No More Windows XP

It is a fact that Microsoft is having a difficult time enticing buyers to purchase Windows Vista. So they have told manufactures that starting January 2008, they will not be allowed to place XP on their computers. Nothing like placing pressure on the buyers.

"The OEM version of XP Professional goes next January," said Frank Luburic, senior ThinkPad product manager for Lenovo. "At that point, they'll have no choice."

"Dell recognizes the needs of small business customers and understands that more time is needed to transition to a new operating system," Dell said on its Direct2Dellblog. Dell plans to continue offering Windows XP on select Dimension and Inspiron systems until later this summer.

Microsoft's support for Windows XP Professional under their SupportLifecycle Policy ends on 04/14/09. No updates will be issued after that date unless you pay for "extended support" which is available until 04/08/14.

It appears that in the future we will be stuck with Windows Vista. Remember good old reliable Windows 98? Perhaps it is time to switch to a Mac just like the TV commercial urges us to do.

Quote of the Day

"The thing about bandwagons is they never take you where you want to go."

April - Cancer Awareness Month

April is the month that is set aside to raise awareness of cancer
as well as raising funds to fight this dreaded disease. Based on current
incidence rates, 38 % of Canadian women will develop cancer during
their lifetimes. Among men, 44% will develop cancer during their lifetimes.

There are a few things we can do to help reduce
the risk of cancer.

1. Eat better. Include food groups such as carrots, tomatoes, and sweet potatoes.
2. Be more active. Take the stairs rather than the elevator.
3. Protect yourself from the sun. 15 + sunscreen.
4. Don't smoke.
5. Avoid second hand smoke.
6. Tell your doctor when your health changes.
7. Screen for cancer. Get regular checkups.
8. Handle hazardous materials carefully.

Please remember that funds raised go to support the Cancer Society

whose mission is to eradicate cancer and enhance the quality of life

for those living with cancer.

Quote of the Day:

A bit of fragrance clings to the hand that gives flowers.-- Chinese Proverb

How Businesses Got Their Names

Ever wonder how certain businesses chose their names?
Behind every name there is a story.

Apple Computers
It was the favourite fruit of founder Steve Jobs. He was three months
late in filing a name for the business, and he threatened to call
his company Apple Computers if the other colleagues didn't
suggest a better name by 5 O'clock.

CISCO
It is not an acronym as popularly believed. It is short for San Francisco.

Compaq
This name was formed by using COMp, for computer, and
PAQ to denote a small integral object.

Corel
The name was derived from the founder's name Dr.Michael Cowpland.
It stands for COwpland REsearch Laboratory.

Google
The name started as a joke boasting about the amount of information
the search-engine would be able to search. It was originally
named 'Googol', a word for the number represented by
1 followed by 100 zeros.After founders - Stanford graduate
students Sergey Brin and Larry Page presented their project
to an angel investor, they received a cheque made out to 'Google'

Hotmail
Founder Jack Smith got the idea of accessing e-mail via
the web from a computer anywhere in the world.
When Sabeer Bhatia came up with the business plan
for the mail service, he tried all kinds of names ending
in 'mail' and finally settled for hotmail as it included the
letters "html" - the programming language used to write
web pages. It was initially referred to as HoTMaiL with selective uppercasing.

Hewlett Packard
Bill Hewlett and Dave Packard tossed a coin to decide
whether the company they founded would be called
Hewlett-Packard or Packard-Hewlett.

Intel
Bob Noyce and Gordon Moore wanted to name their new
company 'Moore Noyce' but that was already trademarked
by a hotel chain so they had to settle for an acronym of INTegrated ELectronics.

Microsoft
Coined by Bill Gates to represent the company that was devoted to MICROcomputer SOFTware. Originally christened Micro-Soft, the '-' was removed later on.

Motorola
Founder Paul Galvin came up with this name when his
company started manufacturing radios for cars.
The popular radio company at the time was called Victrola.

ORACLE
Larry Ellison and Bob Oats were working on a consulting
project for the CIA (Central Intelligence Agency).
The code name for the project was called
Oracle (the CIA saw this as the system to
give answers to all questions or something such).
The project was designed to help use the newly written
SQL code by IBM. The project eventually was terminated
but Larry and Bob decided to finish what they started and
bring it to the world. They kept the name Oracle and
created the RDBMS engine. Later they kept the same name for the company.

Sony
It originated from the Latin word 'sonus'
meaning sound, and 'sonny' a slang used by
Americans to refer to a bright youngster.

SUN
Founded by 4 Stanford University buddies, SUN
is the acronym for Stanford University Network.
Andreas Bechtolsheim built a microcomputer;
Vinod Khosla recruited him and Scott McNealy
to manufacture computers based on it, and
Bill Joy to develop a UNIX-based OS for the computer.

Yahoo!
The word was invented by Jonathan Swift and
used in his book 'Gulliver's Travels'. It represents a
person who is repulsive in appearance and action and
is barely human. Yahoo! Founders Jerry Yang and
David Filo selected the name because they considered
themselves yahoos.

Source : www.berro.com

Quote of the Day:

"Success is not counted by how high you have climbed
but by how many you brought with you." - Wil Rose

Scary Emails

I recently came across an email that certainly got my heart rate rising.
Basically, it wanted to extort money from me. How? Simply by stating
they have a "contract" on me and will kill me if I did not send X amount
of dollars to them.

