Tuesday, February 27, 2007

How Do We Detect Temperature?

We know how light sensation or sound sensation take place, how we smell, how we taste, but till a recent research we did not understand how we feel temperature. "For a long time, we didn’t know how temperature sensing was being carried out in animals," said Jie Zheng, assistant professor in the Department of Physiology and Membrane Biology at the UC Davis School of Medicine.

“Huge progress was made in the last decade, when scientists discovered four ion channels sensitive to heat and two cold-sensitive ones. But, it was still unclear how only six temperature-sensor channels could cover wide ranges of temperature and still discriminate subtle

differences," Zheng said.

Zheng's team employed a new technique to deal with the problem, revealing that the subunits of one channel can come together with subunits from another channel or co-assemble in laboratory cell cultures to make new functioning channels. “Assuming this process also happens in normal cells, it suggests a likely mechanism for the thermosensitivity seen in all animal cells. We found that, by reassembling subunits we potentially have a lot more than six channel types responsible for the sensing of temperature," he said.

Ion channels are tubular proteins from the cell membrane that can open and close, controlling the ions flow and the electrical charge difference between the inside and outside of the living cells. The team investigated the transient receptor potential (TRP) channels, 6 out of 20 being the channels involved in sensing temperature. “Previous studies concluded that different thermosensitive TRP channel subunits did not coassemble”, Zheng said.

The team employed a 2006 technology named spectra FRET (spectroscopy-based fluorescence resonance energy transfer) to observe interactions between different channel subunits under a microscope. "This technique allows us to look at the channel subunit composition in real-time in live cells," Zheng said. "Using spectra FRET, we were able to focus on just the signal from the plasma membrane," Zheng explained.

"What we found was that the subunits of one kind of heat-sensitive channel coassembled with subunits of other heat-sensitive channels to form new channels. This means that instead of four heat-sensitive channels we have a potential of 256 heat-sensitive channels with potentially different temperature sensitivity ranges. Using these single-molecule recordings, we see many different channel types. The next question we are trying to address is whether they really have different temperature sensitivity. We believe the answer is ‘yes,’ but we have to show that." said Zheng. “The cold- and heat-sensing subunits, however, do not seem to coassemble,” he said.

As the thermosensitive cells also detect pain, the research of these channels could prove useful for novel pain remedies. “We have to re-examine everything from how people acclimate to hot climates to how they respond to spicy food based on the understanding that there are many more kinds of channels involved," Zheng said.

Speed Up Network Browsing

Network sharing was way superior to the Internet file sharing available through a modest modem. Therefore, we all enjoyed our local sharing protocol. Time passed, broadband connections became so spread and popular that the old modem found his imminent death.

Nowadays, we share over the Internet. At such high speeds, the local network rather spread itself outside the local enclosure. However, LAN is not dead. We still use the Local Area Network at the office or in the neighborhood. The only problem is that users are not satisfied when browsing the network.

It seems that communication

between network computers under Windows has some lacks slowing down browsing. Excluding hardware problems, which are not the basis of this article, some tweaks can be applied in order to smooth things out.

All the tweaks have to be done by editing the registry, which means you need to be careful when doing that. To keep yourself out of trouble, make sure you backup the registry before you edit it.

Disable Network Task Scheduler

Applying this tweak, you will disable networked computers search for scheduled tasks. When you try to open a network folder, it will take a while which is not pleasant at all.

Go to Start > Run and type Regedit. When the registry editor opens, locate this path:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > SOFTWARE > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Explorer > RemoteComputer > NameSpace

Once you found it, just delete the following key:

{D6277990-4C6A-11CF-8D87-00AA0060F5BF}

It is possible not to find the keys mentioned above. It's OK. Just proceed to the next tweak.

Raise the threshold level for the requested buffer.

When dealing with a high-latency connection you need to modify (increase) the SizReqBuf value. We are talking here about a buffer, which is set by default to value of 4356 decimal. Microsoft states that this value provides acceptable level of performances under normal conditions. Well, as we are not satisfied how network browsing devolves we consider the “conditions” as being not normal and therefore, we need to change the value. It seems that in most LAN conditions, the best value for the SixReqBuf would be 16384. Use this value on computers equipped with more than 256 MB Ram.

To change the value, first open the Registry Editor (as presented at the previous tweak) and locate

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > System > CurrentControlSet > Services > LanmanWorkstation > Parameters and then create a DWORD value named SizReqBuf. Edit it and provide a decimal value of 16384.

