‘It will alert people five minutes after an undersea earthquake’
Indonesia’s tsunami warning system is laid in place
Indonesia was caught by surprise and largely affected by a massive tsunami wave four years ago, which caused approximately 170,000 people to go missing or to be found dead across the sultanate of the Nanggroe Aceh Darussalam province, situated on the northern portion of the Sumatra island. As a result, since then, a large number of small-scale tsunami warning systems have been installed across the archipelago which contains about 17,000 islands, all within the seismically-active zone dubbed “The Pacific Ring of Fire”.
These systems are designed to alert the population as soon as possible before a new disaster strikes. But specialists indicated that the efforts are far from providing efficient results, especially since a vast portion of the country still lies outside the zone covered by the systems. In order to address this matter, a novel system built in cooperation with foreign institutions, such as the German Research Center for Geosciences, is currently undergoing installment operations.
It relies on sensors located both on the seabed and on the shore, which will transmit information regarding the seismic activity to surface buoys. In turn, these will further send the data towards an Indonesian tsunami early warning center. The first two of the total of ten buoys are already in place, with four more to be installed soon, and the whole system, which will ensure accurate data five minutes after the occurrence of a quake, is estimated to be functional within two years. Still, specialists believe this is impossible to achieve without first installing a minimum of 22 buoys, 160 seismographs and 120 digital recording tide gauges.
According to Thomas Rachel, the parliamentary state secretary of Germany, quoted by Reuters, “We are starting the world’s most advanced tsunami early warning system able to issue the quickest possible warnings with a high degree of reliability”. Indonesia’s President, Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, backed up the statement, “This tsunami early warning system signifies our progress and readiness in efforts to prevent or at least reduce the effects of earthquakes and tsunamis which can happen anytime and anywhere”.
Yesterday, my friend brought a 160GB Portable HD drive to get some good stuff from my HD. I plugged it into the port and what caught my attention was that, in the usual autorun window, there was something very unusual i.e the ‘Open folder to view files’ was mention two times. I ran a quick scan with Avira on the portable drive and “unsurprisingly” it was infected with ‘TR/Crypt.XPACK.Gen’. Again, unsurprisingly, the antivirus failed to disinfect, remove and even quarantine the virus!
A long time ago my OS was infected with a similar Autorun virus and i was forced to find my own way to deal with it and it took me almost 15 minutes to kick it out of my PC, though a short time, it was a real pain in a$$ as the virus was just multiplying!
The way can you deal with such stubborn virus is that if the antivirus fails to fix them, you have to manually remove them so as to avoid the broing procedure of formatting the drives and re-installing the OS.
My solution to deal with Autorun viruses:
First of all, NEVER rush toward exploring the portable partitions,
If you find anything suspicious about the portable device, run a through antivirus scan and if still you are not satisfied, unhide all the folders and system files from the toolbar menu and check whether you see any stranger file hidden in the portable drive.
Install the Unlocker app(Click here to download) (It helps to stop the active processes from using the drive/folder/file, thus making the drive/folder/file writable)
Right click on the portable drive, click on Unlocker, and kill all the processes using the infected portable drives.
If you are unable to unhide the folders, start the search window and set the options as ‘highlighted’ in the screen shot:
After you’ve selected the correct options, hit the search tab (Remember to set the searcha path to your portable drives).
If infected, you will find some suspicious hidden files like autorun.inf and others that are no supposed to be a part of the drive(beware, do not run the autorun file directly, it’s another way of getting your OS infected). Instead drag the .inf file in the notepad to check it’s contents.
Now, leave the search results window as it is and run the file shredder tool(Click here to download)
Go back to the search results window and drag all the stranger files including the ‘RECYCLER’ and ‘System Volume Information’ folder into the File Shredder window and hit the “Chop it away” button.
This will remove the infection from the portable device and will save your OS from being infected.
If your OS is also infected, follow the same steps but, in the this case the only difference will be that you will be dealing with your local drives (C: D: E: and so on).
Feel free to drop in a comment if you have any questions/suggestions.
Nokia 1110i is super cool when it comes to speed and simplicity. Being a Nokia 1110i user, i’ve always enjoyed the browsing speed and the comfortable keypad. For me, It’s basically a fixed version of Nokia 1100. Even though this black and white phone is stripped to only calling, messaging and with a better version of Snake for entertainment , it doesn’t stop me from receiving my mails and recent feeds on my mobile. The trick is for all who use a simple phone with no GPRS access and is also useful for mobiles with GPRS.
There are two services that i am considering, one being only for phone numbers in India and the other one for USA and Canada.
I will start of with the service for phone numbers in India.
For receiving new mails on SMS, you need to free your Gmail feed from the usual authentication (yes, you have a feed for your email account too).
