Restored Computer

Hardware is an aspect of your computer that doesn’t require the need to be changed that often, unlike software. So if your hardware shouldn’t need to be changed that often you want to make sure that when you purchase it you are buying a piece of hardware that will last. A lot of people overlook the need and responsibility of PC hardware and instead concentrate primarily on software. Without the correct hardware your PC will fail to function correctly. The term hardware can be fixed to many aspects of your computer, with the main aspect being your motherboard. The motherboard is classed as the heart of your computer; its main purpose is to provide electrical and logical connections. Without a motherboard your computer will not be able to function. Components such as external storage, controllers for video display and sound are attached to the motherboard via edge connectors and cables.

The central processing unit (CPU) is also found on the motherboard and acts as another important piece of computer hardware. The CPU performs most of the calculations which enables a computer to function. The CPU and the motherboard are found within the tower of your computer as is the computer fan, needed to keep your computer at a safe temperature and your power supply, which is obviously needed to ensure your computer has power to function. Along with all of these you will also find your computers sound card and graphics card within your computer tower. Your graphics card, also known as a video display controller, is important to your computer as it is what enables you to get a good resolution and without one you would not be able to watch videos, play games or even clearly see flash images on websites. One last hardware feature of importance that is kept within your computer tower is the computers hard drive. The hard drive is the storage area of your computer system. All your programmes and applications as well as images, music, video and all forms of media that is on your computer are stored within your computers hard drive. All of the previously mentioned hardware is stored in the tower of your computer but there are aspects of computer hardware that are visible on your computer such as removable media in the form of a CD drive, DVD drive, floppy disc and USB ports.

When it comes to buying these pieces of computer hardware most people head straight to the biggest brand store and pay over expensive prices for hardware that you could have got a lot cheaper from another avenue. If you are looking to buy computer hardware there are a number of options open to you rather than just buying new. For example there are computer fairs that are held, which sell all forms of computer hardware at very reasonable prices; if you know what you are looking for you will be able to find a great deal at a computer fair. However if you would prefer buying from a retailer have you considered buying used hardware? Please don’t be put off by the term used what is meant by this is you would be buying new hardware that has been returned by customers and restored by the retailer. Dell is a prime example of a store that frequently sells hardware that has been returned and has been repaired to new standards.

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Service Provider Venomit

Good quality IT support for any business large or small is the best way to increase efficiency and ultimately reduce overheads within your organisation. Venom IT pride themselves on the ability to tailor unique support packages to ensure that all our clients are working efficiently with the resources they have available.

Computer software is so called to distinguish it from computer hardware, which encompasses the physical interconnections and devices required to store and execute (or run) the software. At the lowest level, software consists of a machine language specific to an individual processor. A machine language consists of groups of binary values signifying processor instructions that change the state of the computer from its preceding state. Software is an ordered sequence of instructions for changing the state of the computer hardware in a particular sequence. Computer software or just software is a general term used to describe the role that computer programs, procedures and documentation play in a computer system.

The term includes:
Application software, such as word processors which perform productive tasks for users.
Firmware, which is software programmed resident to electrically programmable memory devices on board main boards or other types of integrated hardware carriers.
Middleware, which controls and co-ordinates distributed systems.
System software such as operating systems, which interface with hardware to provide the necessary services for application software.
Software testing is a domain dependent of development and programming. Software testing consists of various methods to test and declare a software product fit before it can be launched for use by either an individual or a group.
Testware, which is an umbrella term or container term for all utilities and application software that serve in combination for testing a software package but not necessarily may optionally contribute to operational purposes. As such, testware is not a standing configuration but merely a working environment for application software or subsets thereof.

Venom IT supports is a tailored, proactive service and our aim is to offload the strain and administrative burden of IT issues away from your business. With engineers on hand to assist with day to day problems and monitor your systems for faults and potential issues we are able to prevent issues before they even arise to ensure your business is up and running 100% of the time.

Support Connect
With the growth of remote connectivity we have the ability to connect to a client's PC. This is still being used as a second choice option by many IT support providers. We operate differently. Our Support Connect software is used as a primary support choice within a few mouse clicks you are connected to one of our engineers who are available to assist you.

