Control a Mac and PC with one keyboard

If you've got a Mac and PC holding court on your desk while you roll your chair between them trying to get your work done, stop. You're working too hard. Synergy (for Windows and Mac) is a free, open-source application that has come to many a rescue by consolidating the controls of multiple computers on different operating systems to a single keyboard and mouse.
Each computer gets to keep its own monitor, which gives you more visual real estate while slashing hardware clutter. Here's another bonus: you don't have to physically switch between systems anymore, you can can stay put and let your mouse do the walking.
If desk space is no issue, Synergy is going to be a much more freeing solution than a KVM switch, which, in an important reversal, uses only one monitor to control multiple computers, won't let you see data side-by-side, and requires extra hardware. As another perk, Synergy merges your clipboards into one so you can copy and paste among platforms.
Synergy isn't limited to Macs and PCs; it can also work with two or more computers on the same platform, and there's a Linux build, too. Synergy involves a little more setup than your average application, but the results can be well worth it. has plenty of useful tips to get you started.

Rinspeed Squba Car

The submersible Rinspeed sQuba car
www.joernel.blogspot.comBack in 1977, in the James Bond Movie "The Spy Who Loved Me," Roger Moore's agent 007 had a very special Series 1 Lotus Esprit that converted from a sports car to a submarine. The Lotus had propellers and rudders and even a battery of harpoon launchers to help Bond fight off the bad guys. The submarine Lotus was more than just a prop; it did go underwater and the rudder and propellers worked. However, it wasn't actually water-tight, and so a stuntman with Scuba gear operated it inside behind the dark glass. The picture to the right shows a scale model of the submersible Lotus.
Well, now there is a real diving Lotus. Rinspeed, a Swiss tuner and builder of exotic concept cars and other futuristic vehicles built the Rinspeed sQuba, a drivable, divable concept car that really works. Based on a Lotus Elise, the electric-powered sQuba is the brainchild of Rinspeed founder Frank M. Rinderknecht, who never forgot that submersible car from the James Bond movie. “For three decades I have tried to imagine how it might be possible to build a car that can fly under water. Now we have made this dream come true,” Rinderknecht said.
How did they do it? First, there had to be some practical thinking. For example, even though the Lotus Elise is a very small car (only about 150 inches long), the enclosed volume of about 70 cubic feet would have required adding 4,400 pounds of weight. The necessary ballast tanks would have made for a large, bulky vehicle that didn't look anything like a sleek sports car. So Rinspeed decided to build the sQuba as an open vehicle with its passengers using built-in scuba gear while underwater. The car floats on water, then sinks when the doors are opened and water enters the car. However, without passengers it surfaces on its own.
What all did Rinspeed do to make this possible? Well, they removed the combustion engine and replaced it with a variety of electrical motors. For operation on land, the main electric motor makes 73 horsepower and 118 foot-pounds of torque at 4500 rpm. Rinspeed estimates the top speed to be "over 75 mph," but given the weight (less than 2,000 pounds) and power it's probaby over 100 mph. Floating in water, the sQuba uses two propellers in the back, powered by an 800 Watt electric motor each, good for a speed of about four knots. Underwater, propulsion is via two electric 5-horsepower Seabob jet drives that breathe through rotating louvers and expell the water through light but twist-resistant Carbon "nano tubes." That gives the sQuba an underwater speed of about two knots. Power is supplied by rechargeable Lithium Ion batteries. Rinspeed states "the sQuba's filling station is the water reservoir,” referring to the electric hydropower the Swiss are experts in. Operating diving depth is around 33 feet.
When going under, the car's occupants use an integrated air supply system with two gas tanks -- one 15 liters, the other 18 liters -- and Scubapro regulators, specifically Scubapro's classic and very reliable air-balanced G250V second stage. The Scubapro gear and the tanks are mounted behind the passengers.
The sQuba is chuck full of interesting technology, and not only for underwater operation. On land, it uses a laser scanner system to essentially drive itself. For underwater operation, Rinspeed and its partners designed a cockpit and instruments that's inspired by the elegant shape and lines of a Manta Ray. Individual instruments seem to float and have dials that are lined up like lenses. The main control cluster is futuristically lighted and sits behind a protective sheet of glass with a fisheye effect. Controls can be operated even with diving gloves.
How real is the Rinspeed sQuba? Real enough for an impressive video of its operation on land, floating and diving. You can see the movie as well as pictures on. It works. But it's also a concept and not meant for production at all. For that, it'd need a more powerful motor, and the market for diving cars is likely very small. But none of that matters. Concepts are limited only by the imagination. "For three decades I have tried to imagine how it might be possible to build a car that can fly under water," said Frank Rinderknecht. "Now we have made this dream come true.” Very cool.

