Grovetech.com : PC Maintenance & Repair Tutorial *

Finally a totally free computer website about

PC maintenance & repairs - period !

Over the last couple of decades, computers have become an integral, if not indispensable, part of our lives. We use them to create documents, play games and music, research topics of interest on the Internet, communicate with others via email or chat programs, develop a brochure or flyer, and much more.

However, like any other machine, computers need to be maintained, tuned-up, and repaired. For whatever reason – perhaps because we believe them to be more complicated than they really are – we tend not to provide the ongoing maintenance that our computers need. The result? Frustration with a system whose speed has slowed to a mere crawl, expensive repair bills, or the sometimes mistaken belief that the solution to the problem is to buy a new computer

http://www.grovetech.com/index.html

Quantum Hackers Use Lasers to Crack Commercial Quantum Encryption Without Leaving a Trace

Quantum cryptography is one of the most secure known means of transmitting data, due to the fact that even if a third party does intercept a quantum signal, that interference changes the encryption key, making the tampering apparent to parties at both ends. But a handful of quantum hackers at Norwegian University of Science and Technology in Trondheim recently performed successful hacks of two commercial quantum cryptographic systems — and they did so without leaving a trace.

Quantum encryption is based on the notion that you cannot take measurements of a quantum system without in some way disturbing it. A sender uses standard values of zeros and ones. That key is encoded into a beam of light using two different quantum states of photons. The receiver has a detector that measures the quantum states of the incoming photons. Anyone who messes with the signal in between will change it in some way, making it apparent to the sender and receiver that someone tampered with the signal.

The quantum hackers got around the rules of quantum physics by simply intercepting the incoming signal and generating a brand new one to send on to the receiver. To do so, they shined a continuous 1-milliwatt laser at the receiver’s detector, blinding it while they intercepted the sender’s signal.

But the trick is in how they blind the receiver’s detector. While blinded, it cannot act as a quantum detector, but it still functions as a classical light detector, reading a “one” if an extra bright pulse of light hits it, quantum properties of the light notwithstanding. So as the interceptor receives the sender’s signal, it pumps an extra bright pulse of light at the receivers’ detector every time it reads a “one” in the original signal.

In this way, the receiver still receives the correct signal from the interceptor even though it’s a forged signal. Since it’s a classical signal rather than a quantum one, quantum rules no longer apply and the sender and receiver aren’t made aware of the signal tampering.

The makers of the two quantum cryptographic schemes, Switzerland-based ID Quantique and Boston’s MagiQ Technologies, likely weren’t thrilled to find a hole in their systems but welcomed the news as it will help them to shore up weaknesses in their encryption schemes.

If quantum cryptography really gets your photons entangled, a PDF of the Nature Photonics paper published by the quantum hackers is available, or you can check out the hackers’ “how we did it” site.

http://www.popsci.com.au/2010/08/quantum-hackers-use-lasers-to-crack-commercial-quantum-encryption-without-leaving-a-trace/

Atami offers Love Plus characters as virtual girlfriends

Visitors to Atami are opting for photos with "augmented reality'' females / AFP Source: AFP

The images are created using a smartphone cameras and a tiny black and white square / AFP

A JAPANESE beach town is attracting male tourists by offering them a virtual girlfriend.

Visitors to Atami are ignoring the bikini-clad girls frolicking on the sand and instead heading straight for a bronze statue to have a photo with "augmented reality'' (AR) females.

The images are created by visitors pointing their smartphone cameras at a tiny black and white square, a two-dimensional barcode that brings to life the object of their desire.

"Look, it's like I'm in a snapshot with her,'' Shu Watanabe, 23, said as he showed off his iPhone display, featuring himself next to the image of a doe-eyed cartoon character named Rinko, a smiling high school girl.

Rinko may only be digital, but try telling that to Watanabe or the legions of other fans of Love Plus, a dating sim or simulation game that is played on handheld Nintendo DS consoles and also boasts AR applications for iPhones.

