DEFRAGMENTING YOUR COMPUTER MADE EASY

The operation of 'defragging', or 'defragmenting' an hard drive is a rather useful thing to do to increase, even significantly in some cases, the performance of your PC. But how does it all work?

Hard disks, even with the fastest in commerce (above 7200 RPMs) often constitute the main 'bottleneck' to the speed of a personal computer: the time to access a particular memory cell on a hard drive can be, depending on the particular technology, up to thousands of times slower than access the same amount of memory on a RAM. When the hard disk is empty, the file system is free to write the files on the hard disk to an optimal location, but after a few deletes and rewrites, what will happen is that data related to the same application will be saved into different chunks of hard disk, making data retrieval and update much slower.

The solution to the problem is defragmentation, which is an operation that rearranges all the files in a contiguous and optimal way, so to minimize the access time by the hard disk, thus reducing the 'bottleneck' effect. Fragmentation is a very delicate operation which, depending on the amount of data on the drive, can last up to several hours, so using a good and reliable program for this objective becomes something of vital importance.

In most versions of Windows, including Windows XP and Windows Vista, a disk defrag utility is embedded into the operating system. Just right-click on the hard disk icon and select 'Properties', then click on the last tab: you should be able to see, among other options, the 'defrag' button. Make sure you can leave your PC on for some time, and then start the procedure. It's often advisable not to make intensive use of hard-disk heavy programs while the operation like this is taking place, or you will risk losing data -- not necessarily data that is related to the program you're using.

Depending on your hard disk speed and the amount of data you have stored, the operation could take half an hour to several hours. It is important not to interrupt the process, because the operation is generally unsafe -- moreover, the whole defragmenting process is likely to start from the beginning and not resume from the last time's status.

On the Linux platform, ext2 filesystems can be defragmented with such tools as e2defrag, while ext3 filesystems can be defragmented with the 'shake' command. Interestingly enough, e2defrag also has a convenient option to virtually and temporarily, so to speak, 'downgrade' the ext3 filesystem to ext2 in order to defragment it.

MODEMS CONNECTING TO THE WORLD

Modem (from modulator-demodulator) is a device that modulates an analog carrier signal to encode digital information, and also demodulates such a carrier signal to decode the transmitted information. The goal is to produce a signal that can be transmitted easily and decoded to reproduce the original digital data. Modems can be used over any means of transmitting analog signals, from driven diodes to radio.

The most familiar example is a voiceband modem that turns the digital 1s and 0s of a personal computer into sounds that can be transmitted over the telephone lines of Plain Old Telephone Systems (POTS), and once received on the other side, converts those 1s and 0s back into a form used by a USB, Serial, or Network connection. Modems are generally classified by the amount of data they can send in a given time, normally measured in bits per second, or "bps". They can also be classified by Baud, the number of times the modem changes its signal state per second.

Baud is NOT the modem's speed. The baud rate varies, depending on the modulation technique used. Original Bell 103 modems used a modulation technique that saw a change in state 300 times per second. They transmitted 1 bit for every baud, and so a 300 bit/s modem was also a 300-baud modem. However, casual computerists confused the two. A 300 bit/s modem is the only modem whose bit rate matches the baud rate. A 2400 bit/s modem changes state 600 times per second, but due to the fact that it transmits 4 bits for each baud, 2400 bits are transmitted by 600 baud, or changes in states.

Faster modems are used by Internet users every day, notably cable modems and ADSL modems. In telecommunications, "radio modems" transmit repeating frames of data at very high data rates over microwave radio links. Some microwave modems transmit more than a hundred million bits per second. Optical modems transmit data over optical fibers. Most intercontinental data links now use optical modems transmitting over undersea optical fibers. Optical modems routinely have data rates in excess of a billion (1x109) bits per second. One kilobit per second (kbit/s or kb/s or kbps) as used in this article means 1000 bits per second and not 1024 bits per second. For example, a 56k modem can transfer data at up to 56,000 bits per second over the phone line.

in the 1920s used multiplex equipment that met the definition, but the modem function was incidental to the multiplexing function, so they are not commonly included in the history of modems. George Stibitz connected a New Hampshire teletype to a computer in New York City by phone lines in 1940. Modems in the United States were part of the SAGE air-defense system in the 1950s, connecting terminals at various airbases, radar sites, and command-and-control centers to the SAGE director centers scattered around the U.S. and Canada. SAGE ran on dedicated communications lines, but the devices at each end were otherwise similar in concept to today's modems.

