Link to Photorec for Data Recovery

Here is the link for the free data recovery software I discussed during our presentation

PhotoRec

Good luck!

--Graham Wright

DOTA?!?!?!

Intel Core i7

Here are some links to benchmarks comparing the Core i7 to older Intel CPUs:

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/Intel-Core-i7-Nehalem,2057-3.html

http://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/Intel-Core-i7-Nehalem,2057-11.html

http://www.zdnet.com.au/reviews/hardware/desktops/soa/Benchmarks-Intel-Core-i7-Nehalem-/0,139023402,339293122-2,00.htm

And here is a YouTube video of NCIX doing a great job explaining the overclocking process with the Core i7 CPU:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iwbzQblRQ7I

Electronic Whiteboard

For further watching regarding the electronic whiteboard, please reference these links:

Johnny Lee's Wii Project Website. Has his original YouTube video demonstrating the Whiteboard as well as other projects he does with the Wiimote.

http://www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/projects/wii/

I've found these tutorials extremely useful when building the pens. They are more detailed than others I've found and I managed to find all of the parts that he mentions.

http://www.kenmooredesign.com/2008/11/how-to-make-infrared-led-light-pen-for.html
http://www.kenmooredesign.com/2008/11/connecting-wiimote-to-your-pc.html

Youtube + Savevid = Free Downloads

Hey everyone,

I just wanted to mention a few things about Youtube and Savevid websites. Perhaps some are aware of this, and should find what I say as old news, but I am wanting to discuss our current ability to download Youtube content for free now.

There seems to be a whole new market, enabling us to download music and video from arguably the largest media database known to-date.

The question is, should it remain free?

I also seem to have noticed that by inserting the text: &fmt=18 to the end of any Youtube link also makes higher quality sound, regardless of the clickable option being there or not. I have not tested this on a multitude of links, but it has worked on the one's tested.

Just wanted to share this, any comments are always welcome.

Picture Perfect Photography

Hunter S Thompson was a revolutionary writer with strange ideas and fantasies. He was born on July 19 1937 in Louisville Kentucky. Starting at a young age he always had issues with the law. After being in and out of jail he joined the Air Force.
He went on to become an inspirational writer and wrote many books and articles.

Some of his works include:










Gonzo: The Life of Hunter S. Thompson, An Oral Biography

Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas: A Savage Journey To The Heart Of The American Dream

The Rum Diary: A Novel

Hell's Angels

Songs Of The Doomed: More Notes On The Death Of The American Dream

Kingdom Of Fear: Loathsome Secrets Of A Star-crossed Child In The Final Days Of The American Century

What made him an interesting writer were the concepts that he developed for writing and the style he used. He would literally put himself into the stories he was reporting on. Many times his editor would give him a story to report on and he would go off find and develop a better story where he involved him self.

Warhammer Online Presentation

Our project is on Warhammer, possibly the greatest game ever created behind Dark Age of Camelot. If this game interests you we highly suggest having a look at the Mythic Warhammer website to get more details on the game.

http://www.warhammeronline.com

Here is a link to some of the Warhammer videos
http://www.warhammeronline.com/videos/index.php

The main introduction video shows Destruction sieging the Order city of Altdorf. The classes shown in this video are the Sorceress, Squig Herder, Marauder and Black Orc for the Destruction side and features the Engineer, Shadow Warrior and Bright Wizard for the side of order.

Here is a link the Warhammer VnBoards where most players post their feelings of the games and comment on day to day in game events.

http://vnboards.ign.com/us_phoenix_throne_roleplay/b23350/p1

Network Neutrality

Network Neutrality is a policy whereby a computer network is free from restrictions. The term is frequently used to refer to issue involving the Internet, but the same principles apply to every network.

A restricted network may block or hinder:

• Equipment used
• Applications or protocols used
• Content viewed

Key services in the debate:

• Peer-to-peer file sharing (P2P)
• Voice Over IP (VOIP)
• Streaming video

History:
Although the concept of net neutrality has been around since the early 2000’s some would argue that it has existed since the telegraph. In 1888 Almon Brown Strowger created the automatic telephone exchange in order to bypass telephone operators who would sometimes redirects
his customers to his competitors. In doing so Strowger created a neutral environment that was free from tampering.

