Windows 8 Branded PCs Could Prevent Other Operating Systems From Being Installed

“Secure Boot” is a new Windows 8 technology that’s required of OEM computers if they are to feature the Windows 8 Compatibility Logo. It’s designed to protect against malware at the boot level by preventing ‘unauthorised’ code from launching during system boot. However it’s been revealed that it may also prevent non Windows 8 operating systems – such as Linux – from being able to install or run.

How Does It Work?

Newer PCs are increasingly using a replacement for the old BIOS called UEFI (Unified Extensible Firmware Interface). It’s a technology that’s been built into Apple Macs for years now, but basically it allows for faster boot and more efficient hardware access by the operating system. It’s also the main reason OSX is difficult to install on PCs, so if you have any hackintosh experience you’ll know about having to run an EFI emulation.

The UEFI specification contains a firmware validation method, which works by defining certificate keys for which boot code is ‘secure’ and therefore allowed to run during boot. Microsoft supplies these keys to manufacturers, who include it on their machines, and only boot code which has a corresponding secure key is allowed to boot.

Basically this prevents malware from launching at a boot level, so it’s potentially mitigated a large number of security threats. The problem with malware that runs at the boot level is that it’s very difficult for regular anti-malware to protect against or remove, as by the time the anti-malware app has loaded (after windows boot), it’s already there.

Unfortunately, with Secure Boot enabled, you’ll also be prevented from launching any boot code for which for the machine doesn’t have the appropriate certificate keys. Now, it is entirely possible for other organisations to provide secure keys to manufacturers – like a set of keys for Ubuntu for example – but manufacturers are under absolutely no obligation to incorporate these; and without them, the other OS just won’t install or boot.

So is it time to say goodbye to installing another OS?

Microsoft’s Response

In response to the concerns that this might prevent other operating systems from being installed, Microsoft has stated that secure boot is optional, and can be turned off from within the pre-boot setup screen. Here’s a screenshot from the MSDN Windows 8 blog post on the topic, clearly showing it’s optional on the Windows-8 based Samsung tablet that was offered to //BUILD/ participants where Windows 8 was first demoed.

So, End Of Story?

Not entirely it would seem. As Matthew Garret notes:

Windows 8 certification does not require that the user be able to disable UEFI secure boot, and we’ve already been informed by hardware vendors that some hardware will not have this option.

That’s right – although some manufacturers may choose to make the Secure Boot setting optional and therefore able to be disabled by the user – gaining certifications for Windows 8 compatibility does not require it, and some have explicitly stated it will not be optional on their machines (though there are no details on precisely which manufacturers have stated this yet).

Microsoft has thrown the ball to the manufacturers court, and it could go either way. The PC business is incredibly competitive, so getting that Windows logo is all important, that’s a given. On the one hand, manufacturers will be keen to offer the best computing experience to the majority of their customers and if that means mitigating yet another security threat (and the inevitable support calls they need to deal with boot-level malware), then they’ll go for it. Other operating systems can still be run, if they provide certificate keys and if the manufacturers agree to include them. On the other hand, I suspect a real PR backlash will be forthcoming against any PC makers that do decide to force Secure Boot onto the user, so it may be a non-issue in the end.

What Can You Do About It?

The Free Software Foundation is running a petition encouraging computer makers to support Secure Boot in a way which ensures the user has control – specifically, the option to turn it off entirely. Be sure to head over and sign now if you’re at all interested in consumer freedoms and the right to run alternative operating systems on your own PC.

How to use Bluetooth technology to connect laptop and cell phone?

We can use Bluetooth technology to connect laptop and cell phone. We can move videos, images, photos etc from  desktop computer or a laptop to our cell phones. In order to use Bluetooth technology to connect laptop and cell phone we need a laptop and a cell phone which support this technology. Trywebhosting

If the laptop doesn't support it, we can use a USB Bluetooth dongle.  Just plug it into the USB port of the desktop computer or laptop. Leave the rest to Microsoft Windows. It will find the driver and install it itself.  If it is not supported, we can manually install it via the manufacturer's compact disk. Follow these simple steps in order to use Bluetooth technology to connect laptop and cell phone: (In this example, we are using Windows Vista.)

 Turn on the Bluetooth feature on your cell phone.

 Make this setting:  my Phone's visibility -> Shown to all on the cell phone.

Open Bluetooth Devices by clicking on its icon in the Control Panel.

OR

Look for the Bluetooth driver in the Device Manager and double-click on its icon.

Click on the Add button in Bluetooth Devices dialog box.

Check the box for "My devices is set up and ready to be found" in the Add Bluetooth Device Wizard dialog box.

Click on the Next button.

This device wizard will display the name of the found Bluetooth device close by.

Click on the device name that you would like to add and click on Next.

Select "Let me choose my own key" or "Choose a passkey for me" and click on Next.

