Free Online Courses at The HP Learning Center

Free online courses on Microsoft Word, Macromedia Dreamweaver 8, wireless security, etc.

Course List:

Software & technology courses
Advanced Adobe Photoshop CS2
Advanced Microsoft® PowerPoint 2003
Advanced Microsoft® Word 2003
Building your first web page
How to build your first Web site
Intermediate CorelDRAW NEW!
Intermediate Microsoft® Excel 2003
Introduction to Microsoft® Office Publisher 2003
Introduction to Microsoft® Visual Basic
Macromedia Dreamweaver 8
Microsoft Windows® XP 201: Basic customization
Networking 101

For IT professionals
Building a Microsoft® Exchange Server
Firewall basics
Linux 101
Network attached storage basics
Wireless security in depth

Business & productivity courses
Better presentations start with an HP digital projector
Building layers of security for your business
Business protection checklist
Compliance demystified: meeting federal regulatory requirements
Disaster recovery: a practical guide
How to think like Leonardo da Vinci
Professional color printing - HP Color LaserJet 9500
Six steps to computer security
Stress, sanity, and survival
Work smarter with a Tablet PC and Windows® XP

In-house marketing courses
Advanced Adobe Photoshop CS2
Advanced Microsoft® PowerPoint 2003
Advanced Microsoft® Word 2003
Intermediate CorelDRAW
Introduction to Microsoft® Office Publisher 2003
Professional color printing - HP Color LaserJet 9500

Real estate courses
Advanced Adobe Photoshop CS2
Advanced Microsoft® PowerPoint 2003
Advanced Microsoft® Word 2003
Introduction to Microsoft® Office Publisher 2003
Real estate marketing made easy


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FBI looking to hire IT workers

DECEMBER 29, 2005 (COMPUTERWORLD) - The FBI is looking for a few good IT professionals to operate and maintain a robust, secure global IT infrastructure environment for the agency.

In an announcement last week, the agency said that it’s seeking to fill critical IT positions including computer scientists, computer engineers, IT specialists and IT project managers. Annual pay for the positions ranges from $35,452 to $135,136, based on experience and qualifications, with recruitment bonuses for the candidates who possess the most critical skills, the FBI said.

The agency has implemented special procedures to hire staffers quickly, with interviews set to begin in January, according to the FBI.

“Joining the FBI technology team will be an exciting and rewarding career,” FBI Director Robert Mueller said in a statement. “[The] FBI is dedicated to developing and implementing state-of-the-art information technology systems to support our agents and analysts working in the field. These IT positions are critical in support of this FBI’s mission to protect the United States against terrorism, foreign intelligence, criminal enterprises and cyber attacks.”

Currently, the FBI is strengthening systems engineering in order to tie new systems together architecturally and ensure that standards for custom and packaged applications are enforced, and it needs engineers to accomplish this goal, the agency said.

The FBI is also focusing on data warehousing as well as federated search technology, which allows a single search query to be deployed across a number of databases, regardless of whether those databases belong to the same protocol or platform.

“Warehousing has been very successful, yet enterprise extraction, translation and loading proceses must be fine-tuned,” the FBI said. “Data engineers are needed to model legacy databases for federated search and participate in legacy transition planning.”

The FBI said it's also creating a service-oriented architecture that will cross intelligence, administrative and law enforcement lines of business.

HOWTO: Be more productive

"With all the time you spend watching TV," he tells me, "you could have written a novel by now." Sadly, that's just not the case....

Time has various levels of quality. If I'm walking to the subway station and I've forgotten my notebook, then it's pretty hard for me to write more than a couple paragraphs. And it's tough to focus when you keep getting interrupted. There's also a mental component: sometimes I feel happy and motivated and ready to work on something, but other times I feel so sad and tired I can only watch TV.

If you want to be more productive then, you have to recognize this fact and deal with it. First, you have to make the best of each kind of time. And second, you have try to make your time higher-quality.


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California Violent Game Law Shot Down

The courts have blocked yet another state law preventing the sale of violent video games to minors. On Wednesday, U.S. District Judge Ronald Whyte found that California's video game law unfairly restricts the First Amendment rights to freedom of expression. The law made it illegal for a retailer to sell a game to a minor that included the "killing, maiming, dismembering, or sexually assaulting an image of a human being."

