An update for Adobe's Flash Media Server

Adobe has released a new update for its "Flash Media Server", version 4.5. It was an opportunity for AEG Digital Media, a specialist in webcast and media services for live streaming events, to team up with Adobe for its promotional campaign. In a mini-reportage, we see their technical teams working at full tilt; we clearly appreciate the levels of stress inherent in their work!

The vice president of AEG Digital Media admitted that his company was pulling out all the stops to ensure reliable and high quality production across all new media. To achieve this, it is obviously essential to be able to rely on technology as robust as that offered by Adobe's "Flash Media Server".

And the cherry on the cake: this update means content in Flash format will be viewable on iPhones and iPads. About time too!Provided by YC/ATC-TCL.com

Reversing course, Hewlett-Packard to keep PC unit

Hewlett-Packard's new chief executive Meg Whitman, just five weeks into her tenure, said that the company will keep its personal computer division and also resume making tablets.
Whitman's announcements were a dramatic repudiation of strategic decisions which led to the ouster of her predecessor, Leo Apotheker, after less than a year at the helm of the world's biggest computer maker.
Apotheker, who was fired by HP's board in September, had proposed spinning off the PC unit and stopped production of the TouchPad, HP's rival to Apple's iPad, in a shift towards software and services for businesses.
"HP objectively evaluated the strategic, financial and operational impact of spinning off PSG," Whitman said in a statement, using the acronym for HP's Personal Systems Group which makes PCs.
"It's clear after our analysis that keeping PSG within HP is right for customers and partners, right for shareholders, and right for employees," Whitman said. "HP is committed to PSG, and together we are stronger."
Whitman, the former chief executive of online auction giant eBay, took over as HP's president and chief executive from Apotheker, a veteran of German business software giant SAP, on September 22.
The low-margin PC market has been flat amid an astronomical increase in powerful smartphones and the arrival of hot-selling tablet computers such as the iPad.
As part of his strategic shift, Apotheker also announced the $10.24 billion purchase of British enterprise software company Autonomy and a decision to halt production of the TouchPad, which was powered by the webOS operating system HP acquired from Palm.
HP's acquisition of Autonomy closed earlier this month.
Whitman declined to reveal what HP planned to do with webOS, but said HP would make tablet computers running Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 operating system.
"We need to be in the tablet business," Whitman said in a conference call with financial analysts.
Whitman said the company would make a decision on the future of webOS "within the next two months."
In its statement Thursday, HP said the PC unit would be "a key component of HP's strategy to deliver higher value, lasting relationships with consumers, small- and medium-sized businesses and enterprise customers."
"As part of HP, PSG will continue to give customers and partners the advantages of product innovation and global scale across the industry's broadest portfolio of PCs, workstations and more," said Todd Bradley, the executive vice president of HP's Personal Systems Group.
"We intend to make the leading PC business in the world even better," he added.
Bradley, who was also on the conference call, said tablets were helping to usher in a "new age of personal computing" and it was "not too late" to get into the market dominated so far by the iPad.
Shares in the Palo Alto, California-based HP plunged 20 percent on August 19, the day after Apotheker announced the possible spinoff of the PC unit, and lost 40 percent of their value during his tenure.
"We confused the market pretty dramatically on August 18," Whitman conceded Thursday.
HP shares rose 0.52 percent to $27.23 in after-hours trading after gaining 4.82 percent on Wall Street on Thursday.

China censors web after tax riots

China on Friday blocked online access to news of riots by thousands of people who clashed with police in an eastern manufacturing city in what began as a protest over taxes.
Cars were smashed and several people were injured in the riots, which went on for more than a day and involved thousands of people, said local authorities on the website of eastern Zhejiang province, where the unrest occurred.
News and images of riots are viewed as highly sensitive in China and authorities moved swiftly to prevent users of the country's hugely popular social media sites from viewing online reports.
Searches for Zhili, the name of the town where the rioting took place, were blocked, as were words including "tax" and "protest".
The riots, which began on Wednesday and continued well into Thursday, were among the largest reported in China in recent months.
Hong Kong television showed footage from late Thursday of armed police on streets lined with shops whose windows had been smashed.
A local government website said 28 people had been arrested over the riots and police had been forced to use "heavy-handed measures" to quell them.
A posting on a microblog run by local police called for Internet users to "pay attention to the authenticity" of web messages about the incident.
Beijing has repeatedly vowed to clamp down on "rumours" on the Internet as the country's online population continues to grow.
China now has more than 500 million Internet users, posing a huge challenge to government attempts to control public opinion.
Authorities in Zhejiang said the tax collector whose demands for money from a clothing manufacturer sparked the Wednesday night riots had been sacked.
One local manufacturer reached by telephone said conditions were calm on Friday, but there were large numbers of police in the city and residents had been told to stay indoors.
Mass protests are not uncommon in China as disenfranchised people left behind by the country's economic boom take to the streets to air their grievances.
Last month, protesters in Zhejiang broke into a factory and ransacked offices, overturning vehicles after an Internet posting blamed the plant for local pollution.

Google tunes Internet television offering

Google on Friday set out to breathe new life into its moribund Internet television platform.
Second-generation Google TV software features simplified controls, improved search, slicker integration with video-sharing service YouTube and the option to add applications made by outside developers.
"In the grander scheme, it is another step on a long road," said Chris Dale of the Google TV team. "We are committed to the product and making it better."
Google is among technology firms betting that the future of home entertainment is films, television shows, and other video content streamed on-demand over the Internet.
The California Internet titan last year launched Google TV, which is powered by Android software and Chrome Web browser and can be accessed using Sony TVs or set-top boxes from Logitech that route Web content to existing television sets.
Sony and Logitech have both slashed prices on Google TV offerings in the face of disappointing sales.
Criticism of Google TV included that using it was relatively complicated, making it daunting to those who aren't technology savvy.
Updated Google TV software that will begin rolling out next week seeks to make it easier and more intuitive for viewers to find online video.
"The Internet marks a new chapter for television," Google vice president of product management said in a blog post.
"This chapter is not about replacing broadcast or cable TV; it's not about replicating what's on TV to the Web," he continued.
"It's about bringing millions of new channels to your TV from the next generation of creators, application developers, and networks."
Google declined to comment on deals it might be making with television or film studios, but did tell AFP that more electronics makers were signing on to embed its TV software into devices.

Best and Worst Sleeping Positions

The position on the back is ideal for night sleep. This position helps prevent the appearance of pain in the neck and back, reduce acid reflux, and make the wrinkles less vivid.

However, the people who are strongly affected by snoring and sleep apnea, may not accept this position. And for people with pain in the neck it would be good to use a roller or a pillow to prevent any discomfort.
The next most comfortable position is the one on the side, as the experts say. This position helps with back pain (the doctors advise to put a cushion under your knees to relieve the waist), and prevents snoring at the same time. Pregnant women are advised to sleep on their left side. In this position, the blood normally circulates to the fetus. However, in this case the shoulders and the neck are strained more.
The position on a side contributes to the appearance of wrinkles on the part of the face which touches a pillow.
According to the doctors, the most harmful position is on the abdomen. In addition to wrinkles, it is easy to get neck and back injury because the spine is not straightened, and the back and joints are not resting.
Source of the image: Photl.

Best and Worst Sleeping Positions

A team of specialists led by Charles P. Gerba, Professor of Microbiology at the University of Arizona, Tucson, released a list of the most dangerous places in the bathroom, where most of the dangerous bacteria live. While compiling the list, the scientists considered the opinion of the staff of well-known cleaning companies and that of homemakers.

1. The experts consider a tap to be the first on the list of dangerous places in a bathroom. The research has shown that it just teems with bacteria. In fact, constant contact with hands plus humidity is a perfect breeding ground for MRSA super bacteria, which cause skin infections.
2. Number two on the list is a bath towel. Moist environment is a perfect habitat for E. coli, which causes abdominal pain and vomiting. To avoid illnesses, it is necessary that you should change the towel at least once in three days. Guests should be suggested using paper towels.
3. The third place on the list is a toilet bowl. The experts advise to close the toilet seat every time before you flush the water. Otherwise, microscopic dirty droplets will spray around and affect your personal hygiene items, which can then become a source of disease.
4. A toothbrush rounds out the list. Professor Gerba states that it has bacteria on it, but these are personal microorganisms of no harm to your health. The only condition is to keep your toothbrush separate from the others and change it regularly. By the way, almost all homemakers are sure that such knowledge should be obtained in early childhood, to avoid various diseases.heatl

Taking Aspirin Harms Eye Health

The doctors from the Netherlands Institute for Neuroscience and the Academic Medical Centre in Amsterdam have found that people, who regularly take aspirin, face the risk of losing eyesight with age.


