Daniel’s Thought Spot

If your like me an always have problems waking up in the morning, then you should invest in this guys invention. I’m not sure how safe something like this would be, but i bet the lawsuits would be a lot of fun to hear about.

Lol, i don’t know what to say about this, it is cool. However, this this must be really expencive. I mean its made out of carbon fiber!

Once in a while, we all make the mistake of deleting photos of our memory cards. This action is more common then you think and once it happens to you, you can be in for some serious trouble. However, many people do not believe how easy it can be to get deleted photos off a memory card.

An incident like this happened to me recently where my friends dad deleted some very important photos of her camera. She was devastated with the idea that she would never see those memories again. However, i took up the challenge of getting the pictures back from the data graveyard. And boy did i find out some good info.

The first mistake many people make after they mistakenly delete photos is to keep using the memory card. If you keep doing this, the chances of recovering the data is slimmer and slimmer every time you snap a photo. So try to avoid that. Also if you are serious about taking on this challenge you are going to need a good program. One that i recommend is called  Pandora Recovery. This is one of the best free recovery tools i could find on the web. It has an easy to use wizard that helps you to navigate to your deleted pictures and recover them.

However, sometimes the pictures are corrupted or wont recover in Pandora. If this is the case, use a program called zero assumption recovery. The reason why this is more of a back up tool to me is due to its trial basis. You only get 8 uses out of this app before you have to buy it. But in the mean time it is a powerful alternative to pandora, but this one will get anything you need off your card.

If all else fails, try contacting the card manufacturer, they can do wonders with left over data on a memory card and will most likely have greater success than you ever would. But i hope this helps, its always good to spread knowledge to others

Well these days, it looks like everyone has to jump on the Android band wagon, and Sony ericsson is the band wagons newest member. Not much info has been divulged so far, however you can go to there website to get all the info available
Sony Ericsson.com

I have to ask the question, how many times do you replace your laptop? Is is once every 4, 3, or even 2 years? Well, Je Sung Park is a Man that is trying to prove to the world that you can stop the cycle and all the waste at the same time.
Let me explain, Je is attempting to introduce a recyclable laptop, Sounds confusing right? But could you imagine what that would be like, Just throwing away your laptop if it breaks? Sounds kinda weird but the man has a reason behind his madness.
You see, When you throw away a computer, a lot of waste is produced that harms the environment. Je’s idea is trying to stop this from happening. His plan is to cut down on waste that comes out of throwing a laptop away. So who knows, maybe we will soon be throwing our old computers into the recycling bin someday.

Alright, a lot of us have seen those, get a free ipod off the internet offers before, many are ripp-offs that steal your information. Others just exist to waste time. But this one is a little diffrent.
Ok, i no what you are thinking, this is some gut on the internet trying to mess with me, but i assure you, this site is for real.
Lockerz.com is an invite only web site that allows you to gain points for things like ipods, computers, and even games. But the catch is you actually have to work for the “points” that you use to buy these items. Now this is where many of you will think that you need a credit card but you are wrong. this website doesn’t ask for a card, just where you live, kinda like you are sighning up for a fourm. That way they can send you stuff. Anyway, you earn points by, inviting friends, interacting in the community, and watching their videos. simple right?
Well if you are inerested, and would like to get an invite, i can get you one, just email me at danielsrouse@gmail.com and i’ll see what i can do for you.

Ok, this proves that you can really find anything for sale on the internet. I have seen kidneys being sold on the web but never a full military grade hover craft. That’s right, a military grade hover craft. Some of its features include, room for 130 people, a mess hall, and fully capable twin rocket launchers with bonus machine gun attachments, all stranded. How cool is that?
Now you can have all of this for a messily 65 million dollars! ok, so you might now be able to buy it right away, but it does prove that with the web, anything is possible.

References

1. Dvice.com

Say you are one of the very few rich class, and you love the game of mini golf. What would make your favorite game even better? well I’ll tell you what it is. Virtual mini golf!!!!
Putt Championship, the newest and most advanced mini golf arcade game really does make you feel like you are playing the game outside. With the exception of all the wired and annoying people there of course. Yes Championship min golf is the greatest thing to ever grace your living room and do you wanna bet how much it costs??? 7000 dollars!!
Ok so it really isn’t feasible for you average joe. But like i said, if you are rich, and love the game of mini golf. Then you should defiantly give this a try, or putt for that matter.