They have selected 13 romantic locations which can be overlaid with images of Rinko or her teenage friends Manaka and Nene, who have all swapped their usual sailor-style school uniforms for casual summer wear.

Local souvenir shops in the resort town have caught on and capitalised on the love-struck new clientele, selling Love Plus-themed souvenirs, from good-luck charms to steamed buns and fish sausages.

The local Ohnoya hotel even offers traditional rooms to the unusual couples, which feature two sets of futon beds and another barcode panel that allows the men to visualise their girlfriends in a flattering summer kimono.

The popularity of Love Plus has been a welcome shot in the arm for Atami, which has seen visitors decline some 40 percent since its 1970s heyday.

More than 200 Love Plus fans have stayed at the Ohnoya hotel alone, while well over 2000 have visited the resort town for the campaign, which kicked off on July 10 and runs until the end of August.

Atami's business association was at first hesitant and puzzled by the story line, in which a high school girl spends a night at a resort hotel with a man.

"Some people were opposed to taking part in this campaign, saying the game is immoral,'' association member Saiki Ota said.

Konami's Ishihara stressed that the game has no sexual content.

"The virtual girls can kiss you as a way of communication, but nothing happens when she sleeps next to you at the hotel,'' he said.

"We have no intention of trying to sell a product with pornographic elements.

"I think Love Plus fans would get offended if somebody tried to disrespect his girlfriend like that.''

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/travel/news/atami-offers-love-plus-characters-as-virtual-girlfriends/story-e6frfq80-1225912322880#ixzz0yGVL7O58

First modchip for PS3

The first working "modchip" on sale in Australia can let PlayStation 3 owners store games on their hard drive and promises to be easy enough to be used by tech novices.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/technology/modchip-for-playstation-3-allows-back-up-of-games-comes-on-usb-drive/story-e6frfrnr-1225907926194#ixzz0yGULrtww

The mod actually comes on a USB stick, which, if inserted into the PS3 before the console is turned on, will disable system security, and allow users to backup games on the hard drive, or run third-party software.

The owner of ozmodchips.com, Ryan, who declined to give his surname, said Sony, the maker of the PS3, had a reputation for being the most concerned with keeping its systems tamper-free.

Read more: http://www.news.com.au/technology/modchip-for-playstation-3-allows-back-up-of-games-comes-on-usb-drive/story-e6frfrnr-1225907926194#ixzz0yGUdcM8d

The site where you can purchase the mod chip :

http://www.ozmodchips.com/ps-jailbreak-worlds-first-ps3-modchip-plug-and-play-p-68.html

GamesCom 2010: Cataclysm Press Q&A

GamesCom 2010: Cataclysm Press Q&A

Thanks to wow.battlenet.pl, an official Polish fansite, there's a video of the Cataclysm press Q&A that took place at GamesCom 2010. Since they didn't offer an embed option, I'm not going to hog their bandwidth by embedding the video here. I encourage everyone to go check it out! Below I've put together a summary of some of the interesting things discussed.

Patch 3.9 and preparing for Cataclysm's release

• Patch 3.9 will introduce the Cataclysm world event, which will begin taking place and culminate a few weeks before the expansion releases, with the Cataclysmic destruction actually taking place at that point.
  
• The new race / class combos and 1-60 content will be available before World of Warcraft: cataclysm launches.
  
• The servers will come down when the event culminates, and when they come back up you'll see the intro cinematic and all of the updated Azeroth will be available.
  
• Blizzard is still trying to decide whether Archaeology will come out before or when World of Warcraft: Cataclysm releases.
  
• 80-85 content and the Goblin and Worgen races will not be available until release day.
  

Cataclysm Raids & Dungeons

• The balance of high level content (heroics and raids especially) for Cataclysm is going to shift a bit more towards the "hardcore" crowd. Outdoor mob difficulty, heroic modes available immediately, etc.
  
• There's a bit more enforced progression so that most players don't skip immediately from normal dungeons to raids.
  
