letter

A campaign group known as The Free Software Foundation (FSF) has accused Microsoft and its upcoming Windows 7 operating system of seven sins against freedom. The freedom in this case does not pertain to whether or not companies charge for their ... software, but rather the way it affects the user's rights to control their software. The group has written an open letter and sent it to CEOs of 499 of the leading 500 corporations asking them to consider carefully whether or not to upgrade to Windows 7. Of course, the FSF didn't think it was worth sending the copy to Microsoft, though oddly enough, a ... (view more)

A British newspaper claims Apple ordered a customer whose iPod exploded to keep quiet about it. The Times says the company refused to refund the customer unless they signed a confidentiality agreement. Ken Stanborough one day found his daughter's ... iPod overheating to the point when he could no longer hold it. He threw it from his back door and within 30 seconds it exploded and flew "10 feet in the air." He contacted both the retailer where he bought the device, Argos, and Apple itself. Eventually he received a letter from Apple offering him a full refund but denying any liability. The letter ... (view more)

Four senators have written to the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) calling for an investigation into exclusive deals between cellphone manufacturers and network carriers. Though the letter doesn't name any particular companies, it appears ... that Apple's deal with AT ... (view more)

Carl Icahn recently announced he was initiating a hostile takeover for Yahoo, and Microsoft released a statement on Saturday that they would be open to a transaction with their rival after backing off from their own takeover bid earlier this year. ... (Source: nypost.com ) This is just the latest development in a saga that has lasted so long you need a scorecard to keep track of the drama. So in the spirit of helping you navigate this epic boardroom battle, we are proud to present Infopackets' "A Brief History of the Yahoo Takeover Bid" Part 1. January 31, 2008: Microsoft CEO makes a late night ... (view more)

What's worse for religious followers than declining church attendance and the rising popularity of violent video games, erotic movies, and the entire hip hop culture? Perhaps news that one of the twentieth century's most revered minds regarded ... religion as "pretty childish" and dismissed the notion that the Jewish people could be a "chosen people". Those words were actually written by Albert Einstein in a 1954 letter mailed to philosopher Eric Gutkind. The physicist's scribbled note reveals a lot about the personal beliefs of the genius largely credited for first splitting the atom, and it ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Peter C. writes: " Dear Dennis, How can I tell if a recipient has opened my email message? I have checked 'request return receipt' in my email program (is this the function I need)? I have sent a number of messages using the ... 'request return receipt' feature, but to this day I have have no indication that the person has read my emails. Any suggestions you have would be greatly appreciated. " My response: A 'Return Receipt' is a *request* which only works works if the person who receives your email clicks "OK" to acknowledge opening your letter. The ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader Ramesh S. writes: " Dear Dennis, I recently purchased a new external hard drive (via USB connection) for backing up my laptop running Windows XP. When I connect the external enclosure to my system, however, the drive letter is not ... accessible via 'My Computer'. Device Manager shows the hard drive is there and no errors are reported, but I can't figure out why the drive isn't showing up. Can you please tell me why I can't access the new hard drive? " My response: Great question. The answer is that you need to configure the hard drive geometry before you can use it ... (view more)

Last Friday's article touched upon the importance of backing up an entire computer system (including Windows itself). As you may recall, disk imaging is mentioned frequently in this newsletter, as it is an important part of 'disaster recovery' ... planning. Over the weekend, I received a number of comments and questions from Readers: many of which referenced the fundamentals of disk imaging. Since the questions were similar in nature -- and because disk imaging is such an essential topic -- I have decided to repost an article which illustrates the basics of disk imaging versus 'regular file ... (view more)

Infopackets Reader David R. writes: " Hi Dennis! A while back, I was playing around with a program and my drive letters somehow got re-assigned. My CD ROM drive (D) became E, and E became F. I am trying to put in a Video input card ... and every ... time I try to do the driver install, the PC says it cannot access drive D. Since Drive D became Drive E, there is no disk in D and thus installation cannot be performed. Is there a way I can reassign the Drive letters or reassign the default CD Rom? I posted this message on the message board at Tech TV and here is the response that I got: ' Do ... (view more)