A few years later, a chance meeting between the CEO of American Airlines and a regional manager of IBM led to development of a "mini-SAGE" as an automated airline ticketing system. The terminals were at ticketing offices, tied to a central computer that managed availability and scheduling. The system, known as SABRE, is the ancestor of today's Sabre system.


e 202 Data-Phone was a half-duplex asynchronous service that was marketed extensively in late 1960. In 1962, the 201A and 201B Data-Phones were introduced. They were synchronous modems using two-bit-per-baud phase-shift keying (PSK). The 201A operated half-duplex at 2000 bit/s over normal phone lines, while the 201B provided full duplex 2400 bit/s service on four-wire leased lines, the send and receive channels running on their own set of two wires each.

The famous 103A was also introduced in 1962. It provided full-duplex service at up to 300 baud over normal phone lines. Frequency-shift keying (FSK) was used with the call originator transmitting at 1070 or 1270 Hz and the answering modem transmitting at 2025 or 2225 Hz. The readily available 103A2 gave an important boost to the use of remote low-speed terminals such as the KSR33, the ASR33, and the IBM 2741. AT&T reduced modem costs by introducing the originate-only 113D and the answer-only 113B/C modems.

TOP INTERNET SCAM

The Internet has a world of its own. There are good guys and there are also criminals in the Internet world. Cyber criminals are using different tactics just to be able to victimize potential online user. These are just some of the few. Be cautious when you encounter these kind of scams.

Tax and Rebate Scams

The Scam: Consumers get a call or e-mail claiming to be from a government agency, such as the IRS or Social Security Administration, that asks for personal information to process a rebate check. These crooks ask consumers to provide personal information like their social security number, bank account number, or other details they can use to commit identity theft. If they resist giving out information, they're told they cannot receive the rebate unless the information is provided.

The Don'ts: Never give sensitive information to anyone over the phone or email. If you get a suspicious email, delete it immediately. Don't click on any links either, for they might take you to a phishing site or install spyware on your computer. Keep in mind that most government agencies don't collect information by phone or email. The FTC recommends you contact the IRS or SSA directly if you have any questions or concerns. To learn more about other tax scams check out the IRS Top 2008 "Dirty Dozen" Tax Scams.

Cheap Electronics Scam

The Scam: Shopping website that appears legit sells electronic products at extremely low prices. The site is so sophisticated, even the most savvy consumer will have a hard time telling it's a fake. One recent article on PCMag, mentions these scamming sites may be part of a bigger network, since they all have a $500 minimum purchase requirement, and may ask for payment in the form of a Western Union money order to be mailed to a foreign address.

The Signs: Things a like a foreign address, a $500 minimum purchase, or the lack of a secure payment transaction form should raise red flags. A site may appear legitimate, but if you have a hard time recognizing the validity of the website, watch out for things like a new domain registration, questionable contact information, grammatical and spelling errors, a no return policy, and untraceable payment methods. Do do some research online because chances are others may already be expressing their concerns on forums or blogs.

Chatroom Scams

The Scam: Russian cyber-crooks have developed a software robot that poses as a human in chatrooms. These bots can chat with up to 10 people simultaneously, and easily persuade them to hand over phone numbers, photographs, birthday, address, and other personal information. The site claims "Not a single girl has yet realized that she was communicating with a program!" Information harvested by these bots can be used by fraudsters to carry out various forms of fraud. Unsuspecting victims may also be tricked into visiting a 'personal site' that could load malware onto their computers. Sergei Shevchenko, Senior Malware Analyst at PC Tools said CyberLover, "employs highly intelligent and customized dialogue to target users of social networking systems. It can monitor Internet browser activity, automatically recognize and fill in the fields in the web pages, generate keystrokes and mouse clicks, and post messages, URLs, files and photos."

