During the course of a long day away from a wall socket. Here are some tips for keeping your laptop running as long as possible when you're on the go.

When you're on the road, you can significantly conserve battery power by dimming your laptop screen's brightness. Make sure there are no CDs or DVDs sitting in your optical drive, and don't connect any USB peripherals--all power hogs. Turn off Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and 3G networking (you have to do that in flight anyhow).

Also, tweak your laptop's power settings to conserve your battery. For example, in Windows Vista, go to Control Panel, Power Options and select the "Power saver" setting You can adjust the "Power saver" settings, if you want, or create your own power plan.

Buy a Second Battery

Many laptops today can run off two batteries. When the juice from the primary battery runs dry, the auxiliary kicks in. In most cases, the primary battery comes with the laptop; the second is an optional purchase. For example, HP's EliteBook 6930p promises up to 24 hours of use from one charge--but only if you attach an optional, external 12-cell ultra-capacity battery pack ($189) as a secondary battery to augment the laptop's internal, primary six-cell battery (There are other requirements, too, such as the need to downgrade to Windows XP.) Keep in mind that second battery packs, sometimes also called battery slices often add bulk and weight to your laptop.

Another option: Buy a portable battery pack. I like the Duracell Powersource Mobile 100 (about $110 and up online) because it lets you power a variety of devices, such as laptops, cell phones, portable DVD players, and video cameras, using their own power cords. By comparison, some portable power rechargers require special tips or cables to recharge your gear. The Duracell Powersource can also recharge two USB devices simultaneously with your laptop.
Get to Know Battery Specs

When buying a new laptop or a second laptop battery, pay attention to the power specs. Generally speaking, you need to know how many cells the battery has. The more cells, the longer the battery can last on a charge. For example, a 12-cell battery is designed to last much longer than a six-cell battery. Alternatively, the specs might list Watt-Hour rating, or WHr. The higher the number, the longer your battery should last. Some computer makers, such as Apple, describe laptop batteries in terms of WHr, while others use cells.
Check for Power Ports Before You Fly

Before I book a flight, I find out the type of aircraft I'll be on. Then I jump over to Seatguru.com, which offers helpful seating configuration maps for most domestic and international airlines. The black dots on seat maps indicate the presence of in-seat power ports. Keep in mind, though, that sometimes (especially in coach) you may have to share one power port with your neighbor.
Play Your Music on a Portable Player

Playing music or videos on your laptop is a great way to pass the time--and drain your battery. Music and audio files make frequent hits on your hard drive, which consumes battery power. If you need to work during a long flight, and yet you want to silence that crying baby in 12B, listen to music on your portable media player. That way you won't tax your laptop battery. Most airplanes today have an in-flight music system, which you can listen to even during take-off and landings (which you can't do with a portable electronic device).

Watch Videos on Your Hard Drive

Playing a video on a laptop's DVD drive eats battery power. Video playback from a hard drive, however, is less taxing. So for your next long flight, consider downloading a few movies or TV shows to your hard drive. Or convert your own DVDs into files you can play off your hard drive. As PCWorld.com blogger Rick Broida points out, you can use the popular open-source program Handbrake to rip DVDs into files for watching on a laptop or iPod/iPhone.

Share an Airport Power Plug

Have you ever tried to find an available wall socket at an airport departure gate? Most of the time, other people have already taken the few existing wall sockets. That's why I travel with a multi-plug power adapter. Example: Kensington's Portable Power Outlet ($21 on Amazon.com) lets you simultaneously plug up to three devices into one wall outlet. It also lets you charge up to two USB devices at the same time, and it offers surge protection. Belkin makes a similar product, the Mini Surge Protector With USB Charger (about $14 or more online).

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Q: What's the Difference Between Bluetooth and Wi-Fi?

A: Bluetooth and Wi-Fi are both wireless networking standards that provide connectivity via radio waves. The main difference: Bluetooth's primary use is to replace cables, while Wi-Fi is largely used to provide wireless, high-speed access to the Internet or a local area network.
Bluetooth

First developed in 1994, Bluetooth is a low-power, short-range (30 feet) networking specification with moderately fast transmission speeds of 800 kilobits per second. Bluetooth provides a wireless, point-to-point, "personal area network" for PDAs, notebooks, printers, mobile phones, audio components, and other devices. The wireless technology can be used anywhere you have two or more devices that are Bluetooth enabled. For example, you could send files from a notebook to a printer without having to physically connect the two devices with a cable.

A few notebooks, such as the IBM ThinkPad T30, now include built-in Bluetooth connectivity. And $129 will buy you a Bluetooth card for expansion-slot Palm PDAs, allowing you to connect to printers, notebooks, mobile phones, and other devices without cables.

Despite the promises of Bluetooth, however, hardware makers have been slow to incorporate it into their products. Some experts believe it could be eight years before Bluetooth is commonly used. They attribute the technology's lagging adoption rate to poor usability and confusion about what Bluetooth is and does. For more on that topic, read "Why We're Still Waiting for Bluetooth."
Wi-Fi

Short for Wireless Fidelity, Wi-Fi is a user-friendly name for devices that have been certified by the Wireless Ethernet Compatibility Alliance to conform to the industry-standard wireless networking specification IEEE 802.11b. Wi-Fi began appearing in products in late 1998. The standard currently provides access to Ethernet networks such as a corporate LAN or the Internet at super-fast speeds of up to 11 megabits per second.

Wi-Fi connections can be made up to about 300 feet away from a "hot spot" (slang for a Wi-Fi networking node). When your notebook or PDA has a Wi-Fi networking card or built-in chip, you can surf the Internet at broadband speeds wirelessly. Wi-Fi networking nodes are proliferating globally; many Starbucks locations, for instance, offer access to Wi-Fi hot spots for a fee. (See the Notebooks section in this newsletter for information on finding Wi-Fi hot spots.)

Many notebooks today have IEEE 802.11b built-in; those that don't can be adapted via Wi-Fi connectivity PC Cards. Wi-Fi is also the basis for some home networking products, allowing you to share high-speed Internet connections without cabling. Late last year, products featuring a newer wireless networking specification, IEEE 802.11a (called Wi-Fi5 by WECA), debuted. This standard provides transmission speeds of up to 54 mbps. Wireless networking is expected to grow in popularity as a practical, flexible way to replace some LANs. With wireless networking, for instance, workers can carry their notebooks from cubicle to conference room and stay connected to the corporate network.

For information about setting up a wireless home network, see "How to Set Up Your Home Network."

For more about the first IEEE 802.11a-based products, see "Wireless LANs Gain Speed at Comdex." In addition, Socket Communications, a network connections provider, has posted a helpful white paper that compares Bluetooth with Wi-Fi.

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Wi-Fi is a trademark of the Wi-Fi Alliance for certified products based on the IEEE 802.11 standards (also called Wireless LAN (WLAN) and Wi-Fi). This certification warrants interoperability between different wireless devices.

The term Wi-Fi often is used by the public as a synonym for wireless Internet (WLAN); but not every wireless Internet product has a Wi-Fi certification, which may be because of certification costs that must be paid for each certified device type.

Wi-Fi is supported by most personal computer operating systems, many game consoles, laptops, smartphones, printers, and other peripherals.

A Wi-Fi enabled device such as a PC, game console, mobile phone, MP3 player or PDA can connect to the Internet when within range of a wireless network connected to the Internet. The coverage of one or more interconnected access points — called a hotspot — can comprise an area as small as a single room with wireless-opaque walls or as large as many square miles covered by overlapping access points. Wi-Fi technology has served to set up mesh networks, for example, in London. Both architectures can operate in community networks.

