Stefan Prodan's space

These days I am building a new pc for home use. It’s so difficult for me to chose the rite parts as I want to have a high end PC suitable for programming, design (photo & video editing) and gamming that can run smoothly Vista 64bit. The full configuration without a case (my old Thermaltake Soprano is in excellent shape) must not exceed 1000 Euro. This week I’ve been reading tones of hardware reviews, forums and blogs; finally I’ve managed to make a list of components I want for my new pc. Today I was wandering what kind of power supply should I buy considering the low amount of money I got left from my 1000 Euro budget. So first I’ve tried to figure out my pc’s configuration power consumption.

First of all I was tying to find a free windows software that will calculate the power consumption of my actual pc… but no luck. After intense “googling” I’ve found a great web application made by Thermaltake named Power Consumption Calculator. I highly recommend this calculator for anyone who is tying to build a PC on his own from components.

Here it is the estimation I got for my configuration:

System Type: Single Processor
Motherboard: High End – Desktop
CPU: Intel Core 2 Duo E8500 3166 MHz Wolfdale
CPU Utilization (TDP): 85% TDP
RAM: 4 Sticks DDR2 SDRAM
Video Card: NVIDIA GeForce 9800 GTX+
Video Type: Single Card
IDE HDD 7200 rpm: 4 HDDs
DVD-RW/DVD+RW Drive: 1 Drive
Sound Blaster - All Models: Yes
PCI IDE Card: Yes
Additional PCI Card (avg): 1 Card
Fan Controller: Yes
Front Bay Card Reader: Yes
Fans Regular: 1 Fan 140mm;  2 Fans 250mm;
Keyboard & Mouse (included): Yes
System Load: 90 %

Recommended PSU Wattage: 390 Watts

Now having this value I thought that buying a 420 power supply will do just fine, but the watts specified on the power supplies products can be deceptive. If you buy for example a 400Watts that doesn’t really mean you have all that power, on a 400 you might have 300 or even less and I am not talking about a “no name” low-cost product here.

My conclusion is that for a 390 watts consumption, to be sure, I have to buy a power supply at 550 watts minimum. Finally I can now make a decision based on my budget and desired quality, my choice is Antec NeoPower 550EC.

Promotional hardcore techno mix by Creep for www.hardmusic.ro

Playlist:
1. Mike NRG - Lost in Dreams (Weapon X Remix)
2. Evil Activities – Evilution
3. Weapon X - Planet Rocker
4. Evil Activities – No Place To Hide
5. Nitrogenetics – Pledge Of Resistance
6. The Stunned Guys And Art Of Fighters - Eternal
7. Art of Fighters - Artwork(Tha Playah Remix)
8. Masters of Ceremony - Dirt
9. Prankster – Hustlers & Killers
10.Na-Goyah - Going Down
11.Source Code - I'm Not A Number (Headbanger Remix)
12.DJ D Vs DJ Piwi - Always Naked
13.Unexist - Spank Yer Ass

Download

Hardmusic.ro it’s a project intended to promote the hard styles of electronic music in Romania.

Hardmusic.ro a luat nastere in decembrie 2008 si este un site ce promoveaza muzica electronica in formele ei dure ("hard styles"). Scopul echipei hardmusic este sa largeasca spectrul de genuri de muzica electronica ascultate si promovate in Romania, in primul rand hardmusic.ro se vrea un site de culturalizare a genurilor inexistente pe scena romana, genuri consacrate in europa cum ar fi hardstyle, mainstream hardcore, uk hardcore, hard house, uplift si multe altele.

Esti pasionat de muzica electronica? Vrei sa promovezi un eveniment sau ai un artist favorit si vrei sa scrii despre el?
Devino membru al echipei hardmusic inscrie-te pe forum si contacteaza-ne sau da-ne un mail:

I am proud to announce that Softpedia.com has publish My Smartphone Wallet v1.0 Beta in the handheld section.

Now you can download the application from them:

http://handheld.softpedia.com/get/Security/Password-Managers/My-Smartphone-Wallet-68356.shtml

My Smartphone Wallet is a freeware mobile application designed to store in a secure way your credit card information, very simple and easy to use. This application is compatible with Windows Mobile Version 5 and 6 for Smartphone QVGA and needs .NET Compact Framework 2.0 installed on the device. The current version 1.0.0.0 Beta was tested on HTC S710 device and should work fine on any Windows Mobile 6 Standard Edition without the need of .NET Compact Framework updates.

Why this software? Well there is no freeware wallet application for Smartphone that I could find on the web and as any software developer will say "If you can make your own why buying from others ?! " :)  Before I was storing in my notes the credit card information as allot of people do... so if anyone finds your lost phone or steals it there is a big chance that you'll lose the money from the cards as well, with this app no such thing is possible, just put a strong password and you are safe. Only someone that can reverse SHA1 can hack the password, so I wouldn't mind about that. (For geeks: I know about MD5 and SHA1 reverse lookup databases but with a strong password all the effort to crack are in vain).

Features

• Password protected access to credit cards information
• Encrypts all credit cards entries using 128-bit Hash and 40-bit Symmetric
• Stores all the information needed for online transactions
• Warns about expire dates
• Data file backup (restore is done by copy/paste to app dir)
• No phone dependencies, the data can be accessed on any WM5 or WM6 device with the rite password
• Small memory footprint (internal memory can be monitored using the "Memory info" function)

In version 1.0.0.0 the credit card fields that are stored are:

1. Credit Type (Visa, MasterCard, etc)
2. Owner (the person name that owns the card)
3. Bank name
4. Card number
5. Card CVV/CVC/CID Code (Security code on the back of the card, not all types has it)
6. Expiration date
7. Card PIN (Used for money redraw at the ATM)
8. Lost phone number (any card has it)
9. Notes (extra data that you can add like currency and such)

Thing to do (final version)

• Test the application on different devices (help needed)
• Add a strong password evaluator
• Restore function
• Optimize the code that deals with save & load of the wallet data file
• Maybe add more fields to the credit card entry (suggestion are welcomed)

Safety concerns?
This software is made using VS.NET and WM6 SDK, the code is not protected in any way so you can easily decompile it and see the C# code for yourself, there is no trick in it, no secret backdoor access or any bad intentions. I intend to make this project open source if anyone shows interest in it. The encryption code uses Microsoft Base Cryptographic Provider v1.0 so if there is any vulnerability blame the Windows Mobile Kernel or RSA :)

License
I hereby state that My Smartphone Wallet is Freeware, and therefore can be used in an unlimited fashion for any purpose by individuals, corporations, educational, government, military departments, and any other entity. It is prohibited to sell My Smartphone Wallet standalone as part of another software, to distribute in any form without permission from Stefan Prodan, or to claim any rights regarding My Smartphone Wallet.
The software is provided "AS IS" and the author and contributors disclaim all warranties with regard to this software including all implied warranties of merchantability and fitness. In no event shall author and contributors be liable for any special, direct, indirect, or consequential damages or any damages whatsoever resulting from loss of use, data or profits, whether in an action of contract, negligence or other tortious action, arising out of or in connection with the use or performance of this software.

Download Beta 1.0 (Copy the .cab file to your mobile phone and run it)

If you use this app and have
any thoughts post a comment or
contact me any time at: