Nerdistan

In my opinion gaming laptops have lost their once maintained niche title. I can recollect when they were not so popular. The laptops were circulated in insignificant volumes but each one had a high profit margin. Everyone wanted this kind of laptop, however it was too overpriced. Maybe they weren’t the most functional however I still believe they were the best laptop computers. Though that was true I guess the prices were so costly that we would buy laptop computers that were not so good instead. As of late all that has looked to have transformed as the large manufacturers have spotted the opportunities in laptops for gaming.

These are definitely big margin notebooks for the large companies and they are aware of it. It is a good opportunity for them to recover gross margins as the margins on consumer notebooks are so small nowadays. In addition they know they can sway prospects to buy laptop computers like these more easily than small resellers. I am rather confident that boutique retailers will have to drop their prices in order to compete. I express this due to the fact that the technology which was once special and overpriced is now mass market. Established companies can utilize their brand names to simply win consumers over.

In my opinion these companies are bringing out the best laptop computers at this minute. This is really the main competitive edge left for the littler system builders. Now and then the littler retailers are able to supply the latest parts faster and so offer higher specs too. This type of buyer is typically well versed in the technology and can contrast the spec data. More often than not the components hold more importance when compared to the looks for these kinds of people. From a buyers perspective this is all a beneficial trend. In the end the cost will drop more and more buyers will be able to get such new technology. I write that rather hesitatingly though as the laptops business is a pretty fast changing place. I reckon technology is becoming more better however the new laptop computers will always remain highly priced. Increased competition typically gives better technology at cheaper prices so the future should be promising.

Move over Desktop PC, it’s the era of the laptop computer, or at least that what the enormous demand implies. Manufacturers are aiming to keep up with this but have warned that supplies could be scarce. Whatever happens in the market place this demand for laptops only seems to be increasing. This is a trade that is looking to enchance on a number of things all in one go so new directions and curiosity is created all the time.

I’ve seen an increasing number of people asking for gaming notebooks. The price points on new technology usually dips rapidly nowadays because everybody is always searching for the new thing to be lauched. Performance is also advancing and gaming on notebooks is becoming more acceptable for gaming by those who need to move around. Power aside, also worthy of a mention is the radically thin chassis designs we are witnessing these days. Despite all the good things of notebooks, desktops should always perform quicker than them. Gaming notebooks are constantly testing the performance margins of laptop compputers so its always a true indicator of how far the technology has come in that relation.

A number of small manufacturers provide custom built laptops to specialist markets. With major manufacturers you commonly don’t have a clue what they fit into the laptop computer. It just provides the buyer added options at the end of the day. Notebooks distributed in shops are commonly designed for the mass market and perhaps this isn’t you. Hardcore users need custom notebooks for this reason. Just like prebuilt notebooks there are lots of brand names selling custom notebooks all with a unique benefit or increase customer sevice. This could be a huge attractor to a couple specialist markets.

It surely will fascinating to see what gets next. The ultra low priced mobiles group seems to be drumming up all the exciting right now. I didn’t feel anyone thought they would be such a big success. People want slim, incredibley light devices but they also want them to have large screens. If you use less slower parts then I estimate this is really possible even now. I am wondering how soon before we run across gaming ultra mobiles. All the companies are looking to release the next massive product so it’ll be interesting to see.

For the cost these are the best laptop computers.

Computer Forensics is the scientific study of computers or computer related data in relation to an investigation by a law enforcement agency for use in a court of law. While this technology may be as old as computers themselves, the advances in technology are constantly revising the science of computer forensics.

In the technological old days, computer forensics was mostly related to data dumps, printing out every keystroke that had been logged on a computer in a series of eight digits, all of them zeroes and ones. Literally cases of paper would be used for the printing of the materials. Systems analysts would then have to convert all of the data into hex and then translate the value into whatever the actual keystroke was. In this way, it was possible to go over all of the data and figure out at what point the computer and the corresponding program crashed. Like computers and technology, Computer forensics has evolved by leaps and bounds since those days of old.

While all computer language still ultimately boils down to ones and zeroes or binary and then hex, the means by which programs are created, run and utilized has changed drastically. Computer forensics has done well to keep up with the task at hand. Now hard drives can be wiped clean. However, without an unconditional format (and in rare cases, even with the unconditional switch) the data can still be retrieved. It takes an expert in computer forensics however. It takes someone who is familiar with the technology of the computer and the science of computer forensics to reconstruct all of the data that has been wiped off of the hard drive.