In 2001 the Internet2 project stated that Quality of Service(QoS) technical protocols were not probable on the Abilene Network with the equipment that they had at the time.

The first time a proposal for concrete rules over net neutrality came about was in a paper written by Tim Wu, “Network Neutrality, Broadband Discrimination” in 2003. It proposed it in terms of neutrality between data, QoS-sensitive traffic and also between applications. He urged for some type of legislation to deal with such issues.

One of the earliest documented attacks on net neutrality involved a small DSL provider named Madison River Communications which blocked any VoIP(Voice over Internet Protocol) service for a short period of time. The Federal Communications Commision (FCC) stepped in to enforce network neutrality principles.

Later that year the FCC created a policy statement that stated they would adhere to four principles of network neutrality. They are as follows:

(1) Consumers are entitled to access the lawful Internet content of their choice

(2) Consumers are entitled to run applications and services of their choice, subject to the needs of law enforcement

(3) Consumers are entitled to connect their choice of legal devices that do not harm the network

(4) Consumers are entitled to competition among network providers,application and service providers, and content providers

Technical Overview:
The Internet consists of many networks connected together through peering agreements, whereby two or more parties agree to allow each other's traffic to traverse their network. Internet Echange points facilitate these agreements, allowing networks to make new peering arrangements more easily. When two parties disagree on terms, this can result in depeering.

Benefits of a Neutral Internet:

• Unrestricted access to information
• Ability to use any Internet service without being hindered
• A fair environment to foster innovation
• Control lies with the user

Benefits of a Non-Neutral Internet:

• Greater speeds and reliability

For example, %50 - %65 of download and %75 - %90 of upload traffic is used for peer-to-peer services.

Conclusion:

If Network Neutrality policies are not permanently adopted, corporations will likely assume total control of the Internet, effectively destroying the free flow of information we have come to take for granted.

Methamphetamine

Methamphetamine is a powerful stimulant that has become the world's most popular and destructive hard drug. Please listen to our presentation and take a look at the links below to learn more.



www.cbc.ca/fifth/darkcrystal

PBS Documentary

Web Technologies

Further Reading on Evolution:

Increase in PHP usage on the Internet:
http://www.php.net/usage.php

Different Web Technology Standardization Organizations:
http://www.w3.org
http://www.ecma-international.org/

Further Reading on Modern Technologies:
http://www.w3schools.com/PHP/DEfaULT.asP
http://www.w3schools.com/Ajax/Default.Asp
http://twistori.com/ - Ajax demonstration
http://www.squarespace.com/ - WebApp for Web Design

Brittney's Video:



Photoshop Web Slicing Video Tutorial:

A video that that explains Photoshop slicing in detail.

Canada’s Economy

A big part of every country that is constantly changing is its economy. This holds true for Canada as in recent years we have seen economic ups and downs. The Canadian economy now headed into a recession due to the greed of corporations, government spending, and bad loans/investments by individuals and banks. We are here today to focus in on four key parts of Canada’s economy. The stock market, housing prices, businesses, and food prices are going to be the topics covered by our group.


Introduction:
Matt Austin


The Stock Market:
Jamie Marchant

- Stock prices are dropping
- Canada's economy is not doing well
- People are losing there savings and investments


Housing:
Danny Brown


- Cheapest & most expensive provinces to own a home
- House prices are going down
- Average cost of homes in Canada


Businesses:
Hui Wang

- Past, present, and the future of businesses
- Population, the labour force, and unemployment
- Future short-term economic outlook (provincial and country)
- Production exports and the auto industry

Food Prices:
Dragi Stajic

- Rising cost of food
- Farming industry
- Future of farming
- Environmental friendly fuel from farms


Conclusion:
Matt Austin

Yes, Its Actually a GunZ Blog ...

Are you looking for a free online game where you can run around, shoot and slash other people? Do you want to test your hand-eye skills against people from all over the world? Then GunZ the Duel is the game for you. Gunz the Duel is a free online game that can be downloaded legally from several site and server locations.


