More about I7

Faster memory access
The reason for this platform shift has to do in part with a fundamental design change in Intel’s CPU architecture. As has long been rumoured, Intel has finally adopted an integrated memory controller into its Core i7 CPUs. What this means is that instead of the CPU communicating with a separate controller on the motherboard before it can talk to the system memory, Core i7 can save a step, and essentially receive data from the system RAM directly.

Intel’s new Extreme Motherboard DX58SO.

AMD adopted this integrated controller strategy in the early days of its Athlon dual-core processors, and it was one of the factors that led the company to dominate Intel’s competing Pentium D CPUs of that generation. Through superior design since then, Intel has regained its performance lead over AMD, and we suspect that by adding the on-chip memory controller to Core i7, Intel has only made it more difficult for AMD to find a design advantage moving forward.

A potential complication here is that the new memory controller has three channels to the RAM. That means that — unlike most desktop set-ups, which involve two or four memory sticks — Core i7 systems will want memory sticks in multiples of three. This is why Intel shipped our test system with only 3GB of RAM (we got creative with a 2×1GB, 1×2GB RAM configuration for 4GB total for testing), and why in high-end PCs that use the new X58 platform, 3GB, 6GB and 12GB configurations will be common. X58 will also only support DDR3 RAM, whose prices have thankfully come down over the past year.

Four cores, sometimes eight
If you’ve followed Intel’s chip designs over the years, the term ‘Hyperthreading’ shouldn’t be unfamiliar. This technology lets Intel simulate more processing threads on top of its old dual-core Pentium 4 chips. It abandoned that strategy with the Core 2 family, but Intel has resurrected it with Core i7, and it’s why you’ll see eight processing threads when you bring up Windows’ system performance screen. Few day-to-day programs will benefit from Hyperthreading, and it’s more of a situational benefit for processing reliability and the scant few applications that can actually support so many threads. Core i7 will eventually hit eight native cores on a single CPU, or 16 processing streams with Hyperthreading, but Intel has not made it clear when that will happen. It may be worth the wait if you know you’ll need that much parallelism, but few ordinary users will.

Multi-graphics agnostic
Another significant change with the Core i7/X58 landscape had to do with graphics cards. Intel’s Skulltrail platform of last year supported both standards as well, but the specialised CPUs that made the board worthwhile were prohibitively expensive. With the X58 chipset, yes, it comes on an expensive motherboard, but you can purchase a Core i7 chip to go with it for less than $300 (~£191). The Core 2 Extreme QX9775 Skulltrail CPU started at $1,500 (~£957). Gamers who stay current with graphics cards should be especially happy with this flexibility, as changing 3D card vendors will no longer require a wholesale system rebuild.

We tested both SLI and Crossfire set-ups on our Core i7 testbed and found both worked without trouble, requiring nothing more than installing the hardware and appropriate graphics driver software as you would normally. As for their performance, AMD has issued a series of so-called ‘hot-fix’ drivers to improve compatibility and frame rates of its cards with various PC games, which suggests that its software still needs to work out a few kinks on X58. Nvidia has not been shy to point out this fact (its beta drivers have worked fine).

A quicker path
Finally, the last major change with Core i7 is the introduction of what Intel is calling the QuickPath Interconnect (QPI). Essentially this is the Intel version of AMD’s HyperTransport interface between the CPU and the chipset. The major impact of the QPI for users is that Intel employs different QPI ratings to distinguish the Core i7-965 Extreme Edition from the non-Extreme Core i7 chips. Rated by Gigatransfers per second (Gigatransfers, or GT, refers to a million transfers of data), the Extreme Edition comes in at 6.4GT/sec, where the non-Extreme versions handle only 4.8GT/sec. In addition to that speed advantage, Intel also ships the Extreme version with an unlocked clock multiplier, which means it can be overclocked. The standard Core i7’s will have to remain at their shipping speeds.

To put the Core i7-965 Extreme Edition in perspective, we compared it with the year-old Core 2 Extreme QX9650. The Core i7 has a faster clock speed and an L3 cache shared by the four cores that’s four times larger than that of the older chip. With the integrated RAM controller on Core i7 replacing the need for a frontside bus, the platforms are quite different from each other, so the specs don’t tell the whole story. The performance results speak more clearly.

The Core i7 chip is faster than the QX9650 on every test, but we were most impressed by the Cinebench multicore test and the Far Cry 2 benchmark, where Intel’s new CPU established a sizable performance advantage. Gamers and digital media editors may have assumed that Core i7 is worth their attention: as we can see from our testing, any such assumption is clearly justified.

We expect the web will flood with reviews of the entire Core i7 family at the same time that this review launches. We encourage anyone considering a new CPU purchase to read as much coverage as possible to make the most informed buying decision. Any CPU with a $999 (~£637) price tag merits careful consideration.