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AltonBrown.com - Site redesign and hint of an upcoming podcast feed

Alton Brown (kitchen technology guru) of Good Eats fame has had a significant revision of his web site done. It doesn't use standards compliant CSS layout techniques but AB's new site redesign is a big step forward creatively and hints that "Pretty soon there will be a darned clever podcast, video, all sorts of goodies..."

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Senators propose taxing Internet shopping

It looks like this free ride my finally come to an end. This may be the last holiday season to enjoy tax-free Internet shopping, thanks to new legislation in the U.S. Congress. Two bills introduced Wednesday propose sweeping changes to how Americans are taxed for online and mail order purchases. Businesses initially would be required to collect sales taxes on purchases shipped to roughly half of the country, and that percentage is expected to rapidly increase. It could just be me but I think Congress has a few more important things that they should be concerning themselves with. Like baseball and steroid use. It always amazes me how the most mundane issues float right to the top of the list of things our elected officials decide to deal with.

Of Gollum and Kong

The actor who played Gollum also plays King Kong. I guess this is what they mean when they say there is not part to big or to small for some actors.

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Internet Explorer Flaw 'Extremely Critical'

Security experts from UK company Computer Terrorism have released a proof-of-concept exploit for a security flaw in Microsoft's Internet Explorer that could allow an attacker to take control of a system.

It is still unclear if Microsoft has successfully patched this hole. The work around is to turn JavaScript off. Unfortunately this will cause a lot of problems surfing the net. Millions upon millions of sites use JavaScript for something mainly feedback forms. The best solution for this problem is of course make the switch to firefox. There is now a extension for firefox that allows you to use Internet Explorer within firefox. Now how cool is that.

Seagate is buying Maxtor for $1.9 Billion

With the hard drive boys getting scared at the rising star that is flash memory, one of the leaders in the industry is gobbling up some competition. As long as this deal still maintains the price/gigabyte we have today, then I am all for it. Hitachi purchased IBM's HD shop, now they're great!

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A site for sore thumbs

BlackBerry addicts can now treat their bruised opposables to a massage. It's a diagnosis not yet recognized in local hospitals, but "blue thumb" is becoming familiar to both physiotherapists and BlackBerry addicts. Some frequent users of the personal digital assistant are complaining that their daily dose of thumb typing has left their tender opposables black and blue.


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Fear Da Tiger

The Bengals along with funk legend and Cincinnati icon Bootsy Collins have collaborated to produce "Fear Da Tiger," a Bengals theme song that made its debut on November 20, 2005 during the Bengals vs. Indianapolis Colts game at Paul Brown Stadium.
Drawing off the familiar "Who Dey" slogan adopted by Bengals fans in 1981, "Fear Da Tiger" was shot and produced in-house at Paul Brown Stadium and includes contributions from Bengals players Stacy Andrews, Duane Clemons, Jonathan Fanene, Shaun Smith and Ben Wilkerson, as well as cameos by several other Bengals.

As a young bassist, Bootsy formed his first group, the Pacesetters, in 1968. From 1969 to 1971, the group functioned as James Brown's backup band and was dubbed the JB's. In 1972, Bootsy joined George Clinton's Parliament/Funkadelic, and in 1976 launched Bootsy's Rubber Band as a spin-off of P-Funk. Signing to Warner Bros., he enjoyed the first of his 15 R&B singles-chart entries in 1976 with "Stretchin' Out (In a Rubber Band)."

Click on the post title or here to see this awesome video. This isn't some ripoff the the 85 Bears "Superbowl Shuffle". Real player is required.

The Start of a New Era

Carson, Chad, TJ, Rudi, Odell, Deltha.........Nuff said.

Are those "FREE" iPod, Mac Mini, iBook, Palm....offers really Legit?

This article chronicles my one and only experience with these "gift" offers. It's intended to help you decide if offers like these are for you....

Can you really get a Mac mini for free?

The short answer is: Of course not!

Here's the long answer.

