Windows 7’s so-called God Mode is actually a shortcut to accessing the operating system’s various control settings.

Although it’s name suggests perhaps even grander capabilities, Windows enthusiasts are excited over the discovery of a hidden "God Mode" feature that lets users access all of the operating system’s control panels from within a single folder.

By creating a new folder in Windows 7 and renaming it with a certain text string at the end, users are able to have a single place to do everything from changing the look of the mouse pointer to making a new hard drive partition.

The trick is also said to work in Windows Vista, although some are warning that although it works fine in 32-bit versions of Vista, it can cause 64-bit versions of that operating system to crash.

To enter "god mode," one need only create a new folder and then rename the folder to the following:

GodMode.{ED7BA470-8E54-465E-825C-99712043E01C}

Once that is done, the folder’s icon will change to resemble a control panel and will contain dozens of control options. I’m not sure it’s my idea of playing god, but it is a handy way to get to all kinds of controls.

I’ve asked Microsoft for more details on the feature and how it came to be. But so far, Redmond is silent on the topic.

Understanding Windows 7’s ‘God Mode’ | Beyond Binary – CNET News

bigBrains.com presents, the Alienware Aurora Desktop unboxing.  This is the first of 2 videos of this small but powerful desktop. 

 

YouTube – Alienware Aurora Desktop Unboxing

When we look ahead in 2010, we can see that the innovation have just begun. So here is the list of technologies, which I think, will make its breakthrough in the industry in the year 2010. Most of these technologies are related to online media and the Internet.

1. Apple’s Tablet
The noise and speculation are too loud to ignore the presence of Apple’s Tablet. If all the rumors are authentic and, if by all means Apple launches the iSlate on 25^th January, then it’s going to be the thing to talk about in 2010.

We all must admit that a tablet is a concept that has been around us for a very long time. But it still hasn’t entered the main line consumer devices. But after the increase in sales and demand of Amazon Kindle and Nook, the market is pretty sure that a tablet is soon to be the device to have. So at this time, if Apple can bring the device with the interface that people are looking for then that’s it – We have our new iPOD.

The reason I say this is because, Online Reading is something that every Internet users do and Tablet provides the best way to consume the Internet content. Though we might still be working on a Laptop, Tablet will be the way to consume the digital content.

2. NetPhone

We are already seeing the usefulness of Google Voice, which many Americans have enjoyed. We already have software like Skype which allows you to communicate through the data line.

This shows that people are still comfortable with voice communication and it is not something that will die. We would still want to call our friends and family and communicate. Hence, we might see more advancement over VOIP and its strength.

Though mobile network provider would have to play a hard battle with the VOIP services, the conflict between these two models will end once we have more and more VOIP services running in our mobile devices.

3. Net Neutrality

The rise of Smartphone have suddenly put lot of pressure on the mobile network providers. The online content consumption and communication have stressed out the network providers. One of the prominent example is the failure of At&T to meet the iPhone’s demand. This have forced the content provider and distributors into two opposite poles.

Content providers like Google (YouTube for video content) consumes lot of bandwidth and this is not good for the network providers because they have to face the burden of handling the requests. On the other hand, content providers doesn’t have to pay anything to the distributor. As a result, Network providers would have to charge the users for more. Now this brings a great conflict between the consumer, provider and distributor. Net neutrality is all about giving full access to the Internet without any restriction. But we still need to make some breakthroughs in the communication between the provider and the distributor. Hence, we might be able to see some breakthroughs on Net Neutrality in 2010 and this should solve the current problem.

4. Social Profile Management(Advanced Analytics)

Online Social Networking have blasted the news channel on each opportunity in 2009 and it will continue to do so in 2010. More and more real time content would be distributed online and consumed by people. Online networking will see more than just sharing information.

2009 had an overwhelming reaction towards social media which created a lot of junk in the Internet. Currently, so many in formations and contents goes to waste and doesn’t make its way towards the targeted audience.

2010 will see a revolution towards social profile management with advanced analytics. This will be applying spam control over your network and strengthening the efficiency of your network connections. Profile search will also be a big thing, as sites like LinkedIn, Twitter and Facebook gets employed in professional hiring. Social network provides a best way to reach out to potential business and hence search (not for content) but for people should be big. Hence, social profile management with advance analytics will be the next big thing for social networks

5. Virtualization

Client desktop computing is surely the new way towards connecting people to offices. Virtual desktop

or Virtual machines will soon be employed in many offices providing better flexibility to hardware and software selection. This will reduce all the hardware cost of servers and desktops CPU maintenance in office. This will also reduce the cost of software as most will be deployed in the virtual machine. This is a key to cutting costs, lowering complexity, as well as increasing agility as needs shift.

 

 

6. Online TV

YouTube and other online video sharing sites have almost killed the TV. The new generation prefer Internet over TV channels. As with the music industry, TV channels have understood and going online is the only way towards future and they have to jump into this bandwagon before it’s too late. There are already many commercial channels shifting their attention from TV to Youtube or other sites like Hulu. Further, Google have already announced its paid content over Youtube and the new video advertising technology.

Along with TV, advertising also has to make its way to the eco-system and we already know of many rumors over Apple and Google coming with ways to prevent viewers from skipping the ads. This makes TV programs the best way to enter into Internet. Hence 2010 will certainly see the hand and hand cooperation of the Internet providers and the Online TV channels.

7. Cloud Computing

Cloud computing will be the new way of doing business over the internet. It will be more of virtual resources management, where company can optimize his/her resources according to needs and dynamic adaption to changes. This will allow companies to greatly enhance their products and services. Cloud computing will also leverage the potential of web application in the Internet and we might be seeing some great online applications for users and also enterprise solutions.

8. Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality is going to blow people’s mind in 2010. With the help of mobile computing, GPS  technology, mobile camera and Google maps, mobile application is going to have much more power to bring the experience to the user.

Further, the core of the technology will be the mobile camera and the placement of processed information on top of live streaming content from the camera.

We are already seeing some of it with mobile GPS applications, but 2010 will be clearly put these applications on the top shelf of mobile apps. This will allows users to get every information by integrating physical reality and virtual world.

9. Online Microsoft Office

Microsoft did face a lot of failures in 2009 starting with its slow rise of Bing and failure of Windows Mobile 6.5. So 2009 was not the year for Microsoft, but we could expect more from Microsoft in 2010. It’s Windows 7 have received good reviews, hence in 2010 we may get to read more about it. Windows Mobile 7 is also on its way, it might help Microsoft gain over their Smartphone market share.

But above all, we might get to read about Microsoft’s online OS. Yes, the Word and Excel. With the strength of today’s computing power over internet, the time is right for the Online Office. We have already seen the success of the Google Docs, so the speculation is high for Online Office. Hopefully this will reduce their cost and avoid nagging updates. The new competition is obviously on the Internet.

 

10. Mobile Transaction (Mobile Banking)

We all surely need to get rid of credit cards and debit cards. Once the mobile becomes more than just a communication platform but your financial manager, we will see a huge potential of mobile transactions and mobile banking.

Mobile application builders have already started making applications for enterprise solution by making it enterprise friendly. For mobile banking and transaction to be successful we need an enterprise solution over the mobile network similar to RIM’s Blackberry which will confirm security over the mobile transaction.

The year 2010 will certainly see the glimpse of future’s monetary transaction

10 Technologies That Will Rock 2010

Picture this: It’s late at night, you’re sitting at your computer playing a game or working on a project when, suddenly, Windows freezes completely. All your work is gone, and you find a blue screen full of gibberish staring back at you. Windows is dead, Jim, at least until you reboot it. You have no choice but to sigh loudly, shake your fist at Bill Gates and angrily push the reset button. You’ve just been visited by the ghost of windows crashed: the Blue Screen of Death.

Also known as the BSoD, the Blue Screen of Death appears when Windows crashes or locks up. It’s actually a Windows “stop” screen, and is designed to do two things: tell you the reason for the error, and to calm your nerves, hence the use of the color blue (studies show it has a relaxing effect on people). Though Blue Screens are difficult to decipher, all the information you need to figure out what caused it is right there in front of you in blue and white—and that’s where we come in. We’re going to show you how to dissect the blue screen error details, so you can fix the problem that’s causing them.

BSoD 101: A Crash Course

Error Name

There are many parts to a BSOD, but the most important is right at the top. The actual name of the error is presented in all caps with an underscore between each word. In some cases this will be all that’s needed to get to the root of the problem (thanks to the handy guide you are about to read). Most of the time, however, more information will be required.

