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Windows

Submission + - Vista SP1 and XP SP3 - Leaked by Microsoft? (neosmart.net)

Submitted by Mariam Hollander
Mariam Hollander writes: Microsoft's two most awaited releases: Windows XP SP3 and Windows Vista SP1. Betas for both leaked just days apart. A big coincidece or a Microsoft master plan?

NeoSmart's analysis of both the XP SP3 and Vista SP1 leaks is quite interesting: were these two builds leaked (unofficially) by Microsoft in an attempt to unofficially guage the response of the online community to these releases, fix some bugs before they officially even exist, and deliver a perfect service pack? Most importantly, is this Microsoft taking advantage of its last chance to save face and fix what has been the most-criticized version of Windows to date, before it gets out of hand?

[J]ust how likely is it that the two most valuable products still in development and without a single official release would leak to the internet just days apart? Especially when the Windows Vista build ships as a time-bombed release, it makes us wonder: Is Microsoft really in the practice of time-bombing internal development releases that only exist in the hands of people who have access to hourly builds?
User Journal

Journal SPAM: Will Bush Cancel The 2008 Election? 10

Journal by Jeremiah Cornelius
Published on Tuesday, July 31, 2007 by CommonDreams.org

Will Bush Cancel The 2008 Election?

by Harvey Wasserman & Bob Fitrakis

It is time to think about the unthinkable.

The Bush Administration has both the inclination and the power to cancel the 2008 election.
Announcements

Submission + - Mobile 'phone use gender affected (smh.com.au)

Submitted by
Petra_von_Kant
Petra_von_Kant writes: "BEWARE the chatty female driver having relationship troubles.

Research has found that while speeding is a weakness for young men, emotional phone conversations behind the wheel make women drive badly.

Macquarie University research found women were more likely to be distracted while talking on a mobile phone in the car, but less likely to be distracted by passengers.

The researchers then looked at how drivers handled different types of conversations. They asked male and female drivers a simple cognitive question — "What did you do last Tuesday?" — and then to discuss a moral dilemma."
Businesses

Submission + - Dell and how it treats its customers

Submitted by
thelordzero
thelordzero writes: "Here's a story of how Dell treats it's customers. Going to the point of accusing them of lying and taking back all concessions that we're promised. Beware of Dell customer service and keep both audio and written logs of all conversations. Hopefully with Michael Dell's return, they can turn around their business practices.

http://digg.com/hardware/Dell_and_how_it_treats_it s_customers"
User Journal

Journal SPAM: The Farm Animal

Journal by melpol
Growing up on a small farm in the mid-west taught me a lot about farm animals, but I never thought that I would grow up to be one. I learned that animals have a two track mind and all they want is food and sex and nothing more. My job as a farm boy was to make sure they got both. My dad always told me that I shouldn't grow up to think like a farm animal. He said that if I did he would lose all respect for me. I loved my dad and promised him I wouldn't disappoint him and that I would grow up into
Microsoft

Submission + - Microsoft working on free city-wide Wi-Fi access

Submitted by thefickler
thefickler writes: Microsoft and JiWire are planning to offer free Wi-Fi access on a city wide scale; the only catch is that you'll need to sit through advertising. The companies are currently testing the service in two cities, Portland, Oregon and Oakland County, Michigan.
Hardware Hacking

Submission + - How to Troubleshoot A Dead PC

Submitted by
Robert Desacada
Robert Desacada writes: "Computer Repair Service Shop are charging so high nowadays. Some are charging 50 to 60 dollars per hour even to the simplest Computer problem. So it's really a must to learn some Basic Computer Troubleshooting Techniques.

So if your Computer is starting to act differently that sometimes it refuses to turn on, Or your Computer looks completely dead. If you are experiencing this kind of Computer problems, all you need is just some troubleshooting techniques to try and free all your worries and headache.

Just follow the steps below to bring your Computer back to life.

The first thing you should do is check the power supply just to be sure that there is power available for your computer. Make sure the power switch is turned on and then try to plug a lamp in the wall socket to see if it works. If it does, you know there is power available. Once you know there is power, check to make sure the power cord is properly connected to the wall outlet and the computer power socket.

