Chad's News

For Windows Vista and 7 users, you may be running your SATA hard drives at sub-optimal performance. For compatibility reasons, the default settings on your computer may cause the drives to be accessed in an outdated (and slower) method. The linked article explains how to enable AHCI in Windows with a registry change, and you may also need to enable it in your BIOS setup.

Link: http://www.techrepublic.com/…

In yet another example of science fiction turned real, researchers at Newcastle University have developed bacteria, named BacillaFilla, that seek out cracks in concrete and knit them together with glue. Then the bacteria self destruct (right, I’ve heard that one before…).

Link: http://www.ncl.ac.uk/…
(via Slashdot)

Here’s the perfect gift for the geek who has everything: a toilet paper holder that also serves as an iPod dock. Yes, it’s the “iCarta Stereo Dock for iPod® / iPhone with Bath Tissue Holder”. It’s a pretty fancy gadget, with music controls, various connectors, and embedded speakers.

Thanks to Josh for this topic.

Link: http://www.atechflash.com/…

Microsoft appears to be abandoning its Silverlight technology in favor of HTML5. Silverlight was Redmond’s attempt to compete with Adobe Flash. All is not lost, however, as it still appears that Silverlight will remain a platform of choice for developing apps on Windows Phone 7 devices.

Link: http://arstechnica.com/…

Everyone’s heard the phrase, “once in a blue moon.” Turns out it has nothing to do with the color of the moon at all, but instead refers to either two full moons within one calendar month or four full moons within a single season. The linked article attempts to explain it all, but concludes that the no single, precise definition exists. On a side note, I suggest you check out the memorable short story, “Blued Moon,” by Connie Willis, where incredible coincidences occur in Chugwater, Wyoming after chemical plant emissions turn the moon blue.

Thanks to Ciro for this link.

Link: http://www.space.com/…

Breaking AT&T’s monopoly on the iPhone in the United States, Verizon is now taking pre-orders for the iPhone, with service to start on February 10th. Phone prices are as low as $200 when you commit to a two-year service contract, and they’re offering an unlimited data plan for $30/month. Ars Technica has an informative article with answers to common questions. (And no, you can’t use your current AT&T iPhone with the Verizon service.)

Link: http://news.vzw.com/…

Back in November, Microsoft filed a patent for touch screen technology that creates texture. From the linked article: “a display that uses technical tricks to convince users they are actually touching the ridges, bumps and textures of a displayed image.” Other companies are trying to do something similar, but the difference with Microsoft’s system is that the bumps are real, whereas their competitors only create an illusion of texture. This could be big, really big, if they manage to make it cost-effective.

Link: http://www.newscientist.com/…
(via Kim Komando)

The World Wide Web was originally designed to be state-less. That is, information is not remembered between visits to various web pages, or even to the same web page. Today, of course, that is not the case, and the main mechanism for communicating between visits is the cookie, also known as a browser cookie or an HTTP cookie. Cookies contain a small amount of text data that your browser stores and sends back to the web server whenever you request a web page from that server. This permits many things, such as keeping you logged in, remembering your settings, or tracking which items you’ve looked at in an online store.

As a web developer, I know that the rules governing HTTP cookies are pretty loose. There have been some efforts to make a concrete standard, but nothing has been formally approved, and the existing IETF RFCs are taken as suggestions by browser manufacturers rather than rules. I didn’t know just how bad it was, however, until I read the linked article. Cookies were defined in a haphazard manner and have stayed that way ever since. Each browser implements cookies in a slightly different manner, and don’t even ask me about the limits on the size of individual cookies, the number of cookies per domain, the total number of cookies, and the total size of all cookies combined. The linked article says, “there is simply no accurate, official account of cookie behavior in modern browsers.” As a web developer, unfortunately, you have to go with the lowest common denominator when working with cookies. Definitely not the way to specify such an important part of the internet.

Link: http://lcamtuf.blogspot.com/…
(via Slashdot)

A cake designer in England made a Death Star cake for her 4-year old son, and it’s just flat-out amazing. I’ve seen plastic toys that didn’t look as good. The linked article has a detailed picture of the final product. And the neat thing is that you can purchase a similar cake (although no price is listed).

Link: http://betweenthepagesblog.typepad.com/…
(via TheForce.net)

Lenovo has released a new Thinkpad, the W701ds, which has a retractable, 10.6″ display augmenting the main 17″ screen. It’s good to see that the Thinkpad line is still a source of innovation after the move from IBM to Lenovo, and I can envision this feature becoming popular.

Thanks to Josh for this topic.

Link: http://shop.lenovo.com/…

Here at the Chad’s News network command center, Firefox is still the browser of choice. Google Chrome, however, is still improving and trying to become a contender for that top spot. There is the useful Chrome Toolbox extension, which adds functionality and configuration options that have been needed for a long time. Also, Chrome now has a built-in PDF viewer, which appears to be in the latest release version. Lifehacker has a tip on how to refresh the thumbnails shown for your “most visited” sites on the new tab page. Another tip from Lifehacker explains how to configure Chrome such that embedded Flash content is played on demand (versus the default auto play). This change has not yet made it to the release version. And finally, the linked article discusses Google’s decision to drop direct browser support for the popular H.264 video codec. This only affects HTML5 videos—Flash content will still play with no problem.

Link: http://www.sfgate.com/…
(via Kim Komando)

Many past efforts to promote cloud computing have failed miserably, but it’s become more popular over the last few years, even here at Chad’s News. The linked articles detail two more steps in the long road towards universal acceptance. The first is Neverware, a way to run a powerful Windows system from a low-end computer. The second is Google’s cloud print, which allows a user to print a document from portable devices such as smartphones.

Thanks to Josh for the cloud print link.

Link #1 (Neverware): http://www.observer.com/…
(via Kim Komando)

Link #2 (cloud print): http://googlemobile.blogspot.com/…
(via MacRumors.com)