You've seen the ads, possibly even on this site: Get a Palm, a gift card, an iPod, an iBook, or an Apple Mac mini for free. The list of these "free" items is endless. Maybe you've even clicked on one of the ad links and decided it was just a scam to get your email address.

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MailFrontier Phishing IQ Test

Mail Frontier has put together a good test to test of your ability to spot a email phishing scam. Phishing emails try to trick you into following a link in the email and enter personal info like usernames, password, addresses, phone numbers, birthdates and every social security numbers. This emails are getting better and better all the time. They use to be rather easy to spot because the layout was so crappy and the spelling was horrible. Banks seem to be the most targeted. I have received many emails claiming to be from Bank of America. The problem is that I have never had an account with Bank of America. Those, needless to say, are easy to spot. It is easy to protect yourself against these attacks. All you have to do is NOT click on links in ANY emails. Simply start your browser and manually type the address of the site which the email claims to be coming from.

The DOs and DON'Ts of Picking Up a Girl in the Computer Lab

Attention all geeks!! Read this now. It could just change your life. Let's face it, you could use a change.

Aging computers hobble Homeland Security

The Department of Homeland Security is stuck....stuck ten years in the past has far as tech goes. Can you believe that there are computers within some departments that are still running Windows 95 because certain software does not work with anything else. I guess there could be a possible bright side to this though. When was the last time you heard about a security flaw being discovered in Windows 95? Security by obscurity is what I always say.

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Man eats underwear to beat breathalyzer

I think it is save to say that they guy would have failed the breathalyzer test. I just can't see a sober person thinking of this. This has to be the result of the "I am drunk and don't care because I won't remember it in the morning" thought process. Doesn't a sock make more sense? You have to check this out at least for the picture.

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Sony launches Socom Hell Week

Taking a page from Microsoft's book of alternate reality advertising stunts, Sony has created "SOCOM Hell Week". The url "socomhellweek.com" was hidden in an ad that appeared in several gaming magazines. The stunt will take 20 Socom gamers and put them through military training. (Read: After abysmal sales, Sony desperately seeks attention to Socom)

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Movie Company Files Federal Piracy Suit Against Local Ohio Man

BLUE ASH, Ohio -- A DVD that retails for $21.99 could cost a local man more than $100,000, News 5's John London reported.

Read more...

To make a long story short, these days the MPAA and the RIAA look at everyone as criminals. They believe that everyone is out to get them. That is why they have implemented some horrible copy protection to try and protect them. Just ask Sony/BMG about that. Rootkits anyone? The worst part is that the people who want to steal movies and music will do so anyway because they are smart enough to get around the copy protection. Copy protection only hurts the normal, honest person who actually pays for this stuff. All copy protection does is turn all those normal, honest people into hackers just so they can use what they bought. Basically, it is just one big messy circle.

Musical breast implants

Does the world really needs this? Are there not more important things to work on and study. I don't even want to get into how you would change the volume or move from song to song.

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Computer chips that store music could soon be built into a woman's breast implants.

One boob could hold an MP3 player and the other the person's whole music collection.

BT futurology, who have developed the idea, say it could be available within 15 years.

BT Laboratories' analyst Ian Pearson said flexible plastic electronics would sit inside the breast. A signal would be relayed to headphones, while the device would be controlled by Bluetooth using a panel on the wrist.

According to The Sun he said: "It is now very hard for me to thing of breast implants as just decorative. If a woman has something implanted permanently, it might as well do something useful."

The sensors around the body linked through the electrical impulses in the chips may also be able to warn wearers about heart murmurs, blood pressure increases, diabetes and breast cancer.

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A scene from the Matrix---in ascii!!!

Saw this link over on Digg and I just had to post this on my blog. The scene is the bullet scene where Neo and a agent have a shootout on the roof just before getting into a helicopter. For those of you who don't know what ASCII is it is just simply letters, numbers and symbols, you know, A-Z, +- and 1 2 3. Someone took the time to recreate this scene and only used letters to do it. I wonder if it has hand coded?? If it was all I have to say it WOW!!!!! If you ever start to thing that your life is boring just think of this and it should make you feel better.

Microsoft Sells 39% of Xbox 360s in 1st Two Days of Japan Debut

Microsoft Corp. sold 39 percent of its new Xbox 360 game console in the first two days it was available in Japan, the world's second-biggest market for video games, according to market researcher Enterbrain Inc.