In addition to restricted use in homes and offices, Wi-Fi can make access publicly available at Wi-Fi hotspots provided either free of charge or to subscribers to various providers. Organizations and businesses such as airports, hotels and restaurants often provide free hotspots to attract or assist clients. Enthusiasts or authorities who wish to provide services or even to promote business in a given area sometimes provide free Wi-Fi access. Metropolitan-wide Wi-Fi (Muni-Fi) alread has more than 300 projects in process. There were 879 Wi-Fi based Wireless Internet service providers in the Czech Republic as of May 2008.

Wi-Fi also allows connectivity in peer-to-peer (wireless ad-hoc network) mode, which enables devices to connect directly with each other. This connectivity mode can prove useful in consumer electronics and gaming applications.

When wireless networking technology first entered the market many problems ensued for consumers who could not rely on products from different vendors working together. The Wi-Fi Alliance began as a community to solve this issue — aiming to address the needs of the end-user and to allow the technology to mature. The Alliance created the branding Wi-Fi CERTIFIED to reassure consumers that products will interoperate with other products displaying the same branding.

Many consumer devices use Wi-Fi. Amongst others, personal computers can network to each other and connect to the Internet, mobile computers can connect to the Internet from any Wi-Fi hotspot, and digital cameras can transfer images wirelessly.

Routers which incorporate a DSL-modem or a cable-modem and a Wi-Fi access point, often set up in homes and other premises, provide Internet-access and internetworking to all devices connected (wirelessly or by cable) to them. One can also connect Wi-Fi devices in ad-hoc mode for client-to-client connections without a router. Wi-Fi also enables places which would traditionally not have network to be connected, for example bathrooms, kitchens and garden sheds. The "father of Wi-Fi", Vic Hayes, stated that being able to access the internet whilst answering a call of nature was "one of life's most liberating experiences".

As of 2007 Wi-Fi technology had spread widely within business and industrial sites. In business environments, just like other environments, increasing the number of Wi-Fi access-points provides redundancy, support for fast roaming and increased overall network-capacity by using more channels or by defining smaller cells. Wi-Fi enables wireless voice-applications (VoWLAN or WVOIP). Over the years, Wi-Fi implementations have moved toward "thin" access-points, with more of the network intelligence housed in a centralized network appliance, relegating individual access-points to the role of mere "dumb" radios. Outdoor applications may utilize true mesh topologies. As of 2007 Wi-Fi installations can provide a secure computer networking gateway, firewall, DHCP server, intrusion detection system, and other functions.

Operational advantages

Wi-Fi allows local area networks (LANs) to be deployed without wires for client devices, typically reducing the costs of network deployment and expansion. Spaces where cables cannot be run, such as outdoor areas and historical buildings, can host wireless LANs.

Wireless network adapters are now built into most laptops. The price of chipsets for Wi-Fi continues to drop, making it an economical networking option included in even more devices. Wi-Fi has become widespread in corporate infrastructures.

Different competitive brands of access points and client network interfaces are inter-operable at a basic level of service. Products designated as "Wi-Fi Certified" by the Wi-Fi Alliance are backwards compatible. Wi-Fi is a global set of standards. Unlike mobile telephones, any standard Wi-Fi device will work anywhere in the world.

Wi-Fi is widely available in more than 220,000 public hotspots and tens of millions of homes and corporate and university campuses worldwide. Wi-Fi Protected Access encryption (WPA and WPA2) is not easily cracked if strong passwords are used. New protocols for Quality of Service (WMM) make Wi-Fi more suitable for latency-sensitive applications (such as voice and video), and power saving mechanisms (WMM Power Save) improve battery operation.

Limitations

Spectrum assignments and operational limitations are not consistent worldwide. Most of Europe allows for an additional 2 channels beyond those permitted in the U.S. for the 2.4 GHz band. (1–13 vs. 1–11); Japan has one more on top of that (1–14). Europe, as of 2007, was essentially homogeneous in this respect. A very confusing aspect is the fact that a Wi-Fi signal actually occupies five channels in the 2.4 GHz band resulting in only three non-overlapped channels in the U.S.: 1, 6, 11, and three or four in Europe: 1, 5, 9, 13 can be used if all the equipment on a specific area can be guaranteed not to use 802.11b at all, even as fallback or beacon. Equivalent isotropically radiated power (EIRP) in the EU is limited to 20 dBm (100 mW).

Reach

Wi-Fi networks have limited range. A typical Wi-Fi home router using 802.11b or 802.11g with a stock antenna might have a range of 32 m (120 ft) indoors and 95 m (300 ft) outdoors. Range also varies with frequency band. Wi-Fi in the 2.4 GHz frequency block has slightly better range than Wi-Fi in the 5 GHz frequency block. Outdoor range with improved (directional) antennas can be several kilometres or more with line-of-sight. In general, the maximum amount of power that a Wi-Fi device can transmit is limited by local regulations, such as FCC Part 15 in USA.

Wi-Fi performance decreases roughly quadratically as distance increases at constant radiation levels.

Due to reach requirements for wireless LAN applications, power consumption is fairly high compared to some other short-range standards. Technologies such as Zigbee and Bluetooth, which are designed to support wireless PAN applications, provide a much shorter propagation range of

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Bluetooth is an open wireless protocol for exchanging data over short distances from fixed and mobile devices, creating personal area networks (PANs). It was originally conceived as a wireless alternative to RS232 data cables. It can connect several devices, overcoming problems of synchronization.

The word Bluetooth is an anglicized version of Old Norse Blátönn or Danish Blåtand, the name of the tenth-century king Harald I of Denmark and Norway, who united dissonant Scandinavian tribes into a single kingdom. The implication is that Bluetooth does the same with communications protocols, uniting them into one universal standard.

Bluetooth uses a radio technology called frequency-hopping spread spectrum, which chops up the data being sent and transmits chunks of it on up to 79 frequencies. In its basic mode, the modulation is Gaussian frequency-shift keying (GFSK). It can achieve a gross data rate of 1 Mb/s. Bluetooth provides a way to connect and exchange information between devices such as mobile phones, telephones, laptops, personal computers, printers, Global Positioning System (GPS) receivers, digital cameras, and video game consoles through a secure, globally unlicensed Industrial, Scientific and Medical (ISM) 2.4 GHz short-range radio frequency bandwidth. The Bluetooth specifications are developed and licensed by the Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG). The Bluetooth SIG consists of companies in the areas of telecommunication, computing, networking, and consumer electronics.[

Bluetooth is a standard and communications protocol primarily designed for low power consumption, with a short range (power-class-dependent: 1 meter, 10 meters, 100 meters) based on low-cost transceiver microchips in each device. Bluetooth makes it possible for these devices to communicate with each other when they are in range. Because the devices use a radio (broadcast) communications system, they do not have to be in line of sight of each other.

Class 1 100 mW (20 dBm) ~100 meters
Class 2 2.5 mW (4 dBm) ~10 meters
Class 3 1 mW (0 dBm) ~1 meter

In most cases the effective range of class 2 devices is extended if they connect to a class 1 transceiver, compared to a pure class 2 network. This is accomplished by the higher sensitivity and transmission power of Class 1 devices.

More prevalent applications of Bluetooth include:

* Wireless control of and communication between a mobile phone and a hands-free headset. This was one of the earliest applications to become popular.
* Wireless networking between PCs in a confined space and where little bandwidth is required.
* Wireless communication with PC input and output devices, the most common being the mouse, keyboard and printer.
* Transfer of files, contact details, calendar appointments, and reminders between devices with OBEX.
* Replacement of traditional wired serial communications in test equipment, GPS receivers, medical equipment, bar code scanners, and traffic control devices.
* For controls where infrared was traditionally used.
* Sending small advertisements from Bluetooth-enabled advertising hoardings to other, discoverable, Bluetooth devices[citation needed].
* Two seventh-generation game consoles, Nintendo's Wii and Sony's PlayStation 3, use Bluetooth for their respective wireless controllers.
* Dial-up internet access on personal computers or PDAs using a data-capable mobile phone as a modem.

