Mother nature pulls out all the stops when it comes to newborn babies, providing them with a set of inborn reflexes designed to protect these especially vulnerable creatures and ensure their care. Some of these primitive behaviours are spontaneous, while others are responses to certain actions.
Startle, or Moro, reflex.
When startled by a sudden or loud noise, or a feeling of falling, the Moro reflex will cause the baby to extend the legs, arms and fingers, arch the back, draw the head back, then draw the arms back, fists clenched, into the chest.
Duration: Four to six months.
Babinski's, or plantar, reflex.
When the sole of a baby's foot is gently stroked from the heel to toe, the baby's toes flare upwards and the foot turns in.
Duration: Between six months and two years, after which toes curl downwards.
Rooting reflex.
A Newborn whose cheek is gently stroked will turn in the direction of the stimulus, mouth open and ready to suckle. This reflex helps the baby locate the breast or bottle and secure a meal.
Duration: About three to four months, though it may persist when baby is sleeping.
Walking, or stepping, reflex.
Held upright on a table or other flat surface, supported under the arms, a newborn may lift one leg and then the other, taking what seem to be 'steps'. This 'practice walking' reflex works best after the fourth day of life.
Duration: Variable, but typically about two months.
Sucking reflex.
A newborn will reflexively suck when the roof of his or her mouth is touched, such as when a nipple is placed in the mouth.
Duration: Present at birth and lasts until two to four months, when voluntary sucking takes over.
Palmar grasping reflex.
Touch the palm of your baby's hand and his or her fingers will curl around and cling to your finger. An interesting bit of baby trivia: newborns grasp may be powerful enough to support full body weight - but don't try this at home or anywhere. Some more trivia: This reflex curls babies' feet and toes, too, when they're touched.
Duration: Three to six months.
Tonic neck, or fencing, reflex.
Placed on the back, a young baby will assume a 'fencing position' , head one side, with arms and legs on that side extended and the opposite limbs flexed. En grade!
Duration: Varies a lot. it may be present at birth or may not appear for at least two months, and disappear at about four to six months - or sooner, or later.
Wednesday, January 23, 2008
A Pen that Records the Writer’s Emotions, being developed by Philips
The pen is undoubtedly mightier than the sword. For many of us our words are a way to vent our emotions, may it be in the form of articles, blog entries or perhaps poetries and autobiographies. But have you ever wondered how amazing would it be if your pen could actually reveal your state of mind and emotional state whilst you are using it to pen down something. Well, here it is! Philips has developed a truly amazing pen that can tell the writer’s exact emotional condition when he or she is writing something. Well this intuitive pen incorporates sensors that help in revealing the emotions, by finding physiological factors like heartbeat, blood pressure, skin temperature, and finger pressure. Further on, the pen includes a small actuator that has the ability to alter the properties of the line it traces out by changing inks and modifying the shape of the writing tip. The writer’s emotional condition if then concluded by an integrated chip that transforms the color and quality of the trace accordingly. The New Scientist magazine had a rather interesting quote by Philips: “Signatures are currently always the same, yet some documents will be signed with enthusiasm, others possibly with hesitation. Having a recording of this could be useful for historical reasons.” But all the same if you are not too keen for things to get very transparent, then you have a choice to simply change the on-off switch to “off” option to inactivate this function.
Wednesday, January 16, 2008
Top 15 Smashing Magazine Articles
1. 53 CSS-Techniques You Couldn’t Live Without
2. 70 Expert Ideas For Better CSS Coding
3. CSS-Based Forms: Modern Solutions
4. 83 Beautiful Wordpress Themes You (Probably) Haven’t Seen
5. 35 Designers x 5 Questions
6. Cheat Sheet Round-Up: Ajax, CSS, LaTeX, Ruby…
7. 50 Beautiful CSS-Based Web-Designs in 2006
8. 30 Scripts For Galleries, Slideshows and Lightboxes
9. Tutorials Round-Up: Ajax, CSS, PHP and More
10. Online Generators
11. Free Design Templates
12. 60 Elegant and Visually Appealing Designs
13. 45 Fresh, Clean and Impressive Designs
14. CSS-Based Navigation Menus: Modern Solutions
15. 19 More Free Quality Fonts
Friday, January 11, 2008
Monster jobs now on Mobiles…
Monster Worldwide, parent company of Monster.com, premier global online employment solution, has announced the launch of SMS based job search application in India.
“The SMS Job Search is a unique and effective way to search forjobs. This application leverages our Magic Search technology (proprietary search engine that allows jobs and resumes to be searched on various parameters through a single keyword text box)”, said Vikas Agarwal, VP- Product and Technology.
The application is simple and easy-to-use. The user can type free text such as “Jobs Brand Manager Delhi” and SMS to 53030 in India. The user will instantly receive the top three job matches back on the mobile as an SMS, he said.
“The key advantage of our application is that the accuracy of job matching is very high and it is driven entirely by keywords and free text (which is intuitive for SMS users), unlike other applications that require categories and locations to be selected”.
This is the second mobile application launched by Monster India. Earlier in 2007, Monster India launched SMS Express (SMS based application that helps employers contact jobseekers instantly on mobile, while searching resumes on Monsterindia.com).
In May 2007, PC World expert panel declared Monsterindia.com as the Best job Site in India on design, content, technology and usability. var RN = new String (Math.random()); var RNS = RN.substring (2,11); b2 = ‘ ‘; if (doweshowbellyad==1) bellyad.innerHTML = b2;
“The SMS Job Search is a unique and effective way to search forjobs. This application leverages our Magic Search technology (proprietary search engine that allows jobs and resumes to be searched on various parameters through a single keyword text box)”, said Vikas Agarwal, VP- Product and Technology.
The application is simple and easy-to-use. The user can type free text such as “Jobs Brand Manager Delhi” and SMS to 53030 in India. The user will instantly receive the top three job matches back on the mobile as an SMS, he said.
“The key advantage of our application is that the accuracy of job matching is very high and it is driven entirely by keywords and free text (which is intuitive for SMS users), unlike other applications that require categories and locations to be selected”.
This is the second mobile application launched by Monster India. Earlier in 2007, Monster India launched SMS Express (SMS based application that helps employers contact jobseekers instantly on mobile, while searching resumes on Monsterindia.com).
In May 2007, PC World expert panel declared Monsterindia.com as the Best job Site in India on design, content, technology and usability. var RN = new String (Math.random()); var RNS = RN.substring (2,11); b2 = ‘ ‘; if (doweshowbellyad==1) bellyad.innerHTML = b2;
Most awaited: Tata’s 1-lakh on the sets of auto expo 2008″Nano”
Nano is here. Ratan Tata seems to have achieved the feat of showcasing to the world a one-lakh rupee car that meets the specs of an international affordable peoples’ car. The small beauty claims to meet all the current safety requirements of a modern day car and has pollution levels that are even less than those of a two-wheeler. “Infrastructure is a major concern with India and I accept that we are behind our neighbours in the area. And India is working towards it with a new roads policy. But in the next five year, Tata Motors is only targeting to have 500,000 small cars that will constitute just 2.5 per cent of the total number of passenger vehicles in the country. With those numbers, the small car can hardly be an infrastructure nightmare as it is made out to be,” Ratan Tata said unveiling the company’s pride at the Auto Expo 08 on January 11 on Thursday.
The Nano with a 624 cc engine, will give a mileage of 20 kilometers per liter (50 miles a gallon). As per the safety norms, it has passed the full frontal crash test, the offset and side-crash test to meet the international safety norms. The legroom is expected to be 21 per cent more than Maruti 800. The car meets the Bharat 3 (Euro 4) emission standards. The car that will come in two variants - AC and non-AC, will come at a dealer price of Rs one lakh plus VAT and transport charges. “The car will cost one lakh and only because a promise is a promise,” he said brushing aside concerns over cost escalation and increase in raw material prices. Source: Economictimes.
