How to disable the password complexity in Windows Server 2008?

You can do this using two methods:

Method 1:

In Windows Server 2008, there is an option in Local Security Policy. Click on Start and then Administrative Tools and then click on Local Security Policy. In Local Security Policy, click on Account Policies and then click on Password Policy. Under Password Policy, double click on “Password must meet complexity requirements” and then select the Disabled option. Then click on Apply and then click on OK. Then close the Local Security Policy and then close the Administrative Tools window.

Method 2:

You can use the Group Policy Editor to disable password complexity. Click on Start and then click on Run. In the Run dialog box, type gpedit.msc and hit Enter or click on OK. Then click on Computer Configuration and then Windows Settings and then Security Settings and then Account Policies and then click on Password Policy. Under Password Policy, double click on “Password must meet complexity requirements” and then select the Disabled option. Then click on Apply and then click on OK. Then close the Local Group Policy Editor.

go to start - administrative tools - group policy management - domains - group policy objects - right click on default domain policy - edit - computer configuration - policies - security settings - account polocy - double click on password must meet password complaxity requirement and disable it ..



go to start - administrative tools - group policy management - domains - group policy objects - right click on default domain policy - edit - computer configuration - policies - security settings - account polocy - double click on password must meet password complaxity requirement and disable it ..
go to run and type
gpupdate and enter
done !!!!

HURRICANE TECHNOLOGY TIPS

1.     HAVE A PLAN - Make sure your business is prepared to run despite loss of power, computers, people or access to your office. If your company depends on data, make sure it is placed in a secure, redundant Data Center facility.

2.     BACK UP - Back up your critical data using an off-site backup service. If this is not in your budget, create a copy of your data on a jump drive or external hard drive, place this drive in a sealed plastic bag, and store it out of harm's way. Be sure to back up and restore your data frequently!

3.     LOAD - Load your business critical contacts into your cell phone or PDA. It is also a good idea to print them and store them in a sealed plastic bag.

4.     KNOW YOUR PASSWORDS - Many people rely on their PC to remember their usernames and passwords. Make sure to memorize or record all critical passwords - including the password to access your e-mail through webmail.

5.     SECURE THE OFFICE - Before leaving, be sure to have all of your computers password-protected. This will help keep unwanted visitors from accessing your data.

6.     USE A UPS - Storm or no storm, you should plug your computer and monitor into a UPS to guard against electricity strikes and potential loss of power. A UPS can give you enough time to properly shut down your PC when a storm threatens.

7.     UNPLUG - Unplug your servers, computers, and other gadgets and move them from the floor and away from the windows.

8.     TAKE A PICTURE - Take a picture of your servers and computers BEFORE the storm hits. This will help if an insurance claim is necessary.

Searcher beware: Bing has twice as many poison links as Google - Neowin

Searcher beware: Bing has twice as many poison links as Google

Tyler Holman

Microsoft prides itself on claiming that Bing gives more relevant results than Google, and a new study claims that it's definitely true - at least if you're looking for viruses. 

Over at Sophos' Naked Security blog, Fraser Howard says that compared to Google users, Bing users encounter twice as many 'poisoned links,' or websites that contain malware and exploits like Blackhole. A whopping 92% of poison links encountered on Bing come from images. Howard says that three out of the six images shown below redirect to malicious sites:

Now, why does Bing have more poisoned links than its competitors? That's a good question, and one that Sophos doesn't offer an answer to. It's possible, though, that it really doesn't have that problem - maybe it's just that a large portion of Bing users are less tech savvy than Google users, and possbily less skilled when it comes to avoiding malware. Since Sophos' findings rely on the number of malicious redirects encountered by their security software, it's not exactly set in stone that Bing has more poison links than Google, just that Sophos users are encountering more malware through Bing than through Google.

More importantly, what can you do to protect yourself when you're searching? Besides buying lots and lots of Sophos products, it's generally a good idea to look at the URL before you click on it, and make sure that you really know where you're going. And most importantly, try not to be stupid.

