Apple iphone 4G Price, Features & Specification

As it appears, the new iPhone's industrial design will depart from the tapered look of the two iPhone iterations that it will supercede. The seamless, curved, tapered surfaces that made iPhone 3G and 3GS look undeniably svelte will be replaced with a more boxy, industrial, utilitarian form factor that hints that of the iMac, Mac Mini and the iPad.

What's new with iPhone 4G aside from how it looks?


Last month, we reported that the 4th generation iPhone will be dubbed iPhone HD -- pointing to the fact that it will have a high-resolution screen. Well, I'm glad to report that that detail is pretty accurate -- if Gizmodo's initial disclosure of iPhone 4G specifications is to be believed.

Here's What's New and What's Changed in iPhone 4G (vs. iPhone 3GS) according to Gizmodo (via source link):

What's new
• Front-facing camera for video chat
• Improved regular back-camera (with larger lens) with Camera flash
• Supports Micro-SIM instead of standard SIM (like the iPad)
• Improved display - It's unclear if it's the 960x460 display thrown around before—it certainly looks like it, with the "Connect to iTunes" screen displaying much higher resolution than on a 3GS.
• What looks to be a secondary mic for noise cancellation, at the top, next to the headphone jack
• Split buttons for volume
• Power, mute, and volume buttons are all metallic



What's changed
• The back is entirely flat, made of either glass (more likely) or ceramic or shiny plastic in order for the cell signal to poke through. Tapping on the back makes a more hollow and higher pitched sound compared to tapping on the glass on the front/screen, but that could just be the orientation of components inside making for a different sound
• An aluminum border going completely around the outside
• Slightly smaller screen than the 3GS (but seemingly higher resolution)
• Everything is more squared off
• 3 grams heavier
• 16% Larger battery
• Internals components are shrunken, miniaturized and reduced to make room for the larger battery




Apple iPhone 4G Review

After the most popularity of Apple iPhone 3GS, Apple back soon with its new iphone its Apple iPhone 4G. Its really a good looking and a pack of updated features.
It is worth noting that this new iPhone should clearly provide features new and radically different generations of iPhone that it has known so far.

New specifications are as follows:
  • Frontal camera.
  • The camera lens is clearly superior to the iPhone 3GS.
  • The camera equipped with a flash.
  • Micro-Sim link of current SIM cards (as in iPad).
  • Improvement of iPhone 3GS higher display resolution, 960 x 460 pixels figures are advanced.
  • The presence of a second microphone that would negate outside noise communication.
  • The volume keys are in two parts in the form of metal buttons.
  • The back of the prototype is entirely flat in a matter as glass.
There is no doubt that it is of an iPhone because is recognized by iTunes XCode and profile system but it seems to work on a slightly different system firmware 4.0. In addition, it has a different product from that of the iPhone 3 G and 3GS ID and legal notices located on the rear hull seem correct.

In all likelihood, Apple would have disabled remotely this lost iPhone 4 G prototype. Nevertheless, nevertheless that a large number of changes are visible to the naked eye on this prototype.

Firstly, this iPhone seems lighter than iPhone 3GS with smaller internal components and a larger battery (16% wider). Then, a front camera is indeed this while the camera has a flash and a better lens on iPhone 3GS.

It seems that the screen has a higher resolution on previous iPhone models. Gizmodo indicates the screen indicating connect iPhone to iTunes seems much better quality (perhaps is it a screen resolution of 960 x 460 pixels).

Volume control buttons have been split and are metal. Just as the button for the silencer as well as for the button is turned.

A second microphone is present, presumably for reduced the ambient noise of a telephone call.
The back seems ceramic, as rumours it left open or perhaps glass. Finally, the slot for the SIM also changed because it is suitable for micro-SIM cards like the iPad. In addition, this slot is located on the right side of the smartphone.

The person who found this iPhone before entrusted it to Gizmodo, ensures that it worked under firmware 4.0 before Apple disables it remotely.

Furthermore, this prototype was in a cover as we can find for the iPhone 3 G and 3GS dozens.
Finally, the internal components are hit brand Apple, which is no doubt about its origin.

Price and availability

The Phone 4 is available in black or white since June 24, and will cost $199 and $299 for 16 and 32GB if you are a new user or you are eligible for an upgrade.

If you are an existing iPhone user, the early upgrade will cost you $399 and $499. Without contract, the iPhone 4 is $599 and $699. In India, expected for Rs. 32,000-40,000.





Simple Ways to Speed Up Your Computer

Over time, the speed of computers with Microsoft Windows can decrease. This appears as the system taking more time to respond to a user’s actions like opening files, folders, surfing the Internet and other tasks. However, there are things you can do to speed up your computer.

The following is a list of ways you can improve your computer's performance. These steps are intended to be used in order. The key is to do the simplest and least invasive thing first until your system starts responding better.

Golden Rule: Do No Harm

If you want to improve the speed of your computer, that’s great. However, above all, do no harm and beyond the scope of this Windows forum, ask for help from those you know if you get in over your head. Remember: you have time. You can stop most processes I discuss without causing harm. Caution and common sense go a long way when working with computers; problems are often much easier to fix than they appear.

Steps to Speed Up Your Computer’s Performance

1. Make Sure Your Hardware is Sufficient

Above and beyond everything you can do with software to optimize the function of your computer, making sure you have the proper hardware to support Windows is critical.

2. Clean Your Desktop

Is your Windows Desktop dotted with files? Have you noticed that your computer has been running slower and slower? Do you see the hard drive light often flashing while you wait for the computer to respond to an action? There are steps you can take to fix it. Read this article.

3. Scan Your Windows System for Errors

An operating system is a collection of files that perform different functions. It is possible, over time, that one or more of these system files has changed or become corrupted. If this happens, the speed of your system may decrease. By using a utility called “System File Checking”, it will inspect these files and correct any problem it finds.

4. Scan for Viruses, Spyware and Adware

Every Windows computer is vulnerable to viruses. Viruses are nasty little programs that cause both major and minor problems for users.
Spyware and Adware are programs created by companies to find out more information about customers, so they can better market products to them. Usually these programs are not created for malicious purposes. Spyware and Adware can load into computer memory and slow it down.
Periodically scanning and removal of Viruses, Spyware and Adware is a great way to improve computer performance.

5. Uninstall Unused Programs

Over time, you may have accumulated programs on your computer that you do not use. When a program is installed, it creates connections between the program and the operating system. Even if you don’t use these programs, they can slow down your system. If you have the original program’s installation disk or file, removing programs will free up space on your computer and may speed up your system's performance.

6. Adjust Visual Effects for Better Performance

Windows provides a number of interesting visual effects including animated windows and fading menus. If you do not have enough operating memory (see above number 1), these effects can slow down your computer. Adjusting or reducing visual effects can make a difference.
To speed up Vista computers in particular you can disable features and function that are not used.

7. Don’t Automatically Start Programs

Programs use operating memory (RAM, also called system resources). Unless you always use these programs, you can keep them from loading at Windows startup and speed both the booting of your computer and its performance.

8. Defragment Your Hard Drive (After you have tried everything else)

The more information and programs you have on your computer, the more it is likely that Windows has placed parts of the same file in different locations on your hard drive. It may do this for hundreds of files and programs, depending on how much space is available. Defragmenting the hard drive places all information for each file in one place. The result can be a faster computer experience.

Important Note: Before you even try this, backup all your work onto a different computer, hard drive, CD or disk. Also, you should only do this if you have a reliable source of power for your computer. Doing this when there is a brown out or power problem in the neighborhood, is not a good idea. If a computer turns off while it is defragmenting a drive, it will create more problems than not defragmenting it in the first place.

9. Reinstall the Operating System and Programs

If you have done all the above steps and your computer does not become more responsive, you might consider reinstalling the operating system and programs. This is a scorched earth option - basically you backup all your data and user settings, wipe your hard drive clean and re-install the operating system with your original disks. Next, install all your favorite programs and restore all your data and user settings.

The nice thing about doing this is that you essentially have a new computer, free of years worth of software and registry changes, additions and errors that can turn a fast rabbit of a Windows computer into a slow turtle. The bad thing about this choice is that it takes time and planning to do it correctly. If your PC is 3 to 4 years old and continues to run slower than it did when you purchased it, this might be the only action that will make a significant difference.

Google is God..

 » PROOF #1
Google is the closest thing to an Omniscient (all-knowing) entity in existence, which can be scientifically verified. She indexes over 9.5 billion WebPages, which is more than any other search engine on the web today. Not only is Google the closest known entity to being Omniscient, but She also sorts through this vast amount of knowledge using Her patented PageRank technology, organizing said data and making it easily accessible to us mere mortals.

» PROOF #2
Google is everywhere at once (Omnipresent). Google is virtually everywhere on earth at the same time. Billions of indexed WebPages hosted from every corner of the earth. With the proliferation of Wi-Fi networks, one will eventually be able to access Google from anywhere on earth, truly making Her an omnipresent entity.

