Dangerous file extension type with Virus / Worm / Trojan possibility

A few days ago, one of my friend's colleague open an attachment file with .com extension inside an email, and the PC became infected with some kind of virus...

So, I wrote her a letter informing her some of the "popular" type of dangerous file extension that could point out a Virus / Worm / Trojan possibility within.

The list is as follow:
.bat , .vbs , .exe , .pif , .scr , .com
.dll , .reg , .vb , .js , .cpl , .cmd

I might not be 100% correct. ( Please correct any mistake by leaving a comment , TQ )
But I would rather be careful then be sorry!

Oh, if any of you have any to add to this list, please leave a comment too! After all, they are ever evolving! Scary isn't it!

So, the next time you ever need to open an email attachment, please look at its file extension closely. If it contains any of the above-mention extension, chances are it might be a Virus / Trojan file, especially if it from someone you don't know.

Even if you know the sender, it doesn't mean it's 100% safe! WHY? Because today Virus/Worm/Trojan once infected your PC, it can scan your whole hard drive for email addresses which it can then use to send out infected emails with one of YOUR friend name as sender, without he/she even knowing it!

Oh, one last thing, always make sure you update your antivirus definition & its scan engine before receiving your mail! Good Luck, pal!

Prenatal Omega-3 to boost baby brain!

Omega-3 may boost baby’s brainpower!

Fri 2007 Jun 22,
By Amy Norton

NEW YORK (Reuters Health) - Children whose mothers get enough omega-3 fatty acid during pregnancy may have sharper problem-solving skills in infancy, a small study suggests.

Researchers found that 9-month-olds whose mothers had eaten DHA-fortified bars during pregnancy performed better on a test of problem-solving abilities than infants whose mothers had not added DHA to their diets.

DHA, or docosahexaenoic acid, is one of the major omega-3 fatty acids. Because of the fat’s vital role in brain development, experts recommend that pregnant women get 300 milligrams (mg) of DHA each day.

However, research shows that few U.S. women meet this goal.

The new findings, published in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, suggest that women who do get adequate DHA may aid their infants’ cognitive abilities.

The study included 29 women in their 24th week of pregnancy. Half were randomly assigned to eat a cereal bar supplemented with 300 mg of DHA from fish oil, while the rest were given a bar with added corn oil to serve as a comparison. On average, the women ate five bars per week.

Their babies underwent standard tests of infant problem-solving and memory at the age of 9 months. The problem-solving task tested the infants’ ability to retrieve a toy that was covered by a cloth.

In general, the researchers found, babies in the DHA group performed better on the test than those in the comparison group. There was no difference between the two groups on the memory test.

It’s not entirely clear what the better problem-solving performance at 9 months of age will mean later in life. However, other studies have found that DHA supplements during pregnancy seem to offer a “developmental advantage” later in childhood as well, Dr. Carol J. Lammi-Keefe, a co-author on the current study, told Reuters Health.

One study found that giving women fish oil during pregnancy and during the first few months of breastfeeding seemed to boost their children’s IQ scores at age 4.

“DHA during pregnancy has benefits for infant neural development, and most pregnant women can benefit from increasing the intake of DHA in their diets,” said Lammi-Keefe, of Louisiana State University in Baton Rouge.

Women can go a “long way” toward getting 300 mg of DHA per day.

Pregnant and breastfeeding women should avoid certain fatty fish, however, because they could have high mercury levels. These include shark, swordfish, king mackerel and tile fish.

SOURCE: American Journal of Clinical Nutrition, June 2007

Alpha-linolenic acid (ALA) is what is known as an omega 3 fat, and is a precursor of the longer chain omega 3 fats eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA) - ie EPA and to a lesser extent DHA can be made in the body from ALA.

Sources of Omega 3 Fats
Flaxseed oil : 1 tablespoon (14g) :
provides 8.0g of ALA and insignificant levels of LA

Flaxseed, ground : 1 tablespoon (24g) :
provides 3.8g of ALA

Rape Seed oil : 1 tablespoon (14g) :
provides 1.6g of ALA and only twice as much LA

Walnuts : 1 oz (28g) :
provides 2.6g of ALA but also four times as much LA

Tofu : 4.5oz (126g) :
provides 0.7g of ALA but also seven times as much LA

It is also important to ensure that the intake of LA is not too high compared with ALA since a higher intake of LA interferes with the process in which the human body converts ALA into the even more beneficial EPA and DHA, so a LA to ALA ratio of around 4 to 1 or slightly lower is considered to be the optimum.

Canon PIXMA MP160 link error code 2,155,0

I brought the wonderful Canon PIXMA MP160 Multifunction All-In-One Inkjet Printer-scanner last week. Had I have a few hundred extra I would have choose MP530... But then again, it's cheap and work prefectly for most of my project. So, why spend more?

Anyway, my 1st choice is MP180, but no store in my neighborhood had any left...and I'm desperate for a scanner to finish my project. And so, I have it there -- the MP160 on my desk.

I use a 1.5m shielded premium USB cable when I test drive it for the 1st time. Everything was ok. Since my desk is a bit clamp, I thought I could have free up some more space if I were to move this MP160 to another side-table next to my working table. So I add a cheaper 1.5m USB extension cable to it.

I scan it from Photoshop CS. No problem encountered! Then I try to scan it directly from Canon ScanGear, and what do you know, an error message pop-up "Code 2,155,0 .... " something about cannot link to the scanner! What! How can it be? I was ABLE to scan from using Photoshop CS, why can't I use the default Canon software to scan it? After all, the Photoshop CS while scanning actually calling the same Canon ScanGear software to scan the photo...

