Duracell's Mobile Charger Juices Batteries, USB On The Go

Duracell's Mobile Charger not only has a USB port so you can power your iPods and Zunes, but there's even a slot to put AA/AAA batteries into so you can charge them via wall or car outlet. Those AA batteries work the same way in reverse as well—you use them to charge any USB gadgets you plug in. The charger comes for $24.99, which could be worth it as an emergency phone/music charger that you can use while you're out or in the car. [Earth Times via Electronista]

Wow this might actually be useful for me!! I will have to go and find it!

Update Large Files with PatchOnClick

Windows only: Freeware application PatchOnClick updates large files by creating patches from the new file and applying those patches to old files with a dead simple interface. At first blush, this may seem like a tool that a normal user has very little use for, but FreewareGenius explains its usefulness perfectly:

I thought this program was a really nice touch to add. Go download it and play around and check out the full story at Life Hacker.

Four Graphical User Interfaces in Vista that just needs fixed:

The First and foremost is the User Access Control, UAC for short. The UAC is never been ready for Windows. Microsoft knew this and so did most of the Beta testers who were formerly known as LongHorn Project. The UAC has several shortcommings. The one that really burns my biscuit is after you disable the UAC. The way you disable the UAC is by Start, type msconfig.exe [ENTER]. Once Msconfig loads up you click on the tools tabs, Looking for [Disable UAC] hightlight it. Click Launch. That's it no more UAC, btw You have to have ADMIN for all users to be able to disable UAC for all accounts. Now everytime I boot up it comes up with a Security alert saying, your system is not protected(A scare tactic that I do not like). So you have to google to find the other reg code needed to disable that little icon from showing up. Go google and find out how.

The second and most annoying is game play for Vista. Most if not all my games have some kind of trouble with vista. Wolfenstein:Enemy Terriroty, COD the Original, and some others the ones that I like the most do not work. Vista always says they stop responding and has to exit. I've tried everything from googling the games and vista and nothing. I've also had problems with programs like Trillian and other programs stop responding or have difficulty running due to Vista. Most of my games I have to load up Ubuntu and play it in Linux, if you think it is hard actually it is quite easy. This one the only work around that actually works.

The third one is DRM(Digital Rights Management). DRM has been a thorn in people sides ever since they first introduced it. It is designed to prevent people from illegally copying content, but the truth is If I have a copy of Harry Potter and I wanted to take it on the plane to watch but leave the CD home, that is not going to happen. The Vista DRM will not allow anyone to copy files to the hard drive to view later, althought there will always be tools to circumvent it. DRM just makes it harder on the end user and tries to control every aspect of Copy Protection.

The Forth is the System speed on Vista. I have a dual core 1.67ghz system and every time Vista runs and startups it takes from anywhere 2 mins to 5 mins for everything to be ready after logging into my account. I also think the system is sluggish and slow in whenever I try to use a large file. I admit I have 1gig of memory for the system. I know it might slow it down but XP only needs 128 megs of memory to run. I do not think it should slow down this much. If it wasn't for ReadyBoost this system wouldn't be running Vista, I'd have install Ubuntu and wipe the system clean.

With that said, I hope when SP1 Comes out for Vista it makes the system more stable, and secure and more useable.

Copyright 10-3-2007
May not use without authors permission

Digg exchange gang busted !

I was just surfing the DigitalPoint Forums today as usual when i saw something going on there. Some people starting frequent threads with titles similar to “Selling DiggBoss Points”, “DiggBoss Invites for free”. Find all of them here . I had a quick look at it what is this DiggBoss actually ? I took a invite from a guy there who sent me a link through PM to a site with URL http://www.diggboss.com. I was confused initially, but after I registered and logged in there, i was shocked to see whats happening. So many people, almost 100+ trading diggs and stumbles there. All they do is, look at the stories listed there and digg them. It works in this way - when a person diggs one story he gets one diggpoint. He can increase his diggPoints this way. When he has enough diggpoints, he can submit his own story and it will be listed there to be dugg by the other members. The system was working perfectly for both digg and stumbles. Not only this, i also find many people collecting diggpoints and selling them there for prices like 5$ for 30 DiggPoints. I thought of giving it a try to see whether it really works or not. I made a sample story and submitted it to digg. Find it by clicking here. purchased around 100 digg points from a guy there. I then added this story to the diggboss campaign, and the system showed they will trade me 50 diggs for 100 diggpoints. I submitted and waited for a few hours. WoW ! 50 diggs and it got the ball rolling. One after the other, it broke around 121 diggs and made to homepage for a few mins (the story was a bit funny, so it gots some natural diggs later). It made me around 1200 unique hits to my site.

