Windows 7 overview, from "Make Use of"

You can install Windows 7 on a virtual machine like what Guy did (Parts 1 & 2) and that's a very valid and safe option. However, the odds are that eventually, you'll need to install it on an actual computer if you want to use it on a daily basis. I did. Take advantage of that to make your own installation simpler and faster. I'll show you what and what not to do.

A word of warning: Windows 7 is not free. It's not even close. But this is the Release Candidate we're talking about. Windows 7 RC may be used for free until June 1, 2010. Just keep in mind that at some stage you're likely to have to go through this again, either to install a final copy of Windows 7 (after you purchase it) or to downgrade back to Vista or XP.

Editor's note: Windows 7 RC will operate normally until March 1, 2010 then it will shut down every 2 hours.

Once more, this is a Release Candidate. A piece of beta software. It's good and seems stable. It's not necessarily ready for your use. There may be things that don't work for you. Don't go doing this if you are unprepared to accept that fact.

Before we start

Varun has done the hard yards to determine if your machine can actually run Windows 7. Check that out first. This is not for you if your computer cannot support the latest and greatest from Microsoft.

Decide whether you plan to upgrade your existing system (if you are running Vista already) or will be starting from scratch. Microsoft's recommendations used to be to always start again, but this time around they seem a little more mellow. Nonetheless, I chose to lose all my settings and installation, and start clean on an empty hard disk.

Backups, backups

Make sure that you have backups of all your important stuff. Okay, that's hardly a new recommendation but definitely worth remembering. If you are blowing away an existing Windows installation, a number of things go with it. Most of your data is hopefully on another drive but I have a few hints for some apps you might be using. Think it through. Here are some examples.

• Firefox bookmarks need to be exported, and the resulting file put somewhere safe. Any add-ins will need to be reinstalled. Take a note of the ones you have. Here's how to backup your Firefox preferences.
• Trillian. Copy Program filesTrillian and everything underneath it.
• iTunes. Careful here. Use the Apple instructions or many of the other how-tos on the web to ensure you have a valid copy of your music and the database files. Remember to deauthorise your machine if necessary for iTunes Store purchases. Jackson wrote a short manual on how to migrate iTunes from Windows to Mac, but that article can also be used in terms of backing up your iTunes library.
• Office configuration. This is easy for Office 2003 but the Office 2007 tool (Windows Easy Transfer) never seems to work for me. Take notes so you can reinstate files. Make sure any .pst files are somewhere safe.
• Digsby. This one is easy. Nothing to do. Reinstall and set up. Log in, and everything reappears. Careful with the install though. Digsby has a habit of installing things you don't want if you don't watch closely.
• Logins. It's easy to forget your logins if you've set up applications or websites to remember them on your behalf. Make sure you have backed them up before you wave goodbye. We have had several great articles about password managers: KeePass, LockCrypt and MashedLife.

If you have multiple partitions or hard drives, make sure you take note of the drive mappings so that you can recreate them later. Some of those configs you saved will benefit. Don't leave your notes on the computer, especially not in the C: drive. Yes, of course I've done that myself. But not lately. Write them down on good old paper.

Take note of your hardware specifics, especially if you are running a machine with parts from multiple suppliers. Video cards, CPUs, network cards, monitors, printers, wireless mice and keyboards. You can also backup each driver (restoration might not work in Windows 7).

Commitment

So you have backups, details, configs and exports. It's time to cross the line and make something happen.

You can get hold of a copy of Windows 7 RC here. Remember to get a key for the product. You're going to need that to activate it.

Download Windows, and burn the .iso to a DVD.

Time for some more decisions. If you intend on performing an upgrade from Vista, then insert the DVD while Windows Vista is running. The rest of these instructions assume a fresh install instead. Therefore, shut down Windows XP or Vista, checking once more that you have everything you need.

Boot from the DVD. Most machines will display a message during boot up indicating which keys to press to change the boot device. The PC will display a 'Press any key to boot from DVD…' message. Best to follow that advice. Welcome aboard.

Choose an appropriate language and location.

Accept the terms. Choose the Custom install.

Carefully, choose the partition you wish to install to. Normally that's the one that just had Vista or XP on it, and is marked System. To keep this as clean as possible, choose Advanced and delete the existing partition. Needless to say, you are now committed to the cause.

Create a new partition in the empty space. Note that Windows 7 may create an additional system partition as well.

Let the installer do what it's paid for. Files will be copied, expanded and installed. Restarts will happen. Just go along for the ride.

Choose a user name and password.

Remember that product key I reminded you to pick up? Now, is its moment of fame. Best to choose Automatically Activate.

Choose your poison with regard to updates. I just left it on Recommended.

Set your Timezone, and your Location. I sincerely hope most of you are doing this at home, rather than in the office. Let everything finish and reboot some more if necessary.

Well done! Welcome to the newest game in town!