LAN 'twist' cable

www.joernel.blogspot.com

The standard LAN twist cable, as shown in the picture to the left, satisfies most computer-to-computer connections but there are occasions when this type of interconnection is known to cause network failures.

This is due to the cable not being terminated correctly by either or both LAN adapter interfaces resulting in the cable "ringing". Other known causes are high drive levels of some LAN adapters which then overload the receive circuitry of the adapter it is connected to.
The circuit shown below combats both these issues. It is nothing more than two 6dB (approx) attenuators (one for each leg or path). Attenuators exhibit two fundamental and valuable properties. They offer the cable a reasonable termination point as well as attenuating any reflections that may be present on the line.

If the problem is merely one of overloaded receive circuitry placing a 6dB attenuator in circuit reduces the voltage by 2 (power by 4). As the LAN specification calls for a transmit level of 2Vp-p and a receive sensitivity of greater than 350mVp-p the attenuator will not affect normal drive levels (6dB resulting in 1Vp-p in normal conditions). The attenuator now allows for a maximum of 4Vp-p before any overloading would occur.
If ringing or reflections are the problem, usually caused by a bad termination at the receive end, the attenuator, being resistors, damps any oscillations appearing on the cable. Any reflections caused at the receive end are reduced by 6db before it reaches the transmitter. When reflected back they are again reduced by further 6dB thus our 6db attenuator offers a total 12dB attenuation on any reflections.

These attenuators are easily built into CAT5 junction boxes (as can be seen alongside) or directly into a short LAN cable (ensuring no possible short reducing the reliability of the cable).
The using of this circuit has resulted in the stabilising of a number of problematic LAN connections and implementation is recommended after all normal possible faults have been eliminated (bad connectors etc).
NOTE: Resistors are standard carbon film 1/8 watt or above and values are in ohms. Attenuators of other values or impedance can be calculated with the aid of the attenuator tables found at The diagram to the right shows the numbering of a RJ45 connector (from the left with cable entry to the bottom, pins to the top and facing you).

LAN COLOURS

TIA/EIA 568A ............................ TIA/EIA 568B

Pin Numbers

1 - TX_D1+

2 - TX_D1-

3 - RX_D2+

4 - BI_D3+

5 - BI_D3-

6 - RX_D2-

7 - BI_D4+

8 - BI_D4-

Notes:
LAN cables are generically called UTP (Unshielded Twisted Pair) and are identified with a category rating. When installing new cable, unless there is a very good reason not to, you should be using category 5, 5e or 6 UTP which is rated for both 10 and 100mb LAN operation.Info on Shielded Twisted Pair (STP) cabling.

UTP comes in two forms SOLID or STRANDED. SOLID refers to the fact that each internal conductor is made up of a single (solid!) wire, STRANDED means that each conductor is made up of multiple smaller wires. Stranded cable (which is typically more expensive) has a smaller 'bend- radius' (you can squeeze the cable round tighter corners with lower loss) and due to its flexibility should be used where you plug and unplug the cable frequently. All other things being equal the performance of both types of cable is the same. In general, solid cable is used for backbone wiring and stranded for PC to wall plug (patch) cables. Beware: Each type of wire, solid or stranded, needs its own connector type.

There is NO excuse with all the choice of color cable and other techniques available to-day for not being able to visually spot the difference between at least a straight and a crossed cable before you spend 1 hour fitting the wrong cable into your network. For cheap-skates (which includes us) you can get heat-shrink colour tubing in a slew of colours which you fit on each end of the cable beside the connector to indicate the wiring type and standard instead of using different coloured cables. The advantage of this scheme is that when you change your wiring standard you can just change the sleeve colour - you don't have to rip out the cable.

