How much does it cost to run a computer in 2009?

Here's something that has always hung around in my mind, but I never got around to looking up the answer. How much will running PCs add to your power bill?

Anandtech posted an article where they calculated the cost of running a PC per hour.

* For a middle of the line system, they figured one year of use is $93.51 for 8 hours a day.
* If you let your PC sit idle 24 hours a day, it will cost you $128.12 a year.
* For a top of the line system that is at full load all day long (like a server) you could spend $440.85.

These prices are calculated at the price of electricity in North Carolina. California PC users will pay almost double.

Google Book will be up and running again after $125 million settlement

Last October, Google ended up paying a $125 million settlement to the Authors Guild for copyrighted works it had scanned onto its Google Book Search project. The Project seemed like a very great idea, scan every book ever printed so that anyone could view them on the web. Google had scanned over 7 million books before the Author’s Guild said what they were doing was illegal.

Since then the Google has revised their technique and are now offering authors and other copyright holders $60 per scanned book to allow Google to scan their book and add it to their Google Book Search collection. The deal sounds like a terrible one, but there is more to it. Google is only allowed to display snippets in search results, and only 20% of the book will be viewable in preview mode. If a user wants to see the entire book, the user will have the option to buy a digital version of the book. Google has also set up and advertising program on the Google book search results and preview mode. Authors and copyright holders will then receive 63% of all profit that Google has earned on advertising and e-books sold that pertain to the author’s book.

Also worth noting is the settlement is only for the million of out-of-print books that are currently making zero revenues for authors and publishers today. Sounds like a good deal for an author who wants to make some more money off of their book after it has stopped being published and produced.

Windows Internet Explorer 8

Windows Internet Explorer Version 8 is designed to be faster and more convenient. Some of the features that make it faster are accelerators, enhanced navigation, increased performance, instant search and web slices. For example with web slices it allows you to keep up with frequently updated sites directly from the new favorites bar.

It is also safe and reliable. With tab isolation when a website or add-on causes a tab to crash in Internet Explorer 8 only that tab will be affected. If one or more of the tabs are closed or crash your tabs are automatically reloaded and you are returned to the site you were on before the crash.

You can now visualize your search with pictures. As you type in a search bar an image and text suggestions will appear. And with InPrivate Browsing makes it possible for only certain peopleto see what is searched on the computer which makes it easier to shop for family members without them seeing it on the computer.