Troubleshooting Advice

Nearly every BSOD includes a portion of text with some basic troubleshooting advice, the first of which recommends restarting your computer. Gee, thanks for the tip Microsoft. Before you restart, copy the exact all-caps error code and hexadecimal values shown above and below this portion of generic text. The next paragraph provides sound advice, alerting the user to check to make sure their hardware is installed properly, or to undo any recent software or hardware upgrades.

Memory Dump

Every BSOD is accompanied by a memory dump. What this means is when Windows crashes, it dumps whatever it is holding in system memory to a file, and saves the file on your hard drive for debugging purposes. If you contact Microsoft for technical assistance, they’ll want to know the contents of this file.

Stop Code

The “technical information” section portion contains the actual Windows stop code, in oh-so-easy-to-read hexadecimal form. Despite appearing unintelligible at first glance, this combination of numbers and letters is instrumental in determining the cause of the crash. Pay particular attention to the first set of numbers and letters. It precedes the other four, which are enclosed in parenthesis. If a specific driver is associated with the crash, it will be listed on the very next line.

I Run Vista, so I’m Immune to BSODs, Right?

Unfortunately, no. A common misconception is that blue screens don’t even exist in Vista, but not only are they still there, but we’re here to tell you we’ve seen them first hand. The good news is Microsoft put a lot of work into how Vista handles critical errors and other glitches that in previous OSes would cause a system crash. Most of the time, if a problem occurs, Vista will attempt to fix the problem without any interruption. For example, if your videocard crashes, you may see a messge saying "Display driver stopped responding and has recovered." In XP and previous OSes, this almost always would have resulted in a system crash.

In some cases, Vista will be unable recover on its own, and the result is a blue screen. By default, Vista will reboot itself after briefly flashing the blue screen. It happens so fast you might miss it, but once Windows reloads, you’ll be greeted with an error message similar to the above. You can try clicking the ‘Check for solution’ button, just as you can try your hand playing the lotto. Neither one is likely to result in anything.

Instead, scroll down and take note of the blue screen codes. Armed with this information, you can perform your own detective work. Alternately, if you’d prefer to see the actual blue screen rather than automatically rebooting, right-click the My Computer icon on your desktop, select Properties, and click on Advanced System Settings. In the System Properties window that appears, select the Advanced tab, click Settings under Startup and Recovery, and uncheck the box that says ‘Automatically Restart.’ The same steps also apply to XP.

In another nod towards streamlining the troubleshooting process, Vista’s Problem Reports and Solutions wizard can save you oodles of time in PC detective work, and may even alert you to potential conflicts you weren’t even aware existed. You can find this applet by name in your Control Panel, or just type Problem Reports and Solutions in Vista’s search box. Once loaded, click ‘Check for new solutions’ in the left-hand column. If Vista finds any conflicts, it will list them in the main window, along with any potential resolutions.

Read Detail Guild

Blue Screen of Death Survival Guide: Every Error Explained | Maximum PC

Windows only: Free application Portable Ubuntu for Windows runs an entire Linux operating system as a Windows application. As if that weren’t cool enough, it’s portable, so you can carry it on your thumb drive.

Built from the same guts as the andLinux system that lets you seamlessly run Linux apps on your Windows desktop, Portable Ubuntu is a stand-alone package that runs a fairly standard (i.e. orange-colored, GNOME-based) version of the popular Ubuntu Linux distribution. It just doesn’t bother creating its own desktop, and puts all its windows inside your Windows, er, windows.

The coolest parts about Portable Ubuntu are:

• It actually works (in most cases, on most systems).
• It fits on a (larger) thumb drive and can run entirely from it.
• It can work on, and save to, your Windows folders and files.
• It’s persistent, so changes you make and apps you install are carried around with you.
• It’s easily manageable from Windows, and works great on dual monitors.

Wanna give it a go? Grab the latest Portable Ubuntu package (about 438MB as of this writing), then double-click to unpack it to a folder. On Vista or Windows 7, you’ll have to open your command prompt as an administrator (hit Windows key, type in cmd, then right-click on the "Command Prompt" option that appears and select "Run as Administrator"); on XP, you’ll probably just have to launch a command prompt. Head to the folder where you extracted your Portable Ubuntu, and enter run_portable_ubuntu and hit Enter to launch the .bat script.

Your machine will whir and decompress for a while, and you’ll likely get a few prompts to "Unblock" coLinux and a few other apps’ abilities on your system. Unblock all of them, and you’ll eventually get a small, move-able menu bar on your desktop, as seen in the top screenshot. Drag this wherever it’s comfortable to keep it, and you’re on your way.