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TV and Computer 3D Technology

Everything old is new again. While it first emerged in the 1950s as a passing fad, 3D technology for movies is making a comeback. Yes, you still need to wear special glasses to see it, but that might not be true much longer...and some manufacturers are determined to make the 3D leap from the movies into your living room. Keep reading to find out the state of the art. We’ve all seen the old black and white photographs of young couples, kids, and grownups from the 1950s shielding their faces in horror while witnessing what at the time was considered to be cutting edge technology: 3D movies. Movie goers from this more wholesome time were able to see classics such as the original "House of Wax" in a way that had never been experienced before, which is to say while wearing flimsy paper glasses with red and blue lenses.

The movies were quite dramatic and cheesy and the 3D effects were nowhere near as realistic as they are today, but these early films engaged audiences and began a short-lived trend that is once again gaining popularity. After all, the new go-to horror director, Rob Zombie, is currently in talks to direct a remake of “The Blob,” another 1950s classic, but this time he’ll be doing it in 3D. In the 50s when the popularity of television exploded, the motion picture industry was left reeling and trying to figure out how they could once again lure audiences into theaters. Even at this time, 3D films weren’t a new phenomena; this technology was developed and experimented with during the silent film era, but it never made a big splash. Motion picture executives in the 50s, however, were hoping that 3D films would be appealing enough to entice customers back into theater seats and away from their beloved television sets.

For a short time in America, over 5,000 movie theater were screening 3D movies. They were also being produced and showcased in Britain, Japan, Germany, Hong Kong, and Mexico. Unfortunately for the film industry, the buzz surrounding these realistic-seeming movies eventually died out as viewers began complaining of headaches during screenings, and shooting these movies became too expensive.

Obviously, the use of this technology didn’t entirely disappear. Today’s 3D offerings are like no other in our history; the glasses have gotten cooler as well. 3D movies now show on massive screens at IMAX theaters, and if recent releases by Pixar (“Up”) and Disney (“A Christmas Carol”) are any indication, the technology is experiencing a major comeback. A couple of popular electronics companies are interested in taking this technology even farther by offering 3D devices that consumers can use in the comfort of their own home.

A recent study of individuals who consider themselves “technologically savvy” and interested in new gadgets found that consumers are interested in practical 3D video devices that don’t require the use of glasses. Coincidentally, two such devices were showcased at the 2009 Digital Content Expo held in Tokyo this past October. Though Sony’s device is in very early development and Pioneer’s may not be available in the U.S. for months, both provide a valuable glimpse into what the future of television and 3D technology will look like. Let’s find out more about these offerings from Sony and Pioneer.

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GA P55 UD3R Intel P55 Motherboard

Fortunately a slightly smaller feature set doesn't affect its overall performance or compatibility. Gigabyte's GA-P55-UD3R motherboard supports all of Intel's socket 1156 Core i5 700-series and Core i7 800-series processors, which so far consists of the Core i5 750, Core i7 860 and Core i7 870, as well as future support for Intel's upcoming 32nm socket 1156 processors as well. Core i7 8xx-series should not be confused with Core i7 9xx-series processors, those are socket 1366 CPUs which are not compatible with this motherboard or any P55 Express platform.

INCLUDES: User's Manual, Driver CD, (4) SATA cables, I/O Shield, IDE cable.
Chipsets: Intel P55 Express
CPU Support: Intel Socket 1156
Memory Type: Dual Channel DDR3-800/1066/1333
Videocard Support: (2) PCI Express x16 2.0
Integrated Graphics: No

One of the biggest changes with the P55 Express chipset is what it doesn't do. While traditionally Intel chipsets have used the northbridge to control memory (including last generation's Intel P45 Express), that job now falls to the Core i5 and Core i7 processors and on-die memory controllers. The shift makes for some big improvements in memory performance, fortunately for the end-user memory compatibility is still pretty familiar. The GA-P55-UD3R will support up to 16GB of dual-channel DDR3 RAM, in speeds of DDR3-800/1066/1333 and even DDR3-2200 under certain overclocked settings.

