5 Steps to Stop Thinking Too Much

5 Steps to Stop Thinking Too Much: "Generally, we should think before we speak or act but sometimes we think so much that we fail to speak or act at all (paralysis by analysis) and allow that thinking to breed anxiety. This article will offer some advice to help you know when it is time to stop thinking and move on."

What You See Isn't Always What You Get

What You See Isn't Always What You Get: "

The many uses of 'Green Screen' also known as 'ChromaKey.'

Video By~Stargate Studios
http://www.stargatefilms.com/page.php?section=4&page=427
Music By~Nara by ES Posthumus

Green Screen ChromaKey Studio Actors Filming Hollywood Movies TV Shows Colour-Separation Overlay Technique Mixing

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Awesome flying drawbridge

Awesome flying drawbridge: "

This thing is called the 'Slauerhoffbrug,' and it lives in Leeuwarden in the Netherlands. The road section is lifted on a single massive counterbalanced arm up to 90 degrees in the air. There's a good photo gallery, including aerial views, over on frozenly.com. [via Neatorama]

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Read more articles in Transportation |


Digg this!"

How Nuclear Power Works

How Nuclear Power Works: "U.S. Department of Energy officials confirmed that they will soon announce new loans that should boost the country's nuclear power industry, which hasn't built a new plant for at least 30 years. What are the pros and cons of nuclear power?

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Open source became big business in 2009

Open source became big business in 2009: "Open source has always been an important sideshow for software vendors, but in 2009 it became the main event thanks to Google."

More attacks expected on Facebook, Twitter in 2010

More attacks expected on Facebook, Twitter in 2010: "McAfee Labs 2010 Threat Predictions report warns of increased attacks on social networks, as well as Adobe Reader and Google's Chrome OS."

Nokia considers developing its own laptop

Nokia considers developing its own laptop: "

Will the laptop and smartphone converge in the future? Nokia is lending more credence to that idea, with the company's comments yesterday that it may develop its own laptop. In an interview with Finnish broadcaster YLE, Nokia CEO Olli-Pekka Kallasvuo said his company was "looking very actively" at the laptop market.

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10 top iPhone apps for IT pros

10 top iPhone apps for IT pros: "

While the frivolous iPhone apps usually get most of the media attention (yes, there really are over 175 apps that can produce rude bodily noises), there are quite a few apps that can help you do your job as an IT worker. While less notorious, they are worth your time to download and check out.

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Never a Year Like '09 By JibJAb

Try JibJab Sendables® eCards today!

India firms 'count Facebook cost'

India firms 'count Facebook cost': "Indian firms are losing productivity because office staff spend too long on social networking sites, a survey says."

How To Get High Google Page Rank And Start Making Money Online Posted By: Annette Lode

How To Get High Google Page Rank And Start Making Money Online Posted By: Annette Lode: "Everyone desires to make money online on the Internet but it is not so many a times and it is all a process which requires time and patience. It is evident that Google attracts most of the traffic on the internet with MSN and Yahoo close in pursuit. There is no bypassing hard work and patience, climbing the ladder is all based on keywords that will attract high traffic. Targeting key words that don't have much competition is a good way to set out. To attract more visitors to your website what you can do is update the information on a daily basis. This will help improve your Google page rank. Google assesses the originality and importance of a website according to the content present on the pages, it is known as the Google page rank system ... make money online, make money fast, high Google page rank, backlinks

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2009 marked another bad year for IT security

2009 marked another bad year for IT security: "

Long-time readers know of my annual tradition of reviewing the improvements (or really, the lack of improvements) in the IT security world over the past year. This year had its share of good stats tempered by a hefty dose of stark reality.

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Exploding the myths of web design

Exploding the myths of web design: "Everyone knows it, so it must be true, right? Wrong! Craig Grannell talks to industry figures to uncover some major misconceptions in web design and development

Continues...

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AI aims to solve in-game chatter

AI aims to solve in-game chatter: "Prize-winning 'chatbot' technology is being used in an attempt to solve one of 'the last uncracked problems' in games design."