Microsoft, which started selling the Xbox 360 on Dec. 10, sold 62,135 of the 159,000 consoles it shipped, according to Tokyo-based Enterbrain. That compares with about 123,000 units sold in the first three days for the first Xbox, which debuted on Feb. 22, 2002, the report said.

The Redmond, Washington-based software maker's first Xbox was outsold by Sony Corp.'s PlayStation 2 about 36-to-one in Japan, and seven-to-one by Nintendo Co.'s GameCube. Yoshihiro Maruyama, the head of Japan's Xbox operations, in September said Microsoft ``can't call it a victory'' unless it wins on Sony and Nintendo's home turf.

Awesome Password Utilities

I ran some of these password recovery tools and was in awe as to how many were there to see ! Wide range of password recovery tools and there all good.

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Coke to launch coffee-infused Coke Blak

Coca-Cola Co., the world's No. 1 soft drink company, on Wednesday said it will launch a coffee-infused soft drink called Coca-Cola Blak in various markets around the world in 2006.

The news of the launch came hours before Coke Chief Executive Neville Isdell was scheduled to address financial analysts and investors in New York.

The new drink, a combination of Coca-Cola Classic and coffee extracts, will be first launched in France in January before being rolled out in the United States and other markets during 2006.
A Coke spokesperson said Coca-Cola Blak will be a mid-calorie drink, similar to Coca-Cola C2, which was launched in April 2004 and contains half the sugar, calories and carbohydrates of regular colas. The formula for the new beverage is expected to vary based on local tastes.
Analysts have said one of the keys to the company's future is capturing more consumers who have moved away from sugary soft drinks to diet versions, or to healthier low- or no-calorie beverages.

Non tech but it must be posted...

THE BENGALS ARE NOW THE KING OF THE HILL IN THE AFC NORTH!!

After losing to Baltimore Ravans and the Indy Colts I think the Steelers where confindient that they would end the skid against the Bengals. No steeler player would admit it of course but I think you could see it on their faces and the way they were carrying themselfs on the field. Should should have been cofindient because they have a great record against the Bengals not to mention that they put a hurting on Cincy just a few weeks early in The Jungle. Confindience can be a quite killer though. A steelers player told a reporter after the game that these are not the Bengals we know, they have gotten good. Oh how the mighty have fallen. They've long been known as the Bungles, but that more appropriately described the Steelers' play yesterday. Ben Roethlisberger threw three interceptions, and his teammates fumbled four times, dropped passes, played poorly on special teams and contributed just the right amount of penalties to put the cherry on top of a loss that might well cause them to miss the playoffs. The Steelers lead in almost all the stats but stats only look good on paper. This game was a great example of that. You still have to go out there and play sixty minutes of NFL footbal. After fifteen years of the season be over after about week three, I can now howler HOW DEY!!!! without getting thing thrown in my general direction.

360 degree rotating wall outlet

For the first time in history, the receptacles in your wall outlet can rotate 360 degrees. Useful? Who wants one? Anyone?

Apple.com: 'Welcome to iPod 101'

Apple has posted "iPod 101," a new section of Apple.com dedicated to helping iPod owners maximize their iPod experience. Apple.com reads:If you're a new iPod owner or simply need a refresher course on how to get the most out of your iPod, you've come to the right place. Welcome to iPod 101: Your guide to rockin' out, gettin' down, and boogieing with your iPod, iPod nano, iPod mini, or iPod shuffle.Whether you're a Mac or Windows user, iPod 101 contains tons of information that'll help you enjoy your iPod to its fullest and guide you on your way to becoming iTunes savvy (we're using iTunes 6 in our course materials). Get ready to walk through the virtual aisles of the iTunes Music Store; learn how to sync your music, contacts, calendars, and more; admire your pretty pictures (and force others to do the same); watch TV shows and video; and find out what to do when things don't go as planned.

Ready for class to start?

Welcome to iPod 101.... Please take your seats....you just might learn something.

