TECHNORADE

Recover Data Like a Forensics Expert Using an Ubuntu Live CD

2010-04-29T04:17:00.001-07:00

Plenty of utilities can recover deleted files, but what if you can't boot your computer, or the whole drive has been formatted?

Here's how to dig deep and recover the most elusive deleted files, or even whole partitions. We've shown you simple ways to recover accidentally deleted files, even a simple method that can be done from an Ubuntu Live CD, but for hard disks that have been heavily corrupted, those methods aren't going to cut it. In this article, we'll examine four tools that can recover data from the most messed up hard drives, regardless of whether they were formatted for a Windows, Linux, or Mac computer, or even if the partition table is wiped out entirely.

Note: These tools cannot recover data that has been overwritten on a hard disk. Whether a deleted file has been overwritten depends on many factors – the quicker you realize that you want to recover a file, the more likely you will be able to do so.

Our setup

To show these tools, we've set up a small 1 GB hard drive, with half of the space partitioned as ext2, a file system used in Linux, and half the space partitioned as FAT32, a file system used in older Windows systems. We stored ten random pictures on each hard drive.

We then wiped the partition table from the hard drive by deleting the partitions in GParted.

Is our data lost forever?

Installing the tools

All of the tools we're going to use are in Ubuntu's universe repository.

To enable the repository, open Synaptic Package Manager by clicking on System in the top-left, then Administration > Synaptic Package Manager.

Click on Settings > Repositories and add a check in the box labelled "Community-maintained Open Source software (universe)".

Click Close, and then in the main Synaptic Package Manager window, click the Reload button. Once the package list has reloaded, and the search index rebuilt, search for and mark for installation one or all of the following packages: testdisk, foremost, and scalpel.

Testdisk includes TestDisk, which can recover lost partitions and repair boot sectors, and PhotoRec, which can recover many different types of files from tons of different file systems.

Foremost, originally developed by the US Air Force Office of Special Investigations, recovers files based on their headers and other internal structures. Foremost operates on hard drives or drive image files generated by various tools.

Finally, scalpel performs the same functions as foremost, but is focused on enhanced performance and lower memory usage. Scalpel may run better if you have an older machine with less RAM.

Recover hard drive partitions

If you can't mount your hard drive, then its partition table might be corrupted. Before you start trying to recover your important files, it may be possible to recover one or more partitions on your drive, recovering all of your files with one step.

Testdisk is the tool for the job. Start it by opening a terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal) and typing in:

sudo testdisk

If you'd like, you can create a log file, though it won't affect how much data you recover. Once you make your choice, you're greeted with a list of the storage media on your machine. You should be able to identify the hard drive you want to recover partitions from by its size and label.

TestDisk asks you to select the type of partition table to search for. In most cases (ext2/3, NTFS, FAT32, etc.) you should select Intel and press Enter.

Highlight Analyse and press Enter.

In our case, our small hard drive has previously been formatted as NTFS. Amazingly, TestDisk finds this partition, though it is unable to recover it.

It also finds the two partitions we just deleted. We are able to change their attributes, or add more partitions, but we'll just recover them by pressing Enter.

If TestDisk hasn't found all of your partitions, you can try doing a deeper search by selecting that option with the left and right arrow keys. We only had these two partitions, so we'll recover them by selecting Write and pressing Enter.

Testdisk informs us that we will have to reboot.

Note: If your Ubuntu Live CD is not persistent, then when you reboot you will have to reinstall any tools that you installed earlier.

After restarting, both of our partitions are back to their original states, pictures and all.

Recover files of certain types

For the following examples, we deleted the 10 pictures from both partitions and then reformatted them.

PhotoRec

Of the three tools we'll show, PhotoRec is the most user-friendly, despite being a console-based utility. To start recovering files, open a terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal) and type in:

sudo photorec

To begin, you are asked to select a storage device to search. You should be able to identify the right device by its size and label. Select the right device, and then hit Enter.

PhotoRec asks you to select the type of partition to search. In most cases (ext2/3, NTFS, FAT, etc.) you should select Intel and press Enter.

You are given a list of the partitions on your selected hard drive. If you want to recover all of the files on a partition, then select Search and hit Enter.

However, this process can be very slow, and in our case we only want to search for picture files, so instead we use the right arrow key to select File Opt and press Enter.

PhotoRec can recover many different types of files, and deselecting each one would take a long time. Instead, we press "s" to clear all of the selections, and then find the appropriate file types – jpg, gif, and png – and select them by pressing the right arrow key.

Once we've selected these three, we press "b" to save these selections.

Press Enter to return to the list of hard drive partitions. We want to search both of our partitions, so we highlight "No partition" and "Search" and then press Enter.

PhotoRec prompts for a location to store the recovered files. If you have a different healthy hard drive, then we recommend storing the recovered files there. Since we're not recovering very much, we'll store it on the Ubuntu Live CD's desktop.

Note: Do not recover files to the hard drive you're recovering from.

PhotoRec is able to recover the 20 pictures from the partitions on our hard drive!

A quick look in the recup_dir.1 directory that it creates confirms that PhotoRec has recovered all of our pictures, save for the file names.

Foremost

Foremost is a command-line program with no interactive interface like PhotoRec, but offers a number of command-line options to get as much data out of your had drive as possible.

For a full list of options that can be tweaked via the command line, open up a terminal (Applications > Accessories > Terminal) and type in:

foremost –h

In our case, the command line options that we are going to use are:

-t, a comma-separated list of types of files to search for. In our case, this is "jpeg,png,gif".
-v, enabling verbose-mode, giving us more information about what foremost is doing.
-o, the output folder to store recovered files in. In our case, we created a directory called "foremost" on the desktop.
-i, the input that will be searched for files. This can be a disk image in several different formats; however, we will use a hard disk, /dev/sda.

Our foremost invocation is:

sudo foremost –t jpeg,png,gif –o foremost –v –i /dev/sda

Your invocation will differ depending on what you're searching for and where you're searching for it.

Foremost is able to recover 17 of the 20 files stored on the hard drive.

Looking at the files, we can confirm that these files were recovered relatively well, though we can see some errors in the thumbnail for 00622449.jpg.

Part of this may be due to the ext2 filesystem. Foremost recommends using the –d command-line option for Linux file systems like ext2.

We'll run foremost again, adding the –d command-line option to our foremost invocation:

sudo foremost –t jpeg,png,gif –d –o foremost –v –i /dev/sda

This time, foremost is able to recover all 20 images!

A final look at the pictures reveals that the pictures were recovered with no problems.

Scalpel

Scalpel is another powerful program that, like Foremost, is heavily configurable. Unlike Foremost, Scalpel requires you to edit a configuration file before attempting any data recovery.

Any text editor will do, but we'll use gedit to change the configuration file. In a terminal window (Applications > Accessories > Terminal), type in:

sudo gedit /etc/scalpel/scalpel.conf

scalpel.conf contains information about a number of different file types. Scroll through this file and uncomment lines that start with a file type that you want to recover (i.e. remove the "#" character at the start of those lines).

Save the file and close it. Return to the terminal window.

Scalpel also has a ton of command-line options that can help you search quickly and effectively; however, we'll just define the input device (/dev/sda) and the output folder (a folder called "scalpel" that we created on the desktop).

Our invocation is:

sudo scalpel /dev/sda –o scalpel

Scalpel is able to recover 18 of our 20 files.

A quick look at the files scalpel recovered reveals that most of our files were recovered successfully, though there were some problems (e.g. 00000012.jpg).

Conclusion

In our quick toy example, TestDisk was able to recover two deleted partitions, and PhotoRec and Foremost were able to recover all 20 deleted images. Scalpel recovered most of the files, but it's very likely that playing with the command-line options for scalpel would have enabled us to recover all 20 images.

These tools are lifesavers when something goes wrong with your hard drive. If your data is on the hard drive somewhere, then one of these tools will track it down!

India second most Spammed country and Delhi spam capital in World

2010-03-26T05:35:00.000-07:00

India has a new feather in its cap in terms of computer use. India has found itself in second position globally as the most spammed country. This fact has come out in a study conducted by PandaLabs, Panda Security’s malware analysis and detection laboratory.

In this study it has come out that in the first two months of 2010 India is just behind Brazil in terms of spam emails sent from IP addresses. The PandaLab study has revealed the alarming statistics that Indian IP addresses account for as much as 10.98 percent of world’s total spasm.

The study puts India in a top position globally but not a position to be proud of. But the story of spasm does not end with India gaining the second position. There is more to it.

The national capital has been found to be the third most spammed city in the world preceded only by Seoul of South Korea and Hanoi of Vietnam. However, this is not it.

Other Indian cities also raced against time to catch up with New Delhi and Mumbai was successful in gaining the sixth position and Hyderabad the twentieth position, the study revealed.

According to PandaLab apart from Brazil and India, the occupants of top two positions, the other three countries which find place in the top five spots in the world’s most spammed country list are Vietnam, South Korea, and the United States of India. From these five countries the most number of spam emails spasm were sent in the first two months in the year 2010.

While conducting the study, PandaLab analysed five million spam emails sent in January and February, 2010 and found that the emails came from approximately one million IP addresses. This shows that on an average basis, each IP address was responsible for almost five spam messages,

In this regard it should be remembered that spam messages are in most cases used to spread malwares and viruses. In most of them illicit products or photos and videos of Brazilian girls are used to lure people. So this new study report by PandaLabs is alarming news for Indian computer users and no proud Indian will want India to surface on that list again. So this should be treated as a wakening call.

Chinese Official Says Google 'Totally Wrong'

2010-03-25T21:25:00.000-07:00

A Chinese official speaking to state-run news service blasts Google's plan to offer an unfiltered Web to mainland residents by redirecting traffic to its Hong Kong search engine.

When Google announced plans to continue operating its search engine in China, but to circumvent the government's filtering rules by redirecting traffic to Hong Kong, it seemed pretty plain that the Chinese authorities wouldn't be pleased. And they're not.

In the first official response to Google's announcement, a Chinese official told the state news service Xinhua that the move is "totally wrong," and that it violates the promises Google made when it set up shop there in the first place. Datamation has the story.

A Chinese official has blasted Google's decision to offer unfiltered Web content to its citizens on the mainland, calling the move "totally wrong" and saying it violates Google's written agreement to abide by Chinese laws.

The harsh words are the first official reaction to Google's (NASDAQ: GOOGLE) announcement yesterday that it would redirect traffic from Google.cn to its Hong Kong site, Google.hk, which is exempt from China's Internet filtering restrictions.

That decision came two months after Google first threatened to pull up stakes in China if the government didn't relax its censorship requirements. At the time, Google dropped word that it had been subject to a series of cyber attacks targeting the Gmail accounts of Chinese human rights advocates. Google said it had traced the attacks to China, a charge that Chinese authorities have vigorously denied.

"Google has violated its written promise it made when entering the Chinese market by stopping filtering its searching service and blaming China in insinuation for alleged hacker attacks," an unnamed Chinese official told.

BSNL, Intel India join hands to offer PCs and broadband

2010-03-25T21:20:00.000-07:00

Indian telecom vendor, BSNL and the chip and software maker, Intel India have joined hands to make computers and internet connection reachable and available to the rural sector.

Both companies have announced that the initiative, called as 'Meri Manzil Mera Pehela Kadam', would cover rural areas across India over the next few months. The new program will promote various connectivity solutions available from BSNL and an array of computers based on Intel Atom Processor like netbooks and nettops.

Both Netbooks and Nettops are computers with basic functionalities, which is perfect for children and first-time computer users. These devices offer basic computing apps like listening to music, e-mailing and surfing the internet.

Intel said that the WiMAX broadband technology can connect the digital divide in India and the program will help people to have their first PC with internet connection. Further, it is reported that these devices will have an option of a local language interface called ‘Darpan’ to help new users to surf the Internet.

Seattle and Boston Top the Cybersecurity Risk List

2010-03-25T21:18:00.000-07:00

Only in cyberspace could the city of Seattle be considered the "riskiest" of the 50 largest U.S. cities and Detroit the "safest," according to the latest cybercrime study conducted by Symantec's Norton division and data researcher Sperling's BestPlaces.

All Microsoft security jokes aside, it turns out that the Emerald City is actually the riskiest place for online netizens to shop, conduct banking transactions and mill about on popular social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter.

Owing mainly to the high percentage of residents who frequently go online (one of several categories scored for the study), the high availability of Wi-Fi hotspots and what Symantec deemed "risky" online behavior (that is, buying products online or checking banking statements), Seattle checked in with a score of 188.2 on the risk scorecard, easily outpacing second-place Boston , Washington, D.C. , San Francisco and Raleigh, N.C..

The rankings were generated using a mix of Symantec Security Response's data on malware and cyberattacks and third-party data collected by Sperling's BestPlaces that documented how often people were going online, what they did when they were online and where they were connecting to the Internet.

"With more people than ever relying on the Internet to stay in touch, shop and pay their bills, feeling confident and secure in our information-driven world is vital," Marian Merritt, a Norton Internet safety advocate, said in the report. "This study highlights the cities most at risk of cybercrime and reminds individuals, families and businesses across the country of the hazards they face each time they go online."

The recent spike in sophisticated phishing attacks targeting online banking data, often fueled with stolen logins and other personal tidbits harvested from malware on social networking sites, has taken on epidemic proportions, according to security experts.

Earlier this month, the Anti Phishing Working Group (APWG) reported that while hackers are still targeting online banks, credit card companies and payment processing firms, they're increasingly attacking smaller e-tailers, local banks and off-the-beaten-path manufacturing firms to fresh illicit revenue streams.

Comcast Rolls Out Open Source Tech for IPv6

2010-03-25T21:00:00.000-07:00

For one thing, it will require broadband providers like Comcast to help users be fully enabled on IPv6 while still being able to access IPv4 content. That's where the new open source Address Family Transition Router (AFTR) software comes into play.

AFTR is an open source effort led by Comcast and the Internet Systems Consortium (ISC), the developer of the BIND DNS server. The project aims to provide IPv6 users with continued access to IPv4 networks, helping to smooth the transition.

The IPv4 address space in North America is nearing exhaustion, which is why it's becoming increasingly important for networks to move to IPv6, which provides more address space.

AFTR is part of a larger technology platform known as Dual-Stack Lite, which could prove to be the solution that helps users and carriers migrate to IPv6.

"The Dual-Stack Lite technology is made of two components -- AFTR on the service provider side, and the B4 software interface on the home router side," Rich Woundy, senior vice president of Software and Applications for Comcast, told InternetNews.com. "The expectation is that the Dual-Stack Lite B4 interface will become part of the standard package found on any home gateway in the future, both for those we will specify and those that our customers buy off the shelves."

Woundy added that Dual-Stack Lite is not yet a production service offered by Comcast, but it is part of its IPv6 trial plans. Comcast began trial deployments of IPv6 for wholesale customers in 2009.

IPv6 addressing gets a kick-start for Comcast users:

IPv6 addressing is different than IPv4 and as such, without some kind of additional technology, IPv4 addresses and content wouldn't be fully accessible by IPv6 users.

That's where a Dual-Stack Lite environment comes into play, hooking a residential broadband customer's home gateway up with IPv6. However, doing so requires some work on Comcast's end.

"When the customer sends IPv4 traffic, it is shipped through the B4 software interface on the home gateway inside of an IPv4-over-IPv6 tunnel to the AFTR box," Woundy said. "That box will remove the IPv6 header and perform a traditional IPv4 NAT . The NAT pool of IPv4 addresses will be shared by a large number of customers."

Still, Woundy noted that using AFTR and Dual-Stack Lite does not add significant additional performance overhead to a router.

"In Dual-Stack Lite, packets are transported as regular IPv6 packets on the native IPv6 access network," Woundy said. "Only the home gateway and the AFTR box have to do a minimum amount of extra work to encapsulate/decapsulate the packets."

Additionally, it doesn't mean that the benefits of AFTR can't make their way to other ISPs beyond Comcast, since the technology is open source.

"The AFTR code can work stand alone, but as with any technology, it needs to be tailored to the operator's specific needs, for example to adapt to specific port usage reservation or port logging requirements," Woundy said.

Police release Frenchman who hacked Obama Twitter page

2010-03-25T20:39:00.000-07:00

French police have released a hacker who gained access to US President Barack Obama's account in one of his attacks on the wildly popular micro-blogging site Twitter, police said Wednesday.

The unemployed 25-year-old, who lived with his parents and used the pseudonym "Hacker Croll", was arrested Tuesday after an operation conducted jointly with US agents from the FBI that lasted several months. He was questioned in police custody in the central city of Clermont-Ferrand and has been ordered to appear in court in the same city on June 24.

"He explained how he did it. He's not a genius," said the source.

"He was a young man spending time on the Internet. He acted as a result of a bet, out of the defiance of the hacker. He is the sort who likes to claim responsibility for what he has done," added prosecutor Jean-Yves Coquillat.

Hacking into a database is a crime in France which carries a maximum two-year prison sentence.
San Francisco-based Twitter did not immediately reply to an email from AFP about the arrest while the FBI said it was looking into the report.

In July, leading US technology blog TechCrunch.com reported that it had received a file containing 310 confidential corporate and personal documents from "Hacker Croll" about Twitter and Twitter employees.

TechCrunch said the documents included executive meeting notes, partner agreements, financial projections, calendars, phone logs, office plans, and other information.

TechCrunch published some of the documents and declined to publish others.

Twitter founder Evan Williams acknowledged to TechCrunch at the time that documents had been obtained in the attack but insisted that the hacker did not gain access to any Twitter user accounts.

The hacker, who attacked the Twitter accounts of several US celebrities, had also attacked Facebook pages and email accounts operated by Google and other providers, the police said.
But he had never attempted to profit financially from his hacking activities on Twitter, in which users can send out messages of 140 characters or less, they added.

He had managed to secure Twitter's administrator codes and was able to create, modify or delete accounts at will, the source said, adding that the hacker set up a blog to share his discoveries.

The hacker had no particular technological expertise, said police, but simply guessed people's passwords by working them out from information on their blogs or online pages they had created about themselves, police said.

He would also do this by answering the "secret question" on web-based email accounts -- which people often answer by giving their maiden name or the name of their pet -- and then use this to gain access to Twitter passwords. "Hacker Croll" liked to post electronic copies of the pages he hacked into on French online forums to prove that he gained administrator access to Twitter accounts, according to online reports on his activities.

The French hacker was known to police for minor scams that had netted 15,000 euros (20,000 dollars), according to the police. The FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) alerted French authorities to his presence on French territory in July last year.

Four FBI agents worked with French police for several months to track down "Hacker Croll" and stop the attacks on Twitter, which has millions of users across the world. In January last year, dozens of Twitter accounts, including that of pop star Britney Spears, were hacked into and fake messages sent out. Hackers knocked the site offline for several hours last August.

While an everyday chatting tool for many, Twitter has become a weapon used by dissidents to circumvent censorship in places where freedom of speech is suppressed. Twitter said last month that users were creating 50 million messages per day.

Will Your Next Laptop be 4G?

2010-03-25T20:37:00.000-07:00

New smartphones with ultrafast 4G wireless broadband are making headlines this week, particularly Sprint's slick HTC EVO 4G handset. But laptop manufacturers are getting in on the 4G action too.

Lenovo ThinkPad laptops in the U.S. will now support Sprint 3G and 4G (WiMax) wireless, the companies announced today. ThinkPad models are already 3G-ready, and Lenovo will now offer 4G-enabled laptops like the business-oriented ThinkPad Edge.

Clearwire, the WiMax carrier backed by Sprint, says more than 30 computers now come with a 4G modem that works with its network.

In related news, Qualcomm today announced that its latest Gobi modem chipsets would support LTE (Long Term Evolution), a competing 4G technology favored by leading U.S. wireless carriers AT&T and Verizon Wireless.

Major laptop makers, including Acer, HP, Dell, and Lenovo, already offer Gobi 3G modems, and the progression to 4G should happen shortly.

Muddled 4G

User confusion may slow the adoption of 4G broadband in laptops, however. In the U.S. market, two next-generation wireless broadband technologies--WiMax and LTE-- are "4G." Life would be a lot simpler with one global spec for high-speed mobile bro adband, a goal advocated by none other than Clearwire chief executive Bill Morrow, Reuters reports.

What's so confusing? Here's an example: Lenovo's ThinkPads support Sprint 4G, which uses WiMax. A 4G-enabled Dell laptop with a Qualcomm Gobi modem will support LTE, a nascent technology that AT&T and Verizon Wireless plan to roll out over the next two years. However, some Dell laptops, including the Inspiron Mini 10 netbook, offer WiMax 4G modems too.

4G 101

Of course, if you're buying a 4G-ready laptop from your wireless provider, the problem is solved. The carrier would certainly sell only 4G laptops that are compatible with its service. But many home and business customers are used to buying laptops directly from PC manufacturers or consumer electronics retailers. For the latter group, a 4G crash course is necessary.