The Dont's: Common sense says never, ever give out personal information to anyone you just met online.

Local Charity Scams

The Scam: Fraudsters claiming to be from the local police department or DARE program are calling or approaching private citizens and businesses soliciting donations purporting to benefit police officers. What's convincing some people into handing over personal and financial information to these imposters is the spoofed number that pops up in the caller ID. Police say many victims have reported a phone number that appears to be from the local police department, so don't be fooled.

The Do's: If you want to support the local police or fire department, find out when they hold their annual fund drives. Most departments don't solicit donations via telephone, so it's best to check out their site to find out when and how they seek donations.

Cancer Cure Scam

The Scam: As more people turn to the web for medical advice, they're encountering websites that advertise natural products they claim will prevent or cure everything from cancer to diabetes. Scammers know people are searching for natural remedies online, so they exaggerate the language on their site, and even add a few medical terms to sound legitimate. Oftentimes, they'll claim their supplies are not sold anywhere else, and sell them at a high price. Unfortunately, there is no such thing as a miracle cure for cancer, but these scammers will have you believe there is, and will even discourage you from taking real medicine. The reality is many of these products are not proven, effective, or safe, and the sites are full of false testimonials.

The Do's: Canada has already started to crack down on such sites, demanding they remove any false claims quickly. Andrea Rosen, Acting Deputy Commissioner of Canada's Competition Bureau, says consumers should be skeptical of health-related products or services that look too good to be true. People should talk to their doctor before trying any new treatment. Check out the Anatomy of an Online Health Scam before you buy medicine online.

internetscamscyber criminalsmoney

LAPTOPS

A laptop computer, or simply laptop (also notebook computer, notebook and notepad) is a small mobile computer, which usually weighs 2-18 pound (around 1 to 8 kilograms[citation needed]), depending on size, materials, and other factors.

Laptops usually run on a single main battery or from an external AC/DC adapter that charges the battery while also supplying power to the computer itself. Many computers also have a 3 volt cell to run the clock and other processes in the event of a power failure.

Laptops contain components that are similar to their desktop counterparts and perform the same functions, but are miniaturized and optimized for mobile use and efficient power consumption, although typically less powerful for the same price. Laptops usually have liquid crystal displays and most of them use different memory modules for their random access memory (RAM), for instance, SO-DIMM in lieu of the larger DIMMs. In addition to a built-in keyboard, they may utilize a touchpad (also known as a trackpad) or a pointing stick for input, though an external keyboard or mouse can usually be attached.

Laptops have grown (or have grown less in size) and become more sophisticated over the years. Computers were once very large, and the improvements in sophistication of the computers in recent decades allowed for smaller personal computers such as laptops.Bold text

A desktop replacement computer (dtr) is a personal computer that provides the full capabilities of a desktop computer while remaining portable. They are often a larger, bulkier laptop. Because of their increased size, this class of computer usually includes more powerful components and a larger display than generally used in smaller portable computers and can have a relatively limited battery capacity (or none at all). Some use a limited range of desktop components to provide better performance per dollar at the expense of battery life. These are sometimes called desknotes, a portmanteau of the words "desktop" and "notebook," though the term is also applied to desktop replacement computers in general.

Powerful laptops meant to be mainly used in a fixed location and infrequently carried out due to their weight and size; the latter provides more space for powerful components and a big screen, usually measuring 17–20 inches (43–51 cm). Desktop replacements tend to have limited battery life, rarely exceeding three hours, because the hardware is not optimized for efficient power usage. Sometimes called a luggable laptop. An example of a desktop replacement computers are gaming notebooks, which are designed to handle 3D graphic-intensive processing for gamers.

