True Blood

True Blood is an American television drama series created by Alan Ball, based on the Sookie Stackhouse book series by Charlaine Harris. The show is broadcast on the premium cable network HBO in the United States. It premiered on September 7, 2008.

Thanks to a Japanese scientist's invention of synthetic blood, vampires have progressed from legendary monsters to fellow citizens overnight. And while humans have been safely removed from the menu, many remain apprehensive about these creatures "coming out of the coffin." Religious leaders and government officials around the world have chosen their sides, but in the small Louisiana town of Bon Temps, the jury is still out.

Local waitress Sookie Stackhouse (Anna Paquin), however, knows how it feels to be an outcast. "Cursed" with the ability to listen in on people's thoughts, she's also open-minded about the integration of vampires — particularly when it comes to Bill Compton (Stephen Moyer), a handsome 173-year-old living up the road. But as Sookie is drawn into a series of mysteries surrounding Bill's arrival in Bon Temps, that tolerance will be put to the test...

Official Page: http://www.hbo.com/trueblood/

IMDB Entry: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0844441/

Merlin

Merlin is a new TV series from BBC UK which started to air September 20, 2008. It is based around the Arthurian legends of the mythical wizard Merlin and his relationship with Prince Arthur.

Official Page: http://www.bbc.co.uk/merlin/

IMDB Entry: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1199099/

Intel® Desktop Board DG45FC (mini-ITX)

The official page [Link]

SilentPC Review [Link]

Built in the mini-ITX form factor, Intel® Desktop Board DG45FC is a small but powerful desktop board with integrated HDMI display output and hardware accelerated decode during high-definition playback. With support of Intel® Core™2 Duo processors and up to 1333 FSB, you can expect a lot from this tiny desktop board!

Intel Desktop Board DG45FC supports Dolby Home Theater* and is Microsoft Windows Vista* Premium WHQL certified.

ECS X48T-A Motherboard

The official page [Link]

The Tom's Hardware review [Link]

EFix Dongle - transform your PC into a Mac!

The Gizmodo article: 

http://gizmodo.com/5049756/review-efix-dongle-perfectly-transforms-pc-to-mac

The EFix official website: http://efi-x.com

Knight Rider

Official Page: http://www.nbc.com/Knight_Rider/

The new Knight Rider TV series started to air Sept. 24, 2008. 

See my old blogpost on the Knight Rider Pilot Movie: 

http://ocxt.multiply.com/tag/knight%20rider

Project 10-to-the-100

Project 10¹⁰⁰ is a call for ideas to change the world by helping as many people as possible.

http://www.project10tothe100.com/

Portable DNA Detector

Take a good look at this device. We might see it soon in CSI. It is a Portable DNA Detector. 

--

The whole article here: http://www.technologyreview.com/Biotech/21415/

Excerpt:

A new portable DNA analyzer performs real-time analysis of blood samples left at the scene of a crime. Researchers at the University of California, Berkeley, developed the device, which packs microfluidics, electronics, optics, and chemical detection technology into a single briefcase-sized unit... 

Evaluate Windows HPC Server 2008

NEW YORK — Sept. 22, 2008 — Microsoft Corp. today announced it has released to manufacturing its newest server — Windows HPC Server 2008, giving Wall Street firms an easy-to-deploy, cost-effective and scalable high-performance computing (HPC) solution. Today’s event kicks off a series of global launch activities in the coming weeks to support the new product.

Windows HPC Server 2008, the successor to Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003, is based on Windows Server 2008 and is designed to do the following:

•	Improve productivity of systems administration and cluster interoperability by dramatically simplifying the overall deployment, administration and management over the entire system lifetime while ensuring interoperability with existing systems infrastructure.
•	Rapid HPC application development through integration with Visual Studio 2008, which provides a comprehensive parallel programming environment. In addition to supporting standard interfaces such as OpenMP, multiprocessor interconnect (MPI) and Web services, Window HPC Server 2008 also supports third-party numerical library providers, performance optimizers, compilers and debugging toolkits.
•	Seamlessly scale from workstation to cluster by allowing end users to harness the power of distributed computing through a familiar Windows-based desktop environment without requiring specialized skills or training.

