Disney netpal: Netbooks from Asus exclusively for kids

Asus is coming up with netbooks designed while keeping young kids in mind. These netboks (called netpals) will be targeted at the 6 to 12 year old kids and Asus will launch them in collaboration with Disney.

These systems would thus provide kids with inexpensive ulraportables with a Disney tag to appeal them further. The netpals will come with inbuilt parental control features. These netbooks will come preloaded with Windows XP but will include a Disney Magic Desktop gadget tray to provide kids with 2D menus for simpler access to mails and websites.

The parental control features include control of websites that can be accessed, ability to program the calender to define the time at which the machine can be used by their children, e-mail correspondence and ability to monitor the websites children are visiting.

These special edition netbooks will be available in Princess pink and magic blue and will have an 8.9 inches LCD display, 160 GB of hard drive and 16 GB of SSD storage with 1GB of DDR memory and WiFi capabilities.

HP’s new printer can connect to the Internet, has a touchscreen

HP has announced new all-in-one printer that like most other all-in-one printers can print, scan, copy and send faxes but in addition can also connect to the Internet.

Hp PhotoSmart Premium comes with WiFi, bluetooth and and a touchscreen. The device is capable of downloading content and making purchases on the Internet and already has content for delivery providers in the form of USA Today, Google, Fandango, Coupons.com, DreamWorks Animation, Nickelodeon, web Sudoku, and Weathernews.

The device is not designed to surf the Internet but you can make purchases, for eg. book your tickets online and then print them directly through the printer.

HP has also launched an application store called HP app studio from where users can download apps on their device. HP seems to have taken cue from Apple on this one (iPhone and iPhone stores). The device can also print documents directly from an iPhone or iPod.

Experts in the industry have been quoted as saying that this device has paved way for a whole lot of possibilities. Providing users the ability to download content from the Internet and getting print outs without needing a computer terminal will indeed open ways for more innovative uses. One such suggestion is to get RSS feeds from newspaper agencies everyday on the device and printing your own newspaper with selective content.

The idea sure sounds attractive and e-readers like Kindle seems to have an unlikely competitor in this machine.The printer and HP app studio will be available in US in the fall.

Apple adds basic anti-malware to Snow Leopard New OS designed to sniff out a pair of Mac-specific Trojans

Apple has expanded a download warning feature in Mac OS X 10.5 to create rudimentary anti-malware detection in the new Snow Leopard operating system due out Friday, sources have confirmed.

Out of the box, Snow Leopard will be able to detect only two Trojan horses, although Apple will be able to push other signatures to users through the Mac operating system's Software Update service, those sources said.

The confirmation came after reports that Snow Leopard had taken its predecessor's File Quarantine feature a step further, and actually scans files downloaded by Safari, Mail or iChat for malicious code. Where Leopard only warned users that a file had been obtained from the Internet -- and thus was potentially dangerous -- Snow Leopard scans files for possible malware.

According to a screenshot posted Monday by Mac-only antivirus maker Intego, Snow Leopard sniffs out the malware, then puts up a warning that recommends users dump the downloaded file in the Trash rather than open it.

Neither of the two Trojans -- dubbed "RSPlug.a" and "Iservice" by Symantec -- that Snow Leopard currently detects is new. The former was first spotted in October 2007, while the latter debuted in January.

RSPlug made news in late 2007 when security researchers found the malware on numerous pornographic Web sites; if downloaded to a Mac, the Trojan changes the machine's DNS (Domain Name System) settings to redirect users to alternate or spoofed sites. Iservice, on the other hand, was spotted earlier this year piggybacking on pirated copies of iWork '09, Apple's productivity suite, by users who had downloaded the software from file-sharing sites.

Several researchers and bloggers, including Computerworld's Seth Weintraub, spotted a new .plist file in Snow Leopard that the OS uses to store malware signatures. That file, "XProtect.plist," has been tucked into the "/System/Library/CoreServices/CoreTypes.bundle/Contents/Resources" folder.

Future signature updates will presumably be added to the XProtect.plist file.

Because Apple regularly bashes Microsoft over the flood of Trojans, worms and viruses that target Windows -- most recently in a new television ad -- its admission that malware affects Macs is a setback, albeit small, to its marketing, said one analyst.

"If Apple includes anti-malware, weak or strong, it does undermine Apple's marketing message, but only slightly," said Ezra Gottheil, an analyst with Technology Business Research. "Apple doesn't claim that Macs cannot be successfully attacked; it claims that they are not often successfully attacked, and that is true. So if adding basic anti-malware software helps keep Macs relatively clean, given their lower [attack] profile, that helps Apple's primary message: Macs are less hassle."

Snow Leopard goes on sale Friday, and requires an Intel-based Mac. People upgrading from Leopard can purchase a $29 single-license, or a $49 five-license Family Pack. Users running Mac OS X 10.4, aka Tiger, must instead purchase the more expensive Box Set, which costs $169 for a single license and $229 for a five-license pack. The Box Set also includes the iLife '09 creativity bundle and the iWork '09 productivity suite.

Video: iPhone 3GS can play 720p and 1080p HD videos

The video below proves that the iPhone 3GS is capable of playing back 720p and 1080p HD videos and not just VGA. But why won’t Apple allow it? Its looks like if the videos are not converted to the iPhone’s liking, or too demanding, the audio driver will crash. But certainly this is something Apple can correct via future firmware updates. Play the video for more details…

Become the Star Gazer

So, you are sitting at home and really bored and do not know what to do? You feel like going out and sitting in your garden and staring at the stars, but its too cold outside and cant do that too?? Here is a way you can do that just by sitting at home. No, I am not asking you to break open your roof, all you need is the Star Laser. The Star Laser is an electronic device that projects green laser stars along with blue cloud formations to give you the feeling that you're floating in space.

The Star Laser Projector can be adjusted to fill up your ceiling, walls, floor, or even the side of your house with a soothing star field created by green lasers and holographic optics. Here are a few things that the Star Laser contains:

• 2 built-in glass lenses


• Thousands of green lasers


• Multiphase diffractive holographic optics

X-Men Origins: Wolverine - Xbox360

The best there is at what it does.