Another thing you won't find on the Intel P55 Express chipset is an add-on PCI Express 2.0 controller, it's been moved on to the die of socket 1156 Core i5 processors. This on-board controller supplies x16 lanes of PCI Express 2.0 bandwidth to the primary PCI Express x16 slot. Another PCI Express x16 slot is supplied with x4 lanes of bandwidth by the Intel P55 Express chipset, and both of these PCI Express x16 slots can be linked together in Crossfire mode when paired with similar ATI Radeon videocards.

Although some motherboards using Intel's P55 Express chipset will run dual NVIDIA Geforce videocards in SLI mode, the GA-P55-UD3R doesn't have this feature built-in. Not that it matters much any more, NVIDIA's latest videocards never materialized and never will. With Intel's Core i5 processors now handling most of the roles that would have traditionally been the job of the Northbridge, there's no longer any need for a two-chip core logic. Intel has merged the Northbridge and Southbridge into a single entity named the "PCH", P55 Express to you and me, it controls the legacy PCI slots, storage, networking and USB.

In addition to its two PCI Express x16 slots, Gigabyte's GA-P55-UD3R has four legacy PCI slots and a single PCI Express x1 slot (with x1 lanes of bandwidth, naturally). This leaves a fair amount of room available for expansion. The board is well laid out so that even with two double-wide videocards installed, there's room for a pair of legacy expansion cards. Useful if you have an old TV tuner and fancy soundcard.

Intel's creation of the PCH controller for the Intel P55 Express chipset is an evolution of the ICH10R southbridge controller that graced the Intel P45 Express chipset. The PCH storage controller can handle up to six SATA II connection at 3Gb/s in RAID 0, 1, 5 and 10 modes. Gigabyte adds two more controllers into the mix, a JMicron JMB362 controller that powers two eSATA ports that can be run in RAID 0, 1 and JBOD modes, as well as Gigabyte's own SATA controller, which controls two more SATA II 3Gb/s that also do RAID 0, 1 and JBOD, and finally a legacy PATA adapter that can handle up to two IDE devices. Altogether that's 8 internal SATA connections and two eSATA connections, a lot of storage by anyone's definition. Unfortunately, there's no SATA 6G on this particular board.

Around back the I/O panel abounds with connectors; 10 USB 2.0 ports ready to go, a gigabit RJ-45 port, coaxial and optical S/PDIF audio connectors, 8-channel audio stereo jacks and two e-SATA ports for external devices. The Gigabyte GA-P55-UD3R motherboard retails for around $150 CDN ($140 USD, £85 GBP) which puts it right where motherboards based on Intel's P45 Express chipset used to be. When combined with a processor like the $200 Intel Core i5 750, it's pretty easy to build a socket 1156 computer system for under $600.

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Google announce energy efficient computing

Intel Corp. and Google Inc. recently announced an initiative to promote the development and adoption of more energy-efficient computers, components and power supplies. Twenty-five additional companies and organizations have already signed up for the "Climate Savers Computing Initiative," including computer and component manufacturers, energy companies, electronics retailers, government agencies and environmental organizations.

"Today, the average desktop PC wastes nearly half of its power, and the average server wastes one-third of its power," said Urs Hölzle, Google's senior vice president of operations. "The Climate Savers Computing Initiative is setting a new 90 percent efficiency target for power supplies, which if achieved, will reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 54 million tons per year."

According to Hölzle, this reduction would be equivalent to removing 11 million cars from the road.The initiative has taken the U.S. government's 2007 Energy Star guidelines at its starting point, but plans to eventually surpass them. For example, the guidelines require that all Energy-Star-certified personal computer power supplies be 80 percent efficient, whereas the Climate Savers Computing Initiative aims to hit 90 percent by 2010.

According to Pat Gelsinger, senior vice president of Intel's Digital Enterprise Group, Climate-Savers-certified desktop computers are expected to cost approximately $20 more than uncertified ones at first, and servers are estimated to cost $30 more. But Gelsinger hopes that energy companies can be persuaded to offer rebates until the new, more efficient devices become the industry standard and the price declines.In either case, Gelsinger points out that the energy savings from a Climate Savers device would pay for the higher cost within two years. In addition to developing new products, the initiative includes plans to push the adoption of new energy-efficiency policies, educate consumers and encourage the widespread adoption of new devices.

