Friday, March 28, 2008

Internet addictions: A real medical menace?

Alcohol, drugs, food, sex, and even shopping are all candidates for medical treatment and are recognized as genuine mental disorders, so what about the Internet? Internet addiction -defined as "excessive gaming, sexual pre-occupations, and email/text messaging" - is becoming so common that at least one psychiatrist says it merits inclusion in psychiatry's official handbook of mental illness, the "Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders."

Dr. Jerald Block of the Oregon Health and Science University is the latest voice pushing for this inclusion, noting that tech junkies display genuinely debilitating behavior, including drug-like cravings, withdrawal, and a constant need for more and better gear - just like a substance addict might exhibit.

But other doctors comment that Internet addiction, while it may be real, is too new of a condition and needs further study before being medically classified. There might be something to this: No one wants people being medicated or institutionalized if they aren't genuinely ill.

The "Manual of Mental Disorders" won't be published again until 2012, but an early draft will arrive for public comment in 2009. Meanwhile, mind docs say the problem is growing, now possibly affecting up to 10 percent of Internet users. Recent studies are surprising, indicating the problem is worst not among game-obsessed teens, but rather among middle-aged women who stay at home, constantly on the computer as a way of connecting to the outside world.

Is computer use (or computer downtime) causing a problem in your life? If so, you might be an addict. But you'll have to wait a few more years to find out for sure.

So how much time do you actually spend on the internet per day?

Saturday, March 15, 2008

PhotoHunt 101: I Spy

A quick look into the tech geek's desktop, not really good specs but still suitable for gaming.



And yeah I know its kind of dusty inside..haha

Monday, March 10, 2008

MALAYSIA ELECTION DECIDES 2008

Abdullah sworn in as PM

KUALA LUMPUR: Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi was sworn in Monday as the prime minister before the Yang diPertuan Agong, Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin, following the victory of the Barisan Nasional (BN) in Saturday's general election.

Abdullah took the oath of office and oath of secrecy at the ceremony which was held at the Balairong Seri of the Istana Negara here at 11.10am after he was presented the instrument of appointment.

Abdullah, 68, assumes the office of prime minister for a second term.

The Raja Permaisuri Agong, Tuanku Nur Zahirah, was also present at the ceremony.

Abdullah arrived at the Balairong Seri at 11am, accompanied by his wife Datin Seri Jeanne Abdullah.

Deputy Prime Minister Datuk Seri Najib Tun Razak and his wife Datin Seri Rosmah Mansor as well as other VIPs were present at the event.

Among the VIPs were former MCA president Tun Dr Ling Liong Sik, Umno secretary-general Datuk Seri Mohd Radzi Sheikh Ahmad and several new members of parliament (MPs).

At the ceremony, which took about 20 minutes, Abdullah signed the instrument of appointment before Chief Justice Datuk Abdul Hamid Mohamad, which was witnessed by the Chief Secretary to the Government, Tan Sri Mohd Sidek Hassan.

Barisan won 140 of the 222 parliamentary seats in Saturday's general election, enabling it to garner a simple majority and form the government.

Abdullah retained his Kepala Batas seat in Penang by defeating Subri Md Arshad of PAS with a majority of 11,246 votes.

Thursday, March 6, 2008

Quick look into Latest Internet Explorer 8 beta 1

Perhaps acknowledging its declining market share among Internet browsers, Microsoft is borrowing several popular features from Firefox and Safari in its release of Internet Explorer 8 beta 1. Although intended primarily for developers, the beta is public and should be used with caution.



We downloaded the 14.4MB file, then waited as Microsoft downloaded any missing Internet Explorer updates, checked for malicious code on our machine, and finally installed the browser. We then had to reboot. Our system crashed during the reboot and had to be manually restarted (but remember, this is a beta).

After restarting Windows, we were not prompted to do anything. Only after clicking on Internet Explorer did we find that version 7 had been overwritten with version 8 beta. A first-time use wizard walked us through configuration and personalization. There's the express settings option, which accepts the settings from your previous Internet Explorer installation, and there's choose my settings. We chose choose my settings, and we were asked to:

  1. change default search engine (we kept ours Google)
  2. change Activity Providers (see below)
  3. enable Safety Filter (yes)
  4. make Internet Explorer 8 beta 1 your default (no)
  5. import settings from another browser (yes)

Activity Providers, according to Microsoft, are default pages for maps, encyclopedia information, and social networks. Accepting Microsoft's defaults puts you firmly within the Microsoft universe of Windows Live spaces: Blog with Windows Live Spaces, Define with Encarta, Translate with Windows Live, and send with Windows Live Hotmail. We chose not to install any of these. Later we found that Microsoft has partnered with Facebook, eBay, StumbleUpon, Yahoo, Windows Live, and MSN, and provides "activities" associated with each. By choosing StumbleUpon, for example, we found that we can set Internet Explorer to always check StumbleUpon for reviews of a Web page, for related content associated with a Web site, for up-to-the-minute feeds of popular sites, or StumbleUpon itself. If you check for more Activities, you will find a Page Not Found.

