news, mostly tech

GMAIL HOSTED EMAIL (its old but requires a mention):

http://tinyurl.com/mopve

 AND A REVIEW OF SAID:

http://tinyurl.com/k3lnh

Ruby On Rails Goes 1.1

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on Tuesday March 28, @02:03PM from the still-traveling-at-breakneck-speeds dept. MrByte420 writes "The Ruby On Rails team today released version 1.1 of the web framework. From the announcement: 'Rails 1.1 boasts more than 500 fixes, tweaks, and features from more than 100 contributors. Most of the updates just make everyday life a little smoother, a little rounder, and a little more joyful.' New features were examined back in February at Scottraymond.net and include Javascript/AJAX integration, enhancements to active record, and enhanced testing suites. Not to mention upgrading this time promises to be a piece of cake."

http://tinyurl.com/gblfl

BUSlink's 64GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive PRO 2 Series

http://tinyurl.com/nn89l

Lenovo's 3D projecting, floating, jet-powered, armored laptops We love a good viral gadget video as much as the next guy, so what the hell, lost Lenovo test lab tapes recovered from "a long standing acquaintance?" Ok, why not. Footage that shows the "Skywalker" holographic projection unit (ala "Help me Obi Wan Kenobi"), a laptop dropped that lands gently thanks to retractable rocket boosters, and Batman-esque armor plating that prevents coffee spills? Sure, what the hell. After all, not too many people gonna argue that outside some especially ruggedized machines (Panasonic, we're looking your way), you don't get many laptops more sturdy than a good ThinkPad. With armor. [Thanks, mc steelcut]

• Read

http://tinyurl.com/pvcoo

Converting Quicktime videos to AVI  Posted Mar 28th 2006 5:30PM by Jason Clarke  Filed under: Utilities, Video, Windows, Freeware  If you have spent much time working with video on PCs, it is likely that you have come across a situation where you would really like to convert a Quicktime video into a Windows-native AVI file, but found it difficult to do so. There are very few utilities that offer this functionality for free, but one that does is called, simply, RAD Video Tools.  Pain in the Tech offer a very nice walk-through explaining how to go about converting that pesky Quicktime video into an AVI file using RAD Video Tools. As they mention, this utility has capabilities far beyond simply converting videos, but if you're looking for a free way to do some difficult conversions, have a look at this one.

http://tinyurl.com/fdwny

Crack Windows passwords with Ophcrack  Posted Mar 28th 2006 3:00PM by Jordan Running  Filed under: Security, Utilities, Windows, Linux, Open Source  Locked out of Windows? Try Ophcrack. It's a Windows password cracker that claims to be able to crack 99.9% of alphanumeric passwords in seconds. Ophcrack is available for Windows and Linux, and the Linux version comes in a handy bootable LiveCD version for when you don't have access to any account. It's also open source software, so you can get cracking for free.  [Via Digg]

http://tinyurl.com/frmyj

How to build a terabyte file server for $500 Posted Mar 28th 2006 11:10AM by Jordan Running Filed under: Hardware, Windows, Linux I've been through three motherboards in the last four years, but somehow the whole time I've been on the same old 80GB hard drive. I've thought many times about upgrading my storage, and Information Week's Fred Langa's guide to building a complete terabyte file server for under $500 puts a bit of a twinkle in my eye. What would I do with 1TB of storage? Probably hold entire seasons of my favorite TV shows ripped from their DVDs, keep all of my favorite games installed at the same time, and stop worrying about how much space my photos are taking up. Langa's guide is comprehensive down to the last detail, from choosing your drives, motherboard, and case, to configuring the OS (he picks Puppy Linux but discusses over Windows as well), and there's plenty of photos, too. Highly recommended reading if you're feeling the drive space crunch.

http://tinyurl.com/f5arr