Cool Gadgets ? Try this one !

In the area of software and gadget reviews, there are tens of thousands of websites out there, but many offer regurgitated content from a select few sources. One of these sources is Gadget Advisor.

Even though it's called, "Gadget" Advisor, it doesn't just specialize in the gadget area. Of course, there are some gadget reviews, but this blog contains a healthy mix of both gadget reviews, and software reviews. This website also has reviews of some of the best Windows software, such as a Blaze Media Pro review, which is a very good piece of software, and well worth the price, as the article says. If one is searching for unique content on either gadgets or software, one doesn't have to look any further than Gadget Advisor. Gadget Advisor is a very professional looking blog, with a great, aesthetically pleasing layout, and barely any ads compared to many of these other blogs out there. Apart from the looks, the content is just great. It is unique, and can't be found anywhere else on the internet unlike many other blogs' content. The logo, and even tagline are also pretty cool, and very original. The readability of the content is also very refreshing. With content that has obviously been carefully crafted, and is easily readable, you can't go wrong reading the reviews at Gadget Advisor.

Also, if you are looking for some of the best extensions for Firefox, Gadget Advisor is where it's at. Gadget Advisor houses a comprehensive article covering many types of extensions from ad blockers, to AdSense trackers, to weather alerts. If you are addicted to customizing your Firefox, you can find many quality resources that can help you do just that at Gadget Advisor. When talking about gadgets, especially in terms of blogs and websites in the theme of Gadget Advisor, the word gets put into a smaller scope, and "gadgets" then turns into handheld electronic devices. Gadget Advisor is refreshing in that it keeps the broad scope of the term, "gadgets". The term "gadgets" on Gadget Advisor can refer to any piece of technology, such as a motherboard, or an SSD, or even a personal computer case. With this, Gadget Advisor strays from the norm even more, in order to bring you fresh, amazing content, seen nowhere else on the internet. Of course, they do also cover some of the more popular handheld gadgets, but they don't cover every single one that comes out, and give it hype like it will change humanity or something. When looking at the layout of Gadget Advisor, it seems to fit the overall feel of the content fairly well. The professional feel of the writing coincides with the professional look, and of course, vice versa. It's also important to note the lack of ads. There are only three ads on every page, and all of them are nonintrusive, and on the sidebar.

This means that the author actually cares about the content, and consequently you as a reader. This is refreshing, because most sites that start doing well progressively get more and more ads on them, because the authors of such sites only care about milking their readers for money, and don't really care about their content anymore. Gadget Advisor shows no signs of ever becoming that way, which is a really good sign. On the software review side of things, Gadget Advisor also excels. They have some news and reviews that no one else seems to have, and they also don't review the same stuff that everyone else is, either. Of course, they covered the release of Google Chrome, but since other blogs did more in-depth reviews, Gadget Advisor just offered a brief opinion and a link to where to download it. Other than that, the software reviewed on Gadget Advisor isn't reviewed anywhere else on the World Wide Web, which says a whole lot about the attention, and time put into the content. For unique fresh, unique reviews about both gadgets and software that can't be found anywhere else on the web, without a ton of ads, and a good professional approach, I'd look no further that Gadget Advisor.

Apple's profit 90%

Boosted by an increase in iPhone and Mac shipments, Apple reported a 90% increase in quarterly profits Tuesday. The company reported net profit of $3.07 billion for the quarter ended on March 27, which compares to profits of $1.62 billion from the same quarter a year ago. The company reported earnings per share of $3.33, which beat expectations of $2.45 from analysts polled by Thomson Reuters.

Revenue was $13.5 billion, a growth of 49% from the year-ago quarter. Revenue beat analysts' expectations of $12.03 billion. Worldwide iPhone shipments totaled 8.75 million during the quarter, an increase of 131% compared to the year-ago quarter. Mac computer unit shipments worldwide totaled 2.94 million, an increase of 33% compared to the year-ago quarter. iPod shipments totaled 10.89 million, a 1% drop.

