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February 22, 2008

A Good Freeware for Recovering Lost Files / Pictures from Thumb Drives / CF / SD Cards

Recover Files is an award winning program that can undelete / recover deleted files after they have been deleted.

Recover Files is a professional file recovery software that allows it's user to recover accidentally deleted files. Even files removed from the Recycle Bin, network drive, compact flash card, portable drives, in a DOS window, or from Windows Explorer with the SHIFT key held down.

Recover Files is a small, fast, useful, practical and powerful. It has a clean, simple interface. Recover Files will work with Windows 95, 98, Me, NT, 2000, XP, 2003, Vista operating systems. It can be used to recover deleted files from all NTFS and FAT partitions.

Link

December 6, 2006

Half of American Business PCs Can't Run Vista

A recent report at Channel Insider shows that nearly half of the average business PCs in North America are unable to meet the minimum requirements for Microsoft's Windows Vista operating system, while 94 percent do not meet the system requirements for Vista Premium. While this may be surprising to some and understood as "Microsoft's Shame" to others, I consider it a great opportunity to hardware manufactures in light of another huge wave of computer hardware upgrades, just like old days when Microsoft 2000 and XP were freshly released. And what it could mean to us, personal computer consumers? Probably another big round of price cut-down on marginal hardware and hence big steals if you don't care much about Vista compatibility!

Read the full story at Channel Insider.

November 3, 2006

Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2007 for Free Download

Microsoft is offering a free download of Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2007, featuring eBay integration and a set of tools for running small business finances. In addition to downloading the freebie and giving it a whirl, please read the insightful analysis provided by Microsoft Monitor Blog.

Continue reading "Microsoft Office Accounting Express 2007 for Free Download" »

October 27, 2006

Google Offers Free Scary Stories

What would Halloween be without a little trick-or-treating? This year, make exploring some of these classic spooky tales part of your treat. Discover who famously uttered "nevermore," why Van Helsing was forced to behead the "bloofer lady" and how Ichabod Crane met his untimely end in a tranquil glen called Sleepy Hollow.

As part of its Book Search service, Google is offering free download of a number of scary stories to the public. Download files are in PDF format and are freely readable and printable (HINT: Find items with "Full View" label in the summary list and "Download" button on the preview page).

September 12, 2006

Apple's iTunes to Start Selling Movies

Apple Computer Inc. said on Tuesday its iTunes online music store would begin selling movies from Disney, Pixar, and Touchstone as the company makes its most aggressive move yet into the digital home. Currently there are only about 75 films available for purchase for relatively high prices ($9.99 - $12.99), and each movie will take about 30 minutes to download for those who use high-speed internet connection.

Fully story at Yahoo.

September 11, 2006

Windows Live Academic = Microsoft Version of Google Scholar?

Today I learnt from our librarian that Microsoft has released their version of "scholar search" -- a special search engine on scientific publications and corresponding citations, similar to Google Scholar. Interesting enough, this search engine is wrapped under the big umbrella of "live", given a ugly name of "Windows Live Academic" (link) -- a proof that "live" is one of the favorite keywords in their marketing department now.

A simple search of "artificial intelligence" returns about 45,000 results at Microsoft Live Academic. Comparing with the 737,000 results for the same query at Google Scholar, it looks like Microsoft has to work really "macro hard".

You may also be interested in the following similar databases and search engines: CiteSeer, DBLP, and PubMed.

September 6, 2006

Windows Vista RC1 Available for Public Download

Windows Vista RC1 is available for participants of the Windows Vista Customer Preview Program. If you have a powerful enough computer laid aside, have plenty of time to fight with blue screens, and are willing to serve as Microsoft's lab mouse, please go to the Customer Preview Program website to register and receive a Product Key, which is required to install and activate the software.

The download link is here.