The official website: http://www.microsoft.com/hpc/en/us/default.aspx

Download the 180-day evaluation software here: 

http://technet.microsoft.com/en-us/evalcenter/cc835241.aspx

FREE Encrypted USB Flash Drive.

I just want to share this. About 4 weeks ago, I played this online game: 

http://www.lumensiontheoffice.com/

All that's needed is to identify the 10 Security Risks then fill-out the web form. This morning, I got this FREE AES 256-bit Encrypted USB 1GB Flash Drive from Lumension Security. 

When plugged, It appeared just like any Thumb/Removable Drive. 

Only containing this application. I believe the said application would have been automatically launched upon inserting the flash drive, but I had Autoplay turned-off in my Windows installation.

Launching the said application, an explorer-type window will appear, prompting for the default password (you can change it anytime). 

Only then you will see the contents of the encrypted flash drive.

Feel free to play the game while it's still there. Cheers! 8) 

http://www.lumensiontheoffice.com/

--

About Lumension Security

Lumension Security™, Inc., formed by the combination of PatchLink and SecureWave S.A., is a leading global security management company, providing unified protection and control of all enterprise endpoints, applications and devices. The ineffectiveness of silo endpoint solutions that are reactive in nature has sparked demand for a shift in the security paradigm as organizations look to a more proactive approach to security.

http://www.lumension.com

Hardware 2.0 “Best Kit List” for Oct/Nov 08

The ZDNet article here:

http://blogs.zdnet.com/hardware/?p=2643&page=1

Fedora 9 Live on USB - liveusb-creator

Here is another great way to try Linux, put the Live CD to a USB flashdrive. Doing such may involve many steps plus the use of the command line as shown in this wiki. But there is an easy and fast way to do it, via the liveusb-creator.

The liveusb-creator is a cross-platform tool for easily installing live operating systems on to USB flash drives. You can get this nifty application from the official site: fedorahosted.org.

To try this, I have downloaded the Fedora-9-i686-Live-KDE Live CD. See my screenshots below:

Extracted the files from the zip archive then launched liveusb-creator.exe.

At this point you can browse for the Fedora 9 Live CD iso or download. Earlier I got Fedora-9-i686-Live-KDE. I am also using my Transend 8GB USB Flash Drive.

Persistent Storage (see note/caption below).

I've set it to max.

Done! Really simple and fast.

The whole installation with the maximum persistence storage cost me 2.67GB.

Files and folders in the Root...

... in the LiveOS folder...

... in the Syslinux folder.

The Fedora 9 Desktop (KDE).

Some more system and application screenshots:

Software Freedom Day 2008

Software Freedom Day 2008 was held last Saturday (Sept. 21)  in many parts of the globe. Here in Manila alone, there were three venues I know... University of Makati, NCC-University of the Philippines (UP Diliman), and New Era University (NEU). 

A week before, I was able to register just in time for the one at UP. The plan was  to attend the opening at UP then go to NEU. But due to work last Friday, I need to stay up late that night till about 3AM the next day. With little time and energy left and  some important duties I have to attend that saturday afternoon, thus I was unable to attend the SFD 2008. 

Oh well, I'll do my best to attend one on 2009 and the years to come. 8) 

Free E-Book: Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008

by Peter DeBetta, Greg Low, and Mark Whitehorn

ISBN: 9780735625587

Learn about major new features in SQL Server 2008 including security, administration, and performance.

Introducing Microsoft SQL Server 2008:

Chapter 1: Security and Administration

Chapter 2: Performance

Chapter 3: Type System

Chapter 4: Programmability

Chapter 5: Storage

Chapter 6: Enhancements for High Availability

Chapter 7: Business Intelligence Enhancements

This Free E-Book from Microsoft, get it {here} 

FBI: ex-Intel worker tried to take trade secrets to AMD

The whole article:

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080915-fbi-ex-intel-worker-tried-to-take-trade-secrets-to-amd.html

A former Intel engineer, Biswahoman Pani, stands accused of stealing multiple confidential documents from that company.Pani voluntarily resigned from Intel on May 29, 2008, and claimed he intended to begin work with a hedge fund. Per the terms of his resignation, Pani remained with Intel (though on vacation) through June 11, but actually began work at AMD on June 2, putting him on both companies' payrolls for approximately nine days. 

