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Is it me, or this $130 NIC optimized for VoIP overkill? The idea behind this network interface card (NIC) is that it optimize packets and prioritizes games while offloading the voice processing from the CPU.

According to PC World:

...at the 2009 Game Developer's Conference, Bigfoot Networks has two announcements. The first: they are releasing the $130 Killer Xeno Pro card. The big deal this time around is that they've been able to get prices down, beef up the memory and pack on an additional chip that can offload the voice chat. A 400GHz NPU (as in Network Processing Unit -- oh, joy, another acronym!) bypasses the Windows network stack while an integrated audio chip offloads VoIP.

I know gamers are all about low latency while trash-talking their opponents using VoIP, but $130? Aren't PCs and NICs fast enough these days? Well, if you you have to have the every pico-second of latency minimized and want to shell out $130, then by all means have at it.

This is the greatest Linux command ever! Definitely my favorite.
find ./ -name \*.html -printf '%CD\t%p\n' | grep "03/10/08" | awk '{print $2}' | xargs -t -i mv {} temp/

What it does is look (find) for files that end in .html uses the printf option to format the 'find' output, then passes it to grep for searching for a certain date, then awk for printing a certain field, and finally xargs for executing a certain command.

Let's break it down...

The printf part within the find command has the format '%CD\t%p\n'.

%Cx = File's last status change time in the format specified by x. x=D. D=date in the format mm/dd/yy
\t = Horizontal tab
%p = file's name
\n = newline

So basically it outputs the file's last status change followed by a horizontal tab, then the filename, and then a new line. But before it outputs it, it sends it to 'grep' which searches the output and only outputs lines with "03/10/09".

Example so far: (minus the awk, xargs and mv commands)
find ./ -name \*.html -printf '%CD\t%p\n' | grep "03/10/09"
Outputs this: (notice the tab to separate the 2 fields)
03/10/09        ./2005/05/index.html
03/10/09        ./2005/03/index.html
03/10/09        ./2005/04/index.html
03/10/09        ./linked-in.html
03/10/09        ./consumer-electronics/samsung-bribery-news.html
03/10/09        ./technology/iptv/index.html

Now send this output into the awk command (awk '{print $2}') which parses it and pulls out the 2nd column/field (hence the tab character), which is the filename, including the path.

Here's the output you now have after adding awk '{print $2}' in:
./2005/05/index.html
./2005/03/index.html
./2005/04/index.html
./linked-in.html
./consumer-electronics/samsung-bribery-news.html
./technology/iptv/index.html

Next, send this output of "exact path + filename" to xargs for execution in the Linux shell.

The "xargs -t -i mv {} temp/" part basically takes the input from the previous commands (files named .html modified on 3/10/09) and moves (mv) them to the temp/ folder.

The xargs command can do anything. So instead of moving the files, I could delete them, run chmod on them, or something else.

It took me awhile to write this command. I've used various methods of finding files on Linux servers over the years, but this one is one of the most powerful.

Definitely a command you should have in your Linux arsenal!

p.s. Here's another tip. If you want to search ALL files (not just .html) then use the following command. Notice the \* and not * for the search. That part got me since I didn't think the * (wildcard) had to be backslashed. Usually when you backslash a character that means you want the 'literal' character specified after the \ (backslash) character. I didn't want filenames with a '*' in it. I wanted the wildcard. That threw me for a minute before I figured it out. Anyway, here's the command:
find ./ -name \* -printf '%CD\t%p\n' | grep "03/10/08" | awk '{print $2}' | xargs -t -i mv {} temp/

snom and Camrivox today announced free VoIP telephony integration with Microsoft Outlook with snom Flexor CTI software for Microsoft Outlook. Microsoft Outlook is the most widely used contact manager with a market share of over 60% of email users. A free CTI app for snom's VoIP phones? I remember the days where you had to pay thousands of dollara for a CTI server. No CTI server required for this app nor the thousands of dollars!

The highlights of this integration are:

• On-screen Click-to-Dial makes calling really simple and screen pop-ups when someone calls
• Calls, made or received, automatically create a journal entry with the call details to build up a call log
• Supports Microsoft Outlook 2003 & 2007

snom Flexor CTI enables users of snom's 3xx series and snom 820 VoIP telephones to integrate their telephony with Outlook. Benefits include click-to-dial, contact screen pop-ups and call logs. Once the snom Flexor CTI software is downloaded onto a user's desktop it automatically integrates the snom telephone with Microsoft Outlook.

snom Flexor CTI for Outlook also enables click-to-dial of phone numbers dialed straight from Outlook, as well as on-screen call control, contact screen pop-ups for incoming calls, and call reporting. Users can also record notes in Outlook Journal entries during a call and have these saved against each contact record to generate a structured call log for each contact.