August 29, 2006

17 Money Mistakes to Avoid

Following the column on the twelve biggest money mistakes, Suze Orman expanded the list with five more mistakes, which men are more likely to make than women. Among the 17 mistakes, there are actions which do not sound so stupid in the first sense, such as borrowing from 401k or 403b, purchasing life insurance on kids, purchasing life insurance as investment, and paying off mortage at a "normal" speed (rather than paying off as early as possible).

Read more about The 12 Biggest Money Mistakes, and Five More Money Mistakes to Avoid.

July 13, 2006

Microsoft and Yahoo! Start Chatting

Microsoft and Yahoo! will let users of their instant-messaging services communicate with each other starting today. "It looks like this is a preemptive strike against Google Talk," said research analyst Timothy M. Boyd of Caris & Co. The partnership between the nation's second- and third-largest IM providers presents an immediate threat to the longtime leader, AOL, said analyst Joe Wilcox of JupiterResearch. "It's two against one now," he said. (USA Today).

To send messages to buddies on Yahoo, you need download the Windows Live Messenger (beta) and sign in with your MSN passport on ideas.live.com.

July 12, 2006

Microsoft Offers Virtual PC for Free

Whether Microsoft virtualization technology is an important component of your existing infrastructure or you're just a Virtual PC enthusiast, you can now download Virtual PC 2004 Service Pack 1 absolutely free. Microsoft is also offering the free download of Virtual PC 2007, with support for Windows Vista in 2007.

Link to Microsoft Virtual PC Homepage

June 15, 2006

Amazon's Blast from the Past

Internet retailer Amazon.com has started selling groceries online. Like many other product categories Amazon has added over the years, groceries were quietly introduced to its Web site on May 25 through a beta, or test, page that indicates the company will evaluate the business before promoting it more widely.

Amazon's service is limited to non-perishable goods such as cereal, pasta and canned soup, but Amazon can ship those items to any customer, unlike online grocers that only deliver to limited areas. The move marks a cautious step into a business that nearly disappeared with the dot-com collapse of 2001, when several online grocery stores such as Webvan went bust.

Reuters has the full story.

June 2, 2006

Are You the Living Dead?

When Laura Rowley's husband requested his credit scores, the credit bureaus told him he's dead. Such mistakes leave people in a costly limbo for years. Find out how to fix this problem -- and return to the living.

May 17, 2006

A 'Helpful' Trojan Horse?

Analysts at SophosLabs, the research arm of antivirus software vendor Sophos, have discovered a spyware-borne Trojan, dubbed Troj/Erazer-A, that seeks out and destroys movie and music files that it suspects to be illegal copies transmitted via peer-to-peer (P2P) file sharing networks.

The Trojan looks through P2P file sharing folders, seeking out formats such as AVI, MP3, MPEG, WMV, GIF, and ZIP. When it finds these files, it wipes them out and places a copy of itself in the folder, using tempting names such as game.exe, goporn.exe, nero7.exe, and officexpcrack.exe, according to Sophos.

"The Erazer Trojan is a vigilante worthy of a Charles Bronson movie, taking the law into its own hands. However, it's perfectly possible for the Trojan to aim poorly and wipe out innocent files, too," says Graham Cluley, senior technology consultant at Sophos. "Malware is not the way to fight Internet piracy."

Dark Reading has the full story.

May 12, 2006

What You Should Know About Home Buying

Laura Rowley had a well-written article published at Yahoo! Finance, titled "What I Wish I Knew Then About Home Buying", acting like writting a letter the homebuyer she was four years ago. Among the valuable points are: "know the asking and selling prices and key features of neighboring homes", "look at the bones of the place and the layout", "buy something you can potentially live in forever, rather than a starter home", "take the 15-year mortgage", and "do a little more research on the schools before you buy".

The full article is here.