» PROOF #3
Google answers prayers. One can pray to Google by doing a search for whatever question or problem is plaguing them. As an example, you can quickly find information on alternative cancer treatments, ways to improve your health, new and innovative medical discoveries and generally anything that resembles a typical prayer. Ask Google and She will show you the way, but showing you is all She can do, for you must help yourself from that point on.


» PROOF #4

Google is potentially immortal. She cannot be considered a physical being such as ourselves. Her Algorithms are spread out across many servers; if any of which were taken down or damaged, another would undoubtedly take its place. Google can theoretically last forever.

» PROOF #5
Google is infinite. The Internet can theoretically grow forever, and Google will forever index its infinite growth.


» PROOF #6
 Google remembers all. Google caches WebPages regularly and stores them on its massive servers. In fact, by uploading your thoughts and opinions to the internet, you will forever live on in Google's cache, even after you die, in a sort of "Google Afterlife".


» PROOF #7

Google can "do no evil" (Omnibenevolent). Part of Google's corporate philosophy is the belief that a company can make money without being evil.

» PROOF #8

According to Google trends, the term "Google" is searched for more than the terms "God", "Hinduism", "Jesus", "Allah", "Buddha", "Christianity", "Islam", "Buddhism" and "Judaism" combined.
God is thought to be an entity in which we mortals can turn to when in a time of need. Google clearly fulfils this to a much larger degree than traditional "gods", as shown in the image below (click to enlarge).

» PROOF #9
Evidence of Google's existence is abundant. There is more evidence for the existence of Google than any other God worshiped today. Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. If seeing is believing, then surf over to www.google.com and experience for yourself Google's awesome power. No faith required. :)

Linux Directory Structure (File System Structure) Explained with Examples

Have you wondered why certain programs are located under /bin, or /sbin, or /usr/bin, or /usr/sbin?

For example, less command is located under /usr/bin directory. Why not /bin, or /sbin, or /usr/sbin? What is the different between all these directories?


In this article, let us review the Linux file-system structures and understand the meaning of individual high-level directories.




1. / – Root

  • Every single file and directory starts from the root directory.
  • Only root user has write privilege under this directory.
  • Please note that /root is root user’s home directory, which is not same as /.

2. /bin – User Binaries

  • Contains binary executables.
  • Common linux commands you need to use in single-user modes are located under this directory.
  • Commands used by all the users of the system are located here.
  • For example: ps, ls, ping, grep, cp.

3. /sbin – System Binaries

  • Just like /bin, /sbin also contains binary executables.
  • But, the linux commands located under this directory are used typically by system aministrator, for system maintenance purpose.
  • For example: iptables, reboot, fdisk, ifconfig, swapon

4. /etc – Configuration Files

  • Contains configuration files required by all programs.
  • This also contains startup and shutdown shell scripts used to start/stop individual programs.
  • For example: /etc/resolv.conf, /etc/logrotate.conf

5. /dev – Device Files

  • Contains device files.
  • These include terminal devices, usb, or any device attached to the system.
  • For example: /dev/tty1, /dev/usbmon0

6. /proc – Process Information

  • Contains information about system process.
  • This is a pseudo filesystem contains information about running process. For example: /proc/{pid} directory contains information about the process with that particular pid.
  • This is a virtual filesystem with text information about system resources. For example: /proc/uptime

7. /var – Variable Files

  • var stands for variable files.
  • Content of the files that are expected to grow can be found under this directory.
  • This includes — system log files (/var/log); packages and database files (/var/lib); emails (/var/mail); print queues (/var/spool); lock files (/var/lock); temp files needed across reboots (/var/tmp);

8. /tmp – Temporary Files

  • Directory that contains temporary files created by system and users.
  • Files under this directory are deleted when system is rebooted.

9. /usr – User Programs

  • Contains binaries, libraries, documentation, and source-code for second level programs.
  • /usr/bin contains binary files for user programs. If you can’t find a user binary under /bin, look under /usr/bin. For example: at, awk, cc, less, scp
  • /usr/sbin contains binary files for system administrators. If you can’t find a system binary under /sbin, look under /usr/sbin. For example: atd, cron, sshd, useradd, userdel
  • /usr/lib contains libraries for /usr/bin and /usr/sbin
  • /usr/local contains users programs that you install from source. For example, when you install apache from source, it goes under /usr/local/apache2

10. /home – Home Directories

  • Home directories for all users to store their personal files.
  • For example: /home/john, /home/nikita

11. /boot – Boot Loader Files

  • Contains boot loader related files.
  • Kernel initrd, vmlinux, grub files are located under /boot
  • For example: initrd.img-2.6.32-24-generic, vmlinuz-2.6.32-24-generic

12. /lib – System Libraries

  • Contains library files that supports the binaries located under /bin and /sbin
  • Library filenames are either ld* or lib*.so.*
  • For example: ld-2.11.1.so, libncurses.so.5.7

13. /opt – Optional add-on Applications

  • opt stands for optional.
  • Contains add-on applications from individual vendors.
  • add-on applications should be installed under either /opt/ or /opt/ sub-directory.