The Nano with a 624 cc engine, will give a mileage of 20 kilometers per liter (50 miles a gallon). As per the safety norms, it has passed the full frontal crash test, the offset and side-crash test to meet the international safety norms. The legroom is expected to be 21 per cent more than Maruti 800. The car meets the Bharat 3 (Euro 4) emission standards. The car that will come in two variants - AC and non-AC, will come at a dealer price of Rs one lakh plus VAT and transport charges. “The car will cost one lakh and only because a promise is a promise,” he said brushing aside concerns over cost escalation and increase in raw material prices. Source: Economictimes.
Citizenship of infants born on Flight
Citizenship of infants born on Flight
In mid-air a woman gave birth to a child onboard a British Airways jet flying from London to Boston . The pilot received permission to land in Nova Scotia when it became clear there was a delivery in progress, but the baby was born before the plane could land. As far as what goes on this child’s birth certificate next to “Place of Birth” and of what country this child can claim citizenship, it all depends on who we ask. In this case, the a mother is an Egyptian and traveling on a U.S. passport, and a plane that took off in Britain bound for the United States that landed in Canada. So where is this child from?
Almost every country in the world, as well as the United Nations , has procedures and recommendations for how to properly classify the geographic details of an in-air birth. The United Nations considers a child born in-flight to have been born in the airplane’s registered country. Some countries point to the city where the child first disembarked the plane as the place of birth, and to the airplane’s registered country as the place of citizenship. Citizenship and birthplace are two different topics. Citizenship is typically a larger issue and may require some paperwork, while writing a child’s birthplace on a birth certificate is often a less legally significant consideration.
The state of Texas offers excellent details on how to document an in-air birth on a plane bound for Texas, even if the birth takes place over, say, Australia. Using a Texas birth certificate, a person can fill in the details with the country and city where the child was first removed from the plane.
Filing the physical birth certificate is another area that gets complicated when the birth is at high altitude. According to U.S. law, if we were looking for the birth certificate for a child born on a U.S.-registered plane (or ship), we’d have to figure out if the vessel was heading away from the United States or towards it when the birth occurred. For an outbound flight, we’d likely find the birth certificate stored at (or accessible through) the U.S. State Department. If the flight was inbound and landed somewhere in the United States after the birth, we would contact the county where the plane landed to find the record.
Considerations of citizenship, like birthplace, vary depending on which governing body we contact for an answer. U.S. authorities would tell us that if a child’s parents are both citizens of the United States and at least one parent has resided in the United States before the child’s birth, the child is automatically a U.S. citizen regardless of the altitude of the birth. The same applies to a case in which one parent is a U.S. national and the other is a U.S. citizen who lived in the United States for at least a year before the birth. Many countries also grant automatic citizenship to a child born on a vessel that is registered to that country, so it’s likely that an in-air birth could result in dual citizenship.
In mid-air a woman gave birth to a child onboard a British Airways jet flying from London to Boston . The pilot received permission to land in Nova Scotia when it became clear there was a delivery in progress, but the baby was born before the plane could land. As far as what goes on this child’s birth certificate next to “Place of Birth” and of what country this child can claim citizenship, it all depends on who we ask. In this case, the a mother is an Egyptian and traveling on a U.S. passport, and a plane that took off in Britain bound for the United States that landed in Canada. So where is this child from?
Almost every country in the world, as well as the United Nations , has procedures and recommendations for how to properly classify the geographic details of an in-air birth. The United Nations considers a child born in-flight to have been born in the airplane’s registered country. Some countries point to the city where the child first disembarked the plane as the place of birth, and to the airplane’s registered country as the place of citizenship. Citizenship and birthplace are two different topics. Citizenship is typically a larger issue and may require some paperwork, while writing a child’s birthplace on a birth certificate is often a less legally significant consideration.
The state of Texas offers excellent details on how to document an in-air birth on a plane bound for Texas, even if the birth takes place over, say, Australia. Using a Texas birth certificate, a person can fill in the details with the country and city where the child was first removed from the plane.
