Anything & Everything: 2010

Auslogics Disk Defrag 3.1.4.110
http://download.cnet.com/Auslogics-Disk-Defrag/3000-2094_4-10567503.html

Price: Free
Operating system: Windows XP/2003/Vista/Server 2008/7
Date added: March 31, 2010

CNET editors' review

Reviewed by: Seth Rosenblatt on November 07, 2008

Join your hard drive fragments together into a tight bunch with this freeware. Auslogics Disk Defrag's interface couldn't be any cleaner or easier to use.

Choose a hard drive from an easy-to-read pull-down menu, and Disk Defrag instantly displays the drive's size, and used and free space. The program even displays a pie graph for visual learners. One click starts the defragmentation process. The program's defrag process screen displays another handy visual. A sector map makes it easy to see how much of the drive is fragmented, allocated, or free. As the program churns away, the defragged sectors are displayed in blue.

We found the program fast, even on older XP systems. A handy HTML report is prepared after each defrag session. A summary displays the total files and folders defragged, while the detail section lists the defrag outcome for each file. We only wish a final sector map was included in the report. Novices to system administrators will love this easy-to-use hard drive defrag program.

Ashampoo WinOptimizer 7.10
http://download.cnet.com/Ashampoo-WinOptimizer/3000-2094_4-10224281.html

Price: Free to try (40-day trial); $49.99 to buy
Operating system: Windows XP/Vista/7
Date added: May 29, 2010

CNET editors' review

Reviewed by: Jessica Dolcourt on December 16, 2008

Keeping your PC running like a champ requires a bit of maintenance now and again. For your money, you could do much worse than Ashampoo WinOptimizer, a clean, fast, and professional-looking application with a robust tool set.

The fastest route to optimization is from the One-Click Optimization feature, accessible from your desktop or from a tab on the program interface. The second fastest lets you run a quick or a full scan from the Overview tab. Either option starts diagnosing your system using common, customizable settings. For spot-checking or to oversee your own changes, you can click the Modules tab within the application and hand pick among the 21 included tools grouped smartly into six categories.

In addition to a laundry list of system tweaks you can manually or automatically configure, WinOptimizer backs up your registry so you can undo critical mistakes. New to version 6, it also stores a list of most-often used tools alongside some decent stats on your use of each module. Best of all, each tool in our tests ran quickly, smoothly and effectively without disrupting overall performance. Novices will appreciate the ease of use while pro users will find plenty of ways to get their hands dirty.

Publisher's description

From Ashampoo :

Ashampoo WinOptimizer 7 is designed to enable both novice and advanced users to cleanse and optimize their Windows system and adapt it to their own needs. The tool feels equally at home optimizing the Windows XP and Vista operating systems as it does under Windows 7. The extremely easy-to-use menus present the individual modules of the program and make it possible to measure system performance, deactivate annoying auto start entries, or delete unnecessary files, all with a click of the mouse. The latest generation of Ashampoo WinOptimizer has a fresh look and feel that is inspired by the user interface of Windows 7. The all-in-one interface allows fast access to the integrated function groups. The innovative online rating system pools the knowledge of all Ashampoo WinOptimizer users and enables direct online updating and synchronization. You benefit twofold: from our wealth of experience and the experiences of the community. The real-time system analysis that updates automatically when the program starts identifies which system components are currently in use. Redundant files and registry entries are displayed for evaluation directly. Unnecessary services are also evaluated and appropriate decision support tools are provided. Customized suggestions are put forward on the basis of existing tweaks and settings.

Sky City 1000 is a possible future urban supertall skyscraper project aimed at helping put an end to major congestion and lack of greenspace in the Tokyo, Japan metropolitan area.

The plan consists of a building 1,000 metres (3,281 ft) tall and 400 m (1,312 ft) wide at the base, and a total floor area of 8 km2 (3.1 sq mi).[2] The design, proposed in 1989 by Takenaka Corporation, would house between 35,000[2][3] and 36,000[4] full-time residents, as well as 100,000 workers. It comprises 14 concave dish-shaped "Space Plateaus" stacked one upon the other. The interior of the plateaus would contain greenspace, and on the edges, on the sides of the building, would be the apartments. Also included in the building would be offices, commercial facilities, schools, theatres, and other modern amenities.[2]

Since its announcement, it has garnered a lot of attention from the world's architectural establishment, and was featured on CNN's This Week in Japan in 1989, and on Discovery Channel's Extreme Engineering in 2003.