But i was really shocked to see how these social networking sites are exploited. Not only this, i can also see people exchanging diggs openly on webmaster forums like DigitalPoint. See the following link -

Check this google search results

Its really disappointing to see exploitation of such social networks!. I guess digg must take serious action to stop this stuff.

Perhaps digg could easily see the above story and ban all those who dugg it, But the big problem is that, the gang was only used to get the ball rolling !.

I knew digg has it's flaws but that shows you how many flaws they actually do have! : ( I wonder how many are actually done by those people!!

New Episodes of Fox’s House Won’t Be on iTunes

New episodes of popular Fox show House will not be available on iTunes, a spokesperson for Apple confirmed to B&C.

Despite airing on Fox, House is produced by Universal Media Studios, a subsidiary of NBC Universal, which is severing its ties with iTunes when their contract expires in December.

House, which has been available on iTunes since May, began its fourth season on Fox last week. The ratings for the season premiere were the best for any returning show on any network so far. The season premiere delivered a 7.7 rating/19 share in the coveted 18-49 demographic.

What is Fox going to do the same thing, I actually like the show House. Isn't this going a bad sign for Itune's and Apple? I really do not like the idea of this, because I will not support NBC.

Rocket-Powered 21-Foot Long X-Wing Model Actually Flies (Updated: New Pics Show It Even Has Built-in R2-D2)

Andy Woerner and his crazy rocketeer friends have built a 21-foot long X-Wing model that can actually fly. Yes, this is a real X-Wing powered by four solid-fuel rocket engines complete with radio-controlled moving wings. It blasts off in California next week, and we talked with Andy about the project, and how they expect it will do. All the details and a full construction gallery after the jump.

Go see the picks this is so nice, You can see R2D2 as the co-pilot! I give them a salute for doing a really good job on making it.

Get a 15-Minute Email Address from GuerrillaMail

GuerrillaMail is an anonymous web service that provides you with a temporary email address—perfect for web sites that you don't want to communicate with you but require email registration. Generate an email address and reload the home page to view any incoming messages. The 15-minute timer displays the amount of time you have remaining until your email address expires, but you can extend your time if necessary. The concept is not much different from previously mentioned 10-minute mail, 2 Prong, or the army of similar temporary email services—though GuerrillaMail even has a (paid) script to host this application yourself, which could come in handy if the guerrillamail.info domain name gets banned. Whatever service you choose, temporary email addresses can really keep your regular inbox spam-free.

This is useful when you need to be anonymous but I also know spammers use this for forums and temp email address to keep you from finding out there real email address or there real location.

FAQ: Giving up on Vista? Here's how to downgrade to XP

October 02, 2007 (Computerworld) -- Microsoft Corp.'s decision last week to delay the end of Windows XP sales five months means users have just that much longer to jilt Vista and return to the older -- and some say more mature -- operating system. But even with XP's reprieve, few PCs come with anything but Vista. Even if you wanted to take advantage of the wider window of XP opportunity, you might not know where to start.

I thought this was a real good article on downgrading to XP from Vista. I've been thinking about doing this with the system and I have been debating it for quite sometime. Go check out the article yourself and let me know what you think!

Batteries that could last 30 years in a laptop!

Your next laptop could have a continuous power battery that lasts for 30 years without a single recharge thanks to work being funded by the U.S. Air Force Research Laboratory. The breakthrough betavoltaic power cells are constructed from semiconductors and use radioisotopes as the energy source. As the radioactive material decays it emits beta particles that transform into electric power capable of fueling an electrical device like a laptop for years.

I say this will be nice, the battery last longer than the laptop? Would you be able to buy laptops without batteries and install the old one with the new one? I would hope, if it last 30 years without a new one, why would you need a new on to come with a laptop? I wonder if this going to bring the laptop prices down if they don't have to include the battery!!

Install WinXp on VirtualPc Video

I thought this was an excellent tutorial about installing WinXP on Linux. I've had my troubles with VirtualPc but that was my fault. Go check it out.

