A few days ago I discovered what I believe to be a USB port on my computer that’s going out. Nothing seems to work when you plug a device into it, my phone doesn’t even start charging when I plug it in to that port.

The question came to my mind today is how do I know if the USB port is having an actual hardware failure issue, or if it’s just a software driver issue? How can I match one of the USB ports displayed in my Device Manager, with one of the physical USB ports on my computer?

I’ve got two USB ports in the back and two on the side of my laptop. Is there a way to match them some how? Do I need some sort of schematic from Toshiba letting me know what’s connected to what somehow?

Apple quietly updated it’s entry level MacBook. The white polycarbonate MacBook received a processor upgrade from 2.0 Ghz to 2.13 Ghz. Apart from this it also got an hard drive upgrade. It now packs a 160GB hard drive.

[image courtesy of Apple]

This upgrade puts it up the low end Aluminum MacBook who’s processor is still currently 2.0 Ghz. The update polycarbonate MacBook is now a much better value for money notebook for students with it’s price tag of $999.

The last week has been filled with frenzy here in India with rumors about a $10 laptop. Not $100. It is $10. The prototype designed and developed by IISC Bangalore and IIT Madras (my alma mater) was unveiled today. Immediately, it has been hit by very negative reviews with reporters disappointed that it isn’t really even a netbook with scaled-down features. Of course, you can’t yet get a computer that costs 40 times less and has similar functionality.

Called “Sakshat”, the concept is similar to OLPC. While screenshots aren’t out yet, Sakshat has a small screen, 2GB disk space, wi-fi connectivity, computing capabilities, and perhaps some open source software. It has been created to hold textbooks and access online e-learning materials. As an alternative to text-books.

The first batch is expected to be shipped to some colleges in another six months.

Read The Hindu’s article covering the prototype launch (has one image).

Ever wondered what the network connection details actually mean?

Physical Address: Also called the Media Access Control address, is a serial number that can uniquely identify your ethernet card or wireless adapter.

IP Address: An Internet Protocol address is assigned by your LAN provider(say, a modem at homes) to each of the systems connected to a network through the provider.

Subnet Mask: When there are multiple systems connected to a network, the network is divided into subnetworks to avoid interference (traffic), and routers manage the overall traffic. In a manner of speaking, the subnets can be differentiated by the subnet masks.

Default Gateway: As the name suggests, this is the (IP) address of the node that allows access to a different network. Say your modem connects to the Internet, and your PC connects to the modem. The modem acts as the gateway for your PC to the Internet.

DHCP Server: Dynamic Host Configuration Protocol can be used by systems to obtain configuration information to connect to a network without any manual intervention. e.g. You usually don’t configure any network information on your home PC. You say “Obtain an IP address automatically” and leave it at that, and this allows multiple systems to connect to the same network without each system being designated a set of hard-written network configuration details. The DHCP Server handles this.

DNS Server: A Domain Name System server stores all the domain names and corresponding IP addresses. When you type a URL in your browser address bar, the DNS Server translates the domain name into an understandable format (IP) before the requested details can be fetched from the website you wish.

WINS Server: You may look at Windows Internet Name Service as Microsoft’s version of DNS. There are differences, but the final result to the end user is more or less the same. And either of DNS and WINS servers suffice.

Newbies, you mostly know the tiny network icons in your system tray. Click on the icon that represents the network through which you are connected to the Internet. Go to the “Support” tab, click on “Details” and you will see the “Network Connection Details” I have mentioned above.

What a journey the last 25 years has been! Here is wishing Mac a very happy birthday.

The first Apple Macintosh was launched on Jan 18, 1984. It was the first commercially successful computer with a GUI and a mouse instead of CLI.

To the left is the first Mac and to the right, the latest.

Jef Raskin envisioned the first Mac and wanted to name it McIntosh, after his favorite type of Apple, but had to settle for Macintosh. That compromise allows us to call it a Mac.

One specialty of Mac is that Apple oversees all aspects of its hardware and pre-installs its own operating system (currently the Mac OS X 10.5 “Leopard”) on all Macs. Macs have always been special like the Ford Mustang, something that everyone wishes to own, but few do because of their considerably higher pricing compared to the Windows PCs.

Macs are lauded for their user-friendliness, performance, aesthetics, and quality, like most other Apple products. Check out the Mac line and tell me if you find nothing mouth-watering.

Computeworld is featuring a special series on this occasion.

For all kinds of information about Macs, visit our sister blog The After Mac.

Image Source: Wikipedia.

After the touchpad mouse failure (overuse and abuse) and the keyboard failure (accidental food spillovers), one of the most common failures in a laptop is the hard disk failure.

A quick survey using Google tells us that there are nearly a million results for laptop hard disk, about a half million each for laptop hard disk recovery and laptop hard disk replacement, and a quarter million for laptop hard disk failure.

Let us look into mechanical hard disk failures as there are recovery tools which can very well work in case of other kinds of failures.

One obvious reason why a hard disk might mechanically fail is when it is dropped off a height. Despite what stress tests assure you, laptops are only as proportionally safe as humans when it comes to jumping off heights. While we might be able to walk again, they might not always be able to run.