The company estimated its third-quarter revenue to be in the range of $13 billion to $13.4 billion, with earnings per share of about $2.28 to $2.39. The third quarter has started with a bang for Apple. The company on April 3 announced the iPad tablet computer, and sold close to 300,000 units on the first day.

"We've launched our revolutionary new iPad and users are loving it, and we have several more extraordinary products in the pipeline for this year," Apple CEO Steve Jobs said in a statement.
Anticipation for Apple's next-generation iPhone has also heated up after a prototype was said to be found in a California bar recently.

Tories pledge openness and transparency

Over the past six months, the Conservative Party has laid out its plans and approach to information technology; our aim is to return the UK to the first rank of technology-driven economies, where both entrepreneurs as well as larger companies thrive and bring creativity and innovative services to the benefit of society. However, alongside we are committed to reducing government interference in private affairs and addressing the complexity and waste endemic to so many of the current government's IT systems, many of which have run massively over-budget and behind deadlines, writes Francis Maud, Conservative shadow minister for the Cabinet Office.

Over the past 13 years of a Labour government has time and again tried to use IT as part of their big government approach to micromanage delivery and hold vast quantities of information about private individuals. This Labour philosophy requires enormous projects and databases.
It has inevitably led to many very large IT system failures: NPfIT in the NHS, C-Nomis in Justice, identity cards in the Home Office. Many of these systems have been built by an oligopoly of large suppliers, using bespoke, hugely expensive systems - to provide for the huge complexity involved - instead of buying commercial off-the-shelf systems and sharing systems within and across departments.
The Labour government desire to tell individuals what to do has been accompanied by an insatiable appetite for more and more private information in huge databases that create too much risk of data loss and loss of privacy. The Conservatives really do believe that citizens must be the fundamental owners of their own data, and should in most cases determine how the government can use that data.

Principles
Openness and transparency are important principles in the Conservative approach. So, we plan to make government data and IT spending information freely available. This will have two benefits: first, it will boost British jobs, businesses and social entrepreneurs who will build new applications and services using previously locked-up government data. According to research by Dr Rufus Pollock of Cambridge University, the lead author of the HM Treasury report on the economic value of open data, this will also create an estimated £6bn in additional value for the UK. Second, it will ensure that the government becomes accountable to hard-working tax payers for delivering IT that is valuable and value for money.
An important set of initiatives will ensure citizens' right to government data but as a first step we will publish online data on government spending (both central and local), civil service salaries, draft Bills, tender documents and contracts with government to allow third parties to interrogate and analyse them independently.

Procurement
A Conservative government would procure technology for itself in a manner to encourage small and medium enterprises, as well as reduce the prohibitive costs of bidding for and supplying government business. These measures would include an ambition to design smaller projects and a level-playing field for users of open-source software.

Project management
A Conservative government is not looking for incremental solutions and cost reductions. In order to radically reduce spending without impacting outcomes, technology must be regarded much more as a tool than an end in itself - the huge cost savings in government will only occur when departments and councils conduct their businesses in fundamentally simpler and smarter ways.
Part of the reason IT projects continue to fail is that the underlying processes they support are obscenely convoluted and impossible to manage. No IT system can fix a bad underlying process.
Much of the Conservative ICT agenda is centred on improving the management of the existing ICT estate, not buying more of it. Hence we will start our time in government with a moratorium on all ICT procurements, in order to satisfy our requirements for value for money, rigour with suppliers and avoidance of embedding bad practice through IT.
This country has an impressive and long history of game-changing technology innovation and invention. The Conservatives will create the conditions to reinvent that tradition for the 21st century and beyond.

IEEE Computer Society News

Visit the IEEE CS Booth at Interop
At Booth #2351, the Computer Society will offer half-year memberships for the special price of $50, as well as subscriptions to IT Professional, IEEE Security & Privacy, IEEE Transactions on Parallel and Distributed Systems, and IEEE Transactions on Services Computing.

