1/28/10

AddThis & Flash

Your content. Everywhere. 

AddThis is a free way to boost traffic back to your site by making it easier for visitors to share your content.

Add-ons for Firefox





AddThis & Flash

The AddThis platform doesn't just provide sharing features for standards-based web pages; its a great solution for Flash content as well. Flash developers can build sharing features directly into their Flash assets, and any developer, Web or Flash, can use AddThis to share Flash objects directly to destinations that support it.
Building AddThis Sharing Into Flash Sites and Widgets
If your web page or component is built using Flash, you'll probably want to control the look and feel of your sharing buttons or menus so that they are consistent with the design of your Flash assets. You can easily invoke the AddThis Sharing Endpoints using your own UI treatment. Alternatively, you might find some of our example code, including a sharing menu, useful.
Read more about how to use AddThis tools from within Flash objects in this guide to installing AddThis in Flash.
Using AddThis to Share Flash Content Embedded in a Page
AddThis operates on URLs. The pages these URLs point to, however, may contain embedded Flash content. A Flash video player on a video detail page is a common example. When sharing these URLs, AddThis identifies this type of content and, with certain supported destinations such as iGoogle, provides a richer sharing experience. You can also explicitly specify, via APIs, additional information to share along with the URL.
This means that you can augment your page and your AddThis installation to provide a great Flash sharing experience when possible, and still always support less full-featured destinations like bookmarking services. This ensures that your content can be shared to as many places as possible.

1/24/10

Google Docs Will Allow Users To Upload And Store Any File Type In The Cloud

Offers ability to upload all file types to the cloud through Google Docs, access from any device.


Google Docs 4 EveryoneGoogle Inc. intends to implement enhancements to Google Docs, its free online suite of office productivity applications, in the next few weeks that will allow customers to upload, store and organize all types of files in Google Docs and access them from any computing device, according to Vijay Bangaru, a Google Docs product manager.
Bangaru posted in two blog entries that users will be able to upload to Google Docs any file not exceeding 250 MB in size rather than emailing files to themselves as was previously required.

“Because Google Docs now supports files up to 250 MB in size, which is larger than the attachment limit on most email applications, you’ll be able to backup large graphics file, Raw photos, Zip archives and much more to the cloud,” he wrote.
Bangaru suggested that with the enhanced Google Docs file size users might be able to dispense with their USB drive formerly reserved for large files too big to send by email.
In addition, Google now is offering users 1 GB of free storage for files not converted to the Google Docs format. Additional storage can be purchased for 25 cents per GB per year.

Google previously has provided users with online file storage at no charge.
Bangaru said that Google Docs will enable teams of users to more readily collaborate on files using shared project folders.
“For example, if you are in a club or PTA working on large graphic files for posters or a newsletter, you can upload them to a shared folder for collaborators to view, download and print,” he said.

1/22/10

What is IP address?

WiFi Wireless IEEE 802.11N/G/B WLAN 150Mbps Network Adapter USB2.0 Wireless Lan USB Adapter for Laptop Noteook Desktop PC Suport Vista/Windows 7(32bit & 64bit)/LinuxAn IP address (Internet Protocol Address) is a numerical identification (logical address) of a network adapter. WiFi Wireless IEEE 802.11N/G/B WLAN 150Mbps Network Adapter USB2.0 Wireless Lan USB Adapter for Laptop Noteook Desktop PC Suport Vista/Windows 7(32bit & 64bit)/Linux


Every computer has their own IP address are all different is like a home address.

There are two version of the Internet Protocol (IP) are currently in use
Internet Protocol Version 4 (IPv4) : 192.168.1.100 limited to 4,294,967,296 IP address
Internet Protocol Version 6 (IPv6) : 2001:db8:0:1234:10:567:12:11 about 340 trillion trillion trillion IP address

There are two kinds of IP address's Static and Dynamic
A dynamic IP address changes each time you connect to your Internet Service Provider (ISP). This allows ISPs to keep a pool of addresses available.
A static IP address is fixed, much like a telephone number. If your ISP gives you a static address, you will always use the same address.

