Leaving computers on overnight = $2.8 billion a year

Admittedly I don't think much about it at all. I leave my laptop running overnight because I know it'll take five minutes or more to get things going in the morning -- not just booting up, but launching the various apps I start the day with, downloading my overnight email, filtering out the spam, and otherwise "getting settled."

But all the power wasted while computers are sitting idle overnight adds up, and one study has finally tried to measure it. The tally: An estimated $2.8 billion wasted on excess energy costs each year in the U.S. alone.

On a CO2 basis, that's 20 million tons of carbon dioxide, about the amount produced by 4 million cars on the road.

The full report is available for download here (scroll down to "PC Energy Report US 2009").

But big numbers like that become almost meaningless in an era of trillion-dollar bailouts, so to put the wasted energy in perspective, the study provides the data in terms you can better understand: If you run a company with 1,000 PCs left on overnight, you can save about $28,000 a year if they are turned off after hours. That's not chump change.

Of course, it's also a fact that your PC will function better if you restart it regularly, and nightly shutdowns can help you avoid having to suddenly reboot in the middle of the day when you'd otherwise be productive. So even though this little laptop, by my math, eats up only about a quarter's worth of power overnight, maybe it's a smart idea and ultimately a time-saver, too to shut it down after hours after all.

Beware Conficker worm come April 1

In an event that hits the computer world only once every few years, security experts are racing against time to mitigate the impact of a bit of malware which is set to wreak havoc on a hard-coded date. As is often the case, that date is April 1.

Malware creators love to target April Fool's Day with their wares, and the latest worm, called Conficker C, could be one of the most damaging attacks we've seen in years.

Conficker first bubbled up in late 2008 and began making headlines in January as known infections topped 9 million computers. Now in its third variant, Conficker C, the worm has grown incredibly complicated, powerful, and virulent... though no one is quite sure exactly what it will do when D-Day arrives.

Thanks in part to a quarter-million-dollar bounty on the head of the writer of the worm, offered by Microsoft, security researchers are aggressively digging into the worm's code as they attempt to engineer a cure or find the writer before the deadline. What's known so far is that on April 1, all infected computers will come under the control of a master machine located somewhere across the web, at which point anything's possible. Will the zombie machines become denial of service attack pawns, steal personal information, wipe hard drives, or simply manifest more traditional malware pop-ups and extortion-like come-ons designed to sell you phony security software? No one knows.

Conficker is clever in the way it hides its tracks because it uses an enormous number of URLs to communicate with HQ. The first version of Conficker used just 250 addresses each day -- which security researchers and ICANN simply bought and/or disabled -- but Conficker C will up the ante to 50,000 addresses a day when it goes active, a number which simply can't be tracked and disabled by hand.

At this point, you should be extra vigilant about protecting your PC: Patch Windows completely through Windows Update and update your anti-malware software as well. Make sure your antivirus software is actually running too, as Conficker may have disabled it.

Microsoft also offers a free online safety scan here, which should be able to detect all Conficker versions.

Mixed Up Feelings

Congrats bie for getting your new job in hongkie restaurant. I'm happy for her cause finally she gets a job and own income.

At the same time, every time she work there are always guys going up to her,flirting with her, wants to get closer to her and stuffs. Which bothers me in a way. It's not that I don't trust her its just the feeling of 'somebody picking on your girl' that kind of feeling.

I hope I could just get my internet business done as fast as possible so I could just give her money and take care of her so she doesn't has to work for the rest of her life. =/
Give me more time, I could reach that level in a few more years.

For the time being, I hope this job will go smooth and no guys disturbing you and stuffs.
Last but not least, iLOVEYOU always. (:
And I know you will too.

God please bless us with your power so that our relationship can go to distance.

This Month's Top 10 in iTunes Store

All organized in sequence from 1-10.

Man Utd 2-0 Inter Milan (agg 2-0)

Vidic heads in the opener for Man Utd against Inter Milan

Sir Alex Ferguson emerged victorious in the showdown with his old rival Jose Mourinho as Manchester United survived a nervous night against Inter Milan to reach the last eight of the Champions League.

Nemanja Vidic powered in Ryan Giggs' corner to give United the lead in the tie after only four minutes, and Cristiano Ronaldo rose to head home Wayne Rooney's cross three minutes after the interval.

