Sunday, July 3, 2011

Final score on 'Jeopardy!': Computer 1, humans 0

NEW YORK —
Note to self: Never play "Jeopardy!" with a supercomputer.
That's a useful lesson for me or any mortal who has followed the Man vs. Machine faceoff this week on the popular trivia game show, where on Wednesday the second of two exhibition matches sealed the deal: Watson, the IBM-created megabrain, officially buried his flesh-and-blood opponents, veteran "Jeopardy!" champs Ken Jennings and Brad Rutter.
Watson's winning score was $41,413 for the day ($77,147 for both games), while Jennings notched $19,200 ($24,000 overall) and Rutter reached $11,200 ($21,600 overall).
For crushing his rivals, Watson gets a total prize of $1 million, which IBM has said will go to the charities World Vision and World Community Grid.
The vanquished Jennings and Rutter get $300,000 and $200,000, respectively, half of which each said they would be donating to charities.
"I for one welcome our new computer overlords," Jennings wrote alongside his correct Final Jeopardy response ("Dracula" author Bram Stoker), apparently trading on a line from "The Simpsons." Clearly Jennings is a good sport with a sense of humor.
But where does this leave viewers? Me, I'll take Mixed Emotions for a thousand, Alex.
Watching this week's clash, I was reminded of the legend of John Henry, the folk hero from a bygone century who was born with a hammer in his hand and raced against a mechanized, steam-powered drill. He won that race. Then, having made his point, he died of exhaustion.
Fortunately, neither Jennings nor Rutter expired from mental exertion. Nor did they beat the machine.
But these humans put up a fight. Unlike Tuesday, when Watson breezed through most of the half-hour, on Wednesday he seemed distracted, not quite on his game, while his opponents jumped in with correct responses such as Ikea, Robert De Niro, and F1 (the computer key that's also the abbreviation for Grand Prix auto racing).
Watson also seemed ill-equipped for the "One Buck or Less" category (maybe he should shop more).
But nothing could stop him.
advertising
Watching these "Jeopardy!" episodes, I thought of one of cinema's most devilish control freaks, HAL the computer from the sci-fi masterpiece, "2001: A Space Odyssey." I wondered what Watson, seemingly so genial as he played the game, would have said had someone ordered him to "open the pod bay doors."
"I'm sorry, Alex. I'm afraid I can't do that," Watson might have replied as he went psycho.
Meanwhile, this contest fed my suspicion that longtime "Jeopardy!" host Alex Trebek might actually be a kindred spirit of Watson. Isn't there something pleasantly robotic about Trebek's on-air style? Was he, too, born at IBM?
Granted, watching Watson's instant, often flawless command of information was inspiring, especially for someone like me, who often can't even remember where I set my reading glasses.
The occasions when he stumbled only made him more endearing - almost human.
On Tuesday's show, Watson blew Final Jeopardy, whose clue was: "Its largest airport is named for a World War II hero; its second largest, for a World War II battle."
Both Rutter and Jennings knew the right response was Chicago. Watson somehow came up with Toronto.
And, although usually a literary whiz, he was flummoxed by a Double Jeopardy question on Wednesday. His response: Dorothy Parker. Correct response: "The Elements of Style."
It was fun to see Watson jump the tracks. And it was fun to see him recover the next moment, as if nothing had happened. Right or wrong, Watson (named for IBM founder Thomas J. Watson) never lost his composure.
And mostly he ruled, proving himself conversant in subjects as far-flung as leprosy and Franz Liszt, the Olympics and hedgehogs.
But as thrilling as it's been to watch Watson work, it's also been unnerving.
Who wanted to see champs such as Rutter (the show's all-time money-winner with $3.25 million) sweat, or Jennings (who has the longest winning streak at 74 games) sidelined, radiating frustration!
I had to wonder if the deck was stacked against them. The tournament, which was taped last month at the IBM research center in Yorktown Heights, N.Y., obviously gave Watson the home field advantage. Watson doesn't travel, but still ... a bit unfair?
Now that the challenge is decided, I find consolation in remembering that Watson, the computer that trounced a pair of very smart humans, is himself the product of humans.
But still, I can't get past a chilling thought that this digital know-it-all might have lots of other tricks up his sleeve. For example, after winning at "Jeopardy!" could Watson have sat down and written this story, instead of a human?

Google unveils new search tools for computer, phone

Google Inc unveiled a slew of new and future features on Tuesday, including one that will allow people to better coordinate Internet searches on their cellphones and computers and another that will produce sophisticated automated research reports.
At a briefing at Google headquarters in Mountain View, California, executives demonstrated tools to knit its search product on personal computers more closely with cellphones, as well as products to automatically troll the Internet for research topics and generate detailed spreadsheets.
Google also showed off a new feature, available immediately, that lets users view only the most timely search results, narrowing the results for a topic to the past 24 hours or the past week.
Google said it will search blogs and news sites, as well as the general information available online, to provide a fresher picture of certain subjects.
This feature comes amid the rising popularity of so-called real time search products, like the search feature on microblogging site Twitter, which allow users to search up-to-the-minute developments about certain topics online.
Google said users will be able to display results by type of information, such as videos.
A new feature under development will allow a search performed on a desktop PC to automatically show up when the same user logs on to Google from a Web-enabled cellphone.
A tool called Google Squared, available next month, will automatically troll for information on the Internet to create spreadsheets about the topics a person searches.
In the demonstration, a search for small dogs generated a table that listed different breeds of dogs, with key information such as weight and height.
Google executives said they did not expect the product to increase friction with online content publishers who are concerned Google is profiting from their work.
In response to a question about this, Google vice president of Search Products and User Experience Marissa Mayer said Google Squared is very strong in citing where the content in the tables it creates comes from, ultimately driving traffic back to the content creator site.
“The tools we’re launching today offer whole new ways of searching that haven’t previously been available,” Mayer said.