For regular feeds, apart from Freeing your feed, all the steps to be followed are the same.
I have tested this trick only on Gmail accounts and works as smooth as whiskey. It should work for other Webmail services too. Though the updates are not in real time, it usually takes 5-10 minutes to arrive as SMS.
Common Gmail feed link: https://mail.google.com/mail/feed/atom
The feeds for other webmail services can be found with Google search.
Get started:
Go to http://freemyfeed.com
Enter https://mail.google.com/mail/feed/atom as the input url, followed by your user id and password. (Is it safe? Of course it is. But still, you should read the privacy policy on the website). Save the output URL.
Log into Google SMS channels,
Settings,
Enter your mobile number and set the other options as per your preferences,
Create a new channel,
Enter the regular details in the form,
In the ‘Source’ section, select RSS/Atom feed and enter the new feed generated from http://freemyfeed.com
For many, Rubik’s cube isn’t a puzzle of hard work anymore. Almost each of them have developed their own style and method of cracking the evil cube. They don’t just solve it, they play with it! Even I have developed my own way of cracking the scrambled 3×3x3 cube. The only thing i need to work on is to optimize the method i use to improve my current speed of 2.5 minutes to less then a minute.
If you are really curious to grasp how fun it is to solve and play with the 3×3x3 rubik’s cube and also finding it difficult to actually solve it, download Jasmine Lee’s Solution (Click here) with a step-by-step guide to cracking the 3×3x3 rubik’s cube very easily. It’s very elaborate and easy to understand. Soon, with practice, you should be able to make your own way of solving it!
You can also download this 3×3x3 cube solving tool (Click here)
I have a lot of registered accounts at various free & useful websites. We all do it because of the “free” factor. But, what if i have forgotten my login details of a particular website? I usually don’t encounter such issue as i keep common login details(for discussion forums and freebie portals only) at most of the times, at the rest, i am forced to use a different login for registration as it’s already in use. For such cases, i have to manage the login details at one place cause if i try accessing the websites after a long time and i don’t remember the access keys, reluctantly, i have to follow the sucky login recovery procedure.
To avoid that, there is a tiny freeware utility, Text Locker, that helps me Cipher + Password protect the Ciphered text i need to keep in private. The output file can be saved in a .txt format which adds portability to the file.
Cipher, also called as “encipherment” is a term used in cryptography to encode the text to conceal its readability and meaning.
Download the application at http://binprojects.com
Note: You can re-cipher the ciphered text if you need to but, if you keep on hitting the Cipher button, the application will take more time to complete the request each time.
If you’re thinking about which hybrid vehicle to purchase, now that gas prices have dictated that you replace your Hummer, consider a vehicle that will not only eliminate high spending at the gas pump, but also your time spent in traffic. Wouldn’t you rather fly above the endless traffic jams in your very own ethanol-fueled flying car? I know I would.
A Moller M200G on a test flight. The craft is supported by the downdraft of eight rotary engines and controlled with a joystick. Maximum altitude: 10 feet, to stay under the limit that would require a pilot’s license. Credit: Moller International, USA
Science fiction, right? Guess again. Welcome to Moller Int., a small company nestled in the unassuming city of Davis, CA, where they are making this science fantasy into cold hard reality via the M400 Skycar, a ‘volantor’ sky vehicle. Volantor refers to the capability of a vertical takeoff and landing as well as its quick and agile flight.
Dr. Paul Moller, company founder, Chairman of the Board and also the company’s President and Chief Executive Officer has, needless to say, invested his entire being into his vision. With a masters degree in Engineering and a Ph.D. in Aerodynamics, Moller’s dream, since his first helicopter designs at the age of 15, has been to create viable flight vehicles for the general public. His realization of that dream became the Skycar.
A very old footage of the flight demonstration of M200x
Moller Int. currently has two working models of volantor aircraft. The M400 Skycar resembles a small sports car jet, bright red and glossy with a pointed nose, two sets of fans (which rotate for liftoff) and a Plexiglas cockpit, which seats four people. Moller imagines that it would be the best for people with regular trips over 50 miles, and would be much faster due to its ability to cruise between 200 miles/hour at sea level and up to 400 miles/hour at 25,000ft.
Brady White dressed as Santa posed with model Keana Meyer, right, as they stood next to the skycar M400 prototype featured at the press preview of the Neiman Marcus 79th Annual Christmas Book in Dallas, Tuesday, Sept. 27, 2005. The M200X Neuera is currently in limited production for 2009 while the Skycar is still 3 years away. AP Photo/Donna McWilliam
“It’s the kind of vehicle that would change the way you get around,” declares Moller.
