Family Friendly sites listed on Blackstump Australia Issue 19/2010

The latest issue of new Family Friendly sites listed on The Black Stump.
Family Friendly sites listed on Blackstump Australia Issue 19/2010

10 Killer Google Chrome Tips, Tricks and Shortcuts

As Google’s Chrome browser celebrates its second anniversary, we thought it appropriate to commemorate the occasion with some handy tips and tricks. Here are 10 tried and tested hints that will help you to get the most out of Chrome by taking advantage of some of its more functional tools and time-saving setups.
10 Killer Google Chrome Tips, Tricks and Shortcuts

Google Instant Search – The Ultimate Guide

The biggest website on the web has supposedly undergone metamorphosis with introduction of Google Instant Search. According to Merissa Mayer, it is a “fundamental shift in search”. The way the whole web erupted to this announcement has been pretty much overwhelming. Everyone has some question or an opinion of their own. Some people want to know how they can disable Google Instant. Some people are wondering why they are not seeing Google Instant and few others, who are webmasters, are worrying about what would happen to their SEO and organic traffic.
Google Instant Search – The Ultimate Guide

How To Access Google Instant From Australia | Lifehacker Australia

Google’s new Instant Search looks pretty impressive, but isn’t officially available on Google’s Australian domain right now. Here’s some tricks to get it working.
How To Access Google Instant From Australia

Ten Misheard Expressions To Avoid In Your Writing

Anyone can make a typo or a spelling mistake, and fixing those is pretty easy in the spellcheck era. If you want your writing totally error-free, you also need to avoid using expressions which you think you’re using correctly but which you’ve actually misheard. Here’s ten examples to watch out for.
Ten Misheard Expressions To Avoid In Your Writing

Google Instant Predictions From A to Z

Google just launched Google Instant, a speedy new search offering that lets users search as they type. With Google Instant, the search engine technology is capable of predicting a user’s search query — in gray text — before he finishes typing it.
Google Instant Predictions From A to Z

How to Update Your Insecure Passwords and Make Them Easy to Use

You know how important strong passwords are, but you've got a huge backlog of passwords—some you can't remember, others you've been using for years. Here's how to securely update, create, and manage your passwords on any computer.
How to Update Your Insecure Passwords and Make Them Easy to Use

American Express Cardholders - $30 Fuel Voucher when you spend $50 at Coles Express

Spend $50 or more at Coles Express in one transaction and get a free $30 Coles Express Fuel Voucher by mail in 6-8 weeks.
American Express Cardholders - $30 Fuel Voucher when you spend $50 at Coles Express

New Zealand Earthquake Visualized in Google Earth

A strong earthquake that hit Christchurch, New Zealand on September 4 was one of the worst to hit New Zealand in 80 years. No deaths have been reported, but the earthquake caused devastation throughout the region of Canterbury. Flickr has put up a special page with some of the best user images of the earthquake, which show great damage on the buildings and structures in Christchurch. Also, Google Earth Blog has posted a neat Google Earth visualization which uses data from Geonet. To see it, you must have Google Earth installed; download this KMZ file, and click the “play” button in the upper-left corner.
New Zealand Earthquake Visualized in Google Earth

Leave No Trace: How to Completely Erase Your Hard Drives, SSDs and Thumb Drives

With stories abounding of identity theft aided by information lifted from discarded storage devices, you want devices you no longer plan to use to have no usable information when they head out the door. Here's how to wipe them clean.
Leave No Trace: How to Completely Erase Your Hard Drives, SSDs and Thumb Drives:

35 Entertaining 404 Error Pages

“404 Not Found.” These three little words can make any Internet explorer an unhappy camper. After all, who hopes to click on a broken link or stumble upon a moved or deleted page while cruising around the web? Luckily, some web designers have chosen to end the misery of encountering a 404 error page. Instead of letting their site readers bump heads with a nasty dead-end error message, they’ve managed to squeeze a little entertainment out of it. Below you’ll find some of the most entertaining 404 error pages on the web.
35 Entertaining 404 Error Pages

The physics of breaking stuff with your fists

iO9 recently ran a story on how martial artists are able to break boards and cement blocks, using their hands rather than mystical powers.
The physics of breaking stuff with your fists

Trying to Make a Tough Decision? Try Asking the Five Fateful Questions.

