1. Type about:config into the Firefox URL/address bar and hit ENTER. You will be warned that you might void your warranty if you change some advanced settings. Fear not my fellow Firefox users, these tweaks are perfectly safe.
2. Inside the Firefox configuration page, you will see what looks like a search box at the top and it is labeled Filter. You can quickly narrow down specific settings by typing any part of the preferences we will be changing below. For instance, the first preference value we are changing below in step 3 is “network.http.pipelining”. An easy way to find it in the Filter search box is to type something like “pipelining”.
3. So using the filter method desribed above, find the following two preferences:
network.http.pipelining
network.http.proxy.pipelining
Set their values to “true” by double-clicking each one of them.
4. Next up, find this entry:
network.http.pipelining.maxrequests
Double-click and set the value to 8.
5. Right-click anywhere inside the config page and select:
New –> Integer. Name it nglayout.initialpaint.delay and set the value to “0″.
6. Right-click anywhere inside the config page and select:
New –> Integer. Name it content.notify.interval and set the value to “500000″.
7. Right-click anywhere inside the config page and select:
New –> Boolean. Name it content.notify.ontimer and set the value to “true″.
8. Right-click anywhere inside the config page and select:
New –> Integer. Name it content.switch.threshold and set the value to “250000″.
9. Right-click anywhere inside the config page and select:
New –> Boolean. Name it content.interrupt.parsing and set the value to “false″.
Those are the obvious and simple tweaks. You should notice a significant page load and overall surfing speed improvement immediately after applying the above tweaks.
Also remember to disable any Firefox addons that you don’t use often, and using a lightweight theme will also help speed up Firefox.
Whether you opt for an Apple iPad, a BlackBerry PlayBook, or an Android device, like the Motorola Xoom, purchasing a quality tablet can be a daunting task. Here’s what you need to know before you hit the store.
By Tim Gideon @ PC Magazine.com
When the first Apple iPad and the Fusion Garage JooJoo were released within days of each other in early 2010, the world got its first real taste of tablets—and, what some might say, is an excellent summation of the breadth of quality future tablets would offer. At the high end, the iPad, and now the iPad 2, is the benchmark tablet to beat, with top-notch, seamless design paired with a robust app store. The now-discontinued JooJoo was a clunker—it lacked internal storage, often crashed, and basically didn’t have any apps, only some basic tools. In between these bookends lies the rest of the tablet field, with early Android tablets (anything running a version lower than Android 3.0) ranking closer to the JooJoo end of the spectrum and newer Android tablets like the Motorola Xoom and upcoming second-generation Samsung Galaxy Tabs taking aim at the iPad. Upon first glance, the upcoming RIM BlackBerry PlayBook also looks to be quite the competitor, with its own operating system and the ability to run some Android apps. So which of the plethora of deceivingly similar-looking tablets is worth your sizable investment? Let’s look at the key factors you need to consider:
First Off: Do You Even Need a Tablet?
Simply put, tablets aren’t really filling any true need right now—they are neither replacements for full-fledged computers nor smartphones. A tablet is a touch-screen media device that is actually most similar to a very advanced portable media player—or an MP3 player with a much larger screen. Yes, many of them have mobile service features, but currently none of them make phone calls via a traditional mobile provider. And while you can get work done on a tablet, you won’t get a desktop-grade operating system, like you’ll find on a PC. Tablets are basically lightweight versions of laptops in every sense—they weigh less, and they’re lighter on features. The advantage they offer over laptops is an easy way to check e-mail, browse the Web, consume media, and play games—just like a smartphone. But with a tablet you get a much bigger screen with more real estate. The bottom line is, you probably don’t need one, but if you want a tablet, read on.
Operating System
First, just like with a computer, you must choose your allegiance. Apple’s iOS is the mobile platform used by the iPad, as well as the iPhone and iPod touch. By now, you’re probably familiar with iOS even if you don’t own an iPhone, seeing as the device is as ubiquitous in public as it is in television and movies. On the iPad and the iPad 2, iOS works very similarly to the way it does on the iPhone, with certain tweaks made here and there to take advantage of the tablet’s larger 9.7-inch screen. The built-in iPod app on the iPad, for instance, has an extra side menu for additional navigation options that wouldn’t fit on a 3.5-inch screen. Generally speaking, the great strength of Apple’s iOS is twofold: it’s incredibly easy to use, and the wide selection of iPad apps—more than 65,000 tablet-specific titles at the time of this writing—download easily and quickly and work uniformly well with very few exceptions.
