Good Job, Logitech

Keith Ward blogged on Tuesday about a fantastic experience he had with Logitech Tech Support:

Thumbs-up to Logitech Tech Support

Very seldom do we hear tech support stories that are nothing but positive so I thought this was definitely worth mentioning.

From Keith:

"I only had to wait minutes, and talked with someone very knowledgeable, who listened patiently to my explanations, and kept working on the problem until we got it resolved. He was unfailingly polite, and was able to hone into the problem quickly."

I truly believe that the quality of a company's technical support is directly related to the kind of company it is as a whole.

Good Job, Logitech originally appeared on About.com Focus on PC Support on Thursday, January 14th, 2010 at 06:15:29.

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Cooling Down With a Usb Gadget

gadget


Just how many USB gadgets would help you cool down?

Well, there are USB gadgets which would light up. There are also those which would play music. There are some which would help you store files. Other USB gadgets would do a lot of crazy antics. Some would help you remove any stress or tiredness in your body by letting you play some game. But it is not everyday that you get to meet a USB gadget which would help you cool down. And yes, it does not matter if you would need to cool down because of a hot temper or just because the temperature is quite high.

Now, it is time to meet the USB Air Force fan. By just the name itself, the USB Air Force fan tells you that it is a fan of some sort. It does not need to be directly plugged in into the grid like most electric fans. It also does not need you to put in some batteries so that it would send off some cool air your way. The USB Air Force fan which can be found over at Gadget Epoint would be the USB gadget that is going to help you cool down while you work with your computer. Very nice.

But this USB Air Force fan is not like your ordinary fan. See, this USB gadget comes as a classic air plane, only smaller. It has been painted with a camouflage print so it really is like a real Air Force air plane. And that is something that you do not get to see everyday. Though this USB gadget does not fly, it does send off cool air. But do not worry about losing fingers if you hit the blades. See, the blades are made to be soft and flexible they wouldn’t hurt you.



Outlook 2000 System Redundancy Error

From pbaker62 in the PC Support Forums:

The other day my wife suddenly couldn't get new messages, nor could she open any.  A code came up:  system redundancy error.  The Microsoft site that instructs fix of the problem is too technical... I've tried to follow it but lose it.

I thought I'd ask if there's a way to repair this problem.  Note the problem is limited to Outlook and it doesn't seem to slow down the IE6 operating system or browsing on the web.  She'd like to keep the features and functionality of Outlook 2000.  Or, if it'll work, can she upgrade to another version of Outlook and import messages in the inaccessible Outlook 2000?

This is a toughie but we still would like to know yay or nay.

Any ideas for Phil?

Outlook 2000 System Redundancy Error originally appeared on About.com Focus on PC Support on Wednesday, January 13th, 2010 at 08:16:54.

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UNIX/Linux Enterprise Software Ecosystem to Grow as Fast as Windows’

unix


The Linux Foundation announced April 8 its annual sponsorship of independent IDC predictions about how the Linux ecosystem will grow over time. The answer is “a lot” but exactly what you’d expect in relationship to the UNIX ecosystem. 

I usually measure Linux/UNIX usage growth/decline by following the IDC quarterly view of server shipments. The clear trend from that perspective is that factory shipments of servers with Linux is increasing basically at the rate that factory shipments of servers with UNIX decreases. It gets the rabid open source blogosphere foaming at the mouth to say this but Linux is basically the latest version of UNIX. So market researchers expect the two operating systems to move in this manner. 

From a market research perspective, looking at the Linux ecosystem separate from the UNIX ecosystem would be like looking at the growth of Windows 15 years ago without also watching the decline of DOS. Bascially,  you choose the IBM and HP versions of Linux et al for factory shipments if you used to choose AIX, HP/UX and so forth. In addition, leading server suppliers are partnering with Linux services suppliers such as Red Hat, Canonical and so forth for follow-ons. This is relatively low-margin services business the major systems suppliers used to take for themselves. 

The IDC report released April 8 looks at the same trend from a different perspective. By the way and not coincidentally, the Linux Foundation is funded by platinum sponsors Fujitsu, Hitachi, HP, IBM, Intel, NEC, Novell and Oracle along with dozens of other Gold, Silver and Affiliate sponsors. Rather than measuring your choice of servers, the new IDC research predicts your “Linux-related software spending.” The forecast says Linux-related software revenue will grow from $12 billion to $35 billion between 2008 and 2013 while “Unix spending” goes almost almost flat (from $69 billion to $74 billion). This statistic forecasts not only the Linux- and other open source operating software (e.g., Solaris) revenue flowing in the market but the revenue of license fees, maintenance and related subscriptions for application servers, ESBs, databases, ERP, BI and even consumer software running on those operating systems. Note that much of this software is not tied to open source terms and conditions (Ts&Cs). As an example, an Oracle database and SAP R/3 running on a Linux server would be considered Linux-related software spending in this case. 