1/20/10

Top 10 Technology Skills in Demand in 2010

A slowly reviving economy will have organizations hiring in a few key areas, looking for IT pros with a mix of skills

1. PROJECT MANAGEMENT
Good avenue for technology professionals interested in building up their careers. Professionals who understand technology and how it fits in the overall business strategy are the ones who add the most value, get paid more and have the most fulfilling careers.

2. SECURITY
Demand for security skills. The biggest threat to companies is breaches by their own staff. When you throw in changes to the staff and disgruntled employees losing their benefits or facing the threat of being laid off, you increase the chances of network fraud or security infringement.
Big push to hire people with cyberskills. As leaders in your companies you'll worry about things like passwords. Making sure you support complex passwords.

3. NETWORK ADMINISTRATION
The network will be a big area of focus in the coming year. Increased use of video and voice over IP network by voice and radio engineers to handle upgrades and ensure compliance with new federal mandates. Those mandates requires the company to move from wideband to narrowband radio frequencies. Network Admin will be dabbling with a converged infrastructure in the next 12 months, driving a need for people with a mix of server, software and networking skills to support networked storage and server devices contained in a single chassis. It will be a tech who knows EMC, Hitachi storage,knows server, storage, and networking all in one device. The network has a problem when traced down, the problem is due to a lock on a table in the storage device.

4. VIRTUALIZATION - CLOUD is likely connected to the growing complexity of networks and to the stresses placed on them by virtualization and newly popular approaches to application delivery, such as cloud computing and software as a service.

5. BUSINESS ANALYSIS
As a "liaison among stakeholders in order to elicit, analyze, communicate, and validate requirements for changes to business processes, policies, and information systems. IT pros are good candidates for Business Analysis jobs because they have a broad perspective of a company's business.

6. BUSINESS PROCESS IMPROVEMENT
Business process improvement or management pros use BPM techniques and technologies to help companies optimize their business processes. BPMinstitute.org, which describes itself as a peer-to-peer exchange for business process management professionals.

7. WEB DEVELOPMENT
Specifically, companies will look for developers with knowledge of .Net, Java, Web development, open source and portal technologies such as Microsoft Corp.'s Sharepoint, Ruby on Rails, AJAX, and Silver notes.

8. DATABASE MANAGEMENT
Databases are the hearts of key business systems that drive payroll, manufacturing, sales, transaction processing, and more. Programmers must be able to build programs that quickly and efficiently interface with the database management system (DBMS), while database administrators "must be able to bring the full power of database features to bear on business problems. DBA expertise can be the Achilles' heel of database projects - many IT projects have failed due to the inability to secure DBA talent or successfully address DBA issues. The major database vendors are Oracle, IBM and Sybase.

9. WINDOWS ADMINISTRATION
Microsoft shops are expected in 2010 to upgrade to Windows Server 2008 R2 and the Windows 7 client, and perhaps install Exchange Server 2010 and Share Point 2010 as well. Windows administration skills is going to be key for many enterprises implementing and maintaining existing and upgraded systems.

10. DESKTOP SUPPORT
The need for support technicians tends to reflect general business conditions. Desktop/Technical Support It's no surprise that there will be strong demand for the people who make the help desk hum in 2010.