Tweak the Network Redirector Buffers

By increasing the number of these buffers, you may get a higher transfer rate for the data that travels though the network. Open the Registry Editor navigate to this location:

HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE > System > CurrentControlSet > Services > LanmanWorkstation > Parameters

Using the procedure explained in the previous tweak, add two new DWORD values:

MaxCmds and MaxThreads

Give both the same value between 0 and 255. It is recommended to choose the value of 64.

Eliminate the shares from My Network Places

Windows has an annoying behavior to place a shortcut in My Network Places for each remote folder accessed through the network. This creates an unpleasant delay when accessing the network. There are two ways to teach Windows not to do that anymore.

For Windows XP Home Edition

Locate HKEY_CURRENT_USER > Software > Microsoft > Windows > CurrentVersion > Policies > Explorer with Registry Editor and add a new DWORD value called NoRecentDocsNetHood setting its value to 1. The value 1 will disable the shares to be added in My Network Places.

For Windows XP Profession

Under this version of Windows, the process is easier. There is no need to edit the registry. Just go to Start > Run and type Gpedit.msc. It will open the Group Policy Editor. Using it, just go to User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Desktop and in the right panel, enable the option: “Do not add shares of recently opened documents to My Network Places”.

Deploying Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007

Deploying Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 will deliver a positive impact on the workflow inside an institution. Case in point-the Menninger Clinic. Microsoft revealed that the adoption

of Office SharePoint Server 2007 has reduced paperwork up to 25%. According to the Redmond Company, the clinic has adopted a single system with Microsoft Office SharePoint Server 2007 (MOSS) and Microsoft Office InfoPath 2007 at its basis.

“Microsoft SharePoint has been invaluable to us, as the application we were working with was becoming too complicated to maintain with one full-time employee and two consultants dedicated to its maintenance,” said Terry Janis, director of Information Technology at Menninger. “Now we can devote those funds to other projects that contribute to higher-quality patient care — all while fulfilling HIPAA requirements.”

“Office SharePoint Server 2007 offers Menninger the ability to easily store, manage and retrieve patient demographic information and clinical documentation,” said Chris Sullivan, Healthcare Provider Solutions Director of the U.S. Healthcare and Life Sciences Group at Microsoft. “A normalized relational database design for this application might require dozens of tables. The document-centric design of Menninger’s system uses SharePoint Server 2007 to reduce this to a handful of lists and document libraries.”

According to Microsoft, the Menninger Clinic, an international psychiatric hospital in Houston has managed to save $80,000 per year following the deployment of the new system, based on Office SharePoint Server 2007. Microsoft's announcement comes in concert with the Health Information Management and Systems Society’s annual IT conference for 2007.

Monday, February 26, 2007

A Second Google Desktop Vulnerability

"According to InfoWorld, Google's Desktop indexing engine is vulnerable to an exploit (the second such flaw to be found) that could allow crackers to read files or execute code. By exploiting a cross-site scripting vulnerability on google.com, an attacker can grab all the data off a Google Desktop. Google is said to be investigating. A security researcher is quoted: 'The users really have very little ability to protect themselves against these attacks. It's very bad. Even the experts are afraid to click on each other's links anymore.'"

Vulnerability to a little-known Web-based attack could allow an attacker to have access to any data indexed by Google Desktop

Google's PC search software is vulnerable to a variation on a little-known Web-based attack called anti-DNS pinning that could give an attacker access to any data indexed by Google Desktop, security researchers said this week.

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This is the second security problem reported this week for the software. On Wednesday, researchers at Watchfire said they'd found a flaw that could allow attackers to read files or run unauthorized software on systems running Google Desktop.

As with Watchfire's bug, attackers would first need to exploit a cross-site scripting flaw in the Google.com Web site for this latest attack to work, but the consequences could be serious, according to Robert Hansen, the independent security researcher who first reported the attack. "All of the data on a Google desktop can now be siphoned off to an attacker's machine," he said.

Cross-site scripting flaws are common Web server vulnerabilities that can be exploited to run unauthorized code within the victim's browser.

Hansen, who is CEO of Sectheory.com, did not post proof of concept code for his attack, but he said that he has "tested every component of it, and it works." He has posted some details of how Google Desktop data could be compromised on his blog.

Google said it was investigating Hansen's findings. "In addition, we recently added another layer of security checks to the latest version of Google Desktop to protect users from vulnerabilities related to Web search integration in the future," the company said in a prepared statement.

Anti-DNS pinning is an emerging area of security research, understood by just a handful of researchers, said Jeremiah Grossman, CTO at WhiteHat Security. The variation of this attack described by Hansen manipulates the way the browser works with the Internet's DNS in order to trick the browser into sending information to an attacker's computer.