Power consumption
You’ll note from our power consumption tests that the Core i7 and the QX9650 consume almost the exact same amount of energy both at idle and while under load. We didn’t expect major gains here, as both chips use the same 45nm process, run at a similar clock speeds and with similar numbers of transistors. Intel typically gains more power efficiency with chips introduced in a ‘tock’ year, which involves more efficient manufacturing of an existing architecture, than from a ‘tick’ year such as this. The Core i7-965 Extreme may have improved its relative power usage, in that it uses fewer transistors to do more work and at faster clock speeds than the older Core 2 Extreme chips. But anyone building a system with this new processor should expect to need an equivalently beefy power supply — especially if you intend to add multiple graphics cards and hard drives.

i7

In the last few months you may have seen previews and news stories regarding Intel’s new Core i7 desktop processor family, formerly known as Nehalem. Today, we’re able to publish our impressions of Intel’s new chip and ultimately its new platform. We’ve selected the flagship $999 (~£637) Core i7-965 Extreme Edition CPU to represent the Core i7 family, which at launch later this month will include three other processors, starting at $284 (~£181). These new chips all require a new chipset, which will only exist at first by way of a very expensive new motherboard. We don’t expect mainstream users to adopt Core i7 in any variation at first, at least until the motherboard prices come down. But well-heeled performance-seekers who do make the leap will enjoy the fastest CPUs on the market.

Core i7 has enough architecture changes to require a brand-new connection design between the chip and the motherboard. This is no small change, because Intel has stuck with the LGA775 chip socket since the days of Pentium 4. The new socket design, LGA1366, will not accept any older Intel CPUs, nor will Core i7 work on any older motherboards.

Unlike a new socket design, new chipsets aren’t uncommon with updated Intel CPUs. The last three Extreme Edition chips Intel has launched each required its own new motherboard circuitry, and Core i7 is no different. Intel’s new Core i7-supporting X58 chipset will only appear in very high-end boards. We conducted this review with the Intel Extreme Motherboard DX58SO board, and we’ve already reported on a new X58 board from ASUS. Expect Gigabyte, MSI and Intel’s other typical board partners to introduce their own new X58 boards, and we expect prices will stay at or around the $300 (~£191) mark. For this reason, Core i7 will remain an enthusiast CPU until Intel introduces a more moderate, mass consumption-friendly Core i7-compatible chipset.

ATI

Writing about the latest and greatest hardware is fun—I’m not going to lie. Getting hands-on with technology in the lab is practically a hobby, and I’m fairly confident that most enthusiasts would share that excitement surrounded by a lab full of tech.

But I’ll be the first to admit that $500 dual-GPU video cards and $1,000 Extreme Edition processors are Beluga caviar in a Big Mac world. There are some lucky gamers who really buy the pricey stuff. A majority, however, live vicariously through the reviews, and actually spends their money on components derived from high-end kit.

Fortunately, even the mid-range of the graphics market is full of excitement right now. Bargains pepper the $100-$200 range, from the Radeon HD 4830 to the Radeon HD 4850/GeForce GTS 250 and Radeon HD 4870/GeForce GTX 260.

The challenge faced by vendors like ATI and Nvidia, though, is that those inexpensive cards all center on the same GPUs—processors that actually begin life as potential top-shelf components powering boards like the GeForce GTX 285 and Radeon HD 4870. Dropping the engine from a $350 GTX 285 into a $180 GTX 260, for instance, has to be painful. Similarly, the slide from $180 Radeon HD 4870 to $130 Radeon HD 4830 isn’t exactly economical.

That’s why you see derivative mainstream GPUs. Think G94 to Nvidia’s G92 or RV620 to ATI’s RV670. They employ architectural elements from the full-strength GPU, but consume less die space. So long as ATI or Nvidia is able to sell enough of them to offset a separate chip design, they come out ahead.

A Mainstream Contender?

Enter ATI’s new Radeon HD 4770—the first GPU manufactured on a 40 nm process. As with the other models in the company’s HD 4000-series family, the HD 4770 is derived from the same popular RV770 design popularized by the Radeon HD 4870 and 4850 cards almost a year ago.

But this one sports a slightly different core arrangement. At the same time, it displaces ATI’s Radeon HD 4830, which centered on the same pricey RV770 GPU at 55 nm. Thus, we’ll be expecting at least comparable performance as we compare new to old.

If the Radeon HD 4770 is, in fact, able to stand up to the HD 4830, then the best news for value-oriented gamers will be this card’s price tag: $109. I don’t think I’ve ever used the word “impressive” in conjunction with something you’d normally find in the bargain bin. However, playable frame rates at 1920×1200 might just deserve such an adjective if this new mainstream board turns out to be a contender. It’d be a real coup for ATI too, given the massive market for $100 video cards, according to the same Mercury Research data we cited in the Radeon HD 4890 story.

Let’s dig a little deeper into the Radeon HD 4770’s innards for a glimpse at why this card has potential to be a winner.

Superficially, the Radeon HD 4770’s specs look fairly similar to ATI’s Radeon HD 4830. But they’re completely unique GPUs. For example, the 4830 centers on the familiar 956 million transistor RV770 with two of its 10 SIMD units disabled, yielding 640 total stream processors and the ability to filter 32 textured pixels per clock (down from 800 and 40, respectively).

