We do copy various data by ctrl+c for pasting elsewhere. This copied data is stored in clipboard and is accessible from the net by a combination of Javascripts and ASP.
Just try this:
1) Copy any text by 'ctrl+c' 2) .

Do not keep sensitive data (like passwords, reditcard numbers, PIN etc.) in the clipboard while surfing the web. It is extremely easy to extract the text stored in the clipboard to steal your sensitive information.



To avoid Clipboard Hack Problem, do the following: 1) In Internet Explorer, Go to Tools -> Internet options -> Security
2) Press Custom level.
3) In the security settings, select disable under Allow paste operations via script and click on 'OK. (Now the contents of your clipboard are safe.)

Now, this is the height of military geekiness! A thumb-drive which could stand nuclear effects!

What you are seeing is the IronDrive, strong enough to withstand those tough conditions such as high temperature, shock, vibration, submersion, EMI and caustic agents. Boasting a bulky cigarette lighter like design, the IronDrive is an USB drive that has been designed tough as per the military standards and it could even withstand nuclear effects. It can operate effectively in temperatures as low as -40 F (-40 C) or as high as to +185 F (+85C). It weighs a mere 164 grams and the site says that it is cost effective.

Do you think Firewall which you use is the best or want to find out which is the best Firewall ? then Firewall Leak Test is for you.

Here you can test your Firewall using extensive series of test.
So hurry up and test your firewall.

I request to all my readers that after testing their firewall, please post a comment here that your Firewall passed or not with your Firewall name so that all my blog readers will come to know which Firewall is good and which is bad.

The problem

1. A vulnerability has been reported in several editions of Microsoft Excel. It can be exploited to take control of a user's system. Memory could be corrupted and arbitrary code executed.

2. Various Symantec products, including Norton Antivirus 2006, Internet security 2005 and 2006, SystemWorks 2006, and Antispyware edition 2005 have vulnerabilities that can be exploited to compromise a user's system. They are caused due to errors in certain ActiveX controls under certain conditions.



What to Do

Microsoft has released patches for various editions of Excel. Find them at
www.microsoft.com/technet/security/Bulletin/MS07-044.mspx
Symantec Security response has released Bloodhound.Exploit.148 to detect and block attempts to exploit the aforementioned vulnerability. Get fix at http://tinyurl.com/4kwu

Today everyone must be familiar of what a touchscreen is.
In simple words, a touchscreen is a screen which you can operate using your finger.

Today, we see touchscreens in mobiles, computers and many other devices and you all must be willing to know how touchscreen works.
Here i am going to tell you how a touchscreen works and about different types of touchscreens.


Components of touchscreen

A touchscreen consists of three major components. They are :-

1. Touch sensitive surface - It is a glass panel which is put over the viewable screen. Electric current or charge or ultrasonic waves are passed through it. When it is touched, there is a change in the current or charge or frequency of ultrasonic waves.

2. Controller - It can also be termed as CPU of touch screen. When touch sensitive surface is touched, the controller only records the change in the current or charge or frequency of ultrasonic waves and identifies the point where you have touched.

3. Software driver - Controller identifies the point of touch and then sends it to the machine in the form of signal. But the signal which is sent by the controller cannot be understand by the machine. Therefore the software driver converts the signal in to signal which is understandable by the machine and then the machine opens that thing which you have touched.



Different types of touchscreens

1. Resistive touchscreen - This type of touchscreen consists of two glass layers. One layer is coated with the conductive material and other is coated with the resistive material. Electric current is passed through the conductive material. When the pressure is applied on the screen, both the glass layers collide and change in current is recorded by the controller and it is sent to the machine by means of software driver. Resistive screens offer limited clarity na dcan be easily damaged by sharp objects.

2. Capacitive touchscreen - This type of touchscreen is consits of a glass panel coated with charge storing material. When the screen is touched, a small amount of charge is drawn to the point of contact which is registered by the controller and sent to the machine by means of software driver. They cannot be easily damaged and clarity is much better than resistive screens.

3. Acoustic touchscreen - In this type of touchscreen, ultrasonic waves are passed over the glass panel. When the screen is touched, change in frequency of ultrasonic waves is recorded by the controller and sent to machine by means of software driver.

Sigbritt Lothberg, a 75 year old granny in sweden, just got a 40 Gbps internet connection.

Its about 20,000 times faster than 2 Mbps, and 6 Lakh 40 Thousand times faster than a dial-up.