There's plenty of time for home and business users to study up on the finer points of LTE vs. WiMax, however. Both 4G networks are in their early stages of build-out, although WiMax has a significant head start. Sprint has rolled out its 4G service in 27 U.S. cities, and plans to add 15 more this year. But most AT&T and Verizon Wireless users won't see 4G access until sometime next year.

Legacy keeping IE6 in enterprises

2010-03-25T20:35:00.000-07:00

Some big Internet properties are dropping support for Microsoft Internet Explorer (IE) 6, but a "don't fix it if it ain't broke" mentality continues to keep the aged Web browser in enterprises, says analyst.

Hydrasight's research analyst, Vu Long Tran, said in an e-mail interview that IT departments need a solid business case to justify upgrading Web browsers enterprise-wide, as well as to deal with the risks of making changes deemed unnecessary.

"Despite many of the benefits of later versions of Web browsers, change management and regression testing issues still consume the majority of thoughts and concerns of enterprise IT departments," said Tran.

Web browsers are also often tied to enterprise upgrade cycles, he said, adding that businesses are likely to upgrade to newer browsers that come with new OSes. He noted that Hydrasight estimates 80 percent of enterprises in the Asia-Pacific region are still running Windows XP, and IE6 numbers are tied to that OS.

According to Net Applications data from February this year, IE6 had a 21 percent share of the global market, ranked almost on par with the latest version, IE8. IE7 stood at 14 percent, with Microsoft browsers taking a 61 percent share of the overall market.

Tran said a primary reason for companies to continue using IE6 is to maintain support and stability of existing corporate systems.

Financial institutions ZDNet Asia contacted agreed, noting that this was the primary reason they were still running IE6. Alluding to the need to support legacy systems, these sources, who declined to be named, said they would be sticking to IE6 until their companies are forced to make an upgrade through vendor initiatives.

Upgrade by app requirements

Jason Yeh, regional IT manager for Kellogg Company, said in an e-mail that the company upgraded to IE7 a year ago, prompted by requirements of its Web applications.

Kellogg's global IT policy does not allow its users to download other browsers, said Yeh, who is based in Taiwan.

Paul Loke, senior assistant director of computing and information systems at the National Heritage Board, said the Singapore statutory board had also moved to IE7 as part of the country's government-wide initiative to operate within standardized environment, dubbed SOEasy.

Employees are also not permitted to download their own browsers, said Loke. "This is to reduce our manageability issues [such as] increased testing, and the standardized environment will allow us to roll out patches quickly and easily, in cases where urgent fixes are needed," he explained.

IE and Firefox browsers are supported internally, he added.

Tan Teik Guan, CTO and CEO of Singapore-based Data Security Systems Solutions (DSSS) Asia, said the company does not enforce browser choices on its staff.

Its employees also run multiple browser versions to test the company's Web-based products, Tan said, adding that most of the company's users prefer Mozilla Firefox.

According to Tran, organizations should not rush into upgrading Web browsers but must instead, concentrate on maintaining systems and ensure they are fully patched.

"We do not recommend a major wholesale upgrade of the Web browsers inside organizations, where upgrades are not linked to a complete desktop upgrade or overhaul," he said.

Lack of ongoing support

But, there has been pressure by the Web community to kill off IE6.

Google in January announced it would drop support for IE6 on its Google Apps and YouTube Web properties. Earlier this month, a group of Web designers also held a mock funeral for IE6.

However, Tran noted that Google's announcement will have minimal and gradual impact on enterprise users since enterprise vendors will ensure support for the most common denominator--the Microsoft family of browsers.

Furthermore, the main priority for IT organizations is in maintaining the overall computing environment, and not about managing benefits of individual applications such as the Web browser, the analyst explained.

Microsoft has been actively pushing the latest version of its browser IE8, since its launch in March last year.

In an e-mail to ZDNet Asia, Richard Francis, Microsoft's Asia-Pacific general manager for Windows Client business, said IE8's features offer "significant productivity gain" over the competition.

Its security features will also defend PCs against Web attacks, said Francis, quoting NSS lab study data that showed IE8 blocked 80 of all "socially-engineered" malware and phishing sites.

Nonetheless, he noted that the browser also comes with a "Compatibility View" feature to support pages on older versions of IE.

Google Inc's deals in doubt amid spat with Beijing

2010-03-25T20:33:00.000-07:00

Google Inc.'s business ties in China unraveled a little more amid a widening backlash to the U.S. Internet company's decision to move its Chinese search engine offshore in a challenge to the country's online censorship laws.

While Google's stand is winning it praise in the U.S. and other countries, it's threatening to turn the company into a pariah in China. A high-profile Communist Party newspaper skewered Google in a front-page story. And more of its partners and advertising customers in the country appeared to be distancing themselves from the company. China's second-biggest mobile phone company is scrapping plans to use Google's search function on two new phones, while the country's most popular Internet portal is reviewing its partnership with Google, executives said Thursday.

Google, based in Mountain View, California, still hopes to expand its non-search operations in China, but its refusal to play by the government's censorship rules could make that unrealistic.
By challenging the often tetchy government, Google appears to have violated an unspoken rule of doing business in China, especially in the Internet industry — whose control Beijing sees as crucial to maintaining its authoritarian rule.

"Everybody in the Internet space operates under the good graces of the government, and if the government's not happy with your partner, you probably are going to have to change," said T.R. Harrington, founder and CEO of Shanghai-based Darwin Marketing, which specializes in advertising for China's search engine market.

Investors already seemed to have concluded Google won't bring in as much revenue as once anticipated. And Google's losses could turn into a windfall for China-based Baidu Inc., which already held a commanding lead in the country's search market.

Google shares gained $8.33 Wednesday to close at $557.33, but they have fallen by more than $30, or nearly 6 percent, since the company's Jan. 12 announcement about its intention to stop censoring search results in China. About $10.5 billion of Google's market value has evaporated in the decline.

Meanwhile, Baidu's U.S. shares have climbed 57 percent during the same period, closing Wednesday at $608.50, up $13.62. The surge has added nearly $8 billion to Baidu's market value.

Setting up a search engine on Chinese soil four years ago helped Google build new business relationships. But those alliances have started to fracture since Monday, when Google started to redirect search traffic from mainland China to an uncensored Hong Kong service. Though part of China, Hong Kong has a semiautonomous status because of its history as a British colony, and Google is not legally required to censor results there.
A spokesman for Sina Corp., which owns the popular Sina.com portal that features a Google search bar on its main page, said top management was evaluating its partnership with Google, but no decision had been made on its future.
"All of our cooperation with Google is based on two things: one is that Google complies with China's laws and the other is that it has its long-term business operation plans in China," said Chen Jinguo.
Tianya.cn, a popular portal that claims 32 million registered users, said it was taking full control over social networking and question-and-answer services operated jointly with Google. A company spokesman declined to say whether the government exerted pressure, but said in a statement that the takeover was being done to "guarantee each product, normal business and good operations."
Google officials in the U.S. didn't immediately respond to requests for comment. A company spokeswoman in Tokyo, Jessica Powell, said Google had been "working with Tianya over the last couple of months to phase out this partnership in favor of our own offerings."
Industry executives said Google's China revenues were diving as companies shied away from placing new ads with the search engine. A deal with China United Network Commuunications Group Company, the No. 2 mobile company known as China Unicom, has also already come undone.
An executive with China Unicom (Hong Kong) Ltd., the listed subsidiary, said the company is shelving plans to use the Google search on two new cell phones running Google's Android software.
In a statement, Unicom President Lu Yimin said "Google's withdrawal from the mainland market will not affect the company's development of Android phones. Currently our phones have no pre-installed Google search tools."
Powell, the Google spokeswoman, said Wednesday the company was continuing to work with Chinese business partners, even providing some with censored search services to abide by existing contracts.
Mainland users rerouted to the Hong Kong site still come up against Chinese government Web filters — collectively known as the Great Firewall — that automatically weed out content considered pornographic or politically sensitive before it can reach computers in China. The company's move, in effect, shifts the handling of the censorship from Google to the government.
China's filters eventually could be used to restrict all access to Google's services.
Beijing initially seemed to shrug off Google's move. A government statement called it "totally wrong," while a Foreign Ministry spokesman appeared to dismiss it as an isolated business case.
The People's Daily newspaper on Wednesday was more shrill, accusing Google in a front-page commentary of cooperating with U.S. intelligence forces and suggesting its decision to move its search engine to Hong Kong was a salvo by U.S. Internet warriors.
"Considering the United States' big push in recent years to prepare for Internet war, perhaps this could be an exploratory pre-dawn battle," said the commentary in the newspaper's overseas edition.
While the U.S. State Department has said it was not involved in Google's decision over its search engine, a speech by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton championing Internet freedom added to Beijing's concerns about collusion and aggravated recently tense U.S.-China relations.
"Google's decision is a strong step in favor of freedom of expression and information," Sen. Byron Dorgan, chairman of the Congressional-Executive Commission on China, said at a commission hearing Wednesday. "It is also a powerful indictment of the Chinese government's insistence on censorship of the Internet."
Google's troubles also added to a growing sense in the U.S. and European business community that a richer, more powerful China was less in need of foreign investment and technology. New rules to promote indigenous innovation and favor local technology in government procurement have brought protests from Western chambers of commerce in China that Beijing was closing off access to the domestic market.
Given those dynamics, Google is likely to face a tough road to rehabilitation in the China market, Chinese and foreign Internet analysts said.

"They are certainly going to suffer and they are going to be spending years rebuilding their reputation with the people who are trying to market inside of China and proving they can offer a decent service" in the country, said David Wolf, president of Wolf Group Asia, a technology marketing consultant in Beijing. "Trust me, they aren't walking away from this unhurt."

China eyes 500 million web users

2010-03-25T20:30:00.000-07:00

A top Chinese official has said the nation's online population, already the largest in the world, is expected to exceed 500 million in the next two to three years. Three-quarters of the web newcomers over the next few years would be from rural areas, the Global Times newspaper quoted Qian Xiaoqian, vice minister in the State Council's press office, as saying.

China already has 384 million online users, according to the latest official figures. Its spiralling online population has turned the Internet into a forum for citizens to express their opinions in a way rarely seen in a country where the traditional media is under strict government control.
The growing strength and influence of the web population has prompted concern in Beijing about the Internet's potential as a tool for generating social unrest, and authorities have stepped up surveillance in recent years.

The government blocks web content that it deems politically sensitive in a vast system dubbed the "Great Firewall of China". On Monday, Internet giant Google said it had decided to redirect mainland web search queries to an uncensored site in Hong Kong to try to counter China's censorship -- a move that triggered an angry response from Beijing.

Yahoo Launches Two Mobile Search Applications

2010-03-25T20:29:00.000-07:00

Mobile applications are getting attention from the thousands of attendees at the CTIA Wireless 2010 show. Yahoo garnered some of that attention late Tuesday with two new mobile applications, Yahoo Sketch a Search and Yahoo Search.

"The Yahoo applications are very impressive," said Michael Gartenberg, a partner at Altimeter Group, from the CTIA show in Las Vegas. "They are doing a tremendous amount now with location-based services, but the question is, can they stand out in what increasingly has become a crowded market?"

Fast Results

Yahoo Search was created to give users fast and relevant results in searches, according to Yahoo. The free application has a slew of features, including localized queries that pop up as the user types, embedded maps, voice search, and content information from Yahoo and other providers.

Apple iPhone users in 22 markets in North America, Latin America, Europe and Asia can already tap into Yahoo Search. The company plans to roll out the application to additional markets.
Convenience features include integrated voice search, which enables the user to speak a search query, and a memory that provides fast access to recent searches. Mobile-phone users in the U.S. can also use Yahoo's location feature, which gives results based on location. For example, a user can tap into the application's embedded maps and location technology to get directions to a business.

Additional features include viewing photos and data from Yelp, Citysearch and Yahoo Local. Users will also get search results with specific information from providers such as Yahoo Sports, News, Finance and Movies.

Sketch a Search

Sketch a Search lets mobile-phone users to use Yahoo maps to find information about a particular area by finger-drawing any shape around a particular area. Once users draw a sketch, Yahoo provides local business information within the area. Users will get a bird's-eye view of what is close and the specific streets involved.

To make things easier, Yahoo has also added location technology that will use a person's existing location as well as remember previous locations to help in the search query.

The application will first be made available to mobile-phone users looking for restaurant searches in the U.S. and will categorize and filter the results by cuisine, rating and ambience. Users will also have access to reviews, photos and directions.

While Yahoo plans to create additional categories and expand to international markets in the near future, it needs to first get users' attention. "The challenge (for Yahoo) is getting consumers to download and use the applications going forward," Gartenberg said.

Underground Nuclear Reactor Powered By Bill Gates

2010-03-23T08:43:00.000-07:00

A unit of Intellectual Ventures—the patent firm started by ex-Microsoft chief tech dude Nathan Myhrvold and funded partly by Bill Gates—called TerraPower is talking with Toshiba about using its nuclear reactor tech to build underground reactors.

Their reactor tech supposedly can "run for decades on depleted uranium without refueling or removing spent fuel from the device." So, these reactors are built way, way underground, without people actually working in them. Of course, these safer, cheaper and awesome reactors are years and years away from actually being developed.

Still, Bill Gates + nuclear power sounds kind of nerdsexy, maybe more so than the nigh-mythical Bloom Box, even if you're ambivalent about what Intellectual Ventures actually does (just Google—or Bing—"Intellectual Ventures patent troll").

Google Funny Trick

2010-03-03T02:56:00.000-08:00

Go to Google > Type "find chuck norris" > Click "I'm feeling lucky"

( Try this out, its fun ! )

Google Toilet : Google has finally developed technology that can literally sift through your sh*t.

2010-03-03T02:53:00.000-08:00

LMAO! You've tried Google Buzz, Wave, Voice & the Nexus One, guess what's coming next?

Top 10 Best Mobile Phones In World

2010-02-19T09:46:00.001-08:00

10. Nokia 5530 XpressMusic

While the Nokia N97 and 5800 XpressMusic phones are clambering over each other to gain attention at the more expensive range of the market, the 5530 offers something refreshingly different.

It offers a 2.9-inch touchscreen with a music-orientated interface and all for just £130. Probably the best budget touchscreen phone available today.

9. Motorola Milestone

Once a giant in the world of mobile phones, Motorola went quiet for quite a while. It made almost 10,000 people redundant in 2008 and the end looked in sight.

However, the end has not arrived, and Moto came back with a vengeance in 2009, firstly with the much-mooted Motorola DEXT phone and now with the Motorola Milestone (Droid).

We've got no qualms stating that this is our third favourite Android phone behind the HTC Hero and the Google Nexus One.

The slick interface, the QWERTY keyboard, the premium build quality - all these things go into making the Milestone a decent phone.

But it lets itself down at times by lacking any real differentiating features (apart from the cool phone portal) and that lip - well, the less said about it the better now.

8. LG BL40 Chocolate

Probably the most striking of all the phones on display here, the latest LG Chocolate is the world's first full-widescreen 21:9 phone.

The chassis is a combination of metal and glass, with vibrant red plastic at either end, with the top housing the 3.5mm headphone port and the power/lock key.

It's designed from the ground up to be a media phone, and indeed, watching movies is a pleasure, as is navigating large music collections.

7. Palm Pre

The Palm Pre was probably the most hyped phone of 2009. Hailed as the saviour of Palm, it initially promised to at least threaten the iPhone at the top of the touchscreen pile.

One thing's for sure, it's more suited for business users because of its slide-out QWERTY keyboard.

In fact, if you peek under the hood, you'll find a quick Texas Instruments OMAP 3430 processor, 8GB of internal memory, 802.11g Wi-Fi and Bluetooth with A2DP stereo.

This is a capable mobile computer that supports multi-tasking, contact sync across multiple web services, and push email that could lead to swift adoption at companies both large and small, filling the void left by the popular Palm Treo from years ago.

In truth though, it's no iPhone-beater. But that's not in any way a criticism, more of a back-handed compliment to Apple in fact, because the Pre is still a seriously nice piece of kit.

6. Nokia N900

Not necessarily something we agree with, but Nokia is adamant this isn't a phone. Instead, it's saying that it's a small computer/slimmed-down netbook (depending on who you talk to) thanks to the new Maemo 5 operating system (OS), which is based on Linux.

5. HTC HD2

The HTC HD2's enormous 4.3-inch touchscreen is hugely impressive. And the HD2 is the first Windows Phone to come packing the HTC Sense overlay interface, as well as a capacitive multi-touch screen.

It smashes past the iPhone in terms of raw processing speed and the ability to handle Flash video.

And it dwarfs the Hero with a more responsive screen and its Wi-Fi routing ability too, and is far better than anything Samsung, LG or Nokia have come up with so far.

Essentially, it's a unit with a 3G chip in it for voice and data with a similar form factor to a phone, so it's really just semantics what you want to call it.

As mentioned above, the N900 comes with the brand new new Maemo 5 operating system which is designed to offer powerful new options that we haven't seen on Symbian-powered devices before.

While Maemo has been seen on previous internet tablets from Nokia, this release is important as it makes the OS more finger friendly than ever before. It also allows a high level of customisation, a wider web browser and more location based services too.

4. Google Nexus One

You'd have to have been hiding under a rock for the past month or two to not notice Google is making its own phone and it's finally here: the Nexus One.

Manufactured by HTC but sold by Google, the phone has had early adopters and the casual user alike interested in what it will be like, so read on to find out how the UK version fared in our hands.

The Nexus One is a great phone, easily one of the best Android models we've used. There are thousands of apps available, the touchscreen is smooth and fluid - but the reality is that the overall experience has a few low points.

3. BlackBerry Bold 9700

Featuring an improved processor and latest UI, the Bold 9700 certainly has the specs but can it stop the iPhone and Android onslaught?

Well it's certainly a very good device, building on everything we've come to expect from the Canadian firm.

It's a little bit squished in comparison to the older device, but we don't think that's too much of an issue given the well designed chassis.

The sheer speed of the Bold 2 9700 is to be commended, as it's clearly a big effort from RIM to get that up to speed, and although App World isn't working for us yet thanks (probably) to the T-Mobile, we're sure once that's up and running the Bold 2 9700 will be a very compelling business phone indeed.

Like the HD2, whether it's something the consumer will want/need, we don't know – it depends on the importance of easy to sync web mail we guess, as well as a stylish device to boot.

2. Apple iPhone 3GS

What? What's this? The Apple iPhone in at number 2? That's right, folks – the iPhone has been beaten into second place.

There's no denying the quality of the iPhone, and really it could just as easily have come out on top. Still though, we'll get to that on the next page.

The iPhone 3GS is a stunning handset. It's faster than the iPhone 3G and also has a better camera, so if you're thinking of getting an iPhone for the first time, we reckon opting for the 3GS is a no-brainer, even if the 3G is slightly cheaper.

1. HTC Hero

There's a reason why the HTC Hero has received so much praise this year – it's brilliant. End-of-year award ceremonies aplenty are naming the Hero as best gadget, best mobile phone and so on, and rightly so.

It's the most complete Android handset to date, and as such it's the only phone out there that can really claim to compete with the iPhone.

In truth, it's probably not better than the iPhone. But it's certainly no worse either, so we thought it only fair to give it the top spot – not least because of the huge potential that Android is bringing to the table.

The iPhone is no longer the out-and-out best touchscreen consumer phone on the market, and for that we can be grateful because competition brings with it innovation, which for us can only be a good thing.

Top 10 Mobile Phones From 2010 Mobile World Congress In Barcelona

2010-02-19T09:25:00.000-08:00

Samsung Wave

Motorola Milestone

HTC Legend

Sony Ericsson Vivaz

Sony Ericssom Xperia X10 Pro

HTC HD mini

Samsung Beam

HTC Desire

Asus Garmin Nuvifone A50

Windows Phone 7

Windows Phone 7 Deadly And Stylish - Could Well Be An iPhone Killer

2010-02-16T05:23:00.000-08:00

Mobile World Congress 2010 held at Barcelona witnessed yet another miraculous technical invention with the launch of Window Phone 7.

Fresh from it's success in Window 7 in computer space, Microsoft has added another feather to the World of communication, Window Phone 7. Steve Ballmer assures all the necessary changes and all that a communicator desires are included in Window Phone 7, to make the world rest on your palm.

Window 7 bears some resemblance with ZUNE OS but will continue to be developed and enhanced till it becomes best of the best. The entire system from the hardware to the software has been designed by experts.

What makes this phone the most wanted in the market is easy access system, clear sub icons and simple access procedures. Some of the important features Window Phone 7 has been studded with are :-

Quick Updates

Now, your phone will update you about any image changes that your friends make in their Facebook profile. Better and convenient way to be connected and updated.