Laptops weighing typically between 4.6 and 6 lb (1.8–2.7 kg) and a screen of 12 to 14 inches (30–35 cm) diagonally. A subnotebook is a small and lightweight portable computer, with most of the features of a standard laptop computer but smaller. The term is often applied to systems that run full versions of desktop operating systems such as Windows or Linux, rather than specialized software such as Windows CE, Palm OS or Internet Tablet OS.

Subnotebooks are smaller than laptops but larger than handheld computers and ultraportables. They often have screens that are 26,5cm = 10.4″ (diagonal) or less, and weigh less than 1 kg; as opposed to full-size laptops with 30,5cm =12″ or 38cm = 15″ screens and weighing 2 kg or more. The savings in size and weight are usually achieved partly by omitting ports or having removable media/optical drives; subnotebooks are often paired with docking stations to compensate.

Subnotebooks have been something of a niche computing product and have rarely sold in large numbers until the 2007 introduction of the Asus Eee PC and the OLPC XO-1.

Most modern laptops feature 12 inch (30 cm) or larger active matrix displays with resolutions of 1024×768 pixels and above, and have a PC Card (formerly PCMCIA) or ExpressCard expansion bay for expansion cards. Internal hard disks are physically smaller—2.5 inch (60 mm)—compared to the standard desktop 3.5 inch (90 mm) drive, and usually have lower performance and power consumption. Video and sound chips are usually integrated. This tends to limit the use of laptops for gaming and entertainment, two fields which have constantly escalating hardware demands.[1] However, higher end laptops can come with dedicated graphics processors, such as the Dell Inspiron E1505 and E1705, which can be bought with an ATI Mobility Radeon X1300 or similar or the MacBook Pro which comes standard with an nVidia 8600M GT. These mobile graphics processors tend to have less performance than their desktop counterparts, but this is because they have been optimized for lower power usage.

There is a wide range of laptop specific processors available from Intel (Pentium M, Celeron, Intel Core and Intel Core 2) and from AMD (Athlon, Turion 64, and Sempron) and also from VIA (C3 and C7-M). Motorola and IBM developed and manufactured the chips for the former PowerPC-based Apple laptops (iBook and PowerBook). Generally, laptop processors are less powerful than their desktop counterparts, due to the need to save energy and reduce heat dissipation. However, the PowerPC G3 and G4 processor generations were able to offer almost the same performance as their desktop versions, limited mostly by other factors, such as the system bus bandwidth; recently, though, with the introduction of the G5s, they have been far outstripped. At one point, the Pismo G3, at up to 500 MHz, was faster than the fastest desktop G3 (then the B&W G3), which ran at 450 MHz.

Some parts for a modern laptop have no corresponding part in a desktop computer. For example, current models use lithium ion and more recently lithium polymer batteries, which have largely replaced the older nickel metal-hydride technology. Typical battery life for most laptops is two to five hours with light-duty use, but may drop to as little as one hour with intensive use. Batteries gradually deteriorate over time and eventually need to be replaced in one to five years, depending on the charging and discharging pattern.

Docking stations became another common laptop accessories in the early 1990s. They typically were quite large and offered 3.5" and 5.25" storage bays, one to three expansion slots (typically AT style), and a host of connectors. The mating between the laptop and docking station was typically through a large, high-speed, proprietary connector. The most common use was in a corporate computing environment where the company had standardized on a common network card and this same card was placed into the docking station. These stations were very large and quite expensive. As the need to additional storage and expansion slots became less critical because of the high integration inside the laptop itself, the emergence of the Port Replicator as a major accessory commenced. The Port Replicator was often a passive device that simply mated to the connectors on the back of the notebook and allowed the user to quickly connect their laptop so VGA, PS/2, RS-232, etc. devices were instantly attached. As higher speed ports like USB and Firewire became commonplace, the Port Replication was accomplished by a small cable connected to one of the USB 2.0 or FireWire ports on the notebooks. Wireless Port Replicators followed.