Google’s mobile OS, Android, is a different story. There are several iterations of Android, but only one—Android 3.0, a.k.a. Honeycomb—is designed specifically for tablets. Right now, only one tablet offers Honeycomb—the Motorola Xoom—and that makes it the iPad’s most viable contender, for now. It is a showcase for Android 3.0, which features an improved, more visual multitasking bar than iOS, as well as superior e-mail notifications. Unfortunately, these two particular strengths, though legitimate, are not strong enough to topple Apple’s iOS when you look at the bigger picture. The home-screen for Honeycomb, for example, can get easily cluttered because there are so many different ways to organize, rather than just putting things in tidy folders as you can with iOS. The one you choose will largely depend on your personal preference, so if you can try before you buy, you should.
Apps
Android lacks a strong selection of apps. Even with the newly announced Amazon App Store, the number of Honeycomb tablet-friendly apps that work well is very low. We could linger on this section, but the bottom line is simple: if you want lots of apps for your tablet, right now, nothing out there beats the iPad. Apple’s App Store is well-curated and offers deep selection—no competitor can come close to claiming this right now, partially because apps made for Android tablets have to work across multiple screen sizes, while iPad apps are designed specifically for one device. It sounds simple, but the variation in size (and manufacturers) complicates things greatly. It remains to be seen what kind of options will exist for the BlackBerry PlayBook. Eventually, one hopes, the other app stores will catch up to Apple, but if a wide range of compelling apps is your main priority, Apple is currently your best bet.
Design and Size
This consideration is a bit obvious, but size—both screen real estate and storage capacity—is important to consider. First things first: When you hear the term “10-inch tablet,” this typically refers to the size of the screen, measured diagonally, and not the size of the tablet itself. Apple continues to offer the iPad in one size only (9.7-inch screen). The Xoom comes in one screen size too (10.1 inches), but Samsung just announced new Galaxy Tab models in multiple sizes (8.9- and 10.1-inches) in addition to the current 7-inch Tab and the trend for other companies seems to be: the more sizes, the better. In other words, you have plenty of options, but the higher quality tablets thus far have veered towards the larger end of the scale since they offer a better finger-centric, touch screen experience. The weight of a tablet is one definite advantage it has over a laptop—but let’s be clear, at around 1.5 pounds (in the case of the iPad 2) they’re not as light, as say, your cell phone. After you hold one on the subway for ten minutes, your hand will get tired. Setting it flat in your lap, rather propped up on a stand, is also a little awkward.
As for storage, the more the better—those apps, when combined with a typical music, video, and photo library, can take up a lot of space. Right now storage tops out at 64GB of flash-based memory, with many of the quality tablets we’ve seen available in 16, 32, and 64GB varieties. Larger capacity models can get as expensive as full-featured laptops, especially when you factor in cellular service plans.
Wi-Fi-Only vs. Cellular Models
Most tablets come in a Wi-Fi-only model or with the option to pay by the month for 3G (or eventually, 4G) always-on cellular service from a provider like AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile, or Verizon Wireless. If you want to use your tablet to get online anywhere, you should opt for a model with a cell radio. Of course, this adds to the device’s price, and then you need to pay for cellular service. Generally, though, you can purchase data on a month-to-month basis, without signing a contract, and charges typically don’t exceed $20 monthly, as long as you stay within data-usage limits.
Another way to get your tablet online: Use your 3G or 4G phone as a Wi-Fi hotspot for your tablet—this won’t work with every phone/tablet combo, so you should check with the carriers before you buy in.
Cameras & Video Chatting
With the release of the iPad 2, Apple caught up rather quickly to its tablet competition and added front- and rear-facing cameras for stills and video. The Xoom has a higher quality rear-facing camera than the iPad’s lackluster offering, but the bottom line is: the cameras on all of these tablets are currently more toy than tool. None of them is a legitimate replacement for even a point-and-shot camera.
But the inclusion of front-facing cameras means tablets offer video chat features—but not all video chat apps are created equal. Google Talk for Honeycomb, which comes preloaded on the Xoom, is a top-notch app; simple to use, and it operates via Google accounts. You can chat with anyone who has a Google account. However, not all Android tablets are created equal—be wary of any tablets that lack access to the Android Market. It’s also worth pointing out that any Android tablet lacking Honeycomb, like the Dell Streak 7, is not running an OS intended for a tablet, and thus, its apps often offer a weak user experience. Despite its cameras and video chat capabilities, the Streak 7 utilizes inferior apps for chatting and cannot utilize the Honeycomb version of Google Talk. Apple’s FaceTime works similarly well, but is limited to certain Apple products, making it far less versatile than Google Talk.