With Apple's Siri, a Romance Gone Sour - NYTimes.com

Karen Bleier/Agence France-Presse — Getty ImagesResults from Siri can be less than satisfying.

Late last summer, I was introduced to a new special someone. I wasn’t looking to meet this new muse; it all just kind of happened.

We met at an Apple product announcement in Cupertino, Calif. She was helpful, smart and even funny, cracking sarcastic jokes and making me laugh. What more could a guy ask for?

Since then, we have had some major communication issues. She frequently misunderstands what I’m saying. Sometimes she is just unavailable. Often, she responds with the same, repetitive statement.

Her name is Siri.

At first, Siri, the voice-activated digital assistant on Apple iPhones, seemed a little too good to be true. Siri lured me into a relationship promising to help me set up appointments, to gently wake me in the morning for work, and to give me the ability to text someone while I was driving.

It didn’t work out that way. “There’s something wrong, and I can’t answer your questions right now. Please try again in a little while,” Siri will say when I ask something. Or: “I’m really sorry about this, but I can’t take any requests right now. Please try again in a little while.”

She is always polite. But I’m starting to suspect that “I’m really sorry” is just something Siri says to shut me up.

Apple introduced Siri as a beta test, meaning it was still a work in progress. That was unusual for Apple, but the company was counting on it to change the way people searched for information on mobile devices. It wanted a head start. But it doesn’t seem ready to change anything yet. Many people I have spoken to have switched Siri off and reverted to the iPhone’s voice dictation service (the little microphone next to the keyboard), which is more reliable because it doesn’t use Siri’s artificial intelligence software.

Those who have left it have done that for good reason. Gene Munster, a securities analyst at Piper Jaffray, recently ran a series of tests with Siri and discovered that this is a significant problem for Apple.

Mr. Munster subjected Siri to over 1,600 voice tests, half in a quiet room and half on a busy Minneapolis street. In the quiet room, Siri understood requests 89 percent of the time, but she was able to accurately answer a question only 68 percent of the time. On a busy street, Siri could comprehend what people were saying 83 percent of the time, but answer a question correctly only 62 percent of the time.

It could hear well enough. The problem in his analysis was that the software was not good enough to understand questions. Mr. Munster gave Siri a “grade D” and said it needed to sharply improve in order to be an alternative method of mobile search.

Over time, things have really soured between Siri and me. We barely speak anymore. And, although she doesn’t know this, I’ve started seeing someone else. Her name, although not as mysterious or sexy, is Google Voice Search.

Google Voice Search, available in the latest operating software for Androidphones, is a much better listener. It’s definitely smarter. If I ask Google Voice Search a question, like, “Who is Tim Cook?” it responds with an answer. (He’s the chief executive of Apple.) If I ask Siri the same question, the response is: “I don’t see Tim Cook in your contacts.”

Side-by-side comparisons, in videos posted on YouTube, give the upstart from Google the advantage. Apple used Siri as a primary selling point for its new iPhone, and now Apple is losing its advantage. At the D: All Things Digital conference in May, Mr. Cook was asked about Siri’s mistakes. “We have a lot of people working on this,” he told the audience.

“You’ll be really pleased with some of the things that you’ll see over the coming months,” he promised.

Trudy Muller, an Apple spokeswoman, said, “Siri is currently in beta, and we are continuing to improve it.” She also said, “Siri is one of the most popular features of iPhone 4S and customers love it.”

She’s apparently not wrong about that. John Barrett, director of consumer analytics at the Parks Associates research firm, recently surveyed 482 iPhone owners. “Although there were some mild frustrations, most people really like the service,” Mr. Barrett said. Of those surveyed, he said, 55 percent gave Siri a high rating, 21 percent said it was quite satisfactory, and only 10 percent were completely dissatisfied.

The question will be whether those who find Siri frustrating will toss the iPhone aside and embrace Android.