Better Icon Placement

The Icons are placed in along list to make the phone accessible even by traditionalists. It makes scrolling your mobile and reaching the desired destination every easy.

Easy Search

'Karlo Duniya Muthi Mein,' is true for Window Phone 7. It's fast internet access allows you to easy search. Unlike other mobile, your search will be answered in detail.

The Zune Platform

This help your mobile to meet your entertainment needs. It is similar to Zune HD Media. Music, videos, Wifi Sync and loads more can be accessed on this platform.

Window Phone 7 has created a new bench mark for the communication industry.Who meets it or rather outshines it, is the challenge.

Watch Microsoft's videos, below, to see how this idea works.

For More Details : Visit http://www.windowsphone7series.com/news/News1

Google Buzz : 5 Coolest Tips You Must Know !

2010-02-13T09:44:00.001-08:00

So you've had Google Buzz for a few days, and you're starting to figure out how you can fit Google's latest social media venture into your digital life. Well, now it's time to take your Buzz experience to the next level, with a few power user tips that will let you add some pizazz to your text, give you greater flexibility in how you send out buzzes, and take control of those annoying Buzz notifications hitting your inbox.

Mark Up Your Text

Google Buzz understands some very basic text markup language. That means you can spice up your text entries on Buzz by using bold text, italics and strikethroughs. Here's what you do:

*Make your text bold by placing an asterisk at each end of your word or sentence*.

_Using underscores at each end will italicize this Buzz comment_.

-Use a dash at each end for a strikethrough-

For an em--dash, just place two hyphens side--by--side

E-Mail Your Buzz

If you don't have access to a Web browser, you can still send out your buzz via e-mail using your desktop e-mail client or your mobile device. Just send your post to buzz@gmail.com from the same Gmail account that displays your Buzz activity. You can use e-mail to send photos or text.

TIP: In my tests, only the text in my e-mail subject lines was displayed from my buzzes sent via e-mail. So any text in the message body of your e-mail will not be displayed. Photo attachments should show up automatically.

Bonus Tip: The e-mail feature will work only with the Gmail account where you get your Buzz notifications. It does not work with other Gmail accounts you might have or with a non-Gmail e-mail account. To find out how to access your Gmail from a desktop e-mail client (Outlook, Thunderbird etc.) via POP or IMAP protocols, visit the Gmail help pages.

Get Those Buzzes Out of Your Inbox

Three kinds of Buzz updates will be automatically sent to your inbox: Whenever anyone comments on a buzz created by you; when another user comments on a buzz created by someone else that you have also commented on; or when someone tags you in a Buzz through the @reply system.

Google send these notifications to you, because the company believes you'll want to be notified when things happen on Buzzes you are actively participating in. But if you find these notifications annoying, Google doesn't have an obvious way to change this behavior. So it's up to you to employ the power of Gmail filters and labels to take control of your buzzes.

Here's what you can do:

Labels

Note: this step is only useful if you are going to use the Multiple Inboxes tip detailed below.

The first thing you want to do is create two labels: "My Buzzes" and "Buzzes." To do this, click on the "Labels" button at the top of your Gmail inbox and select "Manage labels." Scroll down to where you see a text entry box that says "Create a new label." Just type in the name of each label one at a time and click "Create." Now go back to your inbox, and it's time for part two.

Filter Buzzes created by you

1) Go to your Gmail inbox, and at the top of the page next to the "Search the Web" button click on "Create a filter"

2) In the "From" section type out your name and in the "Has the words" box type "label:buzz" and click on "Next step." If you get a pop-up warning telling you this is a highly unusual step, don't worry about it and just click "OK." (Click on the images below to enlarge them for a closer look at the screen.)

3) On this page, select "My Buzzes" from the "Apply the label" drop down menu. Then you can decide what you want Gmail to do with these Buzz notifications: Skip the inbox, Mark as read, and so on. I would recommend having them skip the inbox; that way you can always view your buzzes by clicking on "All mail" in the left hand column of your Gmail page.

4) Now just check off "Also apply filter to..." and then click the "Create filter" button, and you're done with this filter.

For Buzzes created by others

For the second filter, step 1 is exactly the same. For step two place a minus sign (-) in front of your name. Click on the image to see what step two looks like.

For step three, apply the label "Buzzes" and then choose your other filter options as you did previously.

Multiply Your Inbox

Now that you've got the buzzes hitting your inbox under control, let's get serious about organization by using Multiple Inboxes.

This is a relatively new feature in Gmail that lets you view several different sections in your Gmail inbox to make it easy to separate messages from specific people, groups or message types like buzzes.

For our purposes, we are going to add two different inboxes to your Gmail homepage: one for Buzzes created by you (labeled My Buzzes) and one for Buzzes created by others (Buzzes).

Here's what you do to activate Multiple Inboxes:

1) Open up Gmail labs (the little green beaker in the top right corner) and enable Multiple Inboxes. Then scroll down to the bottom of the labs page and press "save changes."

2) Back at your inbox click on "Settings" next to the Labs icon and you should see a heading called "Multiple Inboxes."

3) In "Pane 0" type "is:My Buzzes" and then type "My Buzzes" in "Panel title (optional)"

4) In "Pane 1" type "is:Buzzes" and type "Buzzes" under "Panel title (optional)"

5) Now adjust your optional settings for how many conversations each inbox should show at once, and where you want them placed in relation to your general inbox.

6) Press "save changes" and your inbox should now look something like this (click on the image to enlarge).

Now, you'll be able to see your incoming buzzes at a glance, and they still won't be blocking up your general inbox.

So there you have it -- five great tips to get your new buzzes under control. Got any other tips? Share them in the comments.

Gmail Banned In Iran

2010-02-10T21:56:00.000-08:00

Washington: Iran has banned Google's Gmail service from the country, saying that it was launching a state run alternative to the popular web-based email site that would "build trust between people and the government", the Wall Street Journal reported.

The paper said Wednesday the move was announced by Iran's telecommunications agency, but that it was unclear whether it had yet had an effect on the availability of Gmail
in Iran.

The Gmail ban comes amid high tension between the government and the opposition, with the regime increasingly tracking the efforts of opposition supporters on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.

The report said that Gmail is one of the most popular of the western mail services in Iran, especially among young people who are among the strongest supporters of the opposition.

Google had no immediate comment on the report.

5 Reasons Google Buzz Is Gonna Kill Twitter And Hurt Facebook

2010-02-10T10:40:00.000-08:00

Google Buzz made touchdown this week as Google's answer to disparate and clunky social networking tools.

On the surface, Google Buzz, which integrates into Google's ubiquitous Gmail e-mail service and Google's mobile platforms -- plus those of the Apple iPhone and others - looks like a mythical beast taking the best pieces of social networking rivals Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Picasa, YouTube and more. But its aggregation and presentation far surpasses them.

While the hype is still buzzing and Google Buzz has yet to be released to all Gmail users, here are five reasons Google Buzz has social networking contemporaries like Facebook and Twitter looking over their shoulders.

1. It integrates with Gmail. Sounds simple, right? Social networking functions that update in near-realtime in your e-mail inbox? Google Buzz's inbox integration puts the e-mail inbox, in this case Gmail, at the center of users' social networking worlds. Google recognizes that most users have their inbox open throughout the day, so instead of making them move to another Web site or application, Google pushes status updates, photos, new comments on threads and other content directly into the e-mail inbox. Where Facebook and Twitter use e-mails to send alerts and updates that prompt users to return to the respective Web sites, Google Buzz skips the middle man and makes the Gmail inbox the facilitator.

2. Google Buzz drowns out the noise. Do you really care if your friend Jack stubbed his toe? Did you really need to see that Jill ran out of gas again? Probably not. Google Buzz promises to weed out all of the unnecessary noise often presented by social networking sites and tools. Using technology similar to what made Google a search giant, Buzz presents "just the good stuff." What's that mean? It means that Google Buzz uses history and algorithms to determine what information users want presented to them based on their previous activity. That way, Google Buzz only gives users status updates and photos that they want from the people they want them from. While Facebook and Twitter offer some options to cut through the noise, they offer more of an all-or-nothing play.

3. Google is working on an enterprise plan for Buzz. The jury is still out on just how valuable Facebook, Twitter and other social networking tools are in a business environment. We all use them, but the results vary and there has yet to be a true argument for or against. While Google Buzz hasn't revealed its specific plans, the Google team has said that Buzz for business is coming. While it won't be in version one, Google Vice President of Product Marketing Bradley Horowitz said Google has been using Buzz internally as a business tool. "Our intention is to launch this as an enterprise solution, as well," Horowitz said. That Google has had the enterprise in mind in the early stages of Buzz is a sign that Google means business. And with Google getting more business traction with its Google Apps and other cloud offerings, Buzz is sure to make a splash. It's telling that Google is getting ahead of the curve and eyeing the enterprise even before Buzz is fully released. Meanwhile, other social networking tools are scrambling to adapt their consumer plays to work in business with varying results.

4. Google Buzz cuts out the hunting and pecking. With Facebook and Twitter you find people to friend and follow. You seek them out. Or, they find you. Either way, someone has to seek out someone else. Google Buzz eliminates that with its "auto-follow" feature. Auto-follow immediately connects you with the contacts you interact with via Gmail, Reader and other Google offerings. That means no setup. While Twitter and Facebook users often side with quantity over quality and boast their numbers of followers and friends, Google Buzz wants to focus on the quality and only connect users with the people who actually matter to them. It's like a Google circle of trust.

5. Google Buzz is well-suited for mobile, too. To succeed with any new application or social networking site mobility must be part of the strategy. And Google Buzz is delivering mobility in spades. First there will be a Google Buzz mobile application for the Apple iPhone and Google Android. There will also be a Google Mobile Maps update tying in Buzz functionality for a host of mobile platforms. And, Google will launch a mobile site to access Buzz. While both Twitter and Facebook have come a long way with their mobile plays, the fact that Google has designed Buzz with mobile in mind -- and baked in location-based information that takes Buzz to a new level -- bodes well for the fledgling social networking service and has Google Buzz poised to best its rivals while on the go.

Google Buzz Gonna Change The World We Live !!

2010-02-10T10:25:00.000-08:00

You're waking up to an Internet a-Buzz with talk about Google's new social sharing experiment. Opinions are mixed, but mainly concern the current version of Buzz. So here's our thought experiment about its future. It's scary.

Google's Buzz presentation started by showing its desktop implementation, and demonstrated how Buzz will be threaded through the Gmail accounts of Google users, acting as a life-casting/status-updating tool, a content-sharing system, and a chat tool. Right off the bat it even looks at your email and chat history and works out who it thinks your best friends are for Buzzing. But then Google went on to demonstrate the mobile version of Buzz, which is actually a whole lot more powerful.

Mobile Buzz uses tons of location-based data from your smartphone's A-GPS circuitry to work out where you are, and then feeds that information to your Buzz friends, should you chose to transmit it. It even combines your information to work out your location in a colloquial language--not merely asking, "Are you at 7 World Trade Center?" but rather, "Are you at work?" Google's algorithm then scours through the mass of all ongoing Buzz and shapes some of the content to what it thinks you'd prefer to see, before delivering to you the "nearby Buzz." Which will include stuff from friends, people Google thinks you may be interested in hearing from and, of course, companies that may try to sell you their wares.

This mode of operation is like pieces of Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare, Yelp, and a bagful of augmented reality apps all blended into one Google system. A system that's threaded throughout all of the ways you interact with Google--even its primary search engine.

But remember: Google isn't really a search engine, or a chat tool, or an email provider. It's an online advertisement-pushing juggernaut. And, assuming Buzz takes off, in just a few iterations of its development this is the sort of Buzz-powered day you could be having.

7 a.m. Smartphone alarm wakes you, and you quickly scan it for emails, SMSs, and Buzz. Since Google knows you were at the bar last night, it offers you an ad for a hangover cure.

7:30 a.m. Commuting to work. Browsing your tablet PC on the train, among the string of emails, light web-browsing, and casual Buzz-chatting you do, Google serves you with an ad for a new coffee shop that's opened on your usual walking route from the station to the office. It also knows you're late, and a Buzz-linked local taxi company Buzzes you to check if you'd like a ride from the station so you can make that 8:15 meeting that's scheduled in your Gmail calendar.

10:30 a.m. Collaborative work-base Buzz chat on your current project. Buzz knows you're working, so tones down the frequency and pixel-size of its embedded ads, and stops actively Buzzing you, but pops up adverts that match the theme of your work. Along with placements for MBAs from local colleges, since it knows your education history. And also sneaky adverts for jobs elsewhere that might interest you, based on your demonstrated areas of expertise.

12:15 p.m.. Lunch. The local Buzz-linked McDonald's Buzzes you and asks "Are you hungry for a Big Mac? You liked it last week. Or maybe you're in the mood for our lunchtime hangover cure special: A baconburger?" A local gymnasium ad pops up next, with a special sign-up deal for new members valid for an hour, and a note that two of your work colleagues go there already--one of whom you're friends with and the other of whom is more senior, as Buzz is careful to remind you.

6:00 p.m. Hometime. Idly checking your smartphone to see what your pals are up to, as you shut down your work PC, Buzz knows that three of you are heading roughly the same way inside the next half hour. A local bar Buzzes all of you to suggest a post-work beer.

And so on...

This is a pure thought experiment. But we know exactly how much Google loves to serve up ads to us as users, and that it would love to make them ultra-precisely targeted--using location data, habit data and so on. Google already collects reams of data about your web-use patterns. And by leaping on the social network/social sharing bandwagon, Google is weaving itself ever deeper into your daily life, using Buzz as a vehicle.

Of course, other companies are doing stuff like this too. But Buzz, if it's successful, will brush competition from small fry like Mozilla's (promising sounding) Raindrop, and even Google's own bizarre Wave project aside. And with Buzz's deep-embedded real-time tap on your life and both passive and pushed advertising, alongside its arch-rival Apple's extensive plans for location-aware ads, the upshot is that there may not be a moment in your day when you're not sharing deeply-personal data with Google, and having personalized ads thrust upon you.

Sound like the kind of future you'd like to live in?

Courtesy : fastcompany

Why I Like Google Buzz More Than Twitter

2010-02-10T09:37:00.000-08:00

Because Twitter can't do any of this:

Allows you to edit your post after you've posted it.

No post limit.

Built-in picture and link posting.

Comments (Or Replies) become attached to the original post.

Integrates with many services (Twitter, Flickr, Google Reader).

Completely integrated in Gmail, like Google Chat.

Integrates with you Google Contacts, which are mostly people you email - making the people you are likely to follow people that you actually care about.

Can Comment on Buzz post through Gmail (meaning when reading an email).

When you reply to someone in a post (@name) it goes by their name.

Google Buzz basically combines Twitter and Facebook. It takes the somewhat personal aspects of Facebook (having friends and such) and simple posting provided in Twitter.

If I was Twitter, I'd be shaking in my boots. Not to say Twitter has lost all purpose but this is a big blow.

To me, Google Buzz fixes nearly everything wrong with Twitter with the above features.

Google Buzz You Tube Video

2010-02-10T09:16:00.001-08:00

Microsoft Surface Demo @ CES 2008 (Mindblowing Video)

2010-02-08T09:49:00.000-08:00

Google Tablet User Inferface Conceptual Video

2010-02-08T09:44:00.000-08:00

Microsoft Surface : The Possibilities (Watch This Amazing Video)

2010-02-08T09:43:00.000-08:00

Google To Launch a Tablet PC to fight with Apple iPad

2010-02-08T05:38:00.000-08:00

In its search for new markets and revenue, Google seems to be taking a bite out of Apple.

For months the two companies have competed in the mobile-phone market thanks to Google's Android operating system, and that competition is fiercer now that Google has stamped its logo on the back of the Nexus One (designed by Google and manufactured by HTC). Despite some differences, the new Google smartphone looks a lot like an iPhone.

There's competition on other fronts as well, including the operating system business.

In its initial blog post in July, Google positioned Chrome OS as "an open source, lightweight operating system that will initially be targeted at netbooks." That alone could harm Apple if Chrome-powered netbooks take sales away from Mac laptops. But now there's talk about both Chrome and Android being used on tablet devices that could compete with Apple's just announced iPad.

There have been no product announcements, but Google's Chrome Web site is displaying "visual explorations of how a Chrome OS tablet UI (user interface) might look in hardware." The illustrations provide only a vague idea of what such a tablet might be like, but their very existence indicates that Google may be eying the market that Apple hopes to bust open.

Just in case one tablet operating system isn't enough of a threat to Apple, Google is potentially going after the iPad with two operating systems at once. Android, in addition to Chrome, could also be used to create a potential iPad killer.

At last month's Consumer Electronics Show, MSI displayed a 10-inch tablet running Google's Android operating system.

It's important to emphasize that neither the Google concept drawings nor the MSI prototype represents a real product. But what they do represent is the possibility, and perhaps the intention, of Google to quickly enter the tablet marketplace.

To be sure, there are important differences between Apple and Google. Apple is more focused and disciplined — it works long and hard on a very small number of products and keeps quiet about them until they're almost ready for prime time. Then, with great fanfare, Steve Jobs announces them to the world and puts them on sale shortly thereafter.

Google throws lots of things against the wall to see what sticks. The company's experimental culture is so strong that employees are allowed to devote 20 percent of their time to any project that strikes their fancy, some of which actually see the light of day as products or services.

Apple's formula — at least with the iPhone — worked like a charm. The hype was followed by a product that delighted most early reviewers and customers. And although I questioned in last week's column whether the iPad can live up to its hype, I acknowledge that it is an innovative product that might do well when it hits the market.

Google's approach is usually to pre-announce months in advance and rely on partners like HTC (and now Motorola) to build devices around its open source software. Unlike the first iPhone, the initial Android phone — the HTC G1 — got tepid reviews. But with the release of the Motorola Droid and Google's Nexus One, Android is starting to win fans and respect.

Google's initial foray into the browser market was also a bit disappointing but that, too, is starting to change. When the Chrome browser came out, it was a bit faster than market leaders Internet Explorer and Firefox but not nearly as versatile because it lacked support for extensions that allow third parties to add functionality. However, Google recently released a beta version of Chrome that fixes that problem.

Last month Chrome overtook Apple's Safari as the third-place browser behind Internet Explorer and Firefox, according to Net Applications. As more extensions become available and more people download the newer version, I'm confident its market share will continue to grow.

The biggest difference between Apple and Google has to do with control. Apps for both the iPhone and iPad will be distributed through Apple and be vetted and approved by Apple before being made available to users. Google has a more open approach, allowing anyone to create an app for their phone or their computer operating system.

The picture, which is one of a number that have recently surfaced on Google's ChomeOS User Experience page show Google's ChomeOS runing on 5-10 inch tablets.

The soft keyboard bares a striking resemblance to the iPad's, which was launched last week.

Apple's iPad is a slate PC that looks like a big iPhone. It has a home button and an alumminium bezel like an Apple MacBook.

The 9.7in, 4:3 touchscreen is made of glass. It's only half an inch thick, and weighs just 680g (about half a smallish laptop).

It contains a 1GHz Apple A4 chip, which is both processor and graphics, along with 802.11n Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 2.1 connectivity, an accelerometer and compass, speaker, microphone and 30-pin connector.

The Apple iPad will come with 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB of flash solid state storage.

It will be interesting to see if Google and their partners can come through with these on time and on spec.

Apple, as of March, will have a head start in this space but Apple actually relies on Google for its mapping,

Youtube and search functions on the iPhone and iPod. Rumours began surfacing last year that Google was planning to launch branded netbooks, but since the tablet has taken off this year, with the likes of HP and Dell also un

veiling devices, its possible the search-engine has turned its attentions to this market instead.

Both Google and Apple are rivals in the smartphone market, where Apple's iPhone goes head-to-head with handsets that use Google's Android platform, such as the T-Mobile G1 and the recently launched Nexus One.

They also have rival web browsers; Google's Chrome goes head-to-head with Apple's Safari, and competiting OS's.

Steve Jobs recently said that Google's "Don't be evil is actually BS" at a Town Hall meeting and said Google's Android wanted to kill the iPhone.

Recently the iPhone had an off quarter, slowing adoption rates to fewer than last months new customers. Most of that blame is on Android for and for Apple not producing enough handsets.

But really it is all competition, which in the end is better for customers anyway.

The battle between Google and Apple has just begun.

Google Working On A Live Speech Translator

2010-02-08T05:31:00.001-08:00

Google Translate is already extremely useful to many people – even though it’s far from useful when you need accurate translation, it’s indispensable in situations where you need the gist of something that you don’t understand. However, the company is already well ahead of technology behind the curtains, working on a phone that can actually translate spoken language.

According to a statement made by the company, they expect the technology to be made possible within few years. Google state that there are two factors that are crucial to the success of this technology – high-end translation algorithms, as well as improved speech recognition. As Google stated, if they manage to solve those two, they’ll have their device ready to go.

It’s not clear yet what the applications of this device will be – will it be used in a phone, or will it be able to translate actual conversation around you – though whatever the use, one thing is for certain – it will be highly useful.

Babel Fish from The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. In Douglas Adams' book the fish was put into the ear to translate

The firm says its device will convert spoken words into another language almost instantly.

Franz Och, Google's head of translation services, said: 'We think speech-to-speech translation should be possible and work reasonably well in a few years' time.

'Clearly, for it to work smoothly, you need a combination of high-accuracy machine translation and high-accuracy voice recognition, and that's what we're working on.'

While early versions of Google's website translation software sometimes produced little more than gobbledegook, an ever-growing database has enabled it to achieve far greater accuracy.

So far it covers 52 of the world's estimated 6,000 languages, the latest being Haitian Creole.

Google admits speech will be an even tougher challenge than text but says a customer's phone would adapt to its user by 'learning' their style of talking.

'Everyone has a different voice, accent and pitch,' said Mr Och. 'But recognition should be effective with mobile phones because by nature they are personal to you.'

And as with automatic text translation, what may begin as a fairly primitive technique will, Google hopes, become more sophisticated with the help of millions of users around the world.

However language experts believe the prospect of such technology supplanting the ability to speak a foreign tongue is a distant one.

David Crystal, honorary professor of linguistics at Bangor University, said the problems of dealing with speed of speech and range of accents could prove insurmountable.

'No system at the moment can handle that properly,' he added.

In Douglas Adams's Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, the Babel Fish was a small yellow creature capable of translating any language when placed in a person's ear.

It sparked a bloody war because everyone became able to understand what other people were saying.

China shuts down training website for hackers

2010-02-08T05:11:00.000-08:00

China has closed down what is believed to be the country's biggest training website for hackers, state media has reported.

They say the site, Black Hawk Safety Net, gave lessons in hacking and sold downloads of malicious software.

The reports say three people suspected of running the site were arrested.

Hacking is a sensitive topic for China, especially since the internet giant Google recently threatened to pull out of the country.

Google said China-based hackers had attacked its operations but the Chinese government denied any involvement.

The hacker training operation openly recruited thousands of members online and provided them with cyber attack lessons and Trojan software, the China Daily and the Wuhan Evening News said.

Trojans, which can allow outside access to a computer when implanted, are used by hackers to illegally control computers.

Black Hawk Safety Net recruited more than 12,000 paying subscribers and collected more than seven million yuan ($1m: £650,000) in membership fees, while another 170,000 people had signed up for free membership, the paper said.

The Hubei government refused to comment on the reports.

It was unclear when the shutdown had taken place but the Black Hawk Safety Net site was unavailable on Monday.

Cyber attacks

In January Google threatened to pull out of China unless the government relented on censorship.

It said it had uncovered a computer attack that tried to plunder its software coding and the e-mail accounts of human rights activists protesting against Chinese policies.

Government officials have defended China's online censorship and said the country is the biggest victim of web attacks.

China has some 350 million internet users - more than any other country - and provides a lucrative search-engine market worth an estimated $1bn last year.

Google holds about a third of the country's search market, with Chinese rival Baidu having more than 60%.

The BBC's Damian Grammaticas in Beijing says that the reports made no link between the hacking site and Google's allegations.

But the case will help authorities show that China is taking action against those who hack into computers, says our correspondent.

How Online Life Distorts Privacy Rights Of All

2010-01-09T22:41:00.000-08:00

People who post intimate details about their lives on the internet undermine everybody else's right to privacy, claims an academic.

Dr Kieron O'Hara has called for people to be more aware of the impact on society of what they publish online.

"If you look at privacy in law, one important concept is a reasonable expectation of privacy," he said.

"As more private lives are exported online, reasonable expectations are diminishing."

The rise of social networking has blurred the boundaries of what can be considered private, he believes - making it less of a defence by law.

We live in an era that he terms "intimacy 2.0" - where people routinely share extremely personal information online.

"When our reasonable expectations diminish, as they have, by necessity our legal protection diminishes." Dr O'Hara, a senior research fellow in Electronic and Computer Science at the University of Southampton, gave the example of an embarrassing photo taken at a party.

A decade ago, he said, there would have been an assumption that it might be circulated among friends.

But now the assumption is that it may well end up on the internet and be viewed by strangers.

Raging debate

Privacy has long been a thorny issue but there were very few court cases until that of former motorsport boss Max Mosley in 2008.

Mr Mosley sued the News of the World over the publication in the newspaper of explicit photos of him secretly taken during an orgy.

He argued that the publication of the photos was an unwarranted breach of his privacy - and won.

Mr Mosley had taken steps to keep his private life private but Dr O'Hara's concern is that other people's disregard for privacy online will spill over into other walks of life.

As debates continue to rage over whether the new airport body scanners and CCTV are an infringement of privacy or useful protection, some argue that it already has.

"Recent security decisions have become a privacy discussion - but if security suffers, the community suffers," Dr O'Hara said.

He was due to deliver his research paper at the annual Media Communication and Cultural Studies Association (Meccsa) conference held at the London School of Economics from 6-8 January.

Microsoft's New Browser Gazelle - Firefox Killer

2009-12-19T08:37:00.000-08:00

Microsoft Corp. researchers are developing a new Web browser that they say could offer a far greater degree of security than Google's Chrome, Mozilla's Firefox or Microsoft's own Internet Explorer.

The browser, called Gazelle, relies on a "browser kernel" -- 5,000 lines of C# code -- that helps enforce security rules to prevent malicious access to the PC's underlying operating system, according to a recently published paper.

A new project from Microsoft Research: The Multi-Principal OS Construction of the Gazelle Web Browser!

Gazelle's Browser Kernel is an operating system that exclusively manages resource protection and sharing across web site principals. This construction exposes intricate design issues that no previous work has identified, such as legacy protection of cross-origin script source, and cross-principal, cross-process display and events protection.

Gazelle is different from some other browsers in that it considers each part of a Web site, such as iframes, subframes and plug-ins, as separate elements. Sometimes those elements can pull in malicious content from other Web sites. Google's Chrome runs a Web page and its elements in a single process.

Microsoft Gazelle is not a plain vanilla browser; in fact, it evolved into an operating system capable of serving as platform for the increasingly sophisticated web application environment, according to Helen J. Wang, senior researcher in the Systems and Networking group at Microsoft Research Redmond. Wang is responsible for Gazelle, which she insists is nothing more than a research project, and not even close to a prototype.

“Everyone accepts that applications need to run on operating systems,” Wang stated. “However, this has not been the case for Web applications; they depend on browsers to render pages and handle computing resources. Yet browsers have never been constructed to be operating systems. Principals are allowed to coexist within the same process or protection domain, and resource management is largely non-existent.”

By principal Wang actually refers to a website. However, considering the mashup nature of modern web pages, content on a single page could originate from different principals/websites. Gazelle comes as a platform set up to enable the management of principals and of underlying system resources for web-based applications. According to Microsoft Research's Janie Chang, Gazelle is designed to resolve the “lack of cross-principal protection, lack of consistent device access and control, and poor resource usage control,” which are synonymous with all browsers today.

“In the Gazelle model, the browser-based OS, typically called the browser kernel, protects principals from one another and from the host machine by exclusively managing access to computer resources, enforcing policies, handling interprincipal communications, and providing consistent, systematic access to computing devices,” Chang stated.

Essentially the desktop application and Client OS model has been evolving for years, and with Gazelle Microsoft is attempting to apply the same concepts, but this time around to Cloud applications and to a browser operating system. In this regard, applying the same approach to Gazelle as to OS architectures, the browser OS from Microsoft Research has been built as a kernel sitting on top of the desktop operating system and the principals. The position is ideal for the Gazelle browser kernel to manage not only the system resources available and to allocate them accordingly to web apps but also to administer principals/websites and Internet originated content.

“Each principal is placed in a separate protection domain realized using an OS process,” Chang explained. “This makes for a robust browser construction, with each principal contained within its own protection domain so that misbehaving code compromises only its own protection domain, leaving other principals, the browser kernel, and the host system intact. This protection extends to plug-in content.”

What does this mean? Well, browsers like Internet Explorer 8 already deliver a certain degree of separation between processes. IE8 forces each tab to function independently from other opened items. Gazelle takes this concept one step further. Content originated from different principals is isolated from all other items. In IE8 RTW a tab that crashes no longer crashes the entire browser. In Gazelle a Flash ad that crashes on a page no longer crashes the entire page.

Wand however indicated that there was no way of telling where Gazelle might end up. She did stress that Microsoft didn't look to Gazelle as a prototype, although a prototype had indeed been built leveraging the architecture of a browser as a multi-principal operating system. The milestone in question involves the Trident rendering engine of Internet Explorer 7, Wang explained in the past. Still, fact is that there's a long way to go until Gazelle will kill or otherwise be the evolution of Internet Explorer. It is an effort that Microsoft has been focusing for years, which originated with a project dubbed MashupOS.

“There has been a lot of activity since MashupOS,” Wang stated. “Some of those concepts have influenced parts of HTML 5, and the key ideas in MashupOS and Gazelle are related. The work in MashupOS was about identifying and designing the multi-principal OS abstractions that a browser should expose to programs, while Gazelle is all about constructing the browser as a multi-principal OS: How should a browser-based OS provide protection and resource management to its applications?”

Wang's characterization of Gazelle as a "multi-principal operating system" for the Web has been widely misinterpreted by the press. Although Gazelle's architecture is loosely modeled on the underlying concepts of operating system design, it is not actually an operating system, it's not intended to replace Windows, and it won't compete with Chrome OS. It is a browser prototype that runs on Windows Vista, is coded in C#, and has a conventional user interface that is built with .NET's WinForms framework.

Multiprocess browsing, which is supported in Google's Chrome Web browser and recent versions of Internet Explorer, uses separate operating system processes to isolate the rendering of individual pages. As we have recently discussed in our coverage of multiprocess browsing, this approach generally boosts security and stability. It prevents a rendering bug that affects a specific page or plugin from tanking the whole browser.

Multiprocess browsing is advantageous, but it does have some downsides. Processes tend to generate a lot of resource overhead, especially on Windows. In order to minimize the impact of using multiple processes, Chrome and IE try to use some number of processes that provides a good balance between resource efficiency and stability. For example, if you have multiple tabs open that show different pages from the same website, the browser might put them all into one process.

The Gazelle project casts aside that balance and aims to maximize security and stability by using more processes. Instead of just using a separate process for each site or tab, it will use separate processes for individual page content elements that originate from other domains. For example, if you have an iframe in a page, the iframe will be managed and rendered in its own process separate from the rest of the page.

Gazelle uses interprocess communication (IPC) to facilitate interaction between the various pieces of the browser. All communication is mediated by the browser's "kernel," a central component that is also responsible for handling the browser's user interface. All network and filseystem operations such as loading and caching are handled directly by the kernel. Gazelle's approach can theoretically maximize the security of browsing by preventing individual content items (referred to as "principals" in the research paper) from interfering with the operation of others and from accessing the system hardware.

How it works

The research paper provides technical insight into how the prototype was implemented. It's largely a .NET application that uses Internet Explorer's "Trident" rendering engine. It does so by using headless instances of the Windows.Forms.WebBrowser control, a managed code wrapper for the ActiveX WebBrowser component. (This should be familiar to those of you who have made .NET GUI applications with Visual Studio.)

When a page loads, Gazelle instantiates a separate WebBrowser control in a new process for each iframe and other similar foreign content elements. The code running in these processes uses the IViewObject COM interface to generate bitmap images of the rendered content from the WebBrowser controls. These bitmaps are then passed back to the browser's "kernel" component. Gazelle's IPC mechanism uses an XML message format and uses named pipes to transmit the data.

The browser kernel is responsible for composing all of the individual bitmaps from the various processes to generate a rendered page image. It tracks the positioning, dimensions, and stacking order of the page elements that are being rendered in separate processes so that it can assemble the bitmaps accurately as it builds the final page view. The completed image is displayed to the user in a WinForms PictureBox control on a tab in the browser's user interface.

It's clear that a lot of careful thought went into developing the underlying architectural concepts, but it seems like the implementation itself was thrown together in Visual Studio using relatively standard .NET components. This strongly reflects the fact that Gazelle is a research project and not a product.

The researchers ran into several problems while creating their prototype. They were unable to find a practical way to use the WebBrowser APIs to intercept all of the network operations. As a workaround, they configured the WebBrowser controls to use a local Web proxy which they connected to the Gazelle kernel. They also had some problems with page layout, particularly in cases where they were rendering individual off-site images in separate processes. For simplicity, they decided to allow page processes to handle off-site images rather than isolating them in their own processes.

The Gazelle project is currently limited in scope. The researchers were primarily interested in exploring the architectural implications of an extreme approach to multiprocess browsing; they weren't trying to deliver in practice the hypothetical security benefits it could someday offer. It's important to note that they don't actually have code-level sandboxing yet, which means that the underlying platform would still be vulnerable if one of the rendering processes was compromised.

"Our interposition layer ensures that our Trident components are never trusted with sensitive operations, such as network access or display rendering. However, if a Trident renderer is compromised, it could bypass our interposition hooks and compromise other principals using the underlying OS's APIs," the report explains. "To prevent this, we are in the process of implementing an OS-level sandboxing mechanism, which would prevent Trident from directly accessing sensitive OS APIs. The feasibility of such a browser sandbox has already been established in Xax and Native Client."

Native Client is a project that was launched last year by Google to build a browser plugin that will enable secure execution of native code in Web browsers. Microsoft's Gazelle researchers acknowledge that its sandboxing model is viable and could potentially be applicable to some of the same problems that they are trying to solve.

Another obvious limitation of Gazelle is that its process-heavy architecture necessarily introduces additional latency and memory overhead. The researchers provide some tables in their paper to show how it compares to Internet Explorer. Loading Google (no, not Bing) in a new tab in Gazelle took 939 milliseconds and increased the browser's memory footprint by 16MB. By comparison, the same operation in Internet Explorer 7 took 499 milliseconds and only 1.4MB.

Although Gazelle will necessarily always use more resources than a browser that spawns processes less aggressively, the researchers believe that they could eventually improve the performance and memory footprint to the point where it would be acceptable for regular usage. The prototype is basically unoptimized, so there may still be room for meaningful performance improvements.

Gazelle is a fascinating experiment that provides real insight into where multiprocess browsing could potentially go in the future. As computing resources become cheaper, the security benefits of more pervasive compartmentalization will increasingly outweigh the added latency and memory overhead. As that occurs, it's possible that mainstream browsers could start to look more like Gazelle.

Google Chrome OS News,Screenshot and Videos

2009-11-20T08:22:00.000-08:00

Google released the source code for Chrome OS on Thursday, beginning the process of producing a browser-based operating system by the end of 2010 for lower-end PCs called Netbooks. Although Linux runs under the covers, the applications all run within Google's browser.

Meanwhile, the source code for Chrome OS is already available. Here's the login screen:

... and one of the wallpapers that are included:

Chrome OS is a lightweight Linux distribution based on Debian that uses a lot of open-source software: Host AP Linux drivers, PAM (an authentication mechanism), Syslinux (a lightweight bootloader), IBus (Intelligent Input Bus for Linux / Unix OS), ConnMan (Internet connection manager), XScreenSaver and other software. More on this later.

Live blogging:

- Chrome OS launches next year

Chrome, the foundation of Chrome OS

- Chrome has 40 million users
- Chrome focuses on: speed, security, simplicity
- new stuff: Chrome for Mac/Linux and extensions

HTML5: making the web more powerful
- powerful web apps
- web apps should use threads
- offline web apps

Converging trends
- netbooks have an explosive growth
- millions of users are living in the cloud

Chrome OS:
- instant boot
- Chrome on Chrome OS is faster
- every app is a web app
- all data is in the cloud
- browser security model

Demo:
- 7 seconds boot time
- the UI is a work in progress
- easy to access favorite apps
- app menu
- panels: persistent lightweight windows (example: Google Talk)
- file browser
- local files open in web apps (including Microsoft Office online apps)
- native video player

Under the hood:
- design documents
- no hard disks, only solid-state drives
- verified boot
- security: the OS does not trust any app
- read-only root file system
- user data synced to the cloud
- automatic updates for the entire OS

Market:
- reference hardware
- you can't download Chrome OS and install it on your machine
- the only way to install the OS is to buy a Chrome OS machine
- the target launch time: the end of next year

What is Google Chrome OS?
- the web browser is the most important program on your computer
- your browser is your operating system

Video :::::What is Google Chrome OS?

Google Introduces Swirl Feature For Its Image Search

2009-11-18T17:22:00.000-08:00

Google Vs Bing Again

Google's firing back at Bing with a brand new visual image search feature. Google Image Swirl, announced on Tuesday, brings layers of similar images into your searches. Think of it like six degrees of separation, only customized to your image search interests.

Inside Google Image Swirl

Google Image Swirl -- not to be confused with Bing's recently launched Visual Search for images -- works by building clusters upon clusters of related images. You start by simply surfing over to the Google Image Swirl page within the Google Labs site. There, you'll see a familiar-looking prompt asking you to enter your image search term. Once you enter a search term, Image Swirl presents you with a page of options.

For our example, we'll search for "potato salad." As you'll see, each option is not merely a single image; rather, it's a grouping of related images, visually represented by what appears to be a stack of pictures. Click on a grouping, and the real swirling begins. Google Image Swirl swirls in a set of circles, each containing multiple clusters of images. And every subgroup has a different theme.

In my "potato salad" search, for example, the image on which I originally clicked sits in the center of the main circle. From there, I can see images showing numerous other kinds of potato salad, each with its own set of related images branching out from the core. There's even one cluster featuring what appears to be a delightful romantic comedy about everybody's favorite picnic staple.

Now, Google Image Swirl is still relatively limited in scope: You can currently search for only about 200,000 terms that have been selected for inclusion. I learned this the hard way when I attempted to perform a Google Image Swirl search for Bobcat Goldthwait.With that being said, many random terms are available within the Image Swirl demo -- including, rather inexplicably, both "a bathing ape" and "kitty litter cake." Image Swirl Technology If the Image Swirl setup looks familiar to you, it might be because of its similarity to Google's Wonder Wheel system for text-based search queries. Image Swirl, though -- while in the same family as the Wonder Wheel -- has a different engine under its hood.

Google says the system uses concepts developed for its recently unveiled Similar Images feature as well as technology created for its new Picasa Face Recognition function. And, lest you think all those buttery swirls are just some random assembly, Google assures every thumbnail represents "an algorithmically-determined representative group of images with similar appearance and meaning."

Apparently the image search result clusters will be dependent on the image metadata. With billions of users uploading images to the web without any description or metadata, getting desired images would still require some effort. As image analysis technology advances the image search engine will rely more on the graphical recognition of image than the metadata attached to the same.

Cyber War : India Vs Pakistan

2009-11-17T05:04:00.000-08:00

The saga is not new and starts from the partition of the erstwhile British India into two dominions, India and Pakistan. From the very beginning animosity of Pakistan to India has been explicit and from time to time it has been found to change and adopt new strategies with the sole intention – to dismantle the democratic fabric ofIndia and also to balkanize it. However, it has faced reverses too that led to the breakaway by the then East Pakistan, now Bangladesh.

But its deep-rooted hatred to India is unabated and now it has brought to the fore a novel mode of onslaught and it’s hacking. As per hordes of latest reports, hackers from across the border in Pakistan are leaving no stone unturned to build up a determined cyber attack against the country’s websites. Nevertheless, Indian hackers appear to be falling a great deal short in firepower. What is most striking hardly any Indian political party is aware of this phenomenon!

This fact may send a shudder through the backbones of Indians.

This has very much to do with the nation’s security, but not one that the political leadership is being pulled up for. As hackers from across the border in Pakistan mount a cyber attack against the country’s websites, Indian hackers seem to be falling considerably short in firepower.

“In the ongoing cyber warfare between the two countries, roughly 40-50 Indian sites are being hacked on a daily basis by Pakistani hackers while about 10 Pakistani sites are being hit by their Indian counterparts”, says Ankit Fadia, Mumbai-based ethical hacker and an expert on cyber crime.

Mr Fadia is clear that breaking into foreign country’s websites does not fall within the realm of ethical hacking, but mentions how Pakistanis outdo Indians in hacking to underline India’s reactive, rather than proactive, approach to hacking issues.

He says the attitude of the corporate sector towards cyber security is almost as laid back as that of the government agencies, with the result that ethical hacking is still at a low key across the spectrum. Ethical hackers, who also go by names such as white hackers, white knights or sneakers, are computer security experts who specialise in penetration testing and related testing methodologies to check the vulnerability of a company’s information systems.

Nasscom surveys have pointed out that information security threats have created an “unprecedented demand for qualified and experienced information security professionals”, but Mr Fadia reckons that the supply of ethical hackers in the country is far short of the demand of corporates and government agencies.