Price
Like with most gadgetry, you get what you pay for, and tablets are no exception. If you spend anything less than $500-$600 (which seems to be the magic entry-range for Wi-Fi-only models like the iPad 2 and the Motorola Xoom), don’t say we didn’t warn you. The CherryPal Cherry Pad is a fine example of what $188 will get you in the tablet world—not a lot, including a low-quality screen and a serious lack of features. As for 3G (and 4G) enabled tablets, the pricing varies widely depending on manufacturer, capacity, and plan, but expect to pay at least about $20 per month on top of a higher up front fee—the lowest iPad 2 3G tablet price is $629 for 16GB, for instance.
Finally, before you buy, if you can, head to your local electronics store to get hands-on time with some different tablets, so you can see which feels and works the best for you. And for the latest lab-tested tablet reviews, hit our Tablet Product Guide.
Microsoft Security Bulletin MS11-036 – Important
Vulnerabilities in Microsoft PowerPoint Could Allow Remote Code Execution (2545814)
Published: May 10, 2011 | Updated: May 17, 2011
Version: 1.1
General Information
Executive Summary
This security update resolves two privately reported vulnerabilities in Microsoft PowerPoint. The vulnerabilities could allow remote code execution if a user opens a specially crafted PowerPoint file. An attacker who successfully exploited either of these vulnerabilities could gain the same user rights as the logged-on user. Users whose accounts are configured to have fewer user rights on the system could be less impacted than users who operate with administrative user rights. Installing and configuring Office File Validation (OFV) to prevent the opening of suspicious files blocks the attack vectors for exploiting the vulnerabilities described in CVE-2011-1269 and CVE-2011-1270. See the section, Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) Related to This Security Update, for more information about how the Office File Validation feature can be configured to block the attack vectors.
This security update is rated Important for all supported editions of Microsoft PowerPoint 2002, Microsoft PowerPoint 2003, Microsoft PowerPoint 2007, Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac, and Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac. The security update is also rated Important for all supported versions of Open XML File Format Converter for Mac and Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack. For more information, see the subsection, Affected and Non-Affected Software, in this section.
The update addresses the vulnerabilities by correcting the way that PowerPoint handles memory when parsing specially crafted PowerPoint files. For more information about the vulnerabilities, see the Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ) subsection for the specific vulnerability entry under the next section, Vulnerability Information.
Recommendation. Customers can configure automatic updating to check online for updates from Microsoft Update by using the Microsoft Update service. Customers who have automatic updating enabled and configured to check online for updates from Microsoft Update typically will not need to take any action because this security update will be downloaded and installed automatically. Customers who have not enabled automatic updating need to check for updates from Microsoft Update and install this update manually. For information about specific configuration options in automatic updating in supported editions of Windows XP and Windows Server 2003, see Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 294871. For information about automatic updating in supported editions of Windows Vista, Windows Server 2008, Windows 7, and Windows Server 2008 R2, see Understanding Windows automatic updating.
For administrators and enterprise installations, or end users who want to install this security update manually, Microsoft recommends that customers apply the update at the earliest opportunity using update management software, or by checking for updates using the Microsoft Update service.
See also the section, Detection and Deployment Tools and Guidance, later in this bulletin.
Known Issues. Microsoft Knowledge Base Article 2545814 documents the currently known issues that customers may experience when installing this security update. The article also documents recommended solutions for these issues. When currently known issues and recommended solutions pertain only to specific releases of this software, this article provides links to further articles.
Affected and Non-Affected Software
The following software have been tested to determine which versions or editions are affected. Other versions or editions are either past their support life cycle or are not affected. To determine the support life cycle for your software version or edition, visit Microsoft Support Lifecycle.
Affected Software
[1]The security updates for Microsoft Office 2004 for Mac, Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac, and Open XML File Format Converter for Mac are unavailable at this time.
Non-Affected Software
| Office and Other Software |
| Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 (32-bit editions) |
| Microsoft PowerPoint 2010 (64-bit editions) |
| Microsoft Office for Mac 2011 |
| Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer 2007 Service Pack 2 |
| Microsoft PowerPoint Viewer |
| Microsoft Works 9 |
These days there is no such thing as safety in your home being a certainty. Current economical times have forced the crooks to become more cunning and desperate. Protect your family ,your home, and business today by installing a professional security system and/or video surveillance system. The security system will of course do it’s job by alerting the authorities and sounding an audible alarm, while the video surveillance will be recording every move by the crooks while on your property, and in the unfortunate event that they should try to break into your home or business. What better evidence to hand over to the authorities than to have them red handed on video!
Need a full color 3D logo or corporate design? Need a 3D model of a geo location, building, or maybe a 3D model of an automotive part? I have many years experience with polygonal meshes, NURBS, texture baking, procedural textures, ray-tracing, subsurface scatter, UV mapping, and vertex paint. I also have experience with solid body animation, armatures, skeleton posing, inverse kinematics, and shape keys. I am constantly trying out new techniques within the 3D modeling industry to improve and polish my 3D skills and creativity.