I still find it disappointing, and last week I had what will probably be my last conversation with Siri for a while.

“Siri. I think it’s time for us to take a break,” I told her.

“Hmm … Let me think. … one second,” Siri said in response, adding a few moments later, “I don’t know what you mean by ‘I think it’s time for us to take a break.’ ”

Is Microsoft OneNote the One for You?

How a lesser-known part of Microsoft Office 2010 can help you organize your nonprofit or library's notes and projects

By: Debbi Landshoff

June 28, 2012

If you have Microsoft Office 2010 or Office 2007, OneNote is probably installed on your computer. But chances are you don't really know what OneNote can do for you and haven't used it yet.

Microsoft OneNote 2010 lets you gather notes and other information and organize it as a digital notebook. The structure is similar to familiar paper notebooks with the added benefit that you can electronically search, reorganize, and share the contents.

Consider these scenarios:

Patrick Duggan, TechSoup's Technology Marketing Copywriter, needs to take his laptop to meetings in many different locations. He started using OneNote so he wouldn't also have to lug around a paper notebook. Now he loves the fact that he has one place to keep notes for all of his projects, with separate tabs for each project.

Autumn Teeter, TechSoup's Optimization Analyst, started using OneNote as a writing tool when she organized a training manual that had many sections. Now, she keeps a separate notebook for each of her major responsibility areas. Autumn tracks her tasks with ToDo lists and loves that OneNote includes the original location (URL) for content from web pages.

Yann Toledano, volunteer host for TechSoup's Web Building forum, uses OneNote mostly for larger projects that are demanding or require many steps. He says, "I place all my items related to a project (next actions, notes, links, reference materials, etc.) in the same area. I can then quickly refer to this section as needed to see what I've done, what's next to do, and to track my overall progress. Using this tool gives me a better sense of control over my work."

Both Patrick and Autumn had been aware of OneNote for several years, but they only tried it after a colleague mentioned how the software might help them. This article is meant to help you, too, realize ways in which OneNote can help you work smarter and quicker.

What Are Notebooks?

In the same way that Microsoft Word lets you create word-processing documents and Microsoft Excel is for creating spreadsheets, Microsoft OneNote allows you to create notebooks.

Notebook organization is flexible and can change as your needs change. For example, you can move pages around within a section, between sections, or to different notebooks.

Because the notebooks are computer files, you can back them up and restore them as needed.

Benefits of OneNote

Unlike with paper notebooks, OneNote lets you:

Gather and store many types of information, including text, pictures, audio, and video

Easily move and reorganize all or part of your notebooks

Record audio and video

Share a single notebook with several contributors on a network or over the Internet

Print all or part of a notebook and create Word or PDF documents from the notebook contents

Reduce paper clutter and waste

What Does OneNote Look Like?

Below is a screenshot of a very simple OneNote 2010 notebook. Earlier versions have toolbars and a slightly different working area but are otherwise quite similar.

The top of the window has the type of ribbon bar, title, and application controls you see in other Microsoft Office applications.

The large working area in the center shows your current page. Each OneNote page can be as long or short as you want, and you can have as many pages as you need.

Across the top of the page area are section tabs. Sections are one of the main ways in which you can organize your notes.

At the left is a navigation bar. You can use it to move back and forth through the various sections. If you have several notebooks open, they will all show up in the navigation bar and you can move between them.

At the right, the page tabs show all the pages (and subpages if any) of the current section.

Adding Content to a Notebook

To add content to a notebook, you can:

Type or draw in OneNote. In general, formatting text and creating drawings is simpler than in a word-processing application.

Insert files from another application or from the Internet.

Send to OneNote from other Microsoft Office applications. Some browsers also have commands to send content to OneNote.

Add and edit images. OneNote provides the same tools that you find in other Microsoft Office applications.

Record audio and video and scan pages directly into OneNote.

Use the OneNote mobile application (available for Windows Phone 7, iPhone, iPad, and Android) to type or record notes and then sync with your notebook.