1/17/10

Disaster Imperialism in Haiti by Shirley Pate

Yesterday, I watched news of rescue efforts in Port-au-Prince.  Elite rescue teams, such as the one from Fairfax County, VA, were focusing primarily on the Montana Hotel and the headquarters of the UN "peacekeeping" force, MINUSTAH.  Anyone who knows Haiti knows that the Montana Hotel is the most lavish lodging your can find in Port-au-Prince and is frequented by wealthy business people, foreign dignitaries, and served as the initial headquarters of the MINUSTAH force.  Meanwhile, in the neighborhoods most heavily hit by the earthquake, Haitians, equipped with nothing more than their bare hands, dug frantically to save their families and neighbors.
The Canada Haitian Action Network is circulating an aid worker's account that tells of this class/race disparity in responding to the injured.  The aid worker says rescue teams are refusing to go into popular neighborhoods because they  fear "violence."  Breathlessly, the media rotate stories of poor, injured Haitians with warnings of violent Haitian masses on the verge of a nationwide riot.
Dr. Sanjay Gupta, CNN's foil to counter Michael Moore about his indictment of the US health care system in his film Sicko (Moore kicked his ass), reported two nights ago that a tent clinic in downtown Port-au-Prince was abandoned by all medical staff because of a "rumor" of impending violence.  Gupta showed the CNN audience cot after cot of injured Haitians with no medical staff in sight.  CNN would probably get an Emmy award if Gupta would quit playing journalist and used his time there being the doctor he was trained to be.  This is not a place or time where ANY medical professional on the ground in Haiti should do anything other than treating the injured.
Those who have observed that US aid is slow getting to Haiti, such as the Navy's USS Comfort which is leaving Baltimore, Md., only TODAY, should understand that the US is concentrating on getting military boots on the ground first.  By the end of the weekend, the US will have 10,000 military troops in Haiti.  Once this is done, it will be "safe" for aid workers to tend to the injured in the popular neighborhoods.  As time goes on, pay attention to the back story, and you will see that the placement of these soldiers has more to do with stemming a political tsunami than helping the people.
Maintaining a violence-prone image of poor Haitians is de rigueur.  During the US Marine occupation of 1915-1934, Haitians were characterized summarily as "bandits."  In the US destabilization campaign against President Aristide in 2003-2004, his followers were called "chimeres" or "thug-creatures," a label created for propaganda purposes by a Western journalist.  Further, the concept of the "violent Haitian" has given cover to the UN "peacekeeping" force to conduct one deadly attack after another in the middle of the night in poor neighborhoods against unarmed, sleeping Haitians.
On the day after the earthquake, reporters expressed concern about the prisoners who escaped from the collapsed Haitian penitentiary (the ones that didn't die, of course).  In the first and only mention of the Haitian National Police, the media reported that their top priority was apprehending these violent criminals.  Yet, we have not heard of police helping the people dig out of the earthquake.  This is not surprising.  In the days after the US kidnapping of Aristide in 2004, the Haitian National Police were responsible for summary executions of Aristide's supporters, illegal mass detentions, and numerous disappearances.  Who knows how many of the dead or escaped prisoners there were those who were incarcerated without cause over the course of the two years that followed Aristide's departure?  The whole point is that the police are worried about escaped prisoners when their entire country is in shambles.  If you ask average Haitians how concerned they are about these prisoners, they will look at you as if you are crazy. The prison story is good "violence" propaganda and we will most likely hear more about it.
President Aristide is as popular now in Haiti as he has ever been.  The people, especially the poor who comprise the majority of the population, found Aristide to be the only president that ever gave a damn about them.  The 2004 coup was a US, French, and Canadian expedition that had NO popular support in Haiti.  In order to make the coup stick, the US engineered the placement of a 10,000 United Nations "peacekeeping" force there.  As my friend Kevin Pina, journalist and documentary filmmaker who lived and reported from Haiti for many years says, "If MINUSTAH had not been brought into Haiti, the coup would have fallen in a week."  Aristide's political party, Lavalas, undoubtedly the most popular party in Haiti, has been barred from the ballot in the two previous elections resulting in a massive boycott and illegitimate results for the state.
In the earthquake, MINUSTAH suffered many casualties and because its offices were destroyed, it is not fully functional.  The US is scared that, without full MINUSTAH muscle, the tsunami of Haitian demand for the return of Aristide will rise up, that is, until the planned 10,000 troops are on the ground.  So, Haiti's poor, already totally consumed by loss of homes, injury and the death of loved ones, will have to start watching their back as well -- as always.