One non-obvious reason why a hard disk might mechanically fail is when you take it for a walk. Laptop is a portable device, so you hold it and walk from the kitchen (it shouldn’t even have been there) to the TV room, or worse, from your office to your home. I do it all the time. Only I suspend the laptop, if not shut it down.

Hard disks as the “disk” suggests are mechanical devices. When you walk a hard disk while it is running (while I/Os are being performed), you put it in a pickle, like you would yourself find when you were to drink while running.

The large momentum you give it while walking can conflict with its own momentum at a time when its head is trying to read or write to a sector, and this can cause mechanical failure.

So.

Don’t walk the laptop.

Not when it is running. Shut down or at least suspend all activity before doing that.

I came across an amusing short film through one of my twitter friends, @stanleytang. The video has some wonderful visual effects, takes unexpected turns, and keeps us at the edge of the seat. Inspired by Transformers, what starts off as a harmless debate about whether the PC or the Mac is greater turns into a full-blown battle between… you will see what.

I am looking forward to the sequels. Tell me there are sequels. Dan Chianelli and Nick Granlee are the directors of the movie. The latter calls himself a digital impositor and you can find more of his videos on his website.

Follow me on Twitter.

We are still more than ten days from the new year, but a majority of the world has already started retrospecting the last twelve months and forecasting the next twelve.

Jayvee inspects the culture of FAIL on the Internet and finds that video advertising is going to decline. Actually, the rate of growth of online advertising has reached a saturation point even though online advertising itself is continuing to rise.

In these tough times, when the economy has been slowing down, Clair suggests that choosing Linux and open source software has become more necessary. For those who are already in that path, there is a free Ubuntu training course. Ubuntu is Linux for human beings, isn’t it?

A survey found that only 1% of people are using Google Docs, and many of those use Microsoft Office already. However, Colleen feels that the Microsoft’s stranglehold on office suites may be slipping away with Microsoft promising and postponing their next release and the availability of too many options for the users.

Juan says that 2008 is the year of iPhone, which is not very debatable in the user sense though this is also the year for RIAs, Twitter (@bsravanin) and cloud computing. But then, he is an Apple guy. :-) He also shares the offer that MacUpdate is having as a holiday promo. A good offer, far better than dreaming about the Apple 24″ LED display which is about $900!

Speaking of promos, Jason has a post about the Sears Wish Promotion, similar to the HP Magic Giveaway which has recently ended. There is already several Top 10 lists too, like the top 10 viral videos of 2008. I personally don’t like the fact that these lists do not consider the rest of the year that is still to be lived through. The more important news is, in case you haven’t already heard, that a serious security flaw has been exposed in the Internet Explorer and it is advised to not use it for financial and other sensitive transations of any kind.

While you wait for the security update, be sure to take note of the 8 security bulletins that Microsoft is ending the year with. Various OS users may want to check out the 2008 Service Pack 2 beta releases.

Mice are small and warm and fit in our palms cozily. Some have three buttons, some have two and a wheel, some have three buttons where one of them is also a wheel. Some have only one ball, like Hitler, and some don’t even have that.

Computer mouse, the pointing device, celebrated its 40th birthday sometime during the last week. I wish it many many happy returns of the day.

In 1968, Doug Engelbart and his team at the Stanford Research Institute first created a carved wooden block mounted on wheels, with a long cable trailing out the back. Xerox developed the mouse during the 70’s and released the first commercial product in 1981. Apple acquired a license for the mouse and sold it along with the Apple Macintosh in 1984. Since then, mouse has been a default input method.

However, computers continued to be sold without mice even in the 90’s. I remember learning computers in school and they didn’t have mice. That was the time when Pac-man and Prince of Persia had been hot, but that is another story.

Mechanical mice ruled the roost until the late 90’s when Optical mice suddenly became household for being very durable though costlier. There have also been Intertia mice, 3D mice and Tactile mice but I’ve never seen any of these. Though not a different technology in handling sensitivity, Wireless mice are now slowly gaining popularity what with portability becoming essential.

While the popularity of touch-screen technology is rising like a storm, I think the mouse will continue to live longer.

Image Source: Marcin Wichary.

I told you about my recent interest in netbooks. I want to test if it sufficiently supports a writer’s lifestyle, which I’ve been embracing slowly. I had an eye on the Dell Inspiron Mini 9 in particular. Today, I ordered one at $434.

The best thing about Dell is the customizations available during purchase, and the upgradability and extensibility options later. The following are the initial features I went for: Ubuntu OS, 1GB DDR2, 16GB solid state drive, 1.1M pixel webcam, Obsidian black. Of course, the most important default feature is the Intel Atom Processor which is 100% lead free and is the lowest power-consuming CPU of Intel’s. The processor is also only slightly faster than the old Intel Pentium III processor.

If any of you are going for it, here is a tip. Don’t start building yours through the left-most column. You’ll miss the $40 instant saving that may otherwise be possible. e.g. If I built an Inspiron Mini 9 from “Build Yours” at the left-most column to suit my requirements it would’ve costed me $474, instead of the $434 that it did when I went through the “Build Yours With Ubuntu for $409″.

The product is rated 4.3/5 as of now on the Dell website. I shall post my review once I get to lay my hands on the baby. In the mean time, I should think of a good name. Any suggestions?

Image Source: Dell