ToDo Lists and Tasks

You can use OneNote to keep track of tasks for yourself or for a team.

ToDo is a specific style in OneNote. Each ToDo item has a checkbox that you can click when the task is complete.

If you share notebooks, all team members can check off their own tasks, so everyone knows the current status. If your organization uses Microsoft Outlook, you can create your Outlook tasks in OneNote.

Organizing Projects

Depending on the complexity of your projects, you might want to have a separate notebook for each project or type of project. You might have several similarly organized projects, or you might want to share notebooks with different members of different projects. You can have more than one notebook open at one time, so it is easy to move between notebooks as needed.

For projects that don't require a separate notebook, you might choose to give each project its own section. As you work on the project, you can add and organize pages as needed. For very simple projects, you can put everything into a single page.

As you become comfortable with OneNote, you can investigate additional options such as section groups and subpages.

Security

Microsoft OneNote 2010 allows you to password-protect sections. With this function, you can control who has access to certain parts of shared notebooks and protect against unauthorized use of your computer. This can come in handy should you choose to store a list of your login credentials in one of your notebooks.

How to Sell the Most Important Brand You Own – Yourself

Branding is the most important part of every business. The success of most businesses relies largely on the popularity of the brands. People remember a brand and follow it, which gives impetus and growth to the business. The goal of every startup is to build a brand name and to maintain it. Therefore, branding is the core objective of every business.

However, in the professional world one should realize that besides the company, business, and industry, every individual is an asset, and popular assets are brands everyone knows. An individual has his/her own identity, which is separate from the business, and the more popular an individual is, the more he or she is recognized and rewarded. Therefore, branding yourself helps you to become popular among your business circle and helps your work become recognized. For a freelancer, branding is much more important. This is because freelancers work in their own comfort zone and their communication with people is restricted. In such cases you need to take more care branding yourself so you are popular with your clients.

One of the important tasks of freelancers is to build contacts and get noticed in order to grab new projects and new work. This is possible only with branding. Now, the question is: how do you brand yourself? Quality work definitely counts and is the top priority in creating a brand, but other initiatives need to be taken to become a big brand in the professional world. This article will discuss the importance of branding yourself and how it serves you in the professional world. We also discuss important factors to consider for creating a brand.

Everyone in the professional world has as a personal brand. Your personal brand is built and recognized through your work, actions, attitude, character, and many other aspects. Every day the actions you perform and the attitude you portray affect your brand; therefore it is so very important to maintain a good profile. Creating brand is important and easy for freelancers. While salaried staff hold a brand of their own, along with the identity of the company, the freelancer holds a brand that is independent of their work. When you are a freelancer, you are free to build your own personality and your own brand. There are many ways to brand yourself. A few of the basic and simple methods of branding yourself are mentioned below.

Simple ways to brand yourself:

• Writing articles is a very popular and simple way of branding yourself. You might not be a writer always, but sharing your knowledge based on your field of work can help people and you can inspire them through your writing.
• Maintaining blogs is another popular way of branding yourself. You can maintain a blog of your own and share your thoughts, views, and knowledge to share your personality with others.
• Being publicly active is necessary if you want to be popular. To brand yourself, you have to speak publicly and share opinions on public platforms.
• Being active in professional networking sites is a simpler way of connecting with your professional circle and making the world take notice of your existence.
• Using social networking sites helps you build a wider platform for yourself to brand and gives you the opportunity to meet more people and share more stuff.
• Attending networking functions is very important for improving your knowledge. Such functions also make you visible to the professional world.

These are the basic and simple ways through which you can introduce yourself to the world and brand yourself bigger.

Branding Limitations

Understanding one’s limitations is important in the process of branding. Whenever you brand yourself, be meticulous and genuine and avoid exaggeration. This is because praise should be awarded by others and not by oneself. Understand that you have to share your ideas and show your personality to the world to make yourself recognized without boasting. You have to maintain a slow and soft way of promoting yourself because promoting yourself aggressively might look egotistical and work against you. There is a thin line between promoting yourself and praising yourself and you have to strongly represent the former to create a good brand for yourself.

