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A Favicon. for the "non initiated " that tiny little icon that displays in the address bar whenever a web site provides a the proper file for same. One of my browsers doesnt display a favicon for the drudge report...one has chosen to "adopt" a YAHOO Icon for that site. While I dont necessarily view this ias problematic...it is somewhat of a mystery. anyone have any ideas?

[Most of these, except for a couple, are very positive achievements. Let’s work for more in 2015, Happy New Year!] The Most Futuristic Predictions That Came True In 2014 By George Dvorsky As 2014 comes to a close, it's time to reflect on the most futuristic breakthroughs and developments of the past year. This year's crop features a slew of incredible technological, scientific, and social achievements, from mind-to-mind communication to self-guiding sniper bullets. Here are 15 predictions that came true in 2014. Technologically-assisted telepathy was successfully demonstrated in humans For the first time ever, two humans exchanged thoughts via mind-to-mind...

Freeper tech gurus I have a Motorola surfboard that has served me well for 8 years. It is probably Docsis 2.0...... I am topping out at 30 mbps which is good enough. Some internet reports say I can double this speed with a newer Docsis 3.0 modem I get phone calls from Comcast saying I will need this newer type modem or will have trouble with reception due to them upgrading where I am to a docsis 3.0 system. So I need the compatible modem Do I really need the newer 3.0 modem? THANKS!

James Cook December 22, 2014 North Korea appears to be suffering from a cyberattack that has brought down the country's internet connection. North Korea Tech is reporting, via Vox, that there were frequent outages on North Korea's internet network over the weekend. This chart from Dyn Research shows that North Korean websites have been going through regular outages: North Korea internet outagesDyn Research/North Korea Tech Internet connection issues aren't definite proof that someone is trying to attack North Korea. The country's internet is only accessed by a handful of people, so it doesn't take much to force it offline. Officially...

During the last few years, the semiconductor industry has been having a harder and harder time miniaturizing transistors with the latest problem being Intel’s delayed roll-out of its new 14 nm process. The best way to confirm this slowdown in progress of computing power is to try to run your current programs on a 6-year-old computer. You will likely have few problems since computers have not sped up greatly during the past 6 years. If you had tried this experiment a decade ago you would have found a 6-year-old computer to be close to useless as Intel and others were...

You might only just have got your head round the idea of 4G, but a new network is just around the corner, and it could be 100s of times faster – and the new technology could lead to a world where everything from your car to your lightbulbs ‘talk to you’ via apps. When David Cameron first mentioned research into 5G, he suggested 5G-equipped devices could download HD films in a second – but the new network might be so fast it can download 800 films per second, according to University of Surrey researchers. ‘Latency’ – that annoying ‘lag’ when...

Summary: Yes, you still can trick Microsoft into giving you security updates for Windows XP. No, it's not a good idea. You are not protected. Perhaps the most popular story I've written for ZDNet was the one explaining how you can hack the registry in Windows XP and trick Windows Update into continuing to send you security updates. The basis of it is that Microsoft has an embedded variant of Windows XP and support doesn't end on that until April 2016. The hack makes XP look like the embedded version. I have maintained a Hyper-V VM on a Windows 8.1...

I am using WIN 8.1 OS and yesterday the latest version of Firefox was updated on to my computer. I can't access the browser as when I open it, the page is blank and I get the "page is not responding." According to my computer, it is telling me that this latest browser is NOT compatible with OS 8.1. I am unable to go back to an earlier version of Firefox. Any advice would be most appreciated!

Intel CEO Brain Krzanich has announced, in an email sent to employees on Monday, new company plans to merge its loss-making mobile chip unit with its profitable PC business early next year, writes the Wall Street Journal. "The market continues to evolve rapidly, and we must change even faster to stay ahead," Krzanich asserted in the email. It is well known that Intel has struggled to gain a foothold in mobile computing, but even worse for the business its tablet and smartphone chip-making division has lost billions in the recent months. Intel's mobile communication group posted a $1 billion operating...

E-cigarettes may be better for your health than normal ones, but spare a thought for your poor computer – electronic cigarettes have become the latest vector for malicious software, according to online reports. Many e-cigarettes can be charged over USB, either with a special cable, or by plugging the cigarette itself directly into a USB port. That might be a USB port plugged into a wall socket or the port on a computer – but, if so, that means that a cheap e-cigarette from an untrustworthy supplier gains physical access to a device. A report on social news site Reddit...