A personal computer must have a Bluetooth adapter in order to communicate with other Bluetooth devices (such as mobile phones, mice and keyboards). While some desktop computers and most recent laptops come with a built-in Bluetooth adapter, others will require an external one in the form of a dongle.

Computer requirements

Unlike its predecessor, IrDA, which requires a separate adapter for each device, Bluetooth allows multiple devices to communicate with a computer over a single adapter.

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For as long as some can remember, Google has been the search engine of choice for almost everyone who searched the Internet. Since its inception, Google has almost toppled other big search engines such as Excite and Yahoo and these companies have struggled to regain market share. At the moment, Google still dominates the industry and it appears that it will continue to forever. But will it maintain its competitive advantage or is it possible that other search engines can break its monopoly in ways that the Department of Justice cannot imagine?

In the 1980s IBM dominated the industry to the point that many considered it a monopoly. It was believed that IBM’s legacy would last forever. However, when smaller companies entered the market with lower-margin products, IBM was forced to compete on their terms. Of course, we all know that the company failed miserably at this attempt, and the company was forced to completely revamp its business and give up its monopoly in the personal computer industry.

Despite the glamour that Google has been basking in for the last few years, we would be naïve to believe that this control over the market will endure for eternity. Like IBM and AT&T, Google will probably find the day when it is dethroned by smaller companies with their own particular niche. One search engine makes it possible to enter a photograph of a product that visitors would like to purchase, and the search engine tells the user which stores in their area are selling the product. Another search engine functions by having the user type in a question, and provide links to experts who can answer it.

While many experts feel that these smaller search engines do not pose a threat, both history and the present suggest otherwise. Many of these specialized search engines have multiplied their traffic in periods as short as a year. While it is uncertain how these companies will affect Google, there is no denying that they are on the rise. Even Google may inevitably find it impossible to provide all the features that are provided by each of the smaller, more specialized search engines. How will these companies affect Google in the future? It is very likely that they will pose a significant threat to the current leader, and very possible that Google’s survival will depend on its ability to adapt to the new environment and completely change its business structure just as IBM had to do ten years ago. Only time will tell.

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Almost everyone who has worked with computers for any length of time at all has run into at least one situation in which a problem left a PC unbootable. What if you could return the machine to a bootable state just by inserting a USB flash drive though? Believe it or not, it is actually possible to install a bootable copy of Windows XP onto a flash drive and then boot a PC off of the flash drive. From there, you can use applications that you have installed on the flash drive (anti virus, anti spyware, disk repair, etc.) to fix the PC's problem. In this article, I will show you how.
What's the catch?

As with most cool new techniques, there are a few catches. For starters, not every PC is capable of booting from a USB flash drive. For the most part, computers manufactured within the last two years are generally able to boot from a flash drive. Older systems may require a BIOS update, or might not be able to boot from a flash drive at all.

Another catch is that not every flash drive will get the job done. The primary factors that limit your use of a particular flash drive are capacity and speed. Technically, speed isn't really a limiting factor, but booting Windows will be painfully slow unless you use a flash drive that supports USB 2.0.

The flash drive's capacity is actually a limiting factor though. Surprisingly though, there are size limits on both the upper and lower end. Your flash drive can't be too large or too small. There isn't really a documented minimal size for a flash drive. You just need something large enough to hold Windows XP and a few applications. As you probably know, Windows XP normally consumes over a gigabyte of disk space. Later I will show you how to use a free utility to trim the excess fat off of Windows XP and make it a whole lot smaller. Even so, I still recommend that your flash drive be at least a minimum of 256 MB in size.

As I mentioned, there is a maximum size for the USB flash drive that you can use. Currently, USB flash drives exist in sizes of up to 4 GB, and 8 GB flash drives are expected to be available by the end of the year. As nice as it would be to have 8 GB to play with, the flash drive that you use for this project can be no larger than 2 GB. The reason for this is because you will have to format the flash drive using the FAT-16 file system, which has a 2 GB limit. Presently, you are stuck using FAT-16 because most computers will not recognize a flash drive as being bootable if the drive is formatted with anything other than FAT-16.
Preparing your Windows installation CD

One of the requirements for creating our bootable USB flash drive is a Windows XP with Service Pack 2 installation CD. If your Windows XP installation CD doesn't already include Service Pack 2, then you will have to make a CD that includes Service Pack 2 through a technique called slipstreaming.
Other requirements

In addition to your Windows XP installation CD, there are a couple of other things that you are going to need. For starters, you will need the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool. You can download this tool for free.

Another utility that you are going to need is Bart's Preinstalled Environment Bootable Live Windows CD / DVD, or BartPE for short. You can download this utility for free from the BartPE Web site.

In addition to the software requirements, you must verify that the PC that you will be using to create the Windows deployment has 1.5 GB of free hard disk space (minimum) and supports booting from a USB device. I also strongly recommend that the PC be running Windows XP Service Pack 2. Prior to Service Pack 2, Windows XP sometimes had trouble interacting with USB storage devices.
Formatting the flash drive

Now that you have all of the prerequisites taken care of, it's time to actually start setting up our flash drive. The first step in doing so, as strange as it sounds, is to format the flash drive. Windows will actually let you format a flash drive in the same way that you format a floppy disk. However, formatting a flash drive in this way will not work for this project. Furthermore, using Windows to format a flash drive directly has been known to destroy some types of flash drives.

Instead, you must format the flash drive by using the HP USB Disk Storage Format Tool that you downloaded earlier. To do so, simply open the utility, select the device followed by the FAT file system option and click Start.

Once the device has been formatted, you must make it bootable. To do so, you must copy the BOOT.INI, NTLDR, and NTDETECT from the root directory of your PC's boot drive to the flash drive. These files are hidden by default, so you will either have to configure Windows Explorer to show hidden files (including protected operating system files) or you will have to open a Command Prompt window and use the COPY command to copy the files.

If you choose to use the Windows Explorer method, then open Internet Explorer and enter C: into the address bar so that you are looking at your local hard drive. Next, select the Folder Options command from the Tools menu. When the Folder Options properties sheet opens, select the View tab. Now, just select the Show Hidden Files and Folders and deselect the Hide Extensions for Known File Types and the Hide Protected Operating System Files check boxes. Click OK to continue.
Booting from the USB flash drive

Now that you have formatted your USB flash drive and installed the boot files onto it, the next thing that you must do is to configure your PC to allow you to boot from the flash drive. This is all done through the computer's BIOS Setup. I can't give you specific instructions for this part, because every computer is different. I can give you a few pointers though.

You can access your computer's BIOS by pressing a specific key immediately after you turn the PC on. The key varies, but it is usually either [F1], [F2], or [Delete]. Once you are in the BIOS Setup, you should verify that all of your computer's USB options are enabled. This might include things like support for legacy USB devices or support for USB 2.0. If there is a time out setting for USB devices, you should set it to the max to insure that the system doesn't time out while waiting on the USB device to boot.

Next, find the section on boot device priority. Normally, a USB flash drive (which is usually listed as USB-HDD, but may be listed as a removable device) will have a very low boot priority. If the USB flash drive's boot priority is lower than the hard disk (listed as HDD) then the only time the computer would ever boot off of the USB flash drive is if the system were to fail to boot from the hard disk. You must therefore rearrange the boot device priority so that the flash drive has a higher priority than the hard drive.
Configuring Windows

Now that we have finally made it through all of the prep work, it's time to start setting up Windows. As you have probably already guessed, the process of installing Windows to a flash drive is quite a bit different from your normal, run of the mill installation. There are a couple of reasons for this.

For starters, a full blown Windows XP deployment takes up over a Gigabyte of hard disk space. When you are installing to a flash drive, disk space is a scarce commodity. Even if you have over a Gigabyte of space on your flash drive, you probably don't want to use it all on Windows. It would be nice to have room to install a few applications. Therefore, you need to trim the excess fat off of Windows.