Disadvantage: You have to remember to put the tubing on BEFORE the connector!
You CAN use 100base-TX wiring with a 10base-T network (but not always the other way round). In general ALWAYS use 100baseTX/T4 wiring standards.
If you are using category 5, 5e or 6 wiring EVERYWHERE you can use the 100base-TX standard (this only uses 2 pairs , 4 conductors). Most of the information below assumes you are using category 5, 5e or 6 cables.

If you are using category 3 or 4 cables with 100M LANs ANYWHERE you MUST use the 100Base-T4 standard and this has ADDITIONAL RESTRICTIONS documented throughout (it uses all 4 pairs, 8 conductors). LAN connections/pinouts are defined by IEEE 802.3u.
Maximum LAN cable runs are 100 meters (~300ft).

We provide a Cabling FAQ. which provides additional information or background.
We have added an article on mixing 100 MB LAN and Telephony. on a single category 5(e) or 5 cable. It can be done but you must be very cautious.

We have updated some of the material for 1000base-T (Gigabit Ethernet 802.3ab) which uses all 4 pairs (8 conductors) and added notes where relevant about Power-over-Ethernet (PoE 802.3af). A copper standard for 10GB Ethernet is being worked on (802.3an) but as of February 2005 the IEEE was still standardizing away.

Tech News

www.joernel.blogspot.com

I actually want this Segway, it's like a mini-tank version for cyber-gladiators to parade out to the arena on, with knobby knuckle wheels that look like they're ripped off the Iron Monger. The RMP's guts are basically the original Segway's on steroids, jacked up to haul 400 lbs of fat cop. The bizarre wheels allow it to smoothly move in any direction, which actually looks kind of freaky in motion. Check out the video of its oddly seductive shimmying after the jump, since you can't afford it: It "might" run $50,000.

Sometimes we come across gadgets that really get us excited! However after we read the specs of said gadgets more closely our little gadget balloons get deflated. Case in point, the Pet's Eye View Digital Camera. This compact digital camera attaches to your your pet's collar and is made of ultra durable water-resistant ABS plastic. Photos are shot at 640x480 resolution at intervals of either 1, 5, or 15 minutes. Sounds great, so what's the catch? According to the product description there's only enough internal memory to hold roughly 35 photos, which means at best you're only going to capture a little over eight hours in the life of your pet before you'll run out of space. (No mention of a memory card slot to add extra memory either, bummer.)

T-Mobile to throttle G1 speed after 1GB a month?

www.joernel.blogspot.com


T-Mobile is warning G1 customers that they could get placed into the slow lane if they use more than 1GB of data in a billing cycle.

Engadget spotted the fine print underneath T-Mobile's G1 page on its Web site trumpeting the arrival of the first phone to run Google's Android software. "If your total data usage in any billing cycle is more than 1GB, your data throughput for the remainder of that cycle may be reduced to 50 kbps or less," the company warned.

Now, that doesn't apply to anything you download or upload over a Wi-Fi connection, and may not be much of an obstacle for some users. But if you're like a few folks inside our office--one of whom has used 187MBs in just the past 24 hours on his iPhone 3G--you're liable to hit that speed bump pretty quick. Downloading almost anything on a 50Kbps connection is going to be extremely frustrating.

T-Mobile might have trouble enforcing this cap, but they appear to be putting it in the contract. It's a confusing move, given the trend among carriers toward all-you-can-eat data plans, but could be a defensive maneuver to protect T-Mobile's young 3G network from being overwhelmed by G1 users.

Vista Installation Guide

Vista Clean Installation

This guide will take you through a clean installation of
Vista Ultimate. This is not overly detailed, but then if you
want advanced details, then you probably are a Power User
and really do not need my guide.

Quick Study

With the DVD in
the drive, power on the system and watch for the
"Press any key to boot from CD or DVD" message
to appear. When it does, strike a key and you'll
see the screen where Vista is loading files.

I really thought
that eventually this splash screen would have a
logo or something to make it a bit more
interesting. Obviously I was wrong. Fancy that.

After a few
moments the Install Windows screen appears where
you select the Language, Time and Currency
format, and Keyboard or Input Method.

This is the main
Install Windows screen where it all starts.
There are a couple of different variations on
this screen depending on system and
configuration, but essentially you simply press
the Install Now button to proceed.

