zakaluka

Even Google saw the errors of their ways with Froogle. They shut it down and merged it with Google Products, which isn't doing much better. Google simply hasn't put the time and resources into this side of their business. Plus, other sites have done a much better job of finding products for consumers.Regards,z.

Between these two browsers, Firefox is the clear winner hands-down. Benefits:(1) If it crashes, the operating system doesn't crash with it.(2) Doesn't have dozens of exploits like IE.(3) Isn't vulnerable to bad ActiveX like IE.(4) Many more, and better, plugins.(5) Incredibly, it is also faster than IE (then again, what isn't?).Regards,z.

GMail for reliability, spam control, labels and the fact that it can be used from older browsers without full AJAX support.Regards,z.

I'd vote for Opera's built-in client first, followed by Thunderbird and then Evolution.Regards,z.

The first one was by far the best. The first half of the second one was okay. By the time I got to the third one, I could no longer understand what was going on. It seemed that the entire concept they had built around the matrix was shifting by the second as more caveats and loopholes were added to make things fit together.Regards,z.

I would definitely say that GMail is the best one I've used for far. I've had hotmail, yahoo and many other (smaller) accounts, but in the end I always come back to GMail. It mainly has to do with the fact that they use tags, not folders, which makes filing e-mails under multiple topics and concerns much easier.Regards,z.

"Soma is life" - from Brave New World by Aldous Huxley. Soma is a fictional drug described in the book as "All the advantages of Christianity and alcohol; none of their defects. " At the time, really opened my eyes to how conditioned and apathetic people become to the conditions and situations around them, unwilling to change anything simply because it is too inconvenient and doesn't fit into their little bubble.Regards,z.

Dan Brown, the author of The Da Vinci Code, is very famous, with good reason, for writing an entertaining action / thriller. However, as I have read more of his work, I am disappointed to see that all his books follow the same common formula.Take a protagonist (a beautiful woman or a man who ends up working closely with one). Throw her into one insanely crazy situation after another. Make sure random people are trying to stop / kill her, for no apparent reason at all and outside of the notice of the rest of the world. Pull off a great show at the end, revealing the truth. And, the most important part, make sure there is an unbelievably crazy conspiracy underlining the whole thing. The first book of his that I read was The Da Vinci Code. Like many others, I enjoyed it quite a bit. The second book I read was Angels & Demons. This book followed the plot of the Da Vinci Code in style. However, since they both contain the same protagonist (Dr. Robert Langdon), I can't really blame him.However, then I read a third book - Deception Point. A book completely unrelated to symbols, the church and Robert Langdon. However, I was quick to experience a feeling of Deja Vu, as the protagonist (female, in this case) is shunted around by players in a national, if not global conspiracy, and she is the only one who is putting the pieces together. The situations that crop up in the book are absolutely insane and implausible in the extreme. Again, the themes are the same. Conspiracies within conspiracies, people seemingly pulling off the same stunts over and over. Maybe I should wait till Dan Brown's next book comes out before passing a verdict. However, so far, it has been downhill since the first taste.Regards,z.

I can also recommend Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency, which is slow to start with but, like a good British comedy, brings it all together at the end. As countless people have mentioned, the Harry Potter books are great. I just re-read them and stayed up till 5am one night just to finish the last book because I couldn't put it down. Don't depend on the movies, they are nowhere as good, detailed or intricate as the books.If you enjoy fantasy, take a look at the following series:Earthsea trilogy by Ursula K. Le GuinMemory, Sorrow and Thorn by Tad WilliamsA Song of Ice and Fire by George R. R. Martin <-- One of the best series I have ever read, from any genreRegards,z.

I have a Samsung Instinct (M800) and have been very pleased with it. Connections are fast, especially browsing the internet while on the move. The only thing that saddens me is that I can't connect it to my laptop to use as a wireless modem to get internet access while traveling.Regards,z.

If I had to do it with my current phone, I'd probably go for Bluetooth since I don't have a cable readily available to attach it to my PC. However, in general, I prefer cables because they are faster and just give me a sense of surety when using them. Too many things can go wrong with wireless connections, whereas with wires the problems are more easily isolated and quickly treated.Regards,z.

Anything written by Ed Greenwood is complete trash. I am a pretty big Dungeons & Dragons fan (fantasy role-playing game) and have read quite a few books written in those universes.However, Mr. Greenwood exemplifies the idea that churning out rubbish is okay as long as it makes you a buck. He is a prolific author (just check amazon). I had the misfortune of purchasing some of his series for a long trip. The only reason I forced myself to read the books is that I had paid for them and wanted to get at least some of my money's worth. In the end, it ended up giving me a great topic to discuss with my friends, with the hearty recommendation that they never go near him again.Regards,z.