The other reason why the installation process is so different from the usual Windows installation is because Windows Setup is not designed to install Windows to a flash drive. You therefore have to configure Windows using an alternate method.

The PEBuilder utility that you downloaded earlier can take care of both of these issues. PEBuilder is designed to create a build of Windows XP (or Windows Server 2003) that does not take up as much space as a full blown installation. Once you create this new build, you can copy it to the flash drive. For right now, I will show you how to create a basic Windows build and copy it to the memory stick. Unfortunately, it's rather difficult to install applications once Windows is up and running. Therefore, after I show you how to create a basic Windows build, I will show you how to create a build that includes some applications.

Begin the process by opening PEBuilder. When you open PEBuilder, you will see a screen. Simply enter the path to the Windows installation files (the ones from your Windows XP with Service Pack 2 installation CD). Next, verify that the Create ISO Image and the Burn to CD check boxes are not selected and then click the Build button. PEBuilder will now create the new Windows build.

Now, it's time to copy Windows to the flash drive. To do so, you will have to use a special batch file that's included with PEBuilder. Open a Command Prompt window and navigate to c:\pebuilder313\plugin\peinst. Now, insert an empty flash drive into the computer's USB port and then execute the file PEINST.CMD. You will now see a menu appear.

Type 1 and press [Enter] and you will be prompted to enter the path to the build that you have created. Enter C:\pebuilder313\BartPE. Now, type 2, press [Enter], and you will be prompted for the target path. Enter the drive letter that Windows has assigned to your USB flash drive. After doing so, the menu is updated. The menu now displays the source path and the destination drive. Type 5 and press [Enter] to install Windows to the flash drive.

Now that I have shown you how to create and install a basic Windows build, I want to talk for a moment about how you can add an application to the build (prior to creating it). The PEBuilder program comes pre-configured to support a number of common Windows applications, but does not come with the applications themselves.

The reason why installing applications can be a little bit tricky is because most Windows applications modify the Windows registry. The build that you are creating is basically a collection of installation files, and the build itself does not contain a registry (the registry gets created when Windows is installed onto the flash drive). As such, PEBuilder uses a sort of registry emulator.

If you go to the C:\PEBUILDER313\PLUGIN folder, you will see sub folders for a number of different applications. If you open one of these application folders, you will see that the folder contains an INF file and a FILES folder. The INF file contains all of the information that would normally go into the registry, and the FILES folder stores all of the program's files.

To see how this works, let's install an application that I'm sure most of you are familiar with; Nero. Begin by installing Nero onto the machine that's running PEBuilder, as if you planned to run Nero locally on that machine. When the installation completes, copy all of the files from C:\Program Files\ahead\Nero to C:\pebuilder313\plugin\nero burning rom\files. In this particular case, the nero burning rom folder is the folder that has been set aside for the Nero application. The Files sub folder is intended to store Nero's system files.

Now, you must take care of Nero's registry entries. To do so, go to the C:\pebuilder313\plugin\nero burning rom folder and open the PENERO.INF file using Notepad. As I explained earlier, the INF file in an application's folder is used to store the application's registry entries. For Nero and all of the other applications that PEBuilder predefines, the INF file is pre-configured. You just have to make a few changes that are specific to your system.

In this particular case, the PENERO.INF file is designed to support both Nero versions 5.x and 6.x. Initially, the lines for both versions are commented out. You must therefore determine which version you have and then remove the semi colon from the beginning of the lines that apply to that version.

Once you uncomment the appropriate lines, just replace "Your Name", "Your Company Name" and "Your Serial Number" with your name, your company's name, and your Nero product key. Save the file, and your set to go. The next time that you click the Build button, Nero will be included in the build.
Putting XP in your pocket

Running Windows from a flash drive isn't an exact science. Sometimes the process just doesn't work and there is no good reason why. As more PCs start to support booting from USB devices though, USB boots should become more standardized, and the technique should become more reliable.

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With the price of large (>32”) LCD displays decreasing rapidly and new functionalities being added to LCD displays, does it still make sense for businesses to buy a projector vs. an LCD display?

Some of the variables to consider when evaluating this question are product quality, price, picture quality, screen size and other such considerations. We discuss these and other factors from a typical business organization perspective. Read other articles and make your informed judgement.

Product Life: LCD TVs or displays typically have a backlight life of 30,000 to 60,000 hours (ie, if you have the display on for ~6 hours every day, the backlight will last for 16 years). Even then the backlight can be replaced in most LCD displays. A projector bulb typically has a life of 2,000 hours.

Price Considerations: A basic projector can be found for INR 25,000. However, if the projector is going to be used for video conferencing or board room presentation, a high resolution, good contrast ratio and saturated colour projector would be required. The cost of such a projector is close to INR 1 lakh. Thereafter, you need to factor in the prices of projector bulb and projection screens. A typical projector bulb needs to be replaced almost every year or two with bulbs costing Rs 20,000+ per bulb. We have added these costs over a five-year period to compare a projector vs. an LCD (see chart below). With 46” LCD TV or display costing around Rs 135,000 – Rs 150,000 and dropping, price becomes less of an issue when considering whether to buy a Projector or LCD display

Figure: Total Cost of Ownership Comparison for Projector vs. LCD Display

Basic Device capital cost for projector is INR 70,000 and that of an LCD display is INR 150,000, Projector Screen Capital Cost (Wall Mount Screens INR 5-15K) is INR 10,000, Consumable cost of the projector is 20,000 x 3 = INR 60,000, Consumable life of a projector is 2,000hrs and that of an LCD display is 60,000hrs and the Cost of Ownership of a projector is Rs.140, 000/- and Rs.150, 000/- for an LCD display.

Assume: 5years of usage @ 5hrs a day ~ 6600hrs of use. This translates to 4 lamps in 5 years requiring the customer to buy 3 lamps in addition to 1 supplied with machine.

What is clear from the above figure is that a Full High Definition 46” LCD Display is, at best, only marginally costlier than a XGA Projector of ~2500AL. Additional costs of low screen installation costs and lower device loss costs are purely additional.

Picture Quality: Projectors such as a DLP or LCD projector use glass panels to combine red, green and blue colours to create the image. When sitting close to screen, the viewer can see the different colours at the borders of an image, aptly described as the rainbow effect. The rainbow effect takes away from the image quality and can give headaches. High-end projectors have been able to reduce the rainbow effect, however the problem still remains and these high-end projectors cost more. LCD TV or LCD displays do not have rainbow effect issues and the quality of the picture is good at close range.

Rather, projectors cannot compare with the picture quality for an LCD display. The vividness of the colours, the contrast ratio, the colour saturation and image sharpness are much better for an LCD display than a projector. When viewing a projector image, especially in ambient light, the viewer has to dim the lights or close the curtains unless the business has purchased an even more costly higher lumen projector. Not true with LCD displays, as the brightness and colour quality are much better.

Viewing angles used to be an issue with LCD displays but this issue is no longer true. Most LCD displays can be viewed from up to 176 degrees.

Dead or Stuck Pixels: Projectors can suffer from dead pixels and LCD displays can suffer from stuck pixels. Both dead pixels and stuck pixels result in white spots in the projected image. However, the manufacturers of both technologies have worked hard to minimize such issues and in most cases they provide warranty against such issues.

Screen Size: A common thought is that screen size is not an issue for most projectors as the thinking is that the projector image can be made larger by moving the projector away from the screen. This is not true as the image quality deteriorates as the image becomes larger. With projectors, most buyers opt for maximum optimized projector image sizes from 76-inches to 120-inches and the actual working normal projection image used is much smaller. Today, if businesses need a large LCD display in the maximum projector image size, a wide variety of competitive LCD displays can be found in this range.

Portability: Projectors are easy to carry and move around. For a business this could be a value-add or a drawback. LCD displays are durable and can be moved however they are not as light as projectors.