ATI’s Radeon HD 4830 retained all four of the RV770’s render back-ends (each of which could process four pixels and 16 Z/stencil operations per clock—that’s why you see these cards spec’ed out with 16 ROPS). The memory controllers carried over as well, enabling the same 256-bit memory bus employed on Radeon HD 4850 and 4870 boards. The main difference, of course, was that the 4850 and 4830 were only armed with GDDR3, while the 4870 sported GDDR5.

In comparison, the Radeon HD 4770’s architecture employs an 826 million transistor GPU armed with the same number of SIMD units available (eight). It also boasts 640 stream processors (128×5) and 32 texture units. So, from a front-end view, RV740 looks a lot like the RV770 after it was chopped up to become Radeon HD 4830.

The full complement of ROPs carries over too, processing 16 pixels and 16 Z/stencil ops per clock. Where you’ll notice the most significant difference is the memory configuration—two of the four 64-bit controllers are cut, leaving a 128-bit pathway. Because those memory controllers are connected to the render back-ends via a hub, they don’t need to be mapped on a 1:1 basis.

Now, you’d assume the halved memory bus (down from 256-bits) would hammer performance. But ATI is outfitting the Radeon HD 4770 with 512 MB of GDDR5 memory, able to move twice as much data per clock versus GDDR3. So, the 4770’s throughput actually turns out to still be respectable for a mainstream part.

The shift to 40 nm has seemingly allowed ATI to push clocks on its Radeon HD 4770 significantly higher than what it was willing to offer on the 4830. Stock, the GPU runs at 750 MHz (versus the 4830’s 575 MHz).

Though the 800 MHz memory clock would appear slower than the 4830’s 900 MHz operating frequency, it’s important to remember that GDDR5 provides doubled I/O throughput. Of course, the card’s 128-bit counteracts those benefits. Whereas Radeon HD 4830 served up roughly 57.6 GB/s, the 4770 pushes 51.2 GB/s.

Another benefit of the 40 nm transition is reduced board power. ATI claims the 4770 is rated for a maximum 80W, putting it just over what a PCI Express slot is able to supply on its own. That’s well under the 110W cited for the Radeon HD 4850, though—a board that we’ll see is within the 4770’s performance crosshairs.

	Radeon HD 4850	Radeon HD 4830	Radeon HD 4770	Radeon HD 4670	GeForce GTS 250
Manufacturing Process	55 nm TSMC	55 nm TSMC	40 nm TSMC	55 nm TSMC	55 nm TSMC
SPs	800	640	640	320	128
Core Clock	625 MHz	575 MHz	750 MHz	750 MHz	738 MHz
Shader Clock	625 MHz	575 MHz	750 MHz	750 MHz	1,836 MHz
Memory Clock	1,000 MHz GDDR3	900 MHz GDDR3	800 MHz GDDR5	1,100 MHz GDDR4	1,100 MHz GDDR3
Frame Buffer	512 MB	512 MB	512 MB	512 MB	1 GB
Memory Bus Width	256-bit	256-bit	128-bit	128-bit	256-bit
ROPs	16	16	16	8	16
Price	~$129	~$90	$109	$80	~$129

In our Radeon HD 4890 review, we abstained from publishing overclocking results to avoid mis-representing what a retail sample of the card could really do.

This time around, however, we were simply too curious about the 40 nm shift and what it could mean for enthusiasts who don’t mind cranking the knobs on their brand new graphics cards. Bear in mind that this is still an early sample of the HD 4770—your mileage may vary.

With stock clocks of 750/800 MHz as our reference point, we settled on a stable 830/850 MHz combination of frequencies in 3D mode, maxing out ATI’s Overdrive utility. And while the core automatically scales back to 250 MHz on the Windows desktop, memory maintains a constant 850 MHz when it’s overclocked.

Performance increases attributable to overclocking are minor, but certainly measurable. In Far Cry 2, the best returns fall just short of 10%.The same goes for Stalker, another one of the most GPU-limited tests in our suite.

Cooling

ATI readily admits that the Radeon HD 4770’s reference cooling solution was borrowed from its old 3800-series boards. Apparently, the less-aggressive dual-slot cooler enables cost savings versus single-slot solutions—but who’s to say? This thing still employs a large copper heatsink, heatpipes, and a covered shroud, so we’re honestly not sure where the supposed savings really comes from.

But by the time you’re ready to buy a new graphics card, you might not even need to worry about it. Wave one of Radeon HD 4770s will be the bog standard reference cards, as expected; dual-slot coolers, two dual-link DVI outputs, and so on. The wave after will be the ones tweaked by board partners (and will likely include models with single-slot coolers, juiced clocks, and special bundles).

Of course, that’s when you’ll need to keep an eye out for price. Spend too much trying to doll up something that was good enough in its stock form and you’ll find yourself priced right out of the product’s original value proposition. A Radeon HD 4770 priced at $109 is what we have on the bench today, so assume reference across the board in your own comparisons.

