Canon's Selphy printer knows how to keep it together

One thing I hate about having so many gadgets is keeping track of all the wires, manuals, disks, and parts that come with them. I'm getting better at keeping track of all those extras, but I wish each gadget came with a special accessories container to help me get more organized. Don't you?

Gizmodo spotted Canon's Selphy CP770 dye-sublimation photo printer sits on top of a storage container deep enough to hold all the wires, and extra parts that come with the printer. The printer itself is detachable, and can be placed anywhere in a room.

Gizmodo says the Selphy printer is aimed at kids, which might explain the big buttons, the 2.5-inch TFT screen, and of course, the colorful beach bucket design. The printer features 300 x 300 dpi color, can print borderless postcard-size photos, supports most memory cards, and uses USB/IR/PictBridge connections. It also includes a very cool face recognition feature I find very useful, as it optimizes the background around each face and does red-eye correction as well.

The printer will sold in Japan starting June 15th for around $150, and hopefully will come to the U.S. soon.

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Brain game can boost IQ - Here's 5 new brain games to play now

According to one group of brain doctors at the University of Michigan, at long last a mental exercise has been discovered that could really make you smarter. Literally, if the research is correct, the more you play and the harder you play it, the smarter you get.

The came is pretty simple in design: Players are presented with a computer screen that shows a pattern of squares. If the pattern matches the same one the player saw two patterns earlier, he pushes a button with one hand. At the same time, he has to listen to letters narrated over a set of headphones. If the letter matches the one said two letters earlier, he pushes a button with his other hand. The better the player does, the longer the interval stretches out: Three patterns and letters earlier, then four, and so on.

In tests, 20 minutes of daily training over a varying period of time led to "significantly" increased IQ vs. a control group, and the longer people played the game, the higher their IQ got. The study is of course contested for a variety of reasons: Primarily, that it was too small to be scientifically rigorous. But if it pans out, this is good news for people who want to improve their intelligence through video games, or at least help stave off the effects of old age with them.

Alas, the U-Mich game just doesn't sound like that much fun. But there are a ton of new games on the market that aim to help you improve logical thinking, reaction time, and coordination. If matching dots on a screen isn't your idea of a good time, check out one of these new titles:

Lumosity (Web)

This browser-based game offers about a dozen mini-games, each designed to help with one area of cognition, including memory, processing speed, attention span, and "cognitive control." Many games are surprisingly similar in design to the one in the Michigan study and some present a real challenge. ($9.95 a month, pictured)

Brain Challenge (Xbox Live Arcade)

Similar to Lumosity, this used to be a cell phone game that was ported to the Xbox. A series of mini-games asks you what comes next in a sequence of graphic designs, count items quickly, do basic math questions, and more. 30 types of rapid-fire games are available, and your progress is tracked by the game over time. (800 points)

Rocky & Bullwinkle (Xbox Live Arcade)

No, I wouldn't have expected a game based on a hapless cartoon duo to be good for the brain, but this set of WarioWare-like micro games are great for those looking to boost reaction time and improve eye-hand coordination. Nothing here is too complex (quick: click the correct button in the next 2 seconds!), but it's all good for working on the "twitch" reflex. (800 points)

Blokus Portable: Steambot Championship (PSP)

This challenging board game comes to the PSP, offering a grid in which you have to place your Tetris-like pieces in such a way that they touch only on their corners. It really works on your pattern recognition skills and gets exceptionally tough when playing with a group of four. ($20)

Wild Earth: African Safari (Wii)

No, it's not a brain game at all, but really little kids won't be able to manage the controls and strategies of most of the above titles. Still they shouldn't be left out of the fun. Wild Earth isn't exactly the most thrilling title on the market, but youngsters will enjoy looking at the animals on this virtual photo hunt while learning the names of all the beasts of the wild. Good for very small minds. ($30)

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2010: D-day for the Internet as it hits "full capacity"?

Doom-filled warnings arrive from AT&T this week. The company says that without substantial investment in network infrastructure, the Internet will essentially run out of bandwidth in just two short years.

Blame broadband, says AT&T. Decades of dealing with the trickle of bandwidth consumed by voice and dialup modems left AT&T twiddling its thumbs. The massive rise of DSL and cable modem service in the 2000s has had AT&T facing a monstrous increase in the volume of data transmissions. And that's set to increase another 50 times between now and 2015. That's enough, says AT&T, to all but crash the system.

In response, AT&T says it's investing $19 billion to upgrade the backbone of the Internet, the routers, servers, and connections where the bulk of traffic is processed.