The scientists led by Dr. Paul de Jong collected the data about the state of health and the lifestyle of 4,700 people over 65 years old from Norway, Britain, France, Italy, Spain, Greece, and Estonia. 839 participants of the study took aspirin every day. 39 of them were diagnosed to have a grave eye disease – wet macular degeneration.
The disease usually affects both eyes and is a cause of irreversible loss of eyesight. Moreover, it is women that are most often affected by macular degeneration. Dry macular degeneration is more common. It is not as dangerous as the wet one, but it also can lead to the loss of eyesight.
Aspirin is one of the most common means of prevention of cardiovascular diseases. But at the same time it hurts eyes. According to Paul de Jong, the benefits of aspirin still outweigh the harm produced by it. At least, the dosage should be strictly observed while taking the drug.
The facts do not prove that aspirin itself leads to the loss of eyesight. However, it may aggravate the already existing disease, as suggested by the results of the study published in Opthalmology journal. It is noted that aspirin promotes the progression of only wet macular degeneration and does not affect the dry form of the disease.

Psychologists Make People Bankrupt

The New Scientist magazine has published a list of the most popular mental disorders which are the major source of wasting money. The first place is taken by anxiety, followed by insomnia and depression.

About 165 million people, or about 38% of all the EU citizens, address their doctor with mental and neurological problems. At the same time, the treatment of such diseases in Europe is much more expensive than treating other diseases. The experts have estimated the sum of money that the Europeans spend to treat over 100 diseases, such as systematic sleep disorder, psychosis, migraine, and dementia. According to the results, the treatment of one European now costs more than 1.5 thousand euros per year. It is twice more than in 2005.
The experts predict that the Europeans will spend more money on treatment of depression, increased anxiety, or acquired dementia. But to prevent the deceases, money is needed. The experts have urged the EU governments to finance the programs connected with studying the diseases of the nervous system and psyche more actively.

Bicycle to Rid of Migraine

The physicians from the Institute of Neuroscience and Physiology at the University of Gothenburg believe that the therapeutic effect is produced not by riding a bicycle as such, but rather by the physical activity that the people get. Bicycle has become a random choice of the researchers.
The scientists decided to investigate whether physical exercise is effective in comparison with painkiller pills. To accomplish this, they invited 91 people to take part in the experiment. The participants were divided into three groups. The first group was given the drug, the second one was involved in relaxing therapy, and the people from the third group were riding a bicycle.
As it turns out, all three methods of treatment are equally effective. The participants of the experiment reduced the number of migraine attacks from 4 to 3 per month. The benefits of cycling can be explained by the fact that motion relieves stress and improves sleep. And most often it is the strain that serves as the cause of migraines.
Source of the image: Photl.

 

Google Chrome Shortcuts – 70 Useful Shortcuts to Boost Performance

Google Chrome shortcuts provide an easy and effective way to improve productivity and Internet browsing performance when using Google’s web browser. From Page Navigation to managing Pages and Tabs to speeding up Web Page and Address bar tasks this posts will cover 70 Chrome shortcuts for boosting your efficiency using the Chrome web browser.

Many people feel that Chrome performs much faster than Internet Explorer and Firefox and find it to be a very stable web browser. Utizing these built in keyboard shortcuts can make Chrome’s Internet browsing performance seem even faster.

A number of the Chrome shortcuts will be a combination of keystrokes. “Ctrl + C” means that you should hold down the Ctrl (control) key and press the letter “c” for example. Use the lowercase letters not uppercase; if you are required to use the shift key it will be indicated as “Shift”.

Chrome Page Navigation Shortcuts

These browser shortcuts are all scrolling functions that permit you to use the keyboard to navigate a Chrome web page quickly and efficiently. You will find that many of these navigation shortcuts are quite similar to other browsers.

• Space Bar – Page down one full screen at a time
• Page Down — Page down one full screen at a time
• Down Arrow – Scroll Down
• Shift + Space Bar – Page up one full screen at a time
• Page Up — Page up one full screen at a time
• Up Arrow – Scroll Up
• Home – Go to the top of the webpage
• End – Go to the bottom of the webpage

Chrome Browser Window Shortcuts

These shortcuts open and close Google Chrome browser windows.

• Ctrl + N – Open a new window
• Ctrl + Shift + N – Open a new window in incognito mode (Pages viewed in incognito mode won’t show in browser history or search history. They also won’t leave cookies or other traces)
• Alt + F4 – Close the current window
• Shift + Click on link – Open the link in a new window

Chrome Tab Shortcuts

These browser shortcuts provide quick control of Chrome’s Tabs and allow you to quickly switch between open Tabs, open or close a Tab, and open or close links in new Tabs within the Chrome browser.