"Once you can re-point Google to another IP address, instead of Google getting the traffic, the bad guy does," he said.

Because this type of attack is so difficult to pull off and is poorly understood, it is unlikely to be used by the criminals any time soon, Grossman said. But anti-DNS pinning shouldn't be ignored, he added. "We should keep our eyes on it in case the bad guys shift gears."

News of the attack comes as Google is trying to enter the desktop productivity market. On Thursday, Google launched a suite of Web-based collaboration software, called the Google Apps Premier Edition, that analysts say could become a competitor to Microsoft Office.

The troubling thing about the attack Hanson identified, which he calls anti-anti-anti-DNS pinning, is that there is very little that can be done to avoid it short of eliminating cross-site scripting vulnerabilities on the Web.

"This is really just fundamentally about how browsers work," he said. "If you allow a Web site to have access to your drive -- to modify, to change things, to integrate, or whatever -- you're relying on that Web site to be secure."

Hansen and Grossman say that Google is not the only company vulnerable to a growing category of Web-based attacks. For instance, MySpace.com was hit when a fast-moving worm spread through the MySpace community in early December, stealing MySpace log-in credentials and promoting adware Web sites.

"A lot of these new attack techniques are going to require the browsers to improve," Grossman said. "The users really have very little ability to protect themselves against these attacks" he said. "It's very bad. Even the experts are afraid to click on each other's links anymore."

A New Screening Device That Gets You Naked

A new controversial federal screening system has been installed for 90 days on Friday at Sky Harbor International Airport, Phoenix, at the largest terminal.

This is the first test of the device that employs X-rays to “see” through passenger's bodies in the search of hidden explosives and other weapons. The technique is able to watch through clothes and reveals the body's contours with extreme accuracy, just as if the person would stay naked.

There are already critical voices claiming the high-resolution

images are too invasive. In response, the Transportation Security Administration said the device was tuned to make the image look less explicit, like a drawing line, but still tracking down hidden objects.

The new device will be used just as a second screening measure, and the passengers who do not pass by the metal detector could choose between the novel technique and a corporal search. "It's 100 % voluntary, so if the passenger doesn't feel comfortable with it, the passenger doesn't have to go through it," said TSA spokesman Nico Melendez.

The one-minute procedure requires passengers to stand in front of the closet-sized X-ray device with the palms of their hands facing out, from front and behind. "It seems faster. I'm not uncomfortable with it," said one of those tested. "I trust TSA, and I trust that they are definitely trying to make things go quickly and smoothly in the airport.”

Some experts are not so trusty.

"The more obscure they make the image, the more obscure the contraband, weapons and explosives. The graphic image is a strip-search. You shouldn't have to be strip-searched to get on an airplane. Millions of Americans would regard them as pornographic." said Barry Steinhardt, director of the Technology and Liberty Project at the ACLU in Washington, D.C.

TSA would like to install the same technique at the Los Angeles airport and New York's Kennedy Airport by the end of 2007. “The security officer who works with the passenger going through the screening will never see the images the machine produces. The pictures will be viewed by another officer about 50 feet (16 m) away who will not see the passenger. The machine cannot store the images or transmit them and once we're done screening the passenger, the image is gone forever," said Melendez.

Image credit: AS&E

Building A Linux Router

By Janne Nurminen
Expert Author
Article Date: 2003-08-06

Building a reliable, full-featured broadband router can be very easy and cost-efficient. This article is about building one for routing a LAN to the Internet with NAT (Network Address Translation -- Linux users also call it as IP Masquerading) using an old computer and a Linux micro-distribution designed to have very low hardware requirements. We'll end up having a very simple and stable system, yet featuring e.g. iptables based stateful firewalling and remote administration.

My brother had this old IBM Aptiva (which he had found from a trash can nearby his home) which happened to be just a suitable piece of hardware for the purpose:

Pentium 150 Mhz

14 Megs of RAM

1,6 GB Harddrive

Disk Drive

CD-ROM

10 Mbps Network Interface Controller

Soundcard

Keyboard

Mouse

Video Card with 2 MB Memory, integrated to motherboard

IBM G50 14" Monitor

Choosing a suitable Linux Distribution

The basic idea was to build a router which would also provide firewall services to protect the internal network, and which could be administrated remotely. After doing a quick search, I found Coyote Linux which turned out to be just the perfect solution.

Basically, Coyote Linux is a single floppy distribution of Linux that is designed for the sole purpose of sharing an Internet connection. Being a single floppy distribution, it runs off of a single floppy disk and loads itself to RAM. The floppy itself can be created using either a Microsoft Windows wizard (!), or by using a set of Linux shell scripts. I created mine using the latter method.