But in between those two strikes, Mourinho's Inter were left to regret a succession of missed opportunities to grab a crucial away goal and put the skids under United's bid for an historic haul of five trophies.

Zlatan Ibrahimovic hit the bar with a first-half header and Dejan Stankovic missed a glorious opportunity as Inter failed to take advantage of uncharacteristic slackness in possession and defence from United.

We will be stronger in next round - Ferguson

There was still time for substitute Adriano to strike the woodwork again after Ronaldo's goal, but this was United's night and their bid to rewrite the record books is still on course.

Mourinho prowled the Old Trafford technical area for virtually the entire 90 minutes as he held out hopes of a repeat of his famous 2004 victory with Porto that sent United out of the Champions League - but it was all in vain as Inter fell victim to their own generosity in front of goal and the more clinical finishing of their opponents.

Inter dominated for spells, but there was an inevitability that they would be punished for their failure to score - and so it proved as United delivered the telling blows in an engrossing battle.

United never touched the heights, but once again they proved that they have perfected the habit of winning even when their best form eludes them.

Indeed, the result extended their unbeaten record in major European competitions to 21 - breaking the 37-year-old mark of Juventus.

Ferguson will be elated with the victory against a dangerous adversary in Mourinho, who was made to suffer the taunts of an Old Trafford gallery that has suffered at his hands before.

But the former Chelsea boss remained defiant to the end, standing alone on the touchline, but turning to congratulate the United backroom staff at the final whistle.

United will need to produce better as the champions of Europe continue on what they hope will be the road to Rome and another final, but they deserve the utmost admiration for the resilience they displayed in grinding out a priceless win.

The tie was played out against the backdrop of the Mourinho factor, and his mere presence guaranteed an atmosphere of pure theatre around a packed Old Trafford.

Vidic was recalled after his first leg suspension to bolster United's defensive resources, but it was his threat at set pieces that reaped dividends.

Mourinho could not repeat the success he has had at Old Trafford in the past

Mourinho, the great defensive organiser, will have been mortified to see the Serbian, hardly a secret weapon on these occasions, rise almost unchallenged to head Giggs' corner past Julio Cesar.

And yet, instead of settling the early nerves United may have been experiencing, the holders failed to build on Vidic's goal and barely survived a harrowing spell of pressure from Inter.

Ibrahimovic is one of the great enigmas of European football, often failing to justify his glowing reputation when the stakes are at their highest.

And he should have drawn Inter level after 28 minutes when he stole in unmarked on to the end of Maicon's free-kick, only to send a downward header against the bar with Edwin van der Sar beaten.

United were careless in possession, which did not help their cause with Inter growing in confidence as the half progressed.

Stankovic's long-range shot was turned to safety by Van der Sar before United relieved the pressure to almost grab that crucial second goal eight minutes before the interval.

Ronaldo nods in Man Utd's second to wrap up the win

Rooney's instant pass sent John O'Shea clear in the area, but Julio Cesar raced off his line to make the block.

Inter ended an absorbing opening half in the ascendancy, with Stankovic adding to the catalogue of missed opportunities when he somehow steered Ibrahimovic's pass over the top from point-blank range.

Mario Balotelli's clever pass then released Ibrahimovic for a volley that beat Van der Sar but flew inches wide.

Defeated Mourinho praises Man Utd

Mourinho must have felt a real surge of optimism at the start of the second half, and attempted to inject fresh impetus into his side replacing the sadly pedestrian Patrick Vieira with Sulley Muntari.

If he was upbeat about over-turning United again, it was a feeling that did not last for long as Ronaldo headed the second goal United craved after 48 minutes.

Rooney's cross was an open invitation for Ronaldo and he rose to flick an emphatic finish past the helpless Cesar.

The scoreline was a harsh reflection on the contribution Inter had made to the game, but they paid the ultimate price for their failure to make a lengthy period of supremacy count.

The burly Adriano replaced Stankovic in what amounted to a final throw of the dice from Mourinho, and he almost handed the Italian champions a lifeline when he stretched to turn Esteban Cambiasso's cross against the post.

United were being offered more space as Inter went for broke, and Cesar needed to be at his best again to deny Rooney, recovering well to block Dimitar Berbatov's shot after he was set up by Giggs.

Ronaldo tested Inter's defiant keeper one final time with a long-range effort, but by then the fight had drained out of Inter and United were on cruise control to the quarter-finals.

