I plan on donating my computer to a charitable cause but for security
reasons I wish to delete my harddrive using 1's and 0's. The charity
will install there own OS. Any suggestions?
Top Tip: How do I obliterate all data on my hard drive?
Grok Headline matches for Top Tip: How do I obliterate all data on my hard drive?
Ultimate Hard Drive Data Recovery Destruction
Ultimate Hard Drive Data Recovery Destruction03/13/2003 10:20 AM Some very smart guys over at Drive Slagging have come up what I
consider the ultimate hard-drive data destruction tool....
PC World sells "new" hard drive with personal data on
Oops, I almost forgot about these new cameras
announced from JVC - the ones they've been hyping up to no end as
their big "mystery product." Basically, they're camcorders with hard
drives in them - a 4GB microdrive, to be exact. They look pretty cool
and everything, but they're really most interesting because they are
the first consumer camcorder with a built-in hard drive, not because
they do anything particularly unique. That being said, I fully support
this idea, and think most consumer recording technology should move to
hard drives as soon as possible (I'll be waiting until you can get
something with a bigger hard drive than 4GB for less than $1,500,
though).
Both models (the GZ-MC100 and the GZ-MC200) can record up to 9Mbps
in MPEG2, though, which is DVD quality.
The Vosonic X'S-Drive Pro VP 300 is 40GB external
hard drive that is clunky, cheap-looking, has a crappy text-only
integrated screen, plays MP3s, but not WMA, AAC, or OGG Vorbis, and
can only read from one card from its card reader at a time. So why
would any photographer want it? Because it's cheap, it does the
primary job it was designed to do (act as remote backup for memory
cards), and can accept as many additional 2.5-inch laptop hard drives
as you want to swap into it, meaning that all other things aside, you
can purchase this single $335 drive and continue to upgrade it for
only the price of additional hard drives. Read -
Hard disk: X'S-Drive Pro VP 300 [BIOS]
Console Drive makes hard drive removable or external
Console Drive makes hard drive removable or external06/04/2004 03:52 PM Addonics Technologies announced on Friday the release of its
Console Drive, which turns a standard 3.5-inch hard drive into
either aremovable internal hard drive cartridge or an external hard
drive thatconnects to your Mac via USB 2.0 or 1.1, FireWire, SCSI or a
PCMCIA slot,depending on the model you choose. Internally, the Console
Drive can connectto a Power Mac's Serial ATA slot. In addition, the
Console Drive acceptsAddonics' series of Pocket CD, DVD, CD-RW and
DVD+/-R/RW drives, all ofwhich are Mac compatible.
An Ode To The Hard Drive
An Ode To The Hard Drive05/27/2004 09:35 AM You know it's likely to be a slow news day when the first thing you
turn up is, basically, an ode to the unsung hard drive.
Hard drives are, admittedly, a fairly unsexy business. Then again,
you might think the same thing about semiconductors - and they seem to
get plenty of attention. Either way, storage is very important to
consumers - as the article notes in looking at how quickly people
focus on the size of their iPod hard drives or just
how much space their Gmail account really has. Even the leading
people in the storage business are quite colorful and certainly
unique, which should get them much more attention. However, when it's
all said and done, no matter how important your hard drive is (just
think how people react when their hard drives die), and no matter how
quickly they improve in just how much data they can hold, not too many
people find themselves particularly interested in the "boring" hard
drive business.
Xbox 2: Hard Drive or No?03/06/2004 01:57 AM It's getting so complicated. First came the rumors that the Xbox 2 [at
right, in mythical prototype form] wouldn't have a hard drive. Then,
enough...
If terms like 'areal density'
and 'magentoresistive' are a bit much for you, ExtremeTech's piece on
the inner workings of your hard drive is a good read. They explain
what exactly makes up one of the most crucial pieces of hardware in
your machine and how every single bit gets recorded and read. If
you've never taken apart an old drive, toyed with the platters and
flung the heavy magnets towards your friend, you should pick one up
and do just that after reading this piece—it's fascinating
technology, truly.
The Inner World of the Hard Drive03/19/2005 03:03 AM Analyssis: Holy microscopic elements, Batman! Loyd dissects an
ordinary hard drive and finds a tiny universe of components moving
with unbelievable speed.
