Thursday, 15 December 2011
Wednesday, 27 October 2010
Scotch Tape Emits X-Rays When Peeled
Forget fancy particle accelerators — a cheaper tool for emitting X-rays is right there in the office supply cabinet. Pulling back Scotch tape emits X-rays, the same high-energy light emanating from airport security scanners and the interiors of galaxy clusters, and scientists now have a better understanding of why.
Physicists were dumbfounded two years ago when UCLA researchers produced quick flashes of X-ray light by peeling Scotch tape in a vacuum. Scientists have known since the dawn of 3M Scotch tape in the 1930s that pulling the adhesive emits blue light. But to discover that X-rays also fly out was perplexing because X-rays are a hundred thousand times more energetic than the chemical bonds holding the sticky side down.
Not only that, says UCLA physicist Seth Putterman, the light can pulse a billion times a second from a region only 100 micrometers in size, or about the width of a human hair.
“Just try to purchase a device like this,” Putterman says. Now, two teams of scientists have an explanation: Peeling tape separates positive and negative charges, creating an electric field. The field jump-starts free electrons in the neighborhood, accelerating them fast enough to emit X-ray photons. This bremsstrahlung radiation is like that created in the bellies of particle accelerators as they whip charged particles around near the speed of light.
No need to worry about radiation exposure at the office — at atmospheric pressure, where air molecules bustle, the electrons quickly run into other particles before they can radiate X-rays.
To track where the X-rays travel, Australian scientists rigged up Scotch tape on a spool driven by a motor (the lab’s first prototype spun on an electric drill). The X-rays mostly sprayed at a right angle to the direction the tape was pulled, the researchers report in the Sept. 29 Applied Physics Letters. That’s a convenient property, because herding light into a straight line normally absorbs the light’s energy, but the tape naturally emits X-rays in a straight line to within 5 degrees.
“Tape is an even better use as an X-ray source than we thought,” says Putterman, who first observed the phenomenon and reported in May that bremsstrahlung radiation is the X-ray source in a May paper in Applied Physics B: Lasers and Optics.
Other materials can generate X-rays using the same principle, says Putterman. He imagines that soldiers and medical workers in the field could use a hand crank to peel off adhesives and create X-rays. The light is powerful enough to image a human finger.
“This research is useful in a broader area,” said physicist Josip Horvat at the Institute for Superconducting and Electronic Materials in Wollongong, Australia. “People are trying to understand bremsstrahlung and they might be able to use this.”
But it’s still a mystery how tape could separate enough charge to create a strong electric field, the same way physicists don’t know how charge separates in clouds to create bolts of lightning.
“That is not explained yet, not by this paper, not by our research, or anyone else,” said Putterman.
Tuesday, 5 October 2010
Eye-Fi Memory Card Uploads Photos as You Take Them
MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. — Three years ago, a new kind of memory card went on sale promising to reduce the hassle of transferring photos and video from a camera to your PC or the Web.
The Eye-Fi card has built-in Wi-Fi networking to instantly upload your work. It's still a niche product, although Eye-Fi is getting closer to its dream of enabling wireless uploads as easily as they're performed on smartphones.
Since late 2007, customers have uploaded just over 100 million photos. For now, you can only post images online at photo-sharing sites. You can't e-mail them directly to a friend or yourself. And the card works only in open Wi-Fi hotspots.
But Eye-Fi has formed partnerships with the largest camera manufacturers — including Canon, Nikon, Sony, Pentax andSanyo— to offer on-screen menus for uploads in what Eye-Fi calls "connected cameras." And there are apps available for the iPhone and iPad.
Pricing starts at $49.95 for a 4-gigabyte card, substantially more than a plain vanilla 4-GB card (which can be found for as low as $15). The high end: $149 for a superfast 8-GB Eye-Fi card with geo-tagging and other extras.
CEO Jef Holove argues that the time savings is worth the extra money. "Your friends and family will care a lot more about the photos if they're fresh, and yesterday's event instead of last Christmas."
Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Altimeter Group, calls Eye-Fi a "one-trick pony," that does "one thing and one thing well — it connects your camera. You get the same benefit you would with a phone, but it's on your camera. That's why they've been able to carve an interesting position in the market."
The bulk of Eye-Fi's sales (Holove won't reveal numbers) have come since Christmas 2009, when the card got wide distribution at Best Buy and other retailers. The 5-year-old company has raised $25 million from investors.
Best Buy says it is delighted with sales, even if it is just a fraction of the revenue it brings in from cheaper cards.