The Kite Runner is a fantastic book and look at Afghani life. However, I've also read A Thousand Splendid Suns, and can safely say that it is much more sad, considering how poorly women are treated compared to men in Afghanistan. I strongly recommend reading both of these books.Regards,z.

When you say that 32-bit software cannot address more than 4GB of RAM, it is not talking about physical memory. It is simply talking about "addressable" memory. Let me give you an example. Let's say you only have 512MB RAM on your computer. That 32-bit program you have can still write address for all 4GB of address space. What happens is that the addresses are mapped to actual memory slots, so while the program thinks it is reading memory at the area of 3.5GB, it is in fact reading it from the slot at 384MB. Now, while you are correct that the operating system reserves a chunk of memory for itself, this is also in virtual land. Operating systems tend to prohibit application from addressing the first 512mb - 1gb of memory space. So, in reality, your program is only address ~2-3gb of memory space. The reason for the 4GB limitation is that 4GB = 4,294,967,296bytes = 2^32 (hence 32-bits). 64-bit space, accordingly, is 2^64 = 17 million GB. So, quite a bit. Again, I want to point out that all these calculations are only in software. The hardware is limited by what is physically present. How to systems deal with many simultaneously open programs? They use virtual memory (or swap space on linux). So, your example with Firefox is not technically correct in terms of addressing. If a program is actually taking up 4GB of RAM and you have more than that, the operating system will decide whether to keep the information in RAM, put it into virtual memory or write it out to disk and reload on demand. 64-bit programs are not harder to write at all, with one caveat - those written in assembly language or really low-level C (which is almost the same as assembly). Assembly language is basically a human-readable version of the codes sent to CPUs to perform various operations. If a program is doing something called "pointer-magic", which is actually manipulating the pointer that contains a memory address, it will have to be careful to ensure it is taking both 32- and 64-bit memory space into account. However, for the vast majority of programs, it is simply a matter of compiling it with the correct options. BTW, there is such a thing as designing programs for 64-bit processors. These are usually extremely computationally expensive programs that needs to squeeze out every available iota of performance. Examples would be SETI, mathematical libraries, the operating system kernel, etc. The technique would be to take advantage of longer address spaces by coding the low-level parts specifically for a certain architecture (AMD Barton CPUs, Intel Xeon CPUs, etc.). I have never heard the slots idea before, so I am not sure what it is referring to. CPUs have registers that are a certain size, and operations exist to move data of different sizes (8, 16, 32, 64 bits, usually) into those registers. The reason 32-bit programs are slow is that since the program is already compiled for a 32-bit address space, the operating system has to convert all memory calls before retrieving the information from the RAM or hard disk. It may not seem like a lot, but it gives a pretty noticable performance hit. This is only true when running a 32-bit program on a 64-bit system, obviously. For 32-bit programs compiled as 64-bit and then slowing down, this has to do with naivete of the programmer to a certain degree. Basically, things like accessing arrays, reading memory, etc. need to be aligned so that memory access is as sequential as possible. In addition, the compilers for 64-bit systems do not optimize as aggressivley as they do for 32-bit systems, though this is changing rapidly and will no longer be true very soon (if not already). Most reports of this type are very anecdotal and do not represent the fact that programs written to take advantage of 64-bit systems (CAD programs, graphics programs, video editors, etc.) run faster and get a nice boost from running on a 64-bit system vs a 32-bit one. Hope this helps, z.

Unfortunately, I can't agree with the sweeping statements you made: (1) MySQL has had wide character support since October 2004 (MySQL 4.1) -- http://dev.mysql.com/doc/refman/5.7/en/charset-unicode.html . So, it is simply a matter of using the correct character encoding and options when using MySQL. (2) T-SQL is a proprietary extension specific to MS SQL and Sybase only! You cannot use it with Oracle, DB2, PostgreSQL, MySQL or almost any other production database. That is like saying that MS SQL doesn't support PL/SQL, although the latter only exists for Oracle DBs. (3) Is BI business intelligence? If so, MySQL adheres to the open-source philosophy of making a tool that is excellent at one task, not okay at many different ones. There exist a number of BI frameworks and tools that exist on top of MySQL. A list can be found at http://forums.xisto.com/no_longer_exists/ , and includes almost every major BI tool in existence. (4) It is free for unlimited servers across unlimited systems connecting to unlimited users. So, I would argue that there are many more reasons to use MySQL than not, even in a windows only environment. Regards, z.

Since you are using Ubuntu, after you install wine you will see an entry under the Applications menu in the taskbar at the top of the window. This is not for installation, but for running programs once they are installed.To install programs, download the .exe file. Then, right-click on the file. Find the option (either at the top or under the menu "Open With >") that says "Open With "Wine Windows Program Loader"". Let the install go all the way through. Then, once it is successful, you will see an entry under the menu I mentioned above (under Application -> Wine -> Programs -> ...).Make sure you use the AppDB at winehq.org to find out whether a particular program will install / run using wine. If you download a program binary that is the actual application and not an installer, that can be started using the same process I described.NOTE: I am assuming you are using the default desktop manager 'gdm,' which is GTK based. If you are using something else, the instructions may change slightly.Regards,z.