Have a wander around, and play with things. I'll be back soon with a follow-up post.

So tell me, how did it go? Where did you get to? What did you forget? Tell me in the comments.

First off, hear this. Most things are the same. Whether you were using XP or Vista, you'll generally find things in the same places, and find that they work in a similar way… Generally.

And while some things are thoroughly different under the hood, I'm concentrating on everyday functionality here. Sending emails, or writing blog posts.

What's Changed?

The XP and Vista Task Bars were pretty similar to each other.

System tray on the right, active applications in the middle, and perhaps a toolbar or two on the left.

Windows 7 has a TaskBar too, but this one is a completely different beast.

The System Tray, on the right, works much the same as the old one, though it's visually quite different…

…but there is no longer a simple distinction on the left between shortcut icons for applications you might want to run, and those for applications already running. The two sets are mixed together, but are differentiated visually.

Icons with borders around them (such as the Firefox one above) are running. The others are just shortcuts for now.

One thing that caught me out for a while was that you can't run the same thing multiple times the same way as you did in earlier versions of Windows. It's logical enough though. Hold the shift key down when you click on the icon, and it will start another copy of the program for you.

For instance, in this case there are multiple copies of Windows Explorer running, one each of Firefox and Outlook, and the others are not running at all. It's different, but it's good.

The menus have had a design makeover as well, but the functionality is largely the same.

Windows Explorer have additional functionality, but work much the way you might expect.

Windows 7 uses the concept of Libraries to group together multiple sets of folders in handy ways, but you don't need to understand that to get going.

What did I install on top?

You know, there are some things I just can't manage without, and even though some of them might not be necessary in Windows 7, I just couldn't help myself. Among the freeware candidates:

I have it on good authority that IE8 is a wonderful product, and I'm sure I'll be using it at work, but I have too much time and familiarity invested in the combination of Firefox and Greasemonkey to leave them behind just yet.

I used to be a big Trillian fan, but Digsby stole my heart. I'm keeping it.

I mentioned this in my previous post, but take care installing Digsby, or you'll get more than you bargained for.

You need music for blog posts.

Trust me.

And iTunes works well for me.

I love this. Phrase Express saves me a LOT of time.

What's no longer needed?

Taskbar Shuffle is great in XP and Vista, but Windows 7 simply doesn't need it. You can drag icons around all by yourself. I'm undecided about whether I need IrfanView and Copernic Desktop Search. Ask me in a few more weeks.

What's broken?

Well, basically… nothing.

I'm not kidding. My requirements aren't extreme, and I don't play games, but for my day, it all just works.

I did have an issue with the VMWare player in that it refused to resume an XP VM, but it turns out that I was stupid enough not to shut it down before I shifted to Windows 7. (It's easily fixed. Delete the .lck files)

I've had a recurring issue with my NVIDIA GeForce 8500GT. Every few days, the driver crashes for a moment, and then recovers. That's much better than the behavior I have with my laptop running Vista, so I'm not complaining.

More to come?

Could be. I haven't played with the Virtual XP functionality yet, haven't hammered IE8, and haven't done anything to really stress the graphics card other than photo processing. I'll let you know.

In the meantime, Did you take the leap? If so, how did it go? If not, is there anything else you need to know? Fill me in via the comments.

More about: backup, guide, upgrade, Windows, Windows 7, Windows Vista

To my Sun God, the keeper of the key!

One of the most frustrating problems I have dealt with recently is maintaining system controls with the variety of people and passwords and networks and logon's including applications and client servers that control our systems for protecting us.

In general I have always used a series passwords that are and remain the same. However there are changes being made that have increased my list of those passwords to an unmanageable point. Now enter case sensitivity and numerical mandatory combination  expressions and I am in trouble if I make a mistake with a cap letter or a &^$#^$#*^ instead a number.  Here are some pointers I have stumbled upon for cleaning up this mess once you have made the mistake on the computer YOU own and have LOCKED yourself out.  Remember - YOU are not the enemy and you have absolute control of this machine!

Sheepy

Beginners Guides: Forgotten Passwords & Recovery Methods

---

Ever wondered how to recover or reset a forgotten password in WindowsXP? This guide will help you get back into your computer, all without reinstalling the operating system. - Version 1.1.0

Bookmark this PCstats guide for future reference.

Windows 2000 and XP brought with them enhanced security features designed originally for the business environment. Unlike the Windows 9x/ME series of operating systems, these new operating systems have very effective password security measures which you can use to protect your system and your data from unwanted access.

Of course, what happens if when you forget the passwords? Congratulations… You've just become "the enemy" as far as your computer is concerned.

Fortunately, for every method of password protecting a computer system, there is a method of defeating said protection, especially if you have physical access to the computer. Since it's your PC

, that shouldn't be a problem, so cheer up.

