Do you love reading about the latest technology or gadget? Do you know how to overclock a Core 2 Duo processor or tweak the latest ASUS motherboard? Think you could write about it?

We Want You! As part of the MaXit Mag team you will be required to post interesting news and features throughout the week. A strong back ground in PC hardware and performance tuning is preferred. The opportunity to work with top PC companies will be present for those with technical ability and writing flair. If you think you could spare time during the week to write daily news, drop us a line.

Wages, hours and beer are negotiable.

Within the next year, US Airlines are going to be offering Wi-Fi service onboard flights. VoiP calls will be banned initially, but the article mentions that lifting the ban on cellphones may still be a possibility. 'AirCell will install equipment on airliners that will act as a WiFi hotspot in the cabin and connect to laptop computers and devices like BlackBerrys that have WiFi chips. In all, it will cost about $100,000 to outfit a plane with less than 100 pounds of equipment, and the work can be done overnight by airline maintenance workers, AirCell says.

What makes the service particularly attractive to airlines is that they will share revenue with AirCell. The service will cost about the same as existing WiFi offerings. Mr. Blumenstein says it will charge no more than $10 a day to passengers. It will also offer discounted options for customers and tie into existing service programs like T-Mobile, iPass and Boingo. Speeds will be equivalent to WiFi service on the ground.

At the Black Hat Conference in Amsterdam (you have to wear a black hat to get in), security experts from India demonstrated a special boot loader that gets around Vista's code-signing mechanisms. Indian security experts Nitin and Vipin Kumar of NV labs have developed a program called the VBootkit that launches from a CD and boots Vista, making on-the-fly changes in memory and in files being read. In a demonstration, the 'boot kit' managed to run with kernel privileges and issue system rights to a CMD shell when running on Vista, even without a Microsoft signature. The demo was run on Vista RC2. The researchers say the only reason they didn't do it on Vista final was cost. Schneier blogged the exploit.

The black hats were said to be very impressed with the level of 'software' on offer in certain areas of Amsterdam but commented how easy it was to crack by using just pound and dollar signs.

As a nod to great technology products both past and present since the dawn of the personal computer age, PC World revealed what it considers to be "The 50 Best Tech Products of All Time"  with Netscape Navigator (1994) topping the list at number one for bringing the Web to the masses. 

To be considered for the list, a product not only had to be superior in quality, it also had to be life changing in some regard. PC World editors considered hundreds of products through the decades before coming up with the top 50. Each item was rated on popularity, staying power, degree of innovation, and overall influence on the world of technology. Though some items on the list may have had a short lifespan due to the nature of an ever-changing industry, they are still acknowledged because their influence continues to be seen in many of today's commercially-available products.

Apple leads the pack with seven products making the list, two of them in the top 10. From the early model Apple II at the beginning of the personal computer era to the ubiquitous iPod so many of us tote around today, the list covers a broad spectrum of technology through time. Some of the products that have been around for a while such as Tetris are still used today, while others have been replaced by newer, faster incarnations of themselves such as the Nintendo Entertainment system. One thing they all have in common is that they have left indelible marks on the technology timeline.

PC World has also invited readers to be a part of the story by voting on what they think is the best tech product ever via a poll. And, of course, site visitors are encouraged to voice their opinions in the story's forum area. Another of the article's interesting features includes eBay links showing what many of these products are worth today.

PC World's 50 Best Tech Products of All Time with descriptions of the top 10 after the click.

According to a report in the Dundee-based Courier, Kenneth Morris was playing games on his repaired Philips laptop when graphic images of a woman and a dog popped up on the screen.

Kenneth's parents had taken the machine to PC World in Dundee where they had originally bought it last December after it had developed a fault.

The boy's father, Kenny Morris, who collected the repaired machine, was told by PC World that a "brand spanking new" hard-drive had been installed on the laptop.

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In a recent survey, a study of over 5,000 computer users concluded that people who use Intel powered computers have a lower IQ than their AMD counterparts. The study took place over a six month period and involved computer users with Intel and AMD powered computers of various specifications.

The test subjects were asked to complete a series of written and hands on tests covering basic computer skills up to more advanced tasks. The survey found that over 69% of people with Intel powered computers had greater learning difficulties and found computer related tasks more difficult compared with 31% of AMD. A whopping 78% of novice computer users with Intel processors inside their computers could not transfer and resize an image from a digital camera even with the the step by step instructions in front of them

The survey concluded that AMD users tended to be more 'computer smart' and 'enthusiast' orientated having researched the market before purchasing their computer. Most people recognise the Intel brand and tend to purchase bog standard off the shelf computers knowing little about the details of the hardware. People who buy AMD are more creative and willing to adopt new technology more easily.

Editors notes: we've had a lot of emails stating this article is a load of rubbish. While this may be true, a recent survey of people with Intel computers found users who had read this article and believed it were more stupid than others who had not. If in doubt buy a Mac.

A study in the peer-reviewed journal Science shows that mice transgenetically altered with a single human gene are then able to see in full tri-color vision. Mice without this alteration are normally colorblind. The scientists speculate that mammalian brains even from animals that have never evolved color vision are flexible enough to interpret new color-sense information with just the simple addition of new photoreceptors. Such a result is also indicated by a dominant X chromosome mutation that allows for quad-color vision in some women." A sidebar in the article includes a nice illustration of what two-color vs. three-color mice might perceive.

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A common complaint about Linux is the amount of time the operating system takes to start. Like Linux itself, there are plenty of options and lots of flexibility for boot-time optimization. From dependency-based solutions like initng to event-based solutions like upstart, there's an optimization solution that should fit your needs. Using the bootchart package, you can dig in further to understand where your system is spending its boot time to optimize even more.

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Mandy Moore. Now there's a name that drives men folk randy. Best known for her pop music, super white teeth and ample "lady things," Mandy is back to show her serious side after a four year break from making music. She's thought hard about protective sex, the art of giving, and having a purpose in life and come up with her new album entitled, Wild Hope.

In a recent interview Mandy told A&U,

I know some people out there would say providing condoms to teenagers is encouraging sex but you know what? Regardless, teens are going to have sex, so it might as well be safe sex. It <has> to be safe sex. I am totally, absolutely I 100% for condom distribution in the high schools.

 

With a name like Amanda Leigh Moore we can just imagine the fun she must have had at school with the guys. The potential for porn is clear to see - Leigh Moore Does Hollywood, Just One More Leigh, Bend Over and Leigh Me. Now that she's moving into film lets hope Miss Moore uses her name to full advantage and hooks up with Ron Jeremy for a real explosive Hollywood ballbuster.

More Mandy Moore nonsense after the click.

 Akihabara news reposts that the popular event CeBIT might be in trouble. The CeBit doors will close tomorrow and they suggest several trends have become apparent for this event. Officially, according to the organizers of the CeBit, the event is a real success with 10% more attendance than the year before. However, things may not be as rosy. We have several professional contacts at the CeBit who are drawing a totally different report. They told us than since yesterday (2 days before the CeBit closes), some manufacturers are already closing their booth. It’s not unusual to see empty booths and even certain major manufacturers such as Sony or LG are not exhibiting their products during this event.

The main criticism is that CeBit looks more like Disneyland than a professional event, with children running everywhere. The cost to manufacturers is obviously very high but do they really need to take out a big stand when the internet provides a free platform to showcase their products?

With the winding down of other big industry events such as E3, let's hope this is one rumour that proves to be untrue.