Dedicated PhysX Acceleration with AMD Radeon

PhysX is a name often thrown about when comparing AMD to Nvidia GPUs. It is a proprietary feature that Nvidia bought many years ago, and they only allow it to be run on their own GPUs. Moreover, they have got into the habit of disabling the possibility of using PhysX when a non Nvidia GPU is detected.

What is PhysX? Well, simply put, it is an advanced physics engine. While Im sure there is a licensing fee, pretty much any developer can get ahold of the SDK and use the advanced physics that PhysX provides. This includes extremely realistic cloth and water effects, among other things. Unfortunately, the list of games that run accelerated PhysX is fairly small. Note that there are games which use PhysX as a generic physics engine, like Bullet or Havok, and do not use the accelerated portion.

Nvidias PhysX has the ability to be run off a dedicated card. This means you might have a GTX 560 Ti as your graphics card, and perhaps an older 8800GT or a GTS 250 that you can put into your motherboard, which will only be used to do PhysX. In theory this should work just as well if you run an AMD Radeon as your primary card, as long as you have a capable Nvidia card for the dedicated PhysX card.

And thanks to a wonderful person who goes by the name GenL, you can!

The GenL patch V1.05ff supports the latest PhysX software (version 9.11.1107) and usually the most recent WQHL Nvidia drivers as well (for sure up to 285.62).

First of all, your AntiVirus will probably give a false positive about it being a virus. This is because it changes registry values, but I assure you that in all the time Ive used it, there have been no problems. You will therefore need to disable your antivirus for the installation.

Simply install your dedicated Nvidia card, install the Nvidia drivers, and install the latest PhysX software. Then, run the GenL patch and reboot your PC. After that you can check using FluidMark to see if you are getting GPU acceleration.

There is a couple more things to note. Any program that runs PhysX hardware acceleration will have certain files in it pertaining to PhysX. Things like "PhysXCore.dll" and "PhysXLoader.dll". Occasionally you will need to over write these with the same files out of your "Program Files (x86)NVIDIA CorporationPhysX(newest)" folder - but be sure to back them up first! Some games work without doing this, and some like Batman Arkham City you actually only need to remove the "PhysXDevice.dll" file and it works great. So check it out and google what to do if you are having issues. The former link is a great resource.

FYI: I use a GT 240 in a PCIe 1.0 4x lane on my Asus P7P55D Pro motherboard, and it works great! It cant quite max itself out (~82% max usage) due to a bandwidth issue, but it does the job! You dont need a powerful GPU for this.

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Almost in AJAX

After few months away from web application developing, i want to experience new technologies. I hope AJAX is well known to all programmers. I guess AJAX is old, because normally we combine PHP, XML etc.. with JavaScript for ages. I have experienced it few times and its really kool using AJAX.
These days i am developing an Internal Web based Reservation systems with AJAX included. I think its better to try it and experience the new breeds. There are some frameworks like Prototype which will make easy to use AJAX. Lets rock the multimedia world..yeah...

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CUSTOM BOOT LOGO FOR VISTA

How To Create a Custom Boot Logo for Vista
First, download and install the freeware Vista Boot Logo Generator. This helps creating the correct logo image type. Then select a bitmap image, and then save it on your desktop. Choose two 24 bit .bmp versions of this image. One needs to be 800×600, and the other has to be 1024×768.Now take ownership of the file as follows. You should open an administrator command prompt. To do this, type cmd in the start menu search box, AND HIT Ctrl+Shift+Enter. Now Run this command: takeown /f C:WindowsSystem32en-USwinload.exe.muiThen Run the following command: cacls C:WindowsSystem32en-USwinload.exe.mui /G username:FAfter doing this, copy (overwrite) the created file, in your C:WindowsSystem32en-US.Lastly, type msconfig in the start search bar and hit enter.Under the Boot Tab, check the “No GUI boot” option and click Apply/OK. Reboot. It is advisable to always create a System Restore point, first!

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Review The Immigrants

The Immigrants is a novel set in the Greater San Francisco Bay Area. For some reason, San Francisco has yet to have its Raymond Chandler, (Wallace Stegners amazing Angle of Repose notwithstanding) and unfortunately, Howard Fast isnt all that great a writer.

However, I found the book itself compelling reading. It follows the story of Dan Lavette, who as a young man was orphaned by the great San Francisco earthquake of 1906. While he lots his parents, he made a ton of money with the boat his father left him, ferrying people to and from Oakland during and after the days of the disaster. With this, he expanded his fishing fleet, and eventually became a transportation tycoon, along the way picking up a beautiful wife, a mistress, business partners, friends, and enemies. The book ends right after the 1929 Great Depression started, granting a view through the broad sweep of history that the book encompasses. This was a time of history when cutters gave way to powerboats, when railroads were the principal mode of transportation. World War I and its after-effects were widely felt, and inflation became widespread.

