running

Ever wonder if your PC is keeping secrets from you? Wonder no more. The utility What's Running reveals all your system's active processes, services, drivers, and connections.

It's like Windows Task Manager, except far more informative. The cramped multipane interface is a bit hard to read, but even it has its good points: it lists processes in a parent-child hierarchy, not a bad way to accidentally spot malware. It also lets you choose which columns of information to display, and it makes stopping or prioritizing processes as simple as a mouse click--a right-click, to be precise. It … Read more

One of Power Downloader's big concerns is that the average user lets his computer get away with too much. How many of us, Power D asks, truly know exactly which programs and processes are active at all times? There are several programs that can help you answer that question, and one of Power Downloader's favorites is What's Running.

What's Running is similar to Windows Task Manager, except far more informative and useful. The cramped multipane interface can be hard to read, but even it has its good points: it lists processes in a parent-child hierarchy--incidentally, not … Read more

Todd Barr of Fiveruns (formerly of Red Hat) has a thought-provoking post comparing the software industry to the energy industry. Specifically, he calls out open source as akin to regulated energy companies, while proprietary software vendors are more like unregulated energy companies. The interesting part is what happens when you combine the two:

I think the future looks similar to the energy industry: large technology companies will have a mix of regulated and unregulated businesses, that maximizes the advantages of both. For standard, widely-used technologies, open source "regulation" makes sense because it lowers development costs and provides a standards-based, predictable subscription base of business.… Read more

I was just reading Todd Barr's blog this morning, only to discover he has left Red Hat and joined FiveRuns. I know Red Hat. I know FiveRuns. I even know Todd ([former] director of product marketing at Red Hat and a super-sharp guy).

But I didn't know Todd had left Red Hat to join FiveRuns, an open-source systems management company for monitoring Rails applications.

Funny enough, I was thinking of pinging Todd yesterday but forbear because I didn't want to annoy Red Hat by hiring out of its ranks...Todd, if you decide to change jobs again, … Read more

Microprocessor technology supplier Transmeta said it has received the initial payment of $150 million from Intel toward the $250 million settlement that the two companies agreed upon back in October. The payment was received on January 28, according to Sujan Jain, Transmeta's chief financial officer. Mr. Jain also said that Transmeta is evolving its business model to generate a more constant revenue stream.

Transmeta, previously a supplier of low-power x86 processors, now develops and licenses microprocessor technologies and related intellectual property. The company filed a lawsuit against Intel in October 2006 alleging that the latter infringed upon Transmeta's … Read more

Drum roll, please. America's most intriguing and addictive collaborations to emerge in the last 2 years is back. And, just when we thought we had finally got rid of the song "Crazy" from the brain, now we got "Run" to worry about. The track sounds straight out of the swingin' 60s -- bearing the same kind of excitement as early James Brown or like the peak song in a great musical. Theatrical as it may be, it's still contemporary (yet addicting) thanks to Cee-lo's hefty soul shouts and Danger Mouse forward thinking production style.

Gnarls Barkley new album suitably entitled, The Odd Couple is set for release in April. Check out the new single "Run" plus the classics and mind tripping videos that made this odd couple so hip and love able. … Read more

I'm a big fan of using keyboard shortcuts to get more work done in less time. But there are only so many Ctrl and Alt key combinations available for creating your own shortcuts. Also, the ones I don't use regularly are difficult to remember without using a cheat sheet, and the time spent looking up the ones I can't remember on my own negates the productivity boost I'm shooting for.

That's why I find myself relying increasingly on Windows' Run dialog and command line to open programs. Vista puts a pseudo-command line one click away: … Read more

Network Solutions, a dominant registrar of Internet sites, has stepped back from some controversial elements of a new registration process.

Network Solutions had implemented some changes in an attempt to curtail "front-running," a process in which a company registers a domain name as soon as somebody searches to see if it's available; front-running can turn a registrar into the exclusive holder of a domain and therefore potentially charge more for it than locked-out competing registrars.

The company's changes--which included automatically registering a domain name when somebody searched for it--backfired, and critics accused Network Solutions itself of front-running. … Read more

Contrary to claims that emerged Wednesday, Network Solutions said it isn't "front-running" the Internet address registration process, a practice in which a company registers a potential domain immediately after a prospective buyer searches to see if it's available. In fact, the practice that triggered the accusation is an attempt to counteract front-running, the company said.

Front-running can give a registration company an advantage over the customer who wants to register the site--for example by preventing the customer from registering it through a competing registrar or by selling it to the customer at an inflated price.

The … Read more