• Chilton wishes there could be more difficulty modes for raids than just normal and heroic. Maybe 3 or 4 modes to offer appropriate challenges. It's not something they can do right now, but he can imagine them doing it in the future.
  
• Blizzard will continue supporting 25-player raids for the people that like it. They're also going to make sure 25-player raids are appropriately rewarded. At least equivalently, and in most cases better rewarded.
  

Other

• The Battle for Gilneas was already significantly redesigned before even becoming available in the closed beta, based on internal testing feedback. Blizzard deemed the original design "unsalvageable."
  
• It will probably be a long time after Cataclysm that Blizzard revisits the Eastern Kingdoms and Kalimdor again. Chilton could see them giving Outland and Northrend the same treatment as they fall behind in quality and lore.
  
• Sylvanas is trying to "ensure the future of the Forsaken". With the death of the Lich King and no plague to spread, she had to find alternate means to keep the Forsaken from becoming extinct.
  
• The Emerald Dream is still something Blizzard wants to do. It might end up being part of Caverns of Time if they want to revisit it in a past setting.
  
• Housing will be introduced to WoW some time right after "never".
  
• The release date is at midnight on the first Tuesday after it's done! (This was a joke but also seriously, obviously)

http://www.worldofraids.com/

Autonomous Swarming Robots Can Skim Sea Surface, Collecting Oil As A Team

Rebecca Boyle
Published on Friday, August 27th, 2010 at 8:17 am

Swarms of autonomous, solar-powered towel-bots, based on a nanowire mesh, could help those oil-eating microbes clean up the Gulf of Mexico. The “Seaswarm” robot moves like a tank in water, using a conveyor belt to roll over the ocean’s surface.

The belt is made of an ultra-light nanowire mesh, patented at MIT, that can absorb up to 20 times its weight in oil. Its hydrophobic properties deflect water while sucking up various forms of pollution. The nanowire’s inventors have compared it to a paper towel for oil spills.

The belt attaches to a yellow “head” covered in photovoltaic panels, according to its designers, based at MIT’s Senseable City Lab. As the robot moves head-first through the water, the conveyor belt sucks up oil, which is squeezed out into the head. As the clean part of the belt emerges from the head, the process starts over.

Seaswarm robots are intended to work as a fleet, hence the name. The robots would communicate via GPS and WiFi networks to coordinate clean-up, and they would not require human involvement, unlike current ocean skimmers. They are just 16 feet long by seven feet wide, so they would be able to access coastlines, marshes and estuaries, unlike current skimmers that attach to boats.

The design team tested their prototype in Boston’s Charles River this month and they say the conveyor belt easily adapted to the surface waves.

The robot works by detecting the edge of a spill and moving inward until it has removed the oil, the project’s Web site says. Because the robot’s head consumes the oil, the robot does not need to make repeated trips back to shore, making it a much more efficient cleaner.

http://www.popsci.com.au/2010/08/autonomous-swarming-robots-can-skim-sea-surface-collecting-oil-as-a-team/

Eternal-WoW

Eternal-WoW is a good PVP free WOW playing site :

http://eternal-wow.com/about/

Eternal-WoW Management

Server Specifications

• OS: Linux
• RAM: 40GB
• Processor: Twin 6 Core Xeon x5680 (24 cores with hyper threading)
• Connection: Multiple 1000Mbps connections on diverse backbones
• Location: Dallas, Texas

Quick Facts

• Instant Account Setup
• All data is backed up daily to an offite location. This prevents character loss or rollbacks should a problem occur.
• 2 Realms for your gaming pleasure, Eternal (Instant 80 - Extreme PvP), and Redemption (10x Rate - PvE and PvP)
• Vote Rewards
• Vote rewards and donation purchases are delivered in-game through mailboxes.
• Custom player tools (revive and unstick a character)
• Days of uptime, extending into weeks.
• Upwards of 1000+ players at peak gaming hours and growing!
• Professionally managed with some of the most knowledgeable staff around!
• 24/7 of pure WoW!