"This is a next-generation product," says Deb Russell, Best Buy's merchandise director for digital imaging. "Does it sell anywhere near as well as a regular memory card? No, nor would we have expected it to."
Here's how the card works:
Once you buy the card, you must download the Eye-Fi Manager software to register it. From there, you choose where you want the images to go, including to a designated folder on your PC. Eye-Fi works with several websites to allow for instant uploads, including Facebook, Flickr, SmugMug and MobileMe.
From the Eye-Fi Manager, you also select which wireless network you'd like to associate the card with. Most home Wi-Fi networks require passwords. You'll need to add it in the manager.
The company has arrangements with AT&T for Wi-Fi access at its retail hotspots, which include coverage atStarbucks and Barnes & Noble.
For open hotspots, the card works sometimes — and other times it doesn't. There can be issues if you're not close to the router. And if the hotspot asks for a sign-in, the pictures won't begin uploading.
(Tip: Make sure to check the box in the Eye-Fi Manager software allowing for uploads at hotspots if you want to use the card wirelessly outside of your home. In our tests, the software defaults to have the box unchecked.)
Yuval Koren, an Eye-Fi co-founder, says the company is working on adding e-mail functionality.
"We're aware of the fact that e-mail is a popular way for people to share photos," he says.
Another blind spot for Eye-Fi: The card might be of interest to wedding and event photographers, who could wow their clients by seeing photos uploaded instantly. But the Eye-Fi card is available only in the SD format, not Compact Flash, which is used by pros.
Holove says his firm is interested in the consumer market and because the majority of cameras use SD cards, "We'd rather do a really good job with one format than spread ourselves too thin."
Chris Chute, an analyst at IDC, says there is a big "missing piece" in the camera market: the ability to share images as easily as with wireless phones.
Eye-Fi hasn't nailed it yet, he says, but if it can, it will be onto something.
The Eye-Fi card has built-in Wi-Fi networking to instantly upload your work. It's still a niche product, although Eye-Fi is getting closer to its dream of enabling wireless uploads as easily as they're performed on smartphones.
Since late 2007, customers have uploaded just over 100 million photos. For now, you can only post images online at photo-sharing sites. You can't e-mail them directly to a friend or yourself. And the card works only in open Wi-Fi hotspots.
But Eye-Fi has formed partnerships with the largest camera manufacturers — including Canon, Nikon, Sony, Pentax andSanyo— to offer on-screen menus for uploads in what Eye-Fi calls "connected cameras." And there are apps available for the iPhone and iPad.
Pricing starts at $49.95 for a 4-gigabyte card, substantially more than a plain vanilla 4-GB card (which can be found for as low as $15). The high end: $149 for a superfast 8-GB Eye-Fi card with geo-tagging and other extras.
CEO Jef Holove argues that the time savings is worth the extra money. "Your friends and family will care a lot more about the photos if they're fresh, and yesterday's event instead of last Christmas."
Michael Gartenberg, an analyst at Altimeter Group, calls Eye-Fi a "one-trick pony," that does "one thing and one thing well — it connects your camera. You get the same benefit you would with a phone, but it's on your camera. That's why they've been able to carve an interesting position in the market."
The bulk of Eye-Fi's sales (Holove won't reveal numbers) have come since Christmas 2009, when the card got wide distribution at Best Buy and other retailers. The 5-year-old company has raised $25 million from investors.
Best Buy says it is delighted with sales, even if it is just a fraction of the revenue it brings in from cheaper cards.
"This is a next-generation product," says Deb Russell, Best Buy's merchandise director for digital imaging. "Does it sell anywhere near as well as a regular memory card? No, nor would we have expected it to."
Here's how the card works:
Once you buy the card, you must download the Eye-Fi Manager software to register it. From there, you choose where you want the images to go, including to a designated folder on your PC. Eye-Fi works with several websites to allow for instant uploads, including Facebook, Flickr, SmugMug and MobileMe.
From the Eye-Fi Manager, you also select which wireless network you'd like to associate the card with. Most home Wi-Fi networks require passwords. You'll need to add it in the manager.
The company has arrangements with AT&T for Wi-Fi access at its retail hotspots, which include coverage atStarbucks and Barnes & Noble.
For open hotspots, the card works sometimes — and other times it doesn't. There can be issues if you're not close to the router. And if the hotspot asks for a sign-in, the pictures won't begin uploading.
(Tip: Make sure to check the box in the Eye-Fi Manager software allowing for uploads at hotspots if you want to use the card wirelessly outside of your home. In our tests, the software defaults to have the box unchecked.)
Yuval Koren, an Eye-Fi co-founder, says the company is working on adding e-mail functionality.