There are several game modes in GunZ the Duel. These game modes include the following: Deathmatch, Team Deathmatch, Gladiator, Team Gladiator, Assassination, Duel, Training and Quest. Deathmatch is exactly like it sounds. It is an all out war where your only ally is yourself. You slash and shoot your way to the top player in that match by killing as much as you can and dying as little as possible. Team Deathmatch is similar to Deathmatch, except you have a team. Whether on red team or blue team, your task is to work together with your teammates, and kill every player on the opposing team. Gladiator and Team Gladiator are somewhat like Deathmatch and Team Deathmatch except you cannot use both ranged weapons and melee weapons. In these modes, all you are given is swords. You have to slash your way to the top, getting the best score you can. There is also another team based game mode in GunZ the Duel called Assassination. In this mode, each team has a VIP that must be protected in order for your team to survive. However, the same goes for the opposing team. This means you must kill the opposing teams VIP in order for your team to win.


Dueling in GunZ the Duel is by far the biggest and most challenging game mode. It is the place to show off your solo skills. Through 1v1, it is simply you and the enemy. If you win your match, you then face off against the next player in line. If you lose, you go to the “end of the line” and wait for your turn again. Training is best for practicing moves or just relaxing. If you’re not up for fighting intense battles, yet you want to still play, just make or join a training game. If you have three friends that want to quest with you, the Quest mode is always fun. You can take down goblins, skeletons, lizards. If that isn’t good enough, you can even fight the strong and challenging bosses.


GunZ the Duel overall is a fun game. I personally have a level 64, 43, 36, and 21. There aren’t many players that reach level 64, so being such a high level, makes the game even more pleasurable. To be honest, it’s enjoyable for me to kill enemies and then taunt them. If you get better, I’m sure you will get this satisfaction too.
Play GunZ the Duel NOW! READY? LETS FIGHT!

Rock Band 2: Mmmmmm Rockbizzle

For those of you who enjoyed the rhythm based party game Rock Band, many Xbox360 owners will be glad to know that Rock Band 2 has arrived on the market. So what makes Rock Band such a great game? It allows gamers to take control of their favourite instrument and rock out to huge collection of songs from different genres. With a couple of electronic guitars, an electronic drum set, and a microphone, users can literally spend hours jamming with their friends. The selection of music is fantastic with the new Rock Band boasting a collection of over 100 songs, and promising that by the holiday season to have over 500 songs available for download via Xbox live.

Developed by the creators of Guitar Hero 1 and 2, Rock Band takes what made Guitar Hero successful and adds much more, making it a powerhouse on the gaming market. The singing component of the game lets you belt out your favourite tunes karaoke style while trying to stay on pitch for the best score possible. This can be extremely fun, even if most of the fun is being had laughing at your friend’s attempt to sing. The drum kit peripheral has four electronic drum pads and a foot pedal. This lets you keep the rhythm to all your favourite songs just like Lars Ulrich. The guitar peripherals let gamers take control of either the lead guitar or bass tracks of the song. Together with a group of people this game literally allows you to form a Rock Band and take it on tour. The career mode allows you to go from playing small time gigs to huge shows. You can dress up your characters, customize their instruments and give them piercings and tattoos that you wouldn’t dream of giving yourself.

So for all you 360 owners Rock Band 2 is definitely a must have for any gamer. Those of you who are waiting for the PS3 and WII versions later this year, this game is definitely worth the wait.

Online Shopping

Today, because its easy, fast, convenience to modern busy people, online shopping is so common that somebody rely on it forgetting the regular store shopping.

There are so many advantages to do online shopping. First, it is easy to compare the same product among the different online stores. You can get the product with the good price. Second, sometimes, you can get the feedback about the product from other customers. According that, you can make a better choice. Third, if you change your mind after ordering and before shipping, you can easily cancel your order just through few clicks.

On the other hand, online shopping is not perfect. First of all, sometimes it is insecurity. A lot of customers use credit card to pay the items bought by them. For some unknown reasons, some customers lost their card information. Second thing is hard to take a look at the product through its limited size picture. Occasionally, the real thing is different from the picture. When you receive your order, you find the product is not the one you really want.