All Macs all the Time

I would like to say I know where this is going and why! ;) I know people don't like Vista. So what else are we going to see I actually think Vista is going down the tubes. I think kids these days are wanting a stable and efficient OS so they are picking MacBooks and not Dells, Gateway, and All the other brands. I am hopeful something comes out of this before people get really annoyed with Microsoft.

Yahoo! (YHOO) displaces Google (GOOG) with DivX deal

Looks like Yahoo, Inc. (NASDAQ: YHOO) has put yet another feather in its cap, as the internet company will have its web browser toolbar distributed along with video player software from company DivX Inc. as of this week. DivX makes a very popular video compression codec technology that is used in millions of downloadable videos.

This could get very interesting, go check out the rest of the article and find out how interesting. :)

ATT threatens to disconnect subscribers who criticize the company

AT&T has rolled out new Terms of Service for its DSL service that leave plenty of room for interpretation. From our reading of it, in concert with several others, what we see is a ToS that attempts to give AT&T the right to disconnect its own customers who criticize the company on blogs or in other online settings.

I love this Arstechnica talking about how AT&T will loose customers. I think it is a good thing if they do this they will loose everything. I think the more they do this the more they will get people to go to cable or dsl, or even Satellite TV. keep up the good work AT&T.

Warning: Big advertisers hate forums

As soon as your forum is generating huge amounts of content and traffic every single day, advertising networks will be desperate for your business, right? Sorry, it doesn’t work that way - many advertisers hate your website, regardless of how good it really is.

I kind of figured that. :) They do not like UGC at all, they just don't know what they are missing!!

Joost Launches: Video Interview With Mike Volpi

Joost, the impeccably pedigreed, funded, and hyped Internet TV platform is releasing its software to the general public on Monday. For those of you beta testers (like us) who’ve griped about the reliability and usability of the application, the company promises a significantly upgraded client, including a new navigation system, search, and an open API for third-party widgets. It is seeding the open API with widgets of its own, including synchronized watching and video markup tools.

Does this mean Joost is getting good!!

Nokia unlocks anti-Apple campaign

The quartet of posters above was photographed in New York city over the weekend by a MacRumors forum jockey. Of course, this isn't the first time we've seen Nokia pounce on Apple foibles, and it certainly won't be the last. Even if Nokia can't help but copy the iPhone interface design in its own future-looking presentations.

This is so like the best thing to happen. I hope nokia does stick it to APPPLE!!

Top Ten Side Effects of Switching to Linux

Studies done by a prestigious think tank in Silicon Valley have identified the most common behavioral changes in people who have switched to Linux. They were nice enough to share their information with us. According to them, these are the ten most frequent side effects of Linux use with us.

Number 10: You start talking about 'killing' programs instead of forcing them to quit

Number 9: You keep reminding yourself that you don't have to save your work every five minutes

Number 8: You start substituting C for K in your normal writing (Did you know that Pizarro konquered the Inkas?)

Number 7: You talk your grandmother into open-sourcing her secret cookie recipe

Number 6: People give you strange looks when you brag about your uptime

Number 5: You cause Bill Gates' fortune to decrease by 0.0000001 percent

Number 4: The only viruses that bother you are the ones that cause the flu

Number 3: The blue screen of death only appears to you in nightmares

Number 2: You actually get some serious work done

And the number 1 side effect of switching to Linux is:
Your problems meeting members of the opposite sex disappear

It made me laugh!! ;) GO LINUX

Robot Chick Cassette tape transformers

I thought people would like this one so here it is. I got a really good laugh out of this one!!

BitLet Evolves: Create and Upload Torrents Online

BitLet, the web-based BitTorrent client has received a significant update. A new feature makes it possible to create .torrent files online - ready configured for popular open trackers - and then automatically upload them to Mininova and other sites for maximum exposure.

I thought people would like to know!

Boost Virtual Machine Performance On Ubuntu, Fedora, PCLinuxOS And Debian

This document explains how to set up the VMware Tools in the following guest operating systems: Ubuntu 7.04, Fedora 7, PCLinuxOS 2007 and Debian Etch. Installing VMware Tools in your guest operating systems will help maximize performance, provide mouse synchronization and copy & paste functionality. This article also shows a way of making VMware Tools start automatically when you start a guest operating system.
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I used the VMware Tools v1.0.3-44356 provided by VMware Server v1.03.

A very good article and I might have to try it out on my Vista OS, to see how fast of an improvement it does on the LINUX side of it.