What kept me reading was that the author clearly knew the San Francisco Bay Area really well. We get exposed to San Mateo, Menlo Park, Sonoma County, and the environment all during a period of time when $12/day was a princely sum. We get a good view of how hard it was to be a Chinese immigrant during that era. We get to see the prohibition and some of its effects. The weakest part of the novel are the characters. The protagonist, Dan Lavette, is barely fleshed out. His relationship with his estranged wife is described in a few bare sentences, so one is left having to make the leap from the passionate courtship to the estranged marriage with no way to connect the dots. Even the authors attempt to create a non-stereotyped Chinese woman is still weakened by his need to bend everything to his plot, resulting in a barely believable thing for an otherwise strong willed character to do. Ultimately, one sees Lavette as a "Mary Sue" character, one who right until the edge of the Depression, makes all the right decisions with the benefit of hindsight.

If you want literature, read Wallace Stegners Angle of Repose. Even for an airplane novel, The Immigrants is fun enough, but leaves one feeling empty. Im unlikely to bother looking at the rest of the 6 book series.

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Asus RT N56U Router Review

In recent years, Asus has slowly but surely become one of the computing industrys best brands, offering a wide range of products with market-topping performance at reasonable prices. Can it bring that ethos to the world of routers too?

Well, you only have to look at the Asus RT-N56U to get an idea of whether or not its possible. This is a router that has been redesigned from the ground up to throw off the shackles of the traditional, box-and-aerial form factor and come up with something that looks stylish, maybe even artistic. The wireless is multi-channel, but theres no way to tell by looking, because the antennas are discreetly embedded in the devices fascia: two for 2.4GHz and three for 5GHz.

Its no slouch technologically speaking either, with wireless N capabilities spanning both the 2.4GHz and 5GHz range (the latter is absent from cheaper routers), four gigabit LAN ports, a cable-ready WAN port and the usual selection of security features and configuration options available through an easy-to-use web interface. The WPS fast-setup button means you can create a secure connection to a compatible OS (Windows 7, for example) without the need to type m tedious WPA keys.

The best feature, however, is the USB compatibility, which allows you to attach storage (so that the router can double as a media streaming centre), 3G dongles (to share mobile internet connections), printers, and many other devices. Theres even a BitTorrent client!

If theres a problem, its only the price. If you dont expect to use the extra features, its no better at actually handling traffic than any other router, especially once you factor in the likelihood that wireless N speeds will be lower than quoted if you go with the more easily absorbed 5GHz frequency range.

Still, we were impressed. If you want something a bit more capable than entry level, with solid network performance, fantastic design and impressive additional features, its perfect. Asus has done it again.

Expensive as a router, but it looks great and you cant argue with the extra features

Specifications

• Network Standard
  IEEE 802.11a, IEEE 802.11b, IEEE 802.11g, IEEE 802.11n
• Product Segment
  N600 advanced performance; 300+300Mbps
• Data Rate
  802.11a : 6,9,12,18,24,36,48,54Mbps
  802.11b : 1, 2, 5.5, 11Mbps
  802.11g : 6,9,12,18,24,36,48,54Mbps
  802.11n : up to 300Mbps
• Antenna
  Internal dBi antenna x 5
• Operating Frequency
  2.4GHz/5GHz
• Encryption
  64-bit WEP, 128-bit WEP, WPA2-PSK, WPA-PSK, WPA-Enterprise, WPA2-Enterprise, WPS support
• WAN Connection Type
  Internet connection type : Automatic IP, Static IP, PPPoE(MPPE supported), PPTP, L2TP
• Ports
  4 x RJ45 for 10/100/1000/Gigabits BaseT for WAN
  USB 2.0 x 2
• Button
  WPS Button, Reset Button
• LED Indicator
  PWR x 1
  LAN x 1
  WAN x 1
  USB x 1
  AIR x 2
• Power Supply
  AC Input : 110V~240V(50~60Hz)
  DC Output : 19 V with max. 1.58 A current
• OS Support
  Windows® 8 , 32bit/64bit
  Windows® 7 , 32bit/64bit
  Windows® Vista , 32bit/64bit
  Windows® XP , 32bit/64bit
  Mac OS X
  Linux
• Dimensions
  172 x 145 x 60 mm (WxDxH)
• Weight
  330 g
• Router Special Features
  3G/4G data sharing Printer server Download Master AiDisK

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Eye Popping Smartphone Screens of the Future

Retina displays are so yesterday. Heres some smartphone display tech that will knock your socks off.

Sharps Display in the HTC One

Remember when Apples Retina displays were the next big thing? Now it seems everyone has them - or something better. Whether it be a text message from a friend or just a version of Draw Something, the customers eye is always attracted to the bright and beautiful - and smartphone makers have quickly learned that a sharp, vibrant display can sell millions of smartphones.

Unfortunately, the smartphone market is a cutthroat, Darwinian environment where whats hot today can quickly seem like an anachronism from yesterday. (See Razr, Motorola). While phone manufacturers can align their entire brand around their displays, a strategy successfully employed by Samsung and Apple, lower-tier vendors have to pick and choose how they source their displays, leaving a few flagship "hero" phones with eye-popping screens, but with others feeling decidedly average.

When smartphone designers try to nail down the features of a next-generation phone, the most obvious axis of improvement is the display resolution, in a bid to simply "out-pop" the competition. But smartphone makers are also exploring flexible displays and trying to minimize power in a bid to conserve battery drain and maximize talk time and Web surfing.