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Core 2 Duo E8500, E8400 E8200 Processors

Not so long ago we thought that in early 2008 we will be focusing on comparing the new AMD Phenom processors against the refreshed Intel Penryn manufactured with 45nm technological process. However, these expectations didn’t come true, and both – AMD and Intel – should be blamed for that.

It is true, at this time AMD cannot deliver mass quad-core processors working at competitive frequencies. The currently available Phenom models lose even to previous generation quad-core Intel processors, not to mention the more advanced CPUs. It is quite logical that Intel doesn’t have any significant stimulus to refresh their quad-core processor line-up, because there are simply no worthy competitors to the pretty successful Core 2 Quad on old 65nm cores these days. That is why the launch of new Core 2 Quad processors known as Yorkfield has been postponed for an indefinite period of time, at least until February or March 2008. And although Intel has found an excuse – an alleged problem in the upcoming processors caused by EMI in 1333MHz front side bus when these CPUs are used in hypothetical mainboards with 4-layer PCB design – it doesn’t sound convincing at all.

As for us, we have to state to our disappointment that it doesn’t make sense to compare Phenom against Penryn, because the former is uncompetitive, and the latter is still illusive and remains only an upcoming solution for the time being.

Nevertheless, there are more than enough interesting topics for discussion in the today’s processor market. Although Intel decided to postpone the launch of their quad-core processors on 45nm cores, the Core 2 Duo processor lineup will be refreshed with a few new models. They are going to announce three new processor models with Wolfdale codename within the next few days. They will be Core 2 Duo E8500, E8400 and E8200. These CPUs are based on the revised core manufactured with 45nm process and belong to the same Penryn family as the postponed Yorkfield CPUs. We certainly can’t disregard the arrival of mass Wolfdale processors, which promise to raise the performance bar for Intel’s dual-core solutions to a totally new qualitative level. They feature higher clock speeds, larger L2 cache and a number of other improvements. And the most pleasing thing about them is their cost, set at the same level as that of older Core 2 Duo solutions.

So, in the second half of January 2008 Intel is going to massively update their dual-core processor lineup in $160-$260 price range. This particular event became the main topic of our today’s article that will dwell on the new promising Intel processors and the changes they will bring to the mainstream desktop market.

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Intel eliminate from microprocessor chips

Intel Corp. has announced plans to stop using lead as a soldering agent in its microprocessors. Lead is a chemical element with widespread industrial use. It is particularly useful as a semiconductor, due to its specific electrical and mechanical properties. The element, however, is a highly potent toxin known to cause blood and nervous system disorders, including mental dysfunction, especially in children.

Intel began phasing out the use of lead in its products in 2002, with the introduction of a tin-silver-copper soldering alloy. This alloy had replaced lead as a soldering agent in nearly all Intel chip sets and processors by 2004, with the exception of 0.02 grams of lead that continued to be used inside each chip.

This lead will now be eliminated in favor of the tin-silver-copper alloy, beginning with the Penryn line of processors. The company plans to have its microprocessors be lead-free by the end of the year, and to phase out lead in its 65-nanometer-process chips in 2008.

The use of toxic metals in electronics manufacture has become a serious health problem worldwide. High rates of obsolescence have contributed to a global "electronic waste" problem, in which vast quantities of electronics have been ending up as garbage, particularly in Third World countries that are paid to dispose of First World waste.

Unregulated disposal of this waste, whether by landfilling, burning or even disassembly for parts, exposes local workers, residents and ecosystems to a heavy toxic payload. Lead in particular is known for its ability to contaminate soil and groundwater.

According to Solving the E-waste Problem, a United-Nations-led alliance between three U.N. agencies, 16 businesses and several government agencies and universities, electronic waste is one of the fastest-growing types of trash in the world, with levels rapidly approaching 40 million metric tons per year.

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Designing a 3D Background Parallax Effect

The parallax effect is an illusion that is created when the viewer is moving and the objects being viewed may seem to move slower in the distance while objects that are closer to the viewer seem to move a lot faster. A practical example would be when one is riding in a car looking out the window on a highway, and then you notice the objects nearest you like a fence moving by quickly while horses in a field move slower and objects beyond them like a hill won't seem to move at all.