Since the floppy was all that was needed, I decided to remove all unnecessary parts from the computer. This makes the machine a bit more silent and less heat-productive. I removed the hardrive, cd-rom and souncard, and replaced the old 10 Mbps NIC with two 100 Mbps NICs (the old one did have a Realtek chip on it, so it would've been supported, too). Luckily it had just the two needed PCI slots for the two network cards.

Creating a bootable floppy disk

The next thing to do was to create the boot diskette. I downloaded the Coyote Linux Floppy Creator Scripts (v1.32) and ran them on my laptop which runs Linux (yes, indeed do note that to run scripts on Linux you need a functioning Linux system ;-). The process itself is very straight-forward. But before you go, you need to know what modules need to be loaded in order to use your network cards. I used two identical D-Link cards which use the rtl8139 module. To find out which module you need, CoyoteLinux has provided a very good documentation, available in PDF format. Generally, more information can be found from the Linux Ethernet-Howto and Vendor/Manufacturer/Model Specific Information.

The script asks to make some trivial choices:

Please choose the desired capacity for the created floppy (3 choices)

Please select the processor type in the destination Coyote Linux system (2 choices)

Please select the type of Internet connection that your system uses (1. Standard Ethernet Connection, 2. PPP over Ethernet Connection, 3. PPP Dialup Connection, 4. ISDN Connection)

Does your Internet connection get its IP via DHCP? [y/n]

Install the Road Runner DEC protocol login software) [y/n]

Install the Big Pond login software? [y/n]

Do you want to enable the coyote DHCP server) [y/n]

Would you like to install sshd for secure remote access? [y/n]

Would you like to install Webadmin for system admin via a web interface? [y/n]

Would you like to create another copy of this disk [y/n]?

By default Coyote uses the following settings for the local network interface:

IP Address: 192.168.0.1
Netmask:    255.255.255.0
Broadcast:  192.168.0.255
Network:    192.168.0.0

These don't need to be changed (unless you need a whole lot of internal IPs, or want to to change the router's internal ip address).

Building the network

The next thing to do was to build the network. I attached a cable from the modem to the router's Internet network card, and from the router's local network card to the switch. All other computers were directly connected to the switch. The result is shown in the fine picture on the right. After that I booted the new Linux Router with the newly made boot disk. Then I adjusted the network settings accordingly for all the computers connected (c₁ - c₄).

On Windows: Control Panel -->
Network and Dial-Up Connections
--> Local Area Connection
--> Internet Protocol (TCP/IP):


IP address: 192.168.0.n 
Subnet mask: 255.255.255.0

Default gateway: 192.168.0.1

DNS servers: ...

... where n of course needs to be a unique number for each machine (IP addresses could be obtained also automatically by enabling Coyote Linux DHCP server for internal network, if needed). On Linux netconf is a good tool for changing network settings.

http://koti.mbnet.fi/~keiky/misc/linux/router/imgs/ethernet_lan.png

After that I pinged other computers and - being in Finland - Nokia:


[jn@karelia docs]$ ping nokia.com

PING nokia.com (147.243.3.73) 56(84) bytes of data.

64 bytes from www.nokia.com (147.243.3.73): icmp_seq=1 ttl=246 time=48.7 ms

64 bytes from www.nokia.com (147.243.3.73): icmp_seq=2 ttl=246 time=98.9 ms

64 bytes from www.nokia.com (147.243.3.73): icmp_seq=3 ttl=246 time=19.8 ms

--- nokia.com ping statistics ---

3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 2014ms

rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 19.825/55.839/98.974/32.702 ms

and hua! It worked! Next I unplugged the monitor and keyboard from the router and placed it in its final place.⁽¹

Conclusion

Building a broadband router can be very easy and cost-efficient, and Coyote Linux Router is a very easy solution for the purpose.

Btw, becase the whole file system is just a RAM disk, the machine can be shutdown by just pressing the power switch like in the good(?) old DOS times..

References

¹⁾ Next time when booting the router it hung up because of a keyboard failure (of course I had to remove the router from its Final Place to be able to plug the monitor back and see what was going on). That was resolved by changing the proper BIOS setting.

First appeared at http://koti.mbnet.fi/~keiky/misc/linux/router/lnx_router.html

Why Do Geeks Take the Chicks?

Even the scientific research proves it: girls like to hang around with sexy guys but they will marry a geek.

Those computer rats that overinvest in intelligence but undermine their social skills could be the best choice.