The snom Flexor CTI software is also available to integrate snom VoIP telephones with professional solutions for Customer Relationship Management (CRM) such as Microsoft Dynamics CRM, NetSuite and Salesforce.

To download free snom Flexor CTI for Outlook head here.

It appears it just might be a Merry Christmas even with the doom & gloom surrounding the economy. I guess President-elect Barack Obama must be the Messiah, since he's already creating miracles and he hasn't even been sworn in yet. Or it could just be that credit card loving Americans just don't know when to quit spending & charging.

Check this out:

NRF Survey Finds Black Friday Gets Holiday Season Off to Energetic Start
-- Great Bargains, Pent-Up Demand Drove Shoppers to Stores, Web

Though the holiday season is far from over, retailers across the country are breathing a collective sigh of relief after shoppers headed to stores and websites in droves over the weekend. According to the National Retail Federation's 2008 Black Friday Weekend survey, conducted by BIGresearch, more than 172 million shoppers visited stores and websites over Black Friday weekend, up from 147 million shoppers last year.*

Shoppers spent an average of $372.57 this weekend*, up 7.2 percent over last year's $347.55. Total spending reached an estimated $41.0 billion.

"Pent-up demand on electronics and clothing, plus unparalleled bargains on this season's hottest items helped drive shopping all weekend," said NRF President and CEO Tracy Mullin. "Holiday sales are not expected to continue at this brisk pace, but it is encouraging that Americans seem excited to go shopping again."

Friday was clearly the busiest day of the weekend with 73.6 million people hitting stores and websites for doorbuster sales. Though traffic did subside after Friday, retailers were also buoyed by two-day sales as 56.9 million people shopped on Saturday, up from 48.3 million last year, while another 26.2 million people planned to shop on Sunday. Thanksgiving Day also continues to increase in importance as the number of people who shopped on Thursday was up 48 percent over last year (16.2 million people vs. 10.9 million people).

Those who shopped on Friday lived by the adage that the early bird catches the worm. The survey found that 23.3 percent of shoppers were at stores by 5 a.m. while more than half (57.6%) were at stores by 9 a.m. Bargains appeared to be so good that people have more of a jumpstart on shopping.

According to the findings, Americans have completed slightly more shopping than they had one year ago (39.3% vs. 36.4%), indicating that traffic and sales over the next several weeks will moderate.

"Though retailers should be encouraged by strong traffic and sales over the weekend, consumers are still being cautious," said Phil Rist, Executive Vice President, Strategic Initiatives, BIGresearch. "Weekend shoppers indicated that they are still sticking to a budget and thinking carefully before making any holiday purchases."

Though retailers in all categories were featuring big bargains, a majority of shoppers visited discount stores for holiday deals. According to the survey, more than half (54.7%) of this weekend's shoppers visited discount stores. Nearly half (43.0%) shopped at a traditional department store, up 11.1 percent from 38.7 percent last year. About one-third of shoppers visited specialty stores like clothing or electronics stores (36.0%) and shopped online (34.0%).

As expected, many shoppers (50.9%) purchased clothing and accessories over the weekend while 39.0 percent bought books, DVDs, CDs and video games and 35.9 percent purchased consumer electronics. Toys were also big sellers, as 28.5 percent of shoppers bought a toy. Gift card purchasing dropped ten percent with 18.7 percent of shoppers purchasing a gift card over the weekend, down from 21.0 percent last year.

NRF continues to project that holiday sales will rise 2.2 percent this year to $470.4 billion.

About the Survey

The NRF 2008 Black Friday Weekend survey was designed to gauge consumer behavior and shopping trends related to the winter holidays. NRF defines the weekend as sales from Thursday, November 27 to Sunday, November 30. The survey, which polled 3,370 consumers, was conducted for NRF by BIGresearch from November 27-29, 2008. The consumer poll has a margin of error of plus or minus 1.7 percent.

BIGresearch is a consumer market intelligence firm that provides unique consumer insights that are gathered online utilizing very large sample sizes. BIGresearch's syndicated Consumer Intentions and Actions survey monitors the pulse of more than 8,000 consumers each month to empower its clients with unique insights for identifying opportunities in a fragmented and changing marketplace.

The National Retail Federation is the world's largest retail trade association, with membership that comprises all retail formats and channels of distribution including department, specialty, discount, catalog, Internet, independent stores, chain restaurants, drug stores and grocery stores as well as the industry's key trading partners of retail goods and services. NRF represents an industry with more than 1.6 million U.S. retail establishments, more than 24 million employees - about one in five American workers - and 2007 sales of $4.5 trillion. As the industry umbrella group, NRF also represents more than 100 state, national and international retail associations. www.nrf.com

Via NRF

So you want Skype High Quality (HQ) video, but aren't willing to shell out for a nice dual-core processor and a high-end Logitech camera, eh? Well, no worries - Nodewave has a Force 'Skype' HQ Video app that allows you to Enable/Disable (and even configure) High-Quality Video in Skype, and even High-Definition Video regardless of your camera or processor.