Although it has some weaknesses, online shopping is more and more popular and becomes a part of daily life for certain number people in modern society. At the same time, some people still trust the regular stores in the real world. Some smart businessmen build both regular store in the real world and the visual one online to keep all customers with different shopping habits. Which way do you prefer to do your shopping?

Photosynth - New Way of Looking at Pictures

Photography has come a long as technology has advanced, and now with relatively inexpensive digital cameras and processors, something as powerful as Photosynth is born and is now accessible for even consumers. Developed in 2006, Microsoft showed off a tech preview of the software that allowed users to view generated models developed by Microsoft. Now as of August 20, 2008, the software is officially released to the public allowing users to generate their own Photosynth models.

Photosynth is a recent development by Microsoft, it is a program that allows users to view their images in a 3D model, giving way for revolutionary way at storing, viewing and sharing pictures. A matching algorithm developed by Microsoft, is a process that identifies specific features in a photo for example a certain part of the building, and compares it with other similar pictures containing that specific feature.

With the data, a process called Bundle Adjustment analyzes the subtle angle, lighting, and distance differences to be able to figure out spatially in a 3D environment where it belongs relative to the other pictures. The algorithm can then match the pictures together and display them in their respective location in 3D.

Using Seadragon technology, the Photosynth viewer allows users to zoom into pictures smoothly without it being downloaded to the client’s computer. It also allows for changing pictures smoothly between nearby photos and even walk and fly through a scene for a seamless experience.

This inspiring technology allows people from all around the world to combine and share pictures of the same area in a very novel way never though of before and it allows the images to be uploaded into a virtual world.

World of MMO's

People around the world love to play video games, some on the other hand do not. Those who do either play games on gaming consoles such as X-box and Playstation or they have a game for computer which they enjoy and each of those have many different types of games that are available. For me the best kind of gaming are the MMO’s that are found though computer games.

The world of MMO’s is a vast community that brings people from the around the world together in one spot to play an epic game which cannot be played in 5 or 10 minute spurts. These are the kinds of games where you clear your schedule in a day to put aside many hours of your time to commit to playing these games. For me it was Dark Age of Camelot and now Warhammer. Others are involved in other MMO’s such as World of Warcraft but when it comes down to it they’re all the same. MMO’s are a place where you can find a community type environment, somewhere you can go outside of reality but at the same time is reality. By playing MMO’s over a long period of time you come to make friends, join guilds, fight battles with the same select people that you call your friends. Over time that friendship turns into a family type setting. I played Dark Age of Camelot from time of release which was 2001 to the time when WOW pretty much emptied the servers. During that time I ran with a group of people known as KT or Knights Templar. These people become my second family, people that actually cared about you, worried about you and cared for you. These are people where chances are you have never seen these people except through an animated toon on a screen but none the less you feel that sense of family and I guess you could say love for your guild members.

The days of Dark Age of Camelot are long over but the family that was Knight Templars remained and after all the years of KT being apart, Warhammer has brought us all back together again. The family known as KT to those who were members of it are back together sharing good times, remember old times and making new memories. Those who look at MMO’s and say “Those games are retarded,” or “Why would you want to play a game like?” and most importantly, “I don’t’ understand why you waste so much of your time on a stupid computer game.” You want to know why I “waste” my time on an MMO’s? Because other then my real family, I have a second family that will always live on no matter where we are or what we are doing, you are always missed and welcomed. If you have never been a part of something as special as that you will never understand why people truly have a love for MMO’s. Technology and Animation creating families via a virtual world, amazing isn’t it?

Asus goes "Ultra small"