Filing the physical birth certificate is another area that gets complicated when the birth is at high altitude. According to U.S. law, if we were looking for the birth certificate for a child born on a U.S.-registered plane (or ship), we’d have to figure out if the vessel was heading away from the United States or towards it when the birth occurred. For an outbound flight, we’d likely find the birth certificate stored at (or accessible through) the U.S. State Department. If the flight was inbound and landed somewhere in the United States after the birth, we would contact the county where the plane landed to find the record.
Considerations of citizenship, like birthplace, vary depending on which governing body we contact for an answer. U.S. authorities would tell us that if a child’s parents are both citizens of the United States and at least one parent has resided in the United States before the child’s birth, the child is automatically a U.S. citizen regardless of the altitude of the birth. The same applies to a case in which one parent is a U.S. national and the other is a U.S. citizen who lived in the United States for at least a year before the birth. Many countries also grant automatic citizenship to a child born on a vessel that is registered to that country, so it’s likely that an in-air birth could result in dual citizenship.
Saturday, January 5, 2008
2008 Web Predictions!
1.Semantic Apps will become popular in 2008, due to their ability to get better content results and make better data connections. Think search engines like Hakia and Powerset, wikipedia-like efforts like Twine and Freebase, and apps that use semantic technologies under the hood (such as AdaptiveBlue and Snap).
2. In tandem with #1, Google will experiment more with Semantic Apps in ‘08. The Knols project, although not overly semantic, is a hint of this direction.
3. Web Services platforms will be a fierce battleground in ‘08, with Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Mozilla and others competing to provide ‘Web OS’ and online storage to consumers. Unfortunately this may spell the end of a number of startups in this space.
4. Zoho and/or ThinkFree will be acquired by big companies wanting to leapfrog into the Web Office space.
5. The online advertising market will consolidate, after the spate of acquisitions in 2007. CPM will continue to dominate for media brands and CPC for niche sites, although there will be experimentation in VRM and other forms of highly specific targeting of ads. Privacy issues will prevent the latter from becoming mainstream though. The much-hyped CPA (Cost per Action) will continue to be a pipe dream, because publishers simply don’t want it.
6. The big Internet companies will surprise us all by embracing open standards, and attempting to compete with each other with features instead of data lock-in (OK, this could just be wishful thinking!).
7. The most interesting innovations on the Web in 2008 won’t happen in Silicon Valley, but in Asia (China, Japan, Korea). At least one startup from China will break through in the US market with Twitter-like success in 2008 - and it will almost certainly be a Mobile Web app. Twitter will be acquired.
8. Most ad networks will start producing their own content to advertise against; and some content companies today will get acquired by ad networks.
9. Online video will become so ubiquitous, including live and mobile, that everyone will wonder how the internet existed without it. It won’t feel like a big deal, though.
10. A handful of big companies will let you start logging in with an OpenID associated with your account.
11. The value of recommendation engines will become all the more clear; the era of data will be celebrated.
12. Tumblr will be acquired.
13. Privacy will be a growing concern in the mainstream, but ultimately people won’t really take any action and for the most part, things won’t change. Some companies and groups (think Mozilla) will push for better privacy controls for users, while others (think Facebook) will continue to push the envelope and continue down a slippery slope. Users will eventually push back, but I am hesitant to say that proverbial “straw that breaks the camel’s back” will come in 2008.
14. OpenID will be adopted by more startups and larger web companies, but most people (mainstream users) still won’t use it - that’s a couple of years off.
15. Facebook will continue to grow and their platform will be adopted by other large social networks. Google will sweat.
16. Mobile web usage will be a big story in 2008. It’s already big in many parts of the world; and Westerners are about to get hooked. With new mobile devices that makes web surfing less painful, people will be more and more connected away from their computers.
17. Mainstream media coverage will be a catalyst for the adoption of Web Office apps by consumers; and Microsoft will eventually be forced to change their Web Office strategy and offer a fully online office suite (but that latter won’t happen in 2008). Offline mode (Gears, AIR, Silverlight, etc.) will be what really tips the scales and causes mainstream users to to embrace the as-of-yet unfamiliar world of Web Office applications.