April 12, 2006

Windows on Macs: Shocking, Even if Inevitable

post_macwin.jpg Apple last week offered free software called Boot Camp that lets users run Windows XP on its new Intel-based Macintoshes. This, according to BBS News, has provoked a stir and set the hi-tech world buzzing. On the other hand, it was only a matter of time before someone did. Two weeks earlier, two San Francisco Bay Area developers, in response to a $13,000 Internet contest, came up with a workaround that demonstrated Windows XP could be made to run on the Mac. An open source project was rumored to be under way. It may not be all that practical, but many techies won't be able to resist. What's next to expect? Might that be the official OS X on PCs?

Free Customized Engraving Gifts

CEngraving.COM is giving out a free gift with your initial engraved. To qualify, link to their web site from your blog or personal web site, then select the item you want and complete the order form here.

April 11, 2006

Rose Lingo

post_rose.jpgRoses seem to be the most popular flower. According to the International Flower Growers Association 174 million Americans will buy roses for Valentine’s Day. We all know that roses are the choice flower for the day. The question is what color?

Continue reading "Rose Lingo" »

April 8, 2006

Picking A Good Boss

Most experienced engineers agree that having a good boss is one of the most important aspects of one’s job. Your boss can serve not only as a professional colleague, mentor and leader, but often as a shield from the whims of an oppressive bureaucracy. But, how do you find a good one?

Check out Don Christiansen’s latest column in the April edition of IEEE-USA Today's Engineer online.

April 4, 2006

Microsoft Virtual Server 2005 R2 Enterprise Edition for Free

Virtual Server 2005 R2, now available as a free download, is the server virtualization technology engineered for the Windows Server System platform. As a key part of any server consolidation strategy, Virtual Server increases hardware utilization and enables IT staff to rapidly configure and deploy new servers.

In conjunction with Windows Server 2003, Virtual Server 2005 R2 provides a virtualization platform that runs most major x86 operating systems in a guest environment, and is supported by Microsoft as a host for Windows Server operating systems and Windows Server System applications. Additionally, its integration with a wide variety of existing Microsoft and third-party management tools allows administrators to seamlessly manage a Virtual Server 2005 R2 environment with their existing physical server management tools. A wide array of complementary product and service offerings are available from Microsoft and its partners to help businesses plan for, deploy, and manage Virtual Server 2005 R2 in their environment.

Download link.

March 22, 2006

How to Choose Computer Power Supply

post_power_supply.jpgA PC power supply is one of the most important components in a computer, yet it is often the least appreciated due to it’s "low-tech nature". When a power supply is dead, your entire system is dead. A bad computer power supply could also cause other parts of your system to fail. As personal computers become ever more powerful, the importance of a reliable power supply is more than ever before.

It’s easy to tell if a PC power supply is working or not. However, until now it has been hard for a PC end-user to measure the quality and reliability of a power supply. Dr. Michael's research work revealed an interesting discovery -- the weight of a power supply is directly related to the quality of the power supply. So, as a simple and easy way, "buy a power supply by the pound".

Read the full article published at Directron.com.

March 15, 2006

Good Questions Make a Great Leader

post_leadership.jpgAsk and you shall receive. When it comes to the art of leadership, this age-old saying holds a lot of truth.

If you want to be a better leader, a better manager, or a more effective professional, focus on questions more than answers. See what questions stimulate the most compelling answers. Observe how people react when they're asked something, compared to when they're told. Become a collector of the most interesting questions and pull them out as arrows in your leadership quiver.

Yahoo! Finance has the full article.

March 14, 2006

Major Credit Agencies Adopt Uniform Score to Simplify Loan Process

The three major consumer credit reporting agencies, Equifax, Experian and TransUnion, announced Tuesday that they have created a new credit scoring system, "VantageScore", aimed at simplifying the loan process for both lenders and borrowers. The agencies in the past each used their own proprietary formulas to create their own scores, meaning that a lender dealing with a consumer's application for a credit card or a mortgage might have to reconcile three widely different scores. With the new system, a single methodology will be used to create the scores.

