2003 August

Being primarily a Linux user and spending equal time administering my Linux server and surfing, etc. on my PowerBook, my first priority has been to find apps to make working with Linux easier. First, the built-in Terminal.app just doesn’t cut the mustard. Even changing the default shell to something more useful, like bash, really didn’t […]

Planet PDF is now offering an assortment of some of the most popular classics — free! Help yourself to them, and feel free to share them with your friends. They’ll be adding new ones each week, so keep visiting for new eBooks.
Imagine the money I could’ve saved if I had this resource in college while […]

Philips Semiconductors launched a new reference design that enables TV set manufacturers to make a quick and painless migration from CRT to mid-end LCD TV sets. By rolling out the new reference design — consisting of the company’s existing one-chip TV solution called PNX300x and SAA6713 scaler chip — Philips is hoping to capitalize on […]

Per the Thunderbird roadmap, I want to ship Thunderbird 0.2 from the 1.5b branch. This was hindered some what last week by my dead hard drive, but I am back on my feet again this week =). Instead of calling this the August 26th weekly build, I’m going to call it a 0.2 candidate build […]

Synchromagic is an intelligently-designed utility to perform foolproof synchronization of files and directories, with many useful options, including foolproof synchronization of files and directories, either one-way or bi-directionally. Tasks can also be performed over a local area network, FTP, and at Internet kiosks. Silent mode, shutdown after synch, and e-mail reporting are included. Useful silent […]

This appendix contains translations of the English word list that appears on the following pages. The intent of this list is to provide, for each of the following languages, a comprehensive set of words and phrases that either appear in the Microsoft Windows user interface or are used in describing key concepts of the operating […]

It has recently come to the attention of PDA Avenue that the software publishing company 9.95 Soft is redistributing freely available Palm OS applications, licensed under the GNU GPL (General Public License), for $9.95. For example, 9.95 Clock is simply a redistribution of the freely available BigClock originally developed and distributed by Jens Rupp for […]

The EU VAT directive has caused significant controversy amongst developers and online software registration services. Part of the confusion has comes from the vagueness in the directive and questions with regards to the jurisdiction that the EU has over the US to enforce its policies. The implementation has skewed the playing field in favor of […]

As everyone knows, ActiveX controls and the <OBJECT> tag has been a big source of security holes in Internet Explorer. However, it looks like support for ActiveX controls is going to be removed from Internet Explorer. A small company called Eolas recently won a $521 million judgment against Microsoft for patent infringement. The Eolas patent […]

Nurve Networks LLC unveils what is undoubtedly the most unexpected kind of new video game system: one that users will build and program themselves. The shear possibility of this is causing pandemonium in the gaming world, but after reviewing the site, the XGS is more than real. Video games generate billions of dollars in revenue […]

Addonics Technologies is now shipping a conversion kit intended to give you an even broader selection of hard-drive technology: It offers a way to convert a 2.5-inch internal parallel ATA drive into an external Serial ATA drive. The resulting drive is capable of connecting either to a PCI Serial ATA adapter with an external port […]

When Macromedia released Contribute 1.0 last year, we were impressed. It gave nontechnical users a nearly foolproof way to update the content of a Web site while protecting the integrity of the design and underlying code. Less than a year later, the company has released Macromedia Contribute 2. Thankfully, Contribute 2 is not a dramatically […]

I use the Dvorak keyboard layout for my computer. I learnt about it by chance, through a Discover Magazine article I laid my eyes on. I did some more research, and the arguments in favour Dvorak were strong enough to cause me to switch.

While the Web’s two biggest search engines were busy debating who has the biggest index last week, a “meta” search service called Dogpile quietly launched a revamped Web site that makes it easier to search all the top engines at once.

More EULA craziness, this time from the folks at Dell. Apparently a buyer from Canada isn’t so happy with their unreadable licences as you have to open the shrinkwrap, in effect agreeing to them before you have had a chance to read them.

“If you search Google for Kazaa Lite, you’ll find the results a bit lacking. Ironically enough, Sharman Networks, using the DMCA, filed a legal complaint to block Kazaa Lite sites. ” Google links the DMCA request at the end of the results which contain the URLs in question, but the URLs aren’t really the point. […]

A Scottish wide-boy selling mobile phone jamming equipment to hotels has been exposed by local newspaper the Daily Record.
Ronnie McGuire was caught selling the illegal devices, which send out radio waves that swamp the signal between base stations and mobile phones, rendering handsets inoperable in the vicinity of the jamming equipment. He was selling […]

In his 20s, he changed cinema for ever. In his 60s, he sold dog food. Peter Conrad examines the work of Orson Welles, a man destroyed by his own greatness.

How much do you care about the look of a video game? Do you care about how a character’s hair flutters in the wind?
Soon most games will come with stunning graphics and realistic worlds, so relying on looks alone to sell a title will not be enough, a leading game maker has predicted.

Over time, Windows loses stability. If you keep a computer for more than two years, at some point you’re going to have to bite the bullet and reinstall Windows from scratch. But contrary to popular belief, you won’t have to reformat your hard drive (with one exception, discussed below). The bad stuff you need to […]