Computer puzzle may ease post-traumatic stress LONDON (Reuters) - Playing Tetris, rated one of the greatest video games of all time, immediately after traumatic events appears to reduce flashbacks that plague sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a British study.

LONDON (Reuters) - Playing Tetris, rated one of the greatest video games of all time, immediately after traumatic events appears to reduce flashbacks that plague sufferers of post-traumatic stress disorder, according to a British study.
The preliminary findings could lead to new treatments to prevent or cut flashbacks that are a hallmark of the condition, also known as PTSD, Oxford University researchers said.
"This is only a first step in showing that this might be a viable approach to preventing post traumatic stress disorder," Emily Holmes, a psychologist who led the study, said.
"This was a pure science experiment about how the mind works from which we can try to understand the bigger picture," Holmes said in a statement.
PTSD can often stem from wartime trauma such as being wounded or seeing others hurt or killed.
Symptoms range from irritability and outbursts of anger to sleep difficulties, trouble concentrating, extreme vigilance and an exaggerated startle response. People also can persistently relive the traumatic event.
The Oxford team showed a film to 40 healthy volunteers that included traumatic images of injury from several sources, including advertisements on the dangers of drunk driving.
INTERFERENCE WITH SENSORY MEMORIES?
After waiting 30 minutes, half the people played Tetris for 10 minutes while the others did nothing. Those who played the game had far fewer flashbacks to the film over the next week.
The game involves manipulating shapes composed of square blocks that fall down the screen to create a horizontal line of blocks without gaps. When a line is created it disappears.
The researchers believe that recognizing the shapes and moving the coloucoloredred building blocks around in the computer game competes with the visions of trauma retained in the sensory part of the brain.
This process may somehow interfere with the way sensory memories are formed in the period following trauma and reduces the number of flashbacks experienced later on, they said this week in the Public Library of Science Journal PLoS ONE.
"We know there is a period of up to six hours in which it is possible to affect certain types of memories that are laid down in the human mind," Catherine Deeprose, who worked on the study, added in a statement.
"We have shown that in healthy volunteers, playing Tetris in this time window can reduce flashback-type memories without wiping out the ability to make sense of the event."

It's called football for a reason

BOCHUM, Germany -- This was worse than the Hand of God goal, when Diego Maradona scored against England with an illegal, but unpenalized, handball. Worse than the officiating at the 2010 World Cup, when Frank Lampard's 20-yard shot had bounced clearly over the line in the first half of the match, yet the goal wasn't given. It was even worse than Geoff Hurst's was-it-over-the-line-or-not goal, against West Germany in 1966.
On Sunday at the Women's World Cup, in a match between Equatorial Guinea and Australia, the inexplicable happened. Bruna, a defender for Equatorial Guinea, picked up the ball in her own penalty box for a good three seconds. The ball, mind you, was still in play, having just bounced off the goal's left side bar. Then Bruna nonchalantly tossed the ball to keeper Miriam like she was playing a game of pick-up at the park.

Miriam punted the ball back into action -- without a whistle, without even a peep from Hungarian ref Gyoengyl Gaal -- and moments later, Equatorial Guinea's Anonma scored in the 21st minute to level things at 1-1. That result could have led to robbing Australia of progressing in the tournament, but as it turned out, the Aussies ended up winning the match, 3-2.

"Some of the referee's decisions weren't the greatest," said Australian player Lisa DeVanna in grand understatement.

"Well, I think I saw something that everyone saw," said Equatorial Guinea coach Marcello Frigerio. "It was a quick scene and we had to focus on what the referee decided. I think it has happened very often that mistakes are made that people don't see."
But everyone saw this epic blunder once again calls into question the need for replay technology. But really, was it even needed in this case? Although the keeper's uniform and that of Bruna's were similar in color, the handball was painfully obvious. Think about it: When is the last time you saw a player not just handle, but hold the ball in the penalty box for so long?

It's called football for a reason. Apparently, someone forgot to get that memo to the officials on Sunday.

Cara Cepat Membuat Blog Terdeteksi Mesin Pencari Google!

Banyak cara agar situs / blog kita cepat terdeteksi oleh Search Engine seperti Google, Yahoo, MSN dkk. Mau tau caranya? Simak langkah - langkah berikut:
1. Buat nama URL yg mencerminkan niche blog anda. Misal, anda suka dunia motivasi dan anda ingin agar blog anda cepat terindex bahkan di halaman pertama pencarian. Maka buatlah nama blog yang mencerminkan niche blog anda misalnya seperti ini http://motivasi-arif.blogspot.com karena lebih memudahkan mbah Google dkk meng-crawl dan mengindex blog anda. Ingat Google adalah Search Engine yg mengindex blog/situs berdasarkan relevansi. Maka yg pertama yg harus relevan adalah nama domainnya sehingga akhirnya bisa membawa hoki tersendiri bagi anda.
2. Masukan URL blog anda ke Search Engine seperti Google, Yahoo, MSN, dkk dan ke sebanyak mungkin Blog Directory lebih baik lagi yg PR-nya tinggi. Dgn cara ini anda bukan hanya mendapat backlink gratis tapi juga traffic ke blog anda.
3. Buat tulisan yang orisinil, berkualitas, unik serta semenarik mungkin. "Ingat Content is the king n soul of your site" Bila anda konsisten dan rutin melakukan ini maka tidak perlu menunggu lama blog anda pasti akan banyak yg ngelink karena mereka suka dgn informasi yg ada di blog anda. Sehingga lebih cepat terdeteksi dan populer. Pada akhirnya tentu semakin banyak pula one-way backlink anda.
Ini sangat penting.
4. Pelajari ilmu SEO (Search Engine Optimatization) secara kontinu dan konsisten. Yang intinya adalah bagaimana membuat blog anda lebih cepat terindex oleh spidernya Google, Yahoo, MSN dkk. Dan lebih baik lagi agar terindex pada halaman pertama pencarian alias TOP TEN GOOGLE SEARCH. Bahkan kalau bisa di urutan pertama!
Caranya seperti mengoptimasi Meta Tags, Meta Keyword, Meta Description, Blog Title Swap, Tag Header H1, H2, Nembak keyword setiap kali posting terutama di Post title n content, dsb. Untuk konten terutama di paragraf pertama dan terakhir bisa disisipi keyword atau longtail-keyword yg akan dioptimasi.
5. Rajin blogwalking dan selalu meninggalkan jejak signature/alamat blog anda terutama di Blog2 yg PR-nya tinggi.