In this guide, PCstats will explore the various methods that can be used to password protect computer systems, and how to defeat them if you lock yourself out. We'll start with non-user account related passwords, like the computer BIOS password and Internet Explorer passwords, and proceed on to methods of breaking into your system again if you manage to completely lock yourself out.

How to get around BIOS passwords

BIOS passwords are one of the oldest methods of protecting computer systems from unauthorized use, and also one of the least used. Why? Well, password protecting your computer BIOS is a simple and effective means of locking unwanted intruders out of your computer, provided they have no access to the box itself or no hardware knowledge. If they do, it's the equivalent of locking your house and leaving your back window open. Fortunately for you, if you forgot your keys inside, it's easy to get back in.

All motherboards have a stored default configuration for their BIOS, which does not include password protection, for obvious reasons. Therefore, to defeat a BIOS password, all you need to do is manually reset the motherboard BIOS to its default settings. Please note that resetting the BIOS to remove a password will also remove any other changes you have made to the default settings. Resetting the BIOS can be accomplished in one of two ways.

Most modern motherboards have a jumper built onto the board which will clear the CMOS (the onboard memory which stores any changes made to the default BIOS settings). Clearing the CMOS removes any changes made to the default BIOS settings. Generally this jumper is located next to the motherboard battery itself, but we recommend that you consult your motherboard manual for the correct location.

Note that some boards do not have a jumper in this position, but rather two contacts which you will need to (carefully) bridge with a metal object like a screwdriver.

To clear the CMOS using the jumper: Turn the computer off, and set the jumper to the closed position (with the jumper bridging both metal pins). Press the power button to turn the computer on. Your system will not power up, but the CMOS is cleared by this action. Then, open the jumper (put the jumper back to the default position) and power on the computer normally.

You will most likely be stopped in the POST screen and prompted to press F1 or another key to set BIOS defaults. Do so, and from the BIOS screen, simply save and exit to load your computer normally, minus the BIOS password.

Resetting BIOS Passwords

If you are not sure of the location of the clear CMOS jumper, or your system does not have one, there's another easy (but slower) way to clear the CMOS memory and reset the BIOS. Every motherboard has a battery built in which provides the trickle of power the CMOS memory needs to store its information. If you remove the battery for a brief period, the CMOS should lose its stored data

.

In all modern motherboards, the battery is a standard CR 2032 Lithium Cell, which looks like this:

To clear the CMOS memory, power down you system and remove this battery (you will probably need a flathead screwdriver to do it) for 5-10 minutes, then pop it back in and turn your system on. You will be prompted to set the BIOS defaults. From the BIOS screen, save and exit, and the password should no longer be set.

While this works well with desktop PCs, notebooks and laptops employ slightly different methods of storing the BIOS password. In most cases, like 99% of the time, you will not be able to reset a forgotten BIOS password by this, or any other user accessible method. Since notebooks are easily stolen, manufacturers have evolved their security measures significantly to help you protect your data, and investment. Look for PCstats Guide to preventing data theft

from a stolen laptop soon... In the mean time, when it comes to resetting a BIOS-level password on a notebook, usually the only option available is to send the entire notebook back to the manufacturer for support.

Revealing disguised passwords in Windows XP

With the way that Windows handles non-user account passwords - such as dial in passwords for your Internet service provider, email access passwords or website

authorization boxes - it can be very easy to forget the original password that you entered in long ago.

If you have set autocomplete to fill in your password entries in Internet Explorer, for example, you may have only entered each password once, many months ago, no matter how many times you've used them.

Writing all your passwords down for safekeeping is definitely recommended, but how can you when they're all displayed as ***** in Windows?

Well, the solution to this lies in third-party software that can peel back that row of asterisks. There are many freely available software tools

for decoding, or revealing passwords in Windows or Internet Explorer dialog boxes.

Using Asterisk-Password Revealing Programs

The one we will use for the purpose of this article is called Asterisk Key by Passware. This easy to handle freeware program analyzes covered passwords and reports them to you. To use it, simply open the program, highlight the password box or open the web page containing the covered password and click the 'recover' button.

Of course, commercial software programs are available that can do considerably more than this, for a price. One example of this is Rixler software's Password Recovery Toolbox which scans your system and enumerates all Internet explorer stored passwords, autocomplete data (data you entered repeatedly when filling in web forms), Outlook Express passwords, Internet login passwords, etc.

This information is then presented to you in an easily accessible form. Scary, but very useful for system administrators.

Getting around Windows XP user passwords

Windows XP saves user passwords as an encrypted numerical 'hash' - taking a password of say 'password' and turning it into something like "HT5E-23AE-8F98-NAQ9-83D4-9R89-MU4K." This hash value is then stored in the SAM (Security Accounts Manager) file, found in the C:\windows\system32\config directory.

