Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Monday, July 13, 2009

RT @bmorrissey - good social ads (lets users vote up or bury)- http://bit.ly/3LNcdc; bad social ads - http://bit.ly/yUAfy (fake content)

Five Best Content Filtering Tools [Hive Five]

Whether you want to keep your kids' eyes away from inappropriate content or your employees from wasting time online, you'll find a variety of great tools available for filtering internet access in today's Hive Five.

Photo by Zach Klein.

Last week we asked you to share your favorite method of filtering internet content. While we originally intended to approach the topic from a software angle, it quickly became apparent that software didn't cut it for most people and that the majority of you are using either a combination of desktop software and a proxy server/firewall or just the latter by itself. The following solutions range, in difficultly of installation, from as simple as requiring five minutes to install to as complex as setting up a physical computer as a Linux-based content filter.

DansGuardian (Cross Platform, Free)

One way to measure whether or not Dansguardian is the right filtering tool for you is your willingness to install and tinker with an operating system like Linux. If OpenDNS (below) is the Mac-like "It just works!" one click solution, DansGuardian falls into a much more Linux-like "I can change every setting and experience real, ultimate power!" category. Dansguardian runs on Linux, FreeBSD, OpenBSD, NetBSD, Mac OS X, HP-UX, and Solaris. DansGuardian is extremely configurable and allows you to do all sorts ! of thing s, like block all images, filter ads out across your entire home network, block files from being downloaded by extension type, and control the effects of the filters, whitelists, and more based on which computer on your network is doing the accessing. You can deploy different filters for different computers based on domain, user, and source IP so your high school student doesn't get the same ultra-filtered content your elementary student does. DansGuardian needs to be paired with a proxy as it doesn't serve the web pages itself but only acts as a filter—many users use Squid, also mentioned in the entry for SquidGuard.

K9 (Windows/Mac, Free)

Many of us have had experiences with K9's internet filtering, if for no other reason than it's used in thousands of schools across the country. One of K9's strong points is the division of filtered content into 60+ categories which allows you to easily block and unblock large chunks of their blacklist without having to get your hands too dirty. K9 is a desktop solution; you install the software and it checks all the internet requests you make against the filters you have specified. In an effort to overcome the limitations of working from a static database, K9 introduced Dynamic Real-Time Rating to actively access the content of websites and ban them if they fall into the filter categories you've selected.

OpenDNS (Cross Platform, Free)

OpenDNS is a perfect solution for people who either lack the time or expertise to set up and administer a full-out content-filtering server. OpenDNS replaces your current DNS server and allows you to filter every connection coming out of your ho! use if y ou change the DNS settings at the router level. No matter if someone is on your main desktop or connecting into your wireless via laptop, everything will be filtered by OpenDNS. You can set custom filters to white list and black list specific sites and customize the range of filters they provide for you. If you're considering using OpenDNS as your household filter, check out our previous article on the topic.

SquidGuard/Squid (Linux, Free)

SquidGuard is similar to Dansguard in that it is a stand alone filtering tool you connect into with a proxy—in this case the popular Squid proxy. Also like Dansguard, you have a high degree of flexibility—dream up a combination of filtering parameters and there's a good chance you can make it happen with SquidGuard. No Hello Kitty between the hours of 9AM and 10PM on Tuesdays and Thursdays? Not a problem with the highly customizable SquidGuard. SquidGuard is natively a UNIX-environment only tool, and you can install it onto Linux, FreeBSD, and so forth.

Hosts File (Cross Platform, Free)

Many of you like to get your hands dirty—as evidenced by the popularity of Dansguard and SquidGuard—and tinkering with the hosts file is a great way to do that while setting up a filter in the process. The hosts file is essentially a mini-directory on your computer of IP addresses and what they should be resolved to. If you go into your hosts file, for instance, and make an entry for 127.0.0.1 pointing at www.google.com, every time someone goes to visit google on that computer th! e web br owser will direct them right back to the machine they are sitting at. You can manually edit your hosts file, but many of you use applications like Hostsman to make editing and configuring easier. Editing your hosts file is easy, but its effectiveness is largely limited to how strong the blacklist you've downloaded or created is. If your blacklist doesn't include a site or a string that catches part of the site's name, it will fail to block it at all.