2009 marked another bad year for IT security

2009 marked another bad year for IT security: "

Long-time readers know of my annual tradition of reviewing the improvements (or really, the lack of improvements) in the IT security world over the past year. This year had its share of good stats tempered by a hefty dose of stark reality.

"

The 15 Most Influential Games of the Decade

The 15 Most Influential Games of the Decade: "Whether crafted out of elaborate, immersive worlds or built upon the simplest of ideas, these videogames made their mark on the '00s.

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Chrome OS - is the world prepared?

Chrome OS - is the world prepared?: "So, was it worth the wait?Google has given us the merest peak at what Chrome OS is going to offer the user and straight away that it's apparent that the talk of how Google would have the clout to take on...

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Microsoft Security Essentials Ranks as Best-Performing Free Antivirus [Antivirus]

Microsoft Security Essentials Ranks as Best-Performing Free Antivirus [Antivirus]: "

Anti-malware testing group AV-Comparatives.org not only gave Microsoft Security Essentials a top rating for malware removal, but now they've given it their best ranking in their performance test as well.

AV-Comparatives.org ran a series of real-world tests running through common scenarios like downloading, extracting, copying, and encoding files, installing and launching applications, and they also ran through an automated testing suite as well. Once the dust had settled, it became clear that not only is MSE one of only three products that both blocks and removes malware well, but it's also very light on system resources.

Out of all the products tested, Microsoft Security Essentials was the best-performing free antivirus solution, and one of only two that received 'very fast' on each of the real-world tests, earning it their top award: an 'advanced+' ranking. We've been telling you for a while that you don't need to pay for Windows security, and now with MSE ranked alongside the top paid apps in both malware removal and performance, you might want to consider making the switch.

Hit the AV-Comparatives link for the full report in PDF form, or check out the PC Mag story for the overview—if you can deal with some irritating in-text ads.

Performance Tests [AV-Comparatives]
AV-Comparatives Rates Anti-Malware Performance [PC Mag via @edbott]

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You Mess With Nature, Nature Will Mess With You Right Back [Nature]

You Mess With Nature, Nature Will Mess With You Right Back [Nature]: "

Here is a photo of a videographer getting taken down by an eagle. This is basically the plot of Avatar completely summed up, made for considerably less than $250 million. [Reddit via The Daily What]

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Stem cell therapy restores British man's eyesight

Stem cell therapy restores British man's eyesight: "

Russell Turnbull, now 38, lost almost all the sight in his right eye after trying to break up a fight and being sprayed with ammonia 15 years ago. The result for him was what's known as Limbal Stem Cell Deficiency, which caused him great pain, the need for therapeutic treatment, and economic dependency. Good news for Russell is that he can put all that behind him now, after becoming one of the first recipients of a new stem cell grafting procedure, whereby healthy tissue from his left eye was implanted into his right and -- just like a video game medpack -- restored his vision to normal. For the moment, this treatment is limited to patients with at least one healthy eye, but given the pluripotent nature of stem cells, it is hoped that tissue from elsewhere in the body could one day be used to regenerate damaged parts, such as the cornea in this case. You may find further enlightenment in the video after the break.

Continue reading Stem cell therapy restores British man's eyesight

Stem cell therapy restores British man's eyesight originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 23 Dec 2009 04:27:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Firefox 3.5 passes IE7 as most popular web browser

Firefox 3.5 passes IE7 as most popular web browser: "

Filed under: Microsoft, Mozilla, Browsers

We've all been watching the browser share trends for quite some time now, wondering when the day would come that an alternative finally shoved Internet Explorer off its perch.



It's finally happened - at least when we're talking about the most popular single version of a browser. You can see it all in the bar graph above: Firefox 3.5 has dethroned Internet Explorer 7.



Yes, we can all see the other two lengthy bars below IE7. Add them up, and it still means Internet Explorer (6,7, and 8 combined) is more popular overall. Still, for anything to overtake IE anywhere is pretty dang impressive.



We've still got 10 days left in 2009 to see where things wind up, but there's no denying that this has been a good year for Mozilla.



