Nintendo Wii - Weee!!!

This article might come out late, but Nintendo Wii's (pronounced: Wee) new approach to gaming is stunningly interesting and new to gaming consoles. Wii uses a three-axis motion signal-processing technology, where controller movements simulate actions on the screen. Truly interactive. Read this out.

The Wii, the fifth home video game console from Nintendo, is the direct successor to the Nintendo Game Cube. The console was launched targeting a broader demographic than that of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony PlayStation 3, its competitors. The distinguishing features of the console are the wireless controller, and the Wii that can be used as a handheld pointing device and could detect acceleration in three dimensions. It was in the 2004 E3 press conference, that Nintendo first spoke of the gaming console model and later unveiled the system at the 2005 E3. The gaming console was known by the name of "Revolution" until April 27, 2006, immediately prior to E3. It is the first home console has marketed outside Japan without the company name featured in the trademark. Despite the justifications from Nintendo for the name, there were a wide preference among some game developers for the name Revolution and members of the press initially reacted negatively towards the change.

It was in September 14, 2006 that the company announced the release of the Nintendo Wii gaming console for Japan, North and South America, Australasia, Asia and Europe including dates, prices, and projected unit distribution numbers. It was announced that the majority of the 2006 shipments would be allotted to the Americas and that 33 titles would be available in the 2006 launch window. Nintendo announced that it would release its console in South Korea at the beginning of 2008.

The launch of the console showed remarkable results in the sales. The monthly sales numbers of the console crossed its competitors across the globe. As per the NPD Group, the Wii sold more units than the Xbox 360 and Play Station 3 in the North America combined in the first half of 2007. In Australia, the Nintendo Wii exceeded the record set by the Xbox 360 by Microsoft, becoming the fastest selling gaming console in Australian history. This is the first time this console has led its generation in sales since the Super Nintendo Entertainment system. The Company warned that the it would remain in short supply throughout 2007, while the company produces approximately 1.8 million Wii consoles each month. At a time when Microsoft and Sony experienced losses producing their consoles in the hopes of making a long-term profit on software sales, Nintendo reportedly has optimized production costs to obtain a significant profit margin with each Wii unit sold. As per the Financial Times, this direct profit per Wii sold may vary from $13 in Japan to $49 in the United States and $79 in Europe.

USB Flash Drives - Protect your data!

People are buying various forms of storage these days. Most of the devices people use to store data today come in the form of flash memory devices such as USB thumb drives, or USB flash memory. These devices use NAND flash to store data. These devices are small and compact and very easy for consumers to move around. Preventing the need for USB data recovery is what consumers really need to focus on.

People fail to back up these storage devices. Consumers need to be cautious when storing data as the devices that the data is stored on tend to fail with no warning. Many of the flash memory devices also known as thumb drives or USB sticks fail with zero warning. These devices fail for many reasons. Some devices fail due to bad workmanship and others fail due to improper use. The most common failures are from obvious damage such as plugging a USB flash memory device into a laptop of desktop computer and banging it by accident causing the port of the device to become broken, bent or damaged.

Bad workmanship issues can cause USB flash memory storage devices to stop working at any moment. Manufacturers are constantly using cutting edge parts combined with outdated parts. When a manufacturer can save a few cents using say one type of circuit as opposed to the next more durable circuit on a USB memory device they will. For consumers this causes devices to fail faster and more easily.

When end users of USB thumb drives unplug devices during a read or write function the device can fail almost permanently. Devices that are made with proven parts will tend to function normally if the device is unplugged during a read or write functions. Some of the error messages some might encounter follow.

Common Windows USB Error Messages - USB Device Not Recognized by Windows - USB Error Messages


* Status: Unreadable, Unknown Device

* USB Device Not Recognized Window

* Unknown Device

* USB Unknown Device

* USB Device Problem

* USB Device Not Recognized in Windows

* USB Device Not Recognized by Windows

* USB Device Not Recognized

* USB Device Not Recognized Windows XP

* One of the USB devices attached to this computer has malfunctioned, and Windows does not recognize it. For assistance in solving this problem, click this message.


Many students and teachers use USB data storage devices at school or when on the road. Many of the people that loose data are students, professors or teachers. The best method is simple, back up your device onto another medium such as your home laptop or desktop. Western Digital sells an external 750 GB hard drive. The Western Digital My Book Essential 750GB External USB 2.0 Hard Drive that plugs in either by USB or fire wire. The lowest cost as of 8-13-07 was $199.99 at Bestbuy.com. We at eProvided.com use this company’s storage product as a backup device for our own clients.