Shirley Pate is a Haiti solidarity activist, who was in Haiti six weeks after the 2004 coup, participating in a delegation to determine the role of the US in the coup.  This article was first published by the HONDURAS OYE! blog on 16 January 2010; it is edited and republished here for non-profit educational purposes

1/14/10

Wireless networking

What you need to know

Logitech Squeezebox Duet Wi-Fi Internet RadioWireless local area network (WLAN) technology has a long history that dates back to the 1970's. IEEE 802.11 technology referred to as WiFi, 802.11 wireless networking is another way of connecting your computer to the network using radio frequency and no network cables.Logitech Squeezebox Duet Wi-Fi Internet Radio Wireless works similarly to cordless phones; they transmit data from one point to another through radio signals.  Wi_fi radios are used for numerous enterprise applications and can also be found in laptops, cellular phones, cameras, televisions, printers, and many other consumer devices.


But wireless technology also requires that you be within the wireless network range areaOn-Q Legrand 364887-01 Wireless Access Point, In-Ceiling Designed specifically for residential use, the On-Q Wireless Access Point mounts flush in the ceiling and practically disappears when installed. No bigger than an in-ceiling speaker or smoke detector, the Wireless Access Point provides broad whole house coverage for surfing the Internet both indoors and outdoors.

This Wireless Access Point in-ceiling access point for a wireless home network  installs in standard plastic 3-gang switch box. Power Over CAT-5e module, power supply, and CAT-5e patch cable included. 802.11g wireless networking, LEDs indicate data, wireless, and power status.

1/9/10

Welcome to Web 3.0

                         Web 2.0 is so over.                                                                                          







The next generation of Web technology has been coined Web

3.0 or the Semantic Web. It refers to a smarter Web in which

web based data is made readily accessible for use across

applications for both human and computer use. On your

right are Sementic Web Startup Companies.




Indeed, the Facebooks and MySpaces of the world could still grow up to be economically powerful. Consider that Amazon (AMZN, Fortune 500) once was just an online bookstore, and that Google (GOOG, Fortune 500) started out simply as another search engine.




"But today's Web 2.0 companies may find themselves transformed or even eclipsed by yet another wave of web innovators. New companies are cropping up to expand the utility of the web, creating location-based services and financial payment systems that can be bolted onto existing sites. Often bootstrapped, they are frequently profitable and may get acquired quickly. Even in today's tough environment, these upstarts are the ones raising money and trying to score a life- or business-altering hit. Welcome to Web 3.0.

Palm unveils phones that create Wi-Fi hotspots - CNN.com

Palm on Thursday announced upgraded versions of its Pre and Pixi smartphones that add video recording and the capability to create 3G mobile hotspots for laptops and other mobile devices.


The Pre Plus and its cousin, the thinner Pixi Plus,
will go on sale January 25 and will be available only on Verizon's wireless network. That's a blow to Sprint, which currently is the exclusive U.S. carrier for Palm's phones.

Prices of the phones were not announced during Palm's press event here at the 2010 International Consumer Electronics Show.

The phones' most significant new feature may their new mobile hot spot, an app that runs on Palm's web-OS operating system and that can be downloaded -- as part of a Verizon data plan -- beginning January 25 from the Palm App Catalog.

Palm says the application will give customers the option of creating a personal Wi-Fi cloud capable of sharing Verizon's 3G network with up to five Wi-Fi-enabled devices.

The Palm Pre Plus and Pixi Plus will be the first cell phones in the world to offer this capability, Palm CEO Jon Rubinstein told reporters during the invitation-only, hour-long event.
The new phones will allow users to record videos and e-mail or upload them almost immediately to You-tube or Face book. The phones also will have a Flash 10 browser plug-in that will allow them to, say, play movie trailers on Yahoo's site.

Skype, Flip, Cisco on CES, the future of technology

After six months of private beta testing, Palm on Thursday also opened its developer program to outside developers interested in creating apps for its phones. Palm's online store currently has more than 1,000 mobile applications, well behind the 100,000-plus applications available in Apple's better-known App Store.

"If you can imagine it, we're going to give you the tools and the access to build it," said Katie Mitic, Palm senior vice president of product marketing.

Palm introduced its Pre phone, largely viewed as a success, to much fanfare at last year's CES. The phone hit the market in June 2009, followed in November by the thinner, less expensive Pixi.

1/8/10

Local Area Unemployment Statistics - Illinois VS U.S 1975-2008







The Local Area Unemployment Statistics (LAUS) program develops monthly and annual estimates of the labor force, employed, unemployed and the unemployment rate for the State, metropolitan areas, counties and municipalities that have a population of at least 25,000.



1/7/10

UCLA research processing digital information can rewire your circuits.


Is technology changing our brains? A new study by UCLA neuroscientist Gary Small adds to a growing body of research that says it is. And according to Small's new book, "iBRAIN: Surviving the Technological Alteration of the Modern Mind," a dramatic shift in how we gather information and communicate with one another has touched off an era of rapid evolution that may ultimately change the human brain as we know it. "Perhaps not since early man first discovered how to use a tool has the human brain been affected so quickly and so dramatically," he writes. "As the brain evolves and shifts its focus towards new technological skills, it drifts away from fundamental social skills."


According to Vorgan (The Memory Bible) and Small, one of America's leading neuroscientists, digital technology has altered the neural circuitry in human brains and triggered an evolutionary process in just one generation. The authors identify the inherent problems and challenges this poses, providing a technology toolkit filled with strategies to preserve one's humanity and keep up with the latest technology. They make their case based on abundant research in the areas of health, psychology, pediatrics, education, business, and technology. Their exercises include developing face-to-face communication skills as well as mastering electronic games. A compelling as well as timely read, this is highly recommended for all libraries.

1/6/10

Nexus One review now that Google has officially unveiled its new phone


Bill Shrink has posted this handy chart comparing the
Nexus One to other smartphones on the market:





















I've got the scoop on the new device with a Nexus One review roundup.

Here's what people have to say so far:
According to TechCrunch,
This is the best Android powered phone to date. It's also the fastest and most elegant smartphone on the market today, solidly beating the iPhone in most ways. TechCrunch adds the Nexus One has "no obvious flaws or compromises."
Walt Mossberg of the Wall Street Journal writes in his Nexus One review, "It's the best Android phone so far, in my view, and the first I could consider carrying as my everyday hand-held computer."
However, he concedes the iPhone still has a few advantages, including more apps, more memory, and a more fluid user interface.

Engadget, which tested an early mode of the Nexus One, is a bit less keen. According to their review, the Nexus One Google Phone is "just another Android smartphone" -- albeit a "particularly good one."

1/5/10

Morgan Freeman Replaces Walter Cronkite On "CBS Evening News" Voiceover (AUDIO)


The voice of Walter Cronkite is a memory I have from my childhood. His passing was very sad for me.

CBS felt it was time to make a change and Morgan Freeman's voice fits the slot. Less than 30 seconds introducing the Network and Katie. Perfect.
Read the Article at HuffingtonPost

My BTR | BlogTalkRadio

I found BlogTalk Radio. BlogTalkRadio is a provider of thousands of internet talk radio shows.


BlogTalkRadio allows anyone, anywhere the ability to host a live, Internet Talk Radio show, simply by using a telephone and a computer.

BlogTalkRadio’s unique technology and seamless integration with leading social networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and Ning, empowers citizen broadcasters to create and share their original content, their voices and their opinions in a public worldwide forum. Manage your Face book and Twitter Connections
Change Permissions. Create and Event when show is scheduled. Events you like automatically tweeted for you.

Today, BlogTalkRadio is the largest and fastest-growing social radio network on the Internet. A truly democratized medium, BlogTalkRadio has tens of thousands of hosts and millions of listeners tuning in and joining the conversation each month. Many businesses also utilize the platform as a tool to extend their brands and join the conversation on the social web.