[via TheNextWeb]

Firefox 3.5 passes IE7 as most popular web browser originally appeared on Download Squad on Mon, 21 Dec 2009 09:04:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft - Internet Explorer - Firefox 3.5 - Internet Explorer 7 - Web browser"

15 Biggest Internet Controversies of the Past Decade

15 Biggest Internet Controversies of the Past Decade: "

The Internet has been a breeding ground for controversy from the start. Part of this is a result of the fact that the Internet is the great neutralizer; it empowers everyone to have a voice.

As the first decade of the new millennium ends, let’s examine some of the most infamous and scandalous events that started, happened, and/or escalated on the web.

If we missed something, tell us in the comments and let’s have the last great Internet controversy of this decade.

1. Climategate

When hackers gained access to a server used by the Climatic Research Unit at the University of East Anglia, they leaked over a thousand emails and other documents that call into question much of the data that has been used to support climate change models and predictions.

This controversy is still ongoing, with one side calling it a smear campaign, and the other, asserting that it shows collusion among scientists to manipulate data. Some have even begun to contend the validity of man-induced climate change.

The situation challenges the reputation of the scientific community as a whole, and whether this is an isolated incident or rampant practice among all fields of science.

More coverage of the controversy:

• Climatic Research Unit E-mail Hacking Incident – Wikipedia


• Climategate Computer Codes are the Real Story – Pajamas Media

2. The Great Firewall of China

Censorship has always been a hot button issue in society. China is probably the most notorious country to practice strict online censorship garnering the moniker, "The Great Firewall of China".

Other sites have cropped up to try to get around the censorship and provide access to blocked sites. There are also sites that let you test whether your site is blocked.

Censored material includes sites that incite Chinese citizens to resist or break their constitution, criticism of laws or regulations of the Chinese government, sexually suggestive material, talk about gambling and violence, and more.

The censorship has come under fire from governments around the world. President Obama has openly criticized China’s censorship programs. The biggest event that brought the situation to light occurred during the recent Beijing Olympics, where foreign journalists’ ability to report freely was blighted.

More coverage of the controversy:

• The Great Firewall of China – BusinessWeek


• Opera Plugs Hole in Great Firewall of China – The Register


• Slipping Over the Great Firewall of China – The New York Times

3. Amazon removes sales rankings of gay and lesbian books

In the spring of 2009, a number of authors and site users were outraged when they learned that Amazon had stripped the sales rankings of thousands of gay and lesbian oriented books on their site. This meant that books aimed at gays and lesbians would not be able to show up on Amazon’s search.

The issue was proclaimed as a technical error that affected more than 57,000 books in other categories. Amazon issued an apology and restored the sales rankings.

More coverage of the controversy:

• Amazon Follies – Mark R. Probst


• Amazon Error Removes Gay, Health Books from Search – Wall Street Journal


• Why is Amazon Removing the Sales Rankings from Gay, Lesbian Books? – Jezebel

4. Google Street View invades privacy

Google Street View takes photos while driving through various towns and cities around the world, creating an alternate view within Google Maps.

via Google Sightseeing

That also means they’re snapping photos of people, often on their private property, and sometimes in not-so-flattering situations. While so far Google has prevailed in lawsuits targeting the service, it does raise a number of interesting privacy issues.

More coverage of the controversy:

• All-Seeing Google Street View Prompts Privacy Fears – Times Online


• Google Zooms In Too Close for Some – The New York Times


• Swiss Say Google’s Street View is Too Revealing – The New York Times

5. Google Books indexing copyrighted material

When Google announced in 2004 that they wanted to index the content of millions of copyrighted books from university libraries as part of the Google Books project, publishers and authors took to protesting the decision by claiming copyright infringement.

In 2005, a group of publishers and authors, including Penguin and McGraw-Hill, sued Google over the project. A settlement was reached where users will be able to purchase out-of-print books in digital format through Google or access them in subscribed libraries and universities. The settlement has been given preliminary approval, though final approval is still pending.

More coverage of the controversy:

• Google Settles Books Lawsuit – The Washington Times


• Publishers Battle Google Book Index – Boston.com

6. The Net Neutrality debate

The prevalence of Net Neutrality is a big concern to people who use the Internet. In the U.S., net neutrality is practiced universally though there are no laws in place to guarantee that it remains that way. Nothing prevents Internet Service Providers (ISPs) from charging consumers different rates based on the sites they visit or the services they use.

via Looking Glass News

There have been five different bills in the U.S. Congress over the past few years, and heavy lobbying by corporations on both sides of the debate. So far, no laws have been passed regarding net neutrality.