This portion of the file is then re-encrypted by the syskey utility which considerably strengthens the encryption. The data needed to remove the syskey encryption is stored in the SYSTEM file in the same directory. The directory itself is invisible and inaccessible to all users except the operating system itself while windows is running. By using an alternate operating system that can read your disks, or by transferring your disks to another windows machine, you can gain access to the SAM and SYSTEM files.

Resetting XP user passwords with the Administrator account

All versions of Windows XP include a built in account called 'administrator.' This account has full privileges in XP, and is capable of resetting the passwords for all user accounts. This can be a lifesaver if you have locked yourself out of your normal user account. Use of the Administrator account depends on which version of XP you are currently using.

With XP professional:

You will have been prompted to create a password for the Administrator account during the installation process. If you have this password recorded, or if you entered a blank password (commonly done, but not a secure idea ), then you can access the Administrator account and reset your forgotten password.

To login as administrator: From the Welcome screen, press CTRL+ALT+DEL twice to bring up a login window for the administrator account.

Windows Login Passwords

Once you are logged in, go to 'start\control panel\user accounts' and change the offending password. Note that if you did enter a blank password for the Administrator account, now is a really good time to change it. While you are at it, change the name of the Administrator account itself to something else, as this is the account that everyone who may try to gain unauthorized access to your system is going to try to crack first.

To do this: Right click on 'my computer,' and select 'manage.'

Expand 'local users and groups' then open the 'users' folder and highlight the 'administrator' account. Right click and select 'rename' to change it.

Windows XP Home:

Windows XP Home does not let you log in with the Administrator account normally. To access it, you must restart the computer in safe mode, a special 'minimal' mode used to correct errors caused by third-party software, among other things.

To enter safe mode: Restart your system. Immediately after the POST screen, press F8 a few times to bring up the XP advanced options menu. Select the 'start Windows XP

in safe mode' option.

Once safe mode has loaded, login with the username 'administrator.' The password is blank by default. You can now change user passwords by going to 'start\control panel\user accounts.' Reboot normally when you are done.

Create a Password reset disk:

Windows XP is a fair bit more friendly than previous Microsoft operating systems based off of the Windows NT kernel, at least when it comes to recovering forgotten passwords

. Not only can you set a password hint to help you remember a forgotten user password, you can also create a floppy disk which will enable you to completely reset your password in the event that you cannot recall it.

While this will not help you if you are currently locked out of your system, it can certainly put your mind at ease about the possibility of it ever happening again.

Windows XP allows users to create a password reset disk specific to their user account. This disk can be used at the welcome screen to reset your password in the event that you do forget it.

To create the disk: Go to start\control panel\user accounts. Select the account you are currently logged in as. Under the 'related tasks' heading in the top left corner, click 'prevent a forgotten password' to open the forgotten password wizard. Insert a blank floppy disk and follow the instructions to create your password reset disk.

To use the password reset disk in case of emergency: Once you have created a password reset disk for a specific user, the next time the password for that user is entered incorrectly at the welcome screen, a message will pop up asking if you have forgotten your password. At this point you can elect to use your password reset disk. Follow the instructions to reset your login password.

Note: There are is a possible problem with the above procedure if you have used Windows XP's built in encryption feature to encrypt some of your files and folders, but have not yet updated to service pack 1. Do not reset your password in this situation, as you will lose access to the encrypted data. Once you have got service pack 1, it is safe to use the disk.

Keep your reset disk in a safe location, because anyone else can also use it to reset your password.

NT/2000/XP password reset boot utility

There are utilities available which can directly edit Windows NT\2000\XP user accounts and change or blank their passwords. These generally work by booting the computer into a minimal version of an alternate operating system like Linux, then directly accessing and editing the system32\config files.

An excellent and fairly easy to use example of this can be found here. Files to create a bootable floppy or CD are available from the site, as are instructions. This utility uses a text-only Linux version to allow you to edit user accounts and change passwords. Very effective.

Please note that if you have encrypted files using the built in Windows encrypted file system (EFS), you will lose access to them if you change your password with this program. See the below method for a non-catastrophic alternative.

Extracting a lost password from your hard drive:

If all else fails, but you still have physical access to your computer, all is not lost! You can get hold of the actual file on the hard drive that contains your password information, and use some third-party software to extract the passwords from this file.

As mentioned above, Windows 2000/XP stores its password information in a numerical hash found within the SAM (Security Accounts Manager). The file that contains the SAM cannot be directly accessed by a user (even the administrator) while Windows XP is running. However, if you start your computer with an alternate operating system that has the ability to read the data on your Windows drive, suddenly things become a lot more accessible.

The idea here is to use an alternate operating system (like DOS or Linux) to access the SAM file found in c:\Windows\system32\config and make a copy of it. This file can then be analyzed by one of several password cracking utilities like LC4 or Proactive Windows Security Explorer, which will attempt to obtain the passwords to each user account.

Please not that this procedure is quite a bit more complicated than those in the rest of the article. Unfortunately there is not really an easy way to do this... Please ensure that you read the instructions below very carefully before you attempt the procedure.