It’s sort of a weird time to be a critic. Strange things have been happening, such as established franchises like Resident Evil and Tom Clancy’s Fill-in-the-Blank saturating the market, while licensed, movie-themed games like Riddick and Wanted have been fantastic.

Likewise, Wolverine: Origins is the best X-Men game since that one from the arcade where you and five of your whoever-the-hell-was-around would dump around twenty dollars worth of quarters each into the machine and argue over who was going to be Dazzler.

Gone are the days of spandex tights and witty banter. This is a Wolverine game for the generation that grew up reading about the old Canucklehead. “Grew up” being the operative phrase in that sentence; this game is NOT for kids. Origins takes off the kid gloves and reveals six pointy reasons why you "Do. Not. Fuck. With Wolverine."

The story in the game follows that of the crappy movie but actually tells the story better so it’s tolerable, albeit still not good. It still has rapper Will.i.am, so if you were hoping to have left the pretentious nugget behind, you’ll be disappointed to find he has an even bigger role in the game than in the movie.

The gameplay is great, with controls that are tight and responsive. Combos are intuitive enough to keep the interest of even the twitchiest Devil May Cry fans and still easy enough to allow less avid players to progress. The terrain and enemies are varied, so the action never gets too stale; but if variety isn’t your thing, mindlessly mashing the attack button will get you through most brawls, although boss battles are going to require a bit more finesse. But mostly, you're a walking wood-chipper.

The levels are all designed well (with the exception of the Weapon X facility), and the Unreal engine brings out the most from the environments. Although there are some disappearing objects and some texture drops, the glitches are brief and not severe.

Another great thing the Unreal engine helps with is Wolvie’s healing factor. As you take damage, it’s reflected on your body. If you get shot, you’ll see a bullet hole through the flesh; when you take heavy damage, you will see exposed bones and organs. Your healing ability kicks in after a bit and you get to see the wounds heal from the inside-out (that is, if you’ve got the camera in close enough).

A lot of people accuse Wolverine: Origins of being like God of War and rightly so, but it isn’t like God of War, it is God of War. The gore, the button layout, the magic—you’re just a less puzzly form of Kratos. If you were expecting a whole new experience, you’ll be let down, this is still the best game Marvel has ever put out.

God of War as it may be, Wolverine: Origins is a bit lacking in the puzzle/platforming department, but let's be reasonable. No one bought this game because of Wolverine’s preternatural ability to jump from one moving platform to the next. You’re buying it for the same reason we all are: to rip, stab, gut, maim, and eviscerate everything in sight- and this game delivers on all these fronts.

The aforementioned boss fights are a bit of a disappointment, but again it's not a deal-breaker. Most are won with the tried-and-true action-game dodge-then-stab-them-in-the-ass method of boss fights. The simpler bosses that fall to these simple tactics then enter the fray as regular enemies in the maim-a-thon once you’ve beaten them to keep the game challenging.

“Challenging”, I suppose, doesn’t accurately describe the difficulty in Origins. There isn’t really much “challenge” to speak of. Since Wolverine has a healing factor (that and the claws are what make him both a mutant and cool), he heals automatically like he’s from Halo or something, though where he’s finding shirts and trousers that stitch themselves back together I’ll never know.

You earn points and such to upgrade abilities and stats, but not enough to max everything out on your first go-around, so if you want an overpowered murder machine with maxed stats, you’ll have to play through at least twice. You can also unlock different costumes from throughout Wolvie’s journey, which is less cool than it sounds because the game switches you back to the tanktop/jeans ensemble during cut-scenes.

Gambit’s in this as well and slightly more Cajun and considerably more obnoxious. You fight him about six times and each time, he runs off and you have to chase the walking stereotype down and beat the French out of him. And… well… it’s not a big deal (more of a personal bias really), but you never really get to kick his ass definitively enough.

The only other downside to this is the length (about 7 hours). If this had been just a couple of hours longer and had the option to kill Gambit, I’d say this was a shoe-in for game of the year. But as it stands, Wolverine: Origins is a blistering homage to our favorite mutie with claws, and another example that even if a video game is based off a mediocre movie, it can still rip the gaming scene apart. In a good way, bub.

The Sims 3 - PC

There are two types of Sims players in the world: those who make and those who do. Players know which type they are immediately; it is evident by where they spend their time. Fortunately, this latest entry in the Sims universe has something for both types. A few minor annoyances notwithstanding, Sims 3 will please fans of the franchise and has the potential to attract a new group altogether.

With Sims 3, you can practically place a mirror next to your monitor and make yourself. There are so many options to customize your Sims that the variety is almost overwhelming. Everything from face and eye shape to nose type and muscle tone can be modified. Many of the features can be adjusted with a sliding scale control, which makes the experience leap from digital to near-analog. That may seem like a backwards step, but trust me, it isn't.

However, there is one glaring exception right out of the box, something that's a little strange. You can make your Sims look like just about anything except someone with curly hair. It's perplexing that EA, knowing its fan base so well, would make such an omission or just forget. It's a minor disturbance. but anyone with curly hair or with a curly-haired ex (*cough*) that they want to simulate and destroy (*cough again*) will notice it fairly quickly. Sure, you can go out and download curly hair, but it shouldn't take extra work to look natural.

The operative word when it comes to making things in Sims 3 is 'more' - everything is turned up a notch. In earlier releases, shoes were defaulted with outfits, but here, you get to choose the shoes. Nearly everything else gets the same treatment: furniture, fabrics, the range of the color wheel, and more. A player could happily spend hours just making enough merchandise to fill a Home Depot. The experience is enjoyable, and it is easy to lose yourself (and your time!) before your Sim even takes a family portrait.

Unfortunately, Sims 3 giveth and Sims 3 taketh away. It is not so easy to make a new town. Technically, this can't even be done... yet. Currently, you can only edit the existing town, or go to www.thesims3.com and download the free one advertised in the game insert. EA has announced that a tool to make towns will be coming soon, but who likes to wait? For the Sims 2 player who had a dozen or more towns, or for the urban planner in all of us, this is quite a letdown - a big minus for those who like to 'make'.