One thing we do need to mention: the first Radeon HD 4770 that arrived had an early BIOS with a slightly “off” cooling ramp. It’d heat up, spin to full duty cycle for two seconds, then drop back down to idle. This was fixed by a second card sent out by ATI, along with a note stating all of the boards appearing at retail starting April 28^th would include the fixed BIOS. We were also able to fix the issue by manually keying in the fan speed.

SOUND

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Description:
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Inside your Computer??

Do you know what is inside your computer? Maybe you peeked when the service technician was installing something for you. When you first open up the CPU and look inside, a computer is a very threatening machine. But once you know about the different parts that make up a complete computer it gets a lot easier. Today’s computers consist of around eight main components; some of the advanced computers might have a few more components. What are these eight main components and what are they used for? We will start with beginner level details to get you started.

First is the Power Supply. The power supply is used to provide electricity to all of the components in your computer. It is usually a rectangular box and is usually positioned in one of the corners of the computer. To find it for sure, look to see where the power cable plugs into the back of the computer and you have found the power supply. Most power supplies today are calculated in wattage and come in 50 watt increments (500 watt, 550, 600, etc

Second is the Motherboard. All of the components are connected into the motherboard; it doesn’t mean that it is the brain of the computer. Yes it holds the brain and helps it act together with all the other components of the machine.

The third and a very important component of a computer is the CPU (Central Processing Unit), Known as the brain of the computer and nothing is going to happen without it. All major calculation performed by a computer are carried out inside its CPU. It is also responsible for activating and controlling the operations of other units of the system. The faster the CPU can do these calculations and give the correct answers, the faster the computer runs for the user. CPUs are now measured in gigahertz (Ghz) and they are at present up to our 3.8GHz or faster

A fourth component is the RAM (Random Access Memory). RAM is used as momentary working storage for the computer. We have different types of RAM memory with different speed, but it should match with your motherboard so that it can work properly. The more RAM you have in your computer, the better your computer will work.

The fifth component is the Hard drive. This is where you can store everything. Our material on the hard drive includes the operating system (Windows XP, etc), games, and different types of software, etc. over the year the capacity of the hard drive is continuously improving and in the interval of few years its capacity have gone from around 20MB to over 500GB and more. So you can store a lot more information on your computer such as games, pictures, videos, applications, and more.

Sixth component is Cooling fans. Often most computers come with one cooling fan or it might have several. Its help to cool down the heat generated by others components, Such as power supply, the CPU, and some high-end video cards. The work of all of your cooling fans is to get this heat out of the case so that nothing overheats and breaks. While most of the noise you hear coming from a computer can be credited to the cooling fans, remember to be tolerant. The cooling fan is your friend!

Our Seventh and final component is the mixture of several different devices. These are the Cd-rom, DVD drives, floppy Drive and Backup devices such as external hard drive.

Latest compute processor

Latest computer processor provides high speed processing, great performance, effortless multitasking and a dramatic increase in your productivity. Get the most out of it with a new PC. Today’s desktops and notebooks offer greater performance, quality and reliability than ever before. These computers have 2X faster performance, less waiting, sleek designs and keep you productive, entertained and informed. New technology gives you the performance you need in the design you desire. Lets take a look on Next Generation processor.

NEW
Dual-Core processor

Core™2 Duo Processor

Quad-Core processor

IP

When you talk about the Internet and web hosting, IP Address is a term that gets unlimited mention. And then you hear about two specific types commonly involved in hosting, Shared and Static IP Address. While it doesn’t necessarily take an expert to figure out the difference between the two, a basic understanding of how the Internet works goes a long way in explaining things.

All computers participating in any form of Internet activity are uniquely identified by a set of numbers they are assigned. Each time you type in a domain name on your browser’s address bar, you are requesting information from a domain as a set of numbers. In the same way, that domain will return your requested information by using its own set of identifying numbers as well. In other words, when you talk of Internet communication, everything happens between these sets of numbers with which a source computer and a destination computer are uniquely identified with. This unique set of numbers assigned to each computer is called an IP address.

This basic information about IP addresses will now make it possible to differentiate between Shared IP and Static IP. A Shared IP is one that is used by more than one site on the Internet while a Static IP address is one that is used by a single site. If you type in a Static IP on your browser’s address bar, you will be directed to the site which owns that Static IP, but if you enter a Shared IP, you’ll get to a server but not to the domain you want because this server wouldn’t know which particular site you’re trying to connect to.

The question is, why would you secure a Static IP and why would you be fine with a Shared IP? Basically, there is only one reason why a Static IP would be necessary – to secure sensitive information. With a Static IP, this information enters and leaves your site in coded form to avoid interception. Obviously, this is the IP address that makes e-commerce possible as well communication between government agencies and other institutions that handle confidential data.

The unfortunate truth is, whether you’re using Shared or Static, hackers could still wreak havoc on your system just by detecting your IP address. The Internet itself was created to detect IP addresses because this is how communication within the network is possible. However, the technology will not limit your ability to protect yourself when surfing. And your best weapon against hackers is to hide your IP address. Hiding your IP will make it impossible for anyone to even know you’re even there. And when they don’t know you’re there, you can go from one website to another without leaving a trail that could be traced back to you.