The booth hours are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, 27 April, and Wednesday, 28 April, and 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Thursday, 29 April. Visitors to the booth can sign up for a Computer Society newsletter and spin a prize wheel to win t-shirt, jump drive, light-up pen, notebook, free subscription.

Information will also be available on IEEE Computer Society Jobs, a new job site featured targeted jobs for academic and private-industry computing professionals; and on the Computer Society’s software development certifications.

The Society offers the Certified Software Development Associate (CSDA) credential for entry-level developers and the recently refreshed Certified Software Development Professional credential. Interop, which will feature more than 300 exhibitors, drives the adoption of technology, providing knowledge and insight to help IT and corporate decision-makers achieve business success. Part of UBM TechWeb's family of global brands, Interop offers in-depth educational programs, workshops, real-world demonstrations, and live technology implementations in its unique InteropNet program.

About the Computer Society
With nearly 85,000 members, the IEEE Computer Society is the world’s leading organization of computing professionals. Founded in 1946, and the largest of the 39 societies of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Computer Society is dedicated to advancing the theory and application of computer and information-processing technology, and is known globally for its computing standards activities.

The Computer Society serves the information and career-development needs of today’s computing researchers and practitioners with technical journals, magazines, conferences, books, conference publications, and online courses. Its Certified Software Development Professional (CSDP) program for mid-career professionals and Certified Software Development Associate (CSDA) credential for recent college graduates confirm the skill and knowledge of those working in the field. The CS Digital Library (CSDL) is an excellent research tool, containing more than 250,000 articles from 1,600 conference proceedings and 26 CS periodicals going back to 1988.


Sorel Reisman to Deliver Keynote at GIDS
IEEE Computer Society President-Elect Sorel Reisman will deliver a keynote speech at the Great Indian Developer Summit in Bangalore on “Working Together to Improve Our Profession.”

Reisman, who will serve as Computer Society President in 2011, will deliver the presentation on 21 April during the GIDS.Web component of the conference, which will be held at the Indian Institute of Science from 20-23 April. He will also participate in the ceremony for the Great Indian Developer Awards 2010 on 21 April.

Reisman will discuss the memoranda of understanding that the Computer Society of India, the IEEE, and the IEEE Computer Society executed last year to foster the organizations’ mutual goals. The architects of the multi-year MOUs recognize the pace at which technology changes, and have adopted agile processes for announcing and releasing new projects and programs that can benefit the societies' members as well as the IT profession, overall.

Some of these include new membership discount programs, software engineering certification programs, joint society publication programs, and an India-wide IT curriculum assessment project. Reisman’s presentation will offer an overview of these and other new projects, and describe opportunities for GIDS registrants to partake in these offerings and activities.

Reisman directs the international, higher education consortium, Merlot, and is a professor of information systems at California State University, Fullerton. He has held management positions at IBM, Toshiba, and EMI. He is an IEEE Senior Member and former Vice President of the Computer Society’s Publications and Electronic Products and Services boards.

The 2010 edition of GIDS will feature focused sessions, case studies, workshops, and power panels. The conference is geared to providing attendees with ammunition to bolster productivity and harness new opportunities. India's largest independent summit for the software developer ecosystem, GIDS 2010 will feature three co-located conferences: GIDS.NET, GIDS.Web, GIDS.Java, and GIDS.Workshops, an exclusive day of in-depth tutorials. It is being produced by Saltmarch Media.

About the IEEE Computer Society
With nearly 85,000 members, the IEEE Computer Society is the world’s leading organization of computing professionals. Founded in 1946, and the largest of the 39 societies of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE), the Computer Society is dedicated to advancing the theory and application of computer and information-processing technology, and is known globally for its computing standards activities.