For those who like to 'do', an important step comes while creating Sims: personality traits. This is a new addition for Sims 3, and it makes a big difference. Each Sim can be assigned up to five traits, chosen from a very long list of possibles: athletic, artistic, a bookworm, charismatic, etc. The traits assigned to a Sim will determine about five lifetime goals to which they can choose to aspire. In Sims 2, every Sim got the same five lifetime goals to choose from, but now, making an artistic evil genius may result in lifetime goals of becoming ruler of the free world or a cult leader. And an ambitious artistic type can choose from being a rock star, master of the arts, or others.

These traits also seem to affect Sims as they go about their lives unattended. The free will they use, which is more apparent than in earlier versions, will be guided by the traits given to them early on. A neat Sim will spend unattended time cleaning up (even to their detriment – very neat sims will go around trying to clean up active fire pits, which never has a good outcome). The addition of personality traits is a brilliant improvement that will no doubt be made even better in upcoming versions and upgrades.

Enough random things can still happen to make play engaging. My first family got burglarized in the middle of the night, had a kitchen fire, and had their computer monitor smolder and break down, all in the first week of play. I wonder if it's because I made one of my Sims handy, as he had a lot of opportunities to improve his repair skill - with hardship comes progress, I suppose.

Sims also have favorite colors, foods, and music types. This doesn't seem to affect play much, except that their favorite music type plays whenever they turn on the stereo. The electronica is actually enjoyable, much better than the typical Sims background muzak, and the classical selections are actual classical songs by composers in the real world. The Sims collection has never been known for music or sound, and Sims 3 doesn't look to gain any ground here. What was done right in the past, like sing-song Sim-lish and unassuming accompaniments, you'll find here as well, but not much in the way of innovation.

The freedom to move about is probably the one improvement that will attract new players. It is a joy to get out and see the town. Loyal fans will appreciate the absence of loading screens, and those new to the game will think this is the way it's always been and wonder why they hadn't given the game a chance a long time ago.

Performance is pretty much seamless. You can move your sims around in map view by simply clicking where you want them to go. If Sims 2 and 3 could be related to the stages of life, Sims 3 is definitely the part where you get your driver's license and you no longer have a curfew.

Online upgrades are always happening, and there is an online outlet for sharing items and for writing blogs about the Sims 3 experience. People are doing some very creative things in their virtual god armchairs, and it's interesting to see what they have made. The online community seems well-supported and is a nice addition, but it is not necessary to go online to enjoy the game.

All in all, this is a very solid entry for the franchise, with enough new features and assets to please loyal fans and with enough improvements to attract initiates. Too bad on the curly hair thing, though. Not everyone embraces the flat iron.

NASA Unmanned Jet to Take 3D Hi-Res Images of Earthquake Faults

To better understand the possibilities of California's deadly earthquake, researchers at NASA came up with the idea of using a jet equipped with an autopilot system and radar to identify the earthquake faults with high-precision.

Scientists dubbed their system Uninhabited Aerial Vehicle Synthetic Aperture Radar (UAVSAR). It features a UAVSAR pod that is 10 feet long and which can take high-resolution photos beneath the surface of the earth. The autopilot system makes it possible for the radar to repeatedly fly above the same regions.

One flight will not give a lot of information on the earthquake faults. However, after scanning the faults again after several hours, days or months, each movement turns obvious with the help of interferometry, a method of making obvious the dissimilarities between several sets of information. More news about NASA and scientific technology you can find here at www.InfoNIAC.com, check the links at the bottom of the story.

Now scientists at NASA are using a jet with UAVSAR to map faults in the San Francisco Bay Area, central and southern California, as well as the Los Angeles Basin, which encompasses the San Andreas and Hayward faults. To increase the scanning time and reduce the cost of the whole project, researchers decided to use an unmanned jet. Taking advantage of the information gathered from the scans, NASA looks forward to develop a detailed image of the movement of faults. More information and images is available here.

Latest Invention from Warwick Warp - Fingerprint Preprocessor Module

Scientists at Warwick Warp, a biometrics group with headquarters in Coventry, managed to end their first phase of creating a fingerprint identification technology.

Researchers built a software-based fingerprint preprocessor module, which, they believe, will greatly improve the matching accuracy due to the fact that the device can handle low-quality prints and different spatial alterations.

In 2008 Advantage West Midlands gave scientists at Warwick Warp a GBP139,000 grant to carry out their research and development to improve operational capacity and work on the product design.

Dr Li Wang, chief technology officer at Warwick Warp, outlined that the funding has been very important for the creation and innovation of their fingerprint preprocessor software module. He added that the latest grant helped the Coventry-based company to establish in the market with competitive products "that will withstand scrutiny and meet international standards", reports The Engineer.

Nick Paul, chairman of Advantage West Midlands, outlined that by offering grants for R&D, Advantage West Midlands shares part of the risks of R&D activity in small and medium-sized firms. At the same time it helps to bring to light latest inventions that are crucial for a flourishing future of the region.

Latest Invention: Eco-friendly Driverless Vehicles

At Heathrow Airport engineers are testing their latest invention - personal driving pods that will transport travelers to their destinations non-stop and at the same time reduce the level of pollution and eliminate overcrowding. If the pods prove to be successful it is possible that the network of such vehicles will be built in different countries worldwide.

Two ULTra Personal Rapid Transit vehicles can be observed at London Science Museum that marks its centenary by exhibiting ten icons that played the most important role in changing the world. The exhibition is entitled "The Making of the Modern World" and the latest invention of researchers and engineers from Advanced Transport Systems stands next to the steam locomotive. Visitors of the Science Museum will have the possibility to ask questions regarding the ULTra vehicles and see how they work.

Passengers taking the PRT vehicles will need to come to one of the three stations and as they board ULTra they are asked to select their destination on the touch screen. After that vehicles take passengers straight to the chosen destination without stopping at any other location. Thus the latest invention from Advanced Transport Systems will provide a quicker and eco-friendlier transportation. More information of green transportation and technology you can find here at www.InfoNIAC.com, check the links at the bottom of the story.

