Coca-Cola's green billboard consumes carbon dioxide like so much sugary soda

Sure, we've seen plenty of cool billboard features over the years, from facial recognition to interactive Pong games, but few have managed the dual feat of promoting a popular soft drink and making the world a slightly greener place. All of that fuzzy area you see surrounding the silhouette of the Coke bottle in the above 60 by 60 foot billboard is made up of a number of Fukien tea plants, each of which can soak up around 13 pounds of carbon dioxide per year, for a combined total of 46,800 pounds. The plants are housed in pots made from recycled Coke bottles and are watered via a drip irrigation system. The billboard is the product of a partnership between Coca-Cola Philippines and the World Wildlife Fund. No word on when it might be greening up more skylines around the world. Press release below.

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WebCL scores first demos, GPU accelerated apps headed to your browser

Look, WebGL is great and everything but, in the era of general-purpose GPU computing, we know our 3D chips are capable of much more than just pushing pixels. WebCL is a new standard that brings OpenCL processing to the browser, leveraging the power of your graphics card to perform complex computations. Samsung and Nokia have both released prototype plug-ins, with Sammy's running exclusively in Safari on OS X using NVIDIA chips and Nokia focusing on the 32-bit Windows version of Firefox 4 and AMD GPUs. At the moment, the young technology doesn't offer much to the average user, but demos (after the break) show just how much faster OpenCL can be than traditional JavaScript

What You Said: What’s the Best Order for Installing Apps on a Ne w Computer?

Earlier this week we asked you to share your strategy for installing applications on a new (or rebuilt) computer. The responses piled up and now we’re back to highlight your tips.

A common thread throughout the responses was the hierarchy of importance in installation (core hardware driver updates before installing Angry Birds for example). More cautious users also mixed in backups and drive imaging to provide a safety net. Huuisie might win the award as the most cautious of the bunch with his detailed and backup-laden routine:

STEP 1
————
1. Format and partition HDD – C: for Windows and apps, D: for Data
2. Install Windows 7 and SP1
3. Create 1st system image backup (Backup 1) with Macrium Reflect (can backup RAID5)
(This is now source used when reinstalling from scratch)

STEP 2
————
1. I tweak Windows extensively, so this gets done now
2. Secret sauce is Liberkey – this is installed on D:. Allows me to browse for stuff, use CCleaner, etc. without affecting OS setup and C: drive (keeps it clean). Keeps app install on C: drive (later) to a minimum.
3. All Windows Updates installed
4. Create Backup 2

How To Encrypt Your Cloud-Based Drive with Boxcryptor	HTG Explains: Photography with Film-Based Cameras	How to Clean Your Dirty Smartphone (Without Breaking Something)

CloseTheDoor, Identify Local TCP, UDP Listening Ports

One of the things that I to regularly on all of my computer systems is to check each system’s open TCP and UDP ports. It is a security precaution to make sure that only needed ports are listening, and that all other ports are closed to reduce the chance of a successful attack. I have been using various programs for that task, the previously reviewed CurrPorts by Nirsoft for instance. Today I’m going to review CloseTheDoor, another program that Windows users can use to identify local TCP and UDP listening ports.

The program is offered as a portable version and installer by its developers. Both versions offer the same functionality in all other aspects.



The software displays all listening ports, their protocol, process, process ID, associated services and company in the interface. This makes it relatively easy to identify specific ports directly in the program interface. Especially the associated services column can be helpful in identifying the responsible Windows services.

A right-click on a row opens a context menu with additional research options.

• Locate the executable file – Opens the folder that contains the process executable.


• Terminate this process – Terminates the process directly. May only be temporary if the process restarts automatically.


• Process services – Displays all services that are linked to the process.


• Google… – Research the port, process on Google.


• Wikipedia… – Research the port, process on Wikipedia.


• Usage statistics of this port – Look up statistics


• Port authority database – Provides information about most ports.

The menubar on top links to additional tools, commands and references. The tools menu links to Windows apps like the Services managements interface, the Task Manager, Registry Editor or Local Security Settings. Commands can run the netstat command to display all open connections, the task list and the system’s environment variables.

Internet references finally links to essays and white papers about ports and online security. Linked there are for instance BlackViper’s excellent website that is offering services configuration suggestions, lists of common port numbers or a Microsoft guide on how to configure a firewall for domains and trusts.