Of course, never give up so easily, as I believing almost nothing is impossible, I search a few hours on the net, google this and that... The conclusion: either I buy a expensive premium 3m USB cable, OR make some changes to my work place...

Since I'm not scanning like 24x7, and more like once a month thing. So, you guess it, I go for the latter, clear some room from my work-desk!

So, the score: Canon 1, Me 1/2. :)

Canon MP160 problem & error

For those that look for Canon PIXMA MP160 link error code 2,155,0 , to make thing easier to find the solution: just use a better quality USB printer cable, or use a shorter one. That would be able to solve your Canon PIXMA MP160 problem.

For detail story, welcome to read my blog at: http://cris8uk.blogspot.com/2007/07/canon-pixma-mp160-link-error-code-21550.html

If this still can't solve your problem, welcome to drop me a comment. I may be able to help you solving it. I love to solve hardware problem. Kind of like my hobby already... hehe...

Having virtual ESP is now possible!

Ever thought of moving thing with just your thought? Sound like ESP?

This would be a Sci-Fi, if I told you this story 10 years ago.
Now? It's possible too!

Just recently, Hitachi develops a head gear to read your brain activity & enable it to control other devices... and so you have it: Move the train with your brain

By HIROKO TABUCHI, Associated Press Writer Fri Jun 22, 3:01 PM ET


HATOYAMA, Japan - Forget the clicker: A new technology in Japan could let you control electronic devices without lifting a finger simply by reading brain activity.
The "brain-machine interface" developed by Hitachi Inc. analyzes slight changes in the brain's blood flow and translates brain motion into electric signals.

A cap connects by optical fibers to a mapping device, which links, in turn, to a toy train set via a control computer and motor during one recent demonstration at Hitachi's Advanced Research Laboratory in Hatoyama, just outside Tokyo.

"Take a deep breath and relax," said Kei Utsugi, a researcher, while demonstrating the device.

At his prompting, a reporter did simple calculations in her head, and the train sprang forward — apparently indicating activity in the brain's frontal cortex, which handles problem solving.

Activating that region of the brain — by doing sums or singing a song — is what makes the train run, according to Utsugi. When one stops the calculations, the train stops, too.


Underlying Hitachi's brain-machine interface is a technology called optical topography, which sends a small amount of infrared light through the brain's surface to map out changes in blood flow.

Although brain-machine interface technology has traditionally focused on medical uses, makers like Hitachi and Japanese automaker Honda Motor Co. have been racing to refine the technology for commercial application.

Hitachi's scientists are set to develop a brain TV remote controller letting users turn a TV on and off or switch channels by only thinking.

Honda, whose interface monitors the brain with an MRI machine like those used in hospitals, is keen to apply the interface to intelligent, next-generation automobiles.

The technology could one day replace remote controls and keyboards and perhaps help disabled people operate electric wheelchairs, beds or artificial limbs.

Initial uses would be helping people with paralyzing diseases communicate even after they have lost all control of their muscles.

Since 2005, Hitachi has sold a device based on optical topography that monitors brain activity in paralyzed patients so they can answer simple questions — for example, by doing mental calculations to indicate "yes" or thinking of nothing in particular to indicate "no."

"We are thinking of various kinds of applications," project leader Hideaki Koizumi said. "Locked-in patients can speak to other people by using this kind of brain machine interface."

A key advantage to Hitachi's technology is that sensors don't have to physically enter the brain. Earlier technologies developed by U.S. companies like Neural Signals Inc. required implanting a chip under the skull.

Still, major stumbling blocks remain.
Size is one issue, though Hitachi has developed a prototype compact headband and mapping machine that together weigh only about two pounds.

Another would be to tweak the interface to more accurately pick up on the correct signals while ignoring background brain activity.

Any brain-machine interface device for widespread use would be "a little further down the road," Koizumi said.

He added, however, that the technology is entertaining in itself and could easily be applied to toys.

"It's really fun to move a model train just by thinking," he said.

Imagine playing games, driving a car, flying a jet with just a thought... that would be great!

hmm... just wonder when can we start to cook a meal & wash all the dishes with just a thought!
( HaHa, for now, it's only in my dream! )

Even "after life" is possible!

I don't even want to believe this!

ITN - Friday, June 22 01:52 pm
If a punter can prove the existence of an afterlife to a bookmaker he stands to make £1 million in winnings.
Paranormal investigator Ross Hemsworth, 49, has been offered rather poor odds of 10,000/1, but his £100 bet will net him £1 million.
If successful, the self-titled "scientific investigator of anomalous phenomena" would become possibly the most famous man in modern history.

Mr Hemsworth from Glastonbury denies his scheme is crackpot and said a team of scientists and doctors are working around the clock to prove existence of the afterlife.
He said could not provide details of the evidence he is set to produce as it is being kept "under wraps".
The evidence must be provided and accepted by bookmakers William Hill before the end of the year or the business entrepreneur would lose his bet.

He said: "There is something out there trying to make contact.
"With the evidence we have got we are not a million miles away from proving it.
"The whole point of the project is to prove that there is something there.
"More and more people are coming away from religion, there are more and more wars.
"If we can prove this we hope it will make some difference to peoples' lives."

To me, personally, afterlife is better than no afterlife.
why?
Because it would make people think before they do anything onto others!
The karma thing... for every action there's a reaction!
[ you get a good afterlife if you do a lot of good this life;
you get a bad one if you do plenty of nasty things this life...
hmmm... so I guess that make us think: we must have done a good share of goods & bads in our last life, isn't it? :) ]
Now, with that would you dare to treat others badly, or kill/murder/bomb others?
If you do, you'll get that in return... plus the "interest" too!
Haha! Now that would be good wouldn't it? :p