Power Line Communication

It hardly seems a blink of an eye ago that Wi-Fi was being promoted as the Next Big Thing. It was supposed to be the simple and permanent answer to those strings of ugly cables that usually ended up spread all over the home of anybody who wanted one computer to accomplish the apparently simple task of talking to another. It has not been a panacea, but it looks like there will soon be an alternative: power line communication.
Read the article...

Mobile Web Browsing

Many people are buying smart phones when they upgrade their phones, whether a Windows Mobile device, Palm, Blackberry or the iPhone. All of these phones come with a web browser that can not only display the WAP websites, but also full-fledged web pages. If you expect your web browsing experience on your smart phone to match the one on your desktop, however, you are in for a big disappointment. Keep reading to learn how to improve it.
Read the article...

Schematron

If you use XML schema languages, you should consider Schematron. This powerful rule-based language lets you make distinctions which other languages find difficult or even impossible to handle. Best of all, you can use it in conjunction with other schema languages. This is the first part of a three-part series.
Read the article...

Free Virus Protection Package

So you have an unprotected Windows system on your network. Have you completely lost your mind? Do you have any idea just what kind of risks you are taking by leaving your PC unprotected? The Windows operating system is by far the most frequently infected of the three major operating systems you can own. Keep reading to learn what you can do to get your system the protection it needs.
Read the article...

Ajax Libraries API

The new Google client-side API lets you download some of the most popular JavaScript libraries directly from its servers. If you are interested in dabbling with AJAX, there is no faster way to get your packages and get started. This four-part article series, of which this is the first part, will help get you on your way.
Read the article...

Web Pages Monitor

Web Pages Monitor is a program that monitors individual Web pages and
notifies if the page is either not available or has been changed. It
offers an unlimited number of pages that can be monitored, pages can be
automatically checked (minutes, hours or daily), program can
automatically start with Windows, resides as an icon in the tray, and more. Being
able to quickly see if a Web page (or server) is on-line or off-line is
a great tool for anyone working multiple domains on the Internet, and
Web Pages Monitor can do that quickly and easily. It is less valuable as
a tool to check if a page has been changed since your last visit
because it simply checks for change since the last check (by default, this
is set for every 10 minutes though it can be easily changed) and does
not appear to be able to handle the dynamic ads from sites like Google.
Two sites we added to our check list are constantly displaying a
"changed" symbol because, we are assuming, they contain Google ads (we kno
w the pages have not been changed in any other way). However, there is
a definite advantage to monitoring domains to ensure that the server is
working OK. As a server/domain monitor, Web Pages Monitor does a
reasonably good job, but as a page-changed monitor, it has more limited
applications. That said, Web Pages Monitor is a handy tool to have around
if you have a site that should be watched.
Worth Checking it...

Windows cleaner & optimizer

FCleaner is an all-in-one Windows cleaner & optimizer. It removes
unused files that are eating up disk space, tweaks the system & allows your
Windows to run faster, erases all the traces of on-line activities,
protects privacy, includes an uninstaller, includes a startup manager,
resides as an icon in the tray, offers quick access to 5 Windows tools
(Security Center, System restore, System Information, Command Line &
Scheduled Task), and more. This is an excellent tool to trim down some of
the dross that builds up within a computer and can slow down Windows. It
also helps you manage your uninstall programs list and the programs
that startup with Windows. Having decided what files are not necessary
(cookies, recently used file history, etc) you can just click on the
Analyze button to load these files into FCleaner, and then click on the Run
Cleaner button to remove them. You can even set up the program so that
it loads with Windows and automatically cleans your system when it
first runs. Cool. FCleaner offers a wide range of basic tools that
should help in keeping Windows running smoothly. It does not offer the high
end tweaks found in some other programs but is generally more suitable
for average PC users than some of the others (which could
theoretically trash your system if mis-used).
Windows Cleaner...