(Gretchen Rubin) - When I’m reluctant to take a risk or face something uncomfortable, I ask myself these five questions which, in melodramatic form, I call the "Five Fateful Questions." They help me think clearly about a situation.
Trying to Make a Tough Decision? Try Asking the Five Fateful Questions

NASA Plans to Visit the Sun

If you’ve seen Danny Boyle’s movie Sunshine, you may be a little disappointed: NASA’s mission to visit the Earth’s Sun won’t include sending people up there. But it will be sending a spacecraft into the Sun’s atmosphere, approximately four million miles from its surface. The project, called Solar Probe Plus, is slated to launch sometime before 2018.
NASA Plans to Visit the Sun

World’s Riskiest Places to Surf the Web

Ever wondered which are the places in the world where you will more likely be attacked by malicious viruses while surfing the web? Well, AVG has done all the hard work and has collected the ten riskiest places to surf the web in the world. This comes after AVG looked at data from 100+ million PCs in 144 countries. If you are in Turkey, Russia, Armenia and Azerbaijan, you are most likely to be hit by a malicious computer attack or virus. While surfing the web in Sierra Leone, Niger, Japan or Togo is the safest. AVG’s research was conducted in the last week of July.
World’s Riskiest Places to Surf the Web

A birds-eye view of hurricane Earl

This serene-looking view of hurricane Earl was taken aboard the International Space Station as it passed over the Atlantic Ocean on Monday. Taken by NASA astronaut Douglas Wheelock, it shows the distinctive eye of the storm, which spans 28 kilometres.
A birds-eye view of hurricane Earl

Use OneNote to Make Memorizing Information Easier

Microsoft OneNote is a great tool for taking notes and storing information you don’t want to lose. But sometimes, simply storing information in our computers isn’t enough – we need to store it in our brain, too! One great way to make yourself remember information is to review it, then test yourself on your new knowledge. Flashcards are great for this, so here’s how you can bring flashcards into the 21st century with OneNote.
Use OneNote to Make Memorizing Information Easier

Windows 7 Family Pack Returns

When Windows 7 launched last year, Microsoft offered a discounted Windows 7 “Family Pack.” It was a boxed package that contained the Windows 7 Home Premium upgrade for both 32- and 64-bit systems and a product key that could be used on up to three machines; at $150, it was a pretty good deal for families — and web workers with more than one machine to upgrade. Unfortunately, the Family Pack was only available in limited quantities, and was sold out in the U.S by December. The good news is that, in time for Windows 7′s first anniversary on October 3rd, Microsoft is bringing back the Family Pack. It’s the same deal as before — three upgrade licenses for $150, although you’ll probably be able to find it a bit cheaper online. If you haven’t already upgraded your machines to Windows 7, it’s definitely worth considering as, once again, it’s only available “while stocks last.” The Family Pack will also be sold in Canada, the UK, Germany, France, Australia and “many other markets” on or after October 22nd to mark Windows 7′s first anniversary in those territories.
Windows 7 Family Pack Returns

How to Teach Juggling: 10 steps

A wise juggler once said that nobody ever teaches someone how to juggle; they simply show someone how to teach themselves. The role of the teacher then is more to encourage than to instruct. Still, by breaking things down into the simplest process, you can set someone up for success.
How to Teach Juggling: 10 steps

How to Remember People's Names (and Deal with Unusual Names)

Accurately remembering names is one of the simplest yet most important components of interacting with people, no matter in what capacity. This article presents some tips acquired over the years with regards to remembering and using people's names.
How to Remember People's Names (and Deal with Unusual Names)

Make your Windows Computer Start-up Faster

Does your Windows computer take really long to start-up? Well, you are not alone with this problem but fortunately, with some minor tweaks, you can get your sluggish Windows to start much faster without re-installing Windows or adding any new hardware.
Make your Windows Computer Start-up Faster - Reduce Boot Time

An Eerie Peek Inside The Remains Of The Titanic

You’ve seen the sonar image of the Titanic’s remains. Now, the video: Here’s an eerie peek inside the debris of the most famous ship in history, shot by Expedition Titanic‘s new underwater remotely operated vehicle. Watch the chilling footage inside.
An Eerie Peek Inside The Remains Of The Titanic

10 Useful iPhone Shortcuts, Tips and Tricks

At Mashable, they’ve been putting the iPhone 4 through its paces, and have come up with some handy tips and tricks that can help you get more out of your Apple-flavored mobile. They’ve covered all kinds of basics, like making search results more relevant, creating shortcuts for your favorite websites, better organizing your apps, and making the most of Maps.
10 Useful iPhone Shortcuts, Tips and Tricks

Compress Folders, Files In Windows To Save Storage Space

File compression support is one of the features of the NTFS file system that often gets overlooked by Windows users. Its main purpose is to reduce the storage requirements of files on devices that use the NTFS file system. Compression is however handled different from archivers like 7-Zip, WinZip or WinRar, as the compressed files appear like before in the operating system (meaning there is not extension change to indicate a compressed files). This ensures that the files can be used normally by the user, and the operating system.
Compress Folders, Files In Windows To Save Storage Space