References

1. Dvice.com

Question: What exactly is “Bittorrent” sharing?

Answer: Bittorrent networking is the most popular form of P2P (peer-to-peer) file sharing. Since 2006, Bittorrent sharing has been the means of choice for users to trade software, music, movies, and digital books online. Bittorrents are very unpopular with the MPAA, the RIAA, and other copyright authorities, but are much beloved by millions of college and university students around the planet.

Bittorrents (a term synonymous with “torrents”) work by downloading small bits of files from many different web sources at the same time. Torrent downloading is extremely easy to use, and outside of a few torrent search providers, torrents themselves are free of user fees.

Torrent networking debuted in 2001. A Python-language programmer, Bram Cohen, created the technology with the intent to share it with everyone. And indeed, its popularity has taken off since 2005. The torrent community is now growing exponentially in 2007. Because torrents screen out dummy and corrupt files, are largely free of adware/spyware, and achieve amazing download speeds, torrent popularity is growing fast. By straight gigabytes of bandwidth used, bittorrent networking is the most popular activity on the Internet today.

How are torrents special? How is the torrent community different from Kazaa or Limewire?

Answer: Like the other file-sharing networks (Kazaa, Limewire, Gnutella, eDonkey, and Shareaza) BitTorrent’s primary purpose is to distribute large media files to private users. Unlike most P2P networks, however, BitTorrent stands out for 5 major reasons:

1. BitTorrent networking is NOT a publish-subscribe model like Kazaa; instead, BitTorrent is true Peer-Peer networking where the users do the actual file serving.
2. Torrents enforce 99% quality control by filtering out corrupted and dummy files, ensuring that downloads contain only what they claim to contain.
3. Torrents actively encourage users to share (“seed”) their complete files, while punishing users who “leech”.
4. BitTorrent can achieve download speeds over 1.5 megabits per second.
5. BitTorrent code is open-source, advertising-free, and adware/spyware-free. This means that no single person profits from BitTorrent’s success.

Question: How exactly does BitTorrent Sharing work?

Answer: Torrent sharing is about “swarming and tracking”, where users download many small bits from many different sources at once. Because this format compensates for bottleneck points, it is actually faster than downloading a large file from a single source.

• “Swarming” is about splitting large files into hundreds of smaller “bits”, and then sharing those bits across a “swarm” of dozens of linked users.
• “Tracking” is when specific servers help swarm users find each other.
• Swarm members use special Torrent client software to upload, download, and reconstruct the many file bits into complete usable files.
• Special .torrent text files act as pointers during this whole process, helping users find other users to swarm with, and enforcing quality control on all shared files.

Comment: Torrent vs. Kazaa. BitTorrent is different from the competing Kazaa network in one significant way: BitTorrent is true P2P sharing. Instead of “publisher servers” dishing out files, BitTorrent users do the file serving. Torrent users voluntarily upload their file bits to their swarm without payment or advertising revenue. You could say Torrent users are motivated, not by money, but by a “Pay-It-Forward” cooperative spirit. If you recall the Napster.com model of the 1990’s, BitTorrent swarming is the same, but with sharing incentive added.

Torrent sharing goes like this: if you share files on BitTorrent, you will be rewarded with increased download speed. Conversely, if you choose to “leech” and not share your files upwards, you will be punished with slow Torrent download speeds.

Download speed is controlled by Torrent tracking servers, who monitor all swarm users. If you share, tracker servers will reward you by increasing your alotted swarm bandwidth (sometimes up to 1500 kilobits per second). Similarly, if you leech and limit your upload sharing, tracking servers will choke your download speeds, sometimes to as slow as 1 kilobit per second. Indeed, the “Pay It Forward” philosophy is digitally enforced! Leeches are not welcome in a BitTorrent swarm.

Question: How do I start using BitTorrents?

Answer: BitTorrent “swarming” requires six major ingredients.