To hide your IP could be as simple as getting a working IP changer software to make sure that you’re all protected when you just can’t leave a thing to chance.

open the doors

HOW. Because of this word entrepreneurs like you and me started on the exciting road of becoming business owners. For some it started with: How can I make my life better? or How can I better take care of my family? For many of us it was: How can I leave this dead end job and start anew? Sounds familiar? How is a powerful word, indeed.

But the power of HOW is not in the word itself, but in what comes after it. Each response to it opens new doors and takes you in a different direction. Without an honest answer to HOW a business cannot succeed. Without answering the most common How questions a business cannot take off and it can’t take off because there’s no business plan. Part of having a well developed business plan is to answer many “How to” questions. How do you bring customers? How do you turn your website visitors into buyers? How do I get a domain name? All questions that need an answer before you open your doors for business.

I want you to look at your business from top to bottom. Explore each answer to every one of your questions. How can I increase sales? Possible responses are: by increasing marketing efforts. How do you do that? By increasing my marketing budget or perhaps by starting an email campaign. Each response will probably create another How question but at the end of the exercise you will have a powerful picture of where you are and what you need to move your business forward. I have used this exercise successfully for my businesses and it works great when applied to your personal life as well.

During a discussion on this topic a person I mentor noted the simplicity of the concept and questioned why he had not thought of it before. He said he did think about most things but after the exercise he understood his business better. I don’t want to go into long explanations about business marketing or use this as a platform for fancy and confusing business terms. My goal is to make you aware of the smaller things that can sometimes make a difference between a successful business and one that struggles to make money.

I wish you luck and come back as I will explore other specific “How to” scenarios meant to guide you in the right direction.

Jose Rodriguez is a member of a private organization that teaches people how to start their own business. By becoming a member of this private society you’ll have access to the most cutting edge Tools, Training and Strategies to start your own online Empire!

TAX

We know from having heard numerous stories reported again and again on TV and in newspapers over the years about “pork barrel” spending, that our government is not necessarily judicious in watching the purse strings (to say the least). However, I heard an expose reported by ABC news in Phoenix earlier this week that made my blood pressure rise.

The headline: “Social Security spends $700,000 on Phoenix conference.”

This investigative report was broken by Channel ABC 15 News in Phoenix (snipurl.com/ng2qk) and reported to the Social Security Administration and members of Congress, who are now conducting additional investigations. Here’s the story’s highlights:

675 Social Security managers attended a “motivational management” conference at the Arizona Biltmore Resort & Spa, a high-end Phoenix area resort last week that cost $700,000. The conference’s costs included airfare, hotel entertainment, dancers, motivational speakers, and food. The Social Security Administration provided ABC 15 with a list of courses offered at the conference, which included, “Techniques to Empower You,” Mentoring the Generations,” and “Emotional Intelligence.”

A spokesperson from the SSA’s regional office said the conference was essential, that teleconferencing was not an option, and that all 675 managers needed to meet in person. They did put the conference out to bid, and rooms for the conference were booked at $85 per night, versus the rack rate of $400 for a room during the prime tourist season. However, as you might note, it is not prime tourist season in Phoenix in July…..

The SSA omitted from their report to ABC 15 that the conference also included an after-hours casino trip, family members staying at the resort, or a dance that was observed by the reporters.

“This was a training conference. The location was selected through the government’s competitive bidding process. The facility that was selected was the lowest bidder, and we paid well-below the prescribed government rate.” Leslie Walker, Regional Communications Director, SSA.

By the way, Social Security trustees said in May that the program will begin paying out more in benefits than it collects in taxes in 2016, and the program’s trust fund will be depleted by 2037. 2016 is little more than six years away from now….

This story offends on so many levels. Let me count just a few of the the ways:

-They’re spending my money (and yours) on unnecessary perks and travel when they don’t have the funds. Repeat: they don’t have the money! When was the last time your company sent you to the Biltmore for a few days of motivational training?

- Why is there a different standard for the public sector versus the private sector? Since when it is acceptable to “do as I say, but not as I do?”

- Haven’t they heard about holding webinars and using GotoMeeting.com as an alternative to personal travel?

- Corporations and the banking industry in particular have been vilified by the Obama Administration, who promised during campaigns to cut waste in the government. In fairness, I do recall that Obama announced a 10% cut in the budgets of his director reports in February or March, which resulted in a couple hundred million saved. Yes, we need MUCH more of this kind of action. Every new major legislative proposal is presented as a cost saving initiative, yet how many trillions in debt are we now with no apparent end in sight for additional new Federal programs?

- How can these agencies continue to spend money they don’t have? Contrary to what Joe Biden (always interesting) said this week in a speech to the Association of Active Retired Persons (snipurl.com/oay25), everyone knows you STOP spending when you go bankrupt; you don’t spend MORE!

- Training & developing their managers is OK and economically justifiable for a major benefit program that has no assets that all of us have paid into for many, many years.