It will now display the passkey. Key this into the cell phone. Now the laptop is initiating to install the Bluetooth device. (Click Yes as you see the prompt message on the cell phone to allow connection with the laptop.)

Click on the Finish button to close the dialog box of Add Bluetooth Device Wizard.

The Bluetooth device (the cell phone) is now displayed in Bluetooth Devices dialog box. Select the Bluetooth device and click on the Properties button.

The Properties dialog box for the device will become visible. Choose the Services tab.

Check the boxes for the services you want.

In the end you can launch the items of the cell phone.  Transfer photos, videos etc to cell phone via Bluetooth technology.

This method can also be used to connect laptop to Bluetooth devices like Bluetooth mouse, Bluetooth keyboard, Bluetooth headset, etc.

Make Your Windows PC Looks Like Mac

Everybody Knows About Mac OS. And Also Want To Use It. So Here Is A Tutorial How To Make Your Windows Xp/7/Vista Look Like Mac Without Any Risk.

It Not Change Full Operating System To Mac, This Is Only Theme And Some Effects That Very Similar To Mac. So Don't Hesitate To Try It. You Can Get Back To Windows Anytime.

Now Follow The All Steps Carefully And See What Happen !

Step 1. Download This File - All Files That We Need Are In The File.

http://www.largeptc.com/MacFiles(MaherHackers.com).zip

=> Now Extract The Files To Anywhere In Your Pc. <=

Step 2 : Open Rocketdock Folder And Install RocketDock-v1.3.5.exe.

After Install Rocketdock Do The Following : 

1. Copy The Folder Stardocklet To C:\Program Files\RocketDock\Docklets
2. Copy The Folder Nabs osx leopard To C:\Program Files\RocketDock\Skins
3. After Copy It To Skin Folder, Open Nabs osx leopard Folder And Copy indicator.png To C:\Program Files\RocketDock\Defaults\DefaultIndicator

Step 3 : Open Replacer.zip From Apps Folder And Extract It To Desktop (Or Anywhere Else). - Little Difficult Part For Newbies !

• Now Open Replacer.cmd And Go To C:\Windows\system32 And Find uxtheme.dll
• Drag The uxtheme.dll File From C:\Windows\system32 To Replacer.cmd And Press Enter.
• Now immediately Go To Apps Folder ( In Extracted Files) And Find uxtheme.dll
• Drag This uxtheme.dll To Replacer.cmd Again And Press Enter.
• When Replacer.cmd Ask Y Or N Press Y And Press Enter. It's Done.

Now The Difficult Part Is Over.

Step 4 : Theme Installation - Its Very Easy !

• Now Open Mac Theme For Windows Folder From Extracted Files.
• Copy Leopard X.theme And X Folder To C:\WINDOWS\Resources\Themes.
• Double Click On Leopard X.theme And Click Apply And Then Ok.

Now Your PC Is Changing To Mac But We Need Some Customization To Get It Completely Look Like Mac.

=> Now Go To Desktop And Right Click On Any Empty Space And Go To Arrange Icons By And Uncheck Show Desktop Icons.
If You Not Understand It Click Here To See Image : Uncheck Show Desktop Icons Image

=> Right Click on Taskbar and untick Lock Taskbar and Pull Taskbar to Top of the Screen and Again Right Click on Taskbar and tick Lock Taskbar.

If You Not Understand It Click Here To See Image : Change Taskbar Position Image

=> Now Open Rocketdock, Right Click On It And Set Screen Position To Bottom.
=> Now Right Click On Rocketdock Again And Click On Add Item And Select Stack Doclet And Open It And Change Settings As You Like.

Nokia's Flexible Display

Nokia's Flexible Display

Nokia's Flexible touch screen

Nokia being one of the incredible brand introducing new technologies recently have introduce Amazing new Flexible touch screen called the Nokia Kinetic Device.Nokia keep on moving ahead in the world of high tech communications.With this new screen you can bend the device from the middle or from around the edges of phone.

The Bending is not only the feature of the phone, Nokia has optimized the bending of the phone to the user interface, creating a nice and classical experience while bending controls the device.Users can zoom in and out from the device while bending it from the middle and they can scroll down while bending from the edges.

 The great advantage over this feature is that capacitive touch screens don't allow user to use  phone without using the phone with hands, for instance user can not use the phone while wearing the gloves, but this feature in the phone allows to fully use the phone and take the best out of it without any hindrance.


The features of device  redefines the all the possibilities of mobile phone, and  leads the world to new creativities and innovations.