African Union dodges issue of Gadhafi's role

MALABO, Equatorial Guinea (AP) — Africa's heads of state signed off on a road map designed to help Libya emerge from civil war, but carefully dodged the issue of what role the country's entrenched dictator Moammar Gadhafi should play in its future government.
The proposal adopted by the 53-nation body comes after a delegation from the African Union traveled to Libya, meeting both with Gadhafi and the rebels attempting to overthrow him in an effort to mediate a solution. The rebels had said that a precondition was that Gadhafi must leave power before any negotiations can take place.
The road map agreed upon by the African leaders at this week's African Union summit states that Gadhafi has agreed to "an inclusive dialogue process" that will include the rebels. He had furthermore agreed not to take part in these negotiations.
However, the AU proposal does not say that Gadhafi should step down, and it does not make clear whether he would be allowed to play a part in the proposed transitional government, whose shape is to be determined during the talks.
Among the only guidance it provides is that the transitional period "will be underpinned by ... inclusivity in order to bring on board all stakeholders" and "consensus as a way to providing broad based support to all decisions that will be undertaken during the transition."
AU leaders refused to answer whether or not that language opens the door for Gadhafi to be a member of the new government, even if he did not take part in the negotiations to create it.
Gadhafi's chief of staff Bashir Saleh and the other representatives of the Libyan government called it a step forward. "I think it's a good thing as it will allow all the parties to come together and find a solution." The spokesman for the rebel delegation could not immediately be reached for comment.
Saleh denied that support for Gadhafi among his African peers is waning, even though several diplomats said that a majority of AU leaders are now in favor of him stepping down, even if they are not willing to say so publicly.
Several Western observers including one that was inside the closed-door session during the debate said that the AU was divided between those wanting the body to issue a statement calling for Gadhafi's departure and those arguing that Gadhafi is an elected head of state and cannot be forced out.
"The idea of his departure is illogical," said Saleh. "He's the head of state," said Saleh. "How can you ask someone to leave his own house?"

Australia beats Equatorial Guinea at World Cup

Australia's Leena Khamis, who scored the first goal, hit the post in the 16th minute. As the ball bounced back, defender Bruna grabbed it with both hands, held it, then casually dropped it again. Australians threw out their arms in amazement when Hungarian referee Gyoengyi Gaal failed to call a penalty.
Anonman scored in the 21st minute for Equatorial Guinea, before Australia took the lead for good with two goals early in the second half by Emely Van Egmond and Lisa De Vanna.
Anonman, as on her first goal, stole the ball from Servet Uzunlar to score, pulling Equatorial Guinea within one in the 83rd minute.
Australia held on, and the penalty incident had no impact on the final result.
It left Equatorial Guinea with two losses and on the brink of elimination. Australia is in better shape for a quarterfinal spot after an opening loss to Brazil. Norway plays Brazil for the lead in Group D later Sunday.
Australia got off to a fast start when Khamis pounced on a rebound goalie Miriam should have held and scored in the eighth minute.
Early in the second half with the score tied, Khamis set up Van Egmond to score from about 10 yards out with a blistering volley in the 48th. As the inexperienced African team sought to regroup, De Vanna gave her team a cushion, running onto a deep pass from Collette McCallum and slipping it past the out-of-position Miriam.
Equatorial Guinea, ranked 61st and the biggest outsider in the tournament, found it tough to switch from its defensive posture and attack to get back into the game. Anonman was the leading force and, after getting her nation its first two World Cup goals, she almost earned it a first World Cup point as well.
Australia now plays Norway in a decisive game Wednesday.

Australia keep WWC hopes alive with win

BOCHUM, Germany -- It was easily the wildest game of this year's Women's World Cup. Australia hung on to beat Equatorial Guinea, 3-2, in a match that saw the most total goals in the tournament so far, plus 25 fouls, four yellow cards and a brutal no-call on an obvious handball in the box.
The handball will be a talking point for weeks to come. In the 16th minute, with Australia already up 1-0, Leena Khamis fired a shot that hit off the post and caromed back towards the penalty spot. Equatorial Guinea defender Bruna caught the ball near the six-yard line, well in the field of play. She held it for about a second, dropped it, and the game continued. With Autralian players screaming at Hungarian referee Gyoengi Gaal, and even her fellow team mates watching a little stunned, Guinea keeper Miriam punted it back into play.
Australia should have been awarded a penalty kick and Bruna could have even been red carded for handling the ball in the box.
"Some of the referee's decisions weren't the greatest," Australia midfielder Lisa DeVanna said. "But that's how the game is. We got three points, and that's all that matters."
FIFA match commissioner Karen Espelund of Norway, who was the commissioner for the match in Bochum issued a statement after the game but took no questions.
"I have spoken to the referee," she said at a press conference. "[Gaal ] expresses she's extremely sorry that she missed that episode."
Australia, for their part, did not complain much after the game about the call. They did, after all, pull out a win and put themselves in good position to advance to the quarterfinals (pending Brazil's meeting with Norway). During the game, however, they were clearly frustrated on the field, especially in the early moments after the referee's mistake. Only five minutes after the play, they surrendered a goal to even the match 1-1.
"I think it did [frustrate us] because everyone had no idea what was going on. Our reaction was that it's a handball. It's a penalty, but the referee hasn't given it," Australia midfielder Collette McCallum said after the game.
Equatorial Guinea also did their best to disrupt Australia's quick pace and fast attack with physical play, committing 18 fouls.
Australia was able to get a quick 3-1 lead in the second half behind goals from Emily Van Egmond, 17, and second-half substitute Lisa DeVanna. DeVanna was one of five starters from the opening game to begin this match on the bench. Australia coach Tom Sermanni has made similar lineup changes in other major tournaments, preferring to keep his team fresh for the later rounds.
His strategy paid off: Lisa DeVanna was named player of the match by FIFA, and her fresh legs dictated the pace of the game in the second half.
Equatorial Guinea made things interesting when Anonman scored in the 83rd minute to make the game 3-2. Anonman's two goals were Equatorial Guinea's first ever goals at the tournament, and she became only the second African player to score two goals in a World Cup match.
After two close losses, Equatorial Guinea will now face world No. 3 Brazil, with five-time FIFA Player of the Year Marta, in their final group-stage game Wednesday.
"That's going to be a very difficult match. No doubt about that," Equatorial Guinea coach Marcello Frigerio said. "We want to get a good result from the last match. We thought we could get a win against Norway and against Australia as well. Now, we have a third try."
Australia will also play their next match on Wednesday, facing Norway with a chance to move on in the tournament.
"We're still in the competition," Sermanni said. "It was our aim at the start of the tournament to be in a position going into the Norway game to have an opportunity to qualify for the quarterfinals, and we've achieved that today. We're quite happy about that."