- What’s happened to fiduciary responsibility in the government? The SEC would throw the SSA execs in jail if it were a private sector agency, based upon the way it’s been managed. Essentially it’s a Ponzi scheme. There are no assets because the government has robbed Peter to pay Paul.

- What about the people who’ve paid into FICA for decades, counted on receiving retirement benefits from the SSA, are legitimately disabled, and/or worked in lower level jobs so they didn’t save enough money for retirement? Particularly after the financial “repression” we’ve experienced resulting in drastically reduced 401K balances and housing values, many “would-be retirees” are delaying retirement.

The hypocrisy and arrogance of the public sector and our politicians for both parties is just unbelievable to me!! We need leaders who are tough enough to take on the challenge of addressing the fact that the SSA is on the verge of bankruptcy and will fix it so it can be restored to serve its original purpose. It’s been pillaged & plunged for many years, and now we’re seeing the results of that greed and failure to control spending.

Several months ago, I wrote about Wells Fargo (snipurl.com/o95ov) buckling to public pressure and canceling their annual employee recognition event scheduled to be held in Las Vegas. They had the money set aside in their budget to pay for this event yet canceled it due to public pressure for TARP recipients regarding compensation practices.

What’s good for the goose isn’t good for the gander anymore. I really worry about our future. California’s on the verge of going bankrupt with its recently downgraded credit rating just above junk bond status as our legislators fail to agree on viable budget solutions. Is our nation also at risk for going bankrupt a few years hence? Is the SSA situation simply a foreshadowing of bigger issues to come? How do we get out of this mess?

I’m going on vacation for a long weekend…..and hope to be more positive when I return!

Becky Regan, M.A., CCP began her own consulting practice in 1995, Regan HR, Inc. to provide human resources consulting services to businesses in California. She has been successful in growing her business through reputation and client referrals. Her work as a consultant includes the full spectrum of HR technical expertise, including C-level recruitment, compensation studies (design, market and executive pay studies, sales compensation plans), training & teaching, interim assignments as a HR Director for organizations, and employee relations, including workplace investigations and written responses to formal complaints. For more HR tips and to receive my FREE “The Top 5 Secrets to Building a Better Organization that Every HR Pro Must Know

business

They say it’s almost impossible to call the top of the business cycle or the bottom of a recession. Usually, it is six months after the fact until anyone knows for sure that a recession is occurring or that a recession has ended. This is because often recessions test themselves at the bottom and may go lower and it’s hard to say where the bottom is while you are in it.

Of course, the same thing goes for the top of the business cycle. No one knows for sure when we hit the apex because sometimes it goes down a little bit and then goes back up. So, when I was recently asked if it is time to start a business yet, and if this recession was over, I said it depends while addressing a college class of MBA students. The reality of the question is quite interesting; because it depends on which type of business they will be entering, and which industry.

Different industry sectors expand and contract at different times based on a multitude of variables. This is not a time that I would start an airline, an auto manufacturing company, a home residential construction company, or a bank that makes home loans, but I might start a service company of some type. I might start a wholesale company that sells to “first to recover” type of industry and to the public. So it really depends.

One thing I can tell you is there is a lot of money to be made when you buy everything at the lowest possible prices, right now everything is inexpensive, that means the equipment that will be needed to run a new business, the land or the buildings that the business will be located at, and even hiring top talent; it won’t get any cheaper than it is now and that’s always a consideration.

Any good stockbroker will tell you the way to make money in stocks is to “Buy low and sell high!” So I’d like you to consider that if you’re thinking about getting into a business. Now might actually be a very good choice and good timing. Please consider all this.

Shipping

Shipping is a very important part of a business. Shipping times and quality of shipments can make or break any business. In this article I am going to explain how to ship and how to properly prepare your shipments so your customers are happy and come back to give you business.

When figuring out how to ship, the most important thing you will learn is that packaging is key. Making sure your products are packed tight and right will keep your customers coming back for more. It also saves your business time and money on returns, defects, and broken shipments. The first thing you need to do is make sure your boxes are the correct size for your products.

Each item should only have about 4-5 inches of area around the product being shipped. It’s also smart to properly pack your boxes with bubble wrap or some other packaging material. When boxing an item for shipping remember to first lay your packaging material first, then put your item into the box. After this put your bubble wrap or packaging on all sides of the product. Once it’s snug in the box, finish it up with packaging material on the top of the product so the product is secure from all sides. This will help keep your products safe and reliable on delivery.

Learning how to ship can sometimes be a grueling process but once you get the hang of it, its really quite simple. Just remember that people like their products fast and not broken. If you remember these two simple things you will figure out how to ship in no time

A Singapore man undergoing treatment for cancer was detained for four hours by U.S. immigration officials after the drug he was taking caused his fingerprints to disappear.

Foreign visitors undergo mandatory fingerprint screening when they enter the United States.

Now, the unidentified man's oncologist is asking patients taking the commonly used drug, capecitabine, to carry a doctor's note when they travel to the United States.

The oncologist, Eng-Huat Tan of the National Cancer Center in Singapore, described the encounter in a letter published in the current issue of the cancer journal Annals of Oncology.