The battery life of phones can be one of the hidden costs of owning a phones with a bright, beautiful display - all those pixels, especially using a traditional LCD, will require more power than a conventional, lower-resolution screen. Organic LEDs, which can actually turn off to conserve power, seem to be the way forward, replacing the traditional LCD backlight. However, theyre also expensive to manufacture, and for now, there are concerns with the longevity of the material itself.

For now, 3D mobile displays seem to be a gimmick that never quite took off; ditto for phone-mounted pico projectors, which can project an image upon the screen. The next trend of dubious value may end up being flexibility, for screens that can bend around your wrist or to enable new form factors. And you know, you may even get both.

One thing is for sure: each new display innovation will be substantially marketed, hyped, and dissected by the analyst and media community. And any success will be immediately copied by competitors.

Samsung Youm

At the Consumer Electronics Show this year, Samsung showed off its Youm flexible display. Based on OLED technology, Youm is just a prototype at the moment. Samsung also showed off a fixed, but curved HDTV display.

Plastic Logic

Plastic Logic teamed up with Intel and the Human Media Lab at Queens University in Canada to develop several flexible concept designs, like a real-time wristwatch, a companion e-paper accessory for smartphones, and the PaperTab, a flexible tablet. "Plastic Logics revolutionary flexible plastic displays enable innovative design approaches, which were previously impossible when using standard glass-based display technology," Steve Marsh, vice president of sales for Plastic Logic, said in a statement.

Sharps Display in the HTC One

The Sharp display used by the HTC One takes the resolution of the Surface Pro, or 1,920-by-1,080 pixels in a 10.6-inch panel, and packs the same resolution into a 4.7-inch display. Forget about Apples Retina display - what the One does is simply amazing. Thats 468 pixels per inch, blowing away the 326 ppi used by the Apple iPhone 5.

Samsung Galaxy S 4

The new Galaxy S 4 smartphone from Samsung includes "Air Gestures," allowing the user to "swipe" the screen without actually touching it.

LGs Flexible OLED

LG said recently that it will introduce a smartphone with a flexible OLED screen in the fourth quarter of this year, according to the Wall Street

Kyocera Organic

Kyoceras Organic design is basically a curved glass screen. And not just a little curvy, like the Nexus S. Were talking full-on, angled to the contours of your hands and face curves.

Kyocera Infinito

Kyoceras Infinito design is a display that wraps longitudinally around the front and back of the handset, creating a frameless display.

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Samsung Galaxy Mini review

We review the Samsung Galaxy Mini, a tiny smartphone joining the Android-based Samsung fleet

Samsung Galaxy Mini

Samsung is not backwards about coming forwards with multiple smartphones. While we’ve recently been stunned by the superb quality of the high end Samsung Galaxy S2, we know Samsung has its feet firmly on the ground, and realises there is hay to be made at every section of the Android smartphone market. But we wonder if the Samsung Galaxy Mini is just too hampered by its screen to be a real success.

You see, when you are paying £150 for a smartphone SIM free you can’t expect the earth. But you do have a right to expect a good mix of features. With that in mind, we can live with the fact that the screen measures 3.1 inches. It’s small, sure, and the size makes tapping at the on-screen keyboard tricky if you have lager hands.



But what really lets things down is the resolution. We aren’t convinced that a 320x240 pixel screen really has a place in the mix. An Android smartphone, after all, has multimedia at its core. And this screen resolution makes viewing web pages tricky. Even the text of SMS messages, writ quite large on screen, looks fuzzy thanks to the low resolution.

There’s another thing about the screen too. It is relatively wide, so that flicking into wide format for video viewing or web browsing doesn’t reveal quite as much additional width as we are used to.

And while we are on the negative aspects of the Samsung Galaxy Mini, the other major one is the absence of Flash. The handset runs Android 2.2, so on paper it can cope with Flash. But the processor, at 600MHz, lacks the oomph. So, there’s no streaming video from within web sites, which these days is rather poor form.

The slowish processor also contributed to a somewhat sluggish response to screen presses. This in itself isn’t a deal breaker, but if you’ve used a high end smartphone recently you will notice the difference.

These things, really, are the Samsung Galaxy Mini’s main stumbling blocks and the other compromises are more acceptable. We can live with the 3 megapixel camera, for example.

It lacks a flash and autofocus, and only shoots average quality snaps. But it has a panorama mode, smile shot and a feature called ‘Add me’ which lets you shoot a photo in two separate halves, automatically stitching them together. It can make for some entertaining photos.

We rather like that you start out with three home screens. This is a manageable number suited to a newcomer to smartphones. If you want more, you just pinch inwards on any home screen and you can add them - up to a total of seven.

We also like that Samsung has lightly skinned Android so that four shortcuts remain in a bar along the bottom of every home screen. These give you access to the dialler, contacts, messaging and the main apps menu.

We’re fans of the chassis and build, too. Our review sample was all white with silver edging and a stippled patterning on the backplate. It looks quite attractive, feels robust, and contributes to a mere 106.6g of weight.

Under the screen Samsung has opted for physical rather than touch sensitive buttons for Menu and Back functions, and the Home button is a large central lozenge. This does look as though it ought to be a select button or incorporate a touchpad, but no, it just takes you to the main home screen. And we can live with that.

Memory is a bit short with just 164MB on board. But Samsung gives you a 2GB microSD card on which you can install apps you download from the Market.

