Because the compact design of laptops restricts huge amount of air flow, it is more prone to overheating than desktops. This is also due to small casing of the laptop that provides less room for heat to dissipate. So, how to keep your notebook computer running cool? Aside from the embedded exhaust fans, there are other ways to maintain your mobile system at the most desirable temperature.

1. Clean the air vents of your notebook using an air compressed can or clean cloth. Dust and dirt can block the air vents and obstruct the hot air from going out.

2. Get a notebook cooling pad. It is one of the most effective ways to keep your laptop cool as possible. Cooling pads come in different designs, colors, sizes and configurations, making it easier for you to choose the one that meets your laptop’s requirements and your personal preferences as well.

3.  Using a laptop stand is another way to help your mobile computer breathe easier. It is usually a flat board with short legs that support and separate your laptop from the surface, thus creating a space for heat to dissipate easily.

4. If you are going to use your machine outside, one great solution is to use special laptop mat, which is actually filled with crystal gel that help absorbs heat.

5. If you don’t have a cooling pad, always put your laptop on a smooth, solid surface. Placing your computer on your bed or on a cushion, you’re just keeping the temperature to rise.

6. Reducing the brightness of the screen will significantly lessen the power consumes by the system; thus heat output will decrease also.

7. Pointing an electric fan at your notebook can also help disperse the warm air inside it.

Reporters without Borders, a France-based organisation that, among other things, fights against censorship and laws that undermine press freedom, has written an open letter to Australian prime minister Kevin Rudd, condemning communications minister Stephen Conroy’s plan to introduce mandatory Internet filtering by ISPs.

In the letter the organisation says: “If Australia were to introduce systematic online content filtering, with a relatively broad definition of the content targeted, it would be joining an Internet censors club that includes such countries as China, Iran and Saudi Arabia.,

It claims that the plan, as proposed would violate the rule of law. “The decision to block access to an ‘inappropriate’ website would be taken not by a judge but by a government agency, the Australian Communications and Media Authority (ACMA). Such a procedure, without a court decision, does not satisfy the requirements of the rule of law. The ACMA classifies content secretly, compiling a website blacklist by means of unilateral and arbitrary administrative decision-making. Other procedures are being considered but none of them would involve a judge.”

Reporters without Borders also says that the criteria the proposed law would use are too vague. “Filtering would be applied to all content considered ‘inappropriate,’ a very slippery term that could be interpreted very differently by different people. In all probability, filtering would target ‘refused classification’ (RC) sites, a category that is extremely controversial as it is being applied to content that is completely unrelated to efforts to combat child sex abuse and sexual violence, representing a dangerous censorship option. Subjects such as abortion, anorexia, aborigines and legislation on the sale of marijuana would all risk being filtered, as would media reports on these subjects.”

The organisation also casts doubts on the claimed efficacy of the proposed filtering techniques and it further notes that “As regards paedophilia, the most dangerous places on the Internet are websites offering chat and email services. So if this project were taken to its logical conclusion, access to sites such as Gmail, Yahoo and Skype would also have to be blocked, which would of course be impossible.”

Reporters without Borders calls for “A real national debate” on the subject but claims that Conroy “made such a debate very difficult by branding his critics as supporters of child pornography [thus] an opportunity was lost for stimulating a constructive exchange of ideas.”

It’s getting closer and closer to check-writing time for Steve Ballmer, as the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit has just upheld a decision that would see Microsoft Word and Office banned from sale starting January 11. If you’ll recall, Microsoft lost a patent infringement suit against XML specialists i4i back in May when it was found that Word’s handling of .xml, .docx, and .docm files infringed upon i4i’s patented XML handling algorithms, but the injunction against further Word sales was put on hold pending the results of this appeal. Now that Microsoft has lost once again, we’d expect either another appeal and request for the injunction to be stayed, this time to the Supreme Court, or for a settlement between these two that would end this whole mess right now. We’ll see what happens — stay tuned.

P.S.- Just to be clear on this, i4i isn’t a patent troll — it’s a a 30 person database design company that shipped one of the first XML plugins for Office and was actually responsible for revamping the entire USPTO database around XML to make it compatible with Word back in 2000. What’s more, the patents involved here don’t cover XML itself, but rather the specific algorithms used to read and write custom XML — so OpenOffice users can breathe easy, as i4i has said the suite doesn’t infringe. Existing Office users should also be fine, as only future sales of Word are affected by the ruling, not any already-sold products.

Update: Microsoft says it’s moving quickly to prepare versions of Office 2007 and Word 2007 that don’t have the “little-used” XML features for sale by January 11, and that the Office 2010 beta “does not contain the technology covered by the injunction,” which can be read in a number of ways. It’s also considering an appeal, so we’ll see what happens next.