14. /mnt – Mount Directory

  • Temporary mount directory where sysadmins can mount filesystems.

15. /media – Removable Media Devices

  • Temporary mount directory for removable devices.
  • For examples, /media/cdrom for CD-ROM; /media/floppy for floppy drives; /media/cdrecorder for CD writer

16. /srv – Service Data

  • srv stands for service.
  • Contains server specific services related data.
  • For example, /srv/cvs contains CVS related data.

Internet 101: Beginners Quick Reference Guide


A 'Cheat Sheet' for Online Beginners

The Internet is a worldwide free broadcast medium for the layperson.  Using your PC, Mac, smartphone, Xbox, movie player, and GPS, you can access a vast world of messaging and useful content through the Net.

The Net has subnetworks.  The biggest subnetwork is the World Wide Web, comprised of HTML pages and hyperlinks. Other subnetworks are email, instant messaging, P2P (peer-to-peer) file sharing, and FTP downloading.

Below is a quick reference to help fill in your knowledge gaps, and get you participating in the Net and the Web quickly.  All of these About.com references can be printed, and are free for you to use thanks to our advertisers.

1. How Is the 'Internet' Different from the 'Web'?

The Internet, or 'Net', stands for Interconnection of Computer Networks.  It is a massive conglomeration of millions of computers and smartphone devices, all connected by wires and wireless signals. Although it started in the 1960's as a military experiment in communication, the Net evolved into a public free broadcast forum in the 70's and 80's. No single authority owns or controls the Internet.  No single set of laws governs its content.  You connect to the Internet through a private Internet service provider, a public Wi-Fi network, or through your office's network. 

In 1989, a large subset of the Internet was launched: the World Wide Web.  The 'Web' is a massive collection of HTML pages that transmits through the Internet's hardware.  You will hear the expressions 'Web 1.0', 'Web 2.0', and 'the Invisible Web' to describe these billions of web pages.

The expressions 'Web' and 'Internet' are used interchangeably by the layperson. This is technically incorrect, as the Web is contained by the Internet. In practice, however, most people don't bother with the distinction.

2. What Is 'Web 1.0', 'Web 2.0', and 'the Invisible Web'?

Web 1.0: When the World Wide Web was launched in 1989 by Tim Berners-Lee, it was comprised of just text and simple graphics.  Effectively a collection of electronic brochures, the Web was organized as a simple broadcast-receive format.  We call this simple static format 'Web 1.0'.  Today, millions of web pages are still quite static, and the term Web 1.0 still applies.

Web 2.0: In the late 1990's, the Web started to go beyond static content, and began offering interactive services.  Instead of just web pages as brochures, the Web began to offer online software where people could perform tasks and receive consumer-type services.  Online banking, video gaming, dating services, stocks tracking, financial planning, graphics editing, home videos, webmail... all of these became regular online Web offerings before the year 2000.  These online services are now referred to as 'Web 2.0'.  Names like Facebook, Flickr, Lavalife, eBay, Digg, and Gmail helped to make Web 2.0 a part of our daily lives.

The Invisible Web is a third part of World Wide Web.  Technically a subset of Web 2.0, the Invisible Web describes those billions of web pages that are purposely hidden from regular search engines.  These invisible web pages are private-confidential pages  (e.g. personal email, personal banking statements), and web pages generated by specialized databases (e.g. job postings in Cleveland or Seville).   Invisible Web pages are either hidden completely from your casual eyes, or require special search engines to locate. 