Process Revealer

Process Revealer is a hidden-process detector that reveals running
programs which do not always appear in standard detection utilities. It
features detailed information about each running process, highlights
hidden programs, kills hidden processes with one click, and more. Many
utilities that give information about running processes, like the Windows
Task Manager, can be fooled into not displaying information about hidden
processes. This can be exploited by spyware and trojan writers to
infiltrate your computer without being seen. Process Revealer displays all
running processes, including the hidden ones, and gives sufficient
information for the user to close down any suspect processes, or close down
and then automatically delete the file so they cannot run again. While
the interface is not pretty, and sometimes the information supplied is
minimal, Process Revealer is still a "must have" utility to ensure that
your computer is not being hijacked under your nose.
Free Software available here...

RecoveryFitness

Hd Fit is a tool that performs a test on the hard drive disk surface to
determine the reason for slowness, data loss or disk drive
malfunctioning. It features fast & advanced tests, HDD scan, it is simple to use,
no installation required (just unzip and run), and more. This is a
simple little program that can help identify hard drives that are dying
and, hopefully, allow you to replace them before a major crash. There are
two levels of testing -- fast and advanced. We have no information on
the differences between them but the advanced test does take
considerably longer than the fast test so we assume that it is performing a more
thorough surface test. Even with the advanced testing, a 250GB hard
drive took only about 6 minutes to be tested so even massive hard drives
should not take excessive time (set it going and get a coffee -- it
should be finished before you). We were disappointed that the information
about the testing is not supplied and the results are open to interpr
etation (unless, like us, there were no errors at all!). Overall, Hd
Fit is a worthwhile tool to keep on hand for those occasions when you
think your hard drive is not performing to its normal fleetness.
Get it free here....

Mobile Search Engine Optimization

If there is one area of certain growth in these troubled economic times, it is the mobile communications sector. And with significant improvements having emerged over the last few years in vital areas such as data transfer speed, screens and content, mobile devices are starting to challenge the PC as an Internet access device of choice. This in turn has raised a key issue in the Mobile Internet space: that of the optimization of sites for mobile devices and search engines.
Read the article...

Web Page Dialog Boxes

These days, many web-based applications are trying to look more like desktop applications. To a limited extent, it works - until you come to dialog boxes. A desktop application's dialog box works one way, and the dialog boxes you can get from an opened web page work another way; they do not provide the same functions. Fortunately, there is a way to change this. This first part of a five-part article series gets you on your way.
Read the article...

Creating DIV-based CSS Tables

In the last few years, divs have became very popular with many web designers, particularly when it comes to building the layout of the many different pages that comprise a web site. And certainly, this table-less approach has proven to be quite successful over time. It permits developers to create both liquid and fixed designs with relative ease by using a standard methodology. Unfortunately, one aspect of the approach can cause web pages to display in very different ways on different browsers. This four-part series will show you an important workaround.
Read the article...

Compressed Folders in WSH

Windows XP provides built-in zip file support in a feature referred to as Compressed Folders. While the compression of a Compressed Folder is not as effective as many third-party implementations, it does offer great compatibility since it is natively supported on all modern Windows platforms.
Read the article...

Dates and Times in C#

Every software engineer can testify that all kinds of projects, regardless of their purpose or how simple the requirements seem to be, deal with dates and mostly times. Fortunately, C# has built-in methods and properties that make our lives much easier. In this article we will present some of the most common techniques to manage and work with date and time variables.
Read the article...

Rational Functional Tester

Regression testing -- in which code is thoroughly tested to ensure that changes have not produced unexpected results -- is an important part of any development process. But many testing environments neglect the terminal-based applications that still form the backbone of many industries. In this tutorial, you'll learn how the Rational Functional Tester Extension for Terminal-Based Applications works with other Rational Functional Tester to help test terminal-based applications quickly and easily.
Read the tutorial....

Click Jacking

As a web savvy person of the modern era, you probably believe you are aware of all the potential security threats that you might come across when surfing the web. You know better than to trust that PayPal e-mail telling you to log in in 24 hours or your account will be closed, and you do not randomly download or open e-mail attachments, so you think you have the game locked up. Well, phishers have another way to get to you and your sensitive personal information. It is called click jacking, and this article will tell you what it is and how to protect yourself.
What is Click Jacking...