Now that you've had a chance to look over the—rather varied—list of tools for filtering your internet connection, it's time to cast your vote for which tool you think is best:

Which Content Filtering Tool is Best?(trends)

If you've got your own tips, tricks, or even unmentioned tools for filtering internet access, we'd love to hear them in the comments.

Lottay Makes Online Gift-Giving Easy [Gift Giving]

Whether you're looking to give or receive, web site Lottay makes the whole gift process much easier by combining the use of PayPal and wish lists.

Once registered on the site (it's required to send and receive), you can start a wish list, send a gift to a friend, or even just send them a suggested gift.

Wishing for a gift allows you to start a running tab of the items that you want. Enter the item's name, a short description, images (some are pre-loaded, but you have the option of uploading your own), and price and then you're all set. Once potential gift-givers are aware of your wish list, they can then choose to send you the full amount or a small chunk of the asking price. Lottay will then keep track how much you've earned toward the item. (Seems like a good way to ask for something big for your birthday, for example, that you'd never expect just one person to pony up for.)

Giving a gift requires you to fill out the recipients information—first name, last name, and email address. After setting up your gift, the same way as a wish list item, you're then able to add an ecard with a personalized message. The confirmation screen is where you decide how you're going to send the "gift." Online options include PayPal or credit card while two snail mail options are offered—cash or personal check.

Lottay

RT@lizapost - http://bit.ly/L9LBu - 1 pers focus group. Well, at least MS had a credible src (15 yo intern) write the report, for a change.

Power Supply Calculator Figures Out What Size PSU to Buy [Hardware]

When building your own desktop computer from scratch, how do you know what size power supply to get? The Newegg Power Supply Calculator figures it out for you with ease.

Simply enter your CPU, motherboard, video card, and the rest of your components into the form, click the Calculate button, and you'll see an estimated wattage for the power supply you need to buy. As somebody who not only builds his own PCs, but wrote a whole series on how to build your own computer, I can tell you that when it comes to power supplies, you want to buy quality—don't cheap out or it will die very quickly.

For more, check out our beginner's guide to building a PC from scratch, or learn how to replace a dead power supply, install a motherboard and CPU, install a PCI card, or install RAM in your Mac and save a ton of cash.

Power Supply Calculator [Newegg via gHacks]

AMD six-core Opterons get new 'Highly Efficient' and 'Special Edition' siblings

We can beat about the bush or we can just admit that Intel has AMD beat on pretty much all fronts right now. Cognizant of this, AMD sprung the Istanbul server chips months ahead of schedule, and is now seeking to maintain momentum by adding meat to the bone. Three new chips are being added to the server-focused HE (Highly Efficient) Opteron line -- all clocked between 2GHz and 2.1GHz and dissipating 55 watts of heat -- while pure performance considerations are addressed with the SE 2439 and SE 8439, both running at 2.8GHz with 6MB of L3 cache. If we were paranoid, we might think today's leak of Intel's mobile CPU schedule was a coordinated attempt by the market leader to steal some of the limelight from this announcement by Advanced Micro Devices. Those of you who actually need to buy processors in batches of 1,000 or more should hit the read link for a full price breakdown.

[Via Daily Tech]

Filed under: Desktops

AMD six-core Opterons get new 'Highly Efficient' and 'Special Edition' siblings originally appeared on Engadge! t on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 16:16:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

BlackBerry Storm 2 spec'd, 3G-equipped original en route to AT&T?

You haven't forgotten about that BlackBerry Storm 2, have you? The Boy Genius Report is claiming it's gotten device specs for RIM's touchscreen-centric maven, also reportedly called the 9550, and while not surprising (and not confirmed), according to his source the CDMA device will be sporting 802.11b/g (which we already sort of knew), a 3.2 megapixel camera, 360 x 480 capacitive touchscreen, and BlackBerry OS 5.0. If that's not enough, the site's also saying a GSM version of the original, with 3G in tow, does exist as the 9520 and is possibly on track for release soon on AT&T and Rogers. All nice fodder for dreams, but we're not getting our hopes up until something more official rears its SurePress-laden head.