The scores will range from 501 to 990, and will be grouped on "the familiar academic scale." Experian gave these groupings:
A -- 901-990
B -- 801-900
C -- 701-800
D -- 601-700
F -- 501-600
It said the new scores would be available immediately.

Yahoo! Finance has the full story.

February 27, 2006

Plans to Import Chinese Cars Hit Snags

post_geely_car.jpgChinese automakers racing to enter the U.S. market are being slowed by everything from financing to pollution regulations. Entrepreneur Malcolm Bricklin is trying to raise $200 million -- $2 million from each dealer looking to sell vehicles from China's Chery Automotive -- but he only has 37 dealers so far. Rival automaker Geely, which hopes to offer vehicles for $10,000, just flunked U.S. emissions and side-crash tests, forcing engineers to tweak designs. Someone will bring cheap Chinese cars to the U.S., said George Peterson of consultant AutoPacific. "The question is who will be first."

USATODAY has the full story.

February 22, 2006

Don't Get Ripped Off by A Rebate 'Deal'

The pitches are irresistible: Get a $100 hard drive for $30 after rebate. Score the latest $150 cell phone with digital camera for nada. Make $10 by mailing in a rebate form for virus-protection software. However, it's NOT a great buy until you’ve cashed the rebate check -- and a lot of companies are earning bad reputations for making that as difficult as possible. Nevertheless, the good thing is, with consumer complaints to the FTC and Better Business Bureau escalating, regulators are ramping up their scrutiny of rebates.

MSN Money has the full story.

February 6, 2006

AOL to Charge Fee as Way to Cut SPAM

post_email_stamp.jpgAmerica Online will begin charging businesses to send commercial e-mail to its users in the first wide-scale use of authenticated e-mail to reduce spam. "This is all about protecting consumers from spam, phishing, viruses and fraud," says Richard Gingras, CEO of Goodmail. Gingras compares the system to certified postal mail. Still, the revamped commercial e-mail system could have unintended consequences for some marketers and consumers. Some marketers affected by the plan, set to start in several weeks, call it e-mail taxation designed to create a new stream of revenue for AOL.

USA Today has the full story.

February 5, 2006

Google and Skype Invest in Startup to Link Hotspots and Help Owners Charge for Wi-Fi Access

Google Inc. and eBay Inc.'s Skype are investing in FON, a Spanish startup that plans to help hotspot owners charge for Wi-Fi access, a plan that could face significant opposition from Internet service providers.

FON's idea, floated just three months ago in a Web posting by founder Martin Varsavsky, is to sign up people who have Wi-Fi hotspots, either for free or not. FON faces a hurdle in that most ISPs prohibit subscribers from sharing internet access with people outside their household. Many broadband subscribers share their access now for free, though, and it's hard for Internet service providers to stop them.

Yahoo business has the full analysis.

February 2, 2006

Significant Update for Zend Core for IBM

post_zendcoreibm.gifOn Jan 30, 2006, Zend Technologies announced the general availability of the updated Zend Core™ for IBM®, featuring a free DB2 Express Data Server and the Cloudscape database for embedded applications. Earlier releases of Zend Core for IBM already supported Linux and AIX – this update adds support for Windows®, allowing many additional developers to rely on a certified and easily installable PHP environment. All Zend Core for IBM versions are available as a free download from Zend's web site at www.zend.com.

February 1, 2006

Toilet Monster at Amazon

post_toiletmonster.jpgThis monster is great...
My old millionaire nan came over recently to tell us that she was about to take us out of her will because we had too much money already, and as luck would have it she had to use the bathroom during that same visit. We heard this scream from the bathroom and when we broke in we found our nan dead on the floor...luckily she hadn't gone to her attorney's office to sign the new will and we got our share after all...thanks toilet monster..you were worth the $15 + $5 shipping we paid for you.