This is the same thing that I've heard. It has to do with bad running posture and lack of oxygen getting to the lungs.One way to get rid of stitches while running (not too fast) is to raise the arm on the side where you have stitches above your head. Basically, make your upper arm parallel to the ground and put your palm behind your head. This will pull your back straighter, improving your posture. Additionally, it will open up your chest cavity on that side, giving your lungs more room to expand. I've used this before while running and it works quite well.Regards,z.

Java is a Turing-complete language, which is a fancy way of saying that it can be used to write any program that can be written in any other programming language.That being said, Java is most frequently used for web-based applications. I'm not talking about applets, but things like servlets, JSP (Java Server Pages) and so on. It is a great tool for writing middleware (software that sits between 2 other pieces of software and lets them talk to each other).Java can also be used to write desktop applications, but it is rare because of speed concerns.Java's greatest strength is its libraries. People have written thousands of good quality libraries that extend java and implement new features. Using these makes it very easy to do a lot of complex tasks in Java - connecting to databases, authenticating users, adding persistence to an application, saving configuration files, logging user activity, and so on. It can be a little daunting at first, but the effort of learning Java is well worth it.Regards,z.

The restrictions on Vista transfer of ownership are for buying and selling the software, and are not technical constraints. Vista retail CAN be bought and sold legally, provided that the seller uninstalls it completely before selling it. This point was clarified by MS in their license back in 2006 - http://arstechnica.com/business/2006/11/8140/ . As rvalkass said, OEM licenses cannot be transferred between users. However, people have still successfully transferred OEM copies of Vista without problem. Ownership transfers aside, it is still completely possible to use this copy of Vista on your computer. Simply install as normal. Activation will most likely fail over the internet, but call it in and you will interact with an automated system that will activate your computer for you. NOTE: If the original user is still using Vista with the same key, this will invalidate the license key for you. The only way this would come up is if the seller gets on the internet after you've activated yours. Regards, z.

I've tried the Netgear SPH101 at a friend's house. The biggest complaint I had was sound quality. It depends greatly on the network latency, and he was running bittorrent on his home computer at the time. One thing he told me is that sometimes (rarely) the phone is incompatible with a particular wireless router at an internet cafe or other location, disallowing him from making calls. However, overall, he is quite pleased with the purchase.Regards,z.

I'd go with Wordpress over Blogger. By default, it supports a lot more items, has more themes/layouts written for it, and is much more customizable. I like Blogger and use it for a blog, but it really doesn't compare with how good Wordpress is. Also, the setup procedures have been revamped so that the actual setup takes less than a minute and then you can be off blogging about whatever your heart desires.Regards,z.

I'll try and give you some meaningful feedback based on a quick overview of the site:(1) There are quite a few visual quirks (using Firefox on Linux). The menus are misaligned on the left. The menu at the top (with pink background) is also misaligned as to the space between choices.(2) Try to increase the whitespace between sections by a little bit. It all seems mashed in together.(3) I like the header logo. Just increase the quality of the image so that the word 'Egyptopia' doesn't look pixelated.(4) Move the copyright notice to the bottom of the page. Also, there is a free-floating 'Partners' link on the right side with nothing under it. Is it supposed to be there?As I said, this is just based on a quick overview. I really like the concept of the site, so I hope you continue to improve it.Regards,z.

Am I the only person who has had absolutely no problems with GMail on Opera? I have used it on both Windows and Linux (Opera 9.6x, most recently) and the site comes up perfectly. I guess I haven't tried using the latest beta for version 10.@razoredge: Using the Task Manager to check memory usage is not a good idea. Make sure you minimize Opera before you check the statistics, since shared memory shows up as separate usage for multiple threads, tabs, and so on.Regards,z.

Sounds like something went wrong with the PHP processor on the server. Maybe your web host upgraded it or changed the configuration?Regards,z.

I recently set up a Wordpress site for a friend, and I can safely tell you that it is VERY easy to set up. Here are the benefits:(1) Wordpress is free to download and use on your own site.(2) You have full customizability with your blog. Wordpress also has a LOT of plugins that make it easy to add things like menubars, different layouts, etc. without having to do a lot of work. Many of these plugins are open source, so you can always edit the code to do exactly what you want.(3) All the wordpress code is editable. It is written in PHP. However, be aware that Wordpress is a gargantuan application and you will have to take the time to fully understand the whole architecture before you start introducing changes or risk breaking something on the site.I find Wordpress to be easier to setup and quicker to get working correctly than a CMS. However, I have never tried the one mentioned by jlhaslip, so I may be mistaken.Regards,z.