I did some research on this type of email which is called HITMAN .
They apparently have become quite popular over the last while.
Of course, this type of email is a SCAM or bogus.
The perpetrators send thousands of emails out, hoping just one or two
unsuspecting individuals will believe the message.

Recently, the scammers have added a twist - they are requesting personal information
from you to be sent to the FBI in London, England to assist in their investigation.
The scammers want your personal information so they can commit identity theft.

Unfortunately, all of these emails can be very scary, and it
isn't hard to imagine people getting conned.

If you receive one of these emails, please do not send money, financial,
or personal information. If you wish, you can report such emails
to the police. However, the easiest solution is simply reach for the delete button.

Quote of the day:

"Horse sense is what keeps horses from betting on what people will do."

THINGS YOU NEVER KNEW YOUR CELL PHONE COULD DO !!!

There are a few things that can be done in times of
grave emergencies. Your mobile phone can actually be
a life saver or an emergency tool for survival.
Check out the things that you can do with it:

FIRST:
The Emergency Number worldwide for
Mobile is 112.If you find yourself out of the coverage
area of your mobile; network and there is an emergency,
dial 112 and the mobile will search any existing network
to establish the emergency number for you, and
interestingly this number 112 can be dialed even if
the keypad is locked. Try it out.

SECOND:
Have you locked your keys in the car? Does your car
have remote key less entry? This may come in handy someday.
Good reason to own a cell phone:
If you lock your keys in the car and the spare keys
are at home, call someone at home on their cell phone
from your cell phone. Hold your cell phone about a foot(30 cm)
from your car door and have the person at your home
press the unlock button, holding it near the mobile phone
on their end. Your car will unlock. Saves someone from
having to drive your keys to you. Distance is no object.
You could be hundreds of miles away, and if you can reach someone who
has the other 'remote' for your car, you can unlock the doors (or the trunk).
Editor's Note: It works fine! We tried it out and it unlocked our car over a cell phone!'

THIRD:
Hidden Battery Power. Imagine your cell battery is very low.
To activate, press the keys *3370#.battery power stolen cell phone Your cell will restart with
this reserve and the instrument will show a 50% increase in battery.
This reserve will get charged when you charge your cell next time.

FOURTH:
How to disable a STOLEN cell phone?
To check your Mobile phone's serial number,
key in the following digits on your phone: * # 0 6 # . A 15 digit code
will appear on the screen. This number is unique to your handset.
Write it down and keep it somewhere safe. When your phone gets stolen,
you can phone your service provider and give them this code.
They will then be able to block your handset so even if the thief
changes the SIM card, your phone will be totally useless.
You probably won't get your phone back, but at least you know
that whoever stole it can't use/sell it either. If everybody does this,
there would be no point in people stealing mobile phones.
And finally....

FIFTH:
Cell phone companies are charging us $1.00 to $1.75 or more
for 411 information calls when they don't have to.
Most of us do not carry a telephone directory in our vehicle,
which makes this situation even more of a problem.
When you need to use the 411 information option, simply
dial: (800) FREE 411, or (800) 373-3411 without incurring
any charge at all. Program this into your cell phone now.

This is the kind of information people don't mind receiving,
so pass it on to your family and friends.

Quote for the Day:

"Everything changes, nothing remains without change." -- Buddha

Truth is stranger than You would Guess - Part 3

Continuing on ....................

Lead cups were used to drink ale or whisky. The combination would
sometimes knock the imbibers out for a couple of days.
Someone walking along the road would take them for dead
and prepare them for burial. They were laid out on the
kitchen table for a couple of days and the family would gather
around and eat and drink and wait and see if they would wake up.
Hence the custom of holding a wake.

England is old and small and the local folks started running
out of places to bury people. So they would dig up coffins and
would take the bones to a bone-house, and reuse the grave.
When reopening these coffins, 1 out of 25 coffins were found
to have scratch marks on the inside and they realized they
had been burying people alive. So they would tie a string
on the wrist of the corpse, lead it through the coffin and up
through the ground and tie it to a bell. Someone would have
to sit out in the graveyard all night (the graveyard shift.) to
listen for the bell; thus, someone could be, saved by the bell
or was considered a ...dead ringer.

And that's the truth...Now, whoever said History was boring ! ! !
Educate someone. Please share these facts with a friend.

Quote for the Day:

"Almost anything is easier to get into than out of."

Truth is stranger than You would Guess - Part 2

Continuing with some amazing facts and sayings....

In those old days, they cooked in the kitchen with a big kettle
that always hung over the fire. Every day they lit the fire and
added things to the pot. They ate mostly vegetables and
did not get much meat. They would eat the stew for dinner,
leaving leftovers in the pot to get cold overnight and
then start over the next day. Sometimes stew had food in it that
had been there for quite a while. Hence the rhyme,
Peas porridge hot, peas porridge cold, peas porridge
in the pot nine days old..

Sometimes they could obtain pork, which made them feel quite special.
When visitors came over, they would hang up their bacon to show off.
It was a sign of wealth that a man could, bring home the bacon.
They would cut off a little to share with guests and would all sit around
and chew the fat..

Those with money had plates made of pewter. Food with high acid content
caused some of the lead to leach onto the food, causing lead poisoning death.
This happened most often with tomatoes, so for the next 400 years or so,
tomatoes were considered poisonous. Bread was divided according to status.
Workers got the burnt bottom of the loaf, the family got the middle,
and guests got the top, or the upper crust.

Quote for the Day:

“The past makes us who we are. Don’t make it a burden.”