The parallax effect is an illusion that is created when the viewer is moving and the objects being viewed may seem to move slower in the distance while objects that are closer to the viewer seem to move a lot faster. A practical example would be when one is riding in a car looking out the window on a highway, and then you notice the objects nearest you like a fence moving by quickly while horses in a field move slower and objects beyond them like a hill won't seem to move at all. There is a difference in the orientation of the objects you see. Web designers have begun using this effect on various websites and it's an interesting graphic illusion that adds a point of interest on your website when resizing the browser window. To create the 3D background with a parallax effect on your website you will need to use Photoshop and CSS codes.

1. Select a theme. Pick the theme and images you want to create a parallax effect with. You'll need at least three layers of images to create the 3D background design with a parallax effect. You can create background image with snowflakes of different shapes and sizes.
2. Prepare the images and layers in Photoshop. When you have your theme and images ready, open your Photoshop program and load the images in different layers. In this example we have a winter theme with snowflakes that will help create the parallax effect. You should have 3 images and each will be in their respective layers. The first layer will contain the background picture. This is the furthest image from the viewer so you'll have the smallest snowflakes on top of a blue background color. The second layer will contain the mid ground image, these will be slightly larger snowflakes. Then the third and last layer will contain the foreground image or the largest picture.
3. Save the layers in the proper format. We will be saving each image in the PNG 24 format. So when you are done tweaking your images and happy with the results, save each image in the PNG 24 format. First save the background image, but before saving, turn off the visible button on the foreground and midground layers on the layers palette. So the only visible image will be the blue background with small snowflakes on top of it. Go to Save for Web and Devices and select Save, make sure it is in the PNG 24 format and name it background.png. Next, select the midground image layer and make it visible by clicking the visibility box next to it. Since we need to make this a transparent layer we need to turn off the background image visibility button and the background color. So the only visible image is the medium sized snowflakes without a background. Save the midground layer the same way you saved the background layer. Name it midground.png. Last we'll save the foreground layer, turn on the foreground layer visibility button and turn off the midground visibility button. So the only image visible is the foreground image or the biggest snowflake image with no background. Follow the same saving process and name it foreground.png.
4. Create the HTML and CSS codes. Go to your index.html file and create div for the foreground and midground images. The div elements will go between your body tags so it will look like this:

Now go to your style.css file and put in the following code in the body tags:

body {

background: url(images/background.png) repeat 5% 5%;

}

#midground {

background: url(images/midground.png) repeat 30% 80%;

position: absolute;

top: 0; left: 0; right: 0; bottom: 0;

z-index: 997;

}

#foreground {

background: url(images/foreground.png) repeat 105% 120%;

position: absolute;

top: 0; left: 0; right: 0; bottom: 0;

z-index: 998;

}

The CSS code will style the midground and foreground images with absolute positioning and repeat percentages. The repeat percentages will control the horizontal and vertical movement speed of each image. You'll notice our foreground percentages are higher than 100%, this means it will move at a rate faster than the browser window's rate when it is resized. You can now test your theme in your browser.

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Universal Bus Seriel

With the recent release of Windows 98, the Universal Serial Bus (USB) has become a new buzzword in the computer industry. What's so great about USB? Well, the serial bus has been long neglected in the way of upgrades. We've seen faster video cards (2D and the introduction of 3D), faster and larger hard drives, much faster CPUs, new 3D sound card technology, and faster motherboards. It seems that almost every component in the system has been improved with the exception of the serial bus. Aside from the invention of PS/2 a few years ago, absolutely nothing has happened with the buses until USB came along.

The Universal Serial Bus has several benefits over the older serial bus. One is a greatly increased bandwidth. USB has a bandwidth of 12 megabytes per second, which is plenty of bandwidth for any peripheral. At most, an ADSL modem would probably take up to 6 Mb/s of bandwidth, and other small devices won't take up more than a megabyte with the exception of some USB speakers. In addition to the increased bandwidth, USB also supports up to 127 devices. I'm not exactly sure who would use 127 different devices, but it's always nice to have the upgrade possibilities. USB devices can be powered through the Universal Serial Bus as well. Not all USB devices are powered, but it is nice that the possibility is there.