“Ethical hacking does come with a cost, but it is not prohibitively expensive, either. But often, corporates appreciate the need only after a security breach happens”, Mr Fadia told ET.

According to him, social networking sites have become hackers’ favourite hunting grounds these days, marking a clear break from the e-mail route to passing on a virus.

Ethical hacking communities are operating in the country but Mr Fadia says a strong and serious community operation of ethical hackers is virtually absent in the country.

“When they pass out of engineering college, classmates may form a community of ethical hackers, but these fritter away, starting as a hobby and ending as one”, he says.

Industry players opine that structured courses could be one way to generate the required number of ethical hackers. The first generation of sneakers were self-taught. Mr Fadia says it may just be the right time for colleges to have formal courses in ethical hacking.

Google SPDY to replace HTTP and make web twice as fast

2009-11-17T04:57:00.000-08:00

SPDY from Google's Chromium development team has achieved 55 percent faster page loading times than the more familiar HTTP protocol

Google's Chromium group has announced an effort to replace the traditional Hypertext Transfer Protocol (HTTP) web browser language with a new protocol that supposedly boosts Internet browsing by up to 55 percent. HTTP currently is the protocol used by all web servers and browsers, hence the "http" in front of web addresses. But, as noted by Ars Technica, HTTP becomes inefficient when transferring many small files on many modern websites.

By contrast, Google's cleverly named SPDY protocol can compress and handle the individual requests via one connection that's SSL-encrypted. That allows higher-priority files to slip through immediately without becoming backed up behind large files.

SPDY has shown up to 55 percent web page loading when tested under lab conditions, and the Google team has released their source code for public feedback.

But Ars Technica raises some points of caution about the mandatory SSL encryption requiring more processing power from small devices and computers alike. Requiring SSL could also worsen the problem where server operators neglect SSL encryption and unintentionally encourage people to ignore warnings about unsecured websites.

Still Google's team recognizes these problems and has already proposed workaround solutions. An open approach has already proven a smashing success on Google's Android operating system, but redesigning the Internet's architecture will undoubtedly prove trickier in the days to come.

Netizens interested in helping can view the documentation and code before getting involved in the development via a special discussion group.

The video below shows the reasoning behind wanting to make the web faster:

Quantum Computing: Rise of Machines

2009-11-16T08:05:00.000-08:00

Quantum Computing : Gateway To Rise Of The Machines

Armed with the silicon chip, humans are generating an enormous amount of data every second. Monthly internet traffic is about 8 billion gigabytes the size of the whole Internet is about 500 billion gigabytes. Scientific research itself is flooded with data.

Study of genetic codes creates a petabyte (1 followed by 15 zeroes) of data yearly while the world's biggest machine, the Large Hadron Collider, will be generating an exabyte (1 followed by 18 zeroes) of data every year, according to the Max Planck Society, Munich. On the other hand, humans need smaller and more efficient machines. But there is a physical limit to miniaturization. It is believed that the chip can accommodate a maximum of a million transistors (the switches that operate the computer).

Then what?

One solution is quantum computers.

Steven Girvin of Yale University explained to TOI-Crest : "The bits in an ordinary computer are physical objects (today transistors, previously mechanical switches and relays) that can be in two possible states: on or off, representing yes or no, or the binary numbers 0 and 1. Quantum bits ('qubits') are physical objects (such as individual atoms or nano-scale electrical circuits), which behave quantum mechanically - that is, they can be in a superposition of 0 and 1 at the same time. This novel feature of quantum mechanics allows a quantum computer to solve certain problems much faster than a classical computer. It also allows information to be encrypted and transmitted to the intended recipient using codes that are essentially unbreakable."

Research groups all over the world are working on different designs of a quantum computer. "Scaling the systems up to a practically useful size beyond a handful of qubits is incredibly difficult. It is fair to say that to date, no clear frontrunner has emerged from all these different possible implementations," Erik Gauger at Oxford University told TOI-Crest.

Apart from the quantum computer, what else is being researched at the cutting edge of IT? Embedded systems (think computers around the home), machine learning (think of computers that can more readily understand you and act like you) and computational thinking (applying the ideas of computer science to other fields of science) were some of the key areas listed by Dave Bacon of the University of Washington for TOI-Crest. Could we end up building machines as intelligent as our brains?

At present, we are still far from it. Computational power is not the same as intelligence. But theoretically, it could happen in the future. However, Metzinger has a cautionary note: "Until we become happier beings than our ancestors were, we should refrain from any attempt to impose our mental structure on artificial carrier systems."

World's First Universal Quantum Computer Revealed

2009-11-16T07:57:00.000-08:00

Quantum Computers - Our Future

The World's First Universal Programmable Quantum Computer has been unveiled in Colarado by the National Institute of Standards and Technology. According to a report in New Scientist, the machine still needs to overcome some ‘significant hurdles', but it is capable of processing two quantum bits or qubits. These can store a lot more data than your common or garden "on" or "off" bits of conventional computing.

Although one and two-qubit gates have been built and used to perform specific algorithms before, no one has built a device capable of all quantum routines 'til now. The team used quantum computational theory to push the computer to the next level. "One of the more interesting results to come out of the early years of quantum information was that you can do any quantum operation on any number of qubits using only single and two-qubit logic gates," said David Hanneke, who led the team.

The quantum logic gate was made by manipulating beryllium ions with a series of laser pulses in a way that processes information. Then another laser reads off the results of the calculations. The device even has a heart of gold. Well, a gold-patterned aluminium wafer with an electromagnetic trap some 200 micrometres across. In the trap the team placed four ions. Two made of beryllium and two of magnesium. The latter stop unwanted vibrations from the ion chain and keep the device stable. There are an infinite number of possible two-qubit operations.

The demonstration marks the first time any research group has moved beyond demonstrating individual tasks for a quantum processor, NIST said in the paper.

"It's a step toward the big goal of doing calculations with lots and lots of qubits. The idea is you'd have lots of these processors, and you'd link them together," NIST postdoctoral researcher David Hanneke.

As in a classical computer, a series of logic gates processes the information – although here the gates are quantum logic, or qubit, gates.

"For example, a simple single-qubit gate would change a 'one' to a 'zero' and vice versa," says David Hanneke, a member of the team. But unlike the physical logic gates of a classical computer, the quantum logic gates used in the team's device are each encoded into a laser pulse.

The NIST processor stores binary information (1s and 0s) in two beryllium ions (electrically charged atoms), which are held in an electromagnetic trap and manipulated with ultraviolet lasers. Two magnesium ions in the trap help cool the beryllium ions.

However, according to New Scientist, the new processor with infinite possibilities is not perfect yet.

The team ran each of the 160 programmes 900 times. By comparing the results with theoretical predictions, they were able to show that the processor had worked as planned. But it did so with an accuracy of only 79 per cent, says Hanekke.

Such errors would drown the results of any more extensive computations and the fidelity needs to increase to around 99.99 per cent before it could be a useful component of a quantum computer, the report added.

Droid Becomes Fastest-Selling Android Phone to Date?

2009-11-16T07:47:00.000-08:00

Motorola Droid - An iPhone Killer ?

The Motorola Droid is the newest smartphone on the market to compete for the iPhone's crown. Released by Verizon Wireless on November 6th, the Droid's advertising campaign has been a full-frontal attack on the popular Apple smartphone with a heavy focus on what the iPhone doesn't do.

"iDon't run simultaneous apps, iDon't have a real keyboard, iDon't take 5-megapixel pictures," taunts Verizon's Droid ad. But did the message get through to potential phone buyers? It appears that it did...at least according to mobile analytics firm Flurry. In their latest report, the company found that the Droid is now the fastest-selling Android phone to date, beating the sales of the myTouch 3G by more than four times. Droid Sales Look Good Flurry's analytics service monitors over 10,000 mobile applications on both the iPhone and Android, or approximately two out of every three iPhone and Android handsets on the market.

While obviously this isn't a look at the mobile ecosystem as a whole, it's a big enough slice to form some initial conclusions about the popularity of the latest mobile device to run Android, Google's mobile operating system. By monitoring the new Android devices on Flurry's system, the company estimated the first-week sales for the Droid handsets as compared with both the myTouch 3G and Apple's iPhone 3GS.

Although the iPhone still outsold the Droid within its first week, Flurry notes that the iPhone simultaneously launched in 8 countries worldwide while the Droid only launched in the U.S. What they didn't note, however, is that the iPhone 3GS was just the latest model of the iPhone to arrive on the market, it is not the original device. Prior to the 3GS, the iPhone had two previous versions, the second which finally allowed for 3G cellular access and GPS capabilities. This update made the iPhone 3G a hugely popular upgrade and the company sold 1 million or so units on their opening weekend.

Comparing the third generation iPhone to the first version of the Droid isn't a true "apples to apples" comparison we'd argue, but on the other hand, the comparison of the T-Mobile myTouch 3G and the Droid is.

According to Flurry, Droid is dramatically outselling the myTouch 3G based on first week sales. That may say something about the quality of the Droid's hardware, the impact of a good marketing campaign, or perhaps even people's frustrations with the iPhone's limitations. Or maybe a little of each. Then again, Verizon has nearly triple the number of subscribers as T-Mobile, so they already have a head start. The Growing Power of Android In the end, while we can't take any of these numbers to the bank, what we can learn is that the Android OS is making serious headway in the smartphone market.

Although no one Android phone on its own may beat the iPhone, as more and more "worthy competitors" launch on numerous hardware platforms, the Android OS's install base may eventually catch up to that of the iPhone's. In any event, that's what Google believes. In a recent earnings call, Google CEO Eric Schmidt proclaimed that "Android adoption is about to explode," citing 12 Android phones on 32 carriers in 26 countries. Research firm Gartner predicts that the Android OS may end up ranking second worldwide by 2012.

However, if more of the Android launches prove to be as successful as it appears the Droid's may be, Android may move up the charts even faster than predicted. Of course, who ends up on top all depends on Apple's next move. If the company decides to launch their phone on more carriers, all bets are off. If that's the case, Apple's market share could double, says Morgan Stanley's Kathryn Huberty. But that doesn't necessarily mean that Android would be left far behind. "Android is "backed by the power of Google's search engine," said Huberty.

"Google's other up-and-coming consumer and enterprise products should make [Android] a dominant platform."

Google's Go: an open-source language

2009-11-12T23:15:00.001-08:00

Google has never been afraid to invent new technologies where it feels traditional systems are lacking, and never has this been so obvious as with the announcement of the company's entirely new programming language.

The new language - dubbed 'Go' - came about when the company decided that it needed a streamlined, simple method for creating servers and other projects for internal use. While designed for Google's own use, the language is made available under an open-source licence - meaning it's free for anyone to implement for any purpose whatsoever.

The official website - which itself runs on a webserver written in Go - explains that the language is designed to be simple, fast, and combine the advantages of interpreted - where the code is run as required - and compiled - where the code is changed into a directly executable format - languages. With designed-in support for multithreaded systems, a robust garbage collection system, and an impressively fast compiler, it's a language which is certain to interest quite a few in the programming community.

Indeed, the speed is likely to be the biggest attraction for many: a video introduction to the system demonstrates around a thousand lines of Go code compiling in around two hundred milliseconds on an average desktop machine - making testing out changes a lot less painful than with a traditional compiled language.

For those interested in trying out Go, Google has a tutorial section on the official site, along with a not-inconsiderable amount of sample code for playing around with.

Do you believe that Google's Go could represent the future of programming, or is it likely to be nothing more than a neat diversion for those who find true object oriented systems a little confusing?

Share your thoughts.

Google Introduces 'Go' Programming Language

2009-11-12T23:02:00.000-08:00

Go aims to combine the benefits of rapid application development with program execution speed.

Google on Tuesday released a new open source programming language called Go that's optimized for applications designed for massive scalability and multi-processor systems.

"I've never felt as productive as I have working with Go," said Rob Pike, a principal engineer at Google.

Go is the second programming language Google has released this year. In July, the company released Simple, a BASIC dialect for developing Android applications.

Pike says Go's goal is to serve as a systems language, in the way that C++ or C does today.

"It's fast for development but it also is a true compiled language," he explained. "We're opening sourcing it now because we think it's reached the point of being fun and useful and powerful."

Go began in 2007 as a group 20% project -- Google allows its workers to spend 20% of their time pursuing projects outside of their job responsibilities. In addition to Pike, contributors include Google engineers Robert Griesemer, Ken Thompson, Ian Taylor, and Russ Cox.

Compiled Go code runs at close to the speed of C, says Pike, adding that compilation happens almost instantly. "It's like using an interactive language," he explained.

Existing languages haven't been optimized for multi-core processors or massive scaling. Pike says that Go was conceived as a language for the kinds of programs written by Google engineers.

It's not intended for beginners, but it's also not terribly difficult to learn. It's object-oriented and boasts features like true closures and reflection.

Pike compares Go to Java in terms of its learning curve. "It's probably around the same level as Java," he said. "If people can learn Java out of the box, they shouldn't have too much trouble learning Go."

One reason for releasing Go as an open source project is to provide the open source community with the opportunity to create of better tools for using the language, like a plug-in for the Eclipse Integrated Development Environment (IDE). At present, there's no IDE support for Go.

Go has not played a role in the development of any of Google's publicly facing Web applications so far. But Google has several internal projects developed that were created using the language. "We have some cool demos," Pike said.

Pike says it's too early to say whether Go will play a part in Google's forthcoming Chrome OS, but he adds that Go does work with Native Client, Google's open-source technology for running native code in Web applications.

"Go has properties that make it really nice for running inside the browser for your apps," he said.

As an example, he said that Wave, which consists of JavaScript on the front-end and C++ server code, might be more efficiently implemented using Go on both the front-end and back-end.

Go has two compilers at the moment, Gccgo, which relies on the GCC as a back-end, and a suite of compilers (6g and 8g) for 64-bit x86 and 32-bit x86 machines respectively. Support for ARM chips and Android devices is being worked on. "The problem with Android phones is we have don't have a [floating point unit]," said Pike.

To get things started the right way, here’s Go’s rendition of Hello World ! :

05 package main

07 import fmt “fmt” // Package implementing formatted I/O.

09 func main() {
10 fmt.Printf(”Hello, world; or Καλημέρα κόσμε; or こんにちは世界n”);
11 }

For more details check out Golang.org.

Nokia 2015 Mobile Phone Video : Imagines Tech Of The Future

2009-11-12T22:38:00.000-08:00

Want to know how life in 2015 will look like? Nokia Conversations shares a video created by Nokia of their perception of what life might be in 2015.

Reportedly the video demonstrates as to how people will become so technologically dependent and virtually every activity is carried out with the help of a gadget. Supposedly any problem could be solved through these high-tech devices. Apparently life could be extremely easier and comfortable thanks to growing technology.

A dual-display handheld netbook concept is one of the numerous devices one would see in future as per Nokia. The twin-screen netbook also divides into a smaller handset when one is traveling, and can also perform as a computer, GPS and TV-connected media center. In the video, Nokia also utilizes the netbook to show how it views cloud-based services being used. When users are in a location with swift wireless broadband, the device could apply remote servers to assist crunch streaming video and sync data.

The company's vision for the future seems like a fairly logical extension of where we are now - intelligent services (such as navigation) that learn from your past interaction and advanced cloud computing.

There'll still me multiple devices of all shapes and sizes (including a dual-screen DS-style device, it seems), but your profile will switch between them effortlessly.

Check out the video for the full lowdown.

Droid's not an iPhone killer, but it's a contender

2009-11-12T22:19:00.000-08:00

There is no iPhone killer.

With that out of the way, the new Motorola Droid is recommended to almost any smart phone shopper.

It's not going to outsell or render obsolete Apple Inc.'s device.

But it's competitive, combining neat technology with the reliable Verizon Wireless 3G network.

The Droid lives up to its name. Here's a rundown:

Screen: It's astoundingly sharp, with much higher resolution than most phones, and text and pictures redefine the word "crisp."

OS: The latest version of Google's Android operating system feels polished and sturdy. There are tons of apps, and the new Google Maps Navigation GPS software works great. It's undeniably cool to just speak your destination into the microphone and see it pop up on the screen.

Browsing: The Web browser is zippy and responsive, and adding e-mail is a cinch. With a handful of apps running, the system never bogged down.

Media: The music app is acceptable. Motorola doesn't have an iTunes-like program to manage tunes, but there is an Amazon MP3 download app, and plugging the Droid into your PC and dragging and dropping files is easy. Sound quality is good, although the software player is rudimentary.

The video player, though, is unpleasant. It's buried inside the "Gallery" app, and I had problems getting video files I transferred from my PC to play back accurately. Sometimes I got audio but no video; other times the player crashed altogether.

Camera: Playing back videos I recorded with the Droid's built-in camera was painless, though. But the 5 megapixel camera isn't great, and its autofocus struggles with nearby objects. Some people will complain about the lack of pinch-to-zoom and multitouch (although I think that's overrated).

Keyboard: Flat, unspaced keys on the slide out keyboard make touch typing largely impractical, but the on-screen keyboard is excellent. You'll probably end up using that.

The Droid is unapologetically brash and different. Despite some rough edges, it's a standout device that deserves to be a big seller. Motorola Droid

Pros: Awesome screen, bold design and intuitive software make a great first impression.

Cons: If you're a big music or video user, the Droid will feel limited and awkward.

Bottom line: Cellphone technology is advancing so rapidly that committing to a new handset is becoming intimidating, but the Droid seems built to last and Google's track record of continually upgrading its software is undeniable. Just don't call this an iPhone killer.

Future Phones: Japan's Hottest High Tech Phones

2009-11-12T22:06:00.000-08:00

Wearable Terminal

NTT DoCoMo's handset telephone and computer uses the user's hand as a receiver by transmitting sound through bones. The caller can listen to the recipient's voice through the fingertip while speaking to a small microphone installed on the back of the wristband. Connect and disconnect calls by snapping your fingers.

Touch Wood

NTT DoCoMo's ergonomic cell phone is made of surplus cypress wood from trees culled during the thinning of forests

Fujitsu Concept Cell Phone

Engadget reports: "The clear pebble mock-up (shown above) was easily the crown jewel (in our mind, anyway), with a small black blob able to morph into different screens (media panels, a keypad, web browser, etc.) depending on which corner you drag said blob into."

Fujitsu Concept Cell Phone

NTT DoCoMo

This mobile phone lets users to separate the display and keyboard components (which communicate via bluetooth). It's like a monitor and keyboard -- but mobile.

KDDI/Hitachi Fuel Cell-Powered Phone

This prototype phone is powered by direct methanol fuel cell (DMFC) battery, and can be refueled with a felt-pen-style methanol cartridge

Cough into your mobile phone for instant diagnosis

2009-11-12T21:57:00.000-08:00

Your mobile phone may soon be able to diagnose respiratory illnesses in seconds when you cough into it.

Software being developed by American and Australian scientists will hopefully allow patients simply to cough into their phone, and it will tell them whether they have cold, flu, pneumonia or other respiratory diseases.

Whether a cough is dry or wet, or “productive” or “non-productive” (referring to the presence of mucus on the lungs), can give a doctor information about what is causing that cough, for example whether it is caused by a bacterial or a viral infection.

Health workers can distinguish the different kinds of cough by sound. Now, it is claimed, the new software will do the same, and will save patients a trip to the surgery – or tell them when they are at risk of serious illness.

Suzanne Smith of STAR Analytical Services, the firm behind the research, says: "Why haven't we been measuring coughs?

"It’s the most common symptom when a patient presents, and we are relying on doctors and nurses with good old technology from the 19th century."

Coughs typically last around one-quarter of a second, comprising a sharp intake of breath, a silent exhalation and then the complex burst of sounds that makes the cough noise.

Healthy, voluntary coughs tend to be slightly louder than the involuntary coughs of an ill person. And after the initial explosive sound, there are subtleties like vibrating vocal cords and mucus that reveal information about what is happening in the patient’s respiratory system.

The software would compare the patient’s cough to a pre-recorded database of coughs, containing the sounds of all respiratory diseases from people of both sexes and various ages, weights and other variables.

Currently the STAR team has a database of several dozen patients, but they estimate they will need a total of around 1,000 before the software will be reliable.

The software is currently run on a computer, but it is anticipated that it could be rewritten as a smartphone application.

Doctors are optimistic about the new software’s applications. Dr Jaclyn Smith, a doctor of respiratory medicine at the University of Manchester who specialises in cough measurement, told Discovery.com: "If they can find certain parameters to use coughs to diagnose disease that could be fabulous."

"It could really improve disease diagnosis and help improve people's access to health care."

STAR has been given a Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation grant of $100,000 (£60,000) to pursue the research, which is expected to be particularly useful in developing countries where pneumonia is a leading cause of death in children.