18. Digg is going to be acquired by one of the mainstream media conglomerates.
19. Implicit applications, which monitor our habits and automatically infer our likes, will rise.
20. Facebook will acquire companies that do the following, in order to strengthen their advertising unit: personalization, behavior tracking, image recognition (Riya?)
21. Facebook will release a browser.
22. Google OpenSocial will be a failure; Google will try to create its own social networking empire by making acquisitions in this space.
23. Microsoft will become more aggresive and buy many popular companies at once (remember Ballmer’s quote). Candidates include SixApart, Technorati.
24. Google will really start looking vulnerable in 2008. While the ‘one trick pony’ comment by Steve Ballmer drew sarcastic responses, this will begin to look prophetic. While they’ll maintain market share in the search industry, the lack of traction in any other of their other initiatives will start to cause frustration. Plus, they will increasingly be perceived as the ‘evil’ company in many of these new initiatives.
25. Closely related, Yahoo’s Hack strategy (see ReadWriteTalk’s podcast with Bradley Horowitz) will start to bear fruit and things will look much more optimistic in Sunnyvale this year.
26. Facebook will start to feel pressure from two trends that will emerge on the web: distributed social networks and distributed commerce systems. For distributed commerce systems, look to see a first proof of concept from the VRM project. Chris Messina’s diso project with Wordpress will be a great proof of concept for distributed social neworks.
27. Non-search advertising on the web will increase in value significantly. This will be done through a lot of innovation in the ad targeting systems (both behavioral and contextual) and new metrics being adopted by Madison Ave beyond CPC and CPM.
28. There will be a lot of innovation in the hyper-local space, putting the final nail in the newspaper industry’s coffin. This will include companies like Outside.in and Yelp moving toward widespread use and new web properties (from both startups and big Internet Cos) emerging.
29. In the 1st Q 2008, the true “Google Killer” in search will be in Stealth Mode. In 2nd Q 2008 the first prototype will begin in closed Alpha mode. In 3rd Q 2008 it will be ready for the final closed Beta testing. In 4th Q 2008 it will launch and “Rock and Shock” the world!
30. The classic Vertical Search Engines (Job Search, Health, Consumer Electronics, Shopping, Video, People, more…) will continue their dominance over all other Search Engines in their various niches.
31. The Alternative Search Engines will pick up the pace of partnerships and cooperation, for their solid mutual benefit.
32. Mainstream Media interest in the Alts will increase until it begins to rival coverage of the five major search engines.
33. The trend towards ‘widgetization’ of the Alts will continue. Approximately 2 in 10 Alternative Search Engines (20%) have widgets now, and that number will double in 2008 to 4 in 10 or 40%.
2. In tandem with #1, Google will experiment more with Semantic Apps in ‘08. The Knols project, although not overly semantic, is a hint of this direction.
3. Web Services platforms will be a fierce battleground in ‘08, with Amazon, Microsoft, Google, Mozilla and others competing to provide ‘Web OS’ and online storage to consumers. Unfortunately this may spell the end of a number of startups in this space.
4. Zoho and/or ThinkFree will be acquired by big companies wanting to leapfrog into the Web Office space.
5. The online advertising market will consolidate, after the spate of acquisitions in 2007. CPM will continue to dominate for media brands and CPC for niche sites, although there will be experimentation in VRM and other forms of highly specific targeting of ads. Privacy issues will prevent the latter from becoming mainstream though. The much-hyped CPA (Cost per Action) will continue to be a pipe dream, because publishers simply don’t want it.
6. The big Internet companies will surprise us all by embracing open standards, and attempting to compete with each other with features instead of data lock-in (OK, this could just be wishful thinking!).
7. The most interesting innovations on the Web in 2008 won’t happen in Silicon Valley, but in Asia (China, Japan, Korea). At least one startup from China will break through in the US market with Twitter-like success in 2008 - and it will almost certainly be a Mobile Web app. Twitter will be acquired.
8. Most ad networks will start producing their own content to advertise against; and some content companies today will get acquired by ad networks.