Just wanted to take a minute to show off the Photoblog I just setup for my nephews Cassen and Collin. Check it out and I hope you enjoy. Feel free to leave comments on any pictures you like!
If you are an avid Time Machine user, sometimes, you might end up having to deal with errors that make no sense and no matter how much time you put into solving them you just can’t find a solution. If it has happened to your or one of your friends and you want to help him or yourself, here are the solutions to your problem(s).
Most of these problems have been already addressed by Apple and have solutions described on its own support website. If you were unable to find them yourself here are some of the problems/errors you may encounter while using Time Machine on your Snow Leopard machine.
If you have issues with backups, as in Time Machine being unable to complete a backup, open System Preferences and in the Time Machine preferences click on the red “i” icon for more information regarding the problem.
If the message is “The backup volume is read only.” you will have to turn off Time Machine and repair your backup using the detailed procedure Apple describes HERE.
If you get the “No volumes to be backed up were available.” message this happens because all available volumes are in Time Machine’s ‘Do not backup’ list. To fix this, open System Preferences and, in the Time Machine preference pane, click Options. Now remove the volumes that you want to be backed up by Time Machine.
If the message is “Unable to complete backup. An error occurred while copying files to the backup volume.” just restart your Mac and try the backup once again.
When you get the “Time Machine could not be configured. The built-in network interface could not be found” error message you will have to go through the steps below:
1. Go to /Library/Preferences/SystemConfiguration/ and copy the NetworkInterfaces.plist file to your desktop (to make a precautionary backup).
2. Delete NetworkInterfaces.plist (enter your admin name and password if prompted).
3. Restart your Mac and reconfigure your Network and Time Machine preference panes in System Preferences.
4. If you still get the error you will have to contact an Apple Authorized Service Provider from HERE to check your Mac’s network ports.
If you encounter an “The backup volume could not be found.” error message you will have to choose your solution depending on the state of your hard drive.
If your hard drive has been erased follow these steps:
1. Open System Preferences and go to Time Machine.
2. Click on “Change Disk…” and select your back up location again.
If your hard drive sleeps and does not wake in time for Time Machine backups you will have to disable the sleep function of the respective external drive.
The next error has a repair procedure too extensive to be included in this article so I will give a direct link to a solution page on the Apple Support website. So, if you get a “The backup volume could not be mounted” you will have to go HERE.
Any other questions or comments regarding Time Machine issues, please post in comments below.
From the Microsoft Security Response Center (MSRC):
Today we’re announcing plans to release a security update to address the vulnerability discussed in Security Advisory 2286198 on Monday, August 2, 2010 at or around 10 AM PDT.
We are releasing the bulletin as we’ve completed the required testing and the update has achieved the appropriate quality bar for broad distribution to customers. Additionally, we’re able to confirm that, in the past few days, we’ve seen an increase in attempts to exploit the vulnerability. We firmly believe that releasing the update out of band is the best thing to do to help protect our customers.
Our colleagues over in the Microsoft Malware Protection Center (MMPC) have more details about what they’ve seen in the threat environment.
As always, we’ll provide additional information as it is available.
Finally, as always, we’ll hold a special edition of the bulletin release webcast on Monday, August 2, 2010 at 1:00 PM PDT. If you are interested in attending the webcast, click here to sign up.
Thanks,
Christopher Budd
Sr. Security Response Communications Manager at Microsoft
Microsoft released an emergency “out of band” update to Windows today. This is a highly unusual event, as over the last several years only a few patches have come out on days other than Patch Tuesday, the second Tuesday of the month. And it’s worthy of the special treatment.
MS08-067: Vulnerability in Server Service Could Allow Remote Code Execution describes a vulnerability in the Windows Server service which could allow remote code execution through a specially crafted RPC request over the network.
On Windows 2000, Windows XP and Windows Server 2003 the vulnerability may be invoked by unauthenticated users, and the vulnerability is rated critical. On Windows Vista and Windows Server 2008 the users must be authenticated and the vulnerability is rated Important.
This vulnerability is one of those rare ones that could result in a true network worm, where a system could be successfully attacked over the network with no user action at all. The advisory states that “Firewall best practices and standard default firewall configurations can help protect network resources from attacks that originate outside the enterprise perimeter.” Thus it appears that firewalls, including the default Windows Firewall included in Windows XP and above, will block it.
Updates are available through all the usual channels including Windows Update.
I have successfully completed all the ‘linking’ and API setup for twitter, facebook, linkedIn, and the website. All the widgets have been setup and are fully functional here on the blog. I am officially part of the 2010 technological succession!
Kevin