Current compatibility problems in the laptop trade are reflective of the early era of personal computer hardware, when there were many different manufacturers, each and every one of them having their own connectivity and mounting systems and incompatibility was the norm. While there are accepted world standards of form factors for all the peripherals and add-in PC cards used in the desktop computers, there are still no firm worldwide standards relating to today's laptops' internal form factors, such as supply of electric voltage, motherboard layouts, internal adapters used in connecting the optical drive, LCD cable, keyboard and floppy drive to the main board. Most affected by this are users uneducated in the relevant fields, especially if they attempt to connect their laptops with incompatible hardware or power adapters.

Some parts, such as hard drives and memory are commodity items and are interchangeable. However, other parts such as motherboards, keyboards, and batteries are proprietary in design and are only interchangeable within a manufactures brand and/or model line.

A significant point to note is that the vast majority of laptops on the market are manufactured by a small handful of Original Design Manufacturers (ODM). The ODM matters more than the Original Equipment Manufacturer (OEM). Major relationships include:

* Quanta sells to (among others) HP/Compaq, Dell, Toshiba, Sony, Fujitsu, Acer, NEC, Gateway and IBM - note that Quanta is currently (as of August, 2007) the largest manufacturer of notebook computers in the world
* Compal sells to Toshiba, HP/Compaq, Acer, and Dell
* Wistron sells to HP/Compaq, Dell, IBM, NEC, and Acer
* Arima sells to HP/Compaq, NEC, and Dell
* Uniwill/ECS sells to IBM, Fujitsu, and Dell
* Asus sells to Apple (iBook), Sony, and Samsung
* Inventec sells to HP/Compaq, Toshiba, and BenQ

PAGE RANK FOR DUMMIES

The fastest way to increase you blog or website page rank. Just follow the tips and you will never go wrong.

1. Join forums, forums are a great way to achieve links to your website. In most forums you are allowed to have a signature and in your signature you can put a link to your website. But another important note to look on is making sure the forum is somewhat related to your website. You will still get credit if it's not, but if it's related to your website than you will be accomplishing two tasks at once.

You will be advertising for your website (bringing in targeted traffic) You will also be building your websites presence.

Your websites presence is very important to your survival. The more people see, or hear about your website the more credibility you will have and this increases your chances of having these visitors come back and possibly become leads.

2. Submit to search engine directories. Search engine directories are a good way to get a free link to your website. They also increase your chances at being listed higher on popular search engines like Google, and overture.

Most search engine directories allow you to submit to their website for free. This will allow you to increase your web presence by being listed on another search engine, and it will also be a free link.

Remember the more links you have the higher your PR will be

3. Using ezine ads (or newsletters). Creating an ezine will probably be the most beneficial step you can take to increasing your web presence. When you create an ezine you will be able to keep visitors coming back to your website for more by using signatures and giving special deals.

Ezine's will also allow you to increase your back links. By creating an ezine you can submit your information about your ezine to an ezine directory. This directory will than link to your website(thus giving you a free link).

4. Creating and publishing articles. Articles are an easy source of generating new traffic. You can include your signature in your article. This will bring in more traffic from article submission directories.

Your signature usually consists of 4 to 8 lines. Usually the first line would be the title of the website that you are trying to advertise. The last line would be the link to the website and the lines in between these would be a sales pitch to draw your viewers into your website.

5. Links from related websites. Gaining links from related websites can be one of the most frustrating tasks you can attempt.

They are very easy to find, but can be somewhat difficult to obtain links from.

To find related websites, all you have to do is go to a search engine... say Google... and type in your subject. Maybe your website is based on ford mustangs.

You go to Google and type in ford mustangs, than you look around for pages that are somewhat related to your website. After you have done this (which should be very easy) you have to contact them in some way to get your link posted on their website. This can be the most difficult task because a lot of webmasters ignore e-mail's from people requesting links because they don't see the importance of it at the time. Some other reasons could be that they are rarely online, or they delete spam mail and sometimes delete their important emails in the process.