9. Online video will become so ubiquitous, including live and mobile, that everyone will wonder how the internet existed without it. It won’t feel like a big deal, though.
10. A handful of big companies will let you start logging in with an OpenID associated with your account.
11. The value of recommendation engines will become all the more clear; the era of data will be celebrated.
12. Tumblr will be acquired.
13. Privacy will be a growing concern in the mainstream, but ultimately people won’t really take any action and for the most part, things won’t change. Some companies and groups (think Mozilla) will push for better privacy controls for users, while others (think Facebook) will continue to push the envelope and continue down a slippery slope. Users will eventually push back, but I am hesitant to say that proverbial “straw that breaks the camel’s back” will come in 2008.
14. OpenID will be adopted by more startups and larger web companies, but most people (mainstream users) still won’t use it - that’s a couple of years off.
15. Facebook will continue to grow and their platform will be adopted by other large social networks. Google will sweat.
16. Mobile web usage will be a big story in 2008. It’s already big in many parts of the world; and Westerners are about to get hooked. With new mobile devices that makes web surfing less painful, people will be more and more connected away from their computers.
17. Mainstream media coverage will be a catalyst for the adoption of Web Office apps by consumers; and Microsoft will eventually be forced to change their Web Office strategy and offer a fully online office suite (but that latter won’t happen in 2008). Offline mode (Gears, AIR, Silverlight, etc.) will be what really tips the scales and causes mainstream users to to embrace the as-of-yet unfamiliar world of Web Office applications.
18. Digg is going to be acquired by one of the mainstream media conglomerates.
19. Implicit applications, which monitor our habits and automatically infer our likes, will rise.
20. Facebook will acquire companies that do the following, in order to strengthen their advertising unit: personalization, behavior tracking, image recognition (Riya?)
21. Facebook will release a browser.
22. Google OpenSocial will be a failure; Google will try to create its own social networking empire by making acquisitions in this space.
23. Microsoft will become more aggresive and buy many popular companies at once (remember Ballmer’s quote). Candidates include SixApart, Technorati.
24. Google will really start looking vulnerable in 2008. While the ‘one trick pony’ comment by Steve Ballmer drew sarcastic responses, this will begin to look prophetic. While they’ll maintain market share in the search industry, the lack of traction in any other of their other initiatives will start to cause frustration. Plus, they will increasingly be perceived as the ‘evil’ company in many of these new initiatives.
25. Closely related, Yahoo’s Hack strategy (see ReadWriteTalk’s podcast with Bradley Horowitz) will start to bear fruit and things will look much more optimistic in Sunnyvale this year.
26. Facebook will start to feel pressure from two trends that will emerge on the web: distributed social networks and distributed commerce systems. For distributed commerce systems, look to see a first proof of concept from the VRM project. Chris Messina’s diso project with Wordpress will be a great proof of concept for distributed social neworks.
27. Non-search advertising on the web will increase in value significantly. This will be done through a lot of innovation in the ad targeting systems (both behavioral and contextual) and new metrics being adopted by Madison Ave beyond CPC and CPM.
28. There will be a lot of innovation in the hyper-local space, putting the final nail in the newspaper industry’s coffin. This will include companies like Outside.in and Yelp moving toward widespread use and new web properties (from both startups and big Internet Cos) emerging.
29. In the 1st Q 2008, the true “Google Killer” in search will be in Stealth Mode. In 2nd Q 2008 the first prototype will begin in closed Alpha mode. In 3rd Q 2008 it will be ready for the final closed Beta testing. In 4th Q 2008 it will launch and “Rock and Shock” the world!
30. The classic Vertical Search Engines (Job Search, Health, Consumer Electronics, Shopping, Video, People, more…) will continue their dominance over all other Search Engines in their various niches.
31. The Alternative Search Engines will pick up the pace of partnerships and cooperation, for their solid mutual benefit.
32. Mainstream Media interest in the Alts will increase until it begins to rival coverage of the five major search engines.