Now let’s examine the methods of branding more deeply. You can show your presence to the world in many ways that help build your brand. Any mechanism that helps to create a good brand out of you is effective. Below we discuss the methods of branding yourself with explanations. Following these methods will help you to take the initiative in the professional world to create an identity of your own and make your name a brand.

Maintain Your Website

The first way for people to learn about you and your work is through your Web site. You will be judged and acknowledged through your quality of work and portfolio and profile, which will be visible in one shot through your site. Therefore, keep your site clean and updated. Polish your Web site with all new updates and projects and highlight all the important facts that would interest people coming to your site. Make sure you have given appropriate importance to all aspects and actions in your site. It is beneficial to keep a section on your site about your recent works and projects, the services you provide, and the goals you have achieved. These things will help viewers gain a better and wider view of you. They will be able to look through all your aspects and form a judgment of you, which will help you to create your brand.

Different people will have different interests working in different fields of work. Therefore, everyone will have different aspects to highlight on their sites. If you are a writer, you can share your recent write-ups and link to your articles to display your quality and flow of writing. On the other hand, if you are a designer, you can mention your recent projects and links to your designs to give your viewers an insight into your work. And if you are a developer, you can reflect release codes, Web applications, and related stuff on your Web site. Everyone can display their own interests and actions through their Web site. By doing this you introduce yourself to the world and let viewers know about you and your work. You can also mention links to related sites and outline your skills and services clearly so clients can recognize your name and acknowledge it as a brand for future assignments.

Real-life Networking

Real-life networking is very important to aspire to as a smart worker presenting yourself to the world. You have to possess certain qualities to promote yourself successfully to others. Below are certain basic qualities:

• Self-confidence: You have to possess self-confidence to stay active in real-life networking. You should be confident about yourself and your work and never feel reluctant to speak about your work and your viewpoints. Be confident representing your ideas and share your opinions in public. A self-confident attitude will elevate your standing in your circle.
• Communication skills: You should have good communication skills, including proper control over communicating language, and know how to present a professional attitude so you can build good relationships with people. You should speak well, look well, and act well in order to shine as a brand among others.
• Presence of mind: Presence of mind is necessary to be active yet smart in the real-life network. You should know how to handle controversial and complex matters and be confident in offering your own opinion. You should be smart enough to speak, yet avoid disputes.
• Friendly character: You should build up a friendly character to create a good brand out of yourself. You should be friendly and warm in the way you address people. You have to impress people around you to make yourself noticeable and liked by others.

The ability to speak confidently, present confidently, and therefore leave a positive impression on others is the art of good networking. While these attributes come to a few people naturally, others need to accumulate them to network for their own benefit. Real-life networking is very important in branding yourself because it helps you to meet more people and make yourself known to a wider audience. For freelancers it is one of the best ways to find new clients and services and opens you up to a wider audience. In such cases, networking gives you the opportunity to approach people for newer projects. However, while networking it is very important to have control over yourself. You should try to build a conversation with others and should not always dominate a discussion. However, you should cleverly give your opinion and make your mark on others. Networking should not be pushy and one-sided because this will lead to adverse results.

To improve your networking skills you should follow all the points mentioned above. You should have the ability to introduce yourself well and confidently. Your introduction should reflect your business, your ideas, and your skills well and present you as a striking figure who leaves an impression from the start. Therefore, it is beneficial to prepare a good introduction to make an impact. You should be presentable in front of others. Maintain a dress code as the occasion demands and present yourself properly. Also, maintain your etiquette and table manners to create a warm atmosphere. Besides self- preparation, there are other attributes you should develop to shine within a network.