Equatorial Guinea disqualified

BOCHUM, Germany -- Equatorial Guinea coach Marcelo Maria Frigerio confirmed Saturday that his women's soccer team has been removed from Olympic qualification by FIFA because of a player's nationality issues.
Forward Jade Boho Sayo was suspended Tuesday by FIFA for two months and removed from the Equatorial Guinea Women's World Cup roster, though her suspension did not affect the team's participation in the tournament.
She previously had played for Spain's under-19 team and played for Equatorial Guinea in its World Cup and Olympic qualifying campaigns.
Nigeria issued a statement earlier this week saying it had been told by FIFA that its upcoming opponent had been changed from Equatorial Guinea to Cameroon, which Guinea had beaten in the second round of qualifying.
Speaking at a news conference Saturday in Bochum, where his team will face Australia Sunday, Frigerio said he had received the news about the Olympics, but was focused on the ongoing tournament.
"Of course, it's not the perfect moment to receive such information," he said through a translator. "Moreover, I think it's not the right moment to talk about it. We are all human beings. We live emotions. We have our dreams. We are taking part in one of those at the moment. We have to concentrate on tomorrow's game."
Equatorial Guinea lost 1-0 to Norway in its opening match. After Sunday's game against Australia, it will play Brazil on July 6.

How to add meta keyword and description to blogspot

1. Switch to the Edit HTML tab of your template and find this line:

b:include data='blog' name='all-head-content'/

2. Add this code just below that line:

(b:if cond='data:blog.url == "http://YOUR-BLOG-URL.com/"')
(meta content='DESCRIPTION' name='description'/)
(meta content='KEYWORDS' name='keywords'/)
(/b:if)

This was done to add META Tags to the main page of the blog.

3. Now add this code just below the code you add just now:

(b:if cond='data:blog.url == "http://YOUR-BLOG-URL.com/2008/08/bla-bla-bla.html"')
(meta content='Type you post description here.' name='description'/)
(meta content='Type, the, post, keywords, here' name='keywords'/)
(/b:if)

Replace http://YOUR-BLOG-URL.com/2008/08/bla-bla-bla.html with the URL of the specific post you want to change the META Tags of.

4. Repeat Step 3 for as many blog posts you want to have unique META Tags for.
Please change every "(" to "<"

12 Cara Mempercepat Windows 7

Cara mempercepat windows 7 ? Apakah komputer Anda sekarang tidak cukup cepat? Pada beberapa artikel yang lalu saya menulis; Cara Sederhana Mempercepat Windows 7 dimana didalamnya ada 3 trik mempercepat windows 7. Kali ini saya tawarkan lagi 6 trik lanjutannya. Artikel ini adalah lanjutannya sebagai bagian yang kedua. Seluruhnya sebenarnya ada 3 serial dan akan saya tuntaskan dalam artikel ketiga nanti.
Inilah langkah-langkahnya;
  1. Bersihkan sistem dari program berbahaya. Program berbahaya dapat datang dalam berbagai bentuk, virus komputer dapat menyebabkan kerusakan yang signifikan terhadap sistem operasi komputer, mereka juga dapat menyerang privasi pengguna. Worm komputer menurunkan kinerja komputer dengan mereplikasi diri sendiri kemudian mengurangi ruang harddisk dan memori komputer. Anda harus menggunakan antivirus terbaik yang efisien dan menjalankan scan komputer. Beberapa antivirus gratis terbaik yang saya rekomendasikan; (1). Microsoft Security Essentials, (2). Avast, (3). Avira AntiVir.
  2. Pastikan pilihan “high performance” telah diatur. Dalam Windows 7 dan Vista, konfigurasi default biasanya diatur ke “balanced”. Jika Anda ingin mendapatkan kinerja terbaik, atur setting menjadi ” high performance”. Fasilitas ini dapat Anda akses dengan masuk ke [control panel > hardware and sound > power options]. Pilih “high performance” lalu Anda keluar dari jendela itu.
  3. Singkirkan program dan file yang tidak perlu. Mungkin dalam komputer Anda sudah terlalu banyak program terinstall. Mungkin ada yang hanya dipajang saja dan tidak berguna. Silakan masuk ke fitur uninstall dengan mengklik [Start Menu > Control Panel > Uninstall a Program]. Silakan uninstall program yang tidak perlu. Sangat penting untuk tidak menginstal program yang hanya akan Anda gunakan satu atau dua kali.
  4. Nonaktifkan/hapus entri startup yang tidak perlu. Segera setelah Anda memulai sistem operasi Windows apa pun, Anda akan melihat bahwa beberapa program muncul di sudut kanan taskbar. Ini disebut program-program startup. Non-aktifkan saja yang tidak perlu. Silakan klik [Start] lalu ketik [msconfig] kemudian [Enter]. Klik tab [Startup] dan hilangkan tanda centang pada program yang menurut Anda tidak perlu diloading saat komputer startup. CATATAN: Jangan menonaktifkan program startup yang tidak Anda pahami benar.
  5. Konfigurasi performance setting. Anyway, Windows Vista dan 7 pasti lebih menarik secara visual dibandingkan dengan versi Windows yang lebih tua. Untuk mengatur perfoormance, silakan klik kanan ikon [My computer > Properties > Advanced system settings >Performance Settings]. Anda bisa disable semua dengan memilih [Adjust for best performance]. Pengaturan ini diyakini dapat mempercepat windows 7.
  6. Melakukan pembersihan hard disk secara rutin. Anda dapat menghindari langkah ini jika Anda menggunakan program pihak ketiga yang populer misalnya CCleaner. Tetapi jika Anda tidak menggunakan program pembersih apapun silakan gunakan disk cleanup bawaan windows. Klik [Start Menu > All programs > Accessories > System tools > Disk cleanup]. Lakukan pembersihan seperlunya.