Women only have to figure that out for many reasons:

Geeks are reliable. You may think geeks, through their higher IQ and power of understanding the suffering they can inflict in their beloved partners, would not “go astray”. Thus, they will be loyal to their mates for better and for worse.

Is that right?

No, no, no.

Each male, the ultimate nerd, is programmed to spread sperm.

But the geek’s undeveloped social skills do not help in supporting an affair, and in

fact, he keeps on being puzzled about how they ended up with the lover they have been attracted to.

Dating with a geek is really the beginning of a relationship that can last forever.

Geeks are the best on what they do.

Theye won't sleep during the night cause they're preoccupied by things you have never heard about, from hacking, playing video games, or other issues like that.

If their new hobby is sex, you can imagine what follows: he will pirate your brain, hack your genitalia or whatever using also oral connections and links. Your previous lovers were jerks preoccupied by their person and coexisting with their own conceit. But geeks are not interested in social status; they won't spend the time with prosaic issues like sports and fashion, so they have more time for you, girls. Those activities would mean social contact, and they are extremely reluctant to this. As they are isolated, you could mean for a geek his whole universe, so you will be the only target of his attention, from nurturing to lascivious desire.

The previous guys you had came after years of dating lots of other women; they experienced many failures and deceptions, so they ended up being very aware of the reality and having no intention of letting you find out that in their minds you are “just another girlfriend”.

Don't even try to understand the mind of a girl that has serially dated many men and her opinions about men. But with a geek, for whom you may be his “destroyer”, you will be hit by the zest of a beginner. They are not sexually confident but once they achieved, oh God (!), a sex resource, they will fully use each moment.

One more thing: do not underestimate the geek’s power of concentrating! They are as fierce as predatory beasts (you should see them playing computer games!). Do you wanna see the actual meaning of “all night long”?

And we did not mention their finger dexterity. You think this is achievable by pulling up weights at the gym? No, no, but geeks roll dice, play video games, flip pages in books, type a lot (even those keys that you do not know what are there for). You should know they push buttons and joysticks, so, you can imagine where their imagination could lead them.

‘Cause boredom kills a relationship, but geeks have more information sources than others. Which is the biggest porn source? The Internet, of course, and hundreds of gigabytes on their computers are filled with porn.

So, go and get a geek now!

Most of them are on the net.

But remember: a single geek is not sexy, so watch out!

Top 10 Google Products

As you surely know, Google is a company that owns an impressive number of products from multiple categories such as video solutions, mail services, calendar, blogs and numerous search technologies including news, jobs, maps, groups and patents. Obviously, every client of the Google products has his own favorite services used every day for a certain activity. In the next lines, I'll present you the top 10 Google solutions in my opinion with a short description for every service in the list.

1. Google Search is regarded as the best search engine on the Internet because it provides an impressive amount of information from numerous websites in the entire world. I use it every day for certain activities so I guess it is quite popular among the Internet users.

2. Gmail is the mail solution provided by Google, released on April 1, 2004 and available as a free public beta. Since the launch date, Gmail was available only by invitations,

requiring users to register for the service using an invitation sent by another client of the product. The service was improved several times but the most important feature seems to be Mail Fetcher that allows users to receive up to 5 POP3 accounts directly into the Gmail inbox. Another important update is the Google Talk interoperability that helps Gmail users communicate with friends and family using the interface of the mail solution.

3. Image Search is a technology provided as a part of the Google Search, allowing you to find pictures from the websites located on the entire Internet. It was the subject of a well-known controversy because the company improved its interface but, after an impressive number of users' complaint, Google decided to switch it back to the old appearance.

4. Google News is one of the most popular sources of information on the Internet because it receives news and latest headlines from almost 4500 publications from the entire world. Although the product displays only the headline but places a link to the original publisher, it was often criticized for receiving praises for the content offered by other sources.

5. YouTube is the leader of the online video services that allows you to upload, share and comment videos with friends or other members of the community. The product was acquired in October 2006 for $1.6 billion and caused numerous lawsuits for Google, the company being accused of publishing videos without authorization.

6. Google Maps is probably the most popular solution in its category, allowing users to view maps and other imagery captured directly from the satellites. It is used in many domains; multiple publications reported that even terrorists were connecting to the service to organize attacks against the UK troops located in Basra.

7. Docs & Spreadsheets is regarded as the Office solution provided the search giant that allows users to create, edit and share documents using a simple web-based interface. The product is available for free so I guess it can represent a powerful rival for the well known Microsoft solution.

8. Blogger is the blog service developed by the search giant to help users post and comment articles wrote by numerous authors. Recently, the company revealed the final version of the Blogger that provides an innovative interface bundled with new exciting features.