You should start talking to people you know initially, and then move on further with other people. This helps you build confidence and flow while addressing new people. Introduce yourself first and try to build an interesting conversation thereafter. Be a good listener and a good speaker. You can go with the idea of exchanging business cards to take the conversation further and make use of it for your services. Do not hesitate to offer your business cards and ask for the cards of others. However, make sure you do it naturally and don’t make it look cheesy. With all these prospects in mind and a little preparation, join all the possible networking functions and conferences you can and build up a wide network to make yourself visible and prominent.

Social Networking Sites

These days social networking sites play an important role in helping you build your own brand. It is one of the best ways to stay connected with your clients and meet more people with similar interests and share the same fields of service. There are different kinds of social networking sites: a few, such as Linkdin.com, are maintained for professional networking, while others, such asFacebook.com and Twitter.com are designed to serve as platforms for sharing ideas and meeting people. Be active on such sites and maintain an impressive profile so you succeed in creating a good brand name.

LinkedIn and Facebook are the most popular contemporary social networking sites. LinkedIn helps you to create a profile of your own stating your interests, skills, and relevant fields, and offers you a forum where you can meet professionals with similar interests. It is a professional site that enables you to connect with more clients and gain projects. Facebook, on the other hand, is a site where you can connect with your personal and professional contacts. It offers you a wider audience to create an impact. Such sites offer a great number of opportunities. There are fields where you can search people you are looking for. They, in turn, offer suggestions relating to your interests, contacts, and services. You can be in contact with colleagues and clients past and present and keep yourself visible for future referrals. Be active with your contacts by sharing ideas, commenting on their ideas, and so on. Maintain all the elements mentioned for real-life networking to create a good impact on others. Apart from this, try to maintain your similar username and preferably your business name on such sites. This helps other people find you easily and get connected simply. Maintain a proper profile and mention your interests, skills, and position, and also a link to your Web site, so people can get to know you better. Social networking sites are great for building communication and making yourself recognizable.

Managing Blogs

Blogging is an important way to create your brand. It is one of the most popular methods used by people in the professional world to build a space of their own and show it to the public. Blogs are simple to set up too. You can create your own domain name and build a blog of your own to express yourself. Many sites offer free blogging software to create your own blog, andWordPress.com is the most popular. On the other hand, there are blogging sites where you can create a blog and start expressing right away such as Blogger.com and Tumbler.com. These sites give you the opportunity to post your write-ups and upload images and videos for a stronger impact and a wider review.

Blogging sites have multiple ways of reflecting writing and reaching a wider audience, but just managing your blog is not enough. It is important to read other blogs and participate in them by commenting and offering ideas. This will help bring others to your blogs. Also offer a topic of conversation and comments for readers on your blog. Maintain a professional style while managing your blog so readers coming to your site understand the seriousness and relevance of it.

Writing Articles

Other than blogs, another important way to generate interest in your site is by writing articles. This is an effective way of branding yourself, and although you may not be a good writer, you can always share your ideas and knowledge with your audience. Start writing articles and publish them online and offline so people come to know about you and your views clearly. Pick up relevant topics in which you excel and publish write-ups on those topics. You can also provide help through your articles and let people recognize your skills and services. This will lead to future prospects involving different projects. There are many online article Web sites that are very popular. These include Buzz.com and Articlebase.com. Read the submission guidelines and publish your ideas on such article sites. Writing different articles related to your field of interest will improve your professional networking and generate a larger reading audience.

Marketing and Advertising

Marketing and advertising your name are very important in establishing your brand. One powerful way to market yourself is through press releases. Create a striking story, add relevant ideas and issues, and make a press release through online sites, newspapers, or magazines. This will help you reach a wider audience. You can use link building and directory submission for your sites to let the audience know about your sites, which will direct them from your work to you and therefore let them know your name and your services. Do not hesitate to market yourself to an audience. Speak about your work confidently and try to make an impact through your marketing pitch. Ask for help from your friends and colleagues to advertise yourself or make a referral and also stay active in freelancing sites. Improve your profile by adding skills and make it more impressive for your clients.

