Tech Junky

GIMP, the free, open source graphics editor, just got it’s latest 2.6 version. The 2.6 release brings with it some important features like changes into the editor’s interface and most importantly, 32 bit support. Other features include a new GEGL-based backend, sectional and polygonal selection with the Free Select Tool, better control over windows, menus, toolbars and docked tools. There is also a “brush dynamics” sub-menu that provides editors good control over their pixel-pushing tools. There are some more small changes in this release too.

GIMP 2.6 is available as a free download.
Platforms: Windows/Mac/Linux (all platforms)

Download GIMP.

Nokia is a bit late to the touchscreen war — they’ve been building up on ‘tube’ for quite a time now. But there’s this rumour that Nokia is finally gonna announce the Tube on October 2. You can’t do much till then, just sit back and watch.

Still, a pic (above) spotted by Mobile.cz shows the Nokia 5800 Xpress Music phone. The expected specifications of the phone include:

* Quad-band GSM (850/900/1800/1900), UMTS 2100, HSDPA connectivity, GSM/Edge
* Symbian S60 OS
* 3.2′ 640×360px, 16M color touchscreen display
* Built-in A-GPS and Wi-Fi
* 3.2mpx autofocus camera with dual LED flash
* 3.5mm headphone jack, TV-Out port
* 150MB internal memory
* microSDHC memory card slot (up to 16GB, 8GB memory card bundled with the set)
* Weight: 109 grams
* Dimensions: 111×52×15.5mm

Well, that’s all for now. Let’s see when the phone goes official.

Many of us are familiar with 802.11a, b and g wireless technologies which are being widely used for wireless connectivity. Apart from these, some have also shifted to 802.11n which is an improved version with higher data bandwidth and MIMO (Multiple-In Multiple-Out) technology. Though these offer wider network coverage along with higher data transmission, they also draw huge power during continuous wireless data transmission. Seeing that the current technology is not very eco-friendly, the IEEE community has drafted a new Wi-Fi standard that focuses mainly on reducing the power wastage and maintaining a green environment.

Work on this standard initially started in 2004 and is expected to be completed by 2010, but some main features like power saving have already been defined. One of the attractive features of this standard include a Wireless Network Management Sleep Mode that will enable a wireless device to have a longer hibernate duration, which in turn will save more power. Besides putting the wireless device into idle mode, the protocol can also wake up any 802.11v compatible device through “Wake on WLAN” without any user’s interference.

Apart from these, there will be new station management features that will increase network performance and strengthen security. The only thing which concerns is that it shouldn’t be too long for the industry to come out with an 802.11v enabled device.

It sometimes feels boring seeing those yellow folder icons in WIndows again and again. You can change those icons to your own favorite icons through a pretty easy way. Open notepad and copy the following lines into it:

[.ShellClassInfo]

ICONFILE=Drive:\Path\Icon.ico

Replace the ICONFILE path to your own icon’s path and save this text file as ‘desktop.ini‘ in the folder whose icon you want to replace. Now since this file will be displayed each time you open that folder, there is a chance that it can be deleted by mistake. To prevent this, change it’s attributes to ‘Hidden and Read Only’ by using the ATTRIB command through CMD or by properties menu.

You can also give your drives new icons. To change a drive’s icon, add the following lines to notepad:

[Autorun]

ICON=Drive:\Path\Icon_name.extension

Save this file as ‘autorun.inf‘ in the root of the drive whose icon you want to change.
For Example, if you want to change the icon of your D:\ drive with an icon located at ‘D:\icon_name.ico’,  then save the ‘autorun.inf’ file in root i.e. D:\ with the icon path being the location of your icon.

This trick of changing a folder’s icon is pretty simple and fast as you don’t have to right click each folder and then change it’s icon from the properties menu. You can mass copy the ‘desktop.ini’ file you created above to as many folders as you want and change their icons.

Buffalo’s new slim Portable HD is actually Samsung inside but resembles the one used in MacBook Air. It’s really slim and you can easily carry it in your pocket. It’s just about the size of a biz card holder.

Though it’s very light but when it comes to pricing, the 30GB model weighs at $120 wheres the 60GB comes in at $170.