Graham Bradburn, chief executive of Advanced Transport Systems, described the invention by saying that: "It is the physical manifestation of many years work for ATS and BAA, and represents the vision of the original individuals involved."

Hydrogen Powered Gadgets Presented at Solar and Fuel Cell Exposition in Tokyo

The capital of Japan housed a number of companies that presented their latest inventions in technology, but not just any technology. The exposition, entitled PV & FC Expo 2009, held at Tokyo Bog Sight, host the largest show of photovoltaic (solar cells) and fuel cell technology, bringing together companies and investors.

Among the most impressive inventions on the exposition there was the dancing hydrogen-powered robot along with her robot dog companion.

Despite the fact that there are still debates regarding the possibility of hydrogen economy, the number of visitors, as well as the commercial interest at the exposition shows that hydrogen economy will definitely become an element of a future sustainable economy.

Among other latest inventions at the FC Expo 2009, there was Yamaha's FC-dii hydrogen fuel cell motorbike. It can be powered either by fuel cell, which uses methanol, or by external li-ion battery.

Several hydrogen powered gadgets were presented at the exposition by Horizon Fuel Cell Technologies. One of them was a hydrogen powered assisted-drive bicycle. Currently its price is $4,600. The bicycle features hydrogen packs that generate power when needed. These packs can be recharged.

In addition, there were a number of hydrogen powered toys along with fuel cell/energy generation learning kits, such as the H-racer 2.0, which is rather pricey, $120, but it features a solar cell and a "hydrogen station."

The popular Japanese company Kawasaki was not left unnoticed. It presented its fuel cell light rail concept.

Many consider that hydrogen represents one of the few practical options to substitute natural gas and oil for means of transport. It can be produced using solar, wind or wave power, as well as from biogas.

Latest Invention: Robot that Makes Discoveries on Its Own

Scientists at Aberystwyth University and the University of Cambridge in the UK managed to create world's first robot that can carry out its own experiments, produce hypotheses as well as make scientific discoveries. Researchers dubbed their latest invention Adam.

Working on its own, the robot-scientist already managed to find new functions for several genes of Saccharomyces cerevisiae, also known as brewer's yeast.

The lead-researcher of the project is Ross King, a computational biologist at Aberystwyth. He says that up till now Adam made modest findings, but all the discoveries were real. Their latest invention consists of a room equipped with different laboratory instruments. It includes 4 personal computers that work as one brain. In addition, Adam has robot arms, a number of cameras, liquid handlers, incubators and more.

Performing the Experiment

Scientists gave their latest invention a freezer with a collection of mutant strains of yeast where individual genes were deleted. The robot was also provided with a database that contained information on the yeast genes, enzymes and metabolism, as well as a supply of hundreds of metabolites.

In order to find which genes coded for which enzymes, the robot cultured mutant yeast that had a specific gene deleted. Then it analyzed the way mutant grew without a certain metabolite. In case the strain was spotted to grow not very well, Adam registered new information about the function of the deleted gene.

It is worth mentioning that Adam is able to perform over 1,000 similar experiments daily. So far, the robot came up with and tested 20 hypotheses about the coding of genes for 13 enzymes, from which 12 were confirmed by researchers, who carried out their own experiments.

Partner for Adam

Currently scientists are developing a new robot, the goal of which will be to discover new drugs. The new robot will be dubbed Eva. With robots' help scientists will be able to focus on complex studies, leaving robots to carry out routine and time-consuming tasks. At the same time robots will have the possibility to conduct their own, completely independent experiments, reports New Scientist.

Artificial Intelligence

According to Will Bridewell, an artificial intelligence researcher at Stanford University in Palo Alto, California, the robot, created by scientists from Aberystwyth University, carried out its studies on the level of a graduate student. Nevertheless, this latest technological invention continues to make steps towards an artificially intelligent machine, able work together with other researchers and register their results in natural language. "That's probably far off, but it seems likely that we will get there. This is yet another step on the way," said Mr. Bridewell.

Vulture - The Unmanned Aircraft Able to Stay in the Air for 5 Years

Officials from Flight Global stated that DARPA will probably sign a contract to create an unmanned aircraft that is able to stay in the air for about 5 years at a time. The representatives from DARPA characterize their project, entitled "Vulture," as a "persistent pseudo-satellite capability in an aircraft package." Generally speaking the aircraft is able to fly over a single area, communicating or performing analysis for years at a time.

Having such grand goals the company has to overcome some serious barriers. One of the major obstacles is linked with the fact that designers have to figure out the way to supply power to such an aircraft during the long missions. In addition it is worth mentioning that the aircraft will carry a 1000 pound (450 kg) payload in terrible winds at an altitude of 60,000 to 90,000 feet. In regard to the design of the aircraft, it will probably be the one seen in the picture, developed by NASA, however, there is no certain time table on when the craft will actually be ready.

US Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency looks forward to push the limits of unmanned aviation to extremes. The latest UAV project of DARPA currently raises eyebrows.

"We want to completely change the paradigm of how we think of aircraft," stated Daniel Newman, who holds the post of Vulture project manager. "Aviation has a perfect record - we've never left one up there. We will attempt to break that record," he added.

"The ability to "close the business case" on an aircraft that could be launched and then not maintained or brought home for five years would be a "paradigm shift. We would no longer define an aircraft by the launch - recover - maintain - launch cycle," outlined Newman.

Besides problems with providing power to the craft, engineers are working on maximizing aero-structural efficiency and avoiding the deterioration of materials during their long-time exposure to stratospheric flight.

Basically the aircraft operates like a satellite, which is, however, not regulated by orbital mechanics. "It could be positioned over the battle, at 65,000ft versus 260 miles," outlined DARPA's Wade Pulliam. According to Pulliam, the Vulture is a pseudo-satellite, the operation of which in the stratosphere and not in the low Earth orbit would give a 65 dB upgrading in communications capability and considerably increase onboard sensor resolution.