Once again it's
time for the Product Key and talk about
activation. Unlike XP and previous Windows
offerings that stopped dead if you didn't have a
product key, this is no longer the case with
Vista. You aren't required to enter a key at
this point, although there are some strongly
worded cautions about the potential for data
loss if you choose not to enter the key. There
is also a check box to select whether or not
Vista will be automatically activated.

If you chose not
to enter the Product Key in the previous step,
this screen will pop up asking you to confirm
that you do not want to enter the key. The same
warning of potential data loss is present and an
additional warning has been added that you may
need to purchase another edition of Vista if you
continue without entering the key. Pressing [
Yes ] will return you to the screen where the
key can be entered. Selecting [ No ] will take
you to the screen below.

Declining to
enter the product key in the previous step
brings you here where you must select the
edition of Windows that you purchased. The
warning makes it clear that if you select a
version you don't have a key for, you'll either
have to purchase that version or reinstall Vista
and select the proper version. This screen is a
two step process; selecting the appropriate
version and then certifying you have selected
the version of Vista by using the checkbox. Once
those two items have been completed the [ Next ]
button is activated.

Next up is the
Vista license terms. Simple choice; click [ I
accept the license terms ] and the install
continues. If you decide not to check the box
you'll want to make use of that red 'X' in the
upper right hand corner of the screen.

Now it's time to
select the type of installation. Upgrade or
Custom are the choices, but as you can see in
this case Custom is the only option. There are
two items of note. The first is under Custom
where it states you can use this option to make
changes to the disks and partitions. This is
true to a point. You can create and delete
partitions and resize a partition using the
'Extend' command. The second item of note is if
you want to 'Upgrade'. you need to start the
installation from inside Windows.

After the type
of installation has been determined it's time to
decide where to install Vista. As you can see
from the screen capture the options in this
scenario are limited.

There is one 20GB hard
drive available and it's all unallocated space.
If your intention is to allocate the entire
drive to Vista with no additional partitions for
other uses, all you have to do is click on Disk
0 and then click the [ Next ] button. The
installation will continue.

That's the absolute minimum step.
If however you want to partition the drive and
format it (unnecessary at this point, but
possible) then click on 'Drive Options' for
additional choices.

This is an
example of how you could divide up the drive
into separate partitions before continuing the
installation. I used the 'New' option to create
a 10GB partition in the unallocated space. This
will become the primary partition and leave
another 10GB as unallocated space.

This is what it
looks like after the initial 20GB of unallocated
space has been divided. The first 10GB of space
on the drive is now identified as Partition 1
and the second 10GB remains as unallocated
space. If desired you could select the remaining
unallocated space and use the [New] command to
create another partition and either/both can be
formatted using the [Format] command.

Notice that the [ Extend ]
command is also available for use. Clicking it
will allow you to 'extend' Partition 1 into the
unallocated space. Unlike some partitioning
programs that allow you to resize a partition in
two directions (larger/smaller), the 'extend'
command uses the current size of the partition
as the minimum size and allows you to increase
or 'extend' it to include the available
unallocated space.

Once you've
finished up the install location and click [
Next ] it's just a matter of waiting as Vista
goes through the install motions. They are true
to their word on this screen when they say the
system will restart several times.

How long will it take to install
Vista? I've experienced timeframes all over the
spectrum from 30 minutes to over 5 hours, but
for a clean install on a relatively modern
system I'd be surprised if it took over an hour,
and the majority of installs I've done have been
in the 30 - 45 minute range.

Motherboard Types

ATX motherboard


















Athlon CPU with high-end cooling fan

















ATX motherboard with Intel PIII CPU

Upgrading to Windows XP

You can upgrade a computer that runs Windows 98, 98SE, or Me to Windows XP Home Edition. Those same versions, along with Windows NT Workstation 4.0 and Windows 2000 Professional, can be upgraded to Windows XP Professional.(1).To ensure a smooth upgrade and avoid networking problems, follow these tips before starting the upgrade:
(2)Install all network cards. XP will detect them and automatically install the right drivers.
(3)Have your Internet connection available. The XP setup process will connect to a Microsoft server to download the latest setup files, including changes that have been made since XP was released.
Some programs are incompatible with XP and can cause networking problems. Un-install these programs. After the upgrade is complete and the network is working, re-install XP-compatible versions of these programs: Internet Connection Sharing, NAT, Proxy Server Anti-Virus Firewall.