Active Imaging Sensor authenticates enrolled fingerprints
and is unaffected by changes in skin condition and moisture content
[...] A composite image of multiple fingerprints is stored during
enrollment which makes the sensor tolerant to varied finger placement
during authentication [...] Sensor can be used with other software
programs designed for fingerprint authentication access
Plans
Tiny new 1-inch 1.5 GB hard drive from Cornice that
costs about half as much as Hitachi's 1GB Microdrive. Apparently this
is the same hard drive that Samsung uses in its "tapeless" digital
camcorder, the DV-4200. Read
Triumph Of The Hard Drive09/23/2004 11:15 AM The iPod is a triumph for the hard disk over optical storage. By Dana
Blankenhorn, Moore's Lore (via MyAppleMenu)
EverythingUSB is mentioning
that Taiwanese OEM Welland has -- at least as far as they know -- the
first USB On-The-Go (OTG) hard drive. It also has a built-in card
reader, USB host (duh), and a rechargeable battery. USB OTG is pretty
simple, and pretty great. By adding a USB host to storage, you can
hook your digital camera or anything else that supports the standard
up to it and transfer data without needing to hook up to a PC. That is
a positive thing.
That being said, I have a hard time believing this is the first USB
OTG hard drive to see the light of day. Read [EverythingUSB]
HP's new hard drive to go
HP's new hard drive to go06/21/2004 03:40 PM Latest media center PC has docking areas for a camera and a secondary,
portable hard drive. But is the price right?
I could have sworn we
already mentioned this, but the Oracle of Search says otherwise.
Apparently, Sony's getting into the "mini hard drive masquerading as
USB flash drive" game with their new Pocket Bit Pro USD-2G, a
simple-enough little device that differentiates itself from the crowd
mostly by its automatic data synchronization feature. By pressing the
AutoSync button on the drive (you might want to plug it into the
computer first), the Pocket Bit Pro will back up pre-selected folders
and sub-folders, saving versions (as space allows) up to ten
generations back. Pretty slick stuff, but you'll pay the Sony premium
for the convenience -- the Pocket Bit Pro will retail for over $300
when it ships in July. Read [TheRegisterUK]
From the 'It Was Bound To Happen' department: Symantec reports that a new virus is making the
rounds that deletes all files on the infected PC:
The malware targets Windows computers, and arrives in an
email bearing the subject "Re" and an attachment that will have an
.asp, .hta, .htm, .htt, .html, .vbe or .vbs extension. Upon infection,
the virus uses Microsoft Outlook to send itself to everyone in the
Microsoft Outlook Address Book. "If the day is the 6th, 13th, 21st, or
28th, the worm will delete all the files from the computer," Symantec
reports. Despite its nasty payload, SANS notes that VBS.Pub "doesn't
possess any earth-shattering characteristics to make it a significant
propagation threat."
If this one did propogate widely, it would be regrettable, but it
would at least help solve the problem of old, unpatched, unprotected
Windows boxes that act as virus sponges.
Toshiba's 1-inch hard drive12/11/2003 01:16 PM Toshiba is going to be showing off a new 1-inch hard drive at the big
Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas next month. No word...
3 GB Hard Drive on New Cell Phone03/14/2005 04:34 PM During the CeBIT in Germany this week, Motorola is showing
off their new ROKR iTunes cellphone which will sync and carry your
iTunes music in your cell phone. But Samsung is one upping the ROKR
with a 3 GB hard drive cellphone with a Windows Mobile OS. Samsung has
also released a new 7 MP camera phone which resembles a camera more
then it does a phone. The SCH-V770 has a 2 inch TFT display above a
the keypad and gives you manual focus and controllable shutter speeds.
Many of these new products will be altered slightly before they reach
the US. Grok Description matches for Top Tip: How do I obliterate all data on my hard drive? GrokA matches for Top Tip: How do I obliterate all data on my hard drive?
Stuck with a PIN
Stuck with a PIN03/06/2004 02:08 AM "Ah, yes. I had had the same brain system failure that Chris described
- staring at the ATM and just not remembering that PIN! So now I write
the PIN number on the back of each card, in the signature box. WAIT!