We cover three discrete methods of transferring the necessary files to an alternate computer, where you can use a password cracking utility to (hopefully) recover your passwords.

What you will need:

1) Access to another computer. There's no getting around this.

2) At least 2 empty 1.44MB floppy disks.

3) A copy of a command line compression utility like RAR.

4) A DOS boot disk (such as a Windows 98 boot disk which can be obtained from www.bootdisk.com)

Or

4A) Portable Linux distribution like Knoppix.

Or

4B) You will need to transfer the main hard disk (the C:\ drive) from your locked computer physically to your alternate system and install it as a secondary drive, allowing you to copy off the SAM and SYSTEM files easily. For more information on how to do this, see our article on installing a hard disk drive here.

If you use a DOS boot disk and your system drive uses the NTFS file system (the default for Windows XP), you will also need a program that allows DOS to see NTFS formatted drives, such as NTFSDOS. Copy the NTFSDOS executable file onto the boot disk.

5) Password auditing program. For the purpose of this article, we recommend using Proactive Windows Security Explorer, since the beta of this program is freely available, (up to January the 1st, anyhow). LC4, or Lopht Crack4 is better known, but the evaluation version of this now commercial software limits you considerably.

Retrieving the Windows XP SAM and SYSTEM files

- With a DOS boot disk -

1. Copy the NTFSDOS file onto your DOS boot disk.

2. Copy the RAR utility files onto one of your empty floppy disks.

3. Boot your system with the boot disk.

If your system drive uses the FAT32 file system

:

5. From the a: prompt, insert the disk with the RAR utility.

6. Type: Rar32 a -v a:\systemandsam c:\windows\system32\config\system c:\windows\system32\config\sam

This will copy both the System and SAM files into a compressed file

on your floppy called 'systemandsam.' They should all fit onto the one disk, but if not, you will be prompted to insert another blank floppy.

7. Now skip down to the section on extracting passwords.

If your system drive uses the NTFS file system:

8. Type: ntfsdos to detect NTFS formatted drives. The system will inform you which drive letters are allocated to which drives. Make a note of the drive letter of your main drive (the one with windows installed on it).

9. Insert the disk with the RAR utility and type:

10. Rar32 a -v a:\systemandsam (drive letter of your main drive as above):\windows\system32\config\system (drive letter of your main drive as above):\windows\system32\config\sam

11. This will copy both the System and SAM files into a compressed file on your floppy called 'systemandsam.' They should all fit onto the one disk, but if not, you will be prompted to insert another blank floppy.

12. Now skip down to the section on extracting passwords.

- Using a portable Linux CD -

1. These tend to be pretty user friendly, at least compared to most Linux versions… Just boot from the CD.

2. As most current versions of Linux read NTFS drives as well as FAT32, simply navigate to the HDA1\windows\system32\config directory from the desktop and copy the SAM and SYSTEM files to the desktop, then email them to yourself.

From a hard disk you transferred to a new computer

1. Easiest of all. Simply navigate to the (drive letter)\windows\system32\config directory and copy the SAM and SYSTEM files to the location you desire.

Extracting passwords from the SAM file

Now that you have the SAM and SYSTEM files, copy them to your alternate system and start your password auditing software. For the purposes of this article, we are going to describe the process using Proactive Windows Security Explorer.

Select the 'registry files (SAM, SYSTEM)' option and click 'dump.'

Enter the location of the SYSTEM file in the top text box, and then enter the location of the SAM file at the bottom of the screen. Click 'dump'

Brute Force Password Cracking

A list of the user accounts found in the SAM file will be displayed. Check the ones you wish to attempt to discover passwords for.

Click the 'brute force attack' tab, then check the 'all digits (0-9)' box unless you are sure the password you need did not contain numbers.

Click the 'start recovery' icon on the toolbar. Please note that cracking the password may take anywhere from 10 minutes to several hours, if it works at all. Complex passwords with different cases and numbers will take much, much longer to crack.

On an other note, if you just want to see how good you own password choices are, you can always follow the steps mentioned above and try to crack your operating system's SAM file as means of conducting your own personal security audit. If you have a Windows password

like "cat", chances are it will take only a few moments for the software to discover it. There's also a certain amount of satisfaction from stumping the crack utility altogether, or at least keeping it crunching away for a few days. ;-)

A note on security:

We hope this article has been useful to you. As you can see, there are a fair number of ways to get around Windows 2000/XP's password security systems, especially if you have physical access to the computer in question.

To protect yourself from having the techniques contained in this article used against you maliciously, there are a few basic steps you should take.

Firstly, as we have said in several other articles you must set secure passwords for all user

accounts. As you have seen, it is quite simple for password cracking programs to decipher normal dictionary words. Use combinations of numbers and letters, including upper-case letters, to make more secure passwords which will take a discouraging amount of time to crack. In Windows XP, all accounts created during the install process have full administrative privileges, and they do not have passwords by default. Fix this.