The other model at Moller Int. is the M200X Neuera, formerly the Jetson, which most closely resembles a two person UFO. Its round shape, blue color and domed cockpit are reminiscent of the popular cartoon The Jetsons. Its usability ranges from farming to military, to shipping usages to border patrol. Moller envisions it competing with modern all terrain vehicles and as such its uses are endless. As fast as the average car, it can cruise easily at 75 miles/hour with top speeds near 100 miles/hour.
The M400 Skycar and the M200X Neuera are capable of vertical liftoff, landing, hovering and cruising with the success of two key elements: its engine and its stability system. The Skycar has an engine capable of generating a huge amount of power in a very small space.
Paul Moller’s flying cars look like UFOs or vehicles out of the Jetsons. Moller explains how they work. Credit: Moller Int.
“You would describe it as brute force,” explains Moller. “That’s why this particular class of aircraft is called powered-lift aircraft. Rather than going down a runway and generating lift on the wings, you have to literally generate the force [yourself]. If you want to go forward, you have to throw something out the back end. What we throw is air.”
He likens his craft to hummingbirds; inherently graceful, nimble and known for their speed. Capable of hovering as well as flying, a hummingbird requires an immense amount of energy, eating two and a half times its weight in food just to be able to maintain flight. Hummingbirds are small and, as they hover, they push air down with their wings to generate the power to hold them airborne.
“That was the tricky part of our business,” says Moller, “How to generate that large amount of power in a very small package. If the engine weighs a lot, you are just going to sit on the ground.” Moller’s advanced engine, the Rotapower engine, can generate 2 horsepower for every pound of its weight. “That’s an absolutely new accomplishment,” says Moller.
Moller’s technology, “as sophisticated as the system used to land a man on the moon,” is not just for astronauts. The second key component of the Skycar is its artificial stabilization system, which allows all of us who aren’t Neil Armstrong to pilot the vehicle. The stability system is a network which collects information such as change in velocity, acceleration and position every few milliseconds and integrates them, telling the engine how to adjust its speed to maintain the craft’s stability. The advantage that these key elements give Moller’s volantor crafts is undeniable.
The stability system allows for the average person to pilot the craft without the need for a pilot’s license (at least from a skill level). This enables the vehicles to be available for the general public. Also, the improved engine provides a slew of advances over the common automobile.
The Rotapower engine, which Moller hails as the “most significant mechanical invention of the 20th century,” allows for a safer, more powerful, quieter and cleaner engine. “The beauty of the engine is that its round, so I can hide it,” says Moller. This is important because it forgoes the need for gear boxes found in regular aircraft and which are vulnerable to breakdown and malfunction. According to Moller, 40 percent of all helicopter crashes are due to powertrain failure, a risk he’s eliminated with the usage of his rotary engine.
Another advantage is the fuel that powers the Skycar and Neuera. Ethanol, besides burning cleaner than gasoline, is much safer as well. “If you have an accident, the last thing you want have in that engine is gasoline, explains Moller. “It’s extremely volatile, one spark and it’s all over for you.” Ethanol is able to be mixed with water and, while it burns within the engine, won’t ignite outside of it. If in the case of a crash, or a fuel spill, the risk of fire or explosion is negated by using the ethanol-water mixture.
The M200X Neuera is currently in limited production for 2009 while the Skycar is 3 years away. Moller estimates that the Neuera will sell for under $100,000 and could get under $50,000 with increased volume. The Skycar, however, will sell for above $100,000 dollars but is well worth the dough if having a cherry red volantor sky vehicle is your thing - and you know it is.
So before you shell out over a hundred thousand dollars on that new Maserati with its advanced aerodynamic engineering, only to be stuck in traffic with Yugos anyway, consider being where aerodynamics really count: in the sky.
Activision was really not kidding when it said that it was planning to release as many as 11 new Guitar Hero branded games in the following year. If you count them, there are four coming until the end of 2008. We’ll have Guitar Hero World Tour and Guitar Hero: Aerosmith out for home console at the end of November, while the Nintendo DS is getting both Guitar Hero: On Tour Guitar Hero: On Tour Decades.
Still, Mike Griffth, the president of Activision Publishing, still believes that “the consumer still has an insatiable appetite for more”. Let’s not forget that Activision has already filled applications related to trademarks like Dance Hero, DJ Hero, Guitar Villain and Drum Villain. Some of these games might never make it to the market, as the trademark of a name does not guarantee that development has started, but still that’s a lot of Hero games that might become reality. At least, Rock Band is only launching sequels at the moment and no spin offs seem to be planned.