No, I don't write the actual PIN. I use one 'formula' for all cards.
For example, a formula could be to add 3333 to the actual numbers of
your PIN. The new TOTAL is then written on the card. If this was your
formula, you only have to subtract 3333 from the PIN written on the
back of any card, and you will have the actual PIN for that card. Now,
does anybody remember where I left my wallet?" (A. John Gallant)...
Stuck On The iPod02/19/2004 06:04 PM Steve Jobs just made me buy another iPod. And that ticks me off. By
Patrick Regnier (Money Magazine via MyAppleMenu)
Stuck on Chuck E.
Stuck on Chuck E.02/19/2004 10:06 AM CEC Entertainment proves that there's money to be made in catering to
kids.
Stuck Like Chuck
Stuck Like Chuck02/05/2005 09:02 PM Stuck Like
Chuck - A Philadelphia writer's sad, brief but captivating
observations of another's seemingly constant return to
self-destruction; in turn, unflinchingly relating his own struggle.
Fisherman Saves Man Stuck in Mud in S.C. (AP)04/14/2004 10:33 AM AP - A man bass fishing ended up a hero Monday, saving a man who was
stuck in the mud up to his chest in Lake Conestee.
W.Va. Woman Gets Stuck in Two Sinkholes (AP)
W.Va. Woman Gets Stuck in Two Sinkholes (AP)07/27/2004 07:55 PM AP - Carolyn Roby hit the gas when a sinkhole suddenly appeared and
enveloped her car. She escaped that trap, only to confront another
sinkhole that was even deeper.
"Fingers stuck up at the Serbs"
"Fingers stuck up at the Serbs"09/01/2004 11:50 AM Survivors of a concentration camp in Bosnia return to commemorate the
dead, hoping for signs of remorse, if not reconciliation.
At Grand Central, Stuck After 1:30 A.M.06/10/2004 10:23 PM New York may be the city that never sleeps, but late night commuters
have discovered that such truisms do not apply at Grand Central
Terminal.
Passengers stuck on ferry
Passengers stuck on ferry09/25/2004 07:17 AM More than 70 people are stuck on a ferry which is unable to dock in
Belfast because its doors will not open.
Dude, You're Getting Stuck With Spyware
Dude, You're Getting Stuck With Spyware12/03/2003 01:48 AM Submitted by John and also seen on Slashdot is the fairly insane news that Dell has told its tech support staff
not to tell people
about spyware removal products like Spybot Search & Destroy or
Adaware - even if it's clear that the problems they're experiencing
with their Dell machines are due to resource hogging spyware. Dell
tech support has been told they're not even allowed to point the user
towards potentially helpful resources on how to remove spyware.
Dell's reasoning for this is hard to comprehend, but appears to be
that removing spyware may go against some license agreements. Isn't
that for the end-user who owns the computer to figure out on
their own? Besides, if that's really what's causing the problem on
the machine, isn't it the responsibility of Dell's tech support to
suggest the proper solution? There's also an open
letter to Dell asking them to reconsider their position on this
matter.
Stuck With the Bill (washingtonpost.com)
Stuck With the Bill (washingtonpost.com)02/18/2004 10:49 AM washingtonpost.com - Wall Street may be busy celebrating the $41
billion marriage of Cingular Wireless LLC and AT&T Wireless, but
did anyone remember to invite wireless telephone consumers to the
reception?
Blogging: A world stuck on itself
Blogging: A world stuck on itself07/21/2004 07:37 AM Venture capitalist David Hornik warns that the Web logging world is
inadvertently getting caught up in a trap of its own design.
Calif. Boy, 11, Gets Stuck in Chimney (AP)
Calif. Boy, 11, Gets Stuck in Chimney (AP)06/30/2004 09:25 AM AP - An 11-year-old boy had to be rescued by firefighters after he got
stuck in a chimney while trying to get into his friend's locked house.
IT salaries stuck in the middle
IT salaries stuck in the middle06/29/2004 08:16 PM Study finds compensation drops for IT middle managers, rises modestly
for execs and staff.