Power Consumption: Projector power consumption varies more from unit to unit, with brighter conference projectors requiring more power than smaller portable projectors. It is hard to compare the two technologies on this performance parameter.

Connectivity: Most LCD displays have more number and different types of ports than projectors. As a result more types of devices can be connected to an LCD display than a projector.

Other Value-Add Features: New features are appearing in LCD displays that could be quite valuable for businesses. For example, touch screen features on LCD displays allow for LCD displays to be used as digital whiteboards where the data written on the display can easily get captured electronically in a text document.

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Here we go, I am going to try and simply explain all you need to know about Plasma Televisions. This guide will hopefully arm you with enough information about Plasma TVs that you can confidently walk into a shop and know what you want…..

The Basics

A plasma television is a flat panel television which displays light (and therefore images) by using phosphors. The phosphors are trapped between two thin panels of glass and are triggered by a gas discharge made up fro non harmful Noble Gases. Plasma Televisions offer a variable sized screen area that provides excellent quality picture, with minimal distortion (An advantage over rear projection!) There are many plasma screen televisions on the market and currently it is vying with LCD to be the market no.1

Pro Points

Most Plasma screen televisions start at 42” (107cm) in diagonal size and go upwards to around 65” (Biggest I have seen!). This size makes them perfect for any home use or even that garage theatre you have dreamt about

Colour reproduction is excellent, and the “darkroom” contrast can ensure your display shows the “perfect” black

Plasma televisions can perform well under any lighting, whether it be electrical light or natural light. Any external brightness will not distort the display. (So you don’t have to turn the lights off for that scary movie!!)

Every pixel displayed on the Plasma screen is individually lit, this means the display is always full of colour and can be viewed at any angle

The Plasma television units are never more than 10cm thick, meaning you can position them just about anywhere in your house

Nearly all available plasma television units are HD ready and also digital TV ready

Con Points

Plasma displays have lower total resolution than LCD displays

These units are not as economical as an LCD one. Plasma televisions use approx same as old CRT units

Plasma units are still quite pricey, although in current economic climate, prices are dropping all the time

Plasma screens have a “shelf life”. This is generally 58,000 hours, by which time the colour begins to fade and does not appear as “brilliant” as before. In a general household a Plasma Screen Television will last approx 10 years (By which time something better will be around….)

Dead pixels may become an issue with Plasma. If a screen is left on pause for a long time, any logos or prominent images on that show may become “burnt” onto the display. This can cause that logo to appear everytime you watch the TV. So be careful not to leave it on pause for too long!!

Plasma displays are much more fragile than a normal television; handle with care

When mounting your plasma television on the wall, please take care to get reinforced supports as the weight is more than that of an LCD unit

Beginners Tips

When hanging a TV above fireplace, ensure the ambient temperature is not more than 80 degrees as you may damage the display

Don’t leave tv shows on pause for too long, we don’t want the “burning” effect explained above

With early plasma displays, it is advised, for best picture, to view the image from approx 10 foot away. With newer models it is less as resolution has improved

Glossary

Pixel resolution - The higher the number of pixels displayed on the screen, the higher the picture resolution will be. Currently the most common pixel resolution displayed by most TVs is 1024x768.

Native resolution - Is the standard resolution of the plasma display and not the resolution of the delivery signal.

Contrast ratio - The measurement of light intensity between the brightest white and the darkest black. Therefore you should look for the contrast ratio to be the highest possible, this will mean better picture quality.

Viewing angle - This describes the best viewing angle

HD Ready - Contains the required screen resolution and necessary connections to display high definition content. Programs should be broadcast in this format in the UK in 2006.

NTSC, PAL, and SECAM - standard video formats.

Aspect ratio - this is the ratio TV signals are transmitted in, such as 4:3 or 16:9 widescreen format (HDTV will be).

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As the worlds energy crisis becomes more and more obvious, the importance of reducing society's dependence on non-renewable energy sources like fossil fuels is more and more urgent. Non-renewable energy sources are on the way out. Renewable energy sources, such as a home wind turbine, can put out energy cleanly and without using up rapidly depleting sources. There are three types of renewable sources to look out for: solar, hydro, and the most promising, wind.

The sun is the most abundant energy source on Earth. It's free and unlimited. Solar power solutions are currently being developed to be more cost efficient and widely available. Many predict that this will be one of the biggest energy suppliers in the future. Solar systems are environmentally friendly as well as very low maintenance. The sun has always been the main supply of energy to the earth and hopefully in the future we can harness this great power.

Hydro energy is currently the most popular renewable energy source. In the future however, this is likely to change. Although hydro energy is clean and efficient, it is extremely detrimental to local environment and ecosystems. Although hydro energy is being developed to operate cars and appliances.

By far the best and most promising solution is wind energy. For around $200 dollars, anyone can set up a small home wind turbine and begin harnessing the wind to power their home. wind is completely clean and efficient. Before wind was too expensive to employ at the consumer level but with recent technological advancements, virtually anyone can begin using it. There is a low start up cost and very little maintenance. The future is here when it comes to wind power.

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Computer manufacturers have responded positively to our demands for laptops that are as functional as possible. Too often, however, the results are machines that are space savers on desks but are not as convenient to carry around or prop on your knees as their name suggests. Apple has therefore gone back to the basic purpose of a laptop – portability – and introduced its light and thin MacBook Air.

When describing Mac Computers, there’s always a possibility that words such as "stylish" and "elegant" will appear too frequently; but when you first come across a MacBook Air, no one can blame you if these words spring to mind. "I want people to see me with this," is the sort of comment that may run through your head. The MacBook Air is sleek: it’s just 4mm (1/6 inch) at the front, tapering out to a mere 19mm (3/4 inch) at its deepest point. It’s also robust: the aluminium casing ensures that thinness doesn’t mean fragility.

Pick up the Macbook Air and you further appreciate what Apple has achieved. At 1.36kg (3 pounds), the MacBook Air easily beats Apple’s previous lightweight, the 2.26kg (5 pounds) MacBook.

With such a drop in weight, you cannot help but wonder if you’re going to open up the MacBook Air to find a tiny screen that causes you to squint and a keyboard that bunches up your fingers. The reality is a 13.3 inch widescreen display and a full size keyboard. What’s more, a large trackpad complements these to give an overall impression that this is a laptop that’s both practical and a pleasure to use.

The technology of the MacBook Air

It stands to reason that Apple has had to surrender some technological capability to make a laptop that’s so thin and that has shed so much weight. Or has it? You still get an Intel Core 2 Duo processor of either 1.6GHz or 1.8GHz with 2GB of memory for both. You also have an 80GB 4,200 rpm hard drive for the 1.6GHz model, a 64GB solid-state drive for the 1.8GHz, and built-in 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 + EDR. These specs are easily good enough for most everyday laptop uses.

Hardware

The hardware of the MacBook Air includes

* an iSight camera and microphone
* a mono speaker
* an infrared receiver
* a built-in battery
* an ambient light sensor that adjusts the brightness of the backlit LED screen and brightens the keyboard as necessary

Tucked neatly away in a hatch on the right-hand side of the MacBook Air are also three ports:

* a headphone/speaker jack
* a USB 2.0 port
* a micro DVI port

A possible hardware concern is the one USB port. By itself such a port is rarely enough, so if you plan to connect a series of peripheral devices at the same time, you’ll need a USB hub. As for the micro DVI port, the MacBook Air comes with useful VGA and DVI adaptors to improve your connectivity options.

You may have noticed by now a hardware omission: the MacBook Air doesn’t have an optical drive. Instead, Apple offers an external 8x SuperDrive. Whether you need this depends on your use of CDs and DVDs. Another choice is to employ Apple’s Remote Disc application so that your MacBook Air connects to a network and links with the optical drive of another Mac or PC.