Interesting how such news spreads with such rapidity over the fibres, as it were... Lotherberg's home connection happens to be the fastest residential Internet connection on the planet.

Lotherberg can download a full-length dual-layer DVD in two seconds, or watch 1500 HDTV channels streamed simultaneously.

Let's see what Lotherberg might do with her connection, in increasing order of horror:
1. Download windows updates
2. Chat with relatives abroad
3. Play Yahoo! games with jovial granny-friends right in Sweden
4. Search for recipes online.

A pair of serious vulnerabilities have been reported in the Yahoo messenger.

In the first vulnerability, a remote attacker could compromise a machine running a webcam on Yahoo messenger by causing a buffer overflow in its ActiveX component when the user visits a webpage with malcious HTML code. The result is that more data is sent to the RAM than it can handle, causing the program or other services running on the computer to crtash, or the execution of harmful code. The second exploit causes a buffer overflow in the file ywcvwr.dll, which is used in the viewer component of the messenger.

Solution

Yahoo has released a patch for the exploits, stating that everyone using their messenger should download the updated version from
http://messenger.yahoo.com/download.php.

Instant Gratification

This weapon was made famous in the Quake genre, which allowed players a one-shot-kill on the opponents at the speed of light... now who wouldn't want this baby?

A weapon like this is being worked on. DARPA (United states Advanced Research Projects Agency) has been researching this for 10 years, and work continues. They are working on projectiles that do not contain explosives, but have extremely high kinetic speeds, which would, in theory make their kinetic energy superior to the energy output of a shell filled with explosives of greater mass. This would then enable soldiers to carry more ammunition.

There is working prototype at the University of Texas at Austin's institute for Advanced Technology, capable of delivering tungsten-armour-piercing bullets with kinetic energies of nine million joules-that's like ramming a ton truck into a wallat 80 Kmph! The only problem is that since the shells are fired at an extremely high velocity, the rail of the gun suffers from extreme damage, and has to be serviced aftyer every shot.

Nevertheless, we can't wait to see this one in action!

The shrinks at the American Medical Association are moving to officially recognise "Internet/video gaming addiction" as a disorder. What this means is that lawyers will, in the future, attempt to blame "gory video games" for crimes ranging from eveteasing to mass murder, and use the medically recognised disorder to bolster their defences.

When it comes to complaints, the online multiplayer game Everquest tops the charts.

However, Sony online entertainment, the company behind Everquest, denies any wrongdoing, stating: "I guess our standpoint is the same as all kinds of products-you have to be responsible in using it."

Google has rechristened Froogle to "Google Product Search". Froogl.com now points to www.google.com/products, and it looks like they're putting in a bigger effort to make this for products what Google is to web search. It's still completely US-biased, but it still serves as good price indicator for the stuff you want to buy.

Of course Microsoft and Google rule the world, but little things here and there keep reinforcing the fact. Take this for instance: a not-overlyfamous researcher at the University of New South Wales publishes a not-so- groundbreaking paper on cognition, and it gets heavily publicised. Just because Professor Sweller said,"The use of the PowerPoint presentation has been a disaster. It should be ditched." Note the use of word "PowerPoint"; he didn't use the generic "presentation application." He did what's not done: criticise the use of a Microsoft product.

To begin at the beginning: Prof John Sweller-Who specialises in cognitive research-theorised and discovered that people cannot digest information properly when it comes in two different forms, spoken and written. To quote the professor,"It is effective to speak to a diagram, becauseit presents information in a different form. But it is not effective to speak the same words that are written, because it is putting too much load on the mind and decreases your ability to understand what is being presented."

Come to think of it, why do people present something on a projected screenand reiterate it by saying the same thing? What's the Point (pun very much intented)? It's probably (to the bestof our understanding) what is known in educational circles as pedagogical device that relies on reinforcement. Sweller is now saying that it doesn't work, and that it should be done away with.

It's been done for so long now, preparing neat PowerPoint slides and delivering spiel. Think of that oft-repeated phrase,"I need to deliver this presentation". Nice, bulleted points. Fonts. Heading styles. Borders. Etc. And all for naught? That's exactly what Sweller is saying. Imagine all the (implied) lost productivity; and imagne the idea that there's not much Power in the Point after all.

OK, so this is just one professor's work, but what if the idea were to gain momentum.....would it mean the end of all those fonts and bulleted points? The end of the way execs and their minions do things every boring buisness day?

