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Not related to tech at all, but something worth supporting I feel. Let’s make 2010 the year that all this medieval nonsense gets swept away for good. As the 10:23 website says:
“Homeopathy is an unscientific and absurd pseudoscience, yet it persists today as an accepted complementary medicine.
Ask many people what they think homeopathy is and you’ll be told “it’s herbal medicine” or “it’s all-natural”. Few realise that it’s been proven not to work; even fewer know it involves substances so dilute that there’s nothing left in them. Homeopathy takes advantage of this uncertainty to sit alongside real, proven medicines on the shelves of our major pharmacies.
The 10:23 campaign aims to raise awareness of the reality of homeopathy. We will tell you how it can be proven not to work, why homeopath’s claims are impossible and give patients the right information to allow them to make an informed decision on their healthcare.”
So, toddle over to the 10:23 website and sign their petition to Boots asking them to stop stocking homeopathic “remedies” alongside proper medicines.
You could also watch this fantastic sketch by David Mitchell and Robert Webb – Homeopathic A&E… Brilliant!
Santa discovers another use for the rugged Tandberg RDX Quickstor:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=awLnWZyXUyM
Olympic organisers plan to serve the worst of British, allowing factory farmed chicken and pork at the 2012 games.
The London Organising Committee of the Olympic Games (LOCOG) has published its Food Vision Paper for the 2012 Olympics, saying it is aiming for “the best of British.” Sadly for millions of chickens and pigs, LOCOG has set Red Tractor as the mandatory baseline standard, permitting them to be farmed in conditions that do not meet their welfare needs.
Studies have indicated that over a quarter of chickens reared in standard intensive systems are suffering from painful lameness, with over 3% almost unable to walk at all. This figure represents over 150 million lame birds in the UK each year. Compassion in World Farming does not believe this is acceptable at the greatest sporting event in recent British history; they believe that RSPCA Freedom Food should be the mandatory baseline standard, because it is scientifically proven to benefit chicken welfare.
Compassion’s campaign has already amassed over 167,000 supporters and major retailers are recognising the growing demand for RSPCA Freedom Food and free-range chicken. If the Olympics Food Vision becomes a reality, we could see London 2012 serving food which lags way behind established good practice in many British supermarkets, not to mention the food served by many London boroughs, schools and public bodies.
Continue reading Animals set to lose at London 2012
While Wi-Fi is undoubtedly of great benefit, one of its major downsides is interference. All sorts of other devices use the 2.4GHz spectrum used by Wi-Fi – microwaves, cordless phones, wireless TV links, video senders, car alarms and even baby monitors! There’s also the problem of neighbouring Wi-Fi networks, particularly if you live in a densely populated area or an apartment.
Wi-Fi comes in three flavours which use the 2.4Ghz radio frequency band – 802.11b, 802.11g and 802.11n, this last one being the latest and fastest. Within this band, 13 channels are available (in the UK and Europe) to choose from although in reality only channels 1, 5, 9 and 13 will ensure no overlapping with a nearby network. To ensure good frequency separation from neighbouring networks make sure to scan for wireless networks before you install your own – and regularly afterward. Most routers in the UK tend to be shipped with their wireless channel set to 1, 6 or 11 as these are the three non-overlapping channels in the US with many set to Ch1 – chances are most of your local networks will be using that channel so not using channel one should get you off to a flying start!
Of course, if you are surrounded by many other Wi-Fi networks the job becomes increasingly difficult. Their interference, along with that of all the other devices mentioned above, is virtually undetectable without using a spectrum analyser like the Wi-Spy.
The placement of wireless devices in relation to walls and ceilings also has an impact on their performance of course, so you need good placement as well as low interference.
If you’re a home user, the entry-level Wi-Spy 2.4i which comes with Chanalyzer Lite Edition should be adequate for your needs. The Wi-Spy 2.4x with the full version of Chanalyzer 3 is aimed at IT consultants and other professionals who need the extra detail. The Wi-Spy DBx is designed for the enterprise environment where IT managers may look after multiple 802.11a networks along with 802.11b/g/n networks.