From those three pop-out menus—Applications, Places, and System—you can accomplish pretty much the same thing as any Linux user can, just without the full desktop. Launch a program, and it appears in a window that looks like any other on your Windows system. Open a file browser from "Places," and you can get to your Windows files by heading to /mnt/C (or substitute your drive name/letter for "C"). Feel free to carry around Audacity, GIMP, or any other editing programs that lack a Windows equivalent and start getting creative with them.

Whatever changes you make to your system stick with it. So if you, say, want to install VLC media player for some on-the-go media, you can install it from the Add/Remove dialog or tackle it manually in Accessories->Terminal, and it’ll be planted right in the Sound & Video menu. The same goes for system tweaks or startup apps you add to your little Ubuntu package.

Update: For those who miss it over at the Portable Ubuntu page, the default root password is 123456.

Portable Ubuntu makes for a great place to test out your more cutting-edge stuff, without having to worry about messing up your working Windows system. The latest beta of Firefox 3.1/3.5? Even easier to run than the portable solution, and you can keep both your Windows and Portable-Ubuntu-launched Firefox browsers open at once.

When you’re running Portable Ubuntu, Windows treats it like any other program. You can close down individual app windows from your taskbar, and pop it onto and off your desktop with little hassle.

Portable Ubuntu is a free, portable download that runs from Windows systems only. Drop your Linux-inside-Windows ideas and other geeky stuff in the comments.

Portable Ubuntu Runs Ubuntu Inside Windows – Portable Ubuntu – Lifehacker

This has got to be the cheapest (probably free for most people!) mobile broadband signal booster you can find. Now you can forget about building a diy 3G antenna or buying a high gain external aerial for your dongle, this is a completely home-grown version that everyone should be able to try out.

 

The Best (and Funniest) 3G Mobile Broadband Signal Booster | The Mobile Broadband Blog

I’m surprised it’s taken this long, to be honest. Microsoft’s posted a job offer, seeking a Principle Program Manager, who can "bring Xbox LIVE enabled games to Windows Mobile."

Based at their Redmond HQ, the right person for the job will "focus specifically on what makes gaming experiences "LIVE Enabled" through aspects such as avatar integration, social interactions, and multi-screen experiences."

I imagine to do all that, they’ll be needing some top-notch Windows Mobile handsets, and really the Snapdragon-powered HTC HD2 is the only device on the market so far capable of doing it. Not that it at all resembles a device targeted at Xbox gamers. Give me a Zune phone any day of the week. [Microsoft via Engadget and Kotaku]

Microsoft Job Posting Confirms Xbox LIVE Windows Mobile Phones – Xbox live windows mobile – Gizmodo

Windows: What’s the most popular and powerful editor on Windows among text aficianados? Notepad++, by a hefty margin. Want something a smidge less menu-rich and, well, different? Notepad GNU is a very clever, open source alternative.

Notepad GNU has a lot to recommend on its own, including optional background transparency, loads of HTML and other code-minded plug-ins, a menu that can quickly send a file to a browser or other app (even Notepad++), and all that text tweaking tools you need without the Office integration nonsense you don’t. It doesn’t offer everything that Notepad++ does, but that’s kind of the point—it’s a different layout and setup, and one newcomers might find pretty useful.

The one drawback, for English speaking users at least, is the hit-and-miss translation of some of Notepad GNU’s more obscure features. You’ll be able to grope your way around in the linguistic dark, most likely, but if you speak Russian and like the app, by all means—offer to help with the translation.

Notepad GNU is a free download for Windows systems only. It comes packaged in a RAR container, oddly enough—you can easily unpack it for free using 7-Zip.

Notepad GNU [via Download Squad]

Notepad GNU Boosts Basic Text Editing on Windows – Text editor – Lifehacker

This little app works so well, it is a little scary.  It is a good thing to run to see just how exposed your PC is.

IE PassView is a small password management utility that reveals the passwords stored by Internet Explorer Web browser, and allows you to delete passwords that you don’t need anymore. It supports all versions of Internet Explorer, from version 4.0 and up to 8.0.
For each password that is stored by Internet Explorer, the following information is displayed: Web address, Password Type (AutoComplete, Password-Protected Web Site, or FTP), Storage Location (Registry, Credentials File, or Protected Storage), and the user name/password pair. You can select one or more items from the passwords list and export them into text/html/csv/xml file.