"We're aware of the fact that e-mail is a popular way for people to share photos," he says.
Another blind spot for Eye-Fi: The card might be of interest to wedding and event photographers, who could wow their clients by seeing photos uploaded instantly. But the Eye-Fi card is available only in the SD format, not Compact Flash, which is used by pros.
Holove says his firm is interested in the consumer market and because the majority of cameras use SD cards, "We'd rather do a really good job with one format than spread ourselves too thin."
Chris Chute, an analyst at IDC, says there is a big "missing piece" in the camera market: the ability to share images as easily as with wireless phones.
Eye-Fi hasn't nailed it yet, he says, but if it can, it will be onto something.
Google Instant Searches Before You Finish Typing
Search giant Google on Wednesday introduced instant search results that promise to save users time.
Google Instant searches the Web "as you type, not after you type," Marissa Mayer, Google's vice president of search product and user experience, said at a press event atSan Francisco's Museum of Modern Art.
The new tools were rolled out in the U.S. on Wednesday, and will spread internationally through the week. Businesses that work hard to be found in Google's results may have to adjust their strategies based on the changes.
Google's new search feature tries to figure out what you are searching for as each letter enters the query box. For example, typing the letter "w" causes Google to speculate that you are looking for the weather. It instantly displays a local forecast.
Similarly, typing "the girl" will display instant results to the popular book The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo. There's no need to type the entire title and press enter. Google predicts your interests based on your past search history and your local Web address, which tells Google where you are. You need to sign in to your Google account for Instant to work.
Mayer said the average Google query takes 15 seconds to enter and 300 milliseconds to process. Google Instant is designed to cut down on that time. "We estimate this will help users save two to five seconds per query," she said.
The new feature "makes search more interactive. Power users will really appreciate it," says Greg Sterling, an analyst with researcher Sterling Market Intelligence. Google is developing a version of instant search for mobile devices, such as cellphones. That may have the biggest impact "because of the fewer keystrokes," Sterling says. "It will make mobile search more widely used."
Google Instant could be a blow to rivals because it offers a "much faster experience,"' says Danny Sullivan, editor of Search Engine Land. A search using Microsoft's Bing "will seem so much slower, like they're using their grandfather's search engine," he says.
Websites will also need to adapt. Businesses that optimize their pages so that they appear near the top of Google results will have to "pay more attention to the suggestions offered by Google" that now pop up instantly as you type, Sullivan says.
Annie Cushing, director of search services for BlueGlass Interactive, a Tampa-based firm that helps businesses surface in Google search results, says the changes create opportunities for tech-savvy firms.
"The ones who can adapt the fastest are going to thrive," she says. "Now, instead of looking just at what keywords pop up in results, letters and even syllables will rank as well."
Google also said it passed a major milestone recently: It now has 1 billion users per week.
Microsoft Gets Legal Might to Target Spamming Botnets
SEATTLE — With a judicial assist, Microsoft has perfected a new superweapon to shoot down botnets, the engines cybergangs use to deliver malicious Internet attacks.
The U.S. District Court of Eastern Virginia last week granted a motion that, in effect, gives Microsoft permanent ownership of 276 Web domains once used by the Waledac cybergang to send instructions to hundreds of thousands of spam-spreading PCs.
Cybersleuths and attorneys at Microsoft's digital crimes unit actually decapitated the Waledac botnet in February by persuading District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema to issue a temporary restraining order to take the 276 domains offline.
Brinkema's order was unusual because the owner of the domains could not be reached and thus did not have a day in court to protest, says Microsoft senior attorney Richard Boscovich Sr.
With permanent ownership of the domains, Microsoft now has a proven legal means to take aim at U.S.-registered domains — including .com, .net, .biz and .org domains — shown to be conducting criminal activity. "It's open season on botnets," says Boscovich. "The hunting licenses have been handed out, and we're coming back for more."
The Waledac botnet was a major source of spam and PC infections, at its peak in 2009 delivering 1.5 billion spam messages daily. Microsoft added detection and filtering for Waledac infections to its free malicious software removal tool. But cleaning infected PCs one by one did not stop the command PCs.
By December, Microsoft Hotmail accounts were getting swamped with more than 650 million e-mail spam messages sent out by Waledac. That helped motivate the company to pursue a court order to shut down the command domains.
Even after the botnet's command center got knocked out, tens of thousands of infected PCs continued trying to phone home for instructions. Internet service provider Cox Communications has contacted several hundred of its subscribers by phone to guide them to Microsoft's free cleanup tool.