DeviceLock is a policy-based endpoint security solution that enables network administrators to centrally control uploading and downloading activity through local computer devices. With DeviceLock you can lock-out unauthorised users from USB and FireWire devices, WiFi and Bluetooth adapters, CD-Rom and floppy drives, infrared, serial and parallel ports, PDAs, smartphones and many other plug-and-play devices.
Click Here For a Free Trial of DeviceLock Enterprise
In combination with third-party products from leading encryption vendors, DeviceLock enables enterprises to ensure that only removable storage devices with approved encryption can be accessed on corporate computers, thus preventing malicious or negligent leakage of sensitive corporate information to unencrypted or otherwise unapproved media.
Featuring a comprehensive central management platform fully integrated with Microsoft Active Directory and Group Policy, DeviceLock enables security administrators to precisely control, shadow-copy, log, and analyze end-user access to all types of devices and local ports on their Windows computers, as well as automatically disrupting operations of any hardware keyloggers. DeviceLock proactively protects against data leakage and malware infiltration via the local ports of distributed computers, thus significantly reducing business risks and costs associated with malicious actions, errors, or negligence by insiders or others with physical computer access.
The RDX QuikStor combines the simplicity of tape based backup but with the speed and instant access of a hard drive. The RDX drives are available as internal or external devices with removable cartridges in a range of capacities up to a staggering 640Gb.
Each cartridge is a rugged miniature hard disk – your computer will instantly recognise it and provide instant access with easy drag and drop control. Or, simply run the backup software provided for a complete backup of your hard drive. When a cartridge gets full, just insert another – simple!
RDX QuikStor is designed to sustain data transfers up to 45MB/sec – that’s more than 160GB/Hr. Plus, with capacities of 80, 160, 320, 500 and 640GB on a single cartridge you’ll have enough capacity to back up your entire computer, ensuring your data is fully protected, yet instantly available. Recording is fast and so is backup restoration with none of the rewind delay of tape systems. Access is near-instantaneous, allowing you to work directly with data on the cartridge – just as you would with any other hard drive.
You can order any of the RDX Quikstor range from our Online Store of course – fully protected by SagePay.
Wi Spy 2.4i, Wi Spy 2.4x and now the Wi Spy DBx Spectrum Analyser
Use Wi Spy from Metageek to see immediately what Wi-Fi channels are quiet and what channels you should avoid if possible. Pick a quiet channel for your access point, instead of just picking a number between 1 and 11. As the 2.4 GHz 802.11 (Wireless B, G and N) Band becomes increasingly crowded, interference from non Wi-Fi devices can seriously degrade Wi-Fi performance. Other Wi-Fi tools, such as NetStumbler and Kismet, only provide information about other Wi-Fi devices not interference from cordless phones, microwaves, Bluetooth devices and other 2.4 GHz devices.
Metageek Wi Spy 2.4i and Wi Spy 2.4x are the only currently available spectrum analysers under £1200 that show you signal strength across the entire 2.4 GHz Band at the radio frequency (RF) level – instead of just guessing. Now the new Metageek Wi Spy Dbx lets you analyse the 5Ghz band too.
Wi-Spy 2.4i packs a lot of value in this compact package with extra-fine resolution and a super-low noise floor not seen on other entry-level tools. Plus, Chanalyzer Lite, Wi-Spy 2.4i’s software, offers a great assortment of features that help you get to the bottom of interference issues quickly and easily. And to top it off, we’ve added a 3-D view and Mac support.
Metageek Wi Spy 2.4i and Wi Spy 2.4x are the only currently available spectrum analysers under £1200 that show you signal strength across the entire 2.4 GHz Band at the radio frequency (RF) level – instead of just guessing. Now the new Metageek Wi Spy Dbx lets you analyse the 5Ghz band too
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