My new Thinkpad isn't here yet unfortunately so I can't really give opinions on it, but the 14" model might fit the bill. It starts at $550 (webcam is a $30 options when customizing so call it $580) and has a Core i3 processor (dual-core) so it should be able to handle pretty much anything she's talking about.

[link]

From Lifehacker, How to Connect Your Computer to Your TV

A nice guide. Covers different types of analog and digital connectors, what to do in Windows and OS X, etc.

I just created my first table through the MySQL command line. I feel ridiculously chuffed.

The Dumb Terminal lets you put it all together. (Apr, 1978)

With the new, lower-priced Dumb Terminal™ Kit, that is. Pick one up and escape, once and for all, the headaches of scavenged teletypes and jury-rigged TV sets. With just a little time and aptitude, you can have a live and working Dumb Terminal right in your own home, garage, or business One that lets you get it all out of your system — or into it.

Forget the cheap imitations, with their overblown price tags and interminable lists of options. With the Kit, you can build yourself the same, old basic Dumb Terminal that’s been selling over 1500 units a month. With basic, sensible features like a bright 12″ diagonal screen. Fifty-nine data entry keys. 1920 characters displayed in 24 rows of 80 letters. Plus 33 positive action switches that let you activate functions like 1 of 11 different baud rates, an RS232C interface, or a 20mA current-loop. And more Not bad for Dumb All you need, besides the Kit, is some initiative, and a few basic tools — a good soldering iron, wire cutters, needle-nose pliers, and one or two trusty screwdrivers. The Dumb Terminal Kit provides you with everything else. Including an attractive cabinet, CRT screen, keyboard, PC board, and all essential electronic components. Naturally, you also get illustrated, step-by-step assembly instructions, not to mention an easy-to-understand operator’s manual.

Revealed: How Citigroup hackers broke in 'through the front door' using bank's website

Hackers who stole the personal details of more than 200,000 Citigroup customers 'broke in through the front door' using an extremely simple technique.

It has been called 'one of the most brazen bank hacking attacks' in recent years.

And for the first time it has been revealed how the sophisticated cyber criminals made off with the staggering bounty of names, account numbers, email addresses and transaction histories.

They simply logged on to the part of the group's site reserved for credit card customers - and substituted their account numbers which appeared in the browser's address bar with other numbers.

It allowed them to leapfrog into the accounts of other customers - with an automatic computer programme letting them repeat the trick tens of thousands of times.

Damn, that's such an obvious vulnerability I'm amazed a big financial institution like Citigroup had it on their website.

eta: That'd be like if the URL of this post (http://buffistas.org/showthread.php?thread_id=178&post_id=16963) had a user_id parameter that I could change to, say, become logged in as ita.

as a citicard user, I was pretty pissed off when I heard this. I'm not quite sure what to do.

That'd be like if the URL of this post (http://buffistas.org/showthread.php?thread_id=178&post_id=16963) had a user_id parameter that I could change to, say, become logged in as ita.

Wow, that's remarkably stupid.

And le nubian, I'm in the same boat. I haven't heard anything from Citi, so I kind of assume I'm not one of the victims, but ARGH.

Can someone who knows more tech than I do track me on this?

We have DSL; it's a typical setup of desktop computer attached to DSL modem, which is attached to the wireless router. I am impatient, so I just manually set an IP address on my laptop, and for the first 3 years that I lived with Tim, our 2 computers and the interpipe played well together.

Then in the winter we started having intermittent issues of the connections dropping inexplicably for both computers. (This was pre-MacBook Pro.)

Then after I got the MBP and switched from the iBook, the connection started dropping for both computers all the time. And I made sure all the settings were the same on the MBP as they were on the iBook, including the manually set IP address.

I finally googled the problem, and while I couldn't find this specific problem, I read enough to realize I should check the router's settings (duh). And when I did that, when I checked the DHCP client list, it kept listing...the iPod Touch I got in late December/early January. I totally forgot that, duh, it uses wifi.

I *think* the router was dishing the same IP address to the iPod and Tim's desktop. (Tim just sets his network settings to whatever IP address gets automatically assigned, and I honestly didn't realize that I had an option to manually set the network settings on the iPod.)

So I changed the iPod's network settings to manual, assigned an IP address that won't get dished to Tim's desktop, and so far everything is peachy keen. (Also, apparently the network connection getting screwy is a known issue with Snow Leopard; my old iBook was Tiger but the MBP is Snow Leopard.)

Does that sound right?

If you have a router that is issuing IP addresses, then the best method is really to set everything to get an IP address issued from the router, that way the router can manage any conflicts and make sure that nothing is doubled up on addresses.

Also, you said something I'm not sure is normal, desktop attached to modem attached to router. If you have an ethernet jack on the desktop, you could probably go modem attached to router attached to desktop.

I agree with ND that if you're using DHCP to assign the IP addresses through the router, it really should all be through the router. I have made exceptions to this for a crotchety old large format laser printer that is deeply unhappy with its DHCP assignment, so you might look at our advice and decide that if it works, keep it.

I don't speak mac, but here's a thread that has some suggestions that may be relevant to your situation: [link]