All these actions will help you create a brand for yourself. While branding yourself, never compromise with your work because, after building a brand, you must be able to maintain it through quality work. Also realize the fact that you can never become a brand in one day, so don’t step back after the first few initiatives. Try to follow all the mentioned methods and develop your network and interaction with audiences to make yourself more visible to others. Accumulate correct interaction, powerful networking, and valuable service and you will be on your way to branding your name.

New MacBook Pro makes DIY upgrades and repairs tough

New MacBook Pro makes DIY upgrades and repairs tough

from technolog.com
A teardown of the new MacBook Pro reveals that it is difficult to repair or upgrade.
The new MacBook Pro is one absolutely amazing laptop. It's sleek, fast, and has an impressive Retina display.

But such a tight design meant locking out tinkerers and third-party repair people. Non-Apple personnel will find the laptop difficult to repair or upgrade.

The people at iFixit, who collaborate to draft repair manuals for all sorts of gadgets, emphasized this particular downside when they tore apart one of the new MacBook Pro laptops.

"This is, to date, the least repairable laptop we've taken apart," wrote iFixit's Kyle Wiens.

The device uses proprietary screws (which mean that you'll need a special screwdriver just to open the bottom cover), the RAM is soldered to the logic board, and there is no traditional hard-drive enclosure, just an array of proprietary flash storage.

What's more, the battery is glued — rather than screwed — into the case, and the display assembly is completely fused.


iFixit
Good luck upgrading the new MacBook Pro laptop's proprietary SSD.
This means that anyone attempting to take apart their laptop may well damage it, and even Apple is recommending that new MacBook Pro buyers plan ahead when it comes to internal storage, as upgrading it is not currently an option. (You will be able to update RAM on the new model, according to an Apple Store specialist we spoke to.)

Let's not even think too much about what'll happen if the display needs repair. You'd have to "replace the entire (extremely expensive) assembly," writes Wiens.

Why is all of this such a big deal?

"Laptops are expensive," Wiens begins to explain. "It's critical that consumers have the option to repair things that go wrong, as well as upgrade their own hardware to keep it relevant as new technologies roll out. On top of being glued together, the new MacBook Pro is virtually non-upgradeable — making it the first MacBook Pro that will be unable to adapt to future advances in memory and storage technology."

No doubt Apple Stores will adapt to the needs of customers, but this is certainly yet another example of Apple hardware design requirements coming before the interests of do-it-yourselfers.

Vizio launches Mac-like PCs starting at $898 | Reviews - Laptops - CNET Reviews

Vizio -- best known for making TVs -- is expanding into the PC realm with a new line of laptops and desktops.

(Credit: Sarah Tew/CNET)

NEW YORK -- Vizio, a company best known for making TVs, is officially throwing its hat into the PC arena.

The company is taking the wraps off three distinct lines of Windows computers: ultrabooks, mid-size laptops, and all-in-one desktops.

Vizio had previously announced its plans to jump into the PC market at the January Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, but today's New York press event was the official coming-out party for the new systems.

Vizio unveils its first-ever PCs (pictures)

1-2 of 18

Scroll LeftScroll Right

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

While the company has previously dabbled in tablets, Vizio is known primarily as a scrappy competitor in the TV space. It's perhaps best remembered for helping to commoditize the burgeoning flat-panel television market during the last decade, gobbling up market share from the likes of Sony and Sharp. Of course, the PC market is already commoditized, with razor-thin profit margins for all the major players, save Apple.

But that may well be the company that Vizio is hoping to emulate here. At the New York launch event, Vizio CTO Matt McRae introduced the new systems by saying that current PCs are mundane, and not built with the consumer in mind.

These new systems mix high-end components with slick designs, including unibody construction, hidden hinges, and full HD displays. The look is definitely Mac-like, but also follows the current trend towards aesthetic minimalism in laptops and all-in-one desktops. The all-in-one models are especially influenced by Vizio's TV-making experience, with HDMI inputs for the display, a remote control, and Blu-ray options.