Many new devices coming on to the market will use USB. Some of the devices may be a surprise, whereas USB isn't just limited to the standard fanfare of keyboards and mice. In the coming months you'll see more and more digital cameras (still and video), modems (ADSL, ISDN, and analog), monitors (CRT and LCD), keyboards, mice, speakers, joysticks, and telephones. In fact, some of these products are available today. One of the more interesting USB products is a USB speaker. But don't speakers need to be plugged into a sound card? This is not the case with USB speakers. They have a sound hardware inside and the audio signal is digitally transmitted across the USB bus. It may seem that the future of sound cards is doomed, but USB speakers will probably stay in the business sector at least for the time being because they can't offer the advanced 3D sound and MIDI features that sound cards can.

Of course no new technology is without its drawbacks and USB has a few of its own. One being that for full USB support you'll need Windows 95 OSR 2.1 with the USB patch, OSR 2.5, or Windows 98. A great feature of USB is that it supports up to 127 devices. However, only two USB ports are on the motherboard and in order to use more than two devices, additional USB hubs must be purchased, which can cost $80 or more. (Some USB devices offer pass-thru connectors, but many do not.)

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Rich Online - Find Your Niche

In honor of the birthday of one of the most famous Internet millionaires, Mook-Jon, I'm going to try to cover something that he says is one of the keys to his success - researching a niche for your website. BTW, Mook-Jon now writes for WebsitePublisher.net. He has written a birthday blog entry ruminating on success, drive and his life. Happy Birthday, Jon.

Meanwhile I'm still out there working hard for you, the reader. I've been speaking via email, IM and even phone with people who are making good money online. They are all reluctant to talk, but I've managed to coax information out of them. My first observation was the importance of viral marketing to their success, which I've covered in other posts.

I'm a fan of the content-rich site. I think providing information to your prospective customers is what will make them customers. Google agrees with me, and is moving its pageranking system to reward so-called authority pages, meaning information rich pages that link to other sites and have other sites linking to them.

Most good websites exploit a niche - that is an area of focus for your content-rich site. Coming up with that niche is probably the most difficult and most important part of your Internet Marketing strategy.

As I have said countless times, most people just need a little push to get started, then everything starts flowing. You should always be in niche-hunting mode. I keep a small, spiral bound notebook next to my laptop and I write down ideas as they come to me. When you are looking for something on the Internet and can't find it, that something needs to go in the book once it passes this simple test:

If the answer is even probably, it needs to go on the page. I always start with broad, general categories and drill down later.

Why not start with yourself? Take a moment right now and list your interests. What do you search for on the web? Put that on the list. Think about all of the things that fill your day at work or at home. While you are living your life run stuff through the niche filter in your mind - there's always something that you can add to the list. If you don't have something to write it down on, call yourself and leave a voice mail. I've done it many times. Everyone says I wish there was a [insert something here] on the Internet. Some of us say that a lot. Put it on the list.

Work with someone - I find that my wife is a great person to bounce things off. When we are going somewhere in the car we often brainstorm my latest ideas and she usually has a lot to add. In no time you should have a good-sized list.

1. Alexa - Look over the Top 100 and the Movers and Shakers. Delve into the categories that appeal to you and see what strikes you. Write it all down, because you'll end up clicking all over the place and will never re-create the path.

2. Sites that show you what people are searching for. Try Google Zeitgeist or The Lycos Top 50. There's a fairly long list of such sites over at Search Engine Watch that I've bookmarked.

3. Google Answers. I am fascinated by Google Answers, and I sometimes spend a long time looking over what people will pay to find out. There are some great ideas here too.

You could even go to Alexa and look over the top sites trying to come up with an angle that would make them better or easier. Or you might come up with a complementary site (MySpace companion sites come to mind).

Once you get your general category ideas together it's time to do some supply and demand research, along with what I call sanity checking.

This is the first in a three part series. The other two parts can be found at www.affiliateblog.com.