WASHINGTON (AP) -- The State Department has taken the unprecedented step of shutting down its entire unclassified email system as technicians repair possible damage from a suspected hacker attack.

I am walking through my north London neighbourhood on an unseasonably warm day in late autumn. I can hear birds tweeting in the trees, traffic prowling the back roads, children playing in gardens and Wi-Fi leaching from their homes. Against the familiar sounds of suburban life, it is somehow incongruous and appropriate at the same time. As I approach Turnpike Lane tube station and descend to the underground platform, I catch the now familiar gurgle of the public Wi-Fi hub, as well as the staff network beside it. On board the train, these sounds fade into silence as we burrow...

I've researched the heck out of this BUT still don't get it. Just looking for a simple explanation for a simple man.

By implanting 12mm glass computer chips in his flesh Martijn Wismeijer has been able to store Bitcoins inside his body, create a personalised alarm clock and will even be able to install keyless doors in his home. But how painful is the injection? A Dutch entrepreneur has had two wireless computer chips implanted under the skin in his hands to allow him to store digital currencies like Bitcoin inside his body. Martijn Wismeijer is the founder of Mr Bitcoin, a company which installs and operates crypto-currency cash machines in and around his native Amsterdam and across Europe. This month he...

Over the last few years, it’s been tough to pinpoint what Microsoft’s focus is. In 2012, then-CEO Steve Ballmer wrote an open letter to shareholders labeling Microsoft as a “devices and services” company. It was a signal that Microsoft would not only make the software that people use, but the devices that software runs on. That’s a very Apple-like philosophy, but one that hasn’t paid off for Microsoft as we’ve seen with its Surface line of tablets and acquisition of Nokia. The narrative shifted when Satya Nadella took over as CEO in April. Hardware took a backseat to what he...

When was the last time you used your computer's disc drive? What about your DVD player? E-waste is all around us, but as the brilliant Instructables user behind this $60 3D printer proves, there's plenty to be done with it—if you've got some engineering chops. Last week we wrote about the world's smallest 3D printer, which costs less than $300 and prints resin. But an Instructables user named Mikelllc has gone way further, uploading his designs for a 3D printer made from 80 percent recycled e-waste and costing roughly $60. Part of the idea, he writes, is to "help us...

That an octopus called Paul had a better success rate than Goldman Sachs when predicting World Cup results (credit to the Wall Street Journal for the headline “Octopus Beats Vampire Squid”) tells you something about the wisdom of guessing the future in public. Guessing what the world will look like in 50 years’ time, however, is pretty safe, as I won’t be here to see myself proved wrong. Or will I? If Google’s director of engineering has his way, we’ll all be around indefinitely – in the cloud at least. AI (artificial intelligence) guru Ray Kurzweil is one of a...

From the moment that Sharyl Attkisson met a shadowy source I’ll call Big Mac, she was plunged into a nightmare involving mysterious surveillance of her computers. They met at a McDonald’s in Northern Virginia at the beginning of 2013, and the source (she dubs him Number One) warned her about the threat of government spying. During their next hamburger rendezvous, Big Mac told Attkisson, then a CBS News reporter constantly at odds with the Obama administration, that he was “shocked” and “flabbergasted” by his examination of her computer and that this was “worse than anything Nixon ever did.” Attkisson’s forthcoming...

There's a lot of hype around Apple Pay right now, but not everyone is on board with the new mobile payments system. In fact, a significant number of merchants, including heavyweights like Walmart, Kmart, 7-Eleven, and Best Buy, are in outright competition with Apple Pay. The retailers, through a joint venture formed in 2012, are building their own mobile payment app, called CurrentC. It's expected to launch next year. In the meantime, these retailers have no intention to support Apple Pay. Following Apple's announcement last month, both Wal-Mart and Best Buy confirmed to The Wall Street Journal that customers would...

So my company had a downsize / RIF / layoff and my group got hit. Sad news but hey, it happens. Now I am looking at being an independent IT consultant. Since I have always been an employee, I was wondering if there were any words of wisdom from the Freeper community.