With the completed Burj Khalifa topping out at 828 meters in December 2009, researchers have started to speculate that a 1000-meter building such as Sky City 1000 could be possible in the next 20 years. [1]

Land prices in Japan are the highest in the world, and Kisho Kurokawa, one of Japan's most famous architects, has said that even staggeringly ambitious buildings employing highly sophisticated engineering are still cheap, because companies pay 90% of the cost for the land and only 10% for the building.[5] Tokyo's only fire helicopter has even been used in simulation tests to see what the danger would be if a fire were to break out in the building.[2] Triple-decker high speed elevators which would be used in the building are also being designed in labs outside Tokyo.[2]

Although this project has gained more serious attention than many of its alternatives, it can be considered similar to projects such as X-Seed 4000 and to ultra-high density, mixed use concepts such as Paolo Soleri's Arcology and Le Corbusier's Radiant City.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sky_City_1000

http://dsc.discovery.com/convergence/engineering/skycity/interactive/interactive.html

雖然是只一棟巨大建築物，但稱之為“城”真是一點也不為過...
首先它改變了我們以往對於城市的概念，它將平面的社區或城市變成立體的，
也就是減少土地使用面積，轉而向上發展，建築面積為800公頃、高度將高達1000公尺，
近乎台北101大樓的兩倍高度，可以容納3萬6千人在此居住、13萬人在此工作甚至休閒...
預計2160年完工，工期之長，真是可以和西班牙的聖家堂媲美！
這輩子應該是無法看見它完工，不過卻是有機會去觀光一下，
因為它在工程上設計成只要一個平台（約10層樓）完工，即可入住，
也就是可能100樓以下已有人居住或辦公，可是100樓以上還在施工。
另外因為要減少東京的交通運輸問題，在天空之城的內部會有平面和垂直面的電車，
是的，就是電車在巨大建築物內到處亂跑，
還不只如此，其中每一個平台的中間是個大公園或湖泊等休閒景觀設施，
真是高科技之餘，還不忘人性，貼心的勒.......

這樣一個設計案挑戰了消防安全、交通運輸、休閒景觀、結構工法.....
當然還有天然災害的預防（日本的地震和颱風也是很多的....）
當中很多施工都是需要最先進的技術。
雖然這是一種新的都市設計概念，但總是讓我聯想到聖經中的一個故事「巴別塔」
在古早以前，那時天下人的口音、言語都是一樣，
他們為了傳楊自己的名聲以及向上帝的權威挑戰甚而為所欲為，
決定要建造一座城和一座塔，塔頂通天。
當然後來上帝看不下去，就變亂他們的口音，
使他們的言語彼此不通並且分散在各地上，那個城也就停工了。
以高樓取代平面用地的都市設計，以前時有耳聞，
但如今看到具體的設計案及相關模擬，還是覺得十分震撼......
人類的科技及演進真是到了無所不能的境界，
但是這樣的建案畢竟還是人口過度膨脹、都市用地嚴重不足下的產物，
到底我們是應該回歸自然生態的遊戲規則還是繼續以高科技向自然環境挑戰呢？
號稱符合自然環境的設計，真的是能夠完全相容於我們所生存的這個生態系中嗎？
老天爺會不會覺得我們又再胡搞了呢？

撇開這些疑慮不談，我倒是很想去這個天空之城觀光一下，
坐在雲層上來杯咖啡、看看風景，可能真有眾仙漠看凡間事之感.....
想到這裡就覺得飄飄然了起來，不過所謂高處不勝寒，這麼高一定很冷，
急需購買一件可以攀爬高山級的禦寒外套.......嘿嘿....
又找到一個血拼的好理由囉～

Extreme Engineering - Tokyo Sky City (Parte 1-5)