The 62-year-old cancer patient, identified as Mr. S, eventually was allowed to enter the United States and visit relatives after officials determined he did not pose a security threat.

According to the oncologist, the patient had neck and head cancer that had spread. He responded well to chemotherapy.

To prevent a recurrence, doctors placed him on capecitabine, marketed in the United States as Xeloda.

Google spent Wednesday morning trying to get developers excited about the next generation of Web technologies by showing off how future Web applications will mimic desktop apps.

"It's time for us to take advantage of [this]. . .amazing opportunity," Google's Eric Schmidt told developers.

"It's time for us to take advantage of the amazing opportunity that is before us," said Google CEO Eric Schmidt, kicking off Google I/O 2009 in San Francisco. Schmidt was referring to the growing sense that the Internet and browsers--rather than a computer's operating system--will be the future foundation for application development.

The industry isn't quite ready for that yet. Many of applications demonstrated before the crowd of around 4,000 developers will require the widespread adoption of HTML 5 technologies, which are still under development by a consortium of companies and organizations.

Still, Google's Vic Gundotra, vice president of engineering, noted that the four modern open standards browsers (Firefox, Safari, Chrome,and Opera) are all adopting some HTML 5 technologies as they become more stable, taking every opportunity possible to ding Microsoft's Internet Explorer for lagging behind the other four browsers.

However, offstage after his keynote, Gundotra downplayed any conflict with Microsoft, noting that its task in moving toward HTML 5 is more complex because of the large number of enterprises running Internet Explorer, and the possibility that internal applications developed for that browser could break. "As they follow through, they are going to have a huge impact on moving the Web forward," he said.

Gundotra showed off how Web applications will be able to take advantage of five main HTML 5 concepts: canvas tags, video tags, geolocation, application caching and database, and Web Workers.

A crude bomb made from a water bottle was used in an explosion that damaged a Starbucks coffee shop on New York's posh Upper East Side, New York police said.

Monday's explosion shattered glass at the Manhattan Starbucks coffee shop. No one was injured.

The Memorial Day explosion damaged the shop, but no one was injured and no motive has been identified for the bombing.

"We believe it to be ... a six- to 10-ounce water bottle that was wrapped in black tape," New York Police Commissioner Ray Kelly told CNN on Wednesday.

He said the bomb's powder may have come from fireworks components, including a fuse. The powder was placed inside the bottle in a way that made it "more powerful," Kelly said.

He said a forensics unit is working on finding fingerprints.

The homemade bomb, which went off around 3:30 a.m., shattered glass, but no one was injured. The store was not open. Police have said the device was planted under a wooden bench outside the coffee shop.

"We have a witness who believes he saw two young people he describes as teenagers, both white males," the commissioner said. One is described as blond, wearing a red shirt, and the other had brown hair and wore a gray shirt.

Kelly said the witness saw the two approach the Starbucks, then looked away. After the witness heard the blast, he said he saw the two young people run away from the building.

Kelly said that for now, it's impossible to say whether the bombing was politically motivated.

"We don't know if they were a corporate target or somebody had a problem [with] what was going on on that corner, in general ... we're not ruling anything out."

In 1999, a Starbucks in Seattle, Washington, was vandalized during a world trade conference. In February 2008, a Vancouver Starbucks and another restaurant were damaged by an overnight explosion.

Meet Kaden, bomb-sniffing dog in training.

His name, a Gaelic word meaning "little battle," is fitting for the energetic 12-pound puppy with a perky tail that curls like a cinnamon bun.

At 4 months old, Kaden is a playful, black- and white-coated basenji being schooled at Georgia K9 National Training Center. Once fully trained, he will assist federal and local police officers as well as private corporations in nosing out deadly explosives at schools, airports and public events.

His detective skills can potentially save thousands of lives in an era where law enforcement agencies are aggressively fighting against drugs and terrorist attacks.

"Think about a scenario like the 1996 Olympic bombings," says Kaden's trainer Jeff Schettler, a cheery man who has coached hundreds of dogs to sniff out bombs, drugs, missing people and corpses since the mid-1990s.

Police dogs remain the most affordable and reliable solution to solving crimes that require scent detection, police officers say. Trained dogs can track down cocaine camouflaged inside car seats. They can find children who have mysteriously vanished overnight. Detection dogs can even weed out pest-infested apples and oranges accidentally left in suitcases at airports.

"They are a growing aspect of law enforcement," says Jim Watson, secretary at the North American Police Work Dog Association and a handler for decades.

Earlier this month, investigators were baffled during the international manhunt for George Zinkhan, a former University of Georgia professor accused of fatally shooting his wife and two other people.

Two weeks into the search, two cadaver dogs, a German shepherd named Circe and an Australian shepherd named Madison, arrived. Within 10 hours, the dogs picked up the scent of Zinkhan's remains in a shallow pit hidden in a thick forest. Once the dogs neared the suspect's body, they gave their handlers personalized signals. Circe barked excitedly. Madison lay down.