Memperbaiki Komputer Sendiri

Jika PC sering kali menunjukan adanya peng-alamatan yang rumit, atau menampilkan suatu pesan error, mengeluarkan bunyi beep yang terus menerus secara beraturan atau tidak beraturan, PC tersebut kemungkinan besar sedang dalam masalah, saya akan memberikan Tips dan solusi untuk mengatasi masalah tersebut dan PC Anda dapat berfungsi kembali seperti sedia kala.
Masalah atau kerusakan yang timbul biasanya dikategorikan dalam 2 jenis kerusakan yaitu : Masalah atau kerusakan Hardware dan Software
Jenis Kerusakan Dapat dikategorikan menjadi 2 kategori, yaitu :
1. Kerusakan Pada Hardware (Perangkat Keras)
2. Kerusakan Pada Software (Perangkat Lunak)
Kerusakan pada Hardware :
Masalah dengan komponen Hardware perlu penanganan yang serius karena sulit dilokalisir dan disingkirkan tanpa tools yang tepat, keahlian dan pengalaman yang menunjang. Penjelasan akan berkisar pada masalah yang sering terjadi disertai dengan cara mengatasinya.
1. Kerusakan Pada Power Supply
Gejala :
Setelah dihidupkan PC tidak bereaksi apa-apa, tidak ada tampilan di monitor, tidak ada lampu indikator (led) yang menyala, kipas power supply tidak berputar, lampu indikator pada monitor tidak menyala.
Solusi :
Periksalah apakah kabel terhubung dengan benar dan steker terpasang dengan baik pada soketnya, periksa juga apakah ada tombol on/off dibelakang tepatnya dibelakang Power Supply sudah dalam posisi On, Jika sudah yakin terpasang dengan benar tapi tetap tidak ada respon untuk meyakinkan silahkan anda ganti kabel power dengan yang anda yakini bagus. Masalah terjadi karena tidak adanya tegangan listrik yang masuk, kerusakan ada pada kabel power.
Masalah :
Setelah dihidupkan PC tidak bereaksi apa-apa, tidak ada tampilan di monitor, tidak ada lampu indikator (led) yang menyala, kipas power supply tidak berputar, lampu indikator pada monitor menyala.
Solusi :
Lakukan seperti langkah diatas, tetapi jika masih belum ada respon berati masalah ada pada Power Supply, Silahkan anda ganti PS nya, Saya sarankan sebaiknya anda ganti saja Power Supply yang rusak dengan yang baru, dan hati-hatilah dalam pemasangannya.
Catatan : Jika kerusakan hanya pada Power Supply saja, Setelah anda menggantinya, komputer akan kembali bekerja dengan normal. Kecuali jika ada masalah pada komponen yang lainnya seperti Mother Board, VGA Card dan Memory.
2. Kerusakan Pada Mother Board
Gejala :
Setelah dihidupkan, tidak ada tampilan di monitor, lampu indikator (led) di panel depan menyala, lampu indikator (led) monitor berkedip-kedip, kipas power supply dan kipas procesor berputar, tidak ada suara beep di speaker.
Solusi :
Langkah pertama lepas semua kabel power yang terhubung ke listrik, kabel data ke monitor, kabel keyboad/mouse, dan semua kabel yang terhubung ke CPU, kemudian lepas semua sekrup penutup cashing. Dalam keadaan casing terbuka silahkan anda lepaskan juga komponen-komponen lainnya, yaitu kabel tegangan dari power supply yang terhubung ke Motherboard, harddisk, floppy, hati-hati dalam pengerjaannya jangan terburu-buru. Begitu juga dengan Card yang menempel pada Mboard (VGA, Sound atau Card lainnya). Sekarang yang menempel pada cashing hanya MotherBoard saja. Silahkan anda periksa Motherboadnya dengan teliti, lihat Chip (IC), Elko, Transistor dan yang lainnya apakah ada yang terbakar.
Jika tidak ada tanda-tanda komponen yang terbakar kemungkinan Motherboard masih bagus, tapi ada kalanya Mother board tidak jalan karena kerusakan pada program yang terdapat di BIOS
Gejala :
Pada saat CPU dinyalakan kemudian melakukan proses Post setelah itu proses tidak berlanjut dan diam beberapa saat tidak langsung masuk ke operating system, dan kemudian di layar monitor ada pesan “harddisk error, harddisk Failur, setelah itu muncul pesan “press F1 to continou” setelah kita menekan tombol F1 tidak masuk Operating system dan muncul pesan “Operating system not found”.
3. Kerusakan Pada Harddisk
Solusi :
Periksa kabel tegangan dan kabel data yang masuk ke harddisk apakah longgar, sebaiknya dikencangkan, kemudian nyalakan dan coba anda dengarkan apakah suara yang keluar dari harddisk normal, jika tidak normal berati harddisk rusak di controllernya.
Gejala :
Pada saat CPU dinyalakan kemudian melakukan proses Post setelah itu muncul pesan “Operating system not found”.
Solusi :
Ada kemungkinan Operating system rusak, bisa diatasi dengan install ualng atau jika OS anda menggunakan windows 2000/XP ada Fasilitas Repairnya. atau ada kemungkinan juga harddisk anda tidak terdeteksi dan lakukan langkah diatas
Gejala :
harddisk bad sector?
Solusi :
