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Issue 231 - March 19, 2003
ISSN 1488-3163; PC Improvements © 2003
==== 2150 Subscribers in 60 Countries ====
Welcome to the 231st issue of the PC Improvement News. PCIN consists mainly
of news and tips. There is something for everyone, and if this is your first
issue, I'm sure there will be something for you. If you give me two or three
issues, I know that you will come back for more!
You can reach me at editor@pcin.net with
any suggestions or comments.
Recommend PCIN at http://PCIN.net/recommend.php
Support PCIN at http://PCIN.net/donate.php
CONTENTS
The NEWS
Who Cares About the Fastest Internet Ever?
Those who caught the announcement last week that researchers at Stanford
Linear Accelerator (SLAC) had broken an Internet land-speed record might be
forgiven for expressing a collective shrug. The SLAC'ers announced they had
sent 6.7 billion bytes of data at a rate of 1 billon bits, or 1 gigabit, per
second over 10,000 kilometers between Sunnyvale, California, and their collaborators
at the NIKHEF institute in Amsterdam, The Netherlands, with help from Caltech.
There were a lot of big numbers -- 6,800 miles between labs, US$1 million
in donated equipment -- but a billion bits per second? New Macintosh PowerBooks
already ship with Gigabit Ethernet connections. Indeed, the speed in question
sounds far from earth-shattering. Why should onlookers feel awe?
The secret is, the breakthrough is not about speed. It is about solving tricky
networking problems. Communicating smarter, not faster, was the goal. During
those 58 seconds -- the time it took to transmit all 6.7 billion bytes --
the researchers made history.
For more info:
http://www.newsfactor.com/perl/story/20986.html
Netherlands No Hacker Haven
The Netherlands is no Napster nation.
Contrary to implications in recent media reports, Dutch lawyers say their
small European country shouldn't be held up as the poster child for file-sharing
and copyright violation.
A court case against file-sharing service Kazaa helped stir up the confusion.
Dutch royalties agency Buma/Stemra sought an injunction against Kazaa to stop
it from distributing a file-sharing utility and allowing copyrighted material
to be swapped on its network. But the judges in the case said Kazaa could
not be responsible for the illegal actions of others. Buma/Stemra has appealed
the decision to the Dutch Supreme Court.
But in the meantime the rumor has spread that the Netherlands is a shelter
for file-sharing companies. Lawyers on both sides of the Dutch Kazaa case
say that's just not true.
For more info:
http://www.wired.com/news/digiwood/0,1412,58007,00.html
China opens web to the West
Western businesses are now able to buy a piece of real estate in Chinese
cyberspace, opening up a potentially massive new e-commerce market.
As from Sunday, businesses outside China can register .cn domain names for
the first time ever.
By allowing foreign business to buy up a Chinese domain name, Beijing has
removed one of the barriers to Western companies trading.
It will allow big e-tailers like Amazon to establish a local presence in a
lucrative market.
For more info:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/technology/2856629.stm
POLL of the WEEK
Last Week's Poll
Where do you get your news from?
| Web sites |
 |
25.71 % (27) |
| TV |
|
33.33 % (35) |
| Newspaper |
|
21.90 % (23) |
| Radio |
|
17.14 % (18) |
| Other |
|
1.90 % (2) |
| Total votes: 105 |
PCIN.net FREEHELP
FORUM
Visit the PCIN.net FreeHelp Forum at http://PCIN.net/help/forum/
to post your questions or answer others.
Question
I've just upgraded to Netscape 7, and while some new things will take getting
used to and others need to be beaten into submission, it's not bad.
However, the scroll bar on the browser page is too skinny for me to hit accurately,
and I can find no way to widen it. Any ideas?
Response
No reponses yet.
To post a response, visit the General Software Help forum at http://PCIN.net/help/forum/index.php?board=3
and click on the "Netscape 7" topic.
Visit http://PCIN.net/help/forum/
to post a question of your own.
PCIN.net UPDATE
Check out these new or updated pages on the PCIN.net site:
Logitech Cordless Freedom Optical Hardware Review
http://PCIN.net/help/hardware/lcfo.php
Some Useful Registry Tips - Now 171 Tips!
http://PCIN.net/help/articles/registry_tips.php
Paragon Hard Disk Manager 5.5 Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/paragonhdm55.php
Object Desktop Software Review
http://PCIN.net/help/software/objectdesktop.php
THE TIPS and OTHER
STUFF
More Keyboard Tips
Last week I shared the CTRL+F6 keyboard shortcut that cycles through open
documents in many different programs. A couple of long-time subscribers emailed
me their tips:
Shawn Bremner
CTRL+TAB also toggles through Excel, which is easier than CTRL+F6. I just
wish it worked in Word.
Chris Weatley
Try ALT + ENTER when over the item or icon, file or document.
Much quicker and CTRL + P prints in all microsoft programs!
If its OFFICE and it has a spell checker F7 starts it (from Dos Word v4 to
Word XP)
FrontX Alternative
Last week I mentioned an update to the FrontX Computer Port Expansion system.
Subscriber Chris emailed me about an alternative:
"You mentioned Front X. I have something that beats it and is much cheaper
($8.99 biege and $10.00 black) it has 2 x USB2.0 Version Connect Ports; Sound
Card Connect Ports; Volume Control Switch; Game Control Port; IEEE 1394 Connect
Port.
http://store.yahoo.com/directron/sf601b.html"
PDF995 Update
"Last April I (Chris Empey) reviewed
the PDF995 suite which enables you to create PDF docuements without the
need for expensive software. One feature not included in the version I reviewed
was the ability to set security on the document to prevent changing, copying
or printing the PDF. They now have a new add-on to the suite (an addition
to Signature995) that allows that functionality. You can download PDF995 from
http://pdf995.com/, pdfEdit995
from http://pdfedit995.com/
and Signature995 from http://Signature995.com/.
Look for the the Standard Encryption Module 1.02 download for security support."
DISCLAIMER
and OTHER STUFF
PCIN is brought to you by Graham Wing. The opinions expressed are those of
the Editor, Graham Wing and the Assistant Editor, Chris Empey. Graham Wing
and Chris Empey accept no responsibility for the results obtained from trying
the tips in this newsletter.
- If any of the links are too long to fit on one line, you may have to cut
and paste.
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Graham Wing can be reached at editor@pcin.net
Chris Empey can be reached at chris@pcin.net
Copyright 1998-2003, Graham Wing. All rights reserved.
This publication may be reproduced in whole, or in part, as long as the author
is notified and the newsletter is presented as is.
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