Dell Studio 15 Laptop

You can usually predict solid, reliable performance from a Dell; that is why so many businesses use them. We got our hands on the latest in a long line of of laptops, the Studio 15. Keep reading to see whether it lives up to Dell reputation.
Read the article...

Remote Scripting with iframes

In this second part of a two-part series on the ins and outs of iframes, we will explore more uses for iframes. The ones we will discuss fall into the broad category of remote scripting, or remote procedure calls (RPC). You will not find any sophisticated code in this article, but we will do quite a bit with just plain HTML tags and some basic PHP.
Read On....

VistaStartMenu PC Utility

Sometimes you do not realize the shortcomings of a tool you use every day until someone comes along and redesigns it. OrdinarySoft did just that with something so ubiquitous that most of us do not even think about it. Keep reading to learn how a new Start menu for the Vista operating system can help you get more done, with greater efficiency.
Read the full article..

Website Optimization

If you are looking for a quick overview of a variety of topics to help you perform search engine optimization on your web site, keep reading. This article will cover basic issues such as internal linking and anchor text, as well as slightly more advanced items, such as why you should link out to good resources and more.
Read the full article...

Palm Centro Smart Phone

At one time the Pearl, made by the fine folks over at Blackberry, stood alone in the world of hybrid cell phones and personal digital assistants (PDAs), but no reign can last forever. The spurt of free market competition inspired the people over at Palm, the makers of the Palm Pilot, to make a hybrid phone of their very own. In this article we will check out the Palm Centro smart phone to see if it can bring glory back to a flagging company.
Read the article....

JavaScript Array Objects

Thanks for dropping by for another episode of our series on JavaScript Array Objects. We left off discussing five of the thirteen array objects JavaScript has to offer. Here, in this issue, we will make an effort to cover the remaining eight.
JS Array Objects....

Windows Home Server

Why has Microsoft created a home version of their server software? Well, in case you have not noticed, a lot more people are becoming computer savvy and want to do some of the fun things that only geeks used to be able to do, such as host a web site. Will Windows Home Server let them do it without causing more problems? Keep reading to find out.
Read the full article...

MMAP System Call in Linux

In this third part of a seven-part series on Linux I/O file system calls, you'll learn how to use the mmap() system call, which will give you some flexibility when handling files.
Read On...

Data Access Using Spring Framework JDBC

Persisting and accessing data forms one of the most routine yet core functionalities of any application. In the world of JEE, there are many APIs as well as frameworks to achieve to achieve the same. The Spring Framework is no exception. This article will explain how to use this framework for persisting and accessing data in your applications.
Read the article....

Rational Asset Manager Eclipse client

In this tutorial, you can learn how to install and configure the IBM Rational Asset Manager Eclipse client, explore the different views in the Asset Management perspective, learn various search techniques, work with existing assets, and submit a new asset.
Read the Tutorial...

Net Nanny Software

With the generation of today growing up with the Internet, parents have one more thing to worry about. Dangers abound online, and even savvy children may not be prepared. Fortunately, there are things that parents can do to reduce the danger to their children. In this article, we look at a number of methods, and review a program widely considered to be the best in its class for helping parents tackle this intimidating task.
Net Nanny....

Nokia 5310 Xpress Music Phone

T-Mobile became the first carrier in the US to add the Nokia 5310 Xpress Music phone to its cellular phone line-up at the end of May 2008, almost a year after Nokia unveiled it. The Xpress Music phone from Nokia is more compact than its predecessor, the 5300, and comes in sleek and alluring designs sure to turn heads and make others say "Hey, can I check out your phone?" Keep reading to find out if it is more than just a pretty phone.
Read the article...