1. BitTorrent client software (there are dozens of choices, all free to install. See next page for software suggestions.).
2. A tracker server (hundreds of them exist on the Web, no cost to use).
3. A .torrent text file that points to the movie/song/file you want to download.
4. A Torrent search engine that helps you find these .torrent text files. (See next page for Torrent search links.)
5. A specially-configured Internet connection with port 6881 opened on the server/router to allow Torrent file trading.
6. A working understanding of file management on your PC/Macintosh. You will need to navigate hundreds of folders and filenames to make file sharing work for you.

Setup Comment: At the very worst, it will take you about one day to set up your PC or Mac for Torrent swarming. If you don’t employ a hardware router or software firewall with your modem, then setup will likely take only 30 minutes of choosing and installing your Torrent client. If you do use a hardware router or firewall (which is a smart way to configure your home machine), you are likely to get “NAT” error messages at first. This is because your router/firewall has not been taught to “trust” your BitTorrent data yet. Once you open digital port 6881 on the router/firewall, the NAT messages should stop and your BitTorrent connection should work just fine. Check this page for help on setting your Internet router.

Question: What exactly are the BitTorrent download steps?

Answer, Part 1: Copyright warning. Unless you live in Canada, you must understand that copyright laws are commonly violated by P2P sharing. If you download a song, movie, or TV show, you do risk a civil lawsuit. Canadians are somewhat protected from these lawsuits because of a Canadian federal court ruling, but not residents of the USA or most parts of Europe and Asia. This lawsuit risk is a reality, and you must accept this risk if you choose to download P2P files. Click here for more details on this copyright controversy.

Answer, Part 2: The Torrent download process goes likes this:

1. You use special Torrent search engines to find .torrent text files around the Net. A .torrent text file functions as a special pointer to locate a specific file and the swarm of people currently sharing that file. These .torrent files vary from 15kb to 150kb file size, and are published by serious Torrent sharers around the world.
2. You download the desired .torrent file to your drive (this takes about 5 seconds per .torrent file at cable modem speeds).
3. You open the .torrent file into your Torrent software. Usually, this is as simple as a a double-click on the .torrent file icon, and the client software auto-launches. In other cases, this software will even open the Torrent file for you.
4. The Torrent client software will now talk to a tracker server for 2 to 10 minutes, while it scours the Internet for people to swarm with. Specifically, the client and tracker server will search for other users who have the same exact .torrent file as you.
5. As the tracker locates Torrent users to swarm with, each user will be automatically labeled as either a “leech/peer” or as a “seed” (users who have only part of the target file, versus users who have the complete target file). As you might guess, the more seeds you connect to, the faster your download will be. Commonly, 10 peers/leeches and 3 seeders is a good swarm for downloading a single song/movie.
6. The client software then begins the transfer. As the name “sharing” implies, every transfer will happen in both directions, “down” and “up” (leech and share).
   *SPEED EXPECTATION: Cable and DSL modem users can expect an average of 25 megabytes per hour, sometimes slower if the swarm is small with less than 2 seeders. On a good day with a big swarm, however, you can download a 5MB song within 3 minutes, and a 900MB movie within 60 minutes.
7. Once the transfer is complete, leave your Torrent client software running for at least two hours. This is called “seeding” or “good karma”, where you share your complete files to other users.
   Suggestion: do your downloads just before you go to sleep at night. This way, you will seed your complete files, you will increase your upload/download ratio, and you will have complete downloaded files by the time you wake up!
8. Movie and music plug-ins: you will likely need to install media players and updated codec converters to play your downloads:
   • e.g Windows Media Player, DivX, RealAudio, Daemon Tools Virtual CD/DVD. Click here for details on getting these plug-in players.
   • e.g. XP Codec Pack and other coder-decoder converters. Download the best codec packs here
9. Enjoy your movies and songs!
10. Fair warning: you will want a second hard drive once you start serious Torrent downloading. Songs and movies require large disk space, and an average P2P user commonly has 20 to 40 GB of media files at any one time. A second 250GB hard drive is common for serious P2P users, and the recent low prices on hard drives make it a good investment.