Trainer Jeff Schettler explains Kaden is an unlikely candidate for police work. Basenjis, a breed that originated in central Africa, are usually used as hunting or show dogs. There are only two other trained police dog basenjis recorded by the North American Police Work Dog Association.

Most trainers in the police dog world dislike experimenting with new dogs, preferring to stick to breeds with a proven track record. Most law enforcement agencies rely on Belgian Malinoises and German shepherds for detection work because of their protective yet friendly personalities, but labs, bloodhounds and beagles also can be used.

"We're not trying to fix anything," Schettler says. "We're trying to enhance it."

Schettler points out some of Kaden's advantages: The dog's weight will peak at about 25 pounds, enabling him seamlessly to sift between cramped luggage and lockers. Kaden is barkless because basenjis have an oddly shaped larynx, ideal for quiet searches.

On a recent rainy Saturday morning at the Georgia K9 National Training Center, little Kaden undergoes testing. Passing the exam depends on his whiffing talents.

Upon the instructor's command, Kaden's pencil-thin legs playfully trot along the damp grass to an oversize wall scattered with dozens of holes. His instructor has hidden black gunpowder wrapped in pantyhose in one of the holes.

If Kaden's nose sniffs out the gunpowder, he will immediately sit.

Kaden begins on the left side, quickly taking a zigzag pattern from one hole to another. His pace is methodical, a sniff for each hole. Soon he slows, pauses, inhales again and then sinks his tiny hindquarters to the ground.

"What a good boy," coo several of Kaden's trainers, stroking his sleek fur and rewarding him with one of his favorite treats, torn bits of venison jerky.

As Kaden nibbles on his treat, Schettler admits there are drawbacks to training basenjis. Basenjis don't have a furry coat to endure cold weather like a German shepherd.

Basenjis are also a highly independent, stubborn breed with personalities similar to cats, making them difficult to train. Kaden's personality, however, is contrary to most basenjis. He was culled from a litter in Atlanta at 7 days old because of his unusual sociability with humans.

"At eight weeks, he was in the airport going up to people and running around like he owned the place," Schettler says.

Training detection dogs such as Kaden often begins during puppyhood so imprinting scent differentiation becomes innate, handlers say. Puppies are selected based on breed purity, confidence, sociability and temperament.

In any training program, there are doggie dropouts. In those instances, the puppies become pets.

Jeter goes to bat for A-Rod; first Yanks practice uneventful

TAMPA — New York Yankees shortstop and captain Derek Jeter said he doesn't condone Alex Rodriguez's use of an illegal performance-enhancing drug, but he supports his teammate.

"You ask me if I believe him, I believe him," Jeter said Wednesday after the team's first full-squad workout at George M. Steinbrenner Field. "He said it was in the past. Family members make mistakes. You may be disappointed, but you don't lose respect.

DUMPED INXS frontman

DUMPED INXS frontman JD Fortune has lifted the lid on his humiliating exit from the Aussie rock legends, with the reality TV show winner admitting success turned him to drugs and he is now broke and living in his car.

The 35-year-old - picked to front the group after winning 2005 series Rockstar: INXS - told Canada’s Entertainment Tonight he was unceremoniously given the boot at a Hong Kong airport.

He is now homeless and desperate to launch a solo career.

"I don't know where I am going from sofa to sofa, from night to night. I am trying to get through my life," Fortune said.

"I was in an airport at Hong Kong and literally got a handshake. They said, 'Thank you very much'. I found myself really alone because I had travelled with these guys for 23 months."

Cross-posted to Building & Grounds

Even the giant of higher education is not immune to the ills of the current economy. Drew Gilpin Faust, president of Harvard University, said in two letters issued today that the university will reconsider many of its building plans amid the economic downturn.

“The current yearly endowment distribution — the dollars we take out of the endowment to support activities across the university — is approximately 50 percent higher than it was when the endowment was last at the value we expect as of next June 30,” Ms. Faust wrote in an overview letter. “Tinkering around the edges will not be enough.”

A university’s buildings are inevitably a source of tremendous costs, and Ms. Faust said that Harvard officials would reassess space needs on the university’s campuses. Of particular focus is the planned development of the Allston campus, where work has begun on a 500,000-square-foot science complex that would be built to green standards.

In light of the economic downturn, “I asked our financial and capital planning teams to assess our options with regard to the complex,” Ms. Faust wrote in a separate “Allston update” letter. Construction of the science complex will continue at a slower pace while the reassessment is being considered; the foundation will be completed, a process that would have to be finished regardless of what gets built on top.

“During this time, we will rigorously review the project, including calling on any experts that may be required to work with us in assessing the building design and developing a detailed cost analysis,” the Allston letter continued. “As we approach the end of the current construction phase, we will examine whether economic conditions are enough improved to allow us to continue construction, or whether to reconfigure the building in ways that yield either new cost savings or new space realization, or whether we need to pause construction. Any decision will, of course, depend on our ability to proceed without compromising the university’s long-term financial health, and any decision will engage our academic community, the City of Boston, and the Allston Task Force in any necessary changes.” —Scott Carlson