And the US Patent and Trademark Office is likely to be busy with more trademark requests coming from Activision. This week, Guitar Hero Modern Hits is the most recent name to come up. The application is related to “computer game software and related instruction manual sold together as a unit”, “interactive video game programs”, “downloadable computer game software” and “video game controllers”, not to mention”interactive video game comprised of a cartridge or DVD sold as a unit with a video game controller”.
Guitar Hero World Tour will be launched for the Xbox 360, the PlayStation 3, the PlayStation 2 and the Nintendo Wii. Its direct competitor, Rock Band 2, is already out in North America. The games are expected to be among the best sellers of the Christmas sales period.
The number of of multimedia streaming websites like YouTube, Google Videos, MetaCafe, DailyMotion, Tudou, VideoCure, AOL videos is increasing rapidly and has made it easy for all to get a sneak peek of any video or music track we are interested in. Websites like Keepvid.com are super cool for grabbing multimedia content online but, for now, has a limitation up to grabbing links from the famous websites only.
A wide variety of link grabbing tools are also available and stereotypically, most being bundled with spywares and badly coded toolbars. They suck indeed.
Url Snooper is one of the best and cleanest freewares that grabs and lists all HTTP links that your network is conntected to and also the links that are being read by the browser. This tool makes it easy to understand the source of the embedded multimedia content from any public website.
Windows XP being the most user friendly OS available, can turn out to be a pain in the a** at times. It is bunduled with thousands of features that many are still not aware of, one of them is the ability to easily fix minor annoyances without re-installing the OS.
Lets face facts. Many are switching to Opensource operating systems like Ubuntu, openSUSE, Fedora, e.t.c. But, for now, even though Windows XP irritates at times, it’s the most flexible and user friendly OS available. It’s very boring and a time wasting experience to troublshoot every annoyance manually, only to save the burden of re-installing the OS. Some of them can be fixed manually with ease, but some are hard to. For example, if the tooltip info that you get while you hover the cursor over the taskbar/tray icons, hides behind the taskbar, you can easily fix it with a ToolTip Fixer.
A website www.kellys-korner-xp.com deals with solutions to fix almost all the annoyances that one can encounter while using Windows XP, without re-installing the OS. Save it in your bookmarks, it’s useful.
This bird’s-eye view of Kutztown University in Pennsylvania was the first image ever seen by the GeoEye-1, the world’s highest-resolution commercial satellite sponsored by Google, when it opened its camera door earlier this week.
The 4,300-pound satellite collected the image at noon EDT on Oct. 7 while moving from the north pole to the south pole in a 423-mile-high orbit at 17,000 miles per hour, or 4.5 miles per second. The spacecraft can take photos at a resolution of up to 41 cm — close enough to zoom in on the home plate of a baseball diamond, according to Mark Brender, GeoEye’s vice president of communications and marketing.
Even though the GeoEye-1 satellite sports a colorful Google sticker, its key customer is actually not Google but rather the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency, a U.S. government agency that analyzes imagery in support of national security. The NGA is paying for half of the development of the $502 million satellite and has committed to purchasing imagery from it. Google is GeoEye’s second major partner.
“This is the opposite of a spy satellite,” Brender said in a phone interview. “Spies don’t put info on the internet and sell imagery. We’re an Earth-imaging satellite, and we can sell our imagery to customers around the world who have a need to map and measure and monitor things on the ground.”
Since around the late 70s, the military has used high-resolution spy satellites capable of reading newspaper headlines in Red Square. But only in recent years the technology became available to the public and businesses while concurrently making dramatic strides in coverage and resolution. For example, when Google Earth launched in 2004, its imagery was low-res and spotty. But by March 2006, a third of the world population could get a bird’s-eye view of their own homes in high resolution.
There’s one catch for Google: While the GeoEye-1 will provide imagery to the NGA at the maximum resolution of 43 cm, Google will only receive images at a 50-cm resolution because of a government restriction, Brender explained. However, Google’s partnership with GeoEye is exclusive, meaning the search-engine giant will be the only online mapping site using the satellite’s photos.
“We’re commercializing a technology that was once only in the hands of the governments,” Brender said. “Just like the internet, just like GPS, just like telecom — all invented by the government. And now we are on the front end of the spear that is commercializing this technology.”
Considered the world’s most-accurate commercial imaging satellite, the GeoEye-1 had been undergoing calibration and inspection since it was launched on Sept. 6 from Vandenberg Air Force Base in California.
A second satellite, GeoEye-2, slated to launch in 2011 or 2012, will have a resolution of 25 cm, company representatives promised. However, Google’s satellite imagery will not likely get more detailed because of the 50-cm regulation.
, it doesn’t stop me from receiving my mails and recent feeds on my mobile. The trick is for all who use a simple phone with no GPRS access and is also useful for mobiles with GPRS.