This slot is on the right side of the chassis so you can sideload any tunes you want the music player to pick up, or get other data on and off the device without bothering to make a wired connection to your computer. And the slot, like the microUSB slot on the top of the chassis, is protected by a hinged cover.

Of course Wi-Fi and GPS are present, and the HSDPA supports downloads to 7.2Mbps. Samsung doesn’t go overboard with applications to augment the Android basics, but it does include an FM radio, memo app, voice recorder, QuickOffice document viewer and its own Social Hub for Facebook, Twitter and MySpace. There is also Samsung’s own app store, if you feel that you want to bolster the offerings of the Android Market.

In the end, the Samsung Galaxy Mini doesn’t do anything to distinguish itself particularly from a fairly crowded section of the market, and that low resolution screen and lack of Flash support are both significant turn-offs. Our best advice would be to shop around and see if there’s a combination of specs that gives you a better screen and Flash for a price you can afford.

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disk defrag work

The word "disk defrag" is typically used to refer to the MS-Windows utility called Disk Defragmenter. It is designed to solve a problem that occurs because of the way hard disks store data.

three key facts about hard disks:

1. Hard disks store data in chunks called sectors. If you imagine the surface of the disk divided into rings (like the rings of a tree), and then imagine dividing each ring into pie-slices, a sector is one pie-slice on one ring. Each sector holds a fixed amount of data, like 512 bytes.
2. The hard disk has a small arm that can move from ring to ring on the surface of the disk. To reach a particular sector, the hard disk moves the arm to the right ring and waits for the sector to spin into position.
3. Hard disks are slow in computer terms. Compared to the speed of the processors and its memory, the time it takes for the arm to move and for a sector to spin into place is an eon.
   
   

Because of fact #3, you want to minimize arm movement as much as possible, and you want data stored in sequential segments on the disk.

So lets imagine that you install a new application onto an empty hard disk. Because the disk is empty, the computer can store the files of the application into sequential sectors on sequential rings. This is an efficient way to place data on a hard disk.

As you use a disk, however, this efficient technique becomes harder for a disk. What happens is that the disk fills up. Then you erase files to reclaim space. These files that you delete are scattered all over the surface of the disk. When you load a new application or a large file onto the disk, it ends up being stored in hundreds or thousands of these scattered pockets of space. Now when the computer tries to load the scattered pieces, the disks arm has to move all over the surface and it takes forever.

The idea behind the disk defragmenter is to move all the files around so that every file is stored on sequential sectors on sequential rings of the disk. In addition, a good defragmenter may also try to optimize things even more, for example by placing all applications "close" to the OS on the disk to minimize movement when an application loads. When done well on older disks, defragmenting can significantly increase the speed of file loading. On a new disk that has never filled up or had any significant number of file deletions, it will have almost no effect because everything is stored sequentially already.

As you might imagine, the process of indivdually picking up and moving thousands of files on a relatively slow hard disk is not a quick process -- it normally takes hours.

Starting with Windows 98, the defragmenter places the data on the hard drive in the same sequence Windows uses it. The Windows 98 defragmenter also knows what programs you run the the most often, and places those on the disk so the computer can access it the fastest possible time.

For the defragmenter to properly run, ensure you have no applications running. Typically, SYSTRAY and EXPLORER are all you need to have running to run this application. You can see the active tasks you have running by doing a "three-finger-salute" (Ctrl+Alt+Del). Disable any Screen saver in use, too. The defragmenter will fail to stay running if your system is constantly accessing some other application like Findfast.exe, a resource user that automatically gets installed with Microsoft office. To prevent Findfast.exe from running at every system boot, simply delete it from your Windows STARTUP folder, or look for the Findfast icon in control panel and change its setting.

The defragmenter can take a considerable time to run, so start the Defragmenter before going out for the evening or at the end of the day, before going to sleep.

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Long Term Review Honda Fit

Its been almost 3 years since I last wrote about my Honda Fit. Recent events have reminded me that I need to come back and write a review of this car, especially since my life has changed quite a bit.

I originally bought the car as a bicycle carrier. It serves that function exceptionally well. Even now, I have not bothered installing a hitch rack on it as Ive always been able to carry all the bike I need inside the car. This is huge, given how small the car is. The cars been exceptionally easy to park --- Ive found parking places for it where a bigger car would not have fit. The true testimonial for how much fun the car is to drive came when I exchanged homes with a French couple during the summer. They had the option of either driving the Honda Fit or my wifes BMW, but they chose to drive the Fit all the time, even for the long drives to Yosemite, when the BMW might have been more comfortable.

The true brilliance of the Honda Fit only became realized after I had a child. The first time I went to install a car seat into the Fit I was amazed. After 2002, LATCH systems were required for all new cars sold in the USA. But the way the LATCH system is implemented varies wildly between car manufacturers. Honda has easily the best LATCH system I have seen yet! Near the bottom of the rear passenger seats are slots that a LATCH-compatible tether can be plugged into and attached. This car seat then plugs in and goes. No fuss, just a strap  is tensioned and the seat is anchord solidly. You would think that this would be the standard for cars, but XiaoQins BMWs LATCH hooks were non-existent or inaccessible, and I had to resort to the seat-belt system instead. The same went for my brothers Mazda 3. Arturo tells me that the Subarus LATCH system is similarly good compared with the Hondas. The general consensus seem to be that the German car manufacturers are horrible offenders, with the American car manufacturers similarly bad (our rented minivan in Hawaii did not have LATCH connectors either).