HTC's Ladies phone "Rhyme"

HTC's Ladies phone "Rhyme"

Latest phone for ladies HTC RHYME 
     

 This new phone mixed up with all the garnishes which make this phone a perfect experience for female mobile users.The phone is Android 2.3 device with 3.7 Inch screen and a powerfull 1GHz Scorpion processor, Adreno 205 GPU, Qualcomm MSM8255 chipset.
the things that make  make a phone for ladeis are a very good battery timing .this phone gives u about 2 days timing and it has a 1600 mAh battery.
apart from these feature there is a light up charm indicator connected with this phone which soothes you with its simple light which blinks up on phone calls , text message ,alarm etc.

this phone carries all the styling looks wich which carries up personality of a girl.so i were a girl would have grabbed this phone instantly.this phone is out  up in market with priced at 545$ USD.The inbuilt memory capacity is 4GB on board storage and expand up-to 32GB microSD.
the phone also offers a battery charging stand which is completely suitable when u are at rest.the all features girls need lies in the phone.thanks to htc for lisning to girls and creating new user interface for girls.

Top 10 Key Information Technology Trends For 2012

Top 10 Key Information Technology Trends For 2012

October 31st, 2011 | by Anil | At the Gartner Symposium IT/Expo, David Cappuccio, managing vice president and chief of research for the Infrastructure teams with Gartner, said the Top 10 Trends show how IT is changing in that many of them in the past been outside the traditional purview of IT, but they will all affect how IT does its job in the future.
The Top 10 Trends and their impact, briefly include:
1 The evolution of virtualization: Cappuccio says virtualization will ultimately drive more companies to treat IT like a business. The danger during the next few years will be in following a specific vendor’s vision, though it is unlikely that any one vendor’s vision will prevail. Users should have their own visions of architecture control, and build toward it with a constantly updated strategic plan.
2 Big data, patterns and analytics: Unstructured data will grow some 80% over the course of the next five years, creating a huge IT challenge. Technologies such as in-line deduplication, automated tiering of data to get the most efficient usage patterns per kilowatt, and flash or solid-state drives for higher-end performance optimization, will increase in importance over the next few years, Cappuccio said. Analytics and other systems to monitor for recurring data patterns that could develop  into money making applications will also be important.
3. Energy efficiency and monitoring: The power issue has moved up the food corporate food chain, Cappuccio said.  Nascent tools are beginning to roll out that can use analytic tools to watch power usage on a variety of levels.  With the increased attention given to power consumption, it has become apparent that many systems are highly underutilized. At low utilization levels, they use a high percentage of their total energy draw. An average x86 server that is turned on, but idle, will draw upward of 65% of its nameplate wattage, for example.  IT organizations need a clear inventory of what compute resources are doing and what workloads there is the potential for significant waste of energy.
4. Context aware apps: The big question here how to do something smart to take advantage of smartphones.  Gartner has in the past said context-based computing will go beyond the business intelligence applications and truly make a unified communications environment possible by  bringing together data culled from social networks and mobile-devices.
5. Staff retention and retraining: Here the idea is developing a plan to get people excited about their jobs enough to stay.  And we’ll need is as starting in 2011 an average of 10,000 baby boomers will be eligible to retire every day for the next 19 years, Cappuccio said. Loyalty to one company is not a quality found in new workers.
6. Social networks:  Affordable and accessible technology has let individuals and  communities come together in a new way – with a collective voice – to make statements about our organizations, the products/services we deliver and how we deliver them, Cappuccio said. The collective is made up of individuals, groups, communities, mobs, markets and firms that shape the direction of society and business. The collective is not new, but technology has made it more powerful -and enabled change to happen more rapidly Cappuccio said. The collective is just beginning to have an impact on business operations and strategies but most organizations do not have a plan for enabling or embracing it.  Ignoring social networking is not an option, Cappuccio said.
7. Consumerization: The key trend here is the fact that new application types will be developed to address mobile users but they won’t be desktop replacement applications.  Still,  a secure, well-defined strategy needs to be put into place to take advantage of this development, Cappuccio said.
8. Compute per square foot:  Virtualization is one of the most critical components being used to increase densities and vertically scale data centers. If used wisely, average server performance can move from today’s paltry 7% to 12% average to 40% to 50%, yielding huge benefits in floor space and energy savings.  Two issues that need to be considered going forward are the number of cores per server — four- and eight-core systems are becoming common, and 16 cores will be common within two years –  and overall data center energy trends. IT will also have to address things like performance/licensing, Cappuccio said
 9. Cloud computing: While cost is a potential benefit for small companies, the biggest benefits of cloud computing are built-in elasticity and scalability. As certain IT functions industrialize and become less customized, such as email, there are more possibilities for larger organizations to benefit from cloud computing, according to Cappuccio.
 10. Fabrics: Gartner defines this infrastructure convergence as: The vertical integration of server, storage, and network systems and components with element-level management software that lays the foundation to optimize shared data center resources efficiently and dynamically. Systems put forth so far by Cisco and HP will unify network control but are not there yet.

TECHNICAL CONCEPTS FOR STUDENTS INTERESTED IN KNOWING SOMETHING IN SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY.