance. What I've got in mind is this: I plan to take one of the laptops, divide the HD into 3 partitions (system, [hidden] backup, and documents), get it completely current as far as security patches and updates go, install all needed programs on it, and point the 'My Documents' folder to the 'documents' partition. I will then create an image of this as-perfect-as-possible setup using BootItNG ( http://www.terabyteunlimited.com/ ), burn this image to CD, and then paste that image onto each of the laptops (and also place a copy of the image on the 'backup' partition for easier access later). This will not only ensure that each computer has an identical setup, but it will allow much simpler recovery for WHEN (not if) a students tinkers with system settings. Two questions: Am I missing anything that you can think of? Do you foresee any problems with this plan? Thanks in advance, Robby Workman If you have valid software licenses for all the PCs, and if the hardware is truly identical, this will work fine. This is, in fact, how many PC vendors set up PCs on an assembly line: One master image gets plopped onto many successive hard drives. But it won't work if the systems are different because they'll need different drivers and hardware setups. But even then, you can still partially automate this by copying the /Win98 folder tree from the setup CD to the hard drive of your master system, and doing your install from there, rather than from the CD. Then, any changes made to any subsequent installation of that image that normally would require inserting the CD will instead simply read the needed files off the hard drive, out of the /Win98 folders."
Yahoo! Mail - jayrtfm4@yahoo.com
"A Tek-Tip member known generally on malware removal forums as Option^Explicit has written a tool that works wonders in situations where your Winsock service stack has become corrupted. While the tool works under all versions of Windows from Win9x -- XP, I will describe briefly what it does under XP: It disables all network adapters It removes the registry keys Winsock and Winsock2 It replaces the keys with a 'virgin' registry set from a clean install of XP it contains inside the program It forces a rebuilding of the Winsock service, including routing tables, using the Netsh int ip reset resetlog.txt command It re-enables your adapters It checks that your HOSTS file has a valid localhost pointer to 127.0.0.1 I cannot tell you how often this little utility has proved a lifesaver: WinsockFix Direct"
WinSockFix: http://members.shaw.ca/techcd/WinsockXPFix.exe
InformationWeek > Fred Langa > Langa Letter: Successful Updates Despite Very Slow Connections > February 16, 2004
InformationWeek > Fred Langa > Langa Letter: Successful Updates Despite Very Slow Connections > February 16, 2004: "
Grabbing The Patches At High Speed
Bring your list of patches to a PC with a fast connection, and run Windows Update on that PC. But instead of clicking 'scan for updates,' select 'Catalog' from the left navigation pane. The Update Catalog gives you access to almost every Update item for all versions of Windows, not just the version on the PC you're currently using.
If the 'Catalog' option doesn't appear, don't worry: It's easy to turn on. Select 'Personalize' from 'Other Options' in the left menu, and select the 'Display the link to the Windows Catalog' option. The Catalog will then appear in the 'See Also' menu on the left.
You can then use the Catalog to select whatever Updates and Drivers you want for the slow PC: Select the slow PC's version of Windows, and then select the specific patches and updates you made note of earlier. Items you select go into a 'download basket' from which you can later retrieve them and place them wherever you want--on your hard drive, on a CD or whatever--for safekeeping and later use. (Note: The downloaded files will be executables--little setup programs--but don't run them yet. Just save them in a known location on the fast PC.)
For reasons known only to Microsoft, the Update Catalog doesn't list all available patches. But if you can't find a patch you need in the Catalog proper, you usually can find it via the 'Search' link at the top of the Update Window: Enter the name or number of the patch you're seeking, and the search tool will usually bring you to a Knowledgebase discussion of that patch, which will contain a link to the actual download. As with the Update Catalog items themselves, don't run the files you download this way; just save them in a known location on the fast PC's hard drive.
And even if that search fails, there still are ways to find the downloads you need. For example, many Update items are listed with a six-digit number; you can use that number to search the Microsoft Knowledgebase for the patch. To do so, you use a URL in this format, substituting the number where you see the X's at the end of the line:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;XXXXXX
Thus, to search for 'Recommended Update for Windows XP SP1 (817778),' you'd use http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;817778
Or, you can use the more general search tools here.
Once you've located and downloaded all the patches the slow PC needs, burn the downloaded files to a CD, or copy then to floppies, a Zip-disk, tape, or other media that the slow PC will be able to read.
Installing On The Slow PC, And Other Patch Uses
Bring the saved files to the slow PC, and run each of the setup files, one by one, by double-clicking on them (they're usually EXE or MSI files). Install the Critical Updates first, then the Recommended and Driver updates.
When you're done, rerun Windows Update on the slow PC, just as you did in the first step. Sometimes, patches must be installed incrementally, and installing one patch or update will then require a subsequent patch or update. (This is more likely to happen if you haven't patched the slow PC in a long time; several iterations may be needed to get the system fully current.)
Don't throw out the saved updates; they can be reused in the future, should you need to reinstall the operating system or its patches again.
In fact, you can use this method of saving patches on any PC, even if you're not moving files to a second machine. You can use Windows Update's 'History' option to see what's been installed on any given PC, and then use the Catalog to re-download and save copies of those patches. If you ever need to reinstall the operating system, you'll then have the patches for that PC right at hand, and can run them from your hard drive without re-identifying and re-downloading everything afresh."
How our service is really free - FreeConference.com
How our service is really free - FreeConference.com: FreeConference.com's Standard Services Are Free
Our Web-Scheduled Standard and Reservationless Standard conferencing services are free, but we do not provide toll-free (800) Dial-in Numbers. Although some callers may be local to our Dial-in Numbers, most callers should expect to dial a long distance number to access our conference bridges and, therefore, pay only the normal domestic long distance rates charged by each caller’s long distance carrier for the length of time they are on the call.