Remote Disc is very handy because it installs software and gives you access to files. Unfortunately, though, it doesn’t allow you to play or burn CDs and DVDs remotely. When you want to listen to music, or watch a film or TV programme, you must turn to iTunes. If you already own an iPod, this isn’t exactly a hardship.

Software

Apple includes Remote Disc with the usual bundle of MacBook Air software. This software comes with the excellent Mac OS X v10.5 Leopard operating system and offers you everything you’d expect from all other Macs. What’s more, you can swiftly navigate and manage the software with the responsive features of the MacBook Air trackpad.

Battery

The MacBook Air’s battery can give you up to five hours continuous service. Once it dies, however, you may have a problem. The MacBook Air has the battery built in, so you can’t replace it with one that’s fully charged. Your only alternative is to find an electric socket for the MagSafe Power Adaptor, an option that’s not always available if you’re on the move.

MacBook Air performance

For standard tasks such as keeping up with your email, writing, and browsing the Internet, you won’t find a significant speed difference between a MacBook Air and the more powerful MacBook. Some people may still worry about the smaller processor sizes and the relatively slower speeds of the hard drives on both MacBook Air models compared to other Apple laptops. What you have to do, however, is ask yourself why you want the MacBook Air. Complex graphics applications, for example, will certainly strain the processor’s capacity, but then again, if you have this sort of use in mind, you probably need a MacBook Pro anyway.

The fact remains that the MacBook Air is a truly portable all-purpose laptop that performs daily computing jobs extremely well. For most of us, this is precisely what we want.

Conclusion Pros

* The MacBook Air is light, thin and unquestionably stylish
* The casing is robust
* The 13.3 inch screen automatically adjusts its brightness, thanks to a light sensor
* The keyboard is full size and lights up in dim conditions
* There are technology compromises, but most users will notice little difference in speed and responsiveness to a MacBook

Cons

* The lower processor and hard drive specs (compared to the MacBook and MacBook Pro) may disappoint some people
* Inability to swap a dead battery for a fresh one may cause difficulties in some circumstances

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DVD, also known as "Digital Versatile Disc" or "Digital Video Disc," is a optical disc storage media format. Its main uses are video and data storage. Most DVDs are of the same dimensions as compact discs (CDs) but store more than six times as much data.

Variations of the term DVD often describe the way data is stored on the discs: DVD-ROM (Read Only Memory), has data that can only be read and not written, DVD-R and DVD+R can record data only once and then function as a DVD-ROM. DVD-RW, DVD+RW and DVD-RAM can both record and erase data multiple times. The wavelength used by standard DVD lasers is 650 nm,[1] and thus the light has a red color.

DVD-Video and DVD-Audio discs respectively refer to properly formatted and structured video and audio content. Other types of DVDs, including those with video content, may be referred to as DVD-Data discs. As next generation high-definition optical formats also use a disc identical in some aspects yet more advanced than a DVD, such as Blu-ray Disc, the original DVD is occasionally given the retronym SD DVD (for standard definition).

DVD uses 650 nm wavelength laser diode light as opposed to 780 nm for CD. This permits a smaller pit to be etched on the media surface (0.74 µm for DVD versus 1.6 µm for CD) compared to CDs, allowing for a DVD's increased storage capacity. In comparison HD DVD and Blu-Ray, the successors to the DVD format, use a wavelength of 405 nm.

Writing speeds for DVD were 1×, that is 1350 kB/s (1318 KiB/s), in the first drives and media models. More recent models at 18× or 20× have 18 or 20 times that speed. Note that for CD drives, 1× means 150 KiB/s (153.6 kB/s), approximately 9 times slower

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What is GPS? The acronym stands for Global Positioning System. It is the new "Polaris" that aids in navigating, positioning and tracking with the use of a satellite-controlled system that broadcasts signals to the equipment on the ground. With receivers hand carried by users, GPS determines the exact location of a vehicle, person or assets and other things useful and valuable to which it is attached and records the position at regular intervals. It is a powerful tracking system that has provided the world with diverse applications for the military and civilian users.

What is GPS? The GPS is a space-based radionavigation system controlled and funded by the U.S. Department of Defense and operated by the U.S. Military. This is the GPS Operational Constellation. The tracking system has space segments consisting of GPS satellites sending signals coming from space. There can be at least 24 operational satellites orbiting in 12 hours that recapitulate the same ground track as the earth turns underneath them. The GPS satellites then transmit the data in a very precise time reference plied by what is called "atomic clocks" onboard the satellite. These atomic clocks then passively transmit the navigation messages in specially coded signals, enabling the equipment on the ground called "receivers" to compute position, time, direction and velocity in three-dimensional locations known as latitude, longitude and altitude.

What is GPS? Your Most Reliable and Most Precise Assistant

The GPS was primarily for the use of the military. However, after the Korean Flight 007 in 1983 tragedy, which would have been prevented had its crew only had access to better navigational tools, President Ronald Reagan issued a directive which would guarantee that GPS signals be made available to the world for free or without restrictions. Though it was intended for civilians as well as military applications at first, from its design, civilian users would not be getting the same accuracy that the military could.

Going public, what is GPS serving the commercial market? GPS became the new powerful tool that improved efficient routing of vessels at sea. It has saved a ship's navigator hours of celestial inference and calculation. GPS enhanced safety at sea made it possible to report precise position to rescuers in case of disasters.

What is GPS navigating the land? GPS also improved efficiency on land: delivery trucks can now receive GPS signals and easily transmit their position back to a central dispatcher; police and fire departments use GPS to efficiently dispatch their vehicles and reduced response time; GPS keeps motorists from getting lost by showing their position and intended route on dashboard displays; railroads now use GPS technology in replacing older maintenance-intensive mechanical signals.

What is GPS navigating the air? Long before the GPS, aircrafts typically fly from one waypoint to another and pilots on long-distance flights relied on navigational beacons situated across the country. The dawning of GPS supplemented existing navigational techniques for aircrafts inexpensively. With GPS navigating the air, airplanes can now fly a direct route to a destination that save significant amount in consumption of fuel and time, the methods of guiding planes to a safe landing in a poor weather or visibility has been improved and simplified and aided pilots with a precise position data to keep the plane on course.

What is GPS surveying, mapping the earth, managing the land and agriculture? GPS is used by surveyors and map makers for precision positioning; map locations of such facilities as telephone poles, sewer lines, and fire hydrants; map construction sites and property lines in minutes. In mapping the earth, GPS points have assigned codes in order to identify roads, streams, or other objects during data collection for analyses and comparison through a computer program called "Geographic Information Systems (GIS)."

GPS can be used in forestry, for mineral exploration, and wildlife habitat management to define positions of important assets precisely and identify their changes. In agriculture, a farm equipment with GPS receivers can provide precise position information and it also gives farmers great accuracy in the application of fertilizers and harvesting crops.

Agricultural GPS systems can be used to create crop yield maps during harvesting, making it easy for farmers to plan exactly how the fields should be used and fertilized for future crops.

So, what is GPS? It is a powerful navigational tool acting as your most reliable and most precise assistant that is transforming the way nations operate in space.

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When television was first created, it was in black and white and nobody believed it would ever enter the home of almost every citizen in the United States. While technology developed over the next many years to add features such as color pictures, stereo sound, and remote controls, the concept of the television remained largely unchanged for many years. The VCR was one of the first revolutionary changes, and satellite television was developed as a means of offering consumers the same channels nationwide. Right from its inception, satellite TV has been a revolutionary concept, and the technology has stayed on the leading edge of television ever since.

From the days of big, UFO shaped dishes to the modern models that attach to the side of a home; satellite has changed not just with the times, but in many cases ahead of them. Satellite has offered television services in areas where no other service was available since the 1980's and continues to do so to this day. Where cable runs via a complex series of underground wires, satellite operates over the airwaves, requiring only a dish, a receiver, a television, and a clear view of the southern sky.