Recently, Microsoft executives were all abuzz about their latest plan to target 5 billion users who aren't already using PCs. With global population of over six billion people, Microsoft is appalled that only under a billion use its products-including pirated software users. In a bid to make this more Microsoft-dependent world, the company is looking to make deals with governments to provide cheaper versions of its popular software for students and the under privileged.

When you think about it, of all the software that Microsoft makes, two really stand out: Windows XP, Microsoft office. While most of us privileged users might have to spend several months' salaries to afford these software.

The offer? How does $3 sound as a price tag for Windows XP Starter Edition, Microsoft Office Home and Student 2007, Microsoft Math 3.0, Learning Essentials 2.0 for MS Office and Windows Live Mail Desktop? Unbelievable? Believe it! Termed the Student Innovation Suite, Gates unveiled Microsoft's plans during a speech in China in mid-April. Although the Microsoft student Innovation Suite (MSIS) is meant for students, it doesn't apply only to schools and colleges- students can use this at home, and Microsoft knows that entire family will probably use the same PC.

So is Microsoft selling all these great products for $3 to everyone? Not on your life, as always, there's a catch. Remember, the software is being sold to governments, not the students themselves. And is supplemented by the provision that he governments have to pay at least 50 per cent of the price of the PC that MSIS is bundled with.

A thai game developer, is developing a goodness game. That's not what he calls it, but the aim of the game is to be good - according to the tenets of Buddhism. These happen to be : do not kill, do not steal, do not commit adultery, do not lie, and do not drink alcohol. Now we haven't seen a game where you get points for quaffing on a bottle of jack, but except for that, you pretty much do all the rest of those no-nos in today's games.

Pakorn Tancharoen is a senior officer in Thailand's Religious Affairs Department. He got concerned by modern impact of gaming when he heard about a boy who attacked his mother when she wouldn't pay for an online gaming session.

Tancharoen went to extent of developing this game where you follow three children on a pilgrimage with a wise old monk. You have to deal with obstacles along the way, of course, but you have to be good while doing it. No fragging old monks. No fragging monkeys,either - even shooting animals will cost you points.

People can download the game at www.khondee.net/game.
But remember the game is in thai.

We (at least, those in developed countries) live in a digital world, so why should education be so 'analogue'-as in old school? The specific point is, people need to rethink best means of delivering education is. Games can be effective; the question is, how effective, and what kind of games.

"We've organised our schools using methods from the Middle Ages,"

said David Shaffer of the university of Wisconsin-Madison, and author of How Computer Games Help Children Learn.
"The trend toward administering more standardised tests does not prepare children for a digital future."

Of course, no-one is talking about Doom and such in classrooms. They're talking about new-gen infotainment games. In a game designed by an Indiana University associate proffessor, players assume the role of investigatorslooking to find why fish are dying in a park. Theories are offered, such as excessive logging, and players share data and compare hypotheses. Does that sound interesting enough? It probably depends on how the game is executed, including such things as visual feel.

The idea behind the exercise-research into which millions of dollars are being poured-is that games are engaging, so students will play them. Like they'd play Doom. Can this new crop of educational games hold as much interest?

After reading the title of this post you would be thinking that how this is possible. But it is possible.

Assuming university of Rochester researchers proved that students who played action video games a few hours a day for a month improved their preformance by 20 per cent at 'clutter test' - something like a standard eye-test.

Chosen for the research were students at the University who hardly played games. Then those students were given the clutter test. This consists of the following: one needs to identify the oreintation of a 'T' thrown somewhere in a clutter of symbols. Then the students were divided in two groups - one group played Tetris for about an hour a day, and other played Unreal Tournament.

After a month, the tetris players hadn't improved and Unreal Tournament players had improved at clutter test.
This proves that action games improves vision.

Now you can tell your parents about this and ask them to buy some good action games for the sake of vision.

Good news for corporations in US. Microsoft has offered to pay if companies
force employees to use its Live Search engine. Now befor you start jumping up and down screaming foul and shooting off letters to your favourite, Google, you should Know that Microsoft is not paying jut anyone who uses Live Search, well, not yet at least. Instead, it is conducting a study on how well Live Search does in catering to corporate clientele. They're not paying up hard cash either, instead, They're offering the corporations free service for credits (redeemable for products or training). The current rate is $25000 for enrolling, and anywhere between $10 and $2 per computer, per year, depending on the amount of searching done. What this means is that a company with 20,000 computers, all of them using search frequently, can earn up to $255,000, just by using live search.

Now lets wait and see what google have to say about it.