Filed under: Cellphones

BlackBerry Storm 2 spec'd, 3G-equipped original en route to AT&T? originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Jul 2009 10:41:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Neoluxiim demos solar-powered e ink display

We've been sort of wondering when we'd see a solar e-ink display, and here we are -- Neoluxiim is demoing this panel for use in point-of-sale advertising. What's interesting here is that the background appears to be in color while the text is black, but we're assuming that's just a fixed image behind the e-ink layer. Everyone ready for impulse purchasing to go high-tech? Video after the break.

Continue reading Neoluxiim demos solar-powered e ink display

Filed under: Displays

Neoluxiim demos solar-powered e ink display originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Jul 2009 17:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

BenQ S6 MID back for vengeance... XP-style

The BenQ S6 MID didn't exactly light the world on fire when it was launched back in 2008, and although we assumed it had faded into irrelevance along with the rest of the category, it looks like the company's bringing it back -- preloaded with Windows XP instead of Linux. It actually makes a certain insane kind of sense, since the S6 is built on an Atom processor, but we're just not sure anyone wants to pay $424 for XP on a 4.8-inch screen with an 800MHz processor -- especially since you'll have to fly to Taiwan to pick one up. On the other hand, can you really put a price on "100% Web Experience?"

[Via Pocketables]

Filed under: Handhelds

BenQ S6 MID back for vengeance... XP-style originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Jul 2009 19:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Fujifilm's FinePix Real 3D camera to launch in September, cost around $600

It's been a while since we've heard anything about Fujifilm's FinePix Real 3D camera, but as the twin-lensed shooter nears that scheduled September release some more details are spilling out -- including the price, which will be "around $600" at launch. Yeah, it's steep, and that's not all: to properly view the images you'll need to either shell out for special prints with a plastic lenticular lens on it or buy a special stereoscopic LCD photo frame, and none of that really screams "cheap." Honestly, our instinct would be to spend all that scratch on a good DSLR or even something like the Olympus E-P1, but there's always a chance Fujifilm's about to reveal the public's deep-rooted desire for 3D snapshots. We'll see -- anyone dying for one of these?

[Thanks, ED]

Filed under: Digital Cameras

Fujifilm's FinePix Real 3D camera to launch in September, cost around $600 originally appeared on Engadget on Sun, 12 Jul 2009 21:02:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

LG's next-gen Chocolate BL40 teased on video, looks good enough to eat

We can't verify the authenticity of the video, but it seems a little far-fetched to believe that even LG diehards out there would've been able to toil away making a very legit-looking promo piece for the company's recently-teased new Chocolate in such a short period of time -- so we're tentatively going to say we think we're looking at the real thing here. That said, what we've got is nothing short of drool-worthy: the rumored 21:9 800 x 345 display appears real (which is said in the video to be 4 inches diagonal), plus there's a gorgeous Flash-based 3D UI, multitouch, AGPS, WiFi, 7.2Mbps HSDPA, and a glass screen surface that's said to be scratch-proof, all packed into an impossibly thin case. Yes, we know everyone's been trying to sound the dumbphone death knell for years now -- but frankly, you'd have to have a grossly miscalibrated monitor to not have a special place in your heart for what you're seeing here. Follow the break for the quite-possibly-authentic video in full.

[Thanks, Edward]

Continue reading LG's next-gen Chocolate BL40 teased on video, looks good enough to eat

Filed under: Cellphones

LG's next-gen Chocolate BL40 teased on video, looks good enough to eat originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 01:05:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Acer's dual-boot Android and XP netbook launching in August?