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Online Shopping Made Even Easier

Jane is a value conscious shopper. She is always looking to compare prices before buying any product. One day, she walks into a local retailer pricing out digital cameras. She writes down several camera model numbers so she can go online later that evening to see if she can find it cheaper elsewhere. Later that evening, Jane spends two or three hours surfing the Internet before she finds the camera she likes at the price she is willing to pay.

Imagine if Jane could just call a phone number, punch in the UPC code of the camera, and wait a few seconds while a database searches the Internet to compare prices for her. Imagine if she could then buy the camera right there on the spot. Sounds like a future technological advancement, doesn't it? Not quite the future; it's already here.

Online shopping has made it easier for consumers to get what they want, whenever they want it at the prices they want. Every major brick and mortar retailer now has a presence online not including the smaller, more specialized retailers located around the world. However, the vast array of online retailers can make it difficult for consumers to find the products they are looking for at the most affordable price. In addition, consumers do not have time to spend hours in front of their computers scouring across Internet looking for products. Consumers are demanding a better, more efficient and less cumbersome way to compare and buy products online. Frucall has stepped up to the challenge and has introduced a new way to compare prices online.

Frucall is a new, innovative service that enables consumers to compare products online using their mobile phones. This alleviates the valuable time spent trying to accomplish the same thing in front of a computer. In today's increasingly connected world, everyone has a mobile phone with them at all times which makes the Frucall service so attractive.

Here is how Frucall works. Customers first sign up online for their free account. In their profile, they store their mobile phone number and optional credit card information. Then, when they are shopping at the mall, they simply call the toll free phone number and type in the UPC code of the product of interest. In a few seconds, the Frucall service will read the results to the customer. It's that easy.

At the present time Frucall's service only queries Amazon.com because that's currently the only service that allows Web Services queries. However, that will change as additional online retailers allow Web Services queries are added.

The ability to do voice-based comparison shopping through a mobile phone is a captivating concept whose time has definitely come. In a world where so many of our daily activities are performed with a mobile phone, the Frucall service takes its capabilities one step further. If you are a busy consumer that values convenience and services that are helpful in saving you time, then Frucall is exactly what you need. You have nothing to lose and everything to gain from using the Frucall service.

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Personal Computer Motherboard Technology

As a kid, perhaps you enjoyed putting together model cars or airplanes. Some people grow up and still like the challenge of buying plastic airplane parts and trying to create something that resembles the picture on the front of the box. Some people move on to woodworking, risking life and limb in an attempt to turn harmless pieces of wood into furniture. Others end up covered in grease while restoring an old car, spending more money than they would on a shiny new model. It's the urge to create, and the instinct has been around since before our ancestors did cave paintings in France. Now some of us have a new hobby, buying a box of computer parts and bringing to life one of the most fascinating creations ever envisioned.

A Fast Trip Through the Motherboard Landscape
These days, it's gotten much easier for a person to put together a new PC from a set of components, thanks to improvements in technology and the availability of helpful guides on the Internet. Bringing a new computer to life can still provide that same thrill and sense of accomplishment, since building your own PC is really an opportunity to do system design engineering. Choosing the right components and carefully configuring the system can create a perfectly balanced (and cost-effective) computer architecture.

While the latest, sexy CPU's receive all the attention, it's really the motherboard that brings it all together to turn a processor into a personal computer. Let's take a look at the way desktop motherboard and processor technologies have evolved these last few years, focusing on the system issues facing the designers of screaming-fast CPU's. We'll take a processor-neutral approach and try to give the reader some tools for making an objective evaluation of systems based on Cyrix, Intel, or AMD processors. We'll explain the various components on today's motherboards, including some new initiatives that have dramatically simplified the motherboard upgrade ritual.

It would take an entire article to properly cover the (somewhat controversial) overclocking methodology, but we'll touch briefly on this topic in the context of what we learned about motherboard parameters. We'll then test-drive this new system knowledge by making brief case studies of some motherboards that accommodate the newest processors. These motherboards were selected to highlight various architectural differences, and do not represent our endorsement of particular products. In our last section, we'll talk about what the future holds for motherboard architectures.

Before we plunge into the intricacies of the motherboard itself, first we need to take a little time to understand general computer architecture. That will help us later as we describe some of the new motherboard technologies.

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