Secondly, as you have seen in this article, there is no such thing as a secure password if the potential intruder has physical access to your computer. Keep this in mind, especially if your computers are exposed to the public.

Find out about this and many other reviews by joining the Weekly PCstats.com Newsletter today!

Manufacture It Yourself

Manufacture It Yourself

A Conversation with FabLab@Home Project Co-Creator Evan Malone

Written By: RU Sirius

The nineties promised us desktop everything. In the new millennium, that promise is really starting to deliver. One of the most exciting developments bringing power to the individual home office or workshop is the "desktop fabricator," a sort of printer for 3-dimensional objects.

Science Fiction writer Bruce Sterling has been raving about developments in this area – nicknamed "Fab Labs" -- for about seven years. But frankly, I could never quite wrap my head around it as an already existing phenomenon, and so I didn't give it much attention. But when I heard about Evan Malone's open source Fab@home project to "freely distribute designs and software that allow anyone to build and operate their own open-architecture, multimaterial desktop Standard Freeform Fabricator" (SFF) it was clearly time to put an end to my own ignorance by talking (via email) to the man directly.

Malone worked in applied physics at Fermilab in Batavia, Illinois as part of the "Proton Driver " proton synchotron conceptual design team. As a Masters student at Cornell, he worked on Cornell's World Champion Robocub Autonomous Robotic Soccer Project. His current work on SFF is part of his Doctoral research in Mechanical Engineering, also at Cornell.

h+: Call me dense, but I've read about Fab Labs before, and when people talk about it, they don't seem to talk about the physical materials you need to have at hand to "print" a 3 dimensional object. I'm always left with this futuristic nanotech vision where you punch in the code and the machine sort of builds you an object.

So tell me a bit about that aspect of it. Do you have a machine with the components of a large variety of material objects and then you send it your info, or do you feed it the materials and then it organizes it for you or what?

The idea behind Fab@Home and multi-material freeform fabrication in general is to make a single machine which can go directly from level 2 (raw materials) to level 4 (finished products) – an automated fabrication and assembly machine

EVAN MALONE: Traditional manufacturing can be decomposed, roughly, into a pyramid of 4 types of processes:

• Extraction: Raw materials are extracted from nature or through recycling.
• Refinement: Raw materials are processed and formed into stock material – billet, rod, pellets, gases, liquids, etc.
• Fabrication: Stock materials are fabricated into parts – carefully formed shapes of a single material.
• Assembly: Parts of different types and materials are assembled into products.

The idea behind Fab@Home and multi-material freeform fabrication in general is to make a single machine which can go directly from level 2 (raw materials) to level 4 (finished products) – an automated fabrication and assembly machine. Fab@Home uses a simple syringe pump technique to deposit materials. Refined raw materials are supplied to the machine in a pure form or formulated as "inks" which can be readily dispensed by the machine from a disposable syringe.

The basic workflow is as follows:

• You decide what you want to make, design it with some sort of 3D design software, and export it as a common file type (STL).
• Using the Fab@Home software, you import your STL file(s), assign "material properties" to them, and then the software processes the model into a machine executable manufacturing plan.
• You load the machine with syringes of the appropriate materials and command the machine to start.
• The machine moves the syringe along paths as material is dispensed, laying down strands of material, layer by layer building up the 3-dimensional shape of the object
• If the object involves multiple materials, the machine automatically switches between multiple mounted syringes, or asks you to load the appropriate syringe.
• You may, optionally, manually drop in parts that are traditionally manufactured – e.g. an LED, IC, or battery, during the course of building, and embed them within an otherwise "fabbed" object.

Find more videos like this on hplus community

"Material properties" are parameters that the system uses to control the flow of material as it is dispensed. When you are trying out a new material, you need to have the machine make some test patterns, then use these to adjust the parameters for the particular material. These parameters are stored for future use, and you can then choose to apply any stored parameters to any object.

h+: Would it be fair to say that this is for hobbyists at this point? When do we see home manufacturing on a reasonably broad scale?

EM: Interestingly, Fab@Home is working well for a couple of different groups – yes, hobbyists are playing with the machines, but secondary school and university educators are using them to teach design and manufacturing, and researchers are using the machines to explore new means of controlling the shape of materials for biological tissue engineering, handicapped assistive technologies, and robotics. There are more than 130 machines around the world; we're still waiting to see what most of the users will do with them. I suspect that home manufacturing will gradually creep into being over the next decade. I expect that the demand for the technology will be in the art studios and hobbyists garages, for making replacement parts and for inventing new art forms and devices, in the research laboratories, and also in the kitchen for dessert making and decoration. I suspect that the hobbyists, artists, and researchers will start to show some impressive achievements with the technology, using it to do otherwise impossible things, and this will drive new R&D and investment in fabber technology. There is a solid decade of work required before the appropriate set of raw materials is developed and the control software intelligence is developed that will allow home users to build really exciting products.

