[Archive] Technology & IT News from around the world

[MiCmAsTa]

Thought this may interest

 

When your screen is white - an empty word page, or the Google page, your

computer consumes 74 watts, and when its black it consumes only 59 watts.

Mark Ontkush wrote an article about the energy saving that would be

achieved if Google had a black screen, taking in account the huge number of

page views, according to his calculations, 750 mega watts/hour per year

would be saved.

 

In a response to this article Google created a black version of its search

engine, called Blackle, with the exact same functions as the white version,

but with a lower energy consumption, check it out.

 

http://www.blackle.com/

[sheep]

So SBF is saving energy too!

[mutant_sheep]

found lots of web site using this now..

but it might cause some users screen flicker..

[redbeacon]

On the opposite side of (er...) things, why do people have to waste black paint on something big, such as cars, when they could just leave it white.

 

It's environmentally friendly that way.

 

(Right, Nelly's being lame here...)

[paiseh]

erm, SBF's page isnt exactly black i tink.

[paiseh]

On the opposite side of (er...) things, why do people have to waste black paint on something big, such as cars, when they could just leave it white.

 

It's environmentally friendly that way.

 

(Right, Nelly's being lame here...)

 

its not lame since it makes some sense

[jiasheng]

TOR. the onion router..

[redbeacon]

TOR. the onion router..

Ack...I don't freaking know how to use that...

 

The fact that I have to find proxy addresses on the 'net -- and to keep my fingers crossed hoping amongst those addresses that there is ONE that actually works...

 

...now, that invokes phobia

[jiasheng]

TOR is not a single proxy address.

it is a system abit like bittorrent except that it reroutes your connections worldwide thru other volunteers computers encrypted in AES 256. so no one can actually see what you are doing. nor know who is doing what. but if you really have sensitive data you need to use SSL to encrypt your data from end point to end point

[stsoh]

http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS7338075434.html

 

http://www.linux-watch.com/news/NS8426942136.html

 

http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070914152904577

 

http://www.groklaw.net/article.php?story=20070914204749110

[redbeacon]

Lonely guy shocked to get $83,000 phone bill

 

By Claire Sibonney

Reuters

 

TORONTO - A Canadian oil-field worker, stunned to get a C$85,000 (S$120,600) cell phone bill, has had the charges reduced to C$3,400, but is still fighting them.

 

Piotr Staniaszek, a 22-year-old oil and gas well tester in rural northwest Alberta, became a figure of international media attention this week when his father went to the press to complain about the size of his son's bill.

 

Staniaszek's father, also named Piotr Staniaszek, said his son thought he could use his new phone as a modem for his computer (to surf the 'net while being mobile) as part of his C$10 unlimited browser plan from Bell Mobility, a division of Bell Canada.

 

He downloaded movies and other high-resolution files unaware of the charges they would incur.

 

"He's working in the field sometimes, alone, in the shack. What to do? Drink vodka or go on the Internet?" Staniaszek senior told Reuters on Thursday from Calgary, Alberta.

 

"Now it's $85,000 and nobody told him," he said.

 

According to his invoice, the son rang up C$60,000 in charges in November, and they have since climbed to C$85,000.

 

Staniaszek senior said Bell has agreed to reduce the charges to C$3,400 for "goodwill".

 

"It's still high...Who can afford it?" he said, adding his son can barely make payments on a new truck he bought for work, and will continue to fight the charges.

 

A Bell spokesman said the plan is not intended for downloading files to a computer, and that's clear in his contract.

 

Staniaszek said his son did not want to talk to the press after the interest his story has received and that he is afraid to use his cell phone and incur more long-distance charges.

 

==

 

I originally placed it here because it contained references to computing in general. Moddies, if you feel this should be placed in an appropriate section of SBF, you are welcome to do so.

[jB]

hmm use as a modem aye..does that mean my mobile phone can be used as a mobile too via bluetooth? I don't really get it..hmm his hp has wi fi or something? because I know my lousy Se w550i doesn't

[xiaoxiao]

maybe its the nokia modem phone 3230?

 

[IvikaRazI]

Y never use broadband? crazy using mobile to download files....super slow like the days when we were using 56K modems hahahha.

 

Never keep up with times.

[Hong-U]

Ha... packet switching,

Bits by bits of data = dollars by dollars of moolah

 

Refrain from using yr mobile phone for the Internet.

[Flora]

its a freakingly expensive bill lor....

[redbeacon]

Ha... packet switching,

Bits by bits of data = dollars by dollars of moolah

 

Refrain from using yr mobile phone for the Internet.

That's right...he's leveraging his phone line as a way to surf the internet.

 

Same concept as a normal 56k modem in which these machines dial out to the ISP for internet access.

[fattsum]

using phone as a modem the best i can get was about 14.4kbps... well he is alone in desert issit? i think 5kbps also good enuf lor...

[desewer]

Wahahaha... I suffered the same thing last month. My Nokia E series was wrongly configured to use Singtel GPRS Internet instead of my Wireless-G network at home. I got a $250 bill before I realised that my phone was set-up wrongly.

 

Expensive mistake... sob sob

[desmokat]

how u know ur hp was wrongly configured to singtel gprs? isit by looking at the connection type for web surfing?

[desewer]

I realised only when I tried to use a notebook PC in my bedroom, and saw that I didn't have a wireless connection present!

 

Also, for some reason I tried to access the Web on my phone using a free wi-fi account, and it kept connecting to Singtel GPRS. That's how I found out the expensive mistake.

[FREDDY]

i am using a nokia N80 which is able to surf the internet, and i have a wireless network at home which i use my phone to connect to. there was one day i was jus curious i rang up starhub and ask if i use my hp to surf net using my network, they advise me not to because the hp will not prompt you if you connection is disconnect and will automatically connect to ur GPRS which we need to pay.And they say they had cases like that before leading the user phone bill to be very costly

[desewer]

i am using a nokia N80 which is able to surf the internet, and i have a wireless network at home which i use my phone to connect to. there was one day i was jus curious i rang up starhub and ask if i use my hp to surf net using my network, they advise me not to because the hp will not prompt you if you connection is disconnect and will automatically connect to ur GPRS which we need to pay.And they say they had cases like that before leading the user phone bill to be very costly

 

You should be able to set the phone settings to "always ask" instead of "default connection" which happened to me.

 

Now that I've set it to "always ask" it will always ask me what network I wanna use before I connect to the Net.

[spaiduhz]

i surf wireless@sg using my n80.

 

too bad it doesnt have that much memory. it runs out when i want to load up youtube (normal version, not youtube mobile) videos. like that how to watch my favourite pornos?

[redbeacon]

Bill Gates moves away as CEO of Microsoft

to spend more time on his global health and education work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation.

 

Helping solve some of the world's health issues will now occupy his working hours as Bill Gates's, the world's IT icon, retired from Microsoft on Friday.

 

Two years ago Gates announced that he was leaving the software world to devote his time to the philanthropic organization he started with his wife in 2000. The group's work involves funding malaria and HIV research, among other causes. The task of running one of the most powerful companies now falls to CEO Steve Ballmer and chief software architect Ray Ozzie, among others. Gates will not completely exit Redmond, though. He will continue serving as Microsoft chairman and dedicate one day a week to company business, providing advices to them as a mentor.

 

For a more detailed read, head over to "Buffett Overtook Gates" thread, last few threads, posted by our dear Panclanrider