IRS Warns of e-Mail Scam about Tax Refunds

The Internal Revenue Service today issued a consumer alert about an Internet scam in which consumers receive an e-mail informing them of a tax refund. The e-mail, which claims to be from the IRS, directs the consumer to a link that requests personal information, such as Social Security number and credit card information.

Official warning

Microsoft We-Syp

You know all those anoying Microsoft 'Send Error Report' windows? well you every wonderd what they do with them?

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The 100 Best Products of 2005

Mozilla Firefox has been named the number one product of 2005. This is great. Reports of shown that Internet Explorer has been slowing losing its strangle hold on the web browser market share and this just backs it up. The best thing about Firefox is that you can have multiple pages open without junking up your taskbar with ten different sessions of IE. God bless the person who came up with a little thing called tabbed browsing. Firefox is for the most part dumb when it comes to spyware and adware. That is really my only problem with IE. Any website can pop up a little security window with a yes and no buttons. Everyone usually just hits yes because they want to get to the site and don't want to be bother by these little speed bumps. It also doesn't help the every with a windows computer as admin rights by default but the is for a different post.

The top 100 list the PC World put together is good. I don't know what some of them are but I will enjoy reading about them and doing a little research.

The 100 Best Products of 2005

Understanding Active Directory (AD)

Understanding Active Directory (AD) is an important step in fully understanding Windows 2000 and its implications for your organization. This article is the first in a series about Active Directory, its features, and how it can fit into your organization's network structure. In this first part, Jim discusses the history and inner structure of Active Directory to give you a background for putting it in place and designing your directory according to your organization's needs.

Another IE Flaw Puts Google Desktop at Risk

IE Flaw Puts Google Desktop at Risk

Internet Explorer is not having a good week. I am not a Microsoft basher but this is starting to get out of hand. I hope this isn't an attempt on Microsoft's part to beat back their biggest competitor. This could became something big....or it will probably be forgotten about by the time you finish reading this.

Microsoft warns of browser security hole

Patch time again. If you haven't run windows update for a while please do it soon. Not only does it help to protect your computer and your important information, it will make the internet just a little bit nicer.

The timing couldn't be better...for Firefox. As Mozilla celebrates the release of its latest browser, Microsoft has had to warn of a critical unpatched bug in Internet Explorer.

Microsoft Security Bulletin MS05-053

Vulnerabilities in Graphics Rendering Engine Could Allow Code Execution (896424)

Try Firefox....the other web browser.

Microsoft's Vista Appears to Be Off Schedule

Despite claims by Microsoft during a conference call this week that Windows Vista is on schedule, a presentation given to partners just last month shows otherwise.

In the days following last week's debut of Microsoft's Xbox 360, video game fan sites and the mainstream press seemed to be in a race to outdo each other with reports of problems with the new consoles.

I don't have one nor do I own the original Xbox. The only console I have is a PS2. I find somewhat hard to play the type of games that I like to play on a console having spent years playing games on a computer and using a keyboard and a mouse. The mouse is your friend in a first person shooter. I have seen the Xbox 360 in person and the visuals are amazing and the specs are really nice too. The specs should allow it to stand the test of time. The only downside I see is that you must have an HD TV to really get the full experience of next gen games. I think this gem my be a little ahead of its time. I don't have and HD TV and I am pretty sure I am not the only one. Then again, most hardcore console gamers wouldn't think twice and upgrade their TVs accordingly.

Revolution to be unveiled on May 9, 2006

Nintendo will take the wraps off the next-generation console at its press briefing before next year's E3 expo.

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Half Life 2 Survivor Preview

Half-Life 2 Survivor was recently shown off in Japan. It features a right hand joystick for movement, a left hand joystick for aiming and shooting, a left foot pedal for ducking, and a right foot pedal for jumping. It also has an IC card slot where you can insert a memory card to record your game progress.

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Xbox vs. Xbox 360: Do You Really Need HD?

Just like the title says, do you really need HD, yet? Great comparison showing the difference between games that are on the Xbox, and Xbox360, just put your cursor over the image to see the difference.

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Microsoft says that only 3% of Xbox 360s are defective

Joystiq is reporting that despite the buzz surrounding defective Xbox 360s, Microsoft claims that only 3% of the units sold have been faulty, which is below the industry average.

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