Lingering Waledac infections pose a risk, says Jason Zabek, safety manager at Cox. "You never know if something else will pop up to try to use it," he says.
Indeed, Microsoft in one recent seven-day period counted 58,000 PCs attempting 14.6 million connections to the 276 Waledac domains it now owns. The company advises using its free Security Essentials program, which will clean up Waledac and many other infections. Meanwhile, it is back at the hunt. "There are dozens of major botnets and hundreds of smaller ones," says T.J. Campana, Microsoft senior program manager. "Botnets remain the backbone of criminal activity."
The U.S. District Court of Eastern Virginia last week granted a motion that, in effect, gives Microsoft permanent ownership of 276 Web domains once used by the Waledac cybergang to send instructions to hundreds of thousands of spam-spreading PCs.
Cybersleuths and attorneys at Microsoft's digital crimes unit actually decapitated the Waledac botnet in February by persuading District Court Judge Leonie Brinkema to issue a temporary restraining order to take the 276 domains offline.
Brinkema's order was unusual because the owner of the domains could not be reached and thus did not have a day in court to protest, says Microsoft senior attorney Richard Boscovich Sr.
With permanent ownership of the domains, Microsoft now has a proven legal means to take aim at U.S.-registered domains — including .com, .net, .biz and .org domains — shown to be conducting criminal activity. "It's open season on botnets," says Boscovich. "The hunting licenses have been handed out, and we're coming back for more."
The Waledac botnet was a major source of spam and PC infections, at its peak in 2009 delivering 1.5 billion spam messages daily. Microsoft added detection and filtering for Waledac infections to its free malicious software removal tool. But cleaning infected PCs one by one did not stop the command PCs.
By December, Microsoft Hotmail accounts were getting swamped with more than 650 million e-mail spam messages sent out by Waledac. That helped motivate the company to pursue a court order to shut down the command domains.
Even after the botnet's command center got knocked out, tens of thousands of infected PCs continued trying to phone home for instructions. Internet service provider Cox Communications has contacted several hundred of its subscribers by phone to guide them to Microsoft's free cleanup tool.
Lingering Waledac infections pose a risk, says Jason Zabek, safety manager at Cox. "You never know if something else will pop up to try to use it," he says.
Indeed, Microsoft in one recent seven-day period counted 58,000 PCs attempting 14.6 million connections to the 276 Waledac domains it now owns. The company advises using its free Security Essentials program, which will clean up Waledac and many other infections. Meanwhile, it is back at the hunt. "There are dozens of major botnets and hundreds of smaller ones," says T.J. Campana, Microsoft senior program manager. "Botnets remain the backbone of criminal activity."
Tuesday, 28 September 2010
Direct Download Links for Microsoft Office 2007 Suites (60 Day Trials)
Currently re-building a laptop and the customer didn't have a Microsoft Office disc but had a valid Office Small Business 2007 licence on the laptop.
It was quite tricky finding a site that hosted the installers for the various Office 2007 suites. Usually got the below installers from the Microsoft site but now most of Microsoft's links all redirect to the new Office 2010 page.
I found the installers and re-uploaded them on dedicated hosting. If you download and install them, it will act as a 60 day trial until you enter a valid licence code.
Still looking for the enterprise version. If anyone knows where it is feel free to contact.
Enjoy!
It was quite tricky finding a site that hosted the installers for the various Office 2007 suites. Usually got the below installers from the Microsoft site but now most of Microsoft's links all redirect to the new Office 2010 page.
I found the installers and re-uploaded them on dedicated hosting. If you download and install them, it will act as a 60 day trial until you enter a valid licence code.
Still looking for the enterprise version. If anyone knows where it is feel free to contact.
Enjoy!
Wednesday, 15 September 2010
Future Microsoft tablet to be ‘no thicker than sheet of glass’
Microsoft will deliver an animated consumer touchscreen tablet that is “no thicker than a sheet of glass [at] “really cost effective prices”within the next three years — the next generation of Microsoft’s Surface technology — its principal researcher, Bill Buxton, told The Globe And Mail.
“Right now [Surface] has five cameras in it and a projector and a bunch of other stuff…. What will happen is that Surface will become no thicker than a sheet of glass…. It’s not going to have any cameras or projectors because the cameras will be embedded in the device itself.
“We’ve been making screens so they can not only emit light but also be like flatbed scanners. So if you put something against them they can see it at the pixel level.
“The best way to think about it is like a big LCD where there’s a fourth pixel in every triad. So there’s red, green, and blue pixels giving you light, and a fourth pixel which is a sensor that will capture stuff.”.
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