Don't use to scare people with guns...
ok so i planted one of these in the toilet for a BBQ my parents were throwing(im 13)i figured this way no one would stink up the bathroom. so my family is friends with a cop and he came right from work, thus he had his gun in his holster, so the parties going on for like 45 min. when all of a sudden we here like 9 very loud booms we all run to the bath room where they had came from and the cops there and the toilet monster (and the toilet)is filled with holes.apparently the cop went to the bathroom lifted the seat, saw the monster, and unloaded about 9 shots into it we all had a good laugh then he paid my parents for a new toilet and me for a new monster(i told him they costed $90)

NOT REAL!
I thought this would be an actual toilet monster, and was happy to see such a low price. It is, however, made out of rubber, and can not actually eat people.

Read more about Toilet Monster at Amazon.com.

Partition Logic: Free (and Cool) Hard Disk Partitioning and Data Management Tool

post_partitionlogic.jpg Partition Logic is a free hard disk partitioning and data management tool. It can create, delete, format, defragment, resize, and move partitions and modify their attributes. It can copy entire hard disks from one to another.

Partition Logic is free software, based on the Visopsys operating system. It boots from a CD or floppy disk and runs as a standalone system, independent of your regular operating system. It is intended to become a free alternative to such commercial programs as Partition Magic, Drive Image, and Norton Ghost... (read more)

January 19, 2006

Automobile Claim Filing Tips

When filing a claim on your automobile insurance, you should take the following steps:

1. Always report an incident to the police, regardless of how minor it seems. What looks like a small dent or scratch could actually cost you several hundred dollars to repair.

2. Make sure the police officer gives you a copy of the drivers' information-exchange form.

3. Write down names, addresses and phone numbers of any witnesses in case you need them later.

Continue reading "Automobile Claim Filing Tips" »

January 16, 2006

What Powers the Growth of China and India?

post_grow.gifThese two countries are setting the stage for the greatest period of discovery, invention, and technological change the world has ever known. PhD Jeremy Siegel wrote a column article at Yahoo finance, and expressed his look at what is driving the transformation -- growth of knowledge; historically high density of population which led to increased communication, greater specialization, and the discovery of better techniques for food production; and the new economy that encourages the access to the knowledge and accelerates discovery.

All in all, this article still falls to the old topic of "knowledge economy", yet well-written and worth reading.

Yahoo finance has the full story.

January 12, 2006

8888-Leading Dollar Note for Year of Dog

post_8888_dollar.jpgTo cellebrate the Chinese Spring Festival and the coming of the year of dog in Chinese lunar calander, the America's Bureau of Engraving and Printing has uncirculated $1 US notes with a serial number beginning with "8888" for sale throught its official web site. The note is beautifully packaged to bring you good fortune and prosperity in the New Lunar Year. Also available is the $5 note.

January 11, 2006

Lottery: Wrong Way to Build Your Wealth

post_lottery.jpgAbout one out of five Americans believe that winning the lottery is the most practical way of attaining personal wealth. Among Americans with salaries of $25,000 or less, 38 percent believe the lottery is the way to go, although they know that the odds of winning the lottery are ridiculously remote -- approximately one in a gazillion.

Financial experts like Barbara Whelehan however advise that expecting to get rich by winning the lottery is just not realistic, and those who do win the lottery do not always achieve lasting financial security. Among the many other practical wealth-building strategies, optimistic planning is the key.

This article on BankRate extends the analyst and introduces the concept of personal financial ratios towards an elegant road map to financial health and retirement -- worth your five minutes.

The Best Jobs to Have in 2006

post_job.jpgExperts predict 2006 will be a good year for job candidates who possess desirable skills. Demand for these skilled workers could mean fatter paychecks. Yahoo Finance has a guide to 16 careers that could do well -- and why. Plus, links to where you can get more information.