33. The trend towards ‘widgetization’ of the Alts will continue. Approximately 2 in 10 Alternative Search Engines (20%) have widgets now, and that number will double in 2008 to 4 in 10 or 40%.
Few minutes of cleaning can boost speed of your PC!
Most people have a little free time between Christmas and New Year. If you take 15 minutes to clean up your PC, you will probably be rewarded with a computer that runs faster and has space available for any new games you might find under the Christmas tree this year.
Checking your computer’s pre-installed software is a good starting point when looking for ways to free up hard drive space. Many computers come with redundant versions of programmes - for example, several different photo processing programmes even though most computer users use only one.
Most computers that run on Windows-based operating systems also slow down over time as many programmes install themselves as automatic start-up functions and while they remain in the background, they still use up memory.
However, there are ways of tackling the problem. One is by using the “msconfig” command. On computers with the Vista operating system, a user accesses this by typing the command in the computer’s search field. On computers that use the XP system, it’s accessed under “run” in “start” menu.
Starting msconfig allows the user to see all programmes in the automatic start-up menu. However, it’s not advisable to remove all programmes from the automatic start-up list, especially ones responsible for virus scans and computer security, says Axel Vahldiek of the Hanover-based c’t magazine.
De-fragmenting the hard drive is another possible fix for computers that have slowed down with time. On Windows XP systems, the “disk de-fragmenter” function can be found by first accessing “All Programs” and then searching “Accessories” followed by “System Tools.”
De-fragmenting takes data that belongs together, but has nonetheless been saved on different parts of the hard drive, and pulls it back together. But the biggest chunk of computer junk comes from regular installation and de-installation of computer programmes.
Software leaves an entry in the computer’s register every time it’s installed. That entry is then checked every time the computer is booted up. But that registry data is not always removed during de-installation. That means the registry keeps growing and slows down start up times. Nonetheless, neophyte computer users should probably let the registry be since poking can cause irreparable system damage. “You really have to pay close attention,” says Kock.
Starting any programme creates temporary data, which is stored in the C:\WINDOWS\TEMP directory. Frequently, temporary data remains there after the programme is ended. Vahldiek says these leftovers can be removed at the press of a button. By right clicking on the icon of the hard drive in question and choosing “properties”, the user gets the option of “disk cleanup”.
Checking your computer’s pre-installed software is a good starting point when looking for ways to free up hard drive space. Many computers come with redundant versions of programmes - for example, several different photo processing programmes even though most computer users use only one.
Most computers that run on Windows-based operating systems also slow down over time as many programmes install themselves as automatic start-up functions and while they remain in the background, they still use up memory.
However, there are ways of tackling the problem. One is by using the “msconfig” command. On computers with the Vista operating system, a user accesses this by typing the command in the computer’s search field. On computers that use the XP system, it’s accessed under “run” in “start” menu.
Starting msconfig allows the user to see all programmes in the automatic start-up menu. However, it’s not advisable to remove all programmes from the automatic start-up list, especially ones responsible for virus scans and computer security, says Axel Vahldiek of the Hanover-based c’t magazine.
De-fragmenting the hard drive is another possible fix for computers that have slowed down with time. On Windows XP systems, the “disk de-fragmenter” function can be found by first accessing “All Programs” and then searching “Accessories” followed by “System Tools.”
De-fragmenting takes data that belongs together, but has nonetheless been saved on different parts of the hard drive, and pulls it back together. But the biggest chunk of computer junk comes from regular installation and de-installation of computer programmes.
Software leaves an entry in the computer’s register every time it’s installed. That entry is then checked every time the computer is booted up. But that registry data is not always removed during de-installation. That means the registry keeps growing and slows down start up times. Nonetheless, neophyte computer users should probably let the registry be since poking can cause irreparable system damage. “You really have to pay close attention,” says Kock.
Starting any programme creates temporary data, which is stored in the C:\WINDOWS\TEMP directory. Frequently, temporary data remains there after the programme is ended. Vahldiek says these leftovers can be removed at the press of a button. By right clicking on the icon of the hard drive in question and choosing “properties”, the user gets the option of “disk cleanup”.