9. AdSense is currently the most attracting service provided by the search giant because it allows users to earn money quick and easy by placing ads on their websites. The solution is based on the pay per click procedure because it automatically transfers a certain amount of money into the owner's account every time a user clicks on the adverts.

10. Google Video is another video solution provided by Google that provides almost the same features as YouTube but it is currently in beta. Although the company now owns two similar products, its representatives sustained Google Video will continue to exist but will be based on the content it provides.

So, this is my Top Ten Google Products. Feel free to comment it but remember these are the most popular services provided by Google in MY opinion, so try to avoid criticizing me because I really use all these solutions.

The iPod User's Best (Vibrator) Friend

iPods and vibrators represent 2 of the most popular brands of gadgets around the world, although they offer quite different types of satisfaction; and since these things can be found just about everywhere these days, it was just a matter of time before someone found a way to capitalize on their huge success.

And it seems that someone actually did exactly that, since a company called Suki, LLC. has launched a device called OhMiBod which is by far the most interesting iPod acsexsory (as the manufacturer calls it) ever created.

As mentioned before, the OhMiBod has been developed by the Suki company which was named after its owner, a former Apple,Inc. employee, and was meant to bridge the gap between one's music and sex life. And this little “playful” thingy manages to do just that, since it simply plugs into the iPod or any other music player and it automatically vibrates to the rhythm and intensity of the music.

This is possible due to the fact that the OhMiBod integrates special audio circuitry, which is capable of transforming the music's beats and rhythm into non-repetitive and stimulating vibrations. Moreover, although it's optimized for the iPod, the device is also compatible with just about any other electronic audio output source with a 3.5 mm jack, as for example MP3 and DVD players or even laptops, and comes with a 90-cm “freedom cord”, so that the users can really enjoy it, regardless of the situation.

The OhMiBod is also quite safe, since it's manufactured out of a hypoallergenic white, non-toxic and non-porous plastic material, with a chrome finishing. Moreover, if the users don't feel like listening to music at some point, they can simply attach a multi-speed cap and turn it into a normal, everyday vibrator.

This very kinky device is available for around 69 US dollars, and the users even get the possibility to join a growing online community, called Club VIBE, where they can share playlists and opinions about their experiences with the device. So, how about some Fatboy Slim, dear users?

We are just a few, but there are many of you, Softpedia users, out there. That's why we thought it would be a good idea to create an email address for you to help us a little in finding gadgets we missed. Interesting links are bound to be posted with recognition going mainly to those who submit. The address is .

13 Things to do immediately after installing Ubuntu

1. Enabling/Adding Extra Repositories
Ubuntu comes by default with only some of the repositories enabled because of licensing issue since downloading certain codecs and apps may be illegal in some countries so you have to enable these repositories/add new repositories to enable installation of these packages.

To enable new repositories go to (System -> Administration -> Synaptic Package Manager ) , type in the root password .Then Go to (Settings -> Repositories ), there enable all the check-boxes to enable all the repositories you need .

Also for installing some apps extra repositories are needed since they are not in the default repositories so go to third Party and add the following there

deb http://givre.cabspace.com/ubuntu/ edgy main main-all
deb http://ntfs-3g.sitesweetsite.info/ubuntu/ edgy main main-all
deb http://flomertens.keo.in/ubuntu/ edgy main main-all

deb http://mirror.ubuntulinux.nl edgy-seveas all

After doing this exit Synaptic Package Manager Fire up Console and type the following command to import GPG keys .

wget http://flomertens.keo.in/ubuntu/givre_key.asc -O- | sudo apt-key add -

wget http://mirror.ubuntulinux.nl/1135D466.gpg -O- | sudo apt-key add -

After doing this your system should be ready for installing extra application.

2. Installing ntfs-3g

ntfs-3g this is necessary if you have a ntfs drive in your computer ( Usually Windows XP installs on NTFS drive) and you want to read and write data to the drive you have to install this .

This can be installed as following type the following at the command prompt

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

sudo apt-get install ntfs-config

Then type the following command

gksu ntfs-config

This is automatic configuration of ntfs-3g , enable read , write support and it should be configured.

these commands would back up fstab file if configuration goes wrong.

sudo cp /etc/fstab /etc/fstab.bak
gksu gedit /etc/fstab

Now one more thing you want your windows (NTFS) drive to be mounted automatically add the following entries to /etc/fstab

/dev/
/media/ ntfs-3g defaults,locale=en_US.utf8 0 0

Where /dev/partition is the partition which is NTFS drive , in my case /dev/hda1
/media/ this is just the directory you want to use as a mount point where windows drive would be mounted , you can very well use any drive you like.

now Restart ubuntu your windows partition should be working well.