A Simple Decorator Pattern Example

In this second part of a six-part series on the Decorator design pattern, you will walk through an example that shows you the minimum number of components required to create it.
Decorator Pattern

Upgrading from HTML to XHTML

XHTML (eXtensible HyperText Markup Language) can be thought of as HTML 5. However, it is HTML 5 with a difference. HTML (V1, V2, V3, and V4) is becoming incompatible with modern software. The advent of XHTML is as if HTML was buried, to give birth to XHTML. If you are thinking of transitioning from HTML to XHTML, keep reading; this article will show you how.
Read the full article...

Excel Reference

If you work with Excel 2007, keep reading. This article will show you where to find all sorts of useful Excel commands, navigational shortcuts, and much more.
Read On....

Firebug Firefox Extension

Coding for the web is no easy task and many are of the opinion that it should be left to the professionals. Well, guess what? Sometimes even the professionals find coding to be incredibly difficult and frustrating. This article will discuss Firebug, an extension for Firefox that goes a long way toward providing integrated web application debugging.
FireBug...

Application development for the OLPC laptop

The XO laptop (of the One-Laptop-Per-Child initiative) is an inexpensive laptop project intended to help educate children around the world. The XO laptop includes many innovations, such as a novel, inexpensive, and durable hardware design and the use of GNU/Linux as the underlying operating system. The XO also includes an application environment written in Python with a human interface called Sugar, accessible to everyone (including kids). Explore the Sugar APIs and learn how to develop and debug a graphical activity in Sugar using Python.
Read the Tutorial....

Hands-Free Headsets

The odds are that if you are reading this right now, you want or need to get a headset for your phone. There are a number of things to consider when choosing a new headset. This article will go into detail so you can go shopping armed with the right information, and get the headset that fits your needs as well as possible.
Read On...

MySQL Server Tuning Tips and Tricks

Fine-tuning the settings of servers in general requires a strong grasp of the inner workings of the servers and lots of patience. Did we mention patience? Yup, we did. It is really important to understand that there are no tips that work for all kinds of setups. But thankfully we can talk about some widely known guidelines that can be followed to get the most out of your MySQL servers.
Read the article

Decorator Pattern

The Decorator pattern lets you maintain the main structure of your web site, yet allows you to "decorate" your application's different components. This article, the first of a six-part series, introduces you to its use. It is excerpted from chapter four of ActionScript 3.0 Design Patterns Object Oriented Programming Techniques, written by William B. Sanders and Chandima Cumaranatunge (O'Reilly, 2007 ISBN: 0596528469). Copyright © 2007 O'Reilly Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Used with permission from the publisher. Available from booksellers or direct from O'Reilly Media.
Read the article..

Creating an Online Portfolio

The Internet makes a lot of things possible and much easier, using lightning-quick speeds and button-click simplicity to help you get tons of tasks done. But in some cases, the Internet makes things much more difficult. You now have to do more work to make things easier for everyone else. What do you know about creating an online portfolio to promote your own personal business interests?
Read the article

Cell Phone Tracking Systems

Cell phone tracking systems were made possible thanks to the Global Positioning Systems (GPS) featured in most modern cell phones. Some cell phone companies offer proprietary versions of tracking systems, but there are also some independent ones on the market. What do they let you do? Keep reading to find out.
Read On...

Nilpo`s Top Windows Add-Ons

With so many users blatantly refusing to make the switch to Windows Vista, I thought it might be a good time to revisit some of the top add-ons for Windows XP. These add-ons are designed to implement missing features, and increase productivity. Oh, and do not worry if you are a Vista user. Most of these add-ons will work for you as well!
Read the full article

MySQL Query Optimizations and Schema Design

Performance is something for which we all strive. This applies to the lives of DBAs too, since their first and foremost task is to achieve a high level of performance from their databases. SQL professionals can not stress enough that spending quality time to optimize both schema design and queries should be considered top priorities. In this article we are going to cover these two.
MySQL Query Optimization...

User Management

In this article we will look at how to create a secure user management module. No user authentication or user management script can ever be one hundred percent secure, but we can try to use the tools that are available to us to their maximum, and thereby make it difficult for malicious users to hack our scripts.
Read the article