Asus unveils their all new Eee PC 701 earlier this year, which ,surprisingly enough, has awe stricken the mobile computer market. This 7" wide, 20 grams short of a kilo gram piece of plastic packs quite the punch with the options it has to offer to the "on the go" user. An unofficial source believes that Asus originally intended to target children below the age of 10 whom may have an interest in using a laptop for simple tasks. However, it has come to show that the European and North American markets have favoured ultra light weight laptops for the past decade. It seems that the ideal traveling business man is not complete without the Eee PC Asus has to offer. An unofficial source also claims that the Ultra light weight laptop earned its name from a simple marketing strategy: "Easy to learn, Easy to work, Easy to play." Furthermore, the Eee series comes preloaded with Linux and some open-sourced, user friendly, and fun to use applications for all type of users. In fact, the laptop also uses state of the art solid state memory as a mean of digital real estate. The user also has the option to load Microsoft Windows 95,98,ME,2000 NT, and or XP. What is more, Asus has managed to offer the consumer a low price point which makes everyone happy. I should remind you that today's technology only seems to get more and more expensive as the device gets smaller in size. Comparable products from competing companies typically sell for $1000.00 CAD at the least. Nonetheless, a minimum price tag of approximately $350 CAD will get you in one their lower end Eee PC laptops. Lacking superb video rendering capabilities and multi core processing, this little piece of plastic does have a lot to offer. It was designed to have extreme mobility in mind. Asus claims an incredible 2.5 to 8 hour battery life depending on the task being performed. It also offer the user access to wireless internet and wireless Bluetooth technology. It seems, however, that the keyboard should be used with aid of 2 pencils for ease of typing as it is a compressed version of the real thing. Regardless of which, the user does have the option of plugging in any USB device. All in all, not a bad piece of technology for the price, the weight, and ridiculously small size. Yacoub Husseini Asus Eee PC - Learn more

A Double Team Of Epic Proportions!

Ever since the introduction of computer graphics, the scale and detail of the art created has increased in direct correlation to computational power. When it comes to modern computing, the CPU (Central Processing Unit) used to be the king of the hill, but recently GPU (Graphics Processing Unit) power has increased significantly. So much so, that most if not all new GPU’s can easily ‘out-math’ CPU’s without breaking a sweat. With this metaphorical nitrous added to the computing-engine; engineers at Adobe and NVIDIA have teamed up to harness GPU processing power in a way never thought possible. When questioned on the addition of GPU power into the Adobe CS4 project, John Loiacono, senior vice president of Creative Solutions at Adobe had this to say:

"A critical element of CS4 was to capture the enormous power of the GPU. The
difference is astounding. Performance is important to creative professionals and
with the NVIDIA GPU, they are assured to be able to interact with images and
videos in a much faster, smoother, more engaging way."

And so, enter Adobe CS4, a new addition to the Adobe Photoshop suite of software that is rumoured to blow socks off. With all the extra power of the GPU on hand (of NVIDIA design only) CS4 promises to deliver new features and improve on old ones. Whether it be precise photo editing with new depth-of-field blur effects from Photoshop that tickle your fancy. Or, perhaps it’s the real-time editing and movie effects of Premier at blazing speeds that does it for you. Yes, Adobe and NVIDIA are defiantly throwing a party, and were all invited.

Anyone interested, is encouraged to check our more (especially the cool video) at:

http://www.nvidia.com/object/adobe.html

Open source leads innovation

Do-It-Yourself, and Open-source have become a major player in this information age, thanks to the average Joe. While community driven websites exist purely for DIYers like, DIY Network, MakeZine BLOG, Hobby Robotics, the potential for solving our every day problems is getting closer thanks to these 'thinkers'. At the people’s fingertips, we all have the ability to create projects like a Wii-Mote controlled interactive whiteboard. These small projects and details provide us everything we need to know for creating them ourselves. The open-source community will be a deciding factor in our spread of free knowledge. The information age is at its peak once true communities of people are able to spread ideas and innovations freely without censorship. These websites provoke free thought, and push us to discover, innovate, create and do.

Instead of buying a game controller for $50, the open source community gives the average Joe a way to make his own controller, which could only consist of the taking apart of old equipment, costing nothing. How about an electronic drum set? There are hundreds of websites with specs to create your own drum set with simple electronics using a drum brain, or an Arduino microcontroller, which happens to be an open-source programmable interface. Using simple C code to program this microcontroller, we all have the ability to cheaply create electronics with freely available source code with specs. Even businesses like Microsoft, they have identified the community as providing quality products by introducing XNA Game Studio, freely available to create games for Windows and Xbox360.

The major contenders in this information age happen to be the every day person, thanks to open communities of doers and thinkers. Pick yourself up an Arduino and start making your own robot or Google a DIY website and create your own stuff.