Sandy Bridge SATA bug tester utility

A utility from Gigabyte works on other H67 and P67 chipsets and motherboards to map out your SATA connections. Best to move SATA 2 connections (3 Gbps) to the SATA 3 (6 Gbps) to workaround the chipset bug.

I tried this with success on an Intel motherboard.

Smart servers spot and block botnet attacks - tech - 04 February 2011 - New Scientist

Once a server running Sen's software has worked out where the attack is coming from, it can block traffic from the culpable IP addresses until the threat subsides

Earl's Cyber Steals and Deals

SuperBiiz has the Super Talent 8GB Express Duo USB 3.0 Flash Drive for $14 - 15% off with coupon code KICKOFF [Exp 2/7] = $12 with free shipping. A fully backwards compatible USB 3.0 flash drive with a single storage partition.

Microsoft Store has the Asus K50IJ-RNC7 15.6" Dual Core 2.3GHz Laptop on sale for $449 with free shipping. Intel Pentium Dual Core T4500 2.3GHz, 4GB RAM, 500GB hard drive 15.6" HD LED, Intel GMA X4500HD, DVDRW SM, Win 7 HP x64, 6-cell

Buy.com has the refurbished Lenovo ThinkCentre M55p Core 2 Duo Desktop for $230 with free shipping. Intel Core 2 Duo E6300, 2GB DDR2, 160GB HDD, Windows XP Pro Intel GMA 3000 graphics, PCI Express x16, 10/100/1000 Ethernet



Newegg has the HP Pavilion dv6-3143us i3 15.6" Notebook for $650 - $50 off with coupon code HPDV13 [Exp 2/6] - $50 rebate [Exp 6/11] = $550 with free shipping. Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit installed. Intel Core i3-370M 2.40GHz CPU, 4GB RAM, 500GB HDD ATI Mobility Radeon HD 5650, 802.11b/g/n, HDMI/VGA

Lenovo has the Lenovo IdeaPad Z560 - 091446U 15.6" Core i5 Notebook (Black) for $849 - $250 off with coupon code USPIDEAPADZ560 [Exp 2/9] = $599 with free shipping. Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit installed. Intel Core i5-480M 2.66GHz, 4GB DDR3, 500GB 5400RPM HDD 15.6" LED 1366x768, Intel HD, DVD recordable DL, Bluetooth

Newegg has the OCZ Special Ops Edition 4GB (2 x 2GB) OCZ3SOE1600LV4GK DDR3 Memory for $40 - $10 rebate [Exp 2/16] = $30 with free shipping. Features 8-8-8-24 timing, CAS latency of 8, and a heat spreaders.

Amazon has the Archos 101 10.1" 16GB Internet Tablet (501594) for $350 with free shipping. Features Android 2.2 OS, HD video playback, HDMI out, 10.1" 1024 x 600 display, Wireless-N, microSD slot, and USB port
SKYPE for Android

Reallocating Unused Server and Storage Hardware - FREE 11 page PDF booklet.

Newegg has the Corsair CMFUSB2.0-16GB Flash Voyager 16GB USB 2.0 Flash Drive for $28 - $10 rebate [Exp 2/11] = $18 with free shipping. Features a 22MB/s read and 7MB/s write speed, durable rubber housing for water and shock resistance, and a 10 year warranty

Surplus Computers has the Sun Microsystems Sun Ray 1 Thin Client Terminal for $19 with free shipping. Stateless device provides a mobile desktop session registered to a SMART card.

February Patch Tuesday: three 0-days fixed

Among the patches are fixes for three different vulnerabilities that have already been publicly disclosed: one in Internet Explorer, one in Windows, and one in Microsoft's IIS Web and FTP server. The Internet Explorer flaw is believed to be the CSS issue discovered by a Google researcher

'Death by GPS' in desert

From the article:

"Danger has long stalked those who venture into California's desert in the heat of summer. But today, with more people pouring into the region, technology and tragedy are mixing in new and unexpected ways.

'It's what I'm beginning to call death by GPS,' said Death Valley wilderness coordinator Charlie Callagan. 'People are renting vehicles with GPS and they have no idea how it works and they are willing to trust the GPS to lead them into the middle of nowhere.'"

I've long advocated notifying the mapping company if you find a discrepancy in the GPS map. But that won't save you if you don't exercise some common sense. I never use "shortest route", by the way. I prefer "fastest route" which tends to use more major roads even if it is a longer route.

OnComputers Radio show Podcast 01-30-11

This is the On Computers Radio show podcast for 01-30-11. You can listen live every Sunday from 11AM to 12PM Pacific that's 2PM to 3PM Eastern. Join us for the live show and chat.