Thursday, January 3, 2008
New Year Resolution…Seriously it’s Fun
In Roman tradition, Janus, the two faced God was depicted on calendars as he could look back on past events and also look forward to the future. Eventually, Janus became a symbol of making resolutions. This has also given a handle to killjoys who deride resolute resolution-makers as being Janus-faced as they seldom keep their promises.
How ever, the first few days of the New Year are good time to reflect on the past as well as chalk out the future by resolving to do better. The ritual of making New Year resolutions is a way of undertaking mental spring-cleaning, throwing out useless stuff, shaking off unhealthy habits and introducing fresh lifestyle patterns that could brighten the future.
Most resolutions made in the New Year end up being just that. Mere promises we make to over selves but are unable to fulfill. Yet, come another year, we’re energized once again to draw up a list of dos and don’ts to follow in the days ahead. And so the cycle continues. But, in the process, with each new self-commitment- though it might not be kept – something happens that helps us evolve. Beginning the new year with a resolve to get rid of a pesky habit is much more fun than being cynical about it. And who knows? One day we might surprise over selves – and others- by sticking to our resolve for not just that one year but may be for the rest of our lives.
Most resolutions made on new year’s day are to do with correcting lifestyle habits- saying ‘no’ to smoking, choosing a diet plan, walking regularly or enrolling in a gym for physical fitness- but some are also about keeping in touch with friends and relatives, reading more, making time for leisure activity, being kind and budgeting well. Students might plan study schedules or aim to watch less TV. It does not matter if the enthusiasm is sporadic or short-lived. Making resolutions is as integral to the new year spirit as is partying on new year.
How ever, the first few days of the New Year are good time to reflect on the past as well as chalk out the future by resolving to do better. The ritual of making New Year resolutions is a way of undertaking mental spring-cleaning, throwing out useless stuff, shaking off unhealthy habits and introducing fresh lifestyle patterns that could brighten the future.
Most resolutions made in the New Year end up being just that. Mere promises we make to over selves but are unable to fulfill. Yet, come another year, we’re energized once again to draw up a list of dos and don’ts to follow in the days ahead. And so the cycle continues. But, in the process, with each new self-commitment- though it might not be kept – something happens that helps us evolve. Beginning the new year with a resolve to get rid of a pesky habit is much more fun than being cynical about it. And who knows? One day we might surprise over selves – and others- by sticking to our resolve for not just that one year but may be for the rest of our lives.
Most resolutions made on new year’s day are to do with correcting lifestyle habits- saying ‘no’ to smoking, choosing a diet plan, walking regularly or enrolling in a gym for physical fitness- but some are also about keeping in touch with friends and relatives, reading more, making time for leisure activity, being kind and budgeting well. Students might plan study schedules or aim to watch less TV. It does not matter if the enthusiasm is sporadic or short-lived. Making resolutions is as integral to the new year spirit as is partying on new year.
Sacred Space.....Things to Do
Spend some time with your loved ones, because they are not going to be around forever.
Say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that will grow up and leave your side.
Give warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a thing.
Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.
There is no such thing as instant improvement in life, and as you know in agriculture, growth can only happen little by little over time…….
The things that you do daily may seem small and insignificant, but over time people will be surprised to learn how much you have grown in life.
Focus on the small things you do daily. The key word here is daily. If you do not have the persistence to do these small things consistently, you won’t be able to see the results over the long term.
Say a kind word to someone who looks up to you in awe, because that will grow up and leave your side.
Give warm hug to the one next to you, because that is the only treasure you can give with your heart and it doesn’t cost a thing.
Remember to hold hands and cherish the moment for someday that person will not be there again.
There is no such thing as instant improvement in life, and as you know in agriculture, growth can only happen little by little over time…….
The things that you do daily may seem small and insignificant, but over time people will be surprised to learn how much you have grown in life.
Focus on the small things you do daily. The key word here is daily. If you do not have the persistence to do these small things consistently, you won’t be able to see the results over the long term.
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