Computer forensics can be used to track emails, instant messaging and just about any other form of computer related communications. This can be necessary, especially in the world today. Computer forensics experts have even advanced the technology to the point that they can track data real time, or while it is actually being sent and received. This is a mind-numbing task when you think about the billions of communications going on around the globe at any given time, but the science of computer forensics is constantly advancing every bit as quickly or sometimes even faster than the technology they are responsible for investigating.

Computer forensics is an interesting aspect of technology that is often overlooked. Computer forensics have been used to solve many crimes and should be considered a viable tool in many ways. The study of computer forensics is constantly growing along with technology.

Forensics HQ http://forensicshq.com/ investigates the world of forensics and crime scene investigation.

For years, I used handmade price tags in my small business. This was not only time consuming in terms of creating the price tags, it also made it difficult to keep track of my inventory. Bar code printing, in any business, can bar code printing reduce costs, improve data management and accessibility, and increase productivity. There are unlimited applications and advantages to using a bar code printer.

Bar codes are made through various combinations of spaces and bars to create an encoded character message. Both the differences in the ink level and the spacing between the bars can be encoded variables. The bar code reader measures the light that comes back from the symbols, and comparing that to a computer database, offers what the symbol means to a computerized inventory program. The type of bar code you and your small business decide to use depends entirely on how much information you need the bar code to store. You can encrypt anywhere from fourteen digits to thousands of characters.

Once you have decided to make use of bar code technology in your small business, you have to decide what type of bar code printer you need. To print any type of bar code, you will need software that supports bar coding. Once you’ve gotten that far, you will also need a printer that can handle printing bar codes. Because accuracy is essential in the business of bar coding, a good printer is essential. While some common laser printers and desk printers can handle bar code technology, they have to be configured to your software. Buying a dedicated bar code printer is a good idea, in any case.

Bar code printers can work well with many different computer interfaces, and can be hooked up in a number of different ways including ethernet cables, USB cables, parallel cables, serial cables, twinax cables, and coax cables. More recently, it is possible to use a bar code printer with wireless technology like Bluetooth or 802.11b. Most companies who sell bar code printers also offer technical support like remote monitoring and trouble shooting.

You can decide on the right bar code printer to meet your needs by first thinking about size. The size of your bar code labels is very important to figuring out which printer you need. You should consider the kinds of environments the label will be expected to perform in. This can help you decide upon the print method. There are two types of print methods: direct thermal and thermal transfer. Direct thermal creates an image on the material that is to be labeled. Thermal transfer uses a heated ribbon to create the image of your bar code on a wide selection of materials.

I am quite happy with my new bar coding system. Finding a bar code printer that fits your needs can make all the difference in your business.

Christopher M. Luck has an extensive background with over 18 years experience in dealing with bar code printersand is now offering his free professional bar code printer advice to the public. If you are at all interested in Christopher’s bar code printer advice, tips, or secrets, you can visit his technology blog

Copyright 2006 Richard Keir

While notebook computer prices have come down quite a lot, laptops still range from inexpensive notebook models to high end luxury jobs. Naturally, the notebook you eventually choose to buy will depend on your resources and requirements, but if you are on a budget like so many of us are, you should give some thought to picking up a discount notebook computer.

There are a variety of reasons that a particular model may be discounted and it’s smart to try to find out why. A legitimate retailer should be able to offer a reasonable explanation. Any discount notebook computer should be new and carry a full manufacturer’s warranty. Some specific notebooks may be discounted because they’ve been factory refurbished.

Generally this means they were bought and returned for some reason. Then the factory rebuilt them to original specifications, replacing any damaged or defective parts. Refurbished laptops may be available for even less than discount notebooks. Not everyone is willing to take a chance on a rebuilt notebook, but you might want to consider the fact that these machines have been burned in and the weak parts failed and have been replaced. And they still come with a full warranty.

Manufacturers will often discount models based on closeout of a particular notebook computer. It may not have the latest technology and is being replaced by an upgraded model. Some discounts may be for loss leaders. Often a person will upgrade later to a more expensive model based on brand loyalty or just the comfortable knowledge that the first notebook from XYZ Corp worked well so why not stick with them. A lifetime customer is worth a small loss. Retailers will often discount in order to get rid of excess inventory or prepare for new models.

You do want to make sure you aren’t being given a used notebook disguised as a discounted model. Check the warranty. A used notebook will normally not carry a manufacturer’s warranty and any warranty period may be shorter then the standard new model warranty. Never, ever be afraid to ask hard questions. It’s your money and it’s going to be your data going into the notebook you buy. If you get weak or unsatisfactory answers, evasions or hostility, walk. There’s lots of places to buy notebook computers.