Man Utd: Van der Sar, O'Shea, Ferdinand, Vidic, Evra, Ronaldo, Carrick, Scholes (Anderson 70), Giggs, Rooney (Park 84), Berbatov.
Subs Not Used: Foster, Evans, Fletcher, Gibson, Tevez.

Booked: Rooney.

Goals: Vidic 4, Ronaldo 49.

Inter Milan: Julio Cesar, Maicon, Cordoba, Samuel, Santon, Zanetti, Cambiasso, Vieira (Muntari 46), Stankovic (Adriano 58), Ibrahimovic, Balotelli (Figo 70).
Subs Not Used: Toldo, Maxwell, Cruz, Rivas.

Booked: Samuel, Muntari.

Att: 74,769

Ref: Wolfgang Stark (Germany).

Mourinho Punched a Fan in Old Trafford

Apple Silently Released All New iMac

The Greenest iMac Ever.
Highly recyclable and energy efficient, the new iMac is designed with the environment in mind.

Rated EPEAT Gold.

Through its innovative and environmentally friendly design, iMac has earned the highest rating of EPEAT Gold. The Electronic Product Environmental Assessment Tool, or EPEAT, evaluates the environmental impact of a product based on how recyclable it is, how much energy it uses, and how it’s designed and manufactured.

Many harmful toxins eliminated.

Apple engineers have worked hard to eliminate many of the toxins that are a common part of desktop computer manufacturing, such as choosing arsenic-free display glass for iMac. They have also removed brominated flame retardants (BFRs) and polyvinyl chloride (PVC) from circuit boards, internal cables, connectors, insulators, adhesives, and more. Apple not only removed these toxins from iMac, we've done the same for the aluminum-based MacBook family; the new Mac mini and Mac Pro; and the Apple LED Cinema Display, iPod touch, iPod classic, iPod nano, and iPhone 3G.

Highly recyclable.

Apple designers and engineers have integrated the entire iMac computer into an enclosure made from a single, solid piece of recyclable aluminum. The display is made of recyclable glass. Both the aluminum and glass materials are very desirable to recyclers, which means the raw materials used in iMac computers can be reused in other products.

More energy efficient.

The energy-efficient hardware components in the iMac work hand in hand with Mac OS X to create a system that can dynamically adjust power consumption to reduce the energy used overall. iMac uses an advanced power management system leveraged from the technology that makes the most of battery life in Apple’s MacBook family. To reduce energy consumption, the iMac hard drive spins down automatically when inactive. iMac also decides which processor — CPU or GPU — is best suited to perform a task efficiently. That means when iMac is idle, it’s using as little power as possible.

iMac meets the stringent low power requirements set by the EPA, giving it ENERGY STAR certification. iMac also meets the latest efficiency requirements of ENERGY STAR Version 5.0 Specification for Computers before the July 2009 effective date. ENERGY STAR 5.0 sets significantly higher efficiency limits for power supplies and aggressive limits for the computer's typical annual power consumption.

Power duo.

The latest Intel Core 2 Duo processors run at speeds starting at 2.66GHz with options up to 3.06GHz. And they include 6MB of shared L2 cache. Translation: iMac runs your applications faster and more efficiently than ever before.

Fast, faster, or fastest?

Every new iMac includes high-performance NVIDIA graphics standard. Now games run smoother, photos load faster, and pro applications have even more power. The 20-inch iMac with the NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics processor delivers up to 2.3x faster graphics performance.¹ The 24-inch iMac gives you even more graphics options. The NVIDIA GeForce 9400M integrated graphics processor makes viewing web pages and searching through your iPhoto library smoother and more efficient. Or you can choose NVIDI

A GeForce GT 120 discrete graphics to take 3D graphics up a notch. For 3D graphics-intensive games or pro applications like Aperture and Motion, the NVIDIA GeForce GT 130 and ATI Radeon HD 4850 processors deliver the fastest graphics performance yet.

Congrats babyy!

Babyy congrats for receiving your results with flying colors! (= The thing that made me most proud of is the Business Law you took. The book is so freaking thick and you can memorize the whole thing with and grade A! I’m glad that everything you prepared and the prayers i prayed for you did worked out pretty well. I know my blog is kinda lack of post but this is the come back post which is for you. :) The tough and rough semester you had been through, now is the semester that you don’t have to study like crazy, at the same time you can’t slack too aite? I’ll always be there to support you when you need me. ALWAYS. (=