The Great Geek Manual

From Around the Web

10 Must-Have Gmail Filters Available for Download – Lifehacker rounds up Firefox add-ons too new for official approval, but seriously useful. They include the ability to automate download management and image uploading, queue up MP3s, and manage Gmail tasks anywhere.

10 Ways to Automatically & Manually Backup MySQL Database – There are several ways to backup MySQL data. In this article we’ll look at how to backup your databases using different methods, we will also learn how to achieve an automatic backup solution to make the process easier.

Anatomy of Cloud Computing – Cloud computing is changing the way we provision hardware and software for on-demand capacity fulfillment. Gone are the days of idle CPUs, empty memory, or unused drive space. The cloud charges us for what we use as we use it. Niall Kennedy provides an overview of the cloud hosting landscape with a particular focus on cloud utilization by web companies.

Behind the Scenes at Mininova – Most BitTorrent sites operate in the shadows, with operators who rarely speak in public and guard their identities closely. Mininova is not one of those sites and in a new interview, company directors Erik Dubbelboer and Niek van der Maas reveal a little more about running one of the world’s biggest BitTorrent sites.

BitTorrent Freed Music, and Now It’s Yours – The Internet and file-sharing networks like BitTorrent have shifted music promotion from the labels to the people. Increasingly, record labels are losing control over what music the masses are listening to, and according to some musicians this is is actually a good thing.

The Hacking Education Conference – Squidoo recaps the highlights of the Hacking Eduation Conference through the eyes of Twitter. It’s kinda like reading a film in bullet points instead of watching it in a theater.

How do Massive Multi-Player Online Games (MMOs) Make Money? – DFC Intelligence has recently released a report on the most commercially successful massive multi-player games, and World Of Warcraft, the most successful MMO, raked in an estimated annual revenue of US$500 million.

Old Age begins at 27 as Mental Powers Decline – Great. Scientists have released yet another damn depressing study. Excuse me while I go curl up and die of old age… Would it kill them to post this to some hipster network so us old geezers didn’t have to see it?

New and Dirty: Tweet Blogging – Oliver Reichenstein thinks we all waste too much time reading (and writing!) boring text and presents a solution to the problem.

The Technical Support Secret Handshake - Scott Hanselman thinks we need a secret password to let IT support know a caller knows what he’s talking about. I whole-heartedly agree. If Comcast asks me if my modem is plugged in one more time, I’m going to drive over them and… well, FizzBin.

Why Thermometers are Banned from Planes – PopSci explains in graphic detail why you will never be allowed to bring Mercury onto an airplane. Be warned, if you’re already afraid of flying, this article isn’t going to help.

Write an Internet Search Engine with 200 lines of Ruby code – Saush.com takes an intriguing look at the mechanisms which drive your typical search engine using a extremely simple example, written in the easy-to-learn language, Ruby. Great article for wanna-be web developers.

Tech News

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New life for twisted-pair? 500Mbps over copper wiring
New organic material may speed Internet access
Remember the resteraunt letting customers set their own prices? Business is good.
Satellite piracy costing TV industry billions
Students tie £56 camera to balloon; send it to edge of space
Top 10 worst things about the web