Of course, AT&T is using this breathlessness in part to point fingers beyond simple broadband use. Web video (especially high-definition video) is the most commonly mentioned bandwidth hog. AT&T says video alone will eat up 80 percent of traffic in two years vs. just 30 percent now. One wonders how YouTube doesn't collapse under the pressure. Hmmm.

Meanwhile, many are wondering whether this is prelude to AT&T announcing (or not announcing, but doing anyway) a traffic prioritization/shaping system like Comcast has been tinkering with... and which has earned it nothing but scorn. Net neutrality (which would forbid premium pricing for certain Internet applications and destinations) is a topic that continues to be hotly debated on Capitol Hill, and telcos are anxious to kill the idea since they'd love to be able to charge additional money for different kinds of web traffic. If the whole Internet is about to crash, well, that makes AT&T's argument all the more compelling, doesn't it?

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Windows XP going off market in June: What it means

Microsoft originally announced over a year ago that Windows XP would be going off the market in January 2008. XP was later given a brief stay of execution, to June 30, 2008. That deadline is fast approaching, which has led to much panicking from people who aren't quite sure what XP's "going off market" means, exactly.

People are still as confused as ever. So let's take a stab at clarifying, once again, what's going to happen by answering some frequently asked questions about XP's imminent disappearance.

Will Windows XP really no longer be on sale after June 30? Sorry for the double negative, but no. All this means is that Microsoft will stop selling the OS. Finding a computer with XP preinstalled will likely be very difficult, as well. However, you'll still be able to find copies for the foreseeable future, and likely the unforeseeable one, too. See for yourself: You can find copies of just about any Microsoft product, including ancient versions of Windows and even MS-DOS, by simply searching online. But hang on to your current copy of Windows XP. You may need it down the road if you don't want to move to Vista.

Will I be forced to upgrade to Vista soon? No. But it will get harder and harder not to, especially since new software and peripherals are likely to stop working with XP. That could take years.

Will my XP machine stop working in June? No, but Microsoft will stop releasing non-security software updates to the masses on April 14, 2009. But let's be clear: XP will continue to "work" even after this point.

Will Microsoft shut off product activation for XP after June? No, that would be crazy. While no one has said this will happen, it's conceivable that Windows could shut down product activation for XP at some point. But that would only happen after XP reaches its end-of-support term (when all support plans expire). The good news for you: That happens on April 8, 2014, which should be plenty of time to get the kinks worked out of Vista-or switch to a Mac, Linux, or anything else. Bottom line: Your copy of XP will work, totally legally, for at least six more years.

What about this exception for Windows XP Home Edition I hear about? Doesn't apply to you. Microsoft will continue to sell XP to makers of ultra-cheap laptops like the Asus Eee PC until 2010 because they just can't run Vista. But it is not going to make XP Home Edition available as installable software to end-users.

What about after 2014? Well, that's unclear. But it's possible XP will stop being installable at that point. Microsoft's official policy is that these dates have "no affect [sic] on how long you can use a product," which may imply product activation will work forever. However, two things come to mind:

1) Even the most die-hard XP enthusiast will probably be ready to upgrade at that point (as XP will be nearly 15 years old, and your PC will be dead by then, I'm sure).

2) Even if Microsoft shuts off product activation, the hacker community will certainly make dozens of tools to let you continue using XP with abandon. Fret not.

Can I install XP on a PC that has Vista already on it? Yes. You can delete any partition with any OS on it (and reformat it) during the installation of XP. If you're feeling brave, you can even run both OSes at the same time by setting up a dual-boot machine.

Whew! Does that clear everything up? Feel free to continue sending your queries and adding your comments below.

Note: This post was originally created in April 2007 and updated with new and changed information in April 2008.

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Beat the spyware

Spybot - Search & Destroy detects and removes spyware, a relatively new kind of threat not yet covered by common anti-virus applications. Spyware silently tracks your surfing behaviour to create a marketing profile for you that is transmitted without your knowledge to the compilers and sold to advertising companies. If you see new toolbars in your Internet Explorer that you haven't intentionally installed, if your browser crashes inexplicably, or if your home page has been "hijacked" (or changed without your knowledge), your computer is most probably infected with spyware. Even if you don't see the symptoms, your computer may be infected, because more and more spyware is emerging. Spybot-S&D is free, so there's no harm giving it a try to see if something has invaded your computer.

To see a list of threats Spybot-S&D can remove, in the navigation bar at the left click on Support --> Threats. For an introduction to Spybot-S&D, please read the tutorial. If you fear incompatibility with other software you are now using, although we can assure you that there is no danger you can review our compatibility overview which lists some software whose compatibility has been analyzed.