The IDC report also has some interesting information about cloud computing, virtualization and the effects on the market of the current economic downturn. It is available free from the Linux Foundation Web site. I wrote about a companion piece of IDC research sponsored by Novell here

By comparison, “Windows-related” revenue, according to the same IDC white paper, will grow from $149 billion to $206 billion during the same period. That is, both ecosystems are growing at about the same compound annual growth rate of 6 percent to 7 percent. That’s also as one would expect because both ecosystems are rapidly becoming the two dominant choices you have in the marketplace. As has been the trend for a few years, Linux- and other open source-based software is replacing UNIX-system-based software while Windows-based software is displacing OS/400 and other similar less IT-personnel-intensive systems. 

As always, be careful of statistics. These statistics do not tell the whole story of the marketplace and your choices in it. For example, just as a lot of the software in the open source operating system ecosystem is deployed with traditional Ts&Cs (the Oracle/SAP example above), a lot of the software revenue measured in the Windows ecosystem is distributed with open source Ts&Cs. Examples are JBoss or MySQL running on Windows



Thoughts on Windows 7?

It's been a few weeks since the end of the holidays so I'm sure some of you are introducing yourself to Windows 7, either on your new PC or thanks to a gift wrapped retail copy of the new operating system.

So... what do you think?

Is Windows 7 the greatest thing since sliced bread or are you looking around for instructions to downgrade back to your trusty Windows XP?

More on Windows 7:

How to Install Windows 7
Windows 7 Drivers
Windows 7 Gadgets for System Monitoring

Thoughts on Windows 7? originally appeared on About.com Focus on PC Support on Monday, January 11th, 2010 at 09:46:08.

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How to Choose a Web Hosting Company

unix


Given the sheer number of web hosting providers, making the decision as to which one to go with can become a daunting task. What many people don’t realize is that the wrong choice can introduce a “single point of failure” into your otherwise successful online business. In this articles, I will discuss some of the major factors you should consider before you make that choice.

If you have always wanted to know more about this topic, then get ready because we have all the information you can handle.

interval AND BANDWIDTH

The most usual thing people look for in a hosting source is the total of floppy storeroom cosmos and “bandwidth” vacant to them. While these are indeed important, they should not forlorn be the deciding truthors. truth is, most sources nowadays allocate more floppy cosmos and bandwidth than most people would want. As I explained in an past thing, 5-10 Gigabytes (or more) of storeroom is A LOT of storeroom. Most people will never want this greatly. If you alprompt have your website intended and prompt to go on your own notebook, plainally right-click the folder and choose properties to verify how greatly cosmos it needs. Even if you use backend databases (e.g., MySQL, MS ACCESS), the gigantic margin of sites would never come close to requiring 5GB or more. As long as the hosting sources you are considering give you that 5GB or more, you will be excellent in all but a few underdone suitarguments. If you realize you want more at a later time, make surely your source gives you an painexcluding upgrade avenue to a hosting design with a advanced allocation.

The same thing applies to bandwidth. Many, if not most, sources now give bandwidth allocatioins of 200Gb/month or more. That total would be more than adequate for most small businesses. Let’s look at an example. If each visitor to your site uses, on ordinary, 1MB of bandwidth to side through your pages, a 200GB/month bandwidth allocation would sell 200,000 visitors/month. Even if each visitor browsed an ordinary of 10MB on your site (which is decidedly dodgy), you could still sell 20.000 visitors/month. Of course, if your business truly explodes into a massive victory, your failsafe fallback locate is choosing a hosting source that allocates for a painexcluding upgrade avenue.

Keep reading further to learn how this topic can benefit you, as the rest of this article will supply you will the needed information.

communal VS. DEDICATED HOSTING

In a common hosting environment, your site is sited on a server that also grants hosting for a number of other people. You have your own cosmos, your own domain and the respite, but other people are also with the capital of that server for their sites. There is no chance of your pages viewing up on the other people site, or associate versa. Each site has its own sole set of folders, logins, and so forwards.

likewise the truth that common hosting expenses considerably excluding, the important consideration for most people is that the hosting circle prop workers administers the server. If there is a catch with the server, they have to fix it, not you. When the working technique or other technique software wants to be upgraded, they do it. All you care about is your own site and the pages enclosed on it.

For a large number of small businesses, common hosting is more than adequate. In a common hosting environment, there is no want for you to have official skill of Windows or Unix server administration. Thats not your soul business so why would you want to take that on?

In some suitarguments however, there may be exact reasons why superstar wants to administer their own server. These generally need people who have specialized needments. In that argument, a dedicated server would be the decision of choice.