The use of our Web-based conference call scheduling and management tools, as well as our conference bridges are offered entirely free of charge! There is absolutely no catch. This is not a limited-time offer - no gimmicks, no gotchas and no tricks. These standard services are full-featured, with only minimal service limitations.
We can not and do not put charges on your phone bill, nor do we ask for a credit card number or any other form of payment for use of our Web-Scheduled Standard and Reservationless Standard conferencing services. In fact, we do not bill you at all for these standard services.
Mistaril Post Mortem: Space Station Manager
Mistaril Post Mortem: Space Station Manager: "This is a post mortem of Space Station Manager, the first downloadable game from Mistaril. The goal for the project was to create a game for entering the downloadable games market with and develop the required e-commerce infrastructure for distribution and marketing over the Internet. A secondary goal was to produce enough profit from the game to sustain continued game development activities. The project met both of these goals.
From a technical standpoint the project was interesting because it employed a slightly modified version of the eXtreme Programming (XP) software development process. XP is an agile process that strives to maximize the output from the project and minimize the associated effort. It is also very suitable for high-risk projects with a lot of uncertainty in the requirements. The process relies on a small set of best practises that are fundamentally easy, but might require some experience to make sense. In general, the XP process proved to be unsuitable for the project and a more specific conclusion can be found in the end of the post mortem."
Michael C Carroll Official Web Page
Michael C Carroll Official Web PageMichael C Carroll, will be promoting Lab 257
Wednesday, March 03, 2004 07:30 PM
Appears on/at: BARNES & NOBLE #2017/Discussion & Signing
396 Avenue of the Americas (8th St.), New York, NY 10011
Monday, February 16, 2004
MacSlash | Experience With Apple Refurbs
MacSlash | Experience With Apple Refurbs: "How to buy refurbs (Score:1)
by Yeechang Lee on Sunday February 15, @09:27AM (#67389)
User #12139 Info
The trick to buying refurbs at Apple's online store is to visit it very early in the day, ideally between 2am-8am ET. That's when you're pretty much guaranteed to find almost everything in stock, including the really popular ones (like the 1.25GHz 15' Superdrive AlBook model for $2099, $500 cheaper than new). They go first as the day progresses."
Saturday, February 07, 2004
Natural Nuclear Reactors
... in Africa: "In 1956, Paul Kuroda published a short paper in the Journal of Chemical Physics demonstrating the feasibility that thick seams of uranium ore might, 2,000 million years ago, have been able to support chain reactions and function as natural nuclear reactors. Kuroda later told me that he was able to get the paper published only because at the time that journal would accept short papers without reviewer comments.
In 1972, scientists at the French Atomic Energy Establishment discovered the intact remains of a natural nuclear reactor in a seam of uranium ore at a mine at Oklo in the Republic of Gabon in western Africa. The French immediately contacted Kuroda, who immediately contacted his former students, one of them being my Ph.D. thesis advisor who told his own students about the natural reactor. I was fortunate to learn so early about the Oklo discovery."
....Soon I realized that hydrogen to slow neutrons was not necessary for a planetary reactor; that observation opened the door to the possibility of a nuclear fission reactor at the center of the Earth. In 1993, I published a paper in the Journal of Geomagnetism and Geoelectricity on the feasibility of a nuclear fission reactor as the energy source for the geomagnetic field. Subsequently, I extended the concept with publications in the Proceedings of the Royal Society of London and in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA.
....My research took a major step forward when Daniel Hollenbach showed me that those programs would be applicable to a deep-Earth nuclear reactor. We published the results in 2001 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. The numerical simulations not only confirmed my previous calculations, but additionally gave us the amounts of the various products of fission. The helium results, which agree with what is found in deep-source lavas, such as Hawaii and Iceland, provide the first strong, direct evidence for a nuclear reactor at the center of the Earth.
Recently, the folks at Oak Ridge National Laboratory graciously made additional, extended and refined georeactor numerical simulations. I published those results in 2003 in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences USA. That paper presents extremely strong evidence of the nuclear georeactor origin of oceanic basalt helium and strong evidence that the end of the lifetime of the georeactor is approaching.
Monday, February 02, 2004
bunker MENTALITY hunkering down with hardware
bunker MENTALITY hunkering down with hardware: "Not exactly the sexiest topic I've ever written about, but I'll wager there are a lot of guys out there who have asked themselves on more than one occasion which screw are you REALLY supposed to use where, when building a PC. A new PC case usually comes with a small zipper bag of screws, but rarely with any instructions on what they are for. The five basic types you usually see are these:
sg001.jpg (152744 bytes) sg002.jpg (180539 bytes) sg003.jpg (167824 bytes)
sg004.jpg (162481 bytes) sg005.jpg (170144 bytes)
I imagine just about everyone reading this page knows what the first screw is used for and a large percentage of you know where the second one goes. But I'm guessing the percentages go way, way down after that, even among the �bergeeks out there."
MacInTouch Home Page
MacInTouch Home Page: "[Tony Scaminaci] I am constantly amazed at the questionable quality of DIMMs in the Macintosh marketplace. I've used Kingston memory in Blue-and-White G3s running Panther, but my strongest recommendation is to purchase the more expensive DIMMs from RamJet. I've never had a problem with RamJet memory and they seem to know more about the subtleties involved with the Mac than other vendors. They set me straight on the correct DIMMs to purchase for an old Powermac 9500 that refused to work correctly with virtually every other brand (read cheaper) that I tried.
I would like to also remind your readers that they can download the free memtest utility from MacUpdate or my personal page at [Frisky's Home Page]. This utility is valuable for weeding out those marginal DIMMs that can cause an otherwise stable machine to crash or otherwise act up for no apparent reason."