3. Making Windows see your Linux partition

Windows XP lacks support for reading and writing files to Linux file system however external utilities like free Ext2 File system for windows allows Windows XP to read and write files to a Ext2 , Ext3 file system however ReiserFS file system is not supported .

You can get Ext2 file system for windows at the following link : -
(www.fs-driver.org/download.htm)

4. Installing flash-plugin

Macromedia Flash player is not installed by default but since we would be surely needing it while browing the net , installing it is necessary
it can be installed by following command


sudo apt-get install -y flashplugin-nonfree

5. Installing Microsoft True Type Fonts

If you are making a jump from windows to ubuntu you would surely miss the true type fonts that Windows uses , since Microsoft has released them free so they can be installed without a hitch in ubuntu (Though not distributed with Ubuntu) .


sudo apt-get install -y msttcorefonts

6. Installing unrar

RAR is one of the very widely used archives on Windows , however unrar tool to decompress RAR is not shipped with distribution and has ti be installed manually.


sudo apt-get -y install unrar

7. Installing mpg123

mpg123 is a very nice command line based mp3 player that can play mp3 files even on a slow processor based computer , further installing this provides a way of playing mp3 files from within the nautilus file manager . Hence i recommend installing mpg123


sudo apt-get install -y mpg123

8. Installing Adobe Reader

Though ubuntu comes with default evince reader for viewing pdf files , but i am sure you would like to use more complete version of pdf reader Adobe Reader 7.0 which is quiet professional and
more robust , the Linux version of Adobe Reader 8.0 has not been released but the version 7.0 is available and could be downloaded from the following website : -

http://www.adobe.com/support/downloads/product.jsp?product=10&platform=unix

9. Installing DVD playback support

Now this is a contentious issue , in some countries playing DVD files through DEcss is illegal so use it at your own will , anyways to enable dvd playback issue the following command at the command line : -


sudo aptitude install libdvdcss2

Note : the above commands would only work if you have added the repositories i had mentioned before the Seveas repositories.

However if you do not have these Repositories installed issue the following command to install the DVD playback support : -


sudo /usr/share/doc/libdvdread3/./install-css.sh

10 . Installing the extra multimedia codecs,players

Now you would surely want to install all the codecs for playing various media files and the players primarily xine,vlc,mplayer issue the following commands to install the multimedia codecs.


sudo apt-get install gstreamer0.10-pitfdll gstreamer0.10-ffmpeg gstreamer0.10-gl gstreamer0.10-plugins-base gstreamer0.10-plugins-good gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad gstreamer0.10-plugins-bad-multiverse gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly gstreamer0.10-plugins-ugly-multiverse libxine-extracodecs w32codecs
vlc mplayer

This command would install most of the codecs for gstreamer multimedia architecture and vlc media player and Mplayer , as well as the dll files codec (w32codecs) for decoding various files whoose open source decoder are not available.

11. Updating the system
After installing Ubuntu you would surely like to update the system so that all the packages on the system are up to date to new version of the software .
It can be done by following steps , go to (System > Administration > Update Manager)

Now press the Check button and then Install updates to start the installation of updates to the ubuntu system.

12 . Installing beagle

Now Ubuntu does not come with beagle pre-installed maybe because it is still not a final 1.0 release still it is very nice and efficient for searching files and directories on Linux providing features similar to Google Desktop Search and Mac OS Spotlight anyways to install beagle issue the following command at command line :


sudo apt-get install -y beagle

13. Installing gdesklets

gdesklets gives user a collection of impressive widgets that can be placed on desktop this is similar to feature available on Windows Vista and Mac OS X , it does provide quite a good look to the desktop.

To install gdesklets issue the following command at the command line


sudo apt-get install -y gdesklets

after installation go to (System -> Preferences -> Sessions) There go to Start up program and add gdesklets shell , now every time gnome loads up you should see your gdesklets on the desktop.

This is how my desktop looked like with all the desklets (Widgets )

Article written by : -
Ambuj Varshney
For Linux On Desktop (http://linuxondesktop.blogspot.com)
(C) 2007 Linux on Desktop

6 Reasons Why Sex is Very Healthy for You

Not just good, but good for you

Mounting evidence suggests sex helps keep us healthy


F.Birchman / MSNBC.com

By Brian Alexander

MSNBC contributor

July 1 - To paraphrase a great old slogan for Guinness beer: Sex isn’t just good, it’s good for you!