How Strong is your Password? Check your Password Strength Online

This is common knowledge; you should use a combination of alphabets, numerical digits, and special characters (!, @) to create strong passwords. Yet, the most commonly used password on the Internet is 123456 followed by 12345 – see full list.
How Strong is your Password? Check your Password Strength Online

Add Quick Brown Fox Text in Microsoft Word

If you want to insert some dummy text in a Word document, start a new paragraph, type =lorem() and hit Enter.
Add Quick Brown Fox Text in Microsoft Word

NASA Puts Historic Image Collections on Flickr

Three compilations of historic NASA images have been released on The Commons on Flickr, the fruit of a collaborative effort between Flickr, NASA and the Internet Archive.
NASA Puts Historic Image Collections on Flickr

How to Transfer Your iTunes Collection from One Computer to Another

If you’re an iTunes user, when you get a new machine you probably want to transfer all of your content to it. Here we show you a few different ways to everything from one computer to another.
How to Transfer Your iTunes Collection from One Computer to Another

HOW TO: Watch the 2010 Emmy Awards Online [VIDEO]

As per usual, there’s no legal way to stream video of the whole 2010 Emmy Awards ceremony live online, but there are a few ways you can use the web to supplement your TV viewing experience.
HOW TO: Watch the 2010 Emmy Awards Online [VIDEO]

Repurposing an Old Computer for Any Room in the House

Most of us have our computers on our desks or our laps, but there are so many other places in and out of our homes that can make a great spot for an old PC. The smaller your PC the more places you can put it, so laptops are obvious choices for moving around to different parts of your home. We've posted before with suggestions for repurposing an old laptop so be sure to check those out as well.
Repurposing an Old Computer for Any Room in the House

Family Friendly sites listed on Blackstump Australia Issue 18/2010

The latest issue of new Family Friendly sites listed on The Black Stump.
Family Friendly sites listed on Blackstump Australia Issue 18/2010

Katrina: 5 years later - Then and Now

In the five years since Hurricane Katrina devastated the Gulf Coast, some areas have rebuilt while others remain unchanged. CNN photographers and iReporters collaborated in a powerful past-meets-present photography project to show what the region looks like today.
Katrina: 5 years later - Then and Now:

Whoops! The 10 Greatest (Accidental) Inventions Of All Time

“Everything comes to him who hustles while he waits,” Thomas Edison once said. But is hustling all it takes? Is progress always deliberate? Sometimes genius arrives not by choice – but by chance. Below are Gizmodo's 10 favourite serendipitous innovations.
Whoops! The 10 Greatest (Accidental) Inventions Of All Time

Microsoft Australia makes Meter Maids ‘apology’

Microsoft Australia has been forced to apologise for choosing to use the Australian Gold Coast’s “Meter Maids” during its Tuesday-night welcome party, with Microsoft Australia MD Tracey Fellows declaring it “just wrong” and “unacceptable”.
Microsoft Australia makes Meter Maids ‘apology’

The Ballad of Cat Bin Lady: The Internet's Latest Viral Villain

It’s a thin line between Internet Hero and Internet Horror, and it seems that for one woman in Coventry, England, that line has been clearly crossed — over to the “horror” side, that is. Mary Bale, 45, found herself caught in the crosshairs of the reputation executor that is the web this week after a surveillance video of her placing a cat in a garbage bin went viral. Now, the Internet is replete with parodies, groups and spin-offs dedicated to bringing Bale down. Ah, what we can achieve when we really apply ourselves…
The Ballad of Cat Bin Lady: The Internet's Latest Viral Villain

Revenge of the Cat

Cat, unaware of video camera, drops middle-aged woman into trash can.
Revenge of the Cat

Snapshot: bike lane indicators get straight to the point

Photograph was taken by Carlton Reid, and the stencil street art it documents is the work of Peter Drew of Adelaide, Australia.
Snapshot: bike lane indicators get straight to the point

List of Free and Fast Public DNS Servers

DNS (or Domain Name Servers) is basically a system to convert domain names into IP addresses. Domain names are easier to understand, memorize and write for humans while computers only use IP addresses to communicate. Normally, the ISPs provide their users with their own default DNS server IPs which are often unreliable and slow. There are many better, faster, safer and more reliable public DNS servers for your everyday use. Here is a list of all such fast & free public DNS servers along with their IPs.
List of Free and Fast Public DNS Servers

Are you safer in the rear or front seat of cars?