Links from the Gregg Zone

1) The green car revolution is really starting to heat up. There is a new Volkswagen coming out soon. The comment in the article says finally a concept car that will be available to every one soon. All I can say is “this ain’t my father's VW bug” http://mashable.com

2) I have some serious concerns about this, but it looks like it might be interesting from a concept point of view, and defiantly something I will regulate in the not sure this a will catch on department, of course that is if it does not start putting people in hospital with lung trouble. http://www.dailymail.co.uk

3) I am very much into reusing stuff that flows through my life. I find it gratifying to my creative juices to find new uses for old things. In that regard I very much liked this site, hope it grows. http://www.instructables.com

4) I have always been a fan of illusions in any form, from optical, to magic. Here is a chance to interact with an illusion site to try and help them figure out why it works. http://www.newscientist.com

5) For my geek link of the week a sort of internet doomsday situation. It appears we will run out of internet addresses some time in September. Not sure just what that means, somehow I would think not much, I remember when California ran out of car licenses a while back, they just changed the system parameters. http://www.bbc.co.uk

Earl's Cyber Steals and Deals

Newegg has the AMD Athlon II X4 645 Propus 3.1GHz 4 x 512KB L2 Cache Socket AM3 95W Quad-Core Desktop Processor (ADX645WFGMBOX) for $109 with free shipping. Features high-bandwidth low-latency integrated memory controller

Mwave has the Kingwin KW-03 3D Optical Mouse with 800 dpi Precise Optical Technology for $3 + $0 shipping = $3 shipped. Just your basic optical mouse with 2 buttons + scroll.

NETGEAR GS605 5-Port Gigabit Desktop Switch $10 rebate $25 w Free Shipping at Buy.com


Kingston HyperX 8GB (2 x 4GB) DDR3 SDRAM 1600MHz 240-pin Desktop Memory Module $70 w. $30 Rebate and Free Shipping at Buy.com

Office Depot has the Toshiba Satellite C655D-S5136 2.2GHz Dual-Core 15.6" Laptop for $400 with free shipping. AMD Athlon II P340 Dual-Core 2.2GHz CPU, 3GB RAM, 320GB HDD ATI Mobility Radeon HD 4250, DVD-R/RW, 802.11b/g/n, Win 7 HP x64

Newegg has the G.SKILL F3-8500CL7D-8GBSQ 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 SO-DIMM Laptop Memory for $80 - 15% off with coupon code EMCKJHB26 [Exp 1/30] = $68 with free shipping. Features timings of 7-7-7-20 with a CAS latency of 7 at 1.5V

Dell Business has the Dell Vostro 230 Mini Tower plus Samsung 2494LW 23.6" Black LCD Monitor for $449 + $8 shipping = $457 shipped. Included monitor is listed at the very bottom of System Details on the right. Core 2 Duo E7500 2.93GHz, 2GB DDR2, 250GB HDD, 16X DVD+/-RW Intel GMA X4500, 1-yr warranty/on-site service, Windows 7 HP

Dell Home offers the Vizio 32" 1080p Widescreen LCD HD Television, model no. VOJ320M, for $319.99 with free shipping. 1920x1080 (1080p) native resolution, 6,500:1 dynamic contrast ratio, 6.5ms response time, 500 cd/m² brightness, three HDMI inputs, and VGA, component, and other video inputs.

Nikon Coolpix L22 Digital Camera (Black) $69 shipped at B&H Photo: •12.0 Megapixels •3.6x Optical Zoom (37-134mm)
•3" High Resolution LCD •3-way VR Image Stabilization System
•Smart Portrait System Limited time offer. Free shipping

Get the HP Photosmart e-All-in-One D110a Wireless Printer $129.99 - $70.00 = $59.99 from J&R. Print, copy & scan / 2.36" LCD w/ TouchSmart Frame / 802.11n / Quick printing from the Web without a PC / Up to 29 ppm black, 23 ppm color / 4800x1200 dpi Offer ends January 30


Sharp 42" class (42" diagonal) LC-42SB48UT 1080 LCD HDTV, $469.99 from Dell Home plus Free Shipping with full HD spec 1080p resolution and an elegant design, produces superb picture quality. The LC-42SB48UT features high contrast, a fast response time and wide viewing angles. The LC-42SB48UT includes built-in ATSC/QAM/NTSC tuners, 4 HDMI inputs, is compatible with 1080p signals and has 2 HD component video inputs. Offer ends February 3. Free Shipping