Brandon Dimmel

At the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory in California last week, the most powerful laser ever made was readied for a variety of important tasks, from monitoring nuclear weapons to studying deep space planets and solar systems. The official ... name of the new super laser is the National Ignition Facility (NIF), and late last week it was unveiled with much fanfare at the Livermore laboratory in Livermore, California. World's Strongest Laser State governor Arnold Schwarzenegger, who scared the beejezus out of us all with his futuristic, laser-eyed cyborg routine back in the 1990s, was on hand ... (view more)

Gparted GParted is the Gnome Partition Editor application based on Linux. The purpose of GParted is to allow users to take a hard disk and change partition(s), while preserving the partition contents. In short: GParted is an industrial-strength ... package for creating, destroying, resizing, moving, checking and copying partitions, and the file systems on them. http://gparted.sourceforge.net CPUOff CPUOff monitors the CPU load and initiates computer shutdown if the average CPU load has been below a set threshold for a preset time. It can also be used to control a remote computer. http://www. ... (view more)

Another remote hacker threat has arisen, and this time it affects popular streaming media tool DirectX. Microsoft announced yesterday that it is currently working on a fix for the security exploit, which could allow someone to take total control of ... a system by using malicious QuickTime video files. DirectX Exploit: Affected Users The exploit involves Microsoft's audio/video sourcing/rendering software DirectShow and the way it handles the QuickTime format files it supports. Users of Windows 2000 Service Pack 4, Windows Server 2003, and Windows XP are those most affected and will want to keep ... (view more)

Windows 7 Setup Secrets This guide will help new users of the much-anticipated Microsoft Windows 7 operating system maximize its effectiveness and customization options by taking them through the setup process, picking the right kinds of features ... for their own particular needs. http://blogs.zdnet.com Construct Construct is a free, powerful, and easy to use development software for both DirectX 9-based games and applications. It includes an event based system for defining how the game or application will behave, in a visual, readable way -- easy enough for complete beginners to quickly get ... (view more)

Device Remover Device Remover provides a in-depth view of all installed devices, device classes, drivers and services on a Windows system. Here you'll find the ability to easily remove devices en masse, problem solve errors, and get reports on the ... various devices hidden and visible on your computer. http://www.pro-it-education.de Wolfram Alpha This new search engine claims to provide more analytical and quantifiable results than Google, Microsoft, or Yahoo!. Wolfram Alpha's long-term goal is to make all online data immediately computable and accessible to everyone. They aim to collect and ... (view more)

More details emerge regarding Microsoft's much talked-about Zune HD, a next-gen portable media device that the Redmond-based company hopes will help it overcome the iPod's worldwide dominance. Zune: A brief History The original Microsoft Zune ... reached retail shelves during holiday season 2006. Its main weapon in the war against Apple was WiFi capability, which Microsoft promised would allow two friends with two Zunes to transfer songs and other files back and forth. In order to skirt digital rights management (DRM) outcries, the media would disappear in a few days, just enough time for the ... (view more)

Those who anxiously downloaded the Windows 7 beta will be able to enjoy their sneak-peek at the operating system for a month longer than expected. Despite an email to testers threatening to cut off the beta on June 1st, Microsoft last night ... announced it will remain untouched until July 1st. From Beta to Release Candidate In a post on the Windows 7 blog Tuesday, Microsoft spokesperson Brandon LeBlanc explained that the email sent to beta testers threatening service shutdowns after June 1st was a mistake. Although no explanation for the slip-up was provided, LeBlanc assured everyone that the ... (view more)

USBoot USBoot is a program that helps setup Windows to boot off a USB drive. http://www.usboot.org DesktopOK Save and restore the positions of icons with DesktopOK, a small but effective solution for users that have to change the screen resolution ... often. If you have multiple users on a single computer (and everyone has their own screen settings preference), this will undoubtedly be a useful tool. http://www.softwareok.com Today's fresh software picks were provided courtesy of Bob Helmer at Shell Extension City. Please note that the below software descriptions are provided solely from the ... (view more)

MouseShade MouseShade is an essential tool for everyone interested in constructing their own presentations or visual demonstrations. If turned on, MouseShade dims the screen and puts a spotlight on the area around the mouse pointer, easily guiding ... the audience's attention to an area of interest. The shape of the spotlight, the color of the shade and the opacity of the shade can all be varied by accessing the pop up menu available from the icon in the Taskbar, simply by right clicking. http://www.fxc.btinernet.co.uk KeyState KeyState sits in your system tray and pops a message into the top ... (view more)

Just when it seemed most everyone in the tech industry was gearing up for the release of Windows 7 this Christmas, the U.S. Army has announced it will soon upgrade its PC systems to the much-maligned Windows Vista operating system. It's surprising ... but welcome news for Microsoft, which has been criticized for Vista's faults since the OS release in 2007. The decision to upgrade United States Army PC desktops from Windows XP to Windows Vista was announced yesterday, and early reports suggest the military plans to complete the change by next year. The announcement is good news for Microsoft, ... (view more)