An Australian study using U.S. data has shown that 50-year-old passengers in the back seat of cars are at more risk of injury or death than those in the front seat because safety features are lacking. What about younger adults and children?
Are you safer in the rear or front seat of cars?

Lose weight with 2 glasses of water before meals

A U.S. study has shown that drinking two eight-ounce glasses of water before meals helps people to consume fewer calories during meals. And, fewer calories consumed means a way to lose weight!
Lose weight with 2 glasses of water before meals

Use Cotton Strips for No-Fuss Houseplant Watering

If you'd like to keep your houseplants well-watered despite vacation plans or forgetfulness, you'd be hard pressed to find a simpler solution than this DIY, no fuss, no electricity needed, watering system.
Use Cotton Strips for No-Fuss Houseplant Watering

Top 5 Free Tools to Speed up Copying Files in Windows

When you try to copy or move large number of files on Windows 7 (or Vista), it can get on your nerves specially if the destination directory is on a different partition or a different folder under the same partition. This is when you would need a File copying tool which can act as an alternative for Windows Copy command. There are several such file copying tools available, some of which are paid and others free. Since most of the free ones are good enough, we have reviewed and listed down five of the best file copying tools to speed up your Windows experience.
Top 5 Free Tools to Speed up Copying Files in Windows

2 Great Ways to Disable iPhone’s Auto Rotation Feature

iPhone’s built-in accelerometer offers a simple way to switch between portrait and landscape mode. As all know, you can simply rotate iPhone sideway and it responds automatically to display content in landscape. I love this slick feature. At the same time, I find it quite irritating for a simple reason: I hate it turn sideway when I lay in bed to browse web and check my email.
2 Great Ways to Disable iPhone’s Auto Rotation Feature

What Can I Do With A Dead Hard Drive?

Before we delve into gutting your hard drive and repurposing its guts, let’s talk data security. While you didn’t specify what “dead hard drive” means, we’ll assume this means the disk is inoperable and any means of recovering the disk for use using software have failed. If the disk has truly sensitive data on it—data worth enough that someone would invest significant time and energy in recovering it—the only safe thing to do is to reference the Symphony of Destruction portion of our guide to properly erasing your physical media. If, on the other hand, the disk was mostly populated with your bootleg Bon Jovi concert rips, it’s ripe for all manner of DIY projects.
What Can I Do With A Dead Hard Drive?

20 Cool Twitter Accounts for Daily Fun and Inspiration [PICS]

Twitter is an ever-expanding source of fascinating information. More than just news and updates, there is also another, more fun side of Twitter that is sometimes overlooked. You can use the real-time micro-blogging service to get a daily dose of education, entertainment, or something in between. Whether you want to expand your vocab, discover new music, be inspired, or just view a cute bunny on a daily basis, Twitter can help.
20 Cool Twitter Accounts for Daily Fun and Inspiration [PICS]

Voters wake to Political Turmoil

A handful of independents are set to decide Australia's political future after an inconclusive election delivered what seems certain to be Australia's first hung parliament since World War II.
Voters wake to Political Turmoil

Top 10 Facebook Fixes

Facebook may be the de facto social network of, frankly, almost everyone, but that doesn't mean you have to use Facebook exactly the way its creators, or your Farmville-addicted friends, want you to. Here are 10 tweaks to make Facebook better.
Top 10 Facebook Fixes

10 Classic PC Games That Found New Life on the iPhone

Apple’s iPhone may mark a second golden age of computer gaming for a lot of reasons. The open marketplace means anyone can create a game; from major companies to just a couple of talented people in a garage. The result is a new boom in innovation, the likes of which we haven’t seen in about 20 years. Even with all the potential for innovation, maybe you still want to relive that first golden age of gaming. If you’re excited for how new tech can update the classics, then this list is for you: 10 of the greatest, most influential, straight-up classic computer games ever made, all available on and completely remastered for Apple’s handset, and in most cases also playable on the iPod touch and iPad.
10 Classic PC Games That Found New Life on the iPhone

Chameleon Folder Puts Favorite Folders At Your Fingertips

What’s the default way of accessing specific folders in the Windows operating system? The majority of users will probably answer that question by stating that they browse to that folder in Windows Explorer. Some may have put shortcuts to folders on the desktop or the start menu, and advanced users may make use of application launchers that support folder links. Still, the majority of users makes use of the default way of opening folders. The problem? It is not really comfortable, nor fast, especially if the folder is hidden deep in the file system.
Chameleon Folder Puts Favorite Folders At Your Fingertips