Technology has come a long way in the past few decades and the advances don't appear to be slowing down anytime soon. From laptops and cellphones to the advent of Internet communications, we are moving toward a brave new world of possibilities. Even buying a new computer is tricky, since it'll probably be outdated by the time you open the box!

Students Hack into School's Computer Systems to Change Their Grades

Four high school students are charged of hacking into the Fort Bend Independent School District's computer network and altering grades for at least 60 students, as reported by the district officials.

The case could be regarded as a felony case, since the financial loss of the act is estimated at about $190,000. According to the law, an action leading to a loss of $100,000 to $200,000 should be called a second-degree felony, which carries a penalty of two to twenty years of prison.

All the grade changes were made for students enrolled at the Hightower High School, which is where the students under investigation are enrolled. According to the school district officials corrective measures have already been taken.

Mary Ann Simpson, spokeswoman of the school district said that it was very important that all of the students' grades to be reevaluated. Only this way there may be confidence in the fact that the grades are accurate and have not been tampered with.

There was no information wether the hackers only improved the grades or gave some students lower grades. In any case, as the investigators state, the altered grades would have been recorded on report cards or on other academic records. Among the students under investigation there were two students with their grade changed to higher scores.

During the investigation it became clear that computer network's of four other Fort Bend schools have also been hacked into, thus some data in the computer system was lost and some data was altered, however only grades at Hightower school were changed. According to the officials, all the data has already been recovered.

At this time no legal action was taken against the hackers, three of which were juveniles. Any disciplinary measures or legal actions will be taken only after the investigation is over and the guilt of the suspected students is proven.

The case of hacking into the computer system of the schools has become a ground for checking the computer security procedures in order to prevent further attempts to breach the schools' network security.

Cartier Sues Apple for Applications Involving Company's Wristwatches

For 24 hours, lawyers from Apple and Cartier were probably the busiest lawyers on the planet. The famous luxury watch and jewelry manufacturer Cartier filed a lawsuit against Apple for trademark infringement after it discovered that several iPhone applications involving fake Cartier watches were available through App Store. The next day Cartier withdrew the suit.

The two applications that served as the main characters in Cartier's lawsuit were called Fake Watch and Fake Watch Gold Edition. The developer of these applications is Digitopolis Game Studio. The lawsuit, however, did not include the name of the apps' developer, reports CNET News.

According to the lawsuit, the two applications made it possible for people to read time on the displays of their iPhone and iPod Touch that simulated Cartier's famous wristwatches.

After Apple removed the applications, Cartier withdrew its lawsuit. Jonathan Lagarenne, Cartier's lawyer, officially reported that the luxury watchmaker was satisfied with Apple's actions.

Need a computer virus?- download now

Computer expert put an advertisement on the Internet offering a free computer virus for everyone willing to have one.

Didier Stevens from Helsinki ran his advertising campaign on Google's Adword for half of the year. As a result of his campaign 409 people clicked on the ad, that said: "Is your PC virus-free? Get it infected here!"

There are several suggestion on people's willingness to download malicious virus said Mikko Hypponen, who conducted the research at data security firm F-Secure. First of all, people must have mistakenly pushed the button, second - curiosity sometimes overcomes natural prudence and thirdly, some people must have been stupid.

In fact, Stevens tried the experiment with no actual virus. He wanted to demonstrate the advertising system can be a good source for everyone including those who have a malicious objective.

Computer viruses can ruin your company website. What you need is secure webhosting. If you're looking for web resources, business checks, or the largest selection of rubber stamps in the world, look no further. For all your business, web design and hosting needs, we're here to help.

The Most Dangerous Computer Viruses in History

Computer viruses have a relatively short history by the damages caused by some of the most dangerous viruses pushed cyber-experts to open a chapter that includes a huge database on computer viruses and the cost of damages caused along with companies, government and universities highly affected by malware.

Here are some of the most dangerous computer viruses in history:

Jerusalem - 1988

This is one of the first MS-DOS viruses in history that caused enormous destructions, affecting many countries, universities and company worldwide. On Friday 13, 1988 the computer virus managed to infect a number of institutions in Europe, America and the Middle East. The name was given to the virus after one of the first places that got "acquainted" with it - the Jerusalem University.

Along with a number of other computer viruses, including "Cascade", "Stoned", "Vienna" the Jerusalem virus managed to infect thousands of computers while still remaining unnoticed. Back then the anti-virus programs were not as advanced as they are today and a lot of users had little belief of the existence of computer viruses.

Morris (a.k.a. Internet Worm) - November 1988

This computer virus infected over 6,000 computer systems in the United States, including the famous NASA research Institute, which for some time remained completely paralyzed. Due to erratic code, the worm managed to send millions of copies of itself to different network computers, being able to entirely paralyze all network resources. The damages caused by the Morris computer virus were estimated at $96 millions.

To be able to spread the computer virus used errors in such operating systems as Unix for VAX and Sun Microsystems. There were a number of other interesting ideas used by the virus - for example it could pick user passwords.

Solar Sunrise - 1998

A decade later the situation didn't change, it might have gotten even got worse. Using a computer virus, hackers, in 1998, penetrated and took control of over 500 computers systems that belonged to the army, government and private sector of the United States. The whole situation was dubbed Solar Sunrise after the popular vulnerabilities in computers that run on the operating system called Sun Solaris. Initially it was believed that the attacks were planed by the operatives in Iraq. It was later revealed that the incidents represented the work of two American teenagers from California. After the attacks, the Defense Department took drastic actions to prevent future incidents of this kind.

Melissa - 1999

For the first time computers got acknowledged with Melissa computer virus on March 26, 1999, when the virus shut down Internet mail system, which got blocked with e-mails infected by the worm. It is worth mentioning that at first Melissa was not meant to cause any harm, but after it overloaded servers the virus led to unpredictable problems. For the first time it spread in the Usenet discussion group alt.sex. Melissa was hidden within a file called "List.DiC", which featured passwords that served as keys to unlocking 80 pornographic websites. The original form of the virus was sent through e-mail to different users.