One thing you must do is to analyze your own computer needs before you go looking for a notebook. Exactly what will you be using the machine for most of the time. How important is it to have a really fast machine? Do you need high end graphics? How much disk space do you require? Do you need to read both CDs and DVDs? Do you want to be able to write CDs, DVDs? What kind of sound do you need? How much memory? What other specific features do you want - wireless, networking, floppy disk? Do you plan to carry it around a lot? Then weight may be important. Do you need a long battery life? How about the size of the screen? What will you be comfortable with?

Let me share something you here. I use a refurbished Compaq for nearly everything these days. It’s been incredibly reliable for well over 2 and a half years. I rarely take it anywhere. I have an external keyboard plugged into it and I use an external monitor too. But I use the LCD at the same time. The graphics allow me to spread my desktop over the external monitor and the LCD screen. My visible desktop is over 25 inches. Depending on your graphics, you can do the same thing with a desktop computer, but it takes up a lot more room. Now I feel horribly limited when I have a little 17, 19 or 21 inch desktop. This is, hands down, the absolute best deal I’ve ever made in a computer buy - including all the computers I’ve built myself from scratch.

That was a little off subject, but I’ve found that very few people realize just how useful spreading your desktop over more than one monitor can be in terms of both comfort and productivity. OK, back to the pre-shopping analysis. This kind of analysis sounds tedious because it is. It’s much more fun to just go out and buy on impulse. Unfortunately that’s not a smart thing to do. It sets you up to be seduced by a hot sales pitch for a really neat bleeding edge high end notebook. There are very very few people who actually need that kind of technology.

The reality is that 97 to 99% of the notebook computer buyers could do at least 95% of their typical tasks with the cheapest, slowest notebook on the market. You need to be certain about how much you’re willing to pay to do that remaining 5% a little faster. And if your needs aren’t typical, you probably already have a good idea of just what’s required. The advantage of a discount computer is that you can put some of the money you’ve just saved into more memory, an external hard drive for backup, an additional (big) external monitor, an extra battery, a new printer or whatever additional accessory will make your work easier. And you’ll probably still come out ahead.

We all have a tendency to overestimate our needs - and to want the biggest, fastest, best, coolest whatever. Salesmen know this. After all a discount notebook computer just isn’t as sexy somehow, is it? But let’s be real here, a notebook is to work. It will not get you that really hot lady or that primo guy. In any case, the truly cool people have minions to carry around their stuff and wouldn’t be caught dead lugging around a computer or using one in public.

A little thought, a little rationality, and you can end up with a high quality discount notebook that’s more than sufficient for your needs without even spending your whole budget. Now that is cool.

David Strom wrote fascinating editorial regarding formats and provides a historical lesson (ah, the old days of floppies… first black, then green, orange, red, and blue). Imagine if an automotive company decided to produce a car that uses a new kind of gasoline — not leaded, unleaded, or diesel — a brand new one also manufactured by the company.

How stupid would that be? Customers won’t buy the car knowing it limits their gasoline options and the places to go for filling up the car. The company thinks it can make more money by requiring its brand of gasoline for the car. Let’s try to spell it out as I am lousy with numbers.

Note: An average car puts on 10,000 miles. We’ll give this car a rate of 15 miles per gallon (higher than SUVs and lower than energy efficient cars).

5 cars using the company’s gasoline purchased One car costs $10,000 Gas costs $2.20 per gallon 15 miles per gallon 667 gallons per year Gas cost for one year: $1467

Company earns $57,335 for five cars and gas.

But if ABC Automotive had brains, it would build a car that uses the standard unleaded fuel. People like the car and since it works with standard fuel, the gasoline barrier doesn’t exist. Thus, more people buy the car.

6 cars using standard fuel purchased One car costs $10,000

Company earns $60,000 without selling gasoline. However, it’s likely to sell more than six cars since the gasoline barrier doesn’t exist. It’s only a one car difference and the company makes more money.

We haven’t covered competition. Someone out there will duplicate the gas and offer it for a lower price, thus taking money away from the company.

My point? Nintendo, Sony, and Microsoft do this with their game consoles. I had considered the Sony Clie, but one factor prevented my buying it… the memory stick. I don’t like its limitation of working with only Sony products.

When we wanted to get Dance Dance Revolution (DDR), which only comes with PS2 and Xbox — we learned PS2 had better DDR choices, but Xbox had a better collection of games and features. Imagine how much more money each company could make if the software could work on both systems? But the software development companies stand at the mercy of the hardware companies. Hence, many games have a version for various platforms including the PC and the handheld devices.

But it’s gaming and they are going to make it proprietary. The companies want it that way. The PSP is Sony’s jump into the handheld gaming arena where Nintendo has a monopoly.

