current

Mon
17
Oct
Dennis Faas's picture

Scientists: Table Salt to Increase Storage Density

A tandem of researchers in Singapore claim to have discovered a way to use table salt as a means to increase the density at which bits of data can be stored on a hard disk drive platter. Early projections indicate that this 'salty' method is ... actually 5 times more efficient than current hard disk densities. The method was first introduced by Joel Yang, a scientist at the Institute of Materials Research and Engineering (IMRE) at Singapore's Agency for Science, Technology and Research. Yang was able to hone his method using an extremely high-resolution e-beam lithography -- the same process by ... (view more)

Mon
07
Dec
Dennis Faas's picture

Upgrading XP to Win7: How to Make the Transition Easy

Acronis True Image 2010 has recently been released and if you plan to take the plunge to from Windows XP to Windows 7 -- or even Vista to Windows 7, for that matter -- you will definitely want to use this program. From Windows XP to Windows 7: My ... Experience When I moved from XP to Windows 7, I used Acronis True Image no less than 15 times to regain access to my previous Windows installation in order to extract files I simply forgot to backup. In one instance, I used True Image to rescue a configuration file containing 25 email filters I had previously used on my old Windows XP system. I sure ... (view more)

Wed
04
Feb
Dennis Faas's picture

IBM to build World's Fastest Computer by 2012

It seems as if IBM will retain its reputation as manufacturers of the most efficient supercomputers in the world. The multinational corporation revealed plans for an entirely new supercomputer concept that would shatter current speed-to-task ... records. If all goes according to plan, 2012 would be the year in which the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in Livermore, California boots up an IBM BlueGene machine capable of reaching 20 petaflops of performance. What can 20 petaflops of performance do? The system itself (called the Sequoia) will be able to handle a quadrillion mathematical ... (view more)

Thu
08
May
Dennis Faas's picture

Fascinating: Memristor to replace Binary

For more than half a century, digital electronic devices have been based on a binary paradigm -- that is, electronic switching of a signal either 'on' (1) or 'off' (0). Everything we know about computing is based on this simple concept. Now that's ... about to change. As first reported this week by our own John Lister , scientists at Hewlett-Packard's Information and Quantum Systems Lab have discovered a new type of electrical resistor: one that has memory properties. The so-called "memristor" exploits the curious memory-like properties of a thin coat of titanium dioxide when a current is passed ... (view more)

Thu
01
May
Dennis Faas's picture

Multiple Sheet Selections in MS Excel

Many times you make the same changes to multiple sheets in an Excel Workbook. Perhaps you would like to change the column widths or apply special formatting to a range of cells in several sheets. Creating a group of selected sheets allows you to ... perform the task just once, thereby saving time and narrowing the margin for errors. There are several ways to select several sheets to create a multi-sheet selection: To select contiguous sheets, follow the steps below: Click a sheet tab. Click Shift and keep it depressed while clicking a second sheet tab. Excel will select both clicked sheets and ... (view more)

Thu
28
Feb
Dennis Faas's picture

Protein Adds Muscle to Computer Memory

In recent news that seems more science fiction than applied science, Japanese researchers have unveiled exciting new research that could change the way we create and use computers in years to come. Japanese professor Tetsuro Majima of Osaka ... University has demonstrated that proteins -- once the concern of chemists and biologists -- could now have impressive potential in the world of computer science. (Source: livescience.com ) Majima's research has indicated that proteins isolated from select bacteria species are able to store computer data, and that this type of storage could exceed the ... (view more)

Tue
08
Aug
Dennis Faas's picture

Time: MS Excel

There are several different methods of entering time into a cell. Take a look below to see them. After you've read all about it, open MS Excel and take them for a test drive. I find that if I use a function I'm more likely to remember it the next ... time I need it. To enter the current time into a cell you can use a keyboard shortcut: Select a cell and press CTRL + Shift + ; To enter the current time into a cell by using a formula that returns the current date and time: Enter the formula: =NOW () To get a formula that calculates the current time, change the format of the cell containing the NOW ... (view more)

Tue
27
Jun
Dennis Faas's picture

Seeing is Believing: One More Reason to Try Spyware Doctor

I have most wonderful news! Over the past few weeks I've been in contact with PC Tools (the makers of Spyware Doctor, Registry Mechanic, and Privacy Guardian); after explaining our current funding situation , PC Tools has agreed to discount Spyware ... Doctor by an incredible 20% off the retail price to help raise funds for our web site. Reminder: What is Spyware Doctor? In short, Spyware Doctor is a multi-award winning Spyware removal utility that can instantly remove thousands of Spyware and adware traces, Trojans, keyloggers, tracking threats, and other nasty Spybots from your PC. Last year, ... (view more)

Tue
26
Nov
Dennis Faas's picture

Web Server Upgrade, Part 4

Does the drama ever end? No, and it's costing me a bundle. Unfortunately, I have to drop my current web-host because (among other reasons), bandwidth has been capped at 1.5 megabits. According to current server statistics, a 1.5 megabit connection ... isn't enough to meet the demand of knowledge hungry Infopackets Readers and the other web-owners who are sharing the dedicated web-server. And now, the rest of the story (for now)... If you read the last issue of the Gazette , the infopackets web site was originally configured for a 10 megabit connection. According to my current host, the server was ... (view more)

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