Okay, so maybe there’s some wishful thinking going on — the science isn’t exactly iron-clad — but evidence is accumulating that the more sex you have, the better off you are.

There is one caveat, though. “We do not have good data to show a direct connection [to all-around good health]," says Jennifer Bass, the head of information services at the Kinsey Institute for Research in Sex, Gender and Reproduction in Bloomington, Ind. "We know that healthier people have more sexual activity. But we do not know which comes first. Does the good health make you more willing to have sex, or does the sex have a positive impact?”

Story continues below ↓

And you dirty girrrls and Don Juans should know that the assumed health benefits of sex are generally thought to accrue to people in loving, monogamous relationships or those flying solo. Risky sex with lots of partners will probably do more harm than good.

But while researchers try to nail down the impact on overall health, data is mounting when it comes to some specifics. Here are several potential benefits:

1. Easing depression and stress
Bass says this is pretty definite. “The release from orgasm does much to calm people. It helps with sleep, and that is whether we talk about solo sex or sex with a partner,” she says.

But wait, there’s more. A recent study of college students at the State University of New York in Albany suggests that semen acts as an antidepressant. Females in the study who were having sex without condoms (see safe sex caution, above) had fewer signs of depression than women who used condoms or abstained from sex.

“These data are consistent with the possibility that semen may antagonize depressive symptoms,” the authors wrote, “and evidence which shows that the vagina absorbs a number of components of semen that can be detected in the bloodstream within a few hours of administration.”

I kid you not, ladies. Semen is good stuff. It gives a shot of zinc, calcium, potassium, fructose, proteins -- a veritable cornucopia of vitality!

2. Relieving pain
Orgasm is a powerful pain-killer. Oxytocin, a natural chemical in the body that surges before and during climax, gets some of the credit, along with a couple of other compounds like endorphins.

According to a study by Beverly Whipple, professor emeritus at Rutgers University and a famed sexologist and author, when women masturbated to orgasm “the pain tolerance threshold and pain detection threshold increased significantly by 74.6 percent and 106.7 percent respectively.”

3. Boosting cardio health
I can’t resist another plug for semen. It’s possible that male goo can lower blood pressure. Another recent study found that women who gave their men oral sex, and swallowed, had a lower risk of preeclampsia, the dangerously high blood pressure that sometimes accompanies pregnancy.

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No, I’m not making this up. “The present study shows that oral sex and swallowing sperm is correlated with a diminished occurrence of preeclampsia,” said the Dutch authors.

See? We told you it was good for you.

There have been other studies showing that sex lowers blood pressure, and might even protect against strokes because of its stress-relieving ability.

But when we think of sex and the cardio system, we tend to think of poor old Nelson Rockefeller having a heart attack in flagrante delicto. Well, not only does that hardly ever happen, but sex might actually protect the heart. A 2002 report from a large British population of men said “some protection from fatal coronary events may be an added bonus” of frequent sexual intercourse.

4. Countering prostate cancer
Over the past few years, several journals have published studies showing that the more ejaculations the better.

Now the Journal of the American Medical Association, no less, has reported that “high ejaculation frequency was related to decreased risk of total prostate cancer.” It doesn’t matter how a man climaxes -- intercourse or masturbation. So next time he says, “Really, honey, it’s therapy,” he could be telling the truth.

5. Healing wounds
Some evidence suggests sex can be rejuvenating to the point of helping wounds to heal faster. Several experiments have shown that oxytocin can help even stubborn sores, like those suffered by diabetics, to heal by regenerating certain cells.

6. Fighting aging
Maybe it’s the rejuvenation, maybe the happiness, maybe all of the above. One thing’s for sure: “Use it or lose it” is literally true. For example, postmenopausal women often suffer from “vaginal atrophy,” which is what it sounds like and can lead to all sorts of complications like urinary tract infections. What’s one way to prevent it? More intercourse.

Sex is a form of exercise, after all, and like all exercise, it burns calories and can help battle the onslaught of the years. In fact, nursing home experts say they wish oldsters would have more sex.

Can sex really make you live longer? Maybe. In the same population of British men I cited earlier, researchers found a 50 percent reduction in overall mortality in the group of men who said they had the most orgasms. There was a dose response: the more orgasms, the better.

Of course, as Kinsey’s Bass reminds us, it could be that these blokes were just healthier and felt like having sex more often. But since there’s no evidence that lots of sex is bad for you, what have you got to lose?

Brian Alexander is a California-based writer who covers sex, relationships and health. He is a contributing editor at Glamour and the author of "Rapture: How Biotech Became the New Religion" (Basic Books).