Nokia N900 Battle Against iPhone : Detailed Review

2009-11-12T21:43:00.000-08:00

The N900 is its most powerful smartphone yet, and the device's Maemo 5 open source operating system is a diversion from Symbian, which Nokia tends to support.

Here's a look at what's promising and potentially disappointing with Nokia's N900:

Hot: Monster Specs

Nokia likes to call the N900 a "mobile computer," and that's partly due to the device's hardware. There's a 600 MHz ARM Cortex A8 processor, 1 GB of application memory and a 3D graphics accelerator with OpenGL support. The 3.5-inch display has a resolution of 800 x 480, and there's a 5-megapixel camera with flash and autofocus for photos and video. Best of all, 32 GB of storage is on-board storage, expandable to 48 GB with a MicroSD card.

Not: Limited Portrait Mode

Most of the N900's functionality is confined to landscape mode, which is probably why the phone is occasionally referred to as a tablet. When you want to fire off a quick text message or look something up on the Web, needing two hands will become inconvenient in a hurry.

Hot: Maemo 5 Operating System

This thing looks smooth as it swipes among four home screens for your contacts, favorite apps, bookmarks and communications. Yes, it can multitask, and a handy button lets you see which programs are currently running.

Not: No MMS

It's puzzling that such a multimedia-capable smartphone doesn't allow for MMS. All that high quality photo and video is somewhat wasted when you can't immediately blast it out to friends and family.

Hot: Firefox and Flash

Check out this video of the N900's Firefox-based Web browser in action, and try to curtail your drooling. When you can play a Flash version of Tower Defense through the Web, who needs to pay for an app? I'm tired of the drawn-out wait for Adobe to bring Flash to smartphones. The N900 brings the smartphone to Flash.

Not: Ovi Store

Nokia's Ovi Store for apps doesn't compare to the iPhone's App Store or the Android Market, and it likely never will unless the N900 catches fire and developers suddenly decide that Ovi is the place to be. The N900's powerful Web browser somewhat offsets the need for apps, but If you paid for a phone with OpenGL and multitasking, You would certainly want to use those features.

Microsoft Bing Wields Wolfram Alpha Vs Google Working on Computational Search

2009-11-12T08:56:00.000-08:00

Microsoft inked a deal with Wolfram Alpha to begin offering computational search. Google does not do this, but a company engineer hinted that it is heading there. Right around the time Bing unveiled its deal with Wolfram Alpha, Google added World Bank data to its search service. Users can search for such topics as electricity consumption per capita, or carbon dioxide emissions per capita for certain countries.

News Analysis: Microsoft continues to wheel and deal with its Bing search engine, as it seeks to overtake Google, but the leader with 65 percent market share is not sitting still. The latest duel is in data computation. Microsoft has it, courtesy of Wolfram Alpha. Google does not, but a company engineer hinted that it is heading there.

Bing unleashed a flurry of improvements Nov. 11, the most important being a data deal with Wolfram Alpha, a computational search engine. While users enter keywords on Google, Bing and Yahoo and those search engines leverage natural language algorithms to search the Web, Wolfram Alpha is the mother of all calculators. Users type a mathematical equation into the Wolfram Alpha search bar, and the site spits out the input, the result and the "number name," a spelled-out version.

In a deal for which financial terms were not disclosed, Wolfram Alpha is making its computational algorithms and data available through Bing. Soon when users go to Bing they will be able to enter mathematical queries and have Bing calculate them through Wolfram Alpha's API. In Microsoft's example, Bing will also be able to help inform users interested in finding data points on nutrition. Bing will be able to tell users whether steak or chicken has more protein, as well as whether oranges have more vitamins than apples or kiwis.

Previously, Bing would have returned search results based on the keywords users entered for those nutritional queries. But by leveraging the Wolfram Alpha algorithms, Bing becomes a computational search engine. Google isn't there yet, but it appears to be working on similar technology. Right around the time Bing unveiled its deal with Wolfram Alpha, Google pulled the trigger on a nifty addition to its public data search. The company added World Bank data to its search repertoire, allowing users to search for and see graphical representations of statistics for specific world data.

For example, users can search for such topics as electricity consumption per capita, or carbon dioxide emissions per capita for certain countries. Users will not only see this info plotted out on a line chart, but will be able to cross reference that data with other countries by checking boxes.

But Google isn't computing this data for users; it is merely crawling the Web and using the World Bank's API to access its data indicators. In other words, Google is doing what it's always done: leveraging its superior natural language prowess to speedily retrieve results. In several tests of these charts, Google Watch found the response time to be sub-second when adding new boxes to the query of how many Internet users there were in specific countries.

During an interview with Google Watch, Ola Rosling, product manager for public data at Google, said Google intends to add more governmental data sources in the future, but declined to specify what public data Google is looking to index within its search engine.

Google Watch also asked him when Google was going to start calculating equations itself, rather than just surfacing the data from other sources. Rosling said: "That's an interesting question. For now, we're focusing on much more lightweight usage. We're also not computing any numbers ourselves. At this point, we're not targeting that kind of usage. What comes in the future will be disclosed when it's ready, but it's an interesting idea."

Clearly, Google is working on it. Now that Bing is buddies with Wolfram Alpha, it will be interesting to see whether Google stays the course and pursues computational search on its own, or reaches out to Wolfram for its own data deal. This isn't the first time Microsoft Bing and Google hosted dueling announcements. Microsoft Bing executives unveiled the Bing Twitter site for indexing tweets at the Web 2.0 Summit Oct. 21, only to have Google make its own Twitter deal pledge hours later.

Meanwhile, new stats from HitWise showed Bing made a 7 percent month-over-month gain in U.S. search-engine market share in October from September, notching 9.57 percent of the market. Google and Yahoo saw their shares drop by 1 percent, to 70.60 percent and 16.14 percent, respectively. Bing's growth, tempered though it may be by Google's seemingly insurmountable share, is impressive when weighed against HitWise's stats from September, when it found Bing's U.S. search fell from 9.49 percent of in August to 8.99 percent.

Bing continues to crawl to double digits. Will Wolfram Alpha and Twitter help it get there? !

Google unveils 'Made in India' Doodle

2009-11-12T08:44:00.000-08:00

It took 90 days, over 4,000 entries and 60,000 votes for India to get its first 'made in India' Doodle.

Dennis Hwang - the Master Doodler chose the first-ever young doodler for India on the basis of 'innovation and creativity'.

So what is a Google Doodle?

"Doodles" are creative Google logos that appear on some special days, to commemorate scientific and artistic achievements, historic or seasonal events, and other local occasions. Their eye-catching designs also often teach you something new about a day, event or occasion whenever you happen to stumble upon them.

For over a decade, Google has been designing innovative logos called ‘Doodles’ for its homepage and Dennis Hwang – the master doodler – has been driving this innovation. In August 2009, Google India decided to unleash the creativity of thousands of children in India as we announced India’s first ever doodling competition called Doodle4Google™.

The contest was open to all students from Grade 1 and 10 where they were given the freedom to imagine their own version of the Google logo, inspired by the theme "My India”. The contest was judged by an esteemed panel of judges that comprised renowned cartoonist, N. Ponnappa, internationally acclaimed artist Raghava KK and the faculty of the National Institute of Design, Ahmedabad – India’s premier design institute. The doodles were evaluated on the basis of artistic merit, creativity and how well the doodle vision has been explained.

Puru Pratap Singh's doodle was chosen from over 4000 doodles submitted by students across the country, and was selected based on artistic merit, creativity, and expression of the theme.

Puru Pratap Singh, a 4th standard student from Gurgaon (NCR), has been announced as the winner of the Doodle 4 Google competition. This announcement was made by Shailesh Rao, Managing Director, Google India and Dennis Hwang at a celebration today in New Delhi for the 46 semi–finalists and their families. Each Doodle submitted represented the immense creative talent and richness of ideas of students across the country.

The winning doodle is titled "My India - Full of Life". In addition to having his doodle on the Google homepage appear all day on 14th November, Puru will receive a laptop computer, a t-shirt with his doodle and a INR 1,00,000 technology grant for his school. The champion doodler has been drawing since he could hold a crayon. In addition, all finalists will be given a Doodle4Google certificate along with a Google goody bag.

"At Google we like to play! "Doodle4Google symbolizes that playful spirit of Google and is a celebration of creativity and in this case, of India. We are excited to present the results of India’s first edition of this contest and laud the young Indian doodlers who have showcased their wonderful creativity in the form of inspiring doodles that represent the various facets of India," remarks Shailesh Rao, Managing Director, Google India

Adds Dennis Hwang, the Master Doodler "India is a land of creative minds. For centuries, Indian art has continued to fascinate people from across the globe. It was amazing to see how young kids could come out with highly creative Doodles that truly define the culture and tradition of this incredible country. Choosing the successful entry was not easy as every Doodle depicts India in a unique manner."

Microsoft Courier dual-screen tablet : Stunningly Beautiful - Apple's Tablet PC has got a Great Rival

2009-11-10T02:42:00.000-08:00

Photo Credit : Gizmodo

The prototype of the Microsoft Courier dual-screen tablet has less and less secrets due to some leaks of internal documentation. Its interface is very simple, even if believed as being complex, and supports two-finger multitouch gestures, such as tap-and-hold for photo or object clipping, moving objects to the opposite page with a two-finger swipe to the left or to the right. Another way of controlling the display is by means of a stylus. The pen has two buttons and an eraser to switch between drawing styles or to undo most recent changes. The folding device could ship with dual 7-inch display, a built-in camera on the back and Wi-Fi.

Some interesting concepts are making the interface friendlier. The Infinite Journal compiles all the notes, clips and other data in the Courier tablet. The Smart Agenda provides messages, calendar overview or weather related information. A Cover Flow-like 3D page provided with a timeline allows users to navigate more quickly. The separate Library section would have to handle both media and applications in a central location and leads to the idea that e-book reading should have an important role.

The Microsoft Courier being a prototype, significant changes could occur before launching. It is considered a test platform for future touch interfaces conceived by Microsoft and could also be a replica to the Apple’s tablet.

Unlike Apple's rumored tablet, which is assumed to be primarily an entertainment device, Courier's main function will be as a day planner/notebook that allows you to keep track of appointments, to-do lists, and contacts. In addition, Courier is believed to have significant flexibility allowing you to create original drawings and sketches using an application like Microsoft Paint. You will also be able to take notes, snap photos, browse the Web, and clip photos and text from Web pages. Courier may even function as an e-reader, although Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has said the company is not interested in producing an e-reader.

Courier's Rumored Specs

Based on what has already been reported, the rumored Courier tablet would have two 7-inch color screens, with a flexible hinge in the middle allowing the device to close like a book. The hinge would also have a home button, as well as indicators for wireless signal and battery strength. The two screens can accept handwriting from a stylus or multi-touch inputs from your fingers. Courier would not have any type of keyboard, and rely entirely on handwriting recognition for text input. Courier would also include Wi-Fi connectivity, and a camera on the back of the device. There's no word on whether Courier would include extras like a Webcam for video conferencing or 3G connectivity.

Infinite Journal

At the core of Courier's functionality would be the Infinite Journal, which is exactly what it sounds like: limitless virtual pages where you can take notes, sketch, and store Web clippings. Its not clear whether the Infinite Journal's location tag would come from automatic geotagging through GPS or wireless access points, or whether it's just a matter of manually entering your location for each page. You can also mark Infinite Journal pages with keyword tags to make it easier to search for content.

Smart Agenda

The Smart Agenda would essentially be a condensed version of your Infinite Journal pulling together day-to-day information for easy reference including e-mails, to-do lists, appointments, and recent messages. Clicking on any of these items in the Smart Agenda would take you to the page where these items are stored in your Infinite Journal.

The Cloud

Microsoft is all about the cloud these days, with company executives constantly referring to Microsoft's three-screen vision (personal computer, mobile device, and television all syncing or pulling information from an online database). Courier is no exception, as it offers a function that allows you to share portions of your journal with colleagues and friends online. When your content appears online, the people you share your journal with will be able to make notes and comments about your content. Once the comments have been entered, they are automatically updated on your Courier device so you can see what your collaborators are saying.

Clip, Tuck and Paste

One of the most interesting functions of Courier is its ability to clip content from a Web site and allow you to store and manipulate that information any way you like. Called Clip, Tuck, and Paste, with this function you would be able to clip information from a Web page, and then 'tuck' it underneath Courier's hinge between the two screens. Then, you can flip or search through your Infinite Journal until you find the page you want to store the content in, and then paste the Web clipping into your journal.

The Courier Pen

The Courier's stylus would include easy methods to switch between writing, sketching, and painting as well as some clever editing functions. On the side of the pen would be two quick access buttons that let you switch between a writing pen and a marker. The second button would have an undo function to get rid of the most recent action in your journal. You can also twist the stylus to activate Courier's drawing functions, and the very top of the stylus would be a virtual eraser to get rid of any notes, annotations or drawings you've already made.

Other Stuff

According to the illustrations, there's a lot more to the Courier, including a Web browser, camera, a file browser called the Library for a quick look at all your stored information, easy-to-use painting tools and more. These new details about Courier make it sound like a fascinating and innovative device. However, we also don't know some basic things about Courier like how it would handle Web-based video or what kind of storage this device would have.

I should also point out that so far we've only seen illustrations, and computer-generated videos of Courier in action. After several information leaks, and unnamed sources assuring the tech world that the device is real, no photographs have surfaced yet showing a physical Courier prototype. Although, there is a Network World post from September that shows off a live video of another Microsoft prototype called Codex that is strikingly similar to Courier.

Maybe a physical Courier prototype is out there somewhere, but I'd sure like to see tangible proof before getting too excited about this device.

Microsoft Courier tablet: amazing user interface secrets revealed

2009-11-10T02:27:00.000-08:00

Photo Credit : Gizmodo

While the world and his wife seems obsessed with the Apple Tablet, which is still, let’s remember just a rumor at this point, Microsoft’s Courier tablet looks increasingly impressive. Read on to find out about the amazing interface of Microsoft’s magic tablet…

If you’re used to the fairly convention files and folders structure of Windows (even the shiny new Windows 7), Microsoft Courier looks like it could blow your mind.

The heart of Microsoft Courier’s UI is the rather snazzily named Infinite Journal. It’s a notebook which catalogues your writing, drawings, photos and multimedia. It is actually structured with pages and each item has a time stamp and is geotagged.

There are also options to add your own custom cover to the Infinite Journal and the ability to search not just by time, location, file name and tags but via handwriting recognition.

There is also a view called Smart Agenda which summarises the content in your Infinite Journal showing appointments, emails, to-do lists, weather and messages from friends in one place.

In this marvelous multi-touch world we live in gestures are vital and Microsoft Courier has them. A one-finger tap and hold will clip and copy content, a flick vertically scrolls, two fingers gestures open and close apps. Up or down opens apps while swiping across the screen and off closes them. You can also pinch to zoom.

Microsoft Courier also seems to have a new browser which uses an index-card style view to allow you flip through your previously visited sites. It’ll also allow you to clip content from sites and immediately send it to your Infinite Journal.

The Courier’s main file browser is quite different too. It shows a visual catalogue of all journals, applications and books and subscriptions on the device. That final category suggest Microsoft is planning to market the Courier as an ebook reader too.

The “cloud” is also going to be a bit part of the Microsoft Courier experience. It’ll allow collaborators to leave comments on shared portions of your journal. They’ll appear instantly and notifications will pop up in the Smart Agenda.

You’ll also be able to access your journal from any web browser suggesting a Mobile Me style cloud service will come with the Microsoft Courier.

Finally there’s two bits of interesting hardware built into the Courier. The pen which comes with the device is not simply a stylus as we’d first thought. There are two buttons, an eraser and a twisting mechanism to change its function built in to the pen. The top button is an undo button meaning you don’t need to flip the pen to erase things.

The camera is allows you to crop the picture in the viewfinder before you take the shot which is activated by tapping the screen. The camera has a dedicated hardware button.

The Apple Tablet may be exciting us in theory but the Microsoft Courier already looks amazing in practice.

Hurry up and release it already Microsoft.

Microsoft Courier tablet: amazing user interface secrets revealed was originally published on Electricpig.co.uk at Thu, 05 Nov 2009 12:00:59

Steve Jobs : Declared CEO of the Decade

2009-11-10T02:20:00.000-08:00

Apple CEO Steve Jobs has been named the chief executive of the decade by Fortune, and it's hard to call that a bad pick, considering the turnaround Apple has undergone since Jobs returned to the helm in the mid-'90s. What's next on the list for a tech leader who's already changed the way we use computers, how we listen to music, and how we use our cellphones?

Now that Fortune has named Apple (Nasdaq: AAPL) CEO Steve Jobs CEO of the decade, where will he go from here?

Throughout his career, Jobs has typically led the market, bringing out products that consumers didn't know they wanted until they saw them -- products like the iPhone and iPod touch, for instance.

He will probably continue doing so, but in the future he may delegate more responsibilities.

Brave New Products

In declaring Jobs CEO of the decade, Fortune looked at how Jobs rebuilt Apple from a company on the edge of failure to the cash-rich behemoth it is today. Oh, and he also survived two brushes with death and a securities-law scandal.

That was then; the market appears saturated with new products now. Can Jobs come up with more eye-popping, highly profitable new ideas? The products Apple introduced over the past year -- new iPod models including the iPod touch, the iPhone 3GS, and new Macs and iMacs -- have mainly been refinements of existing products, after all.

There's still plenty of opportunity for someone of Jobs' caliber, argued Carl Howe, director of anywhere research at the Yankee Group. "Apple's future opportunities are defined by areas where technology and design have traditionally been separate, but that consumers want combined," he told MacNewsWorld.

These areas of potential include home entertainment systems and vehicle telematics, Howe said. Telematics is the integrated use of telecommunications and information -- sending, receiving and storing information on telecommunication devices. It is used in GPS systems, for instance.

Apple could make significant inroads into the home entertainment and vehicle telematics markets, Howe contended. "We keep hearing rumors that Apple will enter the TV market, but don't dismiss the auto opportunity -- it begs for a branded integrated solution rather than an open, anything-goes one," he said. "It's another one of those global multi-billion dollar profit pools that Apple seems well-positioned to tap into."

The Magic of TV

That may indeed come to pass: Apple on Friday updated iTunes LP releases to be compatible with Apple TV. This will let users watch iTunes LP content on their Apple TVs. iTunes LP, code-named "Cocktail," is a format for interactive album artwork recently released by Cupertino.

Also, Apple is reportedly trying to get American broadcasting companies to provide programming for an iTunes-based TV subscription service.

Chances are Jobs sees other new opportunities out there to exploit, Nogee said. "Apple might get involved in combining wireless, Internet, scheduling and organizing -- media, Internet and organizing your life all tied together," he added.

Changing the World

Here's the problem with someone of Jobs' caliber: It's impossible to predict what he will do.

"Before the iPod was launched, nobody covering the MP3 market would have said that Apple was going to release this MP3 player which would change the entire market," In-Stat's Nogee said. "Or take the iPhone -- when it was released, most people said Apple wouldn't succeed in the mobile phone business because it was too competitive and Apple was an outsider," he added.

"Not too long ago, many were thinking that, because Apple had lost the computer market to Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT), there was no place for it to go," Yankee Group's Howe said. "Jobs went into music players and smartphones."

Even the computer market wasn't really a lost cause. The Mac has made significant market share growth since Jobs resumed the helm at Apple a decade ago.

United We Stand

As Jobs battles to take Apple to new heights -- it's greatly expected his company has some sort of tablet computer in the works -- he likely will have to share the workload to maintain his pace.

"I would expect him to delegate more responsibility to his team over time," Brian Marshall, an analyst at Broadpoint AmTech, told MacNewsWorld. "Clearly his health isn't sound."

Apple already has a strong management team in place, so that won't be difficult. Marshall expects Chief Operating Officer Tim Cook to be picked to lead the company because he has successfully operated as de facto CEO twice in the past.

Whether or not he relinquishes some of his grip on the company, Jobs will probably remain at Cupertino for the foreseeable future. "I don't think he'll leave Apple for quite some time, simply because it's a company he's shaped to his vision," Yankee Group's Howe said. "Leaving Apple at this point would be like leaving home; it's the company Steve built. Frankly, I doubt he will ever retire, but rather will be more like Warren Buffet -- still directing how things are done until he's gone."

6008l3 Google, What is 6008l3 Google, Count Von Count and Sesame Street Google logos

2009-11-09T21:51:00.000-08:00

6008l3 Google, What is 6008l3 Google, Count Von Count and Sesame Street Google logos. The numbers on Google homepage have amazed many a people. Everyone seems to be searching the mystery behind Google’s latest doodle.

Google has this uncanny ability to amaze people through its doodle. I am sure the number is related to Sesame Street that is celebrating its fortieth anniversary today.