You remember Android right, Google's other OS that actually exists? Well, Acer's set to launch what could be the world's first Android-based netbook in August. At least that's what DigiTimes is reporting second-hand via Chinese-language Apple Daily. While two suspect sources won't turn a rumor into fact, Acer's already on record with plans for an Android netbook in Q3 in dual-boot XP configurations. So hearing that Quanta and Compal will have these out smack in the middle of the quarter isn't much of a stretch.

Filed under: Laptops

Acer's dual-boot Android and XP netbook launching in August? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 05:39:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Intel's Core i7 'Clarksfield' CPUs for laptops launching late September?

Taiwanese rumor-rag, DigiTimes, has a knack for sniffing out insider information from within Taiwan's MoBo manufacturing cartel. So it's worth paying attention when it claims to have the latest launch schedule for Intel CPUs. Up first is a trio of laptop-based Clarksfield CPUs -- 2GHz Core 2 Extreme XE, 1.73GHz Core 2 Quad P2, and a 1.6GHz Core 2 Quad P1 -- ready to make their debut sometime around the end of September or October. These processors should carry the Core i7 brand to keep things as ~~confusing~~ simple as possible and would be a suitable match for a Q4 refresh of the MacBook Pro or Dell XPS laptop, for example. At the low end of the rumored schedule are a pair of Celeron SU2300 and Celeron 743 CPUs for ultra-thin laptops with an expected announcement coming at the end of September. Intel's also pegged with plans for desktop-based Lynnfield CPUs and P55 chipsets to be announced between September 8-11. The first announcement is set for early August -- if Intel starts making a fuss about its new Xeon procs for servers at that time then we'll have a pretty good idea as to the validity of DigiTimes' claims.

Filed under: Desktops, Laptops

Intel's Core i7 'Clarksfield' CPUs for laptops! launchi ng late September? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:53:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Video: Solar-powered night garden fills Jerusalem with tranquility, world peace soon to follow

Juxtaposing the manmade and the natural in artistic expression oftentimes leads to creepy results. It is no mean feat, then, that the Jerusalem night garden -- built out of steel wires, laser-cut panels and 1W to 3W Power LEDs -- feels like a warm and welcoming place to visit. Whether it is the clean energy source, producing 720W of electricity per hour, or the ethereal light and movement of the flowers, something about the exhibition awakens the wistful child we've got locked away in the Engadget dungeons. He cries out for more of this aesthetically pleasing eco-friendly design, which in this case even comes with a specially composed soundtrack. To see if you agree with such juvenile enthusiasm, check out the video after the break.

[Via inhabitat]

Continue reading Video: Solar-powered night garden fills Jerusalem with tranquility, world peace soon to follow

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Video: Solar-powered night garden fills Jerusalem with tranquility, world peace soon to follow originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 06:19:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Apple's 9.7-inch 'netbook' to debut in October for $800?

It's back. The Quanta assembled Apple netbook rumor that kicked off in March with a Commercial Times report calling for a Wintek-supplied touchscreen has returned... with a fever. China Times has now stepped in with a claim of a 9.7-inch touchscreen netbook to debut in October. CT claims that Wintek, and Dynapack have all received orders direct from Apple while Foxconn (not Quanta) will be the main manufacturer. It's still unclear whether the reported device takes on the traditional netbook form-factor, goes convertible like the T91, or is a 9.7-inch slate like a giant iPod touch. In fact, the Chinese-language report translated into English refers to it as "Apple's netbook (or a "tablet" as many call it)" only adding to the confusion. Regardless, we find it hard to believe that Apple would just follow the industry trends here. Then again, Sony did announce the VAIO W after rebuking netbooks as a race to the bottom thus leaving Apple as the only major without a low-cost netbook in its portfolio. But $800, if true, prices whatever this is right out of netbook territory -- ultra-portable anyone?

[Via MacRumors and Gizmodo]

Filed under: Laptops, Tablet PCs

Apple's 9.7-inch 'netbook' to debut in October for $800? originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 13 Jul 2009 07:33:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Read | Permalink | Email this | Comments

Dr. Augustine Fou's Online Scrapbook

Monday, July 13, 2009

Five Best Content Filtering Tools [Hive Five]