3. Internet Terms that Beginners Should Learn

There are some technical terms that beginners should learn.  While some Internet technology can be very complex and intimidating, the fundamentals of understanding the Net are quite doable. Some of the basic terms to learn include:
  • HTML and http/https
  • Browser
  • URL
  • ISP
  • Downloading
  • Malware
  • Router
  • E-commerce
  • Bookmark.
4. Web Browsers: the Software of Reading Web Pages

Your browser is your primary tool for reading web pages and exploring the larger Internet. Internet Explorer (IE), Firefox, Chrome, Safari... these are the big names in browser software, and each of them offers good features.  Read more about web browsers here:
  • How to clear your browser cache.
  • How plug-ins work, and where to get them.
  • Your downloaded movie doesn't have a picture? Fix it here.
5. Mobile Internet: Smartphones and Laptops

Laptops, netbooks, and smartphones are the devices we use to surf the Net as we travel. Riding on the bus, sitting in a coffee shop, at the library, in an airport... mobile Internet is a revolutionary convenience. But becoming mobile Internet-enabled does require some basic knowledge of hardware and networking. Definitely consider the following tutorials to get you started:
  • What wireless Internet service choices do I have?
  • How to select a wireless network.
  • How to find a wireless hotspot.
  • How to use wireless in a hotel.
6. Email: How It Works

Email is a massive subnetwork inside the Internet.  We trade written messages, along with file attachments, through email. While it can suck away your time, email does provide the business value of maintaining a paper trail for conversations.   If you are new to email, definitely consider some of these tutorials:

7. Instant Messaging: Faster than Email

Instant messaging, or "IM", is a combination of chat and email. Although often considered a distraction at corporate offices, IM can be a very useful communication tool for both business and social purposes.  For those people that use IM, it can be an excellent communication tool.
  • What Is IM?
  • How Does Instant Messaging Work?
  • Where Do I Get Good IM Software?

8. Social Networking

"Social Networking" is about starting and maintaining friendship communications through websites. It is the modern digital form of socializing, done through web pages. Users will choose one or more online services that specialize in groupwide-communications, and then gather their friends there to exchange daily greetings and regular messages. Although not the same as face-to-face communications, social networking is immensely popular because it is easy, playful, and quite motivating. Social networking sites can be general, or focused on hobby interests like movies and music.
  • What is Facebook?
  • What is Twitter?
  • What is MySpace?
  • What is LinkedIn?
9. The Strange Language and Acronyms of Internet Messaging

The world of Internet culture, and Internet messaging, is truly confusing at first. In part influenced by gamers and hobby hackers, conduct expectations do exist on the Net. Also: language and jargon are prevalent. With the help of TechProceed.com, perhaps the culture and language of digital life will be less daunting...

10. The Best Search Engines for Beginners

With thousands of web pages and files added everyday, the internet and the web are daunting to search. While catalogs like Google and Yahoo! help, what's even more important is the user mindset... how to approach sifting through billions of possible choices to find what you need. 

A Comprehensive Guide to Sharing Your Data Across Multi-Booting Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs


A Comprehensive Guide to Sharing Your Data Across Multi-Booting Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs 


We're platform agnostic at Lifehacker, which is why we love dual- and triple-booting our computers. Unfortunately sharing data between operating systems can be a huge headache. Here's how to stay organized by keeping it all in one place.

There's nothing more annoying than booting into OS X only to realize you need access to some files on your un-readable Linux partition; or Windows; or any combination thereof. The more operating systems we put on one computer, the more our data can get scattered around different partitions that we can't read or write from other OSes. With the right drivers and a bit of organization, though, you can keep all your data in one central location, and read and write that data from any OS under the sun.

Of course, not everyone triple-boots their system, so I've divided this guide into easily scannable sections, so you can skip right to the sections that apply to your machine (i.e., if you don't have OS X, you won't need to know how to read HFS volumes, nor will you need any drivers for OS X).

Part One: Sharing Drives Between Operating Systems

One of the biggest roadblocks to making your data available through each OS are all the different filesystems each one uses. OS X uses HFS+ and can't write to NTFS drives; Windows uses NTFS and ignores pretty much everything else, and Linux has support for nearly everything (albeit with some serious hassle caused by stingy UNIX permissions). Thus, before you do anything else, you'll need to install the correct drivers in each OS for reading and writing to other filesystems. Here are the best choices we've found in each situation.
Note: while it's very likely that your OS X partition is HFS+ and your Windows partition is NTFS, your Linux partition could be any number of filesystems. Unfortunately, Ext4 (which is becoming the new standard) still isn't supported in most third-party Ext drivers. For the most part, the drivers in this guide will work with Ext3 and Ext2 formatted Linux drives only. If your drive is Ext4, you may have to clone your Linux partition, using an Ext3-formatted drive as the destination.

Accessing Mac and Linux Drives in Windows

Reading and writing to Linux drives is easy in Windows, but there aren't any free, read/write drivers for Windows, so you'll have to compromise somewhere. Here are your options.

For Mac Volumes

To install the Boot Camp drivers, just insert the Snow Leopard install disc into your Mac and install the drivers when prompted. If you're on a Hackintosh, you won't get this option, since the disc won't recognize your computer as a Mac. To install the HFS drivers on a Hackintosh, you can use this installer instead.