Virus Writers Stuck In A Rut?
Virus Writers Stuck In A Rut?11/03/2003 12:21 PM Anti-virus companies love to get people worked up into a lather about
all the virus threats out there, because it helps them sell more
product. So, it wasn't much of a surprise that, following the "big"
virus and trojan horse problems in August, the anti-virus "experts"
started warning that this was just a prelude to something worse, and
that we should expect even more virus problems as soon as the current
viruses died out. While it is good to keep users vigilant about virus
things, these announcements served more to make people ignore the real
problem: the anti-virus companies failed. Of course, you don't
hear them speaking up now about the fact that their original
predictions of "the next wave" of viruses immediately following the
last wave appears not to have come true. Especially with the SoBig
virus, we were told that the next version was supposed to appear in
September sometime, but that never happened. Of course, it's good
when we don't have virus outbreaks - and I have no doubt that they
will come again - but once again we have a situation where the
anti-virus folks seemed to hype things up beyond necessary.
Two Men Fleeing Police Get Stuck in Mud (AP)
Two Men Fleeing Police Get Stuck in Mud (AP)01/26/2004 05:22 PM AP - Two men fleeing police were captured after they ran across a
muddy lake bed, lost their shoes and got mired in the muck.
N Gage QD GPRS HELP! PLEASE PLEASE HELP! SO STUCK!
I watched My Coolest Years: The Geeks with Anne and the kids last night.
I thought the show was fantastic, and I was honored to be in such
great company. Open note to The Cool Guy who tormented Jessi Klein or
the girls from The Donnas: Dude, wherever you are, you are a
loser.
Biggest surprise of the show: John Tesh is hellafunny! I remember
that he played a Klingon for a day on Next Generation in the episode
"The Icarus Factor." Well, "played a Klingon" is probably a little too
much . . . he was sort of a featured extra in a line of about twenty
guys who wore Klingon makeup and costumes, and snarled while they
zapped Worf with painsticks. (Back then, a metric ton of celebrities
wanted to be on the show, and they usually ended up wearing crazy
alien make-up. Mick Fleetwood was this weird fish-looking thing, for
example.)
I remember that he was really friendly, and seemed to be getting a
HUGE kick out of the whole thing, but I don't remember him being as
funny as he was on My Coolest Years last night.
Best moment of the show: When I saw that they titled me "Wil
Wheaton: Author of Just A Geek" (which reminds me: Just A Geek has been
recommended by Quint, from Ain't It Cool News! I am in incredibly
good company over there, too. Thanks, Quint!) instead of That
Other Thing.
That's a big deal to me, you know. Though I personally feel that
I'm finally emerging from the shadow of America's Favorite Acting
Ensign And Starfleet Academy Classmate Killing Cadet, I wonder if I'll
ever do that in the eyes of the entertainment industry. This morning's
Dork Tower gives a funny-because-it's-true view
of how that effort is playing out in fandom.
. . . and in casting too, now that I really think about it . . .
but that's okay. The Path I'm currently wandering is a good one.
Absolute coolest moment in the show: They put up a picture of me
with my überhot wife as part of the "Geeks Ultimately Win, So
Bite It, You Cool Kids" portion of the show. Ryan just about died when
he saw Anne, in the coolest "I'm fifteen and I'm so proud of my mom"
way. (Apparently, the kids on his baseball team tried to torment him
by singing "Ryan's mom has got it goin' on" to the tune of "Stacey's
Mom," and he silenced them by replying, "Yeah. My mom's hot. So what?"
Sweet.)
Tonight, VH1 gives us My Coolest Years: The Dirty Hippies, which
should be hilarious. It looks like My Coolest Years could end up being
as great as I Love The 80s, or maybe even better. Go Generation X!
Rock! Yeah! \m/
If anyone from VH1 reads this: I had a blast, you guys. Thanks for
making me look cool. I'd love to work with you some more.
Woman Using Liquid Bandage Gets Stuck (AP)
Woman Using Liquid Bandage Gets Stuck (AP)07/21/2004 08:11 PM AP - When Joyce Stewart sits down to her daily cup of coffee, she
likely won't attempt first aid on herself again. On Monday morning,
Stewart used Minnesota-based 3M's liquid bandage to treat a crack on
her heel and within minutes her foot was glued to the floor. It took
three paramedics over an hour and a bottle of baby oil to free her.