The 5.25 floppy was not a standard when it came out. The standard was 8″ floppies. 5.25 became the standard when the two biggest bullies on the block (Microsoft for software and IBM for hardware) got in bed together and made it the standard by sheer market dominance. Same thing here.

Nintendo has the dominance in the handheld arena. Sony wants in on the action… SO what do they do? Sony creates its own handheld and format (UMD - Universal Media Disk). Furthermore, a couple movie companies Disney, Columbia (Surprise! Sony-owned) will produce movies in the format. So Sony is furthering its efforts by having their movie company make movies for the format. Disney just jumped on board.

Until a uber-dominate power is in place, you are going to have the multiple formats. HDTV has been around since 1996 or so. The “standard” has finally settled will be in wide distribution 2007. I expect gaming to take much longer… if ever.

Meryl K. Evans is the Content Maven behind meryl’s notes, eNewsletter Journal, and The Remediator Security Digest. She is also a PC Today columnist and a tour guide at InformIT. She is geared to tackle your editing, writing, content, and process needs. The native Texan resides in Plano, Texas, a heartbeat north of Dallas, and doesn’t wear a 10-gallon hat or cowboy boots.

As PC’s get smaller and laptop computers increase in power the line between them gets blurred unless you take a look at the extreme sides of the spectrum. Desktop computers are getting streamlined and thin and notebooks, particularly for gaming and so called desktop replacements are getting bigger and more powerful. I think its getting to the point where the speed of laptop computers is able to compete with desktops. The price gap is also not as big as it used to be either. Laptop computers have declined considerably in price and this makes them a more appealing alternative as they have the added versatility of being wireless and mobile. No need to keep them set up in any particular area as with desktops that’s for sure. There is also a level of privacy and that personal feeling with laptops as they are not usually something shared with others. Desktop PC’s tend to be family purchases for all members of a family to use.

The graphics processor is one of the most important things to think about when buying a gaming laptop. Two options exist in this deparment. Nvidia or ATi? Since AMD aquired ATi things have slowed down for them where as Nvidia has been racing ahead without any restriction of bigger plans in place, only concentrating on releasing the fastest mobile graphics processors as rapidly as they can. This technology seems to be changing every single year and Nvidia seem to have the edge.

The processor, ram and video card are things to pay attention to when you are buying gaming laptops. You need a processor with a minimum speed of 2GHz and it should have 2 cores. Minimum requirements for ram are 2GB if running Vista but 3GB is recommended for the best performance. To play games you need to have a dedicated viedo card. Usually you get 256MB dedicated graphics ram. I think an Nvidia 8600M gpu should be good for playing all the latest games well. For hardcore gamers get only the top of the range graphics cards.

With the future of notebook computers looking bright it seems we will only see more and more innovations coming out over the next few years which will come in all form factors. Power users can now think of the gaming laptop as a serious choice. Cheap laptops are also getting advanced and more portable.

Have you ever heard of .CN? .CN is the domain name extension of China. It is China’s country code top level domain (cctld) .CN at one point was a very restricted domain name extension. It was only allowed to be registered and used by Chinese businesses. China changed the rules in late 2002/early 2003 and now .cn is available to register by any business in the world.

You can register .cn domains in the second or third level. This means you can register a .cn domain name in the form of “somename.cn” or “somename.com.cn”. The Chinese registry, CNNIC, does require that .cn domain names not be used for sites that have adult or gambling related content.

China’s economy is growing very quickly. The amount of internet users in China is increasing by leaps and bounds. China is quickly becoming a major economic powerhouse. If you have a business that would like to reach this extremely huge and rapidly developing market, a .CN domain name for your website may be a very good way to do just that.

About the Author

Please visit Websites.cn for more general information about .CN Domains

I often tell CCNA and CCNP candidates that you do your best learning when you screw something up. I often get a funny look right after I say that, but the only way to develop your Cisco troubleshooting skills - the skills you’ll need to pass your Intro, ICND, and CCNP exams - is by actually fixing configurations. Since your employer will take a dim view of you practicing these skills on his or her network, you better do so on your home lab!
Three essential tools for networking and CCNA/CCNP exam success are ping, extended ping, and traceroute. Today we’re going to take a look at the ping that we’re used to using for LAN issues, and the extended ping.

We’re all familiar with “basic” ping, where you use the ping command followed by the IP address you want to confirm IP connectivity with. When you’ve got connectivity, you will see five exclamation points, as seen here:

R1#ping 172.12.123.2

Type escape sequence to abort.

Sending 5, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 172.12.123.2, timeout is 2 seconds:

!!!!!