A Comprehensive Guide to Sharing Your Data Across Multi-Booting Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs

Unfortunately, these drives are read-only. If you absolutely have to write to your HFS partition, the only way to do so is to spring for either Paragon's $40 HFS+ for Windows 8 or Mediafour's $50 MacDrive 8. It isn't cheap, but sadly it's the only read/write option currently available.

For Linux Volumes

A Comprehensive Guide to Sharing Your Data Across Multi-Booting Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs
 
Luckily, there is a relatively pain-free Ext2/Ext3 driver for Windows called Ext2Fsd. Just download it and install it like a normal Windows program. When you get to the "Select Additional Tasks" stage, check all the necessary boxes for your setup (I chose to check all three). Once you're done, however, you'll get this error message:

A Comprehensive Guide to Sharing Your Data Across Multi-Booting Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs

To fix it, navigate to Ext2Fsd's install location (C:\Program Files\Ext2Fsd by default), right click on Ext2Mgr,exe, hit Properties, and check the "Run as Administrator" box under Compatibility. Then, double click on it to set up your drive. Double click on your Ext3 drive, click the Mount Points button, hit Add, and select a drive letter for your drive. I chose to create a permanent mount point for the drive so it's always mounted. You can choose whatever you want at this stage. Once you're done, you should be able to browse your Linux drive from Windows Explorer just as you would any other drive.

A Comprehensive Guide to Sharing Your Data Across Multi-Booting Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs 

Accessing Windows and Linux Drives in Mac OS X

A Comprehensive Guide to Sharing Your Data Across Multi-Booting Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs

With the free, open-source utility MacFuse, you can enable support for Windows and Linux drives very easily in OS X. All it takes is a few simple installer packages. Before you install the drivers themselves, you'll need to install MacFuse. Then, install either (or both) of the drivers below depending on your needs.

For Windows Volumes

While Mac OS X can read NTFS partitions out of the box, you can't actually write to them. If you need both read and write support, you can install the NTFS-3G driver after installing MacFuse. Just head over to their homepage, download the software, and double-click on the package to install. When prompted, I chose to use UBLIO caching during the installation process, since my NTFS partition is on an internal drive and is unlikely to be unintentionally disconnected. When you reboot, you should have full write support.


A Comprehensive Guide to Sharing Your Data Across Multi-Booting Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs

Note that their homepage is a bit confusing—the people who work on NTFS-3G also develop a driver called Tuxera NTFS for Mac, which is not what you want (unless you feel like paying $30 for slightly better performance, in which case go for it). Make sure you're downloading "NTFS-3G for Mac OS X" before you install. You may have to scroll down the blog to find a post containing the latest download. It isn't the most well-organized homepage.

For Linux Volumes

 

A Comprehensive Guide to Sharing Your Data Across Multi-Booting Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs
 
To get Ext3 and Ext2 support in OS X, just download the Fuse-ext2 driver from this Sourceforge page and install the package. When you reboot, you should have read access to your Linux drive.

A Comprehensive Guide to Sharing Your Data Across Multi-Booting Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs 


While the drive does support reading and writing, it's set as read-only by default. You can enable it by tweaking a configuration file, but I will note that while many have had success with this method in Snow Leopard, it keeps throwing me an error when I try to write to the drive, so your mileage may vary. To make OS X mount the drive as read/write, just navigate to /System/Library/Filesystems/. Right-click on the fuse-ext2.fs file and hit "Show Package Contents." Then, drag fuse-ext2.util to the desktop, right-click on it, and hit "Open With", choosing TextEdit when prompted.


Use Cmd+F to find the line that says OPTIONS="auto_xattr,defer_permissions" near the middle of the file. Add ,rw+ to that line inside the quotes, so it reads:

OPTIONS=auto_xattr,defer_permissions,rw+"

When you reboot, the drive should be mounted as read/write. Note once again that write support is a bit buggy in this driver, so just be wary.

Accessing Windows and Mac Drives in Linux

Most Linux distros come with full NTFS support built-in, as well as read support for HFS+. So, you only need to do anything extra in Linux if you want to write to Mac-formatted drives.

For Mac Volumes

A Comprehensive Guide to Sharing Your Data Across Multi-Booting Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs
 

By default, Mac OS X formats volumes in journaled HFS+ volumes. Journaling is a feature that improves data reliability, and unfortunately it makes HFS drives read-only in Linux. To disable journaling, just boot into OS X and fire up Disk Utility. Click on your HFS partition, hold the Option key, and click File in the menu bar. A new option to Disable Journaling will come up in the menu. Click that, and reboot into Linux. You should have read and write access to your HFS partition—however, the permissions on your Mac user's home folder will prevent you from reading or writing those files. See Part Two below to fix that problem.

