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I am setting up a new MacBook Pro. As part of setup, I am being asked to connect to wireless network. The MacBook has detected the SSID of our home network. We have a DLink 614+ wireless router, which I believe is 802.11b compliant. It has WEP encryption, using a 26 character hex key. Our curren PCs connect fine. During MacBook setup, we are given a list of detected networks, and our current one's SSID appears on that list. MacBook then asks us for "password." I try putting in the 26 character key, but it isn't working. Am I doing...

A new haptic device will be shown at the next SIGGRAPH. This virtual reality system, the Fingertip Digitizer, has been developed at the University of Buffalo (UB). It will interpret your hand gestures and will translate them for your PC, medical devices or computer games. According to one developer, the Fingertip Digitizer "will help bridge the gap between what a person knows and what a computer knows" and a commercial version should be available within 3 years. Read more… Here is the introduction about this new device developed at UB Virtual Reality Laboratory. UB researchers say their "Fingertip Digitizer," which...

New thin-film semiconductor techniques invented by University of Wisconsin-Madison engineers promise to add sensing, computing and imaging capability to an amazing array of materials. Historically, the semiconductor industry has relied on flat, two-dimensional chips upon which to grow and etch the thin films of material that become electronic circuits for computers and other electronic devices. But as thin as those chips might seem, they are quite beefy in comparison to the result of a new UW-Madison semiconductor fabrication process detailed in the current issue of the Journal of Applied Physics. A team led by electrical and computer engineer Zhenqiang (Jack)...

I have a JPG image of my daughter. When I send it to be printed as a 4 x 6 photo, her head is too big (I want distance from chin to top of head to be 1", for passport purposes). How can I get a smaller head on the finished 4x6 photo? Should the photo service be able to do it? I tried the following idea, but ran into problems: - inserted the photo image into PowerPoint. - put a rectangle frame around the image - grouped the image and the rectangle, copied both and pasted both into Paint....

Tulsa - A computer company is being used to fight high-tech crimes in Tulsa. Some of the cases involve child pornography, where information is retrieved from the accused's computer, some of which may have been deleted. NewsChannel 8's Burt Mummolo reports on the company that specializes in recovering hidden information. Have you tried to cover your tracks with the click of a mouse? Erasing the evidence of embezzlement or an online affair? Too late. Digital forensics has made the delete key obsolete. "What we do is we take a computer, throw it up against a wall and frisk it," says...

AN INQUIRER READER attending a conference in Japan was sat just feet away from a laptop computer that suddenly exploded into flames, in what could have been a deadly accident. Gaston, our astonished reader reports: "The damn thing was on fire and produced several explosions for more than five minutes". Should you witness such an event, his advice is, "Don't try anything courageous/stupid, stay away, away, away!" "For the record, this is a Dell machine," notes Gaston. "It is only a matter of time until such an incident breaks out on a plane," he suggests. Our witness managed to catch...

Hacker Invades FBI Computers WASHINGTON, D.C., July 6, 2006(CBS) A U.S. government consultant used software programs found on the Internet to break into the FBI's computer system, where he gained access to the passwords of 38,000 employees, including that of FBI Director Robert Mueller, the Washington Post reports. The newspaper said Joseph Thomas Colon broke into the computer system four times in 2004 in hacks that gave him access to files on the Witness Protection Program and counterintelligence. As a result, the bureau was forced to temporarily shut down the system and conduct a lengthy investigation to determine whether any...

I am looking at buying, at long last, a better computer. I have the opportunity to buy a bundled WCS 761GX-M754 motherboard and AMD Athlon XP-M processor with 512K of PC-3200 memory. Problem is, my past expertise tops out at the Celron 333, PC-100 memory level, and the system comes without operating system. Can some wizard here tell me if I can install an oldstyle Win98SE installation on this, or will I have to drag my sorry caveman arse into the 21st Century and actually buy XP? What kind of performance sacrifice would I make if I COULD put 98...

Hey, I need to batch convert quite a lot of .tif graphics for work. I need to rotate them 90 degrees and save them out, either overwriting the old files or putting the new files, same names, in a new directory. The problem is, I know that some graphics programs I have used will balloon the file size by tenfold when this is done for some reason. (WideImage will, Kodak Imaging won't.) Can anyone recommend a graphics program which will allow me to do this?

WASHINGTON--An estimated 4 million subscribers to Internet phone services like Vonage could see new fees on their bills under a plan approved Wednesday by federal regulators. The Federal Communications Commission voted unanimously at its monthly meeting here to require all voice over Internet Protocol services that connect to the public-switched telephone network--as opposed to using peer-to-peer technology, like Skype--to contribute to the Universal Service Fund. The $7.3 billion fund, which has been a feature of U.S. policy for more than 70 years, subsidizes telephone service in rural and low-income areas. It also runs a controversy-plagued program called E-Rate that provides...