In addition to smaller dishes, satellite has also stayed with the times in being among the first services to offer services such as Pay per View and OnDemand, both of which are now staples for most television viewers. Satellite was one of the first services to offer Digital Video Recorder services, and continues to expand upon this technology all the time. Satellite now offers the service in HD and is the only service provider that currently allows DVR boxes to be scheduled from computers or mobile phones.

Satellite also offers service to planes, boats, and recreational vehicles, a revolutionary achievement offered by no other television provider. The most recent portable television innovation is a small screen and receiver called the Sat-Go, which is roughly the size of a laptop computer and is capable of receiving all subscribed satellite channels. The technology has received much praise and is quickly becoming a favorite among travelers, campers, and sports fans alike.

In short, satellite television is truly a revolution and has been since the beginning. The pioneer in bringing multiple channels to customers across the country, satellite has always had the most to offer. These days, satellite companies are still hard at work developing new technologies. Satellite currently offers the most exclusive and high definition programming of any television service provider as well as the world's most popular paid sports packages, such as the perennial favorite NFL Sunday Ticket. DVR and HD-DVR services couple with the clearest signal and the most interactive features to create a truly superior viewing experience while extensive Pay per View and OnDemand libraries offer more choices than the competition. It is uncertain what technologies lie ahead in the future of television, but if the past is any indicator whatsoever, there is little doubt that satellite will be the first to perfect it and bring it to the masses.

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'Voice Over Internet Protocol' or VOIP routes voice conversations over the internet or any other IP-based network. VOIP's greatest contribution is the greatly reduced costs, especially for those companies which are call based. This technology provides opportunities to streamline the office communication, with efficient voicemail, call routing, voicemail to email, and auto-answering systems. Most offices switching over to VOIP, site reasons such as cost effectiveness in comparison to PBX systems as one of the major reasons for the change. There are three types of VoIP these being, pc-to-pc VoIP, a soft phone and a monthly VoIP service

This latest technology has several interesting advantages that make it a novelty. ‘Virtual numbers' are those numbers that you can access on your phone but have a different area code. VOIP also facilitates ‘Call filtering', by which you may decline calls that are unidentified or unknown. ‘Call hunting' is a facility, which makes it possible for incoming calls to dial different numbers if you are not available at home.

An ‘upgraded voice mail', you can use through the internet, or even get forwarded to your cell. Another VOIP facility would be ‘Conference calling' to about ten other lines. A ‘Do Not Disturb' facility is also available which allows one from barring incoming calls when you don't want to.

Like any new technology that needs the passage of time to prove itself, the VOIP is surrounded by a shroud of questions that often arise in the mindset of the average new user, so used to his regular PBX system. Industry experts believe that there are plenty of reasons to be wary of this new technology. According to them it eats up bandwidth at a dangerous pace. It can also make the systems susceptible to e-mail or a virus attack leading to complications for Oracle users too. There is another industry opinion that argues that VoIP phone sets have far fewer desired options and features than PBX phones. Apart from this slowing down the entire net work is an associated concern for all industrial concerns

Surveys have shown that 36% of 106 respondents want to use VoIP only in some parts of their organizations. Again another 27% said that they will eventually move entirely to VoIP. Another 22% said that they would deploy VoIP only in remote or field offices in the outskirts. Some others are of the belief that VoIP systems can make enterprises more vulnerable, experts warn that it is necessary to have very good messaging security to prevent exploits that could occur as a result of VoIP. At times vendors promise big cost savings but one should be wary of the actual results.

VOIP, as an industry trend is stable and here to stay. Some of the VoIP service providers might not be very stable since the industry is still in its nascent stages, yet there are plenty of companies which have entered the market in the last two or three years. In the ensuing completion there would probably just some of the bigger companies, in a case of the ‘survival of the fittest' which will actually absorb the smaller companies and help in making the market a more competitive one.

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The Nokia N96 on Three uses Dual ARM 9 264 MHZ CPU. The attractive design of this phone has been inherited from the Nokia N81. The phone comes with a dual slide open and you can move the top slider either way up and down. Pushing the panel upwards will reveal the numeric keypad and pushing it down will reveal the 4 dedicated keys used for music and games.

The Nokia N96 comes with excellent memory space. It comes with an internal memory of 16GB and provides room for further expansion using a micro SD memory card. You can extend the memory up to 32GB. The screen of the phone measures 2.8 inches and has brilliant display even under direct sunlight.

The inbuilt 5 megapixel Carl Zeiss lens camera of the Nokia N96 is further accompanied with a powerful dual LED flash that captures superb pictures. The pictures are excellent in all lighting conditions. You can even capture video footage with great clarity with the same camera. The entertainment functions of the Nokia N96 include a good DVB – H tuner, mp3 player and video playback functions. Further, the Nokia N96 has a great software package that comes in an utterly user-unfriendly shell. By opting for the Three deals you can get this highly expensive mobile phone without burning a hole in your pocket.

So, compare the deals of Nokia N96 on Three available through various online retailers to get the most competitive one that best suits you budget.

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The iphone 3G is a revolutionary multimedia smart phone. The mobile phone was developed and is marketed by Apple inc. This phone combines 3 products in one which are a phone, a wide screen ipod and a breakthrough internet device with a desktop class web browser.

1. With the phone, you can send and receive calls or send and receive text messages.
2. With the ipod, you can enjoy music, music videos and also shop for music.
3. With the internet, you can browse the web, read emails, down load files, find and locate direction with GPS maps.


Advantages of 3G technology

With the 3G, the iphone has advantage over other mobile phone around the world. Advantages include

1. The fastest email and internet access over other cellular networks around the world. With 3G, you get the best speeds possibles. Email attachments and web pages load twice as fast.
2. 3G creates the advantage of multi tasking where by you can use your phone to perform different applications such as browse the web, read emails, down load online files, use maps to locate directions, watch videos, listen to music, receive and make phone calls, send and receive text messages.
3. With 3G technology, the iphone has attained international standards of cellular networks and you can use your iphone 3G any where in the world. If you are in an area without 3G, the iphone connects through GSM for calls and EDGE for data.


Other applications include

1.With the iphone's App store, you can browse games and applications then download and install them directly int your iphone 3G

2. You can conduct arithmetic calculations with a state of the art scientific calculator.

3.Watch videos on you tube.

4.You can take videos and pictures with high tech camera.

5.Get all the information in your local area on the stock market exchange, weather, traffic, news.

6.Organise your work schedule using the iphones note book, calender, diary, watch.

7.Get push email and contacts with Microsoft exchange active sync.

8.The iphone 3G has more languauge support systems.

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Have you ever thought of a day when only a CPU or GPU controlled the whole system, and the other option was not there anymore? Recently, I have.

This thought came to mind when I was thinking about the recent court case between Intel and NVidia, fighting over licensing rights for developing chipsets that supported the Core i7 Nehalem processors. Intel is the processor powerhouse, and NVidia is a large GPU competitor against ATI.

Now, years and years ago, when computers were still at lower levels, and Intel was competing against stronghold AMD with its new Pentium processors, not much was integrated; memory controllers were in a separate location on the motherboard, memory was still controlled via the memory controller, there was only DDR memory, and the GPU was at its separate location, receiving commands from the CPU. Initially, a computer could not work without a CPU or a GPU; the computer had to have both. You'd definitely need a CPU to send commands to other components through the motherboard for the computer to even function, and you'd need a GPU to have a display to look at.

As developers and manufacturers created new and better computer hardware at an alarming rate, things started to become integrated; AMD went on to be the first to include the on-die memory controller in its CPU's, NVidia was established and began to create its own GPU's, Intel began the development of the Core2 series, and motherboard chipsets became more and more advanced for CPUs to be able to process and send commands and data to components of the computers more quickly. CPU's and GPU's developed at a neck-to-neck rate, and both were progressively becoming much more powerful and efficient.