Ada beberapa faktor penyebab terjadi bad sector diantaranya, tegangan listrik tidak stabil, sering terjadi putusnya aliran listrik secara mendadak, setelah pemakaina tidak di shot down, pemakaian yang terlalu lama, ada 2 jenis bad sector yaitu fisik dan software…..Untuk mengatasinya ada beberapa cara, diantaranya menggunakan software untuk menghilangkan badsector….pembahan lebih lanjut ada di eBook Metode perbaikan komputer dan bisa anda dapatkan jika anda bergabung menjadi Member Aktif.
4. Kerusakan CD/DVD/ROM/RW & Floppy Disk
Gejala :
Jenis kerusakan yang biasa ditemui :
1. Tidak terdeteksi di windows
2. Tidak bisa keluar masuk CD
3. Tidak bisa membaca/menulis/hanya bisa membaca saja. (CD)
4. Tidak bisa membaca/menulis/write protect (Floppy disk)
Solusi :
1. Periksa kabel data dan kabel tegangan yang masuk ke CD-floppy, perikas di setup bios apakah sudah dideteksi? sebaiknya diset auto. Periksa apakah led menyala, jika tidak kerusakan di Controllernya.
2. Kerusakan ada pada mekanik motor atau karet motor.
3. Kerusakan Biasanya pada optik, tetapi ada kemungkinan masih bisa diperbaiki dengan cara men-set ualng optik tersebut.
4. Head Kotor, bisa dibersihkan menggunakan Cutenbud (langkah-langkah diatas secara lengkap dapat anda temukan di e-book “Metode perbaikan komputer cepat dan akurat” dan bisa anda dapatkan jika anda bergabung menjadi member perbaikankomputer.com
Masalah BIOS
Gejala :
Hati-hati dalam Update Bios, ketika meng-Update anda keliru memilih versi Bios, PC jadi tidak jalan bahkan anda tidak dapat masuk ke BIOS.
Solusi :
Biasanya Update tidak dapat dibatalkan, hanya jenis Motherboard tertentu yang memiliki backup BIOS pada Chip-nya, Disitu tersimpan jenis asli BIOS yang tidak dapat dihapus, untuk dapat merestore-nya anda tinggal memindahkan Posisi Jumper khusus yang biasanya sudah ada petunjuk di buku manualnya. Kemudian hidupka PC dan tunggu 10 detik, BIOS yang asli telah di Restore, kembalikan Posisi Jumper pada posisi semula, dan PC siap dijalankan kembali. Jika Motherboard tidak memiliki pasilitas tersebut, Chip BIOS harus dikirim ke Produsen, Jenis BIOS dapat anda lihat di buku manualnya. Berhati-hati dalam pemasangannya jangan sampai kaki IC BIOS patah atau terbalik Posisinya.
Gejala :
CPU mengeluarkan suara Beep beberapa kali di speakernya dan tidak ada tampilan ke layar monitor, padahal monitor tidak bermasalah.
Solusi :
Bunyi Beep menandakan adanya pesan kesalahan tertentu dari BIOS, Bunyi tersebut menunjukan jenis kesalahan apa yang terjadi pada PC, Biasanya kesalahan pada Memory yang tdk terdeteksi, VGA Card, yang tidak terpasang dengan baik, Processor bahkan kabel data Monitor pun bisa jadi penyebabnya.Silahkan anda periksa masalah tersebut.
Berikut Pesan kesalahan BIOS :
Bunyi kesalahan BIOS biasanya tidak semua. Motherboard menandakan kesalahan yang sama tergantung dari jenis BIOS nya.
[AMI BIOS]
Beep 1x : RAM/Memory tidak terpasang dengan Baik atau Rusak, Beep 6x : Kesalahan Gate A20 - Menunjukan Keyboard yang rusak atau IC Gate A20-nya sendiri, Beep 8x : Grapihic Card / VGA Card tidak terpasang dengan baik atau Rusak, Beep 11x : Checksum Error, periksa Batre Bios, dan ganti dengan yang baru.
[AWARD BIOS]
Beep 1x Panjang : RAM/Memory tidak terpasang dengan Baik atau Rusak, Beep 1x Panjang 2x Pendek : Kerusakan Pada Graphic Card (VGA), Periksa bisa juga Pemasangan pada slotnya tidak pas (kurang masuk), Beep 1x Panjang 3x Pendek : Keyboard rusak atau tidak terpasang. Beep Tidak terputus / bunyi terus menerus : RAM atau Graphic Card tidak terdeteksi.
Batrey CMOS Rusak / Lemah
Gejala : Muncul Pesan CMOS Checksum Vailure / Batrey Low, diakibatkan tegangna yang men-supply IC CMOS/BIOS tidak normal dikarenakan batrey lemah, sehingga settingan BIOS kembali ke Default-nya/setingan standar pabrik, dan konfigurasi Hardware harus di Set ulang.
Solusi : Segera Ganti Batrey nya
Gejala : CPU yang sering Hang?
Solusi : Ada beberapa faktor terjadi hanging diantaranya : Ada BadSector di Harddisk, Ada Virus, Ada masalah di Hardware seperti Memory Kotor/Rusak, MBoard Kotor/Rusak, Cooling Fan perputaran fan nya sudah lemah, Power Supply tidak stabil…..sebaiknya jangan dipaksakan untuk digunakan karena akan berakibat lebih fatal, silahkan hub: kami untuk dapat mengatasi masalah tersebut
Gejala : Komputer sering tampil blue screen apa penyebabnya?
Solusi : Pesan Blue Screen bisa disebabkan system windows ada yang rusak, Bisa dari Memory, Bisa dari hardisk, bisa dari komponen lainnya, tergantung pesan blue screen yang ditampilkan.
Gejala : Komputer jadi lebih lambat dari sebelumnya, padahal awalnya tidak begitu lambat
Solusi : Penyebab komputer anda prosesnya lambat ada beberapa faktor yaitu : Space hardisk terlalu penuh, terlalu banyak program / software yang memakan space harddisk dan memory, ada virus, harddisk badsector.