Bowen is getting close to outgrowing his 22 pound Chicco car-seat, so I went and installed the Evenflo Triumph today. What amazed me was that in forward facing position (which were not going to use yet), the Evenflo has a third tether which would go up to the ceiling of the car for additional stability. Well, I looked for it, and sure enough there it was sitting in the middle of the rear waiting for the day Bowen needs it. Color me impressed.

Now, if youre going to have two kids, chances are, the Fit might not be sufficient (though perhaps a trailer would actually alleviate most of your cargo needs concern, so theres no need to buy a bigger car). But seriously, I didnt consider having kids when I bought the car, and the fact that the car accommodated all these changes in my life with aplomb is impressive. The BMW simply doesnt compare. And as far as price performance is concerned, the Honda just kills nearly everything else.

In any case, Ive been very impressed so far by the economy, the reliability, and the incredibly well designed interior of the Honda Fit. If something happened to my Honda tomorrow Id run out and buy another one. Highly Recommended.

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COMPUTER VIRUS

A computer virus is a computer program that can copy itself and infect a computer. The term "virus" is also commonly but erroneously used to refer to other types of malware, including but not limited to adware and spyware programs that do not have the reproductive ability. A true virus can spread from one computer to another (in some form of executable code) when its host is taken to the target computer; for instance because a user sent it over a network or the Internet, or carried it on a removable medium such as a floppy disk, CD, DVD, or USB drive.

Viruses can increase their chances of spreading to other computers by infecting files on a network file system or a file system that is accessed by another computer.

As stated above, the term "computer virus" is sometimes used as a catch-all phrase to include all types of malware, even those that do not have the reproductive ability. Malware includes computer viruses, computer worms, Trojan horses, most rootkits, spyware, dishonest adware and other malicious and unwanted software, including true viruses. Viruses are sometimes confused with worms and Trojan horses, which are technically different. A worm can exploit security vulnerabilities to spread itself automatically to other computers through networks, while a Trojan horse is a program that appears harmless but hides malicious functions. Worms and Trojan horses, like viruses, may harm a computer systems data or performance. Some viruses and other malware have symptoms noticeable to the computer user, but many are surreptitious or simply do nothing to call attention to themselves. Some viruses do nothing beyond reproducing

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KINGMAX Launches a Tiny Titan of a COB USB3 0 Flash Drive

Continuing its pursuit of data storage innovation, KINGMAX is excited to announce the launch of its remarkably compact, ultra-fast COB USB3.0 Flash drive. The UI-06 features high read and write rates and is built to last thanks to the waterproofing and dustproofing capabilities of PIPTM technology. The hardware is protected by smudge-resistant sandblasted metallic casing and is available in blue or gray.

Market trends and user demands call for portable storage with faster transfer rates, ever more secure data storage, higher capacities and heady design. As a leading manufacturer of COB technology, KINGMAX has combined faster components and dynamic compatibilities to create the powerful, pocket-sized UI-06. Highly efficient COB packaging techniques use only 8.8% of the space of a traditional SMT-type USB while the hardware retains a peak read speed of 85MB/s and a maximum write speed of 22MB/s.

This latest upgrade is backwards compatible with USB2.0, facilitating seamless transfers. Available in a range of capacities - 8/16/32GB - the UI-06 accommodates mobile storage of files of nearly all sizes. Keeping the UI-06 attached to a keyring, work lanyard or laptop case allows users to take their data everywhere. Appreciate the combined aesthetics and utility of the recessed lanyard loop and sandblasted metallic blue or gray finish.

Consumers can rest assured that data is safe from water damage or dust interference thanks to Product in Package (PIP) technology. All KINGMAX products follow strict quality standards and have been 100% tested under strict quality control systems to ensure the durable performance before shipping.

Moreover, the KINGMAX products are backed up warranties and global customer service to guarantee the highest level of customer service satisfaction.

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What is HDMI

HDMI stands for “High Definition Multimedia Interface.” It is an all-digital connector that carries high-definition video data and up to eight digital audio channels all in one cable.

HDMI is the next-generation of digital video interface (DVI) cable, on which HDMI is based. A DVI cable only carries digital video data – as opposed to both the audio and video carried by HDMI.

The main application of this fancy all-in-one HDMI standard is the use of a single audiovisual (AV) hookup instead of two or three cables when connecting an AV source such as a DVD player to an AV receiver and/or flat-panel (digital) television.

Before buying an HDMI cable here are a few good things to know:

• For an emerging and advanced technology these cables are surprisingly accessible – you can get HDMI cables for as low as $7.98. Longer cables are more costly.
• HDMI cables and ports are delicate and easily damaged – so plug with care.
• For your home theater setup, one HDMI cable will replace a lot of pesky cable clutter.
• You can also use one to connect your PC to your digital television for multimedia viewing.
• The data transferred on an HDMI cable is uncompressed resulting in no signal degradation.
• HDMI cables are backwards compatible with their predecessor, DVI cables.
• The latest version 1.4 cables support 3-D, are equipped with an Ethernet channel and increase the supported resolution
• Most cables come with a one-year warranty.