Risky Mines Stuck in Stone Age
Risky Mines Stuck in Stone Age07/27/2004 06:16 AM Thousands of miners die each year, but most of those deaths could be
prevented if mine operators stopped using 19th-century technology. By
John Gartner.
4 Hurt in Balloon Stuck Over Baltimore (AP)
4 Hurt in Balloon Stuck Over Baltimore (AP)07/17/2004 07:25 PM AP - A balloon ride turned into a scary ordeal for 20 people Saturday
when the aircraft got stuck high above the city, then was tossed
around by high wind like a pinata for an hour and a half before
rescuers brought it down.
Deliveryman Stuck in Elevator for Days (AP)04/05/2005 11:52 PM AP - A deliveryman who vanished after taking Chinese food to a Bronx
high-rise apartment building was found alive Tuesday after apparently
spending more than three days trapped in an elevator that had become
stuck between floors.
The
Idea: Information
intermediaries are facing revolutionary changes and threats, but the
energy behind these changes is not new technologies, but a broad
dissatisfaction by readers and viewers with the end-product, and with
the lack of value added by intermediaries. This article suggests some
answers.
We live in an age of
'disintermediation' -- the cutting out of the middleman. We do bank
transactions without tellers, we browse libraries without librarians,
we learn without teachers. Those who used to know their role in our
society often find themselves reinventing those roles before they
simply disappear. One such group struggling with their role are
'infomediaries' -- the people who stand (or used to stand) between you
and the information you consume. The chain is shown in the
illustration
at right.
To some extent blogging is an attempt to disintermediate this chain.
Some in the mainstream media would like to see us as just another link
in the chain, at the very end between the channels and readers, adding
little or no value other than links to related stories, high-tech
cataloguers. But online journalism can incorporate all six of these
intermediary roles, and, in fact, bloggers can be newsmakers in their
own right -- like when they break major stories that the legacy media
miss, or undertake investigative reporting that the legacy media no
longer have.much appetite for.
At the same time, search tools and social networking software are
providing additional channels and ways to aggregate information,
working to some extent hand in glove with bloggers to create entirely
new ways to connect
Following are some comments from reader Wendy Siegelman, who works for
a major infomediary, from a recent e-mail exchange on this
subject:
I think that intermediaries are
perhaps underappreciated because there isn't a recognized name for the
role they have. Maybe these information intermediaries are missing an
important element - branding. Without the proper branding,
intermediaries that take, find, gather and make information usable,
accessible, meaningful - are not properly valued.
I think there is a relatively high value placed on the concept of
'good communication'. There's the content being communicated,
the communicator, and the receiver of information. But, there's
also the element of how the
info is communicated. I think that the value is usually placed
on the what and who, but not the how.
[Politicians and others with vested interests use information to]
measure and try to influence opinion and policy. Unfortunately, they
have made the science of gathering, sorting and adding value and
meaning to information appear to be a negative, opportunistic process.
Intermediaries that do the same thing for productive and positive ends
aren't properly recognized or valued.
The critical
issue for the future of all intermediaries is, as Wendy implies: What
value are you, or could you be, adding? Fail to add enough and you'll
be gobbled up by others along the chain or circumvented entirely. Add
a
lot of value and you can actually 'reintermediate' information flow
that had ostensibly been disintermediated -- like some of the best
librarians have done, reinventing themselves as researchers, analysts
and report-writers filtering, compiling, analyzing, organizing, adding
insight and producing crisp and concise documents ready for
end-customers.
It is that very lack of value-added that has caused disintermediation
in the first place. Reporters are too often underfunded and lazy -- so
they wait for news to break and ambulance-chase, and add nothing to
the
propagandist commercial 'press releases' issued by governments and
corporations. Most analysts are paid by stock brokers, governments,
biotech companies, corporate-sponsored think-tanks, and other
vested-interest groups, to help 'sell' their products and suppress
information and opinions to the contrary, as James Surowiecki has
eloquently demonstrated in his weekly New Yorker column, and as many recent scandals
involving analysts who were fired for not towing the line show.