8 Fitur Baru Pada Windows 8

Beberapa waktu yang lalu beredar kabar bahwa Windows 8 bakal hadir pada tahun 2012 mendatang. Adapun versi beta Windows 8 akan dimulai di awal 2011. Suksesor Windows 7 tersebut memang direncanakan hadir setelah tiga tahun kehadiran Windows 7 di pasaran. Microsoft mengungkap bahwa mereka takkan mengulangi jeda waktu lama yang terjadi antara evolusi Windows XP ke Vista.
Sayangnya, Microsoft belum buka suara. Raksasa software asal Redmond itu belum memberi konfirmasi resmi. Sebagai informasi, dokumen Windows 8 sebelumnya pernah bocor ke publik. Salah satu yang terungkap dalam dokumen itu, Windows 8 akan difokuskan pada tiga bentuk perangkat: laptop, PC ‘all in one’ dan slate alias tablet.
Sebelumnya, Mary-Jo Foley dari Zdnet pernah mengungkapkan bahwa Microsoft telah rampung meramu Milestone 1, yang bakal menjadi cikal bakal Windows 8. Versi betanya kemungkinan bakal hadir mulai 2011.
Prediksi 8 fitur baru yang bakal ada pada Windows 8 :
1. Toko Aplikasi
Coba pikirkanlah toko aplikasi App Store milik Apple, atau Android Marketplace milik Google, yang bakal dibuat oleh Microsoft. Rumornya toko aplikasi Windows tersebut bernama Windows Store. Bisa jadi toko aplikasi ini digabungkan dengan Windows Phone 7 dan mendukung Xbox 360. Siapa tahu..
2. Internet Explorer 9
Kemungkinan browser Internet Explorer 9 (IE9) bakal kembali dipaket oleh Microsoft saat meluncurkan Windows 8. Mengapa? Hal ini mungkin karena pasar IE terus digerogoti browser-browser tandingan seperti Firefox dan Chrome, yang kini makin diminati.
3. Windows Live 5
Detail Windows Live 5, mungkin bakal hadir setelah Windows 8 dikapalkan. Windows Live Wave 4 beta kini telah tersedia. Dalam hal ini fitur sinkronisasi patut diacungi jempol. Kita tunggu saja apa yang baru pada Windows Live 5.
4. Jadwal Peluncuran Windows 8
Windows 8 dikabarkan meluncur pada pertengahan 2012, sementara versi betanya ada pada pertengahan 2011.
5. Aplikasi Berbasis Web
Aplikasi berbasis web kini merupakan ‘sawah’ yang menjanjikan bagi para pengembang software. Dengan adanya toko aplikasi Windows, semoga Microsoft telah membidik hal ini.
6. Tiga Kategori Baru Windows 8
Menurut Microsoft, Windows 8 ditujukan pada tiga jenis kategori PC: ‘Lap PC’, ‘Workhorse PC’, dan ‘Family Hub PC’. Kemungkinan, kategori Lap PC adalah netbook, notebook dan tablet. Sementara workhorse dan Family Hub lebih ditujukan untuk kantoran serta keluarga.
7. Digital Media
Saat membahas digital media milik Microsoft, yang terbesit di kepala adalah: Windows Media Player, Windows Media Center, dan Zune. Nah, kabarnya Windows 8 akan mendukung format baru seperti AVC HD, 3D video, serta multiple MPEG-4 formats berbasis web, serta MJPEG, MPEG-2 (decoding/encoding), H.264 (encoding), dan WMV sendiri.
8. Kinect Pada Windows 8
Sensor gerak pada Microsoft kini telah hadir. Walau hanya diproduksi untuk Xbox 360, namun sekedar berandai-andai boleh saja kan? Alangkah asyiknya seandainya Kinect pun diadopsi pada game-game dengan Windows 8. Microsoft pun pasti bakal lebih kaya, saat bekerjasama dengan para vendor game.
Referensi : www.winsupersite.com, windows8news.com, windows8center.com, www.detikinet.com