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h+: Please say a bit about the degree to which this might be putting manufacturing power into the hands of individuals, and conversely, is this a threat to any currently existing industries?

EM: On its face, Fab@Home is exactly about putting manufacturing power directly in the hands of individuals. However, I don't think personal fabrication is ready to compete with traditional product manufacturing quite yet. Practically speaking, we have hoped that the Fab@Home project would increase public awareness of rapid prototyping / 3D printing, and would build a hacker community interested in improving the technology. Both of these things seem to be happening, to our delight. I suspect that there will be a performance/price threshold for personal fabrication technology, hopefully achieved via open-source effort, after which users will be able to focus on product designs without having to worry about babying the printer. At this point, creativity, competition, and collaboration will drive demand for ever better fabbers. Until then, these systems require some skill and patience to work with.

After this threshold (hopefully 3-5 years), I suspect that the technology will primarily be used to develop new types of products, rather than competing directly with existing manufacturing. On the other hand, the advantages of Fab@Home's multi-material fabrication relative to traditional manufacturing are packaging freedom and total customization – blending function and form to a far greater extent than possible with traditional manufacturing, and allowing each product to be unique. I see wearable devices, prosthetics, hearing aids, implants, custom battery packs, surveillance devices, and also tissue engineering as the applications for which fabbers will be better suited than traditional approaches.

h+: Some of us first heard about the FabLab idea via Neil Gershefeld's project with the Center for Bits and Atoms. Are you associated with that project? Competitors? Are there differences in ideas or realization that you could share with us?

EM: I have been involved in Prof. Gershenfeld's FabLab project for a few years, and Prof. Gershenfeld is partly responsible for our creating the Fab@Home project. Prof. Gershenfeld and Prof. Lipson (co-creator of the Fab@Home project) realized that personal fabricators might be a very powerful tool to include in a FabLab, and might even be built using the facilities of a FabLab. We were invited by Prof. Gershenfeld to show our very first Fab@Home prototype at the opening of a FabLab in South Africa. Prof. Gershenfeld envisions and is pursuing an implementation of personal fabricators built entirely using the technologies developed in the FabLabs – the technologies include: ATTiny microcontrollers, Internet communication protocols, their own motor driver designs, and more. We are continuing with the COTS approach because I believe that we can meet a lower price point and a lower skill point for the end users more readily this way. Still, we continue to share ideas and meet annually.

Venue Change

Attention my dear followers;

"Rising from the Ashes" is a very old blog of mine that has captured my random thoughts and "Targets" for many years while exploring the world wide web. Now, being exposed to the social media giant twitter, I have a huge group of interactive followers that are always feeding me interesting goodies for practical use on the web and home computer.

This site will now focus on encapsulating fun and eclectic varieties of INTERNET tools and  wild tips for surfing the world wide web and tweaking your one on one relationship with your computer .My regular visions of "You gotta read this stuff" will remain on " http://aokbyme.blogspot.com " If you wish to continue reading my mind and thoughts while traveling the "world wide web of intercourse" please send me a note at ;

sheephogan@gmail.com - subject - "subscribe" AOKBYME.

As usual, my updates are completely add free, spyware free and unobtrusive in nature. I do use and share (in plain view) the location of people around the world that are stopping in for a visit. Why? Because I love to see the variety of people I am connecting with! If I could I would shake hands with all of you!

Hope you find this fun and informational  as I stretch and expand my blog recordings.

Thanks!!

Plants 'can recognize themselves'

Matt Walker
Earth News

Know thy neighbor: sagebrush plants warn clones of impending danger

Plants may be able to recognize themselves.

Experiments show that a sagebrush plant can recognize a genetically identical cutting growing nearby.

What's more, the two clones communicate and cooperate with one another, to avoid being eaten by herbivores.

The findings, published in Ecology Letters, raise the tantalizing possibility that plants, just like animals, often prefer to help their relatives over unrelated individuals.

The ability to distinguish self from non-self is a vital one in nature.

It allows many animals to act preferentially towards others that are genetically related to themselves; for example, a female lion raising her young, or protecting other more distantly related cubs in her pride.

But the evidence that plants can do the same is limited and controversial.

Some experiments have shown that if a plant's roots grow near to those of another unrelated plant, the two will try to compete for nutrients and water. But if a root grows close to another from the same parent plant, the two do not try to compete with one another.

However, in these experiments, when two cuttings of the same plant are then grown alongside each other, their roots still compete for resources. That infers that two separate plants cannot recognize that they are genetic kin.

Now research by Richard Karban of the University of California, in Davis, US and Kaori Shiojiri of Kyoto University in Otsu, Japan has revealed that some plants are capable of doing just that.