... What the engineer failed to mention, however, was that he'd been negotiating with AMD since February of 2008, and actually began his employment with that company on June 2 of this year. Intel discovered Pani's dual employment after his exit interview on June 11, at which point it conducted a forensic analysis of his work-issued laptop.Based on the laptop's data logs, Pani was found to have accessed Intel's secure Anacapa database at numerous points between June 8 and June 10, and had downloaded 13 confidential documents. Prior to this, Biswahoman had only accessed Anacapa three times in his five years at Intel.

The FBI searched Pani's home on July 1, and found eight Intel documents and 19 CAD drawings, all classified as confidential, secret, or top secret. When questioned, Pani admitted to taking the files, but claimed he did so out of curiosity and a desire to help tutor his wife in her new job at the Hudson facility...

Microsoft AD2: Seinfeld and Gates

For AD1, go here.

Panasonic Lumix DMC-G1

The Press Release

Secaucus, NJ (September 12, 2008) – Panasonic today announced the world’s first Micro Four Thirds system camera, the LUMIX DMC-G1, the world’s smallest and lightest digital interchangeable lens camera, weighing in at approximately 385 grams (0.85 lbs). Based on the new Micro Four Thirds System standard, the LUMIX G1 eliminates the internal mirror structure that defines digital single-lens reflex (DSLR) cameras, thus reducing the size and weight by nearly half.** With the mirror-less system, the G1’s flange back, which is the distance between the mount and the image sensor, has been reduced from 40 mm – as specified in the Four Thirds System – to approximately 20 mm. 

ASUS Unveils its X58 Board

The article: http://www.hardwarezone.com.sg/articles/view.php?cid=6&id=2693

Fringe

Here's another nice TV series from FOX. I've just finished watching the pilot episode (aired Sept 9 in the US). I am not saying much for I dont want to be a spoiler, but the show was described by wikipedia as a cross between The X-Files, Altered States, and The Twilight Zone. Interesting? A big yes for me. 

The official page: http://www.fox.com/fringe/

A television drama centered around a female FBI agent who is forced to work with an institutionalized scientist in order to rationalize a brewing storm of unexplained phenomena.

Wikipedia Entry: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fringe_(TV_Series)

IMDB Entry: http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1119644/

The Trailer (from YouTube):

Adobe Acrobat 9 Launch Philippines.

The Adobe Acrobat 9 was officially launced today in cooperation win the the Philippine distributor Wordtext Systems, Inc (WSI), at the Rizal Ballroom of Makati Shangri-La Hotel. My apologies for again I do not have any pictures. 

Anyways, I find the said event really worth the time. I know now that PDF is not just the plain document, e-book, or picture that we usually find in product literature, specs, books/help-files, and other stuff. Very good presentation and product video clips. After the said event,  I am convinced on resorting to a real desktop productivity suite such as Acrobat 9 instead of just the plain 3rd-party PDF software out there. Dont get me wrong with this one. If you just need a document or picture to be converted to PDF, then yes go for 3rd-party stuff (free for personal use or cheaply available). But if you want more than PDF conversion, the edge, collaboration, security, and many more, then you wont get wrong with Acrobat 9. 

Here are the stuff that I learned today: 

• Acrobat.com - https://acrobat.com/#/bw/BuzzwordBegin
• PDF Portfolios - PDF can be just like a single container for all documents, audio/video, and even flash content. Merge different files to a single document. 
• Presentations - The powerpoint became "powerful". Interactive with rich multimedia content, 2D/3D, etc.  
• Form Creation - complete with import tools and a wide selection of tools to create/convert that form quickly and conveniently. 
• Real-time collaboration - synchronized reviews with chat. share files anywhere, everywhere. 
• ClearScan OCR
• Document Comparisson
• Webpage Capture

The launch and souvernir kits include Acrobat 9 brochures/specs, Acrobat 9 notebook and pen, and 30-day evaluation of Acrobat 9 Pro Extended DVD.  

 

I have just installed it, and here is the walkthrough:

 

The typical install cost me almost 1.9GB disk space:

That's all for now. More details on the features next time. Cheers to all! 8)