And now, here we are today, with the Core i7 Nehalmen processors, ATI's popular 4870 X2 and NVidia's GTX 295 GPU's, one with 2 GPU's on one graphics card and the latter with one powerful GPU. Intel now includes its on-die memory controller in the CPU itself, and now there're motherboards with integrated GPU's powerful enough to produce a good display on monitors. Everything is becoming INTEGRATED.

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First of all I should tell you, what is a registry? Registry is a complex ball of string which is used by Windows operating system for keeping the tracks of windows settings, user preferences, hardware configuration, file associations, installed software and system policies. You can also say that registry is just a database used by Windows OS to keep track of relationship between software, hardware and operating system. There are many registries which becomes unusable or unwanted after some time.

Now, what is a registry cleaner? Registry cleaner is just a software utility which is used for removing the unwanted registry items from the windows operating system. In simple terms a registry cleaner removes those windows registry which is never used and which have no work at all. It just take the unwanted and garbage materials from you. But it is not giving you anything like that unwanted material and garbage.

You may be thinking that why I am telling all these things? I am telling all these things because I want to make you aware about the fact of registry cleaner and how it helped me? I've been using a computer system for the last 6 years. I update my system's hardware on a regular basis. After doing all these things, still my system was very slow and sluggish, it took entirely too long to startup. This left me wondering what the reason behind this is and then one day I got the answer to my question. All these things are happening because of unwanted and unused registries. The registries that don't serve any purposes start delaying the startup. In a short span of time, these registries just grew and decreased the computer's performance and also produced some errors. All these things were happening with me. I got frustrated because this caused more problems such as, while working on software, programs or surfing the internet my computer kept restarting, which caused me to lose data.

So, I decided to solve these problems before starting any other work. One day a computer buddy of mine told me that this happens because of unwanted registries. I asked him how can I remove them and then his advice to me was to download a registry cleaner. I did as he suggested and my problems got solved. Now, I regularly run the registry cleaner at least once a week.

There are many rumors in the market that registry cleaner are of no use and they can create problems. I don't believe all these rumors because I actually used one and my problem got solved. My problem was not solved by any rumors that I heard or read on the internet. It was a registry cleaner that solved my problem.

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Computer skills are very essential these days, because computers are widely used in almost all the business fields. Improving your computer skills can mean improving your career prospects for the future. For this reason, irrespectively of your field you have to learn computers.

Learning to use a personal computer is not that difficult. If you have never used a computer before, you may find it intimidating. However, with a little practice, it is very easy to use the computer. The best way to learn to use a computer is by fiddling with it and learning by doing. You may also consider joining a computer training course to accelerate your learning.

Computer software are usually developed with the common user in mind. Operating systems like the popular Windows have a graphical user interface. This makes the operation of the computer very intuitive. All that you have to do is point and click on the icons using the mouse to navigate around the files and folders and to open programs. There is no need to remember any commands.

Once you master to use the basics of the computer, it is time to learn more advanced programs like word-processors, accounting software, etc. You may also consider investing your time in learning programming languages. Programming languages are a little difficult to learn. However, with practice and lessons, it is possible to master these within a short time.

There are many introductory books on computers. Buying and going through some of these books may be very beneficial. There are also many websites on the Internet that provide information on various computer topics. Search for such sites and practice the information provided there to improve your computer skills. You may also consider joining a computer user group for mutually learning from others.

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Human beings are endowed with the most developed brain of all the species to ever inhabit this planet called the earth. This unique feature makes the humans to continually seek change and development. The ever lasting thirst of knowledge and to improve efficiency has led them to the discovery of artificial intelligence; the computer technology.

The computer or information technology has had a profound impact on almost all the aspects of the human life since its inception. Not only the social aspects are affected but also the financial ones too are profoundly influenced.

The computer technology which can be considered as a recent phenomenon when viewed on the scale of history of the world, has made progress in leaps and bounds in a matter of a mere decade or so. No one could have imagined the true affect of this emerging technology only a short while ago.

Internet is the biggest pawn of the computer technology. With just a click of a button, a vast universe of information is opened in front of the user and that too in the privacy of ones own home or office. There is a wide array of search engines available which have the ability to fetch massive loads of required information within a fraction of a second. The latest web applications which are undergoing rapid changes are targeting more interactive options. Today the focus is to provide safe, convenient and user friendly applications.

Not only the internet acts as a highway for information, it is a magical means of communication between friends and family and can bridge a gap of thousands of kilometers. The distances are shrinking and the whole world has become one big global village.

E-commerce is yet another useful utility which is ever evolving and is making its effect felt in the financial sector. The user has the option and power to transact with the vendors in a secure environment and the deals can be closed within seconds.

The education sector is one big beneficiary of this marvelous technology. Accumulation and sharing of knowledge related to social as well as the technical subjects has transformed the way of imparting education, thanks to the computer related technologies. Not only the stand alone computer tools are a useful accompaniment to the education, but also the networked systems are a convenient and efficient means of knowledge accumulation and sharing.

The industries too are utilizing the information technology not only for maintaining data bases but also in their manufacturing processes. The use of this technology not only makes the management much easier for the stake holders but also translates into much better revenue generation.

The developments in the software and the hard ware both have been phenomenal in the recent years and the trend is expected to continue into the future with more momentum and to have profound effects on the human social as well as financial aspects.

Thus one can safely vouch that the future of the information technology is by all means very promising which will have even more enhanced positive effects on the lives of the modern day human beings.

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To see your computer working uninterruptedly, its cleaning at regular intervals is extremely necessary. However, the cleaning of your computer should not be for the sake of cleaning only, rather it has to be done in such a way which doesn't prove detrimental to your computer.

It has always been found that while cleaning our computers, computer parts and laptops accessories, we messing up the things a lot and damage them. These damages, most of the times, are not visible to our naked eyes. Thus we force our personal computer systems to go nastier rather than helping them to come out clean.

Here is a series of tips and tricks which will help you to clean your computers in the 'cleanest' way ever possible.

Adult Job : Cleaning computers is not a child's play. Their enthusiasm brings many irreparable damages to your computers. However, do it by yourself in front of him/her. That could be a computer cleaning training session for your kid.

Hit The Hidden : Many people tend to clean the external or visible dirt first. Instead, they should try to clean the hidden dirt, below the keys or inside the CPU, before doing so. This can be easily done using vacuum cleaners made specifically to suck up stubborn dirt, strands of hair etc. Such vacuum cleaners have special nozzles, meant for computer cleaning only, to do the same.

No Direct Spray : While cleaning your keyboard, mouse or other computer parts, always refrain from spraying the liquid computer cleaning products directly onto them. It may creep to dirty corners and make them greasy. To avoid such situations, spray the formula onto a small piece of cotton fabric and wipe away all the dirt using it. However, before you use the cloth, you can use a brush too to have an effective cleaning.

No Clothes for Inner Parts : The cleaning of the outer portion of a keyboard or a mouse or a drive can be safely and easily done by a wet piece of cloth. But the cleaning of delicate parts such a motherboard etc. should not be done with a piece of cloth at all, even if it is a dry one. Rather, use specific computer cleaning products such as vacuum nozzles.

Improve Your Habits : Like a human being , even your computer can be sensitive and allergic to many things. For example, don't force your computer to go for passive smoking. Also, beware from giving it something to drink and eat. Definitely, it eats up some amount of power only. Thus while smoking and eating/drinking something always maintain a safe distance. Also, buy only qualitative computer cleaning products to clean your computer.

Cleaning Pattern Differs : Not all the desktops are same, so are the laptops. Thus there is a variation in the way we clean them up. So if you are cleaning your computer for the first time, it would be better if you throw a look into the user's manual. They always carry some specially relevant tips and tricks telling you how to use computer cleaning products judiciously.

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