For the most part, many technology bloggers and other sites have come out in favor of protecting net neutrality.

Full disclosure: the loss of net neutrality affects websites such as the one you’re reading now. Help us by reading up on the issue and being proactive in voting for government representatives that support your rights to a free Internet.

More coverage of the controversy:

• Network Neutrality in the United States – Wikipedia


• Save the Internet – Coalition in favor of net neutrality


• The Net @ Risk – Moyers on America, PBS


• We Are The Web – Another coalition in support of net neutrality


• U.S. as Traffic Cop in Web Fight – Wall Street Journal


• McCain Moves to Block FCC Net Neutrality – PCWorld


• Facebook and Twitter Founders Join Net Neutrality Wars – Wall Street Journal


• The Net Neutrality Debate All On One Page – TechCrunch

7. Internet Service Providers throttle bandwidth consumption

Bandwidth throttling is a common practice among some ISPs to restrict excessive consumption of service resources, specifically when they’re using file-sharing services. ISPs proclaim that it helps ensure all their customers have reasonable bandwidth access, but critics assert that it’s unethical and unfair to consumers that have to pay the same price for less service.

More coverage of the controversy:

• Google Launches Tools to Test for Bandwidth Throttling – Sitepoint


• Comcast to Throttle Biggest Bandwidth Hogs – PCWorld


• 5 Questions About Comcast’s New Bandwidth Throttling Plan – GigaOm

8. The Digg Revolt

In 2007, Digg users posted the encryption keys for HD-DVD. Digg took the keys down on advice from their legal team. Digg’s users revolted, posting links to the codes and voting them up to the front page.

In the end, Digg listened to its users, stating they’d rather do what their users wanted, even if it meant the site would be shut down.

• Digg Suffers User Revolt – Wikinews


• Digg Surrenders to Mob – TechCrunch


• Looking Back on the Digg Revolt – The Huffington Post

9. Pedophiles on MySpace

MySpace has long been popular with teenagers. Underage children use the social networking site to share photos, post videos, and document their events in their lives. At one point of MySpace’s existence, adolescent users could make their profiles public, accessible to anyone.

Parents, and those concerned with child welfare, were outraged when incidents emerged of adults preying on young users of the social networking site. As a response, MySpace took measures to protect users under the age of 16 by making site adjustments such as restricting anonymous viewing of their user profiles and blocking unknown users from sending them messages.

While the problem won’t be resolved completely, MySpace has taken a more proactive role in ensuring the safety of its younger participants. Of course, MySpace is not the only social networking site out there that is experiencing this problem.

More coverage of the controversy:

• Why Parents Must Mind MySpace – MSNBC


• Parents Fear MySpace is Playground for Pedophiles – Dallas Morning News


• MySpace Predator Caught by Code – Wired

10. Prostitutes on Craigslist

Craigslist has an adult services category that allows users to solicit adult-oriented services from site users. It’s really no surprise that prostitution rings conducting illegal activities would eventually take advantage of the favorable situation of anonymity on the web. It has made the job of cops so hard that some have sued the site for being the largest source of prostitution.

Though Craigslist’s purpose for the category is well-intentioned, promoting free speech and a fostering an open-minded community, the Internet is the biggest magnet of unscrupulous characters, and it was only a matter of time before the situation would escalate into the eyes of mainstream media.

More coverage of the controversy:

• As Prostitutes Turn to Craigslist, Law Takes Notice – The New York Times


• 7 Charged in Alleged Prostitution Ring on Craigslist – CNN


• Judge: Craigslist Not Liable for Prostitution Ads – CNET

11. Filesharing gets hammered down for copyrighted materials

Online file sharing has been happening since the early days of the Internet. But 2000 brought the first major lawsuit and take-down of a file-sharing service. Napster was sued by the RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) for facilitating the transfer of copyrighted material in December 1999, and was finally shut down in July 2001.

