Items tagged with help
We were just made aware of some horrible news and want to enlist the help of our extended HotHardware family to lend a hand and get the word out. A few hours ago, a friend of ours at Intel let us know that the son of an Intel employee, Kyron Horman, has gone missing... "The search for a second-grade student who disappeared last week after he arrived at his Portland, Oregon, elementary school intensified Monday. Kyron Horman, 7, did not return home Friday from Skyline Elementary School, police said. According to investigators, the boy's stepmother said she last saw Kyron on Friday morning while he was walking down the hallway toward his classroom." If you have seen Kyron or have any information...
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The much-hyped CARS program may be drawing to a close, but you know you you'll still be longing for one of those cute-as-a-button MINI Coopers even after that clunker rebate vanishes. If you needed just one more excuse to give your local dealer a visit, how's this? MINI USA has today become the first automaker in the US to offer a dedicated mobile assist application for iPhone and select BlackBerry handsets. MINI owners simply download the free application, fill in vital vehicle statistics (VIN number, etc.) as well as their home address and name, and then upload an image of their car should they choose. Once this information is saved in the application, owners can simply call up the app and...
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Ever wonder what would happen if you texted some incomprehensible message to "911?" If you're a resident of Black Hawk Co. in Iowa, you'll probably get some attention--pronto! This week, an emergency call center in the basement of the county jail in Waterloo, Iowa became the first call center in the United States to accept and welcome emergency text messages sent to "911."Not shockingly, call centers nationwide are now looking into what it'll take to follow suit, and it honestly, it's about time. Texting has become a mainstream form of communication these days, and thus, it makes sense that 911 centers would have the capability to receive emergency messages sent in via SMS. Indeed, we can absolutely...
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We all know Silicon Graphics Inc. (SGI) as the company that has historically made high-end workstations for creating and rendering 3D animations for games and movies. But there is a whole other side to the company that many are probably less aware of. This very lucrative part of SGI feeds high-performance computing (HPC) solutions to the government and military. (Interesting tidbit: Silicon Graphics once owned the supercomputing company Cray.) And now it looks like some of SGI's recent implementations are helping to keep the U.S.'s nuclear weapon stockpile in check. SGI announced that has installed a storage environment made up of 17 InfiniteStorage 4600 systems at the Department of Energy's...
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Many are familiar with Google's "don't be evil" philosophy of serving the best interests of it users and maintaining a moral-guided internal code of conduct. But not as many might be aware that Google often tries to go beyond just not doing evil, by activey trying to do good deeds. This is evident with Google's philanthropic endeavors and its recent Project10100 worldwide call to arms for the betterment of humanity in areas such as energy, the environment, and health. Google's latest effort to make a difference is not quite as big as the aforementioned projects, but as they say, every little bit counts. Click the above image to see a larger-sized image.And it is exactly the little...
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Just a reminder everyone--tomorrow October 6, 2008 is the last day for entries into the Tech Makeover giveaway! Contest details are below!Is there someone in your life insisting that technology, like a fine wine, only improves with age? Are you carrying a cell phone the size of a brick or trying to surf the net on a computer that fills an entire room? Do your mom or dad print your e-mails and reply by phone? Is your best friend the only person you know who still listens to cassettes on a boom box or watches movies on Betamax?Do you need a tech makeover? Does someone you know need one?Intel invites you to submit your story or nominate someone you love for a chance to win a $5,000 tech makeover...
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New studies conducted at a number of prominent Universities around the country have finally revealed what many of us gamers and long time technophiles have known all along--video games can help kids learn, and improve dexterity and some cognitive functions.Other information gathered from the studies, however, didn't focus solely on game-playing children. They also used information gathered to gauge the abilities of some doctors and surgeons, and found that playing video games had a huge impact on their abilities as well."One study of 33 laparoscopic surgeons found that those who played video games were 27 percent faster at advanced surgical procedures and made 37 percent fewer errors than those...
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Ah yes, music piracy. But if your own star isn't exactly close-mouthed (pun intended) with his new tracks, what can you do? U2 has recently put the finishing touches to their first studio album in four years. Four of those songs found their way to the Internet after Bono played the songs a bit too loudly on his stereo at his villa in the south of France. A sharp-eared passerby recorded the songs and apparently posted the songs to YouTube, according to The Sun. Of course, they didn't stick around on YouTube very long. The upcoming album is called "No Line On The Horizon." While this is, of course, offbeat and funny news, it's hardly that important a leak. Assuming what's on the web is current...
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It was only a month ago that we reported how various police departments are setting up systems for receiving anonymous tips via text messaging to help solve crimes. Now the New York City Police Department's (NYPD) Commissioner, Ray Kelly, is embracing another social media technology to help police solve crimes: asking people upload "video or photo evidence directly to the New York Police Department." "It's a fact of life," Kelly said. "Everybody has a camera in their telephones. When people can record an event taking place that helps us during an investigation, it's helpful." The NYPD's motivation, however, might actually be founded not so much in trying to fight crime as to save face over a...
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The inconvenient truth about data centers is that they consume lots of power. In addition to running a building-full of systems and storage devices 24/7, power is also consumed for networking equipment, cooling, battery backups, and even to support more modest human needs, such as lights and coffee makers. Both economically and socially, the United States is growing more conscientious of the need for power conservation. That's where programs like Energy Star take an active role. You've probably seen Energy Star stickers on air conditioners and refrigerators. "Energy Star is a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy helping us all save...
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Lenovo Asset Recovery Service Helps Businesses Go Green, Turning Computer Trash into CashEco-Solution Gives Customers Easy Way to Refurbish, Reuse and Recycle ComputersRESEARCH TRIANGLE PARK, NC – June 17, 2007: Lenovo today introduced Lenovo Asset Recovery Services (ARS), a new set of services to help business customers in the U.S. and Canada manage their end-of-life technology equipment by providing computer take-back, data destruction, refurbishment and recycling. Lenovo also offers additional services including inventory, value assessment, on-site deinstallation and data encryption. Lenovo can facilitate donation of the old computers or can help customers receive cash back for them. After...
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The results of a recently published study of workers' instant messaging (IM) use shows that IM can actually improve workplace productivity. This contradicts a widely held belief that IM in the workplace is a hindrance to productivity. IM is often perceived as an interruption, and as such, "it can significantly hinder productivity by disrupting thought processes and work flows, causing individuals to take longer to complete tasks."Researchers at Ohio State University and the University of California, Irvine conducted a telephone study by randomly surveying individuals employed full-time who use computers in an office environment at least five hours per week. They netted 912 respondents, of which...
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We have a request that we were hoping you could all help us with. First off, we want to thank you for being a part of the community here. Our forum members and readers are what we're all about at HotHardware, and we very much value your opinions. If you haven't noticed yet, HotHardware partnered with Federated Media for our ad campaigns recently, as well as other services, to help keep the lights on around here. If you enjoy HotHardware and have a few minutes, please consider filling out this brief survey. It is completely annonymous and respects all standard privacy terms for our publication.HotHardware Reader SurveryWe'd like to ensure the best...
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You don't usually associate IBM with the solar power industry. But IBM researchers couldn't help but notice that one of the main difficulties in compressing the size of a solar collector, in a miniaturization process called "concentrator photovoltaics," (CPV) is the dissipation of heat. IBM used a lens to concentrate sunlight on a one centimeter square solar cell, which yielded 70 watts of usable power -- a record amount. But the heat produced would melt stainless steel. But then again, dissipation of heat from an electronic component is old hat for companies like IBM. The initial results of this project will be presented at the 33rd IEEE Photovoltaic Specialists conference today, where the IBM...
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