Melissa computer virus was developed by David L. Smith in Aberdeen Township, New Jersey. Its name comes from a lap dancer that the programmer got acknowledged with while in Florida. After being caught, the creator of the virus was sentenced to 20 months in federal prison and ordered to pay a fine of $5,000. The arrest represented a collaboration of FBI, New Jersey State Police and Monmouth Internet.

Melissa had the ability to multiply on Microsoft Word 97 and Word 2000, as well as Microsoft Excel 97, 2000 and 2003. In addition, the virus had the ability to mass-mail itself from Microsoft Outlook 97 or Outlook 98.

I Love You - May 2000

Using a similar method as the Melissa, the computer virus dubbed "I Love You" managed to infect millions of computers around the world in just one night. Just like Melissa this computer virus sent passwords and usernames, which were stored on the attacked computers, back to the developer of the virus. After authorities traced the virus they found that a young Filipino student was behind the attack. The young man was released due to the fact that the Philippines did not have any law that would prevent hacking and spreading malware. This situation served as one of the premises for creating the European Union's global Cybercrime Treaty.

The Code Red worm - July 2001

This 21st century computer virus managed to penetrate tens of thousands of systems that ran Microsoft Windows NT as well as Windows 2000 server software. The damages caused by the Code Red computer virus were estimated at a total of $2 billion. Core Red was developed to use the power of all computers it infected against the official website of the White House at a predetermined date. In collaboration with different virus hunters and tech firms, the White House managed to decipher the code of the Code Red virus and stop traffic as the malware started its attacks.

Nimda - 2001

Shortly after the September 11 tragedy this computer virus infected hundreds of thousands of computers worldwide. Nimda was considered to be one of the most complicated viruses, having up to 5 different methods of infecting computers systems and duplicating itself.

Downadup - 2009

The latest and most dangerous virus is the "downadup" worm, which was also called "Conficker". The computer security company F-Secure stated that the computer virus has infected 3.5 million computers worldwide. This malicious program was able to spread using a patched Windows flaw. Downadup was successful in spreading across the Web due to the fact that it used a flaw that Microsoft patched in October in order to distantly compromise computers that ran unpatched versions of Microsoft's operating system. But the greatest power of the worm is believed to be the ability of computers, infected with the worm, to download destructive code from a random drop point. F-Secure stated that three of the most affected countries were China, Brazil and Russia.

Latest Invention: Software that Analyzes Happiness Level

The latest invention of researchers from Vermont is hedonometer, a device that can estimate the level of happiness. Peter Dodds and Chris Danforth were the ones who developed the software that gather sentences from different blogs and Tweets and then identifies the days that were the happiest and saddest throughout the last several years.

According to Peter Dodds, a scientist at the University of Vermont, the goal was to take advantage of the increasing popularity of blogs and Twitter and come up with a tool that would be able to estimate the emotional signal from a group of people. The staring point was the website WeFeelFine.org that examines 2.3 million blogs, searching for sentences that start with the words "I feel" or "I am feeling". The words that followed were then rated on a scale from 1 to 9. Researchers managed to rank 1,034 words, with "triumphant" having the highest score of 8.87 and "hostage" the lowest - 2.20. By gathering 10 million sentences over that last few years, researchers estimated the daily level of happiness, reports Discovery News.

It wasn't a surprise when then found that the happiest days are the weekends and holidays. In general the happiest days of the last several years were the election day and the inauguration of US President Barack Obama. You can find more information about the happiest day and the like her at www.InfoNIAC.com - please check the links at the bottom of the article. Using their latest invention, researchers found that during these two days people most often wrote sentences that contained the words "proud" and "pride". The software showed that the saddest days were the anniversaries of 9-11 and the death of pop star Michael Jackson.

Scientists applied their latest invention to Tweets to be able to estimate the level of happiness besides the United States (90 percent of all analyzed blogs were from the States). But there are some drawbacks in the software. If someone posts a message that says "I am not happy", it will identify it as a happy statement. Besides, the majority of users who write on blogs and Tweet are younger than the overall population

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WINDOWS 7

What is Windows 7?

Your PC, simplified.

Windows 7 is the easiest, fastest, and most engaging version of Windows yet. Better ways to find and manage files, like Jump Lists and improved taskbar previews, help you speed through everyday tasks. Faster and more reliable performance means your PC just works the way you want it to. And great features like Windows Media Center and Windows Touch make new things possible. Get to know Windows 7, and see how it can simplify just about everything you do with your PC.

Take a tour Latika, a Microsoft engineer, guides your interactive tour of Windows 7.	See what makes it different Find out how Windows 7 compares to your current operating system.
Explore the features From HomeGroup to Jump Lists, Windows 7 is packed with features. Check them out.	Watch the videos These short videos give you a sneak peek at some Windows 7 highlights.