Playing off of Vizio's expertise in the home entertainment field, a Function-key shortcut can launch directly into online entertainment hubs, including Netflix and EA's Origin gaming service.

The two thin-and-light laptop entries are part of Intel's ultrabook program, and all are very sharp-looking. According to McRae, Intel devoted engineering resources to help Vizio built these high-end components (including Ivy Bridge processors, of course) into these slim bodies.

If you're looking for a Vizio PC, the company is building several mini-stores into shipping containers, and plans to bring them to consumers at festivals, public events, and even into retail stores, including a breakout mini-store inside some Walmart locations.

You can find more details of the individual systems below. Prices for each line start at $898.

Vizio CN15 15.6-inch laptop
Vizio CT14/C15 ultrabooks
Vizio CA24/CA27 all-in-one desktops 

How To Save A Drowned Phone!

It finally happened to me! I accidentally dropped my phone in water the other day and completely freaked out because as soon as the phone hit the water, it turned off and would not power back on – kudos to the manufacturer for that. It may have been what saved the phone. This is a very expensive phone and I was already bemoaning how I would have to shell out the money to replace it. The internet, however, came to the rescue and I got a few pointers that I added to what I did to revive my phone. The first thing I did, as soon as it happened was to pull the phone out of the water. No “Oh my God, what just happened?” or “Shit, my phone fell in it” and then proceed to stand there and stare at the thing for several minutes kind of stuff! Reach in and pull the damn thing out of the water whether it’s a swimming pool, sink, lake – probably with the help of a very good swimmer or a scuba diver since it’s just a phone and there is no sense drowning yourself too, or toilet (please, put on gloves). Eew. Take the battery out of the phone if it has a removable battery. That, by the way, is my biggest gripe against the iPhone and its ilk that do not have removable batteries and why I do not own one. Next, I got out as much of the water as I could. Mine has a slide-out keyboard, so I opened the phone and dried off the water with a gentle shake, using absorbent napkins. I strongly resisted the urge to immediately turn the phone back on (OK, after I read that it was not a good idea to do so) I put the phone near an open window to air-dry for about 15 minutes. Some suggest using compressed air – the type you use on your keyboard – to blow out the water. I tried it and it got quite a lot out. But I was also worried that the air may push water to more sensitive areas, further causing damage to the phone. So, your mileage may vary. Quick note: if using compresses air, make sure the can is upright as a tilted one can dispense freezing liquid which may not be good for your phone. I resisted the temptation to put it in the microwave or use a blow-dryer. Do not put your phone in a microwave, or use a blow dryer on your phone! Finally, as ridiculous as it initially sounded to me, I put the phone and its battery in an air-tight box (a jar would also work)  and covered it with uncooked rice. Apparently Rice is very good at absorbing moisture. There is also some sort of drying compound you can use, but rice was available and I really did not feel like ordering some compound that would take several days to show up. I let the phone sit in uncooked rice for an endless 72 hours! That was pure torture. If you only have one phone, I will pray for you. I never knew we depended on the thing this much. I totally felt disoriented the first couple of hours – no calls, no emails, no web browsing, no text messages, no twitter, no voice mails, no games. Luckily, I had several decommissioned phones around that I could use as “temps”. Believe it or not, after 72 hours, I put the battery back on the phone and heard the most beautiful music in the whole world – a start up chime that indicated my phone was alive. I did it. I saved my drowned phone. FYI, the weasels who manufacture these phones have inserted a tool that lets them know whether your phone went for a swim. Somewhere on your phone, usually below the battery, there is a white little circle or dot. When your phone gets wet, this dot changes color depending on the severity of the water damage. Some turn to pink (salvageable), others turn super red (God help you). Mine was half-n-half. My thinking is that this tool allows the phone manufacturers to laugh at you when you try to claim that the phone “just stopped working” and demand a replacement after you washed it with your laundry. Most phone warranties do not cover water damage.