We have also tested the My Book™ World Edition™ II but advise all consumers to stay away from this unless you know exactly what you want to use it for. As this device only connects via your Ethernet port the data transfer time is terribly slow. The faster the backup device you use the faster and more effective your backups will be. We also tested many free data backup software programs. Many we would never use. The one that comes free with the Western Digital My Book did not fail once. This actually shocked us as so many of them work 50% of the time. Take it from a company that performs many USB data recovery issues daily, this one is huge on brownie points.

So to wrap this up; properly back up your important data. Use the proper software to make appropriate backups and always buy brand name USB storage devices. Non brand name devices tend to lead to faulty circuits and expensive USB data recovery. Be sure that your friends, colleagues and relatives read this story to prevent them from becoming a part of permanent data loss.

This article is free for republishing
Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_242970_10.html

Asus Eee PC - Cute and useful

Look at this one! A very cute laptop from Asus. The Asus Eee PC. With such a small space, obviously there are some features you see on a regular laptop that you shouldn't expect to be included in this ultraportable device.

Let's look at the good points. The size is about that of a paperback book, measuring 8.8 inches wide by 6.5 inches deep by a little less than an inch thick. Very small and handy indeed, you can place it in your cargo pants. Available in two colors, white and black (I've seen the black model at a store in Market! Market!, but the white one in the picture looks more attractive). Connectivity is not a problem as it has a Wi-Fi module built-in. A webcam is also installed, with speakers and a mic around its 7 inch screen. It also utilizes a solid-state hard drive, so expect a very fast start-up (typically 2 to 5 seconds only). Power on, and you're up and running in no time.

Now let's discuss the things that you might have a problem with upon using this laptop. With its 7 inch screen, and a resolution of only 800x600, viewing web pages could pose some horizontal scrolling. The keys are also small and you can accidentally click an unwanted letter. It has no Bluetooth, so buy yourself a dongle. You can't play your DVD disks here as it has no optical drive. It also lacks a PCMCIA slot. With a solid-state drive of having a 4GB capacity (8GB coming soon) only, don't bother copying your favorite movies and music -buy yourself an iPod.

All in all, if your only concern is to browse the Internet while having coffee or while having a break at the malls, or if you want to have a personal computer for your PowerPoint presentations at work, this is well worth the price at $400 (P19,700 on some shops here at the Philippines). I find this gadget so cute I would want to buy one, albeit I would be needing an optical drive. But if you need a full-featured laptop, there are some available at P23,000 and up, but don't expect them to be as small and as cute as the Asus Eee PC.

High-end computers: Low power consumers?

When it comes to electronics, the faster it gets, the more output it provides, the greater it consumes electricity. And it will reflect on your electricity bills big time. But now that computers are on a steady move towards faster performance, does it also mean it craves for electricity all the more?

AMD and Intel now offers dual-core processors. Imagine having two processors working in parallel together. Since the limit for speed has been exhausted, these companies decided to tie-up processors in a way that goes with the saying "two heads are better than one". And the performance is true to its word. But just so having two processors can make your work faster, then will it goes to say that they also consume twice the power than that of a single core?

No. These companies have designed their processors to throttle their speeds when working idle, or when applications doesn't require it. In turn, their consumtion of energy is decreased, all the while keeping your CPU box cool (the faster an IC performs, the hotter it gets).

So if you are stll using that Pentium 4 or Athlon processors, chances are you are rocketing your electricity bills by the minute. With the recent price drops in processor (P3,300 for an Intel Dual Core 1.6Ghz) and computer components, its not that hard to decide really. Believe me, i have saved P200 on my monthly bills, even though I leave my computer open at most times. That's a P2,400 saving per year!

For an in-depth analysis, visit Tomshardware.

Securing your Wireless Network

With the advent of broadband Internet connections, and the continuous drop of market prices of desktop computers and laptops, more and more homes are creating their own small network. And with wireless networking, communications between two or more computers has neven been so easy to configure. But is it secure? Here is a tip from the Internet:

Network security is an important aspect in this information world. The significance of security is much more in growing concern of hacking of data from the computer. As most individuals and business sectors are connected with Internet using wireless devices, you simply don’t know when and where all your personal information being theft. With the increasing number of cases regarding security breaches there is need for improvement in awareness regarding security measures. Wireless users simply need to know certain rules in order to control system penetration and bandwidth theft.