Important note: When looking for link partners don't just link with websites that have a page rank of 4 or higher. Link with anyone and everyone you get a chance to. If you link to someone that has a page rank of zero, this will not hurt your page rank. It will only increase it because you are getting a link back to your website. Google doesn't look at your back links page ranks to determine what yours is going to be. It simply looks at how many back links you have.

So if Google one day decided to link to a website that was just created and this website has a page rank of 0 and has a domain that goes something like this: mywebsite.geocities.com it's page rank wouldn't increase even though Google's page rank is 10, it's rank would still be zero because it would only have that one back link.

SONY PLAYSTATION PORTABLE

The PlayStation Portable (officially abbreviated PSP) is a handheld game console manufactured and marketed by Sony Computer Entertainment. Development of the console was first announced during E3 2003, and it was unveiled on May 11, 2004 at a Sony press conference before E3 2004. The system was released in Japan on December 12, 2004, in North America on March 24, 2005, and in the PAL region on September 1, 2005.

The PlayStation Portable is the first handheld video game console to use an optical disc format, Universal Media Disc (UMD), as its primary storage media. Other distinguishing features of the console include its large viewing screen, robust multi-media capabilities, and connectivity with the PlayStation 3, other PSPs, and the Internet.

Despite the console's considerable computing power and its formidable multimedia capabilities, sales have consistently lagged behind its main competitor, the Nintendo DS. After the release of a remodeled, slimmer, and lighter version of the PlayStation Portable, appropriately titled Slim and Lite, in early September 2007, sales quadrupled in the United Kingdom the following week and increased by nearly 200% in North America for the month of October. Although the PSP has faced very stiff competition from the Nintendo DS, it has been by far the most successful handheld console not manufactured by Nintendo.

Sony first announced development of the PlayStation Portable at a press conference before E3 2003. Although mock-ups of the system were not present at the press conference or E3, Sony did release extensive technical details regarding the new console. Then-CEO of Sony Computer Entertainment Ken Kutaragi called the device the "Walkman of the 21st Century" in a reference to the console's multimedia capabilities. Several gaming websites were impressed by the handheld's computing capabilities and looked forward to the system's potential as a gaming platform.

The first concept images of the PlayStation Portable appeared in November 2003 at the Sony Corporate Strategy Meeting and showed a PSP with flat buttons and no analog stick. Although some expressed concern over the lack of an analog joystick, these fears were allayed when the PSP was officially unveiled at the Sony press conference during E3 2004. In addition to announcing more details about the system and its accessories, Sony also released a list of 99 developer companies that had pledged support for the new handheld. Several PSP game demos, such as Konami's Metal Gear Acid and SCE Studio Liverpool's Wipeout Pure were also shown at the conference.

On October 17, 2004, Sony announced that the PSP would launch in Japan on December 12, 2004 at a price of ¥19,800 (about US$185) for the base model and ¥24,800 (about US$230) for the Value System. The console's launch was a success with over 200,000 units sold the first day.

Sony announced on February 3, 2005, that the PSP would go on sale in North America on March 24, 2005 in one configuration for a MSRP of US$249/CA$299. Some expressed concern over the high price, which was almost US$20 higher than the system's price in Japan and more than $100 higher than the recently launched Nintendo DS. Despite the concerns, the PSP's North American launch was a success, although reports two weeks later indicated that the system was not selling as well as expected despite Sony's claim that 500,000 units had been sold in the first two days.

The PSP was originally to have a simultaneous PAL region and North American launch, but on March 15, 2005, Sony announced that the PAL region launch would be delayed because of high demand for the console in Japan and North America. A month later, on April 25, 2005, Sony announced that the PSP would launch in the PAL region on September 1, 2005 for €249/£179. Sony defended the high price, which was nearly US$100 higher than in North America, by pointing out that North American consumers had to pay local sales taxes and that the GST was higher in the UK than the US. Despite the high price, the console's PAL region launch was a resounding success, selling more than 185,000 units in the UK alone, more than doubling the previous first-day sales record of 87,000 units set by the Nintendo DS. The system also enjoyed great success in other areas of the PAL region with more than 25,000 units preordered in Australia and nearly one million units sold across Europe in the first week.