You will find HDMI ports on the following hardware:

• Televisions
• Cable/satellite boxes
• Game consoles
• A/V receivers
• DVD/CD players
• Media PCs
• Projectors
• Displays
• Camcorders

HDMI cables support every video and audio format in the consumer electronics industry:

• Dolby Digital
• DTS, DTS-EX
• DVD Audio
• SACD
• Dolby TrueHD
• DTS-HD Master Audio

When you do a little reading and really find out what these cables can do, you realize the sheer amount of raw data being pushed through this specialized wire. This is not your dad’s coax cable!

One of the nicest benefits to HDMI, besides picture and audio quality, is the simple fact that an HDMI cable can push HD video, full theater audio, data and control information, all at the same time, and at an astonishingly high speed.

If you’re an audiophile, or even a casual movie nut, you should have a blissful smile on your face with the introduction of this cable into your system. Your significant other will be pleased with the noticeable reduction in clutter around your setup, too.

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Review Death Masks

Death Masks is the fifth book in the Dresden files. It continues the series trend away from the private investigator schtick towards the super-powered magical hero set in an urban environment. In this novel, everything thats happened in the previous four come together in a climax thats worthy of Joss Whedons Buffy.

We have the war between the wizards and the vampires, we have his former reporter girlfriend (now a proto-vampire), we have a stolen magical artifact (the Shroud of Turin), and we have the Knights of the Cross, as well as Chicagos crime boss. To me, this is the first novel where Dresden doesnt seem like a barely competent wizard, but actually seems to be effective at doing stuff other than dropping his implements and tools, and is able to achieve effects other than dropping unconscious any time anything contacts his noggin.

The novel seems built for the movies: lots of set-piece action sequences, fancy sword play, demons, and no less than 3 showdowns and a Mexican standoff. While its all a lot of fun, it also feels like Jim Butchers deliberately holding out on us: theres lots of hints about how Dresden is special, and lots of big actors are afraid of him, but no actual exposition on his past or his parents.

A fun summer read. Mildly recommended.

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TP LINK TL MR3020 router GPIO trigger Supporting video for previous post

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2013 Book Reviews

Books of the year have been selected!

Non-Fiction

• No Easy Day
• The Best American Science & Nature Writing 2012
• How Children Succeed
• Teach Your Children Well
• The Signal and The Noise
• Your Childs Growing Mind
• The Fine Print
• The Best American Essays 2011
• Happy Money
• Lance Armstrongs War
• The First 20 Minutes
• Contagious
• Modernist Cuisine at Home
• Naked Statistics
• The Sports Gene
• Deep Risk
• Cure Your Child With Food
• Skating to Where the Puck Was
• The Story of the Human Body
• Wheat Belly
• The Ages of The Investor

Fiction

• The Hydrogen Sonata
• The Perfect Woman
• Odd and the Frost Giants
• Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Mainteneance
• Redshirts
• The Corpse Reader
• Every Day
• Storm Front
• Fool Moon
• Grave Peril
• Dont Turn Around
• Summer Knight
• Death Masks
• Blood Rites
• Ghost Spin
• Nickel Plated
• Dead Beat
• Proven Guilty
• White Night
• Neptunes Brood
• Small Favor
• Turn Coat
• Changes
• Enders Game
• Ghost Story
• Cold Days
• Six Earlier Days
• Invisibility
• The Temple of Gold
• The School For Good And Evil

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Sound Blaster Tactic 3D Rage Wireless

With the Sound Blaster Tactic 3D Rage Wireless, you’ll never feel like you didn’t get your money’s worth—this is the most feature-packed headset at this price point. Most notably, it’s wireless, connecting to your computer with a USB dongle and charging via a removable, braided cable. Wireless headsets have been known to have some problems, like latency or interference, but we never experienced either with the Rage.

The Rage Wireless is a USB headset, and provides its own audio processing, which can be great if you don’t have a discrete sound card. Sound Blaster is a company that obviously knows what it’s doing in this arena, and the downloadable SBX ProStudio software has some nice features, including soundstage-broadening virtual surround and a Crystalizer that enhances and clarifies most compressed audio sources.

Our main gripe with the set is that it’s not terribly comfortable. The leatherette-covered foam on the earcups and headband has a little less give than we like to see, and the whole set is quite heavy. We’re also not crazy about the inclusion of a removable boom mic. It’s flexible, and recording quality is fine, but between the removable mic, the removable foam windscreen, the wireless dongle, and the detachable charging cable, the chances of you keeping track of all the components of your Sound Blaster Tactic 3D Rage Wireless are slim to none.

At $100, this is one of the least-expensive quality wireless headsets on the market. If you’re trying to cut the cord without breaking the bank, the Tactic 3D Rage is a good option.