Part Two: Putting All Your Data in One Place

This part is optional, but I've found that using one home folder to store all my data (and linking to that home folder in the other two OSes) makes life a lot easier, especially since a few of the drivers listed above aren't quite perfect. Plus, by putting all my data in one place, I can keep my music libraries synced together, pause torrent downloading in one OS and resume it in another, and so on.


A Comprehensive Guide to Sharing Your Data Across Multi-Booting Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs


First, pick which OSes home folder you want to use for this—I like to use OS X's home folder—and follow the instructions below to use it across OSes. Depending on your needs, you may choose to store all your data in your Windows or Linux home folder. The best way to decide which to use is by which OSes you use the most—since I barely use Windows (and thus didn't feel like paying $40 for a read/write driver), I used my OS X partition as my main data dump, since it's easy for Linux to read and write to it. The main idea is to not use a partition that has bad write support in an OS you use often—so, if you're a heavy OS X user, you wouldn't want to put all your data on your Linux partition, since the OS X driver isn't so great. Similarly, if you use Windows often, you wouldn't want to put it all on your OS X partition (unless you want to pay $40 for MacDrive). Think about which partition would be most convenient for you and go with it—after all, you can always move your data later if you so choose.

Making Mac and Linux Home Folders Play Nicely with One Another

The great thing about OS X and Linux is that they are both UNIX-based operating systems, so they work pretty well together if you can get everything set up correctly. When you create a user in either operating system, it gives you a User ID number. OS X starts these numbers in the 500s, while Linux usually starts in the thousands. This is problematic because a different "user" owns your home folder in OS X than owns your home folder in Linux. As such, Linux will deny you access to your OS X home folder, since you don't have the right permissions to access it.


A Comprehensive Guide to Sharing Your Data Across Multi-Booting Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs

There's an easy fix, however—we just need to change our UID in one OS so that it matches the UID in the other. Unless you have a reason for choosing otherwise, we're going to change our Linux UID to match our OS X one, since it's a bit easier. By default, the first user in OS X has a UID of 501, but you can double check this by going into System Preferences in OS X, right-clicking on your user, and hitting Advanced Options. If your User ID is something different from 501, replace 501 with your other UID in the terminal commands below.

Boot into Linux (we're using Ubuntu in this example) and fire up the Terminal. First, we're going to add a temporary user, since we don't want to edit a user that we're currently logged into. So, run the following commands int he Terminal, hitting Enter after each one:

sudo useradd -d /home/tempuser -m -s /bin/bash -G admin tempuser

sudo passwd tempuser

Type in a new password for the temporary user when prompted. Reboot and login as tempuser. Then, open up the Terminal and type in the following commands, once again hitting enter after each one (and replacing yourusername with your Linux user's username):

sudo usermod --uid 501 yourusername

sudo chown -R 501:yourusername ~/

This will change your Linux user's UID to 501 and fix your home folder permissions so that you still own them. Now, you should be able to read and write to both your Mac and Linux user's home folder, no matter what OS you're logged into.

You may also want to fix your login screen, since by default Ubuntu won't list users with a UID of less than 1000. To do this, just open a Terminal and run gksudo gedit /etc/login.defs and search for UID_MIN in the text file. Change that value from 1000 to 501, and when you reboot your user will be listed in the login screen.

A Comprehensive Guide to Sharing Your Data Across Multi-Booting Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs

Lastly, log back in as your normal user and run sudo userdel -r tempuser to delete the temporary user we created earlier.

If you like, you can create symlinks in one of your home folders that point to your main home folder for quick access. For example, since I use my OS X home folder as my main data dump, my Linux home folder is mostly empty. So, I created symlinks in my Linux home folder for Documents, Videos, Pictures, etc. that point to the equivalent folders on my Mac partition. You can do this by using the following Terminal command:

ln -s /path/to/linked/folder /path/to/symlink/

If you're using your Linux home folder as the main one, you can use this same command to create symlinks that link to your Linux home folder instead.

Note that if you're using your Mac partition as the main home folder, you'll probably also want to automatically mount it in Linux when you start up. You can do this by adding a line to the end of /etc/fstab. This will vary from person to person, but mine looks like this:

/dev/sda3 /media/Data auto rw,user,auto 0 0

Where /dev/sda3 is the location of the partition containing the home folder and media/Data is the path I want to use to navigate to it.