Note: Before you continue on to the next step, make sure your computer is completely shut down and be sure to disconnect it from the power cord as well. Also, keep in mind that all of your PC's components are sensitive to static electric charges, so it's important to ground yourself by touching the frame of your computer's case before starting any of the troubleshooting processes. This will get your body used to the computer case and eliminate any chance of static shock.

The next thing you can troubleshoot is if all of the cards within your computer are fully pushed in to their slots. Open your computer's system unit and push down on all the chips, the video card, the sound card, the modem or LAN cards, the memory cards and the CPU units to make sure everything is seated properly.

Now, check your computer again to see if you have been able to fix the problem. If not, keep troubleshooting! Next, check the power between the power supply you use and the motherboard on the back of your computer. If you need to, pull out and reinsert all of the cards. You can also try placing them in different slots until you find a perfect fit for all of them.

If you have not been able to resolve the issue, the next thing you can do is take out all non-essential parts from your computer, leaving only the basic ones in. The basic parts are the motherboard, the power supply, the display card, the controller and the hard drive. You can pull out everything else (mainly the other cards) by removing the screws from your unit, as shown in the screenshot below.

Now, replace each part that you took out one at a time until the problem reoccurs. When you replace a part and the computer stops working, you know that particular part is the reason for your computer problems. If this is the case, that part can just be replaced and your computer should then operate normally.

If you still see some issues, remove all of the remaining cards, including the display card and floppy controller. Then turn on the power just to see if the power supply is still running. If it does run, one of the cards you just removed is faulty. You will then need to get that one replaced.

These are just some simple techniques you can try to get your computer up and running again. Please use extreme caution when removing certain parts of your computer. If you are not completely sure on how to do it, get some help or take your Computer to a trusted Computer Repair shop so a professional can look at it. You don't want to risk creating other problems for your computer by doing an incorrect job.

For a more detailed instructions with screenshot, visit this website, Computer PC Repair.

Robert Desacada is the webmaster of http://www.sacada2.net. It has a lot of free tips about computer pc repair and computer troubleshooting"
PlayStation (Games)

Submission + - Is donated computing power tax deductible?

Submitted by janneH
janneH writes: With the Folding@home now on Playstation 3 and talk about Rosetta@home on Xbox, I was wondering if this donated computing power was tax deductable? I am not a lawyer, but assuming that it is the Universities that house the projects that are the recipients, it would seem that something of value given to them would be tax deductible (cash certainly is). There is a commercial market for network based computing power, and it does not seem it would be too difficult for someone to determine a fair market value. It would seem likely that this value might be enough to pay for the machine before it was too old. For that matter, this would be true for any computing power provided to a non-profit.
Mozilla

Submission + - Student starts firefox campaign

Submitted by rascher
rascher writes: James F. Beckner, a student at ASU, has started a campaign to "raise firefox awareness". Backed by the Mozilla foundation, he has received a lot of firefox-embalmed swag and is giving it away in a raffle. Says Beckner, "The purpose of the campaign is to raise awareness of Firefox and to get people to switch over to Firefox." My reaction is, what's the point? Firefox is great, and I'm glad people are getting excited about it, but its just a web browser. Seems like he should spend his efforts on learning something useful about the HTTP protocol or submitting a patch instead of evangelizing — on the whole, this doesn't help the stereotype of the brash and overzealous OSS fanatic.
Music

Patti Santangelo v. RIAA May Be Over 138

Posted by Zonk from the keep-the-faith-kids dept.
newtley writes "Odds are that Patti Santangelo, the RIAA case defendant and New York mother who has made a determined stand against the Big 4, may have won her battle to clear her name. She and her lawyer, Jordan Glass, have signed and submitted a stipulation to dismiss with prejudice the case lodged against her by the RIAA. US federal district court judge Colleen McMahon's language had earlier seemed to indicate it was time to end the farce, and the court had the power to entertain a motion for legal fees. Unfortunately, her two children are still 'in the line of fire' in the court room."

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Top Ten Things Overheard At The ANSI C Draft Committee Meetings: (5) All right, who's the wiseguy who stuck this trigraph stuff in here?

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