Spybot-S&D can also clean usage tracks, an interesting function if you share your computer with other users and don't want them to see what you have been working on. And for professional users, Spybot-S&D allows you to fix some registry inconsistencies and extended reports. A list of all the application's features is also available.

I've try it and i can said it's the best free anti-spyware now! compared with ad-aware 2007 free edition, Spybot 1000% better than ad-aware.

Download Spybot S&D (not a fake anti-spyware)

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Best antivirus software for 2008

You're crazy to use a computer on the web without antivirus software, but getting solid antivirus protection doesn't have to mean spending a fortune. In fact, some of the most capable antivirus products don't cost a thing.

Here are some of my personal thoughts on the best antivirus products on the market, both free and commercial.

Free

Alwil Avast! 4.6 Home Edition - Venerable Avast! is still free for personal use, and it's a relatively unobtrusive and capable virus stomper that will work well for just about anyone. A new feature adds a web proxy to the mix (which filters all traffic running through it for security risks), and it works will all major web browsers. It also recognizes non-virus threats like spyware and adware. The Pro edition ($40) adds a few power-user features that the average user probably won't miss. Give the free version a try!

Aviva AntiVir PersonalEdition Classic 7 - This has long been a capable and effective antivirus product, especially noteworthy for its fast operation.

UPDATE: Many readers have asked me about Grisoft's AVG product. I've used it and don't really prefer it to Avast/Aviva, namely because it does not seem to scan all files effectively. Independent security ratings place it relatively low in overall capability as well. Your mileage may vary, of course.

Paid

Trend Micro Internet Security Pro - Trend Micro has long been an also-ran in the antivirus world, but after spending some time with a recent version of the software I've been impressed with how well it works, its paucity of crashes, and how generally effective it is. Trend offers three vaguely similar versions of its security application; this one ($70) is the most inclusive, and cheaper than the rest. You can also get plain antivirus for just $40.

Kaspersky Internet Security 7.0 - If you want absolute and utter control over every 1 and 0 that enters and exits your computer, Kaspersky is the app for you. I honestly don't think you can get any more secure than with Kaspersky locking down your system, but it was overkill even for me, and I had trouble convincing it not to remove some applications I knew were OK and actually wanted on my PC. Kaspersky is a hungry shredder with no reverse button (and it's on the slow side, too). $80. (Anti-virus only is $60.) I put NOD32 in this category; it's very similar in operation but can be heavy-handed.

Symantec Norton 360 - I've been a Norton user in various forms for close to a decade; the latest version doesn't do much different than the last few years' worth, but it's still rock-solid security that I don't hesitate to rely on. My only complaint is that Norton can slow down your computer quite a bit (like Kaspersky) and almost invariably hangs when I'm trying to shut down my computer. If you've ever wondered where all those error messages about programs like "ccApp" not responding come from, well, you've found it. It's frustrating that these problems persist year after year. $80 for Norton 360, or AntiVirus only for $60.

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Movies on DVD, hard drive, or USB: Which is best for laptop batteries?

Notebooks use a lot of power, but by isolating which components use it, you can add substantial run time to a machine without sacrificing utility.

To answer this question I performed three experiments on a Dell Inspiron notebook, playing back a movie file as a DVD, as an AVI ripped to the hard drive, and as the same AVI ripped to a USB thumbdrive and played back from there. All other settings on the machine were identical.

The results were interesting. Playing back a DVD, I got battery life of 2 hours, 36 minutes. As expected, when playing back from the hard drive, battery life climbed to 3 hours, 5 minutes. I expected even higher numbers from the USB thumbdrive playback but was in for a surprise: Run time plummeted way down to 2 hours, 33 minutes, the worst of the bunch. Quite interesting.

The hard drive vs. DVD isn't a big shock. A spinning optical drive uses about 5 watts of power, while an active hard drive uses just 2 to 3 watts. So naturally battery life will rise when you're not using the optical drive (especially since Windows likes to access your hard drive periodically anyway, whether you're using it or not).

The USB thumbdrive results were surprising, though, as USB devices have a reputation for not using a lot of power. I did a little research I found that power consumption can be erratic for USB devices, which likely explains the discrepancy (there is also a random component to any battery test, but not 30 minutes of randomness). One thumbdrive may only draw half a watt of power, but another may draw several watts. The USB interface itself draws power, too. Alas, there are no good studies of power consumption among different brands of thumbdrives, and I only tested using a single thumbdrive. The results could have been different had I used a different brand drive, but you'd have to experiment to find the right one.

Putting USB aside for now, one thing is clear: You can get substantially better battery life if you rip your DVDs to your hard drive before you take that trip. Not only that, you'll have to pack less (and DVDs are fragile), and you'll find switching between movies much more convenient, too.

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