... since VMware Player version 3.1.3 you can create VMs using the free VMware Player.

Best upgrade I did was when I assembled my latest PC around 2 years ago. I built it specifically for editing HD videos and also for running Virtual Machines for Applications Development. This meant using an i7 870 processor, 16 GB RAM, a GTX 470 video card which is Adobe CS5 approved for hardware acceleration, 4 x HDDs (1 dedicated to Windows 7 and Apps, 1 for non video documents, 1 to source videos, 1 to Adobe CS 5 Suite Scratch Files and Virtual Machines). With this rig, I can do all development and even some gaming (Warcraft 3) on Virtual Machines (VMware Workstation). This means I keep the host mostly lean and mean, no database software, unnecessary services running on the background.

For mobile computing, the cost effective solution I have come up with was to buy an HP EliteBook 8460p with an i5 2.5 Ghz CPU, 8 GB RAM, 7200 RPM HDD, and a discrete AMD Radeon GPU. I would have liked an SSD with this laptop but did not want to spend too much plus the HDD allows more room for my development VMs. The i5 CPU, 8 GB RAM, and 7200 rpm HDD still allows me to run my current Business Intelligence development VM (Windows Server 2008 Enterprise R2, SharePoint Server 2010, SQL Server 2008 R2, Visual Studio 2008/2010) in it adequately. The bonus with this laptop having a built in GPU in the processor and a discrete AMD GPU is that it can run 3 Monitors (including the laptop's) simultaneously which is great for development.

...all I can suggest is to create a Development Environment in a Virtual Machine (I use VMWare for this) preferably allocated a minimum of 4 GB RAM and 2 Processors. Use a Server OS as your Platform such as Windows Server 2008, install SQL Server 2008 R2 Developer Edition (including SSRS, SSAS, SSIS), Install SharePoint Server 2010, Install Visual Studio 2010 for SharePoint WebPart development. Use TFS for integrating to the Source Control DB.

After all the installation has been completed, setup the VM to connect to the company's domain and do all the development and testing in the VM. After it is fully tested, check-in the updates to TFS. It is a royal pain in the rear to set this all up from scratch.

Pakistan is not in the Middle East. It is in South Asia.

I have been a loyal Firefox user from the very beginning but I agree with the OP... version 4 leaks much more than 3.xx. I do use FF4 in conjunction with Adblock, NoScript, FlashBlock (these addons are the reason I still stick to FF), TabMixPlus, and a few others. After a few hours of browsing, closing and opening a total of 60 to 70 tabs (this is why I use TabMixPlus), FF4 RAM usage would be in the 600-700k range sometimes even more. The funny thing is even if I close all tabs FF will not give up RAM. You have to close then re-open it. Reminds me of Windows 3.xx where you need to close the GUI to free up system resources.

I also agree with many of the posters here. Please make the new features available as add-ons. Make the core browser lean and mean again.

I have karma to burn so here goes: I have lost my faith on many in the Slashdot/nerd community. I thought the brightest minds were mostly open minded and will re-factor their conclusions based on the facts presented to them, of which many can be found in this still developing story. What I find is that many actually keep repeating the same old mantras about nuclear power... much like fundamentalists.

The reactors did apparently shut down as they should but still needed cooling and these is where the other "links" appeared to have failed, and I stress appeared here as this will only be apparent when this whole thing is analyzed months or years from now:

1. Generator backups swamped by tsunami.

2. Battery backups died after these ran out.

3. Responders made mistakes to shut and/or open certain valves.

4. Water supply ran low in the spent fuel rods container.

5. There appears to be no adequate disaster preparation as in: Clear monitoring of radiation levels, and at what levels should evacuation of people start. For example, there is confusion whether at the present levels the exclusion zone should stay at 30 kms or, as the US is suggesting, be expanded to 80 kms (50 miles).

As I am pointing out above there are numerous other vectors where problems can start even if you had the best designed reactor such as possible attack by stucknet type worms, by terrorists, etc. Don't discount the possibility of software failure too. I would be especially wary of new, unproven (in the field) reactor designs... we all know the inherent problems of Version 1.0 systems... and these are complex systems with multitudes of interfaces.

What this incident proves is that the chain is indeed as strong as its weakest link. If it is now obvious that nuclear power generation is a long complex chain, with each link requiring utmost planning and care. People may argue that newer reactor and/or containment designs may be safer and/or stronger but what about the other links like backup power, spent fuel storage, pipe fittings to withstand the tremendous pressures inherent in the generation of power from nuclear energy? Part of that chain is also the proper training of personnel not only to operate the plants properly and minimize human error but also on how to manage a crisis situation. They should be drilled every day on how to go about this during a plant blackout or plant fire scenario. The more complex the chain, the more there can be weaknesses. If plants are to be built in the future each of these links in the chain must withstand close scrutiny.

The last time somebody tested these browsers using Microsoft's Fishtank, Firefox 4 Beta won. I wonder who wins the Fishtank test this time.

Coolant has been replaced a few times. Car just passed Ontario's Drive Clean test which is administered every 2 years before plates are renewed. This means it's good to go for another 2 years. I know the feeling of a car falling apart and this one is far from it.

I drive a 15 year old Corolla with 200,000 plus kms on it. In most cases the only thing I need to do maintenance wise is change oil and filter every 5-6kms or 6 months, wax/wash it regularly on the service station in the winter, and rotate the tires every year or so. I have stopped taking it to the dealer after its 2nd year as I find that dealers will always gouge you with unnecessary bills for mostly unnecessary repairs and/or parts replacement. The only thing that I replaced so far are the battery, the timing chain (after 100000km), and brake pads/rotors.

My wish is for this car to keep going for another 5 years/50-70,000 kms.

The Chinese Stealth Fighter looks like a clone of the Northrop YF-23 prototype which went head to head (and lost) against the F-22.

Apparently plus an embedded DRM according to this article from The Inquirer. Previous generation is looking better and better.

The Sandy Bridge architecture, aside from the die shrink and subsequent increase in clock rate which that entails, in my opinion, is not that much of an improvement over the previous i7 Lynnfield architecture (i7 860, 870, 875k, 880). Here is an article that benchmarks a Sandy Bridge CPU vs an i875k where the frequency of both processors set to 3.4 GHZ... not that big of an improvement.

Funny thing is many of the articles today are praising the chip as a big improvement over Lynnfield not making it clear that this is most likely due to the clock rate increase.

Good points! In this era of boring iPhones, iPads, and other gadgets that look alike it is nice to see folks still modding cases so these stand out from the rest.