• Ctrl + Click on link – Open link in a new tab in the background
• Ctrl + Shift — Click on link – Open the link in a new tab and switch to the newly opened tab
• Ctrl + T – Open a new tab
• Ctrl + Shift + T – Reopen the last tab that was closed
• Ctrl + 1 through Ctrl + 8 – Switch to the tab at the specified position
• Ctrl + 9 – Switch to the last tab
• Ctrl + Tab – Switch to the next tab
• Ctrl + Shift + Tab or Ctrl + PgUp – Switch to the previous tab
• Backspace – Go to the previous page in your browsing history for the tab
• Shift + Backspace – Go to the next page in your browsing history for the tab

• Ctrl + W – Close the current tab or pop-up
• Alt + Home – Go to your homepage in the current tab
• Ctrl + Click the Back Arrow, Forward Arrow, or Go button – Open destination in a new tab in the background
• Drag a link to a tab – Open the link in the tab
• Drag a link to a blank area on the tab strip – Open the link in a new tab
• Drag a tab out of the tab strip – Open the tab in a new window
• Drag a tab out of the tab strip and into an existing window’s tab strip – Open the tab in the existing window
• Press ESC while dragging a tab – Return the tab to its original position

Chrome Webpage Shortcuts

You are able to manage many common browser tasks with these Google Chrome shortcuts, including bookmarks, search functions, utilities, and more.

• Ctrl + P – Print the current page
• Ctrl + S – Save the current page
• Ctrl + O – Open a file from your computer in Google Chrome
• F5 – Reload the current page
• Esc – Stop page loading
• Ctrl + F5 – Reload the current page (ignore cached content)
• Ctrl + D – Bookmark the current webpage
• Ctrl + Shift + D – Save all open pages as bookmarks in a new folder

• Alt + Click on link – Download link
• Ctrl + F – Open the search box
• F3 – Find the next match for your input in the search box
• Shift + F3 – Find the previous match for your input in the search box
• F11 – Open page in full screen mode
• Ctrl + + – Make the text larger
• Ctrl + - – Make the text smaller
• Ctrl + 0 – Return text to normal size

• Ctrl + Shift + B – Toggle the bookmarks bar
• Ctrl + H – View the History page
• Ctrl + J – View the Downloads page
• Shift + Esc – View the task manager
• Ctrl + Shift + Delete – Open the Clear Browsing Data Dialog
• F1 - Open the Help Center in a new tab
• Ctrl + U – View page source code

Chrome Address Bar Shortcuts

All of these Chrome keyboard shortcuts affect the contents in the Chrome browser address bar and can improve searching functionality within Chrome.

• Type a search term, then press Enter – Perform a search using your default search engine
• Type a search engine URL, then press TAB, type a search term, and press Enter – Perform a search using search engine associated with the URL
• Ctrl + Enter after typing base web address – Automatically add ‘www.’ and ‘.com’ what you have typed in the address bar and open that web address.
• F6 – Highlight address bar contents

• Type a web address then Alt + Enter – Open web address that appears in the address bar in a new tab
• Ctrl + K – Initiate a Google search with the address bar. After typing the shortcut key, a ‘?’ will appear in the address bar. Type your query then press Enter.
• Ctrl + Right Arrow – Jump to the next word in the address bar
• Ctrl + Backspace – Delete the previous word in the address bar
• Select an entry from the drop down menu in the address bar, then press Shift — Delete – Delete the entry from the browsing history
• Click an entry in the address bar drop down list with the Middle Mouse Button – Open that URL in a new tab

Chrome Mouse Shortcuts

Google Chrome also allows a few shortcuts to be executed with the mouse buttons and scroll wheel.

• Middle click on link – Open the link in a new tab in the background
• Shift + Middle click on link – Open the link in a new tab and switch to the newly opened tab
• Middle click on tab – Close the tab
• Click the Back Button, Forward Arrow, or Go button with Middle Mouse Button - Open destination in a new tab in the background
• Shift + Scroll Wheel – Scroll horizontally
• Ctrl + Scroll Wheel – Increase or decrease text size

Quite a list of potential productivity boosting keystroke shortcuts! Some Google Chrome shortcuts are rather basic and others may take a bit of time to get used to, but once you learn to master even a handful of them you will see an increase in your efficiency and speed when navigating and browsing the Internet. The best learning method is often to start small with the functions you use most frequently within Chrome and expand on the list as you learn. Here a useful video for more insights.