More to explore Compare editions How to get Windows 7 Get free themes, desktop backgrounds, and gadgets How to get Windows 7 Windows 7 is nearly here, and you can be one of the first to get it. Here's how. Buy a PC. Get a Windows 7 Upgrade. Buy a qualifying PC today—or upgrade the one you have with a qualifying edition of Windows Vista—and you'll get an upgrade to Windows 7 after it arrives. Get ready for Windows 7 There are a couple of ways to do this. You can shop for a new PC now, or you can see if the one you have can run Windows 7. Shop featured PCs See if my PC can run Windows 7 Tour Windows 7 Watch these videos to get to know your way around Windows 7 and see it in action. Download and install Windows Media Player Plugin Latika, a Microsoft engineer, guides you through an interactive tour of Windows 7. (1:35) Windows 7 highlights Simplifies everyday tasks (2:06) Works the way you want (1:28) Makes new things possible (1:26) Windows 7 features Top Features Show all Browse Categories Communications Domain Join HomeGroup Internet Explorer 8 Networking Entertainment Gadgets Games Explorer Multiplayer Games Play To Windows Media Center Windows Media Player 12 Performance 64-bit Support Action Center Performance Improvements Power Management System Restore Windows Anytime Upgrade Windows Easy Transfer Windows Experience Index Windows Touch Windows Update Productivity Accessibility Aero Aero Peek Aero Shake Desktop Device Management Getting Started Jump Lists Libraries Location Aware Printing Snap Snipping Tool Sticky Notes Tablet PC Windows Live Essentials Windows Search Windows Taskbar Windows XP Mode Safety & Security Backup and Restore BitLocker Parental Controls Windows Defender Windows Firewall Browse A to Z 64-bit Support Accessibility Action Center Aero Aero Peek Aero Shake Backup and Restore BitLocker Desktop Device Management Domain Join Gadgets Games Explorer Getting Started HomeGroup Internet Explorer 8 Jump Lists Libraries Location Aware Printing Multiplayer Games Networking Parental Controls Performance Improvements Play To Power Management Snap Snipping Tool Sticky Notes System Restore Tablet PC Windows Anytime Upgrade Windows Defender Windows Easy Transfer Windows Experience Index Windows Firewall Windows Live Essentials Windows Media Center Windows Media Player 12 Windows Search Windows Taskbar Windows Touch Windows Update Windows XP Mode Engineered by us. Inspired by you. Two years ago we started asking PC owners what they wanted from Windows 7. The result? Windows 7 simplifies everyday tasks Desktop Introducing improved taskbar previews, bigger icons, pinning, and creative ways to personalize. HomeGroup Takes the headache out of home networking, so it's easier to share files and printers. Jump Lists Speedy access to your favorite pictures, songs, websites, and documents. Snap A quick (and fun) new way to resize and compare windows on your desktop. Windows Live Essentials Must-have software for your PC—free! Get Mail, Photo Gallery, and other favorites. Windows Search At last, searching your PC is as simple as searching the web. Windows 7 works the way you want Performance improvements It's designed to sleep and resume quicker, be less memory hungry, and spot USB devices faster. Full 64-bit support Windows 7 makes the most of powerful 64-bit PCs, the new desktop standard. Power management New power-saving features are designed to help laptops run longer. Windows 7 makes new things possible Easier wireless networking Windows 7 gets you online in fewer clicks. Windows Media Center Watch, record, and pause live TV (additional hardware required). Windows Touch Pair Windows 7 with a touch-sensitive PC and you won't always need a keyboard or mouse. What's new with the Start menu? In Windows 7, you have much more control over the programs and files that appear on the Start menu. The Start menu is essentially a blank slate that you can organize and customize to suit your preferences. Start menu Show all Jump Lists Windows 7 introduces Jump Lists for both the Start menu and the taskbar. Jump Lists are lists of recent items, such as files, folders, or websites, organized by the program you use to open them. In addition to being able to open recent items using a Jump List, you can also pin favorite items to a Jump List, so that you can easily access the programs and files you use every day. The same items appear in a program's Jump List on the Start menu and on the taskbar By default, no programs or files are pinned to the Start menu to begin with. After you open a program or an item for the first time, it will appear in the Start menu, but you can choose to remove it, or you can pin it to the Start menu so that it always appears there. You can also adjust the number of shortcuts that appear in the Start menu so that it doesn’t get too large. For more information about working with Jump Lists, see Using Jump Lists to open programs and items. Libraries In previous versions of Windows, managing your files meant organizing them in different folders and subfolders. In Windows 7, you can also use libraries to organize and access files by type, regardless of where they’re stored. A library gathers files from different locations and displays them as a single collection, without moving them from where they’re stored. There are four default libraries (Documents, Music, Pictures, and Videos), but you can create new libraries for other collections. The Documents, Music, and Pictures libraries appear on the Start menu by default. Like other items on the Start menu, you can add or remove libraries, or customize their appearance. For more information about working with libraries, see Libraries: frequently asked questions. Search The Start menu includes a search box that you can use to find files, folders, programs, and e-mail messages stored on your computer. When you start typing a word or phrase in the search box, the search begins automatically, and the search results temporarily fill the Start menu space above the search box. The search results are organized into groups, depending on what kind of item each result is and where it's located on your computer. For example, you might see your search results grouped by Programs, by Control Panel tasks, by library (such as Documents or Pictures), and by Files. The top search results—but not all matches—for each group are displayed under a group heading. You can click an individual result to open that program or file, or you can click a group heading to see the complete list of search results for that group in Windows Explorer. Power button options The Shut down button appears in the lower-right corner of the Start menu. Click the arrow next to the Shut down button for more options When you click Shut down, your computer closes all open programs and shuts down your computer. You can choose to have this button perform a different action, such as putting your computer into sleep mode or allowing a different user to log on. For more information about changing the Power button options, see Turning off your computer properly. What's moved? What's new with the Windows 7 taskbar? In Windows 7, the taskbar has been completely redesigned to help you more easily manage and access your most important files and programs. Taskbar buttons Taskbar buttons have a new look and do more than just show you which programs are running. In the default view, each program appears as a single, unlabeled button—even when multiple items for a program are open—for a clean and uncluttered look. You can customize the taskbar appearance to change how buttons appear and how they group together when you have multiple items open. You can also choose to see individual buttons for each open file. For more information, see Change how buttons appear on the taskbar. You can also rearrange and organize buttons on the taskbar, including pinned programs and running programs that aren’t pinned, so they appear in the order you prefer. To rearrange the order of buttons on the taskbar, drag a button from its current position to a different position on the taskbar. You can rearrange buttons as often as you like. Previewing open windows with Aero Peek When you open multiple windows on the desktop, sometimes it can be a challenge to view separate windows and switch between them. You can use Aero Peek to take a quick look at other open windows without clicking away from the window you are currently working on. Point your mouse at a taskbar button, and thumbnail previews of any open windows associated with that button appear above the taskbar. If you want to open a window you are previewing, just click its thumbnail. For more information, see Preview an open window on the desktop using Aero Peek. Pinning items