Two Online Databases: Find a Bike Map + Bike/Walking Info Database

Locate maps by using drop-down menus for each state or country (Australia, Canada, Croatia, Ireland, New Zealand, UK). This database is not comprehensive (at least as of today) but it’s growing and they would welcome new maps contributed by visitors.
Two Online Databases: Find a Bike Map + Bike/Walking Info Database

Cameron Diaz + Web Search = Potential Malware Dangers (Let’s Be Careful Out There)

Searching for “Cameron Diaz” brings bad news — in the form of risky sites — in one of every 10 search results, according to McAfee’s Most Dangerous Celebrities study. Make the search terms “Cameron Diaz” and “screensavers,” and that 10% chance of danger almost doubles. The “Knight and Day” star replaces last year’s No. 1, Jessica Biel.
Cameron Diaz + Web Search = Potential Malware Dangers (Let’s Be Careful Out There)

10 Useful iPhone Keyboard Shortcuts, Tips and Tricks

Whether you’ve taken to the iPhone’s touchscreen keyboard like a duck to water, or are more of a one-finger-at-a-time typist, there are plenty of shortcuts, tips and tricks that can improve your iTyping experience. Here, we’ve rounded up ten useful ways to be faster and more productive with your iPhone’s keyboard. We hope these tricks are handy for anyone new to the platform, or those who have not had the time to really experiment.
10 Useful iPhone Keyboard Shortcuts, Tips and Tricks

[How to] Opt out of Facebook Places & Hide Location From Friends

Facebook Places is a cool feature which was just introduced by facebook using which the users can share their current location or place with other Facebook friends. But then, for some of you, this feature sounds creepy and an invasion to your privacy. Well, if you are one of those, then here is a simple guide to turn off Facebook Places and save whatever privacy is left on Facebook.
[How to] Opt out of Facebook Places & Hide Location From Friends

Set File Properties To Make Searching Easier In Windows

One of Windows 7′s best features is the ability to find pretty much anything from the Search option on the Start menu. If you’ve got your own scripts that you run regularly, you can make these easy to find with a simple file properties trick, as Lifehacker reader Dan explains.
Set File Properties To Make Searching Easier In Windows

Crazy Roger Federer Trick Shot

A video featuring tennis star Roger Federer that plays on our collective fascination with “real or fake” hit the web earlier this week and has quickly gone viral, accumulating more than 700,000 views as of this morning. The video, which was part of a Gillette commercial shoot in Switzerland, features Federer serving a tennis ball and knocking a can off the head of one of the crew members –- twice in a row. This is made particularly compelling because, well, if he missed … you get the idea. Supposedly, it was all filmed in one take.
Crazy Roger Federer Trick Shot:

Cool Tools: Google Drawing

The best simple drawing program there is is hidden away inside of Google Docs. It's free, and completely intuitive to use. Google Drawing is the opposite of Adobe's Illustrator, which while insanely deep (and expensive) requires hours if not years to master. You can draw with this one in seconds.
Cool Tools: Google Drawing

Offbeat travel: Crime-themed tourism

As any fan of “CSI,” “Law & Order” or “The Untouchables” knows, there’s something about crime and punishment, mobsters and the long arm of the law that piques our interest. The why of it is better left to a psychologist or doctor, but whatever the reason, we humans seem to be programmed to find the macabre a little intriguing.
Offbeat travel: Crime-themed tourism

How to Password Protect Files and Folders on Computer or USB Flash Drives

Do you have files and folders on your computer that you absolutely don’t want anyone else to see? Or do you even carry important documents on those easy-to-misplace USB drives?
How to Password Protect Files and Folders on Computer or USB Flash Drives

7 Services to Find and Reserve Your Name Across the Web

If you choose a different username for every site you’re on, it can be hard to create a consistent identity across the web. The problem, however — as Megan Fox, BP, and even the Dalai Lama recently found out — is that being the first to claim your name on every site can be difficult. And since most of the hundreds of sites that can host your profile prevent automated sign-up processes, you need to manually create one profile at a time.
7 Services to Find and Reserve Your Name Across the Web

Is it “Ms.” or “Miss”?

A rare occurrence of “Ms.” in 1885 suggests that the term is an abbreviation of “Miss.”
Is it “Ms.” or “Miss”?