Sound Blaster Tactic 3D Rage Specifications

Driver Units:	50mm Neodymium magnet
Frequency Response:	20Hz ~ 20kHz
Impedance:	32ohms
Sensitivity:	102dB/mW

Microphone Type:	Noise-cancelling condenser
Frequency Response:	100Hz ~ 6.5kHz
Impedance:	<2.2kohms
Sensitivity:	-40dBV/Pa

USB Transmitter:	USB 1.1 or 2.0 port
Wireless Technology:	Uncompressed 2.4GHz ISM band

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Review The Corpse Reader

The Corpse Reader is a strange novel as far as origin, subject matter, and story is concerned. Originally written in Spanish and translated/distributed/published by Amazon, the story is set in ancient China and his historical fiction about Song Ci, regarded by many as the father of forensic medicine.

In many ways, Song Ci is almost a perfect person for such a treatment. While he has written a massive treatise which serves as much of his legacy, little is actually known about the person. The author, Antonio Garrido, writes an afterwards where he reveals what his own research has said about Song Ci, and the life that he appears to have led does not seem to be particularly drama-filled. Nevertheless, Song Ci appeared to be much more politically inept as a person, in contrast to his pioneering competence in forensic science. In that regards, Garridos portrayal of Song Ci in the novel is fairly accurate.

The story revolves around Song Ci, who like many heroes is deprived of his family early in the story and begins a journey to maturity. He makes many many stupid decisions very early on, but does show some great qualities as well. Some of the stupid decisions are ridiculously stupid (Ci basically gets taken in by every woman hes ever met who wants to fool him), but the rest of the plot isnt terribly bad. Well, the motivation of one of the major villains makes no sense to me, but the plot moves fast enough that even that realization doesnt come until after youve zipped through the book.

Whats the most disappointing to me about the book is that theres no sense of progression for our protagonist. There isnt a series of challenging investigations where Ci is stretched to learn new things about Forensics. In some ways, the book focuses on his journey rather than his investigative challenges, so at the end youre left with very little impression of how he came to understand forensics.

All in all, this is a decent summer read. Very mildly recommended.

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Computer Maintenance Tips and Advice

It seems like just about everyone has a computer, but for the most part, relatively few understand much beyond on/off, open web, facebook, twitter, etc. I was once like that, maybe a little more knowledgeable. I gamed on my PC and could Google (or Yahoo back in the day) most issues I had. It is important to be able to resolve some basic issues on your own, but what Id like to cover here is a few tips on how to avoid having issues from the start.

Protect your Computer

Credit http://news.discovery.com/tech/first-human-infected-with-a-computer-virus.html

Anti virus software is extremely important. You dont need to spend $80 a year on Norton, but you should definitely purchase something. PCs are vulnerable to a multitude of attacks, whether from emails, websites, malicious programs, or direct hacking attempts. Having a good anti virus installed will remove a lot of headaches, and generally dont impact performance much if at all.

Theres some free anti virus programs out there like AVG and Avast! and Windows Security Essentials, theres also ones you pay for like Norton, McAfee, and F-Secure. I use the latter. If you are a student, chances are your school will provide either a free or a discounted anti virus program. If not, perhaps you can get a deal through work. Keep in mind that the free anti virus programs may need to be used together, with programs like Malwarebytes and Spybot.

List of Windows 7/Vista/XP security software

Keep Backups

The risk of losing everything on your computer is not huge. However, what if it were to happen? What if you lost all your home photos and videos? Maybe you have school work, or business work, on your PC. Its probably not worth risking.

One option you have is to use online backups. There are "cloud" services that offer online storage. You can always upload your photos to somewhere like photobucket, but its probably faster and easier to just maintain your own personal backups.

Info for Windows 7 users: Backup and Restore

Another great feature is Restore Points. These are backups of only critical items like your registry, so they arent huge files, and they save every time you install something new. In this way if you find suddenly your PC is acting weird, you can restore it to a point maybe a few days or a couple weeks earlier, when it was still fine.

Hard Drive Maintenance

At least on a monthly basis run a Disk Defrag program. Windows comes with one by default, but according to a fairly thorough benchmarker, MyDefrag appears to be one of the best. After you delete a few items of your computer, it will leave empty spots on your HDD. Eventually youll install something else, and pieces of it will get stored in all these different locations. This means accessing a fragmented file can take a long time, because instead of a fast sequential read, it will be more of a random read as the head needs to constantly move around to read each little piece of the file. Note that HDDs are built to run for millions of hours, a defrag operation isnt any worse than what happens when it is fragmented, and shouldnt impact HDD longevity. There is a sidenote: this is not applicable to Solid State Drives, which should never be defraged.

A great review on the Impact of Disk Fragmentation

Another important thing to do at least every few months is to run a scan disk. Once you set it, you will need to reboot and then it will scan your HDD after the intial boot screens. What scan disk does, is it looks for sector errors on the HDD and either recovers them or essentially "removes" them so that data isnt put into a bad sector. Sometimes a bad sector can cause a lot of stability issues. Scan Disk is found in your System Tools (Start Menu > Programs > Accessories > System Tools. Please be aware, if you start getting bad sectors, the problem usually will get worse and worse until your drive is completely useless. If this is the case, please go get a new HDD.

Clean your System

You should consider deleting and uninstalling anything you dont use regularily. If you have a huge amount of photos and videos, consider burning them to a DVD or external drive and free up HDD room. This can also help improve performance, as HDDs slow down the more full they are.