Mempercepat Koneksi Internet Tanpa Software

Bagi anda yang suka browsing tentunya penggunaan internet menjadi sesuatu yang tidak bisa dipisahkan. Apalagi jika hal tersebut menyangkut pekerjaan. Misal untuk cek email, update blog, mencari informasi dan lain sebagainya. Jika koneksi internet anda sudah broadband, 3G dan sekelasnya mungkin tidak terlalu bermasalah (bukan berarti tidak ada masalah sama sekali lho…). Namun jika koneksi internet anda masih menggunakan dial up apalagi masih menggunakan GPRS dari HP sebagai modemnya, anda terpaksa harus sedikit bersabar dengan koneksi internet yang “lemot” bagaikan bekicot heeeeee………. Kita bisa meminimalkan agar koneksi internet tidak terlalu lambat banget. Sebenarnya ada banyak tool/applikasi yang bisa dipakai untuk mempercepat koneksi internet baik yang gratisan atau yang berbayar seperti Speed ConnectInternet Accelerator, web acceleratorashampho internet accelerator, fosSpeedconsole dll.
Pada postingan kali ini saya akan bahas cara mempercepat Koneksi Internet dengan tweak registry pada komputer kita dan tweak konfigurasi browser Mozilla Firefox. Mudah-mudahan dengan tips dan trik berikut ini koneksi internet yang kita gunakan sedikit menjadi lebih baik.
Ada beberapa settingan yang harus dirubah  di registry komputer kita, seperti Setting Shared Folder dan boot jika komputer kita terhubung dengan jaringan komputer lain, setting file temporary pada browser, Cache DNS, mengurangi Bandwidth Update Windows dll. Kali ini yang akan kita lakukan adalah Optimalisasi DNS Lookup.  Ini adalah salah satu cara untuk meningkatkan atau mempercepat koneksi internet, dan untuk mengubahnya kita bisa menggunakan software TCP/IP Optimizer. Namun kali ini yang akan kita lakukan adalah dengan tweak registry yang ada di komputer kita (tanpa software).
Caranya :
  1. Klik menu Start > Run
  2. Pada kotak dialog Run ketikkan regedit, lalu klik OK.
  3. Run
  4. Sekarang kita cari alamat registry ini : HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\Current ControlSet\Services\Tcpip\ServiceProvider.
  5. Setelah kita berada di direktori ServiceProvider ubah nilai-nilai dibawah ini semuanya menjadi 1.
     
    • DnsPriority=1
    • HostsPriority=1
    • LocalPriority=1
    • NetbtPriority=1
  6. Tutup registry restart komputer.

=== Tweeking Firefox ====

Peringatan !!! : Saya tidak menyarankan anda untuk melakukan cara ini jika anda belum mahir betul. Tweaking ini sendiri sebenarnya dikeluarkan oleh pengembang firefox jadi tidak sembarang tweaking, namun jika anda berani mencoba resiko ditanggung sendiri yaaa kalau anda salah memasukkan nilainya, karena setelah tweaking tidak ada opsi/menu untuk mengembalikan settingan default firefox,  untuk mengembalikan ke default harus dilakukan secara manual atau harus install ulang Mozilla Firefoxnya. Jadi jika anda berani melakukannya tolong dicatat satu persatu semua perubahan tweaking yang anda lakukan.
  1. Ketik : “about:config” tanpa tanda petik  di firefox anda kemudian enter.
  2. Akan keluar peringatan seperti ini :
  3. tweak mozilla firefox
  4. Klik Saya berjanji akan berhati-hati, setelah itu akan keluar sebuah settingan untuk tweaking firefox.
  5. about-config-mozilla
  6. Untuk merubahnya, klik 2 kali pada masing-masing nama pengaturan dan masukkan data perubahannya.
  7. Jika data dibawah tidak terdapat dalam settingan default firefox, klik kanan pilih New. Untuk data berupa angka, pilih Integer, untuk true/false pilih Boolean.
Parameter-parameter setting :
I. Untuk pengguna Dial Up
  1. Set “browser.cache.disk_cache_ssl : true”
  2. Set “browser.xul.error_pages.enabled : true”
  3. Set “network.http.max-connections : 32?
  4. Set “network.http.max-connections-per-server : 8?
  5. Set “network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-proxy : 8?
  6. Set “network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server : 4?
  7. Set “network.http.pipelining : true”
  8. Set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests : 8?
  9. Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining : true”
  10. Set “plugin.expose_full_path : true”
  11. Set “signed.applets.codebase_principal_support : true”
  12. Set “content.interrupt.parsing : true”
  13. Set “content.max.tokenizing.time : 3000000?
  14. Set “content.maxtextrun : 8191?
  15. Set “content.notify.backoffcount : 5?
  16. Set “content.notify.interval : 750000?
  17. Set “content.notify.ontimer : true”
  18. Set “content.switch.threshold : 750000?
II. Untuk pengguna DSL :
  1. Set “network.http.pipelining : true”
  2. Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining : true”
  3. Set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests : 64?
  4. Set “nglayout.initialpaint.delay : 0?
III. Untuk pengguna ADSL :
  1. Set “network.http.max-connections : 64?
  2. Set “network.http.max-connections-per-server : 21?
  3. Set “network.http.max-persistent-connections-per-server : 8?
  4. Set “network.http.pipelining : true”
  5. Set “network.http.pipelining.maxrequests : 100?
  6. Set “network.http.proxy.pipelining : true”
  7. Set “nglayout.initialpaint.delay : 0?
Shortcut untuk mempercepat browsing  :
  1. Ctrl+Enter, ini untuk membuka domain yang menggunakan .com. caranya adalah ketikkan nama domainnya saja  (tidak perlu menambahkan “http://www” dan akhiran .com) kemudian klik ctrl+enter. Contohnya, jika kita ingin membuka “http://www.google.com” jadi ketiklah “google” tanpa tanda petik yaaa  kemudian klik ctrl+enter.
  2. Shift+Enter, ini untuk membuka domain yang menggunakan .net. caranya adalah ketikkan nama domainnya saja kemudian klik shif+enter. Contoh, jika ingin membuka “http://www.telkom.net”  maka cukup ketiklah “telkom” tanpa tanda petik yaaa kemudian klik shif+enter.
  3. Ctrl+Shift+Enter, ini untuk membuka domain yang menggunakan .org. caranya adalah ketikkan nama domainnya saja kemudian klik Ctrl+Shift+Enter. Misal, anda ingin membuka “www.wordpress.org” jadi cukup ketiklah “wordpress” tanpa tanda petik yaaa kemudian klik Ctrl+Shift+Enter.