January 10, 2006

Apple Unveils New Macs Using Intel Chips

post_imac.jpgApple Computer Inc.'s historic shift to Intel Corp. microprocessors came months earlier than expected as CEO Steve Jobs on Thursday debuted personal computers based on new two-brained chips from the world's largest semiconductor company.

The first Macs to deploy Intel's Core Duo processors will be the latest iMac desktop, whose circuitry is all built into the display, and the MacBook Pro laptop. When it announced the massive switch in June, Apple said it expected to begin making the transition by mid-2006. Jobs said its entire Mac line will be converted to Intel by the end of this calendar year.

Yahoo Finance has the full story.

January 9, 2006

Unlocker: Program You May be Looking for with Your Whole Life Time

Ever had such an annoying message given by Windows?

It has many other flavors:
* Cannot delete file: Access is denied
* There has been a sharing violation.
* The source or destination file may be in use.
* The file is in use by another program or user.
* Make sure the disk is not full or write-protected and that the file is not currently in use.

Unlocker is an explorer extension that allows you with a simple right-click of the mouse on a file or folder to get rid of this error message!

Download the tool here.

Free DNS Server and Free Web Hosting Service

post_hosting.jpgZoneEdit.com offers free DNS server for up to five domains, with which you may host your own web sites at home. They also have an open-source program that automatically updates your DNS records with your (typically) dynamic IP address obtained from your Cable/DSL internet provider. A DNS server is essential in helping the visitors to visit your web site's physical machine (your PC at home in this case) according to your web site's name (such as www.jihe.net).

For hobby web site owners that care less about technical issues, you may additionally choose MemeBot for free web hosting. The catch is, in order to get the free hosting, the web site needs to be smaller than 30MB on disk and the monthly bandwidth (amount of data transfered from/to the web site) needs to be below 100MB.

January 7, 2006

Google to Launch Online Video Download Service

post_dvd.jpgGoogle Inc. said on Friday the company is expanding into two new fields with an online video store and a computer maintenance service, moves that mark stepped-up challenges to its biggest computer and media rivals, including Apple, Microsoft and Yahoo.

Google Co-founder and President Larry Page said the video marketplace would offer free programming, low-cost rentals and outright purchases of premium entertainment and sports shows ranging from episodes of 'Star Trek' to every National Basketball Association league game online, for the first time ever.

Bill Gates of Microsoft, in a previous campus talk, predicted that DVD media will eventually disappear and will be replaced by online services. His prediction unfortunately is being realized by one of his biggest competitors.

CNN Money has the full story.

January 6, 2006

Home Theater Viewing Distance Calculator

Thinking about buying a new HDTV, projector, or TV set and wondering what size to get? Ever wonder if your TV is placed too close to your sofa? homestead.com has a simple yet effective viewing distance caculator to assists your viewing room design.

Finding Low Price-To-Earinings Ratio (P-E) Stocks is Easy

post_money.jpgIt's hard to resist a bargain. And when it comes to bargains on Wall Street, a low P-E catches many investors' attention. There is sound reason for that. The price-to-earnings ratio of a stock tells you how much investors are willing to pay for every $1 a company generates in profit. The lower the P-E, the less investors are paying in order to yield the same earnings.

Yahoo Finance elaborates this concept, and recommend the Intraday Stock Screener at USATODAY for low P-E stock screening. In the same page is a Mutual Fund Finder that highlights mutual funds with high performance. HTH!

December 21, 2005

A Year Without 'Made in China'

How your life could be, without 'Made in China"? Sara Bongiorni tells the story of her family to readers of the Christian Science Monitor, and concludes:

'After a year without China I can tell you this: You can still live without it, but it's getting trickier and costlier by the day. And a decade from now I may not be brave enough to try it again.'

The full story is here.

December 15, 2005

Tablet PCs: Stuck In A Niche

Three years after their introduction, tablet PCs have settled into a small niche serving people who regularly take notes or fill out forms while on the job. Yet they'll remain just 2% of the overall notebook market. Use has been limited to markets such as health care, pharmaceutical sales, manufacturing, and education. Consumers, meanwhile, have shown little interest in tablet PCs. Analysts say Microsoft has been partly to blame. InformationWeek has the full story.