The Computer Society serves the information and career-development needs of today’s computing researchers and practitioners with technical journals, magazines, conferences, books, conference publications, and online courses. Its Certified Software Development Professional (CSDP) program for mid-career professionals and Certified Software Development Associate (CSDA) credential for recent college graduates confirm the skill and knowledge of those working in the field. The CS Digital Library (CSDL) is an excellent research tool, containing more than 250,000 articles from 1,600 conference proceedings and 26 CS periodicals going back to 1988.

Editing User Accounts in Windows

In this article, we will tackle how to setup the Windows User Accounts. This will allow you to add new accounts or close old accounts. You can even change passwords or upgrade accounts from “standard user” to “administrator.” First we will cover how to use the windows XP interface, then we will see how to use the windows vista and windows 7 interface.

Part One: Windows XP interface.

To edit user accounts in windows xp:

1. Press the start menu key in the bottom left area of the screen.

2. Click on Control Panel.

3. Find the “User Accounts” button and double click it.

Your first three options will be: change an account, create a new account and change the way users log on or off. Clicking change an account will allow you to manage existing accounts. From there, you will be able to:

1. Change my name. This allows you to change the name of the selected account.

2. Change my password. Click this to EDIT your current password.

3. Remove my password. This removes the password associated with the account. Anyone will be able to access this account.

4. Change my picture. Edit your account profile picture. This is the image you see at the top of the open start menu and the login screen.

5. Change my account type. This option allows you to change from standard user to admistrative user.

The second option, create a new account, is a very straightforward manner of creating a new windows user account. After selecting the name of the new account and choosing whether to make it an administrative account or a standard account, you will be able to manage it with the step one instructions.

Finally, the third option, change the way users log on or off, allows you to choose between two options. The first option allows you to display the welcome screen as users attempt to login. This will list all of the accounts on the computer. If this is disabled, then a prompt will appear instead where the user needs to type the account name and password to log in. The second option determines whether a user account “shuts down” when the log off button is clicked. This will allow your programs and documents to remain open while someone else uses the computer and then you will be able to log back on to your account and find all your work intact.

Part Two: Windows Vista and Windows 7 Interface.

To edit the users in the later versions of windows:

1. Click on the start menu key in the bottom left area of the screen.

2. Click on Control Panel on the right side.

3. Click on User Accounts and Family Safety.

4. Click on User Accounts.

The screen that appears will allow you to perform all of the same functions as the old windows XP interface except that you will be able to do so in less clicks.

For example, the options on the main screen are:

1. Create a password for your account/Edit your password.

2. Change your picture.

3. Change your account name.

4. Change your account type.

5. Manage another account.

6. Change User Account Control Settings.

The main difference between XP and Vista/Windows 7 is the addition of the 6th option to control UAC or User Account Control. This is the additional screen that appears when making changes to your computer system to confirm that you want to proceed. After clicking on this option, you will be able to choose what sensitivity to set the UAC settings to, if any. Slide the bar all the way to the bottom to turn off UAC.