So if Santa doesn't stick a high-end Logitech Orb AF webcam (my favorite webcam) in your stocking for Christmas, then this hack might just be the way to go!

It's been called both "vampire power" and "phantom load" -- likened to the power-hungry HAL 9000 computer (at left) in Stanley Kubrick's classic film 2001: A Space Odyssey.

It's the little unblinking red light on the television set that is silently drawing energy from the grid; studies have shown it can add 10% or more to a household energy bill.

Now Spanish entrepreneurs claim to have invented a way to end the problem that has bedeviled energy regulators, environmentalists and appliance manufacturers. They have patented an algorithm that can detect when an appliance is in standby mode and automatically switch it off completely.

The standby-mode killer has yet to be proven commercially and must contend with other new products designed to tackle the same problem. But, despite some doubters, the Spanish inventors say theirs is the only product able to completely do away with a large, and growing, world-wide problem.

Now how about that!

Get more at the Wall Street Journal.

I grew up reading PC Magazine and I looked forward each couple weeks to picking up my copy of PC Magazine at the local grocery store. But today, Ziff Davis has announced that the legendary PC Magazine print publication is shutting down its print publication and focusing exclusively on online content. This is truly a sad day... Hold on while I grab some tissues...

PC Magazine started the whole in-depth comparative reviews of PCs and Microsoft software. They expanded later to including gadgets, MP3 players, mobile phones, GPS, and other technology. PC Magazine offered insightful tech tips and great columnists like John C. Dvorak. Back in the 80s and 90s the print publication was 400-500 pages, making for hours of tech- reading pleasure. Today, it's down to 150 pages and soon to be 0 (January 2009).

Well, I guess it's "greener" that way. But I for one will miss my print copy of PC Magazine.

Crazy Eddie take note!
 
The Friday immediately following Thanksgiving has long been known as "Black Friday" because it represents the unofficial beginning of the holiday shopping season, or the day when retailers hold massive sales in hopes of steering their (red) losses into (black) profits.

And from what I've been reading about holiday shopping this year, gadgets may be one of the few bright spots ... 

Among the most heavily discounted electronics items poised to dominate this year's sales are low cost notebooks, according to sources, who note that Dell plans to offer $299 linux model via its website, while Wal-Mart markets a $299 Compaq and Best Buy a $299 eMachines portable.

And do yo think Apple will be sitting quietly ...

... Didn't think so; so check out AppleInsider.

And thanks to blogs.phillynews.com for the image.

Hopefully, these prices are insane!!!!!

The volume of junk e-mail sent worldwide dropped drastically today after a Web hosting firm identified by the computer security community as a major host of organizations allegedy engaged in spam activity was taken offline, according to security firms that monitor spam distribution online. 

Immediately after two Internet providers cut off MoColo's connectivity to the Internet, security companies charted a precipitous drop in spam volumes worldwide.

E-mail security firm IronPort said spam levels fell by roughly 66% as of Tuesday evening, and Spamcop.net, another spam watch dog, found a similar decline, from approximatley 40 spam e-mails per second to 10 per second.

Did you notice?

And let us all say, Amen.

Click The Washington Post for more.

It is the black hole of the digital age -- the three minutes it can take for your computer to boot up, when there is nothing to do but wait, and wait, and wait some more before you can log on and begin doing anything at all.

Now the computer industry says it wants to give back some of those precious seconds. In coming months, the world's major PC makers plan to introduce a new generation of quick-start computers, spotting a marketing opportunity in society's short attention span.

Hewlett-Packard, Dell and Lenovo are rolling out machines that give people access to basic functions like e-mail and a Web browser in 30 seconds or less.

Now, can you remember back when you'd boot up the PC and then head to make a pot of coffee ... 

Asus, a Taiwanese company that is the world's largest maker of the circuit boards at the center of every PC, has begun building faster-booting software into its entire product line.

Even Microsoft, whose bloated Windows software is often blamed for sluggish start times, has pledged to do its part in the next version of the operating system, saying on a company blog that "a very good system is one that boots in under 15 seconds."

Today only 35% of machines running Windows Vista, boot in 30 seconds or less, the blog notes.

Apple Macs tend to boot more quickly than comparable Windows machines, but still feel glacially slow to most users.

Now, if we could just solve global warming ...

More at the New York Times.