How to Delete Friends on Facebook

Are you just tired of that friend who constantly bugs you with messages or just spams your Facebook wall? Do you want to "un-friend" him/her? Here's how.
How to Delete Friends on Facebook

HopShopGo Ships From US-Only Stores

Tempting online stores with “we only ship to the continental US” clauses are a perennially annoying fact of life. HopShopGo is the latest site to offer shipping to Australian addresses from a range of US stores, selling itself on the ability to pay via PayPal.
HopShopGo Ships From US-Only Stores

Backup your Windows Device Drivers with this Free Tool

When you buy a new PC, the vendor will almost always provide you with a “driver CD” that has the device drivers for all the hardware that’s inside your new machine. The CD comes handy when you are reinstalling Windows from scratch or are trying to recover your machine to its original state after, say, a system crash.
Backup your Windows Device Drivers with this Free Tool

Complete Guide to Breathing New Life Into Your Old PC or Laptop

Do you have an older PC or laptop laying around just collecting dust and not sure what to do with it? You could sell it, but not get much for it. Here we bring you a guide on how to bring it back to life.
Complete Guide to Breathing New Life Into Your Old PC or Laptop

Five Best Deal-Hunting Sites

Today's deal-hunting web sites have changed the once hit-or-miss aspect of scoring an amazing deal into more of a whenever-you-want affair. Check out these five popular deal-hunting sites to score deep discounts and bargain-basement prices.
Five Best Deal-Hunting Sites

Family Friendly sites listed on Blackstump Australia Issue 17/2010

The latest issue of new Family Friendly sites listed on The Black Stump.
Family Friendly sites listed on Blackstump Australia Issue 17/2010

Use a Password Hasher to Generate More Secure Passwords

The trouble with secure passwords is that they’re hard to remember, and you should really use a different one for each site or application you use. One solution is to use randomly-generated strong passwords and store them in a password manager, like LastPass. Alternatively, you could use a password hashing tool to create a strong passwords for each of the sites you use from a master password in conjunction with a parameter.
Use a Password Hasher to Generate More Secure Passwords

Top 40 best free legal movies you can download right now

While you constantly hear about how downloading movies is illegal, there are numerous free legal movies you can download. Sure we aren’t talking about the latest summer blockbusters here, but there are some great films out there on the Internet that can be had for free.
Top 40 best free legal movies you can download right now

The Best Online Backup Services Compared

While it is easy to create a local backup of your computer, the physical media where you are storing the backups, like the DVDs or external disk, may not be very reliable in the long term. The other disadvantage is that local backups don’t always happen in real-time. It is therefore recommended that you switch to an online backup service – these are inexpensive and will automatically copy your computer’s data over the Internet to a more secure off-site location (aka the data center) in near real-time without your involvement.
The Best Online Backup Services Compared

Population by Age and Sex, Australian States and Territories, Jun 2009

This issue contains estimates of the resident population of Australian states and territories as at 30 June of each reference year. Estimates up to 2006 are final, based on the results of the 2006 Census of Population and Housing. Estimates for June 2007 have been revised and estimates from June 2008 onwards are preliminary.
Population by Age and Sex, Australian States and Territories, Jun 2009

The Oddest English Spellings, Part 17

Even the staunchest opponents of spelling reform should feel dismayed at seeing the list in the title of this essay. How is it possible to sustain such chaos, now that sustainable has become the chief buzzword in our vocabulary? Never mind foreigners—they chose to study English and should pay for their decision, but what have native speakers done to deserve this torture? The answer is clear: they are too loyal to a fickle tradition.
The Oddest English Spellings, Part 17

OUPblog » Blog Archive » The Oddest English Spellings, Part 17

Even the staunchest opponents of spelling reform should feel dismayed at seeing the list in the title of this essay. How is it possible to sustain such chaos, now that sustainable has become the chief buzzword in our vocabulary? Never mind foreigners—they chose to study English and should pay for their decision, but what have native speakers done to deserve this torture? The answer is clear: they are too loyal to a fickle tradition.
OUPblog » Blog Archive » The Oddest English Spellings, Part 17

How Secure Is A Password?

New technologies and more powerful computer systems have made it important in the last years to create secure passwords to avoid successful automatic password cracking attempts via brute force and dictionary attacks. But how do passwords have to look like to be considered secure? And who determines that? There is no authority with guidelines on the creation of secure passwords. Companies, organizations, software developers and end users all have their own definition of secure passwords.
How Secure Is A Password?