Discovers Laws of Physics by computer program

In just over a day, a powerful computer program accomplished a feat that took physicists centuries to complete: extrapolating the laws of motion from a pendulum’s swings.
Developed by Cornell researchers, the program deduced the natural laws without a shred of knowledge about physics or geometry.
The research is being heralded as a potential breakthrough for science in the Petabyte Age, where computers try to find regularities in massive datasets that are too big and complex for the human mind and its standard computational tools.
"One of the biggest problems in science today is moving forward and finding the underlying principles in areas where there is lots and lots of data, but there’s a theoretical gap. We don’t know how things work," said Hod Lipson, the Cornell University computational researcher who co-wrote the program. "I think this is going to be an important tool."
Condensing rules from raw data has long been considered the province of human intuition, not machine intelligence. It could foreshadow an age in which scientists and programs work as equals to decipher datasets too complex for human analysis.
Lipson’s program, co-designed with Cornell computational biologist Michael Schmidt and described in a paper published Thursday in Science, may represent a breakthrough in the old, unfulfilled quest to use artificial intelligence to discover mathematical theorems and scientific laws:
Half a century ago, IBM’s Herbert Gelernter authored a program that purportedly rediscovered Euclid’s geometry theorems, but critics said it relied too much on programmer-supplied rules.
In the 1970s, Douglas Lenat’s Automated Mathematician automatically generated mathematical theorems, but they proved largely useless.
Stanford University’s Dendral project, was started in 1965 and used for two decades to extrapolate possible structures for organic molecules from chemical measurements gathered by NASA spacecraft. But it was ultimately unable to assess the likelihood of the various answers that it generated.
The $100,000 Leibniz Prize, established in the 1980s, was promised to the first program to discover a theorem that "profoundly affects" math. It was never claimed.
But now artificial intelligence experts say Lipson and Schmidt may have fulfilled the field’s elusive promise.
Unlike the Automated Mathematician and its heirs, their program is primed only with a set of simple, basic mathematical functions and the data it’s asked to analyze. Unlike Dendral and its counterparts, it can winnow possible explanations into a likely few. And it comes at an opportune moment — scientists have vastly more data than theories to describe it.
Lipson and Schmidt designed their program to identify linked factors within a dataset fed to the program, then generate equations to describe their relationship. The dataset described the movements of simple mechanical systems like spring-loaded oscillators, single pendulums and double pendulums — mechanisms used by professors to illustrate physical laws.
The program started with near-random combinations of basic mathematical processes — addition, subtraction, multiplication, division and a few algebraic operators.
Initially, the equations generated by the program failed to explain the data, but some failures were slightly less wrong than others. Using a genetic algorithm, the program modified the most promising failures, tested them again, chose the best, and repeated the process until a set of equations evolved to describe the systems. Turns out, some of these equations were very familiar: the law of conservation of momentum, and Newton’s second law of motion.
"It’s a powerful approach," said University of Michigan computer scientist Martha Pollack, with "the potential to apply to any type of dynamical system." As possible fields of application, Pollack named environmental systems, weather patterns, population genetics, cosmology and oceanography. "Just about any natural science has the type of structure that would be amenable," she said.
Compared to laws likely to govern the brain or genome, the laws of motion discovered by the program are extremely simple. But the principles of Lipson and Schmidt’s program should work at higher scales.
The researchers have already applied the program to recordings of individuals’ physiological states and their levels of metabolites, the cellular proteins that collectively run our bodies but remain, molecule by molecule, largely uncharacterized — a perfect example of data lacking a theory.
Their results are still unpublished, but "we’ve found some interesting laws already, some laws that are not known," said Lipson. "What we’re working on now is the next step — ways in which we can try to explain these equations, correlate them with existing knowledge, try to break these things down into components for which we have clues."
Lipson likened the quest to a "detective story" — a hint of the changing role of researchers in hybridized computer-human science. Programs produce sets of equations — describing the role of rainfall on a desert plateau, or air pollution in triggering asthma, or multitasking on cognitive function. Researchers test the equations, determine whether they’re still incomplete or based on flawed data, use them to identify new questions, and apply them to messy reality.
The Human Genome Project, for example, produced a dataset largely impervious to traditional analysis. The function of nearly every gene depends on the function of other genes, which depend on still more genes, which change with time and place. The same level of complexity confronts researchers studying the body’s myriad proteins, the human brain and even ecosystems.
"The rules are mathematical formulae that capture regularities in the system," said Pollack, "but the scientist needs to interpret those regularities. They need, for example, to explain" why an animal population is affected by changes in rainfall, and what might be done to protect it.
Michael Atherton, a cognitive scientist who recently predicted that computer intelligence would not soon supplant human artistic and scientific insight, said that the program "could be a great tool, in the same way visualization software is: It helps to generate perspectives that might not be intuitive."
However, said Atherton, "the creativity, expertise, and the recognition of importance is still dependent on human judgment. The main problem remains the same: how to codify a complex frame of reference."
"In the end, we still need a scientist to look at this and say, this is interesting," said Lipson.
Humans are, in other words, still important.