Always change the password of your router as these are come with preset service identifiers. The protocols of such service identifiers are known to hackers. That’s why you have to change the password something which is difficult to guess. Simple and general terms such as my router will be easy to guess. You may also rotate your password frequently as precaution.

If possible enable encryption. Follow the encryption procedure which is provided by your routing device. Two most preferable encryption measures are WEP and WPA2; out of which the later is used most and most up to date option. The function of such technology is to encrypt traffic and scrambling it so that any unauthorized third party could not use it by throwing a spanner in order to procure sensitive details.

Remote access points should be monitored closely. Security protocols must be established in companies which run web interfaces or remote system access points. It would be wise to change password frequently.

You should avoid the use of unsecured wireless hotspots in public locations. In these places traps are set up frequently by malicious third parties. These are designed to route that creates screen traffic in order to secure sensitive details.

If you are going to sold or dispose any hardware scrub it. This will eliminate all the chances of any third party to discover any sensitive data or passwords for using identity theft, to gain access to corporate systems or any type of financial crime.

Use wireless security software no matter whether you are a corporation or an individual. This software uses automatic security key rotation for every three hours of encryption purposes. It also provides security to the router apart from providing event logging. It also monitors to scrutinize for terminals that try to gain access. For institutions advanced software systems such as Wi-Fi manager are more useful. You have to take your own time before implementing any such security measures.

Source: http://www.articlealley.com/article_241666_10.html

How to add a favicon to Blogger

After uploading a favicon for my PHP site, I've tried placing a favicon here on Blogger. The procedure is very easy. After creating an icon or animated GIF image, upload it into a photo webhost or server, like Photobucket.

Log in to your Blogger account, click the Layout link of your blog.

On the Template tab, click Edit HTML.

Now you have to add this code into your Blogger HTML template, just below the <head> tag:

<link href='http://i71.photobucket.com/albums/i134/xxxxxx/xxx.jpg' rel='shortcut icon' type='image/ico'/>

The text with a blue color should be replaced by the Direct Link code of your image uploaded on Photobucket. You may upload your image into any photo webhosts, as long as the URL format above is followed.

Save your HTML, and you're done!

How to add a favicon to your PHP site

After hours of trial and error, i finally managed to put a favicon for a PHP site of mine (Blogwerx). It’s an animated one, created using a trial version of Easy GIF Animator. A simple favicon would be a 16×16pixel icon image (.ico), but as long as your icon is a sqaure the size really doesn’t matter (Blogwerx icon is a 160×160 image). GIF images should also be a square. Haven’t tried uploading a rectangular image though, so I don’t know the consequence of uploading such a picture.

By default, and just to make sure everything will work our correctly, your icon should be named favicon.ico, and if you want to upload an animated image, it should be named animated_favicon1.gif. I think you can name them anyway you like, as long as the filename is indicated in the code. But then again, let’s just be on the safe side.

Loading a favicon is pretty easy once you know where to look and edit the code at. The code will be inserted at the header.php file. If you use a template for your Wordpress site, the header.php file is located inside the themes folder, which is inside the wp-content folder, which is inside the public_html folder.*

/public_html/wp-content/themes

*This directory works for the Blogwerx site. Depending on your installation, this directory may be different from yours.

Choose the folder of the theme or template that you are using. (Blogwerx uses the Fresh (Compact) design). Inside your theme directory is a folder named images. Transfer your created icon or GIF image inside the images folder (using your favorite FTP program).

If you have uploaded an icon image (.ico), the change will take effect immediately, as the code is already included in the header.php by default. By default, your favicon code inside the head and head tags looks like this:

<link rel="shortcut icon" href="/images/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon" >
<link rel="icon" href="/images/favicon.ico" type="image/x-icon">>

The first line is for an Icon favicon (.ico), while the second line is for an animated icon (.gif).

If your header.php doesn’t have these codes, or is different from the ones listed above, or you uploaded an animated favicon, manually type or edit it inside the head and head tags. Make sure the filename of the images you uploaded, and the folder where you placed them, are specified in the tags. For an animated icon, change the second code above to the code below:

<link rel="icon" href="/images/animated_favicon1.gif" type="image/x-icon" />