*At E3 2007, Sony released information that a new version of the PSP would be released in September 2007, for all regions. The redesigned PSP is 33% lighter and 19% thinner than the original PSP. The redesign also features composite TV Output, supports charging via USB, double the onboard RAM (32 MB to 64 MB), and has a brighter screen. It also caches UMD data in memory to decrease game loading times. The WLAN switch has been moved to the top where the old IR receiver was to avoid accidental switching, and the speakers have been moved from the bottom of the screen to nearer the top, to prevent users from accidentally blocking the speakers with their hands.

Sony has included the ability for the operating system, referred to as the System Software, to be updated. The updates can be downloaded directly from the Internet using the Network Update feature, or they can be downloaded from the official PlayStation website to a computer, transferred to a Memory Stick Duo, and subsequently installed on the system. Updates can also be installed from UMD game discs that require the update to run the game.

While system software updates can be used with consoles from any region, Sony recommends only downloading system software updates released for the region corresponding to the system's place of purchase. System software updates have added various features including a web browser, Adobe Flash support, additional codecs for images, audio, and video, PlayStation 3 connectivity, as well as patches against several security exploits, vulnerabilities, and execution of homebrew programs. It is currently at v.3.93

The PSP's version of the XrossMediaBar (pronounced Cross Media Bar and abbreviated XMB) includes six categories of options. These include Settings, Photo, Music, Video, Game, and Network. The PSP has the capability to play photo slideshows and audio and video files stored on a Memory Stick, monitor and save content from RSS channels, and send and receive photos wirelessly with other PSPs while in add-hoc mode. The PSP also includes the ability to customize the appearance of the XMB with different colors, photos, or themes. Although the XMB can be accessed at any time by pressing the Home button, the currently running application will exit before showing the interface (with the exception of a photo slideshow).

Remote Play allows the PSP to access many features of a PlayStation 3 console from a remote location using the PS3's WLAN capabilities, a home network, or the Internet. Features that can be used with Remote Play include viewing photos and slideshows, listening to music, watching videos stored on the PS3's HDD, and several other features. Additionally, Remote Play allows the PS3 to be turned on and off remotely and allows the PSP to control audio playback from the PS3 to a home theater system without having to use a television. Although most of the PS3's cababilities are accessible with Remote Play, playback of DVDs, Blu-ray Discs, most PlayStation 2 and PlayStation 3 games, and copy-protected files stored on the PS3's hard drive is not supported.

In addition to playing PSP games, several PlayStation games have been rereleased and can be downloaded and played on the PSP via emulation. Currently, the only two official ways to access this feature is through the PlayStation Network service for PlayStation 3 or a PC.

Demos for commercial PSP games can be downloaded and booted directly from a Memory Stick. Demos are also sometimes issued in UMD format and mailed out or given to customers at various retail outlets as promotional content.

During E3 2006, Sony Computer Entertainment America announced that the Greatest Hits range of budget titles were to be extended to the PSP system. On July 25, 2006, Sony CEA released the first batch of Greatest Hits titles. The PSP Greatest Hits lineup consist of games that have sold 250,000 copies or more and have been out for nine months. PSP games in this lineup retails for $19.99 each.

Sony Computer Entertainment Europe announced on September 5, 2006, that a number of titles would be available under the Platinum range for €24.99 each in Europe and £19.99 in the UK.

In late April 2005, hackers began to discover the intricacies of the file system used on PSP UMD game discs. By early May 2005, the first "Hello World!" programs had been run on the PSP and the full capabilities of the system began to be opened to the homebrew community. Later exploits have allowed for PSPs using later versions of Sony's firmware to run homebrew applications, and development of new exploits to bypass new restrictions to limit unauthorized programs is ongoing. Utilizing homebrew applications allows for a significant increase in functionality on the PSP, such as FLAC and Ogg Vorbis audio playback, emulation of dozens of different video game systems, and e-book viewing. Since the creation of the Pandora's Battery software by a conglomeration of PSP homebrew developers, any PSP may be hacked to utilize homebrew software, regardless of its firmware version.

