Technology

In computer engineering, hard disk drive partitioning is the creation of logical divisions upon a hard disk that allows one to apply operating system-specific logical formatting. Disk partitioning is a simple technique which can be viewed as a ... precursor of logical volume management. The purpose of partitioning is to allow a user to have multiple file systems on a single hard disk. Active partition The Bootable Flag determines the active partition. Only one partition can normally be active at a time. The active marker is used during boot: after the BIOS loads the MBR into memory and executes ... (view more)

MP3 is a popular digital audio encoding and lossy compression format invented and standardized in 1991 by a team of engineers working in the framework of the ISO/IEC MPEG audio committee under the chairmanship of Professor Hans Musmann (University ... of Hannover - Germany). MP3 was designed to greatly reduce the amount of data required to represent audio, yet still sound like a faithful reproduction of the original uncompressed audio to most listeners. In popular usage, MP3 also refers to files of sound or music recordings stored in the MP3 format on computers. MP3: Overview In the simplest ... (view more)

Gmail (Google's free email) is now available on your mobile phone! A dream come true - at least for me! I never want to go too long without checking my Gmail (yes, I have a slight addiction). To get Gmail on your mobile phone, just go to m.gmail.com ... on your phone to access your inbox. Even cooler is the fact that it can handle attachments like pictures and .pdf files. I downloaded an attached picture today, but haven't had a chance to test .pdfs yet. Gmail going mobile is just one of the many new features added to the Gmail service lately. Web clips (RSS feeds that scroll at the top of your ... (view more)

Murphy's law (also known as Finagle's law or Sod's law) is a popular adage in Western culture, which broadly states that things will go wrong in any given situation. It is most commonly formulated as "Anything that can go wrong will go wrong." In ... American culture the law was named after Major Edward A. Murphy, Jr., a development engineer working for a brief time on rocket sled experiments done by the United States Air Force in 1949. Murphy's Law: Variations Murphy's law has taken on many different formulations. In 1952, the proverb was phrased "Anything That Can Possibly Go Wrong, Does" in ... (view more)

An application programming interface (API) is the interface that an application provides in order to allow requests for service to be made of it by other computer programs, and/or to allow data to be exchanged between them. For instance, a computer ... program can (and often must) use its operating system's API to allocate memory and access files. Many types of systems and applications implement API's, such as graphics systems, databases, networks, web services, and even some computer games. API: Description One of the primary purposes of an API is to provide access to a set of commonly-used ... (view more)

A plugin (or "plug-in") is a computer program that interacts with another program to provide a certain function. Typical examples of plugins include: a web browser plugin (such as "adobe acrobat reader"), a program to display specific graphic ... formats (such as "video codecs" for Windows Media Player), and the like. Plugins are slightly different from program extensions, which modify or add to existing functionality. The main difference is that plugins generally do not change a user interface and run within well-defined boundary; comparatively, extensions generally ... (view more)

A new service is available that helps you to keep track of online information as it changes. It sends you an instant message whenever any RSS or Atom feed you want to monitor changes. The URL is http://immedi.at . Get it? Immedi.at? Immediate? Cool ... domain name, huh? (".at" is Austria's country code extension). Great idea, I must say. The immedi.at website itself is a little boring. I expected something a little more web 2.0-ish, but that's okay. I don't need all that fancy AJAX stuff ... Anyway, back to the service itself. It's really easy to use - all you have to do is add a "monitor this" ... (view more)

Movable Type is a proprietary weblog publishing system developed by a Californian-based company, called "Six Apart". Movable Type is widely used and supports most popular weblogging features, including: user accounts, comments, TrackBacks, ... categories, and themes, and is extensible through a large library of third-party plug-ins. The TrackBack feature was actually originated by Six Apart, and version 2.2 of Movable Type was the first weblog publishing software to include support for it. Movable Type is free of charge for a single author, and paid licenses are available to allow more ... (view more)

In computing, the Windows registry is a database which stores settings and options for the operating system for Microsoft Windows 32-bit versions. It contains information and settings for all the hardware, software, users, and preferences of the PC. ... Whenever a user makes changes to "Control Panel" settings, or file associations, system policies, or installed software, the changes are reflected and stored in the registry. As time goes on, an aged Windows installation can have a very large registry database. This can slow down the computer's startup and has led to frequent criticisms that the ... (view more)

A volunteer is someone who performs or offers to perform a service out of his or her own free will, often without payment. Every 5th of December is International Volunteer Day. People may volunteer to perform some work, e.g., of charitable ... character. Some volunteer for clinical trials or other medical research, and may even donate their bodies to science after their death. Online Volunteer An online volunteer is a person who contributes time and effort with an organization through an online connection, rather than in person. A wide variety of people from around the world are online volunteers ... (view more)