Success rate is 100 percent (5/5), round-trip min/avg/max = 68/68/72 ms

The default source IP address for ping is the IP address closest to the destination IP address. Other defaults - five ICMP packets will be sent (that’s why you see five exclamation points), and they’re sent two seconds apart.

That’s fine for many basic situations, but as you progress through your networking career and most advanced scenarios in your CCNA / CCNP studies, you will want to change some of these defaults. What could you do if you wanted to send 10,000 pings? What if you needed your router’s loopback address to be the source IP address for the pings? What if you wanted to send them five seconds apart, instead of two?

That’s where extended ping comes in. To use extended ping, just type “ping” and hit enter. (Note that you cannot use extended ping in user exec mode - you must be in enable mode to do so.)

R1>ping

% Incomplete command.

“incomplete command” indicates that the router is waiting for an IP address; you can’t use extended ping in user exec mode.

R1>enable

R1#ping

Protocol [ip]:

Target IP address: 172.16.123.1

Repeat count [5]: 1000

Datagram size [100]:

Timeout in seconds [2]:

Extended commands [n]: y

Source address or interface: loopback0

Type of service [0]:

Set DF bit in IP header? [no]:

Validate reply data? [no]:

Data pattern [0xABCD]:

Loose, Strict, Record, Timestamp, Verbose[none]:

Sweep range of sizes [n]:

Type escape sequence to abort.

Sending 1000, 100-byte ICMP Echos to 172.16.123.1, timeout is 2 seconds:

Packet sent with a source address of 1.1.1.1

…………………………………

In this example, I sent 1000 ICMP packets to an address that doesn’t exist, so I am getting periods instead of exclamation points. This illustration shows you the many options you have with extended ping.

Now that I’ve sent those 1000 pings, let’s say that I want to stop that process. At the beginning of the basic ping output, you see this phrase:
Type escape sequence to abort.

This escape sequence works for ping, extended ping, and traceroute. Funny thing, though - Cisco doesn’t tell you what the escape sequence is! One day, this will really come in handy. The escape sequence is , TWICE in rapid succession.

After I used it in this example, the pings stopped and I got this message:

Success rate is 0 percent (0/192)

The ping stopped after 192 ICMP packets were sent.

This keystroke takes a little practice, so practice it in your home lab. Knowing how to use extended ping will really come in handy on your CCNA and CCNP exams as well as your real-life networking job, and knowing how to stop an extended ping will as well!

Chris Bryant, CCIE #12933, is the owner of The Bryant Advantage (www.thebryantadvantage.com), home of free CCNA and CCNP tutorials, The Ultimate CCNA Study Package, and Ultimate CCNP Study Packages. Video courses and training, binary and subnetting help, and corporate training are also available.

For a FREE copy of his latest e-books, “How To Pass The CCNA” or “How To Pass The CCNP”, send a request to chris@thebryantadvantage.com today !

HD DVD stands for High Definition Digital Versatile Disc. It is a round and thin disc that looks almost exactly like a CD or DVD. It is actually very similar to CDs and DVDs in all aspects except one. The difference is that a HD DVD can hold much more information than the CD/DVDs of the past. The way they packed more information into the same space mainly comes from the color of the laser that is used to read the disc. HD DVDs are read by a blue-violet laser beam instead of the traditional red beam. The blue-violet color has a shorter wavelength that makes it capable of focusing on a smaller more precise area. That way you can just stuff all of the information closer together on the same size disc.

How much more information? An HD DVD holds about 3 times more information than a DVD. With this extra space you can fit HD quality movies and sound. Specifically a 720p/1080i resolution picture vs. a 480i movie on a DVD. A disc can hold any other type of information besides movies, but video is the most popular use for a DVD world wide. This is why many companies are competing to release home theater HD DVD players. Paramount Pictures, Warner Bros. and Universal Studios have already released lists of titles that will be available on HD DVD. Toshiba has already announced two players that it will manufacture. HD DVD is in direct competition with Blu-Ray, which implements a similar technology that is not compatible. Blu-Ray was developed by Sony and is backed by the Blu-Ray Association including Apple, Hitachi, Dell, HP, LG, JVC, Panasonic, Mitsubishi, Pioneer, Phillips, Samsung, Sharp, TDK, Thomson and Sony. Both technologies have similar launch dates and offer similar features.

HD DVD players will utilize a new kind of cable called HDMI for transmitting digital picture and sound. This cable has multiple wires for both video and audio that ensures the clearest quality. The use of one wire for both video and audio creates less clutter than previous technology. The players will also feature s-video and component connections to offer a wide range of usage capabilities.

Get the best and latest information about HD DVD technology at http://www.find-hddvd-blu-ray-information.info