Last month too Google had amazed people by putting barcode on its home page. This way it was celebrating the 57th anniversary of barcodes.

On the eve of the 57th anniversary of barcode the Google logo looked like a barcode. Carefully decoded, it read Google. The doodle reminded its users of the significant invention for which Norman Woodlander and Bernard Silver got patent on October 7, 1952.

The Google doodles also coincides the announcement of Nobel physics prizes for Charles Kuen Kao-George Smith-Willard Boyle trio for developing CCDs (Charge Coupled Devices). Without CCDs, modern day barcodes like many other things such as digital cameras, endoscopy, fax machines, CCTV cameras wouldn’t have been possible.

By the way, Google logo has over the years featured many great men on special occasions. Mahatma Gandhi was the latest to find a place on the logo.

Michael Jackson featured in the doodle upon his death and Albert Einstein, Leonardo da Vinci and Confucius are a few others who were commemorated on respective occasions.

Google’s Dennis Hwang, is known as the master brain behind the headline-making logos.

What is 6008l3? Google= 6008l3, 6008le, 6008i3, 6oo8le, 6008ie (Count von Count Spell of Google). Count von Count

The Count’s main purpose is educating children on simple mathematical concepts, most notably counting. The Count has a love of counting (arithmomania); he will count anything and everything, regardless of size, amount, or how much annoyance he is causing the other Muppets or human cast. For instance, he once prevented Ernie from answering a telephone because he wanted to continue counting the number of rings.

The Count lives in an old, cobweb-infested castle which he shares with many bats. Sometimes he counts them. Some of the pet bats are named, including Grisha, Misha, Sasha, and Tatiana. He has a cat, Fatatita, as well. Sometimes he counts her. He also drives a special car designed in the features of a bat, named the Countmobile, intended as a pun to the Batmobile.

The Count’s former girlfriend, Countess von Backwards, was known for counting backwards. More recently he has been seen with a new girlfriend, Countess Dahling von Dahling. His brother and mother have made appearances on the show.

Google Dashboard : Google’s New App

2009-11-09T21:47:00.000-08:00

Google's new application, the Google Dashboard, is supposed to help you navigate and manage all of your data spread across the various Google Web services. Here's a little How-To to access it.

Google is serious about vamping up personal privacy on its site. Google launched a tool called Google Dashboard to give the average Google-user more control over their personal settings. Google Dashboard allows people to see what information is being collected about them. Dashboard is supposed to make checking up on your data scattered about Google’s various Web services a lot easier.

How to access Google Dashboard:

Sign into your Google Account

Click on the settings link at Google.com and select “Google Account Settings” (Or follow this link)
Select “View data stored with this account”… it should be listed under “Personal Settings”

Enter your Google account password again

Once in Dashboard

There will be a list of your Google services on the left-hand side containing information regarding your recent Google activity and what services you’ve used. The statistics feature will show you what services you haven’t used or you haven’t used in a while. If you need to detach yourself for so0me of these services, navigate to the settings for the service (i.e. Gmail settings) and click “unjoin.”

Also from inside Dashboard you can manage your privacy settings for these services—unfortunately, not all of Google’s services are available for managing on this handy new feature. Maps, Wave, Chrome Bookmark Sync, Google News, and services like Google Analytics and AdSense are not currently available on Dashboard, but a spokesperson for Google says the company plans on integrating all of its services into Dashboard in the future.

A new computer simulator allows to design military strategies based on ants' movements

2009-11-09T21:34:00.001-08:00

A researcher of the University of Granada has designed a new system for the mobility of military troops within a battlefield based on the mechanisms used by ant colonies to move using a commercial videogame.

This work, developed at the department of Computer Architecture and Technology of the UGR, has designed several algorithms that permit to look for the best route path (this is, to find the better route to satisfy certain criteria) within a particular environment.

Specifically, this research work has developed a software that would allow the army troops to define the best path within a military battle field, considering that such path will be covered by a company and this must consider the security criteria (reaching their destination with the lower number of casualties) and speed (reaching their destination as quickly as possible).

To that end, the scientists have used the so called 'ant colony optimisation algorithm (ACO),' a probabilistic technique used to solve optimisation problems and inspired in the behaviours of ants to find trajectories from the colony to the food.

This work has been carried out by Antonio Miguel Mora Garcia, and supervised by professors Juan Julian Merelo Guervos and Pedro Angel Castillo Valdivieso, of the department of Computer Architecture and Technology of the UGR.

The scientists of the UGR have developed a mini-simulator in order to define the settings (battlefields), locate the unit and their enemies, execute the algorithms and see the results. In addition, the software designed by them offers a few tools useful to analyse both the initial map and the results.

To prepare this system, Mora Garcia started from the battlefields present in the videogame Panzer General, defining later the necessary properties and restrictions to make them faithful to reality.

The research work developed at the University of Granada has also had the participation of members of the Doctrine and Training Command of the Spanish Army (MADOC), organism belonging to the Ministry of Defence, which in the long term could incorporate some of the features of the new simulator for the design of actual military strategies.

The UGR scientists point out that, apart form this application the simulator could also be useful to solve other actual problems, such as the search for the best path for a sales agent or a transporter to visit his clients optimizing fuel consumption or time, for example. 'In addition - they say- it could also be useful to solve planning problems for the distribution of goods, trying to serve the highest possible number of customers starting from a central warehouse, considering the lowest possible number of vehicles.'

Windows 7 Vs Ubuntu 9.10

2009-11-09T09:34:00.000-08:00

Windows 7 Desktop

Whether you're a die-hard Windows fan or a Linux evangelist, here is the lowdown on the latest updates

Ubuntu 9.10 Desktop

Cherry picking ? the Ubuntu 9.10 operating system offers cloud storage and a new application to add software

Operating systems have become like buses: you wait ages for an OS update, and then three turn up at once. Apple let Snow Leopard out of its cage in August, and then, last Thursday, Microsoft released Windows 7, a major update of Vista. At the same time, Canonical chose to release "Karmic Koala" – which is otherwise known as the open-source operating system Ubuntu 9.10.

In the five years since its launch, Ubuntu has become one of the most popular Linuxes; though popular for servers or embedded systems, it remains a minority as a desktop operating system. Some put the figures as low as 1%, though the enthusiasts put the figure closer to 12%.

Taking the vital aspects of an operating system into account, which is better, Ubuntu 9.10 or Windows 7?

Speed

In terms of speed, if you've got an older computer that is starting to feel sluggish but you either don't want to or can't afford to buy a new computer, give Ubuntu a go. You'll get an up-to-date operating system running quite smoothly on your out-of-date computer.

Verdict: Windows 7 is much better than Vista on older hardware, while Ubuntu always has been strong on a wide range of hardware.

Drivers and hardware

Ubuntu is generally good at recognising hardware. Windows needed a driver downloaded for my vintage 3Com Wi-Fi PC Card, but it worked right away with Ubuntu – and even improved from 9.04 to 9.10. Ubuntu added extensions to take advantage of special keys for my laptop, and when I plugged in a spare Mac keyboard, it handled special Mac-centric keys too such as the CD eject button.

If Ubuntu doesn't automatically install a driver, it can be quite a bit of effort getting something to work, and not all hardware and peripherals will work with Linux. Sometimes you'll have to go to the command line, which is terrifying territory for most users. It's worth checking to see if Linux drivers exist for your printer and other key peripherals.

Windows has always had issues with drivers. I still am baffled why Windows forgets hardware that I have installed previously. Windows 7 doesn't seem to have completely solved these issues.

Verdict: Both Microsoft and Ubuntu could improve how they handle drivers.

Multimedia

Looking at the default applications that come with both Windows 7 and Karmic Koala, Ubuntu installs the Rhythmbox player for music and the Movie Player for video. Both are capable, and anyone familiar with Apple's iTunes will find the application easy to navigate.

Because of licensing restrictions and Ubuntu's own philosophy, it does not ship with the ability to play commercial DVDs. It's relatively easy to add commercial DVD support by adding Ubuntu Restricted Extras in the Software Centre.

Most versions of Windows 7 come with Windows Media Player and Media Centre. The Media Centre is impressive and polished. It organises your pictures, video and music files, and it gives you the kind of 10-foot interface that works well from your couch in the lounge.

Verdict: Microsoft wins this one with its Media Centre, though Linux enthusiasts will be quick to point out the digital-rights management issues of Windows.

Software and applications

In terms of software, Ubuntu is like the iPhone. Almost anything you'd care to do, there's an app for that. However, you'll have to learn to translate from the applications that you're used to on the Mac or Windows. For people looking to make the switch to Linux, osalt.com is a good directory of open-source alternatives to common commercial software.

Ubuntu comes with OpenOffice and Gimp photo editing software installed.

Windows 7 users will need to buy Microsoft Office, or you can also download OpenOffice and Gimp. Windows users will be used to Outlook to handle their email. Ubuntu ships with Evolution, which handles email and also has calendar software.

Ubuntu 9.10 comes with Firefox 3.5 as standard, and it now ships with the Empathy multiple protocol instant messaging client. Empathy works with most instant messaging systems including AIM, Gtalk/Jabber, MSN and IRC, just to name a few.

Windows 7 has Windows Live messenger and ships with Microsoft's internet Explorer 8, which is a vast improvement over previous versions. You'll have to download Windows Live messenger as part of the Windows Live apps. To install other applications, Ubuntu 9.10 changed the Add/Remove Software application with a refreshed tool called Ubuntu Software Centre. You can search the directory full of hundreds of applications.

Verdict: Ubuntu wins this hands-down with a huge range of free software packages ready to download.

Cloud computing

Ubuntu 9.10 brings cloud storage to the masses with its Ubuntu One service. It's simple and well integrated. Whenever you save a file, you have the option to save it directly to Ubuntu One. Up to 2GB of storage is free, and you can pay for higher amounts of storage.

You can also share files with other people, and your files are easily available on other computers, even ones not running Ubuntu. The service is in beta, though, so I'd expect a few glitches.

Microsoft has a remote storage and remote desktop service in beta called Live Mesh and SkyDrive, which offers 25GB of storage for free. It's not yet integrated into the operating system and Microsoft is under scrutiny about what it integrates into the OS because of its market dominance.

Verdict: Ubuntu wins this as well. Live Mesh isn't as well integrated yet as Ubuntu One is immediately from startup.

Ease of use

This is subjective. I've spent the past two years using Ubuntu, and find it relatively easy. However, just like any new operating system, there is a learning curve, and Linux advocates often gloss over this. Ubuntu has made great strides, but average users will still struggle with it at times.

Adding new software sources so that you can easily install applications such as Skype or Google Earth will be beyond most average users. User interface design still lags behind software on Mac OS X and Windows 7.

Windows 7 will be an adjustment for XP users. Vista users won't notice a change apart from a faster, smoother experience and fewer annoying pop-ups second-guessing your choices.

Verdict: Windows still is easier to use than Linux for some key tasks. Ubuntu is making a lot of progress, but Microsoft has stepped up its game as well.

Final Verdict

Windows 7 is a worthy successor to Windows XP. Vista had well-known flaws, which meant it never replaced XP for most users. For those with a lot of investment in Windows software, there probably will be no reason to look elsewhere.

For those not that tied into the world of Windows, Ubuntu is certainly worth a look. Consumers have never had more choices for capable, powerful and easy to use operating systems, and Ubuntu is only one Linux distribution.

I had tried Linux frequently as soon as I got broadband almost 10 years ago, but I always gave up after a few days until the arrival of Ubuntu. It is a relatively easy-to-use, modern operating system, and one that will only cost you the time to download it.

Google To Introduce New Version Of Orkut

2009-11-01T01:29:00.000-07:00

In an effort that Google says would make the Orkut experience a more 'worthful' one for its users, the company has changed its look on Friday.

With the new version of orkut you'll find:

Fewer pages, faster browsing: We've concentrated Orkut's principal actions onto your homepage, making it a one-stop-shop for nearly everything that you'd like to do. Now you can chat, watch videos, and browse and search within your full friends and communities lists without ever having to open a new page.

See a photo, video, or status message in your activity stream that you'd like to comment on ? Just start typing away. After all, fewer pages and a GWT interface mean less time waiting for things to load and more time doing what really matters– hanging out with your friends !

Hope to see you on the new version of Orkut soon !

Minority Report Style ‘SixthSense’ device named Wear Ur World (WUW) invented

2009-10-30T22:29:00.000-07:00

Ever since Tom Cruise starrer Speilberg’s ‘Minority Report’ where he manipulated images and other things on screen through his little device, projector, tags in his fingers and a glowing black gloves? Well, this has come to reality. Invented by Pranav Mistry, Indian Researcher at Fluid Interfaces Group, MIT Media Lab. This little device is ‘Sixth sense’ called Wear Ur World(WUW), that can seamlessly channel Internet information into daily routines.

Although the miniaturization of computing devices allows us to carry computers in our pockets, keeping us continually connected to the digital world, there is no link between our digital devices and our interactions with the physical world. Information is confined traditionally on paper or digitally on a screen. SixthSense bridges this gap, bringing intangible, digital information out into the tangible world, and allowing us to interact with this information via natural hand gestures. ‘SixthSense’ frees information from its confines by seamlessly integrating it with reality, and thus making the entire world your computer.

The SixthSense prototype is comprised of a pocket projector, a mirror and a camera. The hardware components are coupled in a pendant like mobile wearable device. Both the projector and the camera are connected to the mobile computing device in the user’s pocket. The projector projects visual information enabling surfaces, walls and physical objects around us to be used as interfaces; while the camera recognizes and tracks user’s hand gestures and physical objects using computer-vision based techniques.

The software program processes the video stream data captured by the camera and tracks the locations of the colored markers (visual tracking fiducials) at the tip of the user’s fingers using simple computer-vision techniques. The movements and arrangements of these fiducials are interpreted into gestures that act as interaction instructions for the projected application interfaces. The maximum number of tracked fingers is only constrained by the number of unique fiducials, thus SixthSense also supports multi-touch and multi-user interaction. For example, the SixthSense system implements a gestural camera that takes photos of the scene the user is looking at by detecting the ‘framing’ gesture. The user can stop by any surface or wall and flick through the photos he/she has taken.

SixthSense also lets the user draw icons or symbols in the air using the movement of the index finger and recognizes those symbols as interaction instructions. For example, drawing a magnifying glass symbol takes the user to the map application or drawing an '@' symbol lets the user check his mail. For example, a newspaper can show live video news or dynamic information can be provided on a regular piece of paper. The gesture of drawing a circle on the user’s wrist projects an analog watch.

Pricing ??? $ 20000, $ 30000 ???

Nah, it’s just $ 350 !

Clips from Minority Report

911 accepting TEXT / SMS as well !

2009-10-30T22:25:00.000-07:00

Its True ! 911 has introduced call for help through text. All you have to do is write 911 and send it to 911 ... but when you are in an emergency or stuck somewhere, can you really write a text? As far as I think this move by the 911ers is just to attract more fame and attraction in the market where all the buzz is being taken by i Phones, Palms, Google OS, Win 7 and the list goes on for the high end computer freaks.

So how do we rate this? Is it a good move or a bad one? No one know yet ! Will it be utilized for what it has been introduced for or what. We will have to wait and see for ourselves.

Windows 8 after Windows 7 ?

2009-10-30T22:21:00.000-07:00

Windows 7 isn’t out the door yet, but Microsoft seem to be making good progress with Windows 8. A roadmap slide from Microsoft’s Italian subsidiary has Windows 8 penciled in for a 2012 release:

Note though that Windows 8 is down as approximately 2012. Even still, it looks like Microsoft are sticking to their 2.5-3 year release cycle, with Windows Vista launching Jan 2007 (it was late), Windows 7 in October 2009 and Windows 8 in 2012.

Windows 8 is also denoted as ‘codemane Windows 8′ – does this mean that ‘Windows 8‘ will not be called Windows 8?

MICROSOFT ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT NEXT OS

Windows 7 is almost complete and due to be launched on October 22nd, and Microsoft are already turning their attention to creating Windows 8. To some this may seem premature, but putting together a new OS takes a considerable amount of work and much longer than the 3 years gap between Windows releases.

A recent job posting on the Microsoft job site gives some hints as to what we can expect in Windows 8:

For the upcoming version of Windows, new critical features are being worked on including cluster support and support for one way replication. The core engine is also being reworked to provide dramatic performance improvements. We will also soon be starting major improvements for Windows 8 where we will be including innovative features which will revolutionize file access in branch offices

We are looking for a strong lead who has the right blend of technical passion, leadership skills and testing experience. From a technical standpoint, we are looking for a candidate having an understanding of and a passion for large scale distributed systems. From a leadership point of view, you will need to be able to build the vision for the team, work with your development and PM counterparts on engineering excellence and effectively drive the quality of the component.

In terms of testing experience, the ability to define and deliver test solutions affecting all release criteria (functionality, scalability, performance, stress, longhaul, security, etc.) is a must.

Sony Announces 250 GB Slim PS3

2009-10-30T22:17:00.000-07:00

Sony has announced the launch of a new 250GB PS3 Slim, in November this year. Back in August, Sony had announced PS3 Slim 120GB for $299 (Rs. 14,500 approx.) and now, 250GB HDD loaded PS3 Slim will cost $349 (Rs. 17,000 approx.). North American consumers will be the first ones to get his 250GB PS3 Slim model from November 3 onwards.

The news about 250GB PS3 Slim model CECH-2000B was dug up on the same day when Slim was announced at GamesCon 2009 Expo.

Sony PlayStation 3 Slim doesn’t offer installing games on the hard drive. However, Sony is pushing PlayStation Network’s 2300 movies through the video delivery service. Some of these are available in High Definition. The PS3 Slim won’t have any game bundled for its U.S. consumers but for Europe region, Sony might bundle a game or may be two.

The new PS3 Slim boasts of consuming 34 percent less power as compared with its previous generation model. PS3 Slim has new 45nm fab process manufactured Cell processor but runs at same clock speed. With built-in WiFi and USB Ports, the Hard Drive access has been made easy and doesn’t give any warranty voiding fears.

Both 120GB and 250GB PS3 Slim models would be on sale during the holiday seasons. Along with them, a number of much awaited game titles would be sold.

According to Sony, there have been more than 600 million downloads from the PlayStation Network as of September. Recently released movies such as Star Trek, Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen, and Bruno will also reportedly be added to the video delivery service of the PlayStation Network; at this time, the video delivery service offers 2,300 movies and 13,300 TV episodes.

Google UFO logo : Twitter and Facebook flooded with Alien Theories

2009-09-05T11:17:00.000-07:00

Twitter, Facebook and the worldwide blogosphere have been flooded with alien conspiracy theories about the new Google UFO logo.

The logo, showing a classic saucer-shaped spacecraft shining a light down on the search-engine's regular logo, has been the subject of much speculation.

The world's internet voices want to now whether the all-powerful web giant is trying to tell us something.

Google regularly changes its logo to mark important event such as the recent 40th anniversary of the moon landings.

But nobody can work out why Google has chosen this date to put a UFO logo on the world's most visited web page.

"Does anybody know what's going on?" asks one.

"Aliens landed on Earth this day last year," offers another blogger by way of explanation.

Some think Google's global dominance may extend beyond this planet.

"If Google says the aliens are coming, I'm getting out of here," says one US blogger.

One of the things bothering the online community is that early on Saturday morning the new logo could be seen in some places, but not others.

"Am I the one that is going crazy?" asks a blogger in Arizona who can't see the logo.

If you click on the alien logo you are given the results for "unexplained phenomena".

In Google's top tend most searched terms "unexplained phenomena" merits two entries.

It is unclear whether Google is responding to popular demand or dictating what the public should be interested in.

Can you explain Google's UFO logo?

GLIDE Web OS Launched

2009-09-05T10:24:00.000-07:00

Before the release of Chrome OS by Google and Azerus by Microsoft. The first ever Online Operating system is been revealed on net named as "GLIDE OS".You can create documents, chat, even play Quake all from the comfort of your web browser. There’s a growing segment of web based operating systems, too, which strive to give you a consistent experience regardless of the underlying system you use to connect to it GLIDE OS , one such web-based operating system, has just released the 3.0 version of their product with some nifty features.

Glide OS is a Flash-based web desktop developed by Transmedia. It is notable for operating on both desktop operating systems and mobile operating systems. Glide OS is compatible with a variety of web browsers, including Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, and Chrome.

"The Glide OS greatly increases the compatibility, integration and security of your favorite devices and applications," said TransMedia Chairman and CEO, Donald Leka. "We are pleased to not only add support for Gmail but to make the Gmail experience better for consumers and businesses by incorporating Glide's advance security and file sharing features," said Mr. Leka.

Our goal is to provide you with a place to design your life, where you can share unlimited media and information with unprecedented compatibility, flexibility and peace of mind. This is Glide. This is your playground, your learning laboratory, your work scene, your social milieu – your place to mix and merge media, transcend boundaries and continually invent your life.