You can find many other cool tools at the site.

IE PassView – Password Manager Program for Internet Explorer

Sure, OSX is pretty and functional, but can it fit on a 32mb flash drive? Mac-on-stick is a complete Mac OS 7.0.1 environment that runs on Windows, Mac, Linux, and even Pocket PC. Use it to run old-school apps or classic games like Dark Castle.

Running Linux, Windows or applications like Firefox, Thunderbird, and AbiWord from a USB flash memory device is old hat. How about a Mac 128K or Plus on a USB key? You may think of it as a curiosity, but a “portable” Mac system has a few practical uses:

• Play with old system software and applications without dusting off your old Mac.
• Impress your friends, or show others what the older Mac system looks like.
• Use Mac on Windows and Linux.

Creating a Mac-on-Stick using Mini vMac [LinuxBeacon]

Taking ownership of system files or folders in Windows 7 or Vista is not a simple task. Whether you use the GUI or the command line, it takes far too many steps.

Thankfully somebody created a registry hack that will give you a menu item for “Take Ownership” that will handle all the steps for you.  (If you are the person that originally made this script, let me know and I’ll give you credit)

Here’s what the new right-click menu will look like after installing this registry hack.

Install

Download and unzip the files contained in the zipfile. Double-click the InstallTakeOwnership.reg file and click through the prompts. No reboot necessary.

Uninstall

Double-click the RemoveTakeOwnership.reg file and click through the prompts. No reboot necessary.

Download TakeOwnership.zip

Add "Take Ownership" to Explorer Right-Click Menu in Win 7 or Vista :: the How-To Geek

Windows: Application launchers can speed up your computer experience, but they aren’t always pleasant to look at. Krento is not only easy to configure, but it adds some serious 3D eye candy to your desktop, with little impact on resources.

Krento runs in the background from the system tray, and can be launched by either right-clicking the icon, clicking your mouse’s scroll wheel, hitting Windows + C, or double-clicking a toggled "pulsar"—basically a small, semi-transparent animated icon—in the corner of your screen. To launch an program, just click on it’s box (or "stone", as Krento calls it). Or, if you don’t want to move from the keyboard, you can also hit ctrl + the function key that corresponds to the program. In the above-pictured case, for example, Ctrl + F5 for the Command Prompt.

To add programs to the launcher, just drag and drop them onto a stone. You can even create multiple "circles" for different categories of programs, so you’re not just limited to 12. Krento is also skinnable,and takes up very little RAM and CPU, which is always nice—especially for something that looks this good.

Krento is a free download, Windows only.

Krento

Krento, Free Desktop Organizer

gDoc Creator is a free program that can perform a number of document format conversions, including converting PDF to Word (.DOC) format. It can convert PDF, XPS, or any MS Office format (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) into any of three formats: DOC, PDF, or XPS. It also can optionally install add-ins for MS Office that enable saving directly to PDF or XPS and will install ’virtual printers’ that enable converting any printable document into either PDF or XPS.

 

I

Free gDoc Creator for PDF and XPS Creation

If you didn’t get the geeky watch you wanted for Christmas you should consider building yourself a MakerBotWatch. The watch is an Arduino, using an ATmega328 microcontroller running the bootloader. The watch has two concentric circles of LEDs for minutes and hours. A vertical row of four LEDs adds in the additional resolution needed to get 60 minutes on the watch face.

The schematic and board layout are available from an SVN repository so you can make your own board. The device will go into production as a kit but currently the laser-cut bezel will not be part of it.

[via Adafruit]

The newest HD player from Itoos, the M6HD is looking a lot better than its brother the iToos M8. But don’t be fooled by its sleek design as the iToos M6HD is officially a $58 PMP. Itoos swapped the full 1080p HD support on the M8 pulling the video support down to a 1360 x 768 pixel resolution. It’s still HD and it will still play a host of video formats (H.264, MKV, VOB, DAT, RM/RMVB, AVI). The 4.3-inch TFT LCD screen gives you 16 million colors. For the full 720p experience you can plug it to a bigger LCD screen via the HDMI out. It features FM radio and a remote control. Ownta has the model available for $86.75 including shipping.

For more photos, Akihabaranews has them here.

[store via akihabaranews]

iToos M6HD PMP, A Cheaper 1080i Player You Cannot Find | PMP Today