Their streaming and archived shows are produced by anyone that wants to be an internet radio host.Register today.

1/3/10

Howto: Ubuntu fdisk on a partition with bad sector

Howto: Ubuntu fdisk on a partition with bad sector.

I am new to Ubuntu partitioning, but the following steps worked for my fellow geeks, so maybe they will help someone else. Many sites warn that these operations are risky and may result in losing all the data on your hard drive, so be sure to back up whatever you want to save if you try this.My goal was to dual boot with Ubuntu 9.10 and Windows Vista Premium. I followed the instructions at https://help.ubuntu.com/9.10/switching/dualboot.html  I wanted to reduce the size of my Windows partition, reduced size to 31.5GB this size of my Windows Recovery Disk. (The reduced size is based on hard drive size. Mine is 220GB. )

The Live CD http://www.ubuntu.com/getubuntu/download  contains a number of useful partitioning tools such as GParted, ntfsresize, and fdisk, which I used. Booting from the CD, I opened GParted, right-clicked on my Windows partition, and selected the "information" option. It told me that GParted had detected bad sectors on this partition, but if I wanted to resize this partition anyway.
 I logged into ntfs boot loader as root user. I ran root# fdsk. I could have returned to Windows, and ran 'chkdsk /f /r', reboot twice, and then use ntfsresize with the --bad-sectors option.
However, I ran fdsk and found 661 bad sectors. (after compressing old files and defragging), FDSK ran for maybe an hour.  661 bad sectors  hadn't been "repaired" just compressed. I proceed with the reboot and install of Vista then Ubuntu.
I have access to my old hard drive. I get warning regularly to back up my hard drive it is failing. "Windows detected at hard disk problem" Until I purchase my new MAC. I'm going to hang on the this machine with it 661 bad sectors.

All my Documents are backup on Google docs.  Music on iPod and backup on DVD and CD-r.
Finally, I use http://www.xmarks.com/ to backup  and sync my IE and Chrome bookmarks on the web. So if there are docs I'm missing there are synced.


"A great resource covering Ubuntu from A to Z without all the extra fluff" Ubuntuforums.org


Read by over 500,000 people, Ubuntu Pocket Guide and Reference is the world's most popular Ubuntu book. Written by award-winning expert Keir Thomas, it will quickly transform you into a power user. In its clear and concise pages, you'll learn step-by-step about installation, the Ubuntu desktop, the tricks and techniques of efficient day-to-day usage, the command-line, software management, and, finally, system security. Appendixes provide a glossary of terms, and a guide to technical documentation.

Restore Data After Hard drive died

My hard drive crashed. . How can I retrieve the data on my hard drive? First I should have bought another cheap external hard drive. (It was stolen from a clients site)

I still did not back up my data DVD or CD-r. Being a geek with knowledge of web applications backing up data is simple. You should never have only one copy of anything.
If you want some advice about getting into the backup habit, see 7 Backup Strategies for Your Data, Multimedia, and System Files.

I was not happy the hard drive died. However, I did not have to send the drive to a data recovery service that would have charged me hundreds or even thousands of dollars to recovery my data.
I found a way to make the data recoverable.


Google Docs will give you access to your documents on the internet with an active internet connection.
This feature will download your docs onto the web. You will need Gears for offline access, and the installer will restart your browse on your computer. 
For a quick product tour, check out: http://www.google.com/google-d-s/tour... Or to get started, visit: http://docs.google.com

1/1/10

Smartphone Success Caused Wireless Network Congestion

With the success of smartphones like iPhone, DroidMotorola DROID Milestone Unlocked GSM Smartphone
 BlackberryBlackberry Onyx 9700 Bold Smartphone Unlocked with 3MP Camera, Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, E-mail--International Version with No Warranty (Black) etc there is a rise in data over voice service escalating the volume of data over wireless network. There is a growing risk that data traffic will strain the capacity of wireless networks, and that networks will not be able to remain profitable while supporting emerging services that generate low revenue. Thus carriers have to update network to enhance its service and retain customers.