Keep it in the family

They took cuttings of Artemisia tridentata, a species of sagebrush that does not normally reproduce by cloning itself.

They placed each cutting either near its genetic parent, essentially its clone, or near an unrelated sagebrush, and let the plants grow in the wild in the University of California Sagehen Creek Natural Reserve. The researchers clipped each clone they planted, feigning damage that might be caused by natural herbivores such as grasshoppers.

After one year, they found that plants growing alongside their damaged clones suffered 42% less herbivore damage than those growing alongside damaged plants that were unrelated.

Somehow, the clipped plants appeared to be warning their genetically identical neighbors that an attack was imminent, and the neighbor should somehow try to protect itself. But clipped plants didn't warn unrelated neighbors.

Karban says he was "pretty surprised" at the results. "It implies that plants are capable of more sophisticated behavior than we imagined."

Karban suspects the plants are communicating using volatile chemicals. When one plant is clipped, or comes under attack from herbivores, it emits these chemicals into the air, warning those around it to put up a defense, either by filling their leaves with noxious chemicals, or by physically moving their stems or leaves in some way to make themselves less palatable.

Because his team doesn't yet know exactly how the plants are communicating, others remain skeptical of the research, Karban admits.

"It's controversial," he says. "But through this communication process, sagebrush appears able to distinguish self from non self. And that opens up a lot of other possibilities."

Not least is that wild plants may preferentially be cooperating with their relatives.

There is no hard evidence yet to show this is true, says Karban.

But he hopes others will now do more research to investigate the possibility. In animals, cooperation between related individuals is recognized to be a powerful evolutionary force, one that has been given its own name: kin selection.

The plant that can water itself
14 May 09 |  Earth News

Apples' autumn colour change clue
15 Apr 09 |  Science & Environment

Plant seeds 'adapt to city life'
05 Mar 08 |  Science & Environment

Talking plant asks for water
21 Jul 07 |  Science & Environment

Valuing the unusual illness debate:

May 28, 2009  "Mind Hacks"

Valuing the unusual illness debate:

One of the particular joys of psychiatry is the regular ritual where a small but determined group of researchers try and get their idea for a new diagnosis accepted into the DSM. The most recent outbreak has hit the LA Times where a short article notes the proposal for 'posttraumatic embitterment disorder'.

The idea for the disorder, where people are impaired by feelings of bitterness after "a severe and negative life event", is not new. A small group of German researchers have been proposing the disorder in the medical literature since 2003 and have recently released a psychometric scale which they argue can diagnose the condition.

The last incarnation of this debate to hit the mainstream press was discussion over whether extreme racism could or should be diagnosed as 'racist personality disorder'.

The discussions are interesting because they cut to the heart of how we define an illness. This is usually discussed as if it is a problem specific to psychiatry, as if diagnoses in other areas of medicine are more obvious, but this is not the case.

Implicit in medical diagnoses is the concept that the change or difference in the person has a negative impact.

Importantly, the biological 'facts' have little to do with this, because whether something has a 'negative impact' is largely a value judgement.

An infectious disease is not defined solely on the basis that it is a bacteria or virus, as we have many bacteria or viruses in our bodies that cause no problems. It's only when they cause us distress or impairment that they're classified as an illness.

In fact, there are some bacteria or viruses that are completely harmless in certain areas of the body, but cause problems in others. Like in cases of viral encephalitis where otherwise benign viruses can cause problems when they get into brain tissue.

In some cases the definition is partly based on a comparison to what's average for a person of this type. Differences in brain structure, such as some white matter lesions, may be considered medical problems in young people but normal in older people.

But there are many human characteristics that we could equally classify as being 'not normal' and 'negative' but we don't currently accept as illnesses.

Being left-handed is clearly a statistical deviation from the average, has been associated with a greater risk of breast cancer, an increase in accidental injuries, and has been genetically linked to schizophrenia. But left-handedness is not considered an illness.

In other words, there is no definition of an illness which is divorced from a subjective interpretation of what counts as 'negative'.

We also have some subjective and fairly fuzzy cultural ideas just about what sort of things count as medical conditions and require attention from doctors. Someone born with a missing thumb - yes, someone born left-handed - no.

Many of these assumptions are not about the properties of the 'illness' but about what we think doctors should be doing and what we feel the place of medicine in society should be.

Psychiatric disorders are just another instance of this. So when you hear proposals for seemingly wacky mental illnesses, think to yourself, why is this not an illness?

Importantly, we should do the same for widely accepted mental illnesses, such as schizophrenia or depression. Ask yourself, on what basis is this an illness?

It's not that all new diagnoses are useful or all existing ones are nonsense, it's just that the process of questioning highlights our assumptions regarding the relationship between normality, human distress, impairment and the role of medicine in society.

Link to LA Times piece on bitterness as a mental illness.
Link to brilliant Stanford Philosophy Encyclopaedia entry on mental illness.

—Vaughan.