Archive for March 7, 2008

BILL GATES>>(submitted by Ankita)

{ March 7, 2008 @ 10:52 am } · { LEGENDS OF COMPUTERS }
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Bill Gates, billionaire chairman and chief executive officer of the Microsoft Corporation – was born in Seattle in the north-west US on October 28, 1955. A “typical competitive Scorpio”, he says. Gates’ father was an attorney in Seattle, and his mother a teacher. He has two sisters, one older and one younger than him. Gates went to a private school in Seattle, and later to college at Harvard. He dropped out of Harvard at 19 when he and his friend Paul Allen created the company Microsoft – now the leading provider of software for personal computers in the world. Gates’ feeling that personal computers would be big business, and his continual clear vision, are central to Microsoft and to the entire software industry today. Starting out as two people, Gates and Allen, Microsoft grew quickly to 12 people by 1979, and Allen and Gates decided to move from Albuquerque to Seattle. Within a year the company had grown to 35 and they hired their first professional manager, Steve Bullmer. To encourage Bullmer to join them they offered him a stake of Microsoft- he now owns 5%, worth 2.7 billion dollars. Today Microsoft employs more than 20,000 people in 48countries of the world. When Gates and Allen first set up in business, they learned as they went along. Paul Allen admits that “our management style was a little loose in the beginning. We both took part in every decision. If there was a difference between our roles, I was probably the one always pushing a little bit in terms of new technology and new products, and Bill was more interested in doing negotiations and contracts and business deals.” Paul Allen left the company in 1983 when he became ill with Hodgkin’s Disease. He was badly missed by Bill Gates for a long time. In Hawaii on January 1, 1994 Gates married Melinda, a product manager at Microsoft. They have a daughter, born in 1996. One of the richest men in the world, Gates annually gives away more than most people earn in a lifetime. He says he plans to give most of his money away in about ten years, “I plan to go from the world’s richest man to the world’s largest philanthropist.” Gates is interested in biotechnology and is on the board of Darwin Molecular and the Icos Corporation. He is an enthusiastic reader and also enjoys golf and bridge. He is a very hard worker and his idea of relaxation is to race Melinda at identical jigsaw puzzles.

PERSONAL COMPUTERS>>(submitted by Disha)

{ March 7, 2008 @ 10:33 am } · { PERSONAL COMPUTERS }
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pcsm1.jpgA personal computer (PC) is a computer whose original sales price, size, and capabilities make it useful for individuals, intended to be operated directly by an end user, with no intervening computer operator. A PC may be a home computer, or may be found in an office, often connected to a local area network. The distinguishing characteristics are that the computer is primarily used, interactively, by one person at a time. This is opposite to the batch processing or time-sharing models which allowed large expensive systems to be used by many people, usually at the same time, or large data processing systems which required a full-time staff to operate efficiently. The most common operating systems are Microsoft Windows, Mac OS and Linux, while the most common microprocessors are the x86 andPowerPC CPUs. Software applications for personal computers include word processing, spreadsheets, games, and a myriad of personal productivity and special-purpose software. Modern personal computers often have high-speed or dial-up connections to the Internet, allowing access to the World Wide Web and a wide range of other resources. While early PCs owners usually had to write their own programs to do anything useful with the machines, today’s users have access to a wide range of commercial and free software which is easily installed. The coming convergence of larger devices and the Personal Digital Assistants (PDAs), mobile phone and wearable computer markets which have similar functions, operating systems and even the same components, will decide if personal computer will refer to these devicesects. . A minimal setup of a typical contemporary desktop computer would be:-
Computer case with power supply (usually sold together)
Motherboard
Processor with a heat sink and fan (usually sold together)
At least one memory card
Mass storage
Keyboard and mouse for input
Monitor for output

SURFACE COMPUTER(submitted by Chirag)

{ March 7, 2008 @ 10:20 am } · { LATEST TECHNOLOGY }
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http://www.reuters.com/news/video?videoId=54969

The making of Microsoft’s first commercially available surface computerMay 2007

Beyond the Mouse and Keyboard, Surface computing is a major advancement that moves beyond the traditional user interface to a more natural way of interacting with digital content. Microsoft urface™, Microsoft Corp.’s first commercially available surface computer, breaks down the traditional barriers between people and technology to provide effortless interaction with all forms of digital content through natural gestures, touch and physical objects instead of a mouse and keyboard. Although customers will be able to interact with Surface in select restaurants, hotels, retail establishments and public entertainment venues by the end of the year, the product has been years in the making at Microsoft.

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HOW TO PROTECT YOURSELF FROM CYBER CRIME>> (Submitted by Jimish)

{ March 7, 2008 @ 9:47 am } · { HACKING }
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1. If you’re asked for your personal information — your name, email or home address, phone number, account numbers, or Social Security number — find out how it’s going to be used and how it will be protected before you share it.

2. If you get an email or pop-up message asking for personal information, don’t reply or click on the link in the message. The safest course of action is not to respond to requests for your personal or financial information.

3. If you are shopping online, don’t provide your personal or financial information through a company’s website until you have checked for indicators that the site is secure, like a lock icon on the browser’s status bar or a website URL that begins “https:” (the “s” stands for “secure”). Unfortunately, no indicator is foolproof; some scammers have forged security icons.

4. “We suspect an unauthorized transaction on your account. To ensure that your account is not compromised, please click the link below and confirm your identity.”
“Phishers” send spam or pop-up messages claiming to be from a business or organization that you might deal with — for example, an Internet service provider (ISP), bank, online payment service, or even a government agency. The message usually says that you need to “update” or “validate” your account information

5. The message directs you to a website that looks just like a legitimate organization’s, but isn’t. To trick you into divulging your personal information so the operators can steal your identity and run up bills or commit crimes in your name. So,never reply to or click on links in email or pop-ups that ask for personal information.

QUOTE OF THE DAY (Submitted by Jimish)

{ March 7, 2008 @ 8:02 am } · { QUOTE }
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I think it’s fair to say that personal computers have become the most empowering tool we’ve ever created. They’re tools of communication, they’re tools of creativity, and they can be shaped by their user.
Bill Gates