In a dedicated server environment, you have packed manage over everything. You configure the server the way you want it. You ensconce working technique upgrades and patches, and you fix stuff when they crunch. You verify what components run on the server (e.g. ASP .NET 1.1 or .NET 2.0). You verify if the server runs CDONTs or some other mailer series. Its almost as if the server were in your home or place of business, excepting that you are administering it distantly.

Again, in the gigantic margin of suitarguments for a small business, common hosting would be the preference. In those suitarguments where a dedicated server is vital, most hosting companies grant that, along with the headaches.

expense

It is amazing to me what some hosting sources trust for their serassociates. It is even more amazing that so many people pay these worths. Let’s consider a few of the “low end” hosting designs untaken by some of the “big boys” in the web hosting sector.

One of them trusts $9.95/mo for their plain serassociate. They also need a $25 system fee. For that, you get 2GB of storeroom cosmos and 20GB of bandwidth. Another trusts $14.95/month. With that, you get 500MB (MB, not GB) of storeroom, and 30GB of bandwidth. Are you kididng me?? There are thousands of hosting sources that will give you 10 period these totals for $5/month or excluding. And if you relate other skin, you will find that in most suitarguments, these other sources also give you more in language of dispatch accounts and other “boundlessbies”. It pays to relate. For those who want to expend lookalike, or even triple, for domains and web hosting, go right before. It is your money after all.

Of course, you can forever go with a boundless hosting account. You cant beat the worth. But that doesnt routinely allocate you to use your own domain. You just become an increase of superstar elses (e.g., somehostingserassociate.com/yoursite). That doesnt do greatly for your branding. With boundless sites, you can also presume a boatload of ads that the hosting circle puts there. I disbelief that is truly the aura you want to portray to your customers.

HOSTING supplier VIABILITY

Many people overlook this consideration, but liability so can be a important gaffe. The last thing you want is to get a great site online, jerk getting a ton of visitors and sales, and then have your hosting circle go stomach-up on you. Its happened all too regularly.

It is to your help to make surely that whoever you host with will be there tomorrow, next month, next year and five days from now. You would be astounded how many hosting companies are run by a single self out of the basement of their home, or how many of them are working on a shoestring.

Dont be anxious to ask a possible hosting circle where their servers are located, or how many people are on their workers. I have confirmed in other stuff that it is truly important for all businesses to have a issue Continuity chart. Ask your possible hosting circle if they have one. Ask them what happens to YOU if there is a fire in their server knotty. And dont be anxious to ask them what happens to the circle if the possessor gets hit by a beer truck on the way to work. It happens.

OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

Depending on the wants for your online business, there are numerous other truthors to consider when choosing your hosting source:

- how many dispatch accounts do they grant?

- do they grant “Blog” software or do you want a 3rd-group plugin

- do they grant “Discussion Forum” software, or do you want a 3rd-group plugin?

- do they grant a “shopping drag”?

- do they grant “business accounts” if you don’t alprompt have one?

- do they grant “SSL” certificates for obtain transactions?

- what is the upgrade avenue for adding skin at a later court?

- do they grant robust transfer statistics?

You may not want all these skin, but if you do, it’s easier to go with those that are integrated into your hosting design. affect what YOUR wants are, then choose the hosting source that gives you the best combination of worth and skin.

.



Computer Restarts Itself

From a guest poster in the PC Support Forums:

My computer keeps restarting itself after 5 seconds of being on. It will turn off for about 2 seconds then turn back on. It won't post. I've tried clearing the CMOS.

The forum post has a lot more details about the problem, plus all the PC specs.

Any thoughts for this poster?

Computer Restarts Itself originally appeared on About.com Focus on PC Support on Sunday, January 10th, 2010 at 08:33:40.

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The Rate of Technological Development

technology


If we look over the last century and examine the rate of technological growth. We can forgive ourselves for feeling a little proud about how quickly things have moved forward compared to the previous centuries. Flying at speed. Moving underwater stealthily. Travelling in space to name a fraction of what the human race has achieved in such a short span of time.

The big question though, is could we have progressed any faster and further in that space of time? The answer to that question is a big resounding YES!

Since we have been civilised enough to be able to maintain a system of currency, we have had to rely on that very method of exchange, and commerce has taken full advantage of this situation. In fact, commerce has become so powerful that it actually controls the rate at which we progress.

There are currently three levels of technology in existence.

1) Commercial Technology.

This is the technology we use in everyday life. Covering all manner of toys, tools and useful objects. However, the level at which commercial technology is at. Is higher than that used in commercially available products. Now we could argue that the technology they hold back, is not fully tested, and therefore not completely safe. This might be true in very small percentages. The major reason for holding back is good old money. It’s all about making as much money out of a particular product before they move on to the next one. How many times have you seen products advertised as cutting edge at cut price? Only to find that they are outdated months later. Hard selling of latest technology at low prices is a key indicator that commerce is about to release a technologically superior product. So perhaps you can now see the control. What would happen to our technology if this didn’t happen?