Other popular P2P services have suffered similar fates. The Pirate Bay, a torrent-indexing site, has been involved in a number of lawsuits. The site’s servers were raided by Swedish police in 2006.

In 2009, Fredrik Neij, Gottfrid Svartholm, Carl Lundstrom and Peter Sunde were all found guilty of "assistance to copyright infringement" in Swedish courts and sentenced to a year in prison and a fine of over $3.6 million.

More coverage of the controversy:

• Judge Expands on Napster Shut Down Order – CNET News


• Napster Judge Calls for Major Copyright Reform – Wired


• Pirate Bay Trial: The Hottest Ticket in Stockholm – Wired

12. Protesters use social networks during Iran elections

Iran’s election protesters and demonstrators took to Twitter and other social networking sites in the wake of the 2009 election to organize themselves and garner support for their cause. Though the situation precipitated out of the web, it was escalated and brought to mass media attention via the Internet.

More coverage of the controversy:

• Iran Elections: A Twitter Revolution? – The Washington Post


• Iran Protests: Twitter, the Medium of the Movement – TIME


• Iranian Election – The Huffington Post

13. Facebook’s Privacy Policy changes

In February 2009, Facebook altered their Terms of Service to allow them to use and retain any content posted to user accounts indefinitely and without limitation, claiming ownership of its user’s content once it’s uploaded to their site even after a user’s account is deleted.

Unsurprisingly, this caused quite a stir among users. Others formed groups on the site itself, calling for the ToS to be reverted back.

Facebook asserts that they never intended for the change to be that far-reaching, and that it was a misinterpretation of the new terms.

Users weren’t buying it, and in the end, Facebook changed the ToS back to the original version, and has seen sought user input before implementing changes.

More coverage of the controversy:

• Facebook Changes Terms of Service to Control More User Data – CNET


• Changes to Facebook Terms of Service Outrage Users – Mlive.com


• Facebook Yields to User Outrage, Reverts to Old Terms of Service – Macworld

14. Facebook deems breastfeeding as offensive

Facebook has a strong policy against what they term "obscene" content, something most parents would embrace. But many mothers went crazy when photos of breastfeeding moms were removed from the site due to the policy of censoring obscene content. It sparked boycotts, user groups, and even a protest (a "nurse-in") at Facebook’s headquarters. The most popular group, "Hey Facebook, breastfeeding is not obscene!" has nearly 250,000 members.

Facebook wouldn’t budge on the policy.

More coverage of the controversy:

• Breastfeeding Protest Over Facebook Policy – ZDNet


• Facebook Won’t Budge on Breastfeeding Photos – The New York Times


• Facebook Nudity Policy Angers Nursing Moms – MSNBC

15. Blogger, Dooce, gets fired for blogging about work

In 2002, Heather Armstrong, aka Dooce (also the name of her blog), was fired for blogging about the company she worked for and some of her coworkers in a less-than-flattering manner. She’s possibly the first person ever fired for blogging, and definitely one of the most well known. There’s even a term that spawned from her experience: dooced (which means to lose one’s job because of one’s website according to Urban Dictionary).

Since being fired, she’s turned Dooce into the sole source of income for her family. She was even named as one of the most powerful women in media by Forbes. The site still drums up plenty of controversy, as her posts are brutally honest.

More coverage of the controversy:

• 7 People Fired for Blogging – Mental_Floss


• About Dooce – Dooce.com


• Dooce’s Dilemma – Forbes

Conclusion

It’s unlikely the Internet will ever be controversy-free. And would we really want it to be? Many Internet users enjoy (at least in part) the controversy that is so prevalent on the web. We all have a chance to be heard, whether it’s in matters of global importance or the latest celebrity gossip.

If we missed something, tell us in the comments and let’s have the last great Internet controversy of this decade.

Related Content

• 10 Revealing Infographics about the Web


• The History of the Internet in a Nutshell


• The History of Web Browsers


• Related categories: Resources and Web Development

About the Author

Cameron Chapman is a professional web and graphic designer with over 6 years of experience in the industry. She’s also written for numerous blogs such as Smashing Magazine and Mashable. You can find her personal web presence at Cameron Chapman On Writing. If you’d like to connect with her, check her out on Twitter.

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