December 14, 2005

Sybase ASE v15 Developers Edition for Windows x86, Linux x86 and Sun Solaris 64-bit for FREE Download

Again, this is a headsup on the freely downloadable version (Developer's Edition) of Sybase ASE 15.0 for Windows x86, Linux x86 and Sun Solaris 64-bit which can be downloaded via http://www.sybase.com/ase_1500devel.

Sybase's web site is as-nearly-non-searchable-at-all-as-usual and I am always wondering what are the differences between its "Developer's Edition" and "Express Edition" (available here as I previously mentioned). Anyway I am glad to find a free, workable ASE 15 Windows version for testing, before I mess up the product server at my institute :D

December 13, 2005

Google Hungry for Machine Learning Professionals?

Discovery of today: If you search "Machine Learning" at Google, you will get a large "Want to work at Google?" targeted advertisement on the very top of your search result page (see below).

google-ml.jpg

Isn't this a strong indication that Google is hungry for machine learning professionals (or at least someones who know about or are interested in machine learning)? Interestingly, search results for many other related terms like "Machine Intelligence", "Text Processing", "Text Mining", "Data Mining" etc. won't give you this ad. This probably, probably I say, is because the one who post this targeted ad has only limited knowledge to machine learning and hence could not expand the keywords set pretty much :D

December 6, 2005

Zend Core for Oracle Officially Announced

Zend Core for Oracle? This sounds like an old news for half a year. So this is just a follow up -- the RELEASE version (no preview, no beta) version is officially announced today at the Zend web site. This is not a big, but considered an exiciting news in the open-source community, especially for PHP the thriving free programming language.

Not sure what it is yet? According to the official web site:

"Zend Core™ for Oracle® supports businesses using PHP with Oracle Database for business-critical Web applications. It provides a seamless out-of-the-box experience delivering a stable, high performance, easy-to-install and supported PHP development and production environment fully integrated with the Oracle Database..."

Register and download.

November 16, 2005

Texas Town Renames Itself 'Dish' to Get Free TV

A Texas town has changed its name to DISH in exchange for 10 years of free satellite television service. All 125 residents of the town formerly known as Clark will get basic service and a free digital video recorder satellite TV receiver, a move that has some people joking that the Fort-Worth suburb will become a town of couch potatoes. Yahoo News has the full story.

November 12, 2005

Google Toolbar for Firefox

This may be an old news to someones, but came as an excitement to me -- Google Toolbar for Firefox DO EXISTS (and may already been for a long while)! The download link is at here. The only thing is that it is for Firefox 1.0 - 1.4, which unfortunately does not work on my testing Firefox 1.5RC2. Well, I believe once Firefox 1.5 stable is out, they guys should be able to make it compatible to v1.5 pretty soon.

While Firefox has built in a quite fancy Google search bar, I still miss the page rank and spell check functions of Google toolbar, which to my (obviously outdated) knowledge was available for Microsoft Internet Explorer only. Well now, those who believe in Firefox are blessed ;)

November 7, 2005

Visual Studio Express Free for One Year

Microsoft is offering promotional discout on the "light version" of their new development product line, Visual Studio Express, for free for one year. Staring from today till 2006/11/07, anyone can download the whole package for free and use it "forever". The Visual Studio Express package includes
* Visual Web Developer 2005 Express
* Visual Basic 2005 Express
* Visual C# 2005 Express
* Visual C++ 2005 Express
* Visual J# 2005 Express
* SQL Server Express
Story behind this offer? I guess they guys are aware of the web developement market dominated by Apache httpd and tons of free development languages such as Perl, PHP and JAVA and trying to catch up.

This is NOT a beta version, again, NOT a beta. Full story is here.