Our household needs a new computer system. Your ideas/suggestions are appreciated! I realize some of this may not be possible, but here's a list of what we would like: * This computer should boot quickly, in a matter of a few seconds. * This machine should not attempt to "help" with everything, or offer "tours" * This machine should do exactly what I, the user, command it to, immediately, and without trying to help. * No extras should be loaded. * The CPU should be able to last for 20 years or longer, and the drives should be redundant (mirrored)....

The next billion is the potential PC market in the developing world. We know they won't be buying MACS because Apple's Steve Jobs has admitted it won't be worth it to his company. A lot of different companies are trying to come up with affordable PCs that businesses, families, schools, and students in developing countries can buy. But everyone is having a hard time pinning down just what it is they will want. 1. What traditional features do they keep and which are kept out? 2. Will users be offended if they feel they are getting a dumbed-down version? 3....

Generally, when someone makes a teddy bear-themed gadget, his/her intention is to overwhelm bystanders with cuteness. But whoever created this little guy, whose head has to be removed in order to access the internal USB drive, must have watched one too many Tim Burton movies. No word on how much it holds or if there are any plans to make these available for purchase, but with your own bear, a thumb drive, some thread and a closet full of skeletons, you can probably make your own without too much effort.

I belong to a Vets' association and I attempting to put all the past Newsletters on CD in a format that is secure not allowing changes and searchable to both a MAC and a PC. Below, is the process used as a test. I am in dire need for some solutions and hope there is someone out there that has used various software to accomplish a similar result. My dilemma: First, I OCR scan using MS Office Document & Imaging. I save the .tif file and send the text to Word 2002. Next, I run spellcheck on the newly created...

WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A computer hacker got into the U.S. agency that guards the country's nuclear weapons stockpile and stole the personal records of at least 1,500 employees and contractors, a senior U.S. lawmaker said on Friday. The target of the hacker, the National Nuclear Safety Administration, is the latest agency to reveal that sensitive private information about government workers was stolen. The incident happened last September but top Energy Department officials were not told about it until this week, prompting the chairman of the House of Representatives Energy and Commerce Committee to demand the resignation of the head of...

I've got a problem with my home computer and I was wondering if someone could help me? My system is: AMD Anthlon Processor 1.24GHz, 384MB of RAM Windows XP Prof with SP2 Cox Cable (ISP) Everything was working fine until about a week ago. And it only happens when I start a browser (Internet Explorer and Firefox), but my system will hang and lock up while web pages load and it takes forever for them to load up, worse than if I had dial up. My curser will also disappear for a while and if I try to toggle between...

Computer-based fraudsters are finding new ways to trick people -- not technology -- to get the information they seek "Lawsuit against you," reads the subject line in an e-mail that hit thousands of in-boxes around the world last month. In flawless legalese, the message warns recipients that they recently sent an unsolicited fax to the sender's office. Citing U.S. civil code, its prohibition on sending junk faxes, and an actual $11 million settlement by restaurant chain Hooters, the missive threatens a lawsuit over the alleged junk fax. "If you do not pay me $500 by the deadline for payment, I...

Cnet.com linked to a new site which might be useful for FReepers. AllYouCanUpload.webshots.comOffers free, unlimited photo hosting without the need to register. They write, "It's an easy, one-click way to host images on MySpace, blogs, and eBay [or FreeRepublic]." There is also the great alternative, Photobucket.com, which has all the above features (but with the need to register), plus photo storage.

Mozilla Corp. on Saturday released the third alpha version of Firefox 2.0, code-named "Bon Echo," with additions that include a built-in anti-phishing feature and suggestions for searches run in Google and Yahoo. The anti-phishing feature in Firefox is courtesy of Google, which released the code for a Firefox extension, or plug-in, to the Mozilla Foundation for use in the browser. As with the two earlier alphas, Mozilla stressed that the early look was intended for "Web application developers and our testing community" only. "Current users of Mozilla Firefox 1.x should not use Bon Echo Alpha 3," the company added in...

I have to give someone a digital image. The image is supposed to be 4" x 6" @ 300 dpi. Frankly, I'm unclear how to do so. My camera has several settings, but none of them correspond to 300 dpi. The settings are - 640 x 480 pixels - 1024 x 768 pixels - 1600 x 1200 pixels - 2272 x 1704 pixels How do pixels relate to dpi? Thanks.