2) Military Technology.

This is more advanced than commercial technology. There’s a lot of military technology we know about, and a lot we don’t know about. Governments will hold back the release of this technology into the commercial arena, because it can give them a tactical advantage in a military sense. The components used in military hardware will generally have a longer life than those used in commercial products. I remember having a component catalogue in the 1980’s. I could buy standard or military components. Standard were guaranteed for 1 year. Military for 5 years. They are generally more expensive. Commerce avoids using these products. The excuse is cost but it’s more likely to be because they want to sell you products at regular intervals. Having a product that lasted for a long time would be counter productive to them.

3) Experimental Technology.

This area is way ahead of commercial technology, but is closely watched by the military. There are developments currently in progress which are things that you possibly, couldn’t even comprehend, or didn’t even think was in the realm of possibility. The deepest and most secret of these are run by government bodies, and some of them, apparently, don’t exist. Again, this is for tactical reasons. If you could see what they were cooking up you would be amazed in one sense, and possibly frightened out of your skin.

So there we have it. After taking all these points into consideration, it’s quite obvious to see that progress is thwarted by these processes. Well, let’s see what the next few decades bring. Don’t worry though. Most of it is already here.



Ventrilo VS Teamspeak Servers

Teamspeak and Ventrilo are inherently rather similar applications. Both of them use VoIP technology in a client-server layout, allowing game players and others to talk online. That means that many users install their software on their home computer, called the client, which is organized through the server, or central hub. This server should be placed in a well connected local data center to keep latency at a minimum.

Gamers using these applications are able to plan strategies, talk to one another in real time, and communicate with one another without having to take the time to type. People who don’t game can also hold meetings using multiple people at once more effectively than many other methods.

Group study is a lot easier using this type of application, as is planning family get togethers, or any other occasion where you need to allow multiple people to talk in real time, but don’t have conference call capabilities. It’s a lot cheaper and easier than making multiple long distance calls, and it’s a lot easier to organize things when you don’t have to relay information. Plus, there’s no per minute fee on Vent servers, and they’re easy to use.

Most often, both of these applications are used with computer headsets. However, both of them also work well with just speakers and a microphone. Some of the most popular games using these programs include Counterstrike, Everquest and World of Warcraft. However, any other online game that requires players to use team work to accomplish its objectives can benefit from Vent servers and similar applications. There are client side applications for both voice utilities for Apple OS X, Windows, and a number of Unix-based OSes.

Ventrilo Servers

Ventrilo was first released in August of 2002, replacing outdated methods for talking to other players like Roger Wilco. While it hasn’t completely taken over the market, Vent servers make up a big portion of the servers in the multi-user VoIP industry recently. Ventrilo primarily uses TCP for communications and can be bandwidth intensive, depending on the active codecs used. Users of Ventrilo tend to like the light-weight, simple interface for client computers.

Teamspeak Servers

Initially released in 2003, a little later than Ventrilo, Teamspeak’s current version is Teamspeak 2. This application uses mostly UDP. Because it relies heavily on SQL databases on the server side, it’s very processor intensive and can run much more slowly than Vent servers usually do. This makes it a poor choice for people with older or slower computers, who may find it gets in the way of play. There’s a lot to the client interface, but this makes it somewhat bulkier and harder to use than Ventrilo.

As online voice communication methods continue to evolve, this competitive environment will keep producing more options. That means that online gamers and nongamers will be able to use Vent servers and other applications to communicate better with one another. Just about anyone can benefit from these kinds of applications, whether they’re a business, gamer, family, student, organization or any other type of group.

HotGVibe Cock Ring

The HotGVibe Vibrating Cock Ring can be utilized in numerous methods whether it is Are you looking for a cock ring that won’t bulge out and make you feel heavy and uncomfortable? With your own self or with your partner, Its one of a kind and ergonomic make, makes possible complete penetration which lets the tiny microscopic vibrator go into the vagina, and straightforward rouse a woman’s G-Spot while also providing men enhanced sexual vigor and fiery orgasms. You know how it is. You go to the gym and you’re working hard to build muscle. Weights will do it, but there are limitations. To make those muscles pop, you’ll try out protein drinks and fill the supermarket trolley with fish, chicken and beef.

The HotGVibe provides you and your partner endless sexual enjoyment. Do you want to try a sex toy that will navigate and find that G-spot instantly? The way I see it, what happens under the sheets is none of my business and I won’t trespass into private territory, but if you’d like some information on adding more joy to the joy of sex with sex toys, then it’s time to open up.

Open your mind to new things. In other words, be curious. Scale higher levels of enjoyment in sex with the HotGVibe, and both you and your partner will feel joys never felt before. Though the HotGVibe Cock Ring can be thrown away, its extra long lasting and replaceable battery offers unending enjoyment, and thrilling, heart throbbing and powerful orgasms.

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