Using Libraries in Windows 7

A Comprehensive Guide to Sharing Your Data Across Multi-Booting Windows, Mac, and Linux PCs 

Since Windows doesn't support UNIX permissions, you won't need to mess with them at all—you should be able to read and write to your Mac and Linux home folders without a problem (as long as you have the correct drivers installed). To make them easier to access, we can use Windows 7's awesome Libraries feature, which allows your Documents, Videos, Pictures, and other "libraries" to link to multiple folders on your drive, so you can access the files stored in your main home folder from shortcuts in the Windows Explorer sidebar (and in many applications).

To add those folders to each library, open up Windows Explorer. Right click on a Library (say, Documents), and hit Properties. Hit the "Include a folder" button and navigate to the Documents folder in your main home folder. Hit Include, and you should see it show up in the list. You can even click on it and hit "Set Save Location" to set it as the default save location for the types of files Windows associates with that Library. Repeat this for your other libraries and you're all set on the Windows front.


Now, I just make sure all my applications point to the same directories in each OS. For example, I have Amarok watching my iTunes folder for new files, so when I add music to my iTunes library, it will show up automatically in Amarok (similarly, I can add newly download music to iTunes' "Add Automatically to iTunes" folder for it to automatically show up in both Amarok and iTunes). I tell my torrent downloader in each OS to download new torrents to the same location, so if I want to leave Linux and continue downloading a torrent in OS X, I can just reboot, add the torrent to Transmission's queue, and it will pick up right where I left off in Linux. This way, you don't need to use space-limited solutions like Dropbox (as awesome as they are for inter-computer syncing) to sync your data—it's just always there. There are, of course, other ways to do this, but this is the way I have it set up. How do you share your data between multiple operating systems? Share your favorite strategies in the comments.

Is Online Banking Safe ?

Online banking allows people to undertake traditional banking activities, like account transfers, payment of bills and requests for stopping payments, via the Internet. Customers can also keep tabs on the account balance from the comfort of their home. In this day and age, online banking has become an indispensable facility for people who are hard pressed for time and find it difficult, if not impossible, to reschedule their busy lives for the sake of making a few withdrawals and deposits. However, there are a few issues that have to be borne in mind in order to avoid being cyber scammed.

Is Online Banking Safe - How Safe is Online Banking?



This question often torments the customer who appreciates the facility of online banking but has a few misgivings about online banking security. An online bank account is accessed with the help of a username and a password. On divulging this information to an impostor, the customer ceases to have control over the online account. The username and the password can be obtained by a trickster in one of the following ways:


Phishing: Phishing is the attempt to acquire potentially sensitive information via email, instant messages, cell phones or through fraudulent websites and social networking websites. Generally, a link spoofing the authentic bank website is sent via email, by scammers, to unsuspecting customers forcing the latter to divulge confidential information like username and password.


Malicious Software: Internet address redirection, which results in redirecting customers to a copycat website that closely resembles the original site, occurs when a malicious software has sneaked into the computer. Hackers may also use a malware program such as keylogger, that allows them to monitor the key strokes. The username and the password can thus be obtained surreptitiously.


Weak Wireless Network Security: Most people who access the Internet from their home, are not tech savvy. They may inadvertently allow others to access their wireless network and retrieve confidential information.


Safe Online Banking Practices


Using Virtual Keyboards: Banks provide the option of using the virtual keyboard as a measure to counteract keylogging malware. The customer should always use the virtual keyboard instead of the physical keyboard.


URL Beginning with "https://": The website's URL should begin with "https://" rather than "http://" since the former allows the user to log in by creating a secure channel over an unsecured network.


Safe Access: One should avoid accessing the online bank account from public computers. One should also avoid accessing the account via a public WiFi from one's laptop. Moreover, a home network ensures safe and secured online banking services.


Choosing a Strong Password: A strong password, that is at least 8 characters long and uses a combination of upper and lower case letters, number and symbols, is ideal.


Choosing Security Questions: Most bank sites allow the user to choose security questions and answers in addition to the username and password. One will be forced to answer this question in case one is accessing the account from a different/unrecognized computer. This provides additional security.


Thwarting Phishing: One should avoid logging into one's account via a link that has been received in an incoming email requesting a change of username or password. This may help ward off phishing.


The above measures may help us answer in the affirmative to the question, 'Is online banking safe'. In addition to these measures, one should remember that not all banks operating on the Internet are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). FDIC insured banks guarantee deposits less than $100,000. Many banks, that are chartered overseas, are not FDIC insured. To determine whether a bank is FDIC insured, the customer should visit the FDIC website.