The Safety Filter exists in the latest release of Internet Explorer and is the antiphishing part of the browser. In version 8, Microsoft adds malware prevention, actively scanning a downloading page for malicious content. Unlike other safe-surfing applications we've seen, Microsoft displays a warning. We think it might be better to flag the user, say in a pop-up window. Efforts to find what Microsoft found objectionable were futile; you could either block the threat or allow it without ever knowing what "it" is.

When we typed in maps.google.com, Internet Explorer 8 beta 1 crashed. Fortunately, Microsoft has borrowed the Session Recovery feature from Mozilla Firefox. Dubbed Automatic Crash Recovery (ACR), the Microsoft feature only crashes the tab, not the whole browser, and attempts to restore the tab individually. Apparently Google Maps did not crash the page, but our Google Toolbar did. After several attempts to recover the page, Internet Explorer 8 beta 1 asked if we wanted to close the tab.

Another borrowed feature is Web Slices. At the moment, only a handful of sites offer slices, so it's hard to judge how well this works in the wild. Apple Safari has a similar feature, allowing you to create applets on your desktop with snippets from live Web sites. Microsoft isn't that ambitious, as the site snippets only work within the Internet Explorer 8 beta 1 browser.

If you load Internet Explorer 8 beta 1 and then decide you don't like it, you can click the Emulate IE7 button to return your browser to the look and feel of the current version. Check back to see our take on beta 2 and the final release expected later in 2008.

Wednesday, March 5, 2008

Friendship Chain

Thanks Denz for the tag, doing it now, nice job you've done.

~~Begin Copy~~


This is the easy way and the fastest way to :

1. Make your Authority Technoraty explode.
2. Increase your Google Page Rank.
3. Get more traffic to your blog.
4. Makes more new friends.

Rules :
1. Start copy from "Begin Copy" until "End Copy" to your blog.
2. Put your own blog name and link.
3. Tag your friends as much as you can.

1. Picturing of Life
2. Juliana's Site
3. Hazel-My Life, My Hope, My Future.
4. Jeanne-The Callalily Space
5. Starz in De Sky
6. Denz Techtronics
7. Denz Recreational
8. Only the Strong Survive
9. AD's Techs

Now my turn to direct this tag to all the bloggers out there, and that's if you get tagged by me. Lol

~~End Copy~~

Wordless Wednesday

My post of the day : A friend of mine. Looks really funny, Haha !!



Sunday, March 2, 2008

Intel introduces Atom for mobile devices

Intel Atom processor will be the name for a new family of low-power processors designed specifically for mobile internet devices (MIDs) and a new class of internet-centric computers arriving later this year.

The company has confirmed Intel Atom as the name for its processors previously codenamed Silverthorne and Diamondville.

Intel also announced the Intel Centrino Atom ("Menlow") processor technology for MID platforms, consisting of multiple chips that enable this Internet experience in a pocketable device. Intel Centrino Atom processor technology includes the Intel Atom processor, a low-power companion chip with integrated graphics, a wireless radio, and thinner and lighter designs.

The Intel Atom processor is based on an entirely new microarchitecture designed specifically for small devices and low power, while maintaining the Intel Core 2 Duo instruction set compatibility.

The design also includes support for multiple threads for better performance and increased system responsiveness. All of this on a chip that measures less than 25 mm², making it Intel’s smallest and lowest power processor yet.

These new chips will be manufactured on Intel’s 45nm process with hi-k metal gate technology. The chips have a thermal design power (TDP) specification in 0.6-2.5 watt range and scale to 1.8GHz speeds depending on customer need. By comparison, today’s mainstream mobile Core 2 Duo processors have a TDP in the 35-watt range.

With personal computing increasingly going mobile and the computer industry rapidly developing new classes of products to connect the next billion people to the internet, the Intel Atom processor offers customers the unique ability to innovate around the new low-power design. In addition to the MID opportunity, Intel believes the demand for a new category of low-cost, internet-centric mobile computing devices dubbed ‘netbooks’ and basic internet-centric desktop PCs dubbed ‘nettops,’ will grow substantially over the next several years. The Intel Atom processor is perfectly suited to meet these new market segments.

Intel said the Intel Atom processor also has potential for future revenue opportunities in consumer electronic devices, embedded applications and thin clients.