It is furthermore possible to display a short summary, and to export the current port list in detail. CloseTheDoor offers everything that one could hope for when analyzing open ports on a Windows machine. It is a solid alternative to CurrPorts. The software is compatible with all recent versions of the Microsoft Windows operating system. It tested fine on a 64-bit Windows 7 test system. Downloads of the portable version, installer and source code are available at the project website over at Sourceforge.

15 Cool Pictures of Ink in Water

With swirls and tons of rich colors at your disposal, think of all the artsy things you could do with ink and water! Check out these 15 cool pictures.



ink falling by Suicine



The Lure by Andrew Xu



ink in water by Leonardo Aguiar



Nebulae by Mark Skipper



Fluid#07 by madèo



ink in water by Leonardo Aguiar



ink in water by Leonardo Aguiar



Ink in water by Leonardo Aguiar



Droplet by Leonardo Aguiar



Ink in the Water by everyone's idle



Ink by Esad Hajdarevic



Smoke on the water by Marcin Chylinski



Graduated cylinders and beaker filled with chemical compounds by Horia Varlan



Intestines by Leonardo Aguiar



ink in water by Leonardo Aguiar

You may also like:

1. 18 Refreshing Water Droplet Photos


2. 20 Smoking Pictures


3. 12 Exploding Water Balloon Pictures

17 Awesome Pictures of Fireworks

If you love fireworks, then you’ll enjoy these 17 awesome pictures.



celebration of light 2007 - vancouver, canada, fireworks by Jon Rawlinson



Fireworks NYE2005 by Mr Magoo ICU



Fireworks over Zürich by Tambako The Jaguar



Looks like the Sky will bleed with Colors tonight by William Cho



Fireworks by Terry Grealey



this wheel's on fire by Jes



July 04, 2009, Cayucos fireworks at Cayucos pier by Kevin Cole



Fireworks in Val Thorens by Edward Simpson



Flowers at night by Matteo Mazzoni



Let there be light! by Kenny Louie



God Bless America by Ray



Bubbles by Feliciano Guimarães



Fireworks by Nana B Agyei



RiverFest 2008 by Lisa Nail



Happy 4th of July by Bob Jagendorf



Happy New Year! by Bob Jagendorf



Red, White, & Blue by Bob Jagendorf

You may also like:

1. 15 Patriotic American Flag Pictures


2. Danny Santos II – Street Photography


3. 21 Outstanding Pictures of Birthday Candles

Semper Driver Backup For Windows

Microsoft has improved driver support in the Windows operating system a lot over the years. Most users do not need to install a single driver when they setup the new operating system as everything is working out of the box. Drivers are mostly needed to add functionality and performance, for instance in the case of video card drivers. There are however situations where drivers are needed to install devices properly. This is often the case for old hardware, and hardware that cam preinstalled on a computer.

A backup of those drivers can be a safeguard in case of computer problems, for example when everything needs to be formatted and newly installed. A driver backup before that process could be used to restore the drivers once the system has been setup again.

Semper Driver Backup is a free backup software for the Windows operating system. Unlike standard driver backup programs it runs the backup on all system devices and components. That’s good on the one hand as it makes sure that everything gets backed up, not so good on the other hand for keeping an overview and managing the device backups.



The drivers are backed up with a click on the backup drivers button in the program interface. The software displays a list of drivers and their inf files in the interface.

One of the biggest issues of this technique is that it does not seem possible to restore a single driver from within the application interface. If you click the Import Drivers button all drivers that have been backed up before will be restored.

While that’s convenient if the hardware of the system has not changed, it could be problematic if hardware has been replaced or added.

Drivers are on the other hand placed in a folder under My Documents. Some are stored with inf files that can theoretically be used to install the drivers, provided that it is possible to identify the correct inf file of a device which may not be as easy as it sounds with more than 200 driver files backed up and cryptic names like netrasa.inf or nettun.inf. It is however possible to use the information displayed by Semper Driver Backup to link files to drivers.

It is not difficulty to use, provided that all you want to do is to backup all system drivers or restore them.

How does Semper Driver Backup compare to previously reviewed applications like Double Driver, Driver Magician Lite or the portable application Driver Backup 2?

The core difference is that Semper Driver Backup can only backup and restore all existing drivers whereas the previously reviewed applications can backup and restore drivers selectively.

Interested users can download the backup software from the developer website. It is compatible with all recent versions of the Windows operating system (via).