Pinning programs to the taskbar complements pinning programs to the Start menu, like in earlier versions of Windows. When you pin a favorite program to the taskbar, you can always see it there and easily access it with a single click. Windows 7 also includes Jump Lists, so that in addition to launching a program from the taskbar, you can now launch favorite and recent items from that program, just by clicking the same button. Jump Lists are lists of recently or frequently opened items, such as files, folders, tasks, or websites, organized by the program that you use to open them. In addition to being able to open recent items using a Jump List, you can also pin favorite items to a Jump List so you can quickly get to the items that you use every day. On the taskbar, Jump Lists appear for programs that you've pinned to the taskbar and programs that are currently running. You can view the Jump List for a program by right-clicking the taskbar button, or by dragging the button toward the desktop. You open items from the Jump List by clicking them. Notification area A new way of managing the notification area on the end of the taskbar means you get fewer notifications, and the ones you get are collected in a single place in Windows. In the past, the notification area could sometimes become cluttered with icons. Now, you can choose which icons appear visible at all times. And you can keep the rest of the icons on hand in an overflow area, where they’re accessible with a single mouse click. For more information about customizing the notification area, see Change how icons appear in the notification area of the taskbar. Action Center is a single area that collects important notification messages about security and maintenance settings. You can review these messages later if you don’t want to be interrupted. When you click the Action Center icon and then click Open Action Center, you’ll see information about the things you need to take action on, and find helpful links to troubleshooters and other tools that can help fix problems. For more information, see What is Action Center? Viewing the desktop The Show desktop button has been moved to the opposite end of the taskbar from the Start button, making it easier to click or point at the button without accidentally opening the Start menu. Show desktop button on the taskbar In addition to clicking the Show desktop button to get to the desktop, you can temporarily view or peek at the desktop by just pointing your mouse at the Show desktop button, without clicking it. When you point at the Show desktop button at the end of the taskbar, any open windows fade from view, revealing the desktop. To make the windows reappear, move the mouse away from the Show desktop button. This can be useful for quickly viewing desktop gadgets, or when you don’t want to minimize all open windows and then have to restore them. For more information, see Temporarily preview the desktop using Aero Peek. What's new with the Windows desktop? New features on the Windows desktop make it easier to organize and manage multiple windows. You can switch easily between open windows so that you can focus on important programs and files. Other new features help you add a personal touch to your desktop. Snap You can use Snap to arrange and resize windows on the desktop with a simple mouse movement. Using Snap, you can quickly align windows at the side of the desktop, expand them vertically to the entire height of the screen, or maximize them to completely fill the desktop. Snap can be especially helpful when comparing two documents, copying or moving files between two windows, maximizing the window you’re currently working on, or expanding long documents so they’re easier to read and require less scrolling. Drag a window to the side of the desktop to expand it to half of the screen. To use Snap, drag the title bar of an open window to either side of the desktop to align it there, or drag it to the top of the desktop to maximize the window. To expand a window vertically using Snap, drag the top edge of the window to the top of the desktop. For more information, search for "Snap" in Help and Support. Top of page Aero Shake Using Aero Shake, you can quickly minimize all open windows on the desktop except the one you want to focus on. Just click the title bar of the window you want to keep open and drag (or shake) the window back and forth quickly, and the other open windows are minimized. Shake a window to minimize all other windows To restore the minimized windows, shake the open window again. For more information, see Minimize windows on the desktop using Aero Shake. Top of page Aero Peek You can use Aero Peek features to quickly preview the desktop without minimizing all your windows, or preview an open window by pointing at its button on the taskbar. Show all Peek at the desktop The Show desktop button has been moved the opposite end of the taskbar from the Start button, making it easier to click or point to the button without accidentally opening the Start menu. In addition to clicking the Show desktop button to get to the desktop, you can temporarily view or peek at the desktop by just pointing to the Show desktop button. When you point to the Show desktop button at the end of the taskbar, any open windows fade from view, revealing the desktop. To make the windows reappear, move the mouse away from the Show desktop button. Quickly view your desktop using Peek This can be useful for quickly viewing desktop gadgets, or when you don’t want to minimize all open windows and then have to restore them. For more information, see Temporarily preview the desktop using Aero Peek. Peek at an open file on the desktop You can also use Aero Peek to take a quick look at other open windows without clicking away from the window you're currently working on. Peek at open windows using thumbnails on the taskbar Point to a program button on the taskbar that has open files. Thumbnail previews of any open files associated with that program appear above the taskbar. You can point to a thumbnail to preview that window’s contents, and all the other open windows on the desktop fade away to reveal just the window you’re previewing. To open the window you're previewing, click the thumbnail. For more information, see Preview an open window on the desktop using Aero Peek. Top of page Gadgets Windows Sidebar isn't included in this version of Windows. Instead, you can display gadgets anywhere on your desktop and use the Aero Peek features to temporarily view your desktop gadgets without minimizing or closing the windows you’re working with. Gadgets on the desktop For more information about using gadgets on your desktop, search for "gadgets" in Help and Support. Top of page Desktop background Your desktop background doesn't have to be a single picture anymore. With Windows 7, you can display a slide show of pictures, instead. Some Windows themes include a slide show, or you can create your own slide show from your personal collection of pictures. For more information about setting up a slide show background, see Create a desktop background slide show. Top of page Notes Not all new desktop features are available in all editions of Windows 7. For example, Aero Peek, Aero Shake, and background slide shows are not included in Windows 7 Home Basic or Windows 7 Starter. You can find out which edition of Windows 7 you have on your computer by opening System in Control Panel. Open System by clicking the Start button , clicking Control Panel, clicking System and Security, and then clicking System. The Start menu and the taskbar have also been redesigned to showcase some new features. For more information, see What's new with the Start menu? and What's new with the Windows 7 taskbar? Which one is right for you? Compare Starter Home Premium Professional Ultimate What does it take to run Windows 7? Home Premium Professional Ultimate Features See more features Make the things you do every day easier with improved desktop navigation. Start programs faster and more easily, and quickly find the documents you use most often. Make your web experience faster, easier and safer than ever with Internet Explorer 8. Watch, pause, rewind, and record TV on your PC. Easily create a home network and connect your PCs to a printer with HomeGroup. Run many Windows XP productivity programs in Windows XP Mode. Connect to company networks easily and more securely with Domain Join. In addition to full-system Backup and Restore found in all editions, you can back up to a home or business network. Help protect data on your PC and portable storage devices against loss or theft with BitLocker. Work in the language of your choice and switch between any of 35 languages.