The Best Way to Send Important Files Really Fast

When you need to send an important file to a contact, you can either send it as an email attachment or, if the file size is too big for an email message, you can upload it to any of the file hosting services and share the download link with your contact over email.
The Best Way to Send Important Files Really Fast

Virus Check Files Online Without Downloading Them

It sometimes is a good idea to check a file online for malicious code before downloading it to the local computer system. While it is usually not dangerous to download a file as long as it is not executed, it can save some time to perform a virus scan before downloading the file. The developers of one of the most popular online Virus scanning services, Virus Total, have released a Firefox add-on today that can be used for exactly that purpose, and more.
Virus Check Files Online Without Downloading Them

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer 2.2

Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer (MBSA) 2.0 is an easy-to-use tool that helps small and medium businesses determine their security state in accordance with Microsoft security recommendations and offers specific remediation guidance. Improve your security management process by using MBSA to detect common security misconfigurations and missing security updates on your computer systems.
Microsoft Baseline Security Analyzer 2.2

Snap Send Solve Sends Reports To Local Councils From Your iPhone

Out for a walk and spot a litter problem, an overflowing drain or another problem the local council should fix? iPhone app Snap Send Solve uses your GPS coordinates to determine which council is responsible, and then lets you send an email report direct to the relevant party.
Snap Send Solve Sends Reports To Local Councils From Your iPhone

Remove Multiple Toolbars In Windows

Toolbars are not necessarily installed as standalone applications
these days. Toolbar developers have established business relationships with software developers to include their toolbars in the software installer. Users who do not pay close attention to the installation process may inadvertently end up with one or multiple toolbars installed on their system.
Remove Multiple Toolbars In Windows

Five Best Mobile Fitness Apps

Mobile fitness apps have changed the way people create, record and reach fitness goals, thanks to mobile phones and mobile devices that put a powerful computer right in your pocket. Here’s a look at five of the best mobile fitness apps.
Five Best Mobile Fitness Apps

Top 5 Free Antivirus for Windows

When asked about Anti-virus, I often recommend everyone Kaspersky because of its performance and detection level. But for a less hostile and home environment, going for a free anti-virus alternative is a better choice. Thinking of which, I began my search for the best free antivirus to my already paid license of Kaspersky. I visited most of the AV-companies sites and saw what they had to offer and then compared all those those alternatives to the results of the test conducted by AV-Comparatives in the month of May. According to my observation and my past experience, here are top 5 free anti-viruses.
Top 5 Free Antivirus for Windows

Private Browsing Modes Not So Private After All, Report Says

Cnet’s Seth Rosenblatt today published a story about privacy risks in private browsing modes of modern web browsers. He summarized the findings of a soon-to-be published report of researchers at Stanford University’s Computer Science Security Lab. The researchers analyzed the private browsing modes of Google Chrome, Mozilla Firefox, Microsoft Internet Explorer and Apple Safari
.
Private Browsing Modes Not So Private After All, Report Says

How to Extend the Battery Life of an iPad

Just as with an iPhone or iPod Touch, the battery life of your iPad will be shorter during heavy use. However, there are some measures you can take to keep your device on and active for hours of enjoyment, and this article explains what you can do to lengthen the battery life.
How to Extend the Battery Life of an iPad

Yoko Ono: Beatles Not Coming to iTunes Store Any Time Soon

Yesterday, Yoko Ono, the widow of John Lennon and part owner of the Beatles music catalogue, revealed that there’s been no progress in negotiations with Apple when it comes to getting the band’s music in the iTunes store. Her statements quiet ongoing rumblings about the matter.
Yoko Ono: Beatles Not Coming to iTunes Store Any Time Soon

WobZip, Uncompress Archives Online

The right archiving software may sometimes be out of reach to unpack an archive. This can be the case when using a public computer in an Internet Cafe or library for instance. Users who need to extract an archive but cannot do so locally can resort to online services to do so.
WobZip, Uncompress Archives Online

A Girl’s Guide to Car Problems

If you’re anything like me, your automobile knowledge doesn’t extend much beyond the gas cap and ignition switch. I find myself much more comfortable under the hood of a stove than the hood of a car and happily leave it to the men in my life to tell me when something’s wrong. Yet, in an age where women are becoming increasingly independent and adept at a variety of skills, I think it’s time to demystify the automobile world.
A Girl’s Guide to Car Problems

Internet Explorer 9

The Internet Explorer 9 Platform Preview gives developers and curious end users an early look at some of the features coming to IE9.
Internet Explorer 9 - WinPlanet Windows Software Reviews and Downloads

Is It All Over? Liberal Party Will Not Support The Filter

Late this afternoon on Triple J’s Hack program, Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey announced the Coalition would act to block Labor’s mandatory internet filter if they find themselves in opposition after the election. With the Greens also taking a position against the filter, it is highly unlikely Labor will have any chance of getting the numbers they need to push their legislation through during a next term.
Is It All Over? Liberal Party Will Not Support The Filter

Five Easy Ways To Avoid Any Internet Filter

We’ve covered similar territory before, but the post at Gizmodo by Colin Jacobs from the EFA showing five ways any filter can be avoided in two minutes is well worth checking out. What exactly is this plan to create a secret government list of banned sites protecting us from again?
Five Easy Ways To Avoid Any Internet Filter

An Online Easter Egg Hunt is Underway!