Windows registry is a vital part to a stable PC. It contains key values for every single thing installed on your PC, and then some. It is in many ways at the very core of your PCs performance and stability. Eventually, a registry will get full of clutter. I use a program called CCleaner to keep my registry free of junk. This program is also good for finding other clutter on the HDD, like temp files. You shouldnt clean your registry all the time, but even every other month is good. Keep in mind that this can cause issues, too, so please at the very least make sure youre backed up and also save the registry before cleaning (via the prompt).

You can also go into your System Tools and run the Disk Cleaner which can find some of the junk left over. For example if you install a Windows Service Pack, you might have a couple hundred megabytes occupied by a "ghost image". Essentially this is a redundant backup - you may wish to keep it for a couple weeks after updating to a service pack, but otherwise its just taking up space.

I would also suggest if you need to reinstall a program, do what you can to uninstall the old one/old version and remove it from your system. Sometimes left over traces of a program can really mess with a new install. With regards to graphics drivers, see yesterdays post.

Some programs, when uninstalled, like to leave traces outside of the registry - traces that use up sometimes precious hard drive space. You can manually hunt these down, typicall within the install location as well as in C:UsersyournameAppData or under C:ProgramData - both of these files are typically hidden. An easy way to find them is to run a search. Alternatively, a program like Revo Uninstaller can be extremely useful.

Clean your PC

Credit: i264.photobucket.com/albums/ii184/3Z3VH

After a few months, a PC will be dusty. There is usually at least 1 fan inside a PC case to move air in and out which means dust is being sucked through the case. Fan filters can help slow this down, but dust gets everywhere. At least every 6-12 months you should open your case and clean it out.

CPU coolers and graphics cards have fans and heat sinks, which are very prone to clogging with dust. If the heat sinks get clogged, the cooling performance is greatly reduced and you end up over heating. Ive personally killed a graphics card this way, and its pretty common for people to neglect this simple thing.

To clean the inside of your PC youll ideally use a compressed air duster. Simply blast away the dust. Youll need to be careful when blasting the CPU and GPU coolers, because you dont want the fans to spin up or they actually create a voltage. If a heat sink is especially clogged, you may want to use an old toothbrush. You should not use a vacuum directly on PC hardware because it can generate a large electro static charge, and if it discharges into your PC it can break hardware. You can keep a vacuum nearby to suck up the dust, just dont let any bare metal touch the PC. If it is very dusty, you might want to just take the PC outside where you wont need to worry about the dust kicking up. Also, if very dirty, you may have to remove parts from the PC, including taking fans off the heat sinks, to really get it clean. To avoid all this hassle, just clean it out more often.

This is just touching the surface, Ill be writing a few more maintenance posts in the future, the next one will have to do with keeping system performance up.

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How To Be An Even Better Manager

This book is for those who want to develop their managerial skills and competences. It covers all the key skills that managers use, and refers to the main aspects of managing people, activities and themselves with which they need to be familiar. You can dip into this book at any point – each chapter is selfcontained. But it would be useful to read Chapter 1 first. This defines the overall concept of management and the areas in which managers need to be competent, thus providing a framework for the succeeding chapters.

Download How To Be An Even Better Manager 

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Dell Laptop

DellTM StudioTM  14 Processor Intel®  CoreTM 2 Duo Processor T6400

Operating System Genuine Windows Vista®  Home Premium

Chipset Intel®  965GM Chipset

Memory 3GB DDR2 SDRAM

Hard Drive 320GB 5400RPM SATA Hard Drive

Display/Monitor 14.1" Widescreen WXGA CCFL (1280x800) TFT Display with True LifeTM

Network Card Internal 10/100/1000 Gigabit Ethernet

Graphic Card Intel®  Integrated Graphics Media Accelerator X3100

Sound Card Intel®  High Definition Audio 2.0

CD-ROM/DVD-ROM/Disk drive Slot Load 8X max DVD+/-RW Drive6 with DVD+R double layer write capability

I/O Ports VGA, RJ11 (via optional USB dongle), RJ45, 3 Audio jacks (1 line-in, 1-line out, 1 Mic-in), 1 Express Card 54mm slot, 2 mini-card slots, 1394a, consumer IR, 3USB 2.0 ports (SR), 1 HDMI, Sim socket

Modem N/A

Battery 6-cell Primary Battery

Carrying Case N/A

Service/Warranty 1 Year Limited Warranty (Next Business Day On-Site Service)

Software Microsoft®  Works 9.0  Dell Recommends Microsoft®  Office 2007 Home & Student Edition - OEM Version

Speakers Integrated speakers

Keyboard DellTM  Keyboard with Touchpad

Anti-virus McAfee®  Security CenterTM  30 days Introductory Offer Dell Recommends McAfee®  Security CenterTM  15-months OEM

Bluetooth DellTM  Wireless 370 Bluetooth Internal (2.0) mini-card

Controller Card DellTM  Wireless 1397 802.11b/g Half Mini Card

Additional Accessories N/A

Media Direct Dell Media DirectTM  featuring Instant Office

Webcam Integrated 2.0 mega pixel web cam

Card reader 8-in-1 Memory card reader

Color Kit All colors available

Remote & Ear Buds DellTM  Travel Remote Control & Noise Isolation Ear Buds

Strike Zone Strike ZoneTM  Shock Absorber

Security Feature Sensible Vision Fas tAccess Facial Recognition Software

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