HISTORY :

TransMedia was founded by Donald Leka in September 2001. He began to develop a cloud computing system which could manage media across computers. The product’s focus shifted from business clients to consumers, and Glide was launched in December 2005.The current version of Glide, version 3.0, was released on May 20, 2008.Intel recently announced plans to include Glide on ultra-mobile PCs.

FEATURES

One of the most compelling features of Glide OS is that it works on just about every device ever made: Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris, Android, Blackberry, iPhone, Palm, Symbian, and Windows Mobile. I’m honestly surprised that BeOS and Plan9 aren’t included in that list! So regardless of what assortment of platforms you use in your daily life, you can connect to Glide and enjoy a consistent user experience.

A Glide desktop application is available for Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris. The desktop application provides enhanced functionality and features, but is by no means required.

Glide “One” will automatically sync files you create and edit online in Glide and on your local desktops, keeping all of your files in sync all of the time.

Glide “One” makes it possible to access all of your files from your mobile device. You can even create and edit files in Glide on your mobile device, and automatically sync them to your local computer desktop(s).

Glide also offers some interesting access controls designed for parents who want to shield their kids from the terrors of life online. Parents can create email accounts for their kids such that all incoming messages are set to a “pending” state. These pending messages are not displayed to the kids, but stored in a moderation queue for the parents to review. Only after a message has been specifically approved by a parent will it be made available to the kid to read.

Consolidate and Add Powerful Sharing and Security Features to All of Your Personal and Work Email Accounts:

To protect your right to privacy online, register today for a Glide Free email account that is free of targeted advertising, provides the most full featured email service available, includes 5GBs of free storage and provides one stop access to all of your other personal and work email accounts.

"The Glide Free Email Service redefines email with a full-featured word processor for composing multimedia email messages, integrated free Glide productivity applications for senders and recipients to edit documents, presentations, spreadsheets, photos, personal websites and more, highly advanced rights based file sharing with automated file translation to easily share universally compatible files -- all in a simple to use and powerful collaborative email client," said TransMedia Chairman and CEO, Donald Leka.

"Search engine and ad placement technology is being misused by leading email services to read and monetize your private email. If the Post Office had an x-ray scanning device that could read personal letters and then print advertising on envelopes based on the content of personal letters generating revenue for the government, the public and the media would be up in arms.

For the most part, people are unaware of how web mail services and search engine and targeted ad placement technology work together. The Glide Free Email Service solves this problem by not using targeted advertising as the business model behind it's service removing the means and the incentive to read and monetize your personal email," said Mr. Leka.

*~ Glide Email Features ~*

Glide Email is the ideal solution for Windows, Mac, Linux and Solaris PCs and mobile devices with support for Android, Blackberry, iPhone, Palm, Symbian and Windows Mobile and includes the following functionality

Centralized Access :

To All of Your Email Accounts With a Single Login: Think of Glide as an air traffic controller for all of your email. You now have a single runway and landing strip for all of your emails.

Supercharge your Email Accounts :

Glide makes it possible to send and receive large files including videos, music, photos, documents, presentations, spreadsheets, slideshows, music and video playlists, unlimited personal websites and blogs, bookmarks, multimedia calendar events and calendars and more in tiny 5k emails. Files are automatically translated based on the recipients device and OS. Recipients can use Glide's free built in productivity and collaboration suite to edit documents, presentations, spreadsheets, photos, personal websites and more.

Rights Based File Sharing :

Assignable rights include:
1) View Only (restrict the number of views)
2) Download (restrict the number of downloads)
3) Modify (non-destructive editing that enables recipients to modify files using Glide's integrated productivity applications)
4) Upload (recipients of your emails can upload files to your email w/assignable file size restrictions). Glide's email statistics feature allows you to track whether recipients have viewed, downloaded, modified or uploaded files. You can always revoke or change access rights at any time.

Unsend Attachments :

Made a mistake? Attached the wrong file(s)? Sent an email to the wrong person(s)? No worries. Use Glide's "Unsend Attachments" feature and links to your attachments are rendered inactive immediately.

Email Archiving :

Archive your email and export to PDF, Glide Write and/or Microsoft Word formats. Backup files of all received and sent email for all of your accounts are stored in "Glide Docs."

A Full Featured Email Word Processor:

Glide provides full Word Processor capabilities to edit and format your emails. You can also directly import body text from your Microsoft Word, Open Office and Glide Write documents into your email composition and retain formatting; no need to copy and paste between two programs and reformat.

Sending Group Emails:

Glide provides a powerful and flexible solution for sending group emails making it easy to individualize each email and bypass recipient junk mail filters that often mistake group emails as spam. Simply draft your template email and select Glide's breakthrough "Clone" function, select a contact group you would like to send the email to and Glide automatically creates a folder in Drafts and an individually addressed email for each recipient in your group email. You can then personalize each email and schedule when you would like the group of emails to be sent.

Additional Features :

Access your POP3 and IMAP email accounts in Glide.
Automated device OS and network recognition and file transcoding to stream media in the right format for the recipients of your emails.
Import text from Glide Write, Open Office, Microsoft Word and RTF documents.
Export any email to a Glide Write, Microsoft Word, RTF or PDF Document.
Glide Email is seamlessly integrated with the Glide Address Book.
Add Signatures.
Spellcheck.
Dictionary.
Thesaurus and much more.

Glide Mobile Device Support (Over 50 Devices)

Apple iPhone / 3G iPhone/ iPod Touch
BlackBerry Pearl (8100, 8120), Curve (8300, 8330), 8700, 8800, 7100
HP iPAQ, hw6510
HTC Vogue, i-Mate, Touch and Touch Dual, AT&T Tilt 8925, T-Mobile Shadow, Cingular 8125 (8100)
Kyocera Neo E1100, Strobe
LG VX8100, VX8300, VX8700, enV2
Motorola Ming, Razr V3, Razr2, KRZR, SLVR, ROKR, Q, Q9c, Z9
Nokia E61/E62, N95, N800, 6102i, 6300, 6682, 9300
Palm Treo 650, Treo 680, Treo 700P, Treo 700W, Treo 750, LifeDrive, Centro
Samsung Blackjack, A707, D807, A920, Verizon FlipShot SCH-U900, Instinct
Sony Ericsson w600i, w810i, Z750a
T-Mobile SDA, SideKick, Wing

JOURNAL VIEWS

The Wall Street Journal/CNBC: "Glide is a well designed and ambitious service."

PC Magazine: "The whole package is wonderfully elegant."

The New York Times: "Glide's core idea is unassailably fresh and useful."

CNET: "Glide provides stunning cross platform compatibility and equally impressive granular rights."

InformationWeek: "Glide, overall offers a great package with security that dwarfs offerings from Microsoft and other competitors."

eWeek: "Google should be looking over its shoulder."

BusinessWeek: "Glide provides the closest thing to a set of universal applications."

Bloomberg: "Glide OS 3.0 is a universal computing platform that works."

Laptop Magazine: "This is the kind of remarkable technology that can weave itself into everyday use."

CNET: "Glide is the Microsoft Office of Web apps. Microsoft could not do Glide today."

PC Magazine: "Glide Write handles Microsoft Word Documents with aplomb. It's very similar to Word; it looks and performs in a remarkably similar manner. I'm even more impressed with Glide Mobile. You can browse and open files-including songs, photos, documents - even videos - with remarkable speed."

PC World: "Glide Presenter 2.0 has overtaken Google's presentation software as our favorite web-based alternative to Microsoft's PowerPoint. Glide Presenter has covered all the bases with a compelling Web-based offering that could emerge as a true replacement for Microsoft PowerPoint."

BusinessWeek: "The photo editor is both remarkably full-featured and fast."

Econtent Magazine: "Glide (versus Google Apps, Zoho Business, Thinkfree Premium) comes the closest to fulfilling the vision of a tool that can help people organize their entire digital lives."

CNET: "Both children and adults can take advantage of Glide's new drawing and coloring tool. It works a bit like Microsoft Paint except with Glide's collaborative tools built in, and a much more interesting interface."

DR. DOBBS: "Glide Write is a sophisticated multimedia-savvy word processor that exports Word, HTML, PDF, etc. I suspect the Microsoft Office team is following these developments with great interest."

WHATS HOT?

It's free for up to four users with up to 2GB of storage, works on Windows, Mac and Linux.

WHATS NOT?

Slow page load times, cluttered interface .

THE FINAL WORD

The simplicity, interactivity, and unlimited free storage of Google Docs' presentation component will appeal to many people, but for power users it falls short. By comparison, Glide Present 2.0 has covered all the bases with a compelling Web-based offering that could emerge as a true replacement for Microsoft PowerPoint.

Glide OS: http://www.GlideOS.com

Glide Mobile: http://www.GlideMobile.com

First Quantum Computer onto a Chip

2009-09-05T10:02:00.000-07:00

Researchers have devised a penny-sized silicon chip that uses photons to run Shor's algorithm - a well-known quantum approach - to solve a maths problem.

The algorithm computes the two numbers that multiply together to form a given figure, and has until now required laboratory-sized optical computers.

This kind of factoring is the basis for a wide variety of encryption schemes.

The work, reported in Science, is rudimentary but could easily be scaled up to handle more complex computing.

Shor's algorithm and the factoring of large numbers has been a particular case used to illustrate the power of quantum computing.

Quantum computers exploit the counterintuitive fact that photons or trapped atoms can exist in multiple states or "superpositions" at the same time.

For certain types of calculations, that "quantum indeterminacy" gives quantum computers a significant edge.

While traditional or "classical" computers find factoring large numbers impracticably time-consuming, for example, quantum computers can in principle crack the problem with ease.

That has important implications for encryption methods based on factoring, such as the "RSA" method that is used to make transactions on the internet more secure.

'Important step'

Optical computing has been touted as a potential future for information processing, by using packets of light instead of electrons as the information carrier.

But these packets, called photons, are also endowed with the indeterminate properties that make them quantum objects - so an optical computer can also be a quantum computer.

In fact just this kind of photon-based quantum factoring has been accomplished before, but the ability to put the heart of the machine on a standard chip is promising for future applications of the idea.

"The way people used to make this kind of circuit consumed square metres of laboratory space and took graduate students many months to align," said Jeremy O'Brien, the University of Bristol researcher who led the work.

"Doubling the complexity of the circuit often times turns it from being a difficult task to a practically impossible one, whereas for us to double the complexity it's really straightforward," he told BBC News.

The Bristol team's approach makes use of waveguides - channels etched into the chips that provide a path for the photons around the chips like the minuscule wires in conventional electronics.

While Professor O'Brien said he is confident that such waveguides are the logical choice for future optical quantum computers, he added that there is still a significant amount of work to do before they make it out of the laboratory.

"To get a useful computer it needs to be probably a million times more complex, so a full-scale useful factoring machine is still at least two decades away," he said.

"But this is one important step in that direction."

Courtesy : news.BBC

Sony Ericsson XPERIA X2 Review

2009-09-05T06:42:00.000-07:00

The follow-up to last year's X1, the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X2 adds more features than ever before as Sony Ericsson try to regain a foothold in the smartphone market.

The original X1 was a class-leading device when it was first announced, but it took so long to come to market that other competitors caught up. With the XPERIA X2, Sony Ericsson say that it should be available during early Q4 - so the X2 could be just weeks away from being in the shops.

This is a Windows Mobile 6.5 device, one of only a small number of handsets on the market that will have version 6.5 preloaded, although some others have it as an upgrade that can be installed later. But one thing that sets the X1 and this new XPERIA X2 apart from other Windows Mobile handsets is the concept of "Panels", which is a unique Sony Ericsson approach to improve the user's experience. With the X2, Sony Ericsson are making a big push to help developers create "Panels" applications, including a utility that will help convert pre-existing apps to this format.

The main physical feature of the X2 is the large 3.2" 800 x 480 pixel touchscreen display, underneath this is a slide-out QWERTY keyboard that is angled slightly for a better typing position. At a first look, the keyboard seems to be pretty good with a conventional layout, and the keycaps have a space around them to help prevent multiple keys being pressed at the same time.

Turn it over, and there's an 8.1 megapixel camera with autofocus and what appears to be a basic flash. We know that the X2 supports geotagging, but we don't currently know what the handset's video recording capabilities are. It will probably be one of the highest resolution cameras available in any Windows Mobile phone at launch.

The Sony Ericsson XPERIA X2 supports GPS, and because this is a Windows Mobile device, then there are a wide range of SatNav applications available to go with it. Of course, there are a wide range of other Windows Mobile applications too, either through Sony Ericsson's PlayNow Arena marketplace or from independent vendors.

As we said, this is a Windows Mobile 6.5 device, and although this is the newest version of the software, it comes with some pretty familiar features such as "pocket" versions of Microsoft Office, Outlook, Internet Explorer and Windows Media player.

Memory is expandable using microSD cards and there is a 4GB card in the standard sales package. There's a TV out port, so videos and photos can be played back on a compatible TV, although we don't know for sure what type of audio output the X2 has. The X2 supports stereo Bluetooth and USB connectivity too, plus 3.5G data and WiFi.

It's not as heavy as you might expect - the Sony Ericsson XPERIA X2 weighs 115 grams and measures 110 x 54 x 16mm, making it much lighter than the X1. Talktime is quoted as being up to 6 hours on 3G with an impressive 26 days standby time.

On paper, the X2 is an impressive looking device. But many previous Sony Ericsson smartphones have either been late, buggy or both.. Sony Ericsson really need to get this to market on time and working properly if they hope to make an impact.

There's no word on pricing, but we would guess that the XPERIA X2 will retail for something around €600 SIM-free when it becomes available.

IBM's Microscope Sees Molecules for First Time

2009-09-03T01:04:00.000-07:00

Imagine trying to read braille printed on wet tissue paper. That’s what it’s been like trying to take a picture of a molecule. Advanced electron microscopes can get amazing resolution, fine enough to see inside an atom, but molecular bonds usually aren’t strong enough to hold up to their scrutiny. Luckily, a team of researchers at IBM has produced the first Atomic Force Microscope (AFM) with a carbon monoxide tip. Using this new device, they’ve produced the first real images of a molecule. Check out the pics of the pentacene molecule, they’re one of a kind.

Being able to examine a molecule without it falling apart is a first step into understanding how to manipulate those molecules with precision. Pentacene has uses as an organic semiconductor. IBM has had success with microscopy in the past, and thinks its research will pave the way for designing and building electronic devices at the atomic level. One day, entire computers and even everyday objects could be manufactured from the atom up, allowing for incredible breakthroughs in processing power and efficiency.

Traditional microscopes like the one you had in middle school science class use visible light to illuminate a sample. Electron microscopes,which have been around since the 30s, use high powered electrons to image objects in a similar way. AFMs, however, work like fingers reading braille. They use a microscopic tip to gently run over the surface of a sample and then measure how the tip fluctuates. In this way, they build a “force-map” or textured view of what the tip passes over.

Using a carbon monoxide tip (red/gray) the IBM atomic force microscope could pass over pentacene and image it succesfully for the first time.

AFMs have been around since 1986, but they haven’t been able to image a molecule. Electrostatic and Van der Waals forces cause molecules and AFM tips to interact, ether destroying the sample or disrupting the readings. IBM overcame this problem by attaching a single carbon monoxide (CO) molecule to their AFM tip. Thanks to quantum mechanics, the CO and pentacene molecules have their electrons set up in a way that helps cancel out electrostatic and Van der Waals forces. In other words, the tip can pass over the sample without messing it up. The result is the first image of its kind.

Like all new microscopy techniques, the modified AFM has its set backs. First, like the electron microscope or traditional AFM, the IBM setup can’t be done in the open air. You need a very high level vacuum, absurdly low temperatures (5 Kelvin), and a lot of time - more than 20 hours for a scan. The tip also has to be within 0.5 nanometers of the sample. But the most fundamental problem is that the carbon monoxide trick won’t work for every sample type. The quantum mechanics principles that keep the tip and sample from interacting wouldn’t help for say, a strand of DNA. Of course, there are a bunch of different tips you could use, so there may be a tip for every sample you could want to examine.

As cool as it is to see a molecule up close and personal, you can bet IBM has bigger plans. Quantum computing, which is seeming less and less like science fiction everyday, will require building structures at the molecular level. With the modified AFM, we’ll get a better understanding of what’s happening at that level and how best to create computers at a nano-sized scale. That’s going to translate into better efficiency and processing speeds that make a modern computer chip look like an abacus.

Of course, even with the best views of the microscopic world quantum computing is years away from beginning. For now, we’ll have to be happy with having a better view of a pentacene molecule. Hopefully, IBM will adapt their technique to see many different nano-sized structures. It may not happen today, but work like this will help us build the tiny, magnificent world of the future.

Photo Credits : IBM
Courtesy : Aaron Saenz

Happy Birthday to Internet : Age 40

2009-09-03T00:45:00.000-07:00

On September 2, 1969, two computers at the University of California, Los Angeles, exchanged some data. The exchange was part of the first test of Arpanet, an experimental network for the U.S. Department of Defense. And that exchange of the meaningless data was the beginning of a revolution called Internet that changed the way the world communicated breaking the geographical boundaries.

A few weeks later, on October 29, a connection was established between two sites - the UCLA and the Stanford Research Institute in Menlo Park, California. The next year, that is 1970, Arpanet got the first East Coast node, at Bolt, Beranek and Newman in Cambridge. By then, UC Santa Barbara and University of Utah had also joined the network.

According to a timeline compiled by the Associated Press, listing the key milestones, it was in 1972 that Ray Tomlinson brought e-mail to the network, introducing the "@" symbol to specify addresses from other systems. Then, in 1973, two international nodes were established in England and Norway.

In 1983, a domain name system was proposed, offering '.com' and '.gov', with '.edu' following years later.

In 1989 Quantum Computer Services, now renamed AOL, introduced America Online service for Macintosh and Apple II computers, beginning an expansion that would connect nearly 27 million Americans online by 2002.

But the real explosion in the world of Internet happened in the 1990s, when a British physicist named Tim Berners-Lee introduced the idea for the Web, a way of using the Internet that would allow people to more easily connect and exchange resources across broad expanses. And from there began the real revolution that changed the way we communicated.

Then in 1993, Marc Andreessen and colleagues at University of Illinois created Mosaic, the first Web browser to combine graphics and text on a single page. In 1994 they formed a company to develop the first commercial Web browser, Netscape.

It was this browser that prompted many developers to think of the actual commercial potential of the Web. Then we saw the 'dotcom' boom and the bursting of the bubble.

Then it was a downpour of new concepts. E-mail, online portals, e-papers, social networking sites, blogs, microblogging... you name it. And today Internet is a household word even for the illiterate.

However, despite all the communication revolution, there are fears that the future of Internet's development is not that secure. The fear is mainly due to the openness that has catalyzed innovation and driven its explosive evolution.

"There is more freedom for the typical Internet user to play, to communicate, to shop - more opportunities than ever before," an AP report quoted Jonathan Zittrain, law professor and co-founder of Harvard's Berkman Center for Internet & Society, as saying.

As net became popular, it became a platform for all sort of activities – political campaign, social networking, rebellion, dictatorship, financial frauds, sex trafficking, porn... Then, exploiting the potential many a virus crept into the cyber space thus threatening the security of online data. It was in 1988 that the Internet worm, Morris, crippled thousands of computers. Today we have more bugs than than Web domains.

There were even arguments that the Web as a medium will kill the print medium very soon. But what is in stock for the net and the print, nobody knows. But one thing is sure whatever we have seen so far is not the last word in this space. Ten years from now, as we celebrate the golden jubilee of the Net, it might have become a totally different concept altogether, translating many of our fantasies into reality!

Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 announced : Uses Windows Mobile 6.5

2009-09-02T19:18:00.000-07:00

Holy cow, it's been a busy morning of phone announcements. In addition to the Nokia N97 mini, Nokia X6 and X3, and the HTC Touch2, the Sony Ericsson Xperia X2 made its official debut on Wednesday.

As the successor to the Xperia X1, the X2 will run Windows Mobile 6.5, bringing new features such as Flash support in Internet Explorer Mobile and Microsoft's app store, and the Windows Marketplace for Mobile. Sony Ericsson also added something called the SlideView feature that notifies users to missed calls or new messages and provides quick access to them.

The Xperia panel interface is still there with 14 panels preloaded on the smartphone and 16 others available for download, including those for Skype, CNN, and Google. You also get a 3.2-inch WVGA touch screen, a full QWERTY keyboard, an 8.1-megapixel camera, and TV out capabilities. The quad-band world phone supports North American 3G bands (specifically, AT&T's), Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and GPS.

Sony Ericsson did not reveal a specific release date or pricing (hopefully, it won't be $800 again) for the Xperia X2, but, according to the company, it will be available in select markets in early Q4. It will come in two colors: black or silver.