Want to learn about all the new features in Microsoft Office 2010 and SharePoint 2010? Microsoft has launched a fictional research and development company, Allure Bay Corp., and the fake company’s website is chock full of Easter eggs to demonstrate the new features of Microsoft’s latest software releases. Embark on the hunt by clicking the projector at the end of the introductory video.
An Online Easter Egg Hunt is Underway!

Internet Explorer 9, Platform Preview 4 Released

The Internet Explorer team just as expected released the fourth platform preview of the upcoming Internet Explorer 9 browser. The preview still offers no “real” user interface, but lots of progress has been made under the hood. Hardware accelerating everything that is rendered on the user’s PC seems to have been one of the main goals in the development. The developers have added additional hardware accelerated elements into IE9, including fully hardware accelerated HTML5. This basically means that Internet Explorer 9 uses hardware acceleration whenever possible.
Internet Explorer 9, Platform Preview 4 Released

Top 5 Firefox Extensions for Web-Developers

There are many tools to solve basic problems that we face while embedding javascripts, while defining CSS or while optimizing the web-site’s load time, and the best of them all are actually addons of Firefox.
Top 5 Firefox Extensions for Web-Developers

See Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn

Over the next few nights early in August 2010, sky watchers should be able to see the planets of Mercury, Venus, Mars, and Saturn in the western night sky. Don’t wait too long because Mercury soon disappears!
See Mercury, Venus, Mars, Saturn

How to Get Started with Usenet in Three Simple Steps

Usenet is a wonderful service for finding and downloading digital media, giving you speed and reliability you won't find with other file-sharing options—like, say, BitTorrent. Here's a quick guide on setting up and getting started with Usenet.
How to Get Started with Usenet in Three Simple Steps

Microsoft Office is licensed for two PCs

Surprise! surprise!! Did you know that the MS Office license you bought is actually valid for two PCs?
Microsoft Office is licensed for two PCs

Checklist Guide for Reinstalling Windows

Do you need to reinstall Windows on your computer? Here’s a checklist of the things you should do before you make the leap and reinstall.
Checklist Guide for Reinstalling Windows

Reset Web Browsers To Factory Default Settings

Resetting a web browser to its factory default settings is sometimes a last troubleshooting option, especially if all other repairing options have failed. The consequences are manifold. All custom settings and preferences will be reset to their default parameters, which means that the browser has to be customized after the resetting again. All popular Internet browsers offer an option to reset the settings. This article describes how to reset the settings of Internet Explorer, Mozilla Firefox, Opera and Google Chrome.
Reset Web Browsers To Factory Default Settings

5 Awesome Optical Illusion Videos

How long has it been since you watched a video that made you go “Whoa?” If the answer is more than a day, then fear not, as we’ve got five lined up, each chock-full of “whoa” potential. Using nothing more than our eyes’ and brain’s perceptive weaknesses, these clever videos will trick your gray matter and leave you amazed. Or, if you’re really hard to impress, you’ll at least be mildly taken aback. Assuming you don’t have a medical condition that would make it unwise to stare at these brain busters, hop on through our gallery below. We pinky-swear there are no trick videos.
5 Awesome Optical Illusion Videos

Best Google Search Tricks And Easter Eggs

Google was built by geeky programmers, and geeky programmers have a great sense of humour. For evidence, look no further than the weird range of bonus features hidden in Google’s search and other products.
Best Google Search Tricks And Easter Eggs

Google Earth Now Displays Real-Time Rain and Snow

The latest version of Google’s (Google) 3D map application, Google Earth (Google Earth), now has the ability to display real-time rain and snow in certain parts of the world. To see it, you must first enable the clouds layer, and then zoom in to a location where it’s raining or snowing. Google Earth displays rain and snow only in certain parts of North America and Europe; to see where exactly the new feature is available, enable the radar layer.
Google Earth Now Displays Real-Time Rain and Snow

10 Best Viral Video Remixes on YouTube

You know a viral video has truly made it into the zeitgeist when it gets the remix treatment, which can itself go viral; so meta. For your viewing pleasure we’ve hit up YouTube for 10 of the best examples of memes remade to music. From Leeroy Jenkins to Chris Crocker, these amusing remixes take a video and make it even more memorable.
10 Best Viral Video Remixes on YouTube