Likewise, editors are paid to reflect the editorial stance of the
publisher, and legacy publishers are beholden to shareholders who only
want them to publish what sells simply and in large quantity.
Aggregators then try to pull this 'dumbed down' and censored content
together, but are having the rug pulled out from under them by
increasingly sophisticated free aggregation tools that channel
companies like Google and Bloglines provide. And the mainstream media
channels are finding their audience increasingly splintered, demanding
and dissatisfied with the poverty of truly informative or useful
content they push out. So readers and viewers have been open to
disintermediation, not because of cost (which continues to drop
precipitously) but because of the poor quality of intermediated
content
and the lack of value added by intermediaries.
What could information intermediaries do to be more valuable? Here are
a few ideas from a presentation I made a few years ago to a conference
of intermediaries:
Make the content more useful, more actionable, or at
least
more interesting. The limits of attention span and bandwidth often
cause intermediaries to strip out content that provides valuable
context to the reader or viewer -- tells them not only who, what,
when,
where, why and how, but also what
does it mean?
Study how to
write great
stories, so that those further along the information channel will be
disinclined to pare them down and reduce the value you have
incorporated in the story.
Focus on information that's
important, rather than urgent.
Too much of the content reaching the reader and viewer today is 'sold'
as urgent, when all it is is new. Not enough is
important.
Follow up. We squander reader/viewer interest and
trust
when we get them worked up about today's story and then never tell
them
what happened later.
Be conversational. Let the reader/viewer see the
person
behind the point of view. And don't pretend to be objective -- your
audience knows better.
Help people deal with information
overload. If people hope
to be able to give more attention to important stories and issues,
they
need the rest of the crap filtered out. Search engines, blogrolls,
eProfiles and other filtering mechanisms are woefully imprecise. The
tools need to be much better, and intermediaries need to find a new
role filtering the firehose of daily 'news' in a way that will
probably
never be possible even with the best tool. There are huge
opportunities
here.
Get out more. Intermediaries need to learn the value of
doing their own primary research (interviewing and direct
observation),
and not merely working with the content flowing though the chain to
them. If that's not in your job description -- add it.
Read broadly. It gives you perspective. And it has a
lot of other benefits as well.
Learn a disciplined approach to
research and analysis. I
like the Pyramid Principle, but there are lots of others. This will
make your thinking sharper, allow you to appreciate how your readers
will 'see' what you're providing them with, and provide a 'trail' that
will make your arguments more compelling and allow you (or others) to
understand and check your logic.
Take some chances. The
disintermediation that is
overwhelming the information industries came about because the
technology industries were bold, and didn't constrain their products
to
doing just what other technologies had done before them. Talk to
readers and viewers about what is possible, think them ahead to
imagine
how they could use an intermediary product or service that doesn't
even
exist today. Level of 'customer satisfaction' with the legacy media is
extremely low, and that dissatisfaction has many causes, and suggests
many needs that are not being met. Find a need and fill it.
Stuck for auto-responder ideas?
Stuck for auto-responder ideas?03/30/2005 05:47 PM We've all heard "the money is in the list", but once you've got them
signed up, how do you keep them subscribed and opening the mailings?
Here's how some of the experts make their lists anxious to get each
new mailing.
Collect leads with your autoresponder. You will get an e-mail digest
of everyone's e-mail [...]
The
Idea: Information
intermediaries are facing revolutionary changes and threats, but the
energy behind these changes is not new technologies, but a broad
dissatisfaction by readers and viewers with the end-product, and with
the lack of value added by intermediaries. This article suggests some
answers.
If terms like 'areal density'
and 'magentoresistive' are a bit much for you, ExtremeTech's piece on
the inner workings of your hard drive is a good read. They explain
what exactly makes up one of the most crucial pieces of hardware in
your machine and how every single bit gets recorded and read. If
you've never taken apart an old drive, toyed with the platters and
flung the heavy magnets towards your friend, you should pick one up
and do just that after reading this piece—it's fascinating
technology, truly. 