* Sony admitted in late 2005 to hiring graffiti artists to spray paint advertisements for the PSP in seven major U.S. cities including New York City, Philadelphia, and San Francisco. The mayor of Philadelphia has filed a cease and desist order and may file a criminal complaint. According to Sony, it is paying businesses and building owners for the right to graffiti their walls.

* In 2006, Sony ran a poster campaign in England. One of the poster designs with the slogan "Take a running jump here" was removed from a Manchester Piccadilly station tram platform due to concerns that it might encourage suicide.

* News spread on in July 2006 of a billboard advertisement released in the Netherlands which depicted a literally white colored woman holding a similarly literally black colored woman by the jaw, saying "PlayStation Portable White is coming." Some found this to be racially charged due to the portrayal of a white woman subjugating a black woman. Two other similar advertisements also existed, one had the two women facing each other on equal footing in fighting stances, while the other had the black woman in a dominant position on top of the white woman. The stated purpose of the advertisements was to contrast the white and black versions of its game console available for sale. These ads were never released in the rest of the world, and were pulled from the Netherlands after the controversy was raised.

* Sony came under scrutiny online in December 2006 for a guerrilla marketing campaign hoping to go viral, for the console, with advertisers masquerading as young bloggers who desperately wanted a PSP. The site was registered to and created by youth marketing company Zipatoni on behalf of Sony before it was taken down. A mirror of the blog can be found here.

HOW TO SPEED UP YOUR INTERNET WINDOWS CONNECTION

One of the most frequently asked questions about Windows is "Why and How" to speed up the Internet connection. What I am going to show you is applicable to Windows Vista and XP.

Step #1 - Optimize Maximum Transmission Unit (MTU) and TCP Receive Windows (RWIN) with SpeedGuide TCP Optimizer

TCP Optimizer is free, and you can download it at SpeedGuide web site, just types "SG TCP Optimizer" into Google or any major search engine, you should be able to find it. It will help you to detect and configure the proper registry settings for your TCP network connection, automatic set the proper value for MTU and RWIN into registry. Remember to restart Windows after this setting.

Step #2 - Turn off TCP Auto tuning

In order for previous settings to activate, you need to turn off TCP auto tuning in Vista:

i) Press Windows key and type " cmd. exe", then CTRL+SHIFT+ENTER to run as Administrator. In the command Window, type " netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=disable", then enter.

ii) If you want to reactivate auto tuning, type " netsh interface tcp set global autotuning=normal".

If you find your Internet connection drop or slower after turning off TCP auto tuning, just reactivate it again.

Step #3 - Use OpenDNS

Your ISP DNS server will affect your Internet connection response, you can try a better and faster DNS server, and OPENDNS is a fast and free DNS server. Unfortunately, some country's connection is too slow to use this service.

Step# 4 - Use Google Web Accelerator (GWA)

Every major web browser will support proxy server, this technology extends by Google web accelerator will establish a tunneling connection between your low bandwidth computer to Google high bandwidth server, and Google will compress the data before sending it over to your web browser, so overall performance increased!

The formula is simple: Google web accelerator downloads the destination page faster with high speed connection, then compressed it with the super fast server processing power before sending it over to your computer, and your low bandwidth connection will be faster because smaller data is sending across, then Google web accelerator on your computer will unpack and send the data to web browser.

Step #5 - Use faster web browser

Try to install a faster web browser from Mozilla Firefox or Apple Safari, they use less resources and generally far more faster than Internet Explorer. You ought to keep Internet Explorer for special web sites, but you can enjoy a faster browsing